by Finian Blake
“Yes, of course. The clearance is Mercury Black Authority and the name would be Hermes.” Noah was positive of what the reaction to their inquiry would be having traveled down that road before. The answers would be quick in coming from that corner.
“Thank you, we will start with this. We may need a few minutes in the morning.” Tom knew that he had something to work with. Nobody gave it up that easily and he wanted to know why. He went to the phone and called the embassy.
“What was that Mercury Black thing, and who is Hermes?” Susan’s curiosity was peaked.
“Hermes is the Greek messenger of the gods and the god of medicine, much like the Roman god Mercury. That is much more than you should know. Talk to Tom in the morning.” Noah took her by the shoulders. “I need to know if you are active MI-5 or a contractor. You are too good to be a nothing.”
“I am semi-retired. We are all semi-retired and the Inn is my idea. I did not have enough money to open it so we set this up to gather intelligence from powerful people. A politician here and a businessman there, we look for enough information to keep us ahead. You would be surprised at what men will say with their face buried in a pair of tits.”
“No, I would not be at all surprised.” Noah was feeling like a chump. He had been suckered. He stormed off to the Quiet cottage. Susan did not try to stop him knowing that he would not believe that most of this was real. Noah needed time to cool down. It was a cold shock and she still needed to figure out what was going to happen with this mess. Susan stood in front of the door to the Honeymoon cottage for several moments. As she walked back into the cottage Tom was just hanging up the phone looking more than a little shaken.
“What is it Tom?”
“Susan, I tried using the Mercury Black Authority to check on Hermes.” Tom hesitated. “The next thing I knew was that I was talking to our head. I was told to forget both of those names. If I ever mention them again, I will be doing a long tour of duty in the Falklands. I must have my report on his desk tomorrow before lunch. Everything has been cleared, Noah and his crew are cleared to leave, and the sooner the better.”
“You were given all that in this short period of time?” Susan was floored.
“He said more, but I don’t care to repeat it to a lady.” Tom was grabbing his bag. Eve was right behind him looking fully panicked. “We will be out of here in ten minutes.”
Susan walked down to the Quiet cottage and entered not bothering to knock. Noah was sitting in the love seat, nursing a glass of whiskey, and she saw Terri crying in the bedroom through the doorway. Susan waved her out, but Terri shook her head no indicating that she would not go. Terri was going to invest her life in Noah, so Susan poured herself a glass of whiskey, and sat down across from Noah, letting the silence ride for a few minutes.
“I started to play you, because we needed to see what you were up to, and you were playing us too. You could have grabbed a piece of ass on the Ark when we served you dinner. Instead, you put your balls in check and went for the contract. You wanted influence with us. I played you to find out what your game was. If you were not a player I would have sent you down the road satisfied but stupid and you would have never been offered a partnership, but I saw something more in you. I know you saw something more in me. Tell me what you wanted.” Noah remained silent for a few minutes.
Noah was mumbling, “I guess that you would be pretty dense not to see that I was playing you. I was tempted to screw you and Lynn on the Ark. It took all my discipline to stop, but I saw you as a valuable contact that I needed to finish the mission. I had to take care of business, and as you have pointed out, I do not think with my balls. I developed a serious respect for you in a hurry, finding you to be a tough businesswoman, and to disrespect you would have been a major mistake. I respect all of you.”
Susan was searching for a toe hold. “We share a mutual respect. You stood for us when you could have walked away, and you put your plan at risk to save Terri and Suki.” He sat there and looked through his whiskey at Terri on the bed not moving or speaking. Susan continued, “You will have to admit it was a rough start with Lynn. We decided to push you so we set you up at the Founders cottage. Terri was first to see something in you.” Terri was still sobbing on the bed in her coveralls. “After the incident at Terri’s place everything changed. Terri was going to quit because she fell for you, with she and Suki drawing the line. We just needed to find a way to bury the start. Lynn bought in and I still have not figured out how you landed her. I might add that Frank stood for you too.” Susan could see he was starting to think, so it was time to get out.
