Chapter 21: Part One

Zach was with Mai, Ming, Naomi and my lawyers. As I approached, Zach stated, “That looked like quite a discussion you had with them. Do you think they will listen to what you said?”

Ming laughed and looked at Zach, “If they didn’t listen, Jade and Liu will knock them out in seconds. There isn’t a better two-woman team anywhere and they destroy the Master all the time. I am glad we are not going to be here. I really don’t want to watch that match.

Before leaving the hanger, I asked Zach, “What is the possibility of there being trouble at the resort this morning?”

Zach smiled at me, “It all depends on how confrontational you decide to be. If they tell you to leave and you do, there is little chance of trouble or a confrontation. But, if you are going to push them a little, there is a very high probability of trouble. They present themselves as gangsters from American films and very few will stand up to them. Most cower and leave before it can escalate any further.”

I smiled and looked at Naomi and our lawyers, “Ladies, would you mind if a pair of Zach’s team take you to your apartment to pick up your files and bring them back here? If they push me a little too hard, I will cause a confrontation. That could put you at risk.”

Elena laughed, “I think it would be better if we were out of your way. In talking to your wives, these guys may have a way of pushing your ‘no bullies allowed’ button. We will do as you request.”

Zach called a couple of the ladies on his team and asked, “Please take Alicia and Elena to their apartment so they can pick up their files. Then bring them back here to the hanger. We should be back in a couple of hours from our review of the resort.”

We all climbed into Zach’s suburban. I asked, “Do you know how to get to the resort from here? I just had a thought, we don’t have any keys to gain access to the inside of the building.”

Zach replied, “Yeah, I am getting to know this area pretty good. I have a team onsite with the assignment to stay hidden and only monitor whoever enters the grounds. There are teams of the local gang enforcers that periodically, with no schedule that we can determine, as they walk the facility at random intervals on a daily basis. So far, they are only there to make sure nobody or a group of people don’t try to move in. Eventually, we are going to have to deal with them and most likely their very corrupt union. If you really want to get inside the buildings, I believe one of my guys has a special key that should let you in.”

I was thinking out loud when I said, “Zach, I think that Mai, Ming and I should openly go in and look around. I want to know how aggressive they are going to get to protect their perceived interests in the resort. You and your guys can be our hidden protectors if they pull out weapons. Just because their leader is in jail, doesn’t mean that he isn’t still running the organization, especially since they know that Wilkinson is out of the picture. As long as they don’t have weapons, I feel pretty secure in our abilities to handle them.”

Zach made a left turn and said, “I just turned onto the access road. We will arrive at the main building in a few minutes. I am going to stop before we get too close and bail out into the forest and disappear. I will join my team to monitor your activities. If someone pulls out a gun, we will drop them where they stand.”

Mai smiled at Zach from the back seat, “Thanks for the warning, I wouldn’t have known who was shooting who. If they make any sudden aggressive moves, we are going to also take them down. Please don’t shoot us by mistake.”

Zach laughed, “We’ll do our best. If the shooting starts please hit the ground and roll out of the way. The main building is about a mile up this road.”

I shook his hand, “Hopefully we won’t have to drop and roll.”

Zach took off at a jogger’s pace and disappeared into the trees as I climbed into the driver’s seat. I looked at Mai and Ming and said, “Try and stay calm with whatever happens. We will be fine.” I put the SUV in gear and drove up to the main building.

I parked the SUV near the front entrance, shut down the engine and we got out. We were standing in front of the building as I looked around. I pointed out a car near the end of the building and said, “That late model Mercedes Benz parked at the other end of the parking lot must be one of theirs, they are most likely walking the grounds. Please be on the lookout for them. My plan is to draw out whoever is monitoring the resort. I am expecting trouble, mainly because I am going to act like a spoiled rich and catered to, investor. You need to be ready to assist because I plan to push the envelope a little and see how aggressive they are. I am expecting them to try and intimidate us into leaving.”

We walked around the main building out onto the pool deck. Everything looked new, even though it was unfinished and there was no furniture to be seen. There weren’t even drapes or blinds on any of the windows. The building appeared to be mostly complete, but not furnished with quite a bit of finish work required to make it presentable. I guess Steven was going to do the decorating when he arrived. We were walking around the pool when I noticed the four rough looking guys approaching the pool gate.

