Chapter 63

Chuck

Just about the time I'm enjoying myself, something comes up again. Wanda says it's important so we have to go.

Lisa and I were practicing a couple of tunes with Bonita when Wanda came to get us. On the way back out of the patio she got Sam while Lisa and I told the girls we may have to go somewhere for an emergency. They took it well as usual and we left for the house.

In the kitchen Wanda explained that the Secret Service had called and wanted us to get ready and be on standby. She was to call back in an hour so it would give us a chance to consider what we would need take with us.

Lisa was looking a little antagonistic when she asked, "Need for what Wanda, what do they want us to do?"

Wanda had a blank look on her face and said, "They didn't say. This was just an alert to standby. I thought we should come back here to make the call back so you would be ready."

We waited a few minutes more then Wanda called. She spoke cryptically into the phone for a few minutes and looked almost exasperated when she hung up.

She looked at us and said, "They told me you guys can stand down but they may call later or tomorrow for this same problem. They didn't say what the problem was but you can almost bet, they'll call when you don't expect it."

I told everyone, "Okay guys, let's head back to patio and have some supper while there's still some left."

On the way back Sam said, "I was really looking forward to another great night with Maria. Hope I get it."

We did get back in time to eat and had a good time visiting with the folks. I decided that if we were called out, I would probably have to fly and didn't have anything else to drink. I noticed that Lisa didn't have her usual evening beer.

When it was time to get home, we left as a group instead of a few at a time. That night in bed, all of the ladies wanted cuddles and kisses. No heavy fooling around although I was up for it. (pun intended) We were all tired enough that we fell asleep easily.

I slowly awoke, becoming uncomfortable and needing to go pee. I slid from the side of the bed and groped for my peg. I was flooding the toilet with a huge stream when a warm body snuggled to my side and kissed my shoulder.

"Did you sleep well?" Lisa asked. "I was worried you would be mulling over my deception at being your observer. I somehow knew you would see into me and hear my mind thinking about it."

"Not to worry this morning, Lisa. I slept like a baby and could use a little more sleep, but it's time to get moving. Let's get our menagerie up and get going."

"You better not," Lisa said, "It's Saturday and they will kill you for waking them up too early. Come on, let's work out or go outside and form for a few minutes, then swim."

We walked outside onto the grassy area next to the pool and began the slow dance to our internal music. We went through our forms, stretching and balancing through each set. Somehow, our activities were synchronized to the point where we pulled our legs together and bowed simultaneously without watching each other.

As we began walking to the pool, the household staff of Maria and the two little Chinese ladies ran from the house and dove into the water. As Lisa and I reached the door of the screened pool, Peaches joined us and walked with us to the pool.

While I dropped my peg, the two ladies paused on the steps and assisted me into the water, where I began my fast laps. Lisa was right next to me, but Peaches was doing her laps at a much slower speed. When Lisa and I were winded, we were surrounded by the house girls for a few seconds as they all wanted hugs. Peaches came to us and hugged both Lisa and me before moving toward the stairs.

Taiying and Sing turned toward us and said, "We will have a nice breakfast for you in a few minutes if you want, or you can go to the patio for the Saturday morning gathering. I think others are awakening as we heard Wanda talking on the phone earlier."

Lisa and I took a shower and were scolded by the ladies attempting to sleep because we were making too much noise. I told them that I was going to have some breakfast and they were welcome to join me.

Brandy sat up and said, "We probably should get up. We're going over to the boat today to see how the modifications are coming."

I was about to ask what modifications, and remembered that the boat was being remodeled to accommodate Dewey in another big suite. I wonder if the boat is really big enough for all the people that are going to be on it. It probably is, but it almost seems as if it was going to be crowded.

When Lisa and I went out to the kitchen, Taiying said, "You need to go eat with the families at the patio this morning. I think they all missed you lately. Maria reminded me that they have special breakfasts on weekends."

"Well then, put some clothes on of some kind and we'll all go over there." The three house girls ran off and almost collided with the Fab Five as they came into the kitchen. I was given hugs and good morning kisses by all this morning.

Frieda had me rub her bulging belly, saying, "I think there are more than two in there. They were having a wrestling match or something this morning."

Nancy and Judy got on each side of me and rubbed their bellies into my side. Nancy said, "You're going to love our little girls. I'll bet you'll spoil them terribly."

Wanda and John came into the kitchen, with Wanda wearing a flowing see-through robe. Jan and Don came in right afterward, and Jan was wearing almost nothing. She smiled and said, "I'm going to be more revealing than Ruth this morning."

Outside, I discovered there were not many carts, but most of them were eight-passenger carts. There were two smaller carts, but people began piling into the big carts when Tina came running from the house in a cute shortie gown. She said, "I love Saturday and Sunday mornings around here. I can be as crazy as I want. She sat on my lap and kissed me before saying, "Amazing, isn't it? You and I are in the same place, at the same time, for once. I'm going to hug you so you can't get away this morning. I actually have off until this evening, then its nights, six to six at the hospital for seven nights straight."

