Convoluted Journey (The Mercury Black Authority Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  “With a cash payment how long will it take to close,” Noah asked.

  “I will present your offer to the seller. I know that they will accept because they are my neighbors.” Grace was hot to live next door to this kind of money. “When they accept, we can set a closing as soon as we verify your letter of credit. The owner is the first owner, so the abstract should not be a problem, and with cooperation we can complete the deal by the end of the week.” Grace had heard of buyers making cash deals, but had never done one until now.

  “I will have an associate contact you with all that you need.”

  Noah looked at Terri. “Do you want to pick out some furniture? We need to put together a livable package.”

  “Who is this for?”

  “It’s for a retired general, his wife and his 22-year-old daughter who is a college student.” Noah looked at Grace. “I will be back in two hours to sign the paperwork. We need to outfit a house. Do you have a decorator?” She wanted to keep the business in her group especially with customers like this.

  “Yes, I have her card here. Let me get her on the phone.” She dialed the number. “Marsha I have a couple here that needs to decorate a 2,700 square foot townhouse in Huntington Beach. Do you have time today? Believe me you will want to have time today.” Grace drew a map for Noah. “She can see you in an hour her name is Marsha.” She thought to herself a minute. This couple won’t be able to get back quickly enough to finish the offer’. “I will bring the paperwork to you. I think we can have an answer this evening. I cannot see them needing time to think over a full price cash offer.”

  “Let me give you a second choice just in case. I need to settle something today.” Wanda took down all the information and made up a backup offer. As soon as Noah and Terri left for Marsha’s studio, she tore up the offer knowing that the first offer would be accepted.

  They were a half hour early, but Marsha was waiting at the door of the studio, since Grace had called and told her about Noah’s shopping peculiarities. She could make a huge commission in a few hours.

  “Mister Body I understand you need to fill a house. I have done similar town homes in this area before and I think that we can put together a very nice package for you.”

  “Please call me Noah and this is Terri. When it comes to decorating, she is my brains. Terri will be making all of my decisions. She has my budget and you two ladies should be able to work without consulting me.” Marsha turned her attention to Terri and the two ladies started to work immediately. Terri was all business, with Marsha being the one that was surprised with the speed at which she made her decisions. She went for the wide love seats and couches with, accent pillows of various sizes, colorful Persian rugs, colorful blown glass and metal sculptures for the great room. She switched style in the dining room and kitchen going for a Spanish motif. For the master bedroom, Terri went for a Spanish California king size four poster bedroom set and an unusually narrow dressing chair. When Noah questioned her about the chair Terri had him sit in it. She easily straddled the chair and stuck her breasts in his face.

  “Do you think this will be useful?” Noah could not argue about its use. Alice’s bedroom was simply furnished, with a contemporary Spanish bedroom set. The other bedroom was left unfinished.

  She went to Crate and Barrel picking out some colorful high quality dishes, pots, pans, kitchen utensils and tableware. Terri went to a bedding store picking out bedding towels and some miscellaneous decorative items. She did everything quickly without looking at a price tag as Marsha found herself running to keep up with Terri. Her taste was educated European and Terri knew quality and taste. In four hours she had a reasonable set up.

  While Terri was working with Marsha, Grace showed up with the offer. She went through the paperwork and left before Terri even noticed her. He forged the general’s new signature on all the documents. Grace was willing to make allowances since it was a cash offer and they would not have to deal with any banks. Noah told Grace to have her lawyer draw up a power of attorney so that he could have someone close for him. Noah explained to Grace that any changes in the offer would be a deal killer. Grace was disappointed that she would not meet her new neighbors until they moved in. They dropped over five hundred fifty thousand dollars letting an agent make all of their decisions. Terri finished with Marsha amazing herself with what she accomplished. The bill with all the painting and other work was approaching $100,000.

  Noah arranged to have a check delivered by courier before closing doubling Marsha’s commission knowing good work when he saw it.

  “After we close, I want a double or even triple crew to put this together.” Terri did the hugs and kisses with Marsha, and they left. Marsha started to work before the door fully closed. Terri and Noah stood outside the truck. “Did you mean it when you said I was your brains?” Terri knew that Noah did not treat this action lightly.

  “Terri I would trust you with my life.” She threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

  Terri kissed him deeply. Noah loved Terri’s monkey hugs since it was her expression of unrestrained passion.

  “I never thought that you would say anything like that to me.” She knew deep down that it was not a casual comment.

  Noah knew he was strongly attached to this amazing woman wondering where it would lead.

  When they returned to the hotel they called Suki’s hotel room. There was no answer. They left a message to tell Frank and Suki that they were on their own. Terri picked a quiet restaurant talking the hostess into giving them a large quiet booth at the back of the restaurant.

  “Terri you have been an immense help. I could not have done it without you. I need to ask you for one more favor. Run this back to England and bank it for me or have Lynn take care of this for me.” Noah pulled out the letter of credit. She looked at the amount. “One million Pounds…!” She was about to scream with Noah holding a finger up to her lips. She swallowed hard.

  “This is a special retirement fund. I need to get out of this crap.”

