It Takes A Nub

Chapter 5:

Missing Pieces

Freddie and Sam passed through the airport and to their flight with no problems. As they boarded the flight two stewardesses gave the pair a funny look and smiled at them and took the pair to first class.

"Freddie baby," the two women hugged him and smiled.

"Tara and Jill how are you guys?" Freddie smiled and hugged them back.

"This has got to be the mysterious Sam Puckett we heard so much about," the redheaded Jill smiled at her.

"Freddie sure didn't even come close to how beautiful you are," the English sounding Tara added.

"You look good Freddie," they both said at once.

"Thanks, you both look good," he smiled at them, "Why did you put us in first class?"

"There are no first class passengers today so we bumped you two up," they replied, "So honey, have you spent as much time pining for him as he has you? You were all he ever talked about, when he talked," Tara winked at her.

Both women asked her at the same time, "He's given you the "pulse" thing right?"

Sam pasted a smile on and just nodded at them.

"Well you need to try it at thirty-seven thousand. This whole section is yours for the whole flight and we'll make sure no one bothers you two, so have fun," the two women backed out of the cabin and closed the curtains.

"Goddamn it Freddie, this shit is ridiculous. How many girlfriends have you had?" Sam begged him.

"Sam, I told you…," Freddie responded.

"Oh just shut up and get naked," she growled.

The entire plane heard the noise and most just laughed. One older lady asked, "Is that woman all right?"

Jill looked at her and told her, "Yes mam, I'm sure she's doing just fine!"

They got to Seattle Atlanta and found the private jet waiting for them. They then headed straight to Seattle. No one was aware that Gordon Willies was also switching planes on his way to Seattle,

"Nevel Papperman started Pappercorp eleven years ago," Noah began, "It quickly became a huge success and went national. One year later they got into men's fashions and went global. That's where the story get strange, the annual income of the company far excides any sales they could possible have made. They have somehow managed to fly under the radar of everyone for years. All of this started six years ago when the owner Nevel Papperman suddenly made Thomas Harris his C.E.O. and dropped off the face of the earth. He hasn't been seen or heard from since. He's still listed on the board of directors, but that's it. Mr. Harris seems to have just appeared on the earth two years before Papperman went missing. His social security number was obtained from the birth certificate of a baby that died three days after birth. Once again, no one has noticed, and he has gone unnoticed for all these years.

We found the vials exactly where you said they would be Mr. Benson and I must say that everyone is very thankful to you for that. You'll be using the same cover as before and we have arranged for a small sample of the virus for you to use as proof that you have them. We've put you up at the Plaza, and arranged for all the equipment you asked for Mr. Benson. Ms. Puckett your bag of "toys" is already here."

"What would we do without you Noah?" Freddie asked as they sat back in the jets seats and relaxed.

"You would go into situations without any information and end up dead," Noah grimly informed him.

"You really just don't like me do you Noah?" Freddie looked at him.

"Freddie, could you please keep your mind on the situation at hand?" Sam asked as she dug her nails into his arm, bring a wince from him.

"You should both know that Mr. Willies has vanished. We're trying to track him down, but as of now we have no location on him. We also haven't found Mrs. Ambrose anywhere. Did you find anything on "green fire" among his data?"

"Nothing at all," Sam spoke up, "We don't think he was really the main man on this deal. We think he was used to smoke out people that were hunting for it. I think Freddie's caution saved us somewhat on that. He certainly shined the lights on something much bigger than we knew about before."

They arrived at the airport in Seattle and took the waiting car to the Plaza Hotel. As they entered the foyer Freddie heard a voice shout, "Freddie baby, is that you?"

"Shit!" Freddie mumbled to himself.

"Give me a freaking break," Sam looked at him, "REALLY! Is there one corner of the globe that we can go to that doesn't contain one of your exes? You were quite the man whore. And what is it that makes me think that this makes you even sexier than before."

"Hello Randi, how you been?" Freddie asked the Latin beauty.

"I've been good. This must be…," she started to say.

"Sam, yes I'm her and he was taking me upstairs right now to use the "pulse" thing to pound the shit out of me for at least the twentieth time in the last three days. We'd love to stay and catch up, but if I don't get dicked at least every six hours, you don't want to know me."

Freddie and Sam arrived at Pappercorp about an hour later and walked into the lobby. Freddie studied the building as he walked in.

"May I help you both," the receptionist asked the couple.

"Freddie and Sam Benson to see Mr. Harris," Sam told the woman.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Give him this, he'll see us," Freddie flipped her the card of Stanley Crane, which still had his blood on it, "We'll wait," he smiled at the woman and he and Sam took seats in the lobby.

Ten minutes later Thomas Harris arrived in the lobby holding the card that Freddie had sent up to him. He was six foot tall, had blonde hair thinning on top, and grey eyes. He stared at the two of them and at the card. Freddie smiled at him and winked. Harris blinked and shook his head.

