The Inheritance! The Final Book of the Luke Mitchner Series Part One

By Michael M. Tickenoff

The Inheritance freighter is remodeled for comfort of its passengers and crew—including the kids and the monkey who were rescued from the Palmyra Island adventure. High tech surveillance is managed by tech guru—the hairy giant Wally, and the ship is secretly super armed by the Hearst Castle Security Team run by Brookstone, who becomes a welcome friend and ally.

Luke and his adventurous friends battle surfing gangs on the beach. They have to deal with drug smugglers threatening to take over the California marina town where old friends live in their boats, and where the father of The Inheritance's Captain Jay is a dealer in antiquities.

Twin sisters, Amber and Crystal, bring romance to Luke and Theo, much to the guys’ protestations.

They will run into more troubles once they set off on the high seas for Peru in Part 2 to rescue the medical clinic from earthquake and hurricane damage. But there is plenty to do and lots happening before that!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael M. Tickenoff
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370612147

Michael M. Tickenoff

Michael is a gentle old soul with a heart of gold and a very rich diamond mind. He's been around and around, just won't go away. If you have a hungry mind, he'll feed you well, just read his stories and they will tell. Everything is worn and torn on this old blind man, except for his imagination! Michael is friendly, he is kind and still learning how to be somewhat refined. Take him with a grain of salt and a pinch of gold because he's really on his way to getting old. He's had a rough life, full of strife with many go-rounds and still he lives without a frown. Sure thing, life has taken its toll, but this man named Michael is a special soul with lots of life and a mysterious role !Remember now: One Degree In The Beginning, Makes All The Difference In The End!..........................................................................................................Sadly Michael passed away in November of 2016 and we miss him.We are glad that he has left us stories cloaked in the enchantment of imaginary fables, where we delight in gems of truth and beauty.

Book preview

Part One

Book Six of the Luke Mitchner Series

by Michael M. Tickenoff

DEDICATED TO MY WIFE NADIA

Copyright © 2017 Michael M. Tickenoff

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author or his family.

The Inheritance!

Introduction

One Degree In The Beginning, Makes All The Difference In The End!

The release of my inheritance was a miracle. A long time coming, it had been nearly four years since my grandparents Stewart and Gladys Mitchner were killed in an airplane crash in the Canadian Rockies. Up until now, I did not have much to do with the legal aftermath of my grandparents trusts and long reaching investments, but it was no longer over the horizon; it had risen like a new born day. The real work in dealing with all the complex issues had arrived, while the mystery of wealth began to reveal itself.

I had no idea of the extent of my grandparent’s involvement in charities, investments, enterprises and various global operations. I had been given a shadowy outline of the financial structures shortly after their deaths; but with the rising of the new day, the shadows were gone and everything was beginning to take form.

All this was nearly overwhelming for me; but I was not totally ignorant of the far-reaching consequences of the sudden inheritance and had somewhat prepared myself in dealing with its extenuating perplexities. Over the last four years, in and through my investigative and journalistic assignments, I had consulted with my personal friend and lawyer Dustin Arrow and together we had assembled a special team of trusted associates who would join us in the management of the multi-national operation. The only term I could find to describe this inheritance was gargantuan!

The team or group we assembled over those four years was named the MAVIN Team, an acronym for the three original founders of the group; Mitchner, Arrow and Vontempski, with International added to correspond with our outreach to come. The team consisted of at least eight associates with several standing in the background. Each associate had been personally invited into the group because of their special talents, unusual skills, and characters conducive to loyalty and honesty. Each member’s attributes could be adapted and applied to enhance the goals of the group, benefiting the projects we might become involved with. Our goal was to become a finely tuned machine that in time would become a virtuoso of individuals—dedicated, hopefully unto causes to the good and the betterment of others.

We had sailed back to Hawaii from our South Pacific adventures, on our rebuilt fifty-five foot schooner, The New Song, and the remainder of our team had now flown in from the mainland. Dustin had arranged two nice rental homes along the Sunset and Pipeline beaches on the north shore of Oahu. About eleven months back, we had done some filming of the big waves season. However, this time, we were here for R and R, and business would be the name of the game from now on.

