Chapter 81

Jeff pushed the door of the theater open with his foot and walked in holding three go-cups of coffee in a cluster in front of him. "And what are my two senior wives doing in here at this time of the morning?" he asked in a teasing voice as Laura jumped up to help him with the coffee.

"Might have known you would have coffee," Diana said, refusing to verbally answer about the reason they were in the theater, but her blush answered for her, anyway.

"Thought you didn't want to see that thing," he said as he sat between his wives.

Diana took a sip of her coffee. "This always tastes better when you fix it."

Laura chuckled. "Hah. She's just building up your ego so you'll fix her coffee more often."

"Well, if it does actually taste better when I fix it for you, it's probably because I put a little more cream in it than you do," he said with a fake leer.

He laughed a little and hugged them, knowing the coffee didn't taste any better, but it made him feel good about it, anyway. "We're going to have to stop meeting like this," he said after taking a sip. "Haven't you two heard of sleeping in that nice bed of ours? We even have brand-new carpet on the floors. But seriously, Di, I didn't expect you to get up in the middle of the night to watch this thing," he finished as he nodded toward the DVD player.

"Moth to a flame, I guess," his Queen said. "I couldn't get it off my mind. I just gave up and dragged Laura down here with me." Diana took another sip of her coffee, then after a second's hesitation, spun toward her husband. "Damnit Jeff, he could have killed you. And where did he get off using that big knife, anyway? He was quick. I wouldn't have had time to even move, yet you broke his wrist and ... killed him. He didn't go by the rules..."

Jeff chuckled. "There were no rules, just a command to engage, and he didn't wait for that. I had watched him train our new people, and I even had an advanced class under him. I figured he wouldn't wait for the command to start, so I was ready."

"You didn't look ready," Laura injected. "You just seemed to be standing there, relaxed. The next instant, he was lying on the floor."

Jeff sat quiet for a moment. "He had an awful lot of training and he was fast. But I just used his anger against him. It was obvious in the cell when he challenged me that he would do anything to kill me. I guess he just figured a quick strike before the fight officially started would either kill me or weaken and slow me down so he could more easily kill me later. A certain amount of anger in a fight can be a good thing, but too much can change things in the other direction. He knew he was dead, anyway. The General had already sentenced him to death. Buckmann let his anger and greed destroy his career and subsequently, his life. If the General had forbidden the fight, I would have just volunteered to be on the firing squad. I was going to kill the bastard one way or the other."

They sipped their coffee for a time, then Laura looked up at him, "We prayed for you. Arlene led us in a chain prayer the way she did for Joyce. Your Queen was beside herself with worry. Please don't do anything like that again."

When Jeff started to respond, Laura interrupted with a last comment, "I know you feel you had to do it. I guess it's a man thing. But what you do affects us, and that really, really scared us."

"I'm sorry," Jeff sighed. "I just could not let anyone get away with attacking my family. I had to send a message."

Laura ran the short video once more — the first time Jeff had seen it, then they finished their coffee while talking about the coming wedding. Finally, "You ladies ready to go back to bed? Five-thirty is going to come early."

"No," Laura said, standing to pull Jeff's shirt up and eventually off. "I've been thinking about using this backless bench for a while now. I've seen something like this on one of the sex toy websites." By then, Diana was working his pants off.

Jeff realized she was right. If the woman lay on her back with her rear close to the end of the bench, she was a perfect height for him to sit or kneel and have lunch — pussy lunch. They staggered back to bed an hour later. As Arlene snuggled up to him, she sniffed and said, "Your face smells like pussy." With a little chuckle, she was again asleep.

6:00 A.M. WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 16

They had just had their morning blessing for their food when Jeff asked, "The guys not coming up for breakfast this morning?"

Diana and Dave started to answer at the same time. Diana nodded to him, and Dave said, "Your wives sent down breakfast food last night. One of the guys said he could cook and wanted to try out the lodge kitchen."

"I thought as much," Jeff answered. "The General said he would have a supply helicopter in here this morning, and the security detail is also supposed to get here later today."

Dave cleared his throat, "Uh, Jeff, I've made some decisions — well, the security detail lieutenant and I did. As you know, he came in yesterday with the helicopters. Anyway, we're getting together this morning so he can go over some more of his needs and recommendations with me."

Dave took a bite of eggs, then looked back at his Prime. "Look, I know we've had a discussion a while back about security. You were adamant about not putting a guard on the bottom of the drive, because of his/her safety. If someone really wants up here, they just drive up, smile, and when the guard walks up to the window of the car, they just shoot him and drive on. But with what's happened..."

"Things have changed," Jeff offered, his voice quiet.

