Un-Connected (15 page)

“But here is the deal,” Otis said. “We want
you to get a place here and stay. We are already family and as best we can tell
close to the only family you have.  At least as good of a family as you have
anywhere else. We’ll make it happen if you agree.”

I had gotten Deb’s consensus that we would
always try to get all the facts before making a decision, but I was already
pretty sure we were going to take Otis up on his offer. It wasn’t as if we had
a lot of good choices. When I looked at Deb, she nodded “yes”.

“But the FBI found fingerprints here
belonging to the guy from Fairfax accused of killing his wife. Won’t having me
here complicate things a little?”

“We will all have to be careful.”

I told Otis about our consensus and that we
needed more information, but we probably would say yes.

He said that was a good decision. “First of
all this briefcase is yours.” With that, he dropped it on the table next to me
and asked me to open it.

It was full of money, which he told me was
$100,000. I turned the briefcase so Deb could see it. Our jaws dropped.

“This is your cut so far of what we have sold
of the equipment out of the helicopter or SUV. It’s tax-free income because
nobody will be filling a 1099 on you. That is, unless the owners come to claim
their equipment, and they could file. Hah!”

Otis shrugged. “If anyone asks, it won’t be
any of their business, unless they’re the owners. In that case, it would be
their business. And even then, I will say you loaned me $100,000 several years
ago on a handshake, and there is no paperwork. It’s not income but repayment of
a loan.”

Deb was the only one who knew for sure I was
or had been a CPA.  I knew I wasn’t any longer.  Anyway, it took several seconds
for this new information to soak in.

Otis broke in on my thoughts. He moved pretty
quickly for an old guy. “The money is yours, and we have no secrets in the
family. Everyone here knows your share, and I will tell you what each got if
you want to take the time. It isn’t a secret.”

I shook my head “no”.

Otis closed my briefcase and put it on the
floor next to Deb’s chair. “That’s the way life works. The men make the money
and hand it over to the women.”

“Now,” Otis continued. “This is your cut of
what we’ve sold so far. If the troopers wait too long, there won’t be anything
left. We have the helicopter stripped to the frame, and we are selling some
stuff and keeping some. Those full auto rifles they brought us will be a little
harder to keep because not just anyone can possess those.  Several of the
veterans will be applying for class III licenses and that will be easier.” 

“The rest of the parts are hidden or sold or
laying around in plain sight. The troopers saw a radio over there on the back
shelf and didn’t think anything about it. It’s somewhat common but is for
aircraft communication. We don’t need the radio, so we’ve sold it. It was a
cash deal with no warranty and no paperwork. The buyer may show up today.”

I inquired how they would know the buyer was
not law enforcement and was told they normally can tell a cop a mile away
undercover or not, but they already had the buyer’s picture and a photocopy of
his driver’s license. They’d checked him out. Besides, they had a system that changed
depending on circumstances.

The buyer would come in and look at the radio,
or whatever equipment, to be sure it was what Otis said it was. Once they were
satisfied then they’d be given a security label to write on. They would sign
their name or whatever they wanted on the label and place it on the equipment.
They’d take a picture of it so they would be able to tell it was the same
equipment. Then they’d go down the road to where Grandma Moses lived and give
her the money. If things went bad, no one would likely put a ninety-five-year-old
in jail. At least not for long. And of course, there were armed people around
to take care of her and keep anyone from trying to get “her” money.

Then the buyer would come back to the truck
stop to get his equipment. Since there would be no paperwork, it would be
unclear as to what was going on. Were the guys taking the equipment going to
turn it over to the FBI? Were they going to repair it? Or were they going to
look at it and return it or use it?

“It’s very unclear, right?” said Otis.

It was a little confusing.

“Got it,” I said.

“Now,” said Otis, using one of his favorite
words. “Since you have agreed to stay here, we have a deal for you. In the
family we own most of the land between here and the mountains you see back
behind your truck. They were in some of your wedding pictures. We want you to
pick ten acres or so, and we will give them to you so you can build a house. We
can take you around and show you what we think are some of the best places. Or
you can borrow a jeep and drive all over it yourself. It’s your choice. Everyone
will be excited to have you here and will be glad to deed the land over to you.”

“Second, we all think you need to get off the
road. The boys who showed up here are not nice. If they catch you out somewhere,
it won’t end like this last little dance. In fact, we are preparing for another
visit from them now. We don’t think it will happen and certainly not soon, but
we do think it could happen, so we’re getting ready. But what will you do if
you’re at a truck stop where nobody knows you? Where you and Deb are the only
shooters on your side? And you don’t have thick walls to hide behind. It won’t
turn out the same way. We ambushed them last time, and won’t be able to do that
again.”

“If you have passports we think you should
fly out of here and take a long cruise somewhere to the Mediterranean or Alaska
or something. Be gone for a while. The FBI is looking for you all over the US
and especially in Arizona.”

Then I noticed they brought my drink in a
paper cup and Deb’s in a regular glass like they normally used.

