Chapter 27

Lisa and I woke up just after five and went straight to the gym room and did a thirty-minute workout. Our next stop was on the grass outside to stretch, but it was raining hard, so we stripped under the overhang and ran to the pool for some cardio work.

We were laughing and having a good time when we went into the house to get a shower and dressed. Tina approached us, stark naked, and said, "It's not fair; I didn't get to work out or swim with you. Make me swim for a little while, then we'll get some breakfast.

I picked Tina up, put her over my shoulder, and carried her out past the patio where I threw her into the pool. Lisa and I made her swim hard until she was gasping for air. "You two are slave drivers. How am I supposed to be warm and cuddly if you beat up on me this way?"

Lisa told me, "Bring her with you, and let's go get a shower before the bathroom gets crowded."

We were in the shower where I attempted to wash both girls, but they were more interested in what they could do to get me up. I was plowing into Lisa as she pushed back into me in very little time. I then did the same with Tina and continued until I lost it in her.

Tina said, "Rats, now I'm going to leak all day. That was really good, but I hate sitting on wet pads all day long."

Lisa told her, "Just don't sit. Stay up and work for a change."

That got Lisa a towel in the face. The three of us were confronted with a bunch of women as we exited the closet to get dressed. Brandy said, "You know that you could have included us in the morning orgy. All of us are needy and would enjoy some loving from our man."

Tina flippantly said, "You snooze, you lose."

She was tackled and held down on the bed while she was tickled until she was almost crying. She would have cried if she wasn't coming so hard from Nancy and Judy sucking her into a strong orgasm.

I told all of them. Lisa and I are instructing this morning, so we have to get going. We'll see you on the patio if you get there before we leave. Otherwise, we'll see you when we get back from a charter to Chicago tonight."

I had a crazy family, but they sure were fun.

Tiny was all smiles this morning, and was pawing his bride while he poured a couple cups of coffee. Tiny said, "There's no better way in the world to wake up than by having my love sucking me."

Ruth elbowed Tiny, but gave him a kiss anyway. She demurely looked at those around her, and said, "I need to make sure my man knows where the good stuff is."

"Like I could forget my love; you are my one and only, Ruth."

The big man picked the buxom blonde up and hugged her to him amidst many 'Get a room' catcalls.

Sue was rolling her eyes as she handed a mug of coffee to Lisa and me. She said, "DeDe has already left, and said she would have your students with their aircraft out of the hangar and ready by the time you got there."

I looked at my watch and said, "It's not seven yet. What time is this first lesson?"

Steve told us, "DeDe has some as early as seven, so you best be on your way if you have one of the early ones. Grab a sandwich and get."

Lisa and I did grab a sandwich and headed straight to the airpark. We were corralled by DeDe as soon as we parked, and she said, "The students are inside, so take them to their assigned aircraft and you know what to do from there. This is perfect; you won't make them late for their jobs."

Lisa took a long tall guy clutching his logbook toward the hangar, and I took a timid little brunette clutching hers. We pushed the Cessna 172 out of the hangar and rapidly went through the preflight inspection while using an umbrella. We even checked the Hobbs meter to make sure the aircraft's logbook was accurate.

I watched as the little girl stopped being timid, and went right through the checklist one item at a time without looking at me for approval. She knew what she was doing and performed that way. She told me, "I've filed a flight plan for Gainesville and back. They gave me seven thousand up and ten back, with no deviations. Are you ready?"

"Sure," I replied. "This is a great opportunity for some actual instrument flight time in these clouds, instead of your having to wear a hood to simulate blind flying. Let's go."

I nodded without saying anything and watched as she punched her flight plan in and called for taxi clearance. We rolled out to the runway, accessed the threshold, and began our roll. We were climbing to seven thousand feet a minute later. As soon as we were just above the soupy layer of stratocumulus clouds that was giving us the shower, we could see some towering cumulus in front of us, but the tops were only about ten thousand feet, so we should be okay. The student asked me, "Should we try to go around or through these?"

"Let's try to go through them and see what they have for us. It shouldn't be more than a little bumpy. You need to experience a little weather so you know what it will do."

The little weather was very bumpy and was just about taking the breath from the student. I told her, "Relax, the aircraft is willing to fly, so let her fly. You're the guide so just keep her pointing in the right direction and maintaining the altitude. We're only about ten minutes before we need to call in for landing instructions."

The little girl had a wild look in her eyes, but was determined to continue. When it was time to call for landing instructions, Gainesville said they were experiencing heavy thunderstorms over their runway and suggested we seek an alternate.

The girl looked at me and I nodded and suggested, "How about we call our return flight plan in and climb up to ten thousand? If we're not on top then, we'll need to try to fly around this mess."

