Chapter 18

THE JUNCTION

STEVE – Day 11 part #3 - Thursday

I think that John Truant and Juanita were the only people in the airpark to get a decent sleep last night. Juanita and Mercy traded duties, so that Mercy could catch up on her sleep in the RV during the morning, after staying up with me.

The rest of us sat around the table in the large conference room below the tower control room. All night, there was continuous movement both on the apron and on the runway, with C-17s constantly landing and taking off.

Colonel Jerry Hegarty was using one corner of the big table at the end that General Haskins had commandeered. Mercy and I sat at the other end, while Kurt kept coming and going, keeping us informed. Jamie Wilson had stationed one of her MPs at the door, and she and the First Lieutenant who was her second in command, periodically checked in with us.

Mercy had produced some more meds for me from her bag and I felt much more comfortable after taking them, but I still had to be careful since my ribs sharply protested when I moved too quickly.

Kurt had loaned one of our 4x4s to Jerry, because he frequently had to drive down the runway to see to things. Jamie was in the room at the time; then she slipped away, and came back soon after with a young female MP who waved to Mercy before going all solemn as she stood at attention.

"Sir," Jamie said to the General. "Would you like to use one of my CS&S special combat Hummers until your own transport arrives? Pfc. Jones here will be your driver."

"Why thank you, Major. That's awfully nice of you," the General said, as he got to his feet. "Thank you. Come on, Jones; let's go see what's happening."

For the rest of the night, when the General wasn't charging off somewhere, Private Jones sat in a corner reading a publication called 'National Guard Magazine'. I picked it up while they were out of the room once and saw that she was reading a story about the House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee blocking a Pentagon attempt to cut back resources for the Air National Guard.

Hearing Jamie's offer had given me an idea, so I got Mercy to fax Debby back at the S&S main office, instructing her to tell Chance to ship a selection of our composite combat vehicle and armored Hummer demonstrators up to Fort Bragg for the General to play with for a month or two. I suspect that this will be a far better way to promote our vehicles than any formal demonstration could be.

Soon after 0300 local Nevada time, I called Chuck and quickly brought him up to date on what was happening here. Mercy was bugging me about something bad that was likely going to happen 'within two days', she thought. Chuck and I had briefly spoken the night before, so this didn't take long. Then I got down to the real purpose of my call.

"You know those Marine ex-Special Forces men that Hap took up to Montana when you came up against those mad militiamen? Well, I could use 12-15 of them here. Can you please ship some of them to me in a G5, as quick as you can?"

"Hum," Chuck replied, "I've got Buster and Mac, my new Security Managers, busy getting together teams for both The Junction and here at Lutz. I intended to send Mac on a round trip to the Valley, Halcyon, and to you at The Junction to see what's needed security-wise while we recruit the teams and get them outfitted. Mac is due to permanently transfer to The Junction to be your Security Manager there anyway, and I want him to double up as Rotary Manager as well."

"Oh, good," I replied. "We're going to need someone else to supervise the new helicopter flying school. It looks as if Harry Bowman is opposed to the whole idea of change, so I think we'll have to keep it separate.

"Anyway, can Mac quickly get over here, and bring some men with him? He's sure to have recruited Hap's men, so what about it?"

"OK, I'll get on to it," Chuck gracefully gave in, "But they'll need to be properly equipped first, so they can't leave much before lunchtime. Will that be soon enough?"

I cocked an eye at Mercy who was listening, and after her quick nod, I accepted Chuck's offer.

"We're starting to get the press out here," I remarked, ending the call. "It will look far better if we have our own security on the gate as well as your friend Jamie's MPs."

During the long night hours, I spent a lot of time getting to know Kurt. Maybe he didn't have as much obvious 'drive' as many military officers, but I found that his quiet competence shined through.

He had obviously studied the proposed Golf Tours concept in greater depth than anyone else I'd talked to on the subject. He explained the marketing ideas for reaching the grass-roots golfers, and how we were presently limited by room restraints to five flights a week. He said we were scheduled to reach that number within the next week or so. There were to be two flights per week from both LA and Frisco, plus one from Seattle.

We talked about the security concerns here. He didn't arrive until the day after we'd met with the FBI and Deputy Marshal Chiefs, so he hadn't heard what they had to say; but he soon started looking concerned as he grasped the extent of the problem. I told him about Mac and his men's arrival later this afternoon, and he started to relax again.

