by Finian Blake
“You had a punctured lung. The doctor did surgery and casted your arm.” Terri said moving up to the head of the bed. “We told him that you would never stay down, so he prescribed morphine as a pain killer and we kept you out until now. It is now nine PM two days after you went out. The Ark is on the ground overnight in Detroit waiting for a load to Long Beach. Greg and family are thrilled with their new home, and Suki is spending the night with Jeff in Los Angles. She contacted Bob and told him that all was well. I am staying in the Honeymoon Cottage. Frank and Susan will be planning our wedding and yes I will marry you.” She slipped the oxygen off his nose kissing him passionately. “If you promise to behave I will not tell the nurse to knock you out.”
“Alright, you have my solemn promise.” Noah went to sit up, and was caught by a searing pain.
“You need to go slow,” Terri said pouring him a glass of water. “The doctor will knock you out if you do not listen, so behave.”
Noah was in the hospital for two more days with the crew calling in when they landed in Long Beach letting him know that the Ark was met by two official looking gentlemen looking for Noah with Ralph telling them where to contact him and that was all the heat they took. The Ark was back at Everywhere Air. Fran, Ralph and the four Franks are taking a month off. Two men in cheap black suits showed up at the hospital not offering identity. Finally, they said that they were from Mercury. Noah told them that Creed and Buck had set him up to run guns to the Nicaraguan rebels and proceeded to detail how they set him up on the last mission. Noah included that the rebels were paying with drugs. He disclosed the fact that Buck and Creed were skimming and where to look for the money. He knew that Buck was stashing his bonus, and figured that Creed was stashing the million. Noah finally promised to return to the states when he was discharged from the hospital. When they left Noah had Susan come out to the hospital. He told her what he needed, and she went about setting it up.
When he was discharged Noah took a cab from the hospital to the airport. He booked a flight that stopped in Nassau and went on to DC checking into a coach seat in the last row aisle seat boarding the flight at the last minute. When the flight made its first stop in Nassau a service truck pulled up to the back and a man from the home office took Noah’s seat, with Noah getting off in the service van. The man from the home office turned in a customs declaration with Noah’s information and finger prints on it. According to the records he arrived in Dulles International and cleared customs. The whole thing was not difficult to arrange, since MI was still pissed off about the CIA running an operation in the UK without permission. A little pay back never hurt, as long as nobody found out about it, so the negotiations occurred between Directors. After the return flight Noah was taken to the service area that was off the airport giving each of the workers $500 Barbados. Frank picked him up in a Rolls Royce right after picking Suki up from the terminal. Someone from the home office went to the hospital giving the administrator a new set of admission documents deleting any mention of the ladies or the resort. They talked to the staff instructing them that nobody visited him in the hospital.
Noah checked into the resort under the name of Adam Furst. Adam and Terri took the Honeymoon cottage and as they reached the door Adam made a move as if to carry her across the threshold.
“You are out of your mind. I have a better chance of carrying you.”
“I wanted to see what you were going to say.” Adam laughed.
“I say behave yourself. I want a groom for the ceremony tomorrow.” Terri noticed a message on the door. It was brief, HAVE ADAM CALL ME.
“Who the hell is Adam?”
“That would be me. I am Adam Furst and you will soon be Terri Furst.”
“I can go with Terri Furst.”
“So can I, Terri is Furst on my list.” She got the word play. She held up the index finger of her left hand, while she pointed to herself with the right.
Adam smiled, “That is just fine with me.” He picked up the phone and called Susan’s room. “Hi love this is Adam. What can I do for you?”
“You can stay where you are at. I have two messages for you and keep Terri there too.” Adam looked around the room finding what he was looking for in the closet, his bag and two map cases. The first map case held one million even. The second case held around three hundred thousand. He divided the second case into six stacks putting it on the dresser covering it with a towel. There was a knock at the door which Terri answered. It was Robert with a bar cart for the wedding toast. There were three bottles of Champagne, a bottle of Barbados rum, four pitchers of fruit juice and several glasses. Robert, I find that I am going to need a best man. Could I prevail on you to stand up for me?”
