Chapter 22

“How much?”

“In the case you just picked up, Mike? About a hundred twenty-five million worth. All totaled, with the gold included? Not quite two billion, total. Not a big deal, it’s not like we don’t have that much money already.”

“You’ll...” He cleared his throat, so his tone was more in his vocal range instead of squeaking. “Sorry. You’ll forgive me for not being so blasé about this. I think ... no, I KNOW it’s one thing to realize that you’re a billionaire. It’s another to see it in a pile like this, just ... sitting in your garage!”

“Only for today. Don’t freak out. The only ones that know it’s here are family, and the two of you. It won’t be here for long tomorrow, like I said. Then it’ll be in the vault at the bank, and be THEIR responsibility.”

“What are they going to do with it?”

“I presume the same thing that they did with the last batch of stuff I sent them. Increase their strength with the Kansas City Fed. I’ll grant you, it wasn’t quite this much, but the principle is the same.” I chuckled a little. “I just hope this is the last one. I really don’t know if there ARE going to be any more.”

I had a smile on my face. “I suppose if you find me having to fly from California back here mysteriously, then you’ll probably know why.”

“I don’t understand, though. Why all the secrecy?”

“Think about it, Chuck. This is freshly smelted gold,” Mike said. “I can tell. I was involved in helping one of our clients recover some gold a few years ago, so I learned way too much about the subject, then. They had this done, so that the paper trail on it doesn’t exist any longer. I’m not saying your Dad ended up acquiring the gold illegally in the first place; he probably found it, like you did with those Spanish coins. At the same time, you didn’t know it was coming, did you?”

“No. Took me totally by surprise.”

Mike nodded, thinking. “They know where you live, obviously, because they dropped off the last load here directly, but that was before we were involved. Where’d you end up picking this stuff up?”

“Wichita. They said it’d been delivered there instead of here. They had the gems and some actual loose gold; that’s what we brought back in my truck. That’s what we were smelting, ourselves. That’s stupidly hot to do, by the way, and takes hours if you don’t have a big furnace. There was enough of that for ten of these bars.”

Mike laughed. “Yeah, I know. Wichita makes sense. They could send it in by rail freight just labeled as whatever, and no one would be the wiser.” He paused, his hand on his chin, then nodded.

“This has undercover government operation written all over it. You know what we were talking about, while at Disney? This is just like that. Someone is covering their butt. I bet someone opened up a vault after the CIA got destroyed, and the NSA has had their nuts ripped off by the White House, and found a bunch of stuff they’re not supposed to have. From doing drug trading, taking over countries, and all the other nasty crap they did that no one is supposed to know they did. Drugs? You burn that. Bales of cash? All good, they can keep that. But this? They had to clean that place out, and quick. What to do with it? Get someone to dispose of it. Who can do that? The lawyers that have already publicly sent hundreds of millions of gold and jewels out.”

He started laughing. “Devious bastards. Totally untraceable. And you don’t know any better, because you don’t know how much you’re going to get, or when. And the funny thing is, they probably planned it that way.”

I looked at him, slightly amused. “Care to expound upon that a bit further?”

“If you promise not to get angry with me, then, sure.”

“Heh. I think you ought to know better than that about me, by now,” I said.

“Chuck and I have ... discussed some things, just shooting the shit. You don’t get to our positions without having seen some things that are not only better left unseen, but you’re damned lucky that someone decided that it was too much of a hassle to kill you than it was simply to threaten you with silence for the rest of your life. I don’t actually think you’re human.”

He held up his hands, before I could say anything. “That came out wrong. I think you’re an augmented human. Not like Steve Austin, the ‘Six Million Dollar Man,’ and not exactly like the Hitler clones in ‘The Boys from Brazil.’ I really don’t even think Elroy knows, it’s just that he has the clearances that he could be trusted to mentor you.

“If your parents were as smart as you said they were ... you said your Mother was one of the best biologists in the world ... what I honestly think happened is that you were designed. Your Mother took her DNA, your Dad’s DNA, and then DNA from who knows who, and made sure you’d be ... well, what you are. You’ve got the reflexes of someone who’s trained a lifetime in martial arts, you’ve got the smarts well beyond those of anyone alive, and you’re incredibly fit, and quite bluntly, charismatic as hell.”