When Cindy arrived, she explained that on the way out to the airpark, she had called in to see the owner of the busses that had been used to transport all the Chinese passengers from Singapore. We now owned three, she sais and they would be delivered later this morning. She'd checked around and by all accounts, she thought she'd secured quite a deal. Anyway, the previous owner had been happy to get them off his hands.

Then Terrell appeared.

"The motel will be finished later on Saturday," he told us. "Jodie will have twenty-five rooms ready for occupancy this evening, followed by another twenty tomorrow, and the last fifteen on Saturday. Will sixty beds be enough?"

"If we house all the security men there," Kurt offered, making an important contribution. "They'll be on hand if there are any further incursions like the one those bikers pulled off a couple of nights ago."

"The motel plans have clearly been drawn to allow for the place to easily be expanded," Terrell remarked. "The new perimeter fence is on schedule for completion by Sunday, as per your orders. Is there anything else?"

Something about yesterday's adventure with the giant Airbus had been nagging at my mind, and I suddenly realized why.

"Yes, there is one thing," I told him, "Please double the size of the passenger reception area so that we're ready if we have another 500 visitors."

Terrell went off smiling. I think I heard a muttered "Typical" as he went out the door; I was probably right, because Mercy, who'd been sitting quietly beside me, just giggled.

She turned to Cindy.

"Would it be possible to get the cafeteria to supply hot meals 24/7?" she asked. "Why don't you ask Jodie to check into it? She was doing a super job last night."

I don't think Cindy likes cooking, since she looked a lot happier at this last suggestion and went off to find our motel manager.

The next person to walk in was Tiny. He's only here for the morning, but should get a good feel for the place. He was accompanied by Bart Moleson and a tall man who he introduced as Bob Packer, Star's new Chief Pilot in the Valley.

Bob knew Kurt, and they were obviously friends who'd known one another for years, as they were soon talking about this officer and that officer. Bob also knew Jerry Hegarty, and the General was clearly impressed that we employed so many USAF officers.

Tiny told me what a really good job Star was doing in the Valley, and quickly mentioned the proposed veterans' facilities there. This is really good; no wonder Chuck immediately said yes. Tiny added that he'd thought it was best to leave our new accountant and the computer man at Spring Field. He was happy with the way Star and her team were coping, but they would be even more confident with the full suite of CS&S computer software to support them.

With Tiny and Kurt listening in, I then had another session with Harry Bowman, our Pilot Training Manager here. He explained the fixed wing pilot training operation in a lot of detail, and told us that they managed to constantly keep their five Seneca V twins, twenty Cessna 172s, and ten 152s busy.

Jimmy had said something about this yesterday.

"That's good," I commented, "But you've also got a pair of Beech B200s; what are those used for?"

"They are used for instrument instruction, and familiarization with twin engine operation," Harry explained.

"But aren't you using the Senecas for that?"

"Well, yes."

"I think I'm going to transfer those two over to our new charter operation," I told him. "If you need them, you can always ask to borrow them. Now, do you have any ideas about who we might hire to start the rotary pilot training?"

"Well no, I'm afraid I've been very busy since Hank and Vince went off to this Valley place of yours..."

Mercy and Kurt looked at each other and shrugged, but I think that Harry missed this byplay.

He was not going to be of any more help, so I dismissed him. Nobody was more surprised than I was when he appeared later that afternoon with just the sort of candidate I'd asked for.

Jimmy came in shortly after.

"Thanks to Jack and Chris Brooks, the Wing Engineering Officer, I'm pretty sure we've isolated the engine control problem on the A380," he told us. "Now we need an Airbus certified mechanic to confirm this and oversee the repair. There's an outfit at McCarran that does this sort of work, so I'm going to visit them and see what can be done."

Jimmy walked in again an hour or so later, with two men who he introduced as Bertie Green, and Rob Parry, who were the owner and senior crew-chief respectively, from something called I.A.M.S. Bertie was a distinguished looking man in his sixties, while Rob was another clone from the same mold as Jimmy and Jack.

Jimmy took Rob off to look at the A380 saying that he must be one of the few mechanics around actually certified on that aircraft.

"IAMS?" I asked, when Bertie and I had sat down, and we'd accepted coffees from John, who came in at that moment.

Bertie laughed.

"I wish I had collected a nickel from everyone who asked that question over the years," he chuckled. "It stands for Independent Aircraft Maintenance Services (Vegas) Inc.

