Chapter 545

The Retreat

When Tosha stopped the SUV near the back door, Jeff and Kayla were waiting on the steps. Tosha had meant to tell Kei goodbye in the vehicle and then just return to Security Headquarters, but the Colonel was obviously waiting for them. She shut the motor off just as Kei released her seatbelt and leaned over to give Tosha an awkward hug.

“Thank you. I know that more was going on that I was not aware of, but even with whatever was happening on your radio, you found time to be a great friend this morning. I wish we could have spent more time in the dress shop, but there was no real use in the added stress for you, so I cut it short. I wish we could go shopping with only us,” she quietly said, “but I suppose that is not going to happen just now.”

“Not as long as this guy is free to try to hurt you or your mother,” Tosha said as she removed her seatbelt, in a hurry to see what the Colonel wanted. Remembering, she turned back to Kei, “I still wish you had let me pay for the dress, but thank you very, very much.”

“It really looked good on you, but I want you to wear it sometime when you visit us, please.”

“I would love to.” Tosha squeezed Kei’s hand and exited the vehicle. By the time Tosha had rounded the back of the SUV, Jeff was standing a few feet away. Coming to attention, he saluted her.

Tosha stopped, braced, returned the salute and said before she could catch herself, “Sir, neither of us is in uniform...”

“I was saluting a job well done, Trooper. Congratulations on your first command assignment. To be truthful, the Sergeant gave you a difficult assignment with your twofold responsibilities the first time you were in overall command. The first: to supervise your charge closely and keep her safe while also interacting with her. And two: to control the overall mission at the same time. That’s quite a responsibility with the number of people that you had to supervise with all that was going on.”

Tosha did, indeed, realize, and that was why she had stayed up half the night planning the mission. On the surface, it was just a simple escort mission, but with the very real possibility of attack, considering Tanaka’s disposition. Not only did Tosha have to worry about Kei’s office, but their trip was to include a gun shop, restaurant, dress shop and mall – all to add to her stress. With all the radio traffic as the team positioned themselves before Tosha and Kei arrived at each new location, well ... she hadn’t taken a totally calm breath until she shut the SUV’s motor off at the Retreat.

Jeff didn’t bother to say that Tosha’s backup would have intervened in a second if Tosha and Kei had come under attack, since her primary responsibility would have shifted to taking physical control of her charge should she not respond quickly enough.

Tosha was also smart enough to know that the Sergeant would have factored all that in, but she had not wanted to lose command of the mission. Somehow, I got through it, and thank goodness we weren’t attacked. She also knew and was humbled at the Sergeant’s obvious display of faith in her, even before the lie detector test. She also knew that giving her command of a mission was the Sergeant’s way of showing that he believed her as well as believing in her.

Tosha blushed as Kei hugged her again while whispering into her ear. “Thank you. I think we are going to become really good friends.”

Jeff didn’t hug Tosha, mainly because he knew that Security was watching their every move. “Come visit us – soon.”

“Uh, Kei has invited me...”

“And I meant it,” Kei broke in to say. “If you don’t come to visit on your own, I’ll call you again,” Kei warned her.

Kayla reached to take some of Kei’s packages as the two walked on toward the steps.

Jeff smiled at his Trooper. “Your Sergeant...” he began, but paused.

“Wanted to make a statement about believing in me,” Tosha returned while hoping the tears in her eyes didn’t show. “But, I want to take that lie detector test, anyway. That bastard did hit me first.”

“You sure about the test? The circumstances are probably enough to...”

“I want to remove any doubt. But, Sir, thank you for believing in me.”

“Always, Trooper,” he said before turning to his waiting wives.

Inside, Diana walked up to her husband. “Why did you let her go? I thought you were going to give her the present...”

“Next time, and ... we’ll let Kei invite her for a meal, and then give her the gun. I want it to come from Kei.”

“Well, she did manage to buy her a dress. I have a strong suspicion that you want to see her in it, hmmm, Husband?”

Jeff tensed but tried to play it down. “Well, she is a good-looking woman. I’d be a fool to not notice, even though you and my other wives are far prettier.”

“Liar,” Diana said as she tickled him, “but I love you, anyway.”

Ashley and Christine’s Rented House

It was near noon on a Saturday. Ashley Beavers and Christine Roberts (The call girls that Morales talked so much about) had graduated a month earlier, both with excellent grades. Their last semester had been difficult for them, but not necessarily just because of things winding up in college. A very dear friend of theirs had disappeared, and with the resulting depression, they just could not face “working.”

They needed money badly since they had recently been hired at an engineering company but had not yet drawn a paycheck. In addition, they could no longer remain in the small house they had been renting through the school. They weren’t students any longer and they had put the school administration off as long as they could. They had received a final eviction notice which stated that their possessions would be set on the street by Friday if they did not voluntarily comply. That time had passed, and now they worried every time they heard a vehicle stop on the street near their house.

“We could work for the agency tonight and tomorrow night,” Christine suggested, but it didn’t take a genius to realize that she hadn’t really meant it.

“Darnit,” Ashley groused, “we lived well before we had our degrees, but now that we have them, and ... good jobs, we have nothing.”

“We vowed that we would never sell ourselves again after we graduated...” Christine reminded.

