Chapter 30: Nevada

Crystal and I lingered over dinner just so we could roll into Las Vegas after dark. We went up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, a.k.a. 'The Strip, ' about a dozen times before Crystal announced she was satisfied for the evening. On our first couple of passes on the motorcycle, Crystal would give me an excited squeeze and point when she saw a casino or hotel she recognized from some movie, poster, or TV show. She also started to wave to everyone to see whether she could get them to wave back; most did although to them she was just a cute babe on the back of a motorcycle and not a celebrity. We stayed in Vegas for two nights, saw a couple of shows, and gambled away fifty dollars for the two of us – our limit.

We made Thanksgiving morning phone calls to Ellen and Crystal's parents, and then to Anna, Lauren, Summer, and Kim. I arranged to send flowers to many of the women I'd made love with on my road trip, particularly those I'd felt a deep attachment to when we were together, such as Betty Sue, Pat, and Tama. I added a note of thanks and gratitude for them being in my life when they were and the way they were. Each had transformed me in some way and made me a better person. I thought fondly of every one of them.

We traveled through the rest of Nevada on Thanksgiving Day ending in Reno. We encountered scenery considerably more interesting than the day before. We passed mountains, lakes, pretty little towns, and at our leisurely pace, rolled into Reno about four o'clock in the afternoon. We had reservations at Harrah's, and headed there.

According to several lengthy emails I'd had from a couple of coordinators of the Children's Fund Telethon, Crystal and I were to check-in with the planners at ten o'clock the next morning. We'd been assigned a rehearsal room, as well as a makeshift band that would work with the two of us for the time leading up to our appearances in the Telethon. Other celebs and special guests were also going to be around, and we were provided a list of them – Crystal dubbed it 'The A List.'

After Crystal and I had gotten into our hotel room, I called Mils Cartwright. To my surprise, she answered on the second ring despite the holiday evening. "Happy Thanksgiving, Mils."

"You too, lover. When are you going to come and visit? Connie and I miss you. Plus, I can really make it worth your while now; my leg cast is off and I only have to wear the velcro version most of the time. I can wrap my long lithe legs around your hot body and ... well, you get the idea. Oh, and thanks for the flowers. I love you too."

"Mils, you're making me hard, and that's not why I called. I'll see you soon, I promise."

"OK, what's up? Kenesis stuff?"

"Yeah. Crystal and I just rolled into Reno. We're at Harrah's, and I'd love to know if he's around here somewhere. Can you use your magic fingers on the computer, and see if you can locate him? I'm sure he's been here waiting for me to show up for the Children's Telethon this weekend."

"Darling, I would do anything for you. Of course. Let me do some work, and I'll get back to you. It may be tomorrow. I'll call you." Mils knew Bart Kenesis' habits of staying at low-end motel chains, so I could imagine she'd start there.

Crystal and I walked around the 'strip' in Reno a little, and then went to dinner. Just after dinner, my cellphone rang. When I answered, Mils said, "Your nemesis is in Reno at the Day's Inn – about a mile south of you. He was easy to find too; that chain has all their registrations online for someone with the right access password. He's in room two-fifty-five – second floor, outside entry, no other door. Craig outlined the plans to end this stalking. Good luck."

I thanked her, and we ended the call.

Crystal said, "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yes, about a mile that way," I pointed to the south.

"What now?"

My next call went to my friend Craig. I started our call with the words, "He's in Reno." Craig informed me that he'd be checking into the Silver Slipper the next day with a seven other guys who had been in our Special Ops Company a decade earlier. We had been and remained a close-knit team despite our infrequent contact with each other.

Craig was crisp, and in his 'mission ready' mind set. He asked, "Do you want to be involved – to go with us when we shut him down?"

I thought for a minute and answered, "Yes, but only as a bit player because I'm emotionally involved and I might blow it with my anger and only stir things up. I'll let you do the dirty work; I'd just like to watch." As an afterthought, I looked across the room at Crystal, and added to Craig, "If you've got room for a pretty woman on the team, Crystal would probably like to watch too, so long as it's safe."