I could see that they were not impressed or worried about seeing one man and two small women as they boldly walked directly up to us. From their demeanor, you could tell they felt we posed no threat to them. The obvious leader stated, “This is private property and you shouldn’t be here.”

I smiled at him and said, “Its ok, we can be here. I heard that this property was in custody of the Lima city court. I am a real estate investor looking for something to purchase in this area. We stopped by the court and received all the information we needed to look around.”

He laughed, “There must be some mistake in the court records. I own this resort and I can tell you that it is absolutely not for sale.”

I continued to smile at him and said, “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Wilkinson, and my name is Jerome Butler.” I reached out my hand to shake his, but he completely ignored my hand.

He wasn’t smiling, “Sir, I believe you are misinformed. Mr. Wilkinson is in jail in the United States. He is no longer the owner, I am.”

I stopped smiling and slowly pulled a sheet of paper from my breast pocket, “I am sorry that Mr. Wilkinson is in jail, I didn’t know and the court didn’t say anything. I have this document from the court that has him listed as the legal owner. I believe that I will need my attorneys check with the court and very its validity.”

He made his first mistake when he stepped into my personal space. I smiled and said, “Sir, you do not know me well enough to invade my personal space. I suggest you step back or I may feel threatened by you being so close to me.”

He smiled and not a nice one like mine, then leaned right into my face and said, “You do not need to have your attorneys look into this property. I told you it is my property and if you push hard enough, I assure you that you will be very sorry.”

Still smiling I said, “If you threaten me again, you will be put me in a position to defend myself and my young escorts. I do not believe you will like the outcome of that very much. Now, back off, this is my last warning.”

My threat went right to the core of his ego and as he reached out with his left hand to grab me, I grabbed his thumb on the inside of his hand with my right hand, twisted it down as I stepped to my left outside of his shoulder and drove the palm of my left into the back of his elbow, dislocating the joint. He yelled out in pain as he went down hard, face first into the ground.

The three men with him instantly came forward to attack me. They did not expect to be intercepted by my 5’2” 100 lb female escorts when they swept the feet of the one closest to them. When they tried to get off the ground, my wives kicked them in the face. The kicks didn’t knock them out, but the punch to the side their temples did.

Man number four came at me bobbing and weaving like a boxer. I smiled at him while thinking, “This is what men do that is for intimidation, and most are intimidated by this as it makes them appear that they know how to fight. Usually they also are bigger than you. It must make them feel powerful.” He swung at me a couple of times and I easily avoided or blocked each of his punches. Then I thrust kicked him in his sternum, knocking the wind out of him and drove my knee into his face as he bent over. He flipped over backwards and landed out cold on his back after hitting his head hard on the concrete deck.

I kneeled down next to the moaning man and asked him, “You don’t really own this resort, do you?”

He looked at me and yelled, “As soon as I find and kill the American man that is petitioning the court to take it over, it will be mine.”

I laughed in his face, “First off, I am that American man and you missed your only chance. Do you hear that siren approaching? That is my very good friend, the Chief of Police coming to arrest you. Let me assist you into a sitting position.”

Using his other arm, I helped him sit up and pointed out Zach and his five-man crew. I explained, “Do you see those six men over by the trees?” He nodded his head. I continued, “They are the six men who captured the 14 men your jefe had spread around my restaurant so that I couldn’t escape. You must know that all of them are now in jail with your jefe.”

I pointed out my two wives, “These two young ladies are part of the team that shut down the thugs your boss brought into our meeting to keep me quiet. You also know that they are all in jail with your friends. I have an appointment with the judge tomorrow morning to explain how this resort was built by Mr. Wilkinson using 200 million dollars of money that he stole from me.”

He said, “You will never open this resort. The union leader is owned by us. He will never allow you to open it. He will never approve you to hire anyone that isn’t part of his union and under our control.”

I smiled at him and said, “I have had your friend, the union leader, under video surveillance for almost two weeks. He will be joining you in prison after I see the judge tomorrow. I have almost 60 hours of surveillance recordings showing how he uses your friends to control the union. I even have evidence implicating his boss and his boss’s boss in your activities. The union is about 24 hours from being taken over by the government. Your organization is about to be completely shut down. Here comes my friend the Chief of Police now, and he has a few of his friends with him.”

