Ernest Eyes

By M. Ross Kempf

Ernest Lenihan and Opal Nash met in college and fell in love. They went their seperate ways after and never really kept in touch. Now 30 years later Ernest is ready to retire and Opal is ready for love. He takes a vacation to see her and they rekindle what was left behind a lifetime ago. After catching up and realizing that they are meant to be together something happens that neither or them are prepared for.

Meantime Cassandra Nixon and Lt. Nicholas Baldwin are treasure hunting in the Andeman Islands and come across the find of the millenium. The only problem is that they are not able to get to the prize. While attempting to dislodge the item Nick gets a call from NAMA and feels the patriotic duty to go back to the U.S. and serve his country. The only thing that he knows is that someone needs his help, what he doesn't know is that the assistance needed is all he will be able to handle.

General Suarez and Colonel Lima run one of the largest drug cartels in the Americas. Thanks to some hikers and an undercover agent they now have a major problem on their hands. The only thing that they can do is try to find the spy and eliminate the problems.

The world is a very small place when everyone in it has something or somewhere in common. It's funny how things come together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483649757

Book preview

Chapter 1

He opened up his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. Once the darkness came into focus he realized that his memory served him well, he had lost the fight for now. Being tossed down into the pit was coming back to him and he would do whatever his body and mind was capable of to repay the beating he had taken. The smell was familiar, a mixture of mildew and rotting plants. He lived in a New York City basement apartment that had the exact same aroma and it was somehow comforting to him to think about that little space he called home. A little ways further down the hole there seemed to be a small ray of light shining against the rock wall, but where was it coming from, the only way out was up and this light was definitely further into the earth.

Dr. Ernest A. Lenihan was in the best shape of his life and the prime of it too, he was 53 years old and able to bench press 225 lbs. 7 times now, more than he had ever been able to throw around. He was a fairly tall man at 6 feet 2 inches and weighing in at a lean 195 lbs., he had a full head of surfer blonde hair that he hadn’t cut in quite some time and it was now resting on his shoulders.

His eyes were brown with a hint of green flecks if the sun hit them just at the right angle. He had always been told that he was good looking but never really truly believed it. Ernest had plenty of confidence but was far from egotistical, which served him well with the ladies. In the 4 years he had spent at Bradley University, and 2 more years at the University of Illinois he only had 1 girlfriend he actually considered spending his life with, the rest were just girls he met at the campus tavern, the Fieldhouse. Never really gaining much interest in the one night stand business it was easy to keep those just met as friends still to this day.

The Fieldhouse is a typical college bar with all the sports memorabilia of the university’s past athletes and their accomplishments hanging about the walls and set on shelves surrounding the tables. The food was and still is good there so it was a nice place to eat lunch, dinner or just sit back and have some beers with buddies. It has a special place in Ernest’s heart being where he met his one true love, Opal Nash.

Ernest had always thought she was witty and beautiful but she seemed to be somewhat out of his league. He just never thought that she would have any interest in spending casual time with him, however one evening changed that forever.

Walking into the Fieldhouse on a Wednesday night after an on campus basketball game, which rarely happened most of Bradley’s games were, and are played at an off campus site. Ernest noticed that Opal was sitting at one of the high top tables in the center of the room with no books and a drink with a lime in it. He wasted no time in going straight over to her and reintroducing himself. She politely extended her hand and said that she was fully aware of who he was and thought he would have never approached her. Ernest, being a very polite man, asked if he could join her, removed his hat and pulled up another bar stool.

The conversation weaved in and out from sports to politics, on to movies and books, food and whatever either of them could think of. It just free flowed like they had known each other for a very long time.

Opal Nash was a year younger than Ernest with brownish hair and blue eyes that sparkled when she smiled, which was very often. Princeton IL is where she grew up and developed her love of nature. She played sports in high school and was involved in many different clubs and organizations. She had an athletic build and stood about 5 ft. 5 inches. Opal always dressed very elegantly and her passion for life was something he had never known in a woman before. She came from money but did not act like or show that part of her in public. Opal was a woman on a mission to make her own way in life and that is what caught Ernest eye more than anything.

