Chapter 19

January 22nd, 2007, Sunday

Carol

There were things she wanted to tell her family about their protector – things far more worrisome than Nick’s mob involvement had been. They accepted Minerva’s ghost, but Lanier ... that was orders of magnitude more hard to swallow. Besides, she didn’t know anything, just suspected a lot.

So, she said nothing. And worried, despite all of Nick’s assurances she had no reason to.

“What, sir, I’m sorry?”

“I asked why this Lanier person called us,” Harry replied.

“Not sure, but if I had to guess, it occurred to him we would be upset when we heard the news, and would call him. Best to reassure us, and make sure we knew Nick was alive before we saw the news. Now, I’m pretty sure reassuring us wasn’t the first, or even the fifteenth, thing on his schedule, but I have to say, I appreciate the gesture. We would have been some kind of fucked up if we’d just heard this on the news without knowing the truth.”

“And that line about ‘things not going as he and his people had planned’, or something like that?” Margo said.

“I have no doubt whomever was acting as Nick’s double would have gotten a bullet to the brain from quite a distance away, had things gone as planned. No Federal Marshals would have been killed. Quick, clean, efficient.

“Whoever did kill the double ... Tony called those kind of hits ‘cowboy’ – like mass shoot-outs in old western movies, where everybody’s spraying bullets around indiscriminately, where there should have been lots of innocents wounded or killed, but movies, you know? Real life is much messier.

“Six Federal Marshals...” Carol continued. “Pretty much guarantees Waterloo is an attention magnet for quite some time. Every federal, and state for that matter, acronym’s people will descend on Central Texas ... well, all the ones that weren’t already here, thanks to the earlier bombing.”

“I wonder if we have anything to worry about?” mused Margo, as Kelly slipped a robe on her.

“Have Kendry and Shaun make sure any of our drugs and such are ready to be disappeared in the time it would take someone to get to the house from the road,” Harry said. “The kinky BDSM lifestyle ... well, anyone interested will just have to get over that.”

“So,” Kelly said, “if it wasn’t Lanier’s people who killed ‘Nick’,” as she used air quotes, “then who did?”

“Not our circus, not our monkeys,” Carol said.

“That’s uncharacteristically ... cold...” Harry said, worry on his face.

Carol sighed.
“I’m sorry, I do feel sympathy for the families of the dead, and for the injured and their families, but I get this way when dealing with Lanier. It’s like ... any compassion could be viewed as weakness, and I am mortally terrified of showing weakness where he’s concerned.
“I’ll be okay, back to normal before you know it. In the interim ... I’m going to be very focused on us and ours, and working hard not to give a damn about anyone or anything else.”

Nathan McAllister

He’d missed the show at the farm. It pissed him off because he’d been assigned to watch the whore, Jenny Lind, some time earlier. If she was going to be purified, he should have been there.

No, he was stuck watching the children’s home, out in the cold, night after night.

I paid $150,000 for this?

He softly stomped his feet to ward off the cold. He remembered the boy with the neon-green hair. Those memories made his cock twitch.

Okay, it’s worth it. Can’t be in on all the fun. Sometimes you gotta do the grunt work. Besides, some of these kids ... little whores, each and every one.

East Side Children’s Home was quiet – not surprising given the hour – but he kept his eyes on it eschewing the binoculars he carried. No need, he had the best seat possible. Nathan was perched on the roof of a three-story abandoned building a half block away, so he had a good view. Aside from the usual city sounds, it was quiet.

If Nathan McAllister hadn’t been so alert, he might have missed the groaning of the roof behind him.

But he didn’t.
He turned and saw an impossible wall of white before him. In a second his face was shredded, one eyeball pierced, sharp knives ripping through him, down his neck, cutting so deeply into his chest they severed ribs. He died before the breath from his lungs could reach the sliced remnants of his vocal cords.

Thad

He woke up alert and listening for the slightest sound or flicker of motion. His adrenaline surged, he was ready to kill or be killed. The dim light from the alarm clock barely lit his side of the bed, leaving the rest of the room a deep black mystery.

Thad eased up out of the bed.

He stood like a statue, stretching his senses out into the room.

There was no movement, no sound ... until there was.

“I thought you were never going to wake up,” Li Kuan said from the darkness. “Put some clothes on, you look ridiculous. I’ll be waiting in your office.

