Chapter 5

I was up by eight the next morning, leaving Cade to sleep in while I worked out and went to swim at the resort pool. There were several uniformed cops openly guarding the pier and Cade’s boat, so I wasn’t too concerned about anything happening in the daylight.

I spent an hour on the phone with Terry, he was hiring an international investments guy, out of a firm in London, to handle my investments in the European theater. Terry had already committed fifty million to buy in fifty-five percent of an import/export firm that specialized in luxury goods. I had about three years left to take advantage of the license to import and export goods free of charge, tariff, tax or fee. The company, Distinguished Imports, already had relationships in the UK and France, and with help from a couple of well-placed friends in Spain and Portugal, Terry was banking on making me a bundle.

Before we were done, he surprised me with one more thing. “Jack, Erin wanted me to ask you if I spoke to you first, about that island you own in the Florida panhandle. You holding that for a reason or just as an investment?”

It took me a second, but I had only been there once and it had been an empty piece of land fit only for mosquitoes and gators.

“It was appraised at two point one when I got it, then was up to four point one after that water treatment plant went in just up the coast. I was just hanging on to it, curious about how high it would get before I got an offer.” I told him, curious about what he had.

“Seven point nine, cash offer, close in fourteen days.” Terry told me, sounding excited. Terry was a trip. He would shell out fifty million on a big deal that should be worth five hundred million in the next year, but he was just as excited about an eight-million-dollar deal.

“Any idea why they want it?” I asked, curious about the big jump.

“Buckman Group. They are real estate speculators, big in resorts, hotels, casinos, theme parks and so on. I had a firm down there do a quick record check and nothing jumps out at me, but this group is buying up land around the bay.”

I thought about it for a second, but I didn’t really care one way or another about what was going on down there. The offer would quadruple the value of the land from five years ago when I ‘inherited’ it, and I was never going to build on it so...

“Go for it. Tell ‘em eight flat, they pay costs, then let Erin run with it.”

When I hung up, I spun my chair around from the helm where I had been sitting and was surprised to see Cade sitting there.

“Six million is not bad for a morning’s work.” Cade said sarcastically, staring oddly at me.

I just shrugged, wondering how long she had been sitting there. Obviously long enough to hear the whole land deal, but probably not about the import/export company investment or she wouldn’t have bothered mentioning the smaller amount.

“It is all just numbers until I am in line at the grocery store.” I said with a grin, playing it cool.

“I cleared four million last year.” Cade said, still staring at me with the odd expression. “It is the first of July and have already banked almost five million after my thirty-one-stop tour and my album hit platinum in June. I might make another three and a half, maybe four million by the end of the year if I do another concert tour.”

“Sounds like you are working hard for your money.” I said offhandedly, trying to figure out where this was going.

“So, you just sat there and okayed a deal that would make you six million in a three-minute conversation, and you are as calm as if you gave the waiter your drink order.”

“Okay, Cade, I ... I don’t understand what you are looking for here. Is there a question in all of that?”

She opened her mouth for a moment, then closed it again. With an audible sigh, she hung her head and stared at her toes, her feet twisting slowly on the soft carpeting of the upper salon.

“You keep making me face my prejudices and I am not sure I like it.” She said, looking up at me again.

Wait, what?

“I don’t...” I started to say, but she held up a hand.

“First, the ham-handed way you were plunking on that guitar told me that you had no talent. Next, your accent told me you were a hick, probably crew on this thing. Next, when I learned that you were not crew and that Dean worked for you, I just assumed you were a trust fund kid for some hick oilman or cattleman or something. Maybe even a lottery winner.”

She blushed a little and shook her head.

“You are very talented and sing like an archangel, you are independently wealthy and I could tell by the way you shrugged that deal off that the six million didn’t mean much in the big picture. Your accent is obviously just a remnant of where you were raised, but you sure aren’t some inbred hick and Dean, well, that man would take a bullet for you and not because you paid him. Even after the girls that were here gushed all over, you didn’t treat me any different, so that tells me you don’t impress easy either.

