by Finian Blake
“No, we own it out right, so there is no mortgage.”
“Are you kidding me? This place has to be worth over a million Pounds and you have no mortgage?” Marshal took another close look at Terri not believing that this twenty-nine-year-old woman had such a firm grip on her finances.
“We have eight hundred thousand in it, but the complete set up was valued at two million Pounds.”
When they returned to the service building, the studio people asked to tour the surrounding area. Frank pulled out the Bentley Mulsanne to impress Marshal and William who rode with Frank and Lynn. Terri drove the Jaguar with Suki, Muriel and Andrew. Susan stayed behind to compare notes with Lynn.
Andrew had hit on Terri and Suki three times during the tour forcing Terri to ask, “Muriel, does this asshole ever understand the meaning of the word no?” Terri was getting pissed. “All this asshole says is how much he would like to get into my pants.”
“He has no idea what the word no means,” Muriel said sullenly. “He tells everybody that I am a dyke because I can resist his charms. If he wasn’t my boss I would kick him in the balls.” They followed the Bentley around to the surrounding areas. When the Jaguar cleared the gate of the security building Susan walked out the front door to meet the women. Terri stormed out of the driver’s seat. She was only wearing her thong and high heels. Suki ran up to Susan laughing.
“Andrew kept telling Terri how much he would like to get into her pants. She finally took them off, throwing them in his face telling him to try them on.” Susan went into the service building and contacted the pilot telling him to warm up the helicopter. Susan walked up to the Jaguar and talked to Andrew.
“You need to leave now! Terri was really pissed. She went to talk to her husband. He threw a man out of an airplane for assaulting her.”
“It was on the ground, right?”
“It was twenty thousand feet up.” A look of panic crossed Andrews face.
“He did have a parachute, didn’t he?”
“No, he did not, and as I remember it wasn’t one man. It was two.”
Frank was smiling, “Did I tell you that Terri is my daughter?” Andrew started to move toward the helicopter.
“You better give me those pants. You don’t want Adam showing up on your doorstep to claim those.” Frank swore that Andrew was flapping his arm’s trying to fly. He might have put on a mock chase, but he was laughing so hard that he could not draw a breath.
Andrew threw Terri’s pants to Susan and bounded into the helicopter yelling at the others to join him. The helicopter was thirty feet in the air when Adam came out the front door. Susan handed him Terri’s pants and told him the story.
“He is lucky that Terri didn’t kick his ass. I would bet major bucks on Terri the only problem would be getting her to stop.”
Adam went into the security room. Terri was sitting in a chair fuming. Adam handed Terri her pants. She was sitting in her thong and heels.
“That bloody asshole the next time he opens his mouth I am going to put my foot in it shoe and all.”
“Security needs to watch their monitors. Right now, all I can look at is those gorgeous legs.” Adam ran his hand up her inner thigh.
“Watch it I am in a foul mood.” Terri shook her fist at Adam. He put up his hands in a mock defensive position.
“Come on put your pants on and we will call it a day.” Adam put his arm around Terri.
After they had left the room, one of the men working the monitors said. “I would certainly love to rub those legs.”
The other tech said, “At one time if you had enough money, you could do anything that you wanted with them. She used to be one of Susan’s full service girls.”
John pointed at both men, “You would do well, to forget that piece of history. If either Adam or Frank hears you say that, it will be an ugly event. Frank claims her as a daughter and he is your boss, on top of that he is the last man on the face of this earth that I would cross. If he hears that comment getting fired would be the best thing that could happen to you.”
“I’m not worried. All those stories they tell about Adam throwing someone out of an airplane for her are a load of crap.”
“I was working here at the time. Two men raped and assaulted her. It is not just a story. He threw them out at twenty four thousand feet. I know that to be a fact. On top of that she has bailed out at least five people financially and paid off three hospital bills for different people including me. So watch your mouth before you have an accident. While we are on the subject, I suggest you quit calling Suki ‘that hot Asian bitch’. One thing you want to remember this is the only occupied room at the Inn that has monitors in it. Frank had them installed to make sure that nobody could knock out this area.”
Suki caught Adam and Terri coming up the hill inviting them to dinner up at Frank’s apartment. Frank could have had one of the cottages, but he liked the extra fifteen feet in height that being on top of the garage gave him. Frank lived simply and had no need of a large home. The gym was the second most important security point at the Inn. From the gym they could cover almost any point on the property. Frank had one more surprise to reveal. Dinner went well with Frank doing the cooking doing a nice leg of lamb with parsley potatoes, green beans and mint sauce. Frank was a good cook and was happy to receive the compliments. Suki made strawberry torte with Devon cream for dessert. Frank poured the port in the sitting room with everyone dying to see what his surprise was.
“I needed a late night to reveal my last surprise.” He held up an ugly arrangement of electronics mounted on a head band. “These are night vision glasses. We have four sets of these.”
Frank passed out the glasses reviewing the operation with everybody. He turned out the lights and they finished their Port wearing the night vision. Frank led the group out in the court yard. It took a while to get used to the view but once they did things went smoothly. Frank and Suki took the glasses from Terri and Adam with Terri going down the hill to show the others.
