Chapter 552

Saturday morning we girls went to the gym, all except Ching Lee; she stayed at home with my mom and Mindy. They were trying to see who was going to hold Takeo the longest. They were also babysitting two jealous little boys.

I had looked at the notes Robert had left me last night. After a nights reflection I knew I was going to be back in Section Twelve a lot more than once a month. Roberts’s notes made it clear that stepping aside made no difference to the people who had put the bounty on me and my family; we were still priority targets.

I used the training module I had set up for experienced gym nuts; every machine twice. I knew it would be hard on me but I wanted to get back into shape as fast as I could. It was on my bucket list of things to do as soon as possible.

By the time I was finished I was weak and winded like a race horse that had been run too hard. The showers and hot tub helped some. I waited until one of Amy Crossman’s weekend masseur ladies was free for a turn on the massage table.

Tomorrow I was going to spend time on the mats and those type of exercises and then probably need the same treatment again; no pain no gain. And I was in pain. The other girls had finished their workout and had gone back to the house.

On the way back through the basement I stopped into Robert’s office once more and put all the paperwork that was in my file into an envelope. Robert was still marking everything important to me as top secret with a red stamp. I would find a few minutes to look through them.

Ching Lee was still having guests and friends stopping in to check on the newborn and bring gifts. It was a busy afternoon with a house full of family and friends.

I took little Jacob and Robert into the study and played with them. They had a new set of alphabet learning blocks that I thought was a little above them.

We had a fun time. They were past the stack them up and knock things down stage so we could work at letters and little words. I was surprised how interested they were; I had missed so much in the last six months.

After supper we put the boys to bed. I started with the reports Robert had left in my box. Robert had left a week’s worth of posts in my box; I wondered why as I had seen all of them except the last two days. I started with the oldest, looking for answers.

Tiam was posting dozens of times a day from the IRG location; there were several each day to Jaed in Harrisburg. In each case Jaed responded within thirty minutes according to the time stamps.

In Thursdays post and reply it looked to me like they were negotiating in some way. In the second set of posts and replies that day Tiam slipped up in the wording. He instructed Jaed to find a suitable event and place in the area within the next thirty days.

Jaed immediately chastised Tiam on the slip up and that he was putting too much information in one post with insufficient encryption.

Monday Robert and I were going to have a look a Harrisburg events happening in the next thirty days and look in the crystal ball.

Sunday was gym in the morning and rest with the family who all came for a light lunch. All the ladies had a turn at holding Takeo, even Leslie. I guess when she made the decision to be part of the family she was all in. She helped with making lunch and cleanup.

Mindy and Lorrie were both uncomfortable; if I was betting, both would deliver in the coming week.

After the entire crowd left we took Jonathan and Leslie to Morton. Lorrie wanted to show them her piece of the pie and I wanted to see the completed Fort Smith and all the helicopters that had arrived. With a small team of security we made the trip to Morton.