Convoluted Journey (The Mercury Black Authority Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  Marcel’s words were slurred as she sat looking at Francesca.

  “You do look very familiar. I swear that I know you.” Francesca pulled her hair back in to a pony tail.

  “Does this look more familiar?” A look of surprised recognition crossed Marcel’s face. She tried to get up but her legs would not work. The empty martini glass fell to the floor.

  “Maria!” With the drugs that Marcel consumed in her two martinis she could only slur her surprise at best. Francesca walked over to the metal box that Marcel was guarding so jealously seeing that it was filled with gold ounces.

  “Those are mine,” Marcel tried to protest. “That is what I was paid for killing you and Jesus. I killed Juan for the pleasure of it because he was a pig.” Marcel found that she could not control her slurred speech. Susan told Francesca that the drugs acted like a truth serum. The subject would be semi-conscious but not able to control herself.

  “What were you going to do with this gold?”

  “Put them in my safety deposit box in the Cayman Islands.”

  “Do you have more money in your bank?”

  “Lots, people pay me for my silence or I expose them.” The exchange went back and forth until Francesca had all the information that she needed. She had the name of the bank, along with her personal information. Francesca checked Marcel’s purse finding her passport and the safety deposit key. Marcel sat helplessly as Francesca removed her clothing. “Are you going to kill me or fuck me?”

  “Neither darling I am going to become you.” Francesca went to work stripping, her being careful not to rip anything and Marcel was powerless to stop her. Before long Francesca was dressed in Marcel’s clothes. The clothes were an almost perfect fit. She slipped on Marcel’s shoes and stood before her. For the helpless woman it was like looking in a mirror. Francesca grabbed her roughly by the hair. “Well how do you look?”

  The cockpit door swung open. For a minute Ralph thought that Marcel managed to get the upper hand on Francesca. “Hurry up they are going to send a mechanic if we don’t roll.”

  “Go ahead and roll I have all I need.” The Lear Jet did a slow taxi to the runway and while they were taxing she bound Marcel’s hands with cotton cord. Were you planning to do something like this to me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I promised Noah that I would not do anything exotic and I will keep my word. As a matter of fact, I won’t even kill you.” After the Lear climbed to an altitude of twenty thousand feet Ralph came back to the cabin doing a double take at the naked bound figure of Marcel on the floor thinking it might be Francesca.

  “I did not pressurize the cabin and we are flying over uninterrupted jungle, so it is time to take out the garbage.” Marcel was still incoherent so Francesca untied her. Noah made it a point to tell Francesca that Marcel must be absolutely naked when they disposed of her. Moments later Marcel’s naked body hurtled toward the jungle below. The fall through the canopy shattered her skull and tore her body to pieces until the torn corpse stopped thirty feet above the jungle floor leaking blood that was sure to attract the scavengers of the jungle. After a few weeks hanging in a tree, the jungle would consume her body. There would be nothing left, but shattered bones.

  As the Lear continued to its cruising altitude Francesca took Marcel’s passport taking the makeup out of Marcel’s bag confident that achieving a match would not be difficult. She worked on her hair and makeup finally ten minutes later she knocked on the cockpit door. Francesca handed Frank the passport.

  “Am I close to matching the passport?”

  “You could easily pass through the customs check point.” Frank freely admitted.

  She showed Frank the metal box. “Can we put this under the floor panels? I don’t want to go through customs with it.” The box was a tight fit, but it looked like an electrical box when he was through.

  The Lear Jet landed in Grand Cayman. Frank and Ralph remained on the Jet with only Marcel passing through customs. She handed them the customs declaration that Marcel put her hands all over. She took a taxi to the bank presenting the key with the manager never taking his eyes off of her cleavage.

  “It is good to see you again Marcel. It has been a few months.” She presented her key to him and he retrieved the box. He personally ushered her into a privacy room. Marcel made a quick check of the contents of cash, jewelry and nineteen envelopes. She emptied the contents into the large purse that she brought with her for the occasion replacing them with old newspaper from Managua which produced the correct weight. She signaled the manager and he took the box back to the vault placing it back under lock and key. Marcel left the bank taking a taxi to the airport. Francesca was thankful that Marcel had chosen such a sexy outfit. The manager spent the whole time talking to her breasts and trying to look up her skirt. She showed her passport and officially left the country bound for the United States.

