Life after the Lottery Ch. 49

Linda came to me and took my hand and led me to the sofa to sit.

"James, tell me about what Dawn did," Linda asked.

"Linda, Dawn is a very special person. She has the ability to help in situations like this."

"When we got naked, she laid with me on the bed under the covers and held me. I felt a little strange, but I calmed down. What happened?"

"You know she has some special ways to energize people, that was what she did to you. I guess we will have to explain a lot to you soon, but for now, just trust her."

"Okay."

Linda leaned over and kissed me. I wrapped an arm around her and held her. Fifteen minutes later Rachel came out.

"Linda! Are you okay?"

"Rachel, I am fine."

Rachel came and sat next to Linda and kissed her.

"I'm so sorry about this," Rachel said.

"Rachel, it is not your fault. I should have listened to you when you wanted more security. I will let you do what you need to do until this guy is caught."

"Thank you," Rachel told her. "Maybe you will listen to me now." Linda leaned over and kissed Rachel again. "Mr. Santoro will be meeting you at noon for lunch downstairs in a private dining room. It will just be all of us and him and his assistant unless you don't want us eating with you."

"That's fine. I want all of you with me."

Linda was being very calm and collected; Dawn must have really done a number on her because it was still having its effect. There was another knock on the door. Rachel got up and went to the door. I watched as she took a large briefcase from one of the guys in black suits. She closed the door and carried the briefcase back toward us and set it down next to the sofa.

"What's in the briefcase?" Linda asked.

"More security. I know you don't like a lot of guns, but for the rest of this week, until we get back home, there are going to be more." Rachel told her.

"Do you think this guy is that dangerous?" Linda asked.

"Yes."

Linda leaned into Rachel as I held her.

"What you did this morning was foolish, I could have lost you," Linda said to her.

"Linda that is my job."

"Just be extra careful," Linda told her.

"I will be right back," Rachel said and picked up the briefcase and went to her bedroom.

"Linda, look at me," I told her. "I can't tell you right now what Dawn did, but I need to ask you if you have enough together to be making business deals?"

"I'm okay. When we get back, you two are going to tell me what is going on."

"We will think about it. Give me your hands."

Linda gave me her hands and I took them and held them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and held them. She felt more numb than in control. I opened my eyes and looked at her.

"No more wine," I told her.

"Why?"

"You are not in control just yet. You need to be better before you make any business deals." I told her.

"This is just a talk."

"We have some things in the works to throw this guy off if he tries to follow us again," I told Linda.

"Okay."

A few minutes later Rachel came out of her bedroom. She had changed from her jacket and was wearing a long light weight coat.

"Noooo, Rachel, please..." Linda pleaded.

"Linda, I don't want to hear it," Rachel told her.

"Do you have to?" Linda asked.

"You promised, Linda," Rachel said.

"Okay. Be careful."

"I need to go check on things," Rachel said then left.

Dawn came back out and sat with us.

"I packed your things too, honey," she said.

A few minutes later Hans came through the door with a tray. He sat it down on the table and went back outside.

"Linda, I need to get some sugar in you and some carbs," Dawn told her.

"I'm not hungry."

"I didn't ask. If you don't you will crash badly well before lunch," Dawn told her.

Dawn picked up the linen covering the food and got Linda to eat. It was quiet for a while until Rachel came back in. She sat with us, holding her coat tight.

"I will be right back," I said. Patricia had not come back out of her room, I went to check on her. I knocked on her door. "Patricia?" No answer. "Patricia!" I opened the door. "Patricia!!"

She was lying on the floor. I closed the door, then went to her, she was out cold. I sat her up and patted her face.

"Pat!" I said as I patted. She slowly came around.

"uhhh, what happened?" She asked.

"What do you remember?" I asked.

"I came in here...then I got dizzy."

"You passed out from the stress," I told her. "Let me get you up and on the bed."

I picked her up and laid her on the bed, then went to the bathroom and got a wet towel.

"James..."

I was rubbing her face with the towel.

"Why didn't you say something, Pat?"

"I was shaking all over; I had to get away from everything," Patricia told me.

"How do you feel now?"

"A little weak."

"I will be right back."

I left her bedroom and went and got a glass of wine and a pastry, then headed back to her room.

"James?" Dawn asked.

"I got it."

I went to her room and closed the door. She was sitting up in the bed.

"I need you to sip this and eat this," I told her. "You got pretty shaken up."

Patricia nibbled and sipped.

