The Morrisons Ch. 24

"Hold that thought, beautiful. Let me see what I can find out for you. I'm going to ask the owner. Oh wait. That would be me. No I don't think you will find anyone with a price list. It's one of the hazards of being the neighbor of the owner. Let me ask you a question, Kim. When you have guests over to your house, do you give them a price list?"

Kim looked at Marsh like he had two heads. "Of course not. They're our guests. We share with them anything we have. We aren't open to the public either."

"Ah so. I see," Marsh said. "So that means since you are not "the public" you don't have anything to worry about here, do you? You're invited family and you don't need a price list, right?"

Marsh lifted his hand with one finger up. "Give me just a minute." He turned and picked up the phone again. When someone answered he asked whoever it was to come in to answer some questions for him. In about a minute Ginny walked into the room.

"Ginny, can I talk you into sitting down with us for a few minutes?" Marsh asked.

"Sure Marsh, what can I help you with?" Ginny pulled a chair over to the end of the table between Marsh and Kim.

"Ginny," Marsh started. "Is our little Hole here open to the public? Can anybody just drive out here and come in for breakfast, lunch or dinner?"

"It's happened before." Ginny answered. "It's not real common, but if someone walks in and wants something to eat, we never send anyone away hungry."

"And do we have a menu or a price list for these people who just walk in and want something to eat?" Marsh asked.

"Not really." Ginny replied. "If they want to pay us, we take a donation, but a lot of them are homeless folks and there are a few homeless veterans that stop in a couple of times a week. Jimmy won't let them pay. He says they already paid with their service, and they need to be fed. Jimmy is really adamant about that. He's told us if we see a vet on the street we should invite them out here to get a good square meal. We never keep leftover food around long enough to spoil. Jimmy has a couple of guys that he sends in to the homeless veteran's shelter on River Street to take all the left over stuff to someone who needs it. Last I knew he was making some plans to have a better shelter built up for them, and he was going to hire a few more of them to help us around here. We have five of them working here now. They have to stay clean and sober, and Jimmy has some guy that makes sure they have a place to stay, or gets them back to the shelter at night."

My interest was in high gear now. These people were walking the same line that I was interested in. I decided to interrupt the conversation.

"Ginny," I said. "Who's this Jimmy, and how long has he been involved with the homeless veteran's shelter?"

Becca was very quick to step in. "Jimmy is my grandfather." she said. "And he found out about the homeless shelter a couple of months ago. He's been trying to work through some red tape with the city, but the city doesn't like my grandfather much, so he's looking for someone to partner with, grandpa thinks maybe that partner can work with the city better than he can since he has a history with them. He has had a few problems with some crooked politicians, and they get in his way all the time. He's working on it, but with politics involved it takes time."

"I just found out about the homeless veteran's shelter as well." I told no one in particular. "I don't have any enemies that I know of in the city yet. Maybe I'm the partner your grandfather needs to hook up with."

Marsh got back into the conversation at this point. He looked straight at me, and said, "I can speak for the Turner Companies, Dan. If you are interested in helping the veteran's shelter, we need to get together, and discuss our options, and how we can work to help these men and women."

"In the meantime, Ginny, when and if any of the Morrison family or the persons around this table show up here, they are on the preferred guest list. Kim, There is no menu or price list. If any of the Morrison family want to come out here, you come on out and eat. If you want to donate to the homeless veterans, I trust that Ginny will use the money in an appropriate manner.

Marsh looked around the table and saw that we were all finished eating. Dan, I would like to take y'all on a little helicopter tour of the Turner Company. Shall we head out to the helipad?"

"Ginny," Ted was speaking. "May I speak to the chefs for a minute?"

"Sure Ted." Ginny replied. "Come with me, I'll take you to the kitchen."

Ginny and Ted went into the kitchen where Ted spoke to Jack and Teresa. He thanked them for the best lunch he could remember eating.

Ted was out to the helipad before the rest of us were loaded up and strapped in.

