Chapter 2

DAY TWO - Tuesday

CHUCK - DAY TWO - Tuesday

I woke wondering for a second where I was – then I picked my cell up and rang the house. It would be 0900 there already.

Brandy answered and I heard the slurping noises as our baby fed noisily.

She said that only the new mums were there, as everyone else was off doing their thing. She herself was soon off soon to the pharmaceutical shop to watch Jim Fisher start a new production line. She said that everyone there was so very enthusiastic, and they appreciated someone coming in to see how they were doing. She'd talked to Billy at his big new machine shop about this, and he had said that he too would appreciate someone doing the same at his place, like Steve did with his shops. I said I'd suggest that to him.

After blowing sloppy kisses to the baby, who seemed to gurgle back, I quickly did my three Ss – there was so much to do today.

Soon we were in the Citation with Steve flying left seat.

"I've never flown into LAWest, before," he mused. "I heard that they are taking so much of the overflow from LAX, that even this relatively new field is getting congested at peak times."

We discussed what we would find at Halcyon, but agreed that it was impossible to make plans until we knew what the true position was.

After landing, I identified myself to the tower, and we were given permission to park in front of the Halcyon hangars. We carried out all the shutdown checks, locked the aircraft, then I led the way through a milling crowd of Deputies and DEA Agents, holding my badge up. Steve followed closely behind me and was not stopped.

Jesse Nicholls, the LA Deputy Marshal's Station Chief, was standing by the door to the offices, watching three men who seemed to be shouting at some men wearing DEA vests.

"Hi, Jesse!" I said, "How's it going and what are all those men doing outside?"

Before answering, Jesse looked over at the crowded apron, and grabbing the sleeve of a passing Deputy, told him to get Walt Gibson, the LA DEA Chief.

"Ah! Chuck," Jesse greeted us, "Your arrival is sure the first ray of sunshine here since yesterday morning. It's a total mad house. Who's this with you?"

When I introduced Steve to him as the owner of S&S and a co-owner of CS&S, he smiled.

"I've never known such hassle over a bust before," he told us. "Look at those three FAA men harassing the DEA operatives there – it's been going on all the time!

"Our two agencies have been jointly watching Halcyon for some weeks. The owner, Bertram Ramsey has been using escaped Federal prisoners as cabin crew to bring cocaine in from Mexico. We're pretty sure that the aircraft and other employees are clean, but we have to check everyone and everything before they can be released. After we'd explained this to him, the local FAA chief began phoning DC demanding that everything must be done quickly, like yesterday, and that we have to get the planes in the air again immediately! You, Chuck, may just be the only solution I can think of so we can achieve this – are you interested in taking over this lot?"

I looked at Steve, who just smiled and nodded, so I turned back to Jesse.

"What's needed?" I asked.

He called DC on his cell and talked for some time. Then he turned to me and named a figure that was so low that it caused Steve to gasp.

"The DC FAA brass is giving the Marshals collective mayhem," he grinned. "This offer is to you personally, Chuck in connection with your recent experiences, but it's conditional on CS&S hiring all the employees and getting the planes flying again by tomorrow!"

I looked at Steve, saw that he had no reservations, and was all for the deal, so I turned back to Jesse.

"OK! I'll do it!" I said, wondering what we were getting ourselves into. What if Bill hadn't got his facts straight? Anyway, I pulled out another of my American Express debit cards, and handed it to Jesse, who jotted down the numbers, before phoning them to DC.

While we were waiting, I asked.

"I presume we get the planes, all the equipment, but not the receivables?"

Jesse nodded.

"It took the DC lawyers a while to decide that," he added. "You are going to have two problems, as I see it. First the Tour Operator may cancel their contracts, but more importantly, you'll need new management. Ramsay ran just about everything himself. There are admin and maintenance managers, and a Chief Pilot, but I don't think they had any real authority or responsibility!"

I looked at Steve as we were digesting the news.

"DeDe to run the place, and Jimmy to check out the aircraft?" He suggested.

I nodded, and at that moment the nearby Fax machine started spewing out paper.

