Chapter 841
He Is
John was dead set on going to Las Vegas.
John Henry couldn't talk him out of it. He was sure there were going to be problems on several levels because of this. It would also end up putting Cameron and Savannah in greater danger once he arrived. Cameron would send all her help to protect John. It was the same story every time he was out in the field. Young Allison even commented on it not more than a few hours ago. It was as if he didn't hear her. It made him wonder sometimes if John had a learning disability of some type.
He didn't think Bob would be able to get back to the base soon enough so he decided to go himself to watch over John.
John returned to the Command Center a few minutes later.
"I'm ready." John said. "Let's go."
John Henry still had some doubts about what John wanted to do.
"Maybe we should rethink this some." John Henry said.
John looked a little irritated.
"There's nothing to rethink, we're leaving." John said. "Let's go."
John headed for the carpool area.
John Henry took one last look around the Command Center and followed John out.
John and John Henry were on their way to Van Nuys Airport.
John Henry felt he needed to address the impending problem that was sure to arise.
"Do you think we should bring a few more Terminators?" John Henry asked. "I don't think Cameron is going to be pleased."
John Henry was sure Cameron was going to be very displeased that John was out in the field and headed her way. It was most likely to be a potential combat zone.
John tried to blow it off. He didn't like the way Cameron tried to keep him bottled up.
"I like to travel light." John said. "There's no need to make a big deal about it."
The closer they got to the airport, the more John Henry thought that this was a bad idea. John didn't want to listen to anything that he said about additional security.
John Henry parked in the private parking lot inside the airport perimeter after entering a code in the gate keypad.
John wondered why they parked in a different area than they'd used before.
"Is this way closer?" John asked as they walked between the hangers.
John Henry preferred to use the normal entrance. It was unavailable today.
"The entrance we normally use is being repaired." John Henry said. "I checked the airport website before we left."
They continued along the row of hangars. One of the hangers was open. It was a large hanger. What was in it caught John's eye.
"Hey look!" John said. "We should've brought Derek. He'd get a real kick out of this."
John Henry was sure that having Derek along would be an even bigger upset for Cameron. He looked to where John indicated.
There was a large hanger with the door open. Inside was a collection of airplanes.
John was excited to see the vintage aircraft.
John Henry wanted to keep things moving. If they were going to go to Las Vegas, they needed to go now.
John stopped at the hangar to check it out.
"Maybe we can look inside real quick." John said.
John started to walk in but John Henry stopped him.
"We should ask permission first." John Henry said. "There are millions of dollars worth of equipment here."
John Henry could see there were several vintage aircraft inside.
John didn't think it was a big deal if they just looked. It wasn't like they were going to take anything. He was about to walk in anyway when he heard a metallic noise off to the side. He looked over in that direction.
There was someone working on the left landing gear of a B-25 Mitchell. There was a pan that appeared to have dumped over. There was red hydraulic fluid spread over a small area around the pan. The man looked at it and cursed.
"They don't pay me enough for these headaches." The mechanic mumbled. "I need to retire soon."
John looked around. There was an AT-6 Texan, and a P-51 Mustang. There was also another larger single engine plane John didn't recognize and a small jet.
"Is that a P-80 Shooting Star?" John asked.
John Henry looked at the aircraft that John asked about.
"No. That's a common mistake." John Henry said. "It's the trainer version. It's a T-33 Shooting Star. It's most often referred to as a 'T-Bird'. The basic design was the P-80. They lengthen the fuselage and canopy slightly to add a second position so they could create a jet trainer."
The gruff looking mechanic heard John and John Henry talking. He stood up and faced them.
"Can I help you?" The mechanic asked as he looked at them.
He quickly wiped his hands on his pants.
John looked at the scruffy mechanic. He looked kind of grumpy as well. He still wanted to look around. He figured it couldn't hurt to ask. They were already there so why not?