She called the flight plan change and was steadily climbing while turning back toward Tampa. We were in the soup and being heavily bumped around, but the girl kept her head and climbed until we were at ten thousand and heading south. She sighed and said, "Do I get demerits for wetting myself? Any more of that and I would have peed my pants. You could have helped you know."

"You were doing exactly what you were supposed to do, and I was right here if you needed me. You didn't, and I'm proud to have flown with you today. We're going to be early, so close out your flight plan, and let's go take a look at the beach this morning since that shower mess has passed."

That thrilled the student and she called to close out the flight plan and we started flying under visual flight rules (VFR). We began at New Port Richey and flew south to South St. Pete beach. We turned and headed northeast to get back to the field while on the lookout for other low flying aircraft.

She identified another aircraft down at about two thousand feet and pointed it out to me. She said, "I don't usually see another aircraft when I'm flying, so it's good that I can recognize another plane while I'm up."

"Call in and get instructions. The wind is all over the place this morning, and you may be landing in the other direction."

Sure enough, the tower advised us to come in on runway one eight with winds from the south at fifteen, gusting to thirty. I knew this meant there could be quick wind speed and direction changes that could cause a student to overcorrect, so I had my feet on the rudder pedals and my hand near the yoke.

The student gently put the plane down and was quickly directed off the runway and told to contact ground control on 121.9 for taxi instructions back to the hangar.

We went through the shutdown and refueling. I made sure her logbook and the aircraft logbook were filled out correctly. I noted this was her sixteenth and seventeenth hours of instrument instruction. I told her, "You are learning very well and very fast. I commend you on doing everything the way it's supposed to be done. You will be a good pilot. I hope you continue on with your training."

We went into the charter office and turned in her books. DeDe was there and smiled at me. She asked the young lady, "Did Chuck make a pass at you, or are you like the rest of us, frustrated that he didn't?"

The tiny girl said, "Frustrated. He could have had me all over him up there, but he ignored everything but our flying. I guess that's good, but you assigned him to me as a tease, didn't you?"

DeDe laughed and said, "Not really, Honey. You just drew Chuck. He's filling in today and is about to take a charter to Chicago. Stick around and you'll meet his co-pilot. She made an impression and has stuck around with Chuck."

"Jesus, DeDe, are you running a school or a dating service? Heck, she is cute, so maybe I'll take her back to the pilots' lounge and see if she's all talk?"

The girls in the office laughed, but the small student blushed. Almost whispering, she asked, "Would you really do that?"

I smiled, put an arm around her shoulder, and told her, "No, I would never take advantage of you."

The little girl shivered and said, "But I might take advantage of you."

"Alright already, Chuck. Go change into your flight clothes and get your G5 ready. You've teased us all enough. Next thing you know, all of us in here are going to take you in back and wear you to a frazzle."

The student left and I went to the back to get a shirt, tie, jacket, and my hat. It had been a while since I had flown a charter, but my jacket was still in my locker, complete with the nametag. I came back out front and one of the girls in the office whistled. Hubba, hubba, looky at the stud who's gonna fly for us. Come with me, Boy, and fly me around a bit."

I was blushing when Lisa looked up and said, "So what have you been up to that caused this kind of banter? Have you been propositioning the help?"

DeDe came to my rescue and said, "No, Lisa. All of us and his little student have been putting the make on him this morning. I think we've nearly teased him into submission though. Go put the rest of your uniform on, Lisa. The charter is coming soon and is paying for us to get out of here early. You no longer have to hang around until noon or one o'clock."

I told Lisa, "I'll do the preflight while you change. We'll get the APU up and be ready for when they get here." I turned to DeDe, "Do I need to check for drinks and food? Is there a hostess?"

"You get Grenaline this morning. She should be pulling in any second. Your only problem is keeping the charter's hands off her. She's pretty cool and can handle herself, but she is so exciting guys just can't stand it."

"She's cute and all, but I don't think she's better than what I have at home. I know the girls sometimes talk about her, but her Mom is a stone fox."

"I heard that," came from the subject girl as she entered the office. "I'll bet Sal agrees with you on that, but I think I compare with my mom very well, thank you."

You have to laugh at that kind of confidence. "You do, Grenaline, but you're off limits. Are you even legal?"

"I am of age to do anything I want with whomever I want. If you want to shorten up 'Grenaline', just call me Gin. Now get your eyeballs back in your head and show me to the aircraft."

It was Lisa who said, "Well, come with me, Miss Ready Teddy, and I'll show you the aircraft. You watch for the charter so we can get out of here, Chuck."

DeDe told me, "You sure can stir up the female talent around here. You don't say anything wrong, but you make all of us say crazy stuff. I hope you're not one of those straight-laced guys and begin to fire us for having some fun."

"Not hardly, DeDe. You girls should have some fun too. I'm sure you continuously get propositioned all day long from students, pilots, and charters."

