Chapter 387

For years it seemed that I did nothing important for days, then all of a sudden it was run like hell. Such was the case that first week back. I did almost nothing for of the first half of it, then all of a sudden I had people demanding my attention all day and up into the night.

At midnight on that Friday I found myself sitting in the parking lot of the waffle house in Tryon. Beside me in the passenger seat was more or less a million dollars cash inside a sealed blue plastic twenty gallon barrel. I wished that he/she had made the first part of the drop a McDonald's parking lot. At least in that case I could have gotten a cup of coffee.

The second burn phone of the day rang at exactly midnight. "Tell me what you see?" the heavily altered voice demanded.

"I see a waffle house restaurant with six cars and my truck in the parking lot. Surely you don't want me to leave a million dollars in cash in the parking lot?" I asked.

"I want you to drive south on highway 22 until you come to an intersection with a flashing red light. At that light I want you to turn right. About two hundred yards on the right, you will see an abandoned service station, Pull over there and wait for more directions."

"Fair enough," I answered. I had learned a couple of things. Bullrider wasn't following me and he/she was no genius in general. Just on the computer maybe, but all that could work in my favor. Most likely we would both play nice.

I did as he/she directed. Nobody passed me when I got to the station but there was a new black Ford midsized rental car parked under the empty canopy. Since the windows were clear of frost or dew, I judged it to be empty, and not to have been parked there long. The rental plates helped me to determine that it was my drop car. I was a little surprised until I remembered all the times that I had used rental cars to lay a false trail. This guy would actually be checking for traces on the plates and rental details. If someone traced it, then his version of the nuclear option would kick in. He would destroy my digital life. I was fine with that, since I didn't give a crap who he was.

The phone rang a few seconds after I pulled in. I had no idea where, but he/she was watching from somewhere. "Put my shit in the trunk and drop the cell phone in with it. You do know I am going to check it for tracking devices."

"Suit yourself, but tell me this. How many surveillance cams did I pass on the way down here? Ones that you have hacked into?" I asked.

"Only five," he/she said with a laugh.

"Fair enough, well enjoy your shit, but please be careful that they don't track it back to me, if you do something stupid with it." I said.

"I won't do anything stupid, and lady you don't exist in my history or life anymore after I open that barrel," he/she say said. Then added, "This ain't my first rodeo cowgirl."

"That works for me," I said as I exited the truck to take care of the drop. I wondered if the fact that the barrel weighed almost fifty pounds and was clumsy as hell to handle, would be a problem at the airport for the bullrider. He/she had assured me that he/she had everything covered so I walked away with a light heart.

I drove back to Aster plugged into the cigarette lighter and listening to traveling music. Lots of motorcycle songs and of course California Dreaming, even though I had no desire to go to California anytime soon.

When I got back to the Downtown House, I plugged the MP3 Player into the wall to complete the charge. I had a burning need to close my eyes lately when I charged. I would appear to be asleep, if anyone happened to see me. That was only one of the urges that began since my last 'upgrade'.

After what I thought of as Black Friday, things went back pretty much into my normal 'at home' mode. The weekend was quiet as hell with me doing nothing but catching up on my mail and making silly little business decisions.

On Monday my phone rang. "I have given this a lot of thought over the weekend Maxine. That castle thing is just too much money for me to invest right now. I like the bed and breakfast idea, but not on such a grand scale.

"I also want them out of Aster. I want them close enough so that I can check on my investment, but not so close that they can just drop in on me," he said.

"I understand completely. I will have a friend of mine, who has access to the statewide real estate market, look around. You do know there is a problem with investment capital." I informed him. I sure as hell wasn't going to put up the money.

"I know but we can work something out surely." he suggested to me.

"We can but be thinking how much you want to put into it," I demanded. "That will pretty much tell us where we are going to be looking and what we will be looking at. I had a thought on Friday night," I said.

"What kind of thought?" he asked.

"You know I am building small houses, and condos, but the people we are selling them too are not really poor people. Our down payment policy pretty much weeds them out. Our buyers are older people for the most part. They have large families and no where to put guests. All the hotels that I would put a friend or relative into are in Tryon. What we do need around here is a Guest House. If you get a ten or so room classy guest house, with a small wedding chapel which can be quickly converted to a reception area, you might have something."

Let me give that a thought, but something with a smaller investment than the Castle idea," Jerrod demanded.