Chapter 180 – Interesting Trip to Albany
The helicopter headed toward town before turning south and heading to Albany. They were lower than what Jack was used to, but figured that it was such a short flight that was probably why. Shortly after they turned south, the pilot came over the speaker.
"Welcome aboard, Mr Thornton." The pilot said. "We have been advised of a slight delay in entering Albany air space at this altitude. We have a couple of options – we can circle or head back to Saratoga and land there."
Jack picked up the headset to talk to the pilot.
"We need to be in Albany." Jack said. "We are waiting on a flight to Canada. Is it known why we are delayed?"
"Apparently." The pilot said. "Several news helicopters have entered Albany airport airspace without permission and everything is being held or diverted."
"Damn it." Jack said. "Can your dispatcher put me through to the State police, specifically Major Thompson?"
"I can see." The pilot said. "Just stay on the headset."
While the pilot called into dispatch, Nathan realized that there was a problem and came over next to Jack from across the cabin. Without removing the headset, Jack quickly explained to Nathan what was going on. Nathan shook his head and pulled out his phone. Jack put his hand on the phone and shook his head. It was only a few minutes and Jack was connected with Lieutenant Sanderson.
"Mr Thornton?" Lt. Sanderson asked.
"This is John Thornton, II." Jack said. "We have a flight scheduled and need to go to Canada. I have a business meeting and a schedule to keep."
"I understand that." Lt Sanderson said. "Apparently, someone saw your flight manifest and word got out that you were going to be at the airport. There are several members of the press. Before you get upset, I have already spoken to your grandfather. We are working to clear the airspace for you and all the other flights. We have also alerted Canadian authorities and they are taking steps to protect you while in Canada. Hopefully, this won't be a long delay and flight control has assured me that you will have priority in take off once on the jet."
"Thank you." Jack said. "Sorry for the trouble."
"Not your fault." Lt Sanderson said. "I hear that you went this route in hopes of avoiding the press, so I am sorry. Before you ask. Yes, your grandfather has already dealt with the violation of your privacy. Apparently the FBI is not happy that a member of the airport staff released personal information of a passenger."
"Thank you for that." Jack said. "I was going to leave that to my grandfather when you said you had talked to him. Just so you know, we will be flying back tomorrow. I have talked to the airport in Toronto and were looking at about an eleven am take off and then I have a helicopter on standby to take us back to Saratoga."
"Your grandfather said as much." Lt. Sanderson said. "We will do what we can to help you. I understand that you are traveling with security. So do you feel comfortable landing outside of the airport and us transporting you to the jet so that you can get on and be ready once airspace has been cleared?"
"I am fine with that." Jack said. "Just know that there are five of us onboard."
"Understood." Lt Sanderson said.
"Sorry to interrupt." The pilot said. "I just received permission to enter the airspace and land at the airport."
"Problem solved." Jack said. "Thank you for your assistance Lt Sanderson. Please keep my grandfather informed if things continue."
"I will." Lt Sanderson said. "Safe travels."
"Thank you." Jack said.
Jack took the headset off and realized that everyone was looking at him.
"Everything is okay." Jack said. "Problem solved, but apparently word got out to the press that we were going to be at the airport and a couple news helicopters crossed in airport airspace."
"But are we good now?" Doug asked.
"Enough that we got permission to land and board the jet." Jack said. "We should be on the ground shortly, please listen to the flight staff and follow their directions."
Everyone nodded and they got ready to land.
After watching the helicopter clear the building, Lee turned and headed back to the house. He was glad that Jack and Elizabeth were going to get some time and he was also glad that he decided to stay back. There was plenty to do, especially if they were going to have to watch Opal. Lee also knew that he could help Gran with some baking if she needed. He wasn't afraid of rolling up sleeves and helping her. Lee had done plenty of baking with his mother when she homeschooled him. She used baking as a teaching tool.
"Gran, do you need help or can I work on the laptop?" Lee asked.
"I am okay right now." Gran said. "That might change."
"Just let me know." Lee said.
"Okay." Gran said.
Lee headed downstairs and grabbed his laptop and came back up. He set he laptop on the table, then went to get something to drink. When he sat down, he started by checking the event page for the show. He saw that they had a few more registrations and he was happy. Next he checked the email that Jack had set up and saw that three of the vendors that he was waiting on had agreed to come. He quickly did an invoice for them and got them sent off. He then added them to the map. When he was done with all that, he checked out some stocks and things he wanted to check out. He ended up sending an email to his dad about something then he started looking at the trade rumors for baseball.
