Chapter 1

It had been a long difficult flight but now she was finally back home in Miami. The trip itself was bad enough, but that damn pilot would not take no for an answer.

It was not that he wasn’t good-looking, cute almost; there was nothing about him that turned her on. That and his constant whining when she turned him down finally caused her to tell him that if he did not leave her alone she was filing a complaint with their union rep. Mollie knew how that would turn out, she would be re-assigned and he would keep flying. At this point she did not care.

Five years she had put up with more shit than she had in her first eighteen years; and what did she have to show for it: Nada. She shared an apartment with three other FA’s, had little saved and outside of free travel and time off in exchange for sleepless days and nights every few days she was a wreck with not much to show for it. She should have stayed in College and been a doctor or even easier, married one like her mother wanted her to do.

If he had been stationary a few feet either way, Mollie would have never noticed the man standing in the aisle. It was like there had been a crowd of passengers there at one time and now he still was in the same place, looking at the screens with flight information. She just wanted to get home but, hell, her training seemed to kick in and she turned back towards the man.

“Do you need any help Sir?”

“Ja. I am looking for where to go for my plane. I was looking around, waiting to have the time gone and now, poof, I lost where I must go.”

In decent German, Mollie asked a few questions, then a few more as the man began spouting off a torrent of information to someone he might talk to in German.

When he identified his destination as in Alabama, Mollie shook her head and said. This is the EAL Terminal. We don’t fly there. You probably want the 3-B or the 4-A. Which city are you going to?”

He said “just outside Birmingham but did not know exactly where. He could call his sister to have her check where exactly he needed to go or where the plane was. She was to be there anyway but, you know how a women gets at times, she sent him instead.

Mollie laughed. “Been there, in my case no work no pay. The way things are going this job will go away soon anyway. C’mon, I’m off duty for a week or so, let’s go to the main concourse and call you sister and find your plane. At least it’s not a wife that I have to worry about with you, is there?”

“No, no wife. Ah, you make joke, Ja?”

“Ja. In a way. Besides, there is probably someone waiting outside that I do not want to see. I can’t seem to get rid of him and don’t know why he keeps bothering me to go out with him? Maybe I can pretend your my boyfriend and he’ll leave me alone.”

Karl took out his cell phone and called his sister while Mollie put her arm in his. They started walking to the concourse.

Under the sound of the airport, Karl mumbled something in German that sounded like, ‘Perhaps you should peek into the looking glass and see why a man would do almost anything to be with you.”

Even if she did not get everything that he said correctly, it was enough to bring a smile to her face. She also found she was pulling her whole body closer to this man she had just met, pushing one of her best assets into his chest.

He started talking on the cell. “Ja. Ja. Nein.” ... and continued to tell the phone things. He handed her the phone saying, “Erica, my sister, she wants to speak with you. I am sorry, I do not even know your name, beautiful lady.”

Mollie reached for the phone but was now looking at the man’s face. Had he called her ‘beautiful’? She started speaking into the phone in her best German.

“Could you speak in some other language better, perhaps French, Spanish or even English. No I am not a purple cow!”

It was said in English and now Mollie was turning all shades of red. “I’m sorry. I did not know if you spoke English or not. Your brother does not remember what flight he is on or where the plane lands. I am just trying to help him!”

“My brother would forget to tie the laces on his boots. I love him anyway. He tells me you are very beautiful. Good, he needs a beautiful woman to tell him what to do. So, what is your name?”

This was a very strange conversation. “Mollie.”

“Tell me beautiful Mollie, would you take care of my brother for me? He might have a MBA from Wharton but he is useless without a woman doing everything with him. It is always business for him. I sent him there in-place of me. Daddy left me the American firms, his are in Europe and Asia. A woman in Europe and Asia are not taken seriously. There Karl does not need much English, so it works well for us. So Mollie, Karl says you have some time free to go with him, help him then he will bring you home where we can talk about a few things. Ja. You will be well paid even if you decide not to stay on with us in some capacity.”

“You are as crazy as your brother, He just met me at the airport and you are just a voice on his phone. Now you want me to take him to Alabama and then come see you about a job?”

“Ja. Exactly right. In what you do for your job today, do you not have to be a good judge of people very quickly?”

“Yes, of course.”

“In what we do, this is the same with us. Karl, that’s the dummy probably staring at you with his mouth open, said you offered to help him out of the goodness in your heart. Is this not so?”

“Well, ha, I guess it is so, yes.”

“In your heart, do you feel my brother and I are lying to you or would hurt you in any way?”

“Damn it no, but...”

“So, think of this as a sort of a holiday for you. Everything you do or need will be paid for and I can guarantee you will have the time of your life. Have my brother buy you something to wear for the meeting today, don’t worry, the plane will wait. It is at Gate 1, ground level in terminal 4-A. Do you have passport and ID papers with you?”

“Yes, I never leave home without them, not in a job like I have.”

“Good, we will get you some clothes for evening and day wear on the way to Berlin. Do you prefer London, Paris or Milan for your formal wear? No matter, I shall have the plane stop at all three and a car waiting to take you shopping. From the way Karl sounded, I think he would buy you anything you want so if you see something else you like have him get it for you. How old are you Mollie?”

“A might personal Erika, don’t you think?”

“Not at all, I just know that once you are here and if you do not fall in love with Karl, we have some cousins who would want to meet you and let you choose someone else. I just wanted to present some close to your age. Karl, I fear will be too shy to seduce you unless you choose him yourself. I just feel having you in the family would be a good thing! Think of any alternative to Karl as only a business arrangement though. Ja! With Karl you would be ‘family’, with the others, close but no cigar. It is like the eggroll in a Chinese dinner there.”

“And how old are you Erika? You seem too eager to see me?”

“Silly girl, I told you, we make a judgment about people very quickly. Karl has already sent me 2 or 3 pictures of you on his phone. Besides, it is easy for one she-wolf to recognize another. Beautiful does not begin to describe how you look though. I look forward to meeting you, it is that something you call a ‘woman’s institution’”.

“You mean intuition!”

“Ja, that too. Now please give my brother back the phone, I need to tell him what we are doing. Oh by the way, in the meeting today you may spend up to $10 million to buy the land we need there. It is the same amount I would limit myself too. I will tell Karl to let you do this for him. I want to see how you will do in the future role I plan for you. You are like sent by the gods for what we have planned to get into.”