Chapter 22: Very Pregnantly Yours

Two days later everything had been crated and trucked to Sir Willy's ancestral estate. To allay the suspicion of any hostile observers we covered the artifacts with canvas and sent them by semi down the road. The bills of lading listed them as machinery to be dismantled for salvage.

Just by looking at them no one would give them a second glance. Their dull gray exterior and oblong shapes suggested nothing more than things, stuff of no interest.

We planned to wait a few days and then send everything over by container ship, consigned to Charles Harwood. The bills of lading would state everything was research equipment consigned by Professor Macklin to his friend Charles Harwood for further study. The professor and his two able research assistants planned ride shotgun all the way. No part of that shipment would be tainted with the Hundley name. Hopefully the feds would not catch even a whiff of what we were up to.

The four of us, Warren, Sophie, Bobbie and I crawled on the plane and were asleep in minutes. We were diverted to the Newark airport, supposedly because of heavy air traffic over Manhattan. Warren used my cell phone to call his nephew and tell him to get his partner in crime and "come loaded for bear." I called a local television station and alerted the editor to a possible story. When he heard the Hundley name he sent a crew.

We landed and went through a very thorough customs inspection. Then we were handed a notice of a writ of attachment for the plane and a summons to appear in court. At last we had a very visible enemy.

Ex-congressman Hague and his son Sidekick Henry were present during the whole proceedings. "You know, Henry, you and your father are due for a long prison sentence. I have proof that will send you both away for a hundred years each. Grease your butts up boys, prison love is about to begin." I was bluffing, but not very much.

The news camera took in the whole charade. As soon as we were released from customs I arranged to have our luggage taken to one of the better hotels and then held an impromptu news conference. I accused the Hagues, father and son, of everything from corruption to attempted air piracy and wondered aloud how they wiggled out of the prison sentences.

Not to be left out in the cold, Bobbie held up my briefcase and got dumb for the second time. She stated in a loud voice, "I have proof Henry and his girlfriend Katherine Olson accepted bribe money from foreign governments with interests contrary to those of America." She patted the briefcase, "Katherine confessed her role in things."

"Give me that!" Henry yelled and grabbed at the briefcase. I had not seen him come up. Not that it mattered because he didn't have a chance.

Graceful as a pregnant ballerina, Bobbie spun and swung the briefcase with the leading edge flying straight at Henry's face. I winced as Henry's nose flattened. She was becoming more aggressive every day. "You dirty bitch!" he screamed at her.

I made a mental I had better keep briefcases out of her reach in the future also. Perhaps a "Nerf briefcase" and a foam rubber paper weight would be okay, but nothing more lethal.

Warren grabbed the ex-senator as he drew a gun. The gun fell from broken fingers. Sophie scooped it up and held it distastefully at arms length. Bobbie took it from her. "I was trying to protect my son," the ex-senator whined.

"You need a gun to protect your son from a pregnant woman?" I shouted at him. No wonder Texas is in the mess it's in." That brought a laugh out of the crowd that had gathered.

Then a photogenic young woman stood in front of the camera and dramatically declaimed, "Our whole government is raddled with corruption. An armed ex senator from the same state and party as the president was permitted to carry a loaded weapon into a secure area at an airport." She paused for effect and continued, "He did this to save his poor defenseless son from a pregnant woman less than half his own weight.

"At first I thought mister Hundley's accusations of corruption were baseless and self serving. Now I wonder." We all had to ride downtown to Police Plaza to get things straightened out. Henry was arrested for assault on Bobbie. His father was arrested and charged with brandishing a weapon and a half other firearms violations. I did not think he would get off so easy this time.

When at last we got checked in and shown to our suite of rooms Bobbie told me, "Honey, let's become charter members of the Mile High Club when we fly back to England. There are so many new things we need to do together."

"I bet most of the things on your list involve sex," I told her.

"Well," she started to answer, paused for a moment and said, "Yes. Any objections?"

"Well," I started to answer, paused for the same length of time and said, "No."

"Good, let's go to bed." Eventually we got to sleep. I never realized how much fun could be had with a pregnant woman.

The television station I held my press conference with ran the story the next day. The other stations cried, "foul," because they didn't have access to Bobbie and me. I called Carter Heatherton and asked him to come to New York the next day. "We are going to take everything the government has been doing and go public. You and Bobbie's uncle, Norman Brace will be working close together on separate aspects of this problem."

"I've teamed up with Norm in the past a couple of times and faced off against him twice. He's a good man to have in your corner." That was a surprise to me, that they even knew each other.

"Well, check in with Norman when you arrive. Bobbie and I plan to make ourselves scarce after today's press conference. Too many people are after us."

"What's this about a press conference?" Bobbie came out of the bathroom looking grim. Her morning sickness had eased off a little but still left her miserable.

"Hon, we talked about it last night, remember?" I reminded her.

"Oh yes, I forgot." She came over to the sofa and nestled in beside me. What are we going to talk about? You were never quite clear why you wanted to do this."

"I feel it's time to fight fire with fire. We need to go public with this whole Watkins mess. Two of them are in jail in England. Your uncle is trying to get a federal court order to get rid of the last of the Watkins bunch. There's just the one left. It still puzzles me how he avoided arrest and was permitted to go back to running Watkins Management.

I want to force the government's hand. Right now, the one thing none of them want is publicity. Therefore, we give them publicity. Warren, Chuck, and Dave are running errands right now to clear the way for us. And they are all three running armed." I snorted my anger.

"My main concern is that we have our babies and get things settled. Sweetheart, if we could I would walk away from this whole mess. I like picking up the phone and ordering a limo and know it will be where I say and when I say. Hotels like this one are great. But what in hell is it all worth if we can't draw a peaceful breath of air?"

"Let's just do it. Tell them they have won and walk away from it all. I'm scared, Danny," she told me. I held her close and kissed the top of her head.

I sighed and gave her the sad news she already knew. "We can't. If we handed everything over to them they would always think there was more we were hiding. This is a winner take all game. It's time for you to cheat on me and visit Chuck. He has a fondness for pregnant women. You can lay around the pool and gossip with the horny people who are his neighbors. I'll make arrangements."

"Don't I have any say in the matter?" she asked, her voice once more had that hard edge in it.

"No," I answered flatly. "Honey, You are my weak point. I would agree to anything to keep you and our unborn babies safe. Warren has contacted the local VFW for bodyguards. They should be here any time now.' Let's sit back and wait. You want some breakfast?"

"Just coffee. Perhaps I'll be in the mood to eat something later on. I'm going to shower and get ready for the day." She returned to the bathroom and I ordered breakfast.

I opened the briefcase and pulled out the reports from the private detective Daniel Hundley used so often. I pulled out a sheet with the name "Mars Limited Oil Exploration, A Privately Held Corporation."