Chance Mountain

By Larry Porter

Three law-abiding brothers, professionals, rob a remote casino of forty-eight million dollars and bury the money on Chance Mountain. When they come back for it, six months later, it’s gone. Then the fun begins as twists and turns, murder and mayhem chase them in their pursuit of the money. When they travel to Costa Rico to hide from the law, the money finds them again but so does more murder. They concoct a clever scheme to stay one step ahead of the law while trying to figure out how to keep the money.
Jackson, a lawyer, Parker, a helicopter pilot, and Hootie, a computer expert, figure a way to steal the delivery from the casino on a remote mountain road in Western Carolina. As they bury the money on the mountaintop, a local spies on them and digs the money up after they leave. He hides it somewhere else. If they had left it at that, they never would have been found out, but Jack’s connection to the Russian mob forces them to keep chasing the money. They are not detectives so doing their own detective work to find the money only gets them deeper into the malaise. Finally, the law discovers who they are but they are clever enough to stay out of the grasp of the sheriff. Finally, they cut a deal with law enforcement and all three live to challenge another day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Porter
• Release date: Mar 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301641895

Larry Porter

Larry Porter has been writing since 1976, when he had his second project, a children’s play, Treehouse, produced in Atlanta, Ga. He has written fourteen full-length plays. Another, The Gospel According to Jesus, was produced in Asheville, NC. He has written numerous short stories, eight novels including Chance Mountain, Ivan the Backward Man, True Globalization, The Carousel, The Blue Barrel, The Visitor, and After America: Rebuilding. He has a memoir, Self-Storage Business and a collection of short stories titled Heaven? dealing with the afterlife. He has written four screenplays. His latest project is writing history in verse. A compilation of four epic poems titled History in Verse includes The Experiment, a history of the US, The Reconstruction of a Nation, a history of the Civil War, The Quest for the West, a history of the settling of the US west, and The Sixties, a history of the decade of the 1960s in the US. Look for a new series of totalitarians of the twentieth century coning soon. He lives in the North Carolina Mountains where he continues to write.

Book preview

Chance Mountain

By Larry Porter

Copyright 2013 Larry Porter

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CHAPTER 1

Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to see Mount Waialeale up close and personal.

Gasps came from five of the six passengers Parker was carrying in his Bell 429 helicopter as he flew over the crest and the ground dropped away into the Pacific. The sixth passenger knew the mountain well. As Parker droned on, This is the mountain made famous in such movies as Jurassic Park, he spoke from rote. He’d only done this trip twice a day for the past two years. His mind was on the good-looking brunette sitting catty-corner on his right side. She was showing him exactly enough leg to keep his attention.

Lali Pokeli stared past the magnificence of Mount Waialeale as the helicopter aimed straight for the lush green mountain wall. He came out to the observation deck often to just sit and absorb the beauty that exuded from the massive phenomenon. Helicopters flew passengers daily through the deep cuts made by years and years of erosion. They looked like honeybees searching for pollen, so huge was their backdrop. But Lali could see that this one was going dangerously close to the tree greenery. From his distance, it looked like a plush carpet, but he knew it was made of millions of trees, any one of which could snatch the bee and turn it into a ball of fire. He waited, in horror, for the crash and explosion.

Parker pulled up just at the last second. Not many things scared him, but this was a very close call. He wondered if the passengers noticed. They rarely knew anything was wrong, assuming the pilot was showing them a good ride. They all laughed, nervously, but he knew how close he’d come to sharing his parents’ fate. He had to stop trying to see more leg. One Gail Stewart, a rich, attractive, calculating woman who wanted Parker as her next toy, was his distraction.

Gail was sitting in the seat behind Parker to his right, allowing him the exact view she wanted, just enough leg to keep him interested. As calculating as she was, attracted to his handsome blonde head atop a well-proportioned six-four frame, she knew she nearly lost her life as well. That only added to the excitement of her rich, boring life.

Parker usually flew over the top of the mountain on Kauai, Hawaii on his way to the attraction. He admired the mansion sitting atop it, allowing a stunning view of the Pacific on all sides. He had no idea that palace belonged to the leggy woman sitting behind him. If he had, his first question would have been, why did she need to take a helicopter ride to see what she saw everyday from her porticos. The answer would have delighted him.

