Thin Blood Thick Water (Clueless Resolutions Book 2) Read online

  Max acknowledged the time, wondering what purpose he could serve but silently rationalized that an invitation to lunch was not a bad thing.

  The remainder of the morning was uneventful and, after texting Maggie in reference to his departure time, Max went to the conference room. As he entered the conference room, a round of applause startled him. A banner hung across the slide screen on the far wall. It read;

  “WELL DONE PILOT MAX–CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING YOUR WINGS”

  Head Partner Chip Chaplain was the first to shake Max’s hand and offer his personal congratulatory comments. Secretary Heather was next and substituted a hug for the handshake. One by one the rest of the Partners, guards and clerical staff followed suit.

  At the prompt; SPEECH. SPEECH. Max thanked the crew for the recognition and added that he appreciated having Brad Charles, “a real expert” in charge of the fleet maintenance. He added that he hoped his “travel by airways would be safer than the travel by highways and the airways radar would be friendlier than the highway radar.” This quip brought a round of laughter and the popping sound of champagne bottles being opened. Heather presented Max with a silver-plated-wings pin along with a kiss on his cheek. Whistles and hoots arose from the men and ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ came from the women. “Don’t worry Maggie, I know he’s spoken for,” Heather called out in jest, as if Maggie was there. The office staff had met Maggie when she came to the office on her first trip to Lakeside. She had been immediately liked, and well received.

  Besides Chip Chaplain and Brad Charles, only two of the other Partners were on hand for the celebration, the others were ‘on leave’. After lunch, some chitchat, one glass of champagne, and two cups of coffee, Max repeated his thanks for the party and announced that he was leaving for the weekend.

  Brad Charles followed Max through the rear hallway leading to the hangar service office. Max entered his flight plan on the portable GPS unit and entered it as, Private transport-Time off 3:15 PM AP82 VFR to KHVN Regional arrival time estimate-4:20 PM. The ‘Filed’ prompt was initialed by Brad. Max proceeded to review the weather data and Doppler radar images between Ithaca and New Haven. The weather was good and the forecast for the weekend was the same. He did his preflight check around the Cessna Skylane and Brad activated the hangar door opener. After starting the engine, Max taxied the plane out onto the tarmac apron.

  With a 5-10 knot southwest breeze Brad taxied to the north end of the airstrip and after donning headphones he activated the automated traffic broadcast. He announced his location and intended takeoff on Runway 19. Hearing no response, Max taxied out onto runway 19. He set the altimeter, adjusted the fuel mixture, and lowered the flaps to the ‘takeoff’ setting. Pushing the throttle to full power, Max felt the propeller thrust push him slightly back in his seat as the airplane accelerated rapidly down the runway. The wheels parted from the runway surface with 80 MPH showing on the air-speed indicator. The exhilaration Max always felt upon liftoff washed over him. He was airborne and heading home to New Haven.

  Chapter 3

  The national real estate scenario had entered a downward spiral mode and sales volume was slumping. Commercial property had been stagnant, but stable, for several years. The overall residential market was primarily responsible for the recent downturn.

  The real estate market in the New Haven area of Connecticut, as with the regional and national market, had succumbed to the pressure. Home values stabilized at first and, with decreasing demand, began to fall. Heavily mortgaged homes, recently purchased at peak pricing, began to lose market value to a point where they were worth less than the original purchase price, and then, less than the mortgage balance. These properties were now considered ‘under water’ or ‘up-side-down’. Those owners whom could not maintain mortgage and tax payments, or those needing to sell for other reasons, faced a dilemma.

  As a financial specialist, Maggie was in heavy demand assisting in the negotiations between lenders and borrowers to arrive at the best solutions. She had gotten through a busy week and was slumped in her desk chair when Jessica, her secretary looked into the doorway to ask Maggie if it would be ok if she left for the weekend a little early. Permission was given.

  “TGIF” Maggie said softly to her empty office, once Jessie had left. Glancing at her watch, she realized that Max would be landing at Tweed Airport in about 15 minutes. She locked the office and drove south on Main Street toward the route I-95 highway overpass.

  Tweed Airport was listed as a regional airport. Various airlines had flown out of the location over the years. Currently there were commuter flights to New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, and a few alternate stops. Tweed had also been a popular site for private planes for many years.

  After takeoff from Lakeside and upon reaching the planned altitude level, Max had called Maggie’s cell number.

  “Well, hello fly boy,” Maggie had answered. “How does it feel to be on top of the world?”

  “A hell-uv-a lot better than putting along through these woods that I’m looking down at,” he retorted. Max went on to tell Maggie about the surprise party that was thrown for him at the office celebrating his getting license to fly. “I would have left earlier but I didn’t want the crew to think the new guy was rude,” he said, semi-seriously. “I didn’t eat much, are you getting hungry?” he asked. Maggie replied in the affirmative. They made plans for dinner at one of their old haunts after Max reached New Haven at 4:20, as estimated.

  Max’s flight was relatively uneventful, although there seemed to be an unusually high level of air traffic activity. At this time he was close enough to his destination to be notified by the flight controller following his flight by radar. The airplane Max was flying was equipped with autopilot, so since he was flying in pleasant weather conditions his main function was to monitor the instruments. The heavy concentration of air traffic kept him busy sighting and acknowledging the other aircraft and he appreciated having something to relieve the monotony.

  When he was 10 miles north of his destination, Max tuned to the appropriate frequency to make radio contact.

  “Tweed Airways, this is flight ‘Charley Echo 82’ for full stop landing.” Max said using the customary phonetic alphabet as he announced his call sign into the hand-held microphone.

  “Roger Charley Echo eight-two, fly left traffic, runway one-zero when cleared,” came the Tweed air traffic controller’s response. Max acknowledged the directive, reduced the speed and lowered to 1800 feet in altitude. A few minutes later he sighted the airport. After passing the landing strip to his left and when cleared to land by the controller, Max made a wide U-turn and switched on the landing lights. He aligned his flight path with the runway 10 landing lights, lowered the wing flaps, and at half throttle, slowly drifted down until he crossed the end of the runway. At 2 feet above the runway he slightly raised the nose of the plane, set the throttle to ‘idle’ and the Cessna touched down with a slight jolt.

  “Charley 82, exit next taxiway,” was the next directive. As Max turned off the runway he was instructed to contact ground control for directions to parking.

  As he taxied into the first available parking station, Max could see Maggie waving to him through the chain link fence straight ahead. After shutting down the engine, lights, radio and flight controls Max un-strapped his overnight bag and exited the airplane. He strode to the fence to greet one of the most valued persons in his life. They shared an extended-pucker kiss through the wire grating. The first fast-track commute was a success.

  Maggie went to her car and drove to the front entrance of the airport flight office. Within six minutes Max came out of the building wearing a broad smile on his face.

  “Let’s go kiddo, flying makes me thirsty. Let’s beat the crowd to ‘Jerry’s Jug’,” he quipped, referencing their favorite East Haven eatery.

  “I’m right behind you Max,” was her response.

  Max and Maggie enjoyed a relaxing supper and martini at ‘Jerry’s Jug’ in East Wayford. Af
ter settling up with their friend Jerry, the proprietor, the pair bid him adieu and drove to their apartment at ‘Hargrove House’.

  After showering the two enjoyed bedtime hot chocolates and soft rock tunes on the stereo in their robes, basking in the glow of the automatic gas fireplace while they caught up on the warm and pleasurable romantic part of their private lives.

  Chapter 4

  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.

  Chapter 5

  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, 2nd 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.