Steve
Monday mornings are always fun. Everyone is getting started on a new week, with new energy, new ideas, and new motivation. My first task was to return a stack of non-urgent calls that had come in the previous Friday.
The first was that the St. Louis cart plant was concerned their production was not keeping up with orders. The easy solution was to ship the extra production from Florida since the local plant was working at less than sixty percent capacity. I think the St. Louis plant manager wanted to expand, but keeping local people working was important too.
Then there was the Chicago RV store and maintenance facility that was experiencing unexpectedly increased maintenance business. I asked if they could use any of the mechanics from the rebuild shops as it was looking like they might have to lay some off. Again, better to keep people working, even if in different areas.
Abe was excited that Chance and Jeff were meeting with some military contractors about supplying bodies for their utility vehicles. They were planning another demonstration out at the bombing range. Jeff was concerned about transportation and wanted me to get it scheduled.
Tiny, Abe, a couple of field techs, and a couple of sales techs had left last night for Las Vegas and Reno to begin directing how to get the two new distributors and dealerships into S&S condition. Tiny wanted me to look over some figures he had prepared. He wanted to know if I might want to open a manufacturing plant at the Las Vegas location, since they had a lot of land at that facility.
Phil and Judy wanted me to call them in Hawaii, where they had been setting up a small sales office that would market all our products, as well as the charter services. Phil had an idea he wanted to run past me. I would have to wait till around two in the afternoon since we were six hours ahead of them.
I did have a conversation with Gene who was elated that his two cars came in first and second in Sunday's race. Anyone could have heard the excitement in his voice. He wanted to rent the "Andies" again to make his cars perfect for next Sunday. Gene told me, "This time the request isn't coming from me. It's coming from the crew chief and his crew. The girls helped them so much the last time that they want to put them on permanently. The girls keep refusing, but they tell me there are others who may want to travel with us. Tell me; are there really others that are that good?"
"There are, Gene, but they are even stranger than Sandy and Mandy. I have a group of four that come as a package. They are sisters and brothers that have married and become a group, if you know what I mean. Then we have two groups of gay guys that are really good, but in one case, the two guys are a little aggressive. You'd have to have an armed guard around them most of the time. We have a very militant couple of ladies that are great mechanics, but short of people skills. You know me, Gene, I hire perfectionists and they blend in here."
Gene said, "The girls told me I should raise my own mechanics. They told me to have my guys bring on a couple of guys fresh out of tech school, and teach them race cars. They said that would serve me well in the future. They also said they could intern at your place. I guess I'll have to try that."
I was having a cup of coffee while talking to Ruth about Tiny's trip. She mentioned that her, now expanded, personnel staff had come up with some problems with some of the employees out there.
"Steve," Ruth began, "I have four people whose social security numbers are no good. These aren't the usual Latinos, but Caucasians with bad information. There are a couple of men and a couple of women of Hispanic descent that need green card help, but the four I'm talking about just don't exist. This is a major problem. Are they hiding their identity for a criminal reason? Are they a plant from another company to find out how we operate? What should I do, Steve?"
I sat back thinking about the problem. "The easiest way to handle it would be to dismiss them immediately. Even if they are key people, we don't want that sort of element around. Reporting this to local law enforcement probably isn't the smartest thing either. How about calling Wanda, give her the names of the four people and let her give the information to the FBI in Vegas. Let's do this, too. Go through the folks in Reno real quick to make sure all their numbers match. That way if some have the same problem, the Vegas office can coordinate with the Reno office."
Ruth was nodding and asked, "Is this something you should personally go out there for?"
"Hmmm, I could, there isn't that much happening here right now. I could show up and not make any waves while Tiny and Abe lead the refurbishment. Want to come? You could begin working on the four Latinos that are going to need help. This way you can better determine their value."
Ruth smiled, "Good deal. A freebie vacation to Vegas with the old man. Tiny will be happy I showed up."
I called out to the airpark to see what aircraft I could get. DeDe told me, "If you're flying it yourself without a right seat, you can have the Citation or a King Air."
"Give me the Citation, it's a little faster and I don't need a lot of room."
