Chapter 141: Leaving on a Jet Plane

I awoke with Gwen hogging most of the bed. She came to my bed because she was afraid. She slept like the dead, while I stayed awake most of the night. It wouldn't have mattered whether she was in the bed or not, I wouldn't have slept well either way.

There were some inherent problems with the gig. I would be ten thousand miles from home, in the middle of the Arabian Sea, if things went bad and I lost control of the group, I couldn't just walk away. Even thought R2D2 had all the money, I had to be the boss, once the bad guys showed up. If he refused to follow orders, I had to take control of the others by force. Now that was going to be a total mess. All night long those thoughts ran around in my head, as well as the actual operational possibilities.

I was out of the shower before Gwen could rub the sleep from her eyes. I quickly put on my thermal outfit, one of the several I had, for the ride to breakfast. Gwen would have to fend for herself. I thought that as I exited through the only door, which exited to the apartment building's alley.

Once the bike's motor started to pour smoke into the crisp morning air, I mounted the bike for my morning ride. I rode it at wide open throttle all the way to Maxine's new sit down spot. The ride wasn't nearly as far as it had been to the Hardee's. I had mixed feelings about that. I enjoyed the longer ride in the summer, but in the winter it was nice to get out of the cold sooner.

Instead of the my usual Adult Egg on a bagel. I had the raisin bread french toast sticks. They were made from very thick sliced raisin bread. I swear I could have eaten a dozen, it was a good thing there were only four of them in an order. The french toast and a potato fritter did the trick for me just fine, thank you very much top chef.

"I found a seat beside a couple of young police officers at the table under my poster. That poster was a real source of embarrassment to me. "Hey Stone, you think you can get me a date with your sister," the younger cop asked pointing to the poster.

"Do the cops only recruit assholes these days, or do they teach it at the academy," I said it with a laugh.

"They only teach it to those of us who aren't naturals," his partner said.

"So, you been out there serving and protecting this morning?" I asked.

"We are finished for today. Worked graveyard shift last night," the first one said. "Did you ever do it in a graveyard?" he asked.

"You know that old downtown cemetery?" I asked.

"The one with the tombs?" his partner asked.

"Yeah that one, if you walk around you will find some above ground crypts. Not the little houses, but the flat concrete above ground crypts. There was this Halloween, when I was a senior in high school, it was kind of a goodbye gesture thing."

"Wasn't that creepy?" A paramedic at the end of the picnic table next to us asked.

"Not really, but the guy I was with was a little strange," I said with a laugh. The guy in the crypt didn't complain though, so it must have been good for him. I broke out in a real laugh at that point.

When I left the old car lot, I hoped it wouldn't be my last meal at Helen's. I rode the bike to the mall for my morning walk. I was very careful, since it would be really bad timing to have an accident that morning.

I smiled at Tiny Dancer in her bright pink fuzzy sweater, black pants, and pink beret. She knew how beautiful she was, as she glided around the mall. I swear she looked like a ghost. She moved so effortlessly. I plodded, Tiny Dancer glided, it was depressing.

I got home just in time to turn off the gas feed to the engine and run it dry before Mike came for us. Since I had no idea how long I would be gone, it seemed like a good idea to clear the carburetor.

I picked up my black half duffel bag,. The bag was filled with my clothes and also with the tools I planned to slip on board. The two cans of pepper spray would look like can of deodorant or hair spray to the scanner. My tazer was shaped to look like a cell phone, not a gun. It didn't shoot darts, I had to be up close and personal it use it, but it was better than nothing. I also had a dozen wire ties in the bag. Not bad as temporary hand cuffs. I had sprinkled coffee grounds in among the clothes just in case the dogs got a whiff of pepper spray. I hoped it would confuse them into no more than a half hearted alert at best.

Gwen had one of those suitcases on wheels. It was going to be an interesting check in. My carry on had make up one clean top and one pair of panties. I figured the jeans and bra could make it two days, even if we got stranded. I had no idea what was in her take on. Most likely she would have to do the full body search. She didn't have a great body, but hers was a little more robust than mine.

At the airport Mike just dropped us at the door, then took off. They had a baggage check in on the curb, which was a nice thing. When we went to stand in the line for check in at the counter, we were only dealing with the smaller carry on bag. A quick check to confirm out reservations and it was off to the gate. At the gate we were allowed to sit in hard plastic chairs until the Government security folks arrived to begin checking us in. I don't know where they had been, but two agents arrived and a line quickly formed.