Chapter 15

Over the next few days, Dad got with Uncle Will and Thomas Stuart to determine how much paper, plates, ink, and other supplies that we used in a year. They went over the business records and then projected future increases based on the increases over the last two years. They were quite surprised at the amount of materials required.

"You say that we have maybe a year or so?" Uncle Will asked.

"Yes, that's our daughters' estimate," Dad answered.

"We can double our regular orders and accumulate a lot of what we need in that time, but?" Uncle Will told him. There always seemed to be a but to things. "But where are we going to store all of it. It will take a lot of space."

"Could we use portable storage containers, like we did when they were working on the building?" Dad asked.

"A lot of this stuff needs to be kept cool," Thomas Stuart stated, "and those kinds of containers aren't noted for that."

"That leaves us with what?" Dad asked.

"Another facility for storage," Uncle Will said unhappily. "Another place to keep the rats out of, both two legged and four legged."

"We can take care of that!" Sean told them with a smile. He and I had been listening. We were at the printing plant helping clean up the presses while the meeting was in progress.

"And it wouldn't need to be here either," I added. "We could have everything delivered here, and then we would move to the storage facility whatever wasn't immediately needed here," I finished.

"Yes, somewhere distant from here might be a good idea. And a facility rented by someone else for our use with the rent and fees paid to them in cash to avoid the Government tracking it back through bank records," Dad suggested.

"That could be a lot of extra work," Uncle Will pointed out.

"A lot less than trying to get paper and other items with the Government after us," Sean told him.

"And we can move some pretty heavy objects when we need to," I added, thinking of the granite blocks we had moved in Colorado.

"Yes, and we should hire some additional agents to set up cash and carry accounts under their names at our various suppliers," Dad added.

"Boston Council?" Sean asked.

"Yes, I believe they might be able to help there with their far-flung connections. I'll visit Master O'Hennessy tomorrow and talk to him," Dad told us, and then added, "Will, go ahead and start ordering those supplies. I'll have the girls start a search for a suitable warehouse." Sean and I went back to work on the presses as the meeting broke up.

On the last day of August, a Tuesday, a courier from the Boston Council came through the portal from the bookstore there. Uncle Will called Dad who in turn called Sean and me. We quickly arrived at the printing plant to discover that the courier was one of the younger members of the Boston Council itself.

"Good day," the courier said, as Sean and I arrived.

"Good day," Sean answered. "What can we do for you?"

"I've brought the list of facilities that you asked for," the courier said. "It took the Council sometime to decide which facilities should be on the list and then what the priorities should be," he told us with a smile.

"Yes, we can imagine that it was a difficult task," I said knowing the way Irishmen loved to haggle.

"We hope there wasn't any bloodshed!" Sean said, but kept the smile off of his face.

"Not much. Chairman O'Hennessy was very prominent in the discussions and ran the meetings with an 'Iron Hand' as it were," the courier told us with a chuckle. Sean and I looked at the list he had delivered. It wasn't all that long, about thirty locations, but they were scattered all over the country. The first six were in or around Boston.

"We'll need guides to most of these locations, and they will need to know who will be allowed access to the facilities," I told him.

"Yes, we anticipated that and have arranged guides who will know what you need. We haven't been able to make the mirror spell work successfully yet, so we are still using the internet and phones, but the messages are kept very cryptic and are usually in 'Old Gaelic'," he told us and gave us the list of numbers to call and the e-mail addresses to use.

"We're still a little busy here. We'll let you know when we can start on the list," I told him before the courier turned to the portal to return to Boston. Sean and I returned home and got out a large road map book and started marking out the cities and towns where the facilities on the list were located.

It wasn't until the third week in September that checks from the first sales of our Mother's assets started arriving. They were delivered to the house by a courier from the brokerage firm that had sold them. There were three checks for just over five million dollars each. The courier and his escort had seemed nervous when they arrived at our front gates, which had opened automatically for them. In our parlor, they had compared the pictures of our Moms and Dad, which they had brought with them, with the actual people present before the courier opened his metal briefcase and handed over the checks which our parents signed for. The courier and his escort appeared a lot calmer when they departed.

"When should we leave for the Bahamas?" Mother Margie asked after they put the checks away. Our sisters had recommended two banks in Nassau, the Bahamas because of that country's strong banking-privacy laws, and its relative nearness to the U.S.

"Will we need to fly the first time?" Mother Katie asked.

"No," I quickly told her. "The Eternal Flame has already given us a location to transfer to. There will be no need for airplanes or even portals."

"What about customs?" Mother Katie asked.

"We have a spell to take care of that," Sean assured her.

"When should we leave then?" Mother Margie asked again.

"Tomorrow is as good a day as any," Dad told us. "We can do all that we need to do in a short time and be back here in time for dinner." So it was agreed.

The morning of Thursday, the 16 of September, we were all up at our usual time and dressed in our good clothes. After a quiet breakfast, we all gathered in the large parlor. Annie, Sara, Sean, and I surrounded our parents and joined hands. Sean called up our destination in his mind and with a word and a sign we vanished.

