Candace looked over at Imani. “What do you think?”
Imani blinked. “Has there been an invitation, yet?”
Pitch laughed. “Would you ladies be willing to join us for an excruciating walk through hell?”
Once more, Candace looked to Imani who looked to Roman. When he shrugged, she gave a confirming look to Candace.
Beaming, Candace looked to her boyfriend. “Absolutely.”
~54~
“Thanks for coming guys,” Stone greeted Aaron, Pitch and Roman to his office at Tesano headquarters in midtown.
“Where’s everybody else?” Aaron asked.
“You guys are it. I need to be careful who I share this with.” Stone closed the office door behind his brothers. “Hump and Vay are definitely off limits. As for Grek, it’s hard to know which side of the fence he’s on.”
“Hell...is Hump up to his old tricks?” Pitch asked,
“I don’t think he’s ever stopped being up to them.”
Stone’s response roused a chorus of looks among the new arrivals.
“What’s going on, man?” Aaron asked.
“You guys know I’ve been working on this inventory project, right? Part of my proposal was about setting up shipping checkpoints to confirm Tesano product travels smoothly and without interruption.”
“Has it?” Aaron probed.
“So far, I’m pleased. The process has been focused on five ships among the Tesano fleet-those identified as having troubled voyages.”
“Troubled?” Pitch noted.
“Ships remaining in port at their final destinations for longer than scheduled due to mechanical issues.” Stone explained. “As you know, the captains of those ships were relieved of duty after what happened with Uncle Em. With those captains gone and my new inventory process in place, those ships have been docking on time and have reported one-hundred percent accuracy in shipments over the last four voyages. The mechanical issues seemed to have corrected themselves.”
Roman let out a yelp and launched applause that quickly swept the room.
“So what’s the problem?” Pitch called as the applause waned. “You didn’t just call us here to show off your slick new procedure, I’m guessing.”
Stone’s expression was indeed showing signs of distress despite the good news he’d delivered. His green eyes harbored unmistakable stress when he motioned toward the wall map near his desk.
“The ships are making port on time at their final destinations and leaving at an appropriate window, but their arrival times at the individual checkpoints leave something to be desired.”
“How?” Aaron asked.
“There are between three to eight checkpoints,” Stone explained. “That’s per voyage, depending on the trip’s length. Our problem takes place on the longer voyages. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be a problem-arrival times seem spot on until you look at the exact times. Each international voyage gets an extra four hour grace period on arrival to account for any unforeseen issues that might push back the trip. The international arrival for three of our five ships have used up to the last twenty to forty minutes of that grace time.”
“So without the grace time they’d be late?” Pitch questioned.
Stone nodded. “Looks like those ships are going hard during those last two checkpoints to ensure they make it.”
“Just in time,” Aaron pointed out.
“What’s goin’ on?” Roman asked.
Stone motioned toward the map again. “Somewhere between the third and fourth checkpoint, there’s a slowing or stoppage altogether. We don’t know which. My team’s involvement begins and ends at the dock.”
“Sounds like you could use some people on those boats. Find out what the hell is going on,” Aaron suggested.
“Yeah,” Stone didn’t sound very enthused. “That could be very helpful.”
“Is anything missing off the ship?”
Stone shook his head on Roman’s question. “Plus they get there as scheduled so...I’m only concerned because of the consistency in using up the grace times.”
“And nothing’s missing with the shipments?”
“Not one thing,” Stone said to Pitch’s question.
“What do you need, man?” Aaron asked.
Stone pulled both hands through his hair that time. “I honestly don’t know. I called you three here to tell me I’m crazy for suspecting a damn thing.”
“Come on Stone,” Pitch put his feet up on the ottoman before the armchair he’d taken. “We all know it’s a good idea to be suspicious in this family.”
“I want in,” Roman said and brought all eyes his way. “If this is what it sounds like, I want in.”
Stone looked to Pitch. “Can you spare him?”