When we were all inside the helicopter Marsh asked if we wanted to have the side doors open or closed. I voted for open, as did Kim and Ted. Beth hesitantly said she could live with open doors, and Marion said she'd try to buck up, but she wanted to sit in one of the middle seats. - Away from the door.

Marsh opened a storage compartment and handed out headsets, and showed us where to plug them into the intercom system. Once the system was switched on we could all talk to and hear each other even with the noise of the jet engines, and the sounds of the rotors.

Becca was starting the jet turbines as Marsh climbed into the co-pilot's seat. He put on his headset and went through a welcome aboard speech like you might hear on a commercial jet liner, combined with a warning speech like you would hear on an amusement park ride. You know the type: "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. We'd like to thank you for flying with Turner Air Tours this afternoon. We know you have a choice. You could choose to walk back to work. Please keep your hands and feet inside the cabin at all times, unless you need to step out for a smoking break. In that case we do ask that when you step out please stay away from the tail rotor, it can be deadly, and it plays hell with our paint scheme. Again thank you for flying with us."

Even Marion was a little more relaxed and laughed at Marsh's humor.

Becca gently lifted the helicopter off the ground, but she stayed pretty low as she turned to cross the road and headed up over the green countryside. I could see a well groomed gravel road under our right side. The terrain was mixed with open fields and forests of large trees. Becca kept a comfortable distance between us and the trees and soon we were all enjoying the beautiful scenery.

It was just a few minutes until Marsh pointed out a lake out ahead. Becca slowed the helicopter, and flew down to only a few feet above the water. She flew along the shoreline on the right side of us, and Marsh pointed to a house and then several cabins along the lakefront.

"If you ever need to get away from the crowds and just enjoy a quiet night at the lake, please give one of us a call." He said. "The lake is privately owned, and the cabins and camp sites are NOT open to the public. Please remember I told Kim already, the people in this bird are not the public."

Becca stopped the helicopter at just about the halfway point down the lakeshore. She turned to face the shore, where there was a large log and rock building with most of the lakeside wall made of glass and aluminum. There was a nice sandy beach and a dock with a couple of boat houses attached to it.

Both Marsh and Becca described what was here, including a large kitchen, a "great room" complete with a huge stone fireplace, and some bedrooms along an open balcony. They also told us there were a couple of Ski Nautique waterski boats in the boat houses, and all the water toys one could want to play with. They informed us that there were a couple of pontoon deck boats, (aka party barges) in the shop/garage up behind the lodge.

Becca slowly flew the helicopter sideways along the shore line, turning it a little too each side so we could all see the retreat and facilities.

After a few minutes she turned back in the direction we had been flying and at the end of the lake she lifted above the trees again and continued northward. I saw Marsh dig out his cell phone and take a call. Somehow I got the impression it was important, and he acted like it was good news. He ended the call rather quickly, and continued to act as a tour guide.

After about five or six minutes of flying over just forest terrain we came to what looked like a small military base. Small being a relative term. I had been to the U.S. Marine base in California once, and this was small compared to Camp Pendleton.

We saw at least a dozen military style helicopters. Three of them were gunships that Marsh told us were two "Super Cobras" and one "Apache". He further told us that one of the "Hueys" was also equipped as a gunship. They were here mostly for training purposes, but that at least one of them was patrolling over the Turner Ranch, and the Morrison Estate and the Simpson family's house, since the break-in that had killed the Butcher, and destroyed the Morrison's kitchen.

The gunships were fully armed and carried infrared cameras. If someone tried to get close to the property, they would likely be no match for the firepower the Turner gunships would bring into play.

As we flew over the base, I noticed a runway, and a few hangers. When I asked about them Marsh told me that this base had in fact been a U.S. military base in the past, and there were future plans to use the runway. Then he said something to Becca.

Becca took the helicopter down very close to the ground in front of one of the large airplane hangars. She slowly flew the chopper into the hanger and rotated it three hundred sixty degrees. Marsh explained that this was one of three hangers this size, and that the Turner Company had a contract with Shell Global to supply Jet-A. I wasn't sure why that was relevant, but I figured if I needed to know, Marsh would tell me.

