Dark as Daylight Ch. 06

Then Vincent remembered what Rod said, "This airplane looks like no other."

Row after row of aircraft were gleaming white, with the occasional silver one thrown in. They all looked alike to him, until he saw this one aircraft. He knew it was the right one.

"Driver, on the left, the pink one; 453SI, that's the one. Don't take our luggage out until I tell you to. Donna do not get out of this car, until I grab your hand."

Vincent stepped out of the limousine and walked towards the pilot. She took off her hat and shook out her hair.

"Hello Mister Caruso, my name is Payne Elizabeth Schneider. Welcome aboard my aircraft. Please call me Payne; my husband tells me I am a pain all the time."

"Please call me Vinny, let me get my wife out of the car so I can introduce her."

The introductions done, Vincent told the two police officers they could leave.

"Mister Caruso, we are going to stay put, until you have permission to taxi. The racket you heard on the parkway was our Rapid Deployment Force. It seems half your block was blown away by a gas main leak. I don't believe in coincidences. You get a threat. You have to get out of town. Your house blows up. Three strikes and you are out as far as I'm concerned. I will let your uncle know that you got out of here safely.

Vincent reached into his pocket, but the officer said no. "Get onto your aircraft, and get out of here now."

"Thanks Bill, I'll talk to my uncle."

"Will you talk to my daughter too?"

"Oh, you heard that did you?"

"Are you kidding, the guys were taking notes."

Vincent ran up the stairwell. Payne hit the button to bring up the steps, and close the door. The number one engine was turning. The number two engine just started to whine, when the aircraft began to move.

Vincent called his uncle from the rear of the aircraft.

"Uncle Philip, they just blew up my home, and half the block with it. They're going to make it sound as if it was a gas main leak, but the police officer, who was guarding us, didn't buy it. I just wanted you to know we are fine. We are in the aircraft getting ready to go.

You will notice a change in your granddaughter. If it doesn't happen, give me a call, and I will talk to her again.

Watch your back uncle Phil. These people know who I am, and they didn't care. They may have mercenaries on their side. I don't want you getting caught in the middle. Business as usual."

"That's correct Vincent, nothing gets in the way of business."

"Uncle Phil, give Bill and his partner five grand each. I'll reimburse you."

"If Devon changes, I think Joseph will build a statue to you. That will be payment enough."

"I'll see you when I see you, uncle Phil."

"Stay safe Vinny."

"My dad taught me well, and so did you. Goodbye uncle Phil."

**********************

Rod wrapped his arms around Vincent as he entered the terminal.

"That was a little too close Vincent. I'm glad you listened to me."

"Well, that's case number 19 you can chalk up on your side of the board. I listened to you, and I'm here in Charleston instead of under a pile of rubble. I want you to know I am royally pissed. So are a few people in New York, and Europe.

My father wanted to come back. I told my mother to break his legs as he went towards the airport. He has two teenagers to deal with, and he wasn't all that good with his first two. I don't want anyone else over here who could get in trouble besides us."

"You're kidding right? We are surrounded by an army of men and women, carrying big guns, because no one down here is in trouble. That's the reason we want everyone in one place. In order to get to us, they have to get through a massed force of military personnel, who know what the heck they're doing. Not one of our principles, which now include Donna and you, goes anywhere unescorted."

"Payne will you show Donna around and introduce her to her new friends. Will you also introduce her to her body man, and her escorts. She's going to be down here for a long time, so give her the grand tour."

"May I get changed please master?"

"I'll let you know after you get changed."

"Thank you master."

Payne said, "Come on Donna, I'll show you how much liberty the bosses wife has. I can't even drive my Jaguar anymore."

Donna replied, "You should've heard the speech Vincent gave his niece this morning. She's going to be driving her Porsche as if it was an old VW Beetle from now on."

"She must've been a very bad girl."

"She has a body built for sin, and Vincent just put an end to that and everything else. That young woman may return to being a virgin by the time she gets married."

"I was."

"I wasn't. Ours was a quickie wedding, because I was pregnant with our first."

"How the hell did you manage 10 children? I had three and that was two too many."