Craig chuckled, "I'll have Julia with me. Her mother is running your Telethon show, and she wanted to see her. I'll get the women the right equipment. The more the merrier." We agreed to stay in touch, and that tomorrow, or the next night might be the optimum time for our raid. I wanted to do something as soon as possible just in case Kenesis had planned some embarrassing revelation during the telecast. Craig told me he still had some planning to do, and needed to muster some other guys as well. His last comment puzzled me since I thought he already had a tour de force.

Check-in for the Telethon went without a hitch. Daisy Wheaton saw us arrive in the hotel's convention center, and came up to the two of us. Before I could say anything, Daisy plastered herself against me with a kiss that melted my buttons. We kissed, and we almost had clothed intercourse right there in the lobby. A young girl checking us in as Telethon participants sat three feet from us with her jaw agape. Crystal stood nearby chuckling.

Daisy's welcome of Crystal was only slightly less enthusiastic. She promised us, "I can't wait to see the two of you ... in more intimate surroundings." There could be no mistaking the sexual innuendo to her comment.

Daisy took over our check-in process from the young woman who had now turned a lovely scarlet color and avoided eye contact. When we were through, Daisy led us away and into the main convention room. "This is where we'll be set up for the weekend Telethon." The room was huge, with about a hundred round tables, each seating eight people.

Daisy went on, "Over there in the far corner will be a bank of a hundred telephone volunteers. For you, the 'home ground' will be just to their left on the stage – the band is further to the left in the other corner. The stage is where you'll sing, and emcee the show for your time slots; however, you're free to roam about, talk to the volunteers, the people in the audience, the band, anything you can think of to keep the show interesting. In your package is a list of suggestions in this area. If you glanced at your package, Jim, you're the primary emcee on Friday from eight at night until midnight, and Crystal you have the same time slot on Saturday. We assume the two of you will join up with each other on your 'off' night, but there has to be one lead person who keeps the phones ringing. We're still trying to arrange for a couple of special guests to appear during your segment; they'll help pass the time and keep momentum up."

Crystal and I both nodded.

Daisy led us down a couple of hallways to a much smaller room. Eight men and women were in the room, and I recognized the melody to Flirty, Flirty Cowgirl being played by a couple of the players as we came into the room. The music stopped, and all eyes looked at us.

Crystal, Daisy, and I introduced ourselves to the five band members and three backup singers. Milt Wahlberg headed the band and played lead guitar. They were a nice group and had all worked together before in the Bay Area. He explained that three others would be joining them tomorrow, all band members. He also suggested that we rehearse four hours today, and then up to six hours the next day before we took a short rest break and went 'on air.'

Daisy left us there to begin our rehearsals and the blending of our musical abilities. She promised to be available to us any time! Her sexual availability made me remember that Daisy loved sex and talking dirty as she had lain beneath me as I massaged her nude body with my cock buried in her cunt. As I recall, she had been excessively orgasmic – if one can have those kinds of excesses in that area of your life.

Crystal gave me a funny look and a smirk, almost as if she could read my mind as I watched Daisy's beautiful ass disappear out the door of our rehearsal room. She said, "Daisy looks like fun. I look forward to getting to know her a lot better." She gave me a lecherous grin.

We worked hard with the band and singers the rest of the day. We went over the various numbers that we would do and worked on arrangements that would come across well to the large audience in the ballroom as well as the television audience. Not surprisingly, the band had music to every song we were known to have recorded and dozens of other country songs to boot. We started with our hits and standards – our most popular music that was best known. This is what the audience would be looking for during prime time, and what they'd be responding to when we made a plea for donations.

We quit about six o'clock, letting the band members go. We knew that as the result this short rehearsal, we had about six to eight songs ready for prime time. We'd do more the next day as well. For the two nights that Crystal and I hosted the Telethon, I figured we would need one major song every half hour; that's what had been suggested to us. Other time could be spent interviewing other celebs who would be delivered to us, and of course, innovatively pleading for money.

Craig and Julia joined us for dinner. He brought two large duffle bags, one for me and one for Crystal. They contained the clothing and gear we'd wear when we made our midnight raid on Kenesis. Craig wanted us to 'go in' at one-twenty in the morning. He explained that he had staged some things in some other time zones that would be relevant to Kenesis, and he wanted darkness throughout the operation in all time zones. He didn't go into detail, but I had a strong suspicion about what would be happening in the other time zones.