"It's not that bad, Chuck. Just enough to know that I can still attract the opposite sex."

I smiled and left the office. I heard the APU powering up and watched as someone from operations drove a cart across the taxiway to the charter office. He had three men and two women with him who I had to believe were the charter. I hollered into the aircraft so the girls could come out to welcome our guests.

The three of us stood by the door to welcome the charter customers. The five looked all business with their individual briefcases and no luggage. This confirmed that they didn't plan on staying overnight. Four boarded, but one of the distinguished looking men stopped and looked at me for a second before asking, "Are you the Captain of the aircraft?"

"I'm the pilot, yes. How may I help you, Sir?"

"We may be bringing a couple of people back. Will the aircraft hold an additional two people, and is there an additional charge for adding passengers for the return trip?"

With a smile, I advised the customer, "I don't know the answer to that, but I will have one for you before we land in Chicago."

The man nodded and boarded. Grenaline stepped on board, followed by Lisa, and then me. I shut and secured the door before helping Gin check the passengers. I moved into the cockpit and was surprised that Lisa was in the right seat after the customer had overlooked her as a possible command pilot. Lisa sat with the cockpit preflight checklist in hand and began reading as I flipped switches and adjusted settings. Both engines spooled up perfectly and we were soon taxing to the takeoff end of the runway.

Lisa was ready to call off speeds as I advanced the throttles and the Gulfstream rocketed down the runway. I radioed the charter office during climbout and asked DeDe the question the customer posed. She replied that there would be no charge for two, but each additional over two would be extra.

Grenaline had come up front with coffee for each of us almost as soon as we leveled off at our assigned altitude. She said, "The customers are having only coffee and soft drinks this morning. This must be a very important meeting. They are thrilled the aircraft has satellite communications with the PC and printer. They are reviewing their meeting notes on it right now. I'll go back and sit with them to be at their beck and call."

The flight was totally uneventful. We had a couple of instances of mild turbulence from some high cumulus, but nothing that would upset experienced travelers. Lisa announced that we were on final coming into a secondary airport in Chicago, and that we had confirmed their limousine was waiting for them. She repeated that everyone should be buckled up for the landing and lowered the gear.

Lisa was reading the landing checklist and I was performing the various functions. We glided onto the runway with the tires spinning up without bouncing. This was one of my better landings. I think flying the 737 made the smaller aircraft even easier.

I watched the limo approach as soon as we were parked at our designated position, and began opening the door to rotate the steps down for the passengers to disembark. Something was funny about the limo. The way it came up to the aircraft was strange since it was pointed directly at the door instead of pulling up sideways to give the passengers easy access.

I was about to say something to the passengers when Lisa pushed me from the open door and yelled for everyone to get down.

Shit, what the fuck is this about?

Lisa said, "Guns, one man on each side got out with some kind of small automatic weapon."

Lisa opened the pilot's closet and pushed our equipment cases out. I opened mine, pulled my MP5 out, and inserted a magazine in one motion. Lisa did the same and was on the other side of the door from me. I peeked around the side of the door and saw the two men with their weapons braced on the top of the passenger door.

I turned and asked the passengers, "What the hell is going on? Who are these people, and why are they out there with guns?"

All five were petrified and unable to talk. I lay on the floor and moved my rifle to bear on the car. I yelled, "What do you want and why do you have weapons?"

No reply, but Lisa was being proactive and had already called the Marshals Service to get the duty desk in Chicago. I confirmed that my selector was on single fire and hollered again, "What do you want? We've called the authorities and we will fire on you if you don't put your weapons down."

A round came into the aircraft and lodged in the wooden cabinet across from the door. I aimed at the man who fired and dropped him. The other man suddenly began firing on full automatic, so I dropped him too.

That was like poking a hornet's nest. The front passenger door flew open and a huge guy with an automatic handgun began firing, but Lisa cut him down. Meanwhile, two more men came from the back of the limo with rifles but Lisa and I dropped them before they could get a shot off, as well. I could see the driver holding onto the steering wheel, looking about as afraid as our passengers. I hollered, "Exit the vehicle and stand with your back to me with your hands on the hood. Do it now."

Police cars were coming our way with sirens and lights on, so Lisa and I pulled our badges and stuffed them into our waistbands. I told the passengers; "Take your seats for right now. We're going to have to do some explaining in a minute, but no sense in you being uncomfortable. Is everyone okay?"

The five passengers and our hostess all looked at Lisa and me to make sure we were real. Lisa said, "We can't even do a simple charter without some shit happening. Who in the hell are these people?"

As soon as the three Chicago police cars stopped, two policemen from each car jumped out with their sidearms aimed at us. I raised my badge and yelled, "We are Deputy U.S. Marshals, but not on duty. These people began firing at us as soon as they approached the aircraft. We returned fire and you see the result. The man leaning against the hood is the limousine driver and probably has a lot to say."

