by David Archer
“Is that all? I figured almost three times that.” Conley shook his head with a grin. “Okay, next question. You said you don’t want to be too deeply involved in the, shall we say, procurement end of the operation. How is that going to affect getting the organs on their way, if you’re not right there?”
“I don’t need to be,” Noah said. “All I need to know is the relevant information and where it’s going. The containers can be taken to wherever procurement happens and then brought back to me when it’s time for them to ship out. Nobody will know what’s in the container when it’s brought in, except me. All I have to do then is assign somebody to carry it and the whole thing is over and done with.”
“I’m sure the surgeons know how to prepare the organ and put it in the case, right?”
Noah grinned. “Any doctor who ever harvested organs would know how, yes. If you got somebody new, it would take me fifteen minutes to explain the process.”
“No, they all know what they’re doing. Now, here’s the big question. The company has three different procurement centers around the country. Would you be able to set up one of these companies for each of them? How would that work?”
Noah let his eyebrows shoot upward. “Three of them? Well, we could set up satellites of the main company for each of the other two, but then we have the problem of who’s going to run them. Do you have people at those other locations that you trust that much?”
Conley grinned again. “I think we can provide somebody, yes. You might have to teach them what to do, but they’ll be trustworthy.”
Noah shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem, then. We’ll just have to register the business in each state involved. And of course, we’re talking the same money to set up each one of them.” He grinned. “If we do things right, we could end up with offices in every major city. That would cut down some of our costs, because we would have our own people on the receiving end to carry the organ to the destination hospital.”
“And then we would probably be making legitimate money on the side, right?”
“Oh, yes,” Noah said. “It might not be as much as we make on the specials, but there’s some serious money involved in legitimate organ transportation.”
“So, we’re talking about roughly three, maybe three and a half million dollars to get started. Is that right?”
“Yes, sir, that sounds about right.”
“Then, congratulations, Robert. You are about to be installed as the CEO of the new company, and I’ve already arranged funding. You’ll get a salary of a hundred thousand a year and a bonus for each item you ship, somewhere between five and ten thousand apiece. I’m giving you two weeks notice right now, and I’m going to arrange for the medical center to become your first client, to give you legitimacy. You okay with all that?”
Noah put a big smile on his face. “Absolutely,” he said. “I’m the CEO? I’m assuming we’re going to incorporate, with a board of directors?”
“Oh, of course,” Conley said. “Barry and I will be on the board, and you’ll meet the rest once you get everything set up. How long before we can start running?”
“Hell, I can have it ready to go by the weekend, if you want. I can start out running it part-time, then move to full-time after I leave this job. All I need is some money to get started with. It’ll take a little time to get the containers, but we can start out using coolers like we always have.”
“Somebody will call you this afternoon, a lawyer,” Conley said. “He’ll be able to give you more information about setting up the company, and he’ll have all the bank information ready for you. You’ll have access to money by the time you leave your office today.”
Noah got to his feet, pacing around in front of the desk as if he was excited. “Mr. Conley, I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I mean, yeah, I came up with this idea, but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly. I can’t wait to tell my wife, she’s going to be thrilled.”
Conley chuckled. “I’m sure she will be,” he said. “Incidentally, I do have one more question.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Noah said.
Conley leaned forward and looked him in the eye again. “I’m just curious,” he said, “but—how did it really feel when you cut that bastard’s throat? Did it feel good?”
Noah stared at him for a couple of seconds, then grinned. “I felt like God,” he said. “I’d been telling him to stay away from Marsha for weeks, but he kept hitting on her. I finally decided I’d had enough.”
Conley nodded. “You are definitely my kind of guy,” he said. “Now, go on. Go have yourself some lunch and be ready to get started on all this this afternoon.”
“Yes, sir,” Noah said. He made a show of saluting, then did an about-face and marched out of the office. He kept the grin on his face until he got into his office, then whispered, “Activate all.”
One by one, the team reported that they were on the channel. As soon as he’d heard from all of them, Noah said, “I just got confirmation. Whoever is up line from Conley gave the okay to start the company I was talking about. I’ll be provided with funding sometime this afternoon, and I just got my two weeks notice on this job.”
“Wow,” Neil said. “These people don’t waste any time, do they?”
“No, and there’s more. It turns out there are two other locations in the country where victims are apparently being taken for organ harvesting. I was just informed that I’ll be setting up satellites of the company for each of them. I’ll probably know within the next few days what cities they are closest to, so we can pass that on up the line. It may get the FBI closer to finding leads if they know where to look.”
“Good,” Jenny said. “Maybe we can just go in and kill these sons of bitches before they get around to trying to cut me up.”
“I’m for that,” Neil said.
“Yeah, me too,” Marco added in. “And the sooner, the better.”
“All right,” Noah said. “Sarah, you can relay this to Allison? I’m going out for lunch in a few minutes, but I was told to expect a call from an attorney this afternoon who will provide me with funding. I have to assume the attorney is involved in this, somewhere along the line. I’ll be certain to get his name.”
