Chapter 15

It was around 11am the next morning when Eddie came in wearing his suit. I laughed, “The walk of shame. You’re such a slut.”

“Shut up. I came home to get a change of clothes. Tony is taking us out on his boat. You’re invited if you want to go but it leaves the dock at 1pm.”

“Sure, I’ll go. I have one call to make but then I just need to put on some boat shoes.”

He wandered off to change and I called down to Rockefellers. One of the hostesses answered and I asked to speak to Gary. He got on the line and I asked about how the night went. He answered, “If we make this much every night we’ll be printing money. Jay has already called the wholesale food company to adjust the order for Monday and there is a message for the wine distributor to call on Monday as well. All the customers were happy and some made follow up reservations. We need to hire an events person soon. There were inquiries about the ball rooms for business meetings and rehearsal dinner.”

“Good job my friend. I’ll pass the good news on to Eddie.”

“Have a great weekend, Bull.”

With that we were soon in a cab on the way to the yacht club.

Tony asked me to take her out and Eddie just looked at me. “Mate, can you help with the lines?” Was my response. Tony could handle the boat but either Ed or I had more experience. Ed much more than me but I’d moved Tony’s boat before and was comfortable at the helm. I was also the only one without a date. I asked about Tony’s precheck and then did a quick one of my own, asking Eddie to check a few things.

We were soon out cruising by the Statue of Liberty. Eddie and the ladies were below and I was up top with Tony. I said, “A symbol of freedom. I wonder how many of your calls and my calls have been recorded and how many pictures of each of us are on the walls of the FBI?”

“I doubt you’d make the wall but maybe a file cabinet somewhere.”

“I’m glad we’re friends but don’t like the thought of being watched.”

“Has anyone approached you?”

“Nope, just thinking. How was your dinner the other night?”

“The food was very good but the building was fascinating. The marble and the woodwork had some master craftsmen involved. The music was great. It reached all the senses. Carmine was complaining about getting his cut but I can see that it would have been a nice payday. Don’t worry, we’re fine. Tell me about Eddie. He seems to take a shine to my sister.”

“Ed is a good guy. If you don’t want them dating then tell me now. He does well but likes the hands-on work of fishing, diving and such. He buys and sells boats. He helped with the load that we brought to you and is very trustworthy. He is my youngest uncle and we get along well.”

“As long as he makes her happy then I’m okay with it. He may take your place moving my boat to and from Florida and running other errands.”

“You could do much worse.” He nodded his understanding. Before long everyone was topside and we took turns manning the helm and watching for boats.

When we were away from shore and other traffic. Tony asked, “Are either of you interested in making a trip for me? I have some things in Guatemala that need to be in New York City.”

They all looked at me. I said, “Tony. You should understand that there is a lot of risk involved in moving things by boat, weather, aircraft, radar, satellites. Last time I moved something for you besides your boat, I was only 16. If I was caught, I would have been a minor. Now, I’m an adult and would go to big boy jail. If this is critical, then we can talk about it and critical pricing. If you are just looking for someone that can drive a boat then there are plenty of flunkies that if they get caught you can write them off and try again.”

“We normally move stuff through Mexico but the cartels are feuding and killing a lot of people. A lot of shipments are getting lost. The problem is that the supplies are low and the demand is high. I know you charged a premium last time and I still made a killing on the wholesale prices. With the supply so low, I’m getting calls to see if I can pull off a miracle and many are offering near retail just to save face with their customers.”

Ed asked, “How much are we talking about? With the demand high, the word on the street will be more active which draws attention.”

“Whatever you can bring in I’ll pay $75 a gram. I’ll sell it for $90 and they can do what they want on the street.”

I asked, “Do you have a price lock in Guatemala and how much can they provide?”

“$25 is the price at the docks. I’ll give you a name.”

Eddie and I went below to talk. He started, “We don’t need the money. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that it will be pretty easy until you reach the states. I say that Kari and I head over to Bermuda and pick up a sailboat. You and Ken go to Guatemala and pick up as much as you can. If you go to Panama, I don’t care. I want you to be safe on the pick up and get a good price. You fast boat it to the island and fill up with fuel. Then all the way up to the tip of the Bahamas. Then cruise way offshort to New York. You pick the boat. We can meet somewhere way out at sea and transfer it to a hollow keel under a mounted motor. Then you and Ken can go onshore and see if the coasties stop you. Kari and I can sail in and cross our fingers that they don’t suspect us.”

“Kari is a girl but she deserves the right to make her fortune like the rest of us have. How much do you want to try to move?”

“Like you said, it isn’t like we need the money. How much does Ken want and how much should Kari have? We could make between $50 and $55 a gram. In round numbers that’s $225k for every ten pounds we move. We would have to split it four ways.”