"Hello. I'm sorry to disturb you." John said. "I wondered if we could look around for a few minutes."
The mechanic looked John and John Henry over for a few seconds. He thought they looked like trustworthy individuals.
"If you make a small donation to our maintenance fund, I don't mind." The mechanic said. "Just don't touch anything. The other mechanics are really touchy about it. If I move one thing and don't put it back exactly where it was and how it was, they get bent out of shape."
John looked around the inside of the hanger. He didn't see any other mechanics.
"Are you the only one here now?" John asked.
The mechanic looked around with a disgusted look on his face.
"It looks like I am right now." The mechanic said. "Some of those guys work all night sometimes, other times they just leave. They never say anything. I don't know where they go. They're really good though, they can fix anything. They're all really strong too."
John Henry began to look around a little further. There were a few things he started to wonder about. He reached in his pocket and took out a stack of one hundred dollar bills. He counted off ten.
"Is this enough?" John Henry asked.
The mechanic flashed a faint smile.
"HELL yes." The mechanic said. "Put it in there."
The mechanic pointed to what looked like a bomb standing upright.
It was a 'dummy bomb' with a slot cut into it for donations.
It was even marked for 'Donations' with a sign painted on it.
John Henry deposited the money into the slot.
John noticed how the mechanic reacted when he looked at the wad of cash. That gave him an idea. He reached over and clandestinely took two more one hundred dollar bills from John Henry.
"I'd like to hire you for a ten minute tour." John said as he handed the man a single hundred dollar bill.
The mechanic was able to form a full smile now.
"HELL yes." The mechanic said. "I need a break anyway. You can touch things now too but only where I say when I show you everything. It's important you listen to me."
John Henry was a little worried John wouldn't be able to do that. He was afraid he would touch something that he wasn't supposed to. He would need to watch over John so he could physically stop him if he were about to violate the mechanic's rules.
John thought that he could follow the rules. They seemed simple enough.
"Thank you." John said. "I'd appreciate that."
The mechanic looked much less frustrated now. It appeared that he did need a break.
"My friends call me 'Grumpy'." The mechanic said as he held out his hand.
It was still covered with hydraulic fluid.
"I'm sorry." Grumpy said.
He took a rag out of his back pocket and wiped his hand off. John and John Henry both shook his hand.
They exchanged pleasantries.
John wanted to ask about the big single engine plane that was parked in the hanger. He was sure he'd seen some of those in a movie before. If he remember correctly it was a movie about the Korean War.
"What's the larger plane in the corner?" John asked. "It is bigger than most single engine planes."
John Henry felt he could answer John's questions. He thought that it would offend Grumpy if he did. He actually wanted to hear what Grumpy had to say.
"That beauty is an A-1 Skyraider." Grumpy said. "It was all about 'ground attack'. It just missed World War Two by a few months but it served in Korea and Vietnam. Sometimes it is referred to as a 'Sandy' or a 'Spad' along with about ten other nicknames."
John Henry referenced some files on the Skyraider.
"It has fifteen hard points in it." John Henry said. "That is quite a bit of ordnance it can carry."
Grumpy looked over at John Henry. He eyeballed him for a few seconds. The big guy reminded him of someone. It didn't take him long to figure it out. The big guy reminded him of the mechanics.
"Another nickname is the 'Flying Dump Truck'." Grumpy said. "It can carry over eight thousand pounds of ordinance of all types. They also packed four 20 MM cannons. It had a very long loiter time over the target area."
Grumpy started over towards the next aircraft.
John spotted what looked like the nose off of two different planes with eight holes each in them for machine guns. They each sat in some type of cradle so they could be worked on. There appeared to be doors on the side of the noses that could be opened.
John Henry noticed what John looked at. He turned to Grumpy.
"Are you going to change the nose on the B-25?" John Henry asked.
Grumpy looked at John Henry a little longer this time before he spoke. He was sure that the big guy reminded him of the mechanics.
