Chapter 23

Chuck

I opened my eyes, and listened to the sounds of my multiple bedmates sleeping. A glance at the clock said it was right at six, so it was time for me to get up.

Sliding from bed didn't wake anyone, so I pulled the covers up over all of the wonderful ladies and hopped to the bathroom. With that out of the way, I slipped on my peg and went out to form in the cool morning air.

There had been too many things lately that were conflicting. Since John and I had returned from that crazy hit, snipe, sanction, mission, or whatever you wanted to call it, all of the DC people have treated me with kid gloves. Hardly anyone called, and the only contact lately has been e-mail. Even the Marshal wasn't bugging me about budgets.

I still had some self doubts whether I had to neutralize the other shooter that was there. The mission is first and the man was an impediment to the mission. I was taught to accomplish the mission and do what is necessary for success. There was no way to sneak up on the guy and the noise of his gun going off would have been tragic. John and I might have even been caught.

No one supposedly knows what we did or where we did it. There are more than seven people who do, because the helicopter crew dropped and picked us up. The same crew was used for both, but that's three more. The supply guy knows we were going into the field for something, and the range officer knew that we were practicing for something kinky.

I've been working on trying to figure out who hired the shooter we found out there, but I have only established that the guy was a pro who worked for anyone with a buck. He was suspected in shootings all over the lower forty-eight, plus in half a dozen European countries. A couple of telephone numbers turned out to be just cell numbers that were limited use, throw away, gas station purchased cell phones. The guy's wallet had over three thousand dollars in it, plus a card with a key taped to the back. The card was for a bank in Huntsville, Arkansas, and the key looked like a safe deposit box key. I figured on checking that out the next time I flew near there.

Keeping John abreast of my investigation didn't seem important to him, as he said, "We did what we were asked to do, and even the Marshal acts like it never happened. No one else has brought it up, and I haven't even seen a blurb about it on any of the intelligence briefing statements."

I felt warmth near me as I stretched into a new position. Through half closed eyes, I observed Lisa and Wanda gracefully forming simultaneously. As I brought my last form to a close, I felt an emotion full of elation. With a smile, I was looking into Lisa's eyes. She smiled at me and looked down, with an almost embarrassed look on her face.

I held out my hand to invite her to walk back into the screen enclosure with me. Lisa took it, still with eyes lowered. When I walked toward the pool, Lisa hesitated, and then followed me. As I slipped off my T-shirt and shorts, about to slip off my peg, Lisa touched my arm and turned my face toward her.

She smiled at me with the softest smile a man could ever see. In near slow motion, Lisa pulled her T-shirt over her head to reveal her bronzed beauty. I was able to see her swollen, erect, nipples and how her stomach sunk in as she exhaled in excitement.

Lisa slowly unbuttoned her shorts, unzipped them, and let them fall to her feet. She was now nude as she stood with her arms to her side, with her palms out, facing me. God, she was beautiful.

I smiled, she smiled, and we met, body to body and kissed. When our kiss parted, we stepped into the water still holding each other. We began to swim side by side, gradually picking up speed, until we were driving ourselves as hard as we could. When we were both winded, we drifted to the side of the pool to catch our breath and to cling to each other, as well as to the security of the side of the pool.

Nancy and Judy swam up to us and encircled us in their arms. Judy said, "You two looked so beautiful when you were doing your forms, then something happened to both of you. You were standing together before you began to swim and there seemed to be some kind of energy that passed between you."

Nancy stroked Lisa's head, kissed her on the forehead, and said, "Lisa, Honey, you are so much like us it's as if we are all sisters. You love Chuck as much as we all do, but hold back just ever so slightly from him. It's almost as if you're afraid to give him that last little bit of yourself."

Lisa said, "Sometimes I'm just lost in how I feel about Chuck and even you guys. I used to only have my dad and my big black mama, but I've found so many special friends down here. Most of all, I've found Chuck, you girls, Tina, Wanda, and Chuck's friends out at that crazy trailer park. I'm more in love than I've ever been, and feel as if I'm just barely beginning. Strange, isn't it?"