DeDe said, "You should look into a CJ4 or another Embraer. Both are faster, with longer range, and they are rated for single pilot. The Embraer is pretty efficient too. You'll have to do a study."
"I think Tiny and John are working on that DeDe. Surprisingly the Learjets are pretty efficient, but they do require that second pilot. We're working on getting ours approved for single pilot operation. The main thing is that we have enough aircraft and pilots for what we need right now."
DeDe laughed, "If we run out of aircraft, just about anyone around will rent us a plane. We're the only ones flying lately."
I said, "We can all thank Tiny for that. He figures costs and knows how to make everything fit to be profitable at affordable charter rates."
Kathy answered at home, so I told her what I was doing. I asked her if she would put a suitcase together for me. I told her that Ruth was already heading home and doing the same.
On the way home, I swung by Chuck's new place to see Juanita and Mercy. There must have been thirty or forty cars in the street and driveway. When I entered the front door, there were two smiling oriental ladies with cleaning materials in their hands. I asked them, "Do you know where Mercy Sharp is?"
Both bobbed their heads and one said, "Yessie, Missy Mercy is in big room by kitchen."
Walking past the formal living room and dining room, the fancy décor didn't give the place that soft of an appearance. The rooms were beautifully furnished and decorated, but too fancy for me. When I walked into the kitchen and family room, I knew where people would always congregate. This was my type of room. The kitchen was on one end, with a big bar and eight high bar chairs. Across from that was a rather large table with sixteen chairs, and then the huge family room. This was furnished with a couple of couches, big, comfortable looking chairs, tables, and lamps, but on one wall, was a huge television that had to be at least six feet wide and almost that tall.
A bunch of women were sitting around a chair grouping, looking at samples of something. I spied Mercy and went to her. Juanita saw me and stood up for a hug, then Mercy did the same. Mercy said, "The girls are picking out their personal room's bedspreads and rugs. They are really almost done decorating already."
I told Mercy about going to Las Vegas and she almost immediately frowned. "Be careful, Steve, I don't feel good about something. Is Chuck going with you?"
"No, I'm going with Ruth. Tiny and Abe are out there already, and we're going out to check on something. Is Sue around?"
Mercy said, "She's upstairs, but I think you should get Chuck to go with you."
"Oh Mercy, this is just a check it out sort of thing. I'll be fine."
Mercy smiled and asked, "Can I go with you? I want to practice going to a casino."
"Sure, you can come, Mercy. I'm not going for fun though. We'll have to make time to go to the strip."
We both went upstairs and found Sue helping direct some of the décor installers. She was with a diminutive black lady that was introduced as Tiani's mother. Sue listened to what I was going to do, but was looking directly at Mercy the whole time. She asked, "Do you want me to come too?"
"If you want to, but Ruth and I are going to check something out."
Mercy said, "I'm going with him, he'll be fine with me."
Sue nodded and pulled me down for a kiss and hug. She said, "Be careful out there, and don't get involved in something that is more than you can handle."
As I rolled my eyes, Sue snapped, "And don't roll those eyes at me. You know what I mean. Just be careful."
Mercy came with me to the house and quickly packed a suitcase. I went into the bedroom and pulled my Glock from the closet gun safe. I took both loaded magazines, thinking that Mercy had spooked me a little. I did put my clip-on belt holster and gun in my travel bag and headed to the patio.
Mercy came out and asked me if I had brought some nice clothes. When I said, "Sure, some almost new jeans," that didn't cut it. She said, "Get some of those dressier western cut pants you have, and bring a sport coat. We need you to look sharp, you know, sharp Steve Sharp."
I pulled a couple of pair of the pants she talked about off hangers and brought the sport coat that went with everything and took them with me. Mercy was going through my bag and replaced everything, putting the pants into the bag so they wouldn't wrinkle.
Ruth was ready and the three of us headed to the airpark.
The Citation was fueled up, ready to go. We were planning to stop in Amarillo, Texas, as with any headwind, the range of the Citation wasn't far enough. We could stop in Houston, but Amarillo would be faster and had cheaper fuel right now.
Mercy observed me going through the startup and takeoff, then went to the cabin to talk with Ruth. The two did bring me coffee, and when I announced we were descending for Amarillo, Mercy came up front to be with me for the landing.