"Well, the first six sort of snuck up on us. I had Annarosa, then Grace. Then, I had a set of twin girls. Vincent thought for sure the next one would be a boy. He was wrong; so there was number five. Then we had Sophia as number six. He wanted to get a vasectomy, but I said no. Then came the quads. Vincent was ecstatic, because one of them was a boy."

"Dycke had a vasectomy, because three was more than enough for me. The third one was a girl, and we named her Zoey. She was so beautiful as a baby. At two years old her horns twisted. For the next 14 years those horns grew and multiplied. If you think your niece is a problem, I wish you had known Zoey.

While she was growing up, we took Zoey to every kind of Doctor known to man to find out why she had these terrible moods. Psychiatrist threw her out of their offices, because of her mouth.

A business friend of my husband's said, "Put her on birth control pills."

He was a world renowned scientist by the name of Even Luck.

It was a case of religion, or trying to cure my daughter. Within one month, Zoey was the nicest child on the face of the earth. The change was remarkable. I wanted to take her to every doctor who misdiagnosed her. I wanted to show them how stupid they were to let my daughter suffer all those years. I didn't, because I wanted to spend my time with my daughter, the one I wanted to all my life.

"You keep talking about Zoey as if she has passed away; did she?"

"Oh no, I'm sorry I gave you that impression. Zoey, her husband Gordon Luck, and my granddaughter, Payne Elizabeth Luck, are in space, flying around on the 'Good Luck 1.' I'll show you the pictures we got recently. You'll love them."

I interrupted you as you said you had the quads. What happened next?"

"We were very happy with six, while Vincent was studying like crazy to become a good lawyer and passing the Bar Exam. The lawyers he was working for, Thomas Shackelford, and James Hearst, were the best lawyers in New York. They were the same lawyers our parents used to get the billion-dollar settlement from the government, and American airlines. They promised my dad, before he was murdered, if his grades were good enough in college, they would get him into a great law school, and then train him to be a great lawyer. They did just that, and then they did even more."

I went to my gynecologist for my regular checkup. April is sitting with her head between my knees. She looks up at me to say, "Good Lord, you are pregnant again, about two months or so."

I told Vincent, and he begged me for a boy. I told him I'd let him know about seven months.

The next month they did the sonogram and they couldn't get a clear picture. They turned me on my side and did it that way. April looked at me and said congratulations, triplets. The technician said, "Doctor count again, there are 7 feet there."

April looked again and said, "Quadruplets!"

I told Vincent that night and he fell to the floor.

"Are you sure?"

I handed him the picture, and a magnifying glass. "Count the feet."

"Seven? Who's missing a foot?"

"It's not missing dummy, someone's sleeping on it. It's a little crowded in there."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"April is going to keep an eye on my blood pressure. If I have any aggression problem, I'm not allowed to hit a wall. I have to hit you instead."

"I don't know what April's problem is. We've been keeping her busy for the last 12 years. When she looks at her bank balance it should say 'Thank God for the Caruso's."

"I'm sure she appreciates us Vincent."

"The next day he told the partners about it. For the next seven months Vincent worked 18 hour days in that law office. They pummeled him and pummeled him and pummeled him with information about the law, until he became the lawyer he is today. It should be fun watching Rod and Vinny work together. Vinny doesn't have an ego. He just knows the law. He remembers what he was as a kid, and knows how hard he had to work to get to where he is today. I don't know how Rod started, or how he got to where he is now, but I do know I'm going to have fun finding out."

"Donna, you and Rosalynn are going to have so much fun together. She and Rod had seven children, and they were almost one year apart to the day. You're going to hear stories that are going to make your sides split laughing.

You will hear stories about this woman, while she was a young girl when they met. Her name is Delicious Luck. What she did to him over the first two years they were together are legend.

There are two other people involved, because without their work none of this could've happened: Harold Chase, and Patty Valentino. If they had not figured out how to take the pollution out of the air and turn it into a long line carbon filaments, Even couldn't have talked my husband into making the products that are dense enough, light enough, and heat resistant enough to make it through the atmosphere and get it into outer space."

Donna said, "Don't you find it amazing that two people invent a product to make our skies clearer, and remove pollution from it, and others turn that product into materials to get us into space, and so much more?"

