Chapter 14: I Am From The Government...

"I'll be next door if you need me," I told him.

He nodded, told me, "I have things to clear up here. Go ahead." He stood there, a man deep in thought.

I returned to Bobbie, not knowing what to do next. I was frightened and became more so by the minute. I was afraid something would happen to her. Of course I was frightened for me too, but her safety lay uppermost in my mind. We had to either find a fast solution, which seemed unlikely, or we had to disappear. The third alternative was we would be dead if one of the other two did not come to pass.

Bobbie met me at the door. She had a troubled look on her face.

"Dan, come in and close the door." Rather than Daniel, I now became

"Dan." She motioned me to roll my chair over to couch where she was sitting. The attaché case was opened and she held up a handful of papers stapled together.

"What is it? Are you all right?" From the look on her face I feared she had something physical wrong with her. "Are you sick?"

In a strained voice she said, "Read this." She handed me the sheaf of papers, another report from the detective agency Daniel had used to investigate the Watkins. The top sheet began, "Subject: Charles Victor Harwood." Following that was a short bio on me. It listed my place of employment as apprentice lay up man for Morgan Inc. That gave me an idea of just how old the information must be. I became a journeyman at Morgan over two years previous.

"I don't see what this has to do with anything," I told her. "We already knew he had me traced as part of a greater search."

"Read the second page," she told me in a shaky voice. "Oh god, what sort of a rotten, evil no good..." Her voice trailed off.

I turned to the second page and read, "The laboratory results came back positive, just as you surmised. You and the subject definitely have a shared paternity. The hair samples we obtained from subject, Charles Victor Harwood are close enough a match there is only a .004% chance for error.

"As to whom his birth mother was, the indications are she was the wife of the man posing as the subject's father." So Mom really was probably my real mom. Why all the bullshit? A personal note had been handwritten and attached to the report. "I have merely reiterated here what I reported to your father shortly before his tragic demise in the plane accident." I stared unbelieving at what I just read.

"What?" I looked at her numbly. This sounded like some fable by a very unimaginative storyteller. "Jesus Christ!" I yelled, "Has the whole damned world gone crazy? If this is true, do you realize what it means?"

"Yes, we are in much greater danger than either of us ever realized. This is sufficient to completely render Father Hundley's will meaningless, or nearly so. It also opens the door to the courts annulling a section of my father's will since the two so closely match each other."

"To hell with the wills. A will is the least important thing in our lives." Suddenly something clicked inside me, "I remember Dad told Mom when I was about ten years old, 'The boy is a secret understudy waiting for the chance to go on and play the part.' I have been played like a trout on a hook since the very day I was born. I was the long lost child waiting to become the heir apparent if Daniel didn't work out and then they died in a plane accident. Or was it an accident? Do you know?"

Bobbie said "no" in a small voice, every bit as confused as me.

More to myself I thought aloud, "I don't know if this has any bearing on the attempts on our lives, but I don't think so. I wonder if Daniel had anything to do with that plane wreck? I wouldn't put anything past that whacked out son of a bitch."

I shifted mental gears, "Go get Keith from next door. We need to come clean and tell him a part of what is going on here. I'm afraid that Arab or whatever he is might have helpers. If I'm right, we need protection right now, this very second. If I'm wrong, it doesn't matter, no harm done. Go get him." I was very reluctant to break my disguise as an invalid, not when I saw how it might give me an advantage.

She nodded and left. Seconds later she returned with Keith in tow.

"Now what's the bleeding emergency this time?" he asked crossly as he came in the door. "Inasmuch as I may no longer be in the employee of this foin establishment much longer, make your requests short ones. It seems da fookin' rag head had friends and I've been charged with racial discrimination, which is a hate crime and failure to protect the camel fookin' garbage from the likes of dangerous beasts like yourself." He looked right at me. He looked like he was about to blow a head gasket.

I stared up into his eyes, took a deep breath and then stood up.

"Without going into any great detail, I must tell you we are in even greater danger than before. High up members in my own government may be plotting to kill us."

"Bloody hell! What is going on here?" He looked at Bobbie and at me. "I don't rightly care to be played for what you Americans call a 'sucker, ' no, not in the least."