After the flight, Gail maneuvered Parker into that house as she had with numerous other handsome, horny lads. She was ten years his senior, but was still young enough and beautiful enough, at thirty-eight, to be extremely marketable. And that was Parker's nemesis, beautiful ladies. After he served a stint flying choppers in the Gulf War, he came to Hawaii looking for a fun time. He needed money and got hired immediately by a company that flew tourists to the sites around the island. But his weakness gave him no chance to save any money. He was always living on the edge, even though the money they paid him was outlandish at one hundred dollars an hour. He reasoned to himself that it was expensive living in Hawaii.

* * *

Jack's cell phone jolted him from a near sleep. He was going over a plethora of paper work for a big real estate transaction in Glen Allen, a growing suburb of Richmond, Virginia, and had nearly drifted off from boredom. He had a law degree but only practiced real estate law as a consultant. He had no stomach for lawyers' shenanigans, whether on the defense side or the prosecution. He felt a lot of lies had to be upheld in order to practice either. He was a criminal attorney and a prosecutor for a time but ran out of money buying Pepto Bismol. What he was doing now paid the bills and he didn't get involved in what he always referred to as the sleaze side of the law. His primary job was to cross the t's and dot the i’s. His clients rarely asked his opinion, and he never volunteered it. All they were hiring was an extra pair of eyes to make certain the contracts read right. The down side was that it was boring as hell!

Hello, bro.

Parker, you old dog. How's tricks in Hawaii?

Actually, I’m in the mountanes of Noth Carlina. Parker laughed. I called to see what you’re up to. Maybe you can take a minute and come down to see me. Or I can drive up there. Whadaya think, bro?

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Jack was excited. Since Parker got out of the service a couple years back, Jack hadn’t seen him. He went straight to Hawaii on the government’s dime, since they would drop him anywhere he called home. He hadn't expected to stay as long as he had. So what the hell are you doing in North Carolina?

Aw, you know me, bro. I followed a skirt here. Parker cracked himself up.

Yeah, I know you, Jack admonished, so ‘splain yourself, Lucy! Jack always felt bad that he couldn’t help his younger brothers much in their own battles as youngsters, so he obligated himself to being there for them in their adult lives as a mentor and counsel.

Well, Jack, I finally got bored with the beauty of the whole thing. You know, when you first get there, it’s gorgeous. And everyone thinks you have the ideal job, getting to see it every single day. But after about six months, it wears a little thin. The past year or so, I’ve just been going through the motions. And that can be dangerous for a helicopter pilot. I didn’t want to become part of those mountains, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, like Mom and Dad, huh? So how'd you end up down there?

"This broad flew with me on one of my trips. Then she came back and flew the next two days. The flights aren’t all that long, but I got to know her more than your ordinary

customer. She’s a real looker, Jack. So I asked her out. Actually, I realized afterward, she had maneuvered me into the date. One thing led to another and we were seeing each other on a regular basis."

Where does North Carolina fit into all this? Jack knew his brother loved the women, but never stayed with one long enough to be ‘caught’ by any of them.

This gal’s loaded.As I said, I learned she did all the maneuvering. She owns a place in Kauai. She had no more desire to go see my mountains than the man has in seeing the moon. She also has places on the Spanish Riviera, in the Italian Alps and in Highlands, Noth Carlina. She talked me into taking some time off and visiting here with her. She didn’t have to do much persuading.

What’s the attraction in Western Carolina? Jack asked, curious that someone that rich would care about the backwash of the Carolinas.

For one, the leaves are coming out into full bloom. Everyone and their cousins seem to come to Western Carolina to see the leaves. They also have a casino here she likes to frequent. I haven't been there yet, but she couldn't wait. She’s playing now. Said she’d be back in a couple hours to pick me up. Just had to get a few hands in.

How long are you going to be there, bro?

Actually, I called the company and got an extended stay. I have six months. But to tell the truth, I might not go back, Parker said emphatically.

Don’t tell me you’re really thinking of settling down with someone?

Parker was quick to answer, Hell no. A little too quick for Jack. He really wanted his brother to settle into a more normal life, with a wife and maybe a couple little rug rats he could visit. He felt like he’d remain a bachelor for life, so he was hoping for some nieces and nephews. But he couldn’t push his brother since he never took the plunge himself. I’m just the latest play toy to her. As long as I’m amusing, we’ll have a blast together. When that stops, we’ll stop.

And how long do you think?