“Yeah Ken wouldn’t take a handout. I’m not sure if he would let Kari go. I think the next step is to talk to Ken and get his blessing. Then we can get a big boat with a long range. A ton would be $12.5 million each or fifty for the total haul.”

“When are you flying home? I don’t want you talking on the phone.”

“I wasn’t sure but now I guess tomorrow.”

We went back up top and spoke to Tony. Ed looked at me and I said, “We have some other partners that we need to discuss it with. We’ll need a way to contact your person down south and know if there are any limits to what you can afford. If I have to wait a few days I can but I want to know ahead of time. Not at the dock.”

He blushed at being short last time. “I’ll get you the name and ask around.”

“I don’t want you asking around. I don’t trust others. Just you. You are the only one that knows.”

“Up to two million grams but if you go that high it will be a week for the second half. The first half is covered.”

Eddies said, “I’m going to fly home tomorrow morning and I’ll let Bull know if we’re going or passing. Don’t take it personally, there is a big risk and we don’t need the money”

“I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t urgent.”

“We’ll do what we can do. No promises.”

We were back at my place and Michelle was sad that Ed was leaving. She told her brother that if he was caught, she would be pissed.”

He flew out the next morning and I called Carol to tell her that I had a good time the other night and may be going out of town to pick up a boat that I was thinking about buying. She asked if I wanted her to come along but I told her that it was a long open ocean trip and I needed someone with open water experience and navigation since we would be sailing around the clock. She understood.

Ed called that evening and said that Kari would be flying up to help me the next day. She was taking a few days off of her summer break to help her favorite cousin. I picked her up at the airport but we never left the airport. I had two tickets to Bermuda. Kari had handed me an envelope that I didn’t open until we were in Bermuda. It told me to call Kari’s mom when we got the boat bought and let her know our travel schedule.

We checked into the Castle Harbour Hotel. Our room had two beds. We called and spoke to Kari’s mom. She said, “I spoke to Ken and they found the parts they were looking for much closer to home. Ed said he was going to borrow all of your money from the account in the islands and it should cover half the costs. They say that they can be there in three days. What is your ETA?”

“We can make the trip in four days but we will need to get the boat and get her fitted for the trip. We’ll call to confirm a date.”

“Take care of my baby. See you soon.”

As I hung up she asked, “What did she say?”

“She said they found another supply probably in Jamaica or Haiti if I had to guess. They found a lot. Do you know what you’re getting into?”

“Dad took me out sailing yesterday and explained how my 16 year old cousin could afford buildings and marinas in New York. He also explained being tried as a minor or as an adult. It all gets blamed on the adult and the minor walks away. He said that your dad did it for him, he did it for Ed and Ed did it for you. it’s your turn to take the risk for little old me.”

“That’s the way it works. The cut is even four ways. I think when my dad and your dad got their share it was enough to buy a boat and get their careers going. I got lucky and hit the motherload. I think we’re looking at two tons. That means that we need a big boat. Let’s go see the broker while the sun is still shining. Most were too small when we looked over his inventory but then I saw her. A 1983 Cheoy Lee 63’ Motor Sailor. It had two diesel engines that would cruise at 9 knots without wind. We could also put up the sails and use the wind for increased speed and to extend the fuel range.

We haggled over price and walked away with a good deal on the late model boat. In the morning I had funds wired over from New York. We worked all day inspecting the boat and checking the rigging. Kari helped her dad enough to be a big help. We checked out the engines and stopped by later to pick up the ownership paperwork. This meant that she was ours and still registered in Bermuda. This meant that the US Coast Guard didn’t have jurisdiction until we were in US waters 12 miles offshore.

We made another call to my aunt after checking the weather and told her we would leave the day after tomorrow and would be there three days later. The next day I spent all day getting access to and fitting out the open keel. I knew how much space we’d need based on the last big trip we made. We bought the supplies and slept aboard the boat. I was up early and we eased out of the harbor at 4am the next morning. I didn’t want a lot of people noticing.

Kari played her part and dressed in a bikini and laid in the sun like a good tourist and I was the captain. She would take the helm when I needed sleep or a break. We had navigation and a decent wind to meet off the coast of Virginia Beach. We were 200 miles out when I got on the radio. We were on an uncommon channel and when I called out I got a response. It was Ken.

Luckily the seas were calm and we came alongside. We spoke as we worked but we didn’t dally at all. They unloaded and we loaded. Ken came aboard to check the storage and wished his baby girl good luck.

There was a change of plans. Eddie decided that they were going to come in after us in case they were being watched. If they went in first and they didn’t have anything on board, they may start looking at other boats like us. We made our way up the coast not stopping at night and motoring when the wind died.