“Don’t you see? I came out here thinking I was the shit. I thought I was queen bee and the whole west coast would be bending over to kiss my ass. Instead, I found out that I am not even well known, outside my small group of fans. I am being targeted by the people I trusted the most and depending on the kindness of strangers. The only thing outrageous about me was my attitude and my prejudices.

“I don’t think I like you very much, Jack, because I am not sure I can measure up.”

How about that?

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘So?’, Jack? What kind of fucking response was that, I’m pouring my heart out here?” Cade asked, sounding pretty upset.

“Just what it sounds like. Why would you bother comparing yourself to me? Who am I? You didn’t even know me yesterday morning. Okay, so you had some preconceived notions that were probably stupid, but you think I haven’t or still don’t? Christ, I am one of the most fucked up people I know, in more ways that you can probably fathom. You need to compare yourself to you. Compare who you are today to who you were yesterday. Today you are humbler, wiser, and less secure than yesterday. Today you have to deal with some pretty tough issues that you didn’t even know about yesterday morning, but you are in a better place to deal with them today than you were.

“So, I repeat my question. So? So, are you going to make the same mistakes today as you did yesterday? So, are you going to jump to conclusions again today? So, are you going quit razzing me about my accent or do I have to throw you in the harbor?”

Her head came up at that last one, her eyes squinting her mouth in a thin line. A smile tried to tug at the corner of her lip and she shook her head. “I was going to say, ‘Bring it! I have three brothers and I am not afraid of you!’ but you are probably some kung fu, karate expert or something, right?”

“Or something.” I agreed, sticking my tongue out at her.

An Internationally known singing sensation, chart-topping platinum record having diva just flipped me off. She put her middle finger in the air like she just didn’t care. I just can’t even...

Dean evidently spent his morning on the phone because he came up to tell me he had four people coming in for an interview. Three of them wanted to stay on and work for Burt, the fourth was just a short timer. Two were WMs, female marines.

“I had forgotten JD lived in San Diego. Actually, a suburb, but still. We still exchange emails and shit, but I never thought of him for one of our jobs, he’s in a chair. Anyway, he gave me four names and I called to bring ‘em in, see if we, if Cade, likes them.”

“Why not give your friend in the wheelchair to Burt too, if he is looking for work. We are going to need people in the office, directing the effort. That is assuming he wants the work, that is.” I asked, and saw Dean shake his head.

“I’ll call him back, Boss. When is Burt coming in?”

“Today-ish? I really don’t know. He just said he was in and I gave him to Terry and Erin back in Austin. They’ll get him out here eventually, but maybe not until they have some property for him to see. Just give the guy Burt’s number. In fact, call Burt, let him know we are sending him people when he gets here. If he keeps them or not or how he uses them is his call, but Vets get preference, then non-vet ex-Feds if he can trust ‘em.”

Cade sat through this discussion, her head bouncing back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. Her troubles appeared to be forgotten for the moment.

I saw that Dean noticed as well, and he just shrugged when our eyes met.

“Cade, one thing, well, one of the things, that I do with my spare time is help fund programs for kids, especially at-risk kids. After school, day care, educational programs, counseling for troubled kids and, especially, we are working to end child slavery wherever we find it. We work with the government, of course, but we also work with governments of other countries and we fund teams of what I would call extraction agents. People trained to go in and free kids when we find them. Burt, the guy we were talking about, is a retired FBI agent and he agreed to run a new program for me.”

Cade seemed absolutely fascinated by this. “That huge slavery bust, the one in the Gulf of Mexico a couple ... no, you would have been too young for that” she finished, shaking her head.

“That was Jack. Well, he started the ball rolling, anyway.” Dean said, laughing at her expression.

“Jesus, Jack.”

I was saved by the bell or, more accurately, the phone, when it rang. It seemed there were some women at the foot of the pier who wanted to come out to see us. Dean grabbed a set of binoculars and laughed when he had them focused on the police officers who were controlling access to the yacht docks.

“Kelly is here, Tiff is with her.” He said, but he sounded too amused.