The Chief of Police walked up to me and said, “Mr. Butler, we have to quit meeting like this.”

I laughed and replied, “Chief, this local gang of thugs just won’t leave me and my wives alone.” Tapping the one with the dislocated arm on the shoulder I said, “This one needs to visit the hospital. I have him on video attacking me and I was forced to defend myself.”

Seeing the Chief, Zach’s team melted into the forest. Zach came jogging up to the pool gate and I let him in.

Zach handed the Chief a clear case holding a computer disc, “Chief, here is the DVD video of the altercation. I used a parabolic microphone to mostly capture their discussion, including the threats.”

The Chief looked at Zach, “Thank you. As usual you are very thorough.”

Zach laughed, “I have to protect my boss’s best interest along with his backside. He seems to attract people who want to do him harm.”

The Chief turned to me, smiled and said, “I received a call from a certain judge this morning asking if your petition to retain this property was truly legitimate. He wanted to know if it was really built with money stolen from your parent’s.”

I asked, “What did you tell him?”

The Chief smiled, “I told him that my good friend, your father, says that it is. He also has the arrest records for Mr. Wilkinson and the investigative report from the US pertaining to what he did at your resort. Including the money he embezzled from its accounts. I don’t think you will have any problems retaining ownership of this property. It may take some time as our courts are slow, but it will most likely happen.”

Zach said, “Chief, here is the surveillance video and voice recordings regarding that other issue you asked my team to investigate. I give you this as part of our cooperation with you and your department. If you need me to testify, I am at your disposal. My boss says that his plane is available to fly me here anytime you need our assistance.”

The Chief shook his head, “Do you know how long I have been trying to get this evidence? You have been here what, two or three weeks at the most. Thank you, Zach.”

After all the thugs were hauled away, I asked Zach, “Do you think your guy can use his special key to let us in. I would like to see firsthand what we are about to get ourselves into.”

Zach keyed his com link, “Jonas, we need to access the building. Can you bring your special set of keys to open the door for us?” Zach looked at the chief, “Jonas is a code name for this person. My name is the only real one used. Sorry sir, but that is how it must be.”

The Chief nodded his head and replied, “I completely understand.”

A moment later a man dressed in camouflage fatigues came jogging out of the forest and through the gate. He said, “I have the key right here.” He held up and tapped the briefcase he was carrying and went to the door opening onto the pool deck. Inside the case was a high-end laptop computer. The top of the case held numerous electronic gizmos organized and secured. He looked at the electronic door lock, selected one of his toys, plugged it into his computer and inserted an attachment that appeared to be a card key into the lock. He opened a program and thirty seconds later we heard an audible click and he opened the door for us and took off back into the forest.

Zach laughed, “I was out there with him before the Chief arrived and I didn’t see his tool box or briefcase with him. Not sure where it was, I do know that it is always near him when we are in a city.”

Holding the door for us, Zach motioned with his arm in a grandiose gesture for us to enter.

I looked at the Chief, “Would you like to join us for our tour?”

The Chief smiled, “I would love too, but someone has given me more work to do, maybe another time. But Jerome, I would love to have one of those toys your friend used.”

I looked at Zach and nodded my head. Zach smiled at the Chief and said, “It will take some time. I will get Jonas to make another one. He may decide to give you the one he has, if that is ok with you?”

The Chief laughed, “Beggars can’t be choosers, I am sure it will work better than advertized.”

I shook the Chief’s hand and said, “Chief, may my wives and I take you and your wife out to dinner before we head back to the states?”

Smiling, the Chief said, “I will ask her, she may not understand how you have so many wives. I will call you.” The Chief turned on his heel and joined his team.

I allowed Mai and Ming to lead the way and Zach followed me into what will one day be the main lobby of the resort. Looking around the very large unfinished room, I realized the money my wives discovered and returned to us was to finish the resort and provide operating capital for its opening. I also had another thought. The local gang never intended to allow Wilkinson to open the resort. I also thought that by accident, I may have saved his life by putting him in jail.

