by Finian Blake
“Of course we will be happy to meet all of your requirements. If you will let me have them I will see that we comply, so that we can remain inside the law.” Adam formally said noticing a friendly smile from Wilson. He was sure that Susan would arrange anything that he required through MI 5. Wilson shook his hand warmly being happy that Adam did not hammer him with his influence.
“In that case I shall look forward to working with you.” Wilson pointed over Adam’s shoulder. “I see the maintenance foreman coming your way. I am sure you would like to have a discussion with him. We should finish our discussions at a later time, have a pleasant day.”
The car for the maintenance foreman rolled up to the airplane stopping just a few feet in front of Adam.
“My name is Logan,” He shook Adam’s hand warmly. “I understand that you would like to talk about some repairs to your aircraft, what may I do for you?”
“Well Sir, I would like to get this aircraft and top mechanical shape. I would like your crews to go through every system and repair anything that looks in the least little bit suspect. After they do that I would like them to give the airframe a thorough going over inspecting for any damage or extreme wear. Then I would like to have you check all of the electronics to make sure that they are in top shape. This plane once had a radar scope in it and I would like to have it replaced with the most current model that will fit. While all that is going on I would like to get rid of this military appearance so I would like a paint job inside and out. Don’t try to save the OD blanket insulation. Replace it with new material.” Logan could not believe his ears since usually private owners only wanted to fix what was absolutely necessary.
“Of course do you have an account with us?” Adam pulled a bank draft for a hundred thousand pounds out of his pocket handing it to Logan.
“No, I don’t have an account, but we will start one. Here is one hundred thousand Pounds for an initial payment and we shall replenish it as necessary. If you have any questions contact Susan at Brit World Wide.”
“Of course Susan…,” Logan smiled warmly upon hearing the name. “Everything will be as you require.” Finally Adam ordered some fiberglass panels installed over the spars in order to deaden the sound and make it look more civilian. “I would like them starting on it this evening. Logan, I would like this to be ready in a week and I am more than willing to pay any overtime necessary to meet that schedule. Are we clear on this?”
“Adam in order to meet that kind of a schedule we will have to beef up the third shift with overtime and that will be quite expensive.”
“Work around the clock if you have to and I will pay the overtime but I am serious about this aircraft being ready within the week.” Logan got back in his car figuring that he could call several mechanics back from redundancy instead of calling that much overtime.
“Ralph, I am going to arrange for a spot to park your new baby.” In thirty minutes everything was arranged and the Caribou was being towed to the hangar.
Frank drove Adam and Ralph back to the Knoll. Adam set Ralph up in the guest cottage.
“This is the new section. Terri and I own the Knoll. The guest cottage is yours as long as you are here. Why don’t you settle in and we will plan dinner for nineteen hundred. I believe that Susan has set up maid service for you and I have been told that you will have assistance unpacking.” Adam opened the door to the guest cottage. A petite raven haired Vietnamese woman was waiting in the sitting room. She was five foot slim built with her high heel shoes bringing the top of her head up to the level of Ralph’s chin. Ralph transfixed by the site could only stand in the middle of the room with his mouth agape.
“Ralph, this is Annette,” Adam said smiling at the impact that this vision had been on Ralph. “She will be your maid for the first few days.” Annette was dressed in a maid’s uniform that left nothing to the imagination. She was the French consul’s wife and every time he left for a weekend with his mistress, Annette would come and work for Susan.
“Good evening sir. My name is Annette. I understand that you have had a long journey. I will help you get settled into your cottage. Susan likes to call this cottage the Playground it has some interesting features which I will introduce you to personally.” Annette started to unbutton Ralph’s shirt opening his shirt and kissing his nipples. “After such a long trip I am sure that you would like to take a bath.” Annette took Ralph by the hand taking his middle finger in her mouth inviting him playfully while looking him in the eye. “I will be your washcloth this afternoon.” She turned her attention to Adam saying, “We will call Alan to order dinner.” Annette looked at Adam saying an overly honey sweet voice, “Adam, I have the matter well in hand, so we will not be joining you for dinner. You may go now.” Annette turned walking into the shower with Ralph following her as if in a trance. Adam took his dismissal calmly closing the door thinking that he would not hear from Ralph for a few days.
Adam walked in the house hoping to find Terri resting but when he found no one there Adam called Susan’s office finding no one there. He tried Susan’s home and Lynn answered.
“Hi, Adam, it is good to see you home early,” Lynn said weakly. “Terri is in her studio with Susan drawing plans for Frank’s new gym. We have her solemn oath that she will not go running around.”
“What did the doctor say?” Adam was wishing that he went with them today.
“He said that she was over doing things. He gave her some vitamins and told her to keep her activities down to two hours at a time and then rest for a few hours.”
“Is that all?”
“He wants her to keep all physical activities to a minimum. Susan is over there with her now. Why don‘t you go over to the studio and see what’s up.”
Adam walked to the studio. Terri and Susan were seated at the drawing board with Frank and Suki, going over the plans for the Twenty thousand square foot addition. Terri looked tired.
