Chapter 49: Monday After the Show

Chin came to me after the whipping, as the prisoners were being carted away, and asked about the brothels. Thomas had reported that the collections went fine and our men had returned, but she had another idea.

“I wonder how much Spanish the girls in the brothels have picked up. What did you say, a dozens girls who have been here a few months? It would help if...”

“An excellent idea...” I said as I went to wake Mauricio.

He laid out the operations. Friday through Monday each brothel had up to 6 armed men on duty. They needed real bouncers, so a security agency rented thugs to each operator. “But Tuesday and Wednesday there is not enough business to pay for even one guard, so they close. On guy watches the girls, the do laundry and her feed them.”

Hawk took some prodding but confirmed the details, including details of the routine.

The low guy in the crew - a cook in each case - drew the duty on Tuesday and Wednesday. “The two brothel managers are contractors who hire the crew and manage the place. They don’t open if there is not enough business. Sometimes they are open the first Wednesday of the month, but that is it.”

I guess a Huey gunship plus a troopship was not needed after all. I got Chin and Thomas together and talked out a plan. Two soldiers could hit each of the places early on Tuesday. The cook would be sleepy so they could easily overpower him. No drugs were need, if the girls got away the cooks own people would hunt him down. Well, he would have a 36 hour head start.

Chin would be in the chopper. Our scouts in the towns would be there with a vehicle. Once the cook-guard was neutralized Chin would talk the girls into leaving. The limit was logistics, getting a dozen girls back would take a Cessna for the large brothel. Then the Huey would move on to the port, with enough room for the rest. Thomas would make it work so I left it in his hands, it would happen tomorrow. I had other pleasant things to do.

There was time before dinner that I wanted to spend with Mer and Per for a serious talk. First, I asked them if they really wanted to marry me, to have my children, and to do the other things that the office of my wife would require. That would include my activities with other women. Also, they would take part in a ritual with Li, a one-time thing.

“I have told you how I am in terms of my wives ... you will not be ordinary wives.”

Mer asked, “Do you mean your other wives? Or will there be more women?”

“There will be wives and others. For example, you know Marta, Zar and Kwool.”

“Right, I should have figured that out,” Mer said. “Wait, Marta and Zar are older than you. Do sleep with them?”

“Yes. But before and after sleep we do other things. I am not limited to younger women like most men. Young women tend to be attractive, but some older women have a special place in the heart.”

“Who will be in charge? Will somebody order us to fetch water?” Per asked.

“Per has to go the farthest to fetch water,” Mer interjected. “At home it is her greatest trial.”

“Yes, somebody will be in charge, things don’t work without that. Zar will be in charge of my house as long as she is willing and able. Somebody has to deal with the laundry machines. Somebody must cook. Somebody will see to the children. She can’t do it all at once so she will delegate. Unlike your house now, these tasks will be shared. Did you think it would be better with a different husband?”

Per answered, “Gosh no ... I just ... I had to ask. Old habits and all. Sorry.”

“That is fine. For now I want to ask you a question. You can change your mind later. But now, based on what you know, do you want to marry me?”

“Oh yes, more than anything,” they both said at once. It is hard to describe how their enthusiasm made me feel.

Mer took the lead for something that was on their minds. “We have talked about it ... we have become kinda friends so we will do sex things with each other and even other women if you want ... if somebody teaches us.”

“That is not on the agenda today, and requires more conversation.” I took their hands and removed the makeshift rings I gave each of them on my last visit. “I promised to replace these, so I have brought real rings for you to wear instead.

I slipped rings on their fingers. Kwool had taken them each shopping in a town and gotten the sizing. Samantha arranged the construction from my design. Each ring was simple, a band that widened to where a small but fine gem was mounted and protected, with no sharp edges of anything that could catch. The metal was gold. Mer had a ruby (red), Per had an sapphire (blue). The gems were small but very good quality. “These are yours, a sign you are spoken for. They are not engagement rings. You are underage. You will have a choice to accept or to back out. If the day comes and you still agree, the gem will be removed and mounted in another ring, with a diamond. This ring will be recast to fit. Unlike the Tribe, there is a ritual for that, a ritual that involves another woman. If you decide to turn away from the path, I will not stop you. We will talk and you will have options. The choice is yours.”

The girls were quite overcome with the rings, they knew these were precious gems and that the beautiful gold rings had great significance. I had kept a promise made on our first meeting. There were tears and hugs and kisses, all very sincere.

The door was open between rooms was open and Kwool came in to see what all the excitement was about. She agreed with the girls, their rings were very special.

“In fact, I am thinking that, as long as they are here you should show them to the Chief and the Council,” Kwool said. “It is probably best while the sun is out.”

“Would you take them?” I asked. Of course Kwool was glad to help.

Somehow I figured the question of a house would come up when they showed the rings.

I buried myself in the boxes of collected papers from the various houses of the Five, they had been put in the hacienda. My people had done a good job of keeping things organized, but I still needed half the rooms on the second floor to lay things out. Supper was a sandwich, but I made a pretty good dent at getting the stuff organized.

I had wondered about how the Five expected to attack the Tribe. One of the boxes from the house had the whole plan laid out.

The main attack was going to come from the Eurocopter EC145 and 4 Hueys the Five had arranged, they were scattered around northern Peru where they were each getting work done. All 4 of the Hueys were outside of specs in some way (hydraulic problems, too many hours on tail rotors bearing, bad altimeter, etc.), the owners really had to get them fixed before they could sell them. The Five agreed to a fair price for each, less the cost of bringing them into operating condition. But all their contact info on the purchase agreements was false. The purchase prices were guaranteed with diamonds ($ .8 to $1.5 million, depending on age, size, etc. for a Huey in good condition) in a safe deposit box, but all four contracts used the same diamonds. It was pretty clear the Five intended to just take the helicopters right after they were fixed and change the tail numbers. Skip chasers would look for them at every airport and helipad in Peru, Brazil and Ecuador, but the copters would be in the Colony, which skip-tracers did not know about and could not get to even if they knew.

All of the Five were qualified to fly their helicopters and their airplane, but they had other pilots lined up to fly for the attack.