Steve
I was having coffee in my room at the resort. I had the patio doors open, looking out from the ninth floor toward the beautiful lagoon or small harbor in front of the hotel.
It was still too early for beach people, but there were workers cleaning the beach. Two tractors were dragging the sand, smoothing it out to make it more appealing to the tourists. In the harbor and at the dock were several large yachts and sailboats. None, however, rivaled the Have Mercy, the Mercy Mercy, or Chuck's new boat. I wonder what he will name it.
There was knock on the door. I let Tiny in and he poured himself some coffee then sat with me facing the Pacific. Another knock on the door and I let Dewey in who also poured himself some coffee then dragged a chair over to join us in contemplating the deep blue expanse of water.
Tiny asked, "What do you think? Is Chuck done fooling around with strange goings on?"
I said, "He said he was and his boss, John, and the Marshal disappeared to go spend time with their families. Chuck still has that Nightfox guy with him, and from the way they were getting along, they may have become life long friends. Neither one will give us a hint of what they were up to, so it must have been important."
Dewey stated, "Chuck was drinking pretty steady last night, which is unusual for him. I thought he was asking pretty intelligent questions even though he was drinking heavily."
"That he was," I said, thinking of how Chuck was acting last night. I remembered that feeling well. It's the adrenaline let down after something that could have been hairy. Booze only takes the sharp edges off your thinking as you're still seeing three hundred and sixty degrees and questioning everything moving around you. Nightfox's eye movement told me he was still high from a scare too. Whatever it was, it must have had a good conclusion, because there was no panic in either one of them.
Tiny said, "I think we need to alert the mechanics about the helicopters that are supposedly being delivered today. Chuck said the large personnel helicopters were in good condition. What did he call them? Command helicopters?"
I answered the question, "Those are helicopters for people like Admirals or Generals that need transport for them and their immediate staffs. I think whoever Chuck is doing things for is using equipment to repay him for what he's doing. The equipment we bought over in Orlando was worth five and six times more than what we paid, or actually, what Chuck paid."
Dewey asked, "Where did Chuck get all this money? I thought he used up his money in investments here."
Tiny answered Dewey, "I mentioned last night how lucky Chuck was. He bought an aircraft from the feds then found millions and millions. The Attorney General says ownership had passed to the purchaser. I don't know how much there was but it was enough to buy all those aircraft, as well as the big sailboat."
"Holy shit," Dewey exclaimed. "That was lucky. What else has he been lucky about?"
"From what I've overheard between John and him, Chuck came into some money that couldn't be turned over because of how Chuck had to come into it. Since Chuck's been being used for some pretty hairy shit, I can only imagine that a lot of the money came from drug cartels or people who dealt with them. You'll never figure it out though, as Chuck was smart enough to move a bunch of it offshore"
Tiny said, "And of course, your father-in-law isn't going to tell you how much Chuck has. Dewey, just to give you an idea of Chuck's luck, he apparently tried to help a community down in Costa Rica that had a bully tyrant selling protection to everyone, including the communities poorest. According to Sue's mother, Beth, one day the bully is pushing Chuck around, and the next day, the tyrant and all his men had disappeared. The community wanted to anoint Chuck king, but he danced around that. He did however have to claim a seventy-five foot motor yacht that had been taken from a deceased Texas couple. It seems to the victor go the spoils."
Dewey mused, "I wonder if the boat is anything nice?"
Tiny said, "Apparently nice enough that it has a valuation down in Costa Rica of about thirty-five mil. In the states, who knows what it would be worth?"
I said, "Tell him about the women."
"Oh yeah," Tiny said, "Beth said that the boat came with a bunch of women Chuck rescued. They won't leave Chuck, and he has told them they can stay on the boat indefinitely. They take care of the boat and will attend all who come aboard that Chuck sends."
Dewey laughed softly, "The man does have some luck. Chuck seems very perceptive of others. It's almost as if he can see inside you or listen to your thoughts. You know, kind of like your Mercy, Steve.
It was my turn to chuckle, "He does seem to have that ability and lately has been learning how to use it more effectively. The surprising part is that he won't use it for his own personal gain. At least, I haven't seen him do it for his own gain. He will influence someone's opinion when he needs to and that's it. He uses it to encourage people all the time. He gives them self-confidence."
"That's neat. That's the way to use a gift like that," Dewey said.
Tiny said, "How about going for breakfast? We are supposed to meet Crystal and Bear at the airfield, then tour the hotels down here."
I said to Dewey, "I still haven't told Chuck that he bought out Mike's share of the new hotel in Anchorage and the other property we bought here. I seriously doubt he has any conception of how much money he has. Ben said he has been struggling to invest it all so it doesn't just vanish in taxes. That's why they started an offshore investment fund in Costa Rica."
