Chapter 7: Bare Essentials

The new Explorer was parked out front and waiting for them when they checked out of the hotel. Under Mark's direction, Rachel drove to a medical supply house and waited while Mark purchased a power chair for Cole. He ordered it delivered to the bank and left in Rachel's temporary office. Cole was excited that he would soon own a new power chair that nobody else had ever owned.

Mark directed her to drive them to his house. "Whose place is this?" Rachel asked when he said to stop.

"Mine," he answered. He carried Cole while Rachel carried the small flight bag of money. "Reach in my right front pocket and take out my keys."

He smiled as her hand rubbed against his penis when she took hold of the keys. Red faced, she jerked her hand loose from his pocket. Mark smiled again. "Wanna check what's in the other pocket?" he whispered and laughed when she blushed harder.

He carried Cole upstairs and placed him on the chair in front of his computer. "I'll power it up in a shake," Mark told him and pulled the side panel off to remove the thin folder he had hidden there. He turned the computer on and left Cole to explore the Internet.

He went to look in his mother's old room. Nearly all of her belongings were gone. He checked the closets, the bath and the downstairs closets.

He found boxes of old clothes in the basement, picture albums and a briefcase full of legal documents he didn't recognize. He decided there was nothing worth keeping. As per his orders, Claire had cleared everything of hers out and taken it away.

"Rachel," he said as he came back up out of the basement, "Please call a locksmith and have all the locks changed. Also we want a top quality security system installed."

She looked up the phone number of a security company to take care of the job. "What's up?"

"Perhaps we can live here for a while, at least until we get situated. Afterward it might be nice to have this place as a hideout or a retreat."

Mark frowned and added, "We need to hire at least three women to look after Cole around the clock. The one on days will tutor him and take care of some of the housework. You'll be too busy." He changed his mind. "No, make that four women."

"Mark, slow down."

He interrupted her, "We don't have time to slow down. I've begun to have second thoughts, a lot of them. We must leave all the Hunter records at the bank, at least for the present. I need to talk to the two detectives who are investigating the thefts at the bank."

He thought hard and added, "Also you said you wanted to retain Roger's two assistants. You had better talk to them and make certain they are on board with us. If they have any issues we'll work them out immediately or they are damned well gone. The same goes, if you have any doubts about where their loyalties lie."

"I also need to contact the accounting firm that handled your father's estate, if we ever find out who they are," she told him and added that task to his list of things to do.

"I'll be right back," he told her and walked out of the house. He returned with a pleasant looking woman in her early fifties.

"Lorna, meet Rachel Jones. Rachel works for me and lives with me. Come upstairs and meet Cole Jones, her son."

He grinned at Rachel's look of surprise. "Rachel, meet Lorna Winters. She'll take care of Cole while we are running our errands, at least for the present. She was my baby sitter when I was a little younger than Cole."

"Let her do the interviewing for maids and a nanny who can home teach." Mark was happy something finally started to go as planned. "First, let's check in at the bank and then head on out to the Willows."

Mark handed ten hundreds to Lorna. "Use this for whatever you need. Maybe you and Cole would like to rent a few movies and order takeout. See you." He headed toward the door.

"Mark?" Lorna called after him. "What happened to that sad young boy I babysat years ago?"

"He got pissed about the way he was treated and started to grow up," Mark called over his shoulder.

"Let's go," he told Rachel. Her mouth popped open and closed, then popped open again. Mark took her hand and tugged her out the door. "As soon as we get to the bank, I want you to hire a secretary. Give him or her a cell phone and make certain you are clear to stay close to me."

After they got in, Rachel started the Explorer and pulled away from the curb. "What do you mean, stay with you?"

"Look Rachel, So far I have been following Mike's plan. He told me what to do and what to say. He started to train me three years ago to take his place.

"Well it seems that Roger and Claude have, between them, derailed much of the plan. Mom has acted pretty much just as Mike predicted. However the meeting with the Hunter Manufacturing board of directors was supposed to be next year instead of in the next week or so. Mike died before the rest of his plan could be implemented."

Rachel nodded as he continued, "We must set up our operation out at the Willows sooner than Mike planned and I'm scared."

"Mark, you could fool me. You act like you know exactly where you are going and what to do next."