While I refueled, the girls went into the operations building to use the restroom and found some sandwiches. I used the facilities too, then we were soon on the last leg to Las Vegas. I'm glad we had stopped for fuel, as we did fight a headwind almost the whole way.
Las Vegas has a continuous stream of limos that go between the airport and the city. It's only a ten to fifteen minute ride to the strip, but we needed to be on the north side of the city, so we rented a car, and with the help of the GPS, drove to the dealership.
Tiny and Abe had workmen and employees cleaning and painting. Tiny had electricians hanging additional lights, and workers on high lifts cleaning and painting the ceilings and high walls.
Abe was working with some men, tearing down an old generator. As I passed by, he said, "There is a fortune in generators and compressors sitting out back that we can rebuild. We might have to open a small rebuild shop out here."
The field sales techs were working with some girls they were training as customer sales people. They were using Phil's and Judy's techniques to begin canvassing all the old and existing customers in the area. It looked like the place was underway to become one of our shops.
Ruth had found a harried administrator that told her, "I do everything right now. I handle all the receivables, payables, personnel, payroll, and until earlier today, all of the order entry. Thank you for taking that from me. Unless I can get rid of some of these other responsibilities, I think I'm going to resign. This has become more than I can do."
Ruth assured her, "I will make sure you don't have to do everything. You might have to help with payroll and personnel, but coordinating everything that goes to accounting and handling coordination between sales and service is a big enough job in itself. Come help me with something before we get too far."
Ruth and I took the harried lady to the former owner's office and Ruth asked, "Can you get the personnel files for these four men?"
The lady left and returned with some file folders. Ruth began looking through them asking some questions, "They look like they all came here about the same time. Did they come together?"
"No, they showed up a day or so apart. We needed drivers at that time and Jess, the former owner, hired them."
Ruth said, "I see where you ran their names and social security numbers through the local police department. Do you do that with all employees?"
Mary, the admin lady said, "No, but since these were going to be driving, I wanted to know if they had a decent driving record."
"Are they out making deliveries now?" I asked that, thinking I could talk to them when they came in at night.
"Three are, but one took off today for a doctor's appointment. He should be in tomorrow if you need to see him."
"Who handles the delivery schedules?"
"That's Jorge," Mary said. "He's the one out by the rear door where the on-site mechanic's room is."
Ruth pulled her notes and said, "You know Jorge is an illegal don't you? We have to get him a green card if you think he's worth keeping."
Mary was surprised, "No way, the man has a social security card and number. How did you find out he was an illegal?"
"If you run them through the feds, they will confirm the social security number and name, as well as the current address for the person. You have three others, a guy and two women. We won't fire them, but if they are worth keeping, we will make an effort to get them legitimate. We'll sponsor them if they are of good character."
Mary said, "Jorge is very conscientious. He's here early every morning and keeps track of all of the field men and drivers. He's been doing a good job for over two years."
Mercy was with Ruth and me, just observing and jotting notes on a steno pad. When Ruth and I sent Mary back to work, Mercy told me, "She suspected Jorge, but she didn't want to lose a hard worker. She doesn't like those four men, but doesn't want to say anything. I think you should talk to Jorge."
We walked back to where Jorge had a desk with a stack of work orders on it. He was scheduling deliveries for the next day and shaking his head. I introduced myself and he said, "This is difficult today because we have someone out, and the three who are out, are taking a long time for deliveries. They should have been done by two and it's already getting close to four. They must have had bad traffic or problems with customers. If we're behind today, it'll be worse tomorrow, as it's going to be a heavy delivery day."
There were pictures of men up on Jorge's board, so I asked him, "Are any of these the three men who are slow today?"
He said, "Yeah, I should use them to throw darts at."
"Can I have these pictures?"
Jorge grinned and said, "You can, but I have good ones in the drawer. I use the picture so I remember the gringos' names. No offense meant, but these four guys drive me nuts as they are always switching around between trucks. The pictures help. I put the pictures up on the routes they are on so I know who is where."
