Chapter 2

I reached over and softly placed my hand over Mandy's mouth. She opened her eyes wide, and looked into mine.

I moved closer to whisper, "Someone is breaking into the house."

Removing my hand, she got out of the bed as I did. She came to me, hugged me and then went to the closet. I had told her to go there, if there ever came a time that we needed for her to hide. I had built a small 'safe room' inside the bedroom closet, years before.

Call me paranoid; but, if a politician ever found out what I did for a living and wanted to garner a favor by selling me out, I wanted my wife safe while I employed 'extreme prejudice' to correct the issue.

My thoughts were that I would find the politician, later, and deal with him. Meanwhile, my wife needed to survive.

Mandy moved quietly. I opened the door to a small safe under the closet shelf. Three quick pushes of the keys, and it opened.

The Sig Sauer P226 slipped into my hand. It was a 9mm handgun, which was loaded with .357 rounds. I wanted to ensure that whatever or whomever I hit at close range, went just one way, and that way was down. It made a hell of a noise in close quarters, but it was very effective.

I heard the sounds of feet on the glass as 'whomever' crunched it into the kitchen floor. The ex had wanted hard Mexican pavers in the kitchen. The falling of feet caused the glass to break again, as those feet landed on the glass, after climbing through the window. I didn't have to move. Whomever had to come and get me. There was no need to head down the stairs, thereby making myself an easy target.

I sat, and waited. Listened as if I were out in the woods. I wanted to get pissed that they would enter my house, but I concentrated my focus on the issue. There was no further sound, until I heard the door across the hall open and close. Then the handle started to turn on the door to this room.

It opened. When it did, I sited the Sig. Then flipped the lights on, then watched a man whom I would swear looked like he was from Chaos, shake his head at the unexpected light. He came at me with a club. I fired, dead center, followed by a second round. Then aimed for his head.

Before the third shot, he vanished. I moved from my firing position and stood over where his body should have been. There was no body, though the club remained. I had hit him, dead center, with both shots. I had seen his body fly backwards from the impact of the rounds. Yet, now, there was only the club, but no blood or splatter just the two holes in the freshly painted wall, behind where he had been standing.

Worried there might have been more than one, I moved swiftly. Completed a room by room sweep, and found no one else in the house. I returned to the hall, and it was only then that I noticed there was no blood, anywhere on the floor either. At that distance, with the velocity of the rounds, and with their expansion factor; there had to be a body, and blood, everywhere.

I stopped and looked around. There were the two casings against the wall. I had fired the weapon. That was certain. Nevertheless, there was no body, and no blood. There were just the two holes in the wall that the bullets had made, after they had passed through the body. Downstairs, there had been the broken window and glass that had let me know that someone had entered the house.

Nothing added up! Then I remembered that Mandy was still in the closet. I went and brought her out. Pulled her close, into my arms, for a much-needed hug on both our parts. She looked at me. When I pointed to where the body should be, she looked back at me.

She asked, "Who was it, and what was that noise?"

"The noise was my weapon. It fires small spears made of metal, at a very fast speed. It will wound or kill, quickly."

"Did you hit whoever came in?"

"I fired two times. I was getting ready to shoot a third time, when he disappeared."

"Where did he disappear to?"

"It looked to me that he was a man from Chaos. If I had to guess, I would guess that he disappeared back there."

"But how could he get here?"

"That, I do not know. But, I am going to take you with me. We are going to see John and Beth, right now!"

"I am confused," she said as she held me tightly.

"We both are, but something is happening. I am not going to let anything happen to you."

"Yes, my Hero," Mandy said.

She kissed me, and my desire returned to bed her. I slapped her ass, and had her get dressed. I got dressed, also. We would shower, later.

I arrived a few minutes before my usual time for training. John and Beth were up, and were waiting for me. John could immediately tell there was a problem, maybe it was Mandy being with me, or it might have been the weapon in my hand. Then again, it could have been my war face. He and I sat down at the kitchen table, while Beth took Mandy away.

None of it made any sense to John, or later, to Beth. She and Mandy rejoined us, an hour after we had arrived, and cooked breakfast. Mandy was freshly showered and wearing a new outfit I had not seen before. She came over and sat in my lap, and kissed me. The conversation took a break as I spied John head over to Beth.

Over breakfast, we stopped and began to place things in at least a logical sequence.

Somehow, it seemed, a man of Chaos had come to Earth.

When he died, he had been taken back, just as a Hero was returned to Earth, when he died on Chaos.

He likely had a ring, to allow him to use a portal. It would have returned him to Crossroads if the same rules were in play.

He had to have someone to train him about the differences he would face, and point him towards me. We were at a loss at how he could even function, here.