"Uh, yeah. And we're not talking about doing this with some rent-a-cop outfit, either. Your guys are professionals — combat professionals. And yeah, I know that the group that's coming today isn't your team, and the part of your team that is still here will be going back to the base shortly, but still, this Lieutenant Mayfield tells me that the General has given orders that anyone assigned to your security must be a certified combat specialist. Jeff, Whitworth is serious about this. Even Lieutenant Mayfield is impressed with the equipment the General is going to send. And the security team here will be augmented by people back at the base, satellite coverage, and data base usage. Stuff like that. Jeff, I don't know if you realize it or not, but Whitworth is planning to move in some heavy stuff. When he's done, this place won't be a pushover for anything. He's damn serious about your security. Damn serious."

"Yeah, we discussed it some, but we didn't have time to go into detail. But he made some concessions to me about some other things, and I gave him more or less free rein about security here, as long as he keeps most of it concealed."

Dave downed half a big glass of orange juice. "Man that's good," then continuing with their conversation, "One of the first things we did after moving the downed tree and that boulder was to expand the helipad so the big copters could set down easily at the lodge. Of course, we can't pour concrete until spring — well, not without a lot of hassle, anyway — but what we have will work. Whitworth is expediting a guardhouse for the sentry, and is sending one of those portable barriers to go at the foot of the drive. The arm works with a remote that the guard can activate from his belt. The gate guard's house is coming in via truck. Hell, the thing looks sharp as can be, at least the picture of it does. We're going to put an outside on it that will match the retreat, and armor the inside of it so the guard isn't a sitting duck. He's also going to have an escape hatch in the floor in case the shit hits the fan for real. He'll also have backup hidden just past the first turn on up the road toward the lodge. They can be there in less than a minute with a lot of firepower.

"As soon as the wedding is behind us, we'll put in a permanent barrier bar, and two separate real barriers that the guard can pop up with a press of a button from his belt. The first barrier past the bar is one of those evil looking things that have eighteen inch curved spikes to destroy the tires and impale a vehicle. The second barrier on up the drive is a four foot height steel wall that not only will stop a loaded dump truck running sixty miles an hour, but the wall also has something like claymore mines built into it. We're talking major construction here, but when it's done, nothing, and I mean nothing that guard doesn't want to come up that driveway will, and ... those barriers will be tied to systems that monitor the guard's vitals. Vitals start to go down and the barriers will come up and arm themselves."

Eating and conversations at the table had come to a gradual halt as everyone picked up on what Dave was saying. Now, save Frank and Margaret, everyone seemed to be a bit stunned.

Jeff glanced over at Wainwright, "You don't seem surprised at this."

Frank chuckled a little, glanced at Margaret, then back at Jeff. "Well, as you know ... we, uh, do a little business with the General. That final barrier was one of our inventions — well, not an invention exactly. Just a modification to increase its ability to do its job, you might say."

"In other words, you put teeth in it," Jeff laughed.

"And ... we came up with a way to make it stronger. It will give a tank serious pause," Wainwright finished.

Dave hesitated, then, "Boss, I may have overstepped..."

Jeff waved a forkful of scrambled eggs negligently at him. "No. You simply did your job, and did it well. Both you and Evie, for I know she was in this, too. You're my project manager and she's your assistant. I'm the one remiss by not allowing you to set up a security checkpoint to start with like you wanted. I just didn't want to endanger a guard at the bottom of that driveway. It still concerns me. He's vulnerable. Way too vulnerable to suit my tastes. But I guess I have no choice in this if I'm to protect my family. But what about the wedding? To be plain about it, a lot of these people coming in are rich, right Frank?"

Wainwright put his fork down and looked at Margaret, who nodded to him. Turning back to Jeff, "Most are," Frank said. "And some of them can be a little... obtuse from time to time because of their money, but generally they're all good people. Margaret and I discussed this yesterday afternoon. Weather permitting, the majority of them will arrive on the copters, but some will come by land vehicle, and thus, up the driveway. We know at least one member of every family very well, but may not know the spouse nearly as well. A couple are bringing along grown kids who will eventually take over the family's company. But we will be able to at least recognize everyone."

"Uh, Frank, the Lieutenant says everybody coming off a copter will be scanned..." Dave broke in.

"After what's happened, Margaret and I expected that. We've sent out an e-mail to everyone we invited. We didn't mince any words. We told them we sincerely wanted them to attend our wedding, but since there had been a serious incident involving the Matthews family, everyone coming to the retreat, including our guests, must enter the facility through scanning equipment. This includes luggage as well. If they don't wish to accept the use of the scanners, the alternative is to not come to the wedding. We're going to have a handout ready for everyone to read that will reiterate this before they board the helicopters at the airport. Anyone who doesn't agree will be allowed to stay in a nice suite in town at our expense until they can arrange transportation home — at their own expense."

