Chapter 36

Surprise might have been the big thing for the new arrivals but these happenings were old hat for the folks already here. Geron made the rounds of the houses speaking to the muscle that had watched over the properties. Alain, Pierre's former majordomo and now mine by default, went to explain how things were going to be to his counterparts in the newly arrived homes.

There was no need for me to try to work out the details, even if some of the new people could speak English. In fact, I hadn't even had to bother with organizing most of the things that were being taken care of now. Fawne was turning out to be quite an administrator, and I was happy enough about that. She had everyone moving before my newly increased household party made it to the breakfast table.

Harriette and her nearly naked serving crew had things squared away where it mattered most, at the table. She must have been quizzing someone about my eating habits too, because the pastries and such that were usually scattered around everywhere had been put farther down the table from me this morning. That had been done to make room for what I called solid food.

Easily within my reach were serving dishes piled high with scrambled and fried eggs - one platter of each - a mountain of bacon and a smaller one of ham, and all the cat head biscuits a man could dream of. Did I mention the flapjacks; they were in abundance too, along with a pitcher of syrup and a big tub of butter. I ate like a pig, but tried not to make the hog noises.

About halfway through the meal one of the scantily clad servers came from the kitchen, whispered something into Fawne's ear, and then left. I wasn't too curious, but Fawne clued me in anyway.

"After we've finished breakfast and coffee we should all go to your study. Alain wants to introduce the main members of the now combined staffs and Geron wants to do the same for the men he met. It won't take long and all you need to do is be there and look important," she said, grinning.

"I can do that. Maybe I should put on my biggest cowboy hat," I said, teasing.

"That is an excellent idea. What is a cowboy hat?" she asked.

"He doesn't even have his best one here, Meka and I will go to the other house for it after we're done," Jaycee said.

"We get scalps too. Hang all scalps in study," Meka said, grinning.

"Perhaps Meka is right. They are gruesome but they will tend to stifle objections," Fawne said.

It sounded a little gruesome to me too, but what the hell, most of this trip had been full of gruesome incidents. Hell, it beat politics and I wasn't going to complain.

Of course gathering them up took longer than expected, but I didn't care. I knew it was going to take Geron and Alain longer than they'd thought too. After breakfast was done, my young harem and I went to the study and gabbed until Alain showed up.

He ushered in four men and they all introduced themselves. Every one of them could speak English and they all seemed just as glad to be under new management. No doubt the fact that their former employers were very dead made them think practical thoughts. Being moved, building and all, in the middle of the night couldn't have left them feeling very safe and secure either.

Geron was next, and his bunch couldn't speak a word of English. They did at least provide a little excitement. In the first place he brought more of them. Two from each of my new homes in fact.

They were what I had envisioned - muscle. They weren't trained fighting men since that wouldn't be necessary in the city. They were basically thugs with nicer clothes. I could tell they would be rough and ready fighters in the type of brawl that might break out on city streets.

The excitement came when one of them pulled a knife and rushed me, shouting something about Pierre in French and intending to do me in. Jaycee and I both palmed our Glocks and shot him. Both rounds took him center of mass. He didn't even wiggle much as he bled out.

"Scalp Daddy. Don't forget scalp," Meka said, just as he stopped kicking.

What the hell, she liked for me to do it and I didn't really mind. I pulled my belt knife, grabbed a handful of hair, and started slicing. I didn't pay any attention to the others as I was at it.

Meka was right there to take it when I was done and even though it was still dripping blood, she took it over and hung it among the others. She had made a little display of them on one wall.

I looked at the other street toughs as she was doing it and I could tell they had been impressed by the whole thing. I'm not sure it was favorably impressed, but I was pretty sure it was going to cut way down on backtalk.

Coming out of his surprised silence, Geron started apologizing and even though it was French I knew what he was doing. Fawne translated.

"Hell, don't worry about it Geron. I don't mind if a man wants me to kill him and take his hair. I need a little excitement every now and then," I said, after Fawne's translation was done.

Of course she had to translate again, for Geron and the remaining new men. They all tried to smile and go with the joke, but Geron was the only one that looked convincing. They were even more surprised a few seconds later when Geron told them to strip the guy naked and then haul him away, leaving his clothes where they were.

Geron ushered them out with the dead weight after that and he was telling them something - then he laughed.

"What was that last about, Fawne?" I asked.

"Geron told them that you liked to strip your victims naked and save all their clothes and weapons for mementos. He warned them not to make you mad if their short clothes were dirty or had holes, since all the world would know it quickly," Fawne said, and then we all laughed about it.

Alain proved his efficiency again by bringing up a couple of men to try getting most of the blood cleaned up. He apologized, saying that it would probably leave a stain in the Persian rug.

"No matter," Fawne told him, "Perhaps it will make the next fool think twice before acting."

"I wonder what set him off so early in the morning?" I asked, but to no one in particular.

"He was one of Pierre's bastards. No doubt he thought he would get revenge on the man who killed his father," Fawne said.

"Well, I guess he did. He stained my rug."

A few minutes later Tutsie and I were the only ones left in my study. Jaycee took off to make sure Damien and Percy were getting along ok on their first batch of students. Fawne and the rest of the women took off to tour their former city homes, and Meka grabbed the fresh scalp to take it somewhere to dry. Apparently hanging it among the others had been for the benefit of the tough guys in attendance.

Tutsie went over to stand by my chair behind the table/desk and waited patiently until I took the hint and sat down. Then he hopped into my lap and began a terrible battle with one of my fingers. I was wounded early, and often.

He kept it up for about ten minutes and then stopped and hopped onto the table, curling up for a short snooze. What the hell, I fished out one of Pierre's cigars and had a smoke. I'd just gotten it going when Francine appeared with coffee and a few pastries. Being a Baron wasn't half bad, even if it could get a little boring.

About an hour and a half later Jaycee was back. She said Percy and Damien were doing well with their new job. She was also happy about getting some of the little drone helicopters up and flying.

"Who is flying them?" I asked.

"They pretty much fly themselves, at least that's what the instructions I found said. They're even supposed to give a warning signal if the weather gets bad or the wind is too strong for them," she said.

"But don't you need to watch over the controls or something?" I asked.

"I guess it's best to keep an eye on them, but there are supposed to be controls in your theater room. Come on, let's see if we can find them," she said, heading for the door to the room we'd watched from before.

Jaycee spotted a glowing handprint and went right to it. When she put her hand on it part of the back wall started moving and in a minute or so a desk with a flat panel display, a big joystick, and rows of gauges and meters had slid into place. She sat at a chair that also came along and flicked a switch or two.

Suddenly the giant screen on the front wall came to life. I took a seat to watch the show.

The screen was split into four viewing areas and each of them was showing a bird's eye view of their section of the French countryside. It was obvious that the cameras were moving.

"Where are they going?" I asked Jaycee.

"They are set on a pattern to work their way out from the launch point and scan everything. They're supposed to give a signal if they sense groups of people but they'll ignore one or two. The group size can be adjusted," she said.