Chapter 5

Three hours and twenty-seven minutes after Jake lay down, he woke up. Emily knew this because she used her watch to time him. He glanced around then sat up. one second he was asleep and the next he was wide awake. He turned his head one way then back the other, causing his neck to pop several times. Emily smiled and asked, “Sleep well?”

Jake nodded saying, “I slept. That’s what is important. How are you doing?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been sitting here thinking. You’re right, something has Geo and his brother desperate to find me. I just don’t know what. The only thing it could be, is the companies Geo set up in my name. The real question is, what has changed? Those companies were just some place to hid some of the family’s money. Granted it was a nice pile of money, but would they go to all this trouble for a few million dollars that they still control. It makes no sense.” She said.

Jake had pulled his boots on while she was talking. He stood and said, “Let me use the facilities and get some coffee, then we’ll see if we can shed some light on this situation.” Emily nodded. Jake used the bathroom and washed his face. He needed a shower and a shave, but figured those would have to wait. When he returned to the living room Emily was waiting with a fresh cup of juice. A hot cup of coffee sat on the table in front of where he had been sitting. “Thanks” he said as he picked up the mug and took a long sip. He walked to the window and stared out as he drank and thought. Emily stood and joined him. “First thing we should do, is get some supplies. There is plenty of food here, but it’s all frozen or canned. We can get by if we need to, but I would rather have real milk and eggs than powdered. That means either going into town in Augusta or taking a trip to Great Falls or Helena. Both are about the same travel time. Great falls is bigger. Helena’s only advantage is it’s the state capital and they have a Costco. I think it would be a good idea to change your hair. They’ll expect you to do that, but they’ll expect you to go with a brown or black. Instead, we’ll have your hair changed either red or blond. Just not that golden red color. Should get it cut too, but that’s your decision.”

“If we’re going I need a shower.” She turned and made her way to the room she had moved her things into. Jake stood and finished his coffee. Then went to one of the closets. Once the door was open he pulled a hidden latch and the linen shelves swung out. He grabbed the sat phone and its battery pack. Then closed the hidden nook. He went to his room and called Saddler’s.

“Saddler’s, this is Tiffany. how can I help you?” came the voice.

“Hey Tiffany. I was calling looking for Jake has he been in yet today?” he asked

“Jake, nope. Some of his friends are looking for him too. There was some kind of fire out at his place last night. Sheriff came in here about an hour ago looking for him. said it was vital he talked to him about what happened at his house. He seemed real worried.”

“Well, if you hear from him tell him me and the lady are going to the cabin in Oregon. We had planned to ask if he wanted to go. I thought he might like to go squirrel hunting. Do me a favor and put the word out.”

“Will do Pat. Tell that old broad of yours I said hello.”

“Will do. You take care Tiff.” Jake said as he ended the call. He sighed. The cops weren’t wasting any time. Jake knew he needed to make another call, but was loathed to do so. If they decided to bring him in, he wasn’t sure what he would do. He pulled the battery and placed the sat phone in his pack. Then grabbed a change of clothes and went to shower.

Ten minutes later he was dressed and down stairs. Jake ate two power bars and finished his second cup of coffee, before Emily came down. For the day in a row she was wearing only a bra. Jake helped to wrap her lower ribs, and she put on a button up shirt. The two made the trip to Great Falls in relative silence. Emily fiddled with his IPod and asked about the different books he had on it. She finally chose a fantasy novel and the two listened to it as the mile slipped by.

The first stop was beauty salon. They had no trouble getting her right in, and Jake sat in the waiting area while she got her hair done. It seemed to take a lot longer than he expected. Then again, his experience with women’s haircuts was limited. Well, he had never actually had to wait while it happened. Cath had always gone and had her hair done without telling him. “So, what do you think?” he heard Emily ask.

Jake took a long look at her. They had cut and dyed her hair. It looked similar to Meg Ryan’s hair. He had a hard time recognizing her. He smiled and said, “Perfect. I like it.”

“Oh good, I thought you would. But a woman always worries what her man will think, when she makes a big change.” She said.

Jake raised an eyebrow at her words. “Well, I like it.” The two went to the counter and Jake paid for the various treatments they had done. He didn’t let shock show, when the women told him it was almost two hundred dollars. Their next stop was for some extra clothes for her. She insisted they hit a western wear store the beautician had told her about. Jake was pleased with the speed of the trip. Emily didn’t take forever to make her choices. Three pairs of wranglers she tried on and a pair of sturdy lace up boots, plus a few shirts, all in less than thirty minutes. His ex-wife had never been in a store less than an hour to buy a single shirt.

They hit the Wally world store and got some other things including a disposable phone, a cheap laptop and a prepaid air-card. Jake stopped at a truck-stop to use the phone and laptop. His first call was to check in with the anti-terrorism group he occasionally did jobs for.

He dialed the number and waited. A pleasant recorded voice said, “Thank you for calling Alliance United Shipping. If you know your party’s extension please dial it now. Otherwise please hold.”

