by Finian Blake
COMMANDEERED
SECOND EDITION
FINIAN BLAKE
Copyright © 2015 FINIAN BLAKE
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1508627037
ISBN-13:978-1508627036
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
CONTENTS
1
THE GOOD LIFE
1
2
TROUBLES
65
3
WINDFALL
148
4
THE PLAN
190
5
DECEPTION
231
6
DETAILS
298
7
EXTRAS
328
8
9
THE MAIN EVENT
THE HOME STRETCH
398
443
1.
THE GOOD LIFE
Adam and Terri looked down from the edge of the knoll at the two hundred acres that surrounded the Inn. Since they married two years ago in Barbados, Lynn, Susan’s partner helped them convert the money from Adam’s arms deal to a fully legal status. All of his dealings were now completely legal as he promised Terri before they were married. Lynn had turned Adam into an investor His investments in the Inn were only a part of his portfolio. Susan and Lynn’s efforts had turned the Inn into a multi-faceted concern.
When he and Terri had purchased the knoll above the Inn there were only twelve acres out of sixty that were on level ground. The other forty-eight plus acres were on a fairly steep slope that dropped to the Inn on one side, and steeply to the river on the other side. Terri had done a spectacular job of terracing the property. She removed seventeen feet from the top creating an additional twenty acres of level ground with two terraces below the top that were scalloped alternately adding ten more plantable acres to the horizontal area. On the river side of the property she erected a retaining wall with battlements using molded acrylic concrete that made it look like a ruined castle wall running from the banks of the river to the gate at the road. The river made a wide bend around the edge of the knoll so that Susan’s property below was their only neighbor and the highway fronted the knoll for nine hundred feet.
The council would not allow any reduction in agricultural land, so Terri’s plan produced a forty percent gain of planted area, and they were still able to use the entire top of the Knoll for buildings. Terri planted blueberry bushes on the terraces stabilizing the slope. They rooted well, and did not take an extraordinary amount of work to maintain making them attractive in several ways. A single lane switch back road connected the large terraces from the bottom to the top of the knoll. While they were digging the terraces, Terri placed a two story basement under the garage which was a square two story building seventy five feet square. The top story of the garage held an apartment for Frank and a gym for training. The total of the four levels was twenty two thousand square feet which provided a huge amount of space with a small footprint.
Adam and Terri’s home was a roomy single story cottage set on the edge of the knoll that appeared to be small because of the scale of the garage and studio. There were only two bedrooms in their home. The two other cottages on either side of the house were slightly smaller two bedroom structures. One of the cottages was Suki’s residence and the other was a guest cottage. Across the court yard was the two story studio which was the same size as the garage shared by Suki and Terri. Terri installed mock battlements on both the garage and the studio giving it the look of a ruined castle from the river level. Suki and Terri split the main floor, with the upper floor remaining unfinished. There were two six thousand five hundred square foot greenhouses measuring eighty feet on a side set back on either side of the studio. One was for flowers and the other was for vegetables. The five buildings with the large courtyard in the center and the long curving driveway used less than three acres. All that could be seen from the level of the river was the top floors of the garage and studio.
The previous owners could not make a go of the farm because there was too little plantable area. When the former owner of the Knoll passed away Lynn was able to purchase the property from the next of kin at a good price. They had no interest in farming and the council would not approve development. Terri was able to get a very good price on all of the work that needed to be done throughout the Inn because this was lean time in Britton. Companies were going under at a record rate, and workers were being made redundant by the thousands. Contractors were standing in line to bid Terri’s contracts. It was not difficult for her to find an experienced contractor that would do the work to keep his crews busy while only making a minimal profit. Her degree was in engineering, and Terri was tickled to show that she had genuine abilities to back her up. The interior hedgerows that divided the property were false rows that provided quick weather proof transport throughout the Inn. She always loved to walk through her creation with her husband Adam because he never failed to admire her handiwork. He frequently gave her the verbal praise that she so richly deserved.
The forty foot rise of the knoll gave Adam a commanding view of Susan’s property which consisted of two sections separated by a road. She had converted the farm across the road into an equestrian property that held a stable, steeple chase, paddocks, her home, and the cottages of the permanent help. The inn itself consisted of twelve cottages, a service building, two large green houses and extensive gardens with vegetables and flowers. Each section of Susan’s property was a little more than one hundred acres surrounded on all sides by a twenty foot hedgerow. The closest section to the knoll was the Inn itself. All of the buildings on the three properties were similar to each other in design and appeared to be at least a hundred years old on the outside. On the inside they were completely modern using the most up to date materials available and the stone walls were actually reinforced molded silicone concrete.
