We were up and working out early. I was thinking that I would like a little more of a workout like last night's, but kept right on walking on that damn treadmill. It was a pleasure to get back to lifting some weights, followed by demonstrating how to skip rope with a fake leg. I still need a real peg leg for sports and some fun things.
We swam hard for almost thirty minutes, until Bobby caught my good ankle and said, "Will you stop, for crying our loud. Jesus, we quit ten minutes ago." It took me five minutes to breathe regularly, but I had finally outlasted Bobby.
We took showers and I was the only one to get ready to go to work. Both girls were getting an incident day. The duty guys ate with us, teasing me about how I now had women doing my captures. Yada, yada, yada. The Magnum was fine in morning traffic, but I wish it had wings so I wouldn't have to fight all the other cars.
I stopped for donuts, thinking that Sarah wouldn't have time since Dave was back. Well, what do you know? Sarah had donuts, the new girl, Marie, bought donuts thinking the same thing about Dave that I did, and I bought donuts too, so we invited the entire building to come help eat up our extras this morning. I made sure Marie got her money returned from petty cash.
The briefing was pretty loose this morning. After the air guys were gone, I held up two jobs. One was a prisoner transport that should be textbook, and the other was an escapee who was probably sleeping at his mother's house right under our noses. Three guys took the transport and three guys took the capture. I assigned the others to help Sarah do the detective work that she was so deeply involved in.
John called about nine, telling me, "The politicos have heard about the mess we have and want some heads. I keep telling them that they have to wait until we find all the connections. They don't want to wait. How about inviting the D.C. bunch down for some fun in Tampa? Take them out to the reservation to that casino you have. Find them some whores, anything, but keep them out of my hair for a bit."
I thought for a few minutes, then said, "Send them all to St. Louis for a meeting down in Branson. I'll try to arrange a charter bus for them. Go take a poll and see if it would be better if they bring their wives or if they came down on their own."
John was back with me within fifteen minutes. "Man, you hit a nerve. They all think bringing their wives would be a good thing. Can you get reservations and everything that fast?"
"Do I have a budget or can I just make it happen?"
John said, "Make it happen."
I did the calling, and whenever I heard a hesitation, I said, "There is no reason to ever say no to your federal government when they say price is not an object."
They all kept agreeing. I reserved all the rooms and called John back. "Do you want to invite some of the Bureau because we've found a bunch in their group too? I'd bet they are sweating bullets the same as we are."
"Damn good idea, Chuck. Let me find out how many."
I added, "Don't send them, I'll have the charter service come get them. Call me back with the final number."
I needed twelve more rooms and when I called back, I told them straight up, that if we have to displace patrons, we will pick up the tab of their rooms wherever you place them. This is important, as I need these guys together in one place. I'm going to beat them up during the day and you need to loosen them up at night. I don't want a minute of their time to be free. Every wife, or whoever they bring, needs to get a make over every day while they are there."
"The manager/owner of the resort asked, don't you have a budget?"
"Whatever I can't scrape up from drug busts, I'll do some more down in Texas and bring you what it takes. I just need these guys to enjoy their time there, and that means their ladies have to be happy too."
The man said, "Tell you what, I think I get the drift of what you're doin' here. How about I give you two hours in the morning to brief these guys and two hours in the afternoon to do some more. I'll keep them either drunk or well-fucked, but happy one way or the other, during the other twenty hours a day. You give me this figure and you got yourself a deal."
"Done," I said.
He replied, "Done."
I called S&S Air Charter to have them pick everyone up and get them to Branson, Missouri. The lady from S&S said, "No problem, we'll have to use a couple of other G5s, but we'll get it done."
I asked the Bureau chief if I could borrow Jan for some high level schmoozing and he said I could borrow his entire staff to keep D.C. off his back.
Before I left the office, Sarah told me to take my laptop and printer, and that she would keep me posted on what kind of shit we kept finding.
To get the ball rolling, I drove home where I told Bobby to get ready, that we were going on a butt kissing mission. When I told her that Jan was coming, she licked her lips. I smacked her on the butt, and she gave me a kiss instead of being mad. Jan was still hanging with Bobby so I told her she was detailed to me for a couple of days. She would need some dressy clothes and some normal work clothes but plan on five days.
I wanted to be there early, so I asked S&S if they could fly three of us up there right away, and all you ever hear from these folks was as soon as you get here to the air park, we'll be in the air. As soon as Bobby was packed and Jan had gone home to return with her bag, we flew in some kind of a turboprop plane that must have been fast, as it seems we just took off and we were landing in Branson. Perhaps it was the full bar they had that made the trip so short.