  While she was in the bank, Frank and Ralph filed a flight plan for Dallas Texas. They knew that there was a steady flow of Texas millionaires vacationing in the Cayman Islands. It was common for them to go down and visit their cash stash. After the jet took off Francesca spread the contents of the bag out on the floor. There were several very expensive pieces of jewelry and four hundred thousand dollars in cash. She turned her attention to the envelopes. Each envelope contained blackmail information on powerful people such as Senators, Congressmen, clergy and influential businessmen. Marcel provided special entertainment for dignitaries visiting Nicaragua. She would get them drunk catering to their darkest fantasies for a price. Marcel knew that powerful people had very dark desires. Marcel took pictures, kept receipts and other souvenirs, so that they would really pay. She was running a very profitable blackmail operation and the box was her insurance policy against any violent reactions from her victims.

  “This stuff is too dangerous to keep; we need to destroy all of it.” Frank got chills just knowing of its existence.

  “Put it under the floor panels. I think we can make a few friends if we let these people know that this has been destroyed. It appears that we did a number of people a huge favor when we took out the trash.”

  Frank did as he was asked. Marcel cleared customs in Dallas taking a non-descript change of clothes with her in her oversized purse. She used the customs declaration that Marcel had signed before her first martini. The customs officials were paying more attention to her body than to her face, passing a pair of tits and a great ass through customs. Once again Francesca was glad that Marcel had chosen a really sexy dress for the day. She put on extra sway when she walked out of customs. She took a cab to a local hotel and went in the public wash room. Francesca changed into some loose jeans, a baggy top and old tennis shoes. She arranged her hair into a loose hay stack hiding her features and washed her make up off being careful to put all the items from Marcel back in her oversized purse. Francesca took the courtesy van to one of the American Airlines terminals and the circulator bus to the private terminal returning to the plane before it was serviced.

  Francesca boarded the jet changing back into her uniform being careful to collect all the items that Marcel brought with her. She was glad to get out of the dress, since the fact that Marcel had worn it made her skin crawl. She filled Marcel’s luggage with rocks that they had brought with them. They then removed the gold from the metal box and filled it with rocks also. The Lear flew back out over the gulf making a run to Nassau. When the jet reached the middle of the Gulf of Mexico they jettisoned the last traces of Marcel. They arrived in Nassau playing in the ocean for a few days. Susan had arranged to have her passport show her arrival in Nassau from Barbados a few days before they left on their errand in Managua. Upon her return, Fran used her own passport and it was assumed that Marcel disappeared with all of her money into the vastness of the United States.

  Francesca walked into Senator Mudson’s office for an appointment that she arranged a few weeks before. The aide showed her in the office and remained standing by the door. Francesca took a seat
across the desk from the Senator. “I was hoping for a private meeting Senator Mudson.”

  “My aide stays for all of my meetings.” Francesca removed a man’s ring from her purse showing it to the Senator. He paled instantly dismissing his aide. The ring was his wedding ring that he left accidentally in a hotel room with an underage hooker in Managua. While he was there some explicit pictures were taken without his knowledge and he had been paying ever since.

  “What do you want?” The Senator’s tone of voice became quite cold.

  “Marcel, the woman that was blackmailing you has met a violent end, and her safety deposit box ended up in my hands. There were some pictures of you and this ring.” The Senator started to rise out of his seat in panic. Francesca motioned for silence.

  “Here is your ring. I would also like to assure you that the pictures and the negatives have been destroyed.” Starting to cry, the Senator collapsed in his chair as Francesca took an envelope out of her purse putting it on the desk. “According to her records you have paid her sixty thousand dollars in blackmail money, so I am giving you thirty thousand back since she has spent the rest. Marcel was extorting several others so I split the money up between the victims giving each victim back fifty percent of what they paid and this is your share.”