Jorge gave me pictures of the four drivers without me asking for the fourth man's. I sent Ruth in to evaluate how we should bust up Mary's job, and I took Mercy out to the car and called information to find the FBI office. With the help of the GPS, Mercy and I quickly arrived at the Bureau office. I spent several minutes explaining what I knew and what I needed to know. The agent was blasé telling me, "We're not employment counselors. You know if you don't like someone, you should let them go."
I said, "Please, look into this, as something is wrong that four men should come to our offices about the same time and none are who they profess to be. I'm sure if I asked my friend, Chuck Johnson, he would find a way to investigate these."
"Then you should ask this Chuck Johnson, I'm not your nanny."
That pissed me off. With Mercy's hand on my arm, I used my cell and called Chuck. When he answered, I asked, "Are you still sort of the supervisor of the Bureau offices, as well as the Marshal's offices?"
"Yes, but only when needed. I don't try to do the direct supervision thing any longer. The regional agents do that now. What's up?"
In front of the agent, I explained, "I'm at the Bureau office in Las Vegas with what could be a problem with four employees here. The local agent, ah, Agent Jim Winfield, doesn't think he should be my employment office."
Chuck laughed, "What kind of discrepancy do you have?"
I said, "Ruth came up with these four that really aren't the people for the names and social security numbers they gave. She also has four in Reno with the same problem."
Chuck said, "Is the agent in front of you? If he is, put him on."
I handed my cell to agent Winfield and waited.
The agent listened for a couple of minutes and was about to say something, but the longer he listened, the darker his face became. When he handed me the phone back, he was pulling out an investigation form. Chuck told me, "I think the man will begin an investigation. I will speak to the regional agent in Reno and have him coordinate. It sounds strange to me, too. Be careful, Steve. Do you want me to come out there?"
"No, Chuck, we'll be okay, I just want to make sure of what's going on in my own places."
Chuck said, "Put Mercy on."
"How did you know she's here?"
"Just put her on."
Mercy listened and said, "I'm prepared." A minute later, she said, "He is too, but not right this minute. I will, Chuck."
She handed the phone back to me and Chuck said, "Just be careful. Listen to Mercy if she gives you a warning. Remember, I'm just a few hours away if you need me."
We gave the agent all of the information for both locations and watched him write a note and fax all of the information to his regional agent in Reno. He said he would begin investigating the men this afternoon. We exchanged cell phone numbers and we left.
Mercy said, "I'm not sure the man will really work on this problem, but the regional will. He will demand answers from the local agent."
Back at the dealership, we watched as the three drivers came in, turned their delivery records in, and left for the day. I did notice that they didn't use a time card. When I asked Mary about that she said, "Those four never will fill out a card. They just write it in every week instead of doing as I've asked."
Mercy and I walked back to Jorge and asked, "Do they leave early often?"
Jorge said, "They leave when they come in. If they stay, they are very disruptive, so it is better they leave. They won't do anything else or work with any of the other men."
"How about showing me the trucks they use. Do you have a mileage log? How about estimated distances between stops."
"They won't match if you're going to check. They must go a long way for lunch or something. They always have a lot of extra miles at the end of the day."
"How come you let them get away with that?"
"Ah, did you see them? They are big men. They told me when I asked them that it was none of my business."
"Jorge," I asked, "Can we find other delivery drivers?"
He laughed, "In this economy? Las Vegas is desperate for jobs. The unemployment out here is terrible."
I smiled, "Start looking, I'm not happy with what these men are doing."
Jorge looked worried, "You are not that big. Those men are mean. I know they have beat up one of the men when he questioned them on something."
"What did he ask them that made them mad?"
"I don't know. It's better to keep to yourself with men like that."
I motioned for Jorge to come close. "I know you are an illegal that works hard and tries hard to do a good job. Ruth is going to work getting you a legal green card. I don't approve of you being an illegal alien, but you're working for me already and you try hard to do a good job. We'll get you taken care of."
Jorge's face went through surprise, fear, apprehension, then relief, as I talked with him. He began shaking my hand continuously until I patted his hand and said, "We'll get it taken care of, Jorge. Just keep doing a good job. Let's look at those trucks real quick."
The big delivery trucks were pretty standard and had the ability to pull a trailer, compressor, or generator. I looked through the cab and the covered cargo area, but found nothing unusual. Mercy was looking with me and said, "These trucks are not very friendly feeling. They really feel evil for some reason."