It took but a moment to grab a robe and make his way to the office ... and Li Kuan looked as if she had been relaxing in the corner chair for hours.

“Did you order us coffee?” he asked, unable to keep the snark out of his voice.

“No, goes against the spirit of the whole unseen-and-unheard thing.”

“Mind if I have a pot sent up for us?”

“Only if the coffee is truly superb. Otherwise ... well, if your staff is clueless about coffee, I don’t imagine they’re any better when it comes to tea.”

“The coffee’s pretty good.”

“Then I’ll have a Coke.”

“God, you’re a bitch...”

“Yes, a bitch who has recently been reminded of her limitations.”

“Uh, should I be worried about where Puppy might be?”

“Not unless you’re thinking of cutting off our lines of retreat.”

“I wasn’t planning to, no.”

“She not stealthy enough – yet – to accompany me into places like this.”

“So, you give her a meaningless job to keep her out of the way?”

“Not meaningless. There’s a very short list of people I trust enough that I won’t set up a secure escape route. You’re not on that list.”

When she’d finished filling him in on her trip to Colorado, Thad said, “The money isn’t a problem. I don’t know these people who rescued Eddie and company, but they seemed pretty competent from what I heard.

“The problem is going to be finding any group willing to risk armed conflict, inside US borders, during an illegal-as-hell extraction. Bringing people out against their will...”

“Yes, it complicates things immensely – and very dangerously. I don’t see any other alternative, however. If anyone knows where the children are, it’s Thurmond and Lesley Nelson.”

“So, we’re looking for competent, morally flexible, and crazy.”

“I’d prefer just competent, but you’re not wrong,” Li Kuan snarled. “Unfortunately, the more they embody the last two qualifications, the more worrisome the whole exercise becomes.”

“Well, maybe we’ll find a group with an acceptable mix. Planning to stay for breakfast?”

“No, headed back to San Francisco as soon as we’re done. I was no sooner back in cell phone coverage than I got a backlog of messages from Dayna. Madam Gao has need of her services and I have left her ... watching ... someone.”

Jason

“So, why do you think you all slept so long and soundly this afternoon?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know ... well, I’m not sure. I think maybe it’s because we’re ... we’re almost there – we are there for all intents and purposes. With the Furry Lease alongside, nobody’s going to mess with us, another...”

He looked at the clock on her cabin wall.

“Another ten hours, we’ll be there. I ... I just feel ... safe. Sorta like sliding into home when I played Little League. Safe.”

“So,” Susan said, sipping her coffee, “you’re feeling relieved, out of fight-or-flight mode?”

Jason paused to think, to examine his feelings.

“Yeah...” he said at last. “Damn, I don’t remember when I felt this way last. Maybe in San Francisco, when we’d just got there, before Beebee and receptions and...”

“So, you don’t remember feeling this way then?”

“No, I just ... I just think that was the last time. It’s weird.”

“Not so weird, Jason. You’re traumatized – all of you are. Hell, I am. It’s not normal to go through what you have even before this trip, what all of us have since we sailed.”

“So who do you talk to about your trauma?”

“I didn’t have anyone close til Otter made us a thing. I could have called my therapist back in Waterloo, or my husband, but while phone sessions can be helpful, it didn’t feel right, or safe, to just call them.”

“Even after we got the encrypted phone?”

“Well, probably it would have if I’d bothered to think about it. But ... Otter’s a surprisingly good listener. She’s helped a lot.”

“So, am I wrong to feel ... relieved?” he asked.

“No feeling is wrong. You feel what you feel, Jason. How you react to that feeling is where things get complicated. But this?”

She leaned back.

“Kid, if I was you I’d be dancing, singing, and fucking anything that held still long enough.”

Jason looked her over and smirked.

“Trust me, I won’t hold still long enough. I’ll toss you into the master suite and tell them to not let you out ‘til we’re there.”

“Damn it,” Jason replied. “Doctor, you never let me have any fun...”

She smiled in return.

“I’m not here for fun, Jason. That’s why you have a cabin full of lovely and willing women.”

She pursed her lips and studied him for a moment.

“Have you noticed how you’re becoming free of certain societal constraints?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t know if you’ve really noticed, but you came to talk to me in your robe ... and there’s quite obviously nothing underneath it – don’t worry, you haven’t flashed me yet.

“You’re becoming at ease with your body, as well as sexual matters. Ask yourself if you’d have flirted with me six months ago.”