“Interesting theory, Mike. I have memories of ... not a normal childhood like the kids here had, but I don’t remember any undue laboratory visits or tests; just growing up rather isolated, as I’ve said before.” I shook my head. “On the whole, I think I’d just as soon give all the money back, if I could have Mom and Dad alive again. Although as much as I love my parents...” I turned my head, towards the house.

“I honestly can’t say you’re wrong, because I suppose it is possible. I know that Mom did research into subjects in biology that were well ahead of anything in the world right now. I really did go digging with my Dad for lost treasure. The last time was, what, four years ago, I think. We used to do it fairly frequently before that, actually, maybe every three months or so. Sometimes we’d dig up coins; sometimes, gems. It got us out of the complex, sometimes for up to a week at a time. It was nice, camping out, laying under the stars. But his work picked up, because there were new discoveries that had been made.

“My grandparents lived in the complex, too. That’s how I know I had no family left alive after the ... afterwards. I come by my chemistry and computer skills honestly. And probably, even though I couldn’t speak Spanish when I came here, I did happen to be completely fluent in Hebrew.”

I raised my hand to forestall any comments, based upon the looks upon their faces. “Apropos of nothing in particular, Mike, you had mentioned at some point in the past that you were aware of two facilities that existed, doing research that had accidents of some kind. I can categorically state without question that I was not raised at either of those locations. But, also apropos of nothing in particular, I don’t think you would be too surprised to learn that there were a total of five such facilities, in different parts of the United States, and not just the ones in Idaho or Georgia.

“Why am I telling you this? I suspect you’re right. I remember being told about a visit, before I was born, to Victorio Peak. I heard there were a lot of Air Force troops involved, because there was more gold in there than even in this pile. What I got in my second shipment, the coins, jewels, and bars, that was a finder’s fee, because pinpointing exactly where it all was, used some kind of deep penetrating radar from orbit. The same tool that could find submarines in the ocean.

“You’re right. This is freshly smelted gold. I know why, too. There were instructions in the first batch; the one I brought home in my truck. Only share this information with those I truly and totally trust. You’re my security force, but you also guard my family and I feel like you are my family. Wait just a second.”

I walked around, and got one of the German bars, then came back with it, face down.

“They had all this funding for their research laboratories, and ours was the last one. I’ve said in the past that the only reason I’m still alive is that I wasn’t there when the place blew up; I was quite serious. You nailed it, when you mentioned certain three letter organizations. This isn’t from those people; they have no records any longer, because their headquarters doesn’t exist anymore. This is from the people that used the treasures found to fund ... all sorts of things. Consider this to be my finder’s fee, if you will. I think at least one, if not all, of my grandparents may have helped find hidden things, like my Dad did.”

I flipped the bar over in my hand, then handed it to them.

“Anyone ever wonder what happened to the things that couldn’t be traced from Merkers Mine? In today’s money, more than three billion dollars’ worth of gold bullion and bars? The coins and paintings were easy, but what about the other treasures, including gems? There was a treaty that monetary gold be given back to the nation that lost it. What if you couldn’t find the nation that lost it, because the gold had been smelted and had new stamps put on it? Patton had proposed it; Allen Dulles did it through the United States Assay Office. Finders, keepers. That’s how Switzerland still has thousands of these bars in their banks; same with the Federal Reserve in New York. And that’s why there’s more than three hundred million dollars in gold sitting in my garage.”

Mike had looked at the gold bar, handing it over to Chuck while I talked. When I finished, he said, “You seem to be rather well informed, and quite a bit freer with things than at any time in the past.”

“The CIA doesn’t exist anymore. Their threats ... well, there may have been a few other reasons why we got Fort Riley and Vance, other than just the military deciding to dispose of excess inventory.”

“That’s one hell of a convoluted mess, Cal,” Chuck said, handing the bar back to me.

“I’m quite well aware of that. You’ve no doubt heard some banging coming from the garage. There’s going to be more, today. My instructions were clear. Secure some punches and stamp something into these bars. Now you know why Margie went all over half the state, finding letter and number punch sets yesterday. Oh, and in talking to Emily, the other minor detail that the new law goes into effect after the first of the year where more than $10,000 in cash transactions ... which this definitely qualifies ... has to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service may have affected the delivery date.”