Steve phoned DeDe and told her to grab a Lear and to get out to LAWest with Jimmy as quickly as she could, picking up an S&S HR person in Vegas on the way. Just as he was phoning the Vegas dealership to arrange this, another Deputy came up to talk to the Chief.

"One of the big Bombardiers is due to deliver 100 passengers to Cancun this evening," he told us. "However, when we told the Tour Operator's Operations Manager that CS&S might be taking over the company, she said that they would hold off cancelling the Halcyon contracts until they saw how things turned out. However, this flight must to get through!"

Steve and I quickly compared notes – he'd look into what was required to get the planes flying again, while I would deal with official matters.

Jesse then told us that they had all the employees assembled for questioning, and Steve went off the talk to them. Through an open door, we heard him explaining what was happening and that their jobs were safe provided they were clean from drugs. There were loud cheers, following this announcement!

At that moment, Walt Gibson came up, apologising for not coming over earlier. He explained that his men had been having a problem checking some wiring conduits on one of the ATRs.

After Jesse had introduced us, I asked them both whether they thought there were too many men there who didn't appear to have anything to do! They both acknowledged that this might be true and went off in different directions to check and sort this out.

While Steve was still talking to the Halcyon staff, I got hold of Gerald Hanning, the FAA Chief here in LA, told him what was happening, and demanded written confirmation that all the Halcyon operating licenses would be transferred to me personally as the temporary owner first, then to the new company that we would be forming later. He was pleased at what was happening, but wasn't sure if he should do what I wanted. However, he soon agreed and also promised to Fax copies to all the Halcyon insurers.

Having got all this arranged, I went out to check on the condition of the aircraft. As I walked across to the nearest plane, the last aircraft flew in from Cancun, so we controlled them all.

The passengers were conducted to the terminal by a ground hostess, watched by a team of Marshals and DEA Agents. The crew were taken away for searching and questioning, while a dog and its handler climbed up to check the cabin. Others started on the hold, watching and sniffing round the passengers' baggage as it was unloaded.

I was busy receiving reports from various Agents and Deputies as Jesse and I coordinated the rest of the operation.

During a late break for a bite to eat, which consisted of sandwiches and Cokes, Steve's cell rang, and he put it on speaker.

It was John phoning to report on their successful morning.

Before going to talk to the Judge, he and Tank had gone to the bankrupt company's premises and the Administrator had shown them round and introduced them to the employees. These had been kept on in hopes of selling that part of the business as a going concern. Whilst Tank talked to the men, John had been shown the two aircraft. They were Boeing 737- 300s and were model Cs in the freight configuration. They looked awful from the outside, as they had been sitting idle for ages and one even had flat tyres. Neither of them had ever been cleaned since their last obviously very dirty job. He had been allowed to go inside and while both freight areas were absolutely filthy, the cockpits were just dusty and looked good. The same was true when he lifted the engine cowlings. They had gone back inside and he had got a look at the logbooks. Both aircraft appeared to have been well maintained right up to their last flight, and one had just had its 1000 hour overhaul.

They had then gone to see the Judge, and John had made an offer for all the equipment, tools, and stores. The Judge had seemed interested, but he obviously had been told that the aircraft were complete derelicts, just about valueless, and he obviously feared having them remain unsold and having to pay for their storage and maintenance. Anyway, he would not listen to any deal that did not include them! After a long discussion, the Judge had demanded two and a half million for everything. John had offered half that, which the Judge had accepted after a short discussion with his people. John had used my debit card to pay, and we now owned two more aircraft! Before they went back to Spring Field to meet Bill, Tank had told the men that they were all hired by CS&S and instructed them to get the planes cleaned up and ready to fly. The crew chief had told them that he was confident about keeping most, if not all of their outside maintenance contracts which had been profitable enough to keep the old company alive for quite some time.

After we'd complimented them both, John said that he had even more important news. Over lunch, Bill had explained that instead of owning only a small part of the airfield as he liked people to believe, he was actually the majority owner with 80%, and the other owner would follow Bill's lead as he too wanted out. They would accept a price of appraisal, less 10% for everything, on condition that Bill was offered a job in Hawaii! He and Tank were now in a hire car going to see the consortium manager at the field where the helicopter outfit was based, and hoped to see us both at the hotel that evening to talk tactics.