by Finian Blake
“And do you respect me?” She locked her eyes on his. Fran was looking for any sign of mockery.
“Tell me what you think. Do I respect you?”
She searched his eyes for a moment without saying a word and finally Fran smiled breaking the silence, “Yes I believe you do.”
“Tell me about your lessons,” Noah asked. She started talking stop until they went in their rooms at the hotel. When they went to dinner she resumed the conversation where she left off with the quartet joining them for dinner. The relief mentioned that he flew helicopters for Air America in South East Asia and Fran locked on to him for the rest of the evening asking every question that occurred to her. Everybody gave and received their share of grief. Noah turned in early, since he been on the go all day. He had just packed his bag and crawled between the sheets when Noah heard a knock at the adjoining door. He moved over to the door, but did not open it.
“What’s up?”
“I wanted to say thank you? I didn’t earlier.”
“Fran, you are most welcome”
“I mean for everything. You could have done things differently. I think that you’re a decent person.”
“You could have shot me,” Noah chuckled.
“Open the door,” she whispered softly.
“No, Fran”
“Why?”
“Because I am a decent person and this is the wrong time,” Noah knew that this was not the right time to get romantic.
“See you in the morning,” Fran said just above a whisper
“Good night.”
Nobody would believe that he turned down an evening in the sheets with Fran. Noah went back to bed alone. At five Noah was out of bed and in the shower. He listened at the adjoining door and hearing the shower running he decided not to bother Fran. He showered, packed and dressed. Before leaving the room, he knocked on the adjoining door.
“See you in the lobby.” Noah was the first one to arrive, and by five thirty everybody was assembled. The four Franks took the courtesy van. Noah and Fran drove over in the truck.
“I’m not used to being turned down.”
“Fran, I believe you.”
“It would have been a mistake,” she said reflectively.
“I’m not sure what it would have been, but I couldn’t afford to find out.” Noah said finishing the ride in silence.
Bob pulled up the paper work so the Ark was primed and ready to go. The relief and Fran did the takeoff. With a few more cycles Frank could sign off on Fran and she would be an official pilot with Everywhere Air. Fran and Frank turned the plane over to the regular crew. The Ark pulled on the spot for Everywhere Air at Dulles International about five twenty and they were at the same hotel in Reston. Fran and the quartet ended up to the left of the elevators and Noah ended up to the right in a different wing, one floor lower. Noah threw his bag on the bed and spoke softly into the room.
“Buck, I’m here come in.” He walked over and opened the adjoining door.
“Who’s the bimbo?”
“She is a new pilot assigned to Frank. As far as I know she has cleared with security.”
“What is her name? We will check it out. If she is west coast, we can still do a check on her in a few hours.”
“Her name is Francesca Anna Garcia. She is from the west coast LA area. Her application is in the home office and that should have all of her personal information on it. I will get back to that later. We have some business to transact.”
Noah picked up his map case and handed it to Buck, “Have a look inside.”
Buck opened the case. It was filled with hundred dollar bills, ten thousand one hundred dollar bills.
Buck blanched, “How much?”
“One million even. It may take a while to count, but there are ten thousand one hundred dollar bills in there. We did much better than I thought we would. I assumed all the expenses for the trip, the aircraft will be covered, and after thirty days I am paying for the bits for the first run, so the million is pure profit.”
“Pure profit,” Buck could see promotion in his future. This had to be the first clandestine operation that anybody had turned a profit on, but Buck did not like to have a million in cash sitting in his room. He would have been happy with the quarter million that Noah predicted. Noah opened his bag pulling a large envelope from his bag and pointed to Buck’s room. Both men retreated to Buck’s room.
“This is your bonus, as promised, one hundred twelve thousand. I keep my word.” He handed Buck the envelope. They walked back into Noah’s room.
“I am going to need some corps man medical kits. I need around twenty, more if you can get your hands on them. I will also need a lot of whatever medication that the medics use for jungle rot and all of the anti-malaria pills that you can lay your hands on. I’ll need them for the next trip down South.”
“Why don’t you get some dinner? I need to start some checks, and find a home for that.” Buck indicated the case on the floor, not understanding how Noah could comfortably walk around with so much cash.
“Find a home for that too.” Noah indicated the envelope in Buck’s room. Buck picked up the case and closed the adjoining door.
Noah walked down the hall to the other rooms and up a floor. Picking a room, he was about to knock when he heard Fran’s laughter. He thought twice about knocking. It had only been ten minutes since they checked in, so at the worst, he would only be interrupting the start. Noah knocked on the door. The relief answered the door opening it wide. Noah could see Fran sitting in a chair still in her uniform.
“I was just telling Fran some Air America stories. Do you want to join us?”
“No, thank you. I have to meet with Buck later. I was going down to early dinner would you care to join me?”
“Fran wants to hear some of my old war stories. We were planning on a dinner for two. Thanks anyway.” Noah picked another room. The engineer answered.
“I’m going to grab an early bite. Care to join me?”
“We wanted to eat later. Care to join us?”