“Easy question to answer – no way in hell. Did I offend you?”

“No, silly man, you didn’t. Part and parcel of working with this group. Your wives are much more insistent.

“To further illustrate my point, let’s say Cancer and Caprico Nelson are tied up, on their knees before you – what would you do?”

“I’d kill them.”

“Yourself?”

“Isn’t fair to ask anyone else to do it. Why? Would you try to stop me?”

“Probably, but I must be honest and say my heart wouldn’t really be in my attempt.

“Would you consider turning them over to the police?”

“No. They have the money and connections to circumvent the law.”

“See what I mean? What would you have done six months ago?”

“Turned them over to the police. Is my ... freedom ... from social constraints a bad thing?”

“Not here to tell you what’s good and bad. I’m just here to raise the question, get you thinking about it. You have to decide that.”

“Gee, thanks...”

“Everyone is defined by their moral code. Most of the people in the world adopt their society’s codes, to one degree or another. Your family ... it seems to be forging its own way of dealing with the world. And while I’m not sure about you and your group, the Grimes and their friends are well aware of the social and legal ramifications if they’re outed or apprehended.

“Something else for you to think about.”

“Really, Doc, if you want me to stop coming to see you there are easier ways to do that,” Jason replied, his smile showing he was joking.

“Nah,” Susan said, grinning. “I’m happy we’re talking. Just doing my job.”

“Thank you ... I mean that. Father suggested I find people to advise me ... I was wondering if you might want to be part of that ... something for you to think about,” he finished with a grin of his own.

“Go on, get out of here,” Susan said. “Go find someone that will hold still for you.”

“Yes ma’am. Though I’m thinking of cuddling and more sleep.”

Donna

“I am going to miss having a fuck-pit around,” she said, snuggling between Jason and Yan.

“If you want one, my grandmother will gladly have one installed in your side of the estate,” Yan murmured, her breath warm against Donna’s shoulder. “Or you could live in our guest house at Clanglang...”

“Tempting offers both,” Donna said, slowly rolling over gaze into Yan’s eyes. “I could get very used to living in proximity to mother-in-law Beebee.”

“Think about that for a minute,” Yan replied with a smile. “While it’s true she won’t be trying to find a husband for you – my personal experience with her – she will nag you about that whole ‘grandchildren’ thing...”

“Not as much of a problem as you believe,” Donna said. “At least, not where we’re concerned. You might find it hellish.”

“And we’d still face the problem of traveling with children,” Jason said, taking his lips away from Mohini’s breast. “You know the Texas contingent is not going to be cool with babies that stay in California all the time.”

“Yeah,” Donna replied, “but if we were in the continental United States, we wouldn’t have to fly or go by yacht...”
“Are you thinking motorcade, RV, train?” Abby asked from where she was curled up at Jason’s feet entangled with Lizzy.

“I’m thinking semi-trailer, actually,” Donna replied. “Custom, of course.”

“With a security escort, I trust,” Tod said from near the door.

“Any way we could travel without one?” Jason asked.

“No,” Tod replied.

“Question asked and answered then, yes?” Donna said.

“I don’t see a problem with it,” Tod said, “just so long as we’re involved in the customization plans.”

“So, a big-ass luxury semi-trailer. Not very fuel efficient,” Jason said. “And a lot of expense for just occasional use...”

“I love the plan,” Yan said, “but, as our husband notes, expensive to create, and then more expense to operate. I suggest we just borrow Grandmother’s train cars.”

“There is that,” Donna agreed. “Tod, what’s our ETA at Molokai?”

“Last estimate I heard is 6 AM.”

“Otter?” Jason said.

“Yes, sir,” Otter replied.

“Let us sleep ‘til 7. We can have a last breakfast aboard, pack up our shit, and relocate afterward.”

“Yes, sir. The family sleeps ‘til 7, lazy subbie sluts will have everything packed and ready for moving by 7. Breakfast, then we transfer ashore.”

“Otter, that’s not what I said.”

“No, sir, but it’s what’s best. Trust me.”

“Don’t fight it, love,” Donna said. “Let our major domo do her job.

“Now it’s time for more cuddling, and anything else that might happen.”
“You know,” Jason said, “it took Abby and you to help me truly appreciate cuddling. Not that I had any experience with anything before Abby came along...”

“Hormonal frenzy is great,” Donna replied, “but it’s tiring. Cuddling, on the other hand...”