by Finian Blake
Lynn was the first to arrive. “You know that I do love you.” Susan had to clear the air between them.
Lynn answered quickly, “I do know that you love me. You just don’t say it very often.” Susan winced at the comment. “Anna is interesting but I don’t love her. She set me up.”
“Yes, she told me about that. What would you do to protect me? What would you do if she caned me?”
“I would kill anyone that tried to truly hurt you.”
“Then it is a good thing that I did not hurt her.” Anna came in the room without knocking followed by Francesca. She made a face since she did not agree with all of the sex play. When Terri finally entered the room they closed the door with Susan seating everyone, and locking the door before they started to talk.
“We don‘t want any more interruptions.” Susan got right to the point. “It seems that we are all doing well with our investments. At the Inn we are able to pick up inside information from our influential guests and Francesca also receives good information from her contacts. Anna you seem to be making some good investments too. All of us are the controllers of the investments. I would like to propose that we pool our information and diversify.” A look of appreciation passed around the desk.
“We could really increase our investments with diversification,” Lynn offered, “Francesca has some powerful contacts too. If we could pool our information, I think that we could make some monster gains. In two years, we realized a two hundred fifty percent gain. Most of that was gold but we have done well in other areas such as oil and electronics. Using a little inside information about this, that, and the other thing we can score big so that all areas will make a profit. Beth and Arleen are solidly in the black and looking at expanding. The stables are going well too.”
“I do not think that merging is a good idea. I have a sizable investment in aircraft.” Francesca was not at all in favor of merging.
Anna pointed out, “Susan is not suggesting that we merge. All she wants to do is pool financial information to our best advantage. We still control our own funds and make our own decisions based on our needs. We just share the information. We also need to mark the investments that we should avoid too.”
Francesca had to agree, “That sounds workable if we control our own funds.” Anna and Gregory were already worth seven million in cash.
“What about Adam and Gregory,” Terri asked.
“Those two are happy as long as they can have their little adventures neither one has any idea of their net worth. We will keep an eye on their interests and make sure that they are well invested.” They kicked around some ideas making a loose agreement. They discussed the directions which looked profitable and the ones which they would avoid. Adam left his investments to Lynn, since his faith in Lynn was iron clad.
“Most of Adam‘s money is worked through the Roman bank,” Lynn smiled confidently, “They are much tougher than the Swiss on handing out information and you need a reference to bank there with Father Cash handling that. You know ‘in god we trust’. Terri I assure you that Adam will applaud our efforts if he ever asks about his net worth.”
3.
WINDFALL
The phone on Susan’s desk rang. “This is Lewis from MI 5. I was asked to call you with a report from that incident with the mass murder the other day. I will be sending it by special courier this afternoon. We have photos of the crime scene and several reports. The courier has instructions, not to leave the package. He is supposed to return with the package when you are through reading it.”
“Tell him to pack a bag. He may have to stay overnight.” There was no problem with space at the Inn, since Susan had blocked the entire week off for her friends.
“I will handle this personally and will stay as long as necessary.” Lewis heard rumors of the luxury at the Inn. If they were true, it would be a pleasant stay.
“When would you like me to come out?”
“Please come out as soon as possible. We will make you comfortable.”
“I will be there this evening.” Lewis went home wanting time to pack a bag before leaving for the Inn.
Adam settled down with Gregory in the gym. They put a bottle of Russian Vodka by the tapper for his visit. “It is not quite noon in England, but with five time zones it will be happy hour somewhere in Russia.” Gregory hoisted the bottle taking a long pull.
“What can we do as far as arms are concerned?” Mercury wanted Adam to put an arms deal together without a clear idea of how much they wanted to move.
“My contacts can come up with three hundred thousand pounds, but we cannot do it in one deal. Three or four deals would be better. We need to create several deals on paper to justify the volume. My former comrades are not stupid and they have good intelligence. Some of the arms must end up where they are billed too. The main problem is the transportation. The cost will be three million for each hundred thousand pounds for first generation weapons. We might do better with new second generation arms like the AK 47 and RPG 7 instead of AK 74 and RPG 12 since the official issue is now the twelve and seventy-four. There are now an impressive number of new second generation weapons that are being disposed of for next to nothing. If we can deal with new second generation arms they may go as low as one million per hundred thousand. We will need an additional one million each for each of my three contacts, one million for bribes and I believe that they want all of the funds in Krugerrands. For first generation weapons that will be six hundred twenty-five pounds of gold, ten thousand Krugerrands, or ten million dollars for three hundred thousand pounds of weapons delivered. Three hundred thousand pounds of weapons will yield somewhere around four thousand RPG 12s, twenty thousand AK 74s, and twenty two million rounds of ammunition. We can throw in some heavy machine guns, hand grenades and assorted other small arms. If we go with RPG 7’s and AK-47s, which are second generation arms, that will be four hundred and thirty-eight pounds of gold, seven thousand ten Krugerrands or seven million dollars.”