There was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Chuck smiling as if he had not had an ounce of liquor to drink the night before. Chuck said, "Let's get breakfast and this day started. I'm really excited to see how the airfield is doing."
We spent a great deal of time at the airfield. All of Crystal's and Bear's ideas were good ones, but it would take some time to implement them. They did show us the new cart plant that was being built. This was another of Jeff's specials, using more robotics than people. He defended the use of machines by saying that "We don't have bored employees this way. I've tried to install robotics for the repetitious jobs and use the skilled labor for the more exacting tasks."
Tiny said, "This plant should be in full operation within a month. We already have orders that exceed the first six months of capacity, but the customers are willing to wait for a Hawaiian made cart rather than having them shipped from the mainland."
There was no way a cart plant can survive on the islands, but we're going to run it for a while, at least, to provide locally produced products. The Hawaiians are very proud people and look to buy product made or grown in Hawaii.
In the afternoon, we watched as six helicopters landed in front of the ops building. Two were old Hueys converted to Bell 210s, one was a Bell 407, and two were newer command helicopters, Sikorsky Seahawks. The sixth was a bright red Robinson. Jimmy's dad was all over them and was checking each one to see what they would need and what he could do with and for them. He told us, "The command choppers are really nice. They are ready to be put to work. I'll do a full annual to make sure, but they look ready and if the logbooks are accurate, they are in good shape."
He turned and pointed at the two Hueys, the Bell 210s, "Those babies have to be like brand new conversions. Look at them, they're freshly painted and everything. I hear that the Bell factory strips old Hueys down to the frames and renews everything that's even a little off of perfect, puts a whole new nose on with new avionics, and replaces the rotor and drive system with one from their twin turbine Huey. They even upgrade the engine by 400 horsepower. Basically, they're brand new helicopters. We will use them for utility and transport. We'll get some removable seating and can use them right away. I think we can keep them in the air enough to pay for themselves. The 407 is perfect for the air taxi service we want to start. Now that little Red Robinson is perfect to give lessons in. I'll bet all of the instructors we have are qualified to fly it. All of these are a great start for our company here. Whoever pulled this off has my applause."
I said, "Thank Chuck. He made the deal with the Navy. He has pull with someone and he seems to get good deals all the time."
Chuck said, "Can we borrow your Bell 206L? If you don't have anything chartered, we can use it to go see the hotels." He was soon spooling up their 206L with everyone on board. Jeff, Crystal, and Bear all came along with Steve, Dewey, and Tiny.
Our tour was fun, as we were able to renew friendships that had begun the previous summer. We enjoyed seeing the improvements they had made. It was at the first hotel where I showed Chuck the improvements that had been made, that I said, "Chuck, I know you're not fond of surprises, but this is an especially good one. Mike and Chanda have begun to devote more time to investments in Ireland exclusively. Mike wanted to get out of this resort, so I asked Ben if your fund could handle the investment. Congratulations, Chuck; Dewey, you, and I are now partners in this venture too."
Chuck didn't frown, but looked at me funny. He asked, "So does that mean I'm partners in the Alaskan deals as well?"
I smiled and said, "You are, but if you don't want to be, Dewey and I have agreed to buy you out."
Chuck was actually laughing as he said, "You know, I know Ben wouldn't spend more than I have, and I know he is conservative enough to make sure I can pay my taxes. I'm just constantly overwhelmed that there is so much money. I'm trying to use it for good, and there is just more and more of it almost every day."
Dewey walked over and said, "You know, Chuck, I've heard of all the different ways you're attempting to help families. That is really great. Remember, the more you can invest to make a profit, the more families you can help. I like your scholarship ideas, too. That is a great way to help people progress. You are doing it right. You're not giving away freebies, but are helping people help themselves."
Chuck asked me, "Is there anything else I own that I don't know about?"
I said, "I don't think so. You are a full third owner of all of our Alaskan properties, so that is a good thing. You are now a full third owner of all of our Hawaiian properties. With Dewey's knowledge and your luck, we have to be successful together."
We ended up at the resort where we were staying and decided to eat at the clothing optional restaurant tonight. We wanted to check out the new restaurant catering to the nude clientele, rather than the popular fully clothed restaurant.
Dinner was great, but the bare bodies were a bit distracting. The decision to build the extra dining room was a good one, as it was full too.
Back at our regular resort, we looked into the new casino to see how it was doing. The manager had made the gaming a low key fun place. He did have some high stakes tables, but even there, the atmosphere was one of 'let's have fun' rather than frantic high pressure gambling.
While we were in the casino, I asked Chuck, "Care to show us your skills? You know we're going to have you play when we're on the Riviera."
Dewey said, "Lets try Blackjack first, then we'll move on."