This was the first time Crystal and Julia had met, although they knew a lot about each other. When Crystal got introduced, she said, "You're the Julia of Michigan and Idaho fame? The insatiable nymphomaniac that fucks like a mink? I've been looking forward to seeing you ... all of you – for months." The last remark could be interpreted in many ways, but Craig and I knew it had to do with sex.

Julia laughed and expressed the desire to get to know Crystal better too. The pair hit it off immediately, even having their own side conversation as Craig and I talked.

Craig said, "Hey, did you know Julia and Daisy..."

I interrupted with my own grin, "Are a mother-daughter team. Yes, I did. Maybe we can all 'get together' later." Now, my voice carried the overtones of sexual innuendo.

Craig said in a matter of fact way, "Julia does have a strong appetite for sex."

Crystal said unabashedly, "So do I."

Julia added with a chuckle, "So does my mother – Daisy."

Craig broke into a grin again and said with a lilt in his voice, "Well, now, this is shaping up to be a really great Telethon celebration."

Crystal closed down the discussion; "And, we have a 'Caesar-size bed' in our room, so we'll all fit on it simultaneously." Craig's jaw dropped, and he could tell that Crystal wasn't kidding.

Craig then broke into a big smile. He was primed and ready to go.

I said, "All right, what else?"

He said, "Well, a couple of things. First, we got a huge break at Kenesis' motel. I saw Gary an hour ago; he went into the Days Inn and chatted up the desk clerk. The guy used to be a Navy Seal in Nam. Gary explained that we had a small 'Special Ops' exercise tonight aimed at 'behavior modification.' The guy is on our side, and he assured Gary that the motel would be most cooperative to our efforts. He didn't even ask why we were doing our little raid. He just wanted to see justice done in a relatively peaceful way by and for fellow Ops men."

"That's great, but can he help us and not lose his job?"

"Well, he didn't think anything was a problem. He rented us room two-fifty-three, next door to Kenesis, and said he'd be sure adjacent rooms on either side of us or Kenesis or directly below him didn't get filled tonight, just in case things got a little noisy. Gary had to promise him that there would be no blood, and only some minor damage. I had Gary leave him a fifteen hundred in cash to say thanks and as a damage deposit. We do plan to be 'active' in his room. The Seal also said he'd be a little slow turning in any emergency or 911 requests from Kenesis' room. Everything has to go through the hotel switchboard." His grin got wider as he delivered the last of his first set of accomplishments, "Lastly, 'ta daaaaaaah, '" he showed us a passkey to Kenesis' room. He held up a small plastic access card. I gave him a high five across the table. Crystal leaned across the table and kissed him on the cheek. Julia looked at Craig with stars in her eyes and hugged her new boyfriend.

"Craig, you are amazing." Crystal nodded her head in agreement. "Thank you so much for helping us. I have been so worried what that man would do to get his revenge."

Craig explained that it was Gary's work, and I made a note to give Gary a big thank you for helping in the operation. I confirmed I'd pay him back any expenses such as paying the motel clerk; I'd told Craig to spend whatever it cost to end this stalking, and I'd pay for the operation.

I expressed my concern to Craig about disruption and embarrassment by Kenesis. Since I thought he'd been the source of the shot at me; I worried about bodily harm too.

Craig shot back, "Jim, don't worry. We've got two tails on Kenesis – men who know what they're doing. They got a photo of the guy and passed it around to the rest of the team. Two more guys will dog the ballroom area and keep him out. Hotel security swept the area earlier as a routine, and we used our own 'bomb dog' we borrowed from the local Air National Guard. Bart was up early and wandering around your hotel all morning, but he didn't do anything strange. After lunch, Kenesis went to the Eldorado to play the slots and blackjack all afternoon. He's still there, although he's had a long day and lost a couple of hundred, so we suspect he'll be in bed when our middle-of-the-night 'event' starts."

