Chapter 27

I bent down, picking it up by the cloth, to avoid the stones. Then I turned, and walked back over to our seats. Chuck and Mike were both up now, with my robe and some first aid supplies.

“This isn’t my blood, it’s his.”

“Then what’s that coming out of your ear, and dripping out of your mouth?”

“Bit my tongue. Not much to do with that. Just rinse the ear and put a bandage on it.”

“No, Sir. You’re going to the hospital, for x-rays. You may have cracked ribs and a possible punctured lung. Plus a concussion,” Mike yelled.

“No, I don’t have either of those, and no, I’m not. Just let me sit down for a second, and catch my breath.”

Before Mike could say anything else, William Dangu said, “He has spoken. That is what shall be done.” He stood up then, turning to face Mike and Chuck while crossing his arms.

Hannah said, in a quiet voice, “You’re William Dangu, aren’t you?”

“I am, young lady.”

“Treat Cal here, like he said. I ... I saw William fight, in Sweden, last year, and in Canada, the year before that. He is the match of ... everyone else that’s here.”

They brought a bucket over, and some salt water to rinse my mouth out and spit. I did that half a dozen times, then someone gave me an ice cube in a piece of gauze to hold in place on my tongue. While I was rinsing and spitting, I glanced down at my side. I did have two cracked ribs, but I wasn’t going to say a damn word about them.

Jennifer finally smiled slightly. “Well, that’s the first time we’ve figured out a way to shut you up. You had ... all of us ... worried there.”

I nodded, then gave her a thumbs up. In the meantime, they worked on my ear, using a styptic pencil and then antibiotic cream and bandages. With my right hand I used some basic one handed sign language. Jennifer didn’t get it. Hannah said, “Give him about 15 minutes with the ice, the bleeding should be stopped by then, and he can talk. Just let him rest for now.”

Jennifer looked at Hannah in disbelief, then gratitude. “Okay, folks, you heard him. Sort of. Let’s give him some space, and everyone else can get back on track with things.”

There was a bit of a commotion in Arabic from over by the door.

Very loudly, I heard Prince Al Saud say, “No, I think not. Sulaiman Abdulaziz Al Rajhi, I will not stand for this. You may be a wealthy banker in Saudi Arabia. I am of the House Al Saud. Seize him.” The Prince’s guards came forward, grabbing the Sheikh. The Sheikh’s guards started to move forward, until the Prince said, “I am Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. I am a Prince of the House of Al Saud, the Interior Minister for Saudi Arabia, and my brother is King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.” All of the Sheikh’s guard hit the ground, prostrating themselves before the Prince.

That presented enough of a distraction to everyone else for me to concentrate on the stones again. The screen came up again, in my mind. They effectively said, ‘Null Program, no user detected.’ I thought to them, ‘New user.’ The two stones thought about it for a moment. ‘Access denied. Reverting to standby status pending new authorized user.’

Okay, fine. Be that way.

I pointed to Jennifer’s purse, for her to open it. She did, and I put the choker in it.

“That’s rather macabre,” Serena said.

“No, Mother, it’s ... honorable.”

“I suppose. What was it that Cal and the Thug were talking about out there? I don’t speak Hindi.”

Hannah looked at her mother, then at me, then back at her mother. “Before the fight, the two of them simply exchanged names, is all.”

“Oh, I got that. What about during the fight?”

“Cal was simply taunting him about his heritage, trying to get him off his center. You know how strong the Thug is, you saw how fast Cal was in the last fight against Masatoki. Cal had to make the Thug fight his fight, where his speed and skill could allow him to win. In a stand up fight, like boxing, the Thug would win. It worked. By doing it this way, Cal won.”

Before they could say anything else to each other, Prince Al Saud walked over to where we were seated. Sheikh Al Rajhi was almost being carried along. There had been quite a bit more yelling in Arabic while Hannah had been talking to her mother that I’d missed.

“Salaam, Missus Rothschild, Miss Rothschild, Mister Lewis, Miss Lewis, Baron. On behalf of my countryman, I ... apologize for his behavior and actions today. We have had a bit of a discussion. I will be making a telephone call to my brother as soon as I leave here. Arrangements shall be immediately made, and a jet will leave Riyadh within two hours. With refueling in Lisbon, it will take them about sixteen hours to get here, so the debts to you all shall be paid in full tomorrow morning. Do you wish to have your winnings in gold, US Dollars, or Saudi Riyals?”

