Thin Blood Thick Water (Clueless Resolutions Book 2) (3 page)

At 9:30 Saturday morning, back in Lakeside, the still morning air was interrupted by the sound of an approaching airplane. Chip Chaplain had arrived at USAP headquarters and was waiting to greet a returning Partner who was coming back from ‘leave’ in Ontario, Canada.

Partner Ezrekiah ‘Ezra’ Carrol, the Director of Munitions for USAP had finished his mission there after twenty days.  He was returning in a USAP floatplane, a remodeled 1998 Cessna Caravan Amphibian.

Chip had driven a runabout from the company garage down to the lakefront at the north end of runway 05.  A boat ramp at the water’s edge of Black Bottom Lake was located adjacent to a triple-width boathouse. A point of land just to the south screened the building and ramp from most of the lakes surface area, beach, and the surrounding residences.

With a swooshing sound the floatplane whizzed overhead with landing flaps down and banked on a wide loop to line up for landing.  Ezra was looking down through the pilot side window and saw Chip flashing a green signal from a hand held signal light.  This was a silent ‘all-clear’ sign to land.  Ezra throttled down as he guided the rather large, single- engine turbo prop aircraft down onto the lake surface.

With the twin rudders at the ends of the pontoon floats lowered below the surface he steered toward the boat ramp.  As the plane neared the ramp, Ezra raised the rudders and pushed the throttle to full open as he lowered the landing wheels.  Chip was waving him on as the amphibian aircraft, with a plume of mist rising from the lake surface behind it, pushed through the water onto the ramp.  With the roaring, spinning propeller providing maximum thrust, the front landing wheels located on the end of the pontoons made contact with the concrete ramp.  The transition from water to land was seamless as the rear landing wheels made contact.

The plane leveled off at the top of the minimally-inclined ramp and continued the taxi onto the north end of the runway. With the turbine engine throttled back Ezra taxied toward the hangar as Chip followed in the runabout.  While Ezra idled at the entrance, Chip engaged the door opener and the accordion-like hangar doors folded back allowing Ezra to taxi the aircraft into the service area and out of sight from the world.  The engine and all switches were turned off and the large propeller wound down to a stop.

Chip strode under the left wing as Ezra jumped off the port pontoon to greet him with a high-five hand slap. The unorthodox landing had taken seven minutes from touchdown on the lake surface to shut down in the hangar.

“Welcome back Ezra,” Chip said. “That was a smooth landing, but you were a half-minute over the record,” he added in jest.

“I guess I’m getting better, but slower, in my old age,” Ezra retorted.  The two Partners walked into the service office where Ezra filed the flight completion paperwork.

Chip poured them each a half-carafe of brandy from Brad Charles’s liquor cabinet.

“Here’s to Brad,” toasted Chip as the two clinked carafes.

The water/land transition-landings and transition-takeoffs were practiced by all of the Partner pilots whenever the situation allowed.  Brad had personally reinforced the pontoon support structure of the Cessna Caravan to allow for the extra strain on the undercarriage during these maneuvers: Otherwise the plane appeared to be stock.

There had been times when quick landings and/or take-offs were necessary in order to maintain anonymity and confidentiality during a security mission.  More importantly, it had saved a few of the Partners from incurring bodily harm.

Chip Chaplain and Ezra Carrol walked to the front office section and took the elevator to the 3rd level mezzanine where Chip’s office was located.  The two Partners spent the balance of this weekend morning working through an extensive de-briefing session, alone except for a security guard, in an otherwise unoccupied building.

At the beginning point of his association with the Partnership, Max Hargrove sensed that it would be best to simply look, listen, and absorb.  This level of the security business was new to Max and there was a lot to learn.  He experienced, however, a vague and somewhat unnerving wonderment as to just how he would ‘fit into the picture’ in this new work environment. He had been escorted through the USAP headquarters building by Chip Chaplain during his third visit. He was impressed with the high-tech apparatus and configuration of the construction.  With his extensive real estate background he had dealt with a variety of structure types so he could appreciate the planning and effort that had gone into converting the standard modern industrial building into what amounted to a security laboratory.  He wondered which of the Partners was, or were, responsible for the design.

