Chapter 82

Jeff had just dialed his next door neighbor who lived a mile down the road.

"Steve Sperman here."

"Hi Mr. Sperman. This is Jeff. How's it going?"

"Hmmm. Didn't we have a discussion about that Mr. thing?"

Jeff chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we did, Steve. How's Marcie doing?"

There was a hesitation. "You know, that's a funny thing, like I mentioned before. Seems like after the night we spent at your place, ol' Uncle Arthur (arthritis) suddenly got much better. Odd that both of us would just suddenly get better and at the same time. I don't know about our osteoporosis, have to be tested to find out about that, but anyway, we feel so much better that we went skiing yesterday — the way we used to ski, not having to restrict ourselves to the easier slopes. We had an absolute ball. And ... you're not going to believe this, but we... look younger."

"Hey, that's great," Jeff replied, a little worried that Sperman would put things together and really wonder what happened that night at the retreat when Little One covertly visited the couple — maybe they already had, for Steve and Marcie were far from being the dullest knives in the drawer.

Need to get off that subject, Jeff thought. "Say, there are a couple things I would like to talk to you about. First off, Frank, Margaret and all the Matthews family would like to invite you and Marcie to Frank and Margaret's wedding Friday night. It's going to be at sunset, so you probably need to be here about 5:30 P.M. or so to get a good seat. There's going to be a lot of people, most of them staying here Thursday until Saturday morning."

"We wouldn't want to impose..."

"We'll bring down your invitation. You're not imposing; far from it. Things have been happening and we didn't get the invitation mailed on time."

"Bringing the invitation down isn't necessary, Jeff, the phone call will certainly suffice."

"Yeah, but my daughter gets to drive, so you're going to get it hand delivered."

Jeff could hear the laughter in Sperman's voice. "In that case, then by all means, we need the written invitation."

"She'll be right down with it, and she's bringing the girls you haven't met yet so you can get acquainted."

"We'll be waiting for them."

"Oh, yeah, Steve. I almost forgot. I hope the noise of the helicopters didn't bother you this morning."

"No, of course not. I think I did hear one earlier, but the sound was barely noticeable. I only heard it because I was outside blowing the snow off the walk. I did see a couple lumber trucks going your way, though. Are you adding to something?"

"Actually, we're fixing up the ski lodge, but you don't have to worry, we're not opening it up to the public. Oh, something else: The property between your house and mine? We're in the final stages with that. So one day soon, I'll own everything between us. That way, no one can build on it or anything. I want to leave the land just like it is. Thought you might want to know that."

"That makes us feel a lot better. We moved way up here to get away from noisy neighbors, and we love the quiet — and our retirement. We talked about buying that land just to keep it from being built up, but we just didn't have the money to do it — at least not comfortably. You're a good neighbor, Jeff."

"We think the same thing about you two, Steve. Oh, yeah, Frank started up a helicopter service, so most of the guests will be coming in on one of his copters. There'll be quite a few trips in and out for the next few days."

"Like I said, I could barely hear the helicopter this morning, and there are too many trees and part of the mountain in the way, so I couldn't see it at all. No problem for us."

"That's good, Steve. Arlene will be down with your invitation in a few minutes. Take care."

"Be waiting for her."

After hanging up the phone, Jeff turned to his daughter. "You need to call Lieutenant Mayfield and let him know where you're going, and give him time to set it up. We're going to have to get used to this. The ski lodge's number is in the index by the phone."

But Arlene, having anticipated, was already dialing.

Jeff had told Mayfield that Arlene would need to go a mile down the road, and the Lieutenant had said it would not be a problem. He just wanted to make sure he had enough personnel before Jeff or his family went out of range of the cameras.

A few minutes later, "It takes seven of them to deliver an invitation one mile down the road?" Jeff said with a smile as he and Diana watched the girl's Escalade going down the driveway.

"You're not worried about her driving on these mountain roads?" Diana said, obviously doing just that.

"She has her license, and it's Arlene we're talking about. You know damn well I trust her — well, mostly," he admitted. "Besides she knows she's on video all the way. Not to say anything about the troopers who just went down in front of her in one of the other Escalades. We're going to share our vehicles with the security people until they get theirs in."

"That's the reason the General is ordering Escalades, isn't it? With the tinted windows, it will be hard to tell we even have security, at least until they get out of the vehicle for some reason."

"Yep. He just added to our 'parade, ' I guess. Shit. I already hate this, but if that's what it takes to keep my family safe..." he finished. "Oh, yeah. Steve said he could barely hear the copter this morning. Apparently he thought there was just one. If he could barely hear those two big helicopters, I doubt if he'll ever notice our regular shuttle helicopters. So I think we'll get away without too much curiosity from the neighbors when the General sends in equipment."

As the Escalade reached the bottom of the driveway, the guard stepped out, motioning for Arlene to lower her window.

"Here, Ma'am, take this. We'll soon have all your vehicles fitted with radios, and each of you will also have one of these," he said, handing her a small radio about the size of a cell phone, and disguised to look like one. "This turns it on and off, and this button here on the side is the transmit key. It's on our frequency. The radio's range is about fifteen miles in these mountains, sometimes a little less, depending on where you are. The ones that will be installed in the vehicles will have a better range, still. It's scrambled, so no one can hear you, other than us."