“Yes, but ... we both know that we quit way too soon. It’s been months since we accepted a simple escort job, let alone anything afterward.”

“So, do you want to work again?”

“No,” Ashley snapped back. “We both know that the men who pay that much for an escort are going to expect something more than arm candy. I’m not going to do that kind of work – ever. I’m through with fucking older, rich guys so we can live. And ... I know you feel the same way. Darnit, where did he go, anyway?”

“His boss, too,” Christine said. “All you have to do is mention Mazarella to any of the guys that we know worked for him, and they suddenly decide that they need to be somewhere else.”

“Something bad has happened to Morales. I just know it,” Ashley quietly said as she sat to hold her head in her hands, all the while trying to fight back tears.

“Want something to drink?” Christine asked.

“Something as in water, since we don’t have anything else,” Ashley ground out.

“This is ridiculous,” Christine said, her voice quivering. “We have good jobs, but until payday, we don’t have a chance at even a cheap apartment – if there is any such thing. Somehow, we’re going to have to exist until we can pay the first and last months’ rent up front, plus insurance and a security deposit, probably. We’re going to have to live in our car for the next month, at least, well, if the repo people don’t find it, that is. There just isn’t any other way of us standing a chance to make ends meet – well, without selling ourselves again.”

From the kitchen a moment later, Ashley called out, “We still have a few cans of beans, a supply of Ramen noodles and a big jar of our old standby, no-name peanut butter, but that’s about it. The utilities are paid for the month,” she added as she walked back into the living room and plopped down on the couch beside Christine. “We can struggle through until payday, if the college doesn’t evict us before then. Of course, we’ll probably lose a few pounds until we get paid and can buy groceries.”

“The employee brochure from work made it clear that a salary advance was not an option, so that’s out, too. And ... chances are that they will hold back the first two weeks’ pay, too,” Christine said as she stared at the floor.

“Crap,” Ashley grumbled as she slumped back, “We’ve gone over this for days, but the fact is, we’re screwed until payday. If we do manage to survive until then, I suggest that we stay in one of those pay-by-the-week places that has a kitchenette, and we’ll have to live as frugally as we possibly can until we save up enough to rent a decent apartment. There just isn’t any other way.”

“At least, work seems to be going fine for both of us. Thank goodness they put each of us with an older engineer for training. Some of those younger guys can’t seem to keep their eyes off us.”

“Yeah, that blond haired guy – what’s his name?”

“John, Johnny or something like that.”

“Anyway, almost every time he comes by my desk, there’s a lump in his pants. He hasn’t said anything, though.”

“We don’t want to have to file a sexual harassment complaint when we’re still new on the job.”

“Yeah. I know. Just one more irritant we have to face.”

While the girls sat contemplating their woes, there was a knock on the door. The two stared at each other, both knowing that the eviction people were finally here.

With tears in her eyes, Ashley got up to open the door, saying as she did so, “Just let us get our personal items into our car and we’ll be out of your...” but her voice trailed away as she realized that she was talking to two people dressed in army uniforms – Lieutenants, she thought.

The male glanced at an open folder in his hands that contained their pictures. “I assume that you are Ms. Ashley Beavers, Ma’am.”

“Uh, I’m Ashley Beavers. What do you...”

“I’m Lieutenant Caldwell and this is Lieutenant Cox. We also need to speak with a Ms. Christine Roberts, Ma’am.”

Christine was at the door by then. “What’s this? Why...”

“Could we please come inside?” the female Lieutenant asked.

“But what...”

“We would really like to speak to the two of you in private,” Lieutenant Caldwell insisted.

Both call girls’ immediate thoughts were that they were going to be busted for prostitution, but these weren’t cops, and why now, since they hadn’t done anything in so long? Christine and Ashley passed a glance as they both suddenly remembered. There was an older Army Colonel that had been a steady customer. He had always met them in a luxurious hotel room and wore civilian clothes, having told them that it was vitally important to his career to keep his meetings with them a secret. He wasn’t married or claimed not to be. Their ... meetings were spaced well apart and he tipped well, obviously having an income other than the military. But both girls were now afraid that this had somehow returned to bite them in the butt.

“Look, we have problems enough. We’re about to be evicted...”

“You are not in any trouble with us,” the female said, “but we have confidential information that would best be discussed inside. Please.”

Reluctantly, the girls stepped back to allow their guests to enter. Inside a moment later, Christine and Ashley, both well versed in polite society since they actually performed as highly-paid escorts to various functions, in addition to, shall we say, their sideline work, ushered the two officers to seats.

“We apologize, but all we have to offer is water,” Ashley said.

“That won’t be...” the male started but was interrupted by his female counterpart.

“That would be nice. Thank you,” Lieutenant Cox inserted.

“Certainly,” Christine said as she motioned with her eyes for Ashley to come with her.

“It will be just a moment,” the two young women said in unison because of their nervousness, then both had to force back nervous giggles as they hurried into the kitchen.

“What the hell do you suppose they want?” Ashley whispered a moment later as she filled a glass with ice and handed it to her partner to fill with water. “Do you suppose it has anything to do with that Colonel?” she continued while filling another glass with ice.