EIGHT
The call didn’t come in until almost three o’clock, and Noah was sitting at his desk pretending to be busy when it came.
“Robert Townsend,” he said.
“Mr. Townsend,” said a deep voice. “This is Roger Bettinger. I’m an attorney with Bettinger and Carson, in Houston. I need to schedule an appointment for you to come to my office. Would you have time this afternoon?”
“In Houston?” Noah asked. “Of course, I can be there in about forty-five minutes. What’s the address?”
The lawyer gave him the address and Noah said he would be there as soon as he could. He called Conley’s office to tell him he was going to be stepping out for a bit, but the receptionist said Mr. Conley was gone. He thanked her, then walked out of his office and locked the door behind him.
As soon as he got into the Charger, he logged onto its Wi-Fi and told Sarah what was going on.
“Okay,” she said. “You want me to call Allison?”
“Not just yet. Let me go talk to the lawyer and then we’ll figure out what to do from there. Conley said there will be others on the Board of Directors of this new company, so I’m assuming they will be more of the participants in the organization. Once I know who they are, there’s a good possibility they could lead us to the top people.”
“Okay, honey,” she said. “Just be careful, Noah, please? If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that these people are extremely dangerous.”
“Yes, they are,” Noah said. “But so am I. I don’t think I have too much to fear from them.”
“I hope not,” Sarah said. “I wish you could take Marco with you, though.”
“That gives me an idea,” Noah said. “I’ll be hiring people to do organ transport, so I can probably hire him awa
y from the ambulance service. If this takes any time, I might be able to work him into the organization with me.”
“I wish you could. I’d feel better if I knew he had your back.”
“I’ll be careful, babe,” he said. “I’ll let you know what happens when I get done with the lawyer.”
“Okay, but you could at least talk to me while you drive. Okay?”
“Of course, Sarah. How are things going at home?”
“Boring,” she said. “Renée is out grocery shopping, so there’s nobody around for me to talk to. I mean, I kinda like being here by myself sometimes, but I just never really got into soap operas, you know? TV isn’t any fun when you aren’t here.”
“I understand. With any luck, we’ll be able to finish this mission off sometime in the next week or two. I’m looking forward to getting back to the manor.”
“I know, right? I don’t know about anybody else, but I enjoy the pampered life.”
They continued talking as Noah drove into Houston, but then he arrived at the office building where the lawyer was waiting. He left the subcom on so that Sarah could hear what was going on, then parked the car in the underground garage and locked it before taking the elevator to the fourth floor.
Bettinger and Carson were the sole occupants of the floor, and it was obviously a very large law firm. The elevator opened directly in front of the receptionist’s desk, and Noah stepped up to where a young lady was smiling up at him.
“I’m Robert Townsend,” he said. “Roger Bettinger is waiting for me.”
“Of course, Mr. Townsend,” she said. “If you’ll just follow me.” She got up from her desk and led him down the hall to the last office on the left. She tapped lightly on the door, then opened it and stepped inside, inviting Noah to follow. “Mr. Bettinger, this is Mr. Townsend.”
Roger Bettinger was a short, heavyset man in his late fifties. He got up painfully from his desk and limped around it to shake hands, then invited Noah to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Bettinger said. “I was asked to get with you as soon as possible to help you set up your new company. I’ll handle all the legal aspects, incorporation and such, while you take care of the logistics. That okay with you, young man?”
Noah grinned. “Suits me fine,” he said. “I’d probably get lost in all the legal parts, anyway.”
“Hey, it’s what I get paid for,” Bettinger said. “Let’s get started, shall we? I understand you’re going to be in the organ transport business?”
“Yes, sir, that’s right.”
“All right, and have you come up with a name for the company?”
Noah blinked. “I’m afraid I hadn’t gotten that far. I guess it’s pretty important, though, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’d say it is,” Bettinger said with a chuckle. “Anything come to mind?”
Noah shrugged. “How about Galveston Transplant Services?”
“Oh, that sounds generic,” Bettinger said. “Let’s be a little more personal, shall we? How about Townsend Transplant Services? Doesn’t that sound better?”
Noah shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so,” he said. “Let’s change ‘services’ to ‘logistics,’ though. Townsend Transport Logistics. I think that’ll sound a little more professional.”
“And I agree with you,” the lawyer said. He wrote it down on a pad in front of him, then looked up again. “Do you have an address yet?”
“Well, no,” Noah said. “I was told to wait till I heard from you to get some money to go look for a location. It’ll be in Galveston somewhere.”
“Not a problem, not a problem,” Bettinger said. “In fact, everything else can wait until you get that settled.” He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a large manila folder. “My clients arranged to set you up with an account at First National, and I have all the documentation here. I’ve got about thirty places you need to sign, and then the checkbook is all yours.”
At the attorney’s direction, Noah signed “Robert Townsend” several times, and then he was handed a large business checkbook. It looked like a three ring binder, but there were three checks on each page and a duplicate was recorded for each one he wrote out.
