by Finian Blake
Noah picked up his bag and walked across the floor of the warehouse. When he looked out of the big roll up door, he saw Earl sitting on a tug looking out in the general direction of the aircraft.
“Hey Earl I hope that you were not too bored last night. How did it go?” Earl still looked reasonably awake.
“Not bad, we had a hurricane, an earthquake, and a hole opened up swallowing the plane. We just finished putting things back together, but other than that all is quiet.”
“It was a normal night then.”
“Yeah, it was just another routine night.”
“Thanks for the hand. I really needed to catch up on some business. I have it from here.”
Noah opened the door. Entering the crew bay he dropped the bag in the rack proceeding to the flight deck sitting down at the engineer’s console and continued to fire up the Ark. After that, he went down to the crew area. Noah looked out of the door just in time to see the tanker pull up to the wing. The driver exited the truck, walked to the rear wheels and put wheel chocks on either side of one wheel. Noah went back in the crew area and started to put on a pot of coffee. He pulled out the pot, hot cups, sugar and some powdered creamer within two minutes, he had a pot started. As he finished, the fueler slapped the side of the doorway and called out.
“I’ve got an empty tanker here ready to roll. Is anybody on board?”
Noah called out. “In here my name is Noah. I am the loadmaster. We are getting a suspect fuel quantity indicator reading. We need to drain some fuel so that we can empty a few tanks. The mechanic will have a print out of the exact procedure. The last I heard was that he supposed to be out here now. I just put on a pot of coffee. Do you care to indulge?”
“My name is Rob. I usually put the fuel on but I can take it off too. Thanks for the coffee. I am not worried about my time. You’re paying for it and if you are ready, so am I.
Noah smiled, “You’re an honest man. Have a seat and we will get busy when the mechanic shows up. This baby has four extra tanks on board. They are all center tanks, so they don’t represent a balance problem, but we do have some long legs to fly and we need to know how much we have. I would like to do this carefully to be sure we have the right answer.”
Rob shrugged. “I’m here to do what you want the way you need it done. When the mechanic lets me know what you need, I will make sure that you get it.” Noah was about to answer when he heard a slap on the side of the aircraft.
“Hey in there is anybody looking for a mechanic?” Noah waved the man in. “The name is Frank.” He held out his hand to shake Noah’s hand. “It took a while to look up the procedures. This type has extra tanks and they had to do some research to get it right. I see that you have a tanker that is good.” He glanced over at Rob, “Hey, Rob, are you going to do the fueling?”
Noah motioned his hands together. “You two go over the procedures. Let me know if you need somebody to work the console. Otherwise I have a few things to cover.”
Frank waved a stack of papers at Noah. “I will have it worked out with Rob soon. We should be good.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to Rob.
Noah turned his back on the two men turning his attention to the supply closets making sure that there were enough supplies for five days after which Noah turned his attention to the galley needing to be sure that there were enough supplies for a round trip. He checked the crew births for blankets sheets and pillows finally collecting all the trash removing it in a large plastic bag. Noah went into the cargo bay checking everything in that area checking behind the insulation blankets hide holes, bins and tools. After all the checks were accomplished, he picked up all of the debris in the bay. Noah removed all trash to the large plastic bag at the door. The tanker was still hooked up to the wing and Rob was talking on the head set. “How’s it going Frank, was it worth the check? Or was I off?” Noah had to know exactly what he had.
“No! Right now each one of the center tanks holds ten gallons more than advertised. I need to check three more tanks, but I think that what you have is a forty gallon plus. Give me thirty more minutes and we will be finished. Another fifteen after that and we will have it all written up. Then I can do all the checks. Rob can’t finish fueling until I have everything written up.” Noah felt relieved that the plane would be loaded, supplied and ready to go somewhere around 14:00. “Joe will be up with supplies. I will work out the fuel loads, and have them ready based on what you told me.” He opened the load manual and worked up the fuel load in about fifteen minutes. He walked the load down to Rob finding that Joe was under the wing talking to him. Noah put the fuel sheet on the side. “I still need a full sheet of plywood.”
“There are a few sheets of ply wood in the warehouse. I’ll have someone bring one out to you when I go through the building. I ‘m on my way in, I will see you later.”
When the ply wood arrived, Noah turned to the cargo bay. He opened the loading ramp dragging the sheet of plywood on board closing the ramp once the sheet was loaded. Noah walked forward and started to remove the cargo net. When he had exposed the top, he laid the sheet of plywood across the cargo replacing the plastic tarp and tightening the cargo net. Before he left the bay, he ran the door through a full cycle and turned off the power. Noah went up to the engineer’s panel popping the breakers for the cargo bay. Frank was still seated at the console switching tanks for Rob, “After I finish here I’ll do the checks.” Noah looked over the console.
“I can take over from here. Why don’t you start your checks?” Frank got up from the engineer’s seat.