The cards I kept being dealt were terrible and I didn't want to play any of them. I did stay on one deal that I knew the dealer would bust on. Chuck looked to be ahead a few hundred dollars. We migrated to the roulette table. After exchanging chips, Chuck said he felt red was good and it turned up red. Red was good two more times. Then Chuck announced 'black 12.' Black 12 it was. The croupier immediately was looking around for a pit boss. When Chuck chose 'red 23, ' everyone followed and once again we were paid off. The croupier asked, "Do you know something I don't? Is there a new way to play that ensures a win?"
Tiny, who had been quiet and observant all evening, said, "Chuck is just one of those lucky people, like Steve. If you follow these two guys around, you'll notice the rainbow always ends where they are."
Chuck said, "I'm just lucky. I'll probably lose pretty soon." Chuck finally said to everyone, "Look, I guarantee you this next bet will lose. If you put your money down with me, you will lose it."
Chuck put all of his chips on red 30 and ball dropped into black 19. Several people were bitching, but Chuck just said, "I warned you."
Chuck showed me his hand. He had written 'black 19' on his palm, amazing.
Chuck wanted to play craps for a few minutes and was laying chips all over the table. The surprise, or non-surprise, was that he was winning every roll on most of his bets. He said, "There are too many different ways to bet, so if you win on some, you'll lose on others. You can win a lot of money real quick here too."
When we were out in the lounge, Dewey said, "We will kill those people on the Riviera. A couple of the casinos over there are really bad. I think they are crooked, but with Chuck's insight, he'll have them crying on the high stakes tables right away. I think that will be a blast."
Chuck said, "I have to ask you guys a question."
I said, "Go ahead."
Chuck fumbled around a second then said, "With all of the money you two have, and how much you know I have, why in the world would you want me to win so much on the Riviera?"
Dewey laughed, "Those money moguls are so stingy they will push you out of the way to pick up a coin. I've been an investor there for many years and I have to have a lawyer and an accountant go over the books monthly to be sure that they are making the distributions correctly. They've screwed me more than once. I'll just enjoy them biting the bullet when someone wins. They've finally screwed me around so that I don't see any books from the casino. I only really know what happens on the hospitality side. You know they're cooking the books from the casino because I'm not French. You, Chuck, will help even me up. I think we'll have fun and you can invest some more money in people."
I told Chuck, "You'll love the way you're treated when you begin gambling with big bucks. You need to start out with a couple hundred thousand Euros so they know you're a high roller. They will be kissing your ass all over the place. They'll be trying to bring you drinks continuously so you will bet recklessly. When you keep winning, they will think it's an anomaly and a lot of people will be betting with you, making their losses bigger. They'll get you to go to the high stakes pits and that's when you will really come out a winner. You see the chips down there are different. The smallest is the equivalent of about a hundred grand. You'll see people drop a million on a single bet and then get excited over winning a couple of hundred thousand. You, my friend, will do well. We'll get you to play craps there too."
Dewey added, "If your gift is like Missy's, Mercy's mother, you will know the correct way to play even if the game is rigged. I'm sure they tried to weight the ball or do something like that when we were there before, but she knew it before it happened. You seem to know too, so it will be fun. Dewey and I can't keep up with you playing craps, but we'll throw a bet in with you every now and then. You can win a bunch and throw a big party if you want. That way the profit will partly go to Dewey. That would be fun.
Chuck was satisfied with the answers and said, "I think I have to do one more thing for the Marshal Service with Wanda tomorrow, but that should be all. I'm really impressed with the changes and success of the hotels. It appears the managers we chose were good choices as they have been successful."
I said, "You actually chose them. You found people who were leaders and brought them to us. They were good choices and we have prospered with them."
The four of us were doing some heavy lifting at the bar when Tiny said, "When I got together with Steve, we went through some of the most phenomenal growth you will ever see in any industry. We just kept growing and growing, making more products, doing more business, and making more money. It was unbelievable."
"When Steve got together with Dewey, we went through some more expansion that boggled my mind. I just stayed on the ride, since it was fun working with someone like Steve who kept coming up with new ideas."
"We've never stagnated. We've constantly shifted the emphasis of our efforts to where the action is. We've continued to grow. Then the economy took a hit and I thought we would have to contract, but we didn't. We just shifted people around to where we could use them."
"Then you came along, Chuck. Since you've been around, the aircraft stuff has gone nuts, and the rest of the business is picking up as well. We picked up the two distributorships in Nevada, the T-shirt plant is in the process of being doubled, it looks like we're going to be fat from military orders for our vehicles, the R&D department is kicking out new ideas and products almost weekly, and even the RV store has had a bunch of sales. It's all been since you've become a part of us. I know you're a Deputy Marshal, but you've influenced S&S somehow."
I tried to soften up the impact of what Tiny had said, "Tiny's a numbers guy. He plots, plans, and compares numbers all the time. He gives us great advice on whether to go or not to go every day. You've probably contributed to us with your friendship, Chuck. It's been a lot of fun to be around you. You and your family have fit with us and that has had a positive influence on business."