The two of them sat at the high top table chatting and snacking on the various appetizers the waitress brought them throughout the night. Ernest was drinking Peoria’s finest, Pabst blue Ribbon. Opal had been sipping on Vodka and tonics all night. Before they knew it the evening had turned into night and then the wee hours of the morning.

Ernest started to realize that he and Opal, both being drinkers, had consumed way too much for either of them to safely drive a vehicle. He called a cab for Opal and him-self, ordered some coffee and offered to pay for the taxi. Opal politely declined letting him pay, she had noticed that he did not have much cash in his wallet and only carried a check book. He had paid for the drinks and appetizers they ate through the night and she wanted to pay her own way.

When the cab arrived at her on campus residence, Ernest got out of the taxi walked around to the other side and opened the door for her. Opal stepped out of the cab and he leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, which made her blush. They both went to sleep that night thinking of the other one and how much fun they had just being themselves.

Ernest and Opal continued to see each other over the next two years they spent at Bradley both of them eventually graduating a year apart. Ernest gained his degree in Optometry and Opal getting her dual masters in Biology and Forestry management. The times they spent at college still to this day are some of their finest memories.

Though they never married the two of them remained friends even after starting their careers on different sides of the continent. Opal went on to work for the United States Forest Service out in the great northwest, mainly the states of Washington and northern California. Ernest went out to the State of New York and began a practice right in the center of the city that never sleeps.

Ernest never got into another relationship that meant more to him than Opal had meant, and Opal didn’t even consider dating anyone. She was consumed with her work and making a name for herself in the field that she so loved. Forestry had always been a love of hers since she was a child. She couldn’t get over how beautiful and amazing the wonders of nature were. Being in the Redwood forest was something she had always dreamed of and now she was there fully engulfed in studying the ancient trees and how detrimental mankind had been toward them. She had no time for another man and made that clear to any suitor who approached her about spending any amount of time away from that.

Ernest meanwhile was just trying to survive the different mindset of city living which he was not at all accustomed to. People here in the big apple are entirely different than those he had grown up around in the laid back mid-west. It was not unordinary for a person to come to his practice and expect services without paying for their office visit. It seemed to Ernest that the patients were taking advantage of him. No one could care less whether or not he made his huge monthly rent on his office, let alone his small basement apartment. He was going to have to figure out a way of surviving this fast paced, not so congenial way of life or pack up and go somewhere else.

Chapter 2

Cassandra Nixon was sure that she had come across something bigger than anyone had ever seen before. The coloring was beautiful and the clarity was perfect it was the biggest diamond she had ever seen. This time, while diving, she had accidentally discovered an underwater cave in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of India, near the Andaman Islands. The water was brilliant this time of day even enclosed on 3 sides, the rays of light beaming through the opening of the cave, made it glisten just right. She thought to herself she had found her own little piece of heaven, but why had no one ever found the diamond before this. It made no sense to her all of a sudden and she felt a sense of panic about it. The diamond was obviously not put there but it made her look around as if someone may have been watching her. She turned to her diving partner Nick and signaled for him to swim over and take a look at what she had found.

Lt. Nicholas Baldwin Nick was a former Navy Seal and college football player who still did some work for the U.S. government from time to time. Nick was a generous man with a huge heart, once you were his friend it was a lifelong relationship. His 52 year old body stood 6 ft. 3 inches and scaled in at an over his playing weight 235 lbs. His eyes were a bright blue surrounded by a thick head of salt and pepper hair, his beard was well kept however long enough that it nearly covered his mouth. Nick never cared much for having a woman around he preferred to live by himself. All that cleaning and cooking drove him crazy. He owned two homes, one in the state of Illinois near Peoria, off the Illinois River. The other was in Holy Cross Alaska near the Bering Strait, it was not much but he really liked to have a reason to vacation there.

Nick had been working with Cassandra now for about two years and she was a real livewire, always wanting to find a new treasure and dragging him all over the world in the process. Cassandra paid him well enough that he did not have to take any of the government contracts he was offered over the last few years, and this line of work was not going to get him killed as easily either.

