The Investigators Pt 03

About 4:00 Lee woke Mike and said that if they did not get up now, that they would never get any sleep that night. He agreed and slowly got up and asked if she needed the bathroom and was told that she had already been and had also taken her shower so it was his turn. He told her it would only take a few minute for him to do his thing and for her to make herself at home, which she evidently already doing as she was wearing one of his favorite dress shirts as a gown now. He had seen that in movies countless times but never realized that women actually did that as he seldom had overnight guests. He had to admit that it looked good on her though, damn good. Or maybe she just looked good in it. Or both.

After his shower, Lee said "Let's get some coffee, and then call Davis and Wilson to see what was going on and maybe see about the next phase of their job." Mike agree and said to pour the coffee while he got his phone and made the call.

When Davis answered. he told Mike to put phone on speaker, "There have been some sudden developments in both Utah and Nevada. The two of them really needed to be somewhere far away for a couple of weeks, maybe more. You should pack for warm sunny days, partly cool evenings and nights, take your swimsuits and suntan oil and your passports and go to the American Airlines terminal at the airport and give them your names. Tickets are already waiting for you there.

"Hotel accommodations have been made at your destination. Wilson also said that as the rooms at the hotel they were booked in were almost 700 a night they could not afford a suite and that they had reserved a large room with a sitting area and two king sized beds, and he really hoped that those arrangements would be acceptable to them. He told them they were big kids and well...... Just be careful and to play nice."

Lee helped Mike repack his bags and then they left to go to Lee's apartment which Mike found to be lovely and tastefully decorated with a classy woman's touch. He tried to help her pack but she shooed him away and told him to go to the refrigerator and toss everything that might spoil that she had not already tossed. He got the idea she really just wanted him to be doing something besides "helping" her and smiled.

When she had finished packing she also had two full bags and a carryon besides her laptop bag. Mike asked her how she was fixed for cash and she told him she had spent only about $200 of the $7500 Davis had given them and Mike said that he had spent about the same so they should be alright as for as cash was concerned but that they could always get more if need be.

As they were driving to the airport, Mike called Davis and told him that they were on the way to the airport and that it might be nice to know where they were going and what they were supposed to go when they got there.

Davis laughed and said "You think? Okay, you are going to the island of Aruba, part of the Dutch West Indies also known as the Dutch Antilles. They are an independent now now but still closely tied to Holland by history, tradition, and lots of ancestral blood. It is located about 15 or so miles north of the northern tip of Venezuela. As you will discover, Aruba is a special place.

"Lee, Mike already knows about this project but not the details. Our company is working with the islands lone petroleum refinery to develop a system to safely collect and store pitch, a petrochemical byproduct, in a holding area to be used for feed stock for the new twin town coker unit being designed at this time. It is an open-ended cost plus contract where the refinery does all the engineering and supplies all the materials and we supply all the manpower and equipment as well as supervision to build their designs. The refinery is owned by an American oil company based in Huston. However, the Aruban government also had a financial interest in the refinery, therefore they have a stake in the project and thus some say in how things were done on their island. So far there has been no trouble at all.

"Now, all of a sudden, the oil company's board of directors are saying the project is millions of dollars in the red and way over budget and that they want the project shut down and all our employees sent home to Trinidad, Columbia, Venezuela, Panama, Argentina, The US, and wherever else they may have come from. Our company or any other company must bring in all the tradesmen needed for a project as down there is not a trained workforce in Aruba to speak of. Anyone that really knows anything already had a job and does not want to lose it, as long term jobs are almost impossible to find. That means that all tradesmen are brought in from elsewhere for a particular job and then sent home as soon as it was over. They know and accept this as it is a way of life down there. They are hired through various manpower contractors with offices all over the Caribbean and South America.

"The refinery management will be waiting for you the conference room with open arms and a kiss on each cheek...no, wait, that is French and not Dutch. They have high hopes of you saving this project for them, therefore you will have all the assistance you will need. It is generally thought that the whole mess is an accounting or paperwork mess but so far no one has able to find it. It is believed and hoped to be an honest mistake of some sort and not an act of industrial sabotage or wrong doing.

"After you clear customs, go to the main lobby and someone will meet you there with a sign to take you to your hotel. A car has been rented for you and it is at the hotel waiting for you. Just check at the desk. Let me also mention that the drivers in Aruba were only slightly more cautious than those in Paris, which is rumored to have the worst drivers in the world." Mike did not know about that as he had seen some pretty bad drivers in his travels, but accepted the fact that they would have to be on their toes while driving on the island.

They had an uneventful flight down, stopping in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for some reason and letting the passengers off the plan for a short time. Mike and Lee looked around the terminal and bought some local snacks from a vendor in the main area of the terminal and some souvenir tee shirts from San Juan before heading back to the plane.

