Chapter 1

Character List

Characters returning from the first story:

Bill

Retired assassin, Blacksmith, 5’-11” tall, 185 pounds, 49 years old, dark blond hair, hazel eyes

Ashley

Bill’s wife, former victim, 5’-2” tall, 122 pounds, 25 years old, 36C+-25-36, auburn hair, green eyes, some freckles and very cute

Ed

Retired Green Beret medic, now Bill’s father-in-law, 5’-11” tall, 165 pounds, 62 years old, gray fringe of hair, blue eyes

Esther

Ashley’s mother, Ed’s new wife, 5’-3” tall, 135 pounds, 36C-26- 36, 50 years old, auburn hair, green eyes, only a few freckles, still cute

New characters appearing in the story:

Carry and Chris

Bill and Ashley’s twin daughters, 10 months old at the start of the story, auburn hair, green eyes and freckles. Cute as can be.

It was Sunday the 6th of June 2010, and I was on my way home from Memphis, after having spent an entire week there. I had left last Sunday and spent Monday, Tuesday and a part of Wednesday at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. It’s located near De Soto Park and close to the river. I had worried that the floods in Memphis in early May had damaged the displays there, and had been prepared to help with restoration work. To my relief, I found things to be in good shape, and really enjoyed touring the museum and talking with the people that worked there.

Wednesday afternoon, I went to the Agri Center International for the ABANA (Artists - Blacksmith’s Association of North America) conference. It had started that day and ran through Saturday. I really enjoyed the classes and demonstrations that they put on and spent quite a bit of time each day attending them.

I also spent time admiring the exhibited work of various participants, and took pictures for ‘inspirational’ purposes. They also had a large area devoted to tool sales and swaps. Oh lord, I could have spent a bunch of money there, but managed to control myself - at least somewhat. Of course they had all of the latest goodies, but I could pass on a lot of those as I didn’t need them in my work. They also had power hammers: pneumatic, electrical and manual, or foot operated ones. There were enough to make you dizzy with choices.

Some of the manual ones were interesting and easy enough to put together yourself. I took pictures of several that had ideas or features that I liked. The pneumatic ones were expensive, really larger and more than I needed. The electrical / mechanical ones were very interesting, especially some of the DIY designs that looked fairly simple to build. I did buy a set of plans for one that I especially liked.

There were also all of the traditional blacksmith’s tools available from hammers and tongs to gas forges, fire pots and blowers. There were more punches, cutters and other small tools than you could count or look at in several days. They also had a good assortment of new anvils, plus there were a number of used ones for sale. Of course there were always groups of guys and some ladies bunching up and bullshitting on some subject, but that’s just the way blacksmiths are and a lot of other trades also.

Saturday afternoon was the close of the conference with an auction and a dinner. I got to bed early that night, as I needed to drive home on Sunday and it’s a 450 mile plus drive to my house outside of Atlanta.

I was up by 6:00 this morning and on the road shortly after that. I had breakfast when I stopped for fuel on the Interstate on my way to Nashville. I still have my old diesel truck, and it ran a lot better, and got better fuel mileage empty than when loaded and towing my trailer. I had cruised at around 70 mph most of the way home except around Nashville and Chattanooga.

Now it was almost 2:00 PM and I was on the gravel road to my place when the warning light on my dash alerted me to trouble at the house. It appeared that there were visitors, unwanted visitors, at the house, as Ashley hadn’t reset the alarm system.

My pump shotgun had been kept in a case and out of sight all week while on the trip. I had only carried a small pistol while there and it had felt strange not having the shotgun near me. After the stop for breakfast I took it out, and set it in its usual place for the rest of the drive home.

I slowed now and quietly proceeded to my alternate parking spot. After I grabbed the shotgun and a belt of reloads, and quickly exited the truck as quietly as possible; I made my way through the woods separating the entry road from the house and slipped up to the house unobserved. While staying as concealed as possible, I could see that there was a strange car parked next to our SUV and Esther’s blue car, but there was no one in any of the vehicle. Apparently Esther was visiting us.

Just as I was feeling better about things, a strange man staggered out the front door of the house with a pistol in his hand and blood on his clothes. I didn’t hesitate at all when he pointed the pistol in my direction and blew him away with two rounds of double ought buckshot from the shotgun. I waited a few seconds, but no one else came out the front door, so I went up the steps to check the guy on the porch. He was in real bad shape as those magnum loads of double ought buckshot pack a real wallop. I turned him to face me but didn’t recognize him. He was still just barely alive.

