Chapter 17

When we got up in the morning, we cleaned up quickly in the separate men's and women's latrines before we met John and the driver for breakfast. We walked over to the officer's open mess and bought some great military breakfasts. I stuffed, having the opportunity to have good biscuits and sausage gravy, along with a bunch of eggs and potatoes. The coffee was bad as always, but it was hot, black, and strong.

John looked at me and said, "Now what?"

"If what you told me is true, we should be free and clear today. If intelligence says there's still a threat, I'll just stay right here. I'll make the hospital measure me for another leg or something. Bobby can go to work and I'll go to the library."

Our driver said, "You're too comfortable. It isn't cool to tease death."

John about cracked up, "Son, this Marine has seen so much death and been confronted so many times with the decision to save his men and die, or save himself, he doesn't even think about it. Be in real combat for a week or two at a time, then tell me about comfort factors. This man can eat using a guy he just gutted for a table. He can sleep, not necessarily soundly, but still sleep with mortars falling around him at the rate of two a minute. What he did last night wasn't for show; it was to protect all of us as he felt he was the only target. He was, and he proved it."

The driver still looked at me warily. John used his cell phone and called DC for intelligence. He heard from them that several people had been picked up last night as a result of the sniper fire. He asked for their opinion, listening, nodding.

He smiled, "Let's get our shit, thank our hosts, and go to work. We'll go to the hotel to change clothes and you, Chuck, can start taking duty. You still have some accrued incident time so if you have other things to do, go do them."

I told John that I would discuss it with Howard and that I needed to make some decisions about my employment. John looked at me in understanding and said, "I hope you stay with us." He looked at Bobby and said, "I would like you to stay with us as well. There isn't too much duty where you two can work together, but if you find something you can do together and need help with the transfer, call me."

Bobby smiled, "We didn't put anything over on anyone, did we?"

"Something clicked with you two. You both exhibited all the signs. I think you're a good match. Be sure before you make it permanent. This is a crazy way to make a living. Bobby, you already know that."

Bobby nodded but smiled.

We drove back to hotel, with John saying he was going to sign out of our service office and take his crew home. He said they all had enough good stories for the rest of the office and cubicle rats back in DC.

Bobby and I went up to the room, saying hi to some relaxed duty people, and changed clothes. I told Bobby, I think we'll be staying in our new place tonight. I have to close my other apartment and pick up my bike, but that shouldn't be a big deal. Let's go to the office.

We walked to the office and were greeted by everyone. Howard said, "After worrying about you two so much. Last night was anti-climatic. Good idea, Chuck. Not cool doing the stunt you did with the steel plate though. You're forgiven because it worked. We picked up all the shooters, plus we profiled a bunch out at the airport, and have about twenty more in custody. They're bemoaning that the big shots who offered the reward are all dead. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, you know the story."

Howard looked right at Bobby, "So Bobby, you ready for your new place?"

Next Howard looked at me and said, "Decision time, my young friend, I've done everything I can to convince you to stay. If you do, there's a good future here for you. Have any idea yet?"

Bobby looked at Howard and said, "There's one more inducement we can use, Howard. I'd want to make this guy, Safe Two. We're supposed to have a two-person team at the safe house anyway. He can still pull duty a lot of the time when we're not hosting, and what better cover than a service couple. How about it?"

Howard and John waved at both of us to follow them as they headed toward his office. Once we were all sitting, relaxed, Howard said, "Bobby, Danny's been gone a long time now and you've become a valuable member of our team. When needed, you've pulled duty for sick guys, you've even pulled some air duty. Up until Wild Bill showed up, you've never exhibited any sign of interest in anyone. The guys that have been at the office since Danny left, have all looked after you closely, hoping you would have this opportunity."

"I guess something I want you to think about is, do you really want to have another relationship with someone in the service. Hell, even the bureau can be hairy sometimes. There's always that chance that either or both of you could be lost. Bobby, you know what that's like."

"The brief courtship you two have had has been unusual to say the least. This is what I'd like to do. If you stay on, Chuck, I'll assign you as Safe Two with Bobby as leader. Your temporary Lieutenant's position will probably go away, but you haven't had any special office yet anyway. While you are working out of the safe unit, I want you to go back to the employment office and work there temporarily. I want you to observe the transition of supervision and be watchful of any new schemes that might surface. You'll work closely with the bureau, who will pick up half your tab while this undercover is going on. You don't get to double dip on salaries. Your employment office salary will be diverted to the Marshal's service budget while you take care of this assignment. If the safe unit has to host, you might have to take a leave of absence from the employment people, but Ms. White will understand. She's happy with this arrangement and is actually the one to suggest it."