The wide lane between the Inn and the Equestrian property was nine hundred meters long to the river by thirty five meters wide in between the hedge rows. One hedgerow separated the Inn from the road on one side and another one insulated the equestrian property from the road on the other side. When they purchased the farm across the way the road became private and was purchased from the council. Adam had the road reinforced with four feet of compacted gravel and turned it into a hidden runway. It was long enough and wide enough that aircraft could do STOL operations (Short Take Off and Landing). Terri walked up to Adam taking his hand feeling the warmth of his firm grip. Terri had done the design of all the properties so naturally Adam was fiercely proud of her talent.
“I still don’t believe that this has all come together in just a few years. Let’s get down to the service center. We only have ten minutes before the board meeting starts. Frank and Suki are already down there.” As Adam looked down the hill he could see that Suki was walking next to Frank. This was unmistakable since she was short even for a Japanese woman. With her four ten height Suki’s head came up to Frank’s armpit and with her youthful features. Suki was frequently mistaken for a young girl.
Frank was a full six feet tall, solidly built and he was forty-six years old but could easily be mistaken for
a much younger man. Frank and Suki were walking with their arms around each other as they approached the steps of the service center. Frank was the head of security for the Inn, but he also drove the limousine for the Inn. Suki’s talent which was electronics frequently caused them to work closely together. While she studied the couple from her high vantage point, Terri thought she detected more than a working relationship between them even at this distance.
Adam and Terri started down from the Knoll wanting to be there on time. When they were half way down Terri noticed Susan and Lynn walking their horses into the stable. Terri knew that Susan would be a minimum of ten minutes late at the very best.
Terri said with mock sarcasm, “Susan and Lynn have just finished their ride. I think that we can safely say that they will never be on time.” They walked down through the terraces with Adam enjoying the leisurely walk through Terri’s creation. Her talent put all three properties several years ahead of their time because innovation was Terri’s passion. With Suki’s help and with Adam’s cash flow the whole concern was leading edge. When they reached the service building Frank and Suki met them at the door. Frank did not look happy.
“Terri, Susan is running late. We pushed the board meeting back a full hour. If you have time I would like you to explain some of your improvements on the security corridor.”
“Let’s walk over and see what you are talking about Frank.” The four of them walked over to the main gate. He pointed out the two staggered sets of barriers that were set across the road so that only a car could drive down the road. No large lorry could manage the zigzag pattern required. Frank looked frustrated shaking his head mournfully at the arrangement.
“How are we supposed to get trucks in here with these barriers in the way?”
“They are operated hydraulically from the security center.” Terri picked up her security radio calling John in the monitor room. The barrier moved completely off the surface of the road after which Terri walked to a hidden box inserting a key causing the barrier to move back in place. “The travel time is thirty seconds. We can pass a truck through and close the entry in less than half a minute. We can move in another barrier and completely seal the entrance.” Terri called on the radio and barriers slipped back in place all along the length of the road. “There were two turn offs on each side of the road. We can also seal up all four entries one at a time or all of them together. We can trap intruders in the roadway keeping them away from the critical areas or guide them where we want them to go. An aircraft as big as a de Havilland Caribou can land on the road or the barriers can be set to stop unauthorized landings.”
They walked down the gravel road to the gate keeper’s cottage and knocked on the door. They were in luck finding that Mark was at home. He served with Frank in the SAS as an instructor and was the gate keeper for the Inn. Mark was also the reserve driver for the Inn. Terri had him show Frank the override controls for the barrier that were located in the gate keeper’s cottage.
Frank was not happy. “Mark, you could have told me about this.”
“Sorry about that Terri made me swear not to tell anybody until it was up and running. It was a surprise for her dad.” Frank could not get too mad at Terri because she was his adopted daughter.
Terri, Suki, Frank and Adam walked back to the Service building to find that Susan was ready for the day’s business sooner than expected. Lynn took her seat next to Susan with Terri, Suki, and Adam finding their seats around the table. The room was paneled with natural hardwood and the furniture was made of English Oak in a Victorian style. All of the electronics were discretely hidden, so there was nothing to ruin the illusion of the room.
Susan stopped Frank as he was about to leave. “Frank, I would like you to stay for the meeting this morning. Please take a seat.” Susan started in abruptly without any ceremony.
“I would like to make a motion. Frank has pushed our security to much higher levels and in recognition of his work I would like to surrender five percent of my stake awarding it to Frank. That will reduce my stake to forty five percent making Frank a board member with the shares viewed as being fully paid. Is there any discussion?” Susan waited for a moment for show knowing that there would be none. It had long been viewed that Frank should be on the board. “All in favor raise your hand.” Everyone at the table raised their hand without a moment’s hesitation, “The vote is unanimous and the motion carries.”
