Chapter 10

I could tell Bonney is under the influence of the drug as soon as I walked in the door of the den. She’s talking to Penney but that typical blank look is in her eyes. Penney looked around when Perry opened the door to the den and we entered. She smiled and held up a legal pad on which she has been taking notes. She said, “My new friend here has been a fountain of information about the organization. I can’t help but wonder if they knew how knowledgeable she was when they decided to send her in undercover. They must want to find you guys awfully damn bad.”

Perry crossed the room and took the pad from her. He flipped the pages back over to the beginning of the questioning and scanned down through the five pages of notes. He handed the pad back to Penney and exclaimed, “Damn girl! I’m impressed! You’re pretty good at this. You must have been a cop in a former life.”

From behind Perry I said, “Or maybe an Inquisitor.”

Penney chuckled and said, “Yeah. I hate that damn drug. I don’t get to torture her like I must have in the good old days. Do you want to step in, Perry?”

Perry shook his head and said, “It looks to me like you’re doing a more thorough job than I could. Thanks for stepping up. Have you given her any more of that shit?”

“She started getting reluctant after about the first hour so I had her take another shot. I figured I get more answers and if I give it to her while she can’t say no I don’t have to force it down her. I was never much for cat fighting.”

Perry grinned and said, “I’m sorry to hear that. It’s one of my favorite sports. Can I get you anything; cold pizza, cold beer, whatever?”

“No. I’m good. But that reminds me, somebody really needs to do some heavy duty shopping. And where in the hell are we going to put all those women?!!”

“We have no idea ... well, I have an idea of sorts but I don’t know how practical it is and it’s not for tonight. Tonight I guess we’re going to have to sleep standing up. I know of a large building in a relatively safe environment. But it would mean involving some people who might not approve of what we’ve been doing. I think we may have to go that route though. I think it must be obvious to everyone that we are in way over our heads here. I have something to take care of first, but first thing in the morning I’m going to call a friend and see what advice I can get without getting anyone jammed up.”

He called Dave in to watch Bonney until Penney could return and get back to her questioning. Then he gathered all the women in the living room. There aren’t enough seats for everyone but there are more than in any other room in the house.

Once everyone was there and had quieted down he said, “Ladies, it must be obvious to everyone by now that my men and I have bitten off more than we can chew. We’ve done a lot of damage to the men responsible for this but we learned today it isn’t just a local problem. The organization responsible for the terrible things that happened to you are operating in at least two other states that we know of. That means there are women just like you being abused just like you have been and they’re out of our reach. I’m going to talk to a friend tomorrow morning about getting the FBI involved and about making sure you are kept safe until those assholes are put out of business.

“The main reason I’m telling you this now is the money. You couldn’t help but see the piles and bales of cash lying around. There’s even more of it in the garage. The reason we started organizing and counting it is so it can be divided equally among the women who have been victimized by those men, and now I learn, victimized by at least one woman. With your share of the money we hope you can get a good head start putting your lives back together, get any help you might need and hopefully speed your recovery.

“My intention is to hide the money until it’s safe to split it up and give you each an equal share. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be. The FBI is pretty good at finding things and it isn’t like they won’t know about the money. I have no intention of lying to them, but I’m not going to voluntarily give them the money. I’m asking that you use that same approach. I also want to suggest that you keep Jenna informed of your contact information so that after things die down a little and we think it’s safe we can get your share to you. You can legally refuse to answer questions the FBI asks, but it’s against the law to lie to them if you’re being asked in a formal setting or if you’re signing a sworn statement. Does anyone have any questions?”

“What’s going to happen to you and the other men who saved us?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to try not to involve the rest of my team, but I realize how unlikely it is that will work. We have raided half a dozen of their sites. I’ve killed nine of their people. I suppose I’ll have to be tried for that. I’ve left a couple dozen of them secured on site and notified the police. So they have men in custody who may or may not have told them what we did to set all of you free. I’m sure that I, and because of orders I gave, my men, have broken a barrel full of laws. I’m hoping I can convince them to leave my men out of it. They were just following orders. I expect most of the crap to fall on me but that’s where it belongs.”

I don’t think Perry realized Steve had entered the room and is standing behind him until he exclaimed, “Bullshit! You didn’t make anyone do anything they weren’t eager to do. I think you’re just trying to hog all the glory as usual.”

Perry laughed and said, “You got me, Steve. How about if we have this argument later. I’m just about done here.”

Kasey said, “You’re going to have to have that argument with all of us. You’re crazy as hell if you think we’re going to let you take all the heat. We knew what we were doing on the first day. We all volunteered for this job and we’re all pretty fucking proud of what we managed to accomplish. We didn’t expect it to grow as much as it did. Neither did you. We thought we were saving one pretty little woman from some very bad people. Now it turns out we have a house full of pretty women and we all feel pretty damn good about what we did. If they’re going to take you down they’re going to take us down, too. So get over it.”

