2008-7-22 05:03:00
by Ted Dewey
The two men located a Notary in a real estate office around the corner from the hotel. Henry signed the bill of sale and contract. In return, he received the envelope containing the fifty thousand.
After this matter was taken care of Thomas excused himself and returned to the hotel room. Now he must call New York and tell them the news. At four o'clock he and Henry would meet in the lobby of the hotel.
The temperature had climbed to one hundred and ten, and was still going up.
Henry had deposited the money in the bank. From Phoenix it would be transferred to his account in Prescott. This should call for a cold beer, he thought. He retreated to the bar, which was just off the lobby, found a vacant stool and ordered a cold bottle of Bud.
He could hardly believe what had happened in these last three hours. This morning he had less than one hundred dollars in cash. Now, fifty grand in the bank, plus another fifty tomorrow; providing of course, that Thomas was satisfied with the three machines out at the ranch.
He took a sip of the cold beer. A lot of questions kept coming into his mind. Number one... Who were these people that called themselves, Ventures Unlimited? Thomas had said they were going to build a sanctuary far back in the mountains as far from civilization as possible; a place that could survive an atomic war.
Also, he had stated: Someone will pull the trigger. Just where did he get his information? Henry wondered. There was one thing for sure -- he sure sounded like he knew what he was talking about!
Suddenly a terrible thought entered his mind. Was it possible that he was dealing with agents from some foreign country?
Maybe Russia!? Big shots from over there looking for a place to hide while they destroyed the rest of the world?
They were well organized and had spies all over the world. It would be just like them to pull a fast one like this.
Henry's fingers trembled as he sipped from the tall frosted glass. There is one thing for sure, he decided, this man Thomas was going to answer a lot of questions before this day was over!
The beer was having a soothing affect on his nerves. With every passing moment the world looked a little brighter. Better have another, he decided.
It was exactly four o'clock when he entered the lobby. Thomas was sitting in an easy chair reading a newspaper. He walked over and stopped in front of him.
Thomas looked up, then took a quick glance at his watch. "You are right on time, Henry, and that is good. I am finished with my business, so why don't we go up to my room? There are a few things that we should talk about."
Henry nodded. "Lead the way."
Five minutes later they were once more seated on the couch with the coffee table in front of them. Thomas turned to Henry. "Did you get your business all taken care of?"
Henry nodded. "I put the money in the bank. Guess it must have been the real thing."
"Did you think it might be counterfeit?"
Henry shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest with you, I wasn't quite sure. It all seems like a big dream to me."
"Don't you trust us, Henry?"
"I sure should, especially after you advanced me all that money."
"Is something still bothering you, my friend?"
Henry nodded. "I would sure like to know a little bit more about the company that I am dealing with. You guys know all about me."
"And you would like to know just who is Ventures Unlimited, and what are they going to do with your invention. Correct?"
"I couldn't of put it better myself!
Thomas nodded. "I sure don't blame you one bit, for wanting an answer to these questions. And, I am going to do my best to give you all the answers. First, I will tell you this. I called the office this afternoon and reported my progress. They were delighted." A faint smile broke over his face. "You are like one of us now, so it is no more than fair that you know exactly what is going on."
He got to his feet and slowly began pacing back and forth in front of Henry. Suddenly he come to a stop, and faced the man on the couch. "First," he said, "I am going to tell you about our organization, Ventures Unlimited, Inc." He walked over to the window and for a moment stood staring down at the street below. "Life is beautiful," he said. "And the people that formed this company want to keep it that way." He walked back to the couch and sat down beside Henry.
"Mister Bower," he said. "What you are about to hear might sound like something that was dreamed up by a bunch of fanatics. Are you ready?"
Henry nodded, "I am all ears."
Thomas once more opened the briefcase and drew out a little black book. He opened it to page one.
"Here," he said, "is a list of the names of the people that formed this organization. There are a total of twenty. Would you like to take a look?"
Henry nodded and reached for the book. For a moment, he stared down at the list of names. Then very slowly shook his head.
"Several of them look familiar, but I can't honestly say that I know any of them personally." He handed the book back to Thomas. "Sorry, but I am not sure."
Thomas returned the book to the briefcase. "These people," he said slowly, "are all very wealthy. And each one of them have put up the sum of one million dollars in cash just to become a member."
"One million dollars!?"
"That's right."
"I didn't see your name on the list."
Thomas laughed. "It is not there yet. But I hope it will be later. Like you, I am just working for the company."
