Chapter 9

The alarm was in the hall, but still loud enough to wake them. Matt, awake, alert immediately, slid out from the tangle of female bodies surrounding him and climbed out of bed.

"What is it?" Bree asked her voice high.

"I don't know," Matt answered, searching for his pants in the dim light, then switching on the lamp. "But we'd better get up and outta here."

"That's right," Marina echoed, standing, finding her robe on the floor, covering her naked body. "I don't think it's a fire, but it could be, or something else."

By now, Matt had his pants on, and grabbing his forty-five from its holster, opened the bedroom door and went into the hallway. And then suddenly, the alarm stopped its clanging, as if somehow it was switched off by his presence.

In the sudden quiet, Matt heard a tapping sound from the side of the building. He followed the sound into the sitting room, where he saw Becky Rivera and Kelly Metz outside tapping on the sliding glass door that led to the patio.

When he slid open the door, both girls immediately moved to him, pressing themselves to his bare chest, seeking safety with the big ex-Marine. As he put his arms around the two slim young women, comforting them, "What is it?" Kelly asked, turning her head up to look into his face.

"Is it those cops?" Becky asked.

"I don't know, we'll have to find out," he answered, attempting to move away a little from the girls dressed in only t-shirts and panties. But it seemed that with every move he made to distance himself from them, they moved with him, staying close. Despite Matt's extended sexual activities of last night, he couldn't help responding to the attraction of the two young girls, but now wasn't the time for that.

Then they heard the THUMP... THUMP... THUMP sound of someone pounding on the thick front door, followed by the doorbell chiming. "I'll see what it is," Marina said, walking toward the entrance. She was dressed now, in jeans and a t-shirt, and apparently nothing else. Matt's other women were gathered in the hallway, all dressed in quickly thrown on clothes, mostly shorts and t-shirts, though Ronnie, like Marina, was wearing jeans.

Quickly, disengaging himself from Becky and Kelly, Matt said, "Wait," and with his forty-five in his hand, stood behind Marina as she opened the door.

Steve Metz burst in the door. "They're here, in front, outside the wall, the enemy, those Mexican police," he said excitedly.

"How many?" Matt asked.

"I don't know, twenty... fifty maybe," Steve replied his voice still excited. "Mike told me to get everyone up, so I turned on the fire alarm, it was all we could think of."

By now Steve's girls, wearing a variety of clothing, had come over from their hacienda and were standing outside the open front door listening.

"Alright," Matt said loudly. "Everyone needs to get dressed and get ready for whatever's gonna happen." Steve and his girls went to their hacienda, while Kelly and Becky went back next door to get dressed

Ronnie and Bree came up carrying a clean shirt for Matt, his boots, clean socks and his gun belt and holster. Quickly he finished dressing and holstered his weapon. He looked at his women awaiting direction from him. "Make sure you're wearing sturdy clothes you'll feel comfortable in all day, then come to the hotel lobby," he said before turning to leave.

Ronnie caught his arm. "Do you think there'll be fighting?" she asked, her eyes on his face.

He took her hand, moving it from his arm, but still holding it as he looked from her face into the faces of each of his women. "I don't know. I hope we won't need to fight, but we have to be ready." Then, smiling, "I'll meet all of you in the lobby in a few minutes."

When he got there, Matt found the lobby was filled with nearly the whole population of the hotel, all women, all in various stages of dress. They had been roused out of their beds by Steve's alarm, quickly thrown on some clothes and now were milling about without direction.

Matt walked through the crowd, the women growing quieter and moving back respectfully as he passed through them. He glanced out the open front door and saw Steve had rejoined the reserve force stationed by the wall. He stepped outside, walked over to the wall and surveyed the situation.

"We're ready, sir," Steve said, his eyes on Matt.

"I can see that," Matt said, happy to see the reserves appeared alert and ready to fight. He chatted with them a little in his broken Spanish, encouraged them, then went back into the hotel. Moving through the crowd again, he was looking for Mike but couldn't see him. Then he spotted Terri Metz and Jenna Dare by the entrance to the dining room. Approaching them, he asked, "Where's Mike?"

