Chapter 15

Ling and Betsy stopped the car at the front gate leading to William's place. Over the past year, the front of the property had changed to where it looked more like the entrance to a military base than a ranch. There was a little guard shack that sat beside a closed metal barrier. Ling's trained eye recognized the retractable barrier was capable of stopping a charging dump truck.

Worried about the kind of reception they would receive, Betsy asked, "Are you sure that he'll see us?"

"It has been a year," Ling answered looking at the gate. She had expected it to open upon their arrival, but it had remained closed. She looked over at the guardhouse and noticed that the man was on the telephone. She wondered if they should have called before heading to William's house. She didn't think Betsy would survive if William turned her away at the door.

"He was pretty mad at us," Betsy said biting her lower lip. She felt like crying.

The guard hung up the telephone and made his way to the car. He was a tall Native American with a pony tail that came down to the middle of his back. Rather than a typical guard uniform, he was wearing blue jeans and a blue work shirt. On his hip he had a revolver in a holster. Ling noticed that the holster was rigged for a quick draw.

The gate slowly opened as the man stopped in front of Ling's door. She rolled her window down and said, "I'm Ling Carter."

"I know. Talks With Animals and Walks With Wisdom are not home. He said that you were to drive up to the house and someone would take care of you until he arrived," the guard said. Once he had checked out the occupants of the car, he kept his eyes on the road approaching the gate and only occasionally glanced down at Ling while talking.

"Oh," Ling said with a frown. It wasn't like William to play petty games like this.

"Just drive on up to the house," the guard said stepping back.

Ling noticed there was a second guard who had remained in the guard shack watching them carefully. Frowning, she drove the car up the road towards the house. She asked,

"Did you notice the fence along William's property?"

"Yes. It was rather intimidating," Betsy answered. There was a double row of chain link fence with each row topped by barbed wire. Every fifty feet there were signs warning that trespassers would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

"I hope that William isn't becoming paranoid," Ling said. She tended to favor security measures that were a lot more subtle than this. She figured that the barrier at the gate would stop an attack, but any heavy vehicle could drive right through the fence.

Betsy shook her head and said, "William only does things for a reason. He must feel that he needs this kind of security."

Ling noticed a small structure off the road and slowed down to check it out. It took a minute for her to realize that it was the housing for a laser. She wondered if Rock and Colt had been responsible for designing the security measures around the house. If so, she was going to tell them that they probably needed a couple more lasers to provide better coverage.

They drove past the outbuildings in which some of the people who worked on the ranch lived. She noticed that everyone was armed. Ling said, "There is something wrong here."

"What?" Betsy asked.

"Everyone is armed," Ling said. She wasn't going to mention that they all looked tense and watched the car like hawks.

"Snakes," Betsy said in a soft voice.

"Huh?" Ling asked.

Looking over at her mother, Betsy said, "I bet they are concerned about snakes."

"I doubt it," Ling said. She pulled into a parking space at the entrance to William's house.

She noticed that there were cameras mounted that gave total coverage of the parking area. She shook her head and said, "It looks like he's expecting an army to attack."

"He isn't prone to paranoia," Betsy said. She could hardly wait to get out of the car after the long drive to his house. In the past, Ling would have let her out down the road and let her run to the house.

"No, he isn't," Ling said getting out of the car. She noticed that a camera tracked her movements.

"Let's go in," Betsy said.

Rock greeted them at the door. Holding it open, he said, "Come in, Ling. Hello Betsy."

"Thanks, Rock. What's going on?" Ling asked gesturing towards the security cameras.

"We tend to crank up the security around here when William is absent from the house,"

Rock answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

Ling said, "Surely this level of security isn't necessary."

Looking a little uneasy, Rock said, "William says that things are going to get very busy around here. I tend to trust him when he says things like that. He's never wrong."

"You're right to trust his predictions," Ling said. From what she had seen, William had to expect some very bad things to happen to insist on this level of security.

