Chapter 1

He was met at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was tall, blonde, with a fabulous figure, and when he thought to look, big brown eyes. "You're Brian Radford, aren't you? I'm Helena Braga. Charlie asked me to meet you," she said in slightly accented English as she extended her hand for him to shake.

She asked if he had any checked luggage to pick up. When he answered he had only brought the one bag he was carrying, "Good," she said, "then we can leave right away. We need to take a taxi to the other side of the airport. We'll get the copter there."

"Copter? We're taking a helicopter to Charlie's place?" Brian asked. "I didn't realize he lived that far from the city."

"It will be a lot quicker, especially at this time of day. It's rush hour you know. Charlie probably doesn't have long, and he wants to see you as soon as possible."

Outside, Helena hailed a cab. They drove around the airport to the general aviation terminal where they boarded a helicopter, a Huey. Brian had seen a few in the military, but this was a civilian version, and quite luxurious. Once they had taken their seats and belted in, the pilot turned to say, "All ready, Miss Helena."

"Let's go," she told him, then turned to Brian. "It will take us about an hour to get to Valle Verde, but it would probably take more than four hours at this time of day if we were going by car."

Brian noticed the authentic Spanish pronunciation she gave to the name, much better than he could do when he inquired, "Valle Verde?"

"Rancho Valle Verde, Charlie's place" she laughed. "I think you'll like it there."

He looked into her big, wide-open eyes as she looked back. I could drown in those eyes, he thought before asking, "Uh, are you Charlie's wife, or girlfriend, or... ?"

Laughing, "Don't you know Charlie isn't married? I guess you can call me his girlfriend, his companion, his lover, his..."

"I don't want to pry," he interrupted.

"No, it's all right," she laughed. "You need to know everything. But yes, I'm Charlie's girlfriend." She stood and moved toward the rear. "We have champagne, would you like some?"

Brian said he would, and soon she took her seat across from him, poured the wine into champagne flutes, and handed one to him. It tasted good, though Brian didn't know a lot about champagne. As they sipped, "You were in the army with Charlie?" she asked.

"Yeah, in Iraq, but that was a long time ago, more than ten years now."

"Charlie said you saved his life."

"I did what I was trained for, that's all," Brian answered, trying to avoid those big brown eyes.

"You got a medal?"

"Yeah."

Smiling at him. "What did you do?"

"When our Humvee hit a roadside bomb, I pulled Charlie out and put a tourniquet on his leg. Then the medics came, and he was okay. Got him out of the army, me too, so it wasn't so bad."

"So that's how he lost his foot, half his foot. And you were wounded too?"

"Yeah, not as bad as Charlie, just my leg, but enough to get me out. I limped for a while, but it's okay now."

They talked some more, Helena drawing him out, eliciting information about his life and relationship with Charlie. When he asked about Charlie's condition, "It's not good. I'm afraid he doesn't have long," she answered, her eyes filling with tears. "That's why he wants you here, you're his best friend."

He didn't expect that. There hadn't been much contact between them in the more than ten years since they returned from Iraq. But when Charlie contacted him saying he was dying and wanted Brian with him, he agreed to come. He was sorry Charlie was dying, and surprised to find he was so wealthy and had girlfriend like Helena, but he didn't think of Charlie as his best friend. He had another glass of champagne. Then, temporarily putting any questions about Charlie out of his mind, laid his head back, and dozed off.

A change in the sound of the engine awakened him. "We're landing, better put on your seat belt," Helena told him. He tightened the belt and peered out the window. "There's the house," she said, pointing to a large white house (a mansion, thought Brian) surrounded by shade trees. "The stable is that long building over there. We've got a lot of horses. I love to ride." She looked at him. "How about you?"

"Not much, I've only done it a few times." Pointing, "What's that big building over there?"

"That's where Charlie keeps his classic car collection. He's got almost as many cars as horses. Jay Leno came once to see his collection. They're just beautiful."