Chuck said, "I think this has all been a coincidence, but thank you for thinking that I had something to do with it. If I did, good, I'm glad. If I didn't, well, no harm has been done as long as we keep doing well together."
The next morning, Chuck, Wanda, John Scott, and the Marshal were in the restaurant having breakfast when Tiny, Dewey, John Truant, and I came down. They were looking over a bunch of papers and discussing something, then everything was put away and they ate.
Chuck came over and said, "We have to go into Honolulu for a while. We'll be back this afternoon. I'll be done with everything I have to do by this evening. I know we were planning to stay until Sunday, but I'd be in favor of going back tomorrow, Saturday, if you would want to."
Dewey said, "I'm leaving tomorrow anyway."
I said, "We can probably do that. We'll spend today with Crystal and Bear and get everything planned out. If you have time when you get back from Honolulu, come by the airfield. We will bring those two back for a nice dinner and a few drinks."
Chuck said, "Good deal, that way we can take John and the Marshal back with us. Nightfox is going to come with us too, if that's all right."
"Might as well," I said, "we brought them, we can take them back. Where do John and the Marshal want to end up?"
"Probably L.A. for all of them," Chuck answered. "I think they have something doing out there before heading home. I don't have anything to do with what's going on there that I know of, so we'll go on home without the extras."
Chuck headed over to his people and it looked like they were leaving.
Tiny said, "Chuck gets a lot of time off, but they manage to keep him busy and doing crazy shit so often, that he doesn't have time to find a direction in life."
I defended Chuck, "He has a direction and actually is following it pretty well. Chuck does seem to find a lot of distractions along the way. When I talked to Ben this morning, he's still going on about how Chuck has totally turned that Costa Rican community upside down. He says, the town wants to do something special for Chuck, and Ben's afraid it would drive Chuck away. The community apparently has gotten together and totally remodeled the boat that he inherited down there. The female crew on the boat is telling everyone how Chuck saved them from certain death, while his house staff is telling the community what a good person he is because he wouldn't go to bed with any of them because of his women at home."
Tiny laughed, "He sometimes does seem to have some pretty strange attitudes. He turns down some strange stuff in Costa Rica, but comes home to a house full of willing women."
"You know," John Truant began, "Chuck is like so many of the military pilots that I've served with over the years. They would fly into anything, anywhere, and come out smiling, but you never knew when they would decide to just wipe out every enemy they could hunt up. I saw guys fly into anti-aircraft fire so thick that you could walk on it to blast the source away. They would get back to base with holes all over their birds, but they were still flying. They were gifted and blessed with some magical safety shield around them. Chuck took to those helicopters as if he'd been flying them his entire career. If he had both legs, he could still be one of the better pilots in the service."
The bunch of us left for the airfield to work with Crystal and Jeff a last day. We had actually made all the decisions necessary and made sure everything was locally funded.
Jimmy's dad had one of the 210s gutted and had a local upholstery shop working on the cabin; they were recovering the cockpit seats and refitting the gauges and instruments. "The 407 is going to require some work but we have a new mechanic that just got out of the Navy that is certified on that and the big ones. We should have them ready in a week or so. All six birds are in really good shape mechanically. The Robinson training helicopter they sent is a great trainer and is cheap to operate. A hell of lot cheaper than using the big Bells. We'll get a lot of use out it."
The man was waving some papers around and said, "I recognize these. This was a confiscation that was shipped over from San Diego last night. It must have come on one of the big transport runs they make every night. Chuck must have some some pull with someone."
Crystal was happy as she said, "We are applying for a regular commuter service permit between islands with our new command helicopters. We've found a retired Navy helicopter mechanic with Sikorsky factory training for what is really an S-70, but is a Navy HH-60 Seahawk with airline seating. We have the retired Navy pilots who can fly them available to us, so if everything shakes out, those two big helicopters should be in the air making us money soon."
Bear wanted for us to think about something. "We've had a few, and to qualify what I'm going to say, I say only a few, four, requests for charters to the mainland for groups of twelve to fifteen. I know that four charters for a G5 wouldn't support that kind of aircraft but it would be neat if there was a way to support that kind of charter. We could advertise a price based on deadheading a bird over here, doing the charter, and deadheading back. I know that would be expensive but I'd like to see a cost for that. The way to potentially make something like that work could be that when we had a charter from here, we could spot advertise on the mainland for a week or two in Hawaii in one of our resorts for a special price. That could cover the cost of the trip over to get the charter we have and the trip back, in addition to possibly making a buck on the specially advertised Hawaiian adventure."
Dewey said, "You know, that might work. I have two G5s now and they are not flying all that much lately. Do you have any potential charters right now?"
