Chapter 7

I grabbed a drink and headed to the couch. The instructions weren't long but I needed a better understanding of a few parts. The first question that came to mind after I had read them was where to place the portal. While you needed the ring to pass through, having it seen as a doorway somewhere was going to raise suspicions. And the way I had people traipsing through the house, that was a concern.

It needed to be in a frame which was large enough for me to pass through. I'm 6' and 200 pounds of mostly solid muscle; that meant it needed to be almost door sized. So how do I hide what would be a doorway sized portal? I sat back and thought about where in the house I could do that. Of course it came to me as I looked at the painting over the fireplace that I didn't care much for.

In plain sight was the best way to hide it. Put a decorative frame around it and simply lift it off-the-wall and place it somewhere and when I was done, put it back. I would have to find a way to secure it to the wall so it didn't fall; be a hell of a problem to end up stuck between it and the carpet when I was sent back from Crossroads.

The next step was finding out what was meant by having the seven layers of metals electronically isolated from one another. John was right that I would be busy for quite a while with this project. I ended up sitting at my computer with Google and Yahoo helping me decipher what that meant.

I got a lot about diffusion barriers and electroplating to achieve that with various chemical solutions and electrical currents needed at specific detailed measurements. While it might have been clear if you had a background with this, for me it was so much that it made my head spin. I got up, got a beer and made a sandwich to eat.

I was sitting at the kitchen table processing all of it again when I stopped and looked at the bottle of beer I was holding. I needed to stop the electrical transfer from the various metals. Glass did that, it would add to the weight but it was a simple answer. Each of the seven layers with a layer of glass between.

I needed to get the different sheets of metal. The instructions didn't suggest that thickness of each but with gold and platinum in the mix I knew that it was not going to be cheap.

That left assembling the layers, which were to be of gold, aluminum, tin, platinum, copper, and zinc in that order with a final layer to be made of electrum. I had never heard of electrum but it turned out to be a mix of gold and silver.

The problem was which was to be the first layer and which the last. It set the order but not the direction. Add to that, I needed to be passing through the frame with a blue sapphire of sufficient size. I looked at the ring I wore and it was encrusted with red sapphires. So why did I need a blue one and what was sufficient size?

I sat there, my head in my hands rubbing my face as I wondered about it all. John had a perfectly good portal in his office but had me building this one. Oh well, there wasn't much more I could do about it today so I went back to the computer and started to work on the plates of metal. The Internet let me find everything but the electrum. Even without that it had put a hell of a dent into the cash that Cal had given me.

I sat eating breakfast for dinner when there was a knock at the back door. Opening it I found my parents standing there. No doubt shit had hit the fan with my revelations from the looks on my mothers face. I opened the door and stood back to let them inside.

My mother let loose the minute she entered. "What the hell did you tell them?"

"Good to see you too," I retorted.

"You told the police I knew where Buddy and she are," she was near yelling.

"I never told the police anything," I was being truthful but I had told the Assistant District Attorney rather then the police.

"They came over and questioned us a couple of times already," Dad said.

"Sounds like a personal problem. Is there anything else I can do for you?" I shot back.

"You can tell them we don't know where they are," my mother said.

"I don't know that for a fact now do I?"

"Why can't you just let this be?" She spat back.

"Why don't you just leave before I tell you exactly what I think," I responded.

"We're family; you are my child and I can damn well tell you anything I want." She was fuming.

"We share DNA. Other than that, there isn't a family bond between us," I had finally told her we were done. Dad stood there looking at me and then back at her.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She said to him.

"I think he just told us to get out of his life and he has no need or wish to ever see us again."

"That about sums it up as far as I am concerned," I added.

"You can't say that to us; we're your parents." She spat back at me.

"You abandoned the right to be my parents when you chose to hide this from me and chose again to side with them. I suggest you leave before I have to call the police."

You could tell she wanted to say more but she bit her tongue. No doubt I would hear from them again. I decided that a restraining order keeping them away from me was going to be on the agenda.

Since my attention was taken away from the portal project, I had to confront the issue of them again. I sat down and thought how I could track the two of them down. It wasn't a pleasant idea but I was pissed by the actions of my DNA contributors.