“I am on my way. We just started the right wing. Rob is on the head set.’ Frank did his walk around quickly. Rob was putting the hose away. Noah stepped out of the aircraft, closed the door allowing the other two to walk ahead. He stopped and looked back at the plane and lit a cigarette this was a good call. The bucks were huge, and the risk was manageable. Noah was not a stranger to chance, he paid a huge price on his last run and he was still trying to recover from that. Even if he made all of the runs safely, what would the consequences be? Everything had a cost associated with it and nobody ever got off clean, it just didn’t happen. Somewhere down the line he would find out exactly what they were.
Noah tried to focus on the upcoming necessities. There were always things that were missed, but his art was to keep the mistakes out of the critical range. His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from across the dock. Joe was coming back from his lunch run. “I’m back, and look who I have with me.” Frank the engineer was in tow, carrying some burger bags.” Noah put out his smoke and joined the others in the lunchroom. There was the usual banter splitting up the goodies, but after a few minutes the conversation settled down to table talk. Noah, Frank, Rob and Frank were seated at the same table. Noah introduced Rob and Frank to Frank. There was some good-natured ribbing between the Franks. When the food was consumed, the engineer started the conversation.
“So Frank, how are things looking out there?”
“Well the fuel system check is complete. With a full load you have forty gallons more than is shown on the gages and I have completed the check on all four engines. The oil is at the full line on all four engines. I will get the tires and hydraulics checked out when we go back outside. I am going to call for some help to do that. Other than that, the logbook is clean. We should be good to go by 13:00 or so.” When Noah walked into the bay, there were two more mechanics looking in the crew area.
“Can I help you gentlemen?”
“You sure can. We are looking for Frank. Is he around?”
Noah looked up at the flight deck. Frank was still going over the logbook with Frank. “Frank is up on the flight deck. Go on up I think he’ll be finished shortly.”
The two men started for the flight deck calling Frank’s name. They received the double answer that Noah was expecting. There was some laughter, which turned into light conversation. In about five minutes. The two Franks finished their paperwork and went out. Noah was just
finishing stowing the supplies when Buck came through the cabin door.
“Hey Noah, I have good news. Here is the five grand that you requested and I also have the coordinates for the landing strips in Iran and Nicaragua. You have in-bond clearances for your fuel stop in Gander. You will have a 24 hour stop in Manchester, and then on to Tehran. The State Department has requested a minimal customs inspection in Tehran where you will also be refueled. From Tehran, you fly to an airstrip Northeast of Chalma Kandi in Ardabil Province. You deliver your cargo to a Russian general, and pick up the Russian cargo. On your return route you refuel in Adana Turkey, Manchester England, and then on to Gander with an in-bond status. You have a 48 hour rest in Dulles, then on to Nicaragua where you deliver the cargo and pickup payment. On the return, you make a fuel stop in Panama City and deliver the payment to Ontario Airport. Here are the maps, clearances and money. You will also find a briefing on your contacts in Iran and Nicaragua. I heard that you don’t carry personal weapons so I included four 9mm pistols with twenty clips of ammo.” Buck handed Noah a map case with everything in it. Noah removed the pistols and ammo from the case and handed them back to Buck.
“I am going to be meeting thirty or forty men armed with AK-47s. If I try to use these it will only piss them off. I think I will pass on the pistols. Besides that, they are going to give me a shit load of arms. The only way to beat them is to out negotiate them. We have what they want. If they screw with us they don’t get what they really want.”
“And what is that?” Buck raised an eyebrow.
“We have more of the same.” Noah jerked his thumb back toward the cargo bay. “The promise of further supplies will pave the way. It’s not like they make them there. Enough weapons and ammo to equip an army delivered to their door, that is something they want, but don’t have. A little outside co-operation here and there will get you what you want.”
“Where in the hell did you come from? You are not military or government. We can only find a very few mentions of you. We ran your fingerprints coming up with zero. How can you get a security clearance without finger prints?” Buck was showing his frustration.
“Mercury calls me when the government cannot be involved. Unless the right person uses the ‘Mercury Black Authority’, they are shut down extra fast. It is not that nobody can find me, since nobody wants to find me. I have nothing to do with any official government agency. If things go wrong the United States of America had nothing to do with it. There is one thing that you do need to know. If you screw up on your end you will be the head of security at an Antarctic weather station. If you can do it right, you can have any job you want.” Noah never raised his voice above a whisper. “They pretend to look, but that’s to cover their asses. Why do you think Colonel Creed ran out and left you in charge? He is bailing out in case of failure. This is a career killer.”
A little light bulb clicked full on in Buck’s head.
“What you’re saying is that I am being set up for a fall, in case things go wrong.” The frown tightened Bucks face. “So I am holding the shitty end of the stick?” Noah put a hand on Bucks shoulder.
“You are not holding the shitty end of the stick. What you have is the whole sewage farm. This is about as ‘whacked’ out as I have handled. It will work if we get that outside help. Look, there is a truckload of money in this deal. Have you ever thought about expanding that government retirement? You might as well get some reward for your risk. I want your eye on the ball, and not on the exit. I’m not going to ask you to take a lot of risk without a lot of reward. If things go right, it will be a healthy payday all around. Everybody gets paid in cash with no checks.” Buck brightened up considerably.
“Our retirement is kind of thin. What are we talking about?”