The copter banked and turned over the house before descending to land on the wide green lawn in back of the mansion. Brian grabbed his bag, they exited the plane and walked across the grass to the back door. He couldn't help admiring Helena's shapely derriere, clad in khaki slacks, as she climbed up the stair ahead him. Once inside, they were greeted by an auburn-haired woman, nearly as beautiful as Helena, and about the same age (mid-twenties, he guessed), though not as tall.

"This is Kristen," Helena said.

"Glad to meet you," Brian said, shaking her hand.

"Glad to meet you, Brian," she replied. "Charlie wants to see you right away, if you're able. Would you like a drink or anything, first?"

"No, we had some champagne on the way over. I don't have a problem seeing him now if that's what he wants."

"I'll take you up," Helena said.

He left his bag with Kristen and let Helena lead him along a corridor through the back of the house, a large kitchen on one side, closed doors on the other. They passed through an archway into another hall, better finished and decorated, then upstairs to the hallway and Charlie's room. The door was open, but Helena knocked anyway.

At the sound of a muffled voice, she went inside. "Brian's here, Charlie," she said to the room's interior. She waited for a muffled reply before ushering him in.

It was fitted out as a hospital room, with monitors, a hospital bed, and a nurse standing as he entered. Surprisingly, she was the first normal looking woman he had seen since arriving - middle-aged, a little overweight.

He was shocked at Charlie Green's appearance. The last time Brian saw him, Charlie was a big, handsome African American. But now, his body was withered, his complexion a sallow gray rather than the dark mahogany color it had been during all the time Brian had known him, even in Iraq, even after being wounded.

Charlie raised his head a little, his eyes on Brian. "Come here," he said in a weak voice. To the nurse, "Get out, you." Then to Helena, "You too, and close the door." She started to object, but when Charlie gave her a weak wave of his hand, she followed the nurse out of the room, closing the door behind her. "Sit down," he said to Brian.

Brian took his seat in the chair next to the bed, the nurse's chair. When Charlie reached over to him, Brian grasped his hand, not too tight, afraid he might harm the dying man.

"I heard the chopper, I'm glad you're finally here," Charlie said, his dark eyes watering as he looked up at Brian. "You know, you're my best friend, my only friend."

Brian looked at the withered being on the bed. "Charlie, I'm sorry about what's happening to you, but I can't be your best friend. We haven't seen each other in years, at least five years, I think. And our only contact since then has been by email. I didn't even know you were sick until I got your email last week."

Charlie leaned his head back and sighed. "I'm weak, it's the leukemia. I bet it's from the depleted uranium they used over there." His head still on the pillow, he turned toward Brian. "I don't have any friends, any real friends. I can't have any friends, and when you find out why, you'll understand."

He raised his head a little to look into Brian's face. "You saved my life, that's enough to make you my friend, and my heir, and that's why I paid for your ticket to come here. When I go, all this, the ranch, the house, the girls, all my assets, will be yours."

"Charlie, I don't want it, and I don't want your girls, as attractive as Helena and Kristen are, and I don't think they'd want me. And you must have relatives who have a lot more right to your estate than I do."

"I don't have any children, my parents are dead, my sister was killed in an accident years ago. I've got a half sister from my father somewhere, but I don't know where and she doesn't know where I am, or even if I'm alive. No, it's all going to you. I've had my will made in your name, and it's airtight. And don't worry about the girls, they'll want you just as much as they want - wanted me, it's been a long time since I was able to do anything with them," his words ending in a fit of coughing.

"I'll get the nurse," Brian said, rising from the chair.

"No, sit," Charlie wheezed. "I want you to stay here, at the ranch, till I'm gone. It won't be long, days the doctors say, or hours. I'll explain it all to you, then you'll understand."

"Charlie, I can't."

"Have you got a job now? Last I heard you were still unemployed."

"I've been subbing, you know what that's like. But I think things are improving. This recession is finally coming to an end. I hope I'll be able to get a permanent position next school year."

"You can stay, they've got plenty of subs. It won't be long, a few days at the most. And when I'm gone what you'll have here will be better than any teaching job. Once you find out everything, you'll take it, believe me."