The resort owner thought I must be his long lost brother as he damn near kissed me. His place was first class, and he was preparing all his people to do a hell of a job for me. I dumped a suitcase full of drug money on his desk and left him counting it as the three of us were checked into a very nice executive suite. We were hungry, so we called for room service. A bellhop brought us some roast beef sandwiches with the juice to dip them in, and wouldn't accept a tip. He said the owner/manager said he had it covered. There must have been more than I thought in that suitcase.
We toured Branson that night, checking out the bull rides and the girls that danced on the bars. When we got bored, we went back to the room to do some more exploring about what this nutty relationship was becoming.
As soon as we were awake, with coffee and functioning, we began putting together several presentations about the different problems that we had run into, and the actions that were being taken by the various offices and the justice department.
We did an after discovery evaluation of what damage may have been done to both the marshal's service and the Bureau, then listed some actions we could take to make things right.
We did six complete presentations that were going to be hosted by both Bobby and Jan. Each would talk about their respective entities, then jointly work out the details of what we were going to do.
John called me on my cell phone, asking, "What the fuck are you doing? All the politicos are flying out on some private jets for Branson, Missouri. I know that almost all of the brass over at the Bureau is going too. What's up? What are you really up to?"
First I had to remind him that this was all his suggestion and I was only fulfilling what he asked for. I gave him a brief summary of what we were doing and that it was being done to distract the bigwigs while those that did the work could and would get the rest of the job done.
"How are you paying for this?"
"You gave me a nice office budget."
"No way, this is costing a bundle. Tell me, give."
"I'm using a suitcase full of drug money that we never figured out what to do with."
"Oh no, what if someone asks about it?"
"Asks about what?"
"Can I come down and see what's going on?"
"Sure, John, I was planning on you being there, do you want me to send my Lear for you?"
"Your Lear? Where did you get a Lear?"
"Actually, it belongs to an air charter service that I'm working with."
"Will it cost me?"
"Only favors."
"Send it, I owe you anyway."
With a smile in my voice, "I told you my idea and you said to make it happen. It's happening."
John groaned.
I called S&S and told them to go to D.C. and pick up a VIP and fly him to Branson. They gave me the time and I called John back.
"Call your wife and tell her to have you both packed and ready to leave at two this afternoon. Tell her to be ready to be pampered like she's never been pampered in her life. Oh yeah, the Lear has a nice bar. See you this evening."
"Hey, the other guys aren't leaving till tomorrow, why am I coming before them?"
"So we can party a little before we have to kiss so many asses. Just do what I tell you, and act like you're my boss."
"Fuck you." He hung up on me.
I was grinning when Jan asked, "Do you always talk to your superiors like that?"
"Depends on whether they're worth talking to. You'll like John. I've never met his wife, but I'll bet she's a treat. Let's work on these presentations a little more and get them perfect. We have to make sure they have a projector too. We need to write a script in case we get tongue tied."
We had the hotel get an executive suite ready for John and his wife, then begged a limo to go get him. The owner/manager said, "Do want some of that money back? Christ, you gave more than twice what we agreed on."
"It's yours. Tip your staff so they know the guys that are here are worth taking care of. Make sure the women are taken care of. Make sure everyone has a good time. Feed us good, give them lots to drink, slip all the women some Spanish fly so those guys will get some and we're even. Oh yeah, we need a good projector in the meeting room that I can hookup to my laptop. We need one of those viewers too that you lay the page down and it projects on the screen."
"I figured on all that. It's up and tested. We'll have a tech with you the whole time. We have some snacks for a break. Decide whether you want to break more often than an hour at a time. That's usually all the information they can take. The morning sessions can be shorter between breaks as everyone has been drinking a lot of coffee. Your heart patients are all taking Lasix or some other diuretic so they are in need of pissing every fifteen minutes anyway. So let's figure a break at thirty minutes, an hour, and at an hour and a half in the morning. The afternoon will be just one break after an hour."
"Super, guy, I like the way you think. Okay, girls, lets go get John."
The Lear landed and pulled up next to a block long limo the resort gave us. John came out, leading a most striking very dark skinned lady that looked like she had a hint of oriental in her. He introduced her as Kenisha, giving her a loving look. She gave us a dazzling smile and said she was pleased to meet us.