"That's why we're sitting in the back of an armored SUV with two guards in front of us, and four in the car behind us. We are upsetting the status quo, and people in high places don't like us doing that. Your husband and Rod are going to change that in court, which is the right place to change it.

We are almost at my home. Do not touch the handle on any car door ever again. Your guards will smack you if you do. You will be told all the things about protocol as the day goes by. Welcome to my world Donna; it is so much fun."

*****************

26. Here Comes the Special Forces

"May I speak to Mister Dycke Schneider please?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Colonel Lucius C. Canyon."

"One moment sir."

"This is Dycke Schneider; how did you get this number?"

"We have a mutual friend Dycke, his name is William Zabo. You can call him to verify my credentials. I need permission to land four military helicopters near the building site of Good Luck 2. My men and I will take care of our own living quarters. All we will need from you is food and fresh water. We are here to protect the site from the air. We are 200 miles out from your facility, and it will take us about 30 minutes to get there. We would like not to get shot out of the air by your men."

"Hold on Colonel, I'm going to call Mister Zabo."

***************

"Hello!"

"Hello, this is Dick Schneider, may speak to William Zabo please?"

"I'm sorry he's not home at this moment. Can I take a message?"

"I have a Colonel Canyon on another line. He is flying in with four helicopters requesting permission to land. He said Mister Zabo would tell me who he is, because I have no idea."

"One moment please. Mom, please pick up the phone."

"Hello, this is Jemma Zabo, who am I speaking to?"

"Hello Mrs. Zabo, this is Dycke Schneider. We met in Idaho Springs about two weeks ago."

"I remember you Dycke, how can I help you?"

"I have a Colonel Canyon on the other line. He wants to land four helicopters here. Do you know him?"

"What is that bastard doing in a helicopter?"

"I have no idea Jemma."

"Test him Dycke; ask him if he's married. I will hold on."

******************

"Colonel, Mister Zabo wants to know if you're married?"

"Tell William he knows I want to marry Jemma and no one else."

"One moment Colonel."

*****************

"Jemma his answer was he wanted to marry you and no one else."

"That's Lucius, let him land, and give him my love."

"I will do it, thanks Jemma."

*****************

"Colonel, you have permission to land. You will find suitable places better from the air then we can from the ground. Jemma send you her love."

"I love that woman. Make sure your men stand down please, we are 100 miles out."

**************

"Tim."

"Yes Dycke."

"Call the base commander, and tell them to have our men stand down when he sees four helicopters circling overhead looking for landing spaces. They belong to us."

"You got it."

****************

Richard Chenney stepped out of the double wide trailer that was the home of the self-defense force for the Good Luck 2, as he heard the roar of helicopters passing overhead. He was expecting civilian helicopters, but what he saw was anything but. Leading the pack of helicopters was an MH 6 Little Bird, a reconnaissance aircraft, with very big stingers attached to its sides. It was followed by a UH 1 Huey, a venerable helicopter that saw action since Vietnam. Next was a AH 1 Cobra attack helicopter. No one wanted to mess with this bird. Finally came the throaty roar of the big guy of the group. The Sikorsky MH 53 Pave Low. This helicopter had a secret, and the North Vietnamese didn't know about it until it was too late. It could roar as it was now, or at the flip of a switch, it could go down to the treetops, and whisper low enough not to wake a sleeping baby. It would drop special forces behind enemy lines, and then slink away unnoticed. It was a night time helicopter, and not one was lost during its time over Vietnam.

Cheney said to himself, "The military does not allow you to buy these aircraft. What the fuck are they doing here?"

He had a decision to make. If he was the commander of this outfit, which of these helicopters would he be in?

"He's going to be in the Pave Low."

He hopped into his SUV and drove nearly a half mile to the site of the biggest bird in the group. By the time he got there, the men were offloading all the equipment they needed for a bivouac area.

"I want to speak to your commanding officer."

"You're in the wrong place sir. He's in 'Little Bird.' He's always upfront."

"Thank you very much."

By the time Cheney got a 'Little Bird', it was completely covered with, camouflage netting. He asked the littlest guy there, with a little disdain in his voice.

"Hey soldier, where is your commanding officer?"

