Chapter 8: Saturday

Steve met Neil before six thirty in the restaurant. He had awoken early enough to get some time in the gym so he was feeling ready to go.

As they ate Neil went over the schedule for today’s flights, “We have an eight am flight direct to Washington arriving around three pm local time. A three hour layover then a four hour flight to Las Vegas, landing around seven pm local time.”

Steve nodded, “Where are we staying in Las Vegas?”

“We have a safe house we can use courtesy of the US Marshals. They’re letting us use one as it’s empty at present,” Neil said, “It’s supposed to be pretty swank.”

Steve smiled, “As long as I get a good night’s sleep.”

They wrapped up breakfast with Neil signing for it. They had both bought their bags down to breakfast so they were able to settle their bills and checkout without returning to their rooms before heading off to the airport. Their aim to be there before seven.

Once they had secured their bags Steve again performed the preflight checks while Neil looked on. They were ready for their passengers at eight when they arrived and were at their cruising altitude by eight forty.

Neil drilled Steve throughout the flight with his only respite when he served the inflight meal.

They arrive on time at Ronald Reagan Airport and had the aircraft hangared by four. There was a pilot’s lounge at the airport so Neil and Steve hung out there with Neil schooling Steve on the G-5.

They returned to their aircraft at five to prepare for their next flight.

A Suburban pulled up next to the Gulfstream as Steve was finishing up their preflight. It was dropping off the first of their passengers. The two passengers only had brief cases and an overnight bag.

Steve checked his watch hoping the other passengers would arrive soon. He knew that they were to have three more passengers as seven inflight meals had been delivered to the aircraft.

Neil and Steve were waiting by the aircraft’s stairs when a second Suburban pulled up. He was pleasantly surprised when Dale got out followed by Becky and Sandra. They each carried their bags with them.

Steve went straight to Sandra and wrapped her up in a big hug. He whispered to her, “It’s good to see you.”

He eased his hold on her allowing them to turn their heads and kiss.

As he released her she said, “It’s good to see you to Steve, it’s even getter to hold you.”

Dale and Becky smiled asking, “What are we chopped liver?” Finishing with a laugh.

That drew a smile from Steve, “It’s good to see you both as well,” he said, “So you three are our last passengers?”

Dale smiled, “Well I needed to update you anyway and you have room onboard for three freeloaders so why not.”

Steve turned to Neil and introduced them, “Neil this is Dale a fellow FBI agent, Becky his significant other or soon to be and this is Sandra.”

Neil shook hands with them all and asked Sandra, “So are you Steve’s significant other?”

Sandra laughed replying to Neil but was addressing Steve, “I had better be.”

Steve was a little embarrassed and to cover for him Neil said, “Well we have a schedule to keep so climb aboard.”

The three boarded congregating in the rear of the cabin leaving Steve to load their bags. Steve gave the safety brief getting a smile from Sandra before resuming his seat in the cockpit.

By now Neil and Steve were a well oiled machine and were quickly airborne and climbing to their cruising altitude of thirty six thousand feet. Once they leveled off and the seatbelt sign was extinguished Dale came forward.

When Dale appeared in the cockpit isle Neil noticed first, “We have a visitor Steve.”

Steve turned from the instrumentation and said, “Dale’s here to brief me on a current investigation, can we do it here?”

Neil gestured to a folding jump seat and said, “Take a seat Dale, you can brief here or take it in back if you want.”

“This is fine guys,” Dale said as he folded the seat down getting comfortable, he pulled his smart phone from his pocket and opened up a journal app.

Taking a breath Dale started his brief, “OK the compound. Physical security is complete with the extra perimeter alarming in place. The Army is still pushing sand around and should be out of there next week or the week after.”

“The garage at the boathouse is underway using prefabricated concrete panels, the shell should be completed late next week with the fit out being completed the following week.”

“The gatehouse mezzanine floor is in and the fitout should be completed late next week with the team moving in over the following weekend.”

“The house, Jeremey has been intouch sith the insurance company and an agreement has been reached. They will honour the contract, you need to make a decision about the house as soon as possible.”

When Dale paused Steve asked, “Would it be simpler to just rebuild the house?”

“Sure it would, probably faster as well.”

“OK then go ahead and rebuild it as it was. However have the builder give the exterior a cosmetic upgrade as well as upgrading the security for the windows, doors and walls. I want it to look different to the original but not like a bunker though,” he said.

Dale made a note in his journal, “OK, now the legal problems the contents of the safe. The Department of Justice has become involved and they are crawling all over your purchase transaction. One of their legal eagles believes that it looks like you are buying an FBI career and the entire proceeds should be returned to you.”

Steve was dividing his attention between the cockpit and Dale when what Dale said registered, “What the hell, who would pay two billion dollars for an FBI badge?”

Dale laughed while Neil gave Steve a curious look, “It’s not two, De Beers heard about the diamonds and are worried we’ll dump them on the market. At their quantity and quality we could depress the global diamond market. As the diamonds are in the two to seven carrot range they fall into their premium market. Current value is now estimated at four to as high as six if we sell off over a four to five year period. De Beers will give us five today.”

Steve was quiet and went back to scanning the instruments, taking refuge in a practiced routine so he could think. Dale waited him out allowing Steve to finalise his thoughts. After a few minutes Steve asked, “Was this De Beers first offer?”

Dale smiled, Steve was not overwhelmed but still thinking, “Our seller a third party was approached by them. It was their third offer.”

“So these diamonds could be worth more than five,” he said, shocking himself a little in how he was handling a five billion dollar deal.

“That’s a very real possibility. I’ve got some agents making discreet enquiries regarding the volatile nature of the diamond market. There is one other option we need to consider, De Beers maybe able to tell us the providence of the diamonds,” Dale said, “It could help us trace Jose’s wealth.”

“Is there a way De Beers can tell us where the diamonds came from?”

“According to our experts they can. They use a laser to vaporise a portion of the stone. The gaseous discharge is passed through a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer to read the unique chemical signature for the stone. The signatures are unique enough to identify regions where stones are mined even on the same continent. The method is being used to positively identify conflict diamonds,” Dale said, “However any stone we test will have a noticeable laser hole and De Beers is the only organisation with the chemical signatures for most regions.”

Dale continued, “Also the quantity and inventory of the stones may lead us back to the original purchasers. We believe that a large portion of these stones should have passed through De Beers hands.”

Steve mulled this over, “Ok, there must be significant upside for De Beers for offering this deal. If the diamonds are mine, we’ll sell to De Beers on the understanding they provide the providence of the stones.”