From Here To Eternity: The Road to Redemption, The Second Step
Part 4
All disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Jacob Castro steered his small sloop toward the land mass. As he got closer he realized that he wouldn't be able to make land fall from this side of the island. Sharp, jagged cliffs rose to a height of 300 feet or more and a coral reef threatened to tear the bottom out of his sloop the nearer he got. He decided to tack around the island to see if he could find a more hospitable landing. Turning to starboard he followed the outline of the island and after going close to 12 kilometers he was rewarded as the cliffs fell away and he found an inlet that looked promising. Avoiding the reefs here was easy and he maneuvered his small boat into calm waters. A white, sandy beach surrounded him, a paradise of palm trees and mangos ringed the sand creating a cool, green backdrop to the sand and water. Dropping sails and anchor, he dove off the sloop and swam to the beach amazed at the crystal clarity of the water he moved through. Stepping onto the beach, he gazed about him in awe at the pristine beauty surrounding him. His footsteps were the only ones for as far as he could see. He knelt and dug his fingers into the warm sand feeling the weight of ages against the palms of his hands the deeper he thrust them into the surface in front of him. A sudden feeling of euphoria surged through his mind and he somehow knew that he was the only human occupant of this island. He named it Muskateer Island having always felt a kinship to the romantic and bumbling French guards men played by Oliver Reed and Michael York in The Three Mustkateers.
***
Twenty-four hours after their meeting at The Lighthouse, SG-1 were gathered in a four bedroom, ranch style house that O'Neill had picked out to be their safe house. The house was set on 10 acres of land outside of Colorado Springs and had been rented to an imaginary school teacher named Samarah Zhad. Ms. Zhad was actually Technical Sergeant Kamir, a member of the security forces that maintained vigilance at the SGC. O'Neill had recruited her after a careful examination of her service record indicated that she had, first and foremost, no previous contact with Makepeace or Maybourne during her assignment to the SGC. The rest of his security team were also men and women whose backgrounds and history with the SGC had passed O'Neill's scrutiny. He also had Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c go behind him in examining the credentials of each person who was pulled off of duty at the SGC to the safe house. Kamir and SG-1 were the only people allowed inside the house, the rest, ten in all, were to spend their days and nights in the fields and trees that surrounded the house. O'Neill was a little concerned that so many people had to be included but Hammond had insisted that there be at least 10 people who would act as roving guards around the perimeter of the house: five on and five off, working in eight hour shifts through the days and nights. Kamir stayed in the house to field any phone calls that came in from telephone solicitors and the like who always seemed to know when someone new moved into any home or apartment in the Colorado Springs area.
O'Neill was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee waiting for the rest of his team to show up prior to his leaving for Leavenworth to get Makepeace. He had arrived early at the house to inspect everything before turning it over to Carter and Teal'c who would stay behind while he and Daniel flew to Kansas.
As they had at the restaurant, all three arrived at the time same time. He wondered how they always seemed to manage that since Daniel would have had to drive to the SGC to pick up Teal'c before driving to the safe house. It was one of those irritating, little things that sat in the back of his mind demanding an answer. He made a mental note to ask them one day.
Daniel sniffed the air and his eyes lit on the coffee pot. "Great! I only had one cup of coffee this morning and I'll get a headache if I don't have at least three more," he said going straight for the cupboards to look for coffee mugs. Finding them in the second cupboard he opened, he quickly poured himself a cup and joined O'Neill at the kitchen table.
Carter and Teal'c sat down. "Nice place," said Carter.
"Well I've spent time in safe houses before and decided that we might as well be comfortable while we're here," said O'Neill. "We'll have to share bedrooms though ... Carter and Kamir in one, Daniel and I in another, Teal'c and Makepeace each get one to themselves."
Teal'c acknowledged his thanks at not having to share a room with someone with the dip of his head. O'Neill smiled at him. "Thought you'd like that, big guy."
Daniel took a sip of his coffee. "Who made this? It's pretty good," he commented.
