Chapter 3: Ground Hero

I think we all remembered where we were that day when we first heard the news. I was at school when I heard. Four airplanes, thousands of people, and a dozen or so heros. I guess I was pained more than most-I was granted powers beyond the realm of most humans, but because I was learning flipping sentence structure and the rules of the infamous comma, a lot more people would not be seeing their children in the evening. Someone was going to pay, and I took it upon myself to be the black sheep of the New Testament-the tax collector.

I knew I could just destroy the men responsible-literally erase them from the face of the earth, but America wanted answers. Replies to why has always healed and so I deciced to allow them time on this blue sphere for a little while longer. The biggest problem was to place these men in the hands of the authorities without becoming suspect in my techniques. I would need a merc team. I would need a merc team I wouldn't feel too bad aboout letting portions die when I could guarrantee not a single death with the use of my powers.

So I began work on my plan. I would need a team that comprised of militants that had weapons training, that no country would ever acknowledge training, and that the mainstream of America had no care of either. I also needed a team that comprised of people from a group that I could hold something over. Then I had it.

DeBeers. The diamond Cartel. The US has been after them for years, and because I was feeling patriotic, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone-Lay some trouble at the doorstep of one of America's enemys, and capture another. I remembered from reading in Scientific American that Urinas and Neptune were diamond manufacturing monoliths. Something to do with the environment of these two gas giants. I took a peek at each planet and the scientists were proved right-It indeed rained diamonds on Neptune and Urinas. So what I needed to do now was to start an all out trade war with DeBeers. I needed to start taking business away from them noticably so that when the time came to negotiate for my throw away soldiers, the executives would take one look at the damage I did to their bottom line and offer up their own sons and daughters.

First up, I had to get the diamonds out to the market place and have an explanation where they came from. I did some research on the net and found the perfect candidate. Zambia. Zambia is a country in Africa that allows another African country (Angola) to smuggle diamonds in (smuggling being necessary because of trade restrictions the US put on it) and certify them as coming from Zambia (a country without US trade restrictions). So the plan is to have the diamonds be teleported into Angola, pay off a Zambian smuggler to use his connections to certify the diamonds DID come from Zambia and Ship them to the US where a Distrubitor would put them in the market place. Now, I would have to set up a diamond distribution center that would be small on DeBeer's radar screen until it can gain enough influence to hold its own against the monopoly. I would also need a man in the diamond business with the connections to broker the diamond deals with the companies.

"Kirstie, I need to discuss something with you of grave importance. Don't think of me as your master during this conversation."

She got up from her kneeling position at my right and proceeded to a chair opposit of me.

I told her my plan then laid the bombshell on her-I would need to get the initial funds for various licenses, employees, and good old fashioned bribery from her.

"I can't guarantee this enterprise is going to work, but if done right, it will pay off in spades and we will get the bad guys while we go about it."

"All right, I'm in. I'll put your name on my account at the bank and you'll have access to all my funds."

First thing I did was hire Stephan Mondragon. Alexis did a mind probe that turned up no allegences to DeBeers. It also turned up the fact he already had a network of diamond buyers in place. We consulted with him on what he recomended for a distribution center, and his insights saved a lot of time and money. Then Alexis and I went about putting together a distribution center and staffing it. She put loyalty and other commands into the staff.

I then started survelience on the diamond smuggling into Zambia to find a likely smugger. Her name is Nikkie Chiluba. She has connections to Zambia's Ministry of Mines(the department that actually certifies that the diamonds are from Zambia) and has done smuggling runs dozens of times. A couple of days after her latest run I teleported Alexis and myself over to Angola and Alexis knocked at her door. Reading my mind, Alexis did all the talking with my words.

"Miss Chiluba, my associate and myself are here to discuss a long term business proposition."

She let us in and we all took a seat.

"We need your skills and connections to smuggle diamonds into Zambia to have them certified as coming from there. Would you be able to help us."

"What's in it for me?"

"4 percent of the value of each shipment in diamonds. With few exeptions, you would have your pick of which diamonds you want as your payment."

"Sounds fair, when do we start."

"When's your next run?"

"Next Tuesday."

"We'll see you next Sunday at 1 pm and give you the diamonds to be transported. While we won't be able able to go with you on your smuggling leg of your journey, we do need to meet with you in Zambia. Where and when would be good for you?"

"Thursday of the same week in Lukulu. I have a contact there you'll be able to stay with. Here's his name and address."

With that, we got up and went to the secluded area teleported to get here and teleported back to Alexis's home.

For the next 5 days I transported stones from Uranus based on diamond quality codes and getting a good mix of gemstone-quality stones and stones used for industrial use.

Sunday came and I did a scan of Nikki's mind to see if she was going to betray us. No such thought existed. She was exited about the money she was going to be bringing in for herself. I teleported Alexis and myself over and we met Nikki at her home a little before our appointed time. I then "imported a few donkeys from Mexico, "exported" the foodstuffs on the donkey's back to some homes of some hungry Nigerians, and teleported the diamonds into the donkey's sacks.

Nikki looked over the diamonds, seperated out the 4 percent in stones she wanted, and put the stones back in the bags. Our bussiness complete with Nikki, we went to our secluded area and then teleported to Lusaka. Here we came across several shipping companys. We chose one with the best track record (at least in the minds of thoses who worked in the companies) of getting their shipments to their destinations. Negotiations went well and we got a good price.

We met Nikki at her contacts home and told her where the diamonds needed to go once the certification process was completed. Alexis asked her how much time it would take for the process and she said a month. Alexis asked if we wanted to grease some palms, could we speed the process up a little. She gave a figure and said with it, the diamonds could be certified in 2 weeks. I produced the amount and Alexis and I said our goodbyes. We told our shipping company to expect a parcel in 2-3 weeks time.