Chapter 20: The Pick Play

Tuesday December 31

The morning of New Years Eve, Matt got another phone call from Bill. Roger was somewhere in Texas and they needed immediate information from two Jihadists they had captured. When Matt agreed to help, Bill figured they would be there from Compton in half an hour. Matt had the study and bathroom set up when Bill called back.

“We’ll be a little longer than I expected. We’ve picked up a tail from somewhere and can’t seem to shake them,” he warned.

“Take the 57 north from the 91. Exit on Chapman and turn east. Call me when you turn onto the 57. I’ll run interference so you can get clear and I’ll leave a unit to scan your car for a tracking device. After that, take surface streets other than Chapman east as far as you can before taking Chapman towards the house,” Matt replied after thinking for a moment.

“You be careful! You’re not trained for this kind of stuff,” Bill warned.

“All I’m going to do is run a pick play,” Matt reassured him.

Grabbing the pistols Roger had given him, Matt gave Carla one of the 9 mm pistols he had bought for the girls. “You and Sue may have to do this interrogation. If you do, have the guys zip tie the two prisoners securely to the metal chairs we use. Check the zip ties yourself when they finish. Escort the guys out of my study and have Jodi stay in the study to make sure they stay out. Keep this gadget in the bathroom to make sure there are no bugs. Just to be safe, don’t talk about what you’re doing, just do it. Record the two guys once the drug takes effect and you’ve given them the basic programming.”

“Where are you going?” Raven asked.

“I may need to run interference with a car tailing Bill.”

“Be careful,” she said, concerned. “Make sure to wear that vest Roger got you. No sense in having it and not using it. And take the extra magazines and a box of ammo.”

Matt took both .45 caliber Glocks. Two months ago, he had purchased a 9 mm Glock for each of the girls after they each tried the .45 and found it to be too much to handle. He also put on the vest Roger had gotten for him. He didn’t expect to need it, but Raven was right. Pulling a T-shirt on over it, Matt made sure he had his Secret Service ID since he calculated a 50/50 chance of a car crash with the tailing vehicle. He made one stop about two miles from the house and hid the scanning device. Then he drove to the parking lot of the McDonalds to wait.

He only had to wait five minutes before Bill called back. “We just turned north on the 57,” he warned.

“When you exit, get into the left-hand right turn lane. There’s a McDonalds half a block from where you’ll turn. I’ll pull out in the right lane alongside you in a blue Mercedes. Stay in your lane until you get to Walnut Street, the first cross street after the McDonalds. Once the nose of your car leaves the crosswalk, turn right across the front of my car, cutting me off. I’ll block your tail.

“Take Center Street, the first left you come to on Walnut Street. There’s a big empty lot on the southeast corner with a giant bush growing right next to the street. The device is in the bush. Use surface streets to go east as far as you can before getting back onto Chapman Avenue. Carla and Sue are waiting for you if I get tied up in a collision.”

“Damn it, you be careful,” Bill said angrily.

“What color is the car tailing you?” Matt asked.

“It’s dark blue and looks like an unmarked police interceptor. We know it’s not cops because the cops were with us when we made the bust,” he replied.

“I see you, here I come,” Matt warned as he pulled out onto the street. He pulled out right in front of another car that honked angrily at him. Matt saw the blue car two cars behind Bill’s black SUV.

Luck was with Matt. The car behind him with the angry driver slowed to turn into the parking lot of the bank at the corner. That left enough space behind Matt that the next car behind him didn’t rear-end him when Bill gunned it and cut across the nose of Matt’s car. Matt was impressed with Bill’s driving; he timed the turn perfectly. The car behind Bill saw what he was doing and braked, anticipating a crash. He got the crash, but it was when the blue car rear-ended him. Undeterred, the blue car backed up far enough to pull out and used the left turn lane to go around the car he had rear-ended. When Matt saw that he intended to follow Bill, he pulled into the intersection as if continuing on his way, making sure to block the blue car. It ended up crashing onto Matt’s front quarter panel, trying to push him out of the way.

