Chapter 51

Jeff roamed the halls. All the girls were in class. Diana and Laura were in the adjoining room taking an online class; Joyce was taking a nap so she would be fresh for her night shift; Caitlin and Alesha (Jesse's girlfriend) were at work. Bill, Frank and their women had gone back to Saint Louis. Kayla was in her suite doing something. Mom, hmmm ... Where in the fuck is she? I haven't had my ass chewed today. Fuck, I'm bored; I guess I'll go see how the indoor range is coming along.

A few minutes later, Jeff strode into the basement area to stand watching the men as they worked. Four of them lifted a piece of steel and began muscling it into position to be welded. Jeff grabbed hold to help the struggling men. After the welder put in a couple of tack welds to hold the piece in place so he could finish the welding, Dave tapped Jeff on the shoulder and motioned with his head.

Jeff frowned a little, but followed his friend around a corner. "What's wrong?" Jeff asked as Dave hesitated.

Dave cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable.

Jeff looked at his friend. "Now what is the matter with you? Do I have bad breath or something?"

Dave chuckled, "Well, no. Not exactly."

Jeff just stared at him. "What the fuck is 'not exactly?'"

Dave looked exasperated. "You make the guys feel uncomfortable."

"'Uncomfortable?' How in the ... heck do I make them feel 'uncomfortable?' They needed help with that piece, so I just gave them a hand."

The men were standing facing each other. Dave clapped a hand on Jeff's shoulder, staring him in the face. "Jeff, you're the rich guy who owns this fabulous building. You have beautiful women running all over the place." When Jeff started to say something, Dave hurried on, "Oh, they're out of sight today, but the guys have seen them from time to time when the crews were here before. One of my crew will crush a finger, drop something on his foot, or screw something up if you keep watching them."

"But I'm not looking over their shoulder or trying to boss them."

"You don't have to, Jeff. You're the guy with the dough who's paying for the job. You don't like what they do and they're history."

"Bullshit, you wouldn't get rid of someone just because I didn't like him."

Dave hesitated. "You might be right. I wouldn't necessarily just fire him or send him to another job, but I would want to know why you felt the way you do. Chances are I would take your recommendation. You are my Prime."

"Ah, fuck," Jeff said. "I'm just bored. Everybody is in class or at work or sleeping so they can work tonight, and I can't do anything in my lab with all the racket going on so close to it."

"So what's Kayla doing?"

"Probably hiding from me," Jeff grumped, "everybody else seems to be."

"Go find something to do, Rich Man," Dave teased. "I'll go tell the guys you're tickled with their work."

"I'll be tickled when they're done," Jeff mumbled to himself as he started up the stairs.

At 11:30, Jeff was walking down the hallway when the classroom door opened and his young wives streamed out, led by Arlene. Jeff paused for a few seconds, and the new girls also came out laughing, and talking with Helen. When the girls saw Jeff, they ran to him to give him a hug.

"We love our new school," Nicki bubbled out.

"Yeah, and our teacher is super," Nat crowded in.

"Helen. She insists we call her Helen," Whitney got her two cents worth in among the thank you's, as the girls all but bounced up and down.

"She already told you that before," Jeff said.

"Yeah, but this is different. She's our teacher now."

"We're going to help fix lunch," Nat said as she pulled Jeff's face down to kiss him on the cheek. The other girls did the same before they all rushed off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wow," Jeff said as Helen came over smiling. "I take it they like your class."

"Yes, I would say that you're probably correct. They..."

Jeff pulled her to him for a passionate kiss, which she returned with vigor, pressing her braless breasts against his chest, her nipples suddenly tenting her blouse. Finally pulling shakily away, she looked at him for a second, then snuggled her head against his shoulder. "Wow. What brought that on? A little more and you would have to do me here in the hallway." Then, apparently suddenly remembering, "The girls..."

Jeff chuckled, "They're already in the kitchen. But they know you're my wife," he needlessly reminded her.

"Oh, I know that, Silly. It's just that I'm their teacher. I can't..."

"Can't what?" Jeff interrupted. "I had your legs on my shoulders pounding your pussy last night with four of your other students watching and even touching us. As I recall, two of them were sucking your breasts from time to time just before we finished."

"Jeff, that's different. They're my sister-wives. But the new girls..."

"Are a lot more savvy to what's going on. I told them about us before we left the base."

"I know that, too. It's just that a teacher needs to maintain a little more decorum than making love to her husband in the hallway."

Jeff grinned at her as he raised her chin a little so he could lightly kiss her. "In other words, bending you over a couch in the living room is okay?"

"Jeff, don't you dare," Helen protested. "Now stop. I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Okay," he replied as he sneaked a hand under her top to tweak a nipple.

"Jeff, Baby, I can't think when you do that," she whispered. Then a little louder, "We spent the morning talking to the girls."

Jeff relented and brought his hands back down to hold her sides as she looked up at him.

"I thought you were going to test them?"

"Oh, I gave them one test, but I didn't want to swamp them with tests right away, so we just talked. Your young wives picked up on what I was doing and helped."

"So what did you talk about?"

"The orphanage; their classes in school; what they had studied; how they had studied; what they thought about you," she added with a grin.

Jeff laughed. "You did not."

"Oh, yes we did. And they had plenty to say about you."