I pointed at it and he nodded. “Your flatware
will get extra attention as well. We will take care of you, but you have to
take care of yourself. An eastern Caribbean cruise can take some time, so go
have fun. Do you want to pick your land now or when you return?”

It was interesting how Otis made plans for
others, but he was probably right. I asked him if he made plans for his
grandkids the way he did for me, and he nodded his head, while a number of them
nodded their heads “yes” while they were looking at us.  I told him his offer
was probably too good to turn down, but I needed to talk to management before I
could give him an answer.

He laughed and answered in the affirmative. “Meeting
is over!”

With that everyone cleared out, and in a few
seconds we were by ourselves.

I looked at Deb and shook my head. “Is this
amazing or what?”

“Management, huh! Or were you talking about
someone else?”

She knew I was talking about her. I told her
I thought I should get Jim’s advice about taking a vacation, and she agreed. We
walked outside and made the phone call. I didn’t tell him anything about Otis
but simply said Deb and I were considering it.

Jim agreed and then added that the timing
should be real good. He was putting out fingerprints of Bentley Raines that
were not like the ones out now, and he already had them in the FBI main server
with Ben’s name. Then the ones that had been in there were put in another place,
and all this would at least cause confusion. So if anyone tried to match Ben’s
fingerprints with Sam’s there would at least be confusion in the short run and
later be totally different. He also had put in an updated photo. Deb and I
didn’t think it looked like me so we were really happy about that.

I told him I bet that took some doing, and he
said I had no idea the favors he had to call in.
But
he said there is a
growing number in the bureau who believed Ben was innocent, and now they felt
the shooters in Arizona were connected somehow to the murder of Ben’s wife. Wow,
the “murder of Ben’s wife” seemed so surreal, and yet Rebecca was someone I
still loved.

Deb sensed my emotion and asked how I felt
about Rebecca now. I told her I would always love Rebecca, but she wasn’t here
any longer.

I said my loving Rebecca didn’t diminish my
love for her in any way. I wanted to know how she felt and if she believed me.

She said she did and she was OK. As I had said,
Rebecca wasn’t here any longer. Then she said something that made me feel good,
but more important, told me she was dealing with it well. She said if Rebecca
came back, somehow she would have to find a different man because Deb had taken
over as my woman and would not be giving me back to her. I loved that answer.

Chapter 11

Vacation

OK, we had a decision to make, decisions. I
asked Deb what she thought we ought to do, and she said what I thought too. We
would leave as soon as we could get a good vacation planned, and we would work
the land choosing around that. I would work on getting money issues worked out
including the briefcase and credit cards, etc. She would borrow a computer and
try to make reservations. She asked me to give her my preferences in order from
first choice to last.

I thought the Mediterranean sounded best to
me with the eastern Caribbean next and then Hawaii or Alaska next. As long as I
got to sleep in her cabin, it really didn’t matter to me. I told her she should
get something she liked and book it without double-checking with me.

I went to look for Otis. I told him about our
decisions, and he was glad.

“Since we’ve gotten into the habit of
bringing problems to you,” I said, “I want to continue that tradition.”

He laughed and told me to lay it out.

“First, we have no way to easily get money on
Deb’s debit card so we could pay for the vacation and get money as we needed
it. We could take the briefcase or a part of its contents but didn’t think it
would be a good idea to carry a lot of cash.”

“I agree and have already foreseen some of your
difficulty and have some answers.”

He handed me a truck stop company card. “This
is yours. Now that you have accepted our offer, you will get a new one later
with your name on it just below the company name. There is a $10,000 monthly limit
on it right now. Keep up with what you spend, and I will put more on it as you
need it, but since the limit renews every month, you may not ever need to make
that call. Once you are on the cruise, as you know, most everything is free. You
will be able to get cash at any teller machine.”

Otis paused. “When you have time, I can make
other arrangements to help you get whatever else you need. But the deal is this:
Use the card whenever and wherever you wish as a loan, and we’ll settle up
later. And if you want, I will keep the briefcase safe and sound for you. But I
am not keeping it for insurance on your use of the card. So put it wherever you
think it is safe.”

I couldn’t think of anything we needed right
then other than the card and the arrangements relating to it.

“The card has been active for about a week,”
Otis said, “since we expected you would accept our offer. We had intended to
make you an offer you couldn’t refuse, and if you had been really smart, you
would have held out for a better deal.”

“I don’t think there is such a thing as a
better deal.”

He laughed.

Then I told him I was concerned for him and
especially his younger ones. He said I should be, but they were not novices
either. They were potentially outgunned, but they were taking precautions.

“I’m concerned about a few of your family
being ambushed, as you called it, by several of them.”

“We’re talking about all kinds of things that
include shutting down the truck stop because we’re not willing to get anyone even
hurt let alone killed. We have some friends who’d stand with us, but that won’t
substitute for being wise and cautious going forward.”

I agreed.

“Besides,” he said, “those who sent the black
ops guys will be busy for a while. They will be doing damage control and trying
to figure out what went wrong. Those guys are covering their tracks and trying
to make sure nothing is traced back to them. No one wants to claim any
association with them right now.