Matt called 9-1-1. By the time he got through to the police dispatcher, he was having to power the nose of his car to the left to keep them from pushing him far enough to get around his car. It reminded him of a demolition derby in a way.

“Placentia Police Department, how may I help you?” the woman answered the phone after the Highway Patrol transferred him. The CHP initially gets all 9-1-1 calls.

“I was just in a major car crash eastbound on Chapman at Walnut. The car that hit me is a dark blue four-door sedan with four guys in it and they’re still trying to ram my car out of their way. I saw one of the men get out a pistol just now!” he exclaimed as the guy pointed the pistol at him. Matt ducked just as the guy fired a shot that shattered his driver’s side window.

“The crazy idiot just shot at me!” he hollered since his Bluetooth picked up his voice. “I have my own pistol, as well as a permit for it and an ID because I work with the Secret Service. I’m in the blue Mercedes with the crunched left front quarter panel.”

Grabbing one of the two Glocks, Matt chambered a round and glanced up quickly. The shooter didn’t have a gun aimed at him anymore, so Matt quickly fired three shots at him through the shattered window, just like the guy at the firing range taught him. He was hoping one of them hit him.

“Oh yeah, at least one hit him and there’s a mess all over the back seat of their car,” Matt thought. He felt his stomach getting queasy. This was a lot different than shooting at targets. When the passenger in the front seat looked as if he was pulling a gun, Matt fired three shots at him.

“Eeeeeewwwww.” The driver was now splattered with blood and god knows what else from the second guy. He still backed the car up five feet and stopped momentarily. When Matt realized that he intended to ram him, he fired three shots at the driver.

“Oh, fuck that hurts,” Matt thought when he felt a searing pain in his left bicep just as he heard the report from a different gun. The blue car had collided with Matt’s car just a fraction of a second before the burning in his shoulder. The other car stopped now because nobody was driving it, although the engine was still running.

Hiding below the window of his car, Matt struggled to change the magazine because his hands were shaking and his arm hurt. He’d fired nine shots and there were still four shots left, but he wanted all thirteen from a new magazine available if he needed them. He’d also have the extra round already in the chamber.

Sneaking another quick peek, he saw that the fourth man seemed dazed. Not taking any chances, Matt leveled his gun at him, using the windowsill of the car to hold it steady--well, steadier; his hands were still shaking. When the guy looked back at Matt and moved like he was raising his gun again, Matt fired three more shots, adding a fourth red blotch inside their car.

By then, sirens were screaming and police cars were skidding to a halt, forming a perimeter around their cars. Setting his Glock on the roof of his car, Matt held his ID out the window with his right hand. Remembering that his Bluetooth was still on, he told the dispatcher, “I think I hit all four guys in the dark blue sedan. I’ll need an ambulance because I was hit in the left bicep and feel like I’m going to be sick.”

When Matt regained consciousness, he was in an ambulance and was surprised that he wasn’t handcuffed.

“You okay?” the attendant asked when he noticed Matt’s eyes open.

“Peachy,” he replied. “I guess I’m doing okay aside from the burning in my left arm.”

“Just a graze,” the attendant tried to reassure him.

“I’ll take your word for it since this is the first time I’ve been shot. Did anyone happen to grab my cell phone? The guys I was helping will be worried.”

“They called in when they heard the first shot fired. The PD called them back and let them know you were just grazed. They’re the ones who let the PD know you were working with them. The four guys in the other car weren’t nearly as lucky. Only two of them were still alive when we got there. Only one made it to the other ambulance, but we heard that he coded even before they got the back door closed.”

“Where are we going?” Matt asked.

“Placentia Linda Hospital,” he replied, making Matt groan.

“Problem?” the attendant asked.

“Just that we’ll be close enough to my house for the women there to hear the siren,” Matt replied. He wondered who would be madder, Bill, or the women. He was betting on the women.

Bill was right there when they opened the back door and pulled the gurney out. Matt was happy that they at least let him sit up on the gurney. Bill just rolled his eyes and shook his head as they rolled Matt into the emergency room.