Jake entered his ten-digit number and pressed the # button. He heard hold music for several seconds. That bothered him. every other time he had called it had gone straight through to someone. Finally, a feminine voice said, “Good afternoon Jake. This is not a secure line is not secure on your end. Please report?”

He didn’t know the voice, but he knew the protocol. “Hammond plus one loose. Ran into some fish at my residence. Fish monger eager to retrieve cabin boy. Reasons unclear. May have to do with off book fishing. Cabin boy has no desire to remain with crew. Used local asset for Band-Aid. Situation stable, but temporary.” Jake said.

“Hold one.” Came the voice. “Are you seeking aid with cabin boy?”

“Negative. Only advising of current status.” He replied.

Several seconds later she said, “Thank you for status update. Check drop box for further instructions. At this time, we have no interest in this situation. Please be careful. You are considered a valuable asset. Is there anything else we can help with?”

Jake thought for several seconds, and then said, “Local asset could use care package. See asset list one emergency dentist.”

“Wait one.” Several seconds later she said, “Care package will be delivered as requested for past services. Check-in once a week until situation is resolved you are in active status. Please have a good afternoon and thank you for calling Alliance United Shipping.” The line went dead. He sat in the parking lot and thought over the situation. The call had been weird on several levels. He had worried that they would bring the two of them in, and what that would mean for Emily. It sounded like that hadn’t even considered that option. Not even to pass her off to the FBI. That was troubling. He also hadn’t expected them to agree to the care package for Doc, but they had.

He looked through the windshield at Emily sitting in a boot of the truck-stop’s diner. Jake got out and locked the truck. He went in and the two had a late lunch. Then sat in the SUV and used the computer. Jake wanted to move, but they were relatively safe in the corner of the lot. So, he chose to stay put for now. It took Emily thirty minutes to work through the different accounts. Jake wasn’t sure what exactly she was doing. Her hands flew over the keyboard. He figured out it was important when she said, “Oh, SHIT!”

“What? How bad is it?” he asked.

She turned and looked at him. Her eyes were as wide as he had ever seen on a person. “It’s bad, very bad.” She turned the laptop so he could see the screen and pointed to the bottom of a spread sheet. He had to count the comas to make sure he understood What he was seeing. He was speechless. “That is how much money has moved through these accounts in the last three months. More than three-quarter of a Billion Dollars. Jake there is no way Geo and Al have that much money. Their just local criminals. This is way more than they should have. What the hell is going on.?” The computer dinged and she turned it back to face her. her hands flew over the keys for several seconds. Then she said, “Ok, I have all the transactions downloaded. Let’s get out of here. I’m getting nervous.”

Jake agreed and started the SUV. Then pulled out of the lot and turned to get on the highway. He drove an hour north to the town of Conrad and pulled off at the Super 8. He parked up the street and walked back checking for cameras. He found two out front. One covered the entrance and the second the parking lot. The main down side was the place had a casino attached. That meant every door in and out would have good coverage.

He walked back and got Emily. They grabbed their packs and the laptop. Then returned. Jake had her put on a cap from the back seat. He checked her over. He thought it would work for what he had planned. He told her the plan and she took a minute to clean off the makeup she had on then pulled on Jake’s sweatshirt. They went in to hotel and Jake got them a room. When asked he said, “My kid sister and I are heading home. Folks own a big ranch up on the border near Turner. We’ve been driving all night and are just to tuckered out to continue. Have to go up through the border then across and back down to get to the spread. Well, that’s the fastest way.” Jake leaned in and whispered, “Her fiancé wasn’t treating her right. I had to go rescue her from him in Oregon. Bastard did a real number on her. she’s still scared he might try to find her. I’m hoping her tries when they let him out. I have plans for him.”

Emily glanced up at the woman. The clerks face became hard, and she gave a curt nod of understanding. “Don’t you fret none sweaty. If’n he comes around asking about you, he won’t learn nothing. Can’t stand a man who’d hurt a woman.”

Once they got to the room Jake closed the door and used two logger’s wedges in the jam. Before she could ask, he said, “The wedges make it really hard to open the door. Even if you have a ram. It’s just me being my normal paranoid self.” She nodded her understanding. She knew they wouldn’t be staying the night.

While she logged into the motel’s internet connection Jake went about making the room looked stayed in. She logged into each of the bank’s sites and pulled down more transaction files. When she was done, she put them all up on one of Jake’s backup locations, and on a thumb-drive they had bought. When she finished, Jake was using a second laptop she didn’t know he had. “If you had that one, why did you by this one?” she asked.

“This one is for logging into a special site. I don’t use it for anything else.” He said. What he had found was confusing. His drop box had several gigabytes of data in it. He was still downloading the compressed and encrypted files. The smallest one had been a text file that read:

Jake,

I understand the situation you are in. Be advised the FBI is very leery of helping. From the intel I have, the Caspenetti brothers are laundering money for several other crime families. The funds are used to purchase cash credit cards, and add money to them. They cycle the money through Miss Howe’s fake companies. The way it works is basically the same on both ends. They use the credit card to buy memberships and live services on porn sites. Each of the Caspenetti’s clients owns a site. They are using computer farms in three separate countries to connect to these sites. This generates what looks like real time connections and legitimate transactions. I’m sorry to inform you, your house guess is Porn Queen. Well she owns dozens of internet porn companies.