Chip’s office contained a private conference room and a fully equipped efficiency apartment, which was stocked with preserved and/or frozen edibles and drink.  The sound resistant enclosure, situated just below roof level, overlooked the entire hangar section on one side and the open office area at ground level on the opposite side. The views of the areas below, and across the hangar to Brad Charles’s 2nd floor mezzanine office, were through one-way glass.  A submarine-style periscope, when in a raised position above roof level, offered a 360 degree long distance view of the surrounding countryside and lake.

The remainder of the other Partners’ abutting offices were in the raised, U-shaped, 2
nd
level section around three sides of the open office. The offices were accessed via a raised walkway.

At the rear section of each Partner’s office was a private bathroom.  Each bathroom had a second door at the rear, key-coded only to the occupying Partner, which opened onto an enclosed walkway leading around behind the office walls. The walkway culminated at a briefing room just below Chips office, which was centrally situated over the wall dividing the hangar and front office sections.

An elevator started at ground level with stops at the briefing room and then at Chips office.  At a coded-access stop below the ground-floor level there was an underground elevator service area which connected to Brad Charles’s service section by a tunnel under the hangar floor.

A circular metal stairway, which rose through the ceiling of the CEO’s office, provided access to a closed cupola located on the roof of the building. The cupola exterior was fashioned to resemble a heating/air conditioning (HVAC) enclosure.

In addition to a ground-level landing pad for helicopter conveyances on the front lawn of the building, a smaller auxiliary pad was located on the reinforced roof.

Security cameras were discretely located throughout the interior and exterior of the building. Duplicate monitoring panels situated behind glass-paneled walls were arranged in Chip’s office and Brad Charles’s office. The monitor screens could only be activated wirelessly, by access code.

An 80 ft. long section, at ground level along one exterior wall of the hangar, was double- walled and contained a sound-proofed firing range with a separate exhaust system. Ezra Carol had a small office there, which was accessible through a locked door off the flight office. There were sound-proofed one-way glass panels behind the firing end of three shooting stations. Each station had a motorized retractable target board.

The Partnership maintained a membership in a public firearms training facility near Ithaca for use by the staff of armed escorts and guards. The shooting range in the hangar, however, was exclusively for use by the Partners.

The unique design of the USAP headquarters allowed the Partners to arrive and depart in either an overt or covert manner.  The interior layout allowed the Partners to meet with each other and with the employees normally, yet allowed them to meet discretely between themselves, apart from the employees, whenever necessary.  In addition to the Partners, only a few key employees were aware of the atypically-designed access features.

CFO Max Hargrove’s office was situated on one side of, and adjacent to, the 2nd level briefing room.  Most days he entered the building through the front entrance, paused at Heather Copeland’s cubicle to check for memos and messages, then took the stairs to the upper-level walkway in front of his office doorway.  He usually left his office door open, closing it for confidential business.  Most of the other Partners did the same. It was standard procedure not to approach a closed door without prior notice.

Although the working environment was unusual, Max had gradually become accustomed to it as he worked through the first year. He kept busy with his familiarization of the general operations procedures of the company and the list of Partners including their specialties.  He had spent considerable time with the accounting system and records, the payroll procedures, the assets accounts and during the year he had overseen the processing of all required financial paperwork.  These were the areas under his control as the Chief Financial Officer.  He had reviewed the maintenance and income/expense records with the company maintenance manager, along with the locations of the various properties in the substantial real estate portfolio. He had visited some locations and viewed the rest via GPS imagery.  He had reviewed the investment holdings with the stock brokerage manager in New York City.