Half an hour later, Matt was in a wheelchair. The doctor had given him a tetanus shot, a shot of antibiotics, and a prescription for antibiotics. He applied antibiotic goop to the graze on Matt’s arm and put a large bandage over it.

“Keep it dry and covered for several days. Change the bandage every day and reapply the ointment. You lost some blood, so nothing strenuous for three days and see your doctor if it gets infected,” he advised.

He’d also cleaned six small cuts on Matt’s face and neck from the side window’s shattered glass. Matt was in a tiny treatment room with a wooden door rather than one of the beds surrounded by a curtain like most patients had. Once the doctor left, Bill and another guy entered. Matt started to say something, but Bill pinched his own lips closed to stop Matt from saying anything.

“We’re going to have to file a report and the Placentia PD will need a statement,” Bill explained, motioning to the guy in a suit next to him when he said Placentia PD.

“I’m going to record this so we only have to cover it once. We’ll give the detective a redacted transcript if necessary. He’s here so he’ll know we didn’t redact anything critical,” Bill explained.

“Now, what the hell were you doing? I told you to be careful,” Bill demanded forcefully.

“How was I to know the idiot in the car tailing you was going to shoot at me?” Matt asked. “They rear-ended the car in front of them, backed up, and pulled out into the left turn lane to go around the car they just hit. I pulled out into the intersection as if I was continuing on my way, trying to cut them off. They purposely rammed the front quarter panel of my car and I thought that would stop them. Instead, their driver gunned it, trying to push me out of the way.

“I gave my car more gas, turning into them to keep them from pushing me so you had time to get clear. Then the idiot on the passenger side in the back seat pulled out a pistol and shot at me. I saw him raise the pistol and ducked below the window. When I ducked, I grabbed one of my Glocks. When I peeked at their car, he didn’t have the gun aimed at me, so I fired three shots, hoping one of them hit him.

“When the front seat passenger started raising a gun, I fired at him. The driver backed up and I thought he was giving up. Instead, he came at me again. As soon as I realized he was trying to ram me, I fired at him. I felt the pain in my left bicep just as their car hit mine again. I knew that I hit the driver, so it had to be the passenger behind the driver.

“Since I fired nine of the thirteen rounds in the magazine, I changed it while I ducked below the window. I was shaking badly enough that it wasn’t easy to do. When I peeked quickly, the guy in the back seat looked like he was dazed. I rested the barrel on the windowsill and waited to see what he was going to do. When he looked at me and looked like he was raising his gun again, I fired at him before he could shoot.

“Then I remembered that the dispatcher could still hear me, so I told her I needed an ambulance and then I must have passed out. Oh, when the police cars arrived, I put the gun I used on the roof and held my ID out the window with my right hand. Then I passed out,” Matt amended his statement, making both men laugh.

They had a few more questions before the detective was satisfied. “I didn’t mean to cause problems,” Matt apologized once the detective left.

“The worst problem you caused will be the extra paperwork. I have no idea how those guys initially found us, but they weren’t part of the terror cell. They’re the remnants of a group I thought we took care of last month. The guy in the front passenger seat was the head honcho of the group. We thought he’d fled the country and we’d given up looking for him. Your biggest problem is going to be explaining this to the upset women in the waiting room.

“By the way, Carla got the info we needed, and our agents found the van with the explosives. They were set to detonate at 11:55 tonight.

“The police have the Glock you fired. I have the other Glock and your cell phone, as well as your keys and ID.

“We found the bug on our car and destroyed it before we headed to your place. We had just destroyed the tracking device when we heard the first shot so I called the police. I left one of our men where we stopped so he could get back to help you. By the time he got there, he called and said you were okay. You’d been winged, but made a mess of the guys who were tailing us.”

A hospital employee wheeled Matt and the wheelchair he was in out to the waiting room where six gorgeous women surrounded him. Even Vickie seemed genuinely concerned. Fortunately, the criticism was delayed until they made it home. Even then, the rebuke was mild. Roger called that evening, chiding Matt for acting like a bowling ball again.