I said, "Let's go to Radio Shack and pick up some GPS cell phones, or maybe we can get the FBI to loan us some tracking devices."
Back inside, I called the agent and asked him if he wanted to put a GPS tracking device on the trucks, but he said he didn't have any reason to do that yet.
Ruth was interviewing a lady and had Mercy and I speak with her as well. Ruth said, "This is June Venus. We want to hire an assistant for Mary to handle the duties she has. Tiny has set up an accounting firm for here and Reno, but we still have to handle a lot of paper to funnel to them. This will make the operation run a lot smoother. Mary does admit that she probably is missing some billing because of the many duties she has."
We were impressed with how the building was beginning to look. Tiny had a sign painter making our special signs over doors and around the work areas.
While thinking about it, I called the Reno regional agent and asked him, "You know, if you want, you can put tracking devices on our trucks up there. That might help figure out what they might be doing."
"Great idea, Chuck said you were a good guy and would work with us. Will you let us do that in Las Vegas too?"
"Sure, just tell your man down here to come by this evening so we can get them on the trucks while they are in house."
The regional said, "I'll call right now. Thanks for working with us. The agent down there should have what I have by now. These guys are non-existent as far as public records are concerned."
About an hour later, another FBI agent showed up and identified himself. He said, "The other agent has been reassigned for some reason. It came rather suddenly, but that gave me the responsibility for your case. Let's get these devices installed on the trucks."
Before everyone left for the day, Ruth and I spoke with the other three illegals. They went through the same emotions Jorge showed while we talked to them. The other guy, Jose, hung around until the two women left and said, "You give me chance. I will be good for you. I work hard. I don't like men who are bad, and you have four who are very bad. The delivery, they are bad. They are men who deal with cartel de drogas. They deliver more than your equipment. When I tell them to stop, they beat me. They say they will kill me if I don't stay silent. I'm not afraid of them, and now I have told a patron what I know."
Mercy went out to try to stop the FBI agent but he was already gone. I called the number on his card, but had to leave a voice mail message. The regional agent answered on the first ring. I relayed what Jose had told me and he said, "We'll be on them in the morning. Make sure you have them make deliveries in the morning."
I checked with Jorge and he said, "You did good to talk to Jose. He is a good man. He sends money to his family and will try to bring them here soon."
When I asked about tomorrow's deliveries, he said, "All four men have a big day. There won't be much time between deliveries."
I thanked Jorge and said I would see him in the morning sometime. I rounded up our Tampa bunch and told them, "How about I take you out for dinner, a couple of drinks, and we'll let Mercy show us how to gamble for a few minutes, but only on the cheap tables."
Since it was well after five, we let the store staff lock up and go home, while we made our way to the hotel to check in and dress for the evening. We drove to the strip and ate in a fancy restaurant that was dirt cheap. The food was excellent and the service warranted a good tip.
After dinner at Wynn resort, we wandered through their casino to see what it looked like. The place was palatial, but very warm and inviting. We all traded cash and credit cards for some chips and wandered through the tables. Tiny wanted to play blackjack, so we stopped at a table, but Mercy said this wasn't our type of table. She took us to another with some smiling players. We played for about fifteen minutes, never winning a lot but staying pretty even.
I nudged Mercy toward the roulette area, and she said, "I'm not my mother. I really am not good at forecasting where the ball is going to land. I can tell you if the table is friendly, but the rest is up to you."
We did play a few games, winning one of three on color, so we weren't down a lot. As we passed by a craps table, Mercy pulled me to it and said, "Now this I know. Let me play with a few of your chips." Mercy was knowledgeable enough to lay bets for the next thirty minutes that fascinated me. After her turn throwing the dice, she finally said, "I'm done. I think I've used up my luck now."
She had a pile of chips that was pretty impressive. Tiny and Abe had been betting with her and were grinning all the way to the cashier. We had to rescue Ruth and the sales and tech types from the banks of slot machines, where they bemoaned the fact that the one armed bandits lived up to their name.
We were back at our hotel's lounge, having a drink, before nine. We all needed to be at the dealership early the next morning, so we gravitated to our rooms.