A small staff under his direct supervision consisted of a temporary employee accounting clerk and the computer technician /programmer. They were stationed in cubicles on the main office floor.  All Partners shared a temporary secretarial pool under the direction of Heather Copeland.

Max had had a busy and gratifying first year in this new business.  He liked the refreshing experience, and time had passed very quickly for him and Maggie.

On this Monday morning in September, having flown the Cessna Skylane back from East Wayford the previous evening, Max entered the headquarters in Lakeside as he did customarily through the main office entrance.  He was relaxed after spending Saturday night and Sunday with Maggie, lolling around the apartment, watching some late season golf on TV. He also got some feedback from her on the non-confidential financial details in a recommendation which he was about to present to the USAP Partners.

“Good morning Max,” greeted Heather as he stopped at her desk for messages. “You’re looking well rested, did you have a good weekend?” she asked.

“Yes I did, Heather, thanks for asking. And might I say you look pert and pretty yourself this morning, as usual,” Max replied with an animated, salesman-type smile. “Is the gang all here?” he asked regarding the scheduled Partnership meeting.

“Oh, you’re a real smoothie, you must want something,” she snapped back playfully while looking pleased about his compliment.  “Some are here, some aren’t,” she said with a shrug and a smile.  Max gave her a knowing nod at her reference to the usual uncertainty regarding the Partners’ arrivals and departures.  He proceeded with his attaché case up the stairs to his office.  Max was prepared to present his quarterly ‘State of the Books’ report, a slang term for the financial briefing, to whichever Partners showed up at the company meeting scheduled for 10:00 AM in the briefing room.  Max had never seen more than three Partners together at one meeting up to this point in time.

Max hung his suit jacket on the clothes rack and was about to sit at his desk when he heard a click behind and to his right.  He pivoted abruptly and was startled as the bathroom door opened.  A tall, attractive blonde woman dressed in an aviation jumpsuit stepped into his so-called private environment!

“Hello Mr. Hargrove, I’m Dannie. We haven’t met, but Chip raved about you so I thought it was time,” she said putting out her hand for a shake.

Max was stunned.  This beautiful woman had just stepped out of his office bathroom like a fashion model ready to walk down the runway!

“Uhhh…, I...., How do you do?” he stammered, taking her outstretched hand.  It dawned on him that this must be a Partner he hadn’t met.  It hadn’t occurred to him that all of the Partners weren't necessarily men.  Chip had referred to a Partner he called ‘Danny’ but Max thought that it was a nickname for Danyel Uhlman.  He recalled the name from the Partner profiles but had assumed it was a masculine, Scandinavian type of name.

“Did I forget to lock the back door?” asked Max rhetorically. He knew it locked automatically but wondered about her clandestine style of entry.

“No, it was locked, but Chip opened it for me so I wouldn’t have to go through the office area. I’m not supposed to be here today and I’ll have to miss the meeting, so I thought I’d say hello before I leave,” Dannie explained.  “My office is over there,” she added, pointing through the conventional office door to the opposite wall of the main office area.

“Ahh, I understand.  Please call me Max, everybody does except my mother, she calls me Maxie,” he quipped with a wry smile. “If you have a few minutes I’ll give you an abbreviated version of the fiscal update that I’ll be boring the others with for about a half hour,” he offered.  Danyel agreed and looked at the briefing notes. She had a few quick questions about one of the under-performing commercial properties, and then thanked Max for the update.

“Investing in these commercial properties seems awfully complex, I never really could follow the logic,” she said, in a dismissive-sounding tone. “But that’s
your
job, right Max?”

Danyel relaxed somewhat and, after they went through the usual ‘glad to have met you’ small talk, she went back through the bathroom.  After checking both ways, she stepped out onto the rear walkway, closing the door behind her.

“Never a dull moment at USAP!”  Max murmured quietly to his empty office.

Within ten minutes Max had gathered the prepared notes for the fiscal update to the Partners and put them into a folder. He closed the office door as he stepped out to the front walkway and strode the eight steps to the briefing room front entrance.  He opened the door and entered the large, five-sided room.

