Chapter 04

Saturday 11th May

Morning Call

The loud ringing phone wakes me at 8:05 a.m. Withdrawing my arm from Sarai I reach over Marie and pick up the phone, giving Marie a quick kiss in the process.

I’m unhappy and a bit angry as I say, “Hello.”

Marie’s father says, “What’s this about you raping my daughter?” Marie is awake and hears the question.

I hand her the phone, saying, “Here, darling, it’s your father, he’s wanting details on the rape.” Sarai is awake and looking at me with a worried expression. I put my finger to my lips in the ‘shush’ sign.

Marie says, “Yes, Daddy, it was terrible. He fought like hell, but I eventually got his clothes off and made him fuck my brains out.”

Dead silence from the phone, then, “What’s that?”

Marie says, “Daddy, please don’t be stupid and foolish now. I’ve loved Ed for a long time. I finally got around to telling him I love him, want to fuck him, and have his children. When he stopped gasping for air, I kissed him and let him know his sole choice was to cooperate or be raped. Being smart, he chose cooperation on the condition I make an honest man out of him.” < pause > “Yes, Daddy, if we haven’t started a baby yet, and we’ve been trying real hard, I’m sure we will before you’re back. So you may as well accept the inevitable.”

Marie hands me the phone and I hear her mother say, “Sorry about that, Ed, but we got a message saying you’d raped Marie, no sender’s information.”

I reply, “Don’t worry about it if you can sort your end out now.”

She replies, “Yes, I can, now. I think the fact you and Marie are sharing a bed helped a lot.”

Laughing I say, “We are, with Sarai, so they both get a chance to have some rest.”

With a laugh she says, “Hmm, I don’t think we have time for that right now.”

In a cold voice I add, “I think the message is from a gorilla bred cop I pissed off the other night. I wouldn’t let him monster me or come in and monster Marie. We need a bigger house that has no close neighbours as Marie is a real screamer when she comes. One neighbour has made it clear, either Marie stops screaming or she has to be allowed to join in for her jollies. It’s very frustrating for her to hear Marie coming like that.”

She says, “Oh, well, it won’t hurt for you to look. But make no offers.”

“OK, and can you please make future calls about thirty or so minutes later.”

She laughs,”I’ll try.”

Hanging up the phone I get up and get Lisa’s number. I call and tell her about the call and my suspicions. She says she’ll have some one look into it. I say he may have the house under surveillance and she should take efforts not to be recognised when she visits. She agrees.

I have a quick shower as Marie and Sarai go back to sleep. When dressed I rouse all four girls and send them to the showers, in pairs. Telling them breakfast in twenty minutes. Surprise, all four turn up washed and dressed in seventeen minutes. I start serving up the fried eggs and bacon with French toast.

Marie smiles and is happy as she tells Sarai, “Now you know why we keep him. He pampers us with hot breakfasts.” They laugh and dive into the food. Once we finish eating they all help with the cleaning up. At 8:55 a.m. we’re sitting in the lounge room listening to the radio as we talk about what sort of house we’d like.

The conversation stops when I say, “Maybe we should first work out what we can afford together.”

In the following silence Janey almost whispers, “Master, would this be a good time to tell you I have several million dollars in the bank.”

Stunned, I say, “You’d place some of that at our disposal?”

Janey says, “No, I’ll give it all to you, as long as you promise to never ever ever release me. I need to be your slave forever, as I’ve finally found some people who love ME.”

Looking at her, I see the extreme bitterness and loneliness in her eyes. Opening my arms wide I say with all the love I can, “Come here, love.” Janey walks over to climb into my lap, and I cuddle her like I would a small child. She lies there, crying with relief. In the following silence the door bell rings. I ask Marie to answer the door, and if we don’t know them to shoot them.

Visitors

Marie answers the door and returns with Jock, Toy, and Lisa. She’s wearing a long blond wig, a set of leather straps they almost cover enough of her body to be legal in public, mid calf black leather boots, and a long black leather coat over her arm. Stunned, I look at Lisa, saying, “You know, you can get arrested for wearing that in public. The charge would be Enticement to Riot.” The laughter is just what we need to lighten the atmosphere right then.

