Chapter 33

Well that started the morning out right, I thought, as I followed Myrna and Carver to the kitchen. We were all sitting and laughing when Kat came in, still in Sally's pajamas. I noticed she had the top buttoned up almost all the way, although it was a little tight. She looked good enough to kiss, which I promptly did.

"Kat, I have a pair of pajamas that you could have borrowed that wouldn't have been so binding for you to sleep in."

Boy, was that a mistake.

"Well, if a certain person had awakened me the way I planned instead of being gone when I woke up, I would have been in a better mood this morning. By the way, why are you three so happy this morning? I would think with all that's happened you would be a little more concerned."

Before I could answer, Sally came in looking like she was sleepwalking and sat down, asking for tea. I got up and went to my desk and got the pouch I had gotten yesterday. I walked back in, sat down, and slid it across the counter to her. She looked at me in a quizzical way as she opened it. It took her a few minutes to realize what she had in her hands. When she saw the passport, she ran around the table hugging me and kissing me. I hugged her back and the others were exchanging glances, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Thanks, Dad, I was worried I wouldn't be able to go with you guys today. Now no one can tell me what to do, 'cause like you said, I have the full protection of your country plus my own. Ok, let me get dressed and I'm ready to go."

"Slow down, young lady, we still have a few hours before we have to worry about that. I need to bring you all up to date on what's happened since we went to bed last night. I'm sure this is news you will all want to hear."

I sat and did just that, and when I was finished, Myrna and Kat were both smiling, but Sally looked like she had missed something. Then I remembered, she hadn't been told about anything that happened yesterday. She had been gone all afternoon and evening. I told her what had happened, and why everyone was so happy about it. She was smiling like the rest when I finished.

"Just to clear things up a little here, girls, we still have to be on guard. I don't know what the church's reaction to the news is going to be, but you can bet they will want to do something. Just because their leader is dead, it doesn't mean they will drop the whole thing. I still want to get that girl away from them, and I hope her uncle tries to interfere. He is wanted for murder, and I would love nothing better than to see him behind bars for the rest of his life. I don't want any of you leaving the house until it's time to leave for the airport. Also, I am going to make a few changes in our travel plans, since we are all legal to leave. I still have that meeting with Jeb to go to this morning. By the way, has anyone seen Jimmy?"

"I think he's still sleeping, Dad. His snoring kept me awake half the night. I have never heard anyone make that kind of noise before. I'll go wake him up and tell him Myrna's fixing breakfast. He will be here so quick I'll bet he beats me down the steps."

We all got a big laugh out of that one, and Sally left to wake him. She came back in and sat down, and it wasn't two minutes later that Jimmy arrived in the kitchen, looking disappointed that breakfast really wasn't ready. Myrna was chuckling at him as she started cooking. He had hot tea like Kat and Sally, and several times I noticed him sniffing the air, smelling the food cooking. I noticed Carver watching him also, and he had a big grin on his face as he did. Jimmy got the first plate. It was piled high with all the food she had stacked on it. It wasn't just a plate, I saw in surprise, but one of her bigger platters that she used to put meat on. When we all had our plates and dug in, I was still watching him eat in shock. I had been all over the world and had gone hungry more times than I cared to think about. To see him put it away, if I didn't know better, I would guess he hadn't eaten in over a week. I looked around, and Kat had her fork halfway to her mouth, watching him in shock. The other three were watching him just as intently as I was. I waited to see how long it would take him to notice. It was when he was using his toast to wipe up his plate, that he noticed that we were all watching him in shock. I don't think any of us had eaten more than a few bites, we were so amazed. He looked around at all of us and grinned.

"What, haven't you ever seen anyone hungry before?"

Sally had just taken a sip of her milk and snorted it out her nose when she started laughing and choking. Laughter erupted all around the table as we went back to eating. From that point on, we totally ignored him as we ate our cold food. The final icing on the cake was when he asked Myrna if there were any more eggs. She went totally off on him, and it brought us all to tears, we were laughing so hard. When Kat, Sally, and I got up laughing and headed for the steps, Myrna was still giving him hell and Carver was choking on his coffee. I found out later that Myrna relented and fixed him another platter of food, and he ate every bite. I made it to my room after being soundly kissed and thanked by my daughter.

Kat was another problem altogether, because she brought her clothes into my room and shut the door. She was grinning at me as she took her pajamas off headed for the shower. I had just gotten myself under control when she called out, asking me if I would wash her back. I never undressed so fast in my life, even considering the time I had jumped into an anthill when shots were fired at us on patrol. Needless to say, I got a second shower that morning, and I had a smile on my face as I redressed to go to my meeting.

I went back down the steps yelling for Jimmy, saying it was time to go. I was trying to remember when I had ever felt so happy. Although I tried, I couldn't bring to mind anything like I felt at that moment. I went into my study and got my other pistol and shoulder holster out, along with my backup. I got everything on, and had just put my ID in my pocket, when my cell rang. I quickly grabbed it off the charger, and it was Jerry on the other end.

"Jon, I just got back from identifying Bill's body at the DC morgue. He was shot execution style last night sometime in his hotel room."

I went to sit down and missed the chair. I ended up on the floor in shock from the news. At first a wave of anger swept across my mind, then sorrow because I had lost someone that I cared for very much without ever having realized it. He had been my right arm since he had come to my rescue when I had gotten Sally.

"Jerry, what do you know?" I asked in a voice I didn't recognize as mine.

"Not much at this time, but I have already put two of my best on the case. Jon, where are the Runt and his men?"

I quickly brought him up to date, knowing that there was no way he could have been personally involved. Then I had a sudden thought and asked Jerry to have his people check on the girl's uncle. I wanted to know if there was any news on him from the FBI, since he was on their list. We chitchatted about nothing, and he said he would let me know about the arrangements, as soon as he could set something up. I thanked him, asking that he not let anyone else know until I could tell my own family. He said he would call me later with an update. I thanked him and hung up the phone, pulling myself up off the floor. I sat down in my chair and felt the tears come. I didn't try to fight it and I knew I would be shedding more when I told Myrna and Sally. I did know I was going to get the person responsible, if it took me the rest of my life. He would suffer, oh how he would suffer, while he was begging for me to kill him. It took me awhile to pull myself together enough to start thinking coherently again. I decided I would wait until the meeting was over to tell Myrna and Sally, because if I told them now, I wouldn't be able to go because of their grief. I also wanted to be there for both of them without having to rush off. I headed to the front door and Jimmy was waiting on me. He must have seen something in my face, because his smile disappeared and he followed me outside in silence. The security officer was the same one from yesterday, and he just waved, saying he would open the gate for me. I just nodded and went directly to the car. I quickly looked under it and under the hood, and when I didn't see anything, backed it out of the garage. When we went out of the gate, my anger was coming back again and my inner wolf was starting to growl.