The next day was anything but boring. There was a message from Susan for Adam when they walked in the door. When he called her, she told him that she needed to give it to him in person. Terri did not like this at all deciding to go along to hear the personal message. When they walked in Susan’s door, she tried to get Terri to leave knowing full well what her reaction would be.
Adam held Terri’s hand, “Terri is on for the full ride. You might as well tell us both.”
“Very well, remember you asked for it. Mercury called looking for Noah twice yesterday and once more about thirty minutes ago. They are checking up on all of your old stops. I have a feeling that they won’t just go away. The question is do you want to contact them on your terms or let them find you?” Susan knew the decision already.
“It looks like I am going to get the message want it or not.”
“No,” Terri’s sob was pitiful. “They can’t have you.”
“I have no choice. I can’t let them get close to the Inn. That would put everything at risk. I am going to have to meet with them. I can catch a BA flight into New York tomorrow, slip down to Washington DC on a shuttle and find out what Mercury wants.”
“I am going too. As you have said, I am on for the whole ride.”
“Alright but you stay in New York. I don’t want you anywhere near Mercury. I don’t want to give them an edge.”
“I’ll pack a bag,” Terri smiled sweetly. “You can call for tickets.”
“You are really going to take her along?”
“I promised that I was not going to leave her home waiting for news. I lost one wife to that crap and I am not going to lose a second. She is on for the whole ride.”
Frank dropped them off at first class check in. Everyone was wondering who was getting the chauffer treatment in the chauffeur driven Bentley. They used the Furst ID to check in for the flight and were escorted to the first class lounge by a British Airlines supervisor. Adam and Terri entertained the manager from British Air
lines regularly and always received VIP treatment just for show. At five foot eight with her exotic Eurasian features and elegant style of dress Terri turned heads where ever she went. Adam on the other hand was his plain as the paint on the walls, he was six foot tall, average build and was well groomed but he was rather ordinary looking with regular features. Terri enjoyed the extra attention and Adam loved her reaction when they were alone.
When they arrived in JFK, Adam sent Terri to the downtown Hyatt in a limousine with the luggage. He switched to the Noah Body ID while he was waiting for a flight to Washington National. Booking a room at the Watergate Hotel he called Mercury and arranged a meeting buying a one way ticket with a cash payment. On the way to the hotel, Noah purchased a fifth of Dewers scotch. After settling into his room, he poured a third of it in the sink and poured a drink. He rinsed his mouth out with the scotch spitting it in the sink without swallowing any of it. He hated to waste good scotch, but Noah wanted to give the impression that he had been drinking heavily. Noah did not have to wait long.
The knock at the door came about a half hour after he checked into the room. “Hi, my name is Hans. Are you Noah?” Hans read the file and looked at the pictures. Noah looked to be in better shape than his file pictures led Hans to believe. “It has been a long time since we have heard from you.”
Noah let his words out in a drunken slur. “Let’s skip the old friend’s bullshit. I am not your cousin or long lost brother. You are looking for me. Well here I am. What do you want?”
Hans was offended and didn’t hide it. “Alright no bullshit, here we go. Mercury looked into that last run of yours. Creed and Buck were killed by your drop in Nicaragua. When we investigated, we found a million in skim in Creed’s stash and three hundred thousand in cash in Buck’s bank account. We also found that they killed the Nicaraguan bag lady Maria, before the cash was fully distributed and yet you still managed to cover expenses. We found out that Buck and Creed sabotaged the operation from the outset. The contact at our Embassy in Iran screwed that end up so bad that we are still trying to repair our relations with both the Brits and Iran. We still wonder how you were able to accomplish as much as you did.”
“Does that mean that I am off the sinners list?” Noah said arrogantly.
Hans put an edge to his voice not caring for the manners of a drunk, “Yes, it means exactly that.”
Noah kept slurring his words, “You went to all this trouble to tell me that all sins are forgiven?”
Hans did not like drunks. “Not exactly, we have a special request for you.”
Noah dropped the drunken speech, “Lay it out for me in short form.”
Hans did not notice the shift. “We need to get one hundred thousand pounds of small arms delivered to Afghanistan.”
“That should not be a problem. The Air Force has transports and small arms are not in short supply to the right people. Just send them over.”
“They must be used Russian arms, and we can have nothing to do with the deal. We don’t want to piss off the Russians. We are in a cold war with them and don’t want to openly provoke them.”
“So how much are you going to pay the Russians for these arms?”
“The Afghans want to pay in opium. We were hoping that you would process the payment, and pay the Russians like you did the last time.” Hans had a hopeful look on his face.
“You can buy opium legally for thirty dollars a kilo or three cents a gram and with the right license import it legally into most countries in the world even the good old USA.” Adam was not sounding hopeful. “Heroin is a different story but you have to process the opium to get heroin which the Afghans’ can do. The Russians are going to want cash on delivery. Will the Afghans trust me with a promise of payment or do you want to front the first purchase?”
Hans did not like it when he did not control the game. Noah was supposed to be a government asset. “The real problem is that we need to come up with Russian arms and nobody has seen the General since he climbed on board your plane after which he disappeared off the face of the earth. We do not have a dependable connection for Russian arms in large enough quantities.”