Lisa and I dropped the magazines from our rifles and put them into our equipment cases. We stepped down to the tarmac when they were stored and watched as the uniformed men went from body to body.

A couple of more cars were rolling our way with little bullet lights on top. Two men got out of the first car and showed their badges as being Chicago detectives. The next car had four Deputy Marshals who got out holding their badges up.

A plain Ford finally rolled up, and four men in suits got out and approached Lisa and me. They showed their badges and asked the question of the day. We exchanged passwords and they said, "We were dispatched as soon as we heard. Do you know what's going on yet?"

"Not a clue. The men from the car pulled up and got out and began firing. Thank goodness we don't go anywhere without our equipment so we were able to return fire."

The one man said, "Knowing your rep, there wasn't much of a fight, was there, Chuck?"

Lisa rolled her eyes and said, "Chuck let me do all the firing. DC is watching him like a hawk."

The Deputy Marshals came to the aircraft and asked about our passengers. I had the manifest with their names and showed it to the men. The detectives came over and looked at the manifest and looked at me. "Tell me again why a couple of Deputy Marshals are flying these people?"

I told the man, "I have an ownership interest in the charter company, and we were short on pilots for this trip. My partner and I are both qualified to fly this aircraft, so we took the charter. We've learned to never leave home without our equipment, so we were able to defend ourselves."

The guy looked at us and said, "We might need your weapons. I know you feds have some strange rules about that, but we may have to have them."

The Secret Service man in charge of the detail told the detective, "We will be glad to provide you with any of the equipment, but one of our technicians will have to accompany any equipment taken from an Agent."

The detective said, "Hold on a sec. You're Secret Service right? These guys are showing Deputy Marshal IDs. Why are you standing up for them?"

The lead man looked at me and said, "Show him, Chuck."

I pulled my badge wallet out and showed the detective the Secret Service ID, along with the special State Department ID. The detective looked hard at me before saying. "I really don't have a clue who you really are, and I don't think I want to know. Can we question the passengers?"

"Do it. Please come aboard and sit with them. They are a very nervous right now."

I wanted to hear what these people had to say, and I also wanted Lisa with me as we listened to them. This whole situation was very strange.

Lisa must have caught what I was thinking and came aboard so we could listen to the interrogation. The five passengers were easy to listen to, as they were all very apprehensive. It didn't take long to understand that they were investment bankers who were trying to get the customer here in Chicago to invest more money into their fund. I moved to the cockpit and called Ben Phillips.

When I finally got him on the phone I asked him about the investment fund the people represented. Ben said, "They are legit. They focus on very secure investments and have a great track record. We use them for some of the 401K money, and they have been good for us. Are they experiencing trouble?"

"No, Ben, just a bump in the road for them and I wanted your opinion of them."

"They are good people, Chuck. I think they take investments from some of the high rollers and a few folks who might be on the suspicious side, but their operation is legit."

I was wondering why they would be targeted. I asked the man who had spoken to us before we left Tampa. "Do the people you were going to see today have a lot invested with you? Are you managing a lot of money for them?"

The man said, "Not that much. Less than twenty million right now, but we want them to double that so we can do a couple of investments that will have a very high yield. It's one of Ben Phillips' deals and if he says it's real, we want to be a part of it."

This whole thing is becoming strange. I told the detective, "I have Ben Phillips telephone number and have just spoken to him. He says these people are legitimate investment bankers. You're going to have to work on why they were being targeted."

The investment man said, "There should be another limousine here that we ordered. That one can't be the one we requested. Can you have your officers look around to see if these men did anything to those we ordered a car from?"

Lisa asked, "If you have the limo service number, call them to find out about the car. They'll tell you if they have a car out here. Find out what kind of car they have and the driver's name. Also ask them if they have GPS tracking on the car."

One of the women was on the phone with the car service. She was writing down information and turned to the detectives and me, "The GPS tracker has the car here at the airport. They say it's on the other side of the operations building."

A pair of officers were dispatched to find the limousine and driver. The lead SS man pulled me aside and told me, "Your handler told us you were not to be tied to any of this on the ground. We'll get our cleanup out here, along with the FBI guys, so they can track down what's going on. Ah, we called your charter service and they are sending your personal aircraft with a crew for this aircraft. If you think you should stay with these folks, tell me so we can keep the other crew from taking off."

I looked at Lisa and she said, "We should probably hang out with these folks today. They act like they enjoy knowing Chuck and I can take care of them. And, we really want to find out what the heck is going on."

I used my cell and called the charter desk. I told DeDe, "Don't send the Citation and a replacement crew. Lisa and I need to stay with these people for right now. Let's see what happens. I need to ask Jimmy a question can you page him?"