Serena looked puzzled. Hannah said, “What’s the weight of the gold?”

“Ah, my apologies. I forgot to consider that. You’re looking at approximately five and a half metric tonnes of gold, about five hundred kilograms of US one hundred dollar bills, or about three hundred fifty kilograms of SAR five hundred riyal notes. Each.”

By this time, my tongue had quit bleeding, so I took the ice cube out. “I don’t have room in the vault right now for any more gold, so US dollars is fine with me.”

The Baron just said, “I agree, thank you.”

Then Hannah nodded as well. “As Cal has said. It’s easier for us to carry paper right now, thank you.”

“Of course, I completely understand. Just so there is no mistake, Sheikh Al Rajhi, what are the amounts again?”

The Sheikh honestly looked afraid for his life. “Mister Lewis has won twenty-three million, forty thousand dollars, from bets he made with my son and with me. I am in his debt for that amount. In addition, there were ... additional bets ... made upon the outcome of these fights. You were acting as the agent for Miss Rothschild and the Baron, and I in debt to them for ... sixty million dollars. Each.”

Prince Al Saud nodded. “And didn’t you have one more wager you agreed to, that we’ll have to transfer, tomorrow?”

“Yes, your Highness. The ... Bank of Al Rajhi will transfer ... five point two five billion riyals to the House of Al Saud.”

The Prince smiled broadly. “Of course you will.” The menace in his voice was clear. Then he turned jovial again. “My friends, I look forward to seeing you all this evening for dinner. If you will excuse us, we have some phone calls to make.” He turned and left us then.

“What have you done?”

“Just about got my ass kicked out there, Serena. Why?”

“Not you! You!” she almost screamed. She was looking at Hannah.

Before Hannah could answer, I spoke up again. “I really don’t think that’s any of your concern right now, is it?”

“Excuse me? Did I ask for your input?”

“You, and much more importantly, the Lady Rothschild, certainly did last night. That makes how you now talk to Hannah part of my concern.” My voice was very flat and cold now, and the minor detail that my chest still had some of the Thug’s blood drying on it finally sank in.

I heard someone stand up behind me. “I am William Dangu. You know who I am. You know that I fear nothing. You have seen me fight before, for your entertainment. You know what I am capable of doing. Do not mistake your arrogance for his confidence. He is my brother. My life is his.” His words were completely without accent, yet completely full of threat.

Serena simply stood up and walked away then. She turned when she got down to the floor from the bleachers. “Hannah, are you coming?”

Hannah took a deep breath. “Not right now, Mother.” Under her breath, I heard her say, “But if the Gods old and new favor me, hopefully I will be soon.”

“Okay, let’s get your robe back on, and get you up to your room. I still think you ought to go to the Emergency Room,” Mike said.

“I’m good. William, would you do me the favor of escorting us as well? I’d like to talk to you a bit more.”

Suddenly, now he had an Australian accent. “I can do that, mate. Let me grab me kit, and I’ll be right with ya.”

We walked back out of the building, to the applause of literally all of the Wackenhut employees. As we approached the hotel, there was another ambulance there, too. They were just wheeling someone out. There was a police officer just finishing up a report, with Eric and George Wackenhut standing beside him.

Mike actually sounded aggrieved when he said, “Calgon! Take me away!”

Eric pointed to me. With the entire entourage around me, the policeman simply nodded, closed his book, and walked away.

George was waiting. “Well, Mister Lewis ... you will not be charged for the damages to your room, since it’s rather apparent that you weren’t present. When you get upstairs, if you and your lady would retrieve your gear ... and find that snake ... I would appreciate it. We’ll be moving you to another, larger room.”

“Oh? I take it there was an incident in a room that was supposed to be sacrosanct.”