"I sure do," Bear smiled, "that's what made it important to mention. I have a group of twelve businessmen wanting to go to Seattle for a week. It's actually eight days. Do you think you could get a dozen or so people to sign up for a special week plus in Hawaii?"
With a laugh, Dewey said, "Seattle people are dying for sunshine any time. I'll bet we can advertise on the radio or TV for one day and the trip will be full. Good idea, Bear. We would tie the bird up over here for a week, but that wouldn't be that bad. If there were that many charters in the states it wouldn't be a good idea, but the way business is right now, it would be a great idea."
Dewey smiled, "Set it up, I'll have my staff in Seattle make it happen. We'll plan to get here about a day before your charter leaves and do the same on the return. That should be profitable, all around."
Crystal offered, "If that is a good idea to fill the resorts, how about you charter some golf weeks or weekends over here for the high rollers. You could fly them over for a three-day golf weekend and fly them back on Sunday night. You can pick up the charter business there, we can provide helicopter taxi service to the resorts and the resorts can pick up the business here."
Again Dewey became excited, "Another good idea. That will probably justify another G5 if that works. I'll bet we could duplicate that in San Francisco or any of the West Coast and western cities. If the trips were once a month, we could alternate four different cities. Son of a gun, Crystal, that's a hell of an idea."
Crystal said, "Don't forget about spring break at the rich universities. I'll bet you could pick up a full load from any of the Ivy League universities. You might even be able to charter a much bigger aircraft. The limo service here could handle transportation from here to the resorts and you could even separate a little area of the nude resort for the college crowd. I'll bet the college kids migrate to the nude side pretty quick. If you were to do that, you could sell space to the beer, soda, and food people and all of the recruiting people that come to those events."
I said, "Now that's good thinking. Have you mentioned this to the resort managers?"
Crystal said, "We're going to present these ideas to you at lunch today. Come on, we'll get an early start. All of them are ready for you."
I could see that Dewey was really enthused over the ideas that had been generated by the Hawaiian group. The idea that they were working in concert proved that they wanted to make S&S a success over here.
The luncheon that had been planned to be served in a conference room became somewhat of a party. Since the cat was out of the bag, they didn't want to put on the presentation they had prepared.
I said, "You guys went to a lot of trouble to plan and prepare. I want to see how you planned to tell us of your ideas. Please, go through the whole thing for us. How you all have worked together to show us how you plan on succeeding is important to us. Please go ahead."
Bear became the moderator and introduced all the participants of the projects. There were five resort managers, along with the two golf course managers and the key people from the airfield.
The presentation was over an hour and had each of the participants giving their part of the plan to share resources. The realization that each of the facilities would profit from the increased usage was an inspiration to them to promote the ideas to us, and when they were through, we mainland folks applauded loud and long. I wish we had videotaped the production, as it would have been great to show back home.
I stood and said, "I think I can speak for all of us, that this was great. I wish we had a video of that performance to show to the mainland folks. They hear about you guys, but really don't understand the complexity of your responsibilities. Hopefully over this next year, the company will be sending several hundred employees on vacations at your resorts. We're planning on making a Hawaiian vacation a special bonus, and also offer it to employees at a subsidized rate. I say subsidized, because the company will pick up the difference between the price they pay and the normal rates, so that we don't short the facilities over here. We'll take advantage of your package deals, but you'll profit from the tourist dollars in the restaurants and maybe even the casino."
"Folks," I continued, "I think that everything you propose is good and I plan on making sure you have the necessary funds and backing to make them work. Keep us informed of your progress and any new ideas you may come up with."
Crystal raised her hand, "I have one more idea that could even be something for the locals. If we were to have a fairly large sailboat to charter for weekends, or a full week sail around the islands, I think we could keep reservations full year around. You guys have been successful with charters for the rich back home, and I think we can do trips with multiple couples and be successful. The idea would be to have a crew to sail, cook, and clean. We have hospitality people now, all we have to add are sailors. Depending on the size of the boat, say ten couples could be on a good sized sailboat and really not get into each others way. This idea is in the beginning stages, so think about it. Tiny can work numbers on it."
Bear said, "You know some of the tourists at the hotels might want to jump on a cruise for a weekend to augment their Hawaiian vacation. The family from the big island has begun having their special luaus here now and our hotel patrons are keeping them booked solid. Since we solicited them to open here, our customers have been signing up for a native luau as soon as they check in. It's something we should have probably done on our own but it's neat to assist a Hawaiian group to grow and prosper at what they are good at."
"Good going all of you," I said, applauding the effort on their part to share the wealth and to encourage entrepreneurship. "It's important to build relationships with other business people on the islands. Please continue to do that. It will make our growth and expansion special."
We ate a great lunch then continued to have cocktails and talk about the projects and plans. When it became time for them to check on their businesses, we said goodbye and told them we would be departing tomorrow, Saturday, morning. They were sad to see us go, but happy we had come to hear their proposals.
