Chapter 31: The Plot Sickens

“Joan Crawford!?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, I know her. She tried to kidnap five of my children after we enrolled them at the Sunset School in Boise where she was the Principal. They were taken to a church and we had to rescue them but I never did get the name of the church.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, that night a group of them attacked our home. They broke through our front door. All of them were carrying rifles and my wives and I had to fight them off. We killed many of them. Later, the Boise police found out that their church is a member of some nation-wide radical religious organization.”

“Yeah, I’m just starting to figure that out.”

“What does all this they have to do with this situation?”

“Your wives went out for dinner last night and afterwards were looking to see if there was a club where they could dance a little. We don’t have those sorts of clubs in McCall. During ski season people have too many parties to make a dance club profitable. They came back to the hotel and found there was a wedding reception going on. They got invited to join the party and were dancing with each other and not bothering anyone. Three young men began hitting on them, wanting to dance with them, and buy them drinks. They turned them down. They made it very clear that they were married. The three began to buy them unsweetened iced tea.

“At some point in the evening the three drugged the ladies iced tea. When the ladies began to feel woozy, they paid their respects to the bride and groom and got in the elevator to go to their room on the second floor. The three men got to the second floor ahead of them and waited until the ladies unlocked their door, then the three men shoved them inside. The amount of drugs that the smallest woman, what was her name?”

“That would be Blossom.”

“Thank you. The dosage that Blossom received caused her to pass out completely while Lynn and Erin were hindered but fading. One of the men undressed Blossom and was about to rape her when Lynn shot him. Then she shot one of the others when he tried to step in. The third man was forced to call 9-1-1. Blossom was completely unconscious when the EMT’s arrived and Lynn and Erin were still awake but before they got to the hospital the drugs had affected them and they’d passed out as well.”

“And that is where things get interesting. One of the three men is the son of Joan Crawford and all three are members of the Church of Heavenly Grace and Light. When we looked into the Church we found out about the attack on your compound and that brings us to where we are right now.”

“Not quite, Chief. How did those men know our wives would be here? Or that they would be at a wedding reception for a couple they didn’t know?”

“Mr. O’Dell, I don’t usually do this but I’m going to write it up as pure coincidence unless something happens to prove me wrong.”

“I’ve had stranger things happen in my life, Chief. Now what’s the story with my wives?”

“Blossom was completely unconscious when she got to the ED. Lynn and Erin passed out while they were being transported. The last time I spoke with the doctor, he was waiting on you and blood tests.”

“Chief, you said that one of the guys was Joan Crawford’s son?”

“Yes, that would be Gabriel Crawford. He was the one that Lynn shot twice, once in the left buttock and once in the left shoulder. He was the one that was going to rape Blossom. I guess Lynn had kicked one of the men in the groin when he first made a move on her and later he tried to jump her when he thought she was going to pass out and she shot him in the chest.”

“But you say that the ladies all passed out?”

“Eventually, they all did. If Lynn hadn’t acted before she was unconscious in a few minutes the three of them would have been at the complete mercy of those three men.”

I sat quietly, contemplating the potential disasters the family had just avoided over the past few months. I was wondering if things were going to continue like this or if things would get better.

“Mr. O’Dell, I think you should come with me to the cafeteria and then wait in the ED waiting area.”

“Trying to poison me with hospital food, Chief?”

“Actually, the food here is pretty good. I’m working on my heart disease and eat here often just for the healthy foods. They also have coffee and brownies.”

“Brownies? With nuts?”

“Yup.”

“I’m ready. Lead on.”

We walked out of the conference room and had just sat down in the cafeteria when Doctor Schlide came in with a nurse. He got a cup of coffee and joined the Chief and me.

“Doctor, any news on my wives?’

“Yes and for you Chief. The tox screen came back and your wives were more than the victims of a sexual assault. There was a slow acting poison in their systems. It would appear that after they were assaulted they were to just die. I’ve given them something to counteract the poison and they are very lucky to have had this happen here. I have the three on a dialysis machine right now. The machine uses a charcoal filter to remove the type of poison used on them. It is very effective.”

“How long before they are out of danger, Doc?” I asked.

“Hemodialysis is fairly fast. I’ll keep them on the machines for another five hours. They should show an increased positive effect in about two hours. At that point you can see them. They are still quite disoriented right now, so I am keeping them sedated.”

“Erin and Lynn are pregnant. Will there be any damage to the babies?”

“Not from the procedure. I don’t think the drug dosage was so large. But you’ll want their OB/GYN to monitor things closely.”

“Thank you Doctor. I can’t tell you how thankful I am. Tell me, does the hospital need anything? I mean is there a targeted donation that my family can make?”

“Small hospitals always need something, Mr. O’Dell.”

“I understand. But if you ever find yourselves in need of something that will make a difference, and I’m not talking about a special wing for lip puffing and butt implants, please call us for help.”

“I’ll pass that on to the fundraising folks. Thank you.”

“No Doctor, thank you. Because of you a lot of children will still have their mothers.”

He stood and I joined him. We shook hands and when I sat back down, I looked at the Chief.

“Attempted murder?”

“At least.”

“When we get home, I’m going to dig deep into this so called church. Heads are going to roll.”

“Do everything legally, Paul. No cowboy stuff.”

“No worries, Chief.”

A thought occurred to me while I was waiting for the process of detoxing my wives was completed. I went to the ED desk and asked for Dr. Schlide. A few minutes later, he appeared through the departments double doors.