“Let them in, please, officer.” I said and hung up. I walked over to the rail and stared down the pier only to see three women, two blonds and a brunette. Hmm...

“Dean?” I started to ask but, when I turned, he was already down the stairs to the main deck. I just shrugged and stood watching as the got closer.

“What’s up, Jack?”

“Don’t know yet, but Dean thinks he is pulling a fast one. There is a third woman with Tiff and Kelly.”

Cade came and joined me at the window and we watched, together, as the three women got closer and closer.

“That looks an awful lot like...” Cade started to say, but I was already moving.

“Yeah, it sure does!”

Down on the main deck, I stood at the top of the gangway with my arms crossed, waiting for the three on the pier to arrive. Cade came down and stood back near where Dean was standing, and smugly smiling.

“Hi Jack!” Tiffany called up from the bottom of the gangway, waving innocently with a big smile on her face. Kelly was smiling too and gave me a little wave. The third woman, the second blonde of the trio, stood there glaring up and me, her fists perched on her hips.

“Going to invite us aboard, ‘Captain‘?” the third woman asked snidely.

“Debating it.” I called back, getting a surprised look from Tiff but a laugh from the third. “Who am I kidding, come on up, ladies, join the party.”

Tiff gave me a nice kiss and an even nicer hug. Kelly gave me a peck on the cheek as she passed on her way to Dean. He got a tonsil swabbing if I have ever seen one!

The third woman, a grin on her face, was watching it all and shaking her head.

“I should be pissed at you. First you headbutt me when I was already having a bad day, then I get put on this big guilt trip when the whole rumor mill tells me that our little meeting of the minds led to you being blackballed, and that no one had seen you since. Word was that you had been sent back to whatever Podunk town you hailed from in disgrace. Hell, I even tried to get Mike Sutter to tell me who you were, but he would just shake his head sadly and change the subject. By the way, if you talk to him, tell him that I owe him a major ass kicking.”

“Look, I apologized for the way we met and I never said I was an actor. I really did leave town that day, we had already concluded our business and were just taking a tour. Mike’s girl, now fiancée, works for me.” I told her, laughing and holding up my hands as though I was trying to ward off an attack.

“Well, duh, I know that now. I spent more than a month feeling guilty though, until Sylvia, of all people, tells me the truth about you, you jerk.”

“Ah, well, where are my manners. I will assume you know the two trouble-makers you walked up with. I suspect Tiff is the one who spilled the beans about where I was. You might remember Dean from that infamous day, but maybe not too. And this is...”

“Cade Taylor! Big fan of yours!”

“Cade, this is Chloe Moretz. Wait, do you use the Grace part or is that just for the screen or what?”

Chloe ignored me and had Cade to herself as they wandered inside, chatting happily. I just rolled my eyes and turned back to Tiff who was trying her best to look innocent.

“Okay, so I might have called home and told Dad about you, and about the Chloe story and he might have put me in touch with someone who could get her to call me and I might, just might, have told her you were in San Diego, but if she hadn’t already been in town filming for her new movie, I doubt she would have flown in just to give you a hard time. Probably.”

Kelly was laughing and even Dean, the traitor, was openly laughing.

“Might, eh? I might not be mad about this. Cade could use a friend and maybe Chloe can give her some perspective., she seems pretty grounded for a movie star.”

Tiffany seemed happy about that and gave me a big hug, pressing her middle against mine.

“I really am sorry about the other night, I had plans for you. Do you think that I might get a second chance?” she asked, looking up at me through her bangs and biting her lip. The wicked look in her eye and the pressure of her abdomen against my middle let me know that she was perfectly aware what kind of effect that would, and did, have.

“I might be persuaded.” I allowed, reaching down to pull her tighter, cupping her firm ass cheek through her thin capris.

The phone choosing that moment to ring again let me know that this was going to be one of those days.

“Jack, the Marines have landed!” Dean called from inside.

