Read Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 01 - Flapjack for Free Online Page B

listened for a few seconds, and then put the phone down and waved to Sergeant Walker.  Walker set the briefcase on the ground, turned, and got back in the plane.
    The aircraft bounced back down the runway, past the on-looking men, and lifted off, spraying dust over them again.  The sound was deafening as it climbed away from the dirt field, staying low to the terrain.  The case stood alone at the side of the runway and Colonel Espinosa did not move, nor did his men.  They just kept their eyes trained on the silver case while peering at the surrounding terrain.  The plane faded from site as he brought the phone back up to his ear.
    “ The case, it arrived,” he said in English into the phone.
    “ Good, you’ll have your payment when I have confirmation of delivery.  Your bonus will be at your hacienda awaiting your arrival,” said the monotone voice on the other end.
    “ Excellent,” the Colonel answered.
    He motioned for his men to return to their Jeeps while he walked towards the far end of the runway.  One of the vehicles pulled beside him and a soldier handed him a black duffel bag.  The Colonel pulled out a radio, spoke into it in Spanish, and walked to pick up the silver case. 
    After a few minutes another plane appeared into view and landed just as the first.   Colonel Espinosa walked to a Beechcraft King Air as the door to the aircraft popped open.  He made his way inside carrying the duffel bag and the silver case and disappeared up the steps as the departing Jeeps left the dirt runway.
    T he pilot skillfully maneuvered to the opposite end of the runway and turned around, applied full power, and slowly lifted the plane into the hot air, fading into the blue, cloudless sky.  It would be a long journey for the Colonel to his final destination before he could return to his home in Mexico.

-Chapter 11-
     
    The jobs since the Rick insurance scam had been much easier, or maybe it just seemed that way.  Our next job was going to be our first big game.
    This big break came from a strange late night call from, of all things, a toy company.  It was a case that would push the boundaries of our Boy Scout behavior. 
    The company was called Playcom Educational Products, Inc.  We were told it was a small upstart in Burbank, California that made interactive toys for kids, the learning ones that we all should have used when we were young to mold our minds into well-adjusted, intellectual young people. 
    W e managed to wrap our minds around the crux of the case which had to do with a project called Happy People.  It was a slightly inane, or insane toy that brought the cultures of the world to the fingers of your child.  Galveston and I thought of it as a steaming bowl of cultural stew.  It consisted of music, geography, language, and bouncy little cherubs dancing across the screen in their country’s native garb while calling out things in French, Spanish, even Dutch and Swahili.  We didn’t really understand the hubbub about such a product, whose sole purpose seemed to be to give your child the wonderful experience of an acid trip, but apparently it was a feat of magical engineering.
    Playcom had a prototype and employed the help of a software development company called Genesis Solutions, Inc. to complete the software for the project.  The COO of Playcom, Stanley Clostine, had informed us that Genesis was supposed to complete the software for the product, but somehow they couldn’t finish it.  Clostine found out through some informants that Genesis had been secretly marketing the Playcom product to the heavy hitters of the youth toy market, especially Hasbro and Mattel under a different name called Global Kids, codenamed Adamanthea .  Both of these companies showed some interest in purchasing the rights and design of the toy.
    P laycom wanted us to essentially go into Genesis, steal back the plans, and make sure they couldn’t continue production.  Genesis actually designed software for defense