“Mr. O’Dell, I’m told you wanted to see me?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting you?”

“If you were I would have ignored you.”

“Right!” I chuckled. “My wives and I flew up here from Boise. Will my wives be able to fly back? You said earlier that they were disoriented. Will flying cause problems?”

“It could if you have a bumpy ride.”

“That’s all I needed to know,” I said.

The plan for going home was taking shape. I’d send the two planes back to Boise and rent a car or SUV to take us home. We could have a leisurely drive and the wives could sleep if needs be. I took out my phone and called Gwen.

“Hi son. What’s the word?”

“Things are a little weird Gwen. The three were attacked by three men. Lynn shot two of them and stopped Blossom from being raped.”

“Raped!? Is my baby OK?”

“Yes, Gwen. Lynn saved her. However, the guy that was going to rape her was the son of the woman who was the principal at the Sunset School.”

The line was quiet for a bit.

“Paul, is this a problem? Do I need to lock down the Savannah?”

“Maybe and every once in a while check the front gate and see if anyone is parked around there. The new front door should stop anything coming from there. The security fence should slow down anyone trying to get through or over that. Once the system is armed it will call the police when it’s triggered. If it goes off, don’t do anything but get yourselves and the kids upstairs and locked in our bedroom.”

“When will you and the girls be home?”

“I have to wait to see what the doc says. If all goes according to plan we should see things get better in the morning. Then I’m planning on driving back. The doc seems to think that the flying might get rough. So I would say day after tomorrow in the evening we should pull into the driveway.”

“Be careful, Paul.” Gwen said, sounding like my real mother before she paused. “Paul?”

“Yeah mom?”

“How did those men know Blossom and the others would be there?”

“The Chief of Police seems to think it was coincidence. He’s going to be asking a lot of questions to be sure. So, I’m sure that the children are all being perfect.”

“Paul, I don’t know how you have seventeen children and they never fuss or argue or disagree about anything.”

“We’re blessed, Mom. Let me talk to Margaret Erin, please.”

The phone was handed off.

“Hi Daddy!”

“Hello, my little love,” I said with a lot of love in my voice. “Grams tells me everyone is being good, thank you for that.”

“The Babies are worried.”

“About what?” my tone got very serious, very fast.

“They are worried about us and our friends.”

“Our friends? Which friends, Margaret Erin?”

“I don’t know, Daddy.”

“OK. I’m going to have Grams protect the Savannah. You kids keep being nice. The Moms and I will be home late tomorrow night.”

“OK. Be careful, Daddy.”

“I will be my little love. Tell all the others that I love them and miss them.”

“I will.”

“Please give the phone back to Grams.”

There was a pause and Gwen Martinez came back on.

“What do you need, son?”

“Go ahead with the lock-down and call the police and let them know that we suspect a problem from the Church of Heavenly Grace and Light and ask for a few more drive by checks overnight.”

“I’ll have Bill do that. He’s ready to kill someone.”

“Don’t let him do that. I’ll call you in the morning after we see how everyone responds to the therapy.”

“OK, son. I love you. Tell the girls I love them too.”

“I will. Bye.”

I disconnected the call and sat there in the waiting room wondering what would be next.

“The heathens own this place. Once we put a dent into their source of money they’ll be easier to bring down and it will be easier to save their children.”

The speaker was a woman wearing black and carrying a pistol. She was speaking to three others. Two carried semi-automatic rifles and the fourth an aluminum bat. All were dressed in black. They were obviously not familiar with the establishment they were about to try and disrupt.

It was Sunday night at The Bar-Bar and karaoke was starting. The singers were signing up and for the first time in several weeks, since the birth of their daughter, Bosco and Teri Barker were out on a date. They were surrounded by the Brothers, the biker group they were members of. Teri and Bosco had named their daughter Paula Lynn Erin Blossom Barker in honor of their dear friends.

The karaoke host began the show by singing the first song to check out the system and behind the bar Marcus Marks was cutting limes in preparation for the onslaught of orders of mules, just pausing to fill orders for beer.

The four women in black burst into the front door and the leader fired a shot into the ceiling. The one with the bat headed for the bar and getting behind it, she began to break everything she could find made of glass, bottles, glasses, mirrors, lights, everything.

Marcus was at the far end of the bar and ran to her. She swung an overhead chop at him. He held his arm up to protect his head and the bat broke his arm. One of the women with a rifle ran to the cooler and began shooting holes in the beer kegs and the distribution and cooler systems. The woman with the pistol and the other with the rifle stood near the entrance shouting orders.

“Stay seated! Don’t move.”

As soon as Bosco Barker saw Marcus take the hit from the bat he shoved Teri behind one of the Brothers and grabbing a pool ball and launched it at the head of the woman giving orders. She ducked, the woman with the rifle spun, aiming the weapon at Bosco. One of the Brothers, Tim Manly, had drawn his pistol from behind him and shot the woman with the rifle.

The leader recovered from the pool ball aimed at her head and took a shot at Tim. Tim was thrown sideways by the impact of the bullet and then from behind Bosco, Teri shot the leader in the center of her chest, dropping her instantly.

During the seconds all of this was going on, Mark Splendor, put his beer bottle to good use. He immediately threw it at the head of the woman with the bat, hitting her in the face. Mark was a local regular. He was the reason Paul and Lynn met. Mark moved around the bar to the entrance closest to him, grabbing another customers bottle of beer and before the woman could react he threw it at her face again.