"You don't miss much do you?" Grumpy asked. "The new owner wants to have it ready to be bolted on in short notice. It will be fully functional too. I still need to round up a few more parts. The other guys said that they would make them for me if I couldn't find everything I needed."
John thought they sounded like skilled craftsmen if they could fabricate any parts that were needed. He could see that the other nose was of a slightly different shape and size.
"What's the other nose for?" John asked.
Grumpy looked over at the other one and touched it.
"That's for an A-26 Invader." Grumpy said. "We have an A-26A, sometimes referred to as a B-26K, coming in soon. The nose on it was replaced with a glass one off an A-26C. We will convert it back to the eight gun nose. The owner wants to have it ready to be bolted on. It will be fully functional as well."
John Henry thought a little historical background for the Invader was well deserved.
"It served the US Military in World War Two, the Korean War and in Vietnam." John Henry said.
John nodded his head several times.
"I doubt there are too many aircraft that did that." John said.
Grumpy led them to the B-25.
"I'll let you go into the nose on the Mitchell." Grumpy said.
John looked thoroughly excited.
Grumpy opened an access hatch in the bottom of the B-25 in front of the bomb bay. He stepped back and motioned for John to come up to the hatch.
John lifted his head and upper body into the hatch. He looked up at the top turret and flight deck. He spotted what looked like a short square tunnel on the left side.
"Go though the crawl way and into the nose." Grumpy called up to John.
John knew right away what Grumpy indicated. He did and then sat in the seat there in the nose. He could see this was the best seat on the plane. There was a flexible nose mounted M2 machine gun and the bomb sight, all within the nose. There was plenty of room. He was sure two people could fit in there.
John Henry carefully looked at the two M2 machine guns mounted on the side of the fuselage on the B-25. There was also a set on the other side. He touched the metal skin of the aircraft and felt some very fine granular substance. He did a quick scan of the substance and determined it was gunpowder residue. These were live guns and not just dummy guns like the others appeared to be. They'd been fired recently too. He was going to comment on that fact but decided it was probably better not to. There were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask but he wasn't sure if Grumpy was the one that he should actually ask.
John exited the plane and came down the hatch.
"That was totally awesome. Do you want to go in?" John asked. "It will be a tight fit for you."
John Henry didn't want to take up too much time. They still needed to go to Las Vegas. It was clear that John wasn't done with his tour yet.
"I'm good." John Henry said.
Grumpy took the opportunity to fully clean his hands of the remainder of hydraulic fluid while John was inside the Mitchell.
There was a smile on John's face that went from ear to ear.
Grumpy showed them some more.
"This is 'TF-51'. It's a dual control P-51D Mustang for training pilots how to handle one of these beauties safely. There've been several different conversions over the years. All of them are custom jobs. Some of them actually have a slightly taller canopy at the rear. Many have a taller tail as well, they sort of look like the P-51H tail. The pilots start out in the AT-6 Texan and move up to this Mustang. It saves lives and planes."
John knew he was going to need to do a little research on all that. He knew about the Mustang but he didn't know what the difference was between all the different model variants.
John Henry looked at the wing of the Mustang.
"I see it has rocket stubs as well as two hard points." John Henry said. "They all look functional."
Grumpy looked around the hangar and all of 'his' aircraft. He was very glad that the new owner thoroughly restored each of the aircraft.
"They are." Grumpy said. "Even the AT-6 will be able to be armed. All the aircraft in here will be restored to combat condition and capable of taking live armament."
John Henry thought for a moment about everything that he currently viewed.
"Everything in here is being set up for ground attack." John Henry said.
Grumpy looked at John Henry for another long moment before he spoke.
"That's what the new owner wants." Grumpy said. "She's really pretty too. Her and her sister both are. I can't tell them apart. They look completely identical. They even dress the same sometimes."
John and John Henry looked at each other with that revelation.