Lucius turned around to look at the man. "You're looking at him."

"If you are an officer, why are you covering this aircraft, instead of letting your men do it?"

"I never let my men do anything I wouldn't do, you asshole."

Cheney took a swing at the ancient Colonel for the insult he received.

He wound up with an imprint of the Colonel's West Point ring on his jaw in return, and the Colonel standing over him.

His men went to their weapons, until he yelled, "Stand down."

"You haven't introduced yourself, and you have insulted me and my men. I would advise you not to do it again. We are your eyes, ears, and long ball. I am not here because you invited me. I am here because William Zabo, Even Luck, Dycke Schneider, and the families who were involved at the very beginning of this process invited me. They are my friends. They are my family. Don't you ever fuck with me again, or I will put you under the ground the next time."

Cheney looked up at his slim wiry opponent and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"Colonel Lucius C Canyon, US Army retired; and who the fuck are you?"

"Oh shit! Colonel Everest Longstreet, at your service sir. I've read about everything you did in the Balkans, until they fucked you over."

"It was a really nice place in the winter?"

"I go back there and ski every chance I get. It's better than Switzerland, and cheaper."

"I wouldn't know, I don't ski."

"Well Colonel, welcome to Battlefield West. When you're ready, I'll show you our defensive layout. It's in the double wide about a mile from here. How many SUVs would you like for your men?"

"Four will do, six would be better."

"I'll send over four today, and you'll have eight by Monday. We always rotate these through the Armor shop. Every four weeks or so we get six of our cars back fully armored. They're not all for us, but for the executives, and their families. You know the drill as well as I do. These people will do anything to slow us down, but the word from the top is: Whoever they take is expendable. Those words came down from Dycke Schneider himself."

"You have to love a man with convictions like that. Does his family know?"

"The video he sent us had his wife standing by his side. It also had all the top executives of his company, Even Luck's kids, that lawyer and his wife, and a bunch of people I don't know. They weren't smiling when he announced it, but they were all informed beforehand, and they all stood behind his decision.

When the two boys are at this site, we have six rings of guards around them. The only thing we can't protect them from is an air attack, or a mortar. We own the land 10 miles out on all sides. When we get inside, I'll show you everything."

"10 miles, just outside mortar range, I wonder if we could buy some more land."

"What do you have in mind Colonel?"

"A racetrack, of course, Southerners love racing, and if a very rich entrepreneur approached the county with plans for a racetrack in this vicinity, I believe it would be rushed through the building process. However, as we are doing our core sampling of the land, we would run into trouble with lead contamination, and a few other things that would take years and years to make it through the system, and finally, the racetrack plans would fall through. The owners of this property would bid on that property and get it for a steal."

"Now isn't that a shame. You made that up on the fly Colonel? They should have put you in the Pentagon instead of kicking you out the service."

"Did you go to the Academy?"

"Yes but the wrong one. I went to VMI. You went to West Point."

Lucius took his hand and placed it on Richard's jaw.

"Well, if this imprint is permanent, your jaw went to West Point."

"Who the hell new and old man could duck that fast?"

"You'd better watch out who your calling old Colonel. You could wind up on the floor again."

"Roger that sir. I have one more question before I go back to work. How did you get these helicopters? The military doesn't sell these."

"We have them on lease for airshows. We take pictures of them at static displays all over the Southeast. It's amazing what you can do with computers nowadays."

"Doesn't the military check up on you?"

"Thanks to our Republican friends in Congress, and the steep budget cuts in military spending, and sequestration for nonessential items, do you really believe the Army is going to spend, $1 dollar looking for retired helicopters at airshows? They can't fix roofs on dependent housing. Why would they look for four helicopters, when we check in every Wednesday, and tell them we are going to be in some hole in the wall town in South Carolina. We pay for fuel. We pay for all the repairs. We pay for all the crew time. When they get these helicopters back they will be in better condition than when they gave them to us.

The only thing they don't know is that we've rearmed them, and fixed optical systems for the weapons. We have 50 caliber machine guns, rocket launchers, and chaff pods, where the designers never thought to put them. The good part was it wasn't that expensive to do. I believe it cost us less than $ 130,000 to repair and arm all four of them."