Each of us had been tested by life and its variable circumstances. A portion of our team had just concluded a long South Pacific journey to what is known as the Island of Obscenity. Then again, another adventure came out of that one: we had been involved in a rescue of five other sailing souls, leading us into a near death experience on the Island of Palmyra. There we had to deal with two threatening criminals and sharks of every sort. Even though we had taken charge of a portion of an ancient pirate treasure, we were nearly blasted away with a massive storm and a series of horrific explosions in the surrounding lagoons when they came alive from abandoned World War II explosives. We had barely escaped that tragic event, but lost one of our shipmates, Mike James—in the stormy explosion. We were faced with a Pacific cyclone which had blown us to pieces, and then we came to another ship. This one was filled with enslaved children and our boat The New Song became a floating orphanage and a part time Ark. All these things in my past were incredible experiences, but I thought that now would be a time of peace and quiet.

Little did we know that our unusual and fantastical adventures were nothing but minor scenes on the stage of a great play now unfolding before us. What was to come would over shadow everything we had experienced. Going back, I thought that the Green Bus journey and the Etroid disaster and my involvement with Brady Ivory Brewer or Bib the FBI wonder woman, was going to be the tops. But then there was the Pitt Stop puzzle mystery in the high desert with Wally Justin coming on the scene. Then, there was the greatest adventure for all of us with the Hearst Castle’s lost treasure and the meeting with the Hearst Castle Security Forces, introducing our new relationship with the Kaamin twins, Crystal and Amber. These past stories would all pale in comparison to what would soon take place in the setting up and making the arrangements of this inheritance.

As much as we could tell in our preliminary investigations, we were looking at a portfolio of companies and holdings worth—and this was a low-ball figure, from 850 to 900 million! We did not yet know the full extent of our stock and bond investments on top of our initial estimates. In my description and references to this inheritance, I always refer to it as ours, rather than mine. I guess that due to the years of struggle in getting it released and having others come along and assist me, I just adapted the idea that we were working together in this one giant cause. I did not want to claim it as mine, that seemed out of place for me. This ideal began to work out much better than I dreamed. For those individuals that had come along in the last four years would become the loyal core of the MAVIN Team. In fact, it was necessary to outline a foundation and a trust fund that would handle this massive inheritance and all its holdings in case anything were to happen to me.

We soon came to grasp that we were going to have to expand our search for help in many areas. As we began to read the reports of what the Mitchner Holdings actually entailed, the idea of our group trying to manage this mass conglomerate would become daunting. The smaller industries and holdings we might manage, but the larger companies such as the manufacturing, the mining and our railroad interests were going to take some real study and the right person to run them, if we were to keep them. We would have to choose honest and worthy associates to do some of the behind the scenes research. What was interesting to me was that this group had almost formed itself over the last few years. This was done without anyone really knowing the extent of the Mitchner inheritance. Through one of our first unexpected experiences on the San Simeon coast line, we had come to know the Hearst Castle Security Force along with their operations and had united with them for security and advisory purposes.

Now, for the extent of the wealth that we would come to know, our imaginations would soon be stretched beyond all common reasoning, bringing us into a luxurious palace of opportunity. The choice of forming this group would prove to be a pivotal point on our compass of adventures. Yet, for me it became the family I no longer had.

There on the north shore, hidden away from the stress of the world, our meetings would begin to hammer out a blueprint for how we were going to manage all of these matters. We would soon discover by the means of our investigators that many of our holdings were going to surprise us. Not only were we to take over the various charities my grandparents established, but we would find ourselves the owners of assorted enterprises. These ranged from mining interests, industrial complexes, shipping and transportation businesses, commercial portfolios, two freighters, horse stables, a lumber mill operation, a truck dealership, ship yards, two California vineyards, a couple of smaller air strips and even an abandoned military base full of bunkers. Our researchers would bring to our attention many surprises: for example, part ownership in a Canadian soccer team, an air balloon flight school, and a fishing lodge in Alaska!