Lisa says it looks like her old partner is out to cause trouble. He’s off duty and parked across the road watching the house. I ask Marie to bring me the cordless phone and Dave’s business card from the study. I ring Dave and ask if we’re under investigation for any reason. He says no. I ask why is gorilla sitting in a car across the road watching the house. He says he’ll check some things and get back to me. A few minutes later he calls to explain gorilla is off duty and on three weeks approved leave. He requested it yesterday. I tell him it’s interesting, and mention the message to Marie’s parents. Dave is angry and says he’ll see if he can trace it. I give the details of where they’re staying. I ask for advice on which is the best local service to hire both bodyguards and physical security check services. He says he’ll call me back.

I continue to hold and cuddle Janey all this time. When asked if she has full control of her money or if it’s controlled by a trustee. She says it’s under the control of her grandfather as trustee, and she has control of the $300,000 in her personal bank account. Lisa and Jock stare at her. I ask if Toy is as well off.

She replies, “Not quite, but he does have about two million left. Most of his money’s been spent paying off people he’s screwed over. Grandfather has him on an allowance until he’s twenty-five.”

I say, “We better pay your grandfather a visit. Do you mind spending some money to buy us some security from gorilla breath?”

With a happy smile Janey says, “Anything you want, my darling master.”

Dave rings with the names and numbers of security firms the police see as being good and OK people. I thank him for his trouble. I ring a security firm from the list, one Lisa also likes. Explaining our basic needs I arrange to call at their office in thirty minutes time.

Looking at Lisa I say, “A change of clothes is needed. Strip, wash the make-up off, and lose the wig. Marie, please go to my luggage to get my black business suit, then get that white high neck blouse you got yesterday, and some panties.”

By the time Marie is back with the clothes Lisa is standing before me nude, oh what a sight, with the boots in her hand and no make-up or wig.

I turn to Jock, saying in awe, “You lucky boy.”

He says in wonder, “Yeees.” Lisa laughs.

I have her put on the blouse and panties, my trousers, the boots, and my suit coat. She look like a high powered business woman about to take control of the board room. Lisa goes and looks at herself in a full length mirror. Returning, she says she likes the result, but would’ve never thought of it herself. Placing Janey on the floor I stand and go get Lisa my black Akubra to wear. She looks nothing like herself or the blond who’d arrived. I hustle everyone into the Tarago. I check all is locked tight and lights off with security on. Hit the garage door button on the wall, and drive out. I wait for the garage door to close fully, and drive out the gateway.

Morning Tasks

As we drive away I notice gorilla doesn’t follow us, which worries me. I keep an eye out for other tails all the way to the security firm.

At the security firm we go in to speak with the owner, ‘Mac.’ I explain our situation again, saying, “I’d like a couple of very effective bodyguard types. Preferably females that fit in with our group so they can accompany us when we go out. I also want some people to watch the house and see gorilla doesn’t use our absences to best the alarm systems.” A contract is soon agreed to, prepared, and signed. Personal bodyguards starting at 8:30 a.m. each day. Janey uses her credit card to make the initial payment.

We review his files for suitable bodyguards. I let Lisa do the first sort based on listed skills. From those I select ones that I think can mix in with our group; all are female, not large, and firearms licensed. The house watchers are soon sorted and assigned. Starting right now, they’re to sit in a car on the street where they can keep a good eye on the house around the clock.

Mac says, “The staff you chose will be happy for this work, as most are casual employees and they normally don’t get much of this type of high paying work. Most people want big burly men who look like bodyguards.”

I reply, “I need people that’ll seem part of our group. Since they’ll be protecting the girls, they need to be able to stay with them at all times.”

He asks, “Aren’t you afraid about troublesome people catching you?”

In a toneless voice, I reply, “No, as they’ll only ever manage that once. Dead scum do no harm.”

Both Mac and Lisa look concerned. He says, “Will you please explain?”

I’m calm as I reply, “I don’t look for trouble and make reasonable efforts to avoid it. But if it seeks me out and won’t leave me alone, I’ll eliminate it as quickly and safely as possible. No fights are fair, and I never learnt how to fight, only several dozen ways to kill. I go to great efforts to avoid a fight. But once it’s inevitable, my only concern is to put the others down, quick and hard with minimal damage to me and mine. The only close combat method I know is flat out full throttle with everything you have. I’m a warrior. It takes dozens of soldiers or a huge technical difference to pull down a warrior.” Both give me stunned expressions.