"When I set the company up after coming out of the Air Force over thirty years ago, people liked the idea that our fully certified mechanics always did the thorough job we guaranteed. I've got 20 men with both Boeing and Airbus certifications, plus another 10 Boeing men, and five others who only work on Airbus aircraft. Unfortunately so many of the people now running airlines are money men who just look at the bottom line, and want to get their aircraft back in the air as quickly as possible, regardless.

"Confidentially, that's a Singapore Airlines aircraft out there, they had just cancelled their contract with us, so it was never checked out before it took off. I can't be absolutely certain that we would have found the fault, but I'm confident that we would have.

"This is an interesting operation you have here. CS&S is widely known as one of the star high-flyers in the industry, and now Jimmy, that's a good man you have there, tells me that Jack Smith has joined you. He's definitely one of the most outstanding aircraft engineers in the country."

We continued chatting until the others came back. Bertie seemed to lack enthusiasm, and I wasn't confident that he had the mental strength and will to lead this company through our present tough times. He was interested in all the military activity, and said we would be really quiet when they had all left.

When Jimmy returned, he had both Rob and Jack with him.

"We were right," he started talking even before they were seated. "There's this single control box ... After speaking to the Captain and the airline rep, we've ordered a replacement, but it has to come from Toulouse, France."

Rob then excitedly started talking to Bertie.

"You heard the rumor that "Unmentionable Airways" is dumping half their new Airbus fleet back onto Bravo Leasing; well, it's true. Jimmy here says that twenty-four Airbus aircraft are due to begin arriving here starting this Monday."

Knowing where Rob was going, Jack stepped in.

"Yes, we've been invited to tender for the maintenance, and our contract allows us to use any of the aircraft we want on day-leases," he dryly remarked.

I almost felt Bertie's mental slump at this news. We clearly stood a much better chance of getting the contract than they ever would.

Seeing an opportunity, I asked.

"We're building new hangars out here, and our overhead isn't nearly as high as the municipal airfields have. I'm told that Clark County is increasing all the charges at North Las Vegas by 15%. Has there been any talk about doing the same at McCarran?

"You'd clearly save money if you moved your operation out here. I'm sure Jack would be happy to be able to call for assistance from all the qualified men you were telling me about. Maybe you could be a subcontractor to us, or we could even buy a share of your company. Why don't you think about it?"

The two said their goodbyes, and left.

Jimmy and Jack were grinning.

"Anyone want to bet that they're back within the week?" Jimmy joked.

Funny enough, nobody wanted to take the bet...

Sensing that Jimmy was correct, and in addition, that I'd probably been pretty close to being right when I'd talked about the tenant companies out at North Las Vegas, I called Terrell's cell and told him to get quotes for another ten hangars on this side of the main runway. He laughed so hard that I thought he'd rupture something.

Jodie brought us some delicious French onion soup with our lunchtime sandwiches.

She told us that Cindy had put her in charge of the cafeteria. She'd been able to hire another cook and helper, and although she wasn't able to give a 24/7 service yet, she hoped to be soon. She'd also hired a five man housekeeping crew for the motel, and planned to offer breakfasts as well.

After she had gone, Harry Bowman arrived with a small 40ish man who had started losing his hair, He was introduced as David Waters, and Harry said that he was one of the men I was looking for.

"Go on, David, tell them what you've just told me," Harry urged.

"Well, I'm Chief Rotary Instructor for Sunshine Rotary Services over at North Las Vegas Airport. You're new here, so you may not know us. Most of our aircraft operate in the Grand Canyon tourist trade in the summer, which is so profitable that it subsidizes the whole operation for the rest of the year. I run the training side with six other instructors and eight modern Schweitzer 300s. We've been doing alright but pupil numbers have been dropping off with the general increase in costs.

"I came over to see Harry here, because we go back a long way, and I was hoping that he'd give me a job. I have both my fixed wing and rotary certificates. I hoped to get in here before anyone else did, because the boss confidentially told me about the 15% increase in the NLV airport costs this morning, and I don't see her being able to keep funding my training department; we'll be the first to go."

So I was right. Here is the first example of what I'm sure could be a flood.

"Do you think your boss would listen if I invited her to move the whole operation over here to The Junction?" I asked him; there's nothing to lose by asking.

"Yes, she very well might," David didn't even bother to think, "But you'd have to catch her at the right moment. She's pregnant and has this really bad morning sickness thing. She can't even think straight a lot of the time.