Chapter 34

Thursday — October 3, Later in the Day

The ambulance had left with Fred. Carla, Jessica and Audrey had enough of a shower to get the blood and sand off, then hurriedly put on shorts and tops. As soon as they came out of the shower, the cop was waiting for them.

"We're in a silver P.T. Cruiser over there in the parking lot," Carla said, pointing.

"Sarge had one of the guys swap out with me. I'm going to use his car while he covers for me here on the beach. I need to do a report on this mess, anyway, and I can't complete it here, particularly, with everyone gone to the hospital. I'll walk up to the lot with you."

"Just so we hurry," Audrey said. "I'm worried sick."

"He's gonna be fine, Ma'am. That looked like a lot of blood, but he's a big man. You watch; he'll be fine."

"How long have the others been gone," Carla said, looking back down the beach as they started walking toward the parking lot.

"The last one just left. The guy your friend backhanded has some bones broken in his cheek. The paramedic said he thought the one you kneed, Ma'am," he continued as he turned to Jessica, "has a torn femoral artery. His, uh..."

"Balls," Carla offered, straight-faced.

"Uh, yes Ma'am. You could tell they looked like softballs even through his jeans," the young cop said, embarrassed. "Now, when we get started, you take it easy driving. You just follow me, and I'm not going to be speeding. You know it's going to be hurry up and wait when we get to the hospital, anyway."

A couple minutes later, Carla took a deep breath as they all stood next to the Cruiser. "I need to apologize to you for all the yelling. I was pissed and took it out on you."

The cop laughed. "If that's the worst I get today, I'll be tickled. Heck, Sarge has already taken a strip off my butt for not getting there in time to stop those punks before they attacked you people. Besides, your little bit of yelling was worth it to see you guys take those scumbags down." Pointing, "Okay, my car is way over there. Just hold up and let me lead. The hospital is only fifteen minutes or so away."

The women piled into the cruiser and watched the young cop jog over to the patrol car. Shortly, they were following him to the hospital.

"I thought you would be taking a nap," Jeff said as he walked into his quarters.

Kayla got up from the chair where she had been waiting. Coming to him, she put her arms around him. "Hug me, please."

"Hey, everything's done now. What's the problem?" he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

Her voice was muffled against his chest as she replied. "Those poor girls. I've just been to see them and it makes me remember them huddled in that cage in Ingles' basement. That bastard. How could he do that to them? They were all virgins until that ... that ... animal raped their virginity from them." Jeff could feel her shudder in his arms. "And those rooms. The first one was bad enough with all the sex toys, but the other room with all that torture stuff ... How could he do that to another human being?"

Jeff sighed. "And he was far from being the only one involved in this."

"At least you killed him," Kayla quietly said.

"Now, who says I killed him? He might have died from natural causes," Jeff said, but the chuckle slipped out, anyway.

"Well, it was either you or Captain Madison. Either way, it was you in the end; the whole mission was yours."

"Medic's report says he died from an apparent heart attack."

"Yeah, right," Kayla sarcastically said. "The operative word there is 'apparent' heart attack."

Jeff hesitated a moment, "And does that bother you?"

Kayla pulled back a little so she could look up at him. "It makes me want to kiss you."

"Well, I guess if that's my punishment, I'll just have to bear up under it," he said as he put his lips to hers.

Later, they sat in the corner of the officers' mess as they finished their meal. "Kayla, are you sure about this?"

"Diana and I talked for hours. I'm sure. She said you were an Alpha — a Prime."

Jeff sighed. "Some of this is a bit daunting, and a lot of this to do with Alphas is ... strange. But we need to understand each other. As best my wives and I can determine, there are several ways for an Alpha to call a female. The Alpha and the female can simply fall in love; any slight transfer of body fluids will probably do it over time, also; the Alpha can do it with a sort of mental push, and ... if the Alpha makes love with the woman and his semen goes inside her ... Kayla, there's no going back once this is done, no matter the way. The woman is hooked for life and the Alpha is, too — if what my wives think is true. But Baby, you'll be number ten."

"I had rather be the one on the bottom of the totem pole, than to not be there at all," Kayla whispered — and you're not just an Alpha, you're an Alpha Prime.