It was confusing. All that we had were the basic facts. The rest was speculation, and didn't answer any of the hows, nor the whys. I was not happy about any of it. The worst thing was, I didn't know how to stop it.

I knew that my house was no longer safe. It had been compromised. I was hesitant to involved John and Beth in any of this. That, of course, was quickly pointed out to be a flawed view.

The answers lay in Crossroads and on Chaos. I could either take the fight there, against whoever had declared war on me and mine, or wait here for the next attack. I was in the dark and had no way of knowing anything.

Also, could I leave Mandy here, even for fifteen minutes?

Then it hit me! Whoever was pulling the strings was after Mandy, not me. I had been on missions, and no one ever came after me.

I wanted confirmation, so I asked John, "Have you ever heard of someone coming from Chaos to attack a Hero?"

"No, I have not."

"Then is has to be Mandy they are after. But the question is, how are they finding her?"

"That would seem logical that there could be someone coming after Mandy. As for how they are finding her, I don't know at this point," John replied.

"What can I be doing, to cause them to come after me? " Mandy questioned.

Then she hugged me and began crying.

"I have no idea, my love, but we will face this together."

I held her just as tight as she held onto me as she cried on my shoulder.

We left shortly after breakfast. There was simply too much unknown, and I needed to think of how best to protect Mandy as we worked through this. Somewhere on the drive back home the last mission came into focus, the ones who had come after me had been extremely well-trained. They didn't fit the Chaos mold of training that I had come to know.

Keith had been after a well-trained group. Then when I was after them they always seemed to be steps ahead of me. It all had to tie in; but I was on the receiving end, here, with no way to get a clear picture of what was happening. The beginnings of the answers were on Crossroads, I was sure. However, that would require a rescue to Chaos, and I would be in the dark about what was happening. The benefits would be my not sitting waiting for the next attack or ambush the pitfalls were that 'snafu' and 'fubar' were written all over it.

Back at home, Mandy had come to me. She was sitting in my lap as I was on the couch, continuing to think all the variables over. She was kissing me, and applying light love bites anywhere she could reach. I had hundred and some pounds of very aroused and willing female there in my lap. Her needs were not to be denied as she used her mouth and teeth in ways that were not conducive to making battle plans! I can assure you that it is damn difficult, no correction ... It's damn near impossible ... with Mandy in my lap ... to try to make sense of things, or to create battle plans.

It is conducive to working out what stresses you, when you stop and decide to follow her lead about what she is seeking. Of course, just when you're ready to advance with that situation, someone always shows up. In this case, it was Cal, with a box of doughnuts. I should have been grateful that it was not JD, wanting to head out into the woods. Mandy gave me a pout, and headed off to our bedroom wiggling her ass as she went up the stairs. I went to go open the door, and let Cal in.

There are times that this life sucks I can tell you. I have thought of that many times in the middle of an operation is some unnamed country in a quickly forgotten place in the world. When the Commander in Chief wanted to make his presence felt in the most direct way possible, he sents yours truly and his band of merrymakers to that part of the world. A covert tip of the spear just inserted at the right place and wrong time for whoever it was pointed at. The results were predetermined unless 'snafu' or 'fubar' decided to travel along with us, then add Murphy's happy hoard at times, too.

Yep, but I opened the door and greeted Cal taking his box of doughnuts firmly in hand. I heard a giggle just quiet enough to want to kick Cal out, but hell he stepped in the room and closed the door. It was then that I stepped on the glass and had it crunching under my boots. That of course got Cal's attention, and I sat down ready for the inquiry.

"What's with the window, Son?"

His smirk was obvious, and stayed right there when the light giggle from Mandy floated down into the kitchen.

I did my best to ignore her and answered, "Had a visitor who didn't want to ring the bell to use the door."

"Would that be the one who is giggling upstairs?"

"Not exactly," I said as Mandy giggled again.

Damn this was getting difficult.

"So where is this visitor, then?"

"Not likely you would believe me if I told you."

"With all that has happened, and what you have told me so far? Give it a try."

"He poofed, right into thin air as I was about to give him the final shot of a triple tap, for so rudely interrupting me," I just satsat back and grinned.

"This have anything to do with all that..."

He quit talking as I saw his eyes widen. I heard a lite thump behind me. When I turned to look behind me, it seemed that all of Mandy's clothes had come down the stairs with her shoes being responsible for the thump.

"Did I interrupt something?" he said and a wide smile appeared.

"You're pretty perceptive, for an old guy."

"I'm old, but I'm not dead. Give me back my doughnuts and I'll just mosey on down the road, unless you would rather I sat down here and enjoyed them."

