Chapter 29

“250k no negotiations,” I explained to Lucy. “That is almost exactly what Tasha and I put into the place.”

“I’ll tell him that, but also that you want three. Let’s see how bad he wants a safe house of his very own,” she suggested. “So do you want Simba’s story?”

“Not really,” I answered. “I expect it to be some variation of the blond school girl, the Darling bad boy in need of rescue, and a burner phone smuggled into the building.”

“Close, she is an aid worker from a camp. Hair the color of mouse turds, or so I’m told,” Lucy lectured me.

“But she did give him a cell phone,” I suggested.

“Oh yes, but they were in love,” according to Lucy.

“Martin is hot to own this place more now than ever. Do you know why?” she asked. I shook my head, so she went on. “The kid had no idea what town he was in, or how to tell the girl friend where to meet him. Your rules kept his ass in the dark. He didn’t even know where he was going when you rolled up on him.”

“I expect even he knew better than to walk up to someone and start speaking Farsi or whatever,” I said.

“Yep he didn’t even know what his next plan was, except to call the love of is life to come rescue him.”Lucy admitted.

“He was most likely going to find a sign and take a picture of it. He could only hope that Juliet could figure out where Romeo was hiding out,” I suggested.

“Yep, you think a lot like terrorists and innocent kids whose brothers are terrorists,” Lucy Informed me.

“There is very little difference in how they think,” I admitted. “So what can I get for you in the way of groceries.” She gave me her list.

“Morgan swears she worked in a restaurant, so we are going to find out,” Lucy said.

“I heard that LuLu. I was a damn fine line cook. I can heat a can of vegetables better than anyone you know. Nice catch of the kid. I knew you were not just another pretty face.” Morgan explained.

“I have to be good ‘cause god knows I’m not pretty,” I said.

“We are turning the boys loose. The aid group has a sanctuary Lutheran Church a few towns over. Martin is working out the terms,”Morgan informed us both.

“The girl with mouse turd hair will know where to find them I’m sure,” I suggested.

I rode to Walmart for their groceries before I went down for my nap. It was after 5PM when I looked on the monitor at the empty apartment. ‘That was fast’, I thought.

I walked up the slight hill to check the place out. I threw out the fresh vegetables and froze the fresh meat and milk. The spices went inside a cabinet filled with mostly full bottles of spices from all over the world. Somebody might get some use of them, I thought.

Back home I decided to take a ride to the city park. With that plan came another plan. “Hey Leigh I’m going to stop for a pizza and go to Creekside park. If you can make it come on by. I should be there by 6 PM.”

I got the pizza packed, so that I could carry it in my small backpack. Without doing too much damage then sat in the park for over an hour. I was about to make it onto the pervert list, I had been there so long. I left so that I could get home before dark. I was half way home when the text message arrived. I didn’t bother to read it since I didn’t think splitting my attention was a good idea. When I arrived home, I found out that Leigh sent me a text asking me not to message her again, ever. I took that to mean our one night stand was meant to be just that. Damn, I had over estimated my charm once again.

How the hell could I be bored after only a few hours? I asked myself. The answer was simple. I should have known it before now. I needed to have something going all the time, or something in the planning stage. If I didn’t at least have something cooking in my head, I began getting antsy. Sometimes it got so bad that it got me into trouble. So no matter how small, I had to think of something that needed doing just to stay sane. Addie came through, but it was after my morning ride the next day.

“Hello,” I said after listening to a little, ‘I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.’ by James Taylor. Probably not the official name. “So Miss Addie, what can I do for you,” I asked.

I was thinking maybe the rotating ring tone wasn’t so bad an idea, when she answered. “I’m coming down there today. The chairman of Southern Justice League will be along. He wants to talk to you.” she admitted.

Yes I was bored, but was I bored enough to buy into the liberal bullshit. Like the idea that the majority of guys in prison shouldn’t be there. My answer was that, if all the people who needed to be killed, were killed. It would put an end to global warming. It was all the fucking hot air expelled by Liberals and criminals that really caused global warming. Just too damn many of them, I thought.

It took four hours for the two of them to make the one hour drive. Well it was four hours before they showed up. I didn’t know for sure what they were doing.

Addie called me again and the phone rang with Downtown by Pet Clark. Yes, that one I looked up later. “So Addie what’s happening?” I asked.

“The chairman and I are waiting outside,” she suggested.

“Well tell you what, do you know where Scooters is located?” I asked. “Of course,” she admitted.

“Meet me there. I’ll get my bike and leave in a few minutes,” I replied. I needed a few minutes to work out what I would say. I didn’t want to risk running Addie off over a stupid job. I knew I had to forget the liberal bashing.

I saw Addie. She was dressed to the nines, as they used to say. The man with her was in a conservative suit. I maybe would have liked him, if he had not been with Addie. He gave me his name and I paid no attention since I knew I wasn’t going to work for him no matter what.

I hugged Addie very professionally, then shook his hand. Before the conversation got deep I handed Addie the flash drive containing the pictures of my pusher motor. “So what brings you two down here?”

“Well,” the chairman said. “I’m here to recruit you.”

“Of course I’m flattered, but I was actually thinking about reducing my work load. I think I’m going to give up all this outside work, and just be retired for a while.” I admitted.

“You have to be kidding. You will be absolutely bonkers in a month,” Addie said. “Admit it you are an adrenalin junkie.”

“Even if that were true, the SJL isn’t exactly a high pressure situation,” I replied.

“So what would it take to make the environment into something you could function inside?” the chairman asked. “See here is the deal. The SJL had it’s most success ever with the two cases you worked on. It makes me think we are going something wrong.”

