บท 62: expansion
Lester's phone rang a couple of times as he typed away at his computer, sifting through any and all information that could be useful for his new business venture…
Taking a sip of his drink, Lester turned his attention to the caller, seeing a familiar name as he accepted the call..
"Hi Keith… something the matter?" As he talked he opened more tabs saving and noting down any information he deemed valuable.
["Hey Lester, you got any information about a guy going by the moniker LJT?"] Lester stopped what he was doing focusing on the conversation.
"Why do you ask?" Some sweat build up on Lester's forehead as he turned away from the monitor.
["A guy I know recently introduced me to him… got him working on some projects for me… but seeing as how he is skilled in similar fields as you I thought that you might know him… or at least heard of him?"] Lester had recognized Keith's phone number, but hadn't expected him to call after they were done chatting…
"Yeah… Yeah… I know a little about him…"
["And?"] Keith seemed to be fishing for more information, something Lester wasn't willing to provide.
"He is good… yeah… top of his grade."
["That's all?"]
"What do you want me to tell you? How would I know what he does on the go."
["Lester… what's with you today?"]
"Listen… me and him work in different field, he does his motorcycle.. open road, thing!.. and I do other stuff…"
["Alright… If you say so. Now… I called for more than just a little chat."] Doubt was evident in Keith's voice… but he dropped the subject in favour of something else.
"Couldn't you have begun with business?"
["I was looking into setting up a private military."]
"What is wrong with you!" Lester stroked his head, simultaneously wiping some of the sweat away that had build up…
["No listen…. With some former associates passing away I got myself some new properties."]
"And that wouldn't explain how you gained the wealth to buy a private army!"
["You still remember that last investment opportunity right?"]
"Of course I do, but that doesn't explain your initial funding." Lester couldn't belief how stupid Keith was acting, believing that he should know to lie low for a while, have explainable spending and not get picked up as suspicions…
["A investment company… only a cover of course, but give a five percent kickback with us profiting the rest, all leading back to our accounts."] Lester's growing headage faded a bit, thinking about the possibility…
"It is possible.."
["Right.. just like setting up a private army… we have the time…"]
"Sure you would say that."
["Of course as I only need to worry about one person."] Lester's thoughts stopped as he processed what he had just heard..
"…What are you… Keith?.. fuck." When had he given it away… did he even give the information away… did it even matter if Keith knew…
Lester combed his hands through his remaining hair… a headage building up within as he thought about the ramification this could possible have…
'He has no proof… just a suspicion…' He tried to calm himself down… eventually resigning to the thought that he himself couldn't know what was going on in Keith's mind…
Settling back into his rhythm of puzzling together all kinds of files, with the creation of a private army and the money laundering partly on the back burner…
-
Keith looked down the barrel of his rifle… a couple of days had passed since he had a call with Lester, in that time the gold had completely been sold off, with each member of the crew getting their cut for their part in the heist.
Lester had finished up his request, giving Keith the go ahead on the investment opportunity, sadly the death of Devin Weston had caused a great deal of his stocks to dip in value… something Keith didn't forget to take advantage of…. The truly sad part was that the pay-out came only after the stock market had calmed down, meaning that Keith couldn't take full advantage of his death…
It was in the same way sad that this would be the last investment opportunity for a while, as Devin's death had sparked a new investigation into the other deaths, with some even doubting the deaths previously marked as accidents…
Thus killing the target out in the open could cause the wave of doubt to spread and gain legitimacy, thus Keith had to do something else…
Getting seen near the premises wasn't optimal, but creating a accident from a mile away was akin to impossible, thus Keith had created a perfect plan… shooting down the helicopter the target used to get on and of the construction sight…
It was the best option for him… and thus he had gotten his hands on some more explosive bullets, planning to use them instead of regular once to leave as little as a trace as possible…
Normal bullets could be picked up afterwards, but explosive bullets would scatter the round into tiny pieces, small enough to be written of as something else.
Clicking his tongue Keith saw his target wait around, doing nothing, holding up the construction work as he gave what would likely be meaningless and impossible instructions for what he wanted the upper floors to be.
"Finally.." He and some associated finally began to move, heading towards the chopper.
Getting in only for them to slowly prepare to take of from the roof.
Their helicopter flew fore mere moments, with them still slowly speeding up before the main rotor seemed to explode, crashing back into the under construction building creating a hole in the unfinished walls, likely slowing down construction even more…
Grabbing his phone, Keith send a small text towards Lester before disappearing from the scene… heading towards the desert up north to check on some properties he intended to buy.