I said, "You're amazing, Tina, how do you handle that and classes too?"

"The hospital shift is class," Tina said. "We have short conferences throughout a shift to go over class and applications. Right now, we're learning trauma diagnostics. It's actually very interesting, but it is gory."

The loaded down cart didn't groan at all going to the patio. Even with nine people riding in it, the long cart had plenty of power.

At the patio, we were all warmly welcomed by everyone there. Mercy, Sue, and Kathy took me to where Steve was, and Sue said to him, "Now that you two are face to face, let's go over what we're doing to his boat again."

Steve smiled at me and shook my hand, "Welcome back to the happy place, Chuck. Mercy has been a little nuts over the last week. You must have been up to no good somewhere."

I said, "It was all about Martinson and their greed, at least the grandson's greed. He may have pulled some others into his pit with him though, and that's a shame. So what's up with the boat? I was asked if it was okay to remodel the two big cabins into three big cabins because Dewey is coming with us?"

Steve said, "Yeah, Dewey is going to have to run off once or twice in order to take care of some business, so it only makes sense that he and his family stay with us on the same boat. That way he won't have to be playing catch up and sailing alone trying to find us."

I nodded and said, "Sounds good to me. That boat is really big anyway. I think there should be plenty of room for everyone, don't you agree? This could be a lot of fun."

Martin was listening to our conversation and commented, "I was watching The History Channel the other night about the Battle of Trafalgar, and learned that Admiral Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, was just 11 feet longer than Chuck's boat on the waterline and had a crew of 850. We won't have a tenth of that many people on board."

Jan and Don had come over near the bar to get a Saturday morning Bloody Mary. Jan said, "This is really a lot better because Don and I can fly over and meet you guys either in Italy or Ireland, depending on where you go first, and then travel with you through the Mediterranean and on to the Riviera with you. We'll fly home and I won't be gone for more than a few weeks. Don was concerned about leaving his Dojo for so long since his manager went to California, so this works out great."

Lisa brought me a cup of coffee and sat with me. She was being pretty quiet until Maria's little ones came crawling up into her lap. Maria was going to say something to them, but Lisa said, "That's alright. We're great buddies now that I watched them for you the other evening."

The little ones jabbered to Lisa for a bit, then got down and ran into the house to join the other kids.

Lisa and I went to the big table to have some of the food being brought out. We ate some fried potatoes, chunks of ham, biscuits and gravy, along with some scrambled eggs. The whole time we were eating, I was checking out the gowns and robes of all the ladies. I was very surprised to see Mark and Caroline, with her wearing a very opaque sexy robe. Gene and Sandy were back from Cheyenne already and Sandy had a robe similar to Caroline's on. Gene seemed to be proud that his wife was showing off. She was very attractive.

I felt a presence behind me, and turned to look up at Wanda's long breasts that were hanging over my head. She looked down at me and smiled, then said, "When you two get done eating, get Nightfox so we can chat for a few minutes."

Lisa glanced at me with a concerned look that Wanda caught. Wanda said, "You too, Lisa. You're a part of this one."

Lisa's concern didn't go away, but we did go back to eating.

After we finished eating, I found Sam inside, watching the kids with Maria, and asked him to step outside with me for a few minutes. Lisa and I, with Sam following, waved at Wanda and we met outside at one of the picnic tables out on the lawn.

Wanda said, "I hate to cut your weekend short, but I had a call earlier this morning for you three to be in Seattle this evening. The rest of the team you will be a part of will meet you there. I don't know anything else, or what the mission is about, only to tell you to take your toys with you."

Wanda looked at me and said, "Chuck, I was told to ask you to refuel in Salt Lake City. They know you can go non-stop out to Seattle, but they want you to refuel there. You guys know how long it will take to get where you're going, so as long as you're in Seattle by six, enjoy your morning."

I asked, "Who is my contact in Seattle?"

"Don't know, I'm sure you'll be told before you get there." As she got up, Wanda told me to make sure I monitored the proper frequencies.

Sam looked down, then back up, and said, "Man, I hate stuff that goes on up there. Every time there is something to take care of up there, it's a big problem and messy."

Lisa said, "I don't have a good feeling about this one at all. I think we should relax a few minutes and head up there early. We might need to have a longer talk than just a quickie briefing."

Sam was nodding, "You can say that again. Let's leave no later than ten. That still won't give us a lot of extra time to quiz whoever is briefing us, or to get acquainted with the other team members."

I said, "Then come on, let's finish up inside and go home to pack. I'd feel better if we were more prepared. You know, I'm beginning to really look forward to this European trip. How about you, Nightfox, want to come with us? There's room for Maria and her kids too."

"No, I'm not a sailor and I would prefer to stay here. Perhaps Maria and I can go down to the house you have in Key West. That might be fun for a weekend."