I got everyone together in the small salon and made sure they were all up to date on the crew that attacked the previous night, and why we had four Marines coming in to interview for guardian spots for Cade. I asked them to give us some time upstairs with them, and while we were busy, they could do just about anything they wanted as long as Cade didn’t leave without a bodyguard.

Since there were cops on the pier and on her boat, her suggestion that she use the time to pack her bags over there, she was adamant about not staying on the rental yacht no matter if she was going back to New York soon or not, sounded like a do-able plan. She did agree to wait a few while we got the four situated and Dean could walk her across, get her past the guards on her boat.

The Marines, two bearded men and two women, one of whom was wearing shorts and baring her prosthetic leg that began mid-thigh, introduced themselves to Dean who was checking them against photos his buddy had sent. Once they were seated, Dean took off to walk Cade next door and I filled them in on what they would be doing, at least initially.

None of them seemed surprised, which told me that they had at least a minimal briefing before they came, but they all seemed impressed when I described the new company I was setting up out here. It would be national, but it would start right here in San Diego to deal with the intelligence we had on hand.

All four of them seemed to like the idea. One of the women, the one without the prosthetic leg, said she had initially been skeptical since their contact had described it more like a private investigations company. She admitted she couldn’t see herself playing peeping Thomasina and ratting out cheating spouses for a living. This, however, was something she could sink her teeth into!

They all agreed to contact Burt and meet with him when he arrived. They could give him their quals because he was the guy who had to put them to work. In the meantime, they all agreed to work as Cade’s security team until things were calmer, definitely until that scumbag ex-manager was behind bars. The pay would be fifteen hundred a day plus expenses and I gave each of them an AmEx.

Terry had sent me a dozen, sequentially numbered cards that drew on an operating account. I could assign a value, a limit and a payee with a simple phone call and each charge could be billed, on Terry’s end, to a specific project or cost center. It was a pretty slick setup.

A quick call to Terry got them all set up and activated. The cards would have a five-thousand-dollar transaction limit that could be overridden by Terry if the need was urgent. Each charge had to be documented, including why, by the person with the card. While I was on with Terry, I had him speak to each of the Marines. We would treat them like contractors for now, so he needed tax information for the paperwork.

Dean was back by this point, the ladies in tow, so we could introduce Cade to her new security crew.

“Wait, you hired them? What ... why would you hire them? I thought you were, like, just helping and getting them for me to hire. How do I pay you back?”

“Cade, remember our discussion this morning, the phone call you asked about? Don’t sweat it, okay?”

“Sure, Mr. Big Spender. Still won’t get you in my pants, you know, you would need a better recording contract for that.” she snarked, but she did come over and give me a nice kiss on the cheek. She perched herself on my knee, too!

“Look, Jack, Chloe offered to let me fly back to LA with her. They are done shooting until after the fourth and getting out of San Diego, as well as getting away from that yacht, sounds like a good idea. What do you think?”

“You are probably right. Cade, you need to look out for yourself. You have the business cards from those two detectives last night, make sure they know where you are. If you need anything, well, you know where I am and you have that number too.”

That earned me another hug and a sad smile. She told me to plan on coming to New York soon, that she wanted me to do a duet with her. She wouldn’t take a brush off so I smiled and said I would let her know about my schedule. She looked skeptical, but it wasn’t like she could really force the issue, now was it?

I got a hug from Chloe Grace Moretz on their way out, so I could count this whole thing as a win! Much better than the annoyed brush-off I got last time we met!

Wonder what it would take to get a kiss?

SDPD was glad to hear that Cade was leaving town and the resort was glad to hear it too! Tiff and Kelly even seemed relieved, though Kelly was still happy about having pictures with the big singing star. She was like a dog with a bone about the whole ‘duet’ thing though, and wouldn’t believe that it was a pity thing, that I sounded like a wounded water buffalo in the shower.

I got my guided tour of the University of California at San Diego and they even found me someone to walk me around San Diego State University campus. They were both pretty nice and I could definitely see the draw. I could even live on the boat, or at the Kona Kai, if I wanted. The drive to the UC San Diego campus was only about twenty minutes without traffic. If I came back, I would probably get something closer though, living on the boat would get old and I didn’t want my get away, my escape, to become boring to me!