And
whoever does know who sent
them has a credibility problem. Someone somewhere is of the opinion they aren’t
good enough to handle the job. Those guys who died here had a boss somewhere who
has to do a lot of explaining, including how he will replace a very, very
expensive helicopter and SUV. Also it will be interesting who informs the next
of kin. You might want to ask your FBI friend about it.”

“How did you know about my FBI friend?”

“You have an expensive phone with you few
people have. We also have the capability to listen to your side of the
conversation with long-range microphones built into the building, but we’ve long
since quit eavesdropping on you.”

I told him my next concern was about the
younger ones being called up, that is,
reactivated
to something really
dangerous. The black SUV people had political connections in Washington, and
they might want to hurt somebody in his family.

“Betty’s husband is a lawyer, and he’s
already working to prevent that possibility. What we found out so far is one
couldn’t be called up by himself without a somewhat unique ability. A person’s whole
unit would have to be called up because of the classification he had. And one
had just returned from his fourth tour. Since the US was out of Iraq and
winding down Afghanistan, it would be very unlikely their unit would go in
place of a unit with fewer tours. The biggest problem we foresee would be a
short tour in some new hotspot somewhere. But Democratic presidents don’t very
often put boots on the ground in new conflicts.”

I asked him if he trusted Democratic
presidents more than Republican.

“A good one wherever they could find one was
what we need, but one of the criteria would be to keep us out of war. Our wars
these days should be short. We should get in, break things, kill people only if
we have to, and get out. Democrats want to spend money like its water and
threaten our enemies but in the last analysis not do anything.   The
Republicans want to fight somebody for decades like war is good for business.”

“I think you’re on the right track. I don’t
like taxes that much but like war less.”

“Because we have the best military in the
world, some think we have a mandate to use it on someone. Both parties are like
kids in a candy store. The Democrats and some Republicans too don’t mind
spending money on anything as long as it isn’t their money.  Republicans want to
use the military as if it is a big expensive toy. We want the strongest
military in the world, but we don’t want to use it much. We don’t need hundreds
or thousands of all the new stuff somebody can make all shiny for them. We need
to run this place with the people in Washington remembering who’s boss.  That
Texas governor said something a lot of us my age like.  That is to make the
federal government as insignificant in our lives as possible.”

Deb nodded. “Otis, you’re making a lot of
sense.”

“Also the Democratic Presidents won’t take
care of their people in harm’s way. That is, when we have a Democratic
President, then it’s every man for himself overseas.  If someone attacks us,
the Democrats will threaten and strut and send out dire warnings. But in the
last analysis, they won’t do anything.”

“Oh, by the way Deb,” Otis broke into his own
rant. “Can we rent your semi while you’re gone? If we lose it, tear it up, or
get it dirty, we’ll make it right.”

Deb said sure but wanted to know what they
were paying and how many miles they’d put on it. She and Otis did some tough
negotiations and settled with the miles being unknown but not too many, and the
pay would be $10,000 as a flat fee. She had tried to get a cut of the loads,
but Otis said she would come out better with a flat fee.

She said it was probably true, but the flat
fee he wanted to pay was way too much money. She wanted to be paid five
thousand. I couldn’t believe this. It was like the seller of a used car arguing
with a buyer, and the seller saying they wanted less and the buyer saying he
wanted to pay more. I needed to keep the two of them apart. Life was not normal
when they got together, and I told them so.

That got a good laugh, and Otis put $10,000 in
her hand and asked for a set of keys. He told us we could use a jeep he owned
and suggested we go stay in a motel until our flight left, even if it was a
couple of days. He said we’d be safer somewhere else, and they’d be safer if we
were somewhere else.

Deb had already made vacation plans, and we
were going to the Mediterranean but didn’t leave for a few days. She informed
me we were going to a motel in Phoenix that night and we would fly to Florida
the next day. We would be in a motel there for about three days and then we
would go on the cruise.  She had plans for me, which included shopping for some
new clothes. I told Otis I guessed it meant she was happy, and he agreed.

We were still afraid, but fun sometimes helps,
and it certainly did then. We took what we wanted out of the truck, and I gave
Otis my set of truck keys. One of the guys took a box out there with our name
on it and cleaned out everything else and put our rifles in their safe. Otis
suggested we take our handguns with us, and when we left, we could almost
certainly leave them in the motel safe until we got back, especially if we made
reservations to stay there for a night or more coming back.

We were all set as best we knew and took off
for Phoenix. We had a great evening, had a good flight, and got to Florida.  We
checked our guns with our luggage so we had them with us when we got to
Florida.  We were able to really relax for the first time in a long time.  We
did a lot of snuggling and playing.  Just before we got on the cruise ship we
checked our guns at the motel so they could put them in their safe until we got
back.   Then we got on the cruise ship with no drama. Once we settled in, we
took a deep breath. We couldn’t believe how our lives had changed so soon. But
we intended to enjoy this cruise, and so we did.