“Our next problem is that the L100-30 only has forty thousand pounds of usable cargo capacity, with an average range of eighteen hundred miles which will require nine or ten runs.” Adam was extremely concerned about exposure.
“The Antonov will handle eighty thousand pounds with a max range of eight hundred miles which will require at least four runs with two fuel stops total. Both choices represented a lot of exposure.” Gregory thought for a minute.
Adam wanted to hear all the angles, “Let’s bring Anna in on this. She always has a slightly different view of things.” They called Susan’s office to find Anna. She had just left for Beth’s place, but agreed to meet them for lunch at Terri’s house.
Terri had a cold lunch set out. It was a combination of large and small sandwiches, crisps, and a salad. Terri lost her sense of humor when Gregory broke the topic at lunch. “You actually want us to help you with this insanity?”
Anna was matter of fact about the whole thing. “We might as well help. If they are going to push through with this it has to be the best shot possible.” Anna turned to Gregory, “Exactly what is the problem?”
“We need to find a starting point. The weapons are coming out of a depot in Georgia about five miles from the coast of the Black Sea. We have a good chance of getting Turkey to cooperate but Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan are out of the question with Syria and Jordan not being options, and getting Israel to cooperate is out of the question.”
“How much weight are you talking about?”
“I think that we could be somewhere in the range of three hundred thousand pounds or better.”
“That is a wide range. Are you going to transport by sea?” Gregory and Adam looked at each other in surprise.
“Transport it by sea?” This was an idea that Adam had not considered.
“Yes, by sea the volume is quite workable, but the weight will not work out if you transport by air. There is a Black Sea port in Turkey that is within one hundred miles of the depot that has a developed runway with
a port in the same facility. You could make a round trip in an hour. Three Antonovs could finish the job in an hour and a half. If you deliver the weapons in Karachi you can easily move the weapons through Pakistan and the Khyber Pass. The Suez is your only problem but with the international treaties it would not be a big issue.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about this?”
“You did not ask.” Anna said pointing at Gregory. “I keep my counsel until Gregory asks me for it. That is our agreement. I let my husband think he is boss.” Anna slapped Gregory gently on the back of his head. “You can get all three hundred thousand pounds in one shot, and you can be at sea within three hours after the first plane leaves the depot. If you use a fast smuggler’s ship you can be in Karachi within four or five days. For three hundred thousand pounds, a ship that can hold forty, one TEU containers should more than handle the load we are talking about one hundred and fifty tons. There are several container ships that can accommodate five times that load. The problem is finding a ship small enough since the average container ship will hold ten to twenty times that much. As I remember, when we were shipping arms for revolutions, we used various smugglers based in Malta. It should not be difficult to find someone.”
Terri was incensed, “Anna, you just made the whole thing possible for them! Why would you do that?”
“I do not want them to get caught. You know that they will do it anyway.” Anna smiled at Terri. “Besides, I could use a nice long voyage, and you could too.” It was Adams turn to glare at Anna.
Terri enjoyed the shocked look on Adam’s face. “You said that we were all in on this. Gregory and I will go to Malta to find a ship. Come with us and we will make it a holiday. We can see if Frank and Francesca will charter for us. Let’s take a quick rundown to Malta tomorrow.”
Lewis showed up early at about three PM. Susan had an overhead projector set up in the conference room. Muriel declined to view the evidence. Anna, Adam, Terri, Lynn, Frank and Suki sat in as Lewis started with a review of the police reports and Gregory was not present since he was busy with Jennifer.
“There were eighteen dead, three by security, fourteen in the poker room and one woman in a back bedroom.” Adam looked at Frank. They were never in the back of the house.
“The seventeen dead in the front of the house were slain execution style, all very neatly done leaving no shell casings. They were using nine millimeter machine guns with catch bags for the brass. The intruders shot the three security men removing all of the security video tapes, plus two security men, twelve guests and the Boss inside the poker room. This looks like a professional hit all the way. They torched the van that they used to gain entrance which was registered to that address. It appears as if they had a second car that did not enter the property. We could not find any trace of tire tracks on the gravel drive way. Each victim was shot twice in the back of the head to insure a kill. The Boss, twelve of his guests and five security men were killed. The guests were all influential people, three women and nine men. One member of the House of Lords, two members of the House of commons, two officers from Scotland Yard, plus an assortment of industrialists and entertainers. There was a projector set up in the room with a snuff film loaded for projection and we found three movie cameras ready to film. They found twenty five reels of finished film in a cabinet on the side of the room which made us realize that this was not their first time. I managed to bring a selection of reels for examples. The rest are still being analyzed to determine who else attended these parties, since it was not the same guests at all of the parties.” Susan wanted to be clear that this was her request.
“The reason that I requested these files is that three of the names on the list of the dead were also guests here too. I need to determine how much exposure MI 5 might have. Nothing like that has ever happened here. We just want to insure that MI 5’s name does not pop up in the wrong places or at the wrong time.” This was basically true, since the Inn was a deep cover for intelligence gathering even though it was wholly owned by the board.” Lewis did not question the statement because his instructions came from the director. “The things that we need to see are pictures of all those in attendance on that night.”
