Chapter 10

The Junction

CHUCK - Tuesday DAY 9 part # 1

We were enjoying our hotel breakfast when I turned to speak to John.

"Please make sure that Steve doesn't over stretch himself after I leave," I told him.

"That's totally unnecessary,." Steve protested, "I'm fine today."

Unfortunately, he winced slightly as he turned; the girls saw this and ganged up on him, insisting that he certainly wasn't fine yet...

He had to accept their ruling...

We decided to go get the Citation from McCarran and fly it out to the Junction.

"I have to return to Tampa this morning," I warned everyone.

"I'm going to remain here in town," Ben told us, "I've got to get the motel deal sorted out, and I should probably call in to see the Farmer's bank as well. After that, I'll catch a scheduled flight back to Tampa – I've got a business to run, even if you folks have forgotten that..."

While we were in the air, Bill Bates called Steve's cell to say that he too was on the way to Mojave (he was told it was now called the Junction... ) and that he had both Terrell and Fran with him.

We all got together in the conference room, where everyone started doing their own thing – most of us seemed to be on our phones.

Steve first checked in with Debbie, and then he called Carol, the HR lady at the S&S Vegas distributorship and told her to come out to the Junction prepared to sign up another 70 plus employees. The flying school people, including part-timers, numbered about 60...

I phoned Wanda, just to let her know what was happening. She said there was nothing I needed to know about.

Mercy talked to the manager at the Holiday Inn, who cheerfully agreed to have his best assistant, Jodie, all packed and ready to catch the next plane to Vegas.

I spoke to Tiny next.

"I think you need to get out here to the Junction and sort out all the financial issues," I told him

Tiny chuckled.

"I was just waiting for an invitation," he replied. "However, I think you don't need both Ben and me there at the same time."

"Ben is returning to Tampa later today," I said. "Can you please bring either Bart Moleson or one of your assistant accountants to check the books, pricing, etc? We also need the computer expert to get all the special CS&S systems installed. Both of them need to go on to Spring Field, and from there to Halcyon in LA..."

My next call was to Kurt.

"I want you to immediately come out to our new Vegas field – we're calling it 'The Junction', by the way. There will be a number of others coming too. We've appointed John Truant as President, but he's far too busy to run this place, so I need you to hold the fort as the acting General Manager until we can get someone here permanently. You can do the Golf Tours job from here – that won't be a problem."

I hardly had time to speak to anyone when my cell sounded again.

"Hi,. good morning, Lover,." Lisa greeted me. "Just thought I'd better let you know that I'm coming out to join you - Wanda has suggested it."

There wasn't any point arguing with that, so I told her I loved her too, and turned back to see what was happening in the room.

Juanita was fussing over Steve, leaving Mercy to help Cindy talk to all the people who were phoning after hearing about the change in ownership.

Steve said that he wanted to talk to someone about a "quick shuttle" service into the City center. Cindy suggested a man named Pete Williams who operated a very popular hourly helicopter shuttle service from the LA Skyport direct to the roof of one of the major resorts in the city. Steve called the number she gave him and spoke to Pete, who volunteered that the news of the CS&S takeover was all over. He, too, wanted to talk to Steve, so he'd catch the next shuttle, divert it to Mojave and be there within the hour, if that was convenient. Steve liked the man's attitude and said he would be expecting him.

While Steve was speaking to Pete, an amber light started flashing on my new cell. Realising that this must be a secure call, I pressed the button and heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, Eyes ... How do you like working there in Vegas?"

"How did you hear about it so quickly?"

It was my Secret Service contact, and I couldn't help smiling.

"That's a question you should know not to ask,." the man joked. "Before you go back to Tampa today, please call in at 'you know where' at about 1400."

I agreed, wondering what was happening – nothing urgent, I hoped. Now I knew why Lisa was coming out...

I had been thinking about what the two Station Chiefs had said the night before, and knew we have to take the warning seriously, so I phoned Metarie White at the Tampa Federal Employment Agency next. I explained our problem, telling her that we would probably need security teams for at least two of our new locations. I'd prefer ex-Marines who should be led by, let's say, a senior USAF Air Police NCO. She promised to immediately start a search.

When I finished that call, Bill and Terrell had arrived and were talking to Steve and John at the other end of the table. Fran was with them, listening intently and typing a lot of notes directly into her laptop.

I went over to join them in time to hear Bill say that Star had made an excellent start at Spring Field.

That really pleased me.

Terrell handed out copies of the list of work he said was needed there. This excluded the list of additional items that Steve wanted done, like the new passenger handling facilities. He added that there already was nowhere to put all the aircraft, and after carefully looking at all the options, Star had concluded that they needed another six hangars. Steve joked that he'd thought she only needed four...

Bill said that he had already gone through the figures and he agreed that the total cost should be deducted from the appraisal, which he said was higher than he had expected. He produced a list of the book values for the aircraft. The combined total was well within the bracket that Steve and I had already agreed was reasonable, so after John had quickly run through the list, we had no trouble with signing the agreement that Bill's lawyer had prepared. Since Bill had no way to accept debit cards, we managed to catch Ben on his cell and he promised to transfer the funds to Bill's account.

Ben then told us that he had been able to negotiate a good price for the purchase of the motel. He'd already paid the full amount into an escrow account, so we were cleared to go ahead and do whatever we wanted to the place. The realtor was on his way out to us with the keys...

"I'd better go with the guy and see what work is needed there," Terrell decided. "I propose putting together a mixed twenty-five man team from S&S Construction. They'll be ready to fly out this afternoon if a 737 is available."

