Near the end of that second week they put in the fuel tanks
- cargas, 1oo low lead and turbine - and finished smoothing out
the runway. Then planted the grass. The guys explored the rest of
their property with a local guide and neighbor they went to visit -
Jack London Noonan - on horses they had bought and had
trucked in. Well, our lasses were impressed again about just how
much land ten square miles is. Kit had remembered, though, from
his wheat ranching days in Colorado on the Bowen Arrow.
        He was amazed, though, at how our beautifuls did take to
roughing it. By God, they even killed that griz - well, Jack did -
that had come at them salivatin' from out of those huge pines. Yep.
Our royal sweetnesses were like three Annie Oakleys, getting their
Winchesters unholstered and aimed while staying in control of their
horses as that bear charged. Jack got his shot off quicker is all. But
dang if Jess didn't get a second one off right after, the griz still
coming at them out of momentum before falling dead no more than
ten yards from them. Kit and the other girls could not believe it as
they all held their fire and Jack jumped down off his roan with his
rifle in hand. It had been one dandy mature bull Kodiak, Jack
called over to them, and magnificent looking even in its demise.
        Jack took Kit through taking the carcass apart while he
imparted to the four a priceless several-hour lesson on the Great
North. They packed out the meat and skin on a sled that the
large burly man of French Canadian and Native American
descent showed them how to make, and they hitched it up to
Jessy's white mustang. She and Flee were so frustrated that they
would not be able to tell their folks or even friends about all of it,
since they were supposed to be, uh, volunteering at Monument
Valley. But at least they got a kick out of telling everyone back
at Truchas when they called that night.
        A few nights later they thought up - Jessy did - setting up
medical missions over in Siberia and found a used Caribou - a
big twin-engine cargo plane - in Anchorage through Pute, bought
it and hired the crew - Amelia and Hank. Meanwhile, the snow
had melted and the grass was growing and Wi and Orv had left
Arkansas in the Stearman, along with Elaine and Tom in the
Beech 18, and they were still cleared to be numbers one and
two to land at "Jessy". Well, our guys ordered medical supplies,
food, beverage and stuff to fill the Caribou with and put Puter
to work on getting their clearance into Russia worked out. They
also got in touch, through AD, with a nurse in Anchorage -
Rachel - who agreed to go with her husband, Doctor Rob, on
the trip with them and stay awhile to run the clinics the guys
were planning around Eastern Siberia.
        Pute took care of the homework and they weren't only
cleared for the humanitarian flights, they were cleared to start
charter and commuter service! So they bought a Martin 4o4 and
a Convair 44o in Anchorage, old mid-sized twin-engine airliners,
on a bunch more borrowed money, hired the crews and had the
planes loaded up with more food and bev. And, that glorious
morning after, they flew their fleet over to Provideniya and
christened their "Mir" ("Peace") clinic-mission base for the
Siberian peninsula, Kit and Jess flying the Caribou under Amelia
and Hank's tutoring, Flece and Essy up in the cockpit with them.
        They borrowed another quarter million to get the mission
going and had a great party over there, having brought plenty of
champagne and beer, and announced that regular air service
would begin the next week. The whole town turned out for that
rager.
        Frank and Trevor flew in a load in the Goose behind them,
too, and joined the soiree. Triumph over isolation, our
Provideniyans pretty much celebrated, besides all the goods,
young clinic and beautiful new girls. Building on the end of the
Cold War, too. Instead of "premium new look, same taste" it was
a whole dam new premium taste. Maybe it was the champagne
and beer, or even the gonja and other chemistry floating around,
but the Siberians loved it, as well as our adventurers. So far, for
sure.
       Our four flew on in the afternoon, driving the Martin with
crewmembers BW and Rick showing them how, the Convair in
formation with them, up the coast to Vandrakinot, Mechigmen
and Uelen, and they had shorter unloading parties before flying
back to Anchorage - even bringing back some passengers and a
little cargo. Fish, hides and stuff. You know. But none of those
baby white seals. Amelia and Hank, with backup consulting from
Frank and Trevor, took over on organizing the North Air
operations out of Anchorage that night as the guys partied at
Amelia's, most happy to have hot baths and a comfy bed again.