When they arrived in Aruba, they were surprised to find that they had to deplane out on the tarmac and not at a gate and have to walk to the terminal and customs and passport control. They were really surprised at the wind that blew. About 15 or 20 miles an hour Mike thought and asked about it. Someone answered "What wind?" then went on to tell them that they were feeling the trade winds blowing off the ocean to the east, and that the waters there averaged about 78 degrees' day and night so the air temperature on the island averaged between 78 and 82 degrees 24/7 regardless. And as all water on the island is actually distilled sea water and moved about in pipes located on top of the ground, as the whole island is nothing but an old coral reef or atoll making digging ditches for the water almost cost prohibitive for everyone but the hotels. Thus, there is no such thing in Aruba as a cold shower.

After easily clearing customs, they went through the double doors into the terminal lobby and sure enough, there was what looked to be a young Aruban woman holding a sign that just said 'Mike & Lee' on it with no last names. More secretive stuff from Davis he wondered. They went with the young woman who asked if they had a nice flight down and after being assured they had, she took them to the van the hotel was using for a shuttle and they left for their hotel. They were both surprised when the driver pulled into the Ritz-Carlton. Damn, Mike thought. This had to be the most expensive hotel on the island as he had heard that even a regular room could run close to a thousand dollars a night, so if that was where they were going to stay it was no wonder that Davis had not booked a suite. He wondered aloud why they had not booked a room at a more modestly priced hotel. Security could be one reason, and he planned to ask Davis about it soon.

They checked in and were given their key cards for their room and told that their room key was the only ID they could use on the beach to be able to utilize the beach furniture as non-guests would take them all if it wasn't for that rule. They were told that all the other hotels had the same rule. They were also given the key to their rental car and the paperwork for it. There was a message to call their office first thing the next day and then they were taken to their room by a bellman.

Once inside the room, they both just stopped and looked around them. Opulence was the order of the day it seemed as this was one fancy place and large, too. Mike thought this one-bedroom place was almost half again as large as the suite they had rented in Elko.

They unpacked their bags and Mike looked at Lee and said "Now what???"

She answered that she had no idea, but was sure that if they got into their bathing suits and went down to the beach that something might come to them. Eventually, that is. So they did dress for the beach and went down to find it warm and cozy in the beach chairs that the hotel provided. They just lay there enjoying the sun for quite a while before Lee said that she did not really want to go swimming so she was ready to go to the room if that was alright with Mike. He told her he had been thinking about the same thing so they picked up the hotel's beach towels and went upstairs to their room and took turns showering and dressing in casual clothing which they had been told was the order of the day on the island and that no one ever wore a tie, even to be buried in.

Not knowing the island and not wanting to get lost, they decided to eat in the hotel dining room and had a fantastic meal of fresh caught seafood with all the trimmings and a choice glass of Argentine wine to go with it. The wine steward told them that the best wines found on the island were from Argentina or Chile and imported especially for them, and that they were very good.

After supper, the two of them returned to their room and decided to get ready for bed as it had been a bit of a long day and the next one seemed like it might be also. Lee went into the bathroom first and dressed for bed and came out and told Mike it was his and he got up to dress for bed and realized that he did not wear pajamas to bed. In fact, he usually slept nude but decided to again sleep in his boxers so he would not embarrass Lee if she saw him. He would have to accept these new conditions as long as she was around, which he hoped would be a for a long, long time.

When he came out of the bathroom, Mike headed for the second bed but before he reached it, Lee tossed the edge of the covers on her bed over and said, "Nope. In here. I think my butt is going to get cold in this air-conditioning and will need your help in keeping warm again. So turn out the lights and come on. Mike did as he was told and climbed in and covered up. He rolled onto his side with his back towards hers and when he did she asked "And just how is this supposed to keep my butt warm, pray tell? Now roll over and snuggle like you are supposed to." Mike always honored a lady's request, if she asked nicely, that is.

The wakeup call came at 6 AM and Mike jumped out of bed so he could take care of his morning functions quickly and then let Lee have the bathroom for her to get ready while he had coffee and then took his turn to shower and dress. As soon as he was finished he stepped out of the bathroom and went to the coffee pot and Lee went into the bathroom. A short time later she was finished and Mike again took his turn. They had time to stop by the hotel's breakfast buffet and eat but not enough time to sit and savor it like they had done the previous day.

Once finished, they got their car and headed East towards San Nicholas and after arriving, they found and then stopped at the main gate and security office. They went into the security office and presented their passports for identification and soon had their new refinery ID badges. These badges would allow them access into just about any area of the refinery. They were told how to find the main office building at the other end of the refinery and where to go once they were at that building.

As they drove through the refinery on its main road, Mike asked Lee if she had ever been inside a refinery before. She said she had not so this would be both interesting and educational to her. As they drove slowly through the plant, Mike pointed out various things to her and noted that what they were seeing in places would never be allowed to take place in the states or Canada or lots of the rest of the world for that matter due to OSHA and the EPA.

Lee said that she could tell from her other experiences that this refinery was sadly lacking in so many areas. Did the Aruba government not care? Mike told her he doubted they did, as long as the tourist dollar was not slowed in any way. As they neared the office building Mike happened to look over to his right and just stopped and backed up and then turn in to that road. Mike pointed to a huge mound of what looked like a bright yellow powder piled close to the water on a pier. He asked her if she knew what that yellow powder was and when she said she had no clue, he told her it was sulfur. Pure sulfur, and that in the states it would most likely be liquefied and stored in huge dome top tanks with live steam coils to keep it liquid. Mike could not believe what he was seeing. Another world for sure and he turned around and continues to the office building.