Wednesday January 8

Bill showed up again a week later with another suitcase--and a new car to replace Matt’s. “CC managed to backtrack and drain the bank accounts used to funnel money to the Jihadists. There are going to be a couple of pissed off Saudis who used to be rich,” he chuckled. Matt thanked him, not bothering to open the suitcase. Bill also handed him the Glock that had been confiscated by the police.

“They finished the ballistics test the next day, but would hang onto the gun until hell freezes over if they had their way. We insisted that they return it to us. We swapped out the barrel and firing pin of the Glock. We either do that or we destroy the gun after covert incidents.”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t very covert after I was done,” Matt apologized.

“We got it covered. Once the PD was satisfied, they gave us back everything in the file mentioning you and our other people, so there’s nothing there connecting us with it. What we confiscated more than paid for the ambulances and hospital costs, as well as repairs to the car that was rear-ended. Aside from tying up traffic, that’s the extent of the exposure. We had your car and the tailing car stripped, crushed, and hauled away. The guy I dropped off to help you got the police to keep the press away from the accident, so there’s no exposure there, either. He also stood where nobody could get a picture of you with a cell phone,” he reassured Matt, who was glad they knew what they were doing.

Friday January 17

Another shoe dropped a week later when CC visited, bringing Heather. CC insisted on seeing Matt’s wound, not that there was much to see by then. Matt was still embarrassed because he had passed out from what was really just an oversized scratch.

“Do you have a passport?” CC asked when they were alone. Matt admitted that he didn’t.

“You need to apply for one tomorrow. The guys in the car were part of a group the government tried to break up. They thought they had done it and dropped the case. I managed to hack the cell phone of the leader and got access to his bank accounts. I drained them, routing it through several offshore accounts I use routinely. I opened an account in your name in the Cayman Islands. You’ll have to show up and prove who you are before you can access the money.”

“Should I ask how much?” Matt asked.

“No,” she replied grinning. “Let it be a surprise. Roger or Bill will bring you the documentation showing that the IRS knows about it. Just declare it as non-taxable income the same way you did with the first two suitcases they gave you and include the code on the documentation.”

“Is there a date I have to get there by?” Matt asked.

“Not really, but sooner is better than later, why?” she asked.

“I’m thinking that it might be a nice vacation during Spring Break. I could take the girls and maybe even my family.”

“Tell your parents they have golf courses there,” she laughed.

That evening, Matt told the girls about going to the Cayman Islands during Spring Break. Raven was immediately on the phone making appointments with a nearby passport service. Matt didn’t even know there was such a thing as a passport service. He thought they would have to go to the post office.

“Call your family and send them here,” Raven instructed, handing him a handwritten note with the address and phone number of the passport services nearest his sisters and his parents.

Matt’s dad laughed when Matt called. “My bosses are already jealous because we got to play so many courses around Pebble Beach. When we got back from Hawaii, they were green with envy. When they hear about this, they’re going to die.”

“You don’t have to keep doing this,” he said quietly. “As much as we appreciate it, you need to save some of your money.”

“Dad, we still haven’t spent what I made so far on the first three books. I make more on each new book than the previous one and book five is due for release in a couple weeks. They recently released book one in paperback and will release each of the others in paperback a year after their initial hardcover release.

“What I spent for Hawaii was just a small part of what was in the suitcase we told you about. I received another one last week. While I haven’t opened it yet, I’m sure the girls have. I learned today that someone set up an offshore account for me in the Caymans from a third case we helped with. I have to appear in person before I can access it. The contents of the first suitcase will still be paying for this trip, too,” he explained. Matt had told his family about the contents of the first suitcase and how they came by it while they were in Hawaii.

“Jodi has already put most of the rest of the contents of the first suitcase into investment accounts and will do the same with the second suitcase. Remember, the IRS already knows about both of them and considers them non-taxable income for the Federal Government. I’m sure the government already got their share of whatever was confiscated. I’ll still have to pay state taxes, though.”

“You seem to be getting deeper into this covert stuff,” his dad said with concern.

“Roger is an interrogation expert they use when they need an answer right away. When he’s not available, I learned enough from helping him that we can help them.”

“Why don’t they train someone else?”

“Roger doesn’t want anyone else knowing how to do it so they can’t abuse the technique.”

