Chapter 72

Jeff sat in the living room waiting for breakfast to be ready. The three new girls, Nat, Nicki and Whitney, came in to stand before him. They glanced at each other, then Whitney tentatively said, "Sir?"

Jeff smiled at her and reached over to take her hand. "Why so formal? We're waaay past that. And what's wrong with calling me Jeff like I asked?"

The girls looked at each other and blushed, remembering the orgasms he had given them.

Nat turned to her "sister." "Oh, just tell him, Whit. I told you it wasn't a big deal."

Whitney tried to be calm, but said in a rush, "Well, uh, Diana said we could go with Evie and Dave today, but we forgot to ask you, even though we're in your charge. Diana tells us you're also our Prime, and you said you would marry us one day. We should have asked you earlier about the trip, but we got all excited about it and forgot."

Jeff grinned, then surprising her, pulled her down for a deep kiss. After that, he made sure he hadn't slighted the others, then tickled them a little until they were all giggling. Finally, "If Diana says something is okay, then it is — she's our Queen. Leaving the retreat is a big thing with the Hagewoods running loose, but they're after me, and shouldn't even know you three exist. Dave and Evie are in and out all the time and haven't had any problems. Just stick close to Dave and do whatever he says — instantly. Okay?"

Almost bubbling, they agreed, thanked him, then ran back toward the kitchen to help with breakfast.

Monday morning, the big kitchen was its usual hub of activity. Shortly, Alesha hurried off for her ski resort job. Joyce, dressed in civvies today, left to sit in a hostage negotiation class in Denver, mumbling about just shooting the bastard and there wouldn't have to be any negotiations.

Caitlin was right behind her, kissing Jeff and telling him her list was growing, referring to the things she had found "wrong" at the hospital.

"Hang in there, Baby," Jeff said after her goodbye kiss, swatting her lightly on the ass.

Caitlin put her hand on Jeff's cheeks as she looked down at him. "Might reserve a little extra time for Joyce tonight. She's taking being sent to this class as an insult, no matter what the Sheriff says."

Jeff sighed. "Tate is a good guy. I suspect he's covering his ass to some extent, but just in case Joyce gets in another hostage situation, he might just be covering her ass a lot more. You know the news media would have a field day if she had to kill someone else right now. And ... things like that have happened. Some guys go a whole career without having to kill anyone, then others have to kill several. Have to. Two back-to-back shootings would make her look trigger-happy, though. If she has additional schooling about hostages, she can say she did it by the book, and the news will have a harder time trying to prove she did something wrong. Remember, with most of the news services, they try to make the cop out to be in the wrong. Joyce is walking on thin ice right now. If it hadn't been for that anchorwoman in Denver, the news would have tried to make Joyce look bad, instead of showing her to be the heroine she is. What really scares me is she knows it. That might very well cause her to hesitate in a shootout, and that would get her killed."

"Oh, shit. I didn't need to hear that," Caitlin said.

"As you say, she needs some extra loving from all of us. She talks about this class being boring, but she's going to be sitting there reevaluating what she did that night. And she's already done way more than enough of that. Second-guessing isn't good in her line of work, particularly under fire. Second guessing under fire will get you killed. Also, chances are, the instructor is going to call on her to tell the class just what happened that night. She's going to have a stressful day — probably a very stressful one. We'll be waiting on her when she gets home, and I'll do my absolute best to get her mind off her day."

Caitlin kissed him again. "Gotta run. All this makes my problems seem small. See you tonight."

Joyce, Caitlin and Alesha had to eat first because of having to leave for their jobs. The rest loaded their plates a few minutes later, and were able to eat at a more leisurely pace.

Dave had watched Jeff's interaction with the two wives. When they had gone, Dave, worried about his Prime, looked over at Jeff. "In all due respect, my friend, you don't look so good this morning. Still can't sleep?"

Before Jeff could answer, Kayla injected, "I found him sitting in an alcove on the third floor last night, just staring out into the darkness. I slept sitting in his lap. I doubt if he even closed his eyes. At least, every time I roused, he wasn't breathing like he was asleep."

Dave frowned. "Jeff, ol' buddy, I'm getting worried about you. Why don't you wake Little One up and have her check you out? Nobody can do without sleep forever."

Jeff put his forkful of pancake down, his appetite waning. "She says she was able to partially tap into the energy of the dimensions a while back, but wasn't able to use or control all the power that is available. Her self-modifications this time are supposed to again increase the amount of that power she can use."

Dave frowned as he considered. "How can she have that much power going through such a small body..."

"She doesn't. She utilizes the power — guides and controls it, as best I can understand what she tries to tell me. And ... I have no real idea what this 'power' actually is. Hell, I don't even understand how she heals us, or enhances our bodies."

"And you still don't know what keeps bugging you?"

Jeff sighed. "I don't know if there is anything at all, other than I feel ... uneasy — and it's getting worse, instead of better."

"Like something is going to happen?" Dave said, becoming more concerned. "Maybe we need to put this little trip off for a few days."

"No ... No. There's nothing wrong with your taking the girls to the zoo, or introducing them to your in-laws. As a matter of fact, that sounds good to me. Whatever this is, it doesn't concern that. At least I don't have any bad feelings about your trip, if that makes any sense."

Frank, Margaret and Captain Madison had been listening. All of them remembered the plane crash, of course, and after seeing the videos where Jeff's hunches had saved his team, Frank cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Jeff..."