Just as she was closing the door Noah gave a toast, “God and country.” He raised his glass. Susan made it a point not to stop hoping that he would at least not turn his back on Terri since it was never a fake with her.
Noah needed to reevaluate the whole situation. For the first time in his life, things had become personal. As much as he thought he loved Pat yet he was still detached. There was only business in his life and he managed to keep emotion out of his assignments. Noah would do whatever it took to complete the assignment at hand, and with Terri, things had taken a permanent shift. Even though she did not realize it Terri was a huge success. Terri thought that she had failed to seduce him and she did fail that morning much to her surprise. Over the last week, Noah became fully invested in her. He was in love with her to his very core. From now on all of his future decisions would be influenced by his emotions for her. What really bothered him was that for the past few days he refused to admit it to himself. Noah may lie to others but he could not afford to lie to himself, not in this business. Worse yet he could not afford to believe his own lies. Terri came up to Noah pulling the drink from his hand.
“It’s been real for a long time.” She sat in his lap. Terri had been out surveying the new property when they pulled her in. She was dressed in coveralls and rubber mud boots with little clumps of mud falling about as she moved. “It has been real since you stopped that turd in the parking lot of the club. God! I was pissed at you for letting that asshole say all of those things about Suki and me then you killed him to protect us. Why did you stop Suki from killing that man on the floor and let me kill the other one? And that thing with my boots, I did not understand that one.” She was getting desperate for a response. Noah broke the silence by speaking slowly at first.
“You needed to let the emotions out or explode. Suki seemed to have no such problem with that and we needed one of them to talk.”
“What about my boots?”
Noah shrugged, “I keep my word,” there was no emotion in his voice. “We had a contract. The son of a bitch did a fair amount of screaming.” Noah was smirking as he said it. With that statement Terri knew he would come around. There was no doubt in her mind that he loved her.
“You were so mad when you came in the room I thought you were going to hit me.”
“That will never happen, since I do not hit women.”
“I believe you.” She picked up the phone dialing Susan’s number.
“You don’t have to forgive her just say good night. You know you are going to forgive Susan tomorrow anyway.” There was no way that he could argue with that statement and not be lying.
Noah said softly, “Good night Susan. We will see you in the morning.” He passed the phone to Terri. She was amazed that Terri worked her magic so quickly. Susan had her figured for at least an hour before Noah would even talk to her. Terri hung up the phone unzipping her coveralls revealing an especially sexy camisole. Whenever she wore something that ugly on top, she wore something super sexy underneath it. Noah slipped the coveralls off her shoulders, trapping her arms by her side. He rubbed his face against the lacy green material kissing her belly lowering Terri gently to the floor. His ego was going to need a lot of soothing and she might as well start now.
Noah knocked on Susan’s door in the morning. When Lynn answered he gave her a kiss on the cheek as he entered and went off in search of Susan.
“Good morning Lynn. Where is the ‘Grand Dame?’”
Lynn smirked, “Her ladyship is hiding in the powder room.”
“Lynn!” The shriek came from the bedroom. Susan came storming up behind her. “I was not hiding. Noah even if you were pissed off I would not hide from you.”
“I know you would hide behind Terri. She has my number and you knew it. She thinks that you used her.”
“Yes I did, and I am thrilled about it. We really do care and you must know that.”
“There is no doubt in my mind about that. Where do we go from here?”
“You are clear to go. That Mercury Black Authority lit a fire under everybody. What in the hell is that?”
“Exactly what I told you. Hermes is the messenger of the gods and the god of medicine; much like the Roman god Mercury, and people don’t turn down messages from the gods.” Terri caught the meaning. “Hermes does not make up the messages he delivers them. Roman over Greek, Mercury sends the messages and a message from Mercury can be very good news or very bad news. Good or bad you do not want to ignore the message.”