Becca flew back out of the hanger and continued our tour. After several minutes of flying slowly over the training base, Becca turned the airship to fly in an eastern direction. She slowed to almost a crawl speed over the forest after about ten minutes of flying from the training base. She started to hover over a small clearing and Marsh pointed out a several acre antenna farm. Marsh explained this was one of several that the security company maintained.

I saw many different kinds of antennas; Marsh said I'd see some of the equipment these fed in just a few minutes.

We flew for just a couple minutes when we came to another opening in the forest below us. Becca got really low beside an old dilapidated looking barn.

Marsh pointed out a firing range behind the barn, and told us there was also a training range inside. The barn might look rickety, but it was really a well built and secure building.

Next the helicopter flew down the road about a quarter of a mile, where Becca landed on a large grass lawn beside a beautiful log/rock/glass house. Marsh invited us to take off our headsets and exit the helicopter, as Becca shut it down.

"Dan, I know you need to get back to work, and we've been away for almost two hours, but I'd like to show you one more place, and invite any and all of you to come back any time.

Marsh led us between a large concrete block wall on our right and the stone wall that was the back wall of the house. He opened the back door of the house and invited us in, where we were greeted warmly by a beautiful Mexican lady who offered us drinks and snacks if we wanted them. One of the snacks she offered was a warm piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie with ice cream. Everybody forced themselves to accept her gracious offer. And we were glad we did, the pie was delicious.

Marsh introduced each of us to Marguarita Rosario, who he referred to as his ranch manager. I immediately put her in the same position as Terri, and Marsh confirmed it when he told us Mita had been an intimate part of his family since he was born. The way he said "intimate" spoke volumes.

Marguarita offered us milk, water or several kinds of juice to drink. Marsh explained that since none of his family used alcoholic drinks, she couldn't offer us wine or a beer.

I told him that was just fine.

Becca led us through the big dining room and into the large living room, (read HUGE!) where Marsh opened the curtains that covered the far wall. We were treated to a fabulous view. The wall was made of large glass windows and sliding glass doors. Marsh invited us to step out onto a deck that went from one side of the house to the other.

Kim pointed out that we could see the top of our house down the hill, and across the road.

I thought I saw two gates in the safety rail along the deck, but I couldn't find a way to open them and it looked like they opened to a ten or twelve foot drop to an aluminum deck below at ground level.

Marsh caught me checking them out. "You're an observant man," he said. "Now watch this."

Marsh walked to a box at the middle of the deck, opened the box, and flipped a set of switches. Ted and I walked over to watch him activate sets of switches marked "L" and "R". I heard the sound of electric motors somewhere under the deck each time he flipped a set of switches. The third pair of switches parted the big aluminum deck below us revealing an infinity style swimming pool, which disappeared under the deck. The next switches began to extend aluminum stairways that lined up with the gates I had seen and led down on both sides of the pool.

I heard a metallic click at the gates when the stairways were fully extended, and Becca opened one of the gates and invited us to follow her down the stairway. Marsh walked to the other gate and said that we could use either side.

At the bottom of the stairs Marsh and Becca each turned and led us under the deck and into a large room with half of the pool, inside the room. There were several shower heads along one wall, and there was a large hot tub.

We saw a couple of massage tables, and some exercise equipment. Marsh opened a door on one side of the room, where we saw a nice home theater. I counted eighteen very comfortable looking seats.

Becca led us to the other side and opened a game room with a pool table, a ping pong table, and several game tables. The room also had several electronic games, like Pac-Man, Super- Mario, Richard Petty Nascar racing, to name a few.

Along the back wall of the main room there were cabinets, a popcorn machine, a refrigerator, and a microwave oven.

Marsh showed us the stairway that he said went back up to the kitchen, and then he led us to a door in the back wall that opened into an underground tunnel. Marsh invited us into the tunnel and opened a door on our right, with concrete walls and steps, going down to another steel door.