Lisa says, “Shit, if Gumbo had pushed things last night, what would you have done?”

I soften my expression as I say, “Yelled for the police, that’s why I’d asked for them. If they’d not been there, I’d have taken ten seconds to give his head a nice one hundred and eighty degree turn, and snapped his neck in the process.” I turn further to look fully at her. “Make no mistake, Lisa, when the circumstances warrant it, I am, can be, and have been, a dedicated cold blooded killer. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my people and the innocents from evil. Concerned about my morals, look at the differences in how I treat Toy to the rest. You can trust me. Just don’t forget this sheepdog is really a friendly timber wolf - with a wolf’s heart and skills.”

I turn to Mac, saying, “As in the contract, we’ll pay more for them to carry firearms, and I want them armed at all times they’re with us. When can the first team be armed and ready to go?”

He laughs, saying, “I thought you might feel like that.” He takes us through to the armoury, where two medium height young women are signing out pistols and reload clips. He’d called them earlier.

I ask if I can look at the pistols being issued to them. Mac hands me an empty pistol to look at. I give a very close examination, checking the slide and the pull on the trigger. It’s a Glock model 17C with a built in safety feature.

In an even tone I say, “Not one I’ve used, but can, if I have to. Please have them issued with six spare ammo clips. If we do get in a shooting war I want them to have enough ammo to hold out until help arrives.”

The armourer has the women sign for another four clips each. Mac looks worried, and asks me to enter the range and prove I can handle the firearm. The armourer draws another pistol with two clips, and leads us through to a fifty metre indoor range. He sets targets up at twenty-five and fifty metres as Mac hands out ear protection from the nearby racks, then hands me the pistol and both clips.

Holding the gun in one hand and the clips in the other, I step up to the line and watch the armourer for the go. He nods, I slide the first clip home and work the slide. Taking aim, I fire a single round, noting how the gun handles. I fire two more single rounds, concentrating on the feel. I drop my hand to my side, then suddenly bring it up to rapid firing the rest of the magazine into the face of the human shaped paper target down range; all rounds hit near the nose. I switch clips and targets to fire again. The armourer brings the targets up. He looks at the first three rounds in the chest, and the others in the target’s faces.

He turns to me, saying, “Take no prisoners, huh.”

In a steady voice I reply, “Most bad guys who have guns and really know how to use them also wear body armour now days. Why waste light weight nine mil rounds on their flak vests. Hit where it counts and put them down - hard and fast.”

He nods, saying, “Yeah, you know how to use guns.”

Lisa and Mac exchange concerned looks. We leave, with the two bodyguards in tow. Neither guns or reloads are visible. We get in the van and head for Janey’s grandfather’s place, with Jock driving.

Lisa says, “OK, big boy, what’s the score. I ran you through the computer the other day. It says very little about you, beyond a few traffic offences and an unfinished probationary period in the police force. Nothing about firearms capabilities or killing.”

I look at her and say in a calm and quiet tone, “I bet it didn’t say anything about being a juvenile gang member either. Or being the sole survivor of one side of a gang war in another city. It changed the shape of the local gang scene. One hundred and fifty of them and twenty of us, to start with. Fifteen of them and me, to finish with. And everyone thinking I’m dead, nearly was, too.”

Lisa looks shocked, saying, “You mean you were part of...”

I interrupt her with, “Yes, the police never got a legal name, photo, or prints on me in those days. I was reported topped by the other side, so I took no action to disillusion anyone. They all assumed I was dead and buried somewhere. One way or another, all the ‘Generals’ were killed in that war, let’s leave it that way.”

Lisa says, “I have to tell Dave, his older brother was...” I stop her, by saying, “Yeah, General Panic was a good guy, but too old for that sort of thing. As was General Transport.“

Everyone is looking at me with very strange expressions. A shocked Lisa says, “How...”

“In that outfit, you’re almost his twin; considering the ages, it’s a bit obvious you’re his daughter; he was a nice guy.” The van falls silent.

