Mercury Decending (Mercury Black Authority Book 3) Read online

  MERCURY

  DESCENDING

  SECOND EDITION

  FINIAN BLAKE

  Copyright © 2015 Finian Blake

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1508671443

  ISBN-13:978-1508671442

  DISCLAIMER

  This is a fictional work. As a fictional work certain situations mentioned in this book may bear a resemblance to real life situations. The author claims no participation in or direct knowledge of any illegal events described in this book. To the best of the author’s knowledge the countries, companies, organizations, agencies, and persons described in this book have not participated in and have no knowledge of any of the events described in this book.

  FINIAN BLAKE

  CONTENTS

  1 recovery 1

  2 details 54

  3 A LONG STORY 94

  4 ARRANGEMENTS 131

  5 GAME TIME 215

  6 DECISSIONS 253

  7 PANIC DRILL 319

  8 GO FOR BROKE 401

  9 CLEANUP 469

  1.

  RECOVERY

  Alex was barbecuing four T-bone steaks on the grill. His wife Anna and neighbor Grace were having a drink on the patio while Edward their one-year-old son was having a nap in the playpen. The table was set for four since Anna’s daughter Alice would be joining them. Alice still blamed Alex for her father’s death even though he had not actively participated in Alex’s last operation. She was twenty-five and was living in the townhome on the other side of Grace’s home which Anna originally intended for her sister Sarah. Sarah had decided to run the studio at the Amazon Inn in England. Alice walked down the dock side of the waterfront townhomes passing the large boats of the neighbors. The family’s Cal twenty-five stood out like a dwarf compared to the other yachts.

  Alice had passed her state boards, and was preparing to start a practice. She would be a pediatrician soon. Wanting to go into practice she was determined to ask for help setting up her practice at the barbecue. Alice was intent on claiming some of the money that Alex had taken from her family. It was time to see if she could get him to allow Anna to invest in her practice. It always bothered her to see Anna asking Alex for money. She never mentioned what had happened to Gregory’s share of the profits. Alice could not forgive Anna for marrying the man that she blamed for her father’s death. She walked up the few stairs to the patio where Alex was grilling the steaks. This would be an uncomfortable afternoon but Alice was determined to shake some money out of Alex. When she arrived Alice kissed her mother, “Hi mom, hi Grace, hello Adam, Noah, I mean Alex.” Alex took the slight in stride, but Anna was not so calm.

  “You may not like Alex, but you can use his name. He is the father of your brother Edward.” Anna had asked Alice to assist with Edward’s birth, and was flatly rejected. She did not feel comfortable with a brother that could be her son. Alice did accept a drink from Alex.

  Alex decided to let the women get comfortable before serving the steaks. Alice skipped the preliminaries moving to the meat of the issue with her mother. “Anna I would like to know if you are going to help me start my practice. Can you get Alex to kick loose with some of your money?”

  “No, you have your own money.” Anna’s answer caught Alice by surprise. “When Gregory died I put his share in reserve for you. I thought that it would be your inheritance from him.” This was a total surprise to Alice because Anna never mentioned this to her.

  “How much money do I have?”

  “There is a little over sixteen million dollars.” Alice’s next comment was lost. She fully expected to negotiate with her mother to even get a few thousand dollars. It was clear that Alex and Anna had money. They never spent that much and they never discussed it in front of Alice although Alex always paid for her college expenses.

  Anna patted her on the knee. “Alex insisted that your father’s share be held separate from our shares. I decided to make that your inheritance from your father Gregory. I had my share and Alex had his.” Alice always believed that Alex married her mother to take over the family’s money.

  “I invested his share in a trust account, and paid the taxes,” Anna continued. “Your father’s share has always been available to you. How do you think that we bought your townhouse? It is yours you know.”

  Alice was surprised, “No, I don’t know. I thought that you bought it for me to get me out of the house.”

  Anna shook her head solemnly. “It is in your name Alex bought it for you. He even paid for your college, so your father’s money is untouched.”

  Alice was confused. “If you have your own money why do you keep asking Alex for money?”

  “It’s a woman thing he likes to buy things for me and I let him know what he can buy?” Anna laughed.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

  “You took such pride in being loyal to your father I did not want to ruin your fun. You would not have believed me anyway.”

  Alice was still in a combative mood. She decided to go for the whole story.

  “You were pregnant before my father died. Edward was born eight months after his death, and Edward was a full term baby. You were pregnant before Gregory died. You were cheating with Alex.”

  “Yes and no, your father was having sex with other women too. He knew what I was doing, so it was not cheating. We lived that way, but we loved each other, and we had sex with other people. I did have sex with Alex before Gregory died. I did not use birth control because Gregory and I wanted another child. I thought that I was incapable of getting pregnant at the time. Gregory was having sex with a woman called Jennifer and was definitely not on the side lines.” Alice was somewhat shocked.

  “You had sex with whoever you pleased?”

  “No, if Gregory disapproved of someone he would make it clear. He approved of me having sex with Grace, and we still occasionally have sex.” Anna’s comment caught Grace completely by surprise. She could feel the spray from Grace’s drink on her legs. Alice looked at Grace in shock.