"Did you say that the owner is a female?" John asked.
Grumpy scratched his head. He knew it was a strange group but he liked the work that they did and the detail that they put into the work on each of the aircraft. He watch them rebuild the engine on every one of the aircraft to better than factory specs.
"It seems to be a group of them." Grumpy said. "They have some mean looking dudes who work for them. They normally work here with me. They all left earlier for something. It seemed like an emergency. They all took off like there was a fire or something. It happens a lot. They never say much."
John looked at John Henry and then turned his attention to Grumpy.
"Are the women rich or something?" John asked.
Grumpy was there when the group approached his former boss. His boss was old and was going to retire. He didn't want to sell the planes to anyone. He wanted to sell them to someone who would take care of them. He didn't want any of them put on static display at some museum. When he found out that the group planned to restore all of them to their original condition, he decided they were the ones that he wanted to sell him to.
"Hell yes." Grumpy said. "They paid ten percent over the asking price. They asked if we wanted a check or cash. The owner took half of it in cash. A hot Asian chick and what looked like the twins' slightly older sister went back to their vehicle and returned with several suitcases full of cash. They literally drove around with millions of dollars of cash in their SUV."
John and John Henry quickly looked at each other but neither spoke.
John Henry looked around the hangar again.
"This must be quite a few million dollars worth of aircraft." John Henry said. "Were there others who maintained the aircraft with you before?"
Grumpy looked at John Henry again for a few moments before he spoke.
"It's quite a few million." Grumpy said. "I'm the only one of the original crew they kept. Everyone else took the severance pay bonus. It was five years pay. That's a pretty big incentive and a hard act to follow."
John wondered why he stayed. Grumpy wasn't a young man.
"I guess you're lucky." John said. "Why did they keep you?"
Grumpy looked very proud of himself.
"I know every trick and shortcut on how to fix these planes and where the parts we need are located at around the country and world for that matter. I've done this for twenty six years."
John thought that sounded like valuable information for the proper restoration of the Warbirds.
"Do you have a list of all that information?" John asked.
Grumpy looked at John and smiled.
"Nope…." Grumpy said as he tapped the side of his head with his index finger. "It's all up here and I know how to keep my job. I have a lot of personal contacts."
John wanted to know a little bit more about the new owners.
"What do the sisters look like?" John asked. "Are they old?"
Grumpy thought about the new owners for a few seconds.
"Nope…." Grumpy said. "They're young. Sometimes the one sister looks exactly like the other one and sometimes she could use a little extra work, they're real petty. There is this super hot Australian chick with them sometimes and another big broad with a set of 'jugs' that won't quit, she looks mean. She looks real pretty when she smiles though. She doesn't smile enough."
John looked at John Henry. He was pretty sure that they both arrived at the same conclusion already.
"Really…." John said. "It sounds like quite a group. Do you know who they represent? I mean, do you know who the real owner is?"
Grumpy tried to find that out. He never really got a good enough answer.
"I think her father is a retired General." Grumpy said. "I've heard them say the General would be pleased to have these additions to his collection."
John looked around the hangar and nodded.
"Yes." John said. "He is…."
Grumpy was a little confused by John's answer.
"What?" Grumpy asked.
John Henry nudged John a little bit.
"I'm sure he is – will be." John said. "I know I would be."
Grumpy led them around the back of the A-1 Skyraider. There was an armored vehicle parked there.
"That's different." John said as he looked at it.
Grumpy looked very pleased with the armored vehicle.
"That's an M3 half track with quad fifties." Grumpy said.
John looked at the weapons setup on the half track.
"Is that for use against ground troops?" John asked. "It looks like an anti-aircraft setup."
Grumpy looked at the quad fifties.
"It can do both." Grumpy said. "When used against troops it's known as a 'Meat Chopper'."
John Henry looked around the hangar and saw there was the only one armored vehicle.
"Are there more of these somewhere else?" John Henry asked.