“It would be an honor, thank you.” It was not the first time he had been asked to stand up for a wedding. He liked Adam, so this request would be a pleasure to honor.
“We are about to do a toast will you join us.”
“Just a quick one, I am setting up for tomorrow’s dinner.” Frank, Suki, Lynn and Susan came in the open door.
“The gang is all here. I know the bride’s lineup but I needed a best man so I asked Robert.” Frank showed instant disappointment.
“Frank you are father of the bride. You cannot be the best man.” Frank brightened up immediately. Robert was much relieved not wanting to cause problems. He poured out seven glasses of Champagne and passed them out.
“Here is to the best couple that I ever met. God bless their union.” Robert did not know them that well, so he kept the toast short. They brought their glasses together in a toast, and drank. While Robert was refilling the glasses Adam walked over to the dresser.
“There is another tradition. I have gifts for the wedding party.” Adam pulled the towel back off five of the stacks leaving one covered giving one stack to each member of the party. Terri knew better than to say a word. Robert was floored.
“Here is a toast to a lasting union.” Everybody drained their glasses. Robert grabbed the bottle of rum pouring seven stiff drinks.
Frank lifted his glass, “Here is to my daughter may you find unlimited joy, to my new son, may he be equally happy.” Once again the glasses were lifted and drained with the rum hitting bottom.
Robert started to excuse himself, “I must leave now. I need to make something special for tonight.” Robert started to say something to Adam.
“Robert, you have the same gift as everyone else. I cannot do less.” Robert nodded hurrying back to the lobby to tell his wife. With Robert gone Adam turned to Frank. He took the towel off the last stack which was $125,000.
“Frank this is your bonus for the last run. Everybody pulled a bonus.
“For that much I’ll break your arm and bust up your ribs again.” Frank said drunkenly. There was stunned silence. The women stared at the men.
“What really happened?” The ladies steered Frank out to the patio. There was a little too much alcohol, so it did not take too much time to get the correct story out of Frank. He could stand up to the toughest of men, but he did not have a chance, with those four women. Adam poured himself a stiff drink to prepare for the onslaught. Terri stormed into the room followed by the rest of the pack.
“You flew on for six more hours doing another stop after you did this,” Terri ranted. “How could you!” She was fuming.
“It wasn’t easy.” Adam saw that was not the correct answer. “Was that a rhetorical question or did you want a serious answer.” Susan stormed out of the cottage following her in short order thankfully without saying a word. Adam looked at the bottle of rum. There were only two fingers left in the bottom. He called the desk and ordered another bottle of the excellent rum. He poured the last of the bottle in a glass with some fruit juice. Adam walked out on the patio handing it to Frank.
“I thought we said that we were not going to mention this.”
“It was the booze. The cash threw me too.”
“Oh well, Terri and I won’t be starting out with secrets between us.” Frank
was looking purely dejected. “Don’t worry about it. I should have told her about it right off.” Adam held up his glass.
“Down the hatch,” Frank hoisted his glass and downed the drink.
“I made a bad call, so I’m not going to hang it on you. We are both loaded. Grab the hammock and I will take the bed.”
“That’s damn decent of you. I would have liked to have served with you.” Adam steadied the hammock while Frank rolled in. There was a knock at the door. Robert’s wife rolled another bar cart in. There was a selection of appetizers, more fruit juice and the requested rum. She moved the unused supplies over to the new cart.
“Robert is really loaded he told me what you did. He wanted to cook up something real special for you, but he was so drunk. I put him to bed so that he doesn’t burn the kitchen down. Thank you for what you did, it meant a lot to him.” She went to leave again. “Your bride to be is storming around on the beach. You sure pissed her off fast.”
“I have that effect on people. Love me or hate me. There is not much in the middle.”
