Free Final Turn: A story of adventure, intrigue and suspense. by maurice engler

campers and some were coming out to their trailers to begin rigging their sailplanes. The smell of bacon and coffee told of breakfasts cooking. Everyone moved at a relaxed pace and there seemed to be an air of friendship and cooperation. This was an isolated haven of grass roots flying. There were no control towers, no airways, no procedures or any of the hustle Sandy had come to associate with flying. Roger watched him take it in and could see from Sandy's face that he would be out here often.
    Roger took Sandy through the procedures for operating the tow planes. He explained the use of the logbooks, the re-fueling procedures, the towropes and the signals used by the ground crew during the take off. He impressed upon him the importance of checking the fuel quantity in the tow plane frequently, before every tow. There had been a few instances where someone had run of fuel while on a tow. If that were to happen over the rugged terrain to the west the consequences could spell disaster. With all that out of the way, Roger hauled himself into the back seat behind Sandy and they finally strapped themselves into the tow plane and got ready.
    Sandy performed a smooth take off and Roger soon felt comfortable with his flying as they climbed out over the hills to the west.
    After a couple of well executed landings Roger sent Sandy off on his own to do a few circuits and practice landing on the narrow grass strip which formed the runway. Roger walked over to where Jack had parked his glider in line for a tow. This was the first he had seen of Jack since his return from vacation in Hong Kong. Jack was still fussing with his glider and would likely continue with that until it was time to go.
    "How was the traveling?" Roger asked as he came up to Jack.
    "Fine. In fact, really fine. And I was even able to sell my farm while I was away." Jack seemed very pleased with that.
    "Sold your farm? Already?" Roger recalled how Jack had just set things up with Loretta to list the property before he had left for his vacation.
    "Lucky deal. I found a firm in Hong Kong that was interested in the property and they took it. Sight unseen. I did have photos and the other details. They gave me a good price too."
    Roger was amazed and even little taken aback with that news. He and Sam were still saddled with that encumbered property held by the investment club. Jack had been lucky to own that farm, especially now with foreign investors apparently chasing after opportunities.
    "That's great! Congratulations." Roger offered. He continued, "Things went well with the eStorage account while you were away. Thanks mostly due to Bill. In fact, Bill turned the system on one day early, probably the day you left. It has been working well since."
    Jack looked up at Roger. "One day early. What do you mean?"
    "One day early. Bill turned the system on the day you left. We even collected some data from that day. It seems that there are records of one of eStorage's large moving vans going through the compound gate early in the morning and returning around eight." Roger said.
    Roger continued, "I went out to the storage compound to verify the data. They don't have any manual record of that truck movement. There may be some problem with the system. Perhaps the record is a bogus one." Jack was now looking intently at Roger.
    "I'll deal with that as soon as I get back in the office. Just leave it to me." Jack told Roger.
    "I don't mind looking into it. I've already..."
    "Just leave it to me Roger. Installations are my area. I'll look after it. As soon as I get back in the office I'll get the details from Bill and deal with it." Jack sounded firm. Perhaps there was a sense of guilt because he had left on vacation just as the system was to be implemented. He might be thinking that Bill had already taken some of the credit for the installation. Let him look into it, Roger thought, as long as it was not delayed. They could deal with that once they got back together in the office. This