We reappeared in the Bahamas National Trust Retreat Garden just outside of downtown Nassau. The eleven acre Retreat Garden has the world's largest collection of palm species. It's located on Village Road not far from Queen's College. We appeared among the lush vegetation of the Garden without being seen and took one of the many gravel trails that wander through the Garden to the entrance on Village Road. Once outside, we headed for Queens College to get two taxis, as there were too many of us to fit in one taxi.

Having secured taxis a short time later, we directed them to the downtown branch of the First Caribbean Bank International located on Marathon Road just a block from Robinson Road. It is one of the largest international banks in Nassau. Our parents went in to open an account while we four stayed outside with the taxis. They didn't have any trouble after showing the account executive the two five million dollar checks that they wished to deposit. The man practically fell all over himself to assist them, and they returned about forty-five minutes later. We then directed the taxis to the second bank that they would be using.

The downtown Nassau branch of The Royal Bank of Canada is located on Wilson Way just off of Prince Charles Drive. The Royal Bank of Canada was the first and is the oldest international bank in the Bahamas. It was established there in 1908.

Again our parents went inside while we remained with the cabs. Again there was no trouble after they displayed the five million dollar check that they wished to deposit. The female account executive soon had everything taken care of for them and our parents returned to the cabs.

Since it was only noon time, the cab drivers wanted to take us sightseeing or out to one of the resort hotels on Paradise Island. We, however, were not interested in either sightseeing, or going to one of the mega-resorts like Atlantis, as this was strictly a financial visit. Perhaps at some later time we would return to see what the island had to offer and come in legally through Lynder Pindling International Airport. That is if we still had valid passports.

Instead, we had the drivers return us to the Retreat where we paid them and gave them a generous tip. We also used a spell so that they wouldn't remember what their passengers looked like. We entered the Garden, took the path that we had used previously and vanished from among the lush vegetation to return home. This was but the first of a number of future trips.

We had started on the list from the Boston Council on the 8th of September and managed to do the wards on the six sites in the Boston area before the trip to the Bahamas. None of those facilities had been as complicated as the Council's building had been. We continued to work on the list after the Nassau trip and were always careful to let them know where we would be working next and when. We seldom used either the phone or the internet for this work. We had finished another dozen locations on the list before our birthday rolled around on the 6th of October.

We were sixteen this year. There was a small family gathering in the music room for our birthday. We received a few presents, and there was some singing and later dancing. Our sisters and their husbands left for their homes early, and it was only our parents and us four. I danced with Annie for a long time, and held my sweet girlfriend close even longer.

Later when Annie and I crawled into bed on this birthday night, there wasn't any surprise birthday present. We hugged, kissed, and cuddled for a time before making long, soft, romantic love. We had become very accustomed to each other, and knew exactly what turned the other on.

It's funny what you can become accustomed to. When Annie and Sara first moved in with Sean and me, we couldn't find anything for a couple of weeks. Now we really weren't the 'disaster twins' that our sisters had always accused us of being, but we did tend to leave things lying around in our rooms. Annie and Sara put an immediate stop to that, and always knew where what we were looking for was. Sean and I eventually got used to things being put away, and usually knew where they would be. It all seemed so natural now.

We were close to completing the work on the list from the Boston Council when, on the 20th of October, the Federal Government announced the formation of yet another law enforcement division. That was the day that the 'Federal Bureau of Paranormal Investigation' (FBPI) came into existence. We did not consider it an auspicious occasion, as their designated purpose was to investigate the illegal use of Magic in any form. Of course the Government considered any form of Magic to be illegal. We quickly finished the work on the list for the Boston Council, so we could concentrate on improving our own defensive capabilities both at home and at the destinations of our portals.

In the meantime, our parents and Uncle Will had located and rented a suitable warehouse in Macon, Georgia. Dad drove the four of us up there on Monday, the 25th of October, so we could become familiar with the location. We erected our wards around the building as well as a defensive shell around the entire property, and used an obfuscatory spell to keep the inquisitive away. The defensive shell would only be activated when necessary.

Of course there would be no direct deliveries to this warehouse. All deliveries would be to other locations, and then we would move the products to this warehouse ourselves. We now also had several agents to make purchases of needed printing supplies on a cash and carry basis. It was a bit more expensive than direct purchasing, but was harder to track. Even the utility and tax bills for the warehouse were routed through the agent who had rented it, and he received cash directly from us and not through a bank check or credit card. We had become very secretive in our dealings.

We spent most of November working on creating a second set of wards on the property around each of our houses. We then worked on the property around each of our employees houses. Thanksgiving was on Thursday, the 25th, this year. Our grandparents celebrated with the family of one of their other children this year. Annie, Sara, Sean, and I went to visit Mrs. O'Neill on Wednesday the 24th of November. She was doing all right, but was a little depressed. We invited her to spend Thanksgiving with us. She did, and seemed to have a good time. She seemed a lot better when we returned her home on Sunday the 28th.

Thanksgiving dinner had been held in our Parents' large dining room. The entire family was there, and we even invited the new printers to join us for dinner. Alfred and Cynthia seemed to have really hit it off, and were very chummy. Elysee seemed to be more reserved than the other two, but got along very well with my sisters, whom she worked with much of the time.