Their generosity and home made me feel safe for the first time in the last week. I was happy to be out of Los Angeles and even happier as I climbed up into the empty bunk bed that had my things on it. Sleep had eluded me since I had first been pulled in for questioning regarding the murder of one of my employees and their involvement with Frank Gordano. My stomach had turned into a knot at the thought of my friend and employee losing his life and fear had overcome me.
Thomas Randal had been a pilot for me since my first year in business. He had grown with me and had been the one to introduce Frank Gordano and me, getting us into business together. Thomas and I knew that Frank was bad news; we had talked about it at length on several occasions. Neither of us thought he would go so far as to murder one of us though; that was the shocking part to me. We had been good business partners for several years and I couldn’t think of a reason that Frank would have ordered Thomas’ murder.
Sure, I knew Frank Gordano was a dangerous man; I knew he was capable of murder. But we were good business associates. Everything he requested, we did for him. Our planes flew him internationally several times a month and we returned home with the cargo of drugs and guns that he had purchased. We took our payment and never spoke a word of our interactions to anyone. There were only two people in the company that knew what Gordano was transporting: Thomas and I.
The other people who had any interaction with Frank had also been well paid. We had been careful not to bring anyone fully into the business end of things, so there was no reason for any of my other employees to be in danger. It still baffled me as to what on earth had happened on the plane that day that ended up getting my friend Thomas murdered. Thomas was a smart man, and much more street-smart than I was.
Thomas had told me it was time to get out of business with Frank Gordano and I had agreed with him. The problem we were having was that Frank made a lot of money because of his trips and our service was essential to him. When I even hinted at not working with him anymore, Frank had threatened to blow up one of my planes. He tried to play it off as a joke, but I knew better.
My suspicion was that Thomas had tried to break the relationship off with Frank that day on the plane. It was the only thing that made sense to me because I couldn’t think of another reason to murder Thomas. Even from the criminal perspective of Frank Gordano, murdering Thomas didn’t really make sense. He murdered the man who had been flying him where he wanted to go. He murdered the one person who was giving him exactly what he was asking for. It scared me. The nonsensical nature of the murder scared the hell out of me.
I had barely laid my head on the small pillow when I felt my body drifting away to sleep. It wasn’t even dark out yet and none of the other men were in the bunkhouse; I assumed they were probably still out working or maybe at dinner or relaxing. But it didn’t really matter to me. I was safe, and for the first time in several days, so I was going to sleep. I took in a deep breath at the realization I was about to have to work harder physically than I had ever worked in my life. But I was confident I could keep up.
After working out with a trainer twice a week, my body was chiseled and strong. I had never wanted to be one of those CEOs who got a big belly and looked like they were two steps away from a heart attack. No, I worked hard to keep myself in shape and I had a feeling that was going to come in handy as I worked on the ranch.
Chapter Two
Sarah
“I’ll do breakfast, go back to bed,” I told my mother. “You never get to sleep in.”
“No, I’ve got it. Don’t worry, Sarah; I’m used to this.”
“I won’t have it. You get back to bed, or read a book, or whatever else you’d like to do. But you’re not making breakfast today.”
It was true, as long as I had known my mother, she was always up before me and everyone else on the ranch. She made it her job to feed the lot of us and always wanted us to have our meals before we got to work. My father tried to tell her that she could make breakfast later in the morning and everyone could come back in to eat, but she refused and told him it was not a very efficient use of time.
One of the things I had learned from my mother over the years was a detailed use of my time. I could fit more into one day than most people did in three. It was probably one of the biggest reasons I had been so successful at such a young age. But there was more to balancing life than fitting as much in as possible. Unfortunately, it had taken me losing my job before I really figured that out.
“There’s a new guy, his name is Garrett. He’s missed breakfast all week; save a little food for him. He’s struggling with the schedule.”
“You’re too nice to these guys, mom. If you didn’t save him food, he’d learn his lesson faster and get his ass out of bed on time.”
“Oh, Sarah, this isn’t your big, New York company. Here, I like to treat everyone kindly. Can you please save him some food? I know you’re a fan of tough love, but I never used it with you and you turned out just fine. Just give it a try and be nice to him for me. I’d really appreciate it.”
“Sure, mother, but I’m not saving it for long. As soon as breakfast is cleaned up, his food is going to the dogs.”
My mother just shook her head at me as she made her way back up the stairs to go to bed. She was tired; I could see it in her body as she climbed the stairs. I was happy to be home to help her and father out, even if the circumstances that had brought me home weren’t all that great. They were managing just fine in getting the day to day tasks done around the ranch, but there was so much more to actually bringing in money.
My parents had worked hard all their lives for the ranch. I had only decided to enter the corporate world so I could make enough money to help them out at the ranch. I knew they didn’t have retirement accounts or any means to ever actually stop working. I had hoped I would be able to buy the ranch from them and take it over someday, but my dreams of financial freedom hadn’t turned out quiet how I had hoped.
Living in New York was extremely expensive and maintaining the lifestyle I had to have as the Vice President of Marketing for Anderson Telecommunications had used up most of the money I earned each year. Sure, I had some in a savings account and I had the severance package that they had given me when they decided my position was no longer needed. But I had totally failed in my goal of earning enough money to actually be o
f help to my family.
It was difficult to come home and feel like I had failed my family. When I looked back, I wasn’t even sure I knew where all my money had gone. Making $250,000 a year certainly seemed like a lot of money, but apparently, it hadn’t been enough.
Working in marketing wasn’t my idea; I had an MBA from Harvard and had hoped to move up in the organization. But marketing and sales were what they needed most, so I learned the position and did the best I could to bring in new clients. It worked, and I had more than $3 million in new revenue my first year. My new sales couldn’t make up for poor management though, and the organization was soon seeing red and looking for the easiest executive to cut.
I was that person. To the other executives, they figured lower level sales people could make up for my job and they didn’t need a head of the department. My gut told me they were wrong and I’d soon be hearing about Anderson Telecommunications going broke.
“Good morning,” I said, as the first few men trickled into the gathering area. “Pancakes and bacon today; I hope you enjoy.”
“Thank you,” they said as they quickly grabbed up platefuls and sat down at one of bench tables.
Despite what my mother thought, I was actually very kind to the men who worked on our ranch. They worked long and hard hours for my parents and I wasn’t about to do anything to jeopardize that for them. My parents needed all the help they could get. Sure, it was necessary to cut down on the number of ranch hands we had over the years, but we still had to keep enough to keep the ranch running properly.
We typically had anywhere between ten and fifty men working for us. It depended on the time of year and what was going on. In the summer time, we were the busiest, so we typically had the most employees. But on this morning, I had only counted twenty-two men. I instantly knew my father’s financial issues had led to him not hiring as many ranch hands as he normally did. It was a tough decision though. With less workers, it meant the men we had were working much harder and that meant we would probably lose those men to new jobs sooner than normal.