She was a gorgeous woman with long slender legs and a chest that most women thought was cosmetic. Her long brownish blonde hair was usually tied in a ponytail that sat off to the side of her head, the left side mostly, she was left handed and it was just easier. Being a somewhat superstitious and sarcastic woman she often said that having the hair on her left side made it easier to use the right side of her brain.

Her father had played the NYC stock exchange and made 100’s of millions of dollars before passing away just a year ago, leaving it all to Cassandra. The loss was tremendous and she grieves to this day, however she always reassures herself that in the 36 years she had him, not one minute was a bad one.

Nick swam over to Cassandra and she pointed toward the huge diamond stuck in the sidewall of the middle part of the cave. It was spectacular, almost looking fake like something that was not from this earth. The light that came off of the diamond nearly blinded him as the water moved around it. Nick looked back at Cassandra and gave her the universal sign for lets surface. As they turned to swim towards their boat waiting just outside the cave and about 20 meters above, Nick had to take a peek back just to make sure that he had not hallucinated the whole thing. Nope it was still there shining brighter than ever. Cassandra was leading the way holding onto the tag line as she kicked with her flippers, and she too had to look back in amazement.

Heads now poking out of the water and masks thrown off Cassandra had a hard time not screaming, instead she calmly stared Nick in the eyes and said, what the hell was that? Nick being a thoughtful person paused for a moment and then replied, I’m not sure but I think it’s a gigantic payday.

They both got up the ladder and back on deck of Dorothy, Cassandra’s yacht. She always thought of herself as a treasure hunter but had never gone out and bought the correct rigging to excavate anything that was very heavy. She went after smaller prizes and rarely ever found anything, mostly she was out to travel the world and see as much of it in the process as possible.

The tools she did have were things that Nick had expressed need for just in case. A 5000 lb. hoist, some pry bars, hammers, torches and a full Craftsmen set of tools for the occasional maintenance of the ship. He had also talked her into letting him bring along his artillery, pirates at sea are more common than one thinks.

The two of them ate a quick snack, Cassandra having a cliff bar and a 5 hour energy drink. Nick had a glass of water and a Slim Jim this was his version of watching his weight. They grabbed the pry bars and each a hammer, put on their diving gear and got back in the water. The time was getting late in the afternoon, the yellow sun was turning orange and going away slowly, but still they had enough time by their calculations to get the gem unearthed and back up on deck.

Nick figured that they had an hour and 15 minutes till sunset and would need lights in the cave. Once Cassandra came around the corner of the entrance and saw the diamond still lodged in place it really hit her. It was not her imagination and she and Nick were going to be extremely rich, all they had to do was get the thing outta there. Nick was right behind her and trying not to become too excited once he saw it again, retirement is all he kept thinking.

Fishing for marlins, golfing all over the world, attempting an ascent of Everest, snowboarding even crossed his mind and Nick is not the type of person to get ahead of himself. He was raised a firm believer in the old saying, Never count your chickens till the eggs have hatched. Still it was hard to concentrate with all that beauty in front of you, entrancing.

Cassandra turned her head around and gestured to Nick to look up, a fully grown Kitefin shark, about 4 ft. long, swam directly above them. Nick had never been a big fan of sharks even if they are non-aggressive ones. In fact they scare him to death. It woke him up from his daydream though and got him back into the mindset of retrieving this big diamond out of the wall. Nick tugged on the tag line and got Cassandra’s attention, he shrugged at her as if to say, so what a shark, big deal I’m not afraid of anything.

She laughed to herself and then put all her thought into studying the rocks and sea life around the diamond. She didn’t want to destroy anything she didn’t have to, and Nick had reminded her up top that removing the diamond could possibly cause a collapse of the cave. Caution was something that the two of them had to keep in mind.

They reached their potential prize and looked at each other again. Nick stuck his hand out and touched the diamond, he guessed that it had to be at least 2 ft. around judging by the 10 inches of it that were showing. On top of that it was at least 7-8 inches tall and barely protruding from the cave sidewall. Cassandra took her pry bar, placed it next to the diamond in a small crevace and pulled as hard as she could. She motioned to Nick for help and he grabbed the 4 foot long pry bar next to Cassandra’s hands and pulled along with her. The diamond was not going to move with just a couple of people prying on it, it had to have been here for thousands maybe millions of years and it obviously didn’t want to go anywhere.