"No," Jeff said before Frank could ask. "I don't have any feelings about you guys. Hell, I don't have any feelings about anyone. I just feel uneasy, and it's bugging me something fierce. I'm so fucking groggy from lack of sleep, and that's also driving me crazy, but when I shut my eyes, the feelings become worse — lots worse."

The conversation continued, but Jeff's mood didn't change. Later, on the monitor, he watched the helicopter leave with Frank, Margaret, Bill, Kathy and Jill aboard. Shortly, Dave, Evie, Linda, Kim, Susan and the three girls were headed for Denver and the zoo.

Helen herded her group of students toward the classroom, but Diana and Arlene held back. Both wanted to stay with Jeff for awhile.

A couple moments later, Jeff, Diana and Arlene were standing in the hallway just outside the kitchen. Diana took her husband's hand. "Hon, why don't you go back to the bedroom and try to take a nap? None of us are going anywhere. Nothing is going to happen. The only thing we have planned is the cleaning crew is coming in for their usual Monday cleanup. I've already arranged with the company to have a larger crew here Wednesday to give the whole place a once-over before the guests get here. Maybe with a little sleep, some of your anxiety will go away."

Jeff leaned against the wall. "Crap. Maybe you're right. But I think I'll just stretch out on my recliner in the living room. I'm so tired my brain feels like mush. I can't believe this is happening to me. Even when I have been in combat and had to do without sleep for days, I could sit and catnap to refresh myself. Now, every time I shut my eyes, this ... this ... whatever it is, comes back."

"Dad, go on in the living room, then. I'll bring you a glass of warm milk..."

Jeff made a face. "I always like very cold milk, especially with fresh doughnuts," he tried to joke. "I don't think I've ever tried hot milk, and I'm not sure I want to now, either," he chuckled.

"Well, you're going to get it, anyway," Arlene said as she stood on tiptoe to peck him on the mouth. "I'll be there with it in a minute."

Jeff made a face, but winked at Diana. When the women made up their minds, it was simpler to face the inevitable and do their bidding. What the heck. One glass of warm milk won't kill me, he thought as he turned toward the living room. Moving his recliner near the fire, he waited.

Shortly, Arlene came in and handed him the glass of milk, then stood waiting as he took a tentative taste, shrugged and downed the milk.

"How was it?"

"I like it better cold," he chuckled, "but it went down."

Arlene leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Why don't you go to bed? The crew is supposed to clean up in here, at least dust the room, and clean the fireplace. You can't sleep with them in here."

Jeff sighed, for some reason not wanting to go to the bedroom. "Just tell them to do this room first and get it over with. Even if I sleep all day, I don't have anything scheduled, anyway."

"Okay, we'll tell them to come in here first." Arlene started to walk out, then suddenly turned back to her father, "Dad, I love you. I love you as a father, and I love you as my mate, too. You know that don't you?"

Jeff reached up to put his arm behind her neck, pulling her down to him. Gently kissing her, trying to project his love, he answered, "Yeah. I know you do. And I love you more than life itself."

"Good," she giggled. "We'll talk about babies, later." Giggling at his expression, she ran out the door to find her mother and tell her what Jeff said about having the crew clean the living room first.

DENVER

After breakfast, Vasquez and Guterrez dropped the others off at the motel, then went on to the cleaning service to pick up their van and work orders for the day.

A little later at the cleaning company, "Regular cleanup at the Matthews' place just like always," Vasquez said as they got into the van and tossed the day's work orders on the dash. "You still uptight about this?"

Guterrez grimaced. "Yeah, but I've been this way on missions before. Let's just be careful."

"Always," Vasquez said as he started the van.

They unloaded the floor machines and other equipment at their rented mini warehouse building, so they would have room for the extra people, placed the prepared insulation panels in the van, then went back by the motel to pick up the others. Shortly, the six mercenaries and the Hagewoods were rolling toward the retreat.

"At least I won't have to be a fucking janitor after today," Guterrez chuckled.

"Well, I bet we've set some kind of record for the highest paid 'janitors' ever," Vasquez said with a laugh. "Everything goes down the way it's supposed to, we'll pay everyone off and have a big chunk of change in our account to boot." He had said it loudly enough so that the Hagewoods could hear in the back. Vasquez winked at Guterrez as they turned onto the Interstate, both of them knowing that the Hagewoods would both be dead if everything went according to plan.

Later they swung onto the first county road near Martha's restaurant. "Pull the curtain back a little so I can talk to the guys," Vasquez said loudly, knowing that they could hear him, but trying to reinforce his earlier, supposed, accidentally overheard comments about paying everyone off. When Guterrez pulled the insulating curtain open, Vasquez said, "We're going to start up some steep roads, then when we get to the driveway, it will really be steep. I'm not sure whether the security cameras have sound or not, but we're going to assume they do. So be fucking quiet. I mean dead quiet. It's important they think there's just the two of us in the van. Everyone understand that?" he finished, raising his voice.

When they all acknowledged, he reinterated, "One fucking peep out of you two — and I'm talking to the Hagewoods now — and I'm going to shoot you both dead. One fucking peep. I'll tell you just before we get to the drive. When I do, get hold of something to hang onto as we climb that steep driveway. The building itself is made like a fucking fortress. If they figure what's going on and lock us out, we'll have to blast the door open to get in. Then we'll have a gun battle in a fucking hallway, and they could hold out forever. Damn sure long enough to call for help. The phone and power cables are buried, but Guterrez will take out the phones as soon as we get in the building. Just do your jobs like we planned and everything will work out just fine."