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  “I thought I was meeting my new employee?”

  “You are. He is already in the restaurant. You wanted someone that would blend in. I thought it would be interesting if you could spot him.”

  Manuel looked around the restaurant and saw several men in their mid 20’s to mid 30’s, but only two of them looked like they weren’t Americans.

  “I see two possibilities. The man over there with the black shirt and one over there with the gray suit and red tie.”

  “Wrong on both accounts. Keep trying.”

  Manuel looked some more and didn’t see anyone out of place. After several minutes he grew frustrated. He glared back at his contact who smiled at Manuel and nodded his head. Manuel looked up and saw a clean cut man in his mid twenties approach the table and sit down. He was wearing shorts, sandals and a short sleeve golf shirt. He was clean shaven and had sunglasses propped up on top of his head. He smiled at Manuel and holding out his hand said,

  “Hi, I’m Joseph.”

  Manuel shook his hand while staring at him in disbelief and said to his contact,

  “He’s an American.”

  “Exactly. He has been here since he was 12, has grown up in San Diego and graduated from UCLA. He is totally above suspicion. Let’s get something to eat and then go someplace private to talk.”

  He motioned over a waiter. Joseph ordered first.

  “I’ll have a lite beer and a bacon cheeseburger.”

  Manuel looked at him in surprise while his contact remarked,

  “Sounds like a great American lunch. I’ll have the same.”

  “Make it three,” said Manuel slowly as he stared at Joseph.

  Later at a private bench by the beach he said to Joseph and the contact,

  “After talking to you I would swear you lived here your entire life and you look like a typical California adult. You have done well. You could blend in anyplace.”

  “Let’s go over the plan,” said Joseph. “It sounds like I passed your first test.”

  “You passed.”

  “So what are we going to do? I understand you a have a lethal nerve agent.”

  “I have the greatest weapon ever made. This will be a much greater terrorist attack than 911. You are going to spray a nerve agent over Southern California with four crop dusting planes at dawn on July fourth.”

  Joseph was taken aback. “Four cropdusting planes? How far along are we?”

  “We have a compound in Barstow, California, a place called Jensen’s ranch. We have the nerve agent and antidote ready to take to the compound from another location in the desert. The planes we want have been located and the four pilots are ready to be brought across the border.”

  “Are you going to have trouble getting them across the border?”

  “That’s what we do. Not a problem.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “You will run the operation.”

  “And you are paying us $20 million and letting us take the credit. Why?”

  “That is not your concern. Do you have a problem with my terms?”

  Joseph stared at Manuel for a minute and then replied, “No problem.”

  Chapter 9

  New York City June 2011

  Ellen saw the light blinking on the answering machine, pushed the review button and realized nobody had checked the messages today. After deleting several junk calls she heard a message from a doctor to her mother confirming that unfortunately this week’s tests were the same as expected. She thought for a minute and got Sarah.

  “Sarah, you need to hear this.”

  Sarah joined Ellen in the kitchen and Ellen replayed the message. Sarah looked at Ellen puzzled and said,

  “Play it again.”

  “What do you think?” asked Ellen after they listened.

  Sarah thought for a minute and replied, “There is something going on they aren’t telling us. I’m not going to lay in bed all night thinking about this. Let’s go talk to them.”

  Ellen and Sarah went over to their parents’ room and saw them sitting up in bed reading. They both looked up when Ellen and Sarah came in.

  “Hi, girls, what’s up?” asked Ruth. “You look serious.”

  “We need to talk,” said Ellen. “You forgot to clear the messages from the answering machine, so I did. There was a strange message to you from a doctor I never heard of about some tests. You have been sick for a couple weeks Mom, and Dad has been acting weird. We’re part of this family too and we think we have a right to know what’s going on. Why are the last tests the same as expected?”

  Ruth looked over at Robert and started crying. Robert scooted over in bed and put his arm around his wife as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “Go ahead and tell them, Robert. I can’t do it.”

  “Tell us what, Dad? What’s going on?”

  Gravely Robert began, “Ellen, Sarah, your mom has cancer. She has been having radiation treatments but they haven’t worked. The tests keep coming back the same.”

  “They can fix it can’t they,” cried Sarah. “We have the best doctors in the world here.”

  “We’ve been to several of the best doctors in the world. They have been trying the latest and best technology there is. We have even tried some experimental treatments.”

  “What are you saying, Dad? Nothing is working? What kind of cancer do you have, Mom? I thought they could kill off cancer.”

  “I have pancreatic cancer,” said Ruth solemnly. “If you don’t find it in the early stages it is impossible to cure. Mine was advanced when they found it. We tried anyway, but nothing is working. The doctors said nothing would work but we tried anyway.”

  Ellen and Sarah looked at their mom too stunned to reply. Then they looked at each other and started crying.

  “What does this mean, Mom? What happens now?”