This first part of our official meetings were rather exciting, for everyday, something new was added to the list of discussions. This was great in one way, but it only added to the burdens of trying to figure it all out. What were we going to do with some of these companies? We just could not forget them, for there were tax liabilities and people’s lives at stake. Each individual aspect of these holdings had to be treated with the utmost care. For we soon discovered that one small company might be tied into two larger ones. If we neglected the smaller one, this would affect the larger companies. One example was that we discovered that the Mitchner Corporation owned a fishing lodge in Homer, Alaska. With the lodge came two salmon trawlers, and with these two salmon boats we owned an Alaskan fishing license. This permanent license allowed our trawlers to fish a specific area in the Cook Inlet for a 30-day period during the salmon runs. This did not sound like much but that one license brought in several million dollars worth of fish and there were at least 20 families attached to the lodge, trawlers and licenses. How my grandfather came to own that single license was a wild story of its own. All these detailed holdings became complicated and it was evident that we were going to have to bring in people with greater expertise than our own. The hunt for these type of people had to begin, and it looked like we were going to have to begin making some investigative trips to see for ourselves.

We ran into further complications with the Mike James family. Mike had been killed in the Palmyra disaster and even though this was not our fault, we felt responsible in dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy. This was going to take a special personal trip to California, or we would have to bring the James family out to us in order to figure or straighten all this out. Thomas and Julie, two of those we had rescued from their sunken yacht with Mike aboard, had managed to stir up a mess regarding Mike’s part of the treasure, mainly concerning the rare gold links that Mike had accidentally located in one of the lagoons.

It was evident that I along with a few others were going to have to make a prolonged trip back up to Canada. This was going to be painful for me, for my boyhood home on the Mitchner Ranch awaited my return but I would be standing there alone, without my grandparents. Much of this work was going to take face-to-face meetings. Thus, it would be necessary to have Brookstone and his Hearst Castle security team along with us. Where all this was heading would be an on-going perplexity, even for the best of minds!

The first series of meetings for the MAVIN Team would be a marathon event for all of us. The very first point on the agenda was who would head the meetings. The group decided that this could be no one but me. Even though I thought it might do us better to have Dustin, an older and a wiser legal figure sitting at the head, the group decided that it was time for me to begin my training as the executive, and I bucked at this word or title. Once I took the helm, I began to express my basic ideals. There was not to be any holding back. If you had an idea, a doubt, or a suggestion you were to present it. It would then go up for discussion, no matter how tiny of an idea or doubt you thought to share. We agreed to disagree. I guess I would sum up these first few meetings as drawing up the blueprints and organizing our purpose and mission. We pretty well agreed that blueprints could be altered to fit the situation. In other words, we did not want to chisel things in stone. For we did not know where this entire effort was going to take us as a team. I felt good about this type of long-term thinking. For I knew by experience that things do change, and there are many times that you must think in new ways. The one thing we did not want to do was create a cell with a locked door on it for ourselves. We would be a flexible manifestation of ideas to meet on-coming situations. Later, this would prove to be one of our best decisions.

Everyone was staggered when I released the vast global holdings and our approximate financial standings. However, they were really blown away when I told them how much they would be earning annually. We would put no limits on the cost of our work once a project was approved. This meant that an effort or project that had been submitted by one of our team members would not be scrutinized to death by costs. There would be some oversight to our projects but we agreed to use our resources carefully. We would put trust into one another’s personal abilities. I new this to be dangerous in a lot of ways, but it was also a means by which every member of the team would seek to protect that trust. It soon became evident that every member would certainly earn their handsome salaries—and how!

We established management teams within the group, necessary because there were those with specific skills in one area, and others with differing abilities that did not match with everyone else’s talents. Teamwork would be vital to get the MAVIN Corporation up and running.

