Chapter 4

William looked over at the patio of the hotel where Debbie and Georgia were seated. The two women were talking with each other oblivious of their surroundings. It was obvious to him that they had left their depression behind.

Kim and Nancy joined William at the table. The pair of Druids did not look happy. Nancy said, "I feel like we failed."

"What do you mean?" William asked.

Kim said, "We're supposed to be the grief counselors, not you."

"We were useless," Nancy said running a hand over her medallion. It had been unusually heavy over the past few days.

Shaking his head, William said, "Do you think they would have lived long enough for me to get here if you hadn't been by their side?"

"No," Kim said. She looked over at Nancy and added, "We barely kept them from hurting themselves on several occasions. I've never seen anything like it."

"When I was in the glade with the Two-Sided One, Oscar charged me with taking care of his wives. Thanks to you, I was able to begin fulfilling the promise I made to him," William said.

"We didn't do much," Nancy said looking at him with an odd expression on her face. She was surprised that he mentioned anything about his time in the glade. She had never heard a Druid make reference to their time in the Glade.

William sighed and asked, "Did you know that Georgia was favored by the God and that Debbie was favored by the Goddess?"

"No, I didn't know that," Kim said with a frown.

"Yes. It was a union encouraged by the Gods and Goddesses. Both of those women loved Oscar with their entire heart and soul. I think the love they felt for him was never stronger than on the day he died. He really loved them back. The love they shared was so strong that it was almost physical. I mean, you could almost see the threads that tied those three together. To lose that kind of love has got to be horrific. I'm not surprised that they didn't want to live," William said.

"Oh."

Seeing that he hadn't convinced them that they had performed their duty well, William said, "The Goddess has not chastised you for failure, has she?"

"No," Nancy said.

"We each have a role to play in our service to the Gods and Goddesses. You have provided the service that was asked of you and you did it well," William said looking from one to the other.

"Thank you," Kim said rising from her chair.

"Yes, thank you," Nancy said. She stood and looked down at her robe. She sighed and said, "We have to go shopping for something else to wear."

"If you wait a little bit, I'm sure that Lucy, Debbie, and Georgia would like to go shopping with you," William said. He knew that Debbie and Georgia only had clothes that were appropriate for traveling through the hot climate of the Middle East. Neither had the clothes that would be appropriate for a return to the colder climate of Pennsylvania.

After the pair of Druids left, Lucy joined William at his table. Sitting down, she said, "I see that Debbie and Georgia are out of their room."

With a satisfied grin, he said, "It looks like they've taken the news that they are about to be mothers very well."

"It gives them a reason to live," Lucy said. She thought about how she would react to William dying and knew that she'd want to join him in death. There was no doubt in her mind that Debbie and Georgia had felt the same way. The idea that the Gods and Goddesses would have rendered their birth control ineffective like that was truly staggering. She said, "The Gods and Goddesses work in mysterious ways."

"Yes, they do," William said with a smile.

"I guess I had better go talk to them. I've got a feeling that they really want to share this with a woman," Lucy said recalling that William had said that they women would want to talk to her for the day.

"Yes. You might want to take them shopping. They are going to need some clothes for Pennsylvania," William said.

"That's a good idea," Lucy said thinking that a little time shopping would cheer the women up significantly.

"I think that Kim and Nancy would like to go with you," William said.

"Okay. What will you do?" Lucy asked.

"While you're off shopping, I'll talk with the Guardian Angels and make arrangements for dinner," William said.

Gabriel looked across the table at William seeing his employer for the first time. That someone so young had provided so much money to protect another man's wife was rather impressive. He wasn't sure what to make of the young man, but he knew that he could trust him. He said, "You wanted to talk to us."

"Yes, I did. I just wanted to let you know that you and your crew did a very good job in protecting Debbie and Georgia. I was quite impressed with your performance. Debbie did not even know that you were her bodyguards until Oscar told them," William said. He looked around the table at the others of the team. He sighed and said, "They are safe now. I'll be taking them to live in Pennsylvania where no one will know who they are."