"Now tell me this. Just what do they intend to do? You said something about building a place that would be safe in case of an atomic war. Would you explain?"
"Mister Bower. These people are trying to save a little bit of this old world from total destruction."
"Do they believe an atomic war would bring..."
"Almost total destruction of all life on this planet," said Thomas finishing the sentence. "Civilization as we know it today will vanish from the face of this earth."
Henry licked his dry lips. "Keep talking."
"First, there will be an exchange of deadly rockets. What they don't destroy, the fallout will take care of later."
Henry was stubborn. "Answer this. Just what makes them think that this is going to happen?"
"Common sense and modern computers, Henry. And it is common knowledge that there are more than enough warheads all cocked and aimed to accomplish this. It will only take a few minutes."
"You are probably right there. But what country in the world would be crazy enough to drop that first one?"
The voice of Oran Thomas was as cold as ice. "Just in case you don't remember, the first one has already been dropped as well as the second. Surely, you haven't forgotten?"
Henry slowly nodded his head. "Yes, I remember alright. And all of us cheered. We had just kicked the hell out of them in the Battle of Midway."
"I was just a little kid," said Thomas, "but I remember it very well. Everyone was celebrating, whooping and hollering, and demanding that the next one be dropped right in the middle of Tokyo. We are a bunch of bloodthirsty people, Henry."
Slowly, Henry shook his head. "They had it coming to them. Remember Pearl Harbor?"
"Yes, I do. And I am certainly not sticking up for them. But the fact remains; we are the mother of the thing. Also, we did not hesitate to use it! Yes, we dropped the first one."
Henry nodded. "And the second... We would of dropped more if we hadn't run out. Those sneaky rascals; they had it coming."
"There were thousands of innocent women and children killed. Do you approve of that?"
Henry shook his head. "I don't approve of any kind of killings. At least, not that of other human beings. I have seen enough of that already. Now answer this. Just what makes you people so sure there will be an atomic war?"
Thomas seemed to have all the answers. "Because, not only Russia and the United States have this terrible weapon, but there are many more."
"I agree with you there."
"No country likes to be a loser. And in an atomic war the first one to start the thing has the best chance to survive. Everyone knows that we invented the damn thing and also made use of it. We built ourselves quite a reputation when we dropped those two on Japan."
"We had to win that war," Henry said doggedly.
"If you remember," Thomas continued, "we used that terrible device when the war was almost over. Hitter was dead -- Germany had surrendered -- Japan was losing on all fronts. It was only a matter of time."
"It saved a lot of our boys' lives."
"It did that alright. And, I am not saying that we did the wrong thing. I am just quoting a few facts. However, I think we would have accomplished the same thing if we would of dropped one on an uninhabited island close by. We could have let them take a good look, and assure them the next one would be put where it would do the most damage. Don't you think they would have quit?"
"I don't know. And all of that is past history. But what I can't understand is why you think some foreign country would dare tackle us. Even a great power like Russia couldn't defeat us."
Thomas nodded. "You are right there, my friend. In an atomic war, there will be no winners!"
"Then why in the world would someone start the damn thing?"
"In a lot of the little countries the people have very little to live for. They have no fear of death. They are taught that if they die fighting for their leader, they will get a passport straight to heaven. It sure wouldn't take much to convince them to get the thing going."
Henry nodded. "You are sure right there."
"All it would take would be two missiles armed with atomic war heads. Fire them both at the same time; one at us, the other at Russia. Then stand back and watch, and hope to take command when it is all over. Don't you think something like that could happen, Mister Bower?"
Henry slowly nodded his head. "I spent quite a lot of time in Iran. I was there when they got rid of the Shah."
"Then you agree that it could happen?"
"I certainly do. And, I think that anyone that thinks differently is afraid to face the facts."
Thomas smiled. "Now, you are beginning to see the light. And if we don't do something about it, those two we dropped on Japan will be the beginning of the end."
"Do all your members see it this way?"
"Every one. Of course we hope and pray that it won't happen, but we are taking no chances. All these millions of dollars will go toward building a safe place for a few to rebuild. We hope to preserve at least a small portion of our civilization. I will explain more about our plan as we proceed. Now, do you have any more questions?"
Henry laughed. "About a million more, I guess, but most of them can wait. How about this one -- where do we go from here?"
"The first thing in the morning we will go out to your place and inspect the working models. Then if everything checks out like I think it will, you will get the rest of your money. How does sound to you?"
"Great. I'll be ready."
-- End Of Chapter Three --
Copyright © 2008 by JJ Dewey, All Rights Reserved