In the limo, we chatted and Kenisha asked which of my ladies was my number one wife. Bobby and Jan almost burst out laughing. John was blushing, unable to speak. Bobby began, "We are not married yet, but it is a possibility. I don't think there is a number one or number two, but I met Chuck first. Jan would definitely make a great number two wife."
Jan was blushing now, and I was ready to crawl under the seat. Kenisha said, "I've tried to find John a number two wife for three years, but he is so picky that he keeps turning them away. You are lucky to have such an accommodating husband."
The babe couldn't get it right that we weren't married.
The girls talked about how much fun they were going to have and Kenisha said she looked forward to serving John while they were there. I winked at John as he blushed.
The first thing we did was to eat a little and go to the bar. Kenisha loved champagne cocktails, while John and I had some scotch so we could pace ourselves. He asked if I would show him our presentation so he could see if it was going to get me fired.
We went to the room and the girls did the entire presentation for him. It took a long time, but we were pushing right through it, advising him of when the breaks would occur.
Bobby said, "We may have to change some of the info as we are constantly getting updates from Ken and Sarah. We'll modify the presentation wherever it needs it."
"Where did you get the idea to do this?"
"The Bureau chief downstairs was crying that his brass was on his ass for possible moles. I know a lot of our service offices are affected. Some damn good people in D.C. were beginning to take some big heat over this, so I thought a diversion that would pacify the big shots would do the trick. Getting them out into the country was a way to get them back into normal thinking and I know Branson is just glitzy enough to make it work. So that's where we are."
John grimaced, "So you borrowed some drug money and made this all happen."
"What drug money?"
"Jesus, you should be in politics. Either that or a carnival."
Bobby saved me by asking, "What's for supper?"
We each had a steak that was so thick you should have needed a power saw to cut it. We used forks and it melted in our mouths. The food was wonderful and the owner was feeding his help the same stuff while we ate. He made the announcement that I was responsible for all their good times and tomorrow they were going to be able to pay me back with the treatment the guests would have. We received enough applause that John leaned over and asked, "How much was in that bust anyway?"
When I said, "I don't know. I just gave it all to the guy and he was happy. What more can I ask for?"
John was shaking his head, laughing.
That night, John was being dragged off to his suite by Kenisha, while Bobby and Jan sat naked on the end of the bed, making fun of the situation.
"Master, what can we do to make you a happy husband?"
"Oh Master, can we make you feel good tonight, all night?"
"Master, please let us do naughty things to you until you explode."
I attacked the two culprits and showed them what Master could do. They showed me they could wear me out in a very short time and make me become the audience instead of a participant. Watching did the trick, and I was soon back in the mix.
We went to sleep, all happy, all content.
The big day was here. I was going to pacify the guys that were the real U.S. Marshals but for the most part, sat behind a desk looking at gun catalogs and never buying any. The other group from the Bureau was D.C. bureaucrats who found the cash to keep the field working, and lived vicariously through their contact with the field. I know John had to swim in the same pool as these guys, and I was surprised he was able to look like he was a part of the group feeding at the trough.
The main contingent would be arriving around one in the afternoon. After they were assigned their rooms, there would be a meet and greet from two-thirty to five. There would be plenty of lubrication available for everyone to get excited about what they would learn, and the unmentionable fun that they would enjoy when not fretting over the boondoggle that existed within the ranks.
John and Kenisha joined the girls and me for breakfast in our suite. By seven, my e-mail was filling up with notes from more offices that had discovered discrepancies in various backgrounds. My advice had been to check everyone that had been hired within the last eighteen months to two years, especially anyone who had come recommended by someone from another area. So far, Forest or a guy named Manning Winters, had hired all of the deputies and agents with totally fake backgrounds, or had recommended them.
As of this morning, we had seventeen deputies and Bureau agents being held in our private confinement areas. The prosecutors were diligently signing on, e-mailing me, and making sure that those that we caught were classified as flight risks and therefore could not get out on bail. John and I thought it unusual that considering how big this was, no law group was coming forward to try to pull strings for these guys.
My morning call to Ken was put on a speakerphone so John could be a part of the update. Ken said that a New York City deputy had discovered that Forest entered the country through Canada a few days after being released from custody while awaiting trial for a minor offense. The deputy had been able to identify people who Forest had stayed with and learned he had attended an acting and speech school in New York City while staying in an apartment with several other men who they believe are some of the other people with fake backgrounds in custody. Ken said that he had shifted part of his investigative team to New York City to help scrape up additional details of those months there.
Ken described what John and I had both been thinking for a while. He said, "We have several confirmed and unconfirmed pieces of evidence that there is a link to the Bratva and the Red Mob." Both of these names are linked to the world wide Russian Mafia.