Dewey and I were in the bar with Jeff and Tiny, when Chuck came in with his arm in a sling. Wanda, John, and the Marshal had funny looks on their faces. John and the Marshal said they were going after their wives as they planned on eating with us tonight.
I asked Chuck, "Should I ask about your arm?"
Chuck said, "Some asshole was waving a gun around downtown and I took the gun away from him. He got lucky and shot me in the arm, but it's just a bunch of stitches and didn't hit a bone."
Tiny asked, "How come you were the one to do that, and why didn't you just shoot him?"
"There were too many people around the guy," Chuck said, disgustedly. "He had shot at a jewelry store, and was about to start shooting at a sidewalk café, when I caught up to him. We were on our way to eat lunch with the Station and Bureau Chiefs when we walked up on him. There wasn't anyone else to do it."
Jeff asked, "If you were with a Bureau Station Chief, a Marshal Station Chief, a U.S. Marshal, and John Scott, how can you say there was no one else to do it?"
Chuck frowned at Jeff, "All those guys except John are older, out of shape, and they don't react that fast to stuff like that. When I went after the guy, the Marshal held John back so he wouldn't get hurt. John is too important to our service."
John Truant had seated Wanda and ordered her a drink, then asked, "Okay Wanda, you were there, what happened?"
Wanda looked at Chuck and said, "Chuck is my boss and I have to ask him if I can tell the story."
Chuck smiled and nodded to Wanda, as he waved at a waitress, showing his already empty first drink.
Wanda cleared her throat and began, "We were just about to cross the street when we heard a shot. I didn't see the gunman right away, and Chuck pushed all of us into a doorway then ran, I mean the one-legged man ran to where this guy was. Before Chuck could grab him, the guy saw Chuck and fired at him point blank. We saw Chuck jerk back, but the next thing you saw was the guy being lifted off his feet and falling back. Chuck had hold of the gun and pulled it free of the guy's hand as the man was falling. Somewhere in there, the guy had pulled a knife. We saw Chuck deflect the knife and strike the man on the ground. The guy never moved again."
Wanda took a gulp of the drink she had just been served and continued, "That wasn't the bad part. Several cops came running up on Chuck and knocked him to the ground and cuffed him. People all around were hollering that he had saved everyone, but the cops wouldn't listen. Chuck was bleeding. The Bureau and Station Chiefs tried to take over, but the cops were a bunch of keystones and were being very rude to everyone. The Marshal showed his ID and badge, and the cops told him they would arrest him if he interfered. That's when the Marshal got real mad. He called someone on his cell phone who called someone else, and so on. Pretty soon the Chief of Police and the Governor showed up. Chuck was finally released and a paramedic called to help him. The cops had not even attempted to stop the bleeding."
"The crowd had become pretty vocal and mean. The cops were being harassed for being stupid and not listening. The Chief of Police promised the crowd he would discipline the officers and the crowd calmed."
"Now the really cool part that Chuck just hates. There was a TV crew downtown taping an interview with the sidewalk café owner about his success when all this happened. The TV cameraman said he had everything, from the first shot right through until Chuck was bandaged, on tape. We have to watch the five o'clock news to see it. We need to get someone to tape it for us."
Chuck had finished his second drink and looked a lot mellower.
I asked Chuck, "Did you go to the hospital?"
Chuck glared at me and Wanda said, "He refused. He said that the paramedic did everything that the emergency room would do. They did give him some pills and some extra bandages, but I don't think booze was included in the doctor's orders."
"Let it rest, Wanda. I'm still too pissed to be reasonable. If there's any swelling tomorrow, I'll go see a doc, but I would prefer to see my doc at home."
We all sat and thought about what Wanda had said. I looked around to see if the lounge had a TV and realized they had a giant screen TV on the wall across from us. I pointed at it to Tiny and he got up to go to the bar to get it turned on. Wanda got up and spoke to the bartender and a few minutes later the TV came on with a low volume.
Wanda said, "It's on the right channel. It's almost five, and I'll bet it's the lead story."
She paused a second and said, "The news reporter insisted on interviewing Chuck while he was being patched up. Chuck didn't want to talk to her, but the Marshal told him he had to for the good of the Service. If they show all of it, you'll see Chuck, complete with a smile on his face, explain that he had to kill the man to keep him from hurting anyone else."
Chuck groaned in anticipation of the news broadcast.
The intro music began for the "Action" news broadcast and a lady reporter immediately began with, "There was a heroic act today that saved countless people in downtown Honolulu. We'll show you highlights of what happened, but we will have a special after the news to show you our entire footage and the interview with the hero."
They went through an abbreviated report with video highlights of the man shooting and Chuck attacking the man. You did see Chuck jerk back from being shot. They didn't show Chuck finishing off the guy, and I hoped they wouldn't show that later either. They did have the Marshal telling the reporter and camera that Chuck Johnson was probably one of the bravest Deputy Marshals in the country. Chuck was shaking his head over the whole thing.