Craig added in a lower tone so Crystal and Julia wouldn't hear, "Kenesis had one surprise for us when we tossed his room, a .38 snub nose revolver – otherwise known as a Saturday Night Special. We neutered his weapon, just in case. He won't get to you, and we won't miss him if he tries to show up. A couple of our guys are armed too – nice and legal as your bodyguards."

I nodded and gave Craig a grateful smile. However, despite his reassurances, I still felt uneasy about what Kenesis would try to do. I'd be glad when our confrontation with Kenesis was over. The fact that he'd had a gun worried me further; he just might be unbalanced enough to want to shoot Crystal and me. The fact that someone from the team had rendered his weapon useless made me feel a lot better.

With part of my focus on Kenesis and what would happen later, appearing on the Telethon didn't seem to faze me. After we started in prime time, I relaxed in front of the camera, and became the perfect emcee, concerned about the charity drive, helping to drive the collections over the target of twenty-five million dollars, and being the consummate entertainer.

Because I started to relax, Crystal also relaxed and we put on a really good show for the evening. We took over from Joe Lee Tucker, the movie star, who had opened the Telethon at four o'clock. We were lucky too because another popular country music couple – Diane Hill and Len McCoy – had been in the audience, and during a break accepted our invitation to come on stage and sing with us. The foursome was the highlight of the evening.

Daisy Wheaton hovered around just off stage the entire evening attending to every little detail to ensure the show was a success. When the four of us sang, I thought she'd levitate in happiness. The big electronic tote board raced ahead a million dollars in the half hour the four of us talked and sang.

A few days earlier, when I'd found out I had a lot more money than I thought from the recordings, concerts, royalties, and albums I'd done, my new money manager suggested that I make some generous charitable donations. Thus, about nine o'clock on our first evening after a brief chat with Crystal to tell her what I wanted to do, I made a challenge to the viewing public: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great cause and we need your money to help the research into the diseases you heard about earlier. For the next hour, I will match – dollar for dollar up to a million dollars – the amount you donate to our cause." The phones started to ring.

Even though I intended to shoulder the entire burden of the challenge; however, Crystal was not to be left out. She stepped forward and said to the audience and the TV cameras, "Let me double that offer with up to another million dollars in matching funds to what Jim just offered. I'll keep the matching going from where Jim's offer leaves off to the next million-dollar level. Come on everyone, make those phones ring." Crystal gestured at bank of telephone volunteers on her left.

Every phone operator on our set was busy, and from what Daisy said, I knew the overflow was being handled by offsite operators. The cameras went back to the two of us as we kissed to cement the deal. We looked for excuses to kiss.

I urged the callers, "I hope when you're calling in, you are reaching deep in your pockets. If you were thinking of giving twenty – give fifty. If you were thinking of giving a hundred or two – give five hundred, or a thousand."

Now, the tote board started to flash, as the numbers took big jumps every minute. Before the hour was up, Crystal and I both made a show of writing personal checks for a million dollars each and handing them to Daisy. Daisy had tears of joy in her eyes. I had been reassured by our hostess earlier that the money that was being raised would be spent right away in some significant way to help kids around the world and not on administrative and processing fees.

At midnight, after only eight hours, the electronic tote board showed we had a good start towards the telethon's goal. As we came off stage, Daisy grabbed me to express her thanks; she flattened her body against mine, again grinding her cunt into my cock through our clothing. I rather liked the way she said thank you. I wondered why she hadn't done that on camera.

To my surprise, she repeated the process with Crystal. Having watched Crystal and my Native American friend Tama get it on; I knew that girl-on-girl excited Crystal. She responded with positive feedback, and Daisy looked more than pleased. She promised a fun-filled Sunday afternoon and evening after the Telethon ended.

As we handed off the Telethon to the next hosts – the famous tennis player Anya Chemerin and the actress-singer Scarlet Hanson, my tongue started to water. At least, I got to kiss each of them on TV as we passed over host duties to them. I felt sorry since they had the graveyard shift; the east coast and central zones were all but asleep, and donations for the night had visibly slowed since eleven o'clock.