"It's an act." He lowered his voice and told her, "I've mostly done what Mike said to do. To make things continue to work, I need your help. You know so much I don't know. I need you." Mark's disjointed sentences, the look on his face, told her the extent of his insecurity.

Rachel felt an unfamiliar ache in her throat. "Oh hell!" she exclaimed.

Her voice brought Mark out of his funk. He felt that he was losing her. "What's wrong?"

"You are loud mouthed just like most teenaged guys. You make smart assed remarks and let your temper rule you." She hiccupped a sob. "And I am ten years older than you."

"So?"

"I am so damned attracted to you it makes me dizzy. I don't mean the sex because we just barely got started. It was wonderful and I hate it." She began to cry.

"Better pull over and park," he told her. "You almost ran over a pedestrian."

She parked and turned to him. "I ... I ... I'm falling..." Her agony showed in her facial expression.

"Please say what you are trying to say." Mark thought he knew what was on her mind.

"I don't know if it is merely self deception or what. I am so strongly attracted to you I hurt."

"Kiss me," he said.

"What?"

"Kiss me." He removed her right hand from the steering wheel. He placed it on the bulge in his pants. He squeezed her hand tight.

"Mark, this is not what I meant." She struggled to pull her hand away.

"I know what you meant. This is all you get right now. I have one interest that is more important than anything else. On the side I want sex, either with you or someone else but not love. I must follow Mike's plan. That is all I can focus on right now. Love will come later or not at all."

"Let me go." She struggled to get her hand loose.

"Rachel, last night you came into my room and sought comfort. We hugged and slept."

He gave a short laugh. "I woke up this morning inside you. The sex we had was good. It was more like great, that second time in the shower. I want us to be lovers but I am not in love."

"So you want me to be your highly paid sex toy?" She stopped struggling to free her hand.

"No. To me, any sex between us is a bonus. I need your mind, your expertise and judgment. I need your loyalty. I need you."

Mark saw the look of resignation come over her as she told him, "Well, I guess that spells it out pretty plain. At least I know where I stand with you."

She squeezed his cock through the thin fabric of his pants. "Do you want a blow job right now?" She was angry. She felt humiliated and hurt. She felt betrayed that he listened to her tell him her innermost feelings and rejected them.

He ignored her hurt feelings and embarrassment. "Call the security company and tell them to leave a couple of armed renta-cops at the house until we get back tonight or tomorrow. Cole is my weak spot."

"What?" She felt as if he had picked her up and dropped her on her butt. "What are you talking about? What do you mean Cole is your weak spot?"

"Security. Call them and let's get to the bank."

She felt him go soft and he released her hand. Rachel felt humiliated by Mark's words and seeming callous attitude toward her. She unclipped her cell phone and made the call. As soon as the call was finished she re-hooked it to the outside of her purse and pulled back out into traffic. She willed herself to remain calm.

"What was that you said about Cole being your weak spot?" she demanded. "Cole is my son and not yours."

"I like Cole. He is a great kid. If I ever have a son I want him to be like Cole. You are a great mother. He is a great kid."

Mark paused, then added, "I would agree to anything to keep him from coming to harm."

"You drive," she sobbed. "I can't."

She pulled over to the curb. They traded places and Mark drove them the rest of the way to the bank. As they got out of the car Mark told her, "That was a cheap shot about a blowjob."

"Perhaps, but that is how you make me feel." He followed her inside.

Before Rachel could say anything else, more problems came their way. "Thank god you are here," Harold Osterman said as soon as they came in the door. "Those people have demanded I turn over all your files to them."

Three men were in the office assigned to Rachel. One was rifling through her desk. "Call the police," he told Rachel and stepped in behind the three."

"We are the police," the nearest one to Mark told him.

Mark slipped out of his suit coat and demanded, "Let's see a badge." He held his hand out.

"Beat it, we don't have time to play games with you." he sneered.

"The police are on their way, Mark," Rachel told him.

"You damned..." The man who claimed to be a policeman drew back his fist to strike Rachel and got no further.

Mark screamed a war cry worthy of any movie designed Shaolin priest and attacked. In warrior mode, Mark spun the first intruder around and slammed his face down hard on the desk, grabbed the second one and used him to steady himself as he launched a kick at the one who had started to search through the desk, The man he held screamed as Mark dislocated his right shoulder with a reverse arm lock.