Brian agreed to stay, though he still couldn't understand why Charlie thought he was his only friend. It was true he didn't need to get back to LA. Since being laid off from his regular teaching job he had been substitute teaching, he was divorced, and his girlfriend broke up with him right after Christmas.

When he opened the door, the two women who had been waiting in the hall came in, the nurse hurrying to check on Charlie. "I'll show you to your room," Helena said after pausing to look at Charlie.

The bedroom was huge, richly decorated in a distinctly masculine style, with an attached bath and the biggest bed Brian had ever seen. There was a leather sofa and coffee table against one wall, and beside it a wet bar. "It's Charlie's bedroom," Helena told him, "he wanted you to have it. As soon as you freshen up, we'll have dinner. Just come downstairs when you're ready."

Brian saw his bag had been unpacked and the few things it contained put away. He used the toilet, washed his hands and face, then went downstairs.

Helena was waiting at the foot of the stair. As he followed her toward the rear of the house, he heard the sound of female voices talking quietly together. She led him to a dining room, and as they entered she said, "Let me introduce everyone."

He stood stock still, shocked, as he looked at the girls standing behind their chairs around the large round table. One by one, the girls were introduced to him. Beside Helena and Kristen, whom he had already met, there were five more: Tamara, a beautiful African-American with a knockout figure; Tina, a slender blue-eyed teen with long blonde hair and cute dimples; Susan, another blonde with a fabulous figure, but with green eyes. She looked younger than Helena; Veronica, a Mexican teen, about five feet tall who couldn't weigh much more than a hundred pounds; and Vivian, a slender young beauty with long, black hair and striking blue eyes.

Indicating a chair, "Please sit here," Helena said, before she took her seat on his right and Kristen on his left. The other girls took their seats, and they began dinner. Conversation was pleasant, if a little subdued. Tina and Veronica took turns running to the kitchen for anything needed that wasn't on the table.

"This is the back dining room," Helena explained. "There's a formal dining room in front, but we use this one most of the time if it's just us or family."

"We do all our own cooking," Veronica said. "It's good, isn't it?" Brian agreed; the food was good, and the wine was good too. It was one of the best meals he'd ever had.

"We girls do all the housework," added Kristen. "Of course, we let the guys take care of the heavy lifting and the landscaping."

"How many are there?" Brian asked.

"You can see there are seven of us girls," Helena explained, "and there are fifteen men at the ranch. They have their own dorm." Pointing, "It's that direction, on the other side of the car barn. As Kristen told you, they do the landscaping, heavy work, and act as guards, pilots, chauffers, and so on."

As they talked, the girls, especially Helena and Kristen, drew him out, encouraging him to talk about his life, his past, about Charlie. He told them how he joined the National Guard to help pay for college, how he was called up for the invasion of Iraq, "Just like Charlie. Well, we knew what we were getting into."

"You are a very brave man. Charlie told us you got the Bronze Star medal for saving him," Helena said. "You told me about it during our flight here. Won't you please tell the others?"

So again Brian had to relate what happened when their Humvee was hit by the roadside bomb. When he finished, "You saved Charlie's life," Susan said.

After a pause, Kristen flashed her green eyes at him as she asked. "Charlie said you were married."

"Yeah, I WAS married," he laughed, "but now I'm divorced. Luckily, we didn't have any kids. She divorced me when I got back from Iraq. I guess we both changed too much while I was away."

"Brian, you deserve better," Helena commented, while the others nodded in agreement.

When they finished their meal, the girls waited for Brian to stand before rising themselves. "Uh, I better see how Charlie's doing," he said, before leaving the dining room and heading upstairs.

"When you're done with Charlie, you might want to relax in the den. That's where Charlie's pc is and It has it's own bar, TV, and other amenities you will probably enjoy," Helena told him as he walked out. "It's to your right as you come downstairs."

The doctor was with Charlie when Brian got to the room. He introduced himself, then waited while the doctor said, "I just gave Charlie his pain medication and a sedative. He should sleep until morning. You can talk to him then."

"I can talk to him now, until I fall asleep," Charlie croaked. To Brian, "Come here, sit down."