Adam sounded pissed, “How long have you been at this?”
“What time is it?” Terri looked at the clock. It was four thirty PM. “We have been at this since eleven. We were going to make some changes and have lunch.”
“Did you have lunch?” Adam was not at all happy.
“We were just going to fix something.”
Adam took the pencil from her hand. “Then let’s go have something to eat.” He gave Susan a cold stare making up his mind to take the next few days off to insure that Terri was going to rest. The only thing that he needed to do was make a few phone calls.
“I was just sitting,” Terri complained. “I have to do something.”
“If I did not care I wouldn’t say a word. It just so happens that I do care. Tonight we will have a nice dinner and relax.” He turned to the other three saying coldly. “Please feel free to continue without Terri. She is done for the day.”
Adam put his arm around her waist and went home. He convinced Terri to lie down for a half an hour and she was asleep within minutes. He closed the curtains quietly leaving the bedroom. Susan knocked at the door of the cottage.
“I am sorry. Time just got away from us and we were all enthused.”
Adam was still unhappy, “I wanted to stay and take care of her. You made me go on my errands. If you are not going to help, just tell me that I am on my own. I can deal with that.”
“I said that I would help and I will. We did get her to the doctor.” Susan was sounding put out about being lectured.
“What did he say?”
“He gave her some vitamins and told her not to work more than two hours without resting for an hour or so.”
“And…” A sheepish look came over Susan’s face.
“Susan, what would you say to me if I pushed Terri into doing things that would hurt her?”
“I would give you a nasty lecture.” Susan smiled at Adam.
“I guess that is what I am doing now. Please consider yourself lectured,” Adam smiled at Susan. “I would like to respectfully ask that you help Terri with this.
” Susan appreciated that Adam did not follow with useless rant. “Why don’t we schedule a picnic for tomorrow?”
Terri did not wake up until two in the morning. When she tried to get up, she found that Adam had a firm grip on her waist.
“I will get you some dinner. Is there anything that you fancy?”
Terri continued to try to get up. “I am just going to use the toilet.”
“If you are not back in five minutes, I will come looking for you.” Adam released her.
“You are turning into quite the tyrant. You embarrassed me in front of our friends this afternoon.”
“They were supposed to be helping, not pushing you further.”
“I know what I can and cannot do.”
“I know that you can pass out! Is this your revenge for me doing this deal?”
“No, it is not. I am a big girl and can do what I want.” Whether his requests were reasonable or not Terri seemed to be determined to do the opposite of what Adam wanted of her. He was thinking that it might be one of those pregnancy mood swings.
“Susan scheduled a picnic for tomorrow. Can we at least agree on taking the day off for a picnic?”
“That sounds like fun. We can agree on that.” Terri hopped out of bed and headed for the toilet.
Adam did a quick calculation and figured that it would be four o’clock in LA. He picked up the phone and called Gregory.
“It looks like we are on for our deal. I just bought a Caribou and we need to fine tune our plan. Is there any chance of you coming out here for a few weeks?”
“Anna and I will be free in two days. We can see you then.”
“Liz is coming back at about that time. Could you give her a call at Jeff’s studio? Maybe you could come back together.”
“I will see what we can work out and give you a call to firm up our plans tomorrow.” Adam hung up the phone.
Terri slept in until nine AM. Adam was up at six for the morning jog meeting Suki and Frank outside the garage. Adam assumed the rear position as usual. Suki and Frank were a little further ahead than usual. Suki was pushing Frank for the lead. When they stopped to join the 'Old Men', Adam fell out to have a word with Lynn and Susan. “You go ahead. Pick me up on the way back.”
Suki came back to talk with Adam. “You go ahead and we can talk later.” Adam knocked on the door. Lynn came down in her robe.
“Susan went into Brit Worldwide. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to bounce an idea off of someone. You are probably the better person for this than Susan.” Adam took a minute to collect his thoughts. “Do you think this is one of those pregnancy mood swings that Terri is going through or am I turning into a lunatic expectant father? When my daughter was born, I was working all the time and missed most of this.”
“I never knew that you had a daughter!” Lynn never heard Adam talk about her.
“I lost her when my wife divorced me. Pat did not want to subject her to my life. It still is a painful subject, so I never mention it.” Adam wanted to discuss the present not the past.
Lynn sounded reflective, “It could be both things. Terri is definitely not herself. She cannot stand to be told not to do something. It is like waving a red cape in front of a bull. The challenge is just too much to resist. Susan was glad that you did not push the issue yesterday. I know what she means to you and the only advice that I can give you is hang in there and do not give up.”
“I can assure you that I will not do that. I do know that she means everything to me. I need any cooperation that I can get.” Lynn did not want to push Adam.
“I promise that I will do what I can.” Lynn gave him a kiss on the cheek leaving Adam to his thoughts. He started to jog back up the hill. Frank and Suki caught up to him before he reached the top. While they were cooling down Suki came up to him.