“Why would he trust you with it then?” he asked.

“He knew about Sue and Carla being submissive. I can make them do almost anything I want. Instead, I worry about finding out what their limits are and think more about making them happy than making myself happy,” Matt replied.

“This last time got a bit hairy, though,” he admitted. Matt knew he’d have to tell them sooner or later to explain the new car, as well as what was going to be a scar on his left arm. The bullet had missed the vest by a fraction on an inch. Raven, along with Matt’s bossy submissives, had since purchased him a new vest that covered him even better. They’d even bought body armor for themselves.

Matt explained to his dad about trying to block the car following Bill, and the ensuing accident and shootout.

“Holy shit,” he exclaimed. “Are you okay with what you did?” he asked. Matt could hear the concern in his voice.

“Yeah, it scared the crap out of me at the time. They had to give me a mild sedative at the hospital. I talked to a shrink twice afterwards and he thinks I’ll be okay. I’m to let him know if I start having nightmares.”

After that call, Matt texted his sisters since they were at work. Both of them called right back, excited enough that any co-workers around them were probably suffering from temporary hearing loss.

As much as he would have liked to go, Roger was in the middle of something.

Sunday April 20

The view below was spectacular as the plane made its final approach. The water farther offshore was a vibrant deep blue. The beaches were white sand and the shallow water along the beaches was an azure blue, far different from the blue-green water off the California coast. “Probably a lot warmer, too,” Matt thought to himself. The water along the California beaches warmed up enough to enjoy during the summer, but required a wet suit for more than wading or a quick dip the rest of the year.

Matt had been surprised when Raven suggested inviting Denise. “We just clicked,” she explained. “Besides, she’s having a lot of problems with her dad and needs to get away.”

“The invitation should be from you, not me,” Matt told Raven, getting one of Raven’s huge grins in return. Raven also invited CC and Heather. CC and Raven also got along great together.

Their flight landed just after 3:30 Sunday afternoon, local time. They had left LAX just after midnight west coast time. After a three-hour layover in Miami, their flight continued. Several passengers in the coach section looked like students on Spring Break. Several guys headed for the cheaper seating in the rear of the plane looked wistfully at the girls sitting in the first-class section with Matt.

Matt was happy that his new niece and nephew behaved for most of the flight. They let his sisters know when they were hungry or needed a diaper changed but were otherwise quiet. Matt had been amazed at how much larger both sisters’ boobs were now that they were engorged with milk.

Watching his mom’s reaction when she saw CC, Heather, and Denise arrive with them at the airport was hilarious. He would love to see her reaction if Meredith and Helen had come with them, too. Unfortunately, this was a busy time of the year for them as people were preparing to move when the school year ended in a few weeks.

Matt was glad that he could relax and sleep on the flights. Having spent one week in February visiting large cities in the Southeast and a week last month visiting cities in the Southwest, he didn’t get much chance to sleep on the flights because they were usually over almost before they began. A couple of times it seemed to him as if taxiing to the gate after they landed took longer than the flight itself. Sometimes, it felt as if it took longer to get through the security screening than the actual flight took. Roger kept telling Matt to show his Secret Service ID, but Matt felt as if using it somehow dragged him deeper into their covert world, even though he knew it wasn’t a rational fear.

The van packed with explosives that they helped the Secret Service locate New Year’s Eve would have killed at least a hundred people if the Jihadists had been able to complete their plan. Stuff like that, Matt didn’t mind helping with. He just wanted to restrict it to that.

Once they finally cleared customs, the group headed for their hotel. Knowing when they were arriving, the hotel had two vans waiting for them. After reaching their suite, Matt moved to the balcony and looked out over the ocean. He started laughing when he saw a big swimming pool barely two hundred feet from the high tide line. There were even beach umbrellas stuck in the sand out in the shallow ocean water.

The beach had nearly a hundred chairs and chaise lounges scattered everywhere. There were large beach umbrellas and picnic canopies to provide shade. There were even a handful of canopies that looked like they were wood frames with wood flooring. Those had what looked like a waterbed frame topped with a large air mattress. Matt wondered what the hotel thought about people having sex on the beach.