"Kamir. She said something about adding chickory to it."
"Well it's a lot better than what they add to the coffee at the SGC."
"They don't add anything to the coffee at the SGC, Daniel," said Carter. "Maybe they should though," she added with a grin.
"A few more coffee beans would be nice," said Daniel grinning in return.
O'Neill let him team play for a bit more, then interrupted. "Okay Daniel and I need to leave in about ten minutes to get to the airport. We're going commercial so we don't want to miss our plane. We're also coming back commercial. Unfortunately we have to spend the night there and catch a plane back early tomorrow morning. Here's the flight and hotel information." O'Neill handed Carter his and Daniel's itinerary then he added, "Carter, you've got my cell phone number in case anything crops up that I should know about right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Security forces are already patrolling. Captain Hardesty is in charge of the two teams and they are in constant contact with us and each other. The equipment is set up in the den ... surveillance cameras in both normal and infra-red have been placed around the house and in the tree line. There are also some microphones that are monitoring sounds that are run through a computer. Anything that doesn't sound natural is marked and we're given a warning. The cameras are set up so that if that happens, the nearest camera moves to the direction the sound came from. However we do have control of them if we need it. Any questions?"
"Why are we flying commercial?" asked Daniel. "I would have thought an Air Force jet or something."
"Using an Air Force plane would be too conspicuous and we want to keep this as low profile as possible," O'Neill explained. "Any other questions?" He watched three heads shake and then stood taking his coffee cup to the sink and rinsing it out. "Ok then. Daniel are you ready to go?"
Daniel stood and quickly gulped the rest of his coffee rinsing his cup out in the sink as well. "Uh ... yeah. Anytime."
"See you when we get back," waved O'Neill as he walked out of the kitchen. Daniel following on his heels, turned and grinned at Carter and Teal'c. "Later."
***
It had taken him ten years, but patience paid off in the end. Muskateer Island was now his and the secret it held could now be revealed and would make him a rich man.
Diamonds: a geological creation that sparks mystery, love, greed, and corruption. Diamond comes from the Greek adamas, used to describe the hardest substance known to man eventually becoming synonymous with diamond. Once reserved for the use of Kings, the diamond has now come to be the gem a man uses to proclaim him love for a woman. Diamonds have taken on mythic properties believed to render their owners courageous and fearless. On the opposite side of the coin, some are believed to bring their owners nothing but misery and death. Whatever one believes, diamonds have brought great wealth to some. One of those was Jacob Castro.
Muskateer Island was formed by volcanic eruption. This eruption brought to the surface along the volcanic pipe, or kimberlite pipe, numerous pieces of crystallized carbon known as diamonds. Castro found an incredibly rich pipe in a volcanic mound in the center of the island. His discovery of the diamonds was accidental when he stumbled upon a fresh water stream where several diamonds lay after being freed from the rock by wind and rain. Realizing what he had found, he took several of those first diamonds with him when he decided he had to try to reach civilization or perish on the island. His luck held out and he safely made his way to New Zealand aboard his sloop after refreshing his water and food supply with fruit found on the island and fish from the sea.
Upon reaching New Zealand, he learned that his little island wasn't charted and he held his secret for ten years until he had enough money put aside to lay claim to the island. After that he obtained a license to mine and sell diamonds and was on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Castor didn't only rely on diamonds to further his fortunes. He started searching for and buying colored gem stone mines around the world. He hired the finest and most imaginative artisans to create jewelry designs to hold the gems that came from his mines and soon created his own shrine, The House of the Muskateer to sell them from. By the year 1969, there was not a major metropolitan city in the world that didn't have one of his stores in it.
Caster, even though participating with diamond market price controls, became the only large mine owner to sell independently and as long as he didn't dump large numbers of diamonds on the market was not thought a threat to the DeBeers Diamond Cartel. Remaining a private company afforded him anonymity and a certain measure of power over even government concerns. Castro lived by the old saying that vast amounts of money will buy anything ... especially politicians.