“I have to meet with Buck. I believe that I’ll go solo.” Noah walked down the hall to the elevators. He was glad that everybody was settling in to their personal routines because they needed to get as close to normal as possible. He went down to the restaurant finding that at three in the afternoon it was open, but empty so he decided to eat in the bar. He ended up having a few drinks ordering a deluxe burger watching reruns of Wide World of Sports. It was good to be alone with his thoughts for a while.
An hour later Noah was back in his room, he turned on the TV and relaxed on the bed. Noah was dozing off when Buck knocked on the adjoining door. Buck took a seat next to the small table in the corner of the room. Noah took the other seat so that the bug was between them. Knowing that they were being recorded could allow Noah to plant some information
“Francesca checks out. It was not difficult to do. She spent most of her life in the same general area. Would you like to know who her third grade teacher was?” Buck wanted to let Noah know that he did in fact check on Francesca.
“No thanks, I accepted Everywhere’s word. They have a strong government influence. She was put on with a ‘Mercury Black Authority’.” Noah wanted to freeze Buck in his quest for information. Buck had run across that name before and had been bluntly informed not to go any further.
“All right, Francesca is approved. I have something else for you. One rebel leader is gaining power and consolidating the rest of the rebel groups. We cannot allow this to happen so they need to take him out. They want you to do the job.”
“I’m a messenger not a hit man.” Noah answered quickly.
“You are the only asset that can get in there. I am told that you have delivered some very bad news from time to time.”
“I tell you what. I will look at it.” Buck slid an envelope across the table. Noah picked it up and removed the contents freezing. On top of all the papers was a picture of Maria standing on one of the pallets that they
delivered only days ago. It could not have been more than 48 hours old.
“I don’t do women or kids. This is without a doubt a woman. Just look at those nipples.”
“I was told that you might refuse. Our asset down there can do the job, but it would expose the asset.” Noah knew that they would get somebody else to do the job because a consolidation of rebel groups could not be tolerated.
“I will have a look at it. I might have to wait until the third run because if it gets messy, I will never be able to go back. Is that good enough?”
“It will have to be, but I cannot see any way to do it faster. Inserting a team would take a few weeks.”
“It won’t be for free! You asked me to kill a woman in front of her people. There will be twenty or thirty people there. I am not into kamikaze missions. I would like to get clear.” Noah thought for a minute wanting a tall price that they would go for, “I want 25 percent of the next 'bag'.”
Buck balked, “$250,000 dollars for a hit? Are you going for Guinness Book of Records?”
“Come on. It is not like its government money.” Noah pushed. “This bag, did you know how much was supposed to be in it? I could have given you anything and you would not have known the difference.” Noah did not want them turning the contract over to someone else.
“This hit has a low probability of survival. You want me to whack a guerilla leader in front of twenty of her people.”
“Alright, but we want a confirmed kill,” Buck was trying to stop a revolution. He could not screw around. Nixon was out, Ford could change everything and Somoza needed to stay in power.
“Now that you have me contracting what have you done about Creed? I don’t want that lunatic running loose screwing everything up.”
Buck did not motion him out of the room. Noah thought that this answer might be official.
“One of the doctors treating him tried a LSD variant to treat him. I am afraid that he is permanently fried. Large pink squirrels are chasing him around his padded cell. They want his nuts!” Buck let a chuckle escape.
“I am sorry to hear that. Creed was a good man.” Noah thought he would choke on the words, but he wanted to add that to the record. Being bugged had its advantages too. It could not have happened to someone more deserving.
“I want that other thing done as soon as you can. The more goodies I bring the better the distraction. It seems that they want medicine more than they want guns.” Buck stood and left without ceremony. Noah locked the door after him.
Noah called Frank, “Tell the others to meet me at the Ark tomorrow at three PM. I will see you all there.” Enjoy your evening.” Noah went up to his room and lay down. There was a price for dealing with these lunatics. Noah was finding out what it was. He was not going to kill Maria. Noah knew that much and he had a fair idea who the asset was. There was only one person with a camera out there the day he delivered, and Jesus was not giving that woman a brotherly kiss. Was Jesus looking to dump Maria? It did not sound right. That also meant that Buck knew about the humanitarian run. Something was missing. There was a bunch of loose ends that did not match up. Noah went to sleep rolling things through his mind.
At five thirty the half-light of dawn came around the curtains. Noah awoke and took his time dressing still trying to figure out what the missing pieces were. He packed and went down for breakfast eating slowly he downed a couple cups of coffee. Catching the shuttle to the airport he was finished. Everywhere Air was up and running. Noah found Joe in the lunchroom having a cup of coffee. Joe was having an animated discussion with a few other coworkers. He went to see the new version of King Kong. They were arguing the merits of the newer special effects. Joe was commenting on how special effects could now stand close ups. It actually looked like the actor was pumping out blood. Noah jumped up and found the secure phone.
“Susan, do you have any connections over at Pinewood Studios?”
“I miss you too.”
