Rule 1 (eBook)

Richard G. Tuttle (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
364 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
9798317815455 (ISBN)

Infos

Albert Ford is a nice guy who happens to own a big company. He's also a gentleman. When he has a problem or wants to make a deal he calls his lawyers. His lawyers are always happy to give him questionable advice and charge him a lot for it. Enoch Pols is not a gentleman, and he doesn't own a big company. He's a lawyer, a private investigator, a trucker, a pilot and a couple of other things. He likes to move around, usually to end-of-the-road places. He doesn't suffer fools gladly. Albert called Enoch Pols for the first time when he had a problem that nobody else was able to solve. Then he called him from time to time with other problems. And then he called Enoch Pols when Jackie Gruber was trying to steal his company. Pols gave his client some simple advice - follow Rule 1. Richard G. Tuttle is back with a satirical send-up of Big Law, Wall Street, high stakes deal-making, and higher-stakes litigation. Buckle up.

Richard G. Tuttle lives and writes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the author of three novels -- 'Wyoming' (2021); 'Lou 1019' (2023); and 'Rule 1' (2025).

Textauszug

Chapter 4

Pols stepped off the Air France plane into a vat of chicken soup. There was no wind, so the vegetation on the far side of the field hung limply and wetly. It had been a while since he’d been to Africa, and he’d forgotten how oppressive it could be. Good. He had an incentive to get a deal done and leave.

Spider followed him off the plane, toting a carry-on bag. Spider liked West Africa, or at least he didn’t hate it enough to live somewhere else. He had lived in Sierra Leone for eight years, getting by on pidgin French and a great deal of stolen money. As it happens, he hadn’t stolen the money himself – but he took a lot of payments for services from the people who had.

Guinean Customs was simple. Spider used his own passport – Marcus Atwater, citizen of the United States of America. Pols used his Oliver Hagstrom passport, obtained seven years earlier when he “invested” $400,000 in real estate in St. Kitts and Nevis. He pulled the money out of the country two weeks after the passport was issued, but nobody in St. Kitts seemed to mind. Of course, the $10,000 he gave to a Deputy Foreign Minister probably hadn’t hurt.

The taxi ride to General Diallo’s office was uneventful. Probably because events don’t normally happen in twenty minutes, the time it took to leave the airport’s commercial side and drive around to the military side. It wouldn’t even have taken 20 minutes, but for their having stopped at the FedEx office near the end of the main runway to pick up a package. As they followed the service road curving around the end of the runway, Pols noted the presence of about a dozen business jets and one airliner on the military side, parked in front of a series of nondescript aircraft hangars. There were no people visible.

The General maintained his office in a smallish office building that sat on the far side of the hangars, away from the ramp, taxiway and runways. A young lieutenant in the Guinean Army met them as they pulled up to the building. Pols wasn’t in uniform but saluted the lieutenant anyway. Never hurts. Spider nodded and shook hands. Pols said, “Lieutenant, would you please obtain permission from General Diallo to show Mr. Atwater the airplane? I’d like Mr. Atwater to confirm that we’re talking about the same aircraft. If we’re not, I don’t want to waste the general’s time.”

“Of course, sir,” replied the lieutenant.

A sergeant came out of the main entrance, saluted the lieutenant, and stood at attention in front of Pols. “Mr. Hagstrom, General Diallo is expecting you.” The sergeant turned and led Pols through the doors and into the main lobby. “Sir, the metal detector is broken, and I will need to search you.”

Pols didn’t see a metal detector. “Sure.”

He held his arms straight out to his sides at shoulder height, and the sergeant did a reasonably thorough, but not offensive, pat-down. Pols noted the business etiquette. If General Diallo was running a multi-national criminal enterprise – and he certainly was – he nevertheless treated his customers with a modicum of respect. No reason not to, perhaps. Or perhaps the general hoped to encourage repeat business from his visitors.

Pols and the sergeant climbed some steps and entered a tasteful office overlooking the parking lot, and, farther out, a residential neighborhood. General Moussa Diallo greeted Pols at the door of his inner office. He began to speak in impeccable English, with a barely-perceptible French accent. “Good morning Mr. Hagstrom, it’s very nice of you to come. Please come in.” The general was at least six feet four inches tall, and was, like his entire office staff, ebony Black. His uniform resembled U.S. Army Class A’s – not cartoonish in any respect. He led Pols to one of his client chairs, walked behind his desk, and sat in a very large chair suited to his very large frame. The air conditioning hummed quietly. The general looked at Pols with dark, not unfriendly eyes.