I handed him the doughnuts, and he beat feet out the door, laughing all the way to his truck. Oh, I would not hear the end of this anytime soon, I was sure; but hell, at this point, I was locking the door and taking off my clothes as I walked over the glass again.

He called a few hours later and wanted to know if I would buy his lunch, since his breakfast had been disturbed. Mandy and I had enjoyed our time in the bed, around the house and in the shower. We were sitting on the couch when the bell rang. I walked over with the gun in my hand as I opened the door this time. I had forgotten to take it with me the last time Cal had appeared.

I went to close the door behind him Cal spotted it.

"You weren't kidding about the intruder?"

"I am as serious as a heart attack."

"Shit."

Then Mandy walked into the room, went right over to Cal, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Where did you want to go to lunch at, Cal?" she asked.

Cal stood there and just shook his head. Mandy was coming into her own, and she looked to be glowing brighter each time I stopped to look at her.

"Shit!" I cried out. "Damn it!"

The two of them just looked at me.

"Cal, go close all the curtains in the living room, and let's get Mandy in there."

I walked Mandy in, as he pulled the curtains.

"What the hell?" Cal questioned.

I had simply been too close. It seemed as though Mandy softly glowed, like a beacon. Well, maybe not that brightly. When you looked in the dark of the room, though, it was there. It was just a faint glow, but in a world of non-glowing people, she would be a beacon to any who were looking for her. That had to be the way he had found us last night. She was a beacon pointing them where to come and find her.

"She seems like she is..." Cal stopped.

"Glowing," I said.

"What the hell is up with that?" Cal asked.

"Are you sure you're up to all of this? Once you know, you'll always know," I replied.

Mandy didn't wait then.

"Cal, I love my Hero. He rescued me from my home planet of Chaos. He saved me after I was poisoned. He put his blood into me to get me to Crossroads, into the healing chamber there and then here to Earth; and now, someone tried to kill us last night, when they broke in."

Cal looked at her, and then at me. Then he sat down in the nearest chair.

"I thought all the stress had gotten to you, Son," he shakily said.

"Not exactly," I replied.

"You're really here from another world, Mandy?"

It was obvious that he was trying to put his head around it all.

"Yes, and now that you know, I'm scared."

She came to me, and held on, shaking. Cal stood walked over and looked into her eyes.

"I would never expose you. Not even at the cost of my own life. This is my son! He deserves every happiness in the world."

Mandy looked at him, and threw herself in at him, as his arms wrapped around her. She wept for a few moments and then kissed Cal on his cheek.

"Thank you for that," Mandy said, and came back to hold onto me.

"So all of what you told me is the God's honest truth," Cal said looking me right in the eye.

"That and much more," I replied.

"I'll be dammed."

Cal went and sat, Mandy opened the drapes, and I stood there.

Yep, life was just getting easier every single day. I took a deep breath and just shook my head.

"So you went to put the final round in this intruder, and he just disappeared?" Cal asked with a new sense of curiosity.

"Like a fart in the wind, he likely was dead after the second round, and he was returned."

"To where?" Cal asked.

"Wherever he was sent from."

"You don't know here he came from?"

"Well, I have a good guess, but it is not guaranteed."

"I'll take a guess."

"He was from Mandy's home world of Chaos. He was sent here to either capture and return her, or kill her. That, of course, would mean that I would be dead if he had done either of those."

"But how is that possible?"

"That, to quote an expression from your time, is the $64,000 question. However, little pieces keep coming to me."

"Like that Mandy has a glow to her."

"She is a beacon. No matter where she goes, someone will always come for her," I replied.

"Shit!" he replied as Mandy held me tight.

"What am I going to do?"

"Not I, my love, but we!"

I pulled her tight and kissed her.

"If they get past you, they will have to get by me, next," Cal said.

He came over and placed his hand on Mandy's arm and looked deeply into her eyes.

Well, in for a penny in for a pound. There was no way that Cal was not going to start piecing more and more of this together. Here was Mandy's statement, and there was John's statement in the garage. John was just too deeply involved in my life in for Cal not to begin to look at things, and add two plus two, about what was happening. So, I went over called John. I set up a lunch meeting with all of us. Cal was part of the team at this point, so John might as well get comfortable with him. John dissuaded us from a restaurant, and instead told us to come over to his home, in an hour.

I had some glass out in the garage so I took Cal there to help me with the window repair, as Mandy swept up the glass in the kitchen. The window had popped out easily enough, and the glass simply needed to be scored and cut. The windows were not the superefficient energy-saving types they are now. It was just plain glass, held in place with a set of small steel shanks, with putty applied all around the glass. Glazing is what they called it. I was going to replace them all a few years ago but the ex had stopped me. I had gotten an assignment before we could have an argument about it, and I had let it slide.