Frieda had swum up to us and offered, "We are all just beginning. All of us, as a group, are growing, maturing, and becoming a unit, a family. I think you're feeling the security of being cared for by all of us. I know that I've felt so fulfilled lately, so secure and comfortable that I just float along, enjoying the day. Lisa, you are part of us, we all really do care for you."

Wanda was sitting on the side of the pool next to us and said, "John's my guy, but I somehow feel I'm a part of all of you as well. I haven't enjoyed Chuck since I've had John, but I have been with all of you girls. I hope we can stay this close, I really like the way our family feels together."

We migrated inside to begin our day. When I got into the shower with Lisa, Tiani and Brandy got in with us. The two partners were all over Lisa this morning. Brandy said, "Lisa, you look so relaxed today. Did you guys make love out in the pool this morning?"

Lisa said, "No, I think Chuck and I made love while we were forming this morning. Something passed between us as we undressed to get into the pool. I think I made up my mind this morning that I am a part of this wild and crazy group of people. I now know that I am, and will be a part of it from now on."

Lisa picked up Tiani and said, "And you, you little twerp, I love you to pieces, even if you are a shit disturber."

"What? Me?" Tiani asked, in disbelief.

"Yes, you! You messed with me all night long, touching and teasing me. Between you and Brandy, I was smoking hot by the time I woke up this morning."

Brandy said, "Me too, but I didn't mean to be teasing you last night. I thought it was you and Tiani that were teasing me."

As Lisa put Tiani down, Tiani said, "I didn't mean to get everyone excited. I just felt all lovey for everyone, I wanted to touch and kiss everyone." Tiani crawled up Chuck's body as he balanced on one leg, "And you, Chuckster, I've been having a craving for you, and what ya got. We have to make some time for each other."

We finished showering and dressed. The girls were talking about getting together with Sue and Mercy again to talk about some property out at the park. They didn't openly say anything, but they were leading the charge to possibly wanting to move out there. Man, I really didn't want to give up this great place we lived in now.

When Jan and Don came down to eat breakfast with us, Jan asked me, "What have you been able to find out about this Alcam group from Orlando? I have a team over there trying to put faces and names together. So far, just about everyone we've identified has some kind of a record, or has been a person of interest in some major crime."

Wanda said, "I sent everything we had to DC to let the Marshal's office distribute inquiries. That's often the fastest way to get a dossier on a corporation or group."

Jan said, "We're going to get real close to them over the next few days and get a handle on what's going on. We need some more undercover people in the organization and are working on a few men right now."

Frieda was listening to the conversation and said, "There's a company by the name of Alcam that has been listing locally for various jobs. They contacted me to try to hire helicopter mechanics exiting the military. I sent them the forms to fill out for our records, but they haven't returned them. They call almost daily to see if we have anyone for them and I keep telling them they must complete their profile and be federally compliant before we recommend anyone to them. Now I wonder if there's a problem with the company, rather than them just being lazy and not filling out the forms. We have to check with the IRS to make sure they are current with withholding revenues. I don't usually check until the employer sends back their forms, but let me check for you, Jan. I'll call and let you know what I find out."

Lisa said, "The charter company has a whole bunch of short charters today. We have enough planes, but not enough pilots today. Chuck, it would be great if you can handle one. You need the flight time anyway."

Wanda said, "You don't have anything going today. Take a flight. It might be good for you to think through this mess Steve has with this Alcam Company."

As everyone got ready to leave, I called out to the charter office and DeDe answered the phone. "What are you doing back at work, DeDe? You should be home in bed, at least for a little while, anyway."

"No way, Chuck. I have to feel, and be, useful. I can do all this inside stuff so Star can be an air jockey while we're busy. I hope you're calling to help out today. We are really booked. We even have three little charters for 172s. Jimmy's crew has been turning the planes out continuously for two days, so we're about complete out here."