Rather surprised that no one else was there, Max checked his watch, which read 9:58 AM.  He double-checked his notes and noted the Monday, 10:00 AM meeting time. He was about to go up the auxiliary stairway to Chip’s office when he heard the clatter of helicopter blades above and he noticed that Chip’s office door was open.  The helicopter sound was louder through the stairwell opening. It was accompanied by the sound of sand and grit being windswept over the roof of the building, apparently caused by the prop-wash from the helicopter rotor blades upon take off.  Almost immediately the elevator doors opened and Chip, Brad Charles, Ezra Carrol, and two men whom Max had never met, stepped out.

“Sorry if we’re late,” Chip said, “we were seeing Dannie off upstairs.”

“No apologies needed, it’s only 10:03,” Max responded. “I heard the chopper. When I met her a few minutes ago she told me that she had to leave, so I gave her a recap of the status quo. I think she picked up on it.”

“Now that’s what I call efficiency!”  Chip exclaimed, turning to the other men. “Now, didn’t I tell you that our new Partner was a spark plug?” he said, joking.  The men chuckled and the two Partners that Max hadn’t met introduced themselves.

First, Lamar Brooks, an African American who stood around 6ft. 4inches extended a large hand. He was a physically fit middle-aged former professional athlete.  He was followed by Mario Ianozzi, a youngish looking man of Italian lineage, who spoke with a slight European accent. Max noticed that, like Ezra they were armed with holstered automatic pistols under their jackets.

The group sat around the meeting table while Chip explained that arrangements had been finalized with Ernest Bickford’s estate.  The settlement had been negotiated over thirteen months with the attorneys representing his wife. His retired share of the Partnership would allow her to maintain a good life for many years.

Next on the agenda was Max’s report on the real estate holdings, both in the US and outside the country. Max recommended a wait and see stance regarding the falling market values since an economic correction phase was underway around the globe. He indicated that most economy-savvy financial experts were indicating that it would take some time to play-out, after years of over-heated appreciation.

Brad Charles updated the group on his most recent work with drones. This fascinated the listeners. It was understandable, given the anticipated benefits which would help them in investigations. On the other hand, awareness of the invasive perception of eavesdropping drones would be an extremely sensitive factor, from a security perspective, as development of drones expanded.  Brad also indicated that he had been experimenting with remote-controlled full sized airplanes using auto pilot functions controlled by his flight simulator. Cockpit cameras served as the ‘eyes’ while radar served as visual sensors and radio served as the ‘ears’.  Further refinement of Satellite GPS would open the doors to this possibility and he wanted USAP to be ready to invest in the technology when the time was right.

Max made a note to himself to check back on the progress.  He was amazed at the seriousness displayed by his fellow Partners toward these high-tech ideas.  Sitting in this hybrid industrial building with all the secret features and mysterious comings and goings, he was beginning to feel like he was in a spy movie, with Brad playing the part of the eccentric professor/inventor in his laboratory, explaining to the spies how to use the latest gizmo.  This bizarre scenario drifted even further out in space when Ezra Carrol gave his presentation on how he was working with Brad to install hidden grenade launchers in the pontoons of both float planes in the USAP fleet. This included the Cessna Caravan Amphibian which Ezra flew-in with on Saturday and the De Havilland ‘Beaver’ DHC2, which was moored in the boathouse on the lake at the end of runway.  Brad had purchased four of the surplus military anti-tank weapons through the black market in Canada. They were lightweight, hand-held, shoulder-mounted bazooka-type weapons that launched rocket-propelled explosive missiles. Ezra and Brad were going to mount them inside the pontoon floats so that, when the trigger mechanism was activated electronically by the pilot, they would fire through specially-fabricated nose covers of the floats, or on activated mounts above the pontoons. A portable aiming apparatus would be mounted on the sunshades inside the cockpits.