I put the German bar back onto the pile with the other gold. It was obvious that the big bars didn’t quite look the same, due to the recent firing. Mike noticed that as well. “See what I mean, about freshly smelted gold? Come on, Chuck. The boss has a lot to deal with, and not much time to do it in.”

I shut the garage door, going into the house.

Everyone was eating lunch. Harry and Jeffrey were sitting on the couch, watching the Giants against the Rams.

“Am I missing something?”

“Other than lunch, no,” Beth said, bringing me a plate that was already fixed. “Go wash your hands, then go see if you can help Dad, Toby, and Jeffrey hold the couch down.”

“Um ... gold? Punches?”

“We’ve got that under control, Dear.”

I scratched my head, then washed my hands, took my plate and glass of iced tea, and went to sit down on the couch.

“Is it just me, or are there times that we’re not in charge of our own lives?”

Jeffery laughed. “You’ve got that backwards. There are occasionally times when we are allowed to be in charge of our own lives. The rest of the time, our women run them. That, my young cousin, is where you’ve erred drastically. You have seven women in charge of your life, not the usual one.”

Harry took a drink from his glass, then set it on the end table. “Mike ... in here Mike ... thought it would be a good idea to keep us informed about what you said and did outside with Mike and Chuck. Just in case you needed some help. You’re better than Elroy ever was on his best day at slinging bull ... hockey.”

Toby laughed. “I’ve heard the words before, Uncle Harry. Grandpa taught me a lot. But I also know not to repeat them, or use them in polite conversation, either.”

While we watched the Giants pull out a victory with their defense, the girls went into the garage and stamped the rest of the bars that were going into the vault. The older women, including Emily and Mahlee, went in to town for some last minute grocery shopping. There was going to be a lot of cooking on Monday, so that Tuesday would be for family.

I glanced at Harry. “I’m surprised that Allen and Marianne aren’t over here today.”

“They went to Texas, to visit his sister and her family this weekend.”

“I ... don’t think I ever knew he had a sister,” I said.

“Not surprised. She doesn’t ... or didn’t, anyway ... get along with Marianne. You may have noticed that my wife’s mother is both opinionated and rather bigoted. She’s still opinionated, but her bigotry got a rude slap in the face. His sister married one of the players for the Chiefs back in the ‘60’s. I guess it was a hell of a phone call Marianne made, apologizing to Brenda.”

I shrugged. “I don’t get it.”

“She married a black man, in Kansas, in 1963.”

“Okay, enough said. I’m glad Marianne finally pulled her head out of her butt.”

There was a knock at the door. “That’s odd,” I said, then looked through the walls. I opened the door. “Hey, SJ, Ramona, what’s going on?”

“We were on this side of town, and didn’t know if you guys needed some help getting things ready for Christmas,” SJ said.

“The girls are working on a project in the garage that’s unrelated to Christmas. Your Mom went in town to get some last minute things. We’re not having the celebration here; it’ll be at Emily and Harry’s.”

Harry said, “We’re cheating, too. We’re moving the buses out of the garage tomorrow and setting up tables in there. We figure there’s going to be more people stopping by, with all of Dora’s cousins and your extended family coming by, since graduation was the first time most of them have seen Jennifer since the divorce. Ramona, what are you and your folks doing?”

“Mom has to go in and work that day. Steve had said something, but I didn’t know...”

I shook my head. “When you and your dad get up, come on over. There’ll be plenty of food. We’ll have the pool open for swimming, too. I think the girls said something about a luau, even.”

“Speaking of girls, you said they’re out in the garage? I’ve got something to ask them.” Ramona started to walk that way.

“Just a second,” I said. “Wait here, I’ll get them.”

SJ looked at me, a puzzled look on his face when I intercepted Ramona. I slightly shook my head, then hurried out to the garage. I liked what they’d done to cover the noise of punching all the gold; the music playing out there was so loud it almost wasn’t funny. Of course, it wouldn’t interfere with them talking to each other.

Dora saw me first, then stopped what she was doing. The other two instantly quit as well. Eve walked over to the stereo and turned it down. “SJ and Ramona stopped in. She has a question for the three of you. Obviously, not out here.”