"Take it easy, Charlie. See you in the morning," the doctor said, walking out the door.

"Maybe," Charlie laughed, then coughed. To the nurse, "Wait out in the hall, and close the door."

It was a different nurse, the night nurse, Brian assumed. When he sat down next to the bed, "You like the girls?" Charlie asked.

"Sure, they're beautiful, but they're yours, not mine. By the way, how'd you get them?"

"We'll talk about that later. Now, tell me what happened."

When he told Charlie about dinner, and how the girls got him to talk so much, "I told them most of that already," Charlie said. "They just wanted to hear it from you."

Raising his head, "Come closer, this is secret, top secret," Charlie ordered. He waited until Brian bent closer, his ear almost brushing Charlie's lips. "In the outside wall of my bedroom, you're staying there, aren't you?" Brian nodded, then waited for Charlie to continue.

"In the outside wall of my room, behind the painting of the naked harem girl, it's titled 'Odalisque, ' there's a wall safe. All the way in the back of the safe - you have to stretch your arm to get it, that's why it's in that wall - is a leather bag containing an artifact and a notebook. Take out the bag, examine the artifact, but don't use it. I can't stop you, but it's better if you don't, not yet. Look through the notebook, start with the last page. That'll help you understand everything. Now here's the combination, don't write it down, memorize it."

As Charlie mumbled the combination, Brian listened carefully, silently repeating the numbers to himself. Charlie closed his eyes. "Now let me sleep."

When Brian opened the door for the nurse, he found all seven of Charlie's girls waiting in the hall. "We kiss him goodnight," Kristen said as she stepped into the room. Charlie was asleep now, but Brian watched as each girl stepped forward to kiss his brow.

The girls drifted away, most going downstairs, but Helena stayed with Brian outside Charlie's room. "If you need anything, just call. Dial 01 and you'll get me." She looked into his face, giving him a coy smile before disappearing downstairs.

Brian entered the master bedroom. He thought, Maybe it should be called the master's bedroom, now that the nature of Charlie's lifestyle was becoming clearer. He locked the door, lifted the painting from the wall, and opened the safe.

Toward the front was a collection of obviously valuable objects - jewelry, gold coins, two Rolex watches. Brian guessed they were there to attract the attention of thieves so they wouldn't find the true treasure in the back. He reached all the way in and pulled out the leather bag.

He placed the bag on the desk, locked the safe and replaced the painting. When he opened the bag, he found a cheap stenographer's spiral notebook, and the artifact wrapped in felt. As he unwrapped it, Yeah, it's what I guessed, Charlie looted it.

The artifact was made of dull yellow metal, probably bronze or brass. It was oblong, about four inches long, with rounded ends. It was about an inch across, and a little less than that in height. It was heavy, heavier than it looked. It was engraved with cuneiform writing, and small pictures of the kind of bearded angels and gods Brian had seen in Iraq. Along the top, he thought it was the top, was a long, narrow slit. There was a small pin projecting out of one end of the slit. Brian guessed that sliding the pin to the other end of the slit would activate the artifact to make it do whatever it did.

Rewrapping the artifact in the felt, he put everything back in the leather bag, put the bag in his carry-on suitcase, and went down to the den. After closing and locking the door, he got a beer from the built in fridge, and sat down in the big, leather armchair. He had left his cell phone turned off and decided this was a good time to check his messages, but found the only one he cared about was a call from his mother, which he would answer tomorrow.

He opened the carry-on, and took the notebook out of the bag. As Charlie had suggested, he read the last page first:

Brian, once I am dead, all the love and devotion the girls feel for me will be transferred to you. I think that will be best for them and you. I know they want children, which I can't give them, and you probably can. That will help pay them back somewhat for everything they have given me.

Treat them well, Brian, I didn't always. They will spend their lives devoted to giving you love and pleasure, serving you in any way you want. You will have my fortune and my girls, and more when you use the artifact. Enjoy yourself, I did, but keep your head down. There are people in the government and others who would do anything for the artifact. Don't draw their attention.