Chapter 26

I thought fast. I had forgotten about the microphones when my testosterone level rose. As quick as I could, I said, "I'm afraid you fell for my plan. I had found the three bugs in the house, the two in the van and the one on the phone. I hope you enjoyed our performance."

"You did not know at all."

"Then tell me how I knew how many bugs there were? Do you want me to tell you exactly where they are? Now that your blackmail bolt has failed, what do you want?"

"We will talk about it later after you think about what will happen when this tape goes to the police."

"That would be interesting because we have the same tape along with this conversation." There was an abrupt disconnection and I checked the display again. There was no caller ID.

Jonna was not quite asleep and reacted to what had almost happened. "What are your plans now?"

"We take out the bugs tomorrow morning and look for more."

"Then what?"

"We wait for their next move while we try to continue with business."

The mood in the house changed. We searched for and extracted the bugs. I had plans to use them ourselves one day. We would now have to put up with somebody following us.

We drove into the city with two cars and we saw that a vehicle had followed us. I spoke on a radio to a man that helped put the security system in our home. Miraculously some kids driving a stolen car collided with the one following us. The kids then fled the scene. A few blocks later we were in two rental car stored in a mall parking lot.

We entered the mall and picked up all the new releases in DVD format for Bejek. With a little dubbing we could have Ladra subtitled. People had to learn more English. The youngsters were shown the arcade and we wasted a few hours but it was fun for me to watch the kids having fun.

Later, we went to Toronto and hit the military surplus stores and bought the toys that would actually keep us alive. Gun cleaning kits we bought by the gross.

The knives were under glass and I usually got a lot of them because they were so useful and much stronger than those made in Bejek.

The proprietor came over and I said, "How many of these knives do you have in stock?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I thought you were trying to sell them. That's fine, we can go down the street."

"I'm sorry, Sir. Let me check on the computer." He came back later and said, "Fifty six, Sir."

"I'll give you twelve bucks each and you pay the tax if you want the deal."

"They cost almost nineteen each."

"I want them all. Now, how many of those others are in stock?"

In a moment he came back. "A hundred and seventy six."

"I'll give you eleven each. Do you have any exceptional knives?"

"Those behind me."

I gave a quick look and said, "Those are for children that like shiny toys. I want quality."

There was a box under the counter with an assortment of knives. I tapped them and then tried to bend the blade under my foot and they looked good. Camsa picked up one and the owner said, "Watch that. Those are sharp."

Camsa tossed the knife and caught it and tried to get a feel for it. The boy commented, "It has poor," he talked to me mentally then he added, "balance."

The owner looked peeved and said, "How would you know?"

Camsa looked at me and got permission so he took the knife and turned swiftly and threw the knife to the back of the store. The blade stuck in a two by four that was used as a post to support some old camo uniforms. Nobody was in the back so this was safe but possibly costly if Camsa destroyed something.

While the owner acted like a fish out of water, Camsa said, "I had to — twist more than needed."

Caiti reached for a knife and she said, "Watch me."

I took the weapon from her and said, "You can play at home, Sweetie. Camsa was explaining that he knows more about knives than the proprietor thought."

"Can I get a new knife?"

"Yes, if we come to a deal here. You have to practice too."

"I will, I promise."

We bought all the night sights the store had and the youngsters wanted canteens, compasses, black face paint, black balaclavas, and Caiti said, "I need a new scope. I want one like you have."

I asked the proprietor, "Do you have any range finding scopes?"

"What gun do you have?"

"It's for Caiti. She uses a match quality AK-47. She loads her own ammo and she can hit what she aims for."

"She looks six."

"She is. She's mean too."

The man had one scope and Caiti looked at the specs and said, "This isn't military grade or even close."

"I'm sorry, but we have no better. If you don't mind answering young lady, how good are you?"

"I can hit man sized targets at five hundred metres."

"That's very good."

Caiti added, "Nine out of ten times it's in the head."

The man stood back now. All of us were fair shots.

The man said, "Did you ever try full auto? No, no. I take it back. I never said that. Is there anything else you would like? Perhaps I can order what we don't stock."

"Gimme your card. We like quality but in quantity."

We totalled up what we got and I stuck to my demands for the knives and got the price. Camsa got the knife he threw but it would have to be balanced.