“It may as well be. We’re basically done,” Beth said.

“Get the German gold and stick it somewhere hidden, and I’ll bring SJ and Ramona out here. They ought to get a kick out of this.”

I went back in. “Sorry, Ramona. I know they’d been doing some weighing, and I didn’t know if they’d be upset if someone interrupted them. SJ, you ought to come out, too.” I winked at Harry.

I led them through the breezeway and opened the door. Dora was holding a clipboard with several pieces of paper on it. Eve had a scale in front of her, and Beth was moving a gold bar.

Eve said, “That’s the last one. It’s four zero zero decimal zero two.”

“Got it. Hi, SJ, Ramona. Sorry, we were just finishing this up, and needed to concentrate on it. What’s up?” Dora asked.

“I needed to ask the three of you ... what is that?”

Beth picked the last bar, walked over to her with it. “Here, it’s a little over twenty-seven pounds.”

“Oof! This is heavy. What is it?”

SJ looked at it, then at the pile. He started shaking his head. “No way! Seriously?”

I had a big grin on my face. “Yeah. Seriously. Call it shipment number three.”

Ramona looked confused. “What does this mean?” She handed the bar to SJ. He looked at me, the question on his face obvious.

“FNBH ... First National Bank Hutchinson. The purity is .9999, and that’s serial number 2400, so the last bar in the shipment. Individually, at today’s price, about $140,000. Collectively, about $336,000,000.”

Beth was in position to catch Ramona when she fainted.

“Not polite, Cal.” SJ tossed the bar to me with both hands. I grabbed it out of the air, tossing it effortlessly to Dora. She caught it, putting it onto the stack in place.

“I didn’t think she’d react quite like that. What’s up?”

“She wanted to ask something about schooling, I think. You know I’m going back after the start of the year, so I can be more useful to you, and to us.” He nodded at Ramona, who was starting to come back around.

“Certainly. You want some advice, or help? Like I told you in the past, you’re family.”

“No, I get that. I’ll have the GI Bill to pay for schooling, anyway, and you’re paying me more than enough, actually. I really didn’t think I’d ever be an administrator like I’m going to be, so I’m a bit like you. I need some letters behind my name. The nice thing is that I’ve got a good crew to help.”

“Don’t worry too much about making mistakes. There’s going to be so damned many changes to what we’re doing, I pretty much expect there to be some things not work out. I’m taking over a hundred fifty-eight square miles from Fort Riley. There’s absolutely no way that’s not going to have some problems that will need to be resolved.”

He chuckled. “Gunny Patterson said he’s not sure whether to thank you or curse you for that. Going from Gunny one day to the equivalent of a Major General the next was not quite what he was expecting.”

“He’s a Marine. He’ll improvise, adapt, and overcome. That’s actually why I was glad to see him apply for a job with us. In case you haven’t figured this out, I’m ... we’re ... going to need thousands of people to work for us. But we also need people we can trust. Allen got the plant. Harry got Ice-X. You get the airport and air fleet. You know, to me, family is the most important thing in the world. Just part of it, from my perspective.”

The girls were talking with Ramona now that she’d recovered from the shock. They were giggling about things now, with a couple of looks being shot our way. Beth finally said, “You two, go find something to do, somewhere else.”

“I know when I’ve been summarily dismissed. Come on, let’s go see if there’s something else we can do,” I said.

SJ and I went back inside the house. Jennifer got up and met her son. “Don’t worry too much about what’s going on with Ramona. She’s actually asking the girls for tips on how to please her man sexually. Apparently, she was rather inexperienced when the two of you first ... what’s wrong, Son?”

“Sorry, Mom. It’s just that’s NOT a subject I really feel comfortable talking to you about, if you know what I mean.”

“Actually, you should,” I said.

He whipped his head around, looking at me. “Excuse me?”

“One of the biggest issues that couples have is that they end up getting their knowledge from sources that aren’t really reliable. You actually ought to talk, if not to Jennifer, then to one of the other ladies, to find out what YOU can do to make things more pleasurable for YOUR partner.”