  “How could you?” Alice looked up to Alex for his look of shock.

  “Sometimes it is the three of us.” The statement was matter of fact and without emotion. Grace was turning a bright red. Alice was her neighbor. She had to see her every day. It became obvious to Alice that she was missing a lot of information. She looked at Alex realizing that she needed to reevaluate her position toward him. She always believed that Gregory knew nothing about Alex and Anna.

  Alex declared that the steaks were ready, and Anna put out the rest of their dinner. The meal was half finished before anybody spoke again.

  Adam finally broke the silence. “Anna, you have not told Alice how much of her inheritance she can use.”

  “Alice you may use any portion of your money that you choose. It is your money, but the big question is. Do you want an office for yourself, or a building for a medical center?” Alice had not even considered that option because she was planning a simple office thinking that money would be a problem. Alex and Anna lived simply, and they had a nice house, but possessed nothing that was extravagant. Alice never realized how much money they had. They had the same furnishings in the house since they moved in keeping Gregory’s small sailboat in the slip.

  “What do you mean by a whole building?”

  “You could rent, buy, or build making it a medical center. You are a doctor, but you could be a landlord too.” Anna smiled at Alice waiting for the possibilities to ferment in her mind.

  Grace dealt with commercial real estate offering her views. “For about two, or three million you could build a first class medical center that could house several doc
tors, an x ray clinic and a laboratory. The rents would be substantial and you could choose your partners which would be a blessing all by itself.” Grace did not just want to rent an office Alice. With all of that money she wanted to manage something big for her. There are several lots that would work.

  “Six months out of medical school and you would be in charge of your future!” The conversation narrowed down to the possibilities. Shortly before midnight Alice walked back to her townhome feeling much different about her world.

  Deciding to camp out for the evening, Anna went out to the sail boat while Alex closed up the house. They settled Edward in the main cabin crawling up in the V birth. Anna straddled Alex.

  “Why didn’t you push Alice into changing her mind about us?”

  “She needs to make up her own mind,” Alex shrugged. “There is a lot to digest. The young woman has had too many surprises for one helping.” Alex did his best to calm Anna down. “You did a good job raising her. She will come up with the answers that she can live with.”

  “I will make her understand what she is doing to us.” Anna was not satisfied. “She has gotten away with this act for too long.” Alex grabbed a coil of rope quickly binding her hands.

  “It has been a while since we played pirate.” Alex slipped a gag in her mouth leaving her only able to mumble. He gently began to expose her sensitive areas probing them as he went. He talked quietly as he did. “I did not say anything all these years because she would not understand. As I have said, Alice will come up with her own decisions when she is ready. You withheld a huge amount of information. She needs to work through it. All that you told her was that her father died in a riding accident. I would like you to tell her the full story letting her fit the pieces together on her own. When she is done Alice will have the answers that make sense to her. You may be able to tell somebody what to think, but that does not mean that they will agree with you.”

  All the while that Alex was talking, he played with Anna. She was in a frantic state as he played. The motion of the water had rocked Edward to sleep. Suddenly the boat made an unusual rocking motion. Alex was instantly alert throwing a blanket over Anna to cover her. Grabbing the gun that he kept in the overhead, Alex started out of the V birth coming face to face with Alice.

  “I was looking for mom. She is not in the house. Is she here?” Alice heard a quiet moan from the V birth.

  “Anna is forward. We were just settling in for the night. Why don’t we have breakfast in the morning?” Alice would not take no for an answer pressing to see Anna.

  “I must speak to her now!” Alex thought for a minute stepping aside. Anna’s feet were sticking out from under the blanket and Alice could see that her mother’s feet were bound.

  “We were playing ‘pirate’,” Alex smiled sheepishly. “We thought that we would not be interrupted on the boat.” Alex guided Alice to a seat on the edge of the ‘V’ birth. “Anna your daughter must talk to you.” All that he could hear was an angry mumble. Alex had Alice wait in the main cabin while he rearranged Anna’s clothing to make her presentable. He was about to untie her when he had a thought.

  “Ok Alice, you can talk to her.” When Alice reentered the birth, Anna was still bound and gagged.

  “I suggest that you say what you have to say, before you take the gag out.” He kissed Alice on the cheek taking Edward in the house.

  “Mother I…” Alice was about to remove the gag when she decided to follow Alex’s advice. “Mother you lied to me. There was much more involved than a riding accident.” Anna fiddled with her bonds for a minute freeing her hands, removing her gag, and pulling Alice to her.

  “I never lied to you. Gregory was riding buy himself when he had his accident. He was jumping, and the horse balked sending him over the obstacle and into the hazard. Gregory weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. He was much too heavy to be jumping horses. He broke his neck and died instantly.”

  “That is the part you told me about. What about the rest?” Anna and Alice talked until two in the morning.

  Alex awoke at seven in the morning to find his hands and feet bound. Anna was straddling him.

  “How could you!”