-
Keith arrived at the first place he wanted to check out… with around five hours having passed since the accident… he had plenty of time for him to check out the place before the stock would come to a stop…
He didn't think about it much, letting Lester deal with the stock in full while he himself stayed far away… more accurately in the middle of nowhere.
As there was a single building, with it being mostly abandoned, but still seemingly useful..
The building was once a ranger station, having a clear overview of the surrounding area, with access and clear line of sight to the forested mountains in the distance.
It had enough area around it to expand and held the most important traits Keith was after… that being a landing spot for helicopters as well as enough space to exercise and train personnel..
It wouldn't be his main base of operations, but Keith needed somewhere were they could still performed their basic tasks and exercises…
He noted down what he found, before going towards the next location…
It was only a small list of eight locations, but each one was chosen with specific criteria in mind… so he wouldn't expect any of them to fall to short compared to one another…
-
Keith was proven wrong as he stood before a decrepit fire station… it had been abandoned for some time, with a new fire station becoming responsible for the area around here, but was still a little to close to the town next to it…
The tree's did a fine job covering the area, but the helicopter access was completely covered up by encroaching roots, once he couldn't take down in fear of the giant tree's losing balance… at the same time the road leading there had fallen into disarray… making it probably one if not the worst option..
Traveling to the coast, Keith found the third location he had marked, finding the secure cove in between two small mountains, the path towards the place being winded and long, suitable for hidden operations, not so much for moving troops in and out of… although Keith decided to keep the place in mind for future expansion…
The fourth place was a steel factory that had lost its supply rout, now having to shut down operations for close to a year… it had train tracks nearby, suitable for moving cargo and shipments. similarly having enough room to situate everything inside as well as being able to store helicopters nearby, with a small clearing having to be made, which should be simple enough…
The other places seemed similar to the rest, all either decent or falling a little below expectations… making the decision not that hard… for the minor outposts he would place…
Something that was difficult was getting one location he did want… that being an old airstrip out in the desert, owned by none other then Trevor….
-
"Trevor, please… cant we come to some agreement." Keith sat in Trevor's home, with Trevor opposite him.
"No that airstrip is part of Trevor Philips industries, I will not have you take it over for that pseudo militia you are creating."
"Fine.. but what if you still own it and I will just use it temporarily.." Keith doubted how much Trevor was actually using it, not to mention that they could just do a strange form of renting…
"What kind of agenda are you playing at?"
"Listen that airstrip is in the middle of nowhere, with train tracks nearby and enough standing infrastructure to expand outwards…" Keith had thought about buying all kinds of places, from farms to just a plot of land, to anything with a large enough area to fit a small base of operations.
"Keith.. you aint getting that airstrip from me with money… and certainly not with that co own shit you just spouted.." Trevor's words left room open for things other than money.
"Then what can I do to get it from your hands?"
"Wouldn't you like to know… listen.. I got a little friendly rivalry with Merryweather… they aren't after me… but if we could just.. I don't know… rob one of their convoys… then wouldn't that make us both happy.." Messing with Merryweather wasn't the worst that Keith thought of… but he did want to know some basic information before grabbing anything…
"What are their shipping?"
"Weapons, armour… everything you would need to fight in some third world countries war…" Keith nodded, seeing the value those items could poses, before realising that Trevor claimed that it wasn't about the money.
"And you want to get that in exchange for the airport.."
"We will intercept their supply rout and bring it back here, before we sell it overseas… don't worry I already got buyers lined up."
"So how are we going to intercept these supplies?"
"With some luck and a healthy amount of bullets."
Keith cursed under his breath "Do you even know their rout?"
"It is a military convoy, with two heavy duty trucks… I don't know their exact path but Ron gave me some possibilities." Keith remembered hearing somewhere that they usually used trains or plane to transport their equipment.
"Is it normal for them to move on truck."
"No but they likely want to avoid the normal paths… as I heard they were carrying something special."
"You don't know what it is?" Keith furrowed his eyebrows, slightly annoyed…
"Who cares?"
"Fine… when are the trucks coming.." He resigned himself, wanting the get the airport even if it was at the cost of some unknown mission.
"Tonight." Keith looked Trevor dead in the eyes…. Seemingly a little discontent with the situation.
"It will be fine Keith… now get moving!" Trevor pulled him outside, before turning the trailer home besides his own.
"Ron!"
"Yes Trevor?" someone responded from the other trailer..
"Get on your radio and find me those trucks!"
"Right away Trevor.." Keith didn't know who Ron was, but understood that he had to have at least a little skill to be still operating with Trevor.
"You are with me…" Trevor beckoned him into his pick up, letting him sit in the passenger seat as he headed for the approximate location of the convoy.
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