A while later I say, “I bet your computer never said what I did as a ‘security consultant’ at General Securities.”

Worried, Lisa says, “No.”

“Put simply, there are different types of bodyguards with different ways of doing the job. Even some with sniper rifles and M sixteens.” Lisa gulps, and leaves it there.

It’s a Small World After All

We arrive at Janey’s grandfather’s place and are allowed in. I notice he has a large domestic and garden staff. When the van pulls up at the front door I ask Janey if it’s always this busy. She says, “Yes, and I recognise most of the people I can see well enough to identify.”

I tell the bodyguards to get their IDs and licences out. They and Lisa give me odd looks, but do as they’re told. I get out and approach the door. It opens and a butler stands in the doorway. I say, “We’ve two armed security guards with us, you may wish to check their IDs and licences before we enter.”

He smiles and says, “Of course.” He walks down to the van and checks the guards out. Thanking me for the courtesy, he leads us into the house. Everyone looks at me strange.

I say, “When someone has ten armed guards in his front yard, you can bet they know when someone with a gun enters the property. By informing them and letting them check you, we’re proving we’ve no evil intentions and nothing to hide.” Lisa and Janey look at me again. I can see they’re wondering how I knew the staff are armed.

We’re shown into a large lounge room and Janey immediately runs across the room into the arms of an elderly man. She says, “Gramps, thanks for seeing us at such short notice.” He gives her a hug as he glares at Toy. He looks at me, and blinks a couple of times. He lets go of Janey and limps over to me.

In wonder he asks, “Is it really you?”

Janey looks shocked and everyone stares at me. I say, “Yes.”

He says with a laugh, “I see the reports of your death were highly exaggerated, again.”

I smile as I nod at his leg, “Yes. Do you still curse me with every step you take?”

He smiles and laughs, saying, “No, it took several months, but I did learn the whole truth, in the end.”

I grin as I say, “Good, I believe you know Toy by another name,” and point at him. I proceed to introduce everyone, and ask, “Oh, what name do you use now?”

He laughs and says, “The one I was born with, Peter xxxxx. And you?”

Laughing I hold out my hand, saying, “Ditto. Glad to meet you Peter, I’m Ed xxxxx.” We get strange looks from the rest.

As we shake hands he says, “It’s been a long time.”

“Yes.”

I sit down in a four seater lounge with Marie and Sarai on each side of me and Janey in my lap, with Sandra beside Sarai. Peter takes in the seating, with interest, he laughs as Lisa sits down and Toy immediately acts as her footstool, with Jock sitting on the floor against her knee. Our bodyguards give them strange looks as they sit down. In a deep voice I say to the air, “We’re not crazy, but it’s a near thing.” This gets laughter all round. I turn to Peter, “Toy there has been doing some very bad things. He coerced the aid of Janey, Sandra, and Harry in doing them. Then he made a bad mistake in trying his his tricks on someone I love.”

Peter is quick to sit up, saying in a serious voice, “I’m surprised it wasn’t a fatal mistake.” This causes a few people to gulp air.

“You know better than anyone. I never kill if it can be avoided.” He taps his bad leg while nodding.

I add, “Well, that was Thursday afternoon. I decided Toy needed re-education and retraining. I started it with all three. Harry’s currently being trained by Lisa’s cousin, Lucie. I’ve since found out Toy can’t be trusted once out of sight. So I gave him to Lisa as a permanent slave so she can make him pay for the harm he’d done to her favourite cousin, Sandra, and Janey.”

This last makes Peter sit up again. I continue, “I think Toy is beyond redemption. But, as you see, he does still have some uses. Janey has asked to be my permanent slave. As part of my household she feels loved and wanted for herself. She’s offered the family all her wealth to enable us to set up a proper residence of our own. To that end, she wants you to turn over her money to her, or to at least approve the expenditures for the house until she can inherit her money. It also seems reasonable to do a similar thing with Toy, so Lisa can make suitable long term arrangements re his housing and work.”

Peter sits there looking at us for a while, and finally says, “Why should I accept what you say, and trust you’ll live up to your end of the bargain?”