"I can do one for you, DeDe. How about something I can do some heavy thinking on?"

DeDe said, "I have just the one for you. It's a one-way to Texarkana. A railroad guy has to meet a train over there for some kind of special train they are putting together for the oil fields. You need to be out here by nine. You won't need a uniform, just come in your business clothes. You'll be flying ah, your own King Air. How about that, come make a buck while your plane is making a buck."

While I was still on the phone, Brandy asked, "I don't have anything special to do today, can I ride along?"

I asked DeDe, "Can I bring along my own right seat? Brandy needs the time."

"Sure, bring her. She can serve the passenger coffee."

Lisa was laughing, "We both are flying back empty. I'm taking a Lear to Long Island to drop off two couples that were down here to visit. I'll at least get back in time to do a second short flight up to Tallahassee. I can't believe how busy we are. It's really great, but still, very strange."

Brandy changed into a very conservative pants suit that looked nice. The whole house emptied out quickly as we all left to do those things we needed to do. When we got to the airpark, I pulled my briefcase from the car, then had a thought and emptied my sports bag, except for the shooter's big envelope of stuff, which I brought with me.

Brandy and I did the preflight and were ready for our passenger. When he came, we boarded him, closed the door, and I began the startup checklist while Brandy did the safety talk. When she sat and strapped in, she took the checklist from me and I pointed to where I was. I was watching gauges as the engines spooled up to power. While waiting at that point, I called in a flight plan and was assigned close to a straight through at twenty-four thousand feet. That meant we would need some heat.

Once aloft, Brandy started coffee while I went through all the normal checks to assure myself that all was right. I was still a little apprehensive after the guy was caught screwing with the planes. The mechanics had found nearly all the 172s had damaged control cables and damaged main power connections. Surprisingly, none of the 150s were damaged. The Lears and King Airs were left undamaged, but the Cessna Citation had a wrench taped to the intake shroud of both turbines. That would have blown both engines as the vibrations loosened the tape. Both G5s had landing gear that would have crumpled on landing. They also had tools taped to the intake shrouds.

Our flight was a little bumpy from a lot of big cumulus clouds along a front coming through, but not so bad as to make it unpleasant. It was raining when we set down in Texarkana, and what made it worse was it was about forty degrees and windy. The wind chill was probably around thirty degrees and wet.

We refueled and I told Brandy, "Since we're close, I'm going to stop over at Huntsville on the way back. I want to check out something for an investigation I'm doing. It's a secure thing, so I'm going to let you go shopping or stay around the plane, whatever you want to do."

She said, "I'm curious, but you go do what you have to do, and I'll see if there's a mall nearby. Call me on my cell when you're ready to leave."

Once down in Huntsville, we both took cabs, but in two different directions. Brandy went to a mall and I went to a bank, carrying my big gym bag. I looked at the stuff from the pocket of the shooter and realized I could probably pass for the guy if I shaved off my beard. If I did that, I could probably skate without having to show my deputy ID or get a search warrant. The card had the hand printed number one twenty-two on it, along with the key, so what I wanted to ask for was box one twenty-two.

Inside the small branch bank, I went to the lady at a desk near the door and asked for the box. She requested ID, so I gave her the license, saving the passport in case she wanted more. The lady said, "You look much nicer without the beard. Let me take you back to the vault. We'll get the box, and I'll put you in a private room."

In the vault area where the safe deposit boxes were, the lady brought me to a very wide and deep box area and put her key in. She pointed to the other key slot and said, "Put your key in and turn it, then the box will slide out. I'll get you a cart for the box. You have one of the big ones."

I turned the key and she pulled the box out a little. The lady brought a nice cart that the box would just slide onto, straight from the slot. I could tell the box was heavy, but not exactly how heavy. I followed the lady who was pushing the box to a small room with a small desk and two chairs. She left saying, "When you're through, come get me and we'll put your box back in the vault. I think you might need to make a payment on your account soon. You never did give us the automatic withdrawal card."