Tiff and Kelly had already planned to stay in San Diego until after the Fourth of July celebrations, then head back home for the summer to Los Angeles. It didn’t take much convincing for us to get them to hang with us, even if they did decline a ride back to LA on the E² as they both had cars they wanted back in LA for the summer.

Tiff was quick to tell me, once we were alone, that she was not in the market for a serious relationship, but she was having fun playing with me. If I could keep it casual, she’d love to spend even more time with me either this summer or when school started again, if I was going to school down here.

The holiday was a little bit bitter sweet, even if the luscious Tiffany turned out to be a tiger between the sheets. It brought back memories of the Fourth just before everything went to hell with Cam. What had been the girl, no, the nurse’s name, Kathy?

Hmm ... maybe the name thing was really Dean’s fetish and not Dave’s. Kathy and Kelly?

Tiff woke me the best way on the morning of the fifth, with a sloppy, noisy blowjob! I got to return the favor in the shower, showing her what I had learned about pleasing a woman while she sat on the shower seat, then bending her over and giving her an encore while the hot water beat down on us.

With lots of hugs and kisses, and even a tear or two, (from them, not us) we dropped the girls ashore at the Imperial Beach Pier. We had staged their cars there the day before, then pulled out off the coast to watch the massive fireworks display and have a little party. Rather than cruise up the restricted inlet past the Navy bases again, this was a lot easier and faster.

I had no more than put her out to sea again, heading north when the phone rang and Burt told me he was in town. Erin had closed on the perfect building and Burt had flown out to sign the deal on behalf of the new company. Burt didn’t actually need me at this point, it was going to take a couple of weeks to get this thing up and running, but Dean did spend the time with him on the phone to get him up to date on the clipping service and the extras we had running. He was given access to the service and its output, plus the database we had developed to track activity over time.

I made sure to update him on the four Marines who were currently guarding Cade, and Dean gave him the contacts for his buddy in the wheelchair.

“One last thing, Jack. Terry asked me to pass on a message if I talked to you before he did. A Martin Schipe, he’s the head of some outfit called Deckhouse, has something for you so give him a call.”

Martin, eh? I hoped it was good news, they had been growing steadily without my interference, except for some cash infusions every now and then for property purchases; and, of course, my connections with the GAO auctions! I had been letting Deckhouse, the parent company, buy back shares as they could afford them. They would never be a cash cow and Martin worked hard and deserved to get his company back. The spinoffs, all separate companies under the parent’s banner, were all still 100% mine. The charter and rental businesses were cash rich, so was the marina management.

After I disconnected with Burt, I called up D&D.

“Thank you for calling Deckhouse Designs, how may I direct your call?”

“Good morning! My name is Jack McCoy and I need to speak to Martin Schipe please, He left a message for me to call him when I got a chance.”

“Absolutely. One second, Mister McCoy, let me see if he is available.”

“Jack? Martin! Long time no talk, how are things with you?”

“Good, Martin, good. I am just out sailing around, looking for a new college, Austin turned out to be too far from the water for me.”

“Really? Where are you, Jack? I have a surprise for you.”

“Just north of San Diego at the moment.”

“Wow, I was expecting you to be back east. Are you on your trimaran? Did you do the Panama Canal? Disaster down there, isn’t it?”

I had to laugh; Martin was a boat guy for sure. “Yeah, I paid almost as much in bribes as I did for the fees and it still took me a week. What a mess! So, what’s this surprise you have, Martin?”

“Jack, you remember when we first met? You were what, fourteen? Fifteen? Something like that. You came in and you were fascinated by boats. You had just been on that little pleasure cat out in Galveston and were all over our design department. Well, I remember telling you about a new trimaran design that was just starting. Guess what Jack, after what, almost five years? After five years, we are launching the first one on August fifteenth.

“We’ve partnered with Christensen Yachts as the builder and with Bayview Composites on the new hull. It is being built in Vancouver, Washington, right across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. It will launch there for its maiden voyage down the river to the Pacific. The acceptance trials will take about three weeks if nothing goes wrong and its maiden voyage is to Hawaii, Jack.”

