Chapter 12: Far Away Friends Come Visiting

My recuperation at home was expected to take several weeks before I would be allowed to return to the office. I still worked, but I did so from home and called the office several times a day to stay updated on what was going on. I also had Andi purchase an inexpensive combo printer/fax machine so that I could send and receive faxes from clients and the office if necessary. The cost of the fax/printer paid for itself within the first week.

Not only that, my office partners would come to the house if they needed to, and we would discuss the various ongoing projects that required my input. It wasn’t just business that we talked about, I appreciated the visits. It got lonely with my girls, Andi, and Karen, off at work.

Imelda’s family made her quit after the last incident where I was involved in a shooting and an attempted kidnapping. Things became too much for her, so we suddenly were without a housekeeper and nanny for the twins. I helped out where I could, but I still wasn’t at 100 percent and wasn’t able to contribute much.

I was able to fix my own lunch most days, and Karen would leave something for me in the slow cooker some days. It was hard to mess up a slow cooker meal; you just throw the ingredients in the night before, add water, and you more often than not have a tasty meal to enjoy the next day. There were a few times, though, when it was overcooked and turned out to be a disaster. I’d break out the peanut butter, bread, Pringles, and a pudding cup or Jell-O cup on those days, and call it lunch.

It was almost a year to the day since the banging on my door in the middle of the night had brought news of Grandma Jorgenson’s impending death. The knock came just after lunch this time, and I limped over to the door with Beast and the two Dobermans standing beside me, ready to protect me if needed.

I carefully looked through the peephole to see who it was. ‘It couldn’t be’, I said to myself. I looked again, and there stood my good friend, Prince Salim, from one of the oldest ruling houses in the Middle East. That second glance confirmed that it was indeed Prince Salim, along with his cousin, Prince Ali Al-Khalid, who also served as his bodyguard and advisor.

I gave Beast and the Dobermans the ‘down’ and ‘stay’ commands, hoping that they would obey. I didn’t think that Salim and Ali would appreciate dogs jumping all over them in greeting. It would probably be considered inappropriate for guests of their status.

I carefully opened the door, and Salim rushed forward, greeting me in typical Middle Eastern fashion with a tight embrace and a touch of his cheek to mine. Ali greeted me the same way. Beast wasn’t quite sure about all this, and I heard his low, throaty growl of warning begin to rise.

I had to command Beast to stop and apologized to my friends. I asked them to excuse me for a moment while I put him and his companions out in the backyard. Salim and Ali were right where I had left them when I returned. Their embassy car was parked in front of the house, surrounded by a full security team scanning for potential threats in all directions.

I invited Salim and Ali in, but I wasn’t sure what to do about their security detail. I was certain that they wouldn’t want to stand out on the street the entire time that we were visiting. Ali fortunately solved the dilemma when he said something to the head of the security team outside, and they all returned to their vehicles and began to leave. I shut the door, then invited Salim and Ali to follow me into the living room and asked them to have a seat.

Salim told me that they were here with his father, the ruler of their desert country, to negotiate military aid and secure access to advisors to train the Royal Army and Air Force. They hoped to acquire modern military equipment to replace the World War II-era weaponry that they were currently dependent on, much of which was badly worn out. They were willing to provide oil to United States oil companies at a very favorable price in return.

Nothing was scheduled for that afternoon or evening. Salim knew that I lived in the Washington, DC, area, and had decided to visit his good friend, James Mercer, and his family. The visit couldn’t have come at a better time as I was home alone, didn’t have much to do with office-related projects, and was starting to get bored.

I excused myself to make a couple of quick calls and stepped into the kitchen to use the phone. I called the office and asked Andi to come home, telling her that it was important, but without explaining why. I did the same with Karen, who was nearly done with her shift anyway. She said that she’d head over after picking up the girls from school. I thought that meeting Salim and Ali would be a pleasant surprise for both of them, and it gave Salim a chance to meet the infamous ‘Viking Princess’ who had caused me so much grief a year ago.

Andi was the first to arrive. I couldn’t tell who was more surprised, Salim or Andi, when she walked through the door. I explained to Salim that I considered her my wife. Andi stood there, staring at the two men in our living room, both dressed in their traditional clothing, whom I introduced as members of one of the oldest royal families in the Middle East. Salim and Ali chuckled at her reaction, clearly used to being received this way by Western women. Andi excused herself and went upstairs to change, saying that she’d be back down shortly.

I explained to Salim how I’d been wounded defending myself during an attempted abduction while Andi was upstairs. I told him that I had shot several of the attackers, and that Beast, the dog they’d seen earlier, had taken out the remaining two on his own. Ali was curious about Beast’s breed, so I told him and mentioned that an acquaintance of mine was starting a kennel to breed them. I promised to pass his contact information along once it was up and running.