Dustin and his wife Nadia became the inner management team for all legal issues. Their work would overlap into research and financing. They could hire outside accountants or consultants to assist in research and in handling financial details. This was going to be one of the most difficult areas, thus we gave their team a great deal of leeway to conduct their work. Theo and Crystal became a working team. Crystal and amber were the twin sisters of the Kaamin family which made up the HC Security Force. Crystal would be Theo’s personal secretary and assistant. She was another computer genius, well skilled and experienced in research, business and in management. They would continue running Theo’s Surf and Water Sport Shop in Newport but handle personnel, as well as coordinate projects and travel affairs. They would assist Jay and Gretchen in the distribution and handling of the precious stones that had been recovered with other parts of the treasure, and they would go wherever they might be needed within the group. Gretchen was one of the two women rescued off the sunken yacht near the Island of Palmyra.

Then there were Jay and Gretchen, who had definitely become a team. Jay had a full array of skills and had slowly teamed up with Gretchen; they became a force in and of themselves. They would handle the diving equipment and any related duties. They would also manage all the antiques, any museum displays, and would be the guards and overseers of the golden links. It looked like they were going to sail The New Song back to New Port and live aboard it and this was fine with all of us.

Then there was Wally Justin. He was our loner; and for sure, another genius, inventor and a Herculean programmer, a man with a thousand very important connections. Then there was Timm Cogan. He was one of those we had rescued off the sunken yacht the Bye-Golly. We had pretty well adopted him into our sphere. He was one of those in-the-shadow characters we had come to know. We asked Timm if he would like to work with Wally as an assistant in product-inventions and research. Timm was a pharmaceutical engineer, and much the inventor, which was right up the path with Wally. Wally agreed to accept him even though he was not a MAVIN team member as of yet. One great benefit in bringing Timm into our confidence was that he was the owner of a very nice warehouse and production laboratory back in Honolulu. Theo and these two had already joined forces in several projects. One was the refinement of the sonar surfboard that Theo had invented. But there were several other far out inventions which were already on the blackboard. I think Theo found a team of his own in Wally and Timm, which was going to be interesting for them and for us.

Then we had the Kaamin family made up of the Hearst Castle Security Force, headed by Bobby Brookstone and his father and brothers. There was the respected head of this incredible family, old man Robbie Kaamin with his eldest son Bobby Brookstone, the head executive of the HC Security Force and the brothers: Jasper, Morgan, Mica and Jaden. Everyone in this family was a well skilled highly trained individual fully capable of handling every known mode of transportation, including business jets, air balloons, bull dozers and even small submergible crafts. They were more than experts in electronics, weaponry and in self-defense, and every one of them held some type of degree in engineering. This is what really caught my attention. Because just hearing that this family was a basic security business, one would not imagine that Jaden held a degree in the earth sciences; Jasper held degrees in mechanical engineering and history; while Mica was a certified gemologist and a stonecutter and Morgan held degrees in computers and electronic and mechanical engineering.

This was an amazing family in and of itself and the two teams would slowly learn to trust one another and merge into one awesome force. Many would come to learn, too late, not to mess with or try and get the upper hand with this family, as we had done.

Now Crystal and Amber had to be the softer and gentler part of this family. However, we also came to learn not to underestimate these twin lovelies. They might have been tenderhearted women, disguised in well proportioned bodies but their minds were sharp as diamond edged tools full of wonderment. Theo and I came to understand that these twin sisters had big brothers, and brothers that you did not want to have knocking on your door in the middle of the night, looking for their little sisters, Oh no, you did not want this!

Both Crystal and Amber were not only great secretaries, but could organize just about anything there was to organize. They were walking computers, playing with symbolic languages, codes and numbers like they had invented them, and in several cases, they did! Besides having more intelligence than we could deal with, these two women were witty and well versed in several languages and were well skilled in self-defense, as we had learned early in being acquainted. We came to learn that they had been used in several high level negotiations when a gentler perspective than their brothers’ were needed.

The HC Security Force would become a vital influence within the MAVIN group. They were to be the main security and research/negotiation team. They would be there before the scene of each grand opening of a project and would handle any unsavory situation that might arise. I have to admit, and I speak for both Theo and myself, we stood as shadows in the light of all this talent. We would come to gain tremendous insights from all our associates and we realized that the old saying about attach yourself to others better than yourself in order to grow up, not down, was so true. We shined as long as we stood in the middle of this incredible collection of humans.