Noah’s expression did not change. He was not interested in pushing the advantage wanting to put an end to this mess. Terri smiled at Noah.
“I have plans for you. Come with me.” Noah climbed into the Rover on the left being happy to let Terri drive. He was still experiencing problems with the right hand or left hand driving thing and would still get in a car expecting to see a steering wheel on the left. She drove to a Men’s shop. When the clerk was free, Terri went through the list.
“We want ten outfits for this gentleman shoes, sox, underwear, shirts, pants, jackets and two suits. We might need a few other things.” She looked at Noah with him nodding in agreement. “Your three outfits won’t do anymore. If you want me to look my best, you can shape up yourself.” The clerk was going crazy as Terri roamed through the shop pointing out Noah’s new wardrobe without pausing. Terri also bought the clothes that Gregory and family would need for the return trip. By the time that she was through the clerk had made his commission for the month since she spent almost 6,000 pounds in less than an hour. Terri made Noah change into one of his new outfits before they continued. Noah pulled the list of sizes that the general gave him earlier buying a few outfits for each person. Terri smiled stroking his cheek, “Now we can go out properly.” They loaded their haul in the Rover driving through town.
It was a change to see the business area and as they passed an auto broker, Terri pointed out a mini. “I always wanted one of those.”
“Pull in and we can have a look.” It was a dark blue Mark IV Mini, with a 1275cc engine. The sales clerk went over the merits of the car. He knew Terri, since she stopped in from time to time. He liked to have her in even though he knew she could not buy. Having a hot young lady saying that she thought that the car was sexy was good for sales. Things were slow so he took them on a test drive.
“Is this your color Terri?” Noah could not be serious, she thought pointing out a red mini. Noah looked at the salesman “We will have that one. How much is it?” Terri could not believe that he was serious.
“That is our turbo charged model and has all of the factory goodies on it, plus some special items the boss added to the package. It was 2,900 Pounds, 4,800 with the VAT and everything. The agency finished everything in an hour and ten minutes. Noah followed Terri back to the Inn parking the Rover in its proper place.
They did a quick job of transferring the packages to the mini, pulling up in front of the Founders cottage just in time for tea. Terri pulled Susan out the door to show off her new car.
Noah cornered Lynn before she could get out of the door.
“Lynn I hear that you are one tough negotiator when it comes to money. I understand that the house on top of the rise to the east might be for sale.”
“The house is rundown, but the view is great the land mostly uphill with the way the river cuts through. It is a small useless farm since out of sixty acres, ten are farmable.” Lynn said without hesitation. “The house is a shambles, the out buildings are falling down and the downhill slope is horrible. The Pickfords were about to lose the place over taxes. We can settle the taxes and give them a few thousand with that I think we can pick it up at a good price.”
“I see that you have been looking at this one before. What do you think you can buy it for?”
“250,00 Pounds might do it. I wouldn’t go over three.”
“Go where you have to go with the price, but buy it in Terri’s name, and she can access another 250,000 Pounds to start working the property. It is the only property touching the Inn on the East and it is also the only property that is higher than the Inn. You can see every corner of the Inn from up there. Do not say anything to Terri before you have secured the deal.” Noah left the ladies to admire Terri’s present. He collected his packages and started putting things away. He was almost finished when Terri came in.
“Lynn told me that you instructed her to buy the knoll and put it in my name. What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Make it yours and finish it the way you want. I want you to go where your imagination takes you. You will have to do it on your own, but I think that with your talent it could really be something. I want to be able to bring a car from this level to the upper level, without being seen, and I want a good connection to the river other than that your imagination is the only limit. Tear it all out, and start from scratch. Build it the way you want, and it will all be in your name. I asked Lynn to plan 250,000 to start developing our area, but that will just be the start.
“Noah Seventy percent of the land is up and down, what do you want me to do?”