With the door closed, I lifted the top of the box and just stared. The box was full of cash. Bundles of hundreds, but when I lifted out a couple of bundles, I saw,,,,, Holy shit. Gold, gold bars. I began trying to count the cash first. There were thirty-two big bundles of all older hundreds. It looked like five hundred bills to a bundle, over a million and a half in hundreds. The gold bars were small and each had a 100 stamped on it so I had to think that meant a 100 grams to a bar. Let's see a hundred grams is a little over three ounces. A quick count looked like over three hundred of the little bars. There were two other items in the box, two pistols. One looked like a twenty-two with a silencer on it, and the other looked like a nine millimeter. I didn't touch either one.

Well, if I wanted to empty the box, I would need a piece of strong luggage. There was a Target in the back of this plaza and they would probably have luggage. I could empty out the box and take it all back to Tampa and then decide on what to do with it. This person was a non-entity, so if I emptied the box and put it in another box somewhere else, at least I could secure it.

I put everything back into the box and wiped it down just for my own satisfaction. I pushed the cart out of the room and got the attention of the bank rep and said, "I need to go get something. I'll be back in a little while."

The lady asked, "Would you like to take care of your box rent right now or sign a card for auto-withdrawal?"

"How about I do that when I come back? I'll only be a few minutes."

As I walked out of the bank, I noticed their ATM on the wall. Thinking about the wallet, I went up to the ATM and put the Visa card into the slot. When it asked for the password, I put in the four numbers that were written in the brown leather wallet where the card had been. Bingo. I asked for a balance of the checking, and it printed out a piece of paper that said there was fifty-two thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine dollars in there. I asked for the amount within the savings account to find out there was another two-hundred fifteen thousand in that. This was getting interesting. I withdrew a hundred cash for the luggage and left for Target.

I kept thinking that I was being video recorded by the security cameras everywhere, but that wasn't a big deal as this guy is a non-entity. When I had run the guy, the name and social security number didn't match up to any known person. So this was an alias anyway. I needed to check the account information to see if there had been any other activity on the account. The guy could have a wife and kids that depended on him and the money. That twenty-two told the story though. That was the preferred gun of a hit man. They put the muzzle up to the back of the head of the hit and pulled the trigger. A twenty-two short wouldn't go completely through the head and would rattle around in the skull, killing the victim instantly. They often locked the carriage slide so it wouldn't eject the brass. If they didn't, you could bet they loaded the gun with rubber gloves. I need some of those for this operation.

At Target, I bought a very sturdy flight bag with big wheels. That should be perfect. Between that and my gym bag, I should have enough room for everything. I also went to the pharmacy area and bought a small box of rubber gloves. I went into the restroom there and used the toilet, washed my hands, and put a couple extra hand towels in my pocket.

While I was at Target, I looked at the back of the Visa card to see what the guy's signature looked like. Easy enough, the only thing he did strange was he didn't finish the capital S for Stephen and he didn't put a tail on the 's' in Peters. The P wasn't a real good script P either. When I went out of the store, I used the store receipt to practice writing the name a couple of times. Looked good to me. They probably wouldn't check the signature card for the auto withdrawal card anyway.

Outside the store, I went to the bank of pay phones and took four big telephone books and put them into my gym bag. Luckily no one was using the phones so I probably wasn't observed, except for the ever present video security cameras.

When I went back into the bank, the clerk had the auto withdrawal card already made out. She pointed at the quarterly amount and then where to sign. I smiled and signed the card. Son-of-a-gun, she whipped out a signature card gave the two signatures a cursory glance, smiled and said, "Thank you, now you won't have to worry about remembering to send us box rental fees."

We went through the procedure of getting the box and going to the room. With gloves on, I emptied the box in five minutes stacking the gold bars evenly, using some of the bundles of cash to cushion them against the sides. I put the two handguns in the middle of everything, as those two pieces needed to have the numbers checked and maybe disappear.