After unpacking and storing everything I picked up a trail map from the lobby and set out to do a bit of exploring, tied in with a brisk jog. From the looks of the map I could take the Deer Lick Gap trail, and still be back here in time to clean up well before dinner. I set off down the trail at an easy trot.
Two hours later I drug my sorry butt into my room and collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily. Whuff. I’d forgotten about the altitude difference. Hadn’t worked out at a 3,000 foot altitude in years. Some of the slopes had been steep, too. I peeled off my clothes, planning on a leisurely shower.
The door swung open and a nicely curved brunette, somewhere in her forties, was framed in the doorway, a startled expression on her face. “Oh! Sorry, didn’t know anyone was here yet. I’m across the hall, and we, um…” she ran down, eyes wandering while I kept walking towards the bathroom, still nude.
“I’ll be out in a minute, Ma’am. Just got through with a workout.” I closed the bathroom door, while her half-opened mouth still tried to form words. For once I’d gotten the last word with a woman! A shudder ran through me. Stimulating, too. Gonna be one helluva great two weeks if this was any indication.
CHAPTER FOUR
Soon as I was cleaned up and fully clothed I knocked on the opened door across the hall, noting with regret the tall man standing next to the lady who’d gained my interest a few minutes ago. “Hi, Neighbors. Thought I’d better formally introduce myself. I’m Francis, Francis Baker.”
The guy stepped forward, hand outstretched. “I’m Carl McLeod and this is my wife, Luella. I have to congratulate you on being able to embarrass her so badly she couldn’t talk coherently for at least two minutes, a record in her case.”
The woman in question was in the process of turning a bright red once again. “I’m-I’m sorry for busting into your room like that. Didn’t know it was occupied yet. We like to have a cross-breeze through the room. Helps cut down on becoming too stuffy during the day, since there’s no air conditioning.”
I took her hand in both of mine, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “No problem, Luella. And I’ll make sure to leave my door open much as possible. I’ll also try to remember to wear clothes when it’s open, too.”
Her sudden bray of laughter set me back on my heels, teeth on edge from the raucus sound. God, she sounded like a donkey! I kept the smile on my face while turning towards the door. “Well, I still got lots to do. I’ll see you two at the get-together tonight after supper.”
Back in my room I set up the computer, running the antenna wire for it to the window. This particular computer didn’t depend on local wi-fi. Expensive, but could be used anywhere, just like my secure satellite cell phone. Which was a good thing, since cell phone coverage was spotty at best up here. Once warmed up and connected, the first thing to come up was a priority message from Alice telling me to call Charlie ASAP. From the brevity of her email I could tell the files I’d sent must’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest, since she was usually chatty even when sending messages. I punched numbers on my phone, wondering what the talk with Charlie was going to cost me this time. Last call I’d made to him a couple months ago had run me five thousand bucks.
Charlie answered on the first ring. “That you, Francis?”
“None other. How you been, Charlie?”
“Um-Great-Hey, glad you called so soon. Are you on your secure phone?”
I perked up at that. It had to be very interesting to have him remember security. “Yes, I am. Those files I sent get your interest?”
“You bet they did! Man, the person who swiped these files did you a favor. There’s a lot of money here for the picking, if that’s what you had in mind.”
I shut my door. When money was mentioned, privacy was in order. “I most certainly do. If you read all the files, you probably know this stuff was retrieved by an FBI undercover agent from some really bad guys.” I sat down, pulling a pen and notepad towards me. “We need to not only remove the funds from any accounts we can break into, but do it without the FBI knowing it was done.”
“Yeah, thought so. It also means we need to go to Belize to suck those accounts dry. There’s a lot more money here than you realize.”
I came alert, mind shifting into overdrive. “How much more?”
“In the first three files dealing with accounts that had funds just for Mister Franks there was nine million.”
My heart rate picked up speed. “Nine? I thought Lenny said there was probably only five…”
“That information was two months old. They got a few more large deposits over the past six weeks. From the information on the log the undercover agent kept, they were shipping something big off to Canada and getting a potful of cash back. Must’ve been payment for whatever they sent. Drugs, probably.”
“Wow. I’ll take it. How about the encrypted files?”
“That’s where it gets interesting. I had to get my best friend to lend a hand. They were super complicated to get into. Good thing I got his help, too. He disabled two really nasty traps that were set to attack the system of whoever tried to break in. He also came up with a plan to suck out some serious bucks from what we found.”
“How much we talking about?”
“Well, even though this is a secure line, I think we’d better talk about that face to face. Hows about meeting us at the Belize airport in two days? It’ll take us that long to set up what we got planned to do.”
I nodded.“I’ll be there.