  Ruth held out her arms and both girls rushed over to her and crawled into bed. Robert moved over and the girls got on each side of their mom as she put her arms around them. After a couple of minutes Ruth said in a choked voice,

  “The doctors have told me there is nothing else we can do to treat it. As it gets to the later stages, I will take painkillers to have a good quality of life until the very end, but there is nothing I can do or take to cure it. There is an experimental procedure they are trying in California. The possibility of it helping is very slim. We just found out about it yesterday. We are thinking of going to Southern California this summer for several months to try it.”

  Both girls were crying as their mom had her arms over their shoulders.

  “I can’t believe this,” said Ellen. “When are we going to California?”

  Ruth didn’t answer for a minute.

  “When, Mom?” asked Sarah.

  “We don’t know. We aren’t sure we are going.”

  “What! Of course we are going. Why wouldn’t we?”

  “The chances of it working are very low. If I only have six months left, I’m not sure I want to spend it in California undergoing experimental treatments as opposed to spending it with the three of you at home in New York.”

  “But there is a chance if you do the treatments in California?”

  “There is a chance, but a very small one. I haven’t decided yet.”

  The girls sat sobbing beside their mother for several minutes. Finally Sarah asked,

  “Is this why you want to go to Lake Powell?”

  “Yes, Sarah. Our lives are going to be changing. I have been thinking about what is important. I want the two of you to get to know about life outside of New York City. I feel I owe you this. I want to decide what we are going to do for the next six months on this trip.”

  “Mom, we’ll make it work.”

  Later that night Ellen and Sarah were talking in Ellen’s room and reading about pancreatic cancer on the Internet.

  “I just can’t believe this,” said Ellen.
“Mom can’t be dying. This sounds really bad. No one has ever survived this.”

  Ellen looked over and saw Sarah crying. She sat next to her on the bed and put her arm around her as they cried together.

  Chapter 10

  Newport Beach June 2011

  The Brown family had just finished enjoying a barbecue dinner on their patio and had gotten into the Jacuzzi. They tried to spend one night a week together with just the family, enjoying each other’s company without distractions.

  “John and Cody, we need to talk to you about something.”

  John and Cody looked at each other and were instantly alert. Cody spoke first,

  “Dad, not another one of those talks! I think you’ve covered that subject way more than you needed to already. We get it.”

  “No, this is different, but you need to pay attention. Do you remember my best friend Robert and his family in New York City?”

  John jumped in. “No way. Don’t tell me we are going there again. That weekend was like a trip to hell and back.”

  “John, it wasn’t that bad.”

  Cody exclaimed, “Yes it was! Don’t you remember how they treated us?”

  “Well, we aren’t going there.”

  “Whew,” both boys chorused. “That’s good.”

  “However, they are coming here,” replied their dad.

  “What!” yelped John. “Why would they come here? They hate us.”

  “John, they don’t hate you,” interrupted his mother.

  “Yeah they do, Mom” interjected Cody, “and why are they coming here?”

  “They are going with us on the houseboat on Lake Powell the first week of July.”

  “What!” yelled both boys. “No way,” exclaimed John. “They hate stuff like that. They like museums and Broadway shows and shopping. They would hate Lake Powell on a houseboat.”

  “First of all,” his dad replied, “it’s not up for discussion. We are going. Second, I’ve been talking to Robert and the girls have changed since you last saw them. Ellen doesn’t do ballet anymore. She is into that Irish clogging dancing and is quite good. Sarah has quit dancing and is now playing soccer. I think they will be quite different than what you remember.”

  Both boys just stared at their dad numb. “Who else is going?” asked Cody finally.

  “Just the two families,” said his dad.

  John and Cody leaned back and stared into space.

  “It won’t be that bad,” said their mother. “At least we will be on the houseboat having fun.”

  John and Cody looked at their mom without saying anything for a minute then John said, “Mom, those girls can suck the fun out of anything. I’m going swimming,” he said and rolled over the side of the Jacuzzi into the pool.

  Cody stared at his mom without knowing what to say and jumped in after John.

  When the boys were gone, Nancy said, “Do you have any idea what’s going on? This is so unexpected and out of character for them to want to come on the houseboat.”

  “I really don’t know what’s happening. Robert was evasive when we talked, but I think this is coming from Ruth. I never thought she would want to do something like go on the houseboat. She’s more of the 5 star hotel type, but she’s the one pushing for this.”

  “I guess we will find out more when they get here. I think it’s great we’re getting together. I just don’t understand their willingness to go on a houseboat for a week. It just doesn’t seem like their type of trip.”

  “Well, Robert always liked stuff like that growing up.”

  “But after he married Ruth he seemed to change completely and follow their lifestyle.”

  “I think after his first wife died he just needed a complete change.”

  “Well, he sure got one by moving to New York City.”