“Make terraces, plant grapes, blue berries, grow trees or whatever you can come up with. Terri, you have 250,000 to play with and more if you need it. All of the decisions will be yours, and I absolutely trust your instincts, so make it special.”
“Are you coming back? This sounds like a will.” Terri said not liking the direction that this conversation was moving.
“If they don’t come up with a corpse I will be back for you.”
“And that means,” Terri asked.
“I am coming back for you. Everything else can go to hell. I put you down as next of kin for all my interests with Susan and Lynn having the instructions.” Terri tried to turn in his arms, but he held her tight.
“If you think nothing will happen? Why the next of kin shit.” She bit his arm, turning to face him when he flinched. “You will be coming back!”
“I will need some time to make sure nobody is tracking me. I want to be sure that…” Noah went to kiss Terri. She bit his lip, and slipped her hand over his mouth.
“If you fake your death and leave me to sweat it out do not bother coming back. I will accept you as you are, so if you can’t accept me as I am keep on traveling.” He nodded as she moved her hand from his mouth.
Noah whispered so quietly that Terri barely heard him, “I will send one word, ‘Popeye’. If you hear that, it is a guarantee that I am ok. Buck and Creed will be a problem and I can’t return until there is a solution for that problem.”
“I can live with that,” she pressed tight against him.
“I think…,” Noah started.
“I think you better shut up, and hold me.” Terri gave his shoulder a playful bite. He took her advice. Noah was not going to make the same mistake twice knowing that if he wanted to keep Terri, the Lone Ranger stuff would have to end.
Terri shook Noah awake at four. For the first time he was not awake on his own. They showered and dressed walking out to the courtyard.
Susan was standing by her Jaguar, “Terri say good bye here at the Inn. I need to drive Noah in this morning. Terri was not happy with the call. She wanted more time. Frank was standing by the other Jaguar. The relief rode with Noah, Lynn, and Susan. The rest of the crew rode with Frank.
“The general will be ready to meet you North East of Chalma Kandi, at six PM sharp. Here is
the frequency he wants to use. It’s a Russian frequency, not the usual one and he will not cross the border until you call for clearance.” Susan handed Noah a slip of paper. “All the new fuel stops have been arranged. You have a 24-hour layover in Barbados and you will leave Barbados for Nicaragua about eight AM. That will put you on target at twelve thirty hours. We found a stop on one of the islands off the Honduran coast, A Laguna. From there you should make Ontario. I have your pallet of produce waiting next to the Ark. MI located Buck and Creed in Nicaragua. They were sent down there yesterday and Creed is in charge.” Susan let her news register with Noah.
Noah was not happy with the news, “I see, try to get some more info for me. I will call you from Barbados. I can see another double cross coming.” Noah spent the rest of the ride in silence. The Jaguar pulled in the car park with Noah asking the crew to preflight the Ark going up to Susan’s office. He looked at a map of the Caribbean Sea. After a quick search, he tapped the island of Jamaica.
“Susan I need a huge favor. Do you have any contacts in Jamaica?”
“I might be able to help. What do you need?”
“I need a load of something out of Kingston. I do not care what it is or where it’s going we could do a delivery on the Eastern Seaboard of the States or in Canada. I just need a load out of Kingston. If you could swing that I can disappoint Buck and Creed.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Something nasty, so I need a cover for the crew. I cannot leave them twisting in the wind, and any extra cooperation you can get would be appreciated. With a little luck I can screw Buck and Creed, and still get clear of this.”
Susan laughed, “There may be someone over at MI that would like a little payback for all of the CIA crap that they have pulled in the last week, since they are allies we can’t just tell them to get stuffed. I will get right on it.”
Noah gave her a kiss, “It is time to go.”
Noah walked out to the Ark watching the crew fire it up with practiced efficacy and everyone was in place within ten minutes. The guide man cleared the crew to start the engines and in another ten minutes the Ark was winging its way to Tehran with Frank and Fran at the controls.