Chapter 28

Meg woke up showered and dressed and headed for coffee. Tracy was right behind her. When they got there an argument was going on in the kitchen. It was Marie yelling “I don’t care if you didn’t get any sleep that’s not my problem.” She walked out with a thermal container of coffee and cups.

When she saw the two girls she had a big smile on her face. Tracy said, “Are you giving Paula a hard time?”

Marie said, “Oh Yeah. I brought in extra help just in case I couldn’t find her, but I did and dragged her naked butt out of the bed by the feet.”

They started to laugh. “Does she have clothes on?”

“Yesterday’s,” said Marie!

A moment later Paula walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of creamers and sugar packages. She came over to Tracy and Meg and asked, “How much do you want for him?”

Meg thinking fast said, “1 Billion!”

She had a far-away look in her eyes and then asked would they take a check!

Marie said, “Oh MY God” and walked away.

Tracy said, “Let us think about that.”

“Okay,” she said and walked away.

Tracy replied, “You are really bad.”

Meg said “Yeah.”

Aaron, Fry, John, Renee, and a few Seals came in for coffee and breakfast sandwiches before leaving.

Meg asked Renee if she wanted to go for a ride.

“Yes Ma’am I would love to!”

Meg and Renee grabbed a 2-seat helicopter and left. On the way, Meg spotted something behind the garage. She called Tracy and told her and asked if she could take care of it and hung up.

“Why did you ask Tracy instead of Aaron?”

Meg looked at her and said, “That girl is dangerous.”

Renee said, “After all the stories I heard about you that’s Impressive.” Meg set the helicopter down and unloaded their bags.

One of the head mechanics said, “It’s fueled, and I personally did the inspection.”

Meg said, “Thank you. By any chance do you have any spare fuel tanks so I can get more distance?”

“I’ll check.”

“When are you getting out?”

He replied, “I can go anytime!”

“When you decide to go, tell Aaron, Mark, or Fry. We are going to need mechanics in the Caribbean.” He said he would love to go! “Are you married?”

He said, “Yes, she is a Nurse!”

“Talk to her we are going to need people.”

“I will and, thank you. Also, I will find your tanks.”

The group came in with the large helicopter. Aaron said, “Tracy got the girl trying to escape. She put a star in one butt cheek and a throwing knife in the other, then made her walk back naked holding her butt.”

Meg replied, “And you said that I’m bad.”

“No, she’s bad but your worse!”

Aaron called over to John and asked is all good and he said, “Waiting on you sir.”

Meg asked Renee if she was ready to go? Renee asked, “Am I going with you?”

And Meg said, “You will need a flight suit and I need the restroom.”

They all left and headed for Baltimore. When they set down there were 2 fuel tankers and 4 container trucks waiting for them. The airbase had a crane to pick up and load the trucks. Jim, Tim, and a few Seals took care of the Ground operation and the C-5 reloaded the 4 large containers into the plane and taxied to the runway with Meg following. Once they were airborne Meg contacted Aaron and told him to have two fuel tankers waiting for them in Grenada. Meg also reminded him to drop 2 containers on the East beach and the other 2 on the West beach and the MI-26 will move them. She told him that she was refueling in the Bahama’s and she would catch up to him.

Renee asked, “We own an MI-26 helicopter?”

Meg replied, “Yes!”

“Why are we taking empty containers to an Island?”

First, we own the island and are taking them to fill them with stuff for our Museum in Baltimore. One of the areas is an ocean theme! Sand, shells, coral, and plants to fill the tanks for the displays. We are dropping them on the beaches so we can fill them and bring them back.”

“Oh Okay,” said Renee, “that makes sense!” She asked Meg when they got to the Bahamas could they make a pit stop. Meg said sure.

A little while later Meg called Aaron and told him she was breaking off for fuel and would catch up in a little bit. Meg got approval to land, landed, and headed for the fuel truck. While it was being refueled she and Renee made a pit stop. When returning to the plane she found 2 people waiting for her.

They asked where she was coming from and going to? Meg replied, “I left my airbase in Boston and gave support to a C-5 bound for Baltimore then proceeded to Grenada, but I needed to stop for fuel. Check your logs I was here yesterday with a two-star General and returned him last night to Boston. This is a military plane. Do we have a problem?”

“No Ma’am just checking!”

She called over to the fuel truck and asked if they were done. Meg said, “Let’s go Captain we are out of here.”

They climbed in and left. Renee said, “You didn’t play with them.”

Meg replied Nope, “They shouldn’t have bothered us. As far as they knew we were a military plane.” Renee just laughed!