Then there was Amber and myself. She would be my personal assistant, secretary and researcher. In reality, she would become the better half of my brain, certainly in management. She was not only qualified as a near genius in computers, the hacker of hackers, a full on black belted protector and just a great person to have with you, but a rare beauty in her own way. We became a well oiled machine and worked together like a fine Swiss watch, in excellent timing. Going back to our first encounters at the HC ranch in San Simeon and the twins eventual parts in Theo’s surf film, we had grown together. Not only in our business relations but in our personal views and feelings. I think that there were those that were a bit jealous, it seemed to be working too good for us. However, I was a better cook.

In addition there was young Jason Jenson, better known as JJ. He was the nephew of Dustin and our connection into the world surf and youth realm, another behind the scenes character. We had taken him under our wings and had big plans for him as soon as we felt he was ready; he might become a permanent fixture within the group. Then there was Max Colton; we called him our spy. For we knew he was a so-called FBI agent, a floater in service, but Dustin knew him to be a loyal person to any good cause. Even though we would keep him in the background for the time being, he would become our consultant into world and national politics. He would also be there to make recommendations of the legal issues we might become caught in or tangled up with. I was a bit stand offish about him but he did fill that needed gap in the team. No doubt, we had to trust one another’s feelings and I left Max in the hands of Dustin for now.

Our time on the north shore was well spent and well needed. We did learn right off the top that there were unscrupulous people or groups out there that wanted to know our business. We would deal with this, sooner than we expected.

Chapter 1

Our First Meeting!

Friends will hold your dreams carefully and accompany you on the journey to find the treasures of life!

Everything seemed to be coming together, in long anticipated harmony, long hoped for, something we felt we had earned. Even the north shore weather opened up its best days for us. Our full working team had been on the scene now interacting for a good week busy preparing as much information as we could for the first major meeting.

An early breakfast had been prepared with the large living room set up for the meeting. A long teak table which could seat 20 people if need be, took up center place. The head faced the floor-to-ceiling windows, displaying a cluster of slanted palm trees with a panoramic view of the bluest Pacific Ocean. Immediately behind this there was a continuous roll of waves which left creamy white foam reaching up the dark sands and washing over smooth volcanic rocks.

The release of my inheritance was a miracle. A long time coming, it had been nearly four years since my grandparents were killed in an airplane crash in the Canadian Rockies. Up until now, I did not have much to do with the legal aftermath of my grandparents trusts. The real work in dealing with all the complex issues had arrived, while the mystery of wealth began to reveal itself.

Once everyone was seated, I began to explain the reason for our gathering. Our main purpose was to begin to lay the foundation for the MAVIN Group; and we is it! Everyone seemed to get a little more comfortable as a laugh came forth with my nonchalant introduction.

To begin with, I want everyone to listen carefully to Brookstone. He and his Hearst Castle Security Force are now our official security force. I’ll let him explain right up front. I nodded the go ahead to Bobby Brookstone, who sat to my right.

There was no doubt, Brookstone had presence to his person. He stood well over six foot, wore a black eye patch over one eye that had been blown out by shrapnel, didn’t try hiding his facial scars nor his missing fingers, this was just part of his being. No doubt, this man portrayed a special confidence and a well defined picture of experience. All these battle scars were earned in and through his world escapades, but few knew of them and he did not boast. He stood as a professional man of unusual intelligence, totally backed up by a multitude of confrontations and serious experiences. We had invited his Hearst Castle Security Force to join with us. Even though we had only eaten a half pound of salt with him, and the cement of our bond was not yet dry, we were pleased that his security force was on our side. This north shore meeting would soon reveal to the MAVIN Team if our decision was the best one for our futures.

Brookstone arose and without hesitation, looked each of us over with his one searching eye and began to lay things out for all of us. I want each of you to fully understand what you are now a part of. This MAVIN group has just moved from a simple lemonade stand to a full fledged Bank of Luke on Wall Street! This brought a chuckle to everyone and every ear was tuned. I