I had along the way in my SEAL career worked with a number of CIA operatives. I saved the proverbial asses of a couple of them more than once while we were in places that we might should not have been. I had a couple of old contact numbers stowed somewhere and now seemed as good a time as any to make a call.

I don't know why I hadn't thought about them before. But now it became an obsession for me to do that. Was it healthy for me to do that? Hell, who cared? I was pissed off at the verbal attack by the DNA providers. I would turn their information over to the ADA and let the chips fall. I was an orphan at this point as far as I was concerned after our short and sweet chat.

I opened the safe and went searching for a card I had kept from ten years before. Charlie Daniels, call me Peter Reeves, was a spook of extraordinary resolve. I called him JD because it seemed he was never far from access to a bottle of it somewhere. I had run cover for him from a perch high above where he had the action going for about five years off and on during the late nineties.

I was volunteered the first time and then volunteered all the rest. He had done what was needed and assigned, but had a small problem with some irate locals who didn't like the idea that their number one bread-and-butter man was now on his way to the seventy-two virgins, compliments of JD and a couple of hollow points.

That they were driving after him at a high rate of speed told me his undercover capability had failed. Well, it was a shot of about seven hundred yards at a vehicle that was moving and I had a downhill look. The first shot I aimed at the radiator and it fell in about halfway back through the canvas. The second shot had them at about five hundred and fifty yards and that one skimmed the top of the roof. When I chambered the next round and sighted four inches off the headlight on the driver's side I figured I was about dead-on to send the driver after his seventy two virgins also. So at just over four hundred yards I fired and the driver developed a case of exploding head.

With the vehicle slowed, I put the next shots into the two men who were in the front seat with him. It wasn't the dramatic flipping over of the vehicle and killing everyone but it stopped them from chasing after JD. That was all he needed to meet the others on his team. I made my way out using a different route and we hooked up about nine klicks west, later that night.

He never mentioned what I had done but he handed me a card and said, "Anywhere, anytime, anything." He gave me the bottle he was holding and walked away.

I sat there looking at it remembering what had happened then and two other times. Funny, it was just a number on a card, another number below it and the letters JD written in a corner. I had closed up the safe and returned to the kitchen. I picked up the phone and dialed the number. A computer answered with a set of beeps. I put the code number in. The computer generated voice asked for a secure contact number so I entered the house phone number and hung up. I expected that if JD was still alive I would receive a call back from him at some point. If not I would go looking for another card.

All of the bullshit had taken its toll and I was tired. A quick shower and I hit the rack. I was up at 4:45 and at John's door at 5:20. We greeted each other and then he lead the way downstairs.

This morning was all about weapons. I wanted to ask about my case but he told me to make an appointment at the office if I wanted that information. We didn't practice with them but he explained each of them and their respective pluses and minuses.

I picked up the short sword he had and told him, "This was about the length and weight of the one I was using on Chaos."

"It's a good weapon but it allows others to get close. If there are several of them and they have longer swords, you could be in trouble."

"Then we're going to fight up close and personal," I said.

"From what you said, it seems your style works that way."

"Since I don't have a sniper rifle handy, it has become my custom."

"Then you need better armor, chain mail," He took me over and handed me a shirt.

It must have weighed thirty five pounds. "There are lighter versions on Earth but remember the technology involved on Chaos doesn't allow for that."

"How much would this cost there?"

"Two conches."

"Hell that is a lot of money."

"Yes it is, how much do you have now?"

"I've got a conch and some shells and more pinches."

"What did you buy there?"

"Mostly lodging, clothes and food."

"How much were you getting in trade for the extra horses and weapons?"

When I told him "I got a shell for a horse with the saddle," he burst out laughing.

"Didn't Tammy tell you going rates for trading?"

"Hell, I'm not there to trade. I kill and rescue."

"And you're short about half of what you should have after all you have acquired."

"Well, I let Mandy do the trading after I was screwing it up."

"What did she tell you?"

"That her father was having her learn how to do it."

"Did it occur to you that he might have been standing behind her looking at his trading partners and agreeing to the prices?"

"So I got taken you're saying."

"No you just made a lot of people very happy who can't wait for your return," he belly laughed.

"I will make sure to understand the trading rates when I go on my next mission."

"So you're planning on going again?"

"You know damn well that I am going again."

"Well, I need to be heading off to the office earlier than I expected. We'll work on this again tomorrow if it's Okay with you."

