Chapter 111

Present – Thom and Ben – The wedding lunch

I make sure the security is good at the hotel but I don’t notice Mira or Ira so I call on the radio, “Angels of Death are you in position?”

One of them giggles, “Thom, if you don’t see us then we are certainly in position. I could easily remove that hat from your head and never bother your hair.”

The other one asks, “Did you acquire our presents in Denver?”

It was time for me to tease them, “Hell yes we did! You might want to make sure you keep my car covered too because I would hate for them to be stolen.”

The first one begs, “Thom, please tell us what the presents are.”

My phone rings, I look at the number and I say, “Sorry, this phone call is important.”

It’s the FBI. I answer the phone and they deliver some serious information. I hang up the phone and begin to formulate some ideas...

The wedding planner is droning on - it’s boring as hell so I decide to have some fun. I raise my hand, she looks at me and says, “Yes, you have a question?”

I grin and reply, “I’m not sure why we’re going through all this falderal. Isn’t my job to just stand up beside Bernie?”

If looks could kill, the look that Jens gives me would have done it. The wedding planner states, “I guess you have never been a best man before. You have many responsibilities: First you have to help Bernie choose a tuxedo...”

Bernie interrupts, “ ... I’ve already done that.”

The wedding planner continues, “ ... You need to plan and attend the bachelor party...”

Bernie again interrupts, “ ... We’re not going to have one of those.”

The wedding planner is starting to show some frustration but continues, “ ... Because there is no ring bearer, you need to take charge of the rings.”

I grin and reply, “No problem. So I really only have one job.”

Jens glares at me and spouts, “Heck no! The most important job for you is to escort me down the aisle before Liz.”

The wedding planner adds, “Plus, you need to propose a toast at the wedding dinner.”

I smile and say, “Okay, so I have three things to do, anything else?”

They look at each other and the wedding planner admits, “No, that’s it.”

Thom walks into the room, motions to me so I ask, “I think Thom needs me for some reason, do you have a problem with me temporarily leaving?”

Jens begins to complain, Thom comes over and says, “Jennifer, this is really important.”

Jens relents, “Okay Ben, take care of this but then come right back.”

I leave, walk out the door with Thom and say, “Thanks for getting me the hell out of there.”

Thom says, “Ben, you’re not going to like the reason I got you out of the meeting. We set up a stingray cell phone simulator in Leadville and got lucky as hell. We snagged a call from a person here in Leadville going to a terrorist cell.”

I ask, “Do you know who it was and what they said?”

Thom shakes his head and says, “We’re not positive but we think it’s Stacy Summers and she wanted the terrorist cell to kill me.”

I blink a couple of times and ask, “What the hell does she have against you?”

Thom grins and says, “I damn near broke her nose.”

I say, “Oh yeah I remember something about that. So what’s the current plan?”

Thom says, “We’re going to put her under surveillance. Her contacting this terrorist cell has been good for us because we know where they are and can shut them down.”

I take a deep breath and ask a question the answer to which I hope to is no, “Thom, should I meet with her?”

Thom makes me feel better when he says, “Not no, but hell no! If you do that you could tip our hand.”

I say, “Well I better get back to the wedding lunch.”

Thom asks, “So are we giving the gifts to Jen and the girls later today?”

I reply, “Yeah, I don’t think they will be stolen out of your car.”

Thom says, “Not with the security system I have on the car plus one of the twins is watching it too...”

Thom gets another phone call and says, “Speak of the devil, it’s Stacy’s head of security.”

I leave to go back to the wedding lunch as Thom continues to talk...

I answer the phone and ask, “Hello Bill, what can I do for you?”

Bill informs me, “Ms. Summers has plans to attend Elizabeth Morgan’s wedding and I thought we would talk about the security issues.”

I think for a moment and decide that if Stacy is there it’s a good thing because then there won’t be an attack planned. I decide to play nice so I ask, “What are your thoughts Bill.”

Bill suggests, “I was hoping to have six of our security there including myself.”

I agree, “With all the Marshall Service, FBI and our security at the event your six will be fine, as long as your team can follow directions - also don’t bring Victor.”

Bill asks, “Why not, he’s Samantha’s body guard.”

I explain to him how we got off on the wrong foot at the restaurant and then Bill promises, “I will have a talk with him and see if we can’t straighten things out.”

I state, “Until we do straighten things out, he’s not on the approved guest list.”

Bill replies, “I understand and will fix this.”

Present – Stacy – at Stacy’s offices

I finally receive the phone call I’ve been waiting for. It’s taken forever but my big surprise for Ben and his witch bitch is finished. I talk to the repair shop and get them to deliver it to Leadville. I can’t wait to drive up to the wedding in it - Ben will be floored. It doesn’t seem to have taken very long for it to arrive from Denver. I check it out and it’s perfect.

Samantha comes in, takes one look at it and says, “That’s beautiful!”

I smile at her and say, “Yeah, they did a great job restoring it. You should have seen how bad it looked before.”

I begin to show her the pictures and Sam says, “It’s like they’re two different things.”

Present – Ben and Thom – After the wedding lunch

The fucking wedding lunch is over and Jens asks, “Okay what did you buy me?”

I reply, “You won’t get it until we get home.”

Thom walks in and I ask, “Are you ready to head home?”

He pulls me to the side and says, “Just so you know, Stacy is planning on coming to the wedding. But it’s a good thing. With her here we can be certain there won’t be an attack.”

Thom’s mobile phone begins to go crazy and he yells, “Shit! Someone is trying to get into the car.”