Jeff didn't want to go down that road. "So what did you learn about where they are academically?"

Helen sighed, "Obviously, they haven't had the opportunities that your young wives have had, but apparently the school system they were in allowed them to educate themselves fairly well."

"Allowed them?"

"Yes. Like a lot of our school systems — the one your young wives were in, in Georgia being no exception — things seem to be keyed to the lowest common denominator. Everyone must pass. The smart students get bored with the snail's pace, and quit studying. But apparently several of the girl's teachers allowed them access to more advanced material, and they were allowed to learn on their own. Oh, not all the teachers allowed this, but some did."

"And the bottom line?" Jeff said.

"No, they are not as advanced as Jennie and Melissa were when they first started with me, and they certainly are not in Arlene and Ann's category — few students ever are — but your new charges are still well ahead of the average student. They chose to stay in their room and read at night when the other kids in the orphanage were in the common room to watch TV and raise hell. Apparently they read whatever the school library would allow them to check out, and I suspect some of the reference books that they were not officially allowed to take home went with them as well. They were friends with the school librarian. Their school was apparently in a low income area, but like I said, some of the teachers were putting forth an effort."

"So what now?"

"I have a rough idea of their academic achievements, but at this point that's about all." Then with a bemused expression, "I can say, though, that without a doubt, they are wife material." Then at the flustered look on Jeff's face, Helen went hurriedly on, "In other words, they're definitely above average intelligence, possibly very much above average, and their beauty is obvious. Their beauty, of course, is the reason Ingles or his cronies were attracted to them to start with."

Helen's expression took on a turned serious, "Jeff, that orphanage has to be involved..."

"It is, and it's being taken care of. Justice will be swift; I can assure you of that. The general promised me, and he was pissed."

"Jeff, you know how long it takes for an investigation into something like this, then since it's a state-run orphanage..."

Jeff broke in. "The guilty ones will, uh ... disappear, and they will talk before they do. You can bet your pretty ass that some of the general's people are running that orphanage as we speak, and have been for several days. Every employee there will be given a truth serum that they can't resist. Those who are innocent will be taken care of. Those who are guilty will be taken care of, too — but in a far different way. And yes, their rights will be violated when forced to take the serum, but the ones who aren't guilty will be rewarded. It won't be a court of law, but it will be honest and fair, and justice will be meted out."

"Jeff that's..."

"Yeah, like I said, a violation of their rights. How about the violation of the girls' rights? They were kidnapped, sold, their virginity raped from them, and they were kept in a cage, nude. What if it's still going on? Ingles might not have been the only one buying girls from them. We can't wait for a stumbling bureaucracy to decide to investigate. And who says how high this thing went in that same bureaucracy?" There was the sparkle of moisture in Jeff's eyes. "Our court systems don't work. The criminals with the most money hire the best lawyers who are able to delay, delay, delay, until the DA plea bargains the case away just to get some kind of conviction so he can keep his stats up and get re-elected. And that's assuming a politician is honest? Honest and politician are terms that don't go well in the same sentence. Besides that, how many times lately have you heard on the news where someone who committed a terrible crime was convicted, then later you might hear that the sentence was a fine and probation? Wow," he sarcastically said, "now that really taught them a lesson. How many times have you heard where someone who was released early from prison raped a kid, or killed someone — again." Jeff sighed, his mouth a thin hard line, "These bastards fucked up. They will pay."

Jeff looked his wife hard in the eye. "Besides that, I don't have shit to do with it. Once I brought those girls back, it was out of my hands. I'm just a major who gets called in from time to time. My general might well be the most powerful..." Jeff stopped, not wanting to go there.

Helen leaned her head against him, hugging him tight. "Our girls are safe. That's all I care about right now. They're safe because of you."

Jeff sighed. "Finding them was accidental. We went after Ingles."

"We all know that, even the girls do. But they're safe now. They have a wonderful life in front of them. One day, you'll give up and make them your wives." She could feel Jeff shaking his head, and she grinned against his shoulder, knowing his resistance was futile.

Today was going to be a quick lunch of soup and sandwiches. Jeff sat in his place sipping a cup of coffee as the new girls set the table. Dave and Evie came in just as:

VEHICLE IDENTIFIED AS FEDEX DELIVERY TRUCK ENTERING DRIVE, the computer stated. As the view zoomed in on the driver, DRIVER IDENTIFIED AS PAUL.

Jeff's young wives swung into action. "We'll teach you guys to do it," Ann said to the three new girls while pointing to the stack of large Styrofoam go cups. "The hot chocolate machine is on, but Paul likes half coffee and half hot chocolate. He also likes an extra sugar in it as well."

Nicki was waiting with the pot as Whitney got the cup. After the coffee and sugar were in, Ann directed Nat to get a couple of spoonfuls of small marshmallows. After they were in, Whitney filled the cup the rest of the way up with hot chocolate, and Nat put the cap on.

Nicki was elected to carry the cup, and they all rushed down the hall to put their coats on and wait for the truck.

Dave and Evie elected to continue their lunch so they could get back with the crews. Diana had remained in the kitchen to keep the soup warm and chat with Dave and Evie as everyone else hurried after the girls to help with the unloading. "Do they know what's coming today?" Jeff quietly asked Helen as he, Laura, Helen and Kayla followed behind the girls.