The Remote Traveler (The Remote Series Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  Susan made a face at Alex. Lynn reassured her, “He was just playing. It didn’t hurt. Alex is my friend.”

  Helen watched Alex walk away, “He is devoted to you. Is that a problem with Anna?”

  Lynn made a bland comment, “No, she does not have a problem with me being devoted to him and he has no problem with Anna being devoted to me either.”

  Helen made a face, “I did say that Susan was my partner in all respects. I am a lesbian not a child molester. We lived together for thirty-five years and raised four children that are heterosexual adults and I am very proud of them.”

  Helen looked for clarification, “They are your children and Susan’s children.”

  “Yes, but they are true siblings. Alex is the father of all of them so they are genetically siblings.”

  Helen was still confused, “It appears as if you gave away all of Susan’s inheritance without keeping anything.”

  “I have 190 million pounds in the bank after I gave the kids my shares of the Inn. It is time for the next generation, but I am staying on as their advisor. I will still do what I do best and still teach them. I can referee the arguments and applaud the good stuff. It’s the best way to insure the future.” Helen was feeling better about her Susan and the two-million-dollar gift.

  Lynn pressed ahead, “If you let us invest it she should have somewhere around twenty million dollars in ten years. It is set up as a trust fund and you have control of it. We need your permission to invest for her or you. You have the two million since Tom qualifies as a regular plus there is the signing bonus so the total is three point one million. If you invest without tapping it too hard you and Tom should be quite well off.” Helen was floored by the figures. “As a favorite daughter you and Susan can come to the Inn for a stay any time you like. Just call and we will arrange everything including all of the transportation.” Tom walked into the pub looking for his family. Helen took his hand and squeezed it hard.

  “Tom if you quit this job I will kill you.”

  Tom said, “We really need to socialize with our new employers.” Lynn looked at the frown on Susan’s face.

  “Susan, would you like to go riding, we can stop and visit Shultz on the way to the stables. He likes to run with the horses.”

  7.

  SAME OLD PROBLEM

  Lynn and little Susan changed into riding clothes going down to the kennel. Lynn let Shultz and the other four dogs out. Susan was intimidated at first. The dog’s caught the scent of Lynn’s daughter on the riding clothes instantly accepting her. Shultz was Lynn’s personal canine friend and the others belonged to her daughter Susan. Susan’s bond with Shultz was instantaneous. He picked a position between the two and his place was not negotiable. The other four dogs roamed in front of them, but Shultz was the boss and the other dogs knew it. Lynn decided to go for a walk with Susan before riding. She wanted to get to know her new friend first.

  “Do you like school?”

  “I am not doing very well. I don’t care for school very much.”

  “School is very important. It helped me get all of this. Let’s walk around and see what school can do for you.” They walked out on the central road. Lynn noticed that the dogs were interested in something out of her sight. She paused and looked down the road. A man in a suit was approaching the first entrance to the guest area. Lynn took Susan’s hand and walked slowly toward the man. She waved and walked toward him. When they were a few feet away he reached inside of his coat. Lynn pointed at the man and the dogs were on him in a heartbeat. The dogs knocked him over grabbing his arms and legs. Shultz took a position between his legs as the man protested loudly.

  Lynn smiled sweetly, “I feed them goat testicles, but they will make an exception if I tell them. If you upset my granddaughter, I will tell them that it is time for their dinner.” The man could see the dogs perk up at the word dinner.

  Steve followed the transmitter that was hidden in one of the suitcases from London to Manchester. He saw that the place was some kind of a rundown resort, and had his partner Oscar parked down the road from the gate. It was a simple barrier to keep cars out which he merely walked around. He went back to report in and waited for instructions. A chauffer driven Bentley Mulsanne was the only car that went in or out. After several hours of waiting Steve decided to try the road so that he could get a view of the inside of the property. He worked his way slowly down the road hoping to get a peek through the hedge row. Steve saw what he took for a grandmother and her granddaughter walking down the road in riding clothes. There was no threat there. John in security spotted him on camera and notified Nadia. He also mentioned that Lynn and Susan were also walking across the road. Susan, Nadia and Ted were out the door in a flash, grabbing Tom as they went.