The FBI are aware of what is going on. They have lost four cases against this type of thing in the past decade. The brothers twist is they are buy the cards wholesale for export. Then export them to third world countries. By the time, they arrive the cards are worthless, any money on them has already been drained while in transit. The joint terrorism task force has no Official interest in them. Sorry if that isn’t what you hoped to hear. I took the liberty of sending you some toys. They’ll arrive by helicopter tomorrow at you Montana cabin. There will be someone with those toys, that you should speak to. I wish I could more.

Joe.

Joe had been his handler since before he left the army. After his discharge, Jake had considered applying to the joint terrorism task force. Joe had advised him not to. Jake had listened to that advice, and a couple months later he had been asked if he was interested in some contract work. Joe had been right the pay was much better than GS rating he would have gotten. Both his cabin and his home were paid for, from doing a few jobs a year for them. He let the computer continue is work of retrieving the files and wondered who Joe had sent to meet him.

Jake closed the lid and sat back. Emily looked at him and asked, “Problem?”

“No. just an unexpected occurrence. The reason they are freaking out is because those two are laundering money for other crime families. They do something with cash and prepaid credit cards. Um, I don’t know how to say this. So, I’m just going to say it out right. The companies you own on paper are holding companies. Through them, you own more than a dozen internet porn companies.” Jake said

Emily looked shocked. Then she started laughing. “Oh my god. He must have been laughing his ass off. The good little Mormon girls owns porn companies.” She stopped laughing and got a curious look on her face. “How did you find this out? I didn’t even know, and I have access to the bank accounts and corporate filings.”

“I told you a contact of mine dug it up. The problem is, the FBI know all about it. The problem is there is nothing they can do legally to stop them. They own other porn companies that are paid for their services. On paper, it’s all above board and legal, even if they are making more than the average company. The justice department has lost a few cases against this type of thing. That makes them leery of getting involved. Especially since you can’t even testify about the illegal side of things.” Jake said.

Emily just stared at him with a blank look. Jake stood and went to her. He sat on the edge of bed and hugged her, being careful of her tender ribs. “Jake what am I going to do? Why the hell did Geo use me for this?”

“What we are going to do is wait here until after dark. Then we’ll head back to the cabin. Tomorrow, a helicopter will come visit us, with some supplies and someone I need to meet. I have no clue who. I’m hopeful this person will have an alternate solution. I’m pretty sure they do, and that is why they are coming to meet us. I just don’t know who or what. I’ll make sure your safe, no matter what I have to do. You have my word on that.” He told her.

“Why? I mean, I believe you. I can almost feel your promise like a blanket. But, why are you willing to do that for me? You don’t even know me. We just met a week ago, and I’ve nothing but trouble. So, tell me why you are willing to do all this for someone you just met.” She said looking him in the eyes. He could see both confusion and hope in those eyes.

“Maybe because, I have a loose wire in my head. Maybe, because you need help and I can help. Maybe because, you deserve to have a life without these jackals in it. Or maybe I just want a reason to cause more mayhem. Take your pick.” He offered.

“So, it not because you are madly in love with me and my nice tits?” she teased.

Jake chuckled. “No, that isn’t the reason. Though I have enjoyed the view along the way.”

The two reclined on the bed for the next couple hours while the computer downloaded the files and the sun moved across the sky. They both ordered a steak and fries from room service. Emily sat Indian style on one bed and ate, while Jake sat at the small table to eat his meal. Jake had paid the man form his supply of cash. When they finished, Emily asked if he would snuggle with her for a bit. Jake removed his boots and climbed on the bed. He held her as lay with her head on his chest. He thought she had gone to sleep, but wasn’t ever sure. One thing he knew, she felt really nice laying like that in his arms.

Once it was dark the two packed up the laptops and grabbed the packs. The download of the files on Jake’s machine wasn’t finished, but it didn’t matter. They left the key cards on the dresser and used a side door. They walked to the SUV and were on the road in minutes. The drive back went quickly and the two settled in after they unloaded the SUV. Jake connected the laptop to his sat phone and continued the download. The download speed was much faster now. He changed into some shorts and crawled in bed. A few hours later Emily slipped into bed and snuggled up with him. Neither of them said anything.

Jake woke with the first blush of light. He was spooned up behind Emily with her head resting on his upper arm, and his hand resting on her hip. He lay there and pondered the situation for several seconds. They fit together like their bodies were made for each other. More disconcerting was the fact that she felt like she belonged right there in his arms. Jake had never had that feeling before, not even with his ex-wife. He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but he knew there was a deep connection forming, or had formed. At least on his part.