When they arrived and parked they went into the office building and a receptionist greeted them and asked their names and business and after receiving them called someone to come and escort them to their meeting room.

A tall and slim man came down the stairs and greeted them and escorted them back upstairs to a large room with long tables laid out a square with the center open so someone could be inside there to work if necessary. They were introduced to a few other people that were there working on something or another. Mike assumed it was documentation pertaining to the R & D project.

The man in charge said his name was Carlton Reedy but to call him Carl. He explained what the project was supposed to do and how it had progressed up to now and what the plans for the future were if it was allowed to continue, that is.

The basic concept was that presently the refinery was burning a hydrocarbon byproduct called pitch in their furnaces and heaters to fuel them as pitch had always been a waste product to be disposed of almost any way possible, usually burning it as a fuel. The oil company had decided to build a large twin tower delayed coking unit which would supply much needed coke to fuel the furnaces in the steel mills of various South American Countries. The idea was to develop a means where the 650-degree pitch was injected into 80-degree seawater along with superheated steam to agitate and warm the seawater and create a sort of woven and porous rope that could be pumped through pips across a part of the island to a holding area where the pitch would cool and solidify while waiting for the Coker to be built. This pitch would be the feed stock for that Coker and the refinery wanted somewhere between 5 and 10 million barrels of it on the ground and ready to pick up and use as soon as the Coker was finished and ready to use. They had slowly increased the size of the piping from the experimental stage using half inch diameter pipe up to where it was now using 3-inch pipe and was ready to increase size again. The final goal was to be using either a 12-inch or a 14-inch system and making the pitch as fast as they could. Logistics and the availability of pumps that size with sufficient power to move the heavy product as far as it was needed to be moved was also a problem unless relay stations with more steam or boilers to keep the pitch hot enough to be soft enough to move through the pipeline were added.

After looking it all over, Mike personally thought that while the concept was valid, they should stop at the 6-inch pipe size level, as it that would move lots of pitch in 24 hours and that size would not necessitate huge and expensive pumps at numerous locations. He thought he might discuss it with the refinery engineers as soon as possible after finding the accounting problem, that is.

And now the board thinks the project is millions over budget and wants to shut it all down and sell the pitch to some South American refinery with their own Coker and not build one in Aruba, thus costing many jobs and money to the local economy and a huge tax loss to the government, hence the interest in finding and correcting the problem.

Printouts of all the labor expenditures and a complete accounting of the materials used were presented to Mike and Lee and they spent the rest of the day studying those documents and making notes until it was time to knock off for the day and return to the hotel. They had not broken for lunch opting instead for just coffee as they worked, so they were ready for a good supper that evening. It had been suggested to them that if they wanted a great meal, even though somewhat pricy even by Aruba standards, for them to go alone the beach front drive and when the road crossed a little finger of water, to look to the right and there should be a sort of pumpkin colored building called Marina Pirata or pirates marina where pirates were supposed to have hidden back in the 1600 and 1700's. Since their curiosity had been peaked they tried it and found it was great. Expensive but good. Everything cooked Aruban style, whatever that was.

When they returned to the hotel room they found their message light flashing. Mike could not believe that with the amount of tourist dollars being brought into the island from all over the world, that they had not upgraded the cell phone system to allow international calls without having to go through a switchboard and operator on a landline. Maybe in time.

Mike called Davis at home and he answered on the second ring and asked Mike how it had gone that day and Mike told him he thought he might have an idea of why the accounting was so messed up and would know for sure in the next two days. Davis was very happy to hear that and asked if they wanted to stay there for a few days or come home to see about another project as soon as they finished down there. They both told Davis that they might take a couple of days off to unwind and then return home to do laundry and repack for wherever. Davis laughed and said that he had some news for them.

First off, the PI that had been caught trying to spy on the mob boys at the casino was out of the hospital and recovering at home and that he did not have any money worries now. Secondly, it appears James Franks was acting alone, or at least without guidance from the mob and had been murdered for letting to much information out. Third, the murder of James Franks had been quickly solved due to witnesses and the killer could not wait to turn on the mob for a reduced sentence and maybe a spot on the witness protection list, although that was doubtful as while they excused a lot of wrong doing, murder was not normally one of the crimes excused. Usually at best the most a murderer could hope for was reduced sentence with a chance at parole somewhere down the line. Unless, of course, one of their Mafia friends found them first, which happened quite often

And finally, the casino had been raided by the FBI, IRS, US Marshalls service, and Homeland Security and had taken a ton of people into custody and had confiscated all the books and records and paperwork and computers and anything else of interest to them and had frozen all assets and bank accounts and property of everyone involved, so even if the bad guys were able to get someone to bail them out they would not have a dime to spend for food or a place to run and hide. And that each of them would be watched 24/7 if they were released on bond to make sure that they did not have a stash in a safety deposit box someplace hidden in the backyard. They were in fact destitute and at the mercy of the US government.