Crystal and I raced upstairs to our room after our part of the Telethon ended to pick up our gear for the 'Kenesis Mission.' Officially, we were tired after a full day and needed to get to sleep. If anyone got asked, we headed off to bed. I texted Craig, and he replied, 'Mission on. Nighty night.' Kenesis had gone to bed. Craig knew we'd be on our way after hearing that news.

We slipped out of the hotel and walked to the Day's Inn. We strolled down the sidewalk carrying our bags and trying to look inconspicuous in case Kenesis happened to look out his motel room window.

We got to the walkway to the wing of the motel in which Kenesis was staying. As we neared room two-fifty-three, an old friend, Gary Flajnik, swung the door open so we could slip into the room quietly. I hadn't seen Gary in ten years, so we mugged a silent hello and thanks for his success with the manager of the motel. Many of the seven others I hadn't seen for a long time, so we also did our silent hellos as I went from man to man to thank them for their participation in this operation. I introduced Crystal to everyone with whispers, and she gave everyone a hug in thanks for their help. There were lots of smiles at Crystal. We then went silent and nearly dark. There were eleven of us: Craig and seven men from my old unit, Crystal, Julia, and me.

Crystal slipped into the bathroom to change. I knew she was enough of an exhibitionist that the thought of 'entertaining the troops' as she changed had crossed her mind. She took her bag, and came out five minutes later in camouflage gear – an Army Combat Uniform or ACU, from neck to ankles. She looked the part, except the uniform was too large; she'd had to roll up the pants and sleeves about a foot to fit her small frame. The jacket practically hung to her knees. Julia had the same 'small body in a large suit' look. A couple of us laughed at the women, but knew that when we'd finished with them, they'd look as fierce as the rest of us.

I'd changed into my ACU too. Rob Dentson, a guy we'd called 'Mustard' in the platoon, helped Crystal apply the shaded makeup of browns and greens to her face, neck, ears, and hands so that no white skin showed. Next, he helped her tuck her hair up under her Boonie hat, and added a camouflage scarf to cover the back of her neck so no one could see her long hair or its color. As the Crystal I loved disappeared, a rather fearsome individual emerged. She flashed me a smile, and her white teeth stood out in contrast to her dark and scary appearance. As well as I knew her, I had trouble identifying her with the makeup and the hidden hair. Julia got the same treatment, and then so did I.

Crystal strapped a fourteen-inch Bowie knife someone gave her in a sheath across her chest in a way where it could be easily seen and ready to draw for hand-to-hand combat. The wide belt for the knife and a bandoleer of fake ammo also hid the glaring evidence of Crystal's full breasts. Gary suggested the women leave about an inch of the blade showing so it would glint in the dim light we'd have in Kenesis' room. I armed myself in a similar way.

Everyone wore the ACU. A few wore camouflage ponchos, enlarged hoodies that gave them a bigger and meaner look than the others as their light capes swirled around them. In our waist holsters, we each carried a mockup of either a Heckler and Koch HK45C, a mean looking .45 caliber sidearm, or a Glock 19, a similar deadly handgun.

Carl Belanger, a CPA from Boulder, Colorado, passed out M16A4 Assault Rifles to everyone from a large cardboard box atop one of the beds. The weapon had been chosen by NATO as the core of their weaponry. Several 'weapons' had real bayonets; all the rifles had installed ammunition clips. All the weapons were heavy-duty plastic replicas of the real thing and weighed less than five pounds – mere toys.

Many of the men in the room had fake grenades hanging from their belts or bandoleers slung over their shoulders. Others wore bandoleers of ammo, other knives, smoke canisters, or stun grenades. Several wore communication devices, although when I got closer I could see that they all were 'toys.' In a dimly lit room, they would appear all too real.

We were overdressed for a Halloween party, but more important, we were a mean looking bunch. As I looked around the room, no one would be able to accurately describe any of us to a law enforcement agency. Crystal and Julia just looked like shorter commandoes.

We'd been silent and mimed much of our preparations. Craig had us sit in a rough circle on the beds and chairs, and he described in a whisper what we'd be doing in about ten minutes. He told us how we'd storm the room, the placement of each man around the bed, and briefly what he intended to say and do.