"Not a problem, but I do have questions about the portal construction."

"I can't help you there; I didn't have to construct one from scratch."

"Then why are you having me do it?"

"To build character and keep you out of trouble, if you must know."

We walked out of the basement and up through the kitchen. Beth was there and I greeted her with a hug. She was a beautiful woman. I made my way to the door and headed back to the house.

I had thought we were going to spar so I hadn't showered before I went. I was upstairs getting ready to do that when I was interrupted by someone banging at the door in the kitchen. I went down to find Cal at the door a box of doughnuts in his hand.

"Still getting your beauty sleep? It ain't gonna help none," he said as he walked into the kitchen giving a little laugh as he did.

"Fuck you very much too." I replied.

"What, still not getting any?" He replied.

"Just for that you can make the coffee," as I headed back to take care of the triple S.

I made it back to find him three doughnuts gone and, from the looks of the pot, on his second cup of coffee. He sat there, a smirk on his face, no doubt with some new bit of news for me. I grabbed my doughnut and took a bite and found out what the smirk was for. It was not a jelly doughnut but filled with custard. He had to have gone to the doughnut place and had them custom-made. I just ate it, not saying a word. I ate four more of them and Cal just smiled.

"So other than breakfast, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company."

"I heard you were finally orphaned, by your choice, last night."

"Well the heat is on and they don't like it," I took another bite of doughnut.

"I imagine not," he took a drink of his coffee and got up to get another.

"But that isn't really anything unexpected. So what brought you here?"

"Other than coffee with my doughnuts and to make sure you didn't go looking for a bottle to crawl into?" He took a drink of the new cup before he finished the last bite of his last doughnut.

"It was bound to happen but now I am a poor orphan," I laughed.

"So is there anything more with your Hero status?" Ah, the curiosity was out in plain sight now. I had told Cal all about it and he was obviously very curious. Hell, if the shoe was on the other foot I would be too.

"I don't know if you believe it or not but I do."

"Which tells me you went on a mission?"

"Yes, and it is everything they said and more," and so began the telling of the tale. I spent the day telling him about it. We finished the discussion over dinner, which was Chinese food that I ordered this time. I waited for the question that I knew was coming.

"So is it only you who can go?"

"I read where I can take a Hero companion along."

"What does that entail?"

"From what I remember you're basically there to tote and fetch for me," I took another drink of the beer we had with dinner.

"I don't get to fight?"

"You fight much with a sword or dagger?"

"No?"

"How about with a bow or crossbow?"

"I can point and shoot."

"Glenn did that and I ended up on the receiving end."

"You don't seem to be wounded."

"Remember the healing chamber?"

"Okay, yeah."

"So would you take me with you?"

"It ain't no camping trip?"

"So you won't take me?"

"I didn't say that. But you have to know that I go to rescue the Damsel or die trying. And dead is dead, here or there."

"Shit, I am enjoying being retired."

"It's not a game at that point. And I can't take you back to get healed without having the Damsel with me."

"Shit, you're not making this sound like much fun."

"It has its rewards but those are for the Hero."

"So what would I get then, if I went with you?"

"The pleasure of my company, and you get to set up camp, cook, and tear down camp. Tote and fetch what I want."

"So why would I go."

"Why, to extol my virtues as Hero, when the time was right of course," I laughed for a little while.

"So how do I get to be a Hero instead?"

"Hell if I know."

"You think John would give me a ring?"

"He gave me his," I held out my hand. "I don't think he has any others."

"So if you took me, I get to be Sancho to your Don Quixote?"

"We don't go tilting at windmills," I replied.

"So I would go for?"

"The experience, it doesn't offer you much more than that."

"So would you take me with you?" He stopped and looked me in the eye.

"Cal, if you want to go and the portal lets you, I would take you in a minute."

"What do you mean 'if the portal lets you'?"

"The portal makes the decision if you're healthy enough to go. It can even stop me if I am not deemed up to the job."

"Thank you for offering to take me. I am not certain that I want to go but I am damn curious about going. I can see the benefits aren't great for me going. You're telling me I can if I want to means a hell of a lot," we got up he hugged me and I returned that hug.

"Well, I have killed the day here. I'll be heading back home now." He started towards the door.

"Thanks again," he said and left.