Chuck had ordered a snack of pieces of shrimp, lobster, fish, and steak. He was dipping pieces of the tasty bites into some sauce that is reported to be pure fire. Wanda tried a piece of lobster with just a dab of the sauce and she turned pink and downed her drink in one gulp. I had to laugh as I had seen Chuck, Mercy, and Kathy eat food that hurt to even smell it.
When he finished, he looked up and said, "I think I need another just like that. All that confusion down there and I didn't get any lunch. You know how I like to eat." Chuck ordered another, but larger, snack tray and asked, "Do they make that sauce a little spicier? That wasn't very hot."
I thought Wanda would choke.
The news ended and the special presentation began. They showed the entire confrontation with the on-scene reporter narrating throughout the video. We could see Chuck shoving his group into a doorway then leap at the man. He was shot and we saw the man bring out the knife as Chuck was still holding the hand and the gun. That's when Chuck's hands became a blur. The knife went somewhere and the man was still. Chuck was holding his arm where he was shot when the cops came running up and knocked him to the ground. You could see the crowd trying to intercede, but the cops were waving their batons keeping the people back while their cohorts roughly handcuffed Chuck. A real strange thing though, was they never took his gun from his waist holster. They may not have seen it and they didn't pat him down. We saw the Marshal shoved back by the cops with a policeman shaking his baton in the Marshal's face. John was reaching for his sidearm when Wanda held him back. There was real pandemonium.
When the Police Chief and the Governor showed up, there was a lot of activity followed by an ambulance and the paramedics. While Chuck was being patched up, the reporter cornered Chuck and we saw the Marshal say something in Chuck's ear.
When the reporter began questioning Chuck, he smiled and answered her questions with a calm, gentle voice. When the reporter asked Chuck what he did to the gunman, Chuck thought for a second and said, "The only appropriate response to your question is that I killed the stupid asshole so he wouldn't hurt anyone else." That caused a lot of laughter among the patrons of the lounge. The reporter asked, "Did you have to kill him?" Chuck's response was, "I tried to let him live, even after he shot me, but when he tried to stab me, I had to make him stop. I'm sorry he's dead, but then I'm not sorry I defended myself and kept others from dying."
The camera showed the reporter who had mascara stains on her cheeks from tears she had shed. She said, "Thank you for taking care of us. I was so afraid for everyone and then for you. That you survived is wonderful. Charles Johnson, U.S. Deputy Marshal, you are a true hero." The camera showed her kissing Chuck on the cheek. This caused the lounge crowd to applaud and holler "Yeah."
Then the reporter interviewed the crowd, the paramedic, and finally the Marshal. All in all, it wasn't that bad for Chuck but you knew he didn't want anyone to know what he did. The waitress brought Chuck another drink and, as she kissed his cheek, said, "You drink free here for the rest of your life. Thank you."
We all chuckled, as Chuck was one of the owners of the whole resort. No one needs to know that, do they?
Several people in the lounge came over to say something to Chuck, until he finally put his hand up and said, "I have some of the best snacks known to man right here in front of me. Let me eat them in peace. Thank you all for your comments."
Chuck went right back to swabbing the pieces of good stuff through the liquid fire and popping them into his mouth.
John Scott, his two wives, their two kids, the Marshal and his wife appeared with another gentleman with a black bag. The Marshal asked Chuck to come with them a minute. They were gone at least a half hour, but this time Chuck came back without the sling and with different clothes. He had changed.
We chatted for a while then went to the restaurant. John Scott and the Marshal had Chuck between them and were talking to him almost non-stop. Chuck finally sat back and put his hands up, "Give it a rest, guys. I'm fine. You heard the doc. He said I didn't need stitches and that I was in good shape. Another couple of holes aren't going to make me any different than I already am. I'll just leak a little more than before."
John Scott said something to him, and Chuck eyed him kind of funny. "Now who in the hell is going to object that I had to kill a guy that was trying to kill a bunch of people. The do-gooders can't be that bad. Show them the damned video. Show them that the guy shot me and was trying to stick me with his knife. Everything I did was reactive, defensive. The only reason I used a killing blow is because I couldn't get the knife turned around to slice his throat."
The Marshal said something and Chuck stood up and said, "Jesus, if you want my badge that bad, just ask for it. Christ, I don't want to cause you two to have to defend me in DC. I'm just a lowly deputy that tries to do his job."
The Marshal had Chuck sit real fast, and was trying to pacify him quickly. I had never seen Chuck that pissed. He was shaking his head and I wondered if he had too much to drink. That's when I saw that he only had coffee in front of him.
