Chapter 81

I woke up Thursday morning with a headache and a stiff neck. I'd slept awkwardly and my body was complaining about it. I tried to make up for it by giving myself a good stretch out before I went on my morning run. It did help the stiff neck but the headache persisted.

I grumbled through breakfast then apologized to Mrs. Trinh for it. Then I remembered to let her know Kelli would be coming, and probably spending the night.

I was just starting to think the headache would fade when I heard the rumbling of heavy equipment approaching up the drive.

I opened the front door and saw a rather beefy excavator on a flatbed truck and a bulldozer on another one following it. Trailing the two of them was a car I recognized. Bianca Ingersoll was back, and she'd come armed this time.

I was relieved to notice when she stepped out of the car that her blouse was nicely non-transparent this time. Two steps later I also realized that she was not wearing a bra. I swear this woman wore her sexuality like a gladiator wore a sword!

"Good morning Mr. James," she said with a smile and her hand held out for a shake. I gave her the handshake, but carefully kept my eyes on hers while I did. "We're all set to get that big hole in your back yard started."

"Oh wait, there's been a change!" I said with as straight a face as I could manage. By the time you've made gunnery sergeant in the Corps, you've learned to lie to officers pretty convincingly.

Bianca looked down at her clipboard, then back up and me. She was just beginning to sputter when I broke out laughing.

"Mr. Cooper," she said sheepishly. "I can't believe I fell for that.

"Sorry," I said not-at-all contritely. "You picked the only day this week when I woke up with a headache to bring in the big noise makers, so I had to extract my revenge."

"Well then leave, go someplace quiet and spend the day. There will be a big hole in the ground when you come home tonight.

"I'll remember to be careful."

Okay, so the plans for the day were shot. It was at this point that I had a panicky thought. I ran upstairs and found my copy of the plans for the pool.

"Bud, now that you're back in my head, can you look at these plans and tell me if I've just paid a company to come dig a hole where our secret tunnel goes?"

"What!?!?!" Bud screeched.

"Calm the fuck down and look at the damn plans!" I hollered back, mentally.

There proceeded a pregnant pause like non I remember outside of combat.

"No," he said at last. "No, we're okay by at least twenty feet,"

"Thank god!" I muttered aloud.

"It was that little circular patio piece you asked them to leave," he said after we stared at it a while. "If you hadn't asked them to leave that, they would have dug right into the tunnel."

I was living a charmed life, no doubt about it, not even counting my resurrection thanks to Bud and his 'people'. Still, I went out and found Bianca to make sure we were all still on the same page.

'Where shall we go?' I asked my two partners once we were done. "We're not going to want to hang out in the cavern today, that's for sure."

'How about some golf?' Harley offered. 'We've got a new course to try out, don't we?'

'That's true, ' Bud said. 'Golf is purported to be a calming endeavor.'

'That's right, ' I laughed. "Too bad you missed our earlier outing Bud."

"Yeah, you missed a few things," Harley added. The two of us snickered where Bud couldn't hear us.

'Wear the suit, or take it with you, ' Bud suggested.

"Why?" I said out loud, surprised at the suggestion.

'You can check in with Net to see if there's anything new on your surveillance.'

"Nah, I'm not that desperate for intel. It can wait until tomorrow, but I'd better stow it in the cavern, just to be safe.'

With the suit stowed, and the clubs in the Wrangler, I went looking for Mrs. Trinh.

"Mr. James, this does not look good," she said, staring out the kitchen window.

"The pool company decided today was the day to start digging for the new pool," I explained. "I'm going to cancel tonight's dinner plans and give you the day off, okay? Go somewhere quiet and spend the day. That's the suggestion I got."

"Oh, very well then," she nodded.

On the way to Northwoods, I called Kelli.

"Cooper, what's up?"

"I'm canceling dinner at my house tonight."

"Why? Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, but the pool company decided to start digging today, so its going to be a noisy mess around here all day. I've given Mrs. Trinh the day off and I'm headed to a golf course for the day. I'd invite you to join me, but I assume you're working?"

"Yes, sad but true. Where are you playing?"

"I found a course just down the road called The Northwoods. Its just past Guerneville, near Monte Rio. It reminds me a little of Salmon Run. Only nine holes, but nestled in the trees near the Russian River. I doesn't really take advantage of the water like Salmon Run, but its nice. The club seems friendly and the restaurant looks to be good. Its so close to home for me that it'll be a convenient getaway spot for a round of golf when the mood strikes me."

"Well, enjoy yourself. I'll be wishing I was there. Anyplace but here. It's hell around here today. Roberto heard about the conversation at dinner last night, probably from his father, and he's storming around like a little tyrant."

"Oh that must be fun," I laughed. "What does your father think of it?"

"He's not here, unfortunately. He drove down to Petaluma to meet with some union people."

"Hmm ... Tell, me does your building have internal security cameras?"

"Sure, Daddy insisted on it for insurance reasons."

"Well then throw your weight around a little and get the security staff to show you what was recorded. Maybe you'll get some ammunition to use against the little shit."

"I like the way you think, Cooper," her laugh dropped down into that low, shivery laugh I'd come to recognize as her having. "Actually, I like the way you do a lot of things. Thanks, I'd better run. Roberto could think about the surveillance system too."

"All right, but call me later. Just because we can't do dinner at my place doesn't mean we can't do dinner."

The Northwoods turned out to be exactly what I'd thought it would be, a pleasant little course nestled into the quiet of the forest. I filled out a foursome of vacationers from Montreal, Canada;Don Murville, Sebastien Brandt, and Jacquelyn Cresson. As we played I learned more about them. Don, who was closer to my parent's age, worked for a radio station as an engineer. Sebastian and Jacquelyn, who were in their late thirties or early forties, were married, and musicians with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra business, or at least the Montreal Symphony's business, was quite the soap opera, I learned over lunch with the threesome. Jacquelyn was Don's sister, and he had supported the couple through some recent hard times. The orchestra had been through changes of leadership and strikes in the last five years that had threatened its very existence. Now things were a little rosier, especially for the couple, who had gotten together with another couple and formed a string quartet that had been well received since its inception two years ago. As well, the couple were getting the occasional appearances, along with their quartet mates, with the Toronto Symphony. The Toronto symphony was currently a much more stable outfit.

"So we asked Don what we could do to pay him back for all he'd done for us over the years, and he suggested this," Sebastien was saying.

"I love golf, and we all wanted to see the Pacific," Don added. So this week was the perfect time for us all, so here we are."