"Thank you, Mr. Carter."

"No problem Ma'am. The road is clear. You may proceed. Take care," he finished, stepping back from the window.

"All this scares the crap out of me," Jennie fretted as Arlene raised the window and they started on.

"You're not by yourself," Melissa added.

Arlene eased out of the driveway onto the county road, turning left. "They're protecting Daddy. We belong to him, so we're part of the package, I think."

"He's cute," Whitney said, looking out the back.

"Keep that up and I'll tell Daddy. He'll tan your butt," Arlene laughed.

"Oh, I said he was cute. I didn't say I wanted to sleep with him," Whitney quickly said.

"In other words, she's horny," Nat said with a giggle.

"Well, aren't you?" Whitney shot back.

"Yes," they all said, laughing.

Half a mile later, Ann had been staring out her window. "I haven't seen any cameras, or any disturbed snow where they've put them up. But Jeff said we would be on camera most all the way."

"Can't see where Dickwad got splattered at the end of the retreat, either," Melissa said. "They could have used a snow blower to cover their tracks just like those forensic people did. Or maybe the security guys used one of those bucket truck things like the power company uses. That way there would be no tracks on the snow under the trees or on the side of the road."

"I didn't see a bucket truck come up the road."

Ann was still looking hard out her window. "Well, whatever they used, I haven't seen a camera, or any of their sensors, let alone any disturbed snow, other than just where the plow has been."

Arlene slowed to a crawl as she got to the Sperman's driveway. There was a crunch and a thump as she maneuvered the big SUV across a small terrace of snow where the Sperman's snowplow had turned into the county road. "I hope that didn't hurt anything," Arlene worried.

"Oh, silly, it's just a rut from the plow, and a chunk of ice. You didn't hurt anything."

Arlene stopped the SUV in the driveway where she was obviously supposed to park. "Oh, crap. I'm going to have to back up to turn around when we leave."

"Will you quit fretting," Ann demanded. "You sound like an old maid," she finished with a small chuckle. "Besides, you back up at home all the time when we check out the vehicles or gas them up." Then with a little giggle, "Anybody who would snowboard that driveway shouldn't be upset about turning a car around. Now let's go see the Spermans."

"Yeah, but I've never had everybody in the car with me when I drove," Arlene answered.

Giggling, the girls were careful when they got out of the vehicle, worrying that they would track snow into the Sperman's home. On the porch, Jennie had just reached for the buzzer, when the door opened. "My, my, my," Steve said as he flung the door wide. "Come on in out of the cold." Then calling out to his wife, "Marcie, they're here."

The short visit went well with Marcie insisting they all try a new cookie recipe she had just taken out of the oven. Arlene gave Marcie the invitation and made sure that she and Steve promised to be there.

Arlene very carefully backed and turned, checking repeatedly that she wasn't backing into anything, Jennie and Melissa teasing her unmercifully. As they turned in to the retreat's driveway, the guard stopped them and did a slow walk-by their vehicle. Their security's SUV stopped on the county road and waited until the girls' vehicle started up the driveway before the security vehicle headed back to the ski lodge.

"This is going to get old very quickly," Jeff said as they watched the monitor in the kitchen.

"The security or Arlene driving?" Diana asked.

"Both," Jeff sighed.

Frank had commented that the less he had to do with the planning of the wedding, the less strife there would be between his wife-to-be and himself. But, rather than get in an argument with Margaret, he went along with the others to meet the helicopter. So Frank, Margaret, Jeff, Diana, Kayla and one of Jeff's team were standing at the end of the parking area as Reed maneuvered to land. There were intermittent gusts of wind but the pilot had warned them to stay well clear of the pad in case he had to abort.

The copter was about ten feet off the ground when the strong gust slammed into it. The engine roared as the machine skittered backward about fifty feet, wobbling slightly as Reed fought the cross winds. The second approach when the gust died down was easily successful, and Reed put the copter gently on the pad.

Margaret, still amazed that Frank had ridden in any aircraft without Bill at the controls, turned to Frank. "Don't start."

Frank grinned at her. "Hell, he handled the copter with the strong gust hitting at the wrong instant. Besides, Bill is always sitting up front when we come in." There was a pause, "Of course, I would probably have to change my underpants about now if I had been on that thing, though."

Jeff laughed. "Me, too. Helicopters are not my favorite mode of transportation. There are too many systems that have to all work perfectly. Something goes wrong and while the pilot is trying to figure out how to fix it, the thing is sailing along like a concrete block."

Kayla's eyes were locked on the helicopter as the rotors gradually came to a stop. "I know Reed said that he only picked up the wedding planner and her daughter, but we've been fooled once; it isn't going to happen again." Kayla's hands were jammed into the pockets of the big coat she wore, her Glock nestled into the palm of her right hand. The guard beside them was equally alert, but with the helmet he wore, he already had far more information than Kayla had.