"He's up at the lookout post, on the fourth floor," Terri answered.

"Okay, I better get up there. See what you two can do about this," gesturing at the women crowding the lobby. He headed for the elevator, pushed the call button, entered the waiting elevator, and pushed the fourth floor button.

At the lookout post, he found Mike and a chubby Mexican girl on the balcony, looking down at the strangers in front of the hotel. "They got here just before dawn," Mike said. "Approximately twenty sir, I haven't been able to count the exact number yet, but I know there are two men and the rest are females."

About a hundred meters from the wall was a flatbed truck with bales - Matt guessed cotton - piled on the side of the truck bed to provide protection for the half-dozen girls with rifles there. About another fifty meters back, Matt saw two large blue vans which he guessed had transported most of what he was now coming to think of as the enemy.

A number of women were gathered around the vans, drinking from styrofoam cups, probably coffee. Like the women in the truck, they all seemed to have rifles.

"I think the two men are in the vans, sleeping," Mike commented.

"Okay, that's good," Matt said, looking over the forces arrayed against them.

Mike turned, looking at him. "Good, Comandante?"

"Yeah, from up here we've got a clear field of fire into the back of that truck. Those bales do them no good at all. And it's good the men are sleeping. Now we know our enemy is lazy and careless, and they don't look like they're preparing to take action any time soon."

"Yes sir, that is good," Mike said, smiling broadly. "And our guards are ready, I checked, and our reserve forces too, with Steve Metz."

"Now let's get downstairs and do something about what's going on in the lobby," Matt continued. "Uhh, and tell this girl, the lookout, to try to get a good count of the enemy. It's light enough now for that."

After Mike had a few quick words in Spanish with the lookout, they left the room and entered the elevator. "We've gotta do something about that crowd in the lobby," Matt said. "And we've gotta develop a better way of alerting everyone if something happens."

"Yes Comandante, I apologize. It's just I couldn't think of what else to do to alert everyone."

"I'll talk to you about that later," Matt said as the elevator door opened on the first floor.

The women crowding the hotel lobby were quieter now, lined up to enter the dining room for breakfast. When Matt and Mike came out, there was a quick flurry of words in Spanish, followed by the appearance of Jenna Dare, carrying two large mugs of coffee.

"Sir, do you want your breakfast now?" she asked. "We can get you and Mike in right away, ahead of the rest."

Mike glanced for a second at Jenna's impressive bosom, then looked at her face as he said, "Mike and I need to do some planning, can you have our breakfasts brought to the manager's office?".

The busty blonde arched her back, touched her hair for a second, displaying herself to Matt. "Sir, of course. We're happy to do anything you want."

In the office, Matt and Mike were huddled over a large map of the hotel and grounds when their breakfast was brought in by two of the hotel maids accompanied by Jenna. There were two trays piled high with mixed American and Mexican food and two carafes of coffee. "Let us know if you want more, or anything else," Jenna said as she left.

While they ate, they went over their plans. Matt knew they needed a shooting platform to fire over the wall. He sent a girl to tell Steve to come into the office. Matt ordered him to position six vehicles by the wall, three on either side of the main gate.

"Try to find ones with flat roofs, vans or station wagons, and assign two, uhh... let's call them riflemen even though they're women, per vehicle. Also, I want two vehicles providing cover on each side of the peninsula, next to the water, with a rifleman for each. Take what you need from our reserves, the remainder of the reserve force can wait in their room here. You got that?"

"Yes sir," the young man said, quickly leaving the office.

As Steve left, Matt saw Ronnie and Bree and his three other ladies waiting outside the office door. When she saw him looking at them, Ronnie asked, "Is there anything we can do, Matt?"

Matt went to the open door and looked at his women waiting there. As he had ordered, they were dressed in sturdy clothes - jeans and t-shirts, athletic shoes. "Looks like you're ready for whatever happens," he said, his eyes moving from one anxious face to another.

"We're ready," Ronnie said, a resolute expression on her face.

"Do you think there'll be fighting, sir?" Christina asked.

Matt looked into her face, her big, dark eyes staring back at him. "I don't know, I hope not, but we need to be ready."

