Chapter 37

Present – Liz and Bernie – Denver

Thank God they had a decent car rental agency in Leadville. I was still in shock that the hospital had closed because I really wanted to buy a house with Bernie, settle in, enjoy (hopefully) the remainder of my pregnancy, have my baby in Leadville and bring him or her back to our house.

Bernie programs the trip to Denver into the GPS unit, we follow its directions, leave Leadville and start down I-70 eastbound. And begin to leave the beauty of Leadville and the mountains behind us. I have conflicting thoughts for the majority of the trip during which Bernie interrupts...

Liz has gotten uncomfortably quiet which means she's thinking about something serious. I give her what I hope is enough space for her to solidify her thoughts then I interrupt, "Liz, a penny for you thoughts and a ten for your body!"

Liz snaps out of her mental state, looks at me and demands, "What the hell? My body is only worth ten measly dollars?"

I grin at her and taunt, "Well, you are an old, almost married, pregnant woman..."

I knew that would 'get her goat'. She counters, "Old my ass! If I'm old you're antiquated and ... and ... and ... It's your fucking fault that I'm pregnant and not only that, it's your fault we're not married!"

I begin to laugh and say, "Liz, don't get all worked up, I just wanted to know what you were thinking about so intensely."

Liz bites her lower lip and answers...

Damn it! I was too quiet and Bernie figured out I was thinking of something serious. I hesitate to tell him by waffling, "Bernie, if I tell you you're going to hate me."

Bernie reaches over, takes my hand and says, "Liz, are you fucking crazy? You can't say or do anything that would make me hate you. So stop being so mysterious and spill the beans."

As we begin to enter the suburbs of Denver, I look around and what I see helps me to clarify my feelings. Now if I can only explain them to Bernie. I try my best to explain, "Bernie, I don't know how to tell you this. But ... But ... But I really miss Leadville! Pleaseeeee Bernie, I don't want to live in Denver. I want our little house in Leadville where we can make a nice room for our baby and get to know our neighbors."

I hold my breath and wait for Bernie's answer...

I practically laugh because Liz has been thinking and feeling the same things I've been experiencing on this whole trip. Hell, I've lived in big cities my whole life and I even grew up in one so I know what life, growing up in a big city is like. And Leadville, though it may not have all the amenities we're used to, has a unique small town charm – Leadville, and the people we met, charmed the hell out of me. They were honest to a fault, hardworking and extremely friendly.

Liz pleads again, "Bernie, pleaseeee don't be angry with me."

I take the next exit, pull into a parking lot, stop the car, turn to Liz, take her hands in mine and laugh, "Liz, how can I be angry with you when I'm feeling the exact same way as you? How about we head back to Leadville, drop off this car, get the taxi driver to take us to the realtor he knows and setup our new life in Leadville?"

Liz answers and then asks a hell of a question, "Bernie, that sounds wonderful to me. But what about delivering our baby?"

I grin at Liz and answer, "Don't worry, I have that all figured out. We will use one of the Leadville doctors for your prenatal care, and when your due date approaches, we will rent a suite in Denver close to the hospital so you can deliver there. And when we have our baby in hand we can return to the good life in Leadville."

Liz gives me a hell of a kiss and says, "Let's get the hell out of here and back to Leadville."

Even though, we had just travelled the route, I still program the route back to Leadville in the GPS unit and began to follow the instructions. Liz is much more relaxed and vocal as we travel back to Leadville...

Present – Samantha and Stacy – at the building

We arrive back at our headquarters building where Bill and the crew have already arrived. I look at Sam and say, "Samantha, why don't you give me a few minutes to talk with Bill, then we will..."

I don't have to finish because Sam knows what I'm talking about and interrupts, " ... Stacy that will be great, just show us to our rooms."

I motion to one of my crew, he comes over and I explain, "Please take our guests to their rooms and make sure Samantha's room is right next to mine."

They leave, I move over by Bill, he smiles and says, "Ms. Summers, we have some good news for you." He continues with his report, "Ms. Donaldson..."

I interrupt, " ... You mean the bitch!"

Bill laughs and continues, "Okay, the bitch' was really good at hiding her tracks, however she made one surprising mistake. She deleted all the hacking files on her hard drive; however she did not securely delete them. As you are aware, when a file is not securely deleted, the data is still retained on the hard drive, just the pointers to the file are removed. So the team recovered some of them and is in the process of restoring more of them. The initial results prove that the bitch did indeed hack your satellite daily."

Now I have one more situation, besides the bodies, to deal with. What to do with this data? I praise Bill, "You've done a great job and please inform the team of how pleased I am with their work. Let them know there will be a little extra in their paychecks this week."

I inform Bill, "I want you to keep the camera crew and Samantha from sending any reports to the Truth Network for the time being. Samantha did a report on a confrontation between Liz's assassins, and the sheriff. I'm concerned if the report is broadcast, the messengers will become targets."

Bill nods his head and affirms, "Thank you Ms. Summer for telling me this and you are correct - those women are dangerous as hell and hate publicity. We will lock down all outgoing internet communication until you give us the word. What are your plans now?"

I trust Bill implicitly so I tell him, "I'm going to Samantha's room to read her the report on Liz's body guards. She has dyslexia and hasn't had the time to wade through them. After I do that I hope she realizes how dangerous broadcasting the report would be."

Bill thoughtfully suggests, "Ms. Summers, we could get a specialist here to help Samantha with her problem."

I ask, "It would have to be very discreet, because you and I are the only ones who know about her problem."

Bill says, "I know just the person. If they aren't busy I can have them here tomorrow."

I head to Samantha's room, open the door and realize she's in the shower.

I yell, "Sam, I'm right next door - let me know when you're done!"

Samantha calls back, "Stacy, I should be done in about ten minutes."

I go to my room, take a look at myself in the mirror, and I'm shocked at how worn I look. I call Bill on the intercom and ask, "Bill, could you call Sally's Beauty Shop and see if she does house calls?"

Bill answers, "Ms. Summers, I'm betting she will be willing to come here even if she doesn't normally do house calls. From what I've heard around town, the people in Leadville are dying to get in here and see what we've done and she's the biggest purveyor of gossip in all of Leadville so naturally has the greatest interest in seeing the place."

I think for a moment and decide, "Bill, let's make sure the place is spotless, have the chef prepare a great snack and then give her a call. We could use some good publicity."

Bill agrees, "Yes Ms. Summers, I will do that immediately and may I commend you on a very wise move."

Samantha knocks on my door, comes into my room and I realize that we need to do something else. I begin to read Sam the report and I'm sure her eyes get as big as mine did the first time I read it. We're almost done when Bill calls me, "Ms. Summers, Sally should be here in fifteen minutes."

Samantha asks, "What's Sally going to do here?"

I answer, "Sam, she's coming for two reasons: One to give both of us the full beauty treatment and two we're going to use her to get good publicity in Leadville."

Samantha smiles and says, "Wow that's great! I could use a manicure, pedicure and a haircut. And you're right, the best way to get publicity in a small town is either the barbershop for men or the beauty shop for women."

That gives me another idea...

Present – Ira, Mira and Safia – on the hunt

We translocate through the posterior portal of the constabulary office. Mira begins to take the lead and translocate toward the main thoroughfare, so I cease movement and inquire, "Miranda Sedankina, to where are you translocating?"

Mira responds, "Ira, we must regain the trail of the terrible teenagers so I am regaining the main thoroughfare which was their last known location."

I counter, "Mira, do you desire for the sheriff to again capture your corporeal self? Because that surely will occur if you continue in your current direction."