"It just hit me all of the sudden," Patricia told me.

"It will do that. Are you hurt from falling?" I asked as I check her out.

"I think I am okay."

"Keep eating," I told her.

I sat with her for a while until she looked better.

"James?" I heard Dawn ask from the door. She came in and shut the door. "Patricia, are you okay?"

"She fainted," I told Dawn.

Dawn sat and took her pulse and felt her.

"Are you okay now?" Dawn asked.

"I'm better. Please don't say anything to Linda. She doesn't need anything else to worry about." Pat pleaded.

"It is getting near lunch; do you feel like getting dressed and going with us?" Dawn asked.

"Yes. Give me a few minutes. I will have to be there."

"James, stay with her. I will just tell Linda you were upset."

Dawn left and I helped Patricia up and helped her get dressed. When we left her bedroom, Linda was up and walking around. I saw Rachel over in the corner on her phone. I walked over to her and waited.

"...we will be down in a few minutes," she finished. She turned toward me.

"Is Patricia okay?" She asked.

"She was upset, a little shock," I told her. "What's with the coat?"

Rachel pulled the coat open and I saw a short barrel weapon.

"Israeli machine gun," she said.

"I know, I have one...or two. Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious. How do you have one?"

"Remember, I am a State LEO."

Rachel closed the coat.

"Is that what Linda was upset about?" I asked.

"Yes, she knows the coat. We need to head downstairs."

Rachel organized everything and we all went downstairs to the private dining room. She left several rough looking guys outside the door. The man Linda was meeting was inside. He walked to her and greeted her and kissed her hand.

The lunch and meeting lasted about 3 hours. Linda was better and back on her game. I heard hundreds of millions of dollars discussed as they all talked. They seemed to come to an agreement.

"Ms. Williams, my limos, and security are at your disposal. I will join you with my people to the airport."

"Thank you. We will let the lawyers talk. Can you come to America to finalize the deal?" Linda asked.

"We will discuss all the details later," Mr. Santoro said.

"Linda, I will go and get things started," Rachel said. She left the room.

"Linda, I am so sorry for all that has happened," he told her.

"I wanted to come and see your facilities, but my security people think it is best if I leave. I need to go to Madrid." Linda told him.

"Maybe you will come back this fall?" Mr. Santoro asked.

"I will make arrangements to come back and visit everything," Linda told him.

The two of them made small talk for about 20 minutes, then there was a loud commotion outside, Linda jumped.

"Ms. Williams, that is the decoy leaving," Hans said as he stood by the door.

The noise lasted a few minutes then Rachel came in.

"They all took off and followed the decoy," Rachel said. "We will wait until it is all clear."

Rachel was in business mode. I had never seen her this way. Mr. Santoro got up and went outside. A few minutes later he came back in.

"Ms. Rachel, the limos are out back if you are ready to go," He said.

We got up and went out the door and headed to the back of the hotel. There were three long limos waiting and six security guys. We were all escorted to one limo along with one guard in the back and one up front.

"The rest of security are in the other limos. They will follow us to the airport," Mr. Santoro said.

We took off and headed down some back roads. Linda was clutching my hand tightly. I took my arm and wrapped it around her. About an hour later we arrived at the jet. There were five guards around the jet. We stopped and waited as the rest of the security got out.

"Linda, we can go," Rachel said. Linda was still gripping my hand very tightly.

"Linda, we are okay. Let them get out of the car first," I told her. She wouldn't let go of my hand. "You all go ahead and get out," I told the rest.

Everyone exited the limo.

"Honey, just relax. Let me get out first. You can hold my hand and I will take you to the jet," I told her.

I eased off the seat and started for the door. I had to pull Linda with me.

"Let's go, nice and slow," I said.

I finally was out of the limo and slowly pulled Linda from the car. She stood and grabbed my arm.

"Let's go."

I slowly walked her to the stairs and helped her into the jet. I walked her to the back and sat her on the sofa, she was shaking.

"I was afraid of this. Linda, lie down, I will get you a blanket." I told her.

I finally got her to lie back. I stood to get a blanket.

"James!" Linda cried out as I stood.

"I'm right here. Let me get a blanket."

I grabbed two blankets off the other sofa and covered her up.

"James, how is she doing?" Dawn asked from behind me.

"Not good."

Dawn came to me and sat next to Linda.

"Linda, you need to breathe deep," she told her. Linda was shaking. Dawn stood and lifted her head up and sat down and laid Linda's head in her lap.