While Lee was working on his laptop, Gran had started making peanut butter cookies and was also thinking about other things that she should make for the weekend and the Fourth. She knew she needed a variety of cookies. She realized that they only had a few left. She also needed to bake for the staff. She knew that they were probably low on goodies as well. She liked to make sure that they had plenty of baked goods, especially when there is a holiday during the week. Gran took a moment and looked at the calendar. She realized that she wouldn't have much of a chance to bake, except during the week until after the show. She also knew that there was going to be a string of different house guests between that point. Gran decided that she would call Abigail and see if she and Becky could come over and help bake, since she had a ladies guild meeting at Church that night.
"Lee." Gran said.
"Yes." Lee said, looking up from his laptop.
"I don't know if you heard." Gran said. "I invited Abigail and Becky over to help me bake. I realized that with the extra houseguests and also shows the next two weekends, I need to do more baking than I thought. I also have a ladies guild meeting at church tonight. I will get supper on and then leave."
"Okay." Lee said. "I can help. I was just playing around on the computer."
"Okay." Gran said. "Also, you should know that there is going to be a large delivery later today. It is a surprise for JP, so if you talk to him, please don't say anything."
"I won't." Lee said.
Lee shut down his computer and put it in the sitting room as he felt that they might use the table to put cooling racks on. When Lee was ready, he washed his hands and grabbed one of the denim aprons.
"What are you working on?" Lee asked.
"I am almost done with the peanut butter cookies." Gran said. "I have another batch of refrigerator cookies in the fridge, but they need a couple hours yet. Why don't you start the brown sugar cookies."
"I can do that." Lee said.
"The recipe should be on the counter." Gran said.
"What else did you want to make?" Lee asked.
"I was just going to make chocolate chip and sugar." Gran said. "I haven't thought much further than that."
"Can we make molasses cookies?" Lee asked.
"If you find the recipe and pull everything." Gran said. "Abigail and Becky should be here within the hour. I figured I would keep working as long as possible since lunch will be easy."
"I will look through a couple of the cookbooks and see what jumps out at me." Lee said.
Lee grabbed a couple of the church cookbooks and sat at the counter. It didn't take long for Lee to find a molasses cookie recipe and he also found one for shortbread cookies.
"So can we make molasses and shortbread cookies?" Lee asked.
"I think that would be good." Gran said. "I need to do another batch of chocolate chip as well as peanut butter and if we do a double batch of the shortbread, that should be plenty for the next week or so. I don't know about doubling the molasses, that can get hard to mix."
"Either way." Lee said. "I will start to pull the things for both."
"Then I will start another batch of peanut butter." Gran said.
Lee went about pulling what he needed. It only took Abigail and Becky about thirty minutes to get there. When they came in, they found Lee sitting at the table rolling molasses cookies. There were peanut butter cookies spread out to cool on the table as well. Gran looked to be in the kitchen making another kind of cookie. Abigail and Becky jumped right in to help.
"Where is Cody?" Gran asked.
"He is playing with the neighborhood boys." Abigail said. "I called and let them know that I was leaving and they said he could stay until either Bill or I picked him up. Peter is at home and he is fine there alone."
"Sounds good." Gran said. "I hated to bother you, but I realized with the holiday and then two weekends after that, I wouldn't have a lot of time to bake. Especially with additional houseguests this weekend. It also sounds like there will be a number of people here for the show so I figured this might be my only chance to get a lot of baking done. JP, Doug, Elizabeth and Nathan took off to Canada and won't be back until after lunch tomorrow, so this works well."
"I am glad they got off okay." Abigail said. "I heard the helicopter this morning and thought about Jack and them."
"I know that James and John were concerned given all that has happened." Gran said. "But it was business so there was no way that JP was going to not go. I am worried as well, but the only thing that I can do is pray. There is a part of me that wants JP to just take a step back and deal with everything that has happened, but I have a feeling that he is just going to continue to press forward. Don't get me wrong, I love Elizabeth and see that she is good for JP, but they are young and both have had a lot of changes and I don't think that either have really dealt with."