Janey gets angry and starts to rise. I pull her back saying, in a loving tone, “Calm down and relax, love.” Turning to him I say, “You can take Janey’s and Toy’s words. Better still, you can take my word, as you know my reputation. I’ve never broken my word, and no one’s ever profited by breaking their word with me. On top of that, Janey is one intelligent, nice, very sexy, pretty young woman who’s a marvellous bed mate. Do you seriously think I’d give up one such as her against her will.”

Peter smiles at me, saying, “Do you solemnly swear you’ll love and care for Janey for as long as you both shall live, and you’ll make reasonable arrangements for her welfare to continue after you die.”

With a most solemn expression and tone I say, “I do so swear.”

He says, “All right, I’ll have solicitors draw up papers giving you permanent management of both their trusts, I’ll leave it to you to make arrangements re Toy. I like that name. I’m glad to see he finally has a use.” This causes laughter all round. As he gets up I stand Janey on her feet, and we met in the middle of the room to shake hands on the agreement. I give him the details of my solicitor.

He says, “Please take care of Janey, I love her. She’s the only member of the family I care about.”

I reply, “I’ll give her the exact same care and consideration I gave your right knee.”

He laughs, “Fair enough.” Janey looks at us as if we we’re crazy.

He turns to her, saying, “Sweetling, Sticky here is the son of a bitch who spent five solid months hiding out in a swamp just so he could fulfil a promise to blow my right knee to hell. I got lazy and screwed up in a way some friends of his got badly hurt. Yeah, he showed it a bloody lot of care and consideration. He could have easily blown my head off at any time he was there.”

Janey almost whispers, “Oh,” looks at me, and asks, “Sticky?”

I say, “My working name then was Zoo per Glue - Sticky, got it.”

Looking down Lisa half whispers, “Shit, I finally fall in love, and it’s with a bloody trained assassin.”

I look at her, saying, “Say a bit more than intended, Lisa.”

She looks up in fright, saying, “Fuck, did I speak out loud.”

Smiling I reply, “Yes, it seems our household just grew larger.”

She sighs, gives a weak smile, and smirks, saying, “Yeah.”

Jock smirks, saying, “Finally, I get a chance to at least ‘watch’ someone fuck her for a change.”

Lisa looks at him, saying, “Only if I don’t rip your eyes out first.” That wipes the smile off his face - fast.

Peter says, “Don’t worry, that bastard only accepted jobs where we gave him all the info and it was clear he was operating on the side of the angels. He always checked it out for himself, too.” This causes Lisa to smile at me, seems I’m back on the pedestal. Unsafe places to be, those pedestals, they’re too easy to fall off and get hurt.

Peter limps over and hands me a cheque he’d just written for six million dollars. He says, “That’s your share of the bonus on your last mission. You completed it successfully, so you earned it. I’ll calculate the interest and send it on. I always felt you’d turn up, some day.”

I take it and salute, saying, “That’s finished, sir.”

With a smile and sigh, he says, “Yes.”

Finally we’re going to part on good terms again, that’s good news. I liked him, even when he screwed up by the numbers. As we walk out to the van I look at my watch, saying, “Twelve thirty, time for lunch. Anyone know any great Chinese restaurants open for lunch.”

Jock smiles, saying, “I do, I’ll drive.” Over a great lunch we talk about what we want in our ideal house. I also inform Toy some of his money is going to Lucie to help set her up for life, he just nods as his response.

Afternoon Shopping

As we get to the van after lunch I receive a phone call from the security company. The house team have observed someone at the house and interfering with electronic components on the building. They rang the police and reported their observations. Instead of sending out a radio call, as is usual, the police sent a car from the local station - with three officers. They apprehended a person in the process of climbing in one of the back windows and took him down the station to charge him. The security company called the company that maintains the detection and alarm system to come fix and test the system. They’d like access to the main panel so they can properly test it. We go home.

We arrive to find a glazier has replaced the broken window, so I pay him. The security system is fixed, with some parts upgraded. I open up and it tests OK, so I lock up again in ten minutes. I cross the road to our people and find out they’d called the glazier and alarm people on their own initiative. I thank them and give them a $100 cash bonus each. We get back in the van and head for the biggest shopping mall in the region. Lisa makes a few phone calls, and is happy to announce gorilla is in big trouble. Seems he was caught breaking into a house earlier in the day. Some days just go from good to great.