Jeff sighed. "I don't think it works like that about being on the bottom. Diana is my Queen, and is doubtless the boss of my wives, but I love all of them equally. I've never seen anything to make me think that anyone is on the bottom of the 'totem pole, ' and there's no reason to think it will happen now, either. Obviously, I feel an extreme attraction for you, and somehow Diana felt that attraction, too — or something. Oh, and Arlene is a Queen, too. I guess she got sucked into staying in our family when things went bad for us at the beginning of the summer. So the girls sort of look to her for direction. Hell, it all sounds weird, but it works just fine."

Kayla laid her hand on Jeff's for a moment, but not wanting to be obvious to the others in the room, she reluctantly took her hand back. "Diana told me all that. She even told me that you wouldn't take me here at the base, but would give me 'wiggle room' to change my mind. I know I don't need it, and she knows I don't need it, so when we get back, I'm going to demand my place — if you want me," she quickly amended.

"I want you, Kayla," Jeff chuckled under his breath, "plus, you're a beautiful woman, and you're smart, even if you do lie a little bit."

"Lie? When did I lie?"

"The poker game: 'Well, I've played it a little... '" Jeff mimicked. "You suckered the ones who were going to sucker you."

Kayla chuckled with him. "Well, we had time on our hands on occasion after we had spent a day digging through the ruins of that society. The guys figured out they couldn't get in my pants, so they let me play poker with them. Originally, I learned to play at Quantico at the FBI academy, for about the same reasons. I slapped a few faces, both off-planet and at Quantico. One of them called me the 'Ice Queen, ' and someone started a rumor that I was a lesbian. But eventually, they quit bugging me. I'm not a virgin, but I'm not easy, either. You won't have to worry whether anyone here has been inside me — they haven't."

"So you've been sitting around waiting for me?" Jeff teased.

Instead of laughing, Kayla seriously said, "I would have been if I had known about you before I got to the base. But I haven't slept with a man — or woman, or had any kind of sexual relations with anyone — since I left college. And I was very discreet even then. I knew I would meet my husband one day, and I didn't want him to be ashamed of the things I had done before I did meet him."

"Kayla, I don't know what to say..."

"Just take me with you like Diana has planned. I can ... feel you — and to a lesser degree, your wives. I knew it at the kitchen table while I sat there trying to evaluate everyone. That's never happened to me before. Major, please, take me with you. I know this will work."

"If you're sure..."

"I'm positive."

Later, they were walking back to Jeff's quarters when Kayla's phone beeped. "Fisher," she answered.

Listening intently, " ... Yes, Sir ... Uh, yes, Sir. But Sir, you gave me permission for six weeks R & R. I haven't taken any time off at all — not in two years ... Yes, Sir. I'll be waiting for the sergeant." She closed the phone.

"Let's get to your room," she said when Jeff asked her what was going on. Shortly, inside Jeff's quarters, Kayla collapsed against him. "That son-of-a-bitch. He cancelled my leave. He said he didn't have any choice; the general sent word to do it. There is a sergeant that I don't even know who is coming to bring my orders for my new mission. Why are they doing this to me? I'll bet it's Wagner whose doing this. That bastard has been after me ever since I turned him down..."

There were two loud raps on Jeff's door. Kayla pulled away from him, composing herself. Taking a deep breath, she raised her voice, "Come."

"Ma'am. Sir," a young sergeant said as he entered and held out a packet. "Your orders, Ma'am. Also I'm to tell you that a psychologist will be here soon to brief you."

The sergeant saluted and left. Before Kayla could open her orders, there was another knock on the door.

"Kayla, I'm going to give you two some privacy," Jeff said after the psychologist came in. "I'll be back in thirty minutes or so."

Almost as soon as the door closed behind him, Jeff's phone beeped with a message to see the general.

A few minutes later, Jeff sat in the general's office. "I forgot to tell you something. A woman's body was recovered from a small river in the Teton region. She probably would never have been identified, but we've been watching for information and picked up on it. Dental records identified her as the woman who was responsible for Hagewood's release. Strange that the woman who was responsible for allowing him a signature bond should quit her job and go missing, isn't it? Then turn up dead hundreds of miles away, huh?"