Mercy was very loving. She said she was taking advantage of having me to herself.
After showering and dressing the next morning, Mercy pulled my gun and holster out and said, "Wear your sport coat and take this with you today. It won't do you any good if it's in your luggage. I checked; Nevada and Florida recognize each other's carry permits. You're legal and I'll feel better."
I had to ask, "What's up, Mercy? You've been antsy about this trip since I mentioned I was going."
Mercy hugged me and said, "Sometimes I have feelings that tell me caution or danger. This has all of that in capital letters. There's something wrong here, and it's more than just those four men. I've listened to everyone at the dealership and I don't hear anything threatening, but I feel there is danger here."
"We'll be careful then. If you sense something, tell me. Help me keep a lookout and be my extra eyes. Do you think we should call Chuck?"
Mercy looked a little confused, "I don't know. He might think I'm being silly. We can't make him come here on one of my feelings. He's busy; I can tell when he's doing something important and probably dangerous, as his mind is cloaked."
"Okay then, Mercy, it'll be you and me against the unknown forces out there." I acted like a muscle man cocking both arms at shoulder level acting as I was flexing my muscles.
"Oh you," Mercy said, punching me as we walked out of the room, heading for breakfast.
Abe, Ruth, and Tiny were telling the sales guys and techs, "Breakfast on the weekends is special. The ladies wear some of Sue's special lingerie and tease everyone. It's really a lot of fun."
Ruth said, "Especially if you're a lady and enjoy teasing." She spotted Mercy and said, "And Mercy is just exactly that, one of the teases."
At the shop, I found a place for Mercy to watch the drivers' area. I went to see Jorge and ask if he was ready today. He said, "The trucks are loaded and all four are in different directions today. I have to be firm with the men today as we are a little behind. Just look at how loaded the trucks are."
I took the bills of lading for one truck and looked at the equipment stacked in the truck. Most of the load went to two places and they were near each other and early deliveries according to the route sheets. Nothing looked out of place on the truck, so I pulled the door closed and gave the papers back to Jorge. He had four clipboards neatly arranged on his desk.
I joined Mercy who said she had spotted the FBI agent in his car in the parking lot across the street. She said there was a van down the street with two men visible through the front windshield. She said, "Now that van does not make me comfortable."
She handed me the FBI agent's card and said, "Call him and advise him of the van. He may want to call for help or wait to see what happens."
I called and told the agent about the van. He said he would have another agent in the area drive by to check the van. He said, "We have some really non-descript cars that we use for observation. I didn't get a chance to check one out this morning, but I wasn't planning on following close since we have the tracking devices on the trucks." He said to call him if the van moved.
The four drivers showed up and were very surly with Jorge. They pushed him away from his desk and looked over the clipboards and the deliveries. One yelled and said, "What the fuck is this. This will take all day to do."
Another yelled at Jorge, "You're gonna have to take some of this shit off here, I ain't delivering all this shit today."
I didn't care who these guys were. If they were my employees I was going to say something. I walked out to the table where the four big men were. "Say fellows, I need to remind you that you are the employees and you are assigned work to get done."
The four men were not used to being addressed like this and turned to look at me. I continued, "Now that I have your attention, please decide who is going to take what route today. These deliveries are important and need to be completed today. Can you do that?"
"Who the fuck are you?" One of the big men said, and took a step toward me.
I smiled at him and said, "I am the person who signs your check. Now will your next check be your last one, or do you want this job?"
One of the other guys grabbed the guy and pulled him back to the group and said something to him. They all talked and another guy said, "Sorry, ah, ah, Sir. Jim here just gets a little mouthy sometimes. We'll get these orders delivered." He turned to the others and said, "Let's get going, the day is wasting."
They took the clipboards and met outside for a minute, then one used a cellphone and made a quick call. They all started their trucks and drove off the lot. As soon as they had gone to their trucks, Mercy went to the front to watch the van. As the trucks took off in different directions, the van left, following one of the trucks.
I called the agent and advised him of what direction the van and truck went in. He said he had called for multiple backups so each truck could be tailed, but at a distance. He was going to follow the one that the van was following.
Jorge came up to the office and said to me, "You were either very brave or very foolish. Those men can be mean. You know what they did to Jose."