Nick stopped pulling and ran his hand by his neck letting Cassandra know to stop also. He grabbed the other pry bar and tried to locate another spot next to the diamond that he could get more leverage. Cassandra meanwhile was digging thru her pack she had hooked to her belt for the chisel she stuffed in there. Nick did not see her pull the hammer back and smack the chisel, he only heard the blunt sound of the strike. By the time he reached over and got ahold of her arm, she had already started her swing again.

Chapter 3

General Manuel Suaurez gazed through his telescope admiring the jungle when his secretary came in the door. General, your papers are in. He slowly turned away and motioned for Freeelove to set them on his desk.

The Oak and walnut chest of drawers were his great grandfathers, it was an intricate piece of wood work with engravings of his family shield in various spots. The legs were sturdy and the top was solid enough to take the blow of a body being thrown upon it. The desk was also equipped with two hidden compartments that, a combination of moves were required to open. First you had to rotate the pull counter clockwise on the top left drawer, and simultaneously turn the pencil holder 45 degrees to the right. These were only used for the most confidential of documents and other items.

Freelove Hurlbutt, or Luna Sanchez as the General knew her, was an American Indian that was raised in the city of Nome Alaska. She was a no nonsense type of woman that loved her country and couldn’t have been more proud to serve it. Going on 6 years with General Suarez and his rag tag group of soldiers was turning her long black hair a shade of gray. She had taken up Spicy mexican foods and the occasional tequila to make herself fit in, when out with the other girls. Freelove had dark eyes and caramel colored skin that made it easy to pass for one of the native Mexican women she worked with. Her personality was passive, yet she had a side to her that no one she was currently involved with knew of. Freelove was the epitamy of the undercover American spy. So deep in, she could barely recognize the difference between what was legal or illegal, let alone moral or immoral. She had been General Suarez’s right hand man, so to say, for the last 2 years and that was a tough task to come by.

Three different women had to be suddenly eliminated for Freelove to get to this spot and she was not about to give up her cover, or walk out on this mission, once so close to an international villain. She was coming up on closing the deal and she could feel it, all she had to do was put up with this assignment for another year or so and she could take a long needed vacation far away from any compound.

General Manuel Saurez was a tall man when compared to his peers. He always wore ceremonial fatigues covered in medals which he had given to himself. The general was not really a general at all, he was just another man that had come across enough money thru the drug trade that he commanded an entire army of less fortunate men who needed someone to lead them in the way of life.

He had a close crop of black hair and a small beard that only covered his lower lip. His eyes were constantly shaded with sunglasses and his mouth never showed a hint of a smile. The general was definitely not fat, he weighed in at 140 lbs. and stood 5 ft. 10 inches. He considered himself to be a rooster amongst a world of chickens and he often used the phrase to demean many of his competitors.

Outside the huge pain of windows in the office of general Suarez rain began to fall. He muttered some obscenities and then had Freelove close the blinds behind his desk before she left the room. General Suarez sat down in the leather chair he had especially made for him by a leathercraftsmen. He had to adjust the sidearm he was wearing on his hip, and took the one in the shoulder strap off and set it on his desk next to his right hand. The gun he favored the most was the one he wore closest to his heart, a .38 special he had taken off the first man he ever shot nearly 40 years ago when he was just a boy learning the business of real estate and marijuana from his father.

He looked at the gun sitting there on his desk and thought to him-self briefly, that is what started it all. He had killed his way to the top and still was responsible for deaths everyday not only directly but indirectly. The general did not let these thoughts detour his ruthlessness or affect the way he ran his multi-million dollar business.

The risk of growing and distributing Marijuana had become significantly less and much safer over his lifetime. In the last 10 years, especially in the United States, it had turned into a nearly no lose situation when it came to making money. He had made these millions without ever entering the United States. General Suarez had 10-12 different fields, each crop numbering in the 100’s some in the 1000’s of pounds of profit.

He had two of his servants to tend to each particular grow. These men slept in tents each night and watched over the crops. They were desperate and only wanted to earn what little cash they made to provide a meager lifestyle for their families back in Mexico. All the growers were provided with weapons, for the protection of the fields, instructed not to use them unless absolutely necessary. The general was not a stupid man, he knew that he was a wanted criminal and took no chances. When he did leave his compound, it was in an armored truck he called Juando.

