Nikolaus had just gotten off the phone with his liaison provided by the Chinese government. Even with the container of undocumented cash buying everything possible to push the project along, they were still a full three months from having the site up and running.<\/p>\n
Concrete simply took too long to cure. All of the power and utilities had been roughed in, but once all of the footings were poured they had to wait three days for them to cure. The crew erecting the security fence was the only crew that could work during that time. Once the footings had cured, both shifts welded up rebar and poured so much concrete they ran out of forms. Again they had to wait days because there were no more forms to be had. It was the peak of construction season over there. The only crew working then was the truck drivers hauling in concrete mix and rebar.<\/p>\n
No doubt about it, Nikolaus was in a pissy mood just like his team doing the harvesting. That situation was nearing open revolt. He couldn\u2019t blame them. They worked twelve days straight and got two off. One worked all day harvesting and the other worked all night. The incinerator simply didn\u2019t shut off. It was not supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to be another six to eight months before they were trying to handle this quantity. The Lutton bombing had really screwed the operation. Granted, it made selling the second secured location easy, but Nikolaus was thinking about finding a place to build a third now.<\/p>\n
He had sized the second site for about half of the freezer storage of the first site. There were twice as many labs and dorm rooms at the new location. The incinerator was now a double incinerator. Nikolaus still hadn\u2019t had time to put together a team to work there. Not a lot of people were going to want to go to China.<\/p>\n
Nikolaus had some people looking for an abandoned factory or some other large site which could be taken over. The party would purchase the land and Nikolaus would pay for the interior modifications with some containers of cash. There had to be a factory in a somewhat remote location which they could obtain. The only trouble was it needed to be within driving distance of the interrogation camp. OK, there were two problems. Nikolaus would need to find a team to work it as well.<\/p>\n
While he was thinking about money, he used his logon ID to check inventory on the special products for Dimitri\u2019s distributor. \u201cEgads!\u201d he said when he saw the numbers. \u201cThis stuff is piling up like snow in the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n
He clicked over to the page with their latest invoices. Every week the distributor placed close to a $2 million order and paid for it within three days. The latest invoice showed the head corporate office had gotten its way. Some of the premium drugs were on this invoice. They had taken only seven containers of currency, but at least they had cleaned out most of the non-euro, non-dollar currencies. There were still the two containers of Indian currency which Nikolaus hoped Hans would use, but at least all of the other stuff was gone.<\/p>\n
The problem appeared not to be on the distributor\u2019s end. They were taking a few containers each time, just as they had said. The problem was the money coming in. Nikolaus did not know how much money was in any given container. His conversation with Hans had educated him about Twinkies. Each Twinkie was a stack of money roughly one-third of a meter high. They were only one bill wide and tightly wrapped in plastic shrink-wrap. The container Hans had received had five of them in it.<\/p>\n
When you think of someone strongly, there is some force in the universe which communicates that fact to them. Nikolaus was reminded of this force the same way everybody else is reminded. The phone beside him rang and it was Hans.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, Nikolaus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are things going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are getting ready to bag three operators, but going to leave the original trainer in play for a few days. We are still trying to determine what his plan is and who the team members are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust in your judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t happen to have one of these care packages in a different flavor, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch as?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEuros.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Once again, I don\u2019t know how much would be in it.\u201d \u201cNo problem. One this size should be way more than they need.\u201d \u201cI will fax you a shipping address, if you think you can get it shipped to Pakistan.\u201d \u201cWhy there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s where we need to hire the chopper to pick these guys up at sea. We don\u2019t have friends in government here. Getting people out of the country means finding a boat to sneak them on and getting them picked up in international waters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should consider using some of the care packages to purchase a long-range deep water boat, like a yacht, but a fast one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t. We never know where we will be or how we will need to transport. A nine-passenger private jet registered to someone squeaky clean with landing rights in Nuremberg would be more useful. Then again, a Huey set up for troop transport would be even better. They have a 1,200-mile range if I remember correctly. Still, you have to have some place to land it and a crew to fly it and clearance with air traffic. It is probably best we simply grease palms and let others take the transportation risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFax me the address in Pakistan. I will have the shipment arrive there tomorrow. Someone will need to sign for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have one person there now. I will call and make certain they are there tomorrow morning. Then I will let the suit know about his care package.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I send you another care package?\u201d \u201cI still have two Twinkies left.\u201d<\/p>\n
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You are reading a special promotional version of \u201cInfinite Exposure\u201d containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:<\/p>\n