  “Tom, we have an intruder within one hundred yards of your daughter and Lynn.”

  “Is there any danger?”

  “I am not sure but we are not taking any chances.” She handed Tom and Ted a Glock nine each from the dash board of the cart. Nadia slowed the cart when they rounded the corner. She pulled up slowly and Susan’s daughter Lynn stepped off as the cart stopped.

  “Have the dogs eaten his balls yet.” Steve paled when he heard the comment. “Mom, why don’t you and little Susan go for your ride? I will see to this gentleman. Ted why don’t you take Tom up the road? See if our friend has anyone with him.” The two men walked to the main road and found a car parked across the foot path with a driver inside. They slipped their guns in the back of their waist bands as they walked up to the car.

  “You are parked on the foot path.”

  “Walk around the car.”

  Ted protested loudly in his heavy Scottish accent, “It is against the law!”

  “Screw the law!” Both men drew their guns out of their waist bands and Ted ripped the man out the window of the car, throwing him face down on the gravel shoulder. He placed his size fourteen on the back of the man’s neck pinning him to the gravel. Tom frisked him and found a silenced Glock nine in a holster. Ted pulled the ID out of the man’s pocket.

  “It appears that we have a CIA agent named Oscar that doesn’t care about the law.” Ted held up the gun.

  “Well Oscar it appears that the law is going to screw you.” They loaded Oscar in the car and drove him down to his partner Steve. Suki had arrived at the scene and was waiting for them with Nadia and the dogs.

  Nadia looked at Lynn, “It’s your show now. You have the final decision.”

  Lynn smiled, “What is your best advice?”

  “I would interrogate them here to find out what the purpose of their visit is.” Nadia held out the two silenced Glock nines that they were carrying. “And I would find out who sent them.” The sight of the two pistols hardened Lynn.

  “Tom and I will do it.” Ted smiled to Lynn.

  “I think that we should let Shultz do it.” Lynn said one word to Shultz, “Zipper…” Shultz went for Steve’s zipper. He ripped it half out of the man’s pants before Nadia stopped him.

  Lynn talked in an even voice, “The next time I will say balls. I am going to ask some questions and I am not going to ask them more than once.”

  “Steve, how did you find this place?”

  “They put a transmitter in one of the suitcases.”

  “Who are they?”

  “I don’t know.” Nadia moved over to Oscar. “Who sent you?”

  “Shultz, zipper…” Oscar raised his foot to protect himself.

  Nadia held her gun to his head, “If you kick that dog I will have him eat your balls.” Shultz ripped the zipper clean out of Steve’s pants. Shultz sat down proudly holding his trophy. “If you can’t remember the question I will have Shultz remind you.”

  “If it weren’t for that gun I would kick your ass.” Nadia pulled Oscar to his feet noticing that she was a full head taller than him. She decided to use one of Edward’s tricks. Nadia straightened her fingers, poked him in the right shoulder and then again in the left shoulder.

&nbs
p; “Why don’t you punch my lights out?” Oscar went to lift his arm and found out that he couldn’t.

  Nadia laughed, “That’s right you were going to kick my ass. She straightened her hand again poking Oscar in the right hip. Oscar’s leg folded like it was made of rubber dropping him to the ground.

  Oscar caved in, “I was sent here by our Station Chief. He wanted to know where Mister Chalenger was going.” Nadia looked at Lynn.

  “Do you want Alex here?” Ted picked up his cell phone. “Send Alex down. We have something for him and have him bring Edward with him.”

  Alex drove down to the road with Edward. Nadia went over to Edward and whispered in his ear.

  “That jab of yours worked perfectly.” Edward looked at the man lying at her feet.

  “It seems that you mastered it. Would you like to know how to release it?”

  Nadia laughed, “Not yet”.

  Ted stepped up to Alex, “These men wanted to know what you were up to. Would you mind telling them?”