"I'll give you the telephone number and directions. Just call and let Rosie know when you're coming and the place will be ready for you. I'll contact her to let her know you may be calling."

"Thanks, Chuck," Sam said. "You're really good to let me use your place like that."

I smiled, "No sweat, the place will go to waste if you don't use it. Enjoy, my friend."

We went inside and I gathered my ladies around to advise them I had to leave. All of them began complaining and telling me that I wasn't spending any time at home or with them. I just shrugged my shoulders and told them it was my job, at least one of my jobs.

As the three of us were riding back to the house, my cell phone went off. It was John Scott, "Hey you straggler, I understand you're off doing something and won't be available to the Marshal's Service for a bit. Do you know how long? All I was told was that you were going to be unavailable."

I told John, "Nope, they didn't say how long. I'm sure if you get hold of the Director he might be able to brief you. If he doesn't know, then you need to call me back so I can be scared."

"Yeah, right," John scoffed, "Like you're going to be scared real soon."

"Of the unknown, John, of the unknown; that always makes me apprehensive."

"You're right," John said. "What we don't know will hurt us, that's for sure."

He then said, "So take care of yourself and be careful. Let me know when you're back in Tampa."

The three of us decided to wear normal civilian clothes and take our fatigues with us. When we were putting our gear out to take with us, Lisa had a small case similar to Sam's and my larger cases that held our weapons. She had it open on the table and was cleaning one of the fold up MP5s similar to what Sam and I had. She also had two Glocks, a model 22, and a 27 in her case, with a handful of magazines.

"Where have you been hiding that?" I asked Lisa, as Sam and I went over our weapons.

"They've always been with me. You probably saw the case, but didn't pay any attention to it."

I said, "You and I have to have a discussion on the way out west. We'll have the time and I think we need to talk."

Lisa smiled and told me, "I won't hide a thing, Chuck. No sense in hiding anything from you. You can see inside me anyway, anytime you want. I'm always surprised you don't crawl around in my head all the time. I try to do that to you, but you just close Mercy and me out."

We finished up our prep and agreed that we were ready. I called the airpark to ask that the Citation be pulled out of the hangar and fueled. It probably was already fueled, but I wanted to confirm it.

We got to the airpark in record time, before nine. We put our equipment out by the aircraft so I could take the car to the enclosed parking area for long term parking. After walking back to the aircraft, I began the preflight with the help of one of the maintenance techs that was on duty.

Once we were loaded up and buckled up, Lisa helped me with the checklist and we were soon ready for our flight. I asked Lisa, "What number did you use for our flight plan?"

She said, "You're Secret Service today, so we're using a priority number straight through. You're direct through to Salt Lake City, then direct to Seattle. The confirmation number that came back when I filed kind of tells me we're being met in Salt Lake. You probably expected that, right?"

"Sure did," I said, as we pulled onto the runway, preparing to takeoff.

Once we were in the air and at altitude, Nightfox got busy making coffee, then brought coffee and some pastries to the cockpit for Lisa and me. He said, "I'm going to stretch out back there and get some more sleep. Maria didn't let me go to sleep last night. It was a very nice welcome home."

Lisa looked at me as I checked all of the equipment to be sure we were flying toward where we were supposed to, and that all of the gauges were where they should be. She said, "How about I give you some information about me that you wouldn't know? You've never asked about my time between Atlanta and when I showed up in Tampa. I was a little surprised about that, and maybe even a little disappointed, but you just considered that I had spent all of my free time learning to fly, then flying."

"Actually, Lisa, that's exactly what I thought. I know there's more time involved than what that would cover, but I just didn't think it would make any difference if you did anything else but that."

"Let me tell you, Chuck, I've done a lot more than that." Lisa scooted around in her seat so she was sort of facing me. She smiled at me and said, "You know, you're not the only Marine around here."

That got my attention and I'm sure she saw the startled look on my face. She said, "When I was taken from momma and put into a group home, I had nothing to do except my music and school. They wouldn't let me play my guitar that much, so I studied. I was already two years ahead in school, so I didn't have a lot of friends. Everyone else was older than I was and didn't want to hang around with a kid. In high school, I took all of the college level classes I could and was able to pass them easily. So, I was sixteen when I started college at Georgia State and still under control of the state until I was eighteen."

Lisa got us another cup of coffee, and continued. "Because I was still a minor and under the control of the state, I wasn't allowed to take part in a lot of extra-curricular activities, but I could join ROTC, so I did. They didn't have Marines, but they did have Navy. The reason I mention my disappointment about not being in Marine ROTC was that my dad was a Marine and I wanted to be like him. During the summer breaks I attended what was called the Platoon Leaders Class and that is pure Marine. When I graduated a year and a half later, I was qualified to receive a commission in the Navy but I wanted to be a Marine. I requested, and was given the chance to go through a commissioning program."