“I am sorry about…”
“Suki, I am not going to harass anyone.” Adam held up a hand. “I am just going to ask for what I think I need. Either help or don’t help. Terri is your friend and I don’t want to affect that relationship.” Adam was tired of coming up empty resolving to do the best he could by himself. Adam did not wait for further comment. He went to the house for a shower.
“Are you finished harassing my friends.” Terri came into the shower as he was soaping up. “You embarrassed me yesterday.”
“First of all, they are our friends. Secondly, I am trying to get you to take care of yourself not embarrass you. I was hoping that you can tell the difference.” Adam just wanted to finish his shower. “You will do what you want to do. I am just trying to talk you into protecting yourself.”
“You do not care about me,” Terri pushed back.
“Do you really think that?” Adam closed off the conversation. He pulled Terri in the shower and turned on the cold water grabbing one towel and throwing the rest in the water. He dressed and left. Adam took the Volkswagen Golf that Liz was using. He drove out to Brit Worldwide going up to Susan’s office.
“I need to get away for a while. Terri is right over the edge and I want to be sure that you know that it is nothing that you have done or said. I firmly believe that the whole thing is one of those pregnancy mood swings. I do not even believe Terri realizes she is doing it.” Adam ran out of talk. “I am going to check on the Ark and have lunch. I need a place to camp out in so I am going to grab the apartment in the security building. I am not in the mood to go driving around.”
“Adam, you know that I cannot take sides in this. I love you both.”
“I would not ask you to take sides. I just need a break.”
“Alright, but I will not lie to her either.” Susan said firmly.
“Fair enough…”
The Ark was in the hangar when Adam went into talk to the manager.
“What do you think of the bird?”
“It is in good shape. The tires are an odd size. I wanted to warn you that if one blows out it may take a while to replace. The other thing is that these are military rims. If a tire blows there will be large chunks of rubber flying all over the place. Civilian rims have fuse plugs that will blow before the tire explodes.”
“Alright, order four main gear rims, two nose gear tires and two spares. Keep the military rims for emergencies. Check the instruments for calibration and make sure that the throttles are balanced. If you see anything that needs attention go ahead and take care of it. How much are we talking about?”
“With the extras that you ordered, the tab should run somewhere around sixty thousand pounds. You have a lot of overtime on finishing the paint.”
“Go ahead and call all the help you need. I need this ASAP so go for whatever over time that you need and update the electronics. I want to go to the best radar that will fit in the console.”
“I will go to the whip on this one,” Logan promised. “The rims may take a while and we might have to go to Canada for them.”
“I can live with that. Give Susan a call with the estimate.”
Adam drove the Golf back to the Inn parking it behind Beth’s shop making a quick dash to the service building. He stopped in security and had any calls for him routed to the apartment. He did not want to miss Gregory’s call. Alan sent up a bar cart with some appetizers. Adam pulled out some maps of Turkey and started to study. He needed a diversion to get the Patna well out of port before anyone started looking for the arms. He also needed a cover to move the payment back to the states. He pulled out a magnifying glass studying every inch of the route. There were three tight spots, the Bosporus Straights, the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal. All were international waterways and subject to free passage by any nation. He elected to plan his first contact in Turkey, and if he could not find a place to start there was no point in worrying about the finish. Anna grew up in that area and had family on both sides of the border in both Soviet Georgia and Turkey. Pakistan should be an easier nut to crack. They were a silent partner in moving arms to Afghanistan. Dropping the shipment in Karachi would simplify things. He
needed to get this deal done as soon as possible. The longer that it took the more chance that there was of it being discovered.
The phone broke Adam’s concentration. “Adam we have a panic alarm in your bathroom.”
“Everything is fine up here.”
“No, I mean the bathroom in your house.” Adam dropped the phone and sprinted up the hill. Halfway up, he could see Frank and Suki sprinting over to his house. When Adam entered Frank and Suki were already in the bath. Terri was doubled over on the floor in pain and she could barely talk. Adam did not wait to find out what was happening. He was on the phone calling an ambulance. There was a pool of vomit on the floor. Terri was drenched in sweat and her eyes were not focusing.
“Where the hell were you?”
“I was giving you time to calm down.”
“I thought you left me.” Terri doubled over in pain again, “The cramps hurt so bad!”
“Where…?” She rubbed her abdomen. The ambulance arrived in twenty minutes. They loaded her in the ambulance and Frank followed on its bumper all the way to the hospital. The doctor arrived about the same time that Terri lost all of her color. After three hours and several tests Terri could at least talk.
“It hurt so bad that I thought that the baby was gone!” The doctor came in the room.
“The baby is ok this time. The next time you may not be so lucky. You can ignore me or anybody else, but your body will still revolt. I told you to slow down. I think we will keep you overnight just to be sure. I want the IV to stay in. You lost a lot of fluids.”
“I can’t…,” Terri started.
“Terri will be happy to stay.” Adam said quietly not wanting to produce a challenge.
In the morning the doctor stopped by to release Terri about nine AM.
“The next time there is a good chance that you will miscarry. If you do, there is a chance that you may not have any children.” There was a look of anguish on Terri’s face. Frank drove them home and Adam put Terri in bed.