Caiti got her scope at a specialty store and then the rest had to upgrade as well. This put a real dint in what cash I had. The same sporting goods store had many good fishfinders and I bought quite a few and looked for a discount. My trip through the archipelago was still in my mind. We found better ones later made as sonar for small yachts but I'd have to get these when I had more cash.

We stayed in Toronto that night and we walked downtown. Toronto was usually a safe city but for some reason even the beggars stayed away from us. Perhaps it was the way we walked, looking for threats, that threw them off. We did more shopping the next day, then drove west towards London.

At the truck stop we took the two fuel trucks and drove homeward until we could set up the larger silver chain between two trees on a road. Now it was Caiti's turn and she visualised the barn. We went through and then opened the other portal. The two trucks went through.

I could go through, but they may have our house watched and wondered how the rental car got here. We drove home and took the exit to get our vehicles and then shift over the cargo. Lauren's car was small but the van had lots of room left. When our exit came I decided to continue and drop in on Mom and Dad.

When we stopped, Mom didn't come to the door right away but we hadn't called ahead. When Mom answered the door, I saw the security chain in place before it was opened for real.

Mom hugged us hard and I could hear some sniffles. "What's wrong Mom?"

"Nothing, Your father was hurt a little."

I left her and hurried through the kitchen to the living room. Dad was sitting in a chair holding a cold compress to his face.

"What happened Dad?"

"I had a fight."

This didn't sound right, "About what?"

"Just some hooligans."

"About what, Dad?"

Dad stalled then said, "They wanted to know where you were. One had a bandage on his head from another fight."

"Oh, shit!" I had some thinking to do then said because of the possible microphones, "We found bugs in our house. We put on an act and the people bit and started to try to blackmail me. I had everything recorded including the telephone conversation and the guy hung up."

"What did he want?"

"It had to do with business, I think. He had nothing to threaten me with so he didn't make demands."

"Were you fighting with him?"

"Dad, I outgrew that years ago." My big smile said I was being sarcastic. "Since they had no bugs on our vehicles they had to follow us. I heard an accident behind us early yesterday. If that was them, they might have been hurt."

"Too bad they didn't die."

Mom burst out, "No! Don't say that. Don't even think that."

Camsa came to Mom and in a broken speech said, "I will fight for you."

Mom's face changed and she hugged Camsa to her. Caiti was not to be outdone and went to Dad and said, "You were right. They're not good people. You have to fight those."

I whispered to Jonna and she took my small chain and Lauren downstairs. In a few moments she came back with two of the coins and the bug detector. I handed one coin to Dad but put my finger across my lips. We went to the table and I wrote on a piece of paper, "Keep the coin near you all of the time and I mean all the time. They are like a tracking bug. The alternative is to take a vacation until all this blows over."

He wrote, "What's happening?"

"Someone wants the gold," I replied.

Dad looked at the coin with odd lettering and a strange face then put it in his pocket. I wrote, "In your shoe may be better, under the lining near the toes." Dad nodded.

Mom got a coin then the paper and she put hers in her bra. I wrote, "Go to a jeweller and have him make a silver band to hold the coin to a silver necklace." This time Mom nodded.

We spotted two bugs and pointed them out. Mom held Dad because her home had been invaded. A written conversation asked them to keep the bugs there for a few days because I needed a way to feed the thugs some disinformation.

We stayed the night even though there weren't that many beds. The kids didn't mind the floor and compared to the camping out during battles, the carpet was good.

The girls and I talked mentally. As far as I knew, nobody could tap this form of communication. I wanted to deal with this group of men before they thought up a good plan. Given time, they would also gain strength. This situation had to be defused as soon as possible.

Jonna said to Lauren verbally, "Those guys were not very big to pick on Dad. They were so easy to get rid of that two boys did it. They had no planning other than to put some bugs in the house. The only thing they did with any skill was getting around the alarms."

"Well, we have some people coming in now. They're going to have to go back to their sandbox and find some other boys they can pick on."

I said now, "They're just thugs trying to get a piece of the pie. They went about this foolishly. When Mario comes, the rats will jump ship pretty quick."

"When's he coming?"

"The day after tomorrow. He's finishing a job in Argentina."

"I heard he lost three men there."

"That hurt a lot, but the rest are not lightweights. There's going to be some bodies when the dust settles."