  “Lynn knows banking better than any of us,” Terri ventured. “I will have her do it.”

  “That will be your choice. I trust you, but I would like you to leave tomorrow. See if they have a couple of seats in first class. I think they have a three PM departure tomorrow. I need to have that settled as soon as possible.” Noah could have waited, but he needed an excuse to get her out of town, not wanting her to be associated with him out in LA knowing that she might become a target if she spent too much time with him.

  Noah took Terri to the beach and strolled in the sand holding hands while watching the horizontal plumes appear and disappear. At half past ten they made their way back to the truck. There were several lights burned out in the parking lot. Noah noticed two men who were wearing backpacks over their shoulders walking a distance behind them keeping to the shadows. When Noah and Terri opened the passenger side door the men began to close quickly. Noah helped Terri in and opened the glove box pulling out his silenced .38. “Tell me when they are close.”

  “They are close now.” Noah turned around with the gun leveling it at the two assailants. Both men had knifes out.

  “You boys brought knives to a gun fight. Drop them now or die.” Both men froze in their tracks dropping their weapons on the asphalt without hesitation. “Were you planning something? Let us see what you have in your backpacks. Throw them down.” Noah looked inside. There two rolls of duct tape in each pack. There were also an assortment of sex toys and torn women’s under garments in each pack.

  “Look honey rapists, I believe that they had plans for us. Tell these gentlemen what you think of rapists.”

  “I think that I would rather show them.” She picked up the backpacks and started walking back down the beach remembering a dark recess in the erosion barrier wall.

  “Remove your shirts and pants and take off those driving gloves.” They did as they were told. She slipped on the discarded gloves. “Look how hairy they are.” The tape m
ade a tearing sound as she tore a piece of the roll placing it over the mouth of one man. “This could really hurt.” Noah had an idea.

  “Put your back packs on and stand face to face with your arms out.” Both men did as they were told. Terri started to tape the two men together. She started at the wrists and knees, she then took a knife and cut away their underwear roughly yanking it from between them at which point the two rapists started to look panicked wishing that Noah had shot them.

  “Is that the panic that you wanted to see on our faces? Now kiss each other!” Terri clearly wanted to induce panic. Noah held the gun to their heads. There being no choice, they kissed while Terri taped their heads together in the kiss. She finished by taping their torsos tightly together being sure to catch all of the hairy areas with extra pressure. When Terri was finished she had used every inch of tape and the two rapists looked like a single mummy. Terri pushed them off their feet in to the sand. “And that gentleman is what I think of rapists. The beach patrol should find you before the tide rolls in.”

  “Baby I hate to cut the fun short, but we need to leave now,” Noah insisted. “This beach is not that secluded.” They ran back to the truck and drove off. The whole incident took less than fifteen minutes. As they were leaving the parking lot Noah could see the beach patrol working its way down the beach. He drove down the road above the beach. When Noah was parallel to the alcove the emergency lights of the beach patrol Bronco flared and Noah and Terri drove back to the hotel. There was a message for Terri at the desk. It was from Grace. The owners of the townhouse accepted the offer. They went directly to Terri’s room. When they walked in Suki was sitting on the bed watching TV.

  “Frank needed to do something in Ontario. He hired a car and drove back. I thought that I would wait in here.” Terri filled Suki in on the day’s activities. She was very graphic on the attempted rape and tape job.

  “Why did you have them put the back packs on,” Suki asked.

  “They had torn panties and bras in them. It was evidence of other crimes. They did not start with us so we thought that the police might need the boost.”

  “Terri, that story, you know what I need?” Suki was clearly aroused. Terri nodded and they both jumped on Noah. They broke out the scarves from their luggage subduing Noah in minutes. They adjourned to Suki’s room and were missing for ten minutes. Suki led the way sitting on Noah’s chest with her waist length ink black hair falling in his face. “We will untie you if you promise to do exactly what we say.” The evening proved to be quite erotic with Terri and Suki entertaining Noah until the sun came through the window. Noah finally remembered what he neglected to do.

  “I forgot to tell you to call Susan. She will definitely be pissed at me so please call Susan immediately.”

  Susan was in her office preparing to go home when the call came through. She was not at all happy with Noah. Terri and Suki related the events of the last few days. After several minutes Suki turned the phone over to Noah.

  “When I receive a promise, I expect it to be kept,” Susan said with mock sternness. “At least I know that you are able to take care of the girls. When are they going to come back? I have things for them to do.”

  “They will be back early tomorrow morning.”

  “And you?”

  “I will be back in three days. I have a little more business to clear up. This will be my last run with this mess and I don’t think that I will be coming back here when this business is finished.” He turned the phone back to Suki.

  Noah turned on the television. There was a banner announcing: ‘BEACH RAPISTS IN CUSTODY’. Noah turned up the sound. The newscaster was just finishing commentary on the bizarre circumstances under which the two rapists were apprehended. It was assumed that they were responsible for three rapes in the area. One of their victims died of her injuries and there was enough evidence found on them to convict them for all of their crimes. The person responsible was being called the ‘DUCT TAPE VIGILANTE’.

  “Ladies we need to leave now. Prepare for your travels while I go down and check us out.”