“Let me start by saying this: this is a very strange and regrettable incident. Thieves stole an airplane from parts unknown, landed it here in the middle of the night, and abandoned it on the tarmac on the military side of our international airport. We believe that the thieves escaped in a stolen Humvee, and made their way directly to a neighboring country – Guinea Bissau. Guinea Bissau is a ‘wretched hive of scum and villainy,’ as the cinematic saying goes. And they make it very difficult for us, and for others in the international community, to bring the malefacteurs to justice. That is why thieves sometimes fly aircraft here – they are hoping to escape responsibility for whatever crimes they’ve committed in their home countries. Life in West Africa is good, and they are looking to live it, rather than spending their futures in jail where they belong.”

“Of course I understand, sir,” Pols replied.

“The problem for us, of course, is that we incur substantial and burdensome costs whenever an aircraft is abandoned here. The laws of Guinea prohibit an abandoned aircraft from being flown in Guinean airspace before it’s been thoroughly inspected and all worn parts replaced. That takes time and money. Aircraft owners from other countries complain, but our hands are tied by governing law. And one can’t blame the freely-elected legislature of Guinea from enacting measures that ensure the safety of all Guineans.”

“Absolutely. The General is obviously correct.”

“As you may be aware, there is a proviso in the law permitting the Army of Guinea to waive the inspection and overhaul requirements if the safety of civilians can be assured and the national security of the country demands such a waiver. Of course, there again, we in the Army will not jeopardize the safety of our people in any manner, and we feel a duty to perform many inspections before the abandoned plane can be flown in Guinean airspace. And those inspections, frankly, impose a substantial strain on our always-insufficient defense budget.”

“Of course, sir.”

“It is our policy, therefore – my policy – to make clear to persons, like yourself, who represent alleged owners and insurers of these aircraft that our fee to release them to you is fixed and invariable. We require payment in advance of eighty percent of the aircraft’s fair market value in U.S. Dollars, as determined by the current edition of the American version of the Aircraft Blue Book. I’m sure you understand.” The general looked at Pols again.

Pols nodded. “I see. I’m afraid perhaps I’ve wasted your time, sir. I don’t have authority from the insurance company to pay anything near that amount. Indeed, I wouldn’t want to insult the General by disclosing how far my authority falls below the amount you’re talking about.”

General Diallo nodded and gave Pols a half smile. “Truth be told – and I’m now talking more about the practical realities of government than the letter of the law – we are never disappointed when an owner’s insurance company decides not to pay our reasonable costs. Insurance is a racket, and aircraft owners find out quickly that they wasted their insurance premiums with an insurance company that won’t step up when the need is so obvious. In such a case, we don’t want the abandoned aircraft clogging our airport taxiways, and normally we sell it for parts. That process also takes time and results in our incurring costs. But there seems to be a robust market for high-quality aircraft parts. That market is bolstered, I suspect, by the outlandish prices charged for OEM parts by the manufacturers of business aircraft. Jackals, all of them. So – surely you’ve heard of Alexander Croft, Ltd., in London?”

Pols did his best to look surprised – he wasn’t. “You have a commercial relationship with them?”

“Mr. Hagstrom, why do you think Alexander Croft’s prices for business jet parts are the lowest in the world? They’re not really based in London, of course, but ship parts directly to customers from warehouses in Qatar. We don’t need a showroom or substantial office space in any Western country, because the internet has solved that problem for us.”

Pols noted the slip – Alexander Croft was “we” and “us.” He stroked his chin and made a show of considering his options. He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket for a business card and slid it across the desk. “Sir, I provided your staff with some information about my company when I arranged this meeting, but there’s a little more to it. I hope you’ll notice that I describe Hagstrom Enterprises on my business card as ‘Aircraft Brokers and Aviation Consultants.’”

Pols had received a text in-flight from his website designer letting him know that persons in Guinea had visited the website of Hagstrom Enterprises, LLC. General Diallo already had a pretty good idea of what professional services “Mr. Hagstrom” purported to offer.

“It will not surprise you to learn,” continued Pols, “that I happen to have a consulting client – a very old and trusted client – which is in the market for Gulfstream 550 parts. They could use two new Rolls Royce BR-710 engines, a full avionics panel, and an auxiliary power unit. I believe I could persuade them to offer you $10,000,000 for those parts, leaving you with the entire airframe, landing gear, and, of course, a brand new interior.”

“Interesting.”

“And I have another client who is looking for an airplane with the capabilities of a G-550 for whom 80% of FMV would be a bargain. That client would use it exclusively in countries subject to various U.S. sanctions – one of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.9.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-13: 9798317815455 / 9798317815455