  Alex answered without hesitation. “I came here to attend the funeral of my friend. I would like to know where your orders came from.” Alex picked up Oscar’s phone and looked to Ted for permission. Ted nodded and Alex handed the phone to Oscar. He still could not use his arms so Alex offered the phone to Steve.

  “Call your control. If you want to leave your boss will have to pick you up.” Steve dialed the number. Alex snatched the phone from his hand memorizing the number. “Lynn, do you think that we should call MI, and tell them that the CIA is playing with guns in their back yard?”

  “Alex that is an excellent idea five of the Brass are on their way here at this moment to pay their respects to Susan. We can send them back on the MI helicopter. Blindfold them and move them to the service center.” Ted and Edward loaded the two men on a cart and left after blindfolding them.

  Tom, Nadia, Alex and Susan’s daughter Lynn stayed behind to catch up with the two riders.

  “I know that it isn’t what mom would have done.”

  “We didn’t want to know what Susan would have done,” Alex commented. “You have charge of the Inn. We want to know what you want to do. It’s your show now, all the way.”

  Alex added his comment before Lynn could respond, “Susan didn’t handle everything personally. She gave the problem to those best equipped to handle it. You are in charge now and we will follow your orders.”

  “You’re my father!” Alex pulled Lynn to him gently putting his arm around her waist.

  “I will be happy to advise you but it is time for you to lead. Lynn knew that when she turned things over to you two. Susan has to deal with a little over a billion dollars’ worth of assets. I have a suggestion for you, if you want it.”

  “I would love a suggestion.”

  Alex waded in, “We are scattering your mother’s ashes tomorrow. Call a board meeting of the shareholders and set things up the way that the new board wants them. With the exception of Suki’s fifteen percent and Sarah at five percent the board is new”

  Lynn was looking for support, “Will you and mom be there?”

  “Yes, if the board approves. Remember that we are no longer Board members. Your mother had a copy of the ‘Robert’s Rules of Order’ somewhere. Ask Lynn for it and glance through it. You and Susan are the logical people to operate the Inn since Noah and Adam are in the service and not available. Talk to the other members and see what their thoughts are.” Alex hugged Lynn gently kissing her on the cheek. “I think that you are the perfect choice. What do you think Nadia?”

  “That is absolutely the perfect choice. I think that you will find the other members will agree.”

  Alex took Tom and went to find Lynn who was riding with little Susan in the equestrian area. The riders were just coming out of the barn and Shultz followed closely behind them. Tom hugged his daughter.

  “That man didn’t scare you, did he?”

  “No Shultz was there to protect me.”

  “Does Shultz scare you?”

  “No he doesn’t. Lynn taught me a trick.” Little Susan walked up to the dog.

  “Love Shultz,” the dog walked up to Susan and started licking her face. She put both arms around his neck. Tom was impressed. “Lynn says that she will share her dog with me.” Lynn helped her mount the horse and Alex gave Lynn a leg up.

  Lynn smiled, “Alex you are still a real gentleman.”

  Little Susan answered, “I know he is a nice man. Daddy, do you like Alex?”

  “Yes he has been very nice to all of us.” Lynn looked down from her horse.

  “Run along, you are interrupting our ride.” Lynn spoke as if nothing had happened.

  Alex went to the security center to wait for the helicopter. Tom was curious about Alex’s plan.

  Tom pushed, “Those clowns weren’t here for a picnic. What are you going to do with them?”

  Alex frowned, “There are five ‘Brass’ coming over from MI to pay their respects. I was going to turn them over to MI and let them find out what the story is. I have the phone number for their control. MI is very sensitive about foreign agents running around the UK shooting up the countryside and its citizens even if they are allies. I will recommend that they hold on to these two until their control picks them up.”

  “Alex, do you believe that MI will tell you what they find?”

  “They periodically use the Inn for a safe house and occasionally take a weekend with their family here. People trying to enter the Inn with weapons will always be a major issue with them. Suki’s security company advises them of organizations working against British interests.”