Meg caught up to the C-5 before they got to the Island and showed Renee where they were dropping the containers. Aaron made the first pass and put a container on each beach. On the second pass, one hit the mark but the other went into the shallow water at the beach. The Russian crew came in and picked up the container with the MI-26. The two planes headed to the airport. As soon as they landed Bill got the two planes set up to be fueled.

Alice pulled up with a food truck, got out, and gave everyone hugs. She made sure everyone had drinks and something to eat also snacks for later. Meg brought Renee over to Bill and introduced her. She explained what she wanted to do to help Bill and Lucile. She asked Bill if she could land at the north airport to introduce Renee to Lucile. Bill said, “I’ll make a call to make sure the runway is clear.”

“We will be back later today with road equipment and stuff. You will probably have the ERJ 135 here also later. They will need to get to the hotels. Bill, can you get me a fuel truck in the Bahamas? Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.”

Meg told Aaron she was stopping at the north field to see Lucile and she would catch him on the other side of the Bahamas as she had to stop for fuel. They loaded up and moved to the runway.

Meg lifted off and flew for a few minutes and landed again. Lucile came up to the plane and said, “You really did get one!”

“Yes, and I love it. Bill took the bombs off, but the missiles and guns are still active.”

“Lucile, I need you to tell me what you want to do?”

She said, “I would like to stay here and run this if possible.”

Meg said, “I was hoping you were going to say that. This is Renee, she used to run the shipping and receiving at San Diego airbase. Within the next three months, your work is going to increase 10-fold. I have made a deal with XTI Aero to certify their Trifan 5-passenger aircraft and build a ten-passenger one and that is going to be done here. Also, we are probably going to build the Toy here. So, all the raw material will be coming here. How is the runway?”

“Not too bad and it won’t be too long before we will have it extended.”

“Great! I have to get going, will try to see you later.”

Renee said, “It was nice to meet you Lucile, and hope to work with you soon.”

They took off and the flight to Savannah went well. When they landed, there was equipment all over. John and the Seals started to line the equipment out on the asphalt so they could load it properly. Beth ran up to Meg and said, “I heard you got a new toy and I love it!”

Meg said, “So do I! Beth this is Renee.”

They said Hi and Renee said, “I’m going to go help John and Fry.”

Meg said go ahead and she left. Meg then told Beth, “Renee ran the freight and assignments for the flights on the base in San Diego. Lucile is going to need a hand and Renee can fly up to a C-130 and helicopters. She used to work with Fry. So, get me up to speed here.”

Beth said, “I called Boston to get you, but you were already gone. I explained to Mark what was up. He called me back and took care of it. He sent a C-17 to get the carts and there’s a new C-5 coming in from California to help with the load. My dad’s business is almost empty. My uncle got two small buses and I took them. I hired 3 people from school. Two girls and a guy. His dad owned a store and retired, and he closed it.”

“I’m sure we can use him,” said Meg.

“My dad said there is another business like his about 100 miles from here and he knows the guy.”

“Call your dad and tell him he’s going for a ride.”

As Beth was calling her dad, the ERJ-135 landed. When the people started to unload, Meg called Dana over and told her to go with Beth. “Take a quick look at what’s here and then see if you can fill in what you are missing or what you want at the other place.”

Meg got a phone number to call for a helicopter and talked to a lady that said she could be there in about 10 minutes. A few minutes later a helicopter landed, and a woman walked over to the girls. “Is that your C-5?”

Meg said, “No it’s the big boy over there.”

“Wow,” she said.

Meg then said, “That’s mine over there!”

As she turned she seen the F-18 and snapped back with, “That’s an F-18!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

The lady said, “And I thought that I was going to impress you with my big Bell.”

“I doubt that we own an MI-26.”

The responded with. “It figures. You wouldn’t be looking for pilots would you?”

Before Meg could answer Renee walked over and said, “Marge, is that you?” They hugged and Renee said to Meg, “You can hire her, both myself and Fry will vouch for her.”

Beth said, “We need to go!”

Renee asked if she could go with them and Meg said, “Sure.”

Renee thanked her and Beth and Renee left in the helicopter.

The young guy that Beth hired walked over to Tracy and Meg and introduced himself as Mark to them,

Meg said, “Do you have a middle name because Mark is not going to work, we already have one Mark.”

He said, “Luke is my middle name.”

Tracy said, “You need to go by Luke now. How can we help you, Luke?”

“I think I may be the one that can help you! My dad just closed our store and we got rid of all the perishables, but the store sits empty with all the fixtures, freezers, bakery ovens and I thought maybe you might be interested in buying the store’s fixtures.”