Oh, I don’t know. Maybe six months, maybe a month. Who the hell knows about these things? Anyway, when she decides to move on, I think I'll stay put, Parker answered.

Okay. When do you want to get together? Jack asked, with anticipation.

As soon as possible, bro. When can you break free?

I’m wrapping up a contract as we speak. I can leave tomorrow, first thing. Give me some directions to the place, and I’m on my way. I’m glad you called, Parker. I miss your ass. I’ll see you tomorrow. After he cradled the phone, Jack sat back and thought about his brothers. He was almost a father to them. He hadn’t seen either for some time now and was thrilled that he would see Parker soon. Maybe Hootie could come up from Atlanta.

* * *

Jack’s given name, which he despised, was Jackson. He was given his paternal grandmother’s maiden name, which his father also carried. He didn’t mind Jack, but he always got Jackson through his school years. Since he was one of the smallest kids in his class he often took on bigger boys over it and got the tar beat out of him. He didn’t start growing until he reached high school. When he was in the ninth grade, a bigger boy whacked him in the head with a baseball bat. It hit him directly in the eye and he lost it.

Jack and his brothers were living with his grandparents at the time. His grandmother, his mother’s mother, had a lot of years on her but did the best she could with three rambunctious, growing boys. Their grandfather resented their parents dying, leaving them in charge, and had very little to do with them. They didn’t have enough money to get him a prosthetic eye. His grandmother tried several types of sunglasses. None worked. He only got razzed more. So his grandmother made him a fancy leather patch. He hated it at first but soon learned the girls thought it was sexy. The boys were more reluctant to take on a cripple, but most of them thought it was kind of neat too, so his battles diminished. It didn’t hurt that he grew to a little over six feet before he graduated.

Jack always thought he was much better off than either of his younger brothers, though. One carried the moniker Parker and the other, Hootie. There just wasn’t a shortcut to either of those names. And Jack, although the big brother, was too busy defending his own problem to help the youngsters. So they were both left to their own devices. The Kingsbury boys were always thought to be troublemakers.

Hootie Kingsbury, being the youngest of the three, and also the shortest by five inches, had the intelligence of an Isaac Asimov. He stayed out of trouble most of the time. He learned how to belittle his tormentors to the point of actually making one toughie cry, he made him feel so bad. Unfortunately, he had the common sense of Charlie Brown to go along with his smarts, so he didn't always avoid trouble. Also, by the time he reached high school, Hootie had started growing prematurely bald and looked ten years older than his true age. This proved to be a real tribulation for his social life.

Hootie lost himself in his studies and at the wizened old age of twenty-five, he held three Bachelor's degrees in engineering and a Master's in Information Technology. He hadn’t held any permanent full-time job yet, since he was continually attending school into his late twenties. He did make a lot of money using his brainpower at consulting work, even as he spent time pursuing his various degrees.

Parker, the middle brother, was two years older than Hootie and six younger than Jack. Where Jack was smallest in his class, Parker was tallest. He wasn’t a true fighter, but with all the teasing over his name, he got into enough scuffles. One creep took him on almost everyday and proceeded to get the crap beat out of him. No matter what Parker said, he’d come after him nearly every lunch hour. And because of his size, and because people, as a rule, love the underdog, Parker would take the blame.

Parker didn’t take much in life seriously. He did graduate college with a general BS as he always told everyone. He actually didn’t know what his major or degree were, nor did he care much. He played through school, then joined the Army, where his education was paid for through ROTC. He learned how to fly, first planes, then helicopters. He immediately went to Iraq to fly Chinooks, the trucks of the air command. When he left the Army, girls never asked what kind of helicopters he flew. They assumed he was in stealth Apache 64s, like they saw in movies, facing gunfire and SAM missiles everyday. He never bothered to correct them that he was pretty safe carrying troops and cargo, mostly cargo, from back supply depots to Baghdad. He never had a problem getting women.

CHAPTER 2

Jack had come down to see Parker the day after he cleared up the contract he was working on. He did encourage Parker to call Hootie in Atlanta and have him drive the four hours to North Carolina to have a kind of reunion. They hadn't all been together since Parker got out of the service. Hootie met up with Parker in Atlanta on his way to Hawaii and they spent a night catching up on their respective lives before Parker headed off for the Islands. But Jack hadn’t seen Hootie for a couple years now, not since he started into his Ph.D. Jack did