***
continued in part 5
Part 4
All disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Jacob Castro steered his small sloop toward the land mass. As he got closer he realized that he wouldn't be able to make land fall from this side of the island. Sharp, jagged cliffs rose to a height of 300 feet or more and a coral reef threatened to tear the bottom out of his sloop the nearer he got. He decided to tack around the island to see if he could find a more hospitable landing. Turning to starboard he followed the outline of the island and after going close to 12 kilometers he was rewarded as the cliffs fell away and he found an inlet that looked promising. Avoiding the reefs here was easy and he maneuvered his small boat into calm waters. A white, sandy beach surrounded him, a paradise of palm trees and mangos ringed the sand creating a cool, green backdrop to the sand and water. Dropping sails and anchor, he dove off the sloop and swam to the beach amazed at the crystal clarity of the water he moved through. Stepping onto the beach, he gazed about him in awe at the pristine beauty surrounding him. His footsteps were the only ones for as far as he could see. He knelt and dug his fingers into the warm sand feeling the weight of ages against the palms of his hands the deeper he thrust them into the surface in front of him. A sudden feeling of euphoria surged through his mind and he somehow knew that he was the only human occupant of this island. He named it Muskateer Island having always felt a kinship to the romantic and bumbling French guards men played by Oliver Reed and Michael York in The Three Mustkateers.
***
Twenty-four hours after their meeting at The Lighthouse, SG-1 were gathered in a four bedroom, ranch style house that O'Neill had picked out to be their safe house. The house was set on 10 acres of land outside of Colorado Springs and had been rented to an imaginary school teacher named Samarah Zhad. Ms. Zhad was actually Technical Sergeant Kamir, a member of the security forces that maintained vigilance at the SGC. O'Neill had recruited her after a careful examination of her service record indicated that she had, first and foremost, no previous contact with Makepeace or Maybourne during her assignment to the SGC. The rest of his security team were also men and women whose backgrounds and history with the SGC had passed O'Neill's scrutiny. He also had Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c go behind him in examining the credentials of each person who was pulled off of duty at the SGC to the safe house. Kamir and SG-1 were the only people allowed inside the house, the rest, ten in all, were to spend their days and nights in the fields and trees that surrounded the house. O'Neill was a little concerned that so many people had to be included but Hammond had insisted that there be at least 10 people who would act as roving guards around the perimeter of the house: five on and five off, working in eight hour shifts through the days and nights. Kamir stayed in the house to field any phone calls that came in from telephone solicitors and the like who always seemed to know when someone new moved into any home or apartment in the Colorado Springs area.
O'Neill was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee waiting for the rest of his team to show up prior to his leaving for Leavenworth to get Makepeace. He had arrived early at the house to inspect everything before turning it over to Carter and Teal'c who would stay behind while he and Daniel flew to Kansas.
As they had at the restaurant, all three arrived at the time same time. He wondered how they always seemed to manage that since Daniel would have had to drive to the SGC to pick up Teal'c before driving to the safe house. It was one of those irritating, little things that sat in the back of his mind demanding an answer. He made a mental note to ask them one day.
Daniel sniffed the air and his eyes lit on the coffee pot. "Great! I only had one cup of coffee this morning and I'll get a headache if I don't have at least three more," he said going straight for the cupboards to look for coffee mugs. Finding them in the second cupboard he opened, he quickly poured himself a cup and joined O'Neill at the kitchen table.
Carter and Teal'c sat down. "Nice place," said Carter.
"Well I've spent time in safe houses before and decided that we might as well be comfortable while we're here," said O'Neill. "We'll have to share bedrooms though ... Carter and Kamir in one, Daniel and I in another, Teal'c and Makepeace each get one to themselves."
Teal'c acknowledged his thanks at not having to share a room with someone with the dip of his head. O'Neill smiled at him. "Thought you'd like that, big guy."
Daniel took a sip of his coffee. "Who made this? It's pretty good," he commented.