The attorney also handed him another envelope, and Noah glanced inside it to see a large amount of cash in one hundred dollar bills. “That’s your petty cash,” Bettinger explained. “There’s about twenty thousand in there, and arrangements have already been made to allow you to pull out large amounts of cash when you need to. Just go and see Charles Whitmore at the Galveston branch, and he can approve large cash transactions without having to file any of those pesky reports to the government.”
Noah chuckled and tried to look relieved. “That’ll come in handy,” he said. “I’ll pick up a ledger to keep track of all the cash transactions.”
“Don’t bother,” the lawyer said. “My client made it clear that there will be no auditing of your books. I don’t think they really care how much cash you take out, since it’s all for the business in one way or another.”
“Well, I think I should make some effort to keep records, anyway. What else do we need to do?”
“That’s about it, for the moment,” Bettinger said. “What you need to do right now is go find the location for the business, and then come back to see me once you’ve got it secured. It’s probably the most important thing that we need to have before I can start the incorporation, but you can go ahead and start buying office furniture and any equipment and such that you might need.” He looked up at Noah. “Do you have any questions?”
Noah shook his head. “I don’t think so, not right now,” he said. “I’ll get busy and look for a place to rent, then start looking at what equipment I need.” He got to his feet and the lawyer did likewise. “Thank you for doing all this so quickly,” he said as they shook hands one more time, then he left the office and took the elevator back to the garage.
“Noah to Neil,” he said as he turned onto the street. “Are you there?”
“I’m here, boss,” Neil said. “Everything okay?”
“Better than okay,” Noah said. “I need you to start looking at commercial properties, someplace to run this new business. I need three or four rooms, maybe a garage entrance. Probably something in an industrial park, away from heavy street traffic.”
“I’ll get on it. I take it things are proceeding pretty well?”
“I would say so. Within the next week or so, I should know the names of most, if not all, of the principals involved. Once we have those, and locate the holding facilities, it’ll be time to take these people out.”
“You won’t mind if I say that can’t happen soon enough to suit me, will you?”
“Not at all, Neil. I understand this must be a little nerve-racking for you, with Jenny out there as bait.”
“Oh! On that note, I got a message back from Doctor Ghoulie. He says they should have a kidney for me within a week.”
“Interesting,” Noah said. “Where does he think you are?”
“Well, I figured I should be not too far away. I put down that I’m in Dallas. Now that we know they have other facilities, I’m hoping that’s close enough to draw the attention of this one.”
“I think it will be. I have a gut feeling the others are probably near the coasts. That would make sense to me, anyway.”
“Yeah, probably. In that case, the customer in Dallas would probably do business with the local one here in Galveston. Now I’m more nervous than ever.”
“Relax, Neil. Jenny’s a pro, and we’re going to be right on top of her. As you pointed out, there’s a pretty good chance she’d be able to tell us where she’s taken if they were to grab her.”
“Yeah,” Neil said wistfully. “I sure hope so. I’ll get busy looking for your building, Neil out.”
Noah relaxed into driving, but then: “Sarah to Noah.”
“Go ahead, I’m here,” Noah said.
“I overheard what you wer
e saying to Neil,” she said. “Do you want me to call Allison?”
“No, I think I’m going to call her myself. I want to bring her completely up-to-date and let her know what the plan is.”
“Oh, okay,” Sarah said, sighing. “Sorry, babe, but I get to feeling useless just sitting around here. You don’t even need me to drive for you right now.”
“You are certainly not useless. And you’re probably going to be doing a lot of driving shortly, because I’m going to need you to help scout out where the victims are being held. Once this place is started up, somebody is going to be bringing organs from that location. You, Renée and Neil, because of the subcoms, can probably follow whoever it is without giving away that they are under surveillance.”
“Really? Hey, at least it would be something to do other than sit around here. And that reminds me, Renée wants us to come over for dinner tonight. She’s had a roast cooking all day long, so we’ll be going over there about six. Neil and Jenny already know.”
“All right, that sounds good. We can talk about everything then. I’m going to call Allison, so feel free to listen in.”
He heard her chuckle. “Okay, I will. If you hold the phone on your right ear, I can probably hear what she has to say, too.”
“Okay.” Noah took out his phone and dialed the number for headquarters, then put the phone to his right ear.
“Brigadoon Investments,” he heard. “How may I direct your call?”
“Allison Peterson, it’s Noah Wolf calling.”
“Yes, sir, just one moment.”
The hold music didn’t last five seconds. “Camelot, report,” Allison said.
“The plan seems to be working so far,” he said. “I just left an attorney who is setting up the corporation for the new organ transport company. We’ll be looking for a location tomorrow, and I’ve actually got Neil working on it now. I’ve just been handed a checkbook worth several million dollars to start setting up the business, and I should have the names of the Board of Directors within the next few days. That should give us the people behind this operation, I think.”