  “What do you want?” The Senator’s voice betrayed his collapse. There had to be some motive behind her generosity.

  “I ask only for your friendship. She was blackmailing me too now it is time to end the nightmare.” Francesca handed him a slip of paper with her name and address on it. Senator Mudson slid the ring back on his finger not believing that things ended this way. His wife would stop asking questions about the ring and his life would return to normal. Francesca told a small lie about being blackmailed so that she would be believable. “I must go now. I hope that our next meeting will be under better circumstances.” The Senator tipped his chair over getting around the desk to beat her to the door. He hugged her with tears in his eyes.

  “You want nothing?”

  “Only your friendship you have my information. I must leave now in order to make my appointment with a congressman and a Bishop.” Francesca kissed him lightly on the cheek and left the office. Senator Mudson carefully stored the slip of paper and canceled his appointments for the rest of the day. He was going home to tell his wife that he had found his wedding ring in a desk drawer.

  Over the next few months Francesca would contact all of the other blackmail victims in person. She let them know that Marcel would never be found and that she was in possession of Marcel’s, ‘in the event of my death’ backup’. She destroyed photos, negatives and any items that were not of a personal nature being careful that not a trace of the evidence remained. She returned all items of a personal nature in person along with a portion of the cash. All of the victims were at first concerned to hear from Francesca, but with the return of the souvenirs and some of the cash, they felt inclined to accept Francesca’s personal assurances as the truth. At the end of two months she would have many devoted friends in very high places. Her reputation was golden, and her influence was considerable. She would put Noah’s philosophy of friendly quiet influence to good use in the coming years amassing a huge fortune with inside information from her friends.

  DISCLAIMER

  This is a fictional work. As a fictional work certain situations mentioned in this book may bear a resemblance to real life situations. The author claims no participation in or direct knowledge of any illegal events described in this book. To the best of the author’s knowledge the countries, companies, organizations, agencies, and persons described in this book have not participated in and have no knowledge of any of the events described in this book.

  Finian Blake

  THE MERCURY AUTHORITY SERIES

  BOOK ONE CONVOLUTED JOURNEY

  An expert in deniability, Hermes receives contracts to deliver arms and restricted technology to groups that the government cannot authorize. He assumes the name Noah Body. Once he receives his assignment he is on his own. Noah must make the deliveries with minimal official help. Using various identities, he moves around the world making friends and enemies, while trying to complete his contracts using resources from his shadowy past in order to succeed.

  BOOK TWO COMMANDEERED

  Hermes assumes the name Adam Furst. He has promised his new wife Terri that he will go straight. Noah has invested his profits from an unauthorized arms deal in an exclusive hide away run by a former British Agent named Susan. Life is promising and their investments are paying off, however after two years his former employer ‘Mercury’ wants him to run a load of arms to Afghanistan. A threat to Susan and Noah’s wife Terri tests his intention to start a different life.

  BOOK THREE MERCURY DESCENDING

  Hermes assumes the name Alexander Chalenger. He is told by Mercury that he must clean up some problems from his last mission. As he prepares to take on this task a voice from his distant past causes him to reflect on his origins. He finds that he must deal with his past life before he can clean up his errors.

  THE REMOTE TRAVELER SERIES

  BOOK ONE: THE REMOTE TRAVELER

  Edward Chalenger is the primary subject for a remote viewing project with little chance of success. When the project succeeds beyond expectations it is realized that no secret is safe from his view and a sweeper team is dispatched to eliminate everybody involved causing Edward to use his new to protect his family.

  BOOK TWO: THE SWEEPER FILE

  Senator Marvin Belight decides to examine ‘The Sweeper File’ knowing that he may be mentioned in blackmail evidence contained in it. He gets a member of the justice department to look into the file covertly putting the Chalenger family in jeopardy once again. Edward Chalenger and his wife Layla must use their new found talents to save their family once again.

  BOOK THREE: ECHO

  Four Diamonds has just launched its new computer security division and ends up with a no bid contract with the NSA to store back up data. All of its competitors will go to exceptional lengths to make sure that they fail their test, ‘All is fair in love and business’.