"Frank, I don't want this to interfere..."

"Remember, a lot of these people are being invited because of business relationships between their companies and ours. True friends won't bitch about being scanned for weapons, and so forth. The others, at worst, will cost me a little money from loss of business. Screw them if they do. Margaret and I are not worried about it, and neither should you be."

"We're together on this one hundred percent," Margaret added, "so like Frank just said, no use you worrying about it."

"I appreciate you guys," Jeff said. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Well, for one thing, you would probably have sold your radar to some other company for more money," Frank laughed. "But seriously, Jeff, and the rest of you," he said, looking around, "we don't want our wedding to be a burden on you. We're worried enough about you guys pretending to be staff. What if..."

"My daughter has a run-in with one of the guests," Jeff injected, grinning. "I can't very well bring out the Healer to heal their broken bones."

Arlene stuck her tongue out at him.

Everyone laughed, but Jeff was more than a little serious, and he knew that Arlene was not the only one who might violently retaliate toward unwanted physical attention. Helen could take care of herself, and very well, indeed, to put it mildly, not to mention Kayla. Helen had been giving all his wives martial arts lessons, almost daily. He could just envision one of them throwing some old rich fart over a shoulder and breaking his back. It was one thing to have one very good looking and sexy woman in the house, but there was a profusion of them here. Even with the discipline of his team, he had still seen their eyes occasionally stray toward his wives as they walked past. I should have put my foot down about all of my wives pretending to be staff. Then in a total reversal about his worrying about one of his wives hurting someone, not even noticing the incongruity, If some asshole gropes one of my women, there is going to be an ass stomping, and it won't be coming from one of my wives.

HELICOPTER APPROACHING ... CORRECTION, TWO HELICOPTERS APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH, the computer announced.

The phone rang. "Matthews residence, Kayla speaking," she said as she put the phone on speaker.

The voice identified herself and the pilot of the second helicopter, also. "Permission to land at the ski resort."

At a nod from Jeff, "Permission granted," Kayla announced.

"Something else we're going to have to deal with," Jeff said when Kayla hung up.

"Security will take care of it shortly," Dave said. "They will okay the aircraft or not, and notify us. One day soon, that permission to land will be a very serious thing. And once the installations are complete and the pilots are told what is tracking them, they will be very, very serious about obtaining that permission, too.

"Best I can tell, your General has lit a fire under the security lieutenant's ass. He said the General told him, quote, he didn't give a rat's ass what it cost as long as you and your family were safe, end quote."

"Ah, crap," Jeff fretted, "this is going to turn into a ... three ring circus," he said, amending a much cruder statement at the last moment.

"I don't think so, Boss. From what the Lieutenant said, shouldn't be anything showing but a very nice looking gate guardhouse and a 'security guard' in a very spiffy uniform. We're far enough away from any neighbors, and with the mountains, people shouldn't even notice the copters coming in and out, and even those will be setting down at the ski lodge, unless it is our copters coming in here."

Kayla finally got a chance and spoke up. "We don't need to let our guard down now that the attack is over. It's easy to relax vigilance after the emergency is over, and that makes us even more vulnerable."

Diana looked up from cutting a piece of her pancake, topped with strawberries and whipped cream, "Oh, crap. Do you think there really is a possibility of another attack?"

Jeff let out a sigh. "There's still the politician the General talked about. And from Buckmann's confession, this politician is really high level and probably hard to get to," he said, deliberately leaving things vague. "I have no idea how the General is going to take care of him, but Whitworth says it's in the works. But ... Kayla is right. This politician could have a way to find out what's happened here, and might very well be desperate. If he doesn't know he's already been outed, he might try to make sure we don't talk to anyone. Just as terrorists often set off a bomb, then a second one when the rescuers arrive, we could be hit again, maybe a lot more openly this time."

Diana's face lost a lot of its color. "And we're going to have a great many people here for the wedding who we don't know, and a lot of deliveries as well..."

"But," Jeff broke in, emphasizing the word, "we have professionals who have some very sophisticated equipment at their disposal. And according to General Whitworth, before the day is out, there will be a lot more of that equipment here, and the personnel to operate it. We just continue to be careful and also continue to be suspicious of everything and everyone. Frank and Margaret are here until Saturday. The two of them will recognize and okay all the visitors and the wedding planner.

"There will be positive identification of everyone who comes here from now on, with background checks to begin as soon as possible. A log will be kept on everyone who comes here for any reason. All this information and more will go into permanent databases which will be constantly scanned for suspicious patterns so we can spot trouble before it happens. That would have stopped Buckmann and his confederate."