"The British have been able to tie Forest to activities within London that were Bratva connected. Their main business right now is the slave trade, but they have been infiltrating and aligning with some of the older established groups of Italian and Sicilian underworld characters. They have been increasingly active in drug activity and were becoming active in business scams." Kens final remarks hit home, "From some of the comments made by those in custody, the reason for their infiltration into the Bureau and Marshal Service was to gain an advantage by having early warning of Bureau investigations and to assist escapees, foil captures, and most importantly, to hunt down and eliminate witnesses against them."
Ken said for us to call him later this afternoon and meanwhile, he would continue e-mailing us every report he received. When we hung up, John said, "That's what you were thinking, wasn't it?"
"It almost had to be. The Bratva has a lot of KGB ties and the money involved in providing some of the electronics we're taking off of these people is out of sight. The problem is deciding whether the people we're getting through relocation are really witnesses, or set ups, so they can discover the paths we use to hide people. I'm almost certain that I have a couple right now that are plants. Their cover has been so thoroughly created that we're having a hard time disproving anything. We'll have to place them in less than two weeks, but I don't want them anywhere near where I might really place someone. I was thinking of even putting them in like New Jersey or Connecticut so they could screw up and contact one of their people. If they are for real, they'll keep their head buried so deep in the ground they'll be viewing Hong Kong."
The girls had gone to the resort's spa for some pampering since they wouldn't be part of the lady fun once the group arrived. John and I were walking down by the river where there was raft rides and kayak safaris, when he said, "That damn truck was right where you said. How did you find a place that wasn't overrun with bums and hoodlums?"
"That was luck. That is a really large industrial area that was recently abandoned, so I just kept looking until I found a place where a really nice truck could be stored out of sight. If someone did find it, oh well. But I thought the truck would be untouched."
John smiled, "The cost of that relo went down another twenty-five grand. I'm really having a tough time tracking you. We haven't even been able to get a sighting of Bobby and she doesn't hide worth a shit. I was thinking that since you had Bobby with you, my guys would find the target in a day or so. They are just totally lost. That's good though, as the bad guys can't find the subject either. You'll have to tell me about it in ten years or so. I know the story will be a good one."
The bigwigs began arriving at the resort and John surprisingly assisted me in greeting them and handing out our activity program for the men and the one for their spouses. We were sending them off to special suites to relax before the meet and greet. All were impressed by the air charter service that brought them.
The meet and greet began with Bobby and Jan, now accompanied by the delicate Kenisha, welcoming the attendees and taking the wives from the husbands to describe the fun the women would have while there.
The guys were all acting like, "Let's get down to business," but since they were bureaucrats, they didn't know what business to get down to. They did know how to drink and snack. Watching the amount of booze being consumed made me apprehensive that the resort owner may get the short end of the stick.
John and I spent the entire time making sure they knew that we would be meeting first thing in the morning. To them, first thing was nine o'clock. To John and me, that was almost lunch time. We advised the resort owner/manager that our start time would be nine instead of eight. He smiled, knowing how senior business execs often squandered time. This would put lunch an hour later and give less time between the end of the afternoon session and supper. Perhaps we could make supper later to give them more time to drink before that. The resort owner said, "The spa girls will be happy to start an hour later, they love it."
By the time we broke for the breather before dinner was to be served, several of the Bureau guys and some of the marshals were half in the bag. The waitresses were passing out coffee and were making sure that more fresh coffee was going to be in the suites. Bobby and Jan reported that the women were a bunch of lushes too, but were mostly drinking high calorie sweet drinks while discussing the latest diets they were on. Poor Kenisha hardly understood the attitudes and habits of the other spouses.
Our first dinner was some of the leanest rib-eye steaks that I've ever cut with a fork. All of the side dishes were delicious, as was the choices of wine with the meal. One lady had made the statement before dinner that she was a vegetarian, so they served her a nice tofu plate that even looked good to me. The babe ended up with a steak just so she could taste it. None of it was left.
The evening's entertainment was a local soft jazz dance band while the group continued to get together enjoying each other's company. John and I found out this was the first time the two law enforcement groups had ever been put together in the same group for a seminar. No wonder there was so much distance between the offices. They had not taken the time to work together.
I was happy to put everyone to bed by eleven. It was almost past my bedtime. The stress from being on our best behavior since the afternoon left us exhausted. After getting into bed, I had two heads sleeping on my shoulders in minutes.