We finished, cleaned up, and Cal hung the window back in place. I went and gathered Mandy. The short ride over to John and Beth's was quiet. Mandy was likely thinking if it was good to have spilled the truth. Cal, most likely, was wondering if this was a group hallucination from something he had smoked, back in his days in Vietnam. Me, I just drove in the daze of another 'snafu', and began to laugh as we turned in at the driveway of John and Beth's home.

John opened the door, before we turned in the drive. He and Beth came over to greet us. Beth, even at her age, had timeless beauty. Here, with the sun high in the sky, it became obvious to Cal. It was a moment of realization. Beth was a woman from another world, also. I watched John's eyes as he looked at Cal, and then smiled.

"She is truly as beautiful inside as she is outwardly," John said pulling Beth to him.

"She's from that Chaos world, then?" Cal asked.

"No, she is from Cassandra. Before you ask I am a Hero, just as your son is."

I thought Cal was going to drop, when he heard that. I reached over to take his arm, just in case. He just looked at me.

"It will take more than that to knock me off my feet," he said, looking me right in the eye.

"It wouldn't, me, at this point!"

I laughed, and then the others joined in.

It was Mandy who kept us going when she came up with the line "Well, this is another fine kettle of fish; nyak, nyak, nyak!"

She had likely found that old comedy, somewhere, in the time she had spent with Beth. The Stooges' films are classics in all their routines from so many years ago. It just lightened the load we were carrying.

We laughed so hard we were nearly crying as we entered the house. We had come in the front door and I forgot there were all the pictures of the children. Cal stopped and just stood there and looked in wonder. It was obvious that he had no idea of whom John and Beth were the parents.

"Yes, they are all ours ... and you now know more about John and I than they do," Beth took Cal's hand and he looked at her.

"You are not from this world and John is the Hero who rescued you?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, I'm afraid; but we can discuss it, another time," Beth let his hand go and turned to lead on to the dining room where lunch was all ready for us.

It was an afternoon of discovery. Only someone who had opened a book, and had become engrossed in it to the point that nothing else mattered, could understand. That was Cal, as he asked questions, and we answered them. You could see his interest was piqued when there was discussing a Hero's companion being allowed to go.

We closed the drapes and Mandy, indeed, still softly glowed. That led to another round of discussions, about how to work this out. The agreement was that it had to be addressed on the other side. Sitting here, we were just waiting to be attacked. The only question was, would Mandy stay here while I went there.

We discussed the issue at length and came to no real conclusion that was workable. That I would be gone for only 15 minutes was of some comfort, but it still did not sit well with me. John assured me that he and Cal could take care of any threat. That of course had the men head down to John's training and storeroom.

If there had been a doubt, the 'tools of the trade' of Chaos, quickly took that away. It was rare indeed not to have Cal with something to say. This was indeed one of those times.

Then he finally croaked out, "You use all these weapons on Chaos?"

"At one time or another," John replied.

"That looks like a hell of a lot of work."

"They are the weapons that are allowed."

"This is all so hard to believe, I thought I had seen or heard it all but other worlds, delightful women, bastards to kill, healing machines, Powers That Be."

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" I interjected.

"He's on to something, again, that's his key phrase," Cal laughed.

"None of this happens without the Powers That Be allowing it or they have a Rogue making this happen."

"You believe they have a Rogue Power That Be in amongst them?" John questioned.

"What else would make sense? They allowed Mandy through, so it's not likely they would try to piss me off after that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cal asked.

"Cal, when a Hero performs beyond all expectations, via differing acts of bravery and intelligence, there are times the Powers That Be will reward the Hero in ways that they hope will continue to encourage him. Mandy was that reward for your Son."

Of course Cal stopped him, and looked at me for an explanation.

"You have to know about the healing chamber. It returns you to your whole and healthy optimum. I knew that fact, before I did what I did."

"Which was what?"

"I had my tongue removed for a mission to change the way I was perceived, so I could rescue a Damsel."

"Damn! You had your tongue cut out?"

I saw Cal do the internal pucker at the idea of that. And it was not a pucker from the end used to kiss anyone, either.

"Yes, it hurt like hell for a few days. However, it got the results I expected. I'm here, and I got Mandy here, also. Likely as not, she is my reward for my ingenuity."

Cal just shook his head, walked away, and up the stairs.

"I think he is having a difficult time understand all of this," John said.

"That is an understatement. Hell, I am having a difficult time, and I am the one going to rescue the Damsel."