One of the women said, “I don’t think I could live with that, with you guys getting in trouble, going to jail for saving us.”

There was a loud chorus of agreement from the women in the room. When they died down, Perry said, “I’m not going to demand they arrest me. At the very least my Army career is over.”

“YOU GUYS ARE IN THE ARMY?!!!”

Perry smiled and replied, “For the time being.”

Then he continued where he left off. “I’m responsible for eight executions. Only one of the people I killed was killed in self-defense. That was a mistake, a big one. I shouldn’t have done that and to be honest, my conscience isn’t happy about it either. I suppose it’s only right that I take what I have coming to me.

“I guess that pretty much covers what I needed to say. Penney, would you mind getting back to Bonney, see if you can get any more out of her. It turns out you really have a talent for following lines when she shows you one. Kasey, I’m going to need you to help load up the cash so I can take it somewhere safe.”

That was the most disturbing speech I’ve ever heard! I feel faint. I can hardly breath. I never thought that far ahead in all the excitement I’ve experienced since Perry showed up at my door and gave me my life back. But I certainly don’t think of the deaths which took place that first day as murders, though now that he put it that way I can see where the justice system will probably think of them as murders.

The very idea that Perry and his team could be in so much trouble for saving so many women is, or at least it was, inconceivable. These guys are my heroes! And Perry is the love of my life! There must be some other way.

The things Perry just said had the effect of paralyzing me. I shook myself mentally until I finally found myself able to move again. I rushed across the room and threw myself at Perry. He caught me, pulled me close and said, “I’m sorry. I should have seen this coming. I shouldn’t have let you get so close. God I love you! I should have known I’d end up hurting you.”

“I’m sorry you’re going to have to have your life destroyed because you saved mine. It isn’t right. But I’m not going anywhere, Perry. Whatever happens to you happens to me. I won’t have it any other way.”

He smiled and said, “We’ll talk when I get back.”

Perry started to follow Kasey out to the garage to start loading the bales of cash out there into his rental car. Ken stepped in front of him and said, “That’s grunt work. That’s what you have us for.”

He looked around at all his men and said, “I’m sorry. I never should have asked for your help. This mess is my fault so I don’t want any of you guys doing or saying anything stupid; especially you men who went out to Carter’s farm and did what I told you to do. Is that clear?”

Lee said, “I guess you don’t know us very well, Perry.”

I saw the look on his face when he gave the order. He hated to do it but he had Cal dump all the money we girls had already sorted and counted into trash bags. He put the seats down in the Suburban he rented but looking at the bales of cash and the space available it was plain to see that wasn’t going to work. He asked where the keys to the vans his men parked at the strip mall are. Steve asked, “One set or both?”

“One should be enough.”

“I’ll get them.”

While Steve was getting the keys to one of the vans, Perry said, “I need a volunteer to drive me to where the vans are parked.”

Before any of the guys could speak up I said, “I’m driving you. We can take my old Volvo. It knows the way.”

I can see that look on his face. He’s about to get one of the guys to drive him. I glared at him and said, “Don’t even think it! And you’re going to need a ride back from where ever you plan on parking the van. I’ll follow you.”

“Jenna, I don’t want you getting any more involved than you already are. And besides, if you don’t know where the money is you won’t have to lie to anyone about it.”

“Someone is going to have to know, just in case. Shouldn’t it be the person most responsible for getting all you guys into this mess? If you hadn’t taken it upon yourselves to save the maiden in distress, none of you would be in the situation in which you now find yourselves. I love that you did what you did for me. All those women in there will tell you the same thing. They’ll also tell you it’s breaking their hearts that you could be in so much trouble for doing what you did for us.”

He shook his head and said, “I can see why everyone has started calling you Rambo. You sure are a handful. I haven’t given up hope yet. There’s still a glimmer of a chance I won’t end up being the saddest man in a federal prison. But if that’s how it turns out at least I’ll have the memories of the most impressive woman I’ve ever met to keep me company.”

Steve returned with the keys just in time to put an end to that depressing conversation. Perry suggested that the guys stack the money that’s stacked here and there around the garage nearer to the garage door, reducing the time they’ll need to load up when we return.

We went out and got in my car and I drove a few blocks to the deserted parking lot. Perry had me park across the street and we sat there for a while trying to make certain no one is watching the vans. After fifteen minutes he said, “I haven’t seen anyone moving and no cars that look out of place. That’s not a guarantee but we can’t spend all night here. Don’t move until I’m out of sight. And keep your phone handy. If it looks like someone is following me give me a call. Then hang up, duck down and stay here for at least an hour.”