I walked to the door of the jet; Patricia was coming up the stairs.

"I need you and Rachel to get onboard and be quiet," I told her.

She got on the jet and put away her carry-ons and sat down. I waited for Rachel as she talked. When she started up the stairs she saw me.

"What?"

"Be quiet and just have a seat. We need to get Linda settled before we take off," I told her.

I moved and Rachel got on the jet and sat down. The pilot came out.

"Can you keep the jet cool if we close the door?" I asked.

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

"Linda is a little rattled. Can you wait until we get her in a seat?"

"Yes. I'll close the door."

The pilot closed the door as I walked back to Linda, she was talking to Dawn.

"Can we have a few minutes?" Dawn asked.

"All you need."

"James, thank you," Linda said.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.

"Just give me a few minutes."

"Okay." I went back to talk to Rachel and Patricia.

"You two can get us ready. She is better."

"James, what happened?" Rachel asked.

"She got nervous."

We heard the engines on the jet start.

"I will go talk to the pilots," Rachel said.

"Let me get her some juice," Patricia said getting up and going to the galley.

After about 15 minutes Linda was sitting up and sipping on some juice. She was talking to Patricia and Dawn.

"How are we doing," Rachel asked from behind me.

"A few minutes," I said.

"I need to put some things away," Rachel said.

I turned to her and she had a briefcase. She slipped off the machine gun and returned it to the briefcase and slipped it under a seat.

"Take my gun," I don't want Linda seeing it," I told Rachel and handed her my gun.

Rachel slipped off the long coat and put it away.

"Are we ready to go?" Linda asked from behind me.

"If you are," Rachel said.

"Let's go."

Everyone found a seat and Rachel went to the pilots and came back. About 15 minutes later we were in the air. About 20 minutes later after we leveled off the pilot came back to see us.

"Ms. William, we are going to throw a wrench in this guy's tracking now that we know how he is doing it. I just want you to know that there is nothing wrong with the jet, but I am going to run the radio through the intercom so you can keep up with what is going on."

"What are you going to do?" Linda asked.

"You don't need to know, but we will be heading to Madrid soon. Right now we are over the Mediterranean, I just want to make sure you know there is nothing wrong."

"Thanks, Henry."

"I came out here so nothing will be recorded on the cockpit recorder."

He went back to the cockpit.

"Rachel, what are they up too," Linda asked.

"I was told I didn't need to know and it was safe."

We flew on about 10 more minutes. We heard the speaker pop on the intercom.

'Rome air traffic control, this Gulfstream November Golf 159.'

'159, this is Rome control.'

'Control, we have a flight plan to Bahrain to refuel and then to Perth Australia. We have smoke in the cockpit and the transponder appears to be out with some other electronics.'

'159, are you declaring an emergency?'

'Control, it appears everything else is okay. We are requesting clearance to 10,000 feet so we can vent the aircraft.'

'159, turn to 180 degrees and descend to 10,000 at your discretion.'

'Roger Rome Control. We don't want to come back to your airspace at that altitude, requesting re-routing to Madrid.'

'Roger 159, is your Mode 3/A working?'

'Control, the Mode A appears to be working.'

'Roger 159, hold for a minute'

'Roger Rome control'

"What are they doing?" Linda asked.

"I think they are getting us off the radar," Rachel said.

'159, Madrid control has been contacted. Squawk 1358 on Mode A and turn to 1 zero zero when you reach 10,000. Contact Madrid control at that point.'

'Roger, Rome Control'

'Good luck 159.'

'Thanks, Rome Control, switch to Madrid'

There was a pause and we could tell we were descending quickly.

'Madrid Control, this Gulfstream November Golf 159 squawking at 1358'

'Gulfstream 159, this is Madrid Control. Are you okay?'

'Roger Madrid. I think I have an electrical problem in the transponder, we have some smoke in the cockpit and have descend to 10,000 at 1 zero zero'

"Roger Gulfstream 159. Souls on board?'

'Madrid, 7 souls on board.'

'159, at 10,000 squawk 4369 and contact control'

'Roger Madrid.'

'Ms. Williams, we are descending to 10,000 feet. Everything is fine, we just need to land at Madrid and have the transponder repaired. Rachel will you please come to the cockpit.'

Rachel got up and headed for the cockpit while we waited.

"Sounds like they have a plan," I told Linda.

"I hope so. I need to be in Madrid until after lunch Friday. I wanted to go to Dublin on the way back, but I don't know now."