“Wow! This is that killer trimaran you showed me sketches of, way back then. I remember it! So ... Martin, old buddy, old pal of mine, you can get me in to this launch, right?”

“Of course! Even if you are not the majority shareholder anymore, you have been absolutely fantastic to work for, and then with, and I can’t imagine anyone else letting me buy back the shares as we could afford it. You didn’t have to allow that, Jack, and I really appreciate that you do. Besides, there are not all that many people who could afford to buy one of these.” He finished with a laugh.

“Oh, I see how it is! If you could email me the particulars, I will be there with bells on, Martin. This is exciting, a big day for you!”

“It certainly is, Jack, it certainly is. I’ll have my girl send you all the info you need. Jack, if you have time, why not think about riding her out to Hawaii. I know you said you were still in school, but how many maiden voyages do you get? You would get a place of pride on her plank owners’ plaque, I guarantee!”

Hmm ... Temptation, thy name is Martin!

I was all for skipping Los Angeles all together and just heading further north. We could be off the coast of Santa Barbara by three or be off the coast of San Luis Obispo, probably Morro Bay, by ten that night if we motored on through. Still, the whole purpose of this cruise, well, beyond the sheer joy of just sailing around and avoiding responsibility, was to check out the colleges. LA had a lot of colleges.

We tootled along at just over thirty knots and were off the coast of Malibu by one, slowing to steerage way while I checked my chart book. I should know better but I had intended to keep going and hadn’t bothered to look for a berth in LA, now I had to back track another hour. On the plus side, we were going to get a berth in Marina Del Rey!

Dean started laughing when I pointed out our destination and started singing.

We said goodbye
In Marina Del Rey
“I had a good time”
Was the last thing I heard her say
As I walked away{br}

I stopped there as I brought the motors back up, figuring we would take our time, especially with the local traffic around here. It was a good thing too, as several phone calls and the only place that could even take a hundred and twenty-five-foot boat today was an exorbitantly expensive berth at the LA Yacht Rental space. For what they wanted to charge, I could probably have rented a hundred-footer and docked it at another marina for the same price. Not that I was stingy, but they were trying to screw me and that wasn’t happening.

The phone call earlier from Martin reminded me of the D&D Rental and Charters head, Mary Sampson. Her daughter Stacy and I had become good friends, pen-pals and even video chatting pals, but it had never progressed further than that. I still talked to Mary a couple of times a year; she would call if she found something she couldn’t resist on the GAO auctions, to see if I could get it for her.

“Mary, Jack McCoy, how are you?”

“Jack! Wow, and I didn’t even call you yet. Guess what I am looking at?”

“Um ... I have no idea. Did Cliff come by for a nooner or something? If you are still impressed by it after all these years, well...”

“JACK!” she screamed at me, laughing on the other end of the line. “You can’t say things like that, I am an old married woman! Besides, he is out of town, damn it. Anyway, to get your mind out of the gutter, the Treasury department seized a bunch of rental houseboats from some company in Maine, tax fraud! I have been watching them and they are all coming up for auction ... I am on them like Cliff on a pork rib!”

She had a way of keeping me laughing. Her husband really was a big fellah, but not fat, just solid! I had seen him demolish some ribs before, even the smoking hot ones Dennis back at the Pelican’s Rest in Galveston made. Man, I liked hot stuff but sheesh, he dipped those in the devil’s tears or something because I about passed out the first time I tried one. Evil!

Getting back on track, I changed the subject. “You da boss, get what you need. Listen, Mary, baby, the reason I called...”

Mary didn’t have any contacts at the marinas in LA, but she had contacts who had contacts and, after a few phone calls, I was able to dock for free at the UCLA Marina Aquatic Center. Well, free if you count having to attend a dinner with some university big wigs and listen to a pitch for donations! It was like a time-share deal for yachts. The university thought it was a splendid idea when they found I was looking for a school out here anyway.