"Kamir. She said something about adding chickory to it."
"Well it's a lot better than what they add to the coffee at the SGC."
"They don't add anything to the coffee at the SGC, Daniel," said Carter. "Maybe they should though," she added with a grin.
"A few more coffee beans would be nice," said Daniel grinning in return.
O'Neill let him team play for a bit more, then interrupted. "Okay Daniel and I need to leave in about ten minutes to get to the airport. We're going commercial so we don't want to miss our plane. We're also coming back commercial. Unfortunately we have to spend the night there and catch a plane back early tomorrow morning. Here's the flight and hotel information." O'Neill handed Carter his and Daniel's itinerary then he added, "Carter, you've got my cell phone number in case anything crops up that I should know about right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Security forces are already patrolling. Captain Hardesty is in charge of the two teams and they are in constant contact with us and each other. The equipment is set up in the den ... surveillance cameras in both normal and infra-red have been placed around the house and in the tree line. There are also some microphones that are monitoring sounds that are run through a computer. Anything that doesn't sound natural is marked and we're given a warning. The cameras are set up so that if that happens, the nearest camera moves to the direction the sound came from. However we do have control of them if we need it. Any questions?"
"Why are we flying commercial?" asked Daniel. "I would have thought an Air Force jet or something."
"Using an Air Force plane would be too conspicuous and we want to keep this as low profile as possible," O'Neill explained. "Any other questions?" He watched three heads shake and then stood taking his coffee cup to the sink and rinsing it out. "Ok then. Daniel are you ready to go?"
Daniel stood and quickly gulped the rest of his coffee rinsing his cup out in the sink as well. "Uh ... yeah. Anytime."
"See you when we get back," waved O'Neill as he walked out of the kitchen. Daniel following on his heels, turned and grinned at Carter and Teal'c. "Later."
***
It had taken him ten years, but patience paid off in the end. Muskateer Island was now his and the secret it held could now be revealed and would make him a rich man.
Diamonds: a geological creation that sparks mystery, love, greed, and corruption. Diamond comes from the Greek adamas, used to describe the hardest substance known to man eventually becoming synonymous with diamond. Once reserved for the use of Kings, the diamond has now come to be the gem a man uses to proclaim him love for a woman. Diamonds have taken on mythic properties believed to render their owners courageous and fearless. On the opposite side of the coin, some are believed to bring their owners nothing but misery and death. Whatever one believes, diamonds have brought great wealth to some. One of those was Jacob Castro.
Muskateer Island was formed by volcanic eruption. This eruption brought to the surface along the volcanic pipe, or kimberlite pipe, numerous pieces of crystallized carbon known as diamonds. Castro found an incredibly rich pipe in a volcanic mound in the center of the island. His discovery of the diamonds was accidental when he stumbled upon a fresh water stream where several diamonds lay after being freed from the rock by wind and rain. Realizing what he had found, he took several of those first diamonds with him when he decided he had to try to reach civilization or perish on the island. His luck held out and he safely made his way to New Zealand aboard his sloop after refreshing his water and food supply with fruit found on the island and fish from the sea.
Upon reaching New Zealand, he learned that his little island wasn't charted and he held his secret for ten years until he had enough money put aside to lay claim to the island. After that he obtained a license to mine and sell diamonds and was on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Castor didn't only rely on diamonds to further his fortunes. He started searching for and buying colored gem stone mines around the world. He hired the finest and most imaginative artisans to create jewelry designs to hold the gems that came from his mines and soon created his own shrine, The House of the Muskateer to sell them from. By the year 1969, there was not a major metropolitan city in the world that didn't have one of his stores in it.
Caster, even though participating with diamond market price controls, became the only large mine owner to sell independently and as long as he didn't dump large numbers of diamonds on the market was not thought a threat to the DeBeers Diamond Cartel. Remaining a private company afforded him anonymity and a certain measure of power over even government concerns. Castro lived by the old saying that vast amounts of money will buy anything ... especially politicians.
***
continued in part 5