"Linda, I can move your meeting in Dublin up. We could leave after that," Patricia told her.

"I want to show James and Dawn around on Saturday."

"If we leave by evening Saturday, we will get home about an hour after we leave," Patricia said.

"That would make a long day for Dawn Saturday and she has a surgery scheduled for Monday," Linda said.

"Linda, don't worry about it. I will have Sunday to catch up on my sleep. This surgery is no big deal, it takes about 2 hours. John is just keeping me in the hospital overnight as a precaution," Dawn told her.

"Are you sure? I want you two to see the coast and some other things," Linda replied.

"Do what you need to do, Linda," Dawn told her.

"What's in Ireland, Linda?" I asked.

"Drugs."

"What?"

"Pharmaceutical company. They are wanting to expand. The drug companies in Ireland make a lot of the drugs on the market. I have been talking to one company about helping them expand."

"A big expansion?"

"Yes. Now that I have sold the company in Italy, I have the cash to invest instead of the company."

"How much money are you talking about?"

"A lot."

Rachel came back and sat down.

"Everything okay?" Linda asked.

"Fine, he just wanted to tell me what we already knew, for the record."

We flew for about 45 minutes. The air was a getting bumpy at the low altitude. Rachel had gotten us some wine.

'Madrid control, this is Gulfstream 159'

'159'

'We should be picking up your outer marker soon, please advise.'

'159, when you contact outer marker, descend to 5,000. We need to get you out of the air before things get busy. Contact for approach at marker.'

'Roger Madrid control.'

'Ms. Williams, everyone needs to buckle up. We are on a long glide sloop at low altitude and speed, it could be bumpy.' Henry announced.

After a bit, we felt the plane descending.

'Madrid control, this is 159, we are over the outer marker.'

'159 turn 9 zero, we are bringing you straight in.'

'Roger Madrid, thanks for the help'

We flew along for about 15 minutes in the bumpy air; the pilot came on and told us to prepare for landing. Five minutes later we were touching down. We taxied a long time then came to a stop in front of a hanger. A few minutes later the pilot came out and opened the door.

"Henry, is the plane okay?" Linda asked.

"The transponder is sort of burned out now. We will have a new one by midnight from Gulfstream England. When we change it out, we will have a new transponder code. We didn't think he was getting to the flight plans, but we discovered that there are places on the internet where you can track flights on the radar in almost real time. We think he was following our transponder code. Our landing won't show up anywhere for several days. Not knowing how resourceful he is, it will be awhile before he can find out our new transponder ID."

"Thank you, Henry."

"Ms. Williams, this little stunt is going to be a little expensive."

"That's fine."

"Your security is here waiting for you."

"Thanks. We will be here until tomorrow afternoon and then I need to go to Dublin, then fly back home Saturday evening. Can you two get some rest?" Linda asked.

"Dan will be staying with the jet while they replace the transponder tonight or in the morning."

"Henry, I will have one or two of the security people stay with the jet," Rachel told him. "Let Dan get some sleep."

"Okay. Rachel, do you have what I asked for?" Henry asked.

"Yes, I do."

Rachel handed Henry a thick envelope.

We got off the plane and into a waiting limo. We sat for a while as the luggage was loaded into an SUV and while Rachel talked to a guy in a black suit. She finally got in the limo with us and a security guard up front. It took us a bit to get off the airport grounds and on the road to the hotel. It was about 8:00 pm local time.

"Rachel, what did you give, Henry?" Linda asked.

"Don't worry about it," Rachel told her.

We got to the hotel a few minutes after 10:00. When we got to the Madrid Westin, Patricia got out and one of the security guards appeared and followed her in.

"Ms. Williams, it will be a few minutes before we can go in," the black suit up front said.

"What did you say was in Madrid?" Dawn asked.

"An airline company. I just own a part of it, but I want to make sure things are in order. I hope another big company buys them in a few years and I can get out of it."

"You own it, or the company owns."

"Everything overseas, I own parts of. Many of the things in the states are company owned, my parents got into most of them. But I own the company, so it doesn't matter."

"Linda, how are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm fine."

Patricia opened the door a few minutes later.

"Let's go," she said.

Rachel got out then Linda got out. By the time Dawn and I were out there were three black suits around Linda. The entourage went in the hotel and straight to an elevator another suit was holding open. Once everyone was inside we went up to the Royal Suite floor. When we got off the elevator there was another suit waiting. We all walked to the suite. The suit opened the door and we walked into a beautiful marble lobby and other rooms.