George sighed deeply. “Unfortunately, there was. While you were ... involved ... next door, a family member of the Sheikh decided that it would be a good idea to embarrass you by acting the common thief. Or, uncommon thief, more precisely. He had a very high tech electronic lockpick and was through the lock on your door like he had a key card. By the time your man got to the door, it had closed, and since he didn’t have a key card himself, he couldn’t get in. Apparently, it didn’t matter a lot, because after only a couple of minutes, the thief opened the door while your man was calling for help from downstairs. The door to your room closed behind him, but it was rather obvious from his state at that point what had happened.”

“Three sets of puncture marks, one in the right hand, one in the left hand, and then one in the left wrist, nicking the artery and pumping quite a lot of rattlesnake venom directly to his heart. From the drugs that were also found on his body, there’s not much doubt that he died from, well, almost an exploded heart. He died in the hallway outside your room. The hotel staff will not go into your room before you secure the snake, and since you did bring it in, it is your responsibility to take care of it.”

“No, Mister Lewis, you need to kill it,” Mike said.

“Oh. Okay. Sorry. Almost an ambiguity there. All right, let’s get upstairs, then.”

The staff had placed something on the floor, over the carpet in the hallway. Eric said, “That’s just temporary. He bled out through his mouth, so they’ll replace the carpet out here. I’m sorry, Sir, I don’t know what damage he did inside your room.”

I put my key card in and carefully opened the door. Chuck started to go in. I shook my head. “You know better than that.”

William said, “Oh, you’re not going in there alone, mate. You’re me brother.”

I used my vision to look through the walls and into the room. The snake was actually under a chair, on the far side of the room. “Okay, William can come in with me, but only him.”

I thought Mike was going to come unglued, that I was going into a room with a deadly snake in it. He started walking up and down the hall, waving his arms and talking to himself. In the meantime, Hannah was standing back talking to Jennifer in a low tone of voice. I sighed. I may have erred.

Oh, well. I opened the door, slipped in, William right behind me, and then closed it. “Okay, now that no one can see us, are you really doing okay, my brother?”

“I’ve got a couple cracked ribs. Which I wasn’t expecting, to say the least. I don’t suppose you happen to speak Hindi, do you?”

“I do.”

I used my vision, to look inside of William, then chuckled. “Damn, you’re not just regular cousins and being from the same tribe, you really are related to Andrew and Jeffery. You’ve got the same organ inside that they do, that Helen, Gloria, and Holly do.”

“I will be double-damned,” he said. “You really are him, then, aren’t you?” He slowly shook his head from side to side. “I listened to Gloria when I was a kid, to her tales. I didn’t have a clue that they were real, because the legends were so old.”

“That was the problem, they are ten thousand years old. That’s how long it’s been since someone from Star Home has visited. Give me a second here.” I moved over to the chair the snake was hiding under. I didn’t try to hide my abilities from William. At the same time, I actually could tell that I was moving slower than I should have been. It didn’t matter as far as the snake was concerned, it didn’t even get a chance to start to uncoil before I’d grabbed it behind the neck, then broke it’s back.

“Sorry, little buddy, I know that’s mean because you did me a favor, but ... you’re not like people. You’re a snake and can’t change what you are.”

My golf bag was unzipped, with the bag inside opened and the contents spilled all over the floor. “Well, this could have been worse. He didn’t bust open any of the bags. William, you want one of these?” I picked one up, handing it to him.

He blinked a couple of times. “This ... this is a fucking pound of diamonds!”

“Yeah, I know. You were supposed to get paid, what, two million for fighting me? Least I can do is pay you for that lost income.” I stood up. “You weren’t kidding earlier when you called me your brother. Neither was I. You’re family now, my family. And as head of the family, I take care of everyone in it.”

He blinked a couple of times, then talked while he was making the connections. “Helen Awarai is ... effectively ... the high priestess for all of us now, all of the Sacred Souls that live in Uluru. You said she carries your child. She would not ... you are the Guardian ... and I do speak Hindi, so when you said you’re from Star Home ... oh!” His eyes grew wide, then he got back down on his knee.

“I apologize to you. I did not truly and totally understand before. I said that I was your brother, and that my life was yours. It is that, as is all that I have. Unto you I hereby pledge my fealty, My King!” His hands were outstretched and his head was bowed to me.

Of course, that wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened at that point, since I’d already had others do the same. No, Jennifer had to get a little worried since it was taking such a long time for us to do something simple. She used HER key card to open the door, so she, Hannah, and all of my security heard William pledge his fealty and call me his King.