She moved to him, seeking comfort against his chest. "Oh, Señor," she said softly, her upper lip trembling.

He looked at each of his women. "You can do it, I know you can."

"We can," Marina said, her words echoed by the others.

Gently moving Christina away, he continued. "Okay, first we need to take care of this crowd. Make sure everyone knows the kind of clothes they should be wearing, sturdy and comfortable. When they finish breakfast, they should return to their rooms, get dressed and take care of anything else that needs to be done so they're ready for action.

"Those with regular duties, should do them. Those with nothing to do should stay out of the way in their rooms. When we need them, we'll let them know.

"Marina, do we have machetes, bayonets, knives, weapons that can be used for close combat if the enemy breaks through?"

At his words, they all started a little in surprise. Marina moved her hand to her face, as though to ward off the thought of hand-to-hand fighting, then she looked into Matt's eyes, seeking the confidence and resolve she saw there. "I think... I'm sure the gardeners had machetes, and other knives, weapons. I'll see what I can find."

Matt smiled a grim smile. "Good girl, I know you can do it. We have six machetes in my Land Rover. See what you've got here, get knives, whatever else you can find and recruit a force who can handle them. But if you think anyone isn't able to do what needs to be done - fighting and killing - find something else for them to do."

She looked at him, her big brown eyes narrowing with resolve and said, "I understand, we all need to be ready to kill, if need be."

One by one, he hugged each of his women. Bree was the last to leave his arms, lingering for a moment in his embrace. Perhaps she saw a question in his eyes, for without being asked she said, "We can do it... fight, kill, and will if it's needed, for you, Matt, for our family," looking at his other women around him. "And for our comrades here, at the Colcon Palace Hotel."

As she parted from Matt, turning, he patted her denim-covered butt, saying, "Make sure all of you get breakfast, you need to keep your strength up."

He was answered with a chorus of "Yes sirs," and one "Yes Señor" from Christina.

Later, Mike and Matt inspected the defenses. The vehicles were in place by the wall to serve as shooting platforms, with riflemen assigned to them. Most of the women were sitting on the ground, in the shade. Matt was glad to see they had water bottles, and complimented Steve for thinking of it.

"Thank you sir," he answered, smiling at the praise. "I tried to think how you would handle it. But you know, it's kinda boring, just sitting around waiting for something to happen."

Matt smiled at his young lieutenant. "That's the way it is - war, ninety percent boredom, ten percent action. We're lucky nothing's happened. Coming at dawn, like they did, the enemy had the element of surprise, but now they've lost it. Just confirms my opinion that they don't know what they're doing, but that's no reason for us to let down our guard."

Satisfied the riflemen by the wall and at the seaside were positioned correctly and ready for action, Matt ordered Mike to station another lookout on the penthouse balcony facing landward. "Make sure she has binoculars and can communicate with our command center through the hotel phone. I'm gonna take a shower and change, but make sure to notify me if anything happens."

At Hacienda Colcon, he found Bree and Christina, with the help of several hotel maids, had just finished rearranging the master bedroom - their bedroom. The heavy wooden beds were gone, Matt had noticed the disassembled frames in front. Now the floor was covered by four very large mattresses, all pushed together against the back wall, but the room was so large there was still enough bare floor on three sides to hold the chaise, the dressing table and other bedroom furniture.

Bree, Christina and the maids were making the beds and arranging a variety of pillows when Matt came in. "Oh Matt," Bree said looking up. "How do you like it? Isn't this great? This way we can all be in bed with you and you can have whichever girl you want. It's like Mike did."

"We're waiting for what could very well be an armed attack, and you're rearranging the furniture," Matt laughed.

"Well, we've still gotta live," Bree answered, a small pout appearing on her face. "And maybe they won't attack, maybe we won't have to fight." Tossing the pillow she was fluffing onto the bed, coming to him, her head against his chest, breathing in his scent, "Let's try it out now," Bree said softly, the pout disappearing as she smiled up at him.

Without him consciously thinking about it, his arms came around her, pulling her close. He looked into her blue eyes, saying softly, "Baby, this isn't the time for that. I've gotta shower and get changed and then get back to making sure our defenses are organized."