"So there's more to this than just revenge for my kicking his ass?" Jeff mused. "I had a bad feeling about this from the beginning, particularly when he just flat disappeared, he and that dickhead son of his."

The general agreed. "Doesn't make any sense for him to kill the woman who got him out. There's obviously more to this. I'm pushing the FBI to investigate, but so far there has been nothing. Hell, if we hadn't picked up on the dead body, she would probably never have been connected with the woman who released Hagewood.

"All right, enough of that." The general stared at Jeff for a moment, "Well, you just fucked me again," he said, an odd look on his face, "but I'm going to fuck you back this time."

"But what..."

"The psychologist has been interviewing those girls you brought back, and the geeks have been doing some research. Seems like this organization has roots even in our childcare systems. To make a long story short — and obviously we're guessing on some of this — the girls are orphans, and apparently selected for their beauty by someone in the childcare system. They were then sent to a foster home where they heard something that spooked them. They tried to run away just before their pickup, but were caught and brought, eventually, to Ingles.

"That's about all the information we're sure of right now. But the childcare agencies are definitely into this kidnapping thing, as evidenced by the girls' files having been deleted. As far as their system is concerned, the girls never existed. But as you well know, a novice can't really delete computer files — at least not from the people who work for me.

"The bottom line: I don't have anywhere to send these girls, and they damned sure can't stay here. They no longer exist in the childcare system, and I damn sure wouldn't send them back there, anyway. The foster home is probably corrupt, as well as the agency that sent them there. I've gotten the FBI interested in these people as possible feeders to an interstate kidnapping ring. So guess what — you've just inherited three girls."

Jeff stiffened in his chair and started to say something, but Whitworth quickly continued. "I'm told they were all over you in the plane on the way back."

"But, Sir, the lieutenant had told them I was the one responsible for their rescue, giving me all the credit. I tried to tell them differently, but the damage had already been done. They were..."

Whitworth, who had been pacing, spun around toward Jeff. "You're richer than shit, have a fucking hotel to live in, you have a supremely qualified high school teacher on your staff who just happens to also be a licensed child psychologist, and you're secluded as hell. I'm having the paperwork done up to make you legally their guardian. I have a judge on his way to sign it right now. You take things from there."

"But, General..."

"Dismissed!"

Biting down on his tongue, Jeff sketched a salute and left.

Whitworth poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down, wondering how he had gotten away with it. If I hadn't managed to push them off onto Matthews, and my wife had found out they were left here on the base, I would have had three girls added to my household. Shit, that was close. I'm too damn old to take in three teenagers.

Jeff made his way back to his quarters. I've got to call Diana. I know she will go with it, but what are we going to do with three girls? I've got to stay away from them and make sure they understand that they're just ... guests. Hell, that's not right. They're my charges. I'm responsible for them; I can't just ignore them. Didn't I hear that two of them are fifteen, and the other sixteen? Oh, shit, Arlene is barely sixteen. I know where Diana and Arlene will think this is heading. No way. No fucking way.

When he entered his room, Kayla was sitting in his chair with her feet propped on his desk, an inscrutable look on her face.

As soon as he closed the door, he stopped to look at her. She shifted her gaze to him, "My R & R was cancelled..."

"Yeah, I know, Baby. I'm sorry..."

"I have a new mission."

"I'm sorry, Baby. Sometimes things happen. I'll be waiting for you when the mission..."

"The mission is to take the girls to your home and get them settled in. I was told they expected the mission to take a couple months."

"I'm..." Jeff started, then closed his mouth as he realized what she had just said.

The general opened his bottom drawer and took out one of the expensive cigars he had been saving. Laying the cigar on his desk pad, he also took out a small leather case and put it beside the cigar. The case contained the guillotine cutter and cigar lighter his wife had bought him for a wedding anniversary gift many years ago. She had always hated his cigar smoking, making the gift even more valuable than it was. These days, he smoked a cigar only on rare occasions. Somehow, tonight felt like one of those occasions.

The cigar cut and puffed alight, he pressed his intercom button through the cloud of smoke.

"Sir?" the sergeant said.

"You and your crew, get. Tell them I said well done. It's late. I don't want to see any of you before ten in the morning."