There wasn’t much I could do at that point. “Arise, William Dangu. We accept your pledge and your fealty.”

I held up the dead snake. “Does anyone here know how to properly skin a rattlesnake? I think maybe his hide would make a great belt, and they might be able to use his meat in a dish for this evening.”

In that moment, I became incredibly proud of every member of our team. “Here you go, Mister Lewis. If you’d use my knife here to finish cutting the head off, I’ll take it downstairs. The kitchen has plenty of sharp knives, and I’ll get the hide off for you without damaging it at all. You do it right, it peels off easier than squirrel. I’ll make sure the hide is frozen, so we can salt it and board it properly back home.”

“Thank you, Brad.” I took the knife he handed me, flipped the blade out, then, holding it over a trash can, cut the head off with one hand, just with my thumb as the stop. I hit the release, so his knife would close, then handed him the knife and snake.

“Mike, please make sure that William can safely retrieve his gear from wherever he is staying right now, and then bunk him with our men. He’ll be returning to Kansas with us, so he can escort Andrew, Mahlee, and Jeffery home when they leave, as that’s also his home.”

I saw Angela nodding to herself, and elbowing Chuck in the ribs. He looked a little annoyed, but then just shook his head, a slight smile on his face.

Mike said, “Helen’s a little more important than you let on, even when we were at Disney, eh? I wondered about that, with Gloria, Holly, and the judges.” He took in and let out a deep breath. “Well, you’re his King, not mine, so don’t expect me to call you anything different because of it.”

He walked in and looked things over. “Okay, no damage to the room. No blood spots. I’ll tell George the room is fine. He won’t like it, but you’re the principal, so he’ll get over it. Especially after my report this afternoon on your property expansion. Now, we’ve got two hours until tonight’s party. I suggest you get the rest of the blood off before then. Come on, people. William Dangu, that includes you as well.”

“Of course it does, Mike Douglas. I know of you. Who in our industry does not? I look forward to talking with you personally and learning...” That was the last I heard as the door shut behind them as they all left.

I knew how bloody I still was. They’d tried to wash the Thug’s blood off me while treating my ear, but I still had bits of his eyeball embedded under my fingernails, and some had dried. I just turned and went into the bathroom, kicking my shoes off and dropping my shorts once in there. I turned the water on warm, since I pretty much expected Jennifer to join me in the shower, then got in and pulled the curtain.

I didn’t realize until I dipped my head into the shower stream how much blood was in my hair. It was decidedly an odd feeling, because while this wasn’t the first time I’d ever gotten a cut or been hurt, it definitely was the first time since I’d been on Earth. It wasn’t because I hadn’t been exposed to enough sunlight, either. Not after being on the golf course all morning. I put probably too much shampoo in my hands, so I could get my hair clean, and started scrubbing.

With my head pretty much covered with suds, I didn’t bother to turn around when I felt the breeze behind me as the shower curtain opened and closed. The feel of two hands rubbing my back and shoulders felt good. I was glad I had both conscious and unconscious control of things, because getting a back rub, with some digging in along my spine to release the muscle tension that’d built up in me from this morning was definitely just what I needed.

I dipped my head forward to start rinsing, feeling Jennifer’s body lightly brush my back when she reached down with the soap, then took the rag and began washing my back. I held my hand back and she slipped the soap into it, so I could finish washing my face, ear, and especially my cheek. There was no doubt in my mind that the Thug had poison on his fingernail when he scratched me. It hadn’t bled much, though, and I didn’t think that even if it had, it would have affected me.

I smiled when Jennifer scrubbed my butt, then my thighs. She started giving me light kisses on each ass cheek. I finished scrubbing my chest, then rinsed it off while she continued kissing my ass and thighs. I definitely felt better now, and with tonight not being as formal, I didn’t think she’d need that long to do her hair. I put the soap up on a dish in the corner, then turned around, keeping my head tilted back so I could finish getting the last of the second round of shampoo out, and to keep it from dripping down into her eyes.

Her mouth quickly enveloped my cock, licking and sucking on me. “Oh, that does feel good. I don’t think after the day I’ve had today, I’m going to last too long, hon.” I ran my hands through my hair again, then brought my head forward, looking down with a smile of love and appreciation on my face.