"I agree." Abigail said. "All we can do is continue to pray for them. They are going to need our support. I might mention something to Bill, he has a way of getting through to Jack. Maybe a nice man to man talk from Bill will help."
"Yes, that might work." Gran said.
"I will pray for them all as well." Becky said. "I heard Jack and Father Mark talking about how they all need to take a day and slow down."
Abigail looked at Becky.
"I wasn't eavesdropping." Becky said. "They were talking in front of me."
"Okay." Abigail said. "But it still isn't nice to listen to other people's conversations and especially not nice to repeat them."
"Yes, ma'am." Becky said.
They went back to the cookies, just talking about lighter topics.
After the helicopter landed and cut the blades, the group was whisked into the nearby building where they were greeted by customs.
"Sorry about the trouble, Mr Thornton." The head agent said.
"No problem." Jack said. "I built a little time into the schedule, but we are starting to cut into that."
"Then we will get you going as quickly as possible." The agent said. "I just need your paperwork and to see Mr Grant's gun. I have received a copy of the paperwork from your head of security so it will be just to make sure that the serial numbers match."
Everyone pulled out their passports and Nathan informed the agent that the gun was in his messenger bag and it wasn't loaded. The agent scanned their passports and checked the gun. Another agent quickly searched their bags and sent them to be loaded onto the jet that was sitting nearby. Once the group was done, two agents used golf carts to take them to the jet so that they could board. When the carts pulled up there were two jets sitting side by side. They pulled up to the larger of the two jets. Both Nathan and Frank let out a low whistle when they saw the jets. Even though they would have fit in the smaller of the two, John had arranged for them to take the larger one since it was more comfortable and could travel slightly faster.
The smaller jet was a Lear Liberty seventy-five with Honeywell turbine engines and held up to eight passengers. The jet that they were taking was the Bombardier Global six thousand and held up to thirteen passengers. It had two Rolls-Royce A2-20 engines. Jack was actually glad that they were taking the Bombardier as he would be able to sit closer to Elizabeth. He could have probably sat next to her on the other one as well, but Jack liked the set up of this one better.
All and all, they were on the ground about ten minutes before they boarded the jet. Once they were seated, it only took another five to ten minutes to get in the air. Jack was glad that he had built a little time into the schedule. Jack and Elizabeth sat side by side on one of the couches. Elizabeth had never seen anything like the jet that they were flying in. It was beyond comfortable and she was glad that she could snuggle into Jack's side even though they were buckled up. Frank and Nathan settled across from each other and close to Jack and Elizabeth. Doug sat with his back to the group and immediately reclined his seat and put his headphones on. Jack just shook his head at Doug.
Author's Note: As promised here are some more recipes. Hope you enjoy
Peanut butter cookies
Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions
Stir together peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until combined. peanut butter cookie ingredients in a bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets, and flatten gently with tines of a fork. pressing fork into peanut butter cookies
Bake at 325°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Brown Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs, well beaten
pinch of salt
3 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together all ingredients and form into balls the size of a walnut. Place about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes
Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) unsulphured or dark molasses
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Rolling
1/3 cup (67g) granulated or coarse sugar, for rolling
Instructions
Whisk the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses and beat until combined. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
On low speed, slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be slightly sticky. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour and up to 2-3 days.
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. The cookies may not spread in the oven if the dough is that cold. Roll cookie dough, 1 Tablespoon each, into balls. Roll each in granulated sugar and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until edges appear set. If the tops aren't appearing cracked as pictured, remove the baking sheet from the oven and gently bang it on the counter 2-3x. This will help those warm cookies spread out and crack on top. Return to the oven for 1 additional minute.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
10 tbsp unsalted butter unsalted butter, at room temperature 142g
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 180g
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt optional
Instructions
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and vanilla extract until creamed.
Add confectioners sugar and salt; mix until combined.
Scrape bowl down and add flour while beating on low. Scrape bowl once more and mix until combined.
Shape the dough into a rectangular prism, wrap in plastic and chill until firm. At least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350F (177C). Use a sharp knife to cut 1/2 inch thick slices
Place slices, spaced at least an inch apart onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Use a fork or skewer to indent a pattern onto the top.
Bake for about 10 minutes, rotating baking sheet in the oven halfway through.
Transfer to a wire sheet to cool.