I stopped at customs and showed our paperwork. They didn’t even board. We were in our slip at the yacht club before Ed and Ken made it to Atlantic City. Tony had been called by Kari’s mom from a payphone an hour from her house. He was told to eat at the yacht club every night until he heard from someone. We tied up around 5pm and he was in the dining room at 6pm. We met in the men’s room and he said, “I’m interested in your sailboat.”

“It’s for sale. I got a good deal on it.”

“I would want it checked out by my mechanic and have the hull checked. Would you mind putting it in dry dock so I could take a look?”

“I could take it over tonight or in the morning.”

“The morning is fine. He opens at 8am. He’s across the river in Jersey.”

The next morning we motored across and up the river to the shipyard and they hoisted the whole thing out of the water and put it up on a stand to inspect the boat. Tony liked what he saw and bought the whole thing. He also liked Ken and Ed’s boat but didn’t buy it. They took the boat and the extra packages with green bills in them back to Ft. Lauderdale. When we took Ken’s boat out for a test drive, Tony said, “You got it earlier than expected. The quality is top shelf. I didn’t hear anything from my guys down south that you even stopped by.”

Ed said, “It was a long way to go so we made a deal closer to home. Not in the states but much closer. We did them a favor by taking it off their hands. They were moving it every day because they were being hunted. They didn’t have a boat to get it out of the country. We helped them and they helped us. We even got a little more than you asked for.”

“We weighed it. I can take all that you brought. There’s already product in DC, Philly and Boston. There are some very grateful people. I made much more than I thought I would.”

Kari who was mostly quiet asked, “Does that mean we get more.”

I jumped right in. “Kari, a man’s word is his bond. We made an agreement for a price. We didn’t lose money and even if we did he would only bend as a courtesy. It’s about honoring your word, isn’t that right, Tony?”

“It’s about honor. You have learned that and live by it well.”

Later back at my place we were inside as the summer semester had started and there were girls outside. Ken told the story about calling a friend and he said that Haiti had confiscated the drugs but some of the people up top would rather have the money than destroy it. $15 a gram or $30 million lined some politician’s pockets. We sold it for $75 a gram making $60 a gram times just over 2.5 million grams. A hundred and fifty million or $37 million each after expenses. Kari was amazed, Ken was ecstatic and Ed and I needed more sock drawers.

I spent the next week refilling safe deposit boxes. I wasn’t going to be away from the apartment very long with that much money in my living room so I didn’t go far and ordered take out often paying in cash. I called Carol and she understood I was out of town. One surprise when I got back was that Ruby had returned for the summer semester but for all the wrong reasons. Her mom was sick and she thought that when she got bad that she would need to drop out of school to take care of her. Her mom was still functioning day to day with the help of her dad. She was working at Sherry’s club on weekends and studying during the week.

The following week, I got a call from Mandy. She asked me to meet her at CPS. I went over to the building and it looked like it was ready to open. She walked me around the ground floor and then up the escalators and around the second floor. Then up another escalator to the third floor which I owned. They were all very high end shops. The kind that you take two escalators or an elevator to reach and not just a tourist off the street. Art galleries, jewelry stores that you were allowed in by invitation, a wedding gown shop We stopped at a spot looking at a boarded up space marked Coming Soon.

She took me to the side and then into the space. It was wide open and looked out over the park. Over the tops of the trees. “I had his place being held for a car dealer of all things but with the fuel taking such a huge bite out of their business they didn’t want to commit. Do you want to put a restaurant in or do you want me to find someone else to rent it?”

Looking around I went through a number of different choices. When I decided, I said, “What do you think about this being the check in for the hotel, sales office for the time share and reception area for the spa. It may encourage some of the high end shoppers to stop by. Then we can have the next floor up as a Restaurant and bar on the park side and a spa on the other side. Depending on the size needed, we can put a gym on that floor or on the next.”

“There should be more than enough room for everything. We just want it to look natural. I’ll get with Frederick and see what he thinks. Another one of your restaurants sounds good.”

“That’s all Jay. I can cook but nowhere near that level. Talk to Frederick and let me know. We can build out the floor above for business meetings and small events. The next floor we can use for more rooms or apartments.”

“That sounds like a plan and I like the check-in area in a more public place.”

We rode up and saw they were putting the finishing touches on two floors of hotel rooms and had the metal wall studs, plumbing and electric in the others. They still needed drywall and all the fixtures and furnishings. After saying goodbye to Mandy, I walked a block to Carol’s home. When I knocked, Rosie answered. She had a big smile on her face. “Hello, Mr. Bull.”

“Hi Rosie. It’s just Bull. Is Carol free?”

“Yes, sir. She is, I’ll get her for you.”

“Please do and then leave us alone for a while or until we call.”