  “I thought that I would give Alice a head start. Your hands were tied in front of you, and you could have easily pulled the gag out at any time.” Anna put her head on his chest.

  “I know that. I let her think that she had the advantage. Your knots suck I could have gotten out at any time.” Anna kissed him passionately. “We made our peace, but you are still on decision with her. However, you are on much better ground.” A wicked smile crossed her face.

  “You have a price to pay.” She started to bite his nipples. Have I ever told you that I love you?”

  “Only several times every day.” They talked as Anna played. Alex had no intention of doing anything else. The phone rang at ten AM. A familiar voice asked to talk to Adam.

  “He is tied up right now. Can I do anything for you?”

  “This is Nadia. I am at LAX and need to get to your house. Could you give me directions?” Anna held the phone up to Alex’s ear with Nadia repeating her request.

  “Here is Jeff’s number at the studio. Cassandra works with him there. I believe that it is less than a mile from LAX. Anna and I will come down to pick you up. Give Jeff a call to be sure that he is in today. Call me right back.” Alex and Anna hopped in the shower and dressed quickly. Anna answered the phone and took a quick message.

  “We will meet Nadia at Jeff’s place. Let’s go.”

  They hopped in the Mercedes speeding off. Alex was looking forward to seeing Nadia again. He had not seen her in over two years.

  The Mercedes pulled into the parking lot of Jeff’s building. When the elevator door opened on the seventh floor, they could hear the laughter down the hall. Jeff was in lust, since Nadia was a beautiful woman with every part of her body in perfect proportion to her six foot six height. She moved with a grace that was unusual for a woman of her height. Jeff was always trying to get her to pose for him. His wife Cassandra met them at the front desk. “My sister will be right with you.” Cassandra was Anna’s step daughter and niece because she was Gregory’s daughter and Anna’s sister Sarah was her mother.

  “Jeff is in back photographing Nadia in her bra and panties. He was wondering if she would model for him professionally.” Dressed only in her lingerie Nadia ran to Alex and Anna embracing them both. With her high heels, Nadia was almost seven feet tall.

  “Susan sent me out to bring you back to the Inn. She wanted me to come out personally and told me to bring you back by force if you refused.” Nadia waited for a reaction. When she got none, she laughed. “I really came to see my sister Alice.” Alex had forgotten that she was just a year older than Alice. He was impressed by her competence from the first time that they met. He regarded her as both an equal and a daughter. Nadia demonstrated her talents every time they encountered each other. “I understand that Alice is graduating from medical school.”

  Anna coughed, “She has graduated from medical school. Alice will be done with her internship in seven months. She will soon be a full-fledged doctor with her own practice soon after that.” Anna invited Jeff and Cassandra to the house for a barbeque this evening. While Anna was saying good-bye to Cassandra, Nadia pulled Alex to the side.

  “‘Mercury’ called the Inn asking for ‘Hermes’.” Alex felt a cold finger touch his heart. He wanted nothing to do with any more assignments. For the last few years, all of his activities had been completely legal. He made it a point to be a law abiding citizen. “Susan said that she did not know a ‘Hermes’. ‘Mercury’ said he wanted ‘Hermes’, Noah Body, or Adam Furst. Susan said that she would try and sent me here. She seemed fairly well shaken after the call and she wanted it to be a personal message.” Alex knew that ‘Mercury’ was not fishing. Alex figured since ‘Mercury’ did not call here this area was still reasonably secure. He decided to cut off any further knowledge that ‘Mercury’ had of him, or h
is family.

  Alex made the decision to return to the Inn before investigating the purpose of the ‘Mercury’ call. “Thank you for telling me on the side, but you must tell me in front of Anna. She needs to hear this too.” Anna decided to go to lunch in Marina Del Rey. They found a Mexican restaurant and the hostess gave them a table at the back of the dining area. Nadia repeated her message in front of Anna and she was not at all happy. Anna’s protest was immediate.

  “You told them that there was no way that you were going to do another arms deal.”

  “‘Mercury’ just told me that he knows where I have been. I have to at least find out what he wants. We have been staying away from the Inn for that very reason. I think it might be time to visit our old friends. Edward might want to visit his sisters.” Both Anna and Alex had cut off all communication to prevent unintentional discovery allowing Susan and Lynn to raise their children without interference.

  “You mean his brothers.” Nadia corrected. “Susan and Lynn both had boys.” Anna raised an eyebrow in surprise.

  “Alex thought that they would have girls. I believe that it is time for a run back to the Inn. They are both Alex’s children too, and I would like to see Edwards’ brothers.” They finished lunch returning to the house.

  As soon as they had shown Nadia her room she changed into her bikini sprinting down the dock to Alice’s house pounding on the patio door franticly. Alice answered the door without even looking at who was knocking. Nadia literally lifted her out of her shoes.

  “You need to be more careful. Someone could push in the house, and take advantage of you.” Alice let Nadia’s comment drop, hugging her back fiercely. Nadia was fully excited. “I thought that I would never see you again when you and your parents disappeared, I did not know what to think.”