Chapter 385

The smell of pig shit was in the morning air when the ass kissing chick's partner led me out of the basement, and up to the barn area. Inside the barn, on the ground floor with the motor running, was parked my ugly butterscotch pickup. The farm had sent someone down to drive it up for me. At least I didn't think they had it flown up. Then again anything was possible with that bunch.

The cart with the three blue plastic barrels had not left my sight, and I was the one who loaded them onto the truck. I borrowed a piece of cheap poly rope to tied them down. I even found a stack of brand new cheap blue plastic tarps on a shelf, just inside the barn's entrance. I used one of those to cover the bed of the pickup. I tied it down as best I could using the bungee cords I found beside the tarps. All that jiving around took me about ten minutes.

I drove through the three check and choke points to get onto the road out to the interstate highway. The drive from the farm to Aster took as long as the flight up from Miami to the farm. The drive was a bit scary as well. I was driving a beat up old pickup truck with close to 3 million in cash and I didn't even have a pea shooter. I suppose I could have asked for a better truck and a loaner. I had may doubts as to how far the farm's co-operation would extend.

It wasn't quite lunch time when I arrived at the Downtown house, so of course Sylvia wasn't inside waiting for me. I wrestled the three blue barrels inside and then stacked them in the gun vault all by myself. What once would have been a problem wasn't even a serious challenge for the new me. There seemed to be several advantages to being the new me. Lugging and toting was one of the big ones for sure.

Once the money was locked away, I stripped off my clothes, then I walked into the bathroom naked. I looked around the mostly mirrored room to see how the body repairs looked. Since it wasn't a major do over I had a couple of new scars, but they didn't look out of place. I was most happy to lose the limp from the dry hydraulic joint. My gate was what it had been before I left for the trip south.

It was too late for breakfast at Helen's and too early for the cloak and dagger, so I took a shower. I enjoyed the feel of hot water running over me even more than I had before my latest time spent in the jungle. The showers on the ship hadn't been near as nice as the one in my downtown house.

I dressed in very simple white cotton bikini panties from my own stash. Then I pulled on a gray tee shirt that actually fit me correctly. I was a little surprised to find that I could tell the difference in how clothes fit me. I wondered if I had always known or it was part of the tuneup. I just didn't find it important enough to dwell on. I slipped into a pair of my jeans which also fit me better than those provided by anyone else. The others were either skin tight or baggy. Mine just seemed to feel right.

Even though I didn't plan to leave the house for a while, I slipped into the upside down shoulder rig for the small .38. To cover the rig I slipped on a big sloppy black sweatshirt. If I had to have the pistol, I could go under the sweatshirt for it. It might cost me a millisecond, but I wasn't too worried about milliseconds since I was the new me.

"Hey girl," I said to Sylvia when she entered the rear door almost an hour later.

"Well hello to you, how are you doing?" she asked standing in the kitchen.

"I'm fine but would be better if you made some coffee. I seem to have lost the knack," I said smiling.

"Bullshit you are just lazy," she commented.

"Maybe," I agreed. "Nonetheless would you make coffee please?"

"Since you asked nicely of course." she said. "Are you ready for your report on how thing went in your absence."

Since I had left the pickup at the grass airstrip, she would have known nothing of if theft. In which case her report would have to be on the real estate ventures.

"Sure but I need to do one thing first. I'll be back before the coffee is finished," With that said I walked back to the gun vault. It was just a huge walk in closet on the floor plans, but it did have room for my weapons collection and even room for the three blue plastic barrels stacked in the corner. Best of all it had a heavy metal door and a serious lock.

It wasn't easy but I cut the top off one of the barrels. From it I removed one of the packets of cash. The packet held 1000k in twenty dollar bills. I planned to use it to pay Peter for his research. I also needed him to do one more thing. I dug around in the barrel until I found a packet of hundreds as well. Those were for Jerrod.

Once I was back in the kitchen area, sat at the steel table to drink my coffee. It was good but it would be better in a few hours. Sylvia knew to make a full pot and then start another. Coffee got stronger, there for better the longer it sat.

"So before you start your report, have you wrecked the cruiser?" I asked.

"No, I haven't even dinged a fender," she said.

"Good then let's get the other over with," I suggested. "First of all let me say something. I am going to let you run the real estate any way you want. We have a bonus arrangement so you have an incentive to make it work. I'll put up the money and help with the big plans but the rest you should know how to do yourself now," I suggested.

"That's pretty much what we had agreed to before this last trip," Sylvia said.

"Yes it is, so with that in mind what do I need to know?" I asked.

"Do you want to know how much money I moved from the operating account to the mother account?" she asked.

"After all the expenses was there a profit?" I asked.

"Yes," Sylvia replied.

"Then I don't really need to know any more. When I find one the auditor will do the books every Quarter and send me a statement. So are you happy with your bonus for the month?" I asked.

"Very satisfied," she replied.

"And you have paid yourself a salary as we agreed?" I asked.