A smile that froze in place because while the nude woman licking and sucking on my cock had red hair, it wasn’t Jennifer.

Hannah pulled back off me. “He just figured it out,” she said, then took me into her mouth again, her tongue running along the underside of my shaft with light flicks. I felt a little breeze on my butt as the water was turned off, then a good breeze when Jennifer pulled the shower curtain back. Jennifer wasn’t wearing anything but a smile, either, but she was holding two towels. She took one of them and quickly wrapped it around my hair, like a turban. As soon as that was done, she started rapidly drying my back.

“This way you won’t get the bed so completely saturated we can’t sleep in it later,” she said. She grabbed my head, carefully because of my ear, then brought me in to give her a kiss. “She feels good, doing that to you, doesn’t she? You wouldn’t think an all-girls school would be a place to learn to give good head, but when that’s all she could do, it doesn’t hurt to take lessons. I think we look forward to learning from her.”

I remembered the old adage that ‘a stiff prick has no conscience’. While Hannah was doing her best ... and her best was very, very good ... I did have a conscience. I said to Jennifer, “Is this the right thing to do?”

Hannah was humming in her throat now, with one hand on the side of the tub for balance while the other was now wrapped around my waist.

“Ask her,” Jennifer said.

My breath shaky, because I could feel that I was getting very close to having an orgasm, I asked, “Hannah! Are you sure? This ... this isn’t just lust, is it?”

She tilted her head back, looking me in the eyes. She pulled off me, bringing her hand on my butt back around so she could continue jacking me. The strands of moisture running from her mouth to my cock only heightened my arousal.

“Cal ... I want this! I want to be one of your women, however many of them ... of us ... there are. I’ve totally fallen in love with you.” With that, her hand moved, her mouth took its place, on and over my cock.

That was pretty much all it took for me. She started swallowing as I began filling her mouth with my cum. Once the first couple of waves were done, she held the rest in her mouth until I was finished, then stood, sharing the remainder with Jennifer.

For someone who didn’t need to breathe, I was working to catch my breath.

“Now, go lay down and take a little nap. Hannah and I need to get our showers before getting ready.”

I blinked again. “Excuse me? I ... I thought you were...”

Jennifer giggled. “Oh, no. We won’t have time for that until after dinner. But we both need to get ready now, and you need a bit of rest.”

“Okay ... I think.” I stepped out of the tub, a little unsure, but then started heading for the bedroom.

From behind me, I heard Hannah say, “My Gods, he is magnificent. It’s almost a shame that things worked out so well, isn’t it?” That made me stop, and start to turn.

Jennifer said, “Keep going, Cal, and lay down. We’ve got this under control.”

Apparently someone was channeling Machiavelli, or something. Either way, I knew I was outnumbered. And I did hurt a bit, too. I stretched out on the bed, and used a mantra that I’d learned in Scouts to quickly fall asleep.

I felt light kisses on both side of my cheeks, waking me up. “Come on, hero. It’s time for you to get ready.” I opened my eyes, swiveling them left, then right. “You know, this isn’t going to sit well with a few people.”

“Like you care a whole lot about what anyone that’s not family thinks,” Jennifer said.

“That’s the problem, in and of itself. What’s going to happen to Hannah with her mother and the rest of her family when she comes back to Kansas with us?”

Hannah said, “I don’t know, and I really don’t care. Not about them. You know what I told you on the golf course. I meant that. I’m not the eldest son. All I am is someone that they can marry off at some point, chances are to someone who’s already my first or second cousin anyway. That way I can breed more perfect little children for their perfect little family, and to hell with what I want out of life.”

She sat back upright, which showed how well she’d taken care of herself so far, as her breasts barely fell in the least.

“You ... the Baron was right, as much as he knows. Your expression about the corncob falling out of my ass, well, that was right on the mark.”

Jennifer laughed at that. “Leave it to Cal to say something completely not romantic like that to a young lady.”

Hannah shook her head. “No, you misunderstand. He was exactly right. That was precisely how I was acting. And that was the other problem, I was acting, because of what Grandmother and my Mother wanted me to do. That’s what I was talking to you about before, during the fight itself, and then while we were showering.” She stopped for a moment, a look of disbelief coming over her face.