Matt and the girls had a large suite. His parents and sisters had neighboring rooms two floors below.

They got settled in just in time to meet everyone for dinner. Dinner felt more like a late lunch since Matt’s body told him it was early afternoon. Just like their last two vacations, his mom called everyone and arranged to meet for dinner.

Since Roger wasn’t with them, Matt caught his sisters alone and offered Vickie to one of them for a night if they wanted to share her with their husbands. After dinner, Marilynn approached him and said she talked to Brian and wanted to borrow Vickie for the night. She had to reassure Brian that it wasn’t a test of his love for her and that she expected to enjoy Vickie just as much as he did.

Monday April 21

Marilynn was practically glowing when they met for breakfast. Poor Brian looked like he had been ridden hard and put away wet. “Well?” Sheila asked her sister cryptically. Marilynn just grinned in reply.

“I’m glad Charlie and I decided to wait a couple days before we went fishing,” Brian whispered to Matt later. “How do you keep up with all those women?”

“I don’t overdo it each night. Once I’m down for the count, I leave it to them to enjoy each other.”

CC went with Matt to visit the main branch of Cayman National Bank. Considering the shorts and T-short she wore, Matt left his suit in the closet and also wore shorts and a T-shirt.

“Give him your passport, driver’s license, and government ID,” CC said when the assistant manager asked for Matt’s ID. Once he saw the Secret Service ID, he nodded knowingly and quickly had the account accessible. When Matt finished choking over the balance in the account, he thanked the assistant manager, and he and CC went to find the girls.

His parents, along with Sue and Denise, were already somewhere on the North Sound Golf Course.

When they found the girls, they hadn’t done too much damage to the checking account with their short shopping spree. They grabbed taxis and headed for Hell, a small tourist attraction. The main attraction was an area about half the size of a football field. There, various natural forces had dissolved part of a limestone formation, creating what could pass for the landscape on an airless planet. Minute organisms had turned the normally white limestone black. Afterwards, they stopped for lunch, and then headed north to the turtle farm.

On the way home, Sheila got Matt alone long enough to ask if she and Charlie could borrow Vickie tonight. Matt agreed.

Tuesday April 22

This morning, Sheila was glowing, and it was Charlie’s turn to look like he was half-dead, and Brian was laughing at him. The golfers headed for the nine-hole Hyatt Britannia Golf Course. The rest of them caught a sightseeing charter boat the girls had arranged. The boat took them to one of the two nearby Stingray Cities.

Stingray City was the result of Cayman fishermen cleaning their catch in the shallow waters of a large bay. Over the years, the stingrays started congregating around the time the fishermen returned each day. Now, there were hundreds of them. Having seen two people at the beaches near home who had been stung by stingrays when they accidentally stepped on one (painful but reasonably simple to treat), Matt suggested visiting the deeper Stingray City.

One was in shallow water varying from knee-deep to waist deep. The other was in water twelve to fifteen feet deep where they donned masks and snorkels and floated lazily on the surface, watching hundreds of stingrays below them.

Matt noticed Charlie and Brian talking to each other animatedly throughout the day, then looking over at him and shaking their heads in disbelief. Each time they looked over, Matt had his arm around the waist of a different one of the girls.

They got back to the hotel early. Brian and Charlie ate an early dinner and headed for bed--to sleep. They’d be getting up shortly after midnight to catch their fishing charter. They’d be allowed to sleep for a few hours aboard the boat while it headed out--if they could sleep.

Wednesday April 23

Right after breakfast, Matt found the bungalow he’d rented on the beach. Enjoying the sea breeze and the ocean sounds, he dove into dealing with Sue’s corrections to book seven. The girls had headed for a different part of town to ‘see the sights’, meaning they wanted to do more shopping.

When Matt finally looked up after finishing the corrections, it was almost time for lunch. He’d emailed the book to Dr. Humphries, who had told him--again--to call her Tess. He also sent it to the publisher, so they could line up sponsors. The book would change slightly with any corrections Tess suggested, but not enough to affect sponsors.