Aloud and disturbing ringing noise rudely awoke me from a deep and peaceful sleep. Slowly opening my eyes, I lifted my head from my pillow, turned on the table lamp, and focused my eyes to look at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It read 3:20 a.m. Trying to mentally brush the sleep cobwebs from my mind, I heard the telephone ring again, its harsh hammering again disturbing the quiet of my bedroom. I wondered who could possibly be calling me at this early morning hour. With an exerted effort, I raised myself on one elbow, sat up and lifted the phone from its cradle, and then answered in an almost inaudible and sleepy voice, "Hello."

It was a woman's voice I was hearing. She was an overseas operator calling from Seville, Spain, and in a distinct Spanish dialect, she asked me to please hold the line while she connected me to the caller.

"Hello, Brad! I'm terribly sorry to be waking you at this early morning hour, but I knew that you immediately wanted to know what information I'd been successful in finding."

"Is that you, Max?" I asked in a somewhat confused and irritated tone of voice.

"Yes. It's I, Brad," he answered meekly. "Again, I apologize for waking you up from your sleep. I just didn't give any thought to the time difference in Chicago until I had placed the call until the operator told me."

"That's okay, Max," I said through a yawn. "Since I'm almost awake now, you may as well tell me about it. Did you have any trouble locating and copying all of those old documents we talked about?"

"Well, at first I did have a bit of difficulty finding the right building where they were housed," he responded. "When that was done, it then took me the better part of the day to wade through the ship's manifest because there were so darn many of them. Eventually, and with some help from a librarian, I located just what I was looking for. Luckily, the one we wanted was among them. I successfully managed without too much difficulty deciphering most of the other documents I thought we'll need for our purposes. I made photocopies of those documents, and I'm thinking that maybe I should send them to you by Express Mail, if that's all right with you. That will give you and George and Lou time to go over everything which should give us a fast start once I get back to the States."

"That won't be necessary, Max," I answered with another yawn. "We still have plenty of time for that, and we have a lot of other things we have to do before we start things in motion for leaving. Besides, I want to have the three of you here with me when we carefully go through those things. When are you leaving Seville?"

"My return flight to the States is scheduled to leave at ten thirty on Thursday evening," Max answered. "The flight should take me about ten or twelve hours. If it gets to Chicago on time, I should arrive at Chicago's O'Hare Airport sometime on Friday by late morning. I'm told that there is about a five-hour time difference between the country of Spain and the city of Chicago. Is there any chance whatsoever you can pick me up at the airport when I arrive there? I'd really appreciate it if you could do that for me, Brad."

"I don't think so, Max. I've too much work to do around here at that time of the day. I'd suggest you use the limousine service or take a taxi. I still have a lot of things I have to work out in my mind, and I don't want to take the time driving anywhere. Is there anything else you have to tell me about that I should know?"

"No, that's about all of it. I'll see you sometime late on Friday afternoon or, more than likely, on Saturday after I'm rested. Good night, Brad! Again, I'm sorry that I woke you."

Hanging the telephone up, I dropped my head back onto my pillow and closed my eyes. I was hoping to be able to go back to sleep again, but my mind was lost in a clutter of activity, and my thoughts were now centered on things other than sleep. Uppermost in my mind was fine-tuning our unfinished plans along with everything else we had to take care of before we'd be leaving.

After a wide stretch and yet another yawn, I finally pulled myself up from my mattress, sat on the edge of the bed, and turned off the table lamp. There would be no more rest for me this morning, so I decided to get myself showered, shaved, dressed, and then make myself a fresh pot of strong black coffee. I knew I probably would need that to get me through what I'd be facing me this morning.

I'd just emerged from my morning shower and was about to begin to shave when I heard the doorbell ring. Quickly pulling on my bathrobe, I left the bathroom and opened the door to see my cousin George Mason standing in the doorway. He had a big toothy grin on his face and the morning newspaper in his hand.

"It looks as though my arrival is a bit early this morning, Brad. If you don't mind, I'll wait for you in your kitchen while you finish whatever it is you're doing," George said as he quickly entered my apartment and closed the door behind him.

"I just finished showering and was getting ready to shave, but go ahead and make us a pot of coffee. I'll be along with you in a few minutes. The coffeepot is on the stove, and you'll find a can of coffee and a clean cup in the cabinet over the sink," I said as I turned from him to walk back to the bathroom.

Soon after I finished shaving and was dressed for the day, I went into the kitchen, where I saw George sitting at the table, skimming through the pages of the morning newspaper. He looked up as he saw me and asked if there was anything else in the house to go with the coffee.

"Possibly a cinnamon bun or slice of apple or cherry coffee cake? That would be really nice, Brad."

"I'm sorry, George," I answered. "I didn't take time in the past few days to do any grocery shopping, so my cupboard is empty of those rich pastries you seem to crave. Besides that, I've been noticing lately that you are putting on a few extra pounds around the middle," I said that with a grin, "so maybe you should stick to eating a slice of toast with butter for a change. You will find a loaf of raisin bread in the refrigerator along with the butter dish.

"To change the subject for the moment, George, I received a telephone call very early this morning from Max. He told me to expect him here sometime Friday afternoon. He also asked me to pick him up at the airport, but I told him to take a limo or a taxi. I'm just not up to driving all the way to O'Hare Airport and fighting that heavy traffic in both directions on the interstate."

"How did he say he had made out in Spain?" George asked as he took a fast sip of his coffee. "Did Max accomplish everything that we had hoped for?"

"He told me that he was able to make copies of all the documents we had asked for and think we'll be needing," I answered. "Other than that, he didn't have a lot to say to me about it. I wasn't yet fully awake, so I didn't want to get into a long and drawn-out conversation with Max on the telephone. I think we should all get together here at my apartment on Saturday afternoon, and then we can go through everything in that he brought back with him from Spain.

"I'd also like to caution you and the others that from this point on we will all have to be extremely careful about what we say to anyone outside of our immediate group regarding what we are planning. If even the slightest hint of it leaks out to anyone else, we may find ourselves taking on some unwanted...