I’m surprised at how tense I feel. I wasn’t this tense at that warehouse when all those goons attacked us! I watched as Perry crossed the street. He looked around and then he made sure he was standing by the van his keys fit. He didn’t get right in. He walked around the van, looking and feeling where he couldn’t look, no doubt looking for a tracking device. As satisfied as he could be with that superficial search, he got in, started the van and drove away at a leisurely pace.

I watched until well after he was out of sight. Not a person or a vehicle moved. So I calmly drove back to my house. By the time I got there the van was half loaded. As I was getting out of my car, Perry came out and said, “I was getting worried. I guess I should know better by now. Listen, you know I respect your abilities and your intelligence. But I really wish you’d reconsider this and let one of the guys follow me. I’d feel better knowing you were safe at home. And you’ve never had to deal with the FBI. They’re nearly as devious as I am. They have ways to get you to say things you didn’t mean to say.”

“You may be right, Perry. But I have one advantage over your guys. I can bat my baby blue eyes and flash them a dumb blond smile that’ll give them all a hard on.

“Can any of the guys do that?”

“Probably not; at least not the part about the hard on.”

“So it’s settled.”

He pulled me into his arms and gave me a toe curling kiss that lasted for several wonderful minutes. The only reason we broke it off was Steve tapped him on the shoulder and asked, “May I cut in?”

Perry chuckled and replied, “You couldn’t handle her, my friend.”

Steve laughed and said, “You know, I never thought I could.”

Perry looked at his watch and said, “We should be back within an hour. If we get held up for some reason I’ll try to call you.”

The way he phrased that made me uncomfortable but I didn’t let it show. We got in our vehicles and I followed Perry through town. It turns out our destination isn’t in town but in the tiny little town about twenty minutes down the road. We finally pulled up and parked in front of a small, old, really run down auto repair shop with a junkyard behind it. There’s a ten-foot-high privacy fence around the junk yard with a couple strands of razor wire on the top. The only place I can see into the junkyard is through the gate which is plastered with all kinds of warning signs, the most prominent of which warns of some seriously bad dogs. I don’t think they’re kidding. Those dogs have been barking their heads off since we parked.

I followed Perry to a small, run down mobile home on the other side of the gravel parking lot and stood back while he knocked on the door. A raspy voice from inside called out, “Is that you?”

Perry shook his head and responded, “Who the hell else would drive all the way out here to put up with your nasty ass?!!”

“Listen to you, you ornery son of a bitch! And you came out here to ask me for a favor! You got a hell of a way of going about it!”

Perry turned so that the old man could see me better and said, “Sarge, this is Jenna, the love of my life.”

“Really? She looks smarter than that.”

“Jenna, this is the old fart who taught me everything I know. He turned me from a punk kid into half decent Army officer and he taught me how to stay alive and how to keep my men alive. If not for the things I learned from him I wouldn’t have lasted through my first year.”

Sarge looked at the vehicles we arrived in and asked, “Which one are you leaving here? From here I don’t get the impression either one of them is apt to make it back to town.”

“I beg your pardon!! That old Volvo doesn’t know how to break down! It doesn’t have all the modern gadgets the new cars come with. But it always starts and it always gets me where I’m going.”

“Alright! The girl has spirit! I like that.”

Perry said, “The van. I can’t say how long I’m going to need to keep it hidden. It kind of depends on what happens over the next few days.”

Sarge looked at Perry for a minute and then he looked at me. He finally said, “This is about that story that’s been in the news for the last few days, isn’t it?”

Neither of us said anything. Sarge said, “That’s enough of an answer for me. How much trouble are you in, boy?”

Perry shrugged and said, “It begins to look like more trouble than I’m going to be able to get out of. I really stepped in it this time. But I did what I had to do. I’m just afraid my team will suffer for it, too.”

“You talk to Strickland yet?”

“Tomorrow, first thing in the morning if I can get in.”

He looked at Perry thoughtfully for a moment, then said, “Let’s put that old van out of the way somewhere. Then you can come in and have a beer and relax for a few minutes.”

Sarge went over and unlocked the gate to his junkyard. I moved behind Perry and said, “Is it safe? Those dogs sound mad as hell!”

Sarge looked back at us, grinned and said, “Sorry. I’ve got to where I don’t even hear that anymore.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a key fob and pushed a button. Suddenly there was blessed silence! He explained, “I tried putting a dog in there years ago when I first fenced it in. The damn thing scared the hell out of me. I guess he could tell how much I hated him. I paid $200 dollars for the son of a bitch. I ended up giving him back to the guy that sold him to me and I didn’t get so much as a dime back from him.