Carl the CPA drew a special assignment; his name had been 'Crazy' in the Army, because he took on assignments you had to be crazy – or have a death wish – to carry out. Gary, too, got an assignment. The two smiled at each other with glee; they would be good actors playing true to form.

Craig sat with his cellphone, and held it up to me when the first text message came in from Chicago. It read 'Chicago is windy tonight.' Almost immediately, another message lit up his device, 'Atlanta has rain. He waited patiently for another two minutes, just staring at his cellphone. At last, the third message he'd been expecting arrived, Virginia is for lovers.'

Craig held up his hand to indicate five minutes until our little raid started. I hadn't felt time move so slowly since I'd been inside a Somali city ruled by pirates that terrorized the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off their coast. I'd been there to extract six American civilians that had been taken prisoner for ransom from their container ship, and to destroy some of the patrol boats the pirates used to prey on foreign ships. There were twelve of us. My wait that time was for a flotilla of the pirates' armed boats to explode in a nearby harbor in order to divert attention from our rescue. Our mission had been a success.

Craig motioned at two minutes, and then at one minute. We all lined up at the door. Crystal, Julia, and I were last.

Gary peered out the motel room door, saw nobody else in the area, slipped five feet next door and inserted the purloined entry card in Kenesis' lock. As Craig gave the signal to move forward, Gary pulled the card and we all heard the bolt unlock. Gary held the door for us as he provided 'cover;' we raced in at a run, weapons drawn. The eleven of us surrounded the bed and guarded the door in fewer than ten seconds from when the door opened.

Kenesis had been sleeping on his stomach. By the time he'd rolled over because of the noise we made, he had eleven M16A4's pointed at him and a single flashlight shining directly in his eyes. He went white with fear. We'd all been there as part of our training years earlier; we had to feel the fear we hoped to inject into others. I suspected Kenesis had urinated in his bed.

Craig probed Kenesis' generous belly with the real bayonet attached to his M16. Kenesis wore light pajamas; Craig used the point of the bayonet to pop a button off the shirt. Kenesis backpedaled up the bed until he was sitting tightly against the headboard with wide eyes. He emitted little whimpering sounds. I had been right. As Kenesis kicked the covers away to move away from the threat we posed, we could see the pool of urine on the bed.

Craig said in a rough voice, "Kenesis, do you know why we're here?"

A long wail came out of his mouth, "Nooooooooooooo!"

"We're here because you have been stalking two people. Right?"

Kenesis shook his head in agreement. At this point, he'd agree to nearly anything provided we left. He needed more of a jolt to cement in the idea he should stop.

Craig said, "You are going to stop doing that. In fact, you won't ever want to even be in the same city they're in. Right?"

His head agreed. Kenesis stared at the point of the bayonet about a foot in front of his face.

Craig said, "If you even hear they're in a city where you are, you'll leave, won't you?"

Just then, Crazy Carl leaned forward with his rifle so it was within a foot of Kenesis' head. In a voice tinged with lunacy he said, "Can I pop him off? I'd love to do it ... right now ... then we don't need all his empty promises ... all this talk will be useless. Come on, just one shot. No one will hear. I can end all this crap." He cackled in glee.

Craig held his hand up to Carl, "Now, just hold that idea for a minute or two – we might need you to do just that ... but not this instant."

Crazy Carl kept the gun aimed at Kenesis' head, but took a step back from the bed. Kenesis had started to recover from the initial shock of our entry. I knew he could be belligerent from the experience Crystal and I had with him in Texas at a press conference.

Craig picked up his line of questioning as Carl backed off; he said to Kenesis in a tough tone, "Do you know whom I'm talking about – who you were stalking? Why don't you remind us?"

In a more normal voice, Kenesis said, "Jim Mellon and Crystal Lee. They deserve it. They stole from me. I had a right to take those pictures. They were worth a lot of money."

Craig said in an angry tone, "I won't argue the point with you. Just know that tonight you WILL stop harassing them." He paused, but even in the shadows I could see Kenesis was unrepentant in that instant.

Craig spoke again, "Do you know what might happen if you decide to pursue them again for any reason?"

"No!"

Carl waved the bayonet right under Kenesis' nose, grazing his chin; "Do you think it would be bad?"