Lewis broke out a stack of pictures and passed them to Lynn. Three of the pictures in the batch were definitely former guests at the Inn. When the pictures of the two women from the bedroom came up, Adam noticed something. The one that was supposed to be the hostess was barely twenty years old and not a redhead. According to Muriel, Diane always conducted these events and she was at least thirty five years old and a redhead, the kidnap victim matched that description. Adam pushed, “What happened to the witness?”
“The police took her statement and dropped her off at her house so that she could pick up her ID and get some clothes according to them she was kidnapped off of the street. When they went back to pick her up, the address was a crash pad registered to a false name. They are still looking for her.” Adam already knew that they would be lucky to find her. He needed to show Muriel the last two pictures to confirm his suspicions.
“I need to make copies of these last two pictures. Please keep the rest of the file with you. Susan will have someone show you to your cottage. I hope that you do not mind spending the night here. Your accommodations and meals will be provided.” Susan assigned Suki to the task of showing Lewis his cottage with instructions for her to pump him for any information he may not have disclosed. Adam and Susan took the pictures up the hill to show Muriel. They caught up with Muriel and Jeff in the studio, “Muriel how are things going?”
“Jeff and I were just discussing improvements in the darkroom. He has some very advanced ideas.”
“I know you are still a bit shaky but we need to ask you a question or two,” Adam insisted.
They moved away from Jeff and showed Muriel the picture. “That is not right. Brenda is wearing Dianne’s clothes.”
“They told her that Brenda was killed by the lady in the red lingerie.” Adam was decidedly unhappy with the news.
“That is Dianne. Oh my god Dianne is still alive,” Muriel said as she started to cry hysterically. Jeff ran over to see what was wrong. After a lengthily explanation, Jeff put his arms around Muriel trying to comfort her.
“Jeff, is there any way that you can make copies of this picture?”
“Muriel has all of the equipment necessary, so it will take me about ten minutes.” While Jeff went to work Susan, Terri and Adam tried to comfort Muriel. When Jeff was finished, he joined in trying to calm Muriel down with Jeff having the most calming effect on her, so the others went back to the service center. Lewis left the evidence on the table. Susan loaded a reel in the projector and turned it on. In a short period of time it was apparent that Dianne had switched clothes with Brenda and killed her.
“We cannot find Dianne on our own. What we need to do is show her picture to all of the staff, in case she shows up here.” Everybody knew that Susan’s idea was right. “Let’s get Lewis back here and show him the movie.”
Lewis was quite disturbed by the movies. It was one thing to kill in the line of duty, but this was for entertainment. When they were reviewing some of the other movies Lynn recognized some of the guests at other parties as former guests of the Inn. Andrew from the studio was one of those that she recognized. He seemed to step out from behind the camera in one of the scenes. They were using Andrew as a cameraman. They made notes for Lewis on some of the other recognized faces. Within the three reels they were able to pick out five more faces of the poker players noting which reels that they appeared in. Susan thanked Lewis for his time and asked him to stay a few more days while they reviewed the evidence. Suki took him back to the cottage for an intimate dinner.
Suki flashed Susan a smile, “I can pump him for some more information tonight.”
“That will be enough pumping,” Frank said sourly.
Adam and Terri went back up the hill to see how Muriel was doing. They found her sitting in the darkened studio on th
e floor with Jeff. There was no point upsetting her again.
“Jeff would you two like some dinner? We were going out for a quick bite in the village. It would let you see some of the countryside.”
“Thank you, we would love to join you.” Jeff did not give Muriel a chance to decline. Terri took her over to the house to freshen up. Adam stayed behind to talk to Jeff.
“The kid has had a shattering experience. Thank you for helping out. Why don’t you stay up at the house with us tonight?”
“No thanks I think that I will try to talk her into staying down in my cottage, if you do not mind.”
Noah decided to give Jeff the option, “If she does not want to stay you are welcome up at the house with us. We need to help work her through this one way or the other, but I do not want her to be alone tonight.”
The four of them went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. The meal was vegetarian with a healthy amount of curry. Jeff and Terri kept the conversation on setting up the studio. During the course of the evening the fact that Jeff provided documents slipped out. He looked at Adam and received a nod indicating that it was alright to talk in front of Muriel. She seemed to be fascinated by the subject.
The restaurant was not busy, so they took their time eating returning home after nine PM with Jeff and Muriel, dropping off at the Visual cottage. Adam knew that he could not go to Malta, with everything going on at the Inn. He had Terri knock on the door of the Quiet cottage. Anna answered the door in a robe.
“Come in and have a seat. Would you care for a drink? Are we still on for Malta?”
“Something has come up, and we cannot make the run to Malta with you. Could you make the arrangements? I will pay for the charter and your expenses.” Adam said hoping to keep both deals moving.