Juando was a 6 wheel drive monster of a machine. It was fully armored with only 2 rear windows that were just 3 inch slits, 8 inches long in each side door. Those small windows were filled with the same bulletproof glass that the windshield was made of. General Suarez had it painted black with a snake wrapped around an eagle on its hood, demonstrating his hatred for the American government. There were two machine guns that would come out of the front at the push of a button and two more rear facing machine guns that would come out of the roof that were operable from the back seat.

It had an American made engine in it that came out of a government transport vehicle, the general had some of his mechanics make horsepower advancements and up the fuel intake. Juando could make it from 0-60 in just under 5 seconds, it was not only powerful but extremely quick and with the all-wheel steering option it could traverse just about any terrain he needed to.

Quickly scanning over all the letters and papers Freelove had brought in to his attention, General Suarez saw the land transaction papers he had been waiting on from his lawyer. He also noticed a hand written note from one of his growers on the American side in Northern California, Trinity county. The nearly illegibal note read.

That American woman is agen becoming a noosance to are grow. Sumthing must be done about her. Plees let us no what akshun to take. Time is of the essens. The crop is still safe for now, but not sher what she will do this time.

The general slammed his fist on the desk and knocked over a picture of his deceased father that sat on the right corner. He reached over and stood the picture back up in disgust. Manuel leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his cognac followed by a puff on the cohiba xv652 that was slowly burning in the standup ashtray next to his desk. He then thought to himself for a long while about what he was going to do about this woman who had been such a pest for the last few growing seasons.

Chapter 4

Being an Optometrist in New York City was a profession that Ernest dearly loved, it was something that he had always wanted to do, which was healing people. He had gone back to school when Lasik eye surgery had taken to the general public and became a licensed corrective surgeon. This really broadened his scope of patients and helped tremendously with his income. Ernest was still a single man and had never left his apartment, why should he get a bigger place when he was hardly ever there, and had no one to share it with. He had built up quite a resume of high profile patients and was being sought out by other socialites, throughout the world for surgery to be done.

Ernest was getting wealthier by the day and after some years he began to start thinking about traveling himself and taking a vacation or two. What is the point of having all that money and never using it for your enjoyment. He started reading about sailing, and mountaineering, and hunting trips but was unable to decide on what it was that really interested him.

One day while boarding the subway home he noticed a National Geographic magazine lying on a bench of the station. On the cover was a picture of a giant Redwood. The article pertained to the protection of the Redwood trees. It made him think about Opal and how wondrous it must be for her to be out there in the thick of all that studying those giants. When he got home he immediately began researching plane tickets and travel packages out to that section of the country. The only problem with that was, he had no way of getting a hold of Opal anymore.

The two of them had not spoken or written to each other in years, and Ernest had never gotten into the whole social media outlets of Facebook or any of the other ways of communicating on the internet. He thought about it and made some efforts to contact someone at the U.S. forestry service, maybe he could find her that way and let her know he was thinking about visiting. Ernest’s only hope was that she was not married by now, and there was still room in her life for him.

Opal had made quite an impression on her peers in her earlier years of employment. She was willing to participate in the climbing of the enormous trees to study the canopy, as well as all the boring paperwork that was involved with it. Opal had started up a number of save the trees projects throughout the years and also done her fair share of collecting money thru fundraisers she established. She had become one of the most highly respected forestry management scientists in the Nation.

Opal made her home outside of the town of Willow Creek CA, near the Trinity River and only about an hour drive to the Pacific Ocean. She enjoyed taking the trip to work every day, it was a beautiful drive no matter which route she took, inland all the way, or straight west to the scenic route 101.

She was right in the middle of the Legalize pot movement but didn’t really have a hard-nosed stance one way or the other. Opal thought that as long as it is serving someone medically and not lethally harming anyone it should be up to the individual what to do with it.

The effects of it were not something she enjoyed and she once had college classmates who had gotten lost in it, but knew that if used responsibly it could improve some ones quality of life. Opal had known some fellow students at Bradley