Chapter 29

John looked over at the clock and realized he’d been asleep all night. Getting up he set his coffee up and started it, then sat in his recliner, reviewing the security footage.

Mei came in, poured him and herself some, then sat down in his lap leaning her head against his shoulder.

John wrapped her in a hug and asked “Are you OK?”

“Mostly, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for saving my life. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I hadn’t frozen up. I’m not very happy with myself right now.” she said.

“I heard the shot and saw a puff of dirt. Old habits from the bad old days kicked in, you can’t expect to have the same reactions as someone who’s seen combat before. Besides, you did nothing wrong, and you were not responsible for me getting hurt. That person was killed by the Feds” he finished.

She quivered a bit then said “My mind tells me that, but my heart has a different opinion.”

“If anyone is responsible for me getting hurt, of the three of us, it was me. I should have been right behind you and Alex, instead I stood there trying to figure out where the fire was coming from and didn’t move until I smelled acetylene. It wasn’t until then that I realized he was targeting the gas bottles. I knew better than to stand there, but stand there I did. So don’t let yourself be troubled by it,” he finished.

She looked at him and said “In my society, paying back debt is very important. Now I find myself in your debt, with no way to repay it.”

He looked at her and said “First, we are in America, and second, there is no debt between us. Especially something like that.” She hugged him at that and John was reminded how strong she was when he struggled to breath.

Pixy and Mary came out from the back looking at the pair with concern in their eyes.

Pixy said “Everything alright you two?”

Mei replied with a smile “Yeah, just needed some calibration.”

John asked the room “Did they ever show up yesterday?”

“No. Carl said they called, but when they heard you were alright, they decided to come in this morning instead” Pixy said with a frown.

“You’re not planning on trying to work today, are you?” she went on to say.

“I planned to dial in the automated weld head, and set up your truck with it on the crane. Nothing past that. Besides, I don’t think Carl, or Señor Rodriguez would allow me to do anything else after yesterday anyway,” John said with a frown.

“We have five days of normal welding, or one day of automated left, I would personally like to get this damn thing done sooner than later. There are multiple contracts I’ve received emails about, but all of them are near term. If we are stuck here much longer, we may have a significant pause between this one and the next one” He finished.

Pixy came over, sat on his knee, pushed a nipple in his face and said “Would that be so bad?”

He nibbled on the nipple, then looked up “No it wouldn’t be bad, but you’ve been in long enough to know, it’s always feast or famine when you contract.”

All three nodded in agreement.

“It may be taken out of our hands anyway. Carl and Jose are both qualified on the automated weld head” John finished, then took another nibble.

As if summoned by their names, Carl and Jose pulled up outside in the FL70. Looking at the rig, John saw they had already outfitted it with the equipment.

John looked at the girls and said, “Guest incoming, go get decent.”

Mary and Pixy went to dress. Mei, who was in shorts and a T-shirt sat still until a knock came to the door. She got up, let Carl and Jose in, then got them all some coffee, after which she returned to sitting on John’s knees. Carl raised an eyebrow to this, but after Pixy came in and claimed the other knee, he held his comments.

After accepting a cup of coffee, Jose got up saying “I’ll let you guys talk, Boss, so you know, I’m with you whatever you want to do.” He then walked back outside.

The air started to smell like bacon at this point, Mary was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Smelling it, Mei and Pixy got up to go help.

Watching their asses sway as they went by, Carl then turned to John “You’re a lucky bastard, you know that right?”

There was something in his voice that made John think it wasn’t just the girls he referred to.

“How do you mean?” John replied.

Carl pointed towards the kitchen and said, “Besides that, Raul made a licensing offer for the weld head design last night. Apparently, they have a few hundred miles of line going in down in South America and he wants to use your design.”

John looked at Carl and asked “How much of an offer are we talking? The last such offer was peanuts. Then the bastards stole the design and are using it in Eastern Europe.”

Carl replied “25 million, but that’s just the licensing offer. They made a purchase offer of 50 million.”

The kitchen went dead silent at those words with some feminine gasps.

John said, “I can’t answer immediately. The software that makes my design work is under a different patent. I have an unlimited license, as I funded the development, but I won’t burn my partner in this; she trusted me not to do so.”

A jeep pulled up outside and out came Raul and Petra.

John said, “We don’t have enough room in here, let’s move this party outside.”

Walking outside in shorts only left a good portion of John exposed, especially the extra assholes and zippers. Seeing this, Petra gasped, and Raul frowned. John called back in the door asking Pixy to bring out a T-shirt.

After he got the T-shirt on, they all sat at the bench sets.

“Sorry about that, everyone else has seen that already, and I forgot the usual reaction” John said after another sip of coffee.

Raul looked at him, “I understand my friend, I have my own trophies like that courtesy of the Shining Path.”

John looked at him and said “Half of mine are the same source, and rest are from Sandinistas and FARC.”

Raul nodded his head, then asked “Has Carl given you, our offer?”

“He had just done so when you pulled up. But as I had just told him, my partner who developed the software that drives the design, has a stake in this and I won’t burn her over it.”

Both Petra and Raul nodded to this, then Petra asked “Can you call her, so she’s listening in?”

“Be right back” John said as he went for his phone inside.

Getting his phone, he dialed on speaker as he walked back. It answered in Tsalagi (translated) “Ravenclaw, long time no hear.”

John replied “You’re on speaker with some potential clients Walking Doe, so English please.”

She replied “To whom am I speaking please?”

John introduced everyone present including Pixy.

Walking Doe gasped at the last introduction, “John Ravenclaw married? Holy Shit!”

John replied “Professional please” as his cheeks got a touch redder.

“So, what’s this about?” she asked.

John gave her a synopsis then said, “Unlike the last group, they want the whole thing, including your work and a technical support contract from you specifically.”

She didn’t take long to answer, and said “In principle, I agree. It’s time to spool up the legal eagles to make this official. John, you already have authority to sign for this, but I do really appreciate being included in the negotiations.

After an exchange of law firm information, the call ended.

Raul looked at John “You had authority to sign all along?”

John replied “Yes, but we had a verbal agreement to include her if it came time to sell. My word means more to me than this offer, I hope you understand?”

Raul replied “Yes I understand that fully. There are few people left in this world that would risk a deal such as this over their word, it makes me more assured this is the right decision.”

John looked over at Carl, “I get the impression there is something else afoot if you are here with the rig already set up?”

Another truck pulled up at that moment with Al getting out.

John looked around saying “The gangs all here now, so what the hell is going on?”

Petra answered “The environmentalist managed to get the federal permits for the Reno leg cancelled, and they are doing their best to get the permits canceled for here before it’s complete. They managed to convince the pipe fitters union to join in a protest later today. By noon, we expect them to be blocking the entrance with protest signs, especially after someone told them we were switching to automated.