I said, "Jorge, I said what any business owner would say. This is a business and it must be run as a business. So what's next on the agenda today?"
He showed me a space he was cleaning out for the addition of the welding equipment that was forecast to come in. He said, "You guys have several lines of goods we don't have now. I love those S&S T-shirts and hats you sell and give away. As soon as we advertised that we were now an S&S shop, a lot of people called to ask if we had any of your race day T-shirts."
"You'll get a supply of the regular T-shirts, but you will get about ten dozen race day T-shirts each week for your customers. Hopefully, we'll have a chance for the trucks to have a day at your store here and in Reno sometime this season. Customers love to see all of the racing equipment on display."
The mood in the store was becoming lighter with each wall painted white. Every time an S&S logo appeared on a wall, the employees applauded. One of the sales techs came up and asked, "Are you going to do the floors this weekend?"
I told him, "Ask Abe. He knows the schedule."
Some men were wrestling with material trying to assemble some heavy duty racks. I suggested using the fork lift and told them to get Abe to help. Abe had just begun, when he sent a tech for me. "Steve, get that ancient arc welder over here and fix this bunch of racks. None have the brackets welded on. Can you do it with what they have?"
They did have the correct rods, so I hunted up a leather smock, gloves, and a hood. I gave my clip on holster and sport coat to Mercy and began welding metal together. Abe had come up with some grinding tools and spray paint so that we could do a first class job.
The crowd of onlookers grew as they watched the owner of the company and the senior mechanical engineer, Abe and me, welding and grinding the giant racks. Some of the men got involved and began painting what Abe completed and within about two hours, the racks were ready to assemble. We only had to let the paint dry.
When I grabbed a broom and began sweeping up the welding dust and scrap, another employee took the broom away and told me to let him do it. It was good to have the store coming together, working together for a common goal.
Ruth and Tiny had ordered in a huge buffet for lunch. While the employees ate, he made announcements and attempted to explain how our 401K savings plan worked. Ruth announced to all that they would need to complete the short applications for our health insurance and to also complete our applications so we knew what equipment they were qualified to operate. Abe told all the folks, "If you don't know how to drive a forklift, we'll teach you. If you don't know how to weld, we'll teach you. If you want to be a mechanic, you have to go to night school, but we will also teach you. This company takes their employees and teaches them how to be better and more knowledgeable men and women. One thing you're picking up is that from Steve on down to the last man, we strive for perfection. No one will bitch about how much time it takes you to do perfect work, and we will help you learn how to do perfect work. Speed comes with practice. If something goes out our doors, ask yourself, 'Is it perfect?'"
I said, "I love for our shops to be beautiful when we open in the morning. It makes me want to come to work in a place like that. When your floors are all complete, you will be dragging your family and friends to see where you work. You'll be as proud of the place as I am. Keep in mind, we knock off a little early, clean off all of the equipment, put it back where it belongs, and clean up the shop. When we go home at night, the place will look like it did when we came in that morning."
As the afternoon wore on, I could see that people were working with Abe and the field techs, getting a handle on how S&S did things. When the day was nearing four, the racks were all assembled and began to be loaded, as well as a huge tractor trailer that arrived full of welding equipment.
I watched as three delivery trucks pulled into the parking area at about the same time. The three drivers came in, spoke briefly to Jorge, got in their cars and left. At close to five, the last truck showed up with a very tired looking driver. He turned in his paperwork and left.
Jorge went through the delivery receipts and made a listing of the delivery times. I watched as he went through each of the trucks. The last truck through had the most glaring time opening. There was an almost two hour time lapse between the second big delivery and the next delivery. That must have been why he was so late. Jorge pointed out how close the last several deliveries were in time, saying, "The man had to really go fast to do these that fast. I wonder where he was for those two hours?"
Mercy brought the FBI agent to me. He got me off to the side and said, "All of the chase cars had interesting days. That van caught each truck and unloaded some large boxes to each truck. We made note of each of the offloads of the boxes as well. We have a chase car following the van right now, so we'll have more information tonight or tomorrow morning."
I asked, "Have you been able to identify any of those men yet?"