"Calm down," I told him, "No one here in this room has tried to play you for the fool." I held my hands up in a placating gesture.

"Well, what da fook do ya call this shit?" His Belfast, Ireland origins showed when he got excited. "You come in here all sweet as Mary's little lamb and have the whole fookin' hotel in a big uproar with fookin towel heads from Jaysus only knows what fookin heathen country spyin' on you. Your own fookin FBI lads are spying on you and now you say high ups in your own government want to kill you." He took a deep breath to calm himself and continued, "In fifteen years in the Her Majesty's SAS I never saw as much trouble as I have since you two foin people honored us with your presences.

"Calm down and listen. Bobbie and I are in danger of our lives. We have survived three assassination attempts by sheer luck and because the people who have been trying to kill us were second-rate blunderers. Right now I fear the big boys in the A-Team are about ready to be sent in. The surveillance next door is proof enough for me." I hoped the man would listen to reason.

"Why don't you help me out here and tell me just what in hell is going on," he asked. "I have a great big hunch there is more than what you've told me. This is probably my last week of employment with this hotel and I do not wish it marred with anything else murky. I must find new employment immediately."

Bobbie squeezed my shoulder in warning not to say too much. "My wife and I are under attack and are in grave danger." I told him. Then I related the whole story, about the Watkins Group, the drugs, and all the rest. I finished, "We have just begun to realize that there are more hidden agendas than we first thought. There is something else going on we are not completely aware of. The US Government does not make it a habit to collude with people like the Watkins bunch. It makes no sense."

"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked suspiciously.

"Tomorrow we plan to disappear. I want two of your best men in this suite with us tonight. They are to remain awake all night long and guard us. I'll pay them whatever you deem adequate.

His good nature returned. "One thousand each." He told me happily. Then he added, "Pounds, that is."

"Fine with us," I told him. "Your first job tomorrow will be to get the rest of the money I ordered brought up. When we leave here we are going to need plenty of ready cash. I want us to disappear with no trace and live comfortably while we make a baby to be the Hundley heir."

He looked over at Bobbie and grinned, "Not exactly a distasteful task, I'm sure. Wait a mo' if you will." He left without waiting for a reply.

"I've either been complimented or leched after. I'm not sure which," Bobbie said. The half smile on her face showed she did not feel too insulted.

"Probably both," I told her. "But you must admit, the man does have good taste."

The manager of the bank called up. There was a slight bit of confusion over closing out the account with the bank downstairs. They didn't have enough ready cash left to cover the withdrawal. An armored car was promised for the next morning. I didn't care for the wait. Then I thought of an alternative. "Get half of it for us in a series of travelers in varying dollar amounts. We shall require the balance placed in an account and two debit cards issued."

The voice on the other end said, "Very well, sir." We both hung up.

Bobbie and I took a nap. All of the excitement had worn us down. We undressed and lay naked on top of the bed. It felt nice to hold each other and pretend we were trouble free. I woke first and propped myself up on one elbow. I looked down at her sweet, sleeping face and wondered again at the improbability of it all.

Finally, she opened her eyes and caught me looking at her. She smiled and I quoted, "Oh what tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

She looked at me puzzled and asked, "What was that about?"

"Oh, as I looked at your beautiful face and thought of the whole chain of events that brought us here, I wondered at everything. It all started for me because one crazy, vicious son of a bitch wanted everything and didn't care about anyone else but himself. And some other greedy sons of bitches want it all and don't care how they get it."

Then I leaned forward and kissed a pink nipple. "I do love you so very much." I determinedly put our troubles out of mind and concentrated on Bobbie.

"Oh, and I love you," she told me in a husky voice. "Now stop playing around and get busy." She grabbed my head and pulled it toward the other nipple. "I want to find out if the right one is as sensitive as the left one," she whispered. It was.

"Here I am waxing eloquent and philosophic and you, lecherous woman, want my body."

"Yes," she cooed, "You give great body, so gimme."

I eased down in the bed and started to lick and nibble her pussy. It's crisp, sultry aroma made me hard in a second. I teased her clit with my nose and licked deep. :Oh god!" she moaned, "Get your ass up here in bed and fuck me. Fuck me hard."