  “The duct tape vigilante,” The women started to close on him.

  “Pack up and I will meet you down stairs in the coffee shop.” Noah beat a hasty retreat down the hall realizing that Frank had left out of a need for self-preservation.

  Noah was on his third cup of coffee when they came down to the coffee shop. They loaded into the pickup and headed for LAX. The first stop was Jeff’s studio. Noah wanted a firm idea of when the papers would be done.

  “Jeff, how are things going?” Jeff’s eyes were locked on Suki and Terri. They were dressed up for travel and looking their knock out best in their California Rodeo Drive fashions.

  “I am doing just fine. Did you want pictures of the women? We could set something up right away.”

  “No, I came to check on the other work. What kind of progress are you making?”

  “I am doing fine. The passports should be done this afternoon. This is a lot of rush work. I could use a little diversion.”

  “I have another job for you. I will not need it until next week. What do I owe you for this?”

  “It will be $30,000 each. Father Cash is having a hell of a time matching up the husband and wife for their back ground. He is going to hit me up for extra on those two. The other ID is easily workable.”

  “Will they be as good as his last job?”

  “Absolutely ironclad, what is the other job?”

  “It will be for me. After all this crap coming down I believe that Noah will have to disappear.” It was something he hated to do. Noah was a carefully crafted ID, but he knew it would be necessary.

  “They need to be as good as they get.”

  Noah opened the backpack that he was carrying pulling out fifteen stacks of ten thousand each and laid them on the counter. This should cover everything. The rest will be a bonus. You should have at least thirty thousand left over.

  “Just fill out these forms and give me the name. I will have something ironclad in about five days.” He looked at Terri and Suki. “Ladies would you like to have some pictures?” They followed Jeff to the back room. Noah took his time filling out the forms not wanting to inhibit Jeff’s recreational time. After half an hour, they emerged from the back.

  “Suki has definite potential as a model. Bring her back any time. Terri is of course welcome too.” Jeff started taking Noah’s pictures for his ID photos looking over the paperwork. “Do you want me to run the name with the FBI and Interpol? I do not want to create anything that needs to be redone. This is a shit load of work.”

  “Do the full run, I want it absolutely ironclad.” Noah said leading the way out of the office. Suki was the last one out the door. She lifted the back of her skirt and smiled at Jeff.

  It was only a few hours before flight time as Noah dropped the women off at the international terminal. He was glad to have them away from him with all of the variables popping up. There was still a contract on him, and he worked the deal through Chicago so he would not be surprised to find someone looking for him. Buck was playing some sort of game. The Middle East was going up in smoke. Iran was revolting against the Shah. Somoza was putting down two revolutions in his country one in the country side and one in the army. In addition, most of Central America had some kind of conflict popping up. The Russian general was his most reliable contact in the deal. Noah did not count Susan or Bob as contacts. They were anchors. Terri and Suki were safer with Susan. He needed to see if Sean could finish the deal on the general’s business. He wanted to deliver as promised with the general. Noah stopped at a random pay phone along the way. Sean picked up after the second ring.

  “I am glad that I caught you. Can you take care of something for me? I am not sure what the schedule will be. We need to talk face to face for that to shape up.”

  “Sure I have an office near LAX. Let’s meet there say in one hour.” Sean gave Noah the address.

  Noah was standing tall in front of Sea
n’s office ten minutes early with Sean arriving shortly after that. Noah ran down what he and Terri accomplished giving Sean the information for Grace and Marsha. Noah explained how he wanted the deal to unfold. He needed a car in the general’s new name and offered Sean $10,000 plus expenses to pull it together. Sean took the deal and started working while Noah called Grace to confirm the offer. The sellers accepted the offer with it being a one-owner house so the abstracts could be done easily. Noah put Sean on the line letting him go to work with Grace.

  “Noah, I will have this together on time. Where do you want the key?”

  “Hold on to it, I may need you to introduce the buyer to his new house. Here is an additional thirty to cover any additional costs.” Noah checked on the flight before leaving the area. Suki and Terri were in the air heading home. It was time for some rest. Noah pointed the truck toward Ontario buying a bottle of scotch on the way back to the hotel. Wading through LA rush hour traffic sucked, so it was six o’clock by the time he reached the hotel. He stopped in the restaurant for a quick bite before going upstairs. Noah was going to get quietly loaded in his room by himself. He called room service ordering a selection of appetizers, ice and some decent glasses. Pouring his first drink as he turned on the TV.

  The first knock at the door was room service, with his order and the second knock was Ralph.

  “Noah, I did not get a chance to talk to you when I saw you earlier. Those are some tall bucks for some relatively easy flying. Frank laid it out for me. I did a lot more than this all the time in Southeast Asia for a whole lot less compensation.

  “Well you might give me a refund.”

  “Don’t get me wrong I am more than happy to take your money to the bank. Why is the deal so sweet?”

  “Once again, it is not pay. It is a percentage of the gross. We all pull the same risk, so we will all pull the same money. I do not like working with unhappy people. They tend to make separate deals, and do things that become unwelcome surprises. You for instance, are you happy with the money?