“Exactly,” Marcia said. “Talk to her, to find out what she likes you to do, and then tell her what you like. Don’t assume that you’re doing what she likes just because you saw it in a porno movie, or read about it in the Penthouse Forum.”

“I think on this note, I’m going to go see what’s going on with Harry and Jeffrey.” I beat a hasty retreat, because by this point the two of them had left for Harry’s house.

I stayed over there with them until Emily and Mahlee came home two hours later.

“It’s safe for you to go home now, you coward. We’ve got SJ and Ramona straightened out. Oh, and just for my own curiosity ... the doctor did an ultrasound on Friday, to check for Downs syndrome. It was a little early, but with my age, he wanted to make sure I was doing okay being pregnant, that the baby was okay. He told me he could tell the sex then. Harry knows what the doctor said; what do you think?”

“I think you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. As you’ve said, you’re a bit old for a first child. I want you to take care of yourself. Monitor your sugar levels to make sure you don’t get gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia, so that way you’ll be more likely to deliver that healthy daughter you have inside you.”

“Really?” She looked puzzled. “He was sure from the ultrasound it’s a boy.”

“Two arms, two legs, ten fingers and toes, and nothing in between the legs. And the angle of the genitals indicates female. Keep in mind I’m not using an ultrasound; I’m actually looking at your baby, directly inside of you.”

Harry chuckled a little. “Let’s see ... an OB-GYN with fifteen years of experience, or Cal. My money’s on Cal.”

Emily shook her head. “Mine, too.”

“Unrelated, is it going to cause any issues tomorrow with getting the gold to the bank, even though it’s Christmas Eve?”

“No. I’ll call the police when I get in to work in the morning, and let them know we’re going to have a bit of a parade,” Emily said.

“We’re going to run over to the plant site with the trailer, and get one of the forklifts from there. Since we’ve got it loaded on pallets now, we have to actually do things the proper way now. I can load the pallet onto the trailer, you can use the pallet jack to move it to the front, then we’ll rinse and repeat. When we’re done loading, I’ll put the forklift back onto the trailer, so you can drive it downtown, so we can use it to unload the pallets.”

I sighed. “Crap. I forgot about that. The girls and I can’t just pick up pallets full of gold and carry them into the vault.”

“No, you can’t,” Emily said. “Fortunately, Dora thought of that. She called her Dad. It’s going to cost you one full hog and cow roast, but Roberto will have his entire crew at the bank at nine in the morning. We need thirty people from where you can set the pallets down, to the door of the vault. The girls, since they’re part of CEDEM, and thus owners of the bank, will be in the vault, stacking the gold. Roberto will have seventy total, so people can tag in and out to rest.”

“Thanks, Emily.”

She smiled. “It’s my pleasure, El Patrón.”

“I think you got that sentence structure a little wrong, but...” I shook my head. “What the hell. I think you’re right. Just make sure and run things properly while we’re in California, Alcaldesa.”

“I’m not the mayor.”

“No, but you’re going to be my administrator here. Everyone in town knows you, knows Elroy, and also knows that I’m just a phone call away, so they know you’re going to do what’s right for everyone.”

She blinked a couple times. “I’ll be damned. You set this up on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I admit that if you’d turned out to be a world-class bitch, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But you’re a good woman, and there’s no reason that you can’t run things here,” I stated.

Mahlee got up from where she’d been sitting. “I’m getting too old to do this,” she said. Jeffery looked at her, then nodded. He stood up as well. Using the arms of the chairs for help, they both got down on their knees, then bowed their heads to me.

“Helen Awarai has proclaimed it, and we recognize it. You are our King,” Mahlee said.

I was rather dumbfounded. “Um ... I’m not exactly comfortable with the two of you doing that. Get up, please.”

With a couple of audible groans, they did so. They stood there, silently waiting. It took me a couple of seconds to figure things out.

“Sit back down, you two. I’m still the same Cal that went to Disney and watched you enjoy the heck out of the rides.”

“Yes, you are. But, you’re so much more than that. I don’t think I really felt it, felt your authority, until just now. Felt your nobility, your resolve. Due to Andrew’s job, I’ve met the PM. I’ve met Prince Phillip, and Her Majesty. You’re ... I don’t think I can even describe it,” Mahlee said.