        They went over their finances and sent everything they
could to the fund, still keeping $5 million in reserve for the WPG,
and it hit them how much they had gone through. They were all
borrowed up! But there would be their share of the last $50M or
so out of Truchas, and their investments were still bringing in big
profits and all their planes and cabin rentals would be bringing in
money. They hoped. They had just enough left to keep all they
had started going. But it would be just days, then, for the
second-to-last $40M Gold shipment, they learned when they
called.
        "God, you guys sure are working hard!" Jess commented
to Jul, Mari and Juli, on all the phones there at Truchas.
        "Yep, sure wish we could be there to help," Kit added,
giving everyone back at home a laugh.
        The surveillance on the ranch was long gone. And there
was no word from the agents, Pute reported. The Execs were
busy with their lives and schedules, but RR was still messaging
the White House every day. Jess commed him, at Kit's "go",
that they would be using the concert to announce the, uh, WPG
to the world. Sundance heartily welcomed the news and they all
went through scenarios that might materialize from that before
saying adios.
        The guys' music was suffering a little. Jess had not had the
time for new songs but, shute, her career was still a way off, she
figured, though she sure had a lot of new song material. Their
sex was fantasmagorical that night in the privacy at Amelia's,
Amelia joining in, and her big bed was just Heavenfull. God, the
sex. God. The sex. God. The...well, you get the picture.
        They caught a ride in the Goose with Frank and Trev up to
Fairbanks in the morning and met with Aileen to go over
everything. With help from AD and BR, she had all the legal
work done on North Air and the Siberian missions.
        "You guys don't mess around," Jess praised her.
        "O...we have," 'Leen smiled back. "But what do you mean
us?"
        "I guess we don't either, huh..." Jessy laughed as she hugged
Ai, adding, "though, yeah, we have too...."
        They flew Romeo back to "Jessy" and were the first to land
- numero uno - on their new airport, the rollout in their new grass
just "smooth as my baby's cheeks," Kit reported with a gleaming
smile directed into Jessica's eyes. They were hardly shut down a
few minutes, though, before they heard Elaine and Tom in the 18,
followed by Wiley and Orville freezing themselves off inside their
open-groinpit Stearman.
        Well, it was a dam circus. The Razorbacks buzzed them all,
frequently and close, some of them there on the ground even
feeling the need to dive to the turf a few times, and the ole boys
in the Stearman actually put on a short show before they all landed,
Wi and Orv first. Then, demounting his ole biplane, Wiley
proceeded to raise one living ruckus, wanting to know, among the
rest, who had the audacity to land before him, how much he was
owed, where the booze was and assorted other queries, mentioning
that Cody had evidently found the GIRLS. Elaine kept telling Wi to
behave himself. And those greetings were epistemologically epic.
Even clitorially erect.
        Kit escorted them all to the bar, still under construction, and
handed everyone a grog from the snow bank in the shade out back
- and or shots of Yukon. And they partied on that day, though still
managing to work on the bar, Wile mentioning as to how they at
least had their priorities straight, amid everything else. He and Orv
were doing their mighty best at impressing the ladies, Jessy, Flece
and Es being just outright "visions", Wi was quietly saying to Kit
much more than once with his elbow jabs into Cody's ribs.
        He took "Buffalo" totally aside one time and asked, "how the
bejeezuz do you manage all them, rockhead?!"
        Tom was relieved that Kit apparently had, uh, a girl and Elaine
was, well, accepting it all right. Orville was just happy - (drunk) -
complaining about his aching butt, besides amazed as the rest when
Jessy told them all about seeing the President and relaying their
message. And Bill's back messages. And the party raged well into
that morning.
        When the Gold went out of Truchas, Jess, Kit and Flee started
buying the fun-to-fly planes to rent out or give rides in, Wi and Orv
making the most of those picks. They got a Waco biplane (the
three-seater), Lockheed Vega, T-6, Beech Staggerwing, then even a
DC-3, and had them flown in over the following days, some of the
pilots staying on as well. They hired some more mechanics to take
care of all the maintenance and set up the Razorbacks to manage it
all, as they had agreed upon, paying them two hundred grand and
handing them a one-third ownership in North Air, which it all came
under. For starters. Well, that was a party. Man.
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