We toured the first floor of the main building and each room had been designed for a purpose. A number of thoughts started flowing through my little brain. On the pool side there were four rooms that could be used as restaurants. On the side opposite the pool deck were rooms that appeared to be for offices and retail space. Turning to Mai and Ming I said, “Let’s take a look at some of the guest rooms.”

Walking up the stairs to the second floor I asked, “Zach is your team large enough to deny access to any gang members?”

Zach thought for a minute, “As long it is not an invasion. Then it will have to do with the size of their force, how they are armed and of course how well trained they are. From what I have seen, they are not well trained. I also believe, the most trusted ones are all off the street after we removed the four this morning.”

I smiled, “Nobody is allowed on our property. If the thugs want to consider it theirs, it’s time they learned that it isn’t. If it turns out to be an all-out war with the gang, have your guys back out and I will let the courts handle it. We may find out how deep their influence is and which judges are in their pockets. I don’t believe this ends tomorrow. It could take more time and money than my parents want to invest. They have told me they would rather it burn to the ground than put me and my crew at risk. That includes you and your team. Instruct your guys to keep them out, but no killing. That could start a gang war and we already have most of our lost money back.”

We stepped off the stairs into what could only be called a sitting room. I could visualize guests reading, playing cards or just relaxing in conversation. We headed down the hall toward our left and entered the first door we came too.

Stepping inside we saw the room only had the basics of a full kitchen to the right and living room to the left. There was a sliding glass door that opened onto a patio/balcony directly across from us, the door was centered in the wall. I went into the bedroom which was laid out as a master bedroom with full in suite bathroom. I also noticed the balcony wrapped around to the back of the bedroom. There was also a sliding glass door that opened onto the balcony at the back and side of the bedroom instead of windows. Stepping out to the patio area I could see it was covered by the suite or patio of the room above.

Ming came up beside me and said, “Master, this room is very comfortable. It’s just not finished, but the layout is very nice. The workmanship is a little sloppy, but can be cleaned up by a team of well-trained tradesmen. Can we check out the other floors? I believe the rooms will get bigger as we go through the higher floors.”

Ming was correct, the higher up we went the suites were slightly bigger with more room for relaxing. When we reached the fourth floor, the rooms were split by one- and two-bedroom suites. By the fifth floor, they were all two-bedroom suites. The sixth floor was split between two- and three-bedroom suites and the seventh was all three-bedroom suites. As we came to the top of the stairs, I could visualize an area for entertainment.

Mai pointed out a door that was not at the top of any of the staircases we’d climbed. She opened it and it led to another stair case. Curiosity got the best of us. We climbed the stairs that were about one and a half floors high. We stepped out onto a very large patio that looked like a duplicate of my parent’s house on top of the condo building. Only, there were two buildings that appeared to be houses, one on each side of the pool. I felt that one was for the owner and the other was for the resort manager. One of them was larger than the other.

We toured both homes and like the remainder of the resort, they were both unfinished. I was thinking to myself, “The smaller, a three-bedroom house will be for the twin attorney’s as the manager’s home. The other five-bedroom home will be the owner’s home or for those requiring special accommodations. We walked over to the edge of the patio overlooking the pool deck. I looked out in the distance and noticed another building off in the distance to the left, much like this one, wider, but not as tall. It appeared to be only three stories or four stories, except it had multiple buildings that looked like homes on top for a fourth floor. I asked Zach, “Do you know anything about that building?”

He shook his head, “I’ve seen it, but didn’t think it was on your property because it is so far away. Should we check it out?”

I smiled at him and said, “Absolutely, this building is almost a duplicate of our swingers resort and from the outside that one looks like the plans my parents had for a nudist resort. The son of a bitch was building a duplicate to what we have at our resort and what we were planning to do next.”

I looked out to my right and could see what looked like a runway in the distance. I said, “He was even going to build an airport, look at the runway he built.”

Zach stared off in the distance, “I was wondering what that was. So, both of these buildings and that supposed runway are on your property?”

I smiled, “I think so, but I won’t know until tomorrow exactly how large the piece of land he bought is. It looks to be about two thousand acres or so. It may be even larger than we think.”

Zach asked, “Can you find your way back to the airport?”