I had been honest about what was expected according to the rules but there really wasn't much for the Hero companion in all of this. No doubt it had been set up that way by the Powers that Be to discourage them from going. I loved Cal and knew he would want to go, but was I ready to have to protect him? If I lost him, there wouldn't be anything more here for me.

I picked up the portal instructions but nothing more was revealed as I read them again. The supplies for building it would be arriving over the next few days except for the electrum. So I took the paperwork upstairs and locked it away in the safe. I spent the next couple of hours looking up more about electrum on the computer and then just called it a night.

My alarm woke me and I got dressed and headed off to John and Beth's house. He met and greeted me at the door and we headed down to the basement.

"I want you to wear the chain mail when we spar. The weight of it will require you to change your tactics when you fight."

"But I don't have any of this there."

I put the shirt on and it had just settled when he threw a dagger straight at my chest. I had not expected it and it hurt when it hit but fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Point taken, next time I won't question you."

This morning it was broadswords. Sheathed in leather but I was expected to be able to protect myself if I didn't want to be hit.

I don't think he broke a sweat and I was dripping in it. For an old man, John had cat-like reflexes. I almost got close to him one time. The rest of the time I was just able to stop from being hit. He could swing that sword almost constantly it seemed.

He stopped and said. "You did much better than I did for the first three years with Jasmine training me."

"Another couple of minutes and I don't think I would have been able to stop you any longer."

"There is a trick that you haven't learned yet."

"What trick?"

"If I told you, I would have to put on the mail," he laughed.

"Is there anything to drink around here?"

"Over in the corner."

I went and got two bottles of water and handed one to him. "We need to practice forms now," he said.

"Forms?" I asked.

"I know it sounds wrong somehow but until Jasmine pounded me into the ground a dozen times, I didn't understand why I needed to learn them either."

"What do they do?" I asked.

"They teach you the trick," he smiled.

Slowly, he showed me the steps that went along with the sword movement. He had an exact sequence that he used. I was almost as exhausted from that as I had been with the sparring when he had me sit down.

"How do you feel," he asked.

"Like I could crawl back into bed for the rest of the day," I smiled.

"I had the restoratives to help me and Jasmine was very excitable when I perfected a new form," he winked at me.

Beth came to the door then. "It's time for breakfast."

"Yes my Caretaker," John replied and he winked at me. We put the weapons away, and I took off the mail shirt.

There were three places set at the table, so I sat down at her insistence and enjoyed breakfast with them.

"Thank you Beth, that was a great meal," I said.

"You're welcome Hero Willy," She smiled at me.

"So Beth, can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"What are the percentages of gold and silver in the electrum I need for the portal I am constructing."

"You're constructing a portal?" She asked and looked over at John.

"He needs something to keep him busy and out of trouble," John said.

"Yes, My Hero." She cocked her head when she said that.

"I need to make a layer of that for the portal and need to know the percentages for the gold and silver," I put out there for the two of them to hear as they were still looking at each other.

"I am not certain that I remember the exact percentages. Can I tell you tomorrow after I have thought about it?" She said.

"Yes, thank you. I need to get going."

"I need to see you in the office late this afternoon if you can make it. Say, four?"

"I'll be there." I got up and thanked Beth again, gave her a hug, and shook John's hand.

I drove back to the house and took care of my need for a shower. There wasn't much I could do about building the portal until the metal plates started arriving. I didn't have anything planned so I headed over to the couch and put my feet up on one end and my head on the other and took a nap until about noon.

Other than waking up hungry, needing to relive my bladder, the pasty taste in my mouth, and my muscles groaning as I made my way to the bathroom I was fine and raring to go.

I had a sandwich and a glass of water and then was right back to bored. It was either go back to the couch and no doubt turn on the boob tube and dumb down watching soap operas, or go out and take a run. I knew that my body would be protesting, but I went and found some shorts and put on my running shoes.

After warming up for ten minutes, I took off at a leisurely pace. I wasn't in a hurry to get this done as I would be back with the soap operas if I finished early. A look at my watch told me I had been out for over an hour, and if I was going to make it back to John's on time, I needed to head back and get going.

I made it back and was in John's office a few minutes before our appointment. Mary Jo greeted me and told me Charles would be right with me. She asked, "Would you like something to drink?" And went and got me a cup of coffee when I asked for one.