"We did very little," Gabriel said. Debbie had been very low key in Jerusalem and had not drawn much attention. The exception was her visitors.

"You got them out of the country before anyone could react. That was very important," William said. The search by the press for Debbie and Georgia had kicked into overdrive less than thirty minutes after the plane had taken off. He doubted they would have survived the onslaught of harassment by the press.

"I'm sorry that they witnessed what happened there," Remiel said with a frown. He felt guilty that they had allowed the women to watch. The violence of Oscar's death had shocked him. The violence that had occurred afterwards had shaken him to his very foundation. The Powers that Be had always been a kind of abstract distant thing for him. He added, "I'm really surprised that the Druid Gods and Goddesses killed so many people."

William shook his head at the misunderstanding of what had occurred there. He said, "It wasn't the Druid Gods and Goddesses that killed the people in that square. What you saw was Old Testament. It was Yahweh, Jehovah, and Allah punishing those who falsely proclaimed to be their followers."

"What?" Uriel asked staring at William.

"There were four voices of the Powers that Be in that square. Oscar was the only pagan. All of the other people in that square were followers of the other Powers that Be. When those followers turned their backs to their Gods because they refused to obey the commandments that had been delivered to them, their Gods punished them as an example to the rest of their followers," William answered.

The bodyguards looked around the table sharing glances at each other. They had all been concerned with doing their jobs that they hadn't really given that much thought to what had happened in the square. Uriel said, "Oh. I didn't realize that."

Gabriel asked, "What now?"

William pulled out an envelope from his pocket and said, "I suggest that you all take a vacation somewhere. You've earned it. I've included a bonus that should cover six months somewhere nice."

"Thank you," Gabriel said accepting the envelope from William. He didn't bother to look inside it. He said, "Give Ling our regards."

"We're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment," William said with a grimace. There was one more little piece of business to conclude. He looked around the table and said, "We'll be leaving the day after tomorrow. If I may make a suggestion, why don't you take Debbie and Georgia out to dinner tonight? I'm sure that they would appreciate the chance to thank you personally."

Darnel Hammond approached the hotel with butterflies in his stomach. So far this had not been a very good day, but it could have been much worse. He had been shaken by what he had discovered when he the workers reexamined the installation of the new hot water heater. The young man who had warned him of the danger had been absolutely correct. He had been stunned when the foreman had told him what would have happened if it had exploded during business hours. The idea that everyone who had survived the initial explosion would have suffered major burns over their bodies sent shivers down his spine.

His day had only gotten worse when his Chef had climbed all over him. It had happened the moment the Chef had learned the identity of the young man who had given him the warning. The Chef had been furious that William Redman Carter had been seated in the main dining room like a common tourist.

After cajoling the Chef into not quitting, Darnel had decided that it was time for him to find out more about William Redman Carter. After putting in a query on the web, he nearly fainted when he read about the young man. At twenty one, the young man was a major powerbroker in the business world. He learned that William's word could destroy the career of a CEO in a matter of days. He nearly was sick when he thought back to his attitude towards the young man the previous day.

Darnel found William seated in a chair on the patio of the hotel sipping from a glass of iced tea. He approached the young man and said, "Pardon me. I wanted to thank you for your warning."

"Ah, they discovered the problem with the release valve," William said.

"Yes," Darnel answered.

"I'm glad to hear that," William said knowing that they would have witnessed the explosion when leaving the next day.

"My Chef and I want to extend an invitation for you to come to the restaurant for a special meal," Darnel said.

"Ah yes, your Chef. He has the potential of being great, but you are holding him back," William said.

"He does? I am?"

Nodding his head, William said, "He has to prepare too many different dishes and serve too many people. He can't fully develop his culinary skills under those circumstances."

"What can I do?"

"Have a seat," William said gesturing to the chair beside him. Once Darnel had taken a seat, William answered, "I'm not exactly an expert in the restaurant business, but I do have a couple of suggestions."