“Well I love you. My old man is happier than I have ever seen him.” She turned and left not closing the door.
Adam poured a drink looking over the appetizers as Susan walked in not waiting for an invitation.
“You do have a real talent for pissing people off.” She looked out on the patio seeing that Frank was unconscious in the hammock with a pillow tucked neatly under his head causing Susan to smile.
“I wanted to see what you were going to do about Frank. He can drink ale all day, but hard liquor hits him like a freight train. You weren’t mad at him, were you?”
“No, I made a bad call. This mess is my fault and I hope Terri doesn’t blame this on Frank. He’s alright. I just hope that this does not ruin their relationship.” Adam was hoping for exactly that result.
“I know. I was standing over there in the bushes. I heard every word you said. It is an occupational hazard.” Susan was absolutely unapologetic for her eavesdropping. “Terri was worried that you would take it out on Frank, everybody was.” Adam was glad that Susan was listening. It was something that was hard to convince people of.
“Noah, we all know what you are capable of.”
“The name is Adam and I don’t take people to account for my bad decisions. Not telling you was a bad decision, but the decision to go on was a good one because it cleared the whole crew and I would make the same decision again. It would have become a major mess if we stopped. I try to think of the complete picture.”
“You could have died. Don’t you care?” Terri walked in behind Susan. Adam called out.
“Does everybody eavesdrop? Lynn and Suki get in here. I am not going to do anything horrible.” The last two entered the room. “I have died before it is not as nasty as it is billed. They brought me back. There are much worse things, living badly is much worse than dying well.”
“You died before? How did that happen?”
“I drowned in a diving accident there was no pulse or respiration for ten minutes. CPR kept me alive and I was technically dead. I don’t want to die, but it is not the only thing that I think about. That is why my ribs are messed up. They pounded on my chest real hard for the CPR. The cartilage is torn. I had to take care of business and I am not sorry for that. I am sorry that I did not tell you straight up.”
“You could have died,” Terri was crying. Adam understood what her point was. He started to hug her. She pushed away. “We are not going through that again,” so he settled for a kiss.
“Do you still want to get married?” Adam could not think of any other way to put it.
“Of course I do,” Terri said softly
“Do you still want Frank to give you away?” Noah pressed.
Terri was surprised by the question. “Yes I do, without a doubt.”
“That’s my girl,” Frank’s slurred voice came from the patio.
“Can I go to bed?” Adam’s knees started to buckle. Lynn and Terri caught him before he collapsed. They rolled him on to the bed with Adam going stone cold unconscious. They undressed him, rolling him under the covers as Terri stripped crawling under the covers with Adam. Lynn, Suki, and Susan went to work on the appetizers passing them to Terri in bed using Noah as a table while they were making plans for the wedding. Around three o’clock they left taking Frank with them.
Adam awoke to the ring of the phone at six PM. He wobbled around the bed and answered, it was Robert.
“Dinner will be ready at seven, you were fairly well loaded, so I thought I would call you first. I will call the others.”
“Thanks Robert we will be there at seven.” Adam woke Terri they dressed and went down to the restaurant. Robert was up and running just a little slow. Adam and Terri went in to the bar. Susan was seated at the bar dressed in some of her local purchases. The bartender had just served her a drink.
“Adam I had two messages for you this afternoon. The crew called from LA they said thanks for the bonus. Fran and Frank are flying down for the wedding they should be in around ten PM and Robert will have his driver pick them up. Fran said her brother had some solid information. She said you would know what that meant.” Susan’s curiosity was up. “What does that mean?”
“I will put you in on the discussion. You can get your information first hand.”
“Thank you I am tired of playing catch up.”