“He can’t be allowed to... !” was all that he managed to say before he died. Damn, what was he trying to tell me?

Well, there wasn’t time to worry about that now. I needed to find out what was going on here, and where my wife, Esther and the girls were. On the way into the house, I noticed that my front door was broken, again. Damn, that was the third one and now it was broken and had buckshot holes in it to boot - my buckshot. Just damn!

There wasn’t anyone in the living room, but there was a guy lying on the stairs about half way down. He was dead from the load of buckshot he had taken. He had a pistol, and I collected it as I had the first guy’s. There was no need to leave functioning weapons behind me. As I approached the top of the stairs, I called out.

“Ashley! Ashley, are you all right?” I shouted.

“Bill?” I heard from the direction of our bedroom, as I hurried down the hall toward it. There was another guy on the hall floor. He was bleeding all over the carpet runner and there was another pistol (the third) still in his hand. There were buckshot holes in the hallway plaster and probably in the door frame in the room and the door as well. Damn, this was going to take a while to both clean up and fix things, that was sure.

I found Ashley sitting on the floor in the bedroom. She had both double barrel shotguns on the floor with her and was trying to reload her 20 gauge with 12 gauge shells and trembling fingers. Tears were running down her face from her closed eyes.

“Ashley, Sweetie!” I called quietly from the doorway not wanting to startle her. Her eyes instantly flew open, as she looked in my direction.

“Bill! Oh Bill!!” she moaned, as more tears started. I hurried into the room and helped her up, leaving the shotguns unloaded on the floor for now. I took Ashley in my arms and held her while she cried like a baby. I also managed to engage the safety on my shotgun. We didn’t need an accident now.

I held her and kissed her ear and hair, as I tried to get her calmed down so I could find out what was going on. After a time she was better.

“What happened?” I asked, as soon as she was calmer.

“Mother was here and we were going to take the girls shopping. Mother was getting them ready while I changed clothes. Suddenly, the alarm went off and men broke into the house. I came out of the bathroom at the first sound of the alarm, as I thought that it was you returning. When I heard the front door crash open, I grabbed my shotgun and went around the bed to get yours as well. Suddenly a man appeared at the bedroom door and fired a pistol at me. My bubble came on instantly and I fired my shotgun at him,” Ashley said, and drew in a ragged breath before she could continue.

“That’s the man in the hall. There was another man behind him and I grabbed your gun and fired it through the doorway, as the second man was running down the hall. There was a third man in the hall too, who may have been hit. He was coming from one of the bedrooms down the hall,” Ashley stopped there for a second as the realization hit her in full.

“Oh my God! The girls, mother - are they dead?” she moaned in panic. We hurried past the dead man and down the hall to the girls’ bedroom.

The twins, Carry and Chris, had been born early last August and were now ten months old. We found them sitting on the floor dressed to go out, and on either side of Esther, their grandmother. They appeared to be as happy as could be there playing with Esther, who was shaking like a leaf, and had tears running down her face.

“Esther, are you all right?” I asked, and then added, “What happened?”

“A man came to the door, and there were shots from down the hall - loud shots. He fired a pistol at the girls, but they have the bubble too and it came on and protected all of us,” Esther told us through her tears. “I’ve been sitting here scared to death that he would come back,” she added before she totally broke down.

I went over and helped Esther up and held her to me while she cried for a while. The girls were upset that Esther had gotten up and began to make a fuss. Ashley picked both of them up and gave them a big kiss through her tears. I pulled Ashley to me also, and held both of these precious women.

The twins finally noticed that daddy was home, and they wanted a kiss too. Eventually everyone settled down some.

“We have a lot to do,” I told them, and turned to Esther first.

“Get on the phone and call Ed. Tell him to come over here quickly, but to be careful. Ashley and I will start on the cleanup while you watch the girls.”

“All right, Bill. I’ll give Ed a call. He’s at home doing a little repair work for a customer,” Esther told me. Ed is Esther’s second husband and a Master Cabinet Maker. I have known him for a long time, actually much longer than Ashley. He is also a retired Green Beret medic and is now my father-in-law.