Chapter 7

Jim asked around discretely and found that The Bahamas was a good place for him to launder the money from the gold bars. Almost all of the banks in Canada had branches there, so all he had to do was to move the gold to Canada and deposit it there, then have the cash balance transferred to a branch bank in The Bahamas.

The Bahamas did not have an income tax or a corporate tax, so they could filter the money through a branch of his software company he would establish there and he would be home free with the money. He would have to rent office space, probably in Freeport because of the convenience, and hire a couple of locals to make it look like a legitimate operation, but that would be a minor expense when compared to US taxes. A lot of major companies were doing that, so there was no reason why he could not do it, too.

School had not started, yet, so the whole family traipsed off to Freeport for a vacation while Jim established his business there. Before leaving, Jim had made contact with a local corporate lawyer and had hired her to help him get his business started. He hired a woman as a sort of camouflage to make it look like he was a naïve American who was being very politically correct. Elsie laughed at the maneuver, but she did not object. Hell, maybe Jim knew what he was doing, and it certainly didn't hurt anything.

They were flying to Freeport only a week after getting back home with the gold. Jim wanted to check out the banks in Freeport before he finalized his choice of which bank to choose for his corporate account. Besides the usual luggage and credit cards, each person carried a $500 gold bar wrapped in aluminum foil and disguised as a bar of soap. It was carried in his or her suitcase to be used as their initial deposit in which ever bank Jim and his lawyer chose.

They checked into their hotel and Elsie and the kids headed straight for the beach and the ocean. They did follow the suggestion of the floor concierge to lather on a double helping of SPF 50+ (Sun Protection Factor) sun block because they were simply not used to the intense sunlight of The Bahamas.

Meanwhile, Jim kept his appointment with Hillary Waverly, Esq. She was the lawyer he had selected on the recommendation of a client he had in Freeport. She was all business when Jim arrived, and he was impressed with her attitude. Jim explained that he wanted to open an office in The Bahamas to escape US taxes, and she was familiar with that ploy.

Mrs. Waverly did point out that what he wanted to do was not cheap, and she asked how he planned to finance the operation. That was when Jim pulled four "$500" gold bars from his briefcase and said that they were his down payment on his expenses. She was aware of the current price of gold and knew that Jim could easily cover all of the expenses. He had just dumped well over $100,000 worth of gold on her desk!

Suitably impressed, Hillary was all ears when Jim asked where he could find a bank to handle his finances. He said that he had more of the gold bars and would deposit them in a Canadian bank based on which bank he selected here in Freeport. Hillary recommended a bank and offered to go with Jim to open the account. Actually, she wanted to be there when the very rich American met the snobby Bahamians. She expected them to fall all over themselves trying to be of maximum service to him.

Needless to say, Jim had a minimum amount of bother making his deposit. The bank had as one of its services the buying of gold and transferring it into cash money. Jim did not complain when the manager wanted to have the gold bars assayed just to be certain of their real value. Jim was quite gracious when he gave permission for the assay and said that the 24 hour delay would not be the least bit inconvenient. Jim was provided with a temporary passbook showing his deposit of 90.9091 Troy ounces of unassayed gold. He would get a permanent passbook when he returned tomorrow.

They went back to Hillary's office and began the paperwork necessary to form Sunburst Software, Ltd. Hillary also put him in touch with a broker who could find suitable office space for him and could arrange to find an office manager and a receptionist. By the end of the day, Sunburst Software was well on its way to becoming a real company.

Jim joined his sunburned family for dinner and agreed to a trip to the beach with them the next day. It was obvious that Billy, thanks to Genie, was the only one not suffering the aftereffects of too much sun. Out of curiosity, Jim and Elsie visited a couple of casinos that night while Billy and Ann entertained themselves in their suite, and it was not by watching television!

The next day was spent in enjoying the things visitors to Freeport usually enjoy. Jim did take a break long enough to visit the bank to pick up his permanent passbook and to learn that the gold bars were, indeed, as pure gold as one normally found in gold cast from raw nuggets. Considering the purity of the gold in his bars and the various fees the bank took, he was receiving $1,762 per Troy ounce for these four bars. Jim figured that was a fair exchange, and he thanked all involved for their courtesy.

Jim joined his family on the beach, but he was really not a beach fan, so they cut short their sojourn there and returned to their suite. By this time, the women were really suffering from too much sun, so they decided to take a nap. Never wanting to miss out on a good thing, the men decided to join them. However, the women's skin was so sensitive that all they wanted to do was sleep. Bowing to the inevitable, the men also slept.

The next day, the women were still feeling the effects of too much sun, so they decided to do some shopping. Prices were reputed to be low in Freeport, though Jim doubted it. Nevertheless, he didn't object to Elsie and Ann spending the day looking through the shops. Meanwhile, Jim and Billy went snorkeling.

There was a very popular section of beach that was very attractive to snorkelers, and that was where they headed. Jim had purchased a large hat to keep some of the sun off him, and Billy copied the fashion so as not to look out of place. They stopped at a shop near the beach to pick up fins, a mask, and a snorkel for each of them. They also got some pointers about where to find interesting places to visit. However, they were warned about getting too far away from shore and about the bull sharks that had been sighted in the area.

Bull sharks were rarely aggressive, but they were man-killers when they were, so it would be well to leave the water if one was sighted. Also, they were cautioned to pay attention to any warning signs that might be posted. Both Jim and Billy were sensible people, so they were not about to argue with a belligerent shark!

They entered the water and were enthralled by what they saw. The various fish and plants were fascinating, but they were cautious as they had been warned to be. Jim was getting tired, since he did not have the boost to his strength and stamina that Genie gave to Billy, so they decided to swim toward shore.

They were almost to shore when Billy felt a sudden pain in his leg, followed by a vigorous shake. He looked around and saw, to his horror, that a bull shark had slipped up behind him and had tried to take a sample of flesh, probably mostly out of curiosity. Whatever the reason for the shark attack, Billy was very close to panic.

Genie calmed him down and shut off the pain signals from his leg. It was probably just as well that Jim was not immediately aware of the drama taking place behind him; otherwise, he might have mistakenly tried to help Billy escape from the shark. Genie reminded Billy that any damage done by the shark could be quickly repaired, and Billy should not be worried about that. However, they were both concerned that the shark might next attack another swimmer who did not have the advantages that Billy had.

Therefore, Billy commanded "AQUAMAN!" Now it was the shark who was at a severe disadvantage! Genie pumped Billy's strength up to the maximum that his bones and muscles could tolerate. Billy grabbed the bull shark's nose and lower jaw and pried them apart so that he could remove his leg from the shark's jaws. He next began to pound on the sharks side in the vicinity of its heart with a closed fist. It was as if the shark was being pounded with a sledge hammer, and the third blow caused the animal's heart to rupture.