Everybody grouped around Frank congratulating him. Frank was a former master instructor in the SAS having retired at forty five after twenty six years in the British Army moving over to MI 5 as internal security. Frank, quit at the same time as Lynn and Susan after five years at MI5 when they started the Inn. Having developed a strong bond with the four ladies over the past few years he set up most of the security. He protected the women as if he were their jealous father. Frank was now guaranteed a permanent spot at the Inn. This move would allow him to push for his idea of setting up a private security service using retired SAS and Royal Marines. Frank stayed up on the Knoll in an apartment over the garage because of the excellent view that it gave him over the property. All of Susan’s high end guests would be well protected.
When things settled down Susan turned the meeting over to Lynn.
“I have good news. The Inn has made its first operational profit in its short history. The equestrian center, farm and gun club have put us in the black.” She paused to let the news and the source of the black ink sink in. “We have two contracts pending. A movie studio wants to use us as a set for one of their productions, and the Foreign Office has recommended us to a Sheik for security reasons. If the movie deal goes through, they will rent the entire Inn for a month or two. The Sheik is moving on from a formal state visit to a horse buying trip after he attends an oil meeting in London. He could lease the entire property for a week. If we can get either one of these contracts we should be solidly in the black for the rest of the year.” Susan’s voice became quite loud. “If we can land both contracts, we can establish a solid operating reserve. The studio will be here tomorrow morning to evaluate the Inn and the Sheik’s security men will be here in two days to evaluate us for his stay. Susan and I have gone over the entire property and we cannot see anything that requires attention. Does anybody have anything?” Adam waded right in.
“If we are going to be entertaining Muslims, we need to remove all pork products from the kitchen, and get some fresh cookware. Many of them are really serious about their dietary restrictions and we should make sure the attire for the women is correct for their requirements.” Adam cracked a smile at the ladies, “And a briefing from the foreign office would help too. We need to look good from the start if you want the lease.” Adam chuckled. “You do know that Muslim men do not like doing business with women?”
Susan frowned at the thought of buckling under to a man. “I have heard rumors to that effect. What would you suggest?”
“Why don’t you table that one for now until you can see what their requirements might be. We want to prepare for the most stringent requests. You might consider how far you want to bend in order to land their business. As far as the modification to the kitchen goes, a second kitchen would not be difficult and we could easily modify it to kosher for Jewish customers when the occasion arises. Both groups have deep pockets. ”
“A good idea, we will go with that suggestion. I do have one more item. We need to recruit more full service personnel.” Susan liked to call the women that provided sexual services as full service personnel. It sounded nicer than the other terms. Susan nodded in Lynn’s direction.
“We have a short report from Lynn on personal investments.”
Lynn cleared her throat. “When I took over the investments for the board members gold was floating at one hundred eighty pounds an ounce. I invested heavily in gold. Yesterday, it hit five hundred ninety Pounds an ounce and I sold. With the other investments in petroleum and electronics over the last two years, I have been able to better than double your inv
estments. Adam, you are now worth around ten million pounds, Susan one point five, Terri and Suki are just short of half a million, Frank is slightly above two hundred thousand and with the commissions I am worth one million pounds. With the addition of the two properties and their improvements the Inn is worth in the neighborhood of seven to nine million pounds counting the two million pound operating reserve.”
There was no attempt to hide the pride on Lynn’s face. She scored big for everyone surpassing even her own expectations. With a degree in accounting and clever investments Lynn was an unqualified success proving her father wrong when he said that she would never amount to anything. Her father disowned her when he found out she was a lesbian. Lynn had a driving desire to prove her father wrong while he was still alive. She formed her own investment company exclusively for the board members and staff when they started the Inn. With the inside information that they picked up from the powerful people that stayed there Lynn was way above the average for returns on all of her investments. “I have diversified heavily in electronics and petroleum. We can anticipate strong returns for the coming year. With the inside information from Fran in LA we should be able to have consistent returns this year.” Lynn cleared her throat. “There is the matter of the million pounds that Adam added to the operating fund two years ago. I invested those funds in the same accounts as your personal funds and with the deduction of five hundred thousand pounds over the past two years that leaves two million pounds in the operating fund.” The loan was from the profits of the last arms deal that Adam ran for ‘Mercury’. He had done spectacularly well with the conversion of the drugs that the rebels used to pay for the weapons into cash. Adam was invited to invest in the Inn by Susan and the other board members.
