Chapter 37: Getting Gracie Out Of LA

Tango wanted to talk to me about it after, “to be sure...” but I explained that Abril was a free agent and not a romantic interest of mine. Also, I said that as one of my men, he deserved the best, and we agreed she was. I was something I repeated often because I knew it built loyalty. Plus I almost believed it; I believed in saying it.

Still, he wanted to ride along with me for the day, so I told him to grab the Green Shotgun (beanbag rounds) from my armory plus his own guns and a pair of flack jackets. We both had personal weapons plus backups. I was pretty sure Mark could not locate us, and if he did he would not try anything, because he was still locked in an FBI mindset of lawful, by-the-book action. But as I have indicated, I routinely exercise a little excess paranoia.

In the C-1500 Tango still really felt the need to confess and ask forgiveness for every little thing he did with Abril, because she was my “wife” in some way that he did not understand. I let him. Then I explained that whole thing, how it was her job as part of 49, and how important it was to free her father. I said we had to act like a married couple in public, but in private we started as employer-employee (with her hardly speaking to me) and had progressed to bother and sister, sleeping in the same bed with “charged but non-penetrative,” physical contact most nights.

As I spoke I made it clear that few men could give her closeness without sex. She really needed to know some men she could trust, and I was glad he was now one of them. Of course, he never realized these things, now that he knew he was appreciative of the opportunity.

Then, like any other guys, we shared stories of our bedtime activities. I also learned a few more things about his bride (who I had met twice) and their wedding plans. I mentioned how my Grandfathers would select my bride, and that I expected a visit at any time. Again, it was something he did not realize; he had freedom to make lifeÔs most critical choices like a wife and a career. I did not.

Finally he asked about “first night,” as he and his wife were part of the ranch community. I assured him it was not mandatory, the Patron had already blessed his marriage with approval and gifts. But he wanted to know so I talked about what I knew. I knew he was thinking about his bride, I just did not understand why he thought it was relevant. We were 500 years beyond such things.

The handoff went as expected - Mark tried to muck it up every way he could, and I countered him simply by knowing the rules of engagement (he would stay within the lines) and cheating.

First Mark tried to hold Gracie up but she was not standing for that, she gave him a message from me - a phone number he knew. Mark made the call and found out there was an alert - possible trouble - called in for his address, with cars on patrol in the area. He was not going to stop her physically.

His wife was not going with Gracie and Mark had not gotten the recording of Gracie and Darnel from the store that I told him about, so I figured there was a 50% chance of a bad end.

Gracie drove her own car. She used a bluetooth with a phone I gave her and I was on the line with her until the handoff was over. She also had a phone Mark gave her.

Mark had arranged for three cars to follow Gracie in a revolving tail. But all three looked like clean corporate sedans 1 to 3 years old with the clever optional searchlight. In an exercise of delegating authority I had put Q-ball, 49Ôs vice-warlord, overseeing our five-car revolving tail of 49 members in a variety of older regular cars, like teenagers drive.

Q-Ball was a math wiz, he was doing simultaneous equations in 5th grade so he got beat up regularly until he joined 49. Under our protection his life was good and he soaked up knowledge like a sponge; teachers sent him to the library because he was so ahead of everybody else. He was self-taught in advanced matrix math and topography, so he had no problem keeping all the moving cars straight in his head. In 9th grade I issued him a girlfriend - his first; she was a 10th grader who was good with a razor and her little .32 Cheetah. I called her his bodyguard. She exceeded orders and fell in love with the short skinny geek.

As we confirmed each of MarkÔs corporate tails I told Gracie then she called Mark to bitch him out so he had to pull his guys off one-by-one. My guys even spotted his guys when they tried to parallel tail, Gracie really got steamed at that because she had to call out the same car a second time after Mark said it was dismissed. Up to that point he just thought Gracie had been lucky spotting his guys herself, but now he knew he was outnumbered. He started looking for drones, it was the way his mind worked.

Just before he had to pull his last tail, Mark had a fourth car - a white Honda - join the tail in progress. This got me pissed, so I gave the order to Julia in a 6 year old Cadillac Escalade Truck with a push bar and plenty of extra reinforcement. She played “Pink Cadillac” by “The Boss” at full volume as she hit the Honda just right to disable it, while Mark and Gracie were watching. Then she drove off playing “Born To Run.” Gracie screamed at Mark that it served him right.