  Ted still did not understand, “So this is a MI operation?”

  “No, there is no official link between the Inn and MI although we are loyal to British interests. They use the Inn to do things that cannot be associated with MI. Their Director knows about this place and only uses it for sensitive issues. I have done some work with the U.S. to do the same thing when the situation requires it.”

  “Alex, are you getting me involved in ‘Black Ops’,” Tom asked.

  “No, Four Diamonds is above board in all of their operations. If there is anything that you object to, you can change it or refuse to do it straight up. Everybody’s cooperation is voluntary. Periodically we exceed the law, but we try to keep it down to a minimum. We have turned down all requests for assassination and espionage preferring to work rescues, protection, antiterrorism, and training of defense forces. There are twenty countries represented in our personnel and we never ask our people to betray their country. Our largest groups are British, Russian and US.”

  “I didn’t notice any Russians.”

  “Tom they are mixed in. Nadia, Sarah and Anna are Russian. We have a tendency to ignore national feuds and let the individual nations pursue them as they choose. I can safely guarantee that none of our Russians have engaged in espionage.”

  Tom was not entirely convinced, “I am not sure…”

  “If you are not sure you have the right to back out. That will be your choice. If you are wondering what kind of pressure, we put on friends talk to Francesca.”

  Evan woke up naked on the floor to the sound of rustling papers. He looked around the room. Pauline was sitting on the floor with her back to the couch. She was naked except for a blanket draped around her shoulders. Several stacks of file folders were stacked around her. She was reviewing the contents sorting them by action. Evan came to his senses quickly.

  “Those are classified!”

  “Whom did you think put them together? I was Sean’s personal assistant.” Pauline picked two files off of different stacks. She waved one in front of Evan. “Some of these are well justified with hard evidence.” She waved another file at him. “Other files have shaky justification at best.”

  Evan objected, “I was told to destroy all of the files.”

  Pauline shook her head. “We need to justify our use of funds. Millions have been spent to rid our country of spies that cannot be tri
ed or prosecuted. Without the files, they will say that we misused the money. Destroy the files that can’t be justified and present the others to the committee. They can destroy the files after we prove our worth.”

  “How can you judge which files need to be destroyed?” Pauline held up three files.” She flipped them at his feet one at a time.

  “This file is Sean and Millie Rider. They were my parents. This file is Lena Rider. This last file was Brian’s last successful job six months ago he made it look like an accident. They were my parents. I inherited their fortune since my siblings were dead. My father was going to disinherit me when he guessed what I was doing.” Pauline picked up the four files and added them to a larger stack. “These files must be destroyed without delay. If you have no objection I will take these to the shredding room.” Evan saw an ally in Pauline.

  “What do you want for this service?”

  “A Special Envoy will require a personal assistant. I would like the job. I think that I can prove my worth.” This was a truly ruthless woman. Sean had chosen her well.

  “Would you care to be my personal assistant?” Pauline held up the three files.

  “What about these?”

  “I believe that you should shred all of the files that you have indicated, A S A P.” Pauline threw off the blanket and started to dress.

  “I will schedule your appointments starting at noon. There is a private shower through that door. One of Sean’s shirts should fit you, but the pants are hopeless. I will take you to the mall and get some new clothes. You can burn the ones that you are in.”

  By the time that Evan was finished with his shower Pauline had a documents cart loaded.

  “It is three in the morning won’t we be obvious?”

  “Come with me and you will see.” Pauline took the elevator to the basement and walked down a long hallway. There were three people with carts waiting to enter the room ahead of them. Pauline laughed poking Evan in the ribs.

  “Three AM is a popular time of day at the shredder. Wait here with the cart I will get us some coffee.” Evan watched her sway down the hall. She was a beautiful woman with endless ambition. He would have to watch her carefully. He was tempted to retrieve the files from the cart. Pauline failed to lock it before they left the office. After some thought, he decided against it. Pauline returned with two cups and four pastries. They used the cart for a table.