Betsy looked over at her mother and asked, "Is William going to be okay?"

"William knows how to take care of himself," Ling said.

William and Lucy returned from Pennsylvania feeling a little tired from the trip. Lucy noticed the car in the lot and said, "We have company."

"Yes," William said, "Ling and Betsy have come for a visit. Their year of banishment comes to an end today."

"It will be good to see them again," Lucy said. She had missed having Betsy around. She enjoyed the energetic young woman. Despite the fact that she loved Ling, she didn't really miss her company. The small Asian woman was a little too intense at times.

"The rest of the family will be coming tonight," William said.

"Really?" Lucy asked thinking it had been a long time since they had entertained the entire Carter Clan.

"Yes. I suppose that I should have warned Peter," William said with a smile. He wondered how the chef was going to react to the news that he was going to have to prepare dinner for fifteen. The Carter Clan included Ling, Linda, Kelly, Claire, Ed, Leroy, Dan, John and his wife Susan, Beth and her husband John, Eddie, Betsy, and Michael. Michael, being just a few weeks shy of being one year old, would not be seated at the table.

"How many are coming?" Lucy asked. Family gatherings of the Carter Clan tended to be very large affairs. They seldom occurred since everyone in the family was very busy.

"We'll have everyone," William answered with a smile.

Lucy nudged William's shoulder and said, "You should have warned Peter."

"He can use the challenge," William said.

"So where are Ling and Betsy now?" Lucy asked not seeing them at the door.

"Where else?" William asked with a grin.

Lucy returned the grin and said, "I could use a dip in the pool myself."

William, followed by Lucy, entered the pool room. The smell of chlorine was barely noticeable in the highly controlled environment. The pair watched Ling and Betsy swim in the pool. Ling was sedately swimming while Betsy was cutting through the water like a shark. The pair of women noticed William at the same time. Despite being further from the edge of the pool, Betsy beat her mother out of the water. Rather than charge over to him, she stood back watching him nervously bouncing from foot to foot.

Ling and William looked at each other from across the room. They exchanged a head nod before Ling asked, "Have you kept up with your training?"

"Of course," William answered in a neutral tone.

"We shall have to spar later," Ling said thinking it was a relatively neutral activity that would help repair the damage to their relationship.

"I look forward to it," William answered. It would be nice to spar with someone who was challenging.

Betsy couldn't take it any more and raced across the room. She stopped three feet from her brother and asked, "Am I forgiven?"

William searched her face for a second and then asked, "Have you learned anything from this?"

"Yes, I have," Betsy answered. The corner of her mouth quivered and she swallowed heavily.

"You're forgiven," William said giving her a hug. It was nice holding his sister again despite the fact that she was wet.

William held the hug long enough for Betsy to squirm and then released her. She immediately flew over to Lucy and gave her a hug. He smiled watching Betsy fight her urge to move that combated with her desire to hold onto someone.

Stepping back from Lucy, Betsy said, "I'm so happy."

Lucy reached out and wiped a tear from Betsy's cheek and said, "We've missed you."

"I'm glad to hear that," Betsy said. Now that her exile was over, she wanted relations with her brother to return to normal. She looked over at the pool for a second with a large grin on her face. Turning to William, she asked, "Do you want to race?"

"Standard rules?" William asked with a smile.

"Sure," Betsy said jumping into the pool. She'd swim around a bit until William was ready to race.

It only took a minute for William and Lucy to get out of their clothes. William walked over to the end of the pool and entered the water. Betsy waited by the wall of the pool.

Looking over at her, William said, "On three. One, two, three."

Betsy took off like a shot. Lucy sat down on the edge of the pool and said, "She's in good form today."

"Yes," William said watching his sister slice through the water with ease.

Ling entered the water and said, "It is good to see her smiling again."

"I'm sure it is," William said looking over at his mother.

Ling looked away for a second and then said, "You were right. We were a little out of control."

Nodding his head, William said, "There is a fine line between self-defense and battle.