“I like this system a lot better. I don’t have to feed it. I don’t have to worry it might bite a customer. And I don’t have to worry it might bite me.”

It turned out, Sarge had already cleared a spot for the van. Perry drove it into the yard and parked in the cleared space. He locked it and said, “You still have a scanner, don’t you? I checked it when I picked it up but it was dark and I was in a hurry.”

Sarge gave him a nasty look and said, “I taught you better than that, boy.”

“I know Sarge. You taught me better than a lot of the things I’ve done recently.”

Sarge unlocked his shop. I guess he keeps a scanner handy which makes me wonder. He was in and out in less than a minute with a scanner in his hand. He spent five minutes going over the van before he was satisfied. Finally he said, “Okay. It’s clear. Let’s put a tarp over it.”

I stood back out of the way while they manhandled a large tarp into position over the van. When they were done, Sarge said, “I’ll secure it in the morning. Let’s go have a cold beer.”

He locked the gate and his office and turned the dogs back on. While we followed him to his trailer, Perry called Steve and told him we’re stopping for a cold beverage and we’ll be a half hour or so late.

I got one hell of a shock when I stepped inside. From the outside it looks like it should be condemned! But the inside is clean and modern; really attractive! It even smells nice!

He saw my face and laughed. He said, “Gotta keep up appearances on the outside.”

We sat at the kitchen table and Sarge got us each a cold beer. Then I got another huge shock. Perry began telling him the entire story! Sarge listened without interrupting. When Perry finished telling him everything, Sarge sat back in his chair and after a very long pause he said, “You stepped on your dick pretty hard, boy. I’ll make a few phone calls tomorrow but I don’t know if I can do anything for you. Before I start calling people you better call me after you talk to Strickland. Don’t want that bastard thinking you tried making an end run.

“As you are no doubt aware, the two things that are gonna make it a hard sell are the executions and that damn van full of cash out there. They might be talked into overlooking the executions but you know they’re gonna want that cash. A recovery that large could make a couple of careers.”

Perry nodded. Both men were silent for long enough to make me uncomfortable. I’ve been trying to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t feel like it was my place to comment. But this seems like the appropriate time and I have something relevant to contribute. I reached over and rested my hand on Perry’s. Both men looked at me and I said, “I haven’t talked to the other women about it. And I realize I’m biased because I’m in love with you. But I’ve been poor for my entire life. I’m used to it. I’ve heard it said you can’t miss what you’ve never had.

“Perry, I don’t give a damn about that fucking money. I’d be willing to bet that most of those women would gladly give up their share of the cash if it will help you and your men. Most of them were confused and a little upset that you guys aren’t planning to keep any of it for yourselves.”

Perry smiled, squeezed my hand and said, “I’m sure you’re right. But I don’t care. After what you ladies went through you earned that money. You deserve it. And I don’t care what you say, there can be no question it will help you to put your lives back together.”

I grinned and replied, “Get real, Perry! My life has never been together. I’m pretty sure the most important thing to all of us is that you guys don’t suffer for saving our lives. I don’t know how I could continue to live my life if I had that on my conscience.”

Sarge shook his head and said, “You always were one stubborn asshole, boy. I guess that’s why you’re the best at what you do. But maybe it’s time to listen to your little hottie. Except for the fact that she seems fond of you for some reason, she seems to have her head screwed on straight. Is all that money...”

“Yes! Those women had their lives trashed by those assholes. They lost everything. No, they didn’t lose it. They had it taken from them. They need that money a whole hell of a lot more than the government or a couple of supervising agents who have never left their desks except to get another cup of coffee. I did the crime. I’m prepared to do the time. My major concern is that my men aren’t punished for following my orders.”

“Perry, those men didn’t do anything because you ordered them to. They did what they did because they love you and because they believed in what they were doing. They’re as worried about you as you are about them. There must be some way to inject some common sense into this situation!”

Perry cocked an eyebrow and said, “Have you forgotten we’re talking about dealing with the government? Baby, no matter what else we accomplished in the last few days, even putting aside the subject of the cash, I’m responsible for the cold blooded execution of eight men and a woman.”

“It wasn’t cold blooded. It bothered the hell out of you ... it still does.”

“The government doesn’t care about that. And I knew it was wrong. I knew it and I did it anyway because I felt it had to be done. I did it and I’d do it again.”

Perry stood up and helped me to my feet. He said to Sarge, “I appreciate your help, you crazy old man. I hope I’m not putting you in jeopardy, too. Watch out for yourself; not that you need to hear that from me. And I guess while I’m at it I should thank you for looking out for my sorry ass all these years. You sure are an ugly guardian angel. But you’ve pulled my ass out of the fire more times than I can count. I appreciate it ... and you know how I feel about you. I’ll call you tomorrow after I see Strickland.”