  “I think he still loves outdoor activities like the lake, he just hasn’t done them for a long time.”

  “I understand him still liking them. It’s Ruth and the girls. They have never done stuff like this. I don’t picture them liking sun, wind and activities like wakeboarding and wave runners.”

  “I guess we’ll know more when they get here.”

  John and Cody were talking on the other side of the pool.

  “Dude, what do you think?” asked John.

  “This totally sucks. We gotta find a way out of this.”

  “Do you think they actually could have changed?”

  Cody thought for a minute and replied, “No way, don’t you remember how they acted a year ago?”

  “I remember. What are we going to do? I can’t spend a week with just the Prada sisters. Could we get some of our friends to go?”

  “That would be better than just the four of us. Let’s ask Mom and Dad.”

  They swam back to the Jacuzzi and jumped in.

  “So who’s all going on this trip?”

  “Just the two families, four adults and four teenagers.”

  “Why don’t we take more people? It’s always fun with more people for everybody there.”

  “Did you have anyone in mind?”

  John thought anyone else in the world would be an improvement. He said, “I could think of a lot actually, but our cousins in Las Vegas are who came to mind first.”

  “I know this is not what you want to hear, but this trip is going to be just the eight of us. We have other trips planned this summer, but this trip is just the eight of us. Later on this summer you can both take friends and we are going with your cousins from Vegas also, but this trip is just the eight of us.”

  The boys looked at each other and then back at their dad who stared them down. John said resigned, “Whatever.” They both slid back over the edge and swam to the other side of the pool.

  “Any ideas?” asked John. “You seem to always come up with something.”

  “No, but I will. There’s no way I’m spending a week in hell with them.”

 

 

  Chapter 11

  El Centro, California

  Juan and Luis were sitting in a car observing the local airport surrounded by acres of green fields. Juan instructed Luis,

  “We need to scout out a place that doesn’t have security at night and where we can take off in two planes without being noticed. When they come back to the airport in the morning it will be too late. It looks like all the planes in the area are based at this local airport. We need to talk to the operators of the planes and pretend we are thinking of using their service. Let’s just find some of the operators and start talking.”

  “It looks like there are a lot of people in that diner and it’s lunchtime. Maybe this will be easier than we thought.”

  Juan and Luis walked into the diner and saw one large group seated at several tables eating lunch. The group looked over at Juan and Luis and saw two well dressed, clean cut Mexican men walking over to their table. They all stopped talking as they approached. Juan smiled and addressed the group,

  “I apologize for disturbing your lunch. I noticed some crop dusting planes outside. I represent a wealthy businessman planning to purchase some farmland in this area. I was asked to look into crop dusting to see if it was available. If any of you gentlemen are involved in crop dusting and are interested, please join me and my friend over at that table by the door when you are finished with your lunch. Thank you for your time.”

  Juan nodded his head at them and he and Luis walked over to another table and sat down. They were soon joined by one of the men.

  “Please sit down,” said Juan, “this is my friend, Luis.”

  “My name is Tom. I run several planes out of this area and do about 75% of all the crop dusting around here.”

  “It sounds like we found the right man. I have to admit to little knowledge regarding crop dusting. We are planning on purchasing several hundred acres for vegetable farming. We were told that it will be necessary to spray these fields
from time to time and crop dusting is by far the best way to accomplish this. Is this true?”

  “Of course. That is the way everybody does it around here. That’s what my business does.”

  “Again excuse my ignorance, but are the fields all sprayed at once. How high do the planes fly? Doesn’t it get on other fields? I really don’t know much about this.”

  “Let me give you the short course. The planes fly very low to spray the material only where it is supposed to go. The better planes that I use hold several hundred gallons at a time, so we can usually do all your fields at once. Of course the weather has to be right to spray. Very little wind and if there was dew it must be evaporated off.”

  “So you usually fly in the morning when it is calm? It is also calm at night. Do you ever fly then?”

  “Of course not, it’s hard enough flying low when it’s light. You would kill yourself at night. The planes are fueled up when they come in each day and the tanks cleaned out. If we are scheduled for your fields the next day, we come to the airport about daybreak and if the wind is staying down, we load up your chemical, take off and can be over your fields spraying in a half hour.”

  “What would happen if you sprayed too high?”

  “You would have chemical all over the valley. The idea of spraying low is to keep it in the right place. Is this something you will be interested in?”

  “Of course. I would like to see your planes if possible. I just want to be sure we are using the top people.”

  “We have two planes in now. Would you like to see them?”

  “It would be great if we could inspect them now. Give me your lunch bill. I’ll pay them both so we can go.”

  Juan, Luis and Tom walked over to Tom’s operation beside the diner. Tom began showing them the two planes.

  “All of our planes are Air Tractors and will hold over 500 gallons of insecticide and over 200 gallons of fuel. The oldest one is three years old. We have a modern operation with excellent planes.”