Robert out did himself with the dinner. It was a seven course dinner which was served formally. He selected the wines too. Dinner was a true event, Adam and Terri could not have enjoyed it more. It was a meal that would be remembered for a long time and the company matched the meal. Robert was greatly relieved when the dessert was served. He wanted a perfect service. All of the diners settled down to one last drink before bed time. When Fran and Frank walked in, Ralph was right behind them. Adam was surprised. Robert made a quick dash into the kitchen throwing together three quick meals and uncorking another bottle of wine.
“You were stone cold out of it when we left and the warden here wouldn’t let us within a mile of the hospital,” Ralph indicated Terri. Fran sat back and smiled in silence knowing that she would have done the same thing.
“The three of us decided to start a charter service. We are going to start with two Twin Otters, a Bell Jet Ranger 206 and a Lear Jet 35. Sean found a great deal on the Lear. It is tricked out for corporate execs, but the company went out of business when the controller ran off with the corporate assets. We offered to take it as is with only ten hours on it. Ralph picked up a Turbo Porter cheap just for nostalgia. After the wedding, we are going to pick up our first client.” Fran was excited. They ate their dinner, and settled back with a drink.
The group moved to a table in the back of the bar with Susan joining them in back. Adam started out first.
“I have asked Susan to join us. She is tired of getting her information second hand. Does anyone object?” Adam continued not waiting for an answer. “Fran what is your news.” She hesitated for several moments.
“I contacted my brother who was surprised to find out that I was supposed to be dead. I filled him in on the details of your errand. He was stunned by the actions of Buck and Creed, like running guns to the rebels. They were both unrecognizable. The few witnesses that survived placed them in the second seat of the first and second helicopters. Nobody in any of the three helicopters survived. They took a direct hit with the ammo cans. Marcel was outside of the box and is arriving in Managua as we speak. The day after tomorrow she is flying down to Grand Cayman Island.”
Susan guessed, “She is your first client?”
“Yes our first client is Marcel.” Fran had a nasty tone in her voice.
“May Terri and I talk with you out on the beach?” Adam needed to check her intentions. They took a short stroll to the beach.
“Fran, are you planning to kill Marcel?” There was no delicate way to ask, so Adam went right to the meat of the matter.
“Yes. She tried to kill me. If it ha
d not been for you ending up with the contract, I would be dead right now, but she still took my life away from me.”
“I understand that. What are your thoughts on getting the job done? Too many people get focused on revenge and miss what has to be done.”
“I was going to get her on board and do the job.” Fran was put out that Adam would question her.
“What were you going to do with the body? What about the people that gave you the information? Your brother could catch the back lash. I don’t think that you would want him to catch grief.”
“No I would not want things to fall back on him. Are you suggesting that I not do anything?”
“What I am suggesting is that you come up with a plan to get clear of the mess once you do what you need to. If she leaves and never shows up, there will be a lot of questions asked. They will start looking right away and they will question everybody involved.”
“Just what do you suggest I do?”
“I have a suggestion if you are interested.”
“I can always listen.” Fran shrugged as Adam started to discuss the idea.
“I like the idea. I will run it by Frank and Ralph. I will need a few things to make this work. “Would Susan be willing to get what I need?” Fran did not want to stick anybody with the grief.
“I will get you everything you need before you leave. Let’s go back to the table.” Susan led them back to the table tapping Lynn on the shoulder.
“Let’s collect Terri and leave.” They walked over to Terri and each took an arm.
“I am going with Adam,” Terri protested.
“No you don’t. Not on the night before your wedding.” Adam started to say something. Suki stepped in, “It is her bachelorette party. She will not be back tonight. You can see her at the wedding.” Adam yielded to the traditions. He finished his drink and returned to his room alone.
At five o’clock Adam awoke to the sound of heavy rain. He looked outside to see sheets of rain pouring down from a half lit blue green sky. There was not much wind, so it was more of a straight downpour. He threw on his swim trunks and a shirt. Adam made a quick dash for the lobby. There was only a ten-meter stretch that was exposed to the weather, but by the time he reached the lobby, he looked as if he had been swimming. Robert was behind the desk, getting ready for the day.