Harry shook his head. “Don’t let it go to your head, Your Majesty. We need to get up early in the morning, because there’s a lot we need to do before 9 in the morning. I’ll be up at 7, so we can go get the forklift.”

“A man’s home is his castle, and this is your home, so I’ll head out now, King Harry, Queen Emily.” I started for the door.

“Cal,” Jeffery said as my hand touched the knob. “I know this has come at you from out of left field, even if Helen has mentioned it to you, and you thought she was saying it in jest. We’re not kidding. All of your women are Guardians against the evil, like Helen and Beth said at Uluru. But you ... you are their leader. And that makes you ours.”

I nodded. “I understand, Jeffery.” I went back to my house, more thoughts running through my mind.

Beth met me at the door. “Here, put this on.” It looked like something from one of the restaurants in town.

“What the heck is this?” I looked at the poster board item. “Oh, no. No way.”

“Come on, Your Majesty. You should have a crown. The only one we have handy is from Burger King.”

“That’s not funny. And how ... oh, wait, you and I are linked. Never mind.”

Margie chuckled. “You know what’s amusing is that Mike and Chuck are basically right about you, about us. You really are royalty.”

I looked over at Marcia, who was sitting demurely on the sofa. “How about you? And I mean, how are you feeling now?”

“The only person who is responsible for how we feel inside is us as individuals. I love you, completely. I love all of my sister-wives, my sister-mothers, completely. I’m fine; I’d just like you to take me to bed and show me how much you enjoy my body, while I enjoy yours.”

With no objections from any of the others, that’s what I did.

Breakfast was much lighter the next morning. I think the tension that I’d brought about was broken, even if the actual cause of it still existed, and probably always would.

I went outside a couple of minutes before seven. Harry walked out of his house, and hollered at me, “Well, get your truck! Mine’s not here, so you’ve got to haul the trailer.”

I got into it. It had some slight scratches on it, apparently where it had gotten a bit too close to some brush along a road, but there really weren’t any dents in it, like Helen had teased me about. I also hadn’t been kidding with her. I liked it, but in the end, unless someone’s soul was inside it, it was just a truck and replaceable.

I watched Harry carefully as I backed up to the trailer. I hadn’t seen the process before, so I watched as he lowered the tongue down, then hooked up the safety chains and the light connector. Once that was done, he gave me several other chains, to hold the forklift in place. He had me drive over to the Ice-X plant, where a propane powered forklift was waiting.

Harry showed me how to lower the ramps on the car hauler trailer, then move them in since the forklift was narrower than a regular car. There were two extra bottles of propane that he had me put in the bed of my truck and strap into place, in case we ran out of gas. Then he carefully pulled the forklift onto the trailer, raising the forks up so they were out of the way.

“Remember, when you’re going up an incline, even one like this, or then down one, you always, always, go with your forks uphill. The center of gravity of one of these things can get outside the body of the forklift really quickly in a situation like that. The only reason I raised my forks just now was so they’d clear the trailer. Otherwise, you keep them as low as practical to the ground. A forklift operator can get hurt or killed really quickly with one of these, especially the stupid ones.”

We quickly chained it down, then went back to the house and garage. Harry let me unchain the forklift and drive it off the trailer, while he got the semi into position. I could see what he was talking about with the forklift. Even though it weighed almost 7,000 pounds, it felt odd. Both stable and yet at the same time, like it could tip over fairly easily.

Harry used the forklift to pick up the pallet jack and load it into the trailer, since security was watching. Then I hopped into the trailer, while he started bringing out skids of gold. The girls had wrapped some plastic film around the top couple of layers of each pallet. Harry and I worked quickly. He’d pick up a pallet, drive it out to the trailer, then lift it so it cleared the back of the trailer, and set it down. Each one, with the skid, weighed right at 2,300 pounds. He’d carefully back out of it, then I’d use the pallet jack, lift the skid, pull it partway in, spin it around, then move it forward.

It took us half an hour to put fifteen pallets into the trailer. I had to put six of them in side by side, so there’d be enough room inside the 48 foot long trailer. I left the pallet jack inside, then hopped down. Harry had already shown me how to close the trailer doors, so I did that, while he put the forklift back onto the trailer. He and I chained it down again.