Noah was careful not to allow too much sarcasm in his voice. “Let me sum this up, so I know what we are talking about. You want me to arrange a shipment of Russian arms to go to Afghanistan, pick up the arms from the Russians who are fighting the Afghans and deliver them to the Afghans who are fighting the Russians. I will be taking these through countries that are at war with each other the US, and the Russians. After that you want me to take payment in a drug that is illegal worldwide and sell it god knows where. On top of which you don’t want to front me any money necessary and arrange it without any support from Uncle Sam.”
“That is pretty much on target. Do you think that you can do it?” Hans asked calmly.
“Are you going to get another Creed or Buck to keep it from being too easy?” Noah gave up all pretense of hiding his sarcasm. “I want somebody shooting at me so it won’t be too easy.”
Hans was not fazed by Noah’s rant, “I will handle this personally. We need to keep official involvement out of this. We could have used someone else but we cannot find the Russian. The key factor is coming up with Russian Arms.” Hans sounded totally unapologetic.
“You are wrong. The key factor is not getting my ass shot full of holes. It would also be nice if the government did not assassinate my bank roll, turn me in to other government agencies or other countries. You guys screwed all over me the last time and it took me six months to get healed up. I will tell you what you need to do. Pick up a copy of the yellow pages and look up ‘Arms R Us’. ”
“What have you been doing in the mean time?” Hans was not going to bite at the bait.
“I was engaged in private enterprise which means I went out and made some money by earning it.”
“Can you do the deal?”
“Give me two weeks to see if I can find the Russian,” Noah said not hiding his frustration. “I will contact you then. There will be some conditions.”
“What are the conditions?”
“I will know after I talk to the Russian. Give me a number to contact you, and I will be in touch.” Hans wrote down a number giving it to Noah. Noah memorized the number and burned it in the bathroom sink. He washed the ashes down the drain and showed Hans the door without saying a word.
Noah walked to the front desk instructing the desk clerk to check him out in the morning. He took a cab to the Metro and caught a train to National Airport. He crossed the tracks and caught a train downtown after which Noah caught another Metro to Baltimore and took a commuter train to Grand Central Station in New York City. It was just after 10 PM when he arrived at the Hyatt. When Terri opened the door, Adam could see the concern on her face.
“What did they want?”
“They wanted me to do another arms deal for Afghanistan.” Adam said quietly.
“You are not going to!” Terri screeched.
“I told them that I would look at it. It looks unlikely with all of the conflict in the area it appears to be impossible. I will give it two weeks and tell them I can‘t do it. I have to at least appear to go through the motions.”
“You said that you were out!”
“If I don’t at least make a show of looking, they will push harder. We are going to have to make a side trip to LA, for a talk with the General. He needs to know that they are looking for him.”
Terri smiled reflectively, “I would like to see Gregory and Anna. They were special and I would love to see them.” Adam picked up the phone and called Gregory making arrangements for the visit. He made a second call to Francesca to see if she was available. Adam made the call to the dispatch center for Francesca’s company and left a message. He received a call back within thirty minutes. As it turned out Francesca was heading back to Ontario the next day from Chicago. They made arrangements to meet them at Palwaukee Airport the next afternoon, so Adam booked their first flight to O’Hare Airport.
Adam and Terri arrived at Ohare field around eleven and took a taxi up Milwaukee Avenue to Palwaukee Airport. Francesca was having coffee with her husband Frank in the restaurant next to the business terminal. Terri ran up to her and embraced her.
“I am so glad to see you. It has been forever,” Fran looked tired.
“We have been meaning to come out to see you, but the charter business is booming.”
Francesca filled Terri and Adam in on Marcel’s demise and the blackmail evidence that she discovered. She explained how and why, she returned the evidence back to the victims. The resulting good will that the move generated. Thanks to Adam’s advice Francesca had many highly placed friends that helped all of her ventures become extremely successful. Francesca was fully diversified owning other companies, but flying was her passion.
“What have you been doing?” Terri filled Francesca in on the last two years. How she designed the equestrian property and the Knoll. Terri finished off by saying how successful Lynn’s investments were doing.
“I have some tips for Lynn from some of my friends. There are a few huge government contracts that will be approved soon and that move will more than double the price of certain stocks. If she buys at the right time Lynn can take advantage of the gain. Senator Mudson is holding up a contract until I can buy up some stock for him of course he is borrowing the money from me, so I should realize a six hundred percent gain on just that one issue giving him a third of the net.
They boarded the Lear Jet 36 and took off for Long Beach. Francesca let her husband Frank take the controls after they reached cruising altitude slipping in back to talk to Adam.
“What brings you out to California?”
“Mercury called and wants me to do a deal for them. I have to look up the General.”
“Mercury found you?” The frown on Francesca’s face made her displeasure clear. She looked to Terri who was not at all happy either. “What are you going to do?”
Adam corrected himself, “They did not exactly find me. I contacted them before they did. I didn’t want them to find out about Terri, my new identity or the Inn. With Terri being pregnant and…”
