Cory Tales-3 Airlift

Cory read the Email. It was from Marge- she was calling in a favor and Cory would go. Though she was surprised at what sort of trouble could Marge cause in Bloomington to require an airlift. Setting the thought aside she used her laptop to transfer an obscene amount of money to get a six seater jet waiting at the local airport in five hours, fueled and ready to fly to Canada as per the flight plans she instructed to be filed. She hurried to set her affairs so that a two-three day absence may not upset anything or anybody. Next she visited her "panic room" and gathered a few essentials like sleep darts spring loaded into six inch tubes, a couple of smoke bombs and a gun with a single bullet made entirely of fiberglass.

The flight to the rural airstrip a few miles out of Bloomington took Cory nearly three hours and so by the time she landed, Marge was waiting for her. Cory was happy to see the tall redhead despite this being a rescue of sorts. Aside from a few pounds extra and the spectacles Marge looked exactly like she had when Cory had shared a cabin with her a few years ago.

"Cory! You are a site for sore eyes." Marge rushed to embrace her.

"Yeah! Same here. Am I in time?"

"Perfect! As always Cory. You know... I would never had called if.. "

"Yes. Marge, I know. Now fill me in." They had reached the car. Cory settled in the passenger seat and sat relaxed waiting for Marge to begin driving and explaining. And once again Cory could not help but appreciate the simplicity of the heist.

Marge had, was still, stealing from one of the largest fuel distribution companies in the world. And she had chosen to steal fuel by the simplest of methods. After months of scouting and bribery and ground work she had managed to two things almost simultaneously. She had managed to physically tamper with the meters at the storage facility to measure 0.075% less than what flowed out. The second part of this scheme was buying out three filling stations to which this "Extra" fuel was diverted. Hence Bloomington, this was a town sitting on top of a junction of five National Highways and also near the pumping station from where the fuel was sent along three different pipelines.

Things were going well for almost seven months but, as always, good things never last.Two things happened. Marge fell in love with a local gentleman and they became engaged- soon to be married. She had come clean to him- Gene- and still they were very much going to marry. Gene owned two filling stations and so this small business empire came into the notice of the local Polish goons. Gene had been threatened and he had ignored it and not even told Marge about it. So he had his legs broken and an ultimatum was served. They wanted all the five filling stations at less than half the cost.

Marge feared more for Gene than herself. She had arranged this extraction fearing that the goons would not let them live after signing away the properties. While Cory was a hands-on type of person, Marge was more of a sedentary technical specialist. Still, had she been alone Marge would have set everything on self- destruct and flown. But with Gene in the picture and already hospitalized, Cory could understand her need of a safe and secure getaway.

While Marge filled a van with her most precious possessions and transferred their money to another account. Cory visited the filling stations and had a first hand look at the goons. They were pretty organized and Cory agreed with Marge in expecting the worst. The local boss had more than a dozen people under him, many of them armed with guns and maybe more. They would have to be discouraged.

Cory took Gene's car to visit the mob boss while Marge and Gene took the van to the airstrip. A sizeable bundle of dollar bills ensured her entry to the boss' office. Locking the stout sound proof door Cory had the bodyguard asleep with a dart in his neck inside a couple of seconds. The boss was reaching for his gun but dagger to the arm took care of it. Next she persuaded him to call his boss. Cory dropped the name of a notorious Russian and asked him to drop the matter.

By next morning Cory was back home after dropping off Marge and Gary at a mountain resort in Canada.She checked the news and was satisfied when she saw that in Bloomington a gang was arrested for blowing up filling stations and damaged the fuel pipe pumping station to intimidate the locals.

Picture Credit: Pixabay.com