Grumpy was well acquainted with all the vintage aircraft and armor collections in the Southwest.
"Yes." Grumpy said. "There are several companies that have armor from all eras. They're used for movie work. They even have several Abrams tanks in their inventory. Most of those companies are under new management as well these days."
John looked over at John Henry
"Really…." John said.
"There's been a lot of movement in the Warbird collections the last half dozen years, maybe eight years now actually as well." Grumpy said. "This stuff may be old but it's all operational and if they're rearmed, they're all very deadly. They all can kill and destroy like they did when they were in combat originally. All of that equipment comes with a real advantage in modern times. Without all the fancy electronics they will still be functional after a nuclear attack or EMP blast. Flip the switches to get the 'mags' going to get some spark and they are ready to fly. The same thing applies to the vintage armor."
John and John Henry looked at each other. They could both see the advantage equipment like that would have in the early stages of the war if Skynet attempted to take over.
Grumpy led them past the Mustang.
John noticed something that looked like someone's sleeping quarters.
"Does someone live here?" John asked.
Grumpy looked over at the crude mattress and hot plate.
"I used to live here." Grumpy said. "They got me a really nice apartment right here by the airport. The new mechanics keep late hours. They often work all night. It seems those guys don't need to sleep much."
Grumpy looked at John Henry again.
"Your big friend here reminds me of them." Grumpy said.
John Henry quickly looked at John and then back at Grumpy.
"I have a common face and appearance." John Henry said.
John wanted to get away from that subject about John Henry very quickly.
"It sounds like a dedicated group." John said. "It appears that under your stewardship and professional guidance that they get a lot done and done nicely."
Grumpy touched the stubble on his chin and nodded his head.
"They are and they do get a lot done." Grumpy said. "I give them a few pointers every now and then. I never have to tell them twice either. I spend a lot of time running down parts for them. I don't get to do much of the work myself anymore. I may retire soon. They offered me a really nice severance package if I do. I'll still get to come in on retainer if they need me. They told me I can even set my own consultation fee and they'll gladly pay it. It's a really tempting offer. I'm not a young man anymore."
With what John currently believed, he knew that there were less favorable 'retirement packages' that were offered to people who weren't needed anymore.
"That sounds like a real deal." John said. "I would take it if I were you."
John Henry looked at John and nodded. It was clear that they'd come to the same conclusion.
"I'd recommend it as well." John Henry said. "An offer like that won't last forever…."
John and John Henry thanked Grumpy and started to walk out.
John stopped and turned to face Grumpy again.
"Here." John said as he handed Grumpy the other one hundred dollar bill. "We really appreciated the tour."
Grumpy looked genuinely happy.
"Thanks, man." Grumpy said. "It's not necessary."
John thought that it was.
"Keep it, enjoy life while you can." John said.
Grumpy thanked them again as they headed out. The hanger door closed after they exited.
John Henry was a little concerned about the time that was lost.
"That delayed us fifteen minutes." John Henry said.
John thought it was time well spent. He was very pleased with everything that he saw. He planned to come back with Derek and Kyle at a later date. There were a few more things he needed to find out first.
"It was worth it." John said. "We received quite an 'education'."
John and John Henry were sure with everything they saw and heard that there was something very close to home about all of this. It would probably take some clandestine investigation to see exactly what was going on. Then again a simple question to the right person may suffice. They weren't always very forthcoming with information on their own.
That Wasn't Me
Some things change
Some things don't
Just because they didn't
Doesn't mean they won't
Take for granted
What you see around
Without you ever caring
Someone has drowned
What may be now
Will not always be
With your blind eyes
You're unable to see
When I called out
You didn't answer
Treating me uncaring
As if I was a cancer
Before you flush me
You'd better look
For deep inside you
I've sunk my hook
As to who shoved first
I have to disagree
The one who abandoned another
That wasn't me
Nobody