"Please step this way," he guided them to a special elevator that took them straight to his office. He showed them too some chairs and planted himself behind his desk.

"So what does this," he held up the card, "mean?"

"You tell us," Freddie asked, "I noticed you made a beeline down to us. Did you know where the late Mr. Crane went on vacation?"

"I have no idea and I'm not sure what you're getting at," Harris grinned at the two of them.

"Well then I guess we came to the wrong place," they got up and began to walk out.

"If I did know anything about it, what does that prove?" he questioned.

"It proves to me that I'm dealing with the wrong people," Freddie turned around and glared at Harris and then kept walking out.

"Suppose I told you that I did know where he went but not what he was doing," Harris rose in his seat, "and that a shakeup in personal had taken place over some very unprofessional behavior. What would that do to any "business" that you may have had?"

"It changed the price," Freddie and Sam turned around, "It's now two billion for the vials and I also want "Green Fire", it would be very handy in my line of work. Please don't insult me by telling me you don't know what I'm talking about. That would only make me mad. You can make a thousand times over with my vials what you would make from "Green Fire" so let's not waste my time or yours. This is a forty-eight hour deal. At the end of that time, I pack my shit up and go find someone else to play with. And if ANYONE from "personal" comes to see me again, I'll bring a vial here and break it open in your mouth! Now this is for you and your people to study," he threw a small test tube with a cotton swab in it on the desk, "don't worry, it's dead, no chance of being reactivated, but it will show you that I'm on the level."

Freddie and Sam turned around and walked out to the elevator and waited for it to arrive. Harris sat at his desk and turned the tube over in his fingers. Freddie and Sam stepped on the elevator when it arrived and left. Harris turned as the white phone behind him rang.

"Send the tube to the lab. Get Mr. Willies to tail the two of them, but not to close. You did well," the voice on the other end said, "Keep it up and you'll be fine, fail me, and you'll end up like that jackass Ambrose."

"Freddie I think we need to visit Nevel's home and see if we can find any trace of him," Sam told him as she drove through Seattle traffic.

Freddie smiled and looked at her, "I got the tools if you got the time, baby!"

They drove past the estate once and Freddie sized up the place. The only problem that worried him was the armed guards around the place. He and Sam both agreed that it looked more like they were keeping someone in rather than out. They pulled over to the side of the road and slipped across the road and hugged the wall that ran around the estate. Freddie heaved himself up onto the wall and scanned the grounds. He pulled device out a pressed a button on it and then reached down and lifted Sam up onto the wall and dropped down on the grounds inside the wall. Sam came next and he caught her in his arms and set her down. Looking at his own personal phone and tapping the screen he pointed off to his left and they took off in a crouched run for the south wall of the mansion. Freddie studied the French windows and then produced a small flat piece of metal and slipped it into the latch and the door opened without a sound. The pair slipped in and began to look around.

The place was very clean, almost too clean, for a lived in place. As they searched from room to room they found that the place had the look of a show home. I didn't look like anyone had lived here in years. They found not one soul in the house. They worked their way upstairs and in the second room they checked they found a computer. Freddie studied it very carefully and then brought out another of his "devices" and plugged it into the usb port and all hell broke loose.

"Shit, Goddamn it," Freddie swore under his breath, "I didn't think they would have an alarm on this!"

"What's happening?" Sam asked as she started to scan the windows for signs of the guards.

"I need six minutes to down load the data from this bitch," he turned to her, "Can you hold 'em off that long?"

She smiled and reached into her oversized bag, "Baby, I've been waiting for this since we started," as she walked up to him and they kissed.

"Try not to kill anyone baby, we still have some afternoon "games" to play," he said as he ran his hand along her inter-thigh.

"No promises, lover," she grinned and opened the door to the hall and stepped out.

Guard number one approached her and she jumped into the air and brought her brass knuckled hand down so hard on his jaw that she heard the crack of the bone. Guard number two came up from behind her and grabbed her by the neck. She reached up and snapped three fingers on his hand and as he released her, she used the leverage of his body to climb onto his shoulders and wrap her legs around his neck and started to choke him out. Guard three charged up the steps tazer drawn and Sam flipped herself down and grabbed number two's tazer and turned and fired it at number three. The probe struck the man in the crouch, and Sam depressed the trigger till it quit working. Guard number two started to snore and she got up in time to see four and five reach the landing. She yelled and ran at them jumping and delivering two wicked roundhouse kicks to the two men. Number four fell back down the steps and number five she caught in the throat, which sent him spinning into the railing on the landing and to the floor below.

Freddie stuck his head out of the door, "Got it, let's go."

"Buzz killer," Sam laughed.

Freddie had a window out and zip line set up and they slid down to the ground and ran to the wall and went over it and back out to the car.

While the data downloaded, they made love again.

Sorry this one took so long. I've got some kind of "bug" and I'm sick. I will post just as fast as I can. Thanks to you all.