The food was soon served and it was some delicious prime rib with various sauces to dip the meat in. The chef came out and hovered around Chuck. They shook hands as they were friends from Chuck's visit the previous summer. As Chuck's meat disappeared, another piece magically appeared. The locals were treating him as a hero, if not his own people.
After supper, we adjourned to the special outdoor open lounge that was for smokers, but in a setting of couches and big stuffed chairs. Tiny brought Chuck a big cigar and a glass of single malt scotch. He said to Chuck, "You should enjoy the trappings of your station tonight. I'm proud to be in your acquaintance."
Chuck really got off on Tiny's little speech and shook his hand. After a while, John Scott and family and the Marshal and his wife left for their quarters. It was getting late and we were flying in the morning. After Chuck finished the drink that Tiny had given him, he went back to coffee and was very happy to be with all of us. Tiny and Dewey tried to fill him in on the proposals that had been made today, but Chuck said, "You know what? I think I'm going to come over here and see what all I'm involved in before long. Bear and Crystal can show me, along with the people who run these resorts. I won't cause any trouble and I'm going to say hi to everyone and not have anything to do with work while I'm here. I might even bring my whole family with me."
We migrated to our rooms, with Chuck leaving with his new friend, Sam Nightfox. They walked back to their cabins while talking together.
I woke up Saturday morning, ready to get going. I dressed, stuffed what I had out into my bag, and went downstairs to the lobby. I didn't beat Chuck or Nightfox, since they were already there with their bags and strange looking cases.
We ate a good breakfast with everyone, then were transported to the airfield where John and Chuck went over the aircraft with Jimmy's dad. When they were satisfied with the aircraft, they closed the door and began firing it up.
We were soon out over the Pacific on the way home. When we landed at John Wayne airport in Santa Ana, you would have thought we were special as a fuel truck was there immediately, as well as a minibus to take us all to the operations building.
While we were there, a Cessna Citation X landed with government markings on it. It parked next to the G5 and I could see Chuck and Nightfox having a conversation with a couple of men. When we all went back to our G5, John Scott, his family, the Marshal and his wife, all got on the Citation. Sam Nightfox took his bags and left with the minivan.
Chuck was smiling, so his conversations must have been okay. When we loaded up, Chuck said, "I'll get this thing going so John can relax a while. How about you, Steve, fly left seat, and then John can come up later and spell me for the last hour or so."
When we were on our way home, Chuck said, "I almost said goodbye to the service yesterday and today. But you know what? Those guys from DC just told me that all of the services thought I had done the right thing. John and the Marshal are just too gun shy of all the do-gooders back there. You know, Steve, I've been doing some special missions for the Secret Service. This isn't for public consumption, but I wanted to tell you. You're kind of like a brother or something to me. Anyway, because of some of the weird stuff they've sent me out on, I'm going to get a lot of slack from everyone. I was just told that the Marshal Service owed me at least a month off for saving the Marshal's ass in Hawaii. That's funny, isn't it? The Marshal and Scott were both giving me shit about doing that guy in, and DC is giving me a month off if I want it."
That was as much as Chuck had ever said to me about his job. Funny, isn't it? You can be close to a guy, be friends too, but you don't really know him. Chuck told me he was doing work for the Secret Service. I knew from the military how that branch of security had some very black ops units working around the globe, darker than the CIA and the NSA. If they were happy with Chuck, he was in good shape. But then I thought that if Chuck does work for them, they are watching him, which means they are watching me and us. In this case, that's a good thing. I wondered who the person watching us at the park or in the community was. Whoever he is, he's good, as I haven't had a second thought about anyone around us. Nice to know someone like that is there.
When we landed at the airpark, all of our families were there to meet us. Sue, Kathy, Mercy, and Juanita surrounded me and hugged and kissed me. They were saying how the local news had played the incident with Chuck in Hawaii, and they were worried that I might have been there. I assured them, "Nope, I was with Crystal and Bear, along with the resort managers hearing some great proposals."
Chuck's group surrounded him and I did hear him say, "If you saw it, then you know everything, and you know I'm fine. Let it be the end of it for a while."
They were all hugging him and not letting him hardly breathe. We unloaded the luggage from the G5 and began preparing to go home. Chuck came over to shake my hand and apologized, "Next time I promise not to spend so much time with my job. This was supposed to be for S&S and our mutual investments. What is the name of our group anyway?"
I smiled and said, "We're the DSC, Dewey, Steve, and Chuck. We are some of the classiest investors in all of Hawaii and Alaska. You and I have to go up there soon, you know. We need to check out our properties up there. Let's take all of our families up there soon."
Chuck said, "I'm all for it. Tell me when we're leaving."
We all left for home. At the patio, our group was hanging around to say hi to us. It was way past bedtime, so we all went to bed where I was required to appraise the territory I had not been playing with lately. As I completed my trip through five women that included Mickey, I thought, 'How does Chuck handle seven? Or is that six?'
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through — Deenara2000