“Sorry, I do need to work on my manners,” Noah was instantly sorry that he jumped straight into business. “I am desperate to find a special effects artist. Can you get any kind of a line on a good one? This is as important as Terri and Suki were only I can get there first this time.
“I will find something. How much time do I have?” Susan had an important reason for this question. “Milo’s services are tomorrow. Suki convinced the corner to call it death by misadventure since he was passed out drunk and carbon dioxide overcame him. We can bury him in hallowed ground but there was no insurance. As long as it did not look like murder it did not matter, but it really mattered to Terri with all the other stuff that happened. They found her neighbor Ruby dead in a park, with a runaway hooker, dressed in Terri’s clothes. It looks like a murder suicide so the police have to investigate that too.”
“We will need something when we head home in four days. I wanted to give you as much notice as I could.” Noah did regret that he went straight to his problems.
“When is the funeral? I would like to be there for her. Terri is a very special person.”
“Thank you. She and Milo did not know many people their parents are dead, so I would be surprised if there more than ten people. She does seem to have an attachment for you. Services will be at ten, and you are welcome to ride with us.”
“I hate to intrude. I will hire a car and follow behind. We will work it out when I get in. See you on the morrow.”
Noah started expanding his plan while he prepared the Ark. By ten thirty, the Ark was ready. The rest of the crew arrived around three o’clock. They did their checks and the Ark was on its way to their fuel stop in Halifax
7
ROUND TWO
The fuel stop in Halifax went smoothly. They did not experience the same problems that they had in Gander and after forty minutes they were on their way to Manchester. Fran and the relief did the takeoff switching with the pilot and copilot when they reached cruising altitude. Noah called them both down to the crew lounge.
“We have a problem. Buck hit me up to do a contract I could not refuse to do.”
“You have killed people before.” Frank told Fran the details of their last visit to Manchester.
“It is not what. It’s who.” Noah handed Fran the envelope. She slipped the stack of papers out. On top of the papers was her picture. “They want me to kill Maria.” Things became very quiet.
“You are not going to do it are you?” Frank broke the silence.
“If I did not take the contract, he would have given it to someone else. He was even willing to call in a military team. There is another problem.” They stared at him for a while. “The picture was taken by the asset.” It was a picture of Maria on top of a pallet from their last run.
“This could not be more than three days old and it could not have made its way to DC this fast without good communication. Buck said that it was taken by the asset. Who was taking pictures from that angle?”
“Jesus was taking pictures,” a look of horror came over Maria’s face. “You are not saying…!” There was a sound of genuine pain in her voice and the pained look on her face matched her voice.
“We have a film of the delivery. We can see if there were any other cameras there.”
“There was your camera,” she was hoping that it was anybody else.
“Yes, it was a sixteen millimeter movie camera. I sent it to Washington.” He watched her deflate again. “I am sorry to be the one to tell you. I took the contract because I did not want them getting another contractor.”
It was too much. She could not do or say anything. Noah stopped to let her collect herself.
Maria steeled up for the rest of the story, “Go on, you were saying that you have to kill me.”
“Yes! I have to kill you, and if I miss, as long as you are alive they will try to kill you. Therefore, you need to die. If I do the jobMaria will be dead but Fran will be alive.”
“You are not making any sense!” Fran was getting annoyed.
“I have to
make them believe that you’re dead, and I will need credible witnesses to swear that you are dead, of course the body will be a problem.”
“What are you talking about?” The exclamation came from Fran and Frank.
“Don’t worry, I have done this before and they still haven’t caught on to that one.”
“What do you mean that you have done this before? What the hell are you talking about?” Their faces were a mixture of horror and disbelief.
“It was that Mooney thing,” Noah was still looking at two incredulous faces. “It was in my past but you can believe me, Maria will die and Fran will live. We can do this thing.”
“What in the hell is going on,” The engineer hollered down from the flight deck.
“I just told Maria that I am going to kill her.”
“All you have to do is tell me to mind my own business,” the engineer sounded wounded.
“We might as well go up top. I need everybody’s cooperation.”
Everybody went up to the flight deck, and Noah started all over again. By the time they crossed the Irish coast, they were willing to give his idea a run. Much of the plan depended on Susan. They needed to fabricate a few items and Manchester was the only place to get it done. The important thing was that Noah convinced the crew to participate and all that remained was getting Susan to participate. It was five o’clock when they contacted approach for Manchester. They were given a straight in approach and given their spot in front of Brit World Wide. The guide man parked them and plugged in the power. Customs came on board and checked the paperwork.
When they were finished the customs officer asked, “Would you mind if our dog handler did an exercise on board. This is the best time of day for it, it is quiet now.”
“Not a problem, I need to finish shutting down. Bring on the dogs.”
“Hello on board the aircraft. May I come on board?” It was Lynn at her plain best, with her short hair combed back, wearing no makeup, a starched light blue shirt, a starched and pressed uniform, and with her sturdy sensible orthopedic shoes. She was a classic picture of the proper British woman. She had Shultz on the lead and Lynn’s arms were full of training aids.