"Fine,. I'll arrange that," I told him. "Can you also arrange for a comprehensive check to be made of the physical security aspects of the airfield? That needs to be a number one priority..."

I then phoned Betty to get the aircraft ready, and asked her to warn all the other people who needed to come, but she said that they had already left,.

Steve told me about his conversation with Pete Williams and his impending visit. I told him about my change of plans. I didn't know what my other employer wanted – it was either a job or something along the lines of the problem the two Federal people had been talking about the night before.

Pete William's big Sikorsky S-76 was soon landing on the apron outside the control tower. We needed to place some helicopter landing pads there, I thought.

The three of us walked out to greet him and watched as the pilot, after waiting for Pete to disembark, promptly took off again to deliver his other passengers to the gaming tables on the Strip.

After we had introduced ourselves and sat down with a welcome cup of coffee, Pete immediately began briefing us on his operation – almost as if he was giving us a sales pitch.

"I've got the licenses and contracts," he told us, "To operate an hourly helicopter shuttle service between the LA Skyport and a helipad on the roof of one of the largest Vegas resorts. I own four Sikorsky S-76s, like the one you just saw, which I use to run the shuttle. They each carry eight passengers; I think that's the best compromise between comfort and profit.

"I've found that it's a real money-maker, so much so that I've been approached by the owners of another resort wanting me to duplicate the service. My existing licenses are worded in such a way that they will allow me to do this without needing to re-apply to the FAA.

"I can raise the capital to do this myself," he continued, "But a couple of days ago, my wife and I received a major bombshell. Our oldest child needs hospitalisation and a very expensive operation. When I heard that CS&S had arrived at Mojave (Steve explained that it was now called 'The Junction') I decided to come to you and see if you would manage the shuttle operation for me while my family and I are away. It could be weeks, or it could be days – I just don't know."

Steve took the lead.

"I am extremely sorry to hear of your problems, and I know that my two colleagues here join me in wishing your child a speedy recovery," he said, "But I have an alternative suggestion that might interest and benefit you more."

Steve first asked some questions about the costs of running such a service from an LA base, and was told that they were high.

"Would you be interested in moving your operating base here to The Junction?" Steve next enquired. "The basic costs would be far lower."

Before Pete could reply, Steve went on.

"I asked to see you because I want to run shuttles from The Junction here into the center of Vegas. Would you be interested in running a joint operation, or maybe even letting us finance and run your expanded service?

"Better still, maybe CS&S could buy your whole operation and make you and all your people CS&S employees. One of the benefits for you yourself would be that we can immediately activate the sickness benefit provisions which not only apply to employees' families, but cover existing conditions as well. I'm prepared to personally sign you up this very minute..."

The look on Pete's face said it all, and Steve summoned the HR lady to make it all official.

"You might like to start transferring your operation to The Junction, Pete," I suggested. "John, here, can then supervise everything in case you have to leave suddenly. We'll use an appraiser of your choice, and you can start negotiations with the second hotel when you have more time after you return. In the meantime, we'll take options on another four S-76s and transfer a spare Bell 412 from Spring Field as a reserve or backup aircraft."

It might be useful to have a couple of Bell 214STs here too, I thought to myself? They could form the basis for the mini-shuttle Steve is considering, but we'll probably need something more luxurious.

Lisa and Jimmy walked into the room just then. I haven't seen Jimmy so excited for years ... After a quick introduction to Pete, Jimmy explained why.

"I only had the time to talk to two of the mechanics from the flight school," he began. "When my cell rang, it was my fellow graduate and roommate from the Boeing Advanced Maintenance Management Course you had me attend last year. He'd heard about developments at CS&S over the grapevine, and said that our latest successes are all over the industry, as well as the fact that all the military pilots and techs currently leaving the Services are being 'directed' to apply to CS&S for jobs – something that I hadn't heard about, so I checked whether or not it was true. He assured me that it was...

"My friend is a middle-grade engineering manager at United Airways, and he said that with all the extra work they had taken on with the acquisition of Continental, the airline was having trouble meeting maintenance deadlines and had been considering subcontracting some of the annuals, and even some 100 hour servicing. He needed to pick my brains, and he asked if we could meet, as he had to write a report on this and he could really use any ideas I might have?

"Well, I quickly explained that I wasn't in Tampa, but near Vegas at the airfield previously known as Mojave, which our company had just purchased yesterday. My friend wanted to know if that was the old bomber base that had been used until very recently as a USAF emergency field?"

He'd then gone straight on to his second piece of gossip, Jimmy explained, and saving him from confessing his ignorance...

"Did I remember during the last week of the course," Jimmy continued, "When all of us were taken to visit the Air Mobility Command's Maintenance Planning Section at their at Scott AFB, Illinois, HQ? Well, the man who'd shown us around, the second-in-command, in fact, Captain (now Major) Jack Smith, has just been retired. Although he's one of the top aircraft engineering executives anywhere, nobody in the industry seems to want to employ him...

"After I promised to think about his questions, we agreed to meet soon.

"Well, I went to the cafeteria and had a coffee while I thought about the immense possibilities that are involved here," Jimmy continued. "Just as I finished, the plane from Lutz landed and I saw Lisa climb out. I thought that she'd be just the person to talk to, – and she needed to hear what I'd just been told about the surplus vet pilots anyway.

"I quickly went over and persuaded her to come to the cafeteria where we sat in a corner and bounced ideas off each other. The Junction would be a perfect place for a big subcontract aircraft maintenance operation – you could put anything from six to sixty jumbo-size hangars on the other side of the near runway. Wouldn't it be neat if we could get this Major Smith to run it, we decided? It would be even neater if we could get a Federal contract to run an emergency landing facility here too..."