“My daddy used to say, ‘if you think you are doing something wrong, you are.’ Not sure I agree with that in every case, but for sure it was right more than it was wrong,” I stated.

“What are you trying to say?” Addie asked.

“Mason seems to be trying to problem solve in the real world by using liberal lawyers. It’s just hard for a liberal idealist to see what is really necessary to get down in the dirt and play sometimes,” I said.

“So how would you structure it?” the chairman asked.

“I’d keep the liberal lawyers confined to finding the people who need your help. Then I would send in a team of real world problem solvers. Ones who can also redefine the problem. Then I’d force them to sit down together and solve the problems, I suggested.”

“It’s what you did?” the chairman asked.

“It only worked, because I didn’t work for him,” I said with a smile.

“We really need your help. How about this, come to work at the Raleigh office and teach us how to do what you did,” he suggested.

“I’m sorry sir, there is nothing to teach. I just saw a problem in both cases and worked out a solution. What I didn’t do was wait for some kind of panel to review the plan before I put it into motion. Both of those just happened to work. They could just as easily crashed and burned,”I explained.

“Okay, how about this? Come work for us as a consultant in the Raleigh office for thirty days. At the end of that time we will renegotiate the deal, if we both agree that it is working.” the chairman suggested.

“If I do that what happens to Mason?” I asked.

“I hope he learns from you, but if he doesn’t he is gone. We can’t afford to lose our fund raising edge. We had lost it because we had no press coverage. You became the new face of SJL with the press. I’m afraid we are going to have to ask you to do some local Sunday morning talk shows.”

“Absolutely not,” I demanded.

Addie took up the argument. “We really need the publicity. We have been operating in a hole. The last two months have brought us even. We need to get a positive cash flow, or we will have to close the doors.

“If you can get Sally Boobs to do the interview. I’ll do it one time. You can judge the reaction to it. After that you need to find a replacement, if you want to continue,” I explained.

“That is one month with a full expense account and I’ll drive from home, but you are going to buy my gas, meals, and any motel bills. I’ll try to take it easy on you,” I said. Then added, “And you Miss Addie owe me big time.”

“Right,” she said with a serious warning look. She evidently didn’t want the boss to know.

“So who do I answer too,” I asked.

“Addie will be your handler,” the chairman replied.

“Well I guess it’s time I go out and buy a car.” I suggested.

“No need. Addie will drive a company car down, before your first day at work. Keep it until the trial period is over,” the real boss suggested.

“Give me the oldest, dirtiest, and the one with the most damages. I do not want a car that I have to worry about,” I explained.

“Done,” the chairman said. “Two more questions. One, what about a salary? Two, can you start on Monday?”

“No salary, just a consulting fee if it works out. I don’t have many plans these days, so sure Monday it is.” I agreed.

Well it looked as though the deadly boredom had been postponed for a month. I could probably spend the whole month out of the office. That is if I worked at it.

I rode the bike home by way of a twenty mile afternoon ‘tour de rural roads of Chatham County’. I loved the country roads as long as everything worked as it should. On that afternoon I rode quickly by a black bear and her young cubs. I had always been warned to run like hell from bears, and I followed that advice. I’m not even sure that mom bear knew what I was. She probably though I was an alien. If the truth be known, I guess I was to her. She probably saw me as a monster. Something with wheels where there should be legs. Or maybe I should have wings. Since I was intimidated by mama bear, I did travel pretty fast.

It was fun to make that ride, and I had a neat story to tell. I was almost back into Siler City when I saw the text message from Leigh. It read, ‘sorry about the over reaction. That text scared the hell out of me. Then I realized it didn’t say anything incriminating. I get messages like that often. That was just me being paranoid. But I do prefer to do the texting. I mean you don’t have anyone checking your messages do you? Of course you don’t. I’ll try to get by tonight for a quickie. Lol.’

Leigh was like that in person as well. She opened her mouth and the words just flooded out. Even so she was fun to be with. Even when she gave commentary on everything we did. Yes it would have been hilarious, if it wasn’t so annoying. Still in small doses and with lots of time in between it might be tolerable. Of course it might just be nerves. It might never happen again. But somehow I doubted it, judging from her text message.

After my meeting, and the ninety minute ride afterward, I was home by five pm. Even the five o’clock traffic in Siler City wasn’t much of a nuisance. I had to make a risky left turn onto hwy 64, otherwise it wasn’t much different from 5 AM. It was risky because bikes don’t trip the lights like cars do. Often I have to turn between four cars coming from all directions, not just oncoming traffic.

At about 7 PM Leigh came into my house. She walked directly to the dining area and there dropped her uniform pants and her panties. She sat on my kitchen/ dinning bar, where I began to eat her. I concentrated on her clitoris and the lips of her opening. It was an experience for sure. She actually flooded my table. Fortunately it had four thick coats of pecan polyurethane finish on the top. It was impervious to all stains. Well I’m pretty sure that the stain left by Leigh was not covered by the manufacturer’s guarantee.

It didn’t matter if the stain was permanent. If it was, I would have a great story to go along with the blemish in the wood. She had her orgasm quickly. She was in another world when she made a move on me. I looked into her empty eyes and said. “Let’s wait till we have more time.”

“You are a real catch,” she said and kissed me. She shuddered since I had not washed her lubricant aff my face or brushed my teeth. She left quickly and gave her 10-8 call. It meant back in service. I watched her drive away and wondered how she would explain it if anyone noticed her car behind the lock shop.

Of course it didn’t matter to me. She set the date, so she had to make sure it was a safe place and time. After she left I sat on the deck under the alum awning and listened to the rain while watching the lightning. Yes the thunder had added sound effects to the sex. It wasn’t the same without Leigh, but it was still entertaining.