"So, this will give you a chance to be a Deputy Marshal as well as see how you like the employment division. Give all of it a trial and decide in a month or so."

Bobby was very excited saying, "Come on, Chuck, let's get our stuff and go see the new unit. We can swing by your old apartment and get the stuff you had there. Let's see if there is still an attraction between us in a mundane, monotonous world."

I shook hands with Howard saying, "Thanks Howard, thank you for the opportunity. I'm leaning toward wanting to stay with the service, about ninety-eight percent sure. This is a hell of an organization. I like the camaraderie, the closeness between Deputy Marshals. This is a great place to work. Should I call in, in the morning?"

Don't call in until next Monday. I'll work on setting your schedule up with Ms. White. Both of you are off until then, enjoy.

We left the office and went back to the hotel to pick up our clothes. I stopped at the gift shop to purchase a suitcase before going up to the room. It only took ten minutes to pack our stuff and head to the garage. We were both still a little jumpy and overly cautious, checking all the sight lines constantly.

The garage attendant said, "We did a bomb check on your car this morning, Bobby. Everything is clean."

Bobby drove out of the garage and said, "Do you want to clean out your apartment now or later?"

"Let's do it now and get it over with. I need to pay off the girl that has been watching the place and who was doing my laundry."

Bobby looked at me and asked, "Is she any good?"

"Yeah, she does an excellent job. She does laundry to pay her bills. She has a guy, but he's pretty transient. He's not here a lot. Right now he is but she still needs the cash. I had an arrangement with her that if I bought the food, she would fix it. She would share meals with me, giving her a couple of healthy meals a day. When her guy showed up, he began eating with me too. I still thought it was a good deal to get a well-cooked meal and have my lunches made for me for the price of the raw materials."

"Sounds like it was a good deal. What will she do if you're gone?"

"Don't know, but she's a survivor."

Bobby said, "How about we both use her for our clothes. We can drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon a couple of times a week. We'll do our own towels and bedclothes, even our own underwear. For the rest of our clothes it would be nice to have someone else launder and iron them for us."

I said, "We'll ask her to see what she thinks."

We pulled up to the apartment to find a service car parked in front of the apartment. Inside, a duty guy was watching TV.

"Hey, Chuck, looks like this one is winding down."

"I'm surprised you're still here. I figured they would have had you pulled by now."

The duty guy said, "Howard and the bureau have something they want to do out here so they're keeping the place. So far maintenance has been out changing around some things. Hey, that Shirley cooks up a storm. Bart is a little strange, but so far he's been a decent guy to be around. This is decent duty out here since you have the food deal. I bring whatever list Shirley makes and she cooks. Hell, she's even doing my laundry for me. She charges real fair. Tough little girl, isn't she?"

At that second, Shirley walked in the back door. The duty guy said, "Speak of the devil."

Shirley was excited to see me and gave me a hug. "I've missed you being around. You were kind of stabilizing around here. I think Bart even misses you. All these other guys that have been around are okay. Are you coming home now? Is everything okay now? Are you okay?"

I smiled at Shirley and said, "No, I'm here to clean out my clothes and stuff. The bad stuff that was going on seems to be over now, so I'm fine. These guys are going to stay on so the food deal is going to continue, at least for a while."

I took Bobby's hand and pulled her to me, "Shirley, this is Bobby, I've kinda fell for this lady and we're going to try living with each other for a while."

The duty guy exclaimed, "No shit, Bobby, really?"

Bobby just grinned and nodded.

Shirley said, "She sure is a big one, she reminds me of a bigger, sleeker version of Millie."

Bobby grinned and said, "Millie's my sister."

Shirley said, "Figures this guy would hook up with someone six or seven inches taller than he is and has over a hundred pounds on him. I don't know why, but I've always figured him as thinking bigger is better."

Bobby said, "I think he likes the idea that if his leg screws up, I can carry him."

Shirley laughed, "There is that."

I asked, "Shirley, would you consider still doing my laundry and also doing Bobby's washing and ironing of her outerwear?"

Shirley exclaimed excitedly, "Hell yes, the more the merrier. I'm getting a good bunch of customers. It'll change all the time, but I'll have enough to pay my bills and feed me if Bart takes off again. He's being pretty much a home body lately, and has been making me happy. But yes, just bring it by in the morning and I'll have them done up in the afternoon. I could use some extra hangers though. If you have any of those pants hangers, you know the ones with that cardboard round thing to hang the pants on, bring them. I need those."

"Let me get my stuff, there isn't much," I said.

I put my clothes into my duffel bag and took the few toiletry things that were in the bathroom. Looking at the place, I realized how high on the hog I had been living since my sudden departure from here.