At the top of the stairs Marsh stopped and spoke to all of us. "I'm going to take you somewhere that only two people in the world know about at this time. This is new to Becca even."

Marsh walked down the stairs and punched a code into a keypad lock. There was a click and the big steel door swung open and lights came on in a small concrete room with another locked steel door on the other side. When we were all in the small room Marsh pushed a wall plate and the first door closed. Then Marsh punched a code into the second keypad, and put his face up to what I recognized as a retinal scanner. This was a secure place. The second door opened and lights came on in a larger room that looked like a large living room.

The furniture was nice stuff, the air in the room was fresh and the temperature was very comfortable. "Don't get too comfortable," Marsh told us. There's more to see.

He led us to a normal looking set of double doors that he pushed open far enough to catch and remain open. We walked into a very pleasant dining room that was connected to an equally nice kitchen. Everything was new and everything we had in our kitchen at the estate was in this one.

We saw doors on each side of the dining room. Marsh opened one of them, and showed us a small anteroom with three doors. Each of the doors opened into a very nice bedroom.

Marsh let us look at each of the bedrooms, before he led us back into the dining room and stopped in front of the door on the other side.

"Some of you will enjoy looking around in this next room more than others, but I want you all to know what's here, and available to you if the need ever arises." With that Marsh opened the door and reached in and turned on the lights. We followed Marsh into a huge room that was stocked with weapons and ammunition. Not just a few. This looked like a military armory.

Ted and Joanna both gasped and together they exclaimed "Holy Shit!" Ted continued with "Damn Marsh! There's more weaponry here than the whole fucking police department has. And more sophisticated as well!

Marsh looked at us and said, "Go ahead and wander around. Enjoy the window shopping. Joanna if and when you come to work for the Turner Security Company, in the next few weeks, you'll have access to this and a couple more larger than this one."

"Dan, will you walk with me for a few minutes?"

Marsh walked a short way to another door. This one opened into a room that was dimly illuminated by a couple of LED monitors. Marsh flipped a couple switches on the wall and a few dim lights came on in the room. I saw several more large monitors on the wall and a bank of computer keyboards as well as a few smaller monitors.

Marsh turned on two more of the monitors, and sat down in front of a couple of the computer keyboards.

With a couple of keystrokes the monitors came to life and Marsh brought up satellite images on two of the screens showing the Turner Ranch and my estate. One of the monitors looked like a color Google earth image; the other looked like a photographic negative. Marsh explained it was an infrared image showing the heat signatures of the same area as we saw on the color camera image.

"This is satellite images that I can control. Turner Security owns several communication satellites and they all have super high res cameras. They are mine, so I can point them where I want, without asking some government agency."

"Dan, I am going to invite the rest in here in just a moment, but I wanted to talk to you alone briefly. This is the first time I've had a chance."

"As I told you already, I just moved here last week. I'm so new to this place that some of what I've shown you I just found out about yesterday. Becca's boss is a friend that I've known for almost two years. I met him at a car show in Palm Springs, California. I didn't know it at the time, but he was observing me and trying to find out who I was and how I lived. He was looking for someone young enough to take over his companies and run them with the same level of integrity as he had used in building them.

"Turner Security Companies hold a very high standard of integrity. We hire former military operatives, former government agents, former law enforcement officers as well as some current members of all of the above. They work in many different capacities, full time, part time, under cover, you name it..."

"When your friends got in touch of my boss/partner he got his company involved in the protection details and our involvement has deepened as we found out who Harold Gordon is or has been, and how dangerous he was. Let me assure you of our commitment to the safety of Terri, Hanna, the Simpsons, and the Morrisons."

"Since I've been brought into the company I've been learning in leaps and bounds. Everything I've learned about Dan Morrison has impressed me a lot. I'd really like us to be friends.

"Becca was part of the original group of operatives that attended your first event, and at the time since there were some things done that were a little outside the law, she and the rest of the team didn't want you to know who they were so that you could honestly tell anyone who asked that you didn't know who did it."