The agent said, "We think one might be an escapee from a federal pen. We have good photos of them and the men in the van. We are running them through the recognition software right now. We did get the Marshal's office involved since we think the one is an escapee. They are investigating him now. They put a tail on him when he left today."
"So what do you think is going on?"
"I don't know, but I kind of think it is drug deliveries of some kind, perhaps prescription drugs. I can't really disclose any more of our investigation, but I wanted to advise you to be careful and stay in populated areas. Since we don't know what these guys will do if they catch on they are being watched, I have to suggest you either leave the area, or hire someone to watch you."
I said, "We'll be all right. We are aware of the possible danger. Find out what the deal is because I'm planning on canning those guys very soon."
The agent did ask, "Please wait until we have some better evidence, then you won't have to can them. We'll take them to jail."
I relayed what the agent and I had discussed with Mercy and she didn't look any more concerned than she did before. She did say that she felt as if we were being watched today, but not by any of the employees. She felt as if there were eyes outside the store, but she didn't know where.
We ate at the hotel and discussed what else needed to be done at the shop. Ruth said she was through getting people to assist Mary, and the sales techs had set up the customer service people. The lead sales tech said, "We are already realizing some nice orders from the established base. Tomorrow, we will begin interviewing field sales people with technical backgrounds. One of our show trucks will bring one of the completed pickups for the field sales techs tomorrow. We'll have the show truck to put in front of the store, as well as one of our painted up field sales tech trucks."
Abe said, "We have already hired three men for here and three for Reno. As soon as this location is complete, Tiny and I will run up to Reno and see how they are coming along. This one will be complete when the floors are done. Ryan will come through and he will begin their sales training schedule for all of our equipment."
Tiny asked, "There is a lot of land back behind here. We can have a cart plant, or just a cart showroom, and bring carts from St. Louis or down from Montana. The reservation up there is turning out good product at a very respectable rate."
I suggested, "Let's keep the cart plants we have working and ship from there. Let's build a cart showroom next door and get some advertising and field sales going on that too."
Tiny said, "You know you still don't have a manager here, or even a good candidate yet. Usually there is someone who rises to be seen, but so far no one. Is there someone in one of the other stores that is ready?"
I suggested, "Call Ryan. Have him come out and to bring who he likes as our next guy to promote. He's made some great selections so far, and has built the business where he's had influence."
Abe agreed, "He's a good man. Now that Michelle is going to have to take off for her baby, Ryan may need some additional staff to take care of his reporting. You might even need at least one more Ryan."
Tiny and I looked at each other and laughed. Tiny explained, "We talk about this all the time, Abe. Somehow, while the economy is going into the tank, we keep hiring and hiring. Just look at this place. We've already hired over a dozen sales girls and mechanics, and we're still looking for more."
Abe grinned, "Yep, we do hire a bunch of people, don't we?"
While it was still early enough, I called Chuck. I told him about what the agent had told me and said, "This could be in your area of interest. I'm wondering if all the drivers might be from the same place. They all have fake IDs, and they all have the same demeanor. You were working on something like that weren't you?"
Chuck said, "I was, and I am. Let me get my guys that are working on that problem case to come to you. They are in Texas right now following up some leads, so they can be there by morning. Let me get them started."
Mercy and I were in the lounge, having a nightcap, when my cell rang. "Steve Sharp"
"Hi, Steve, we haven't met yet, but my name is Bud Anderson. My partner, Jim Blake, and I just flew in from Texas and want to be on site in the morning to watch the four men you have. We have a list with photos of everyone who has walked away from a federal penal camp or escaped in the last ten years. Where is your business in Las Vegas and what time do you get there in the morning?"
I told Bud, "We get in about seven-thirty, but you can meet us at the hotel for breakfast about six-fifteen if you want. Everyone here is a friend of Chuck's, so you will be welcome."
I gave him the name of the hotel, and he said, "We'll meet you for breakfast in the morning."
Okay, we were ready to see what was going on with the nutty stuff at this new Las Vegas store.
Mercy and I had talked to our family at home earlier, both of us assuring them we were fine and not getting into any trouble. When we went to bed, Mercy said, "I'm supposed to give you enough loving to make you think all four of us are with you."
She did try, but we wore out early.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through — Deenara2000