There was a few moments to switch from fermenting a clash with our enemies to change to lust, or perhaps it was mostly love. The hanky-panky started up but I only had fun with Jonna and Lauren. This was being recorded so I had to play safe. The rest were subdued because of Mom and Dad being here. It was fun to make the girls gasp but not make a noise. Of course they got their revenge too.

The house was disorganised the next morning. There were too many people with too many different agendas. The house had an unmistakable odour and had to be aired out. I looked more than a little peaked from my labours but poor Camsa looked thoroughly drained. The bugs let the opposition know where we were. Mom and Dad went off to work and we drove home while looking for an attack.

We shifted through the portal to Bejek and used the weapons we bought from Willie. The new scopes had to be fitted and sighted in but I didn't have to do it.

Camsa and Caiti tested their new knives. I had to take the blades to the barn and do some crude work on them until they liked the balance.

Max had found a beauty from Bejek, too. There were only a few breeds of dogs here. They seemed to be bred for strength and ferocity. The female was bigger than him. I could see no particular breed she would fall into if she came to Earth. The bitch looked a little full but three of my women were carrying my children too.

We met people and some shot with us. This was a social thing to do even if I wasn't a king here. The brass was gathered up like copper to be reused later.

We returned home and showered. A massage was in order but I was the slave here. I did get some attention later. After a meal we left in two cars again so I could make phone calls. People had been turning gold into cash and I directed where I wanted this commodity to go. Usually, it was into numbered accounts.

I made a call to a hit team and they would be ready once more with a method of removing our tail. This time it would be less violent but still give us time to get to the rental cars. Three cars had a minor accident and stopped to check the damage and our tail was left far behind.

We called the airport and found that Gus wasn't busy. We went over for a visit. Gus asked, "Is this your corporation?"

"You can look at it that way. There are a lot more and it may be better to just purchase a plane or two and use them for training purposes."

"We have some good planes for sale."

"Any with folding wings like they have on carriers?"

"Now those are as scarce as chicken teeth. We scrapped the Bonaventure almost forty years ago and there has been no need since. We might have planes that will land on American ships. You'll have to go south to find them I'm afraid."

"Thanks for the advice. Are there enough people here to give this group an off the cuff flight lesson?"

"At the same time?"

"Yes."

Gus thought a few seconds and said, "We can do that. I wish we had a corporate jet or a turbo prop but they cost too much to operate and have to be used all the time to pay for themselves."

Only Lauren and I had flown before but the rest were frightened. Matra was the most scared and she came to me and looked down. "Master, I'm frightened."

She spoke in Ladra which hid the word Master but her tone of voice was enough to get a look from Gus. In the same language I said, "You will be brave for me. It will be necessary to use these devices in Bejek one day and we need people that can fly them. These devices are not dangerous and the need for pilots will be great. We are trying to change a world."

Matra thought about this and said while looking at the ground, "I will try my best for you, Master."

"I knew you would, Sweetie."

I broke the group up into sizes that would fit on the existing planes. At least one of the older ones had to stay with the younger ones. I took off last. I could feel the fear. It was so thick I had difficulty breathing. This made me frightened and there was no need to be. In five minutes the fear was still there but now manageable. In ten everybody was looking out the windows and taking pictures of the ground.

Lauren, Jonna and Fislu got a chance to control the plane from the copilot's seat even though it was hard for them to see out the windshield.

We landed after fifteen minutes only to rotate the copilot's seat and we flew once more. The second time the fear was a lot less and what there was diminished even quicker. This procedure had to happen two more times before all of us had a chance to fly. Matra was able to do this twice and I felt that she enjoyed herself now.

When we landed the last time everybody had questions about flying. I did too, but had to phone people to get supplies for my other life. Used tractors and farm equipment was bought from all over. This would all be exported. Good used trucks, from pickups to dump trucks, were purchased. Keeping them all running was going to be a nightmare.

We had lunch and went to marinas to check on boats. Here we were really looking at providing power to the existing hulls we had. In this case some Volvo marine diesels looked the best. I asked a few questions about French made engines and apparently there were quite a few brands. While I was asking questions, the rest were looking at video clips of boats racing by with skiers behind or people pulling in fish. At no time did we see anybody shooting to save their lives from people with matchlocks and cannon.