“10,000 dollars minimum sounds right however a tenth of ten percent of the net is what I was thinking. When you place a bet in Vegas and you win, you collect! It is the same thing here. The higher the odds, the better the payoff will be. Now, are you going to turn off that wire that you’re wearing, or be a screwed public servant?”
Buck reached under his shirt and pulled out the recorder that was secured to his back. “We split ten ways on ten percent of the net! Let’s do some business. Where do the other four shares go?”
“I haven’t talked to the Russians or the Nicaraguans yet. There may be others that need to be cut in at the finish. If we don’t cut anybody else in, we will do a six way split.” Noah held out his hand. “What do you say? Are we on or not?”
Buck shook Noah’s hand. “We are most definitely on! Do you need anything else?”
Noah sat down and presented some options for about an hour. The engineer walked in the crew area while Noah was halfway through the conversation. Frank sat down and listened to Noah while he finished briefing Buck. Finally, he covered the last two items: “If anything goes wrong identify yourself as Duck and be sure to meet this airplane each time we get back to Dulles. The other three Franks are due here any time now. If you would stick around and brief the flight crew, I would appreciate it.”
The mechanic walked in looking for the logbook grabbing Frank as he went up to the flight deck to sign off on the log. Noah looked up to the flight deck.
“Hey Frank, after you sign off, come in the office. Buck is going to brief everybody. Buck and Noah left heading for the office. Frank pointed at the log.
“Were there any suspect tires?”
“There were three but they didn’t need to be changed. Noah told me to change anything that did not look right, but there is still a lot of wear left on them.”
Frank went through the rest of the services. When all of the entries had been made, both men signed off on the log. The engineer then signed off on the billing. Frank waved goodbye to the mechanics and made sure that the airplane was sealed up before heading for the building. When he walked in the office the other three Franks were talking to Buck.
“Am I late or are you just killing time?”
Buck smiled and said, “You are on a need to know basis and you do need to know. Noah has already heard the goodies, so he wants the ‘quartet’ to get the news from me and he will come in a little later.” Frank settled in to listen to the briefing. The contents of the map case were spread all over the office. The five men went over the maps, headings and frequencies. After getting all of the details Buck asked the ultimate question, “Are we still a go?”
The four Franks looked at Buck. “We are the transport, and Noah handles the business, right?” Buck just nodded a yes, “we kicked it around last night and gave Noah a go. It’s still a go all of the way.”
Buck’s posture visibly relaxed. “All the way it is then. Let us get Noah in here and we will seal the deal.” Noah had been listening to the briefing, from a position outside the door. He stepped around the corner.
“Well since we are a go let’s get started. It is fourteen hundred right now, and we were scheduled to depart at sixteen hundred. Since we are a non-scheduled airline, let’s get the hell out of here. Frank the pilot said, “I’ll see if we can get clearance.” Three of the four Franks grabbed their bags and started for the door.
“Buck, I’ll see you back here in five days.” Three of the Franks climbed on board the plane and stowed their bags. Each man went to check his area of the aircraft. The fourth Frank climbed on board.
“We have clearance for Gander. Joe is on his way out to waive us off.” He went up to the flight deck. Frank adjusted his seat and sat down. He powered up the APU and started up the various systems on the aircraft. Three of the Franks fired up the electronics in the cockpit. The fourth Frank went outside to do a final quick walk around. Noah called up to the flight deck and had them power up the cargo systems and went to recheck the bay.
“How many times are you going to check the bay?” Frank was beginning to worry about Noah.
“How many times do you check a baby’s diaper?”
Within ten minutes the aircraft was buttoned up and all five men were be
lted in their seats. Frank saw Joe walking across the ramp with the wands in hand. Joe pulled the wheel chocks clear plugging in the headset.
“Hey, did somebody tell you that you were getting laid when you got where you were going.”
“No, but if we are going to do this we might as well get on our way,” Frank replied.
“We will fire the engines one, two, three, four. I’ll point at them and you start them.”
He unplugged the head set and closed the panel. Joe walked back ten yards. He pointed at number one with his left hand making a circular motion with his right hand and Frank fired the number one engine. Within a few minutes all four engines were running smoothly. Joe gave thumbs up signal and raised both hands to direct them out of their spot to the taxiway. Joe saluted them off and watched them move down the concrete. The L100-30 rolled down the taxiway for takeoff. Frank called the tower for clearance, so when they reached the end of the runway immediate clearance was given. Frank eased the throttles back and the cargo plane began its roll down the runway quickly building speed until the landing gear cleared the ground. The aircraft was at max takeoff weight plus the extra three hundred pounds for the added forty gallons of fuel. Frank wanted to see how the aircraft responded when the Ark was fully laden being pleasantly surprised by the smooth response. They climbed slowly to the north east. The tower turned them over to air traffic control and they were on their way.
3
TRAVELS
The flight up to Gander was uneventful, with just a few small pockets of air turbulence. Frank called control for the in-bond parking refueling pad. A customs van rolled out to the pad and parked while the tanker truck pulled up to the wing. Noah waited until the customs officer knocked on the door. He opened the door and presented the load manifest. The customs officer waited until Noah invited him on board.
“Good evening sir. How was your flight?”