“Gods new and old, is that right? That was only last night, wasn’t it?” This time she shook her head hard. “How is that possible? How can I have gone from ... reserved and staid daughter of Nathaniel and Serena Rothschild, to someone who can’t live her life now without you, California Lewis, not only just in it, but as the center of my universe, in less than a full day?”

Jennifer giggled. “Not the first time that’s happened, is it?”

“No. No, it’s not. Not even near the record,” I said.

“Are you making fun of me?”

Jennifer sadly shook her head. “Not in the least, Dear. Wait until you meet Margie. She went from meeting Cal to discuss business to literally rolling in the haystack with him and pregnant with his child less than three hours later. Our in-family nickname for her is ‘the slut.’”

“Oh.” She blinked a couple of times, then said, “Now that I’ve met him, now that I know him, I could see that happening. I do look forward to meeting Margaret and all the rest of the family in person, instead of simply reading about them in a folder.”

At our look, Hannah sadly smiled. “Yes. Grandmother was quite correct. My comment last night regarding you being ‘hot’ was scripted by them. On purpose. They do want you, to run whatever unified world government that the nations of the world create. With them pulling your strings like a puppet, so you do whatever they want. They really are afraid of the Messenger from Above...”

She sighed with relief. “It’s so nice to be able to actually call him that with you, instead of ‘that devious alien,’ interfering barbarian, and interstellar meddler. He is right. We do need to grow up as a people on this planet.”

She snorted. “It’s funny, you know. I know you’re well read. I thought I was the only one that knew the religion of the Thug. Not a lot of my family speak Hindi. The last two years, at Bilderberg, he and I spoke at length. That you recognized his choker and the significance of the decorations on it, allowing you to honor him with freeing his soul from his body after his death ... that you kept it, rather than simply discarding it, shows you understand his beliefs.”

I glanced at the clock. “Shit. I want to continue this conversation, but we only have a very short time left to get dressed.”

“That’s not a problem, we can keep talking while we’re doing that,” Hannah said. “I called one of our guards and had him bring me my suitcase while you slept. He thinks it’s because I wasn’t sure what outfit I wanted to wear tonight. He doesn’t know it’s because I’m spending the night ... and hopefully, if ... it’s not too abrupt ... the rest of my life ... with you. All of you.”

Jennifer shook her head. “Again, not the record. Close, though. I’d say, number two after Margie for that. But ... yes, go ahead, let’s get dressed and keep talking. I’m going with relatively casual for tonight. Do you have a green pantsuit, or medium length dress?”

Hannah made a funny look with her face. “I have red hair. Of course, I have casual green clothes available.”

“Just wondering, since you’re not nearly as pale as I am. Oh, and Cal, your clothes are on the chair. You don’t get to choose.”

“Do I ever? I thought it was strictly the illusion of choice that you all give me.”

That made both girls laugh. Hannah moved her suitcase to the bed, so she and Jennifer could start comparing things. While they were doing that, I combed my hair and then got dressed. It didn’t hurt inside nearly as bad as it had before. I looked down at my side. While my skin was showing the bruise, the cracked ribs were already about halfway healed up, on their own. I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked in the mirror, where the scratch on my face still showed. Good. I couldn’t have that disappear yet.

“So, continuing our conversation, what did you mean about reading in a folder?”

“Just that. My Grandfather and Father have been looking for you. Well, not specifically you, but someone like you. I ... well, I’ll have to explain some details that have been family secrets for more than centuries, it’s complex, and it’ll take more than a few minutes. Like you, in that someone smart, relatively young ... anywhere between fifteen and forty would do ... who is the new wonder child. The new technology with computers ... there are a lot of people who are up and coming. Gates and Jobs, for example. But they are ... limited. Brilliant men in their own right, but only in their field.

“They’ve been looking for, well, a new Renaissance man. Someone smart not just in one field, but in many different ones. That you are athletic, young, and inexperienced in their eyes only makes you more attractive to them. They saw your article in the Wall Street Journal and I swear, my Father has never been happier in his life. Happier than when any of us children were born. They’re ... under a time constraint, that I’ll talk about later. They need you. Badly.