Chapter 409: Doing for Those Who Make Do Without

What else does she need that she won’t tell me?

I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.

Olive is squinting to see the names of the stores down the road.

“How long have you needed glasses, Olive,” I asked.

She looked down at the ground and just held my hand as we walked down the block.

Finally, Olive said, “Since always, but it was never bad enough that I couldn’t read the board, and I sit in the front. Only after my boobs showed up and I got skinny again did it get worse. My parents have insurance covering eye doctors and glasses, but even then, it is still hundreds of dollars to get the cheapest and ugliest frames they have. The lenses are covered. They had to save for months to get me a pair, and mom wasn’t about to let me bring them along.”

“Well, I know our next stop then,” I told Olive.

We were one of the only towns around that still had one of those Merle’s Vision places that will make the lenses right there in about an hour. Reaching out to my implant got her prescription sent to them to get a starting point.

Yeah, I was right, damn it. Olive’s eyes have changed a lot since her last eye exam.

“I don’t understand the problem. You have the lenses and all the stuff. Why are you not letting me buy my cousin what I want her to have?” I asked the woman behind the counter, telling me I didn’t want what I was trying to buy. “Do you not want my money? I can take her somewhere else that can make them today.”

“But, Sir, she is still a child. She doesn’t even have her old pair of glasses. There isn’t even insurance,” the lady told me.

Someone came up to ask what was going on.

Taking a deep breath to calm down a bit, I said, “My cousin needed an eye exam and new glasses, so I brought her here. We have the new prescription, picked out multiple frames you have in stock, ensured that you have all the lenses, and now I’m trying to buy what I want her to have, but your saleswoman is trying to help us be cost-conscious.”

“Susan, you know that restaurant that had all the bones and then a crazy man ready to butcher people in the basement. The one that we like to go to when the boss is in town to take us to lunch?” the woman asked Susan.

When she nodded, she told Susan, “David here owns that restaurant, which will soon re-open in a new location down. He is most definitely one of the best men in town. Let him get his cousin what he wants her to have. I’m sure he can afford it.”

“According to the computer,” Susan said to the woman, “It took them six months to pay for her last pair.”

“Susan, why do you think I have this embarrassed girl here right now? I love my cousins and missed so many years of growing up with them because I was ignoring everyone for years,” I told Susan. “Your co-worker is right that I can afford it. Even if I couldn’t, I would find a way to pay you today for them.”

That cleared up her trying to help us go as inexpensive as possible. They would make Olive two pairs of blue-light blocking computer glasses with ultra-thin lenses, anti-glare coating, scratch-resistant coating, and two pairs of sunglasses. I paid for another set of glasses and sunglasses, with everything, plus her eye exam for when she noticed that her vision had changed again. We went window shopping, with her teasing a few boys when she could, until time to pick up her glasses. She was so happy to be able to see perfectly again.

We picked her up a watch and a few other little things that she had wanted, but not enough to start begging her parents to buy them for her. My phone buzzed with a text. Olive had a new laptop and a new tablet waiting at my house.

With Olive not being tired, we started walking home. About two blocks away, a swarm of black SUVs squealed to a halt all around me.

“Mr. David Paul Jones, you need to come with us right now,” one of the agents said, trying to sound official.

I looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m not going anywhere with anyone but my cousin until I see her safely back to my house. You can walk with me or follow along in your SUVs. By the way, what agency are you representing?”

“You will stop right there, or we will take you by force,” he said back, reaching for a Taser.

“Look, man, you must not have gotten the memo. If you try to lift that Taser from the holster, you will find yourself zip-tied to your SUV. I will not put my cousin in any danger that it could hit her,” I started saying.

“We are not playing a game. Mr. Jones. You are coming with us right now, willingly or not,” a twenty-something agent yelled as he interrupted me.

He pulled a gun.

“HEY! DON’T GET YOURSELVES KILLED!” I yelled to get their attention. “LOOK AT YOUR VESTS.”

They at least looked at the vest of the person closest to them. All had multiple red and green laser dots overlapping their hearts. The one who pulled the gun had three flicked across his eyes numerous times to get his attention. His weapon slowly made its way back into the holster.

I waited until they got the point and then said, “I don’t know who is watching over my safety, but after all of their co-workers were killed on Christmas by people hired by the moron that kidnapped my daughter, I wouldn’t test them.”

Another guy decided he had to act like he had the balls of a buffalo when the guy quickly pulled his handgun and started to bring it up to where he could aim it at Olive or me. I felt that I was shielding Olive without doing it consciously. Two shots hit his gun within a fraction of each other. One knocked it from his hand, and the other blew it into pieces.

“Come, walk with me. It isn’t that far, and you have scared the shit out of my cousin, which is uncalled for. She was having one of the best days of her life,” I told them. “Now you’ve completely fucked that up. Thanks.”

I took Olive’s hand, walked around the guy in our way. Three of them decided they needed to ensure I didn’t try to escape.

I told them, “If you are going to walk with us, why don’t you tell me the agency you work for so I can let your boss know why it is taking you so long.”

Only one of them spoke, and she said she was with the Treasury Department, but this was an inter-agency effort, so she is not allowed to wear any designation. I took out my phone and called Agent Summers.

“Agent Summers, how are you? It is David Jones. Did you know that I turned eighteen yesterday? We can go out for that coffee now, and you don’t have to worry about me being underage,” I told her. “Can you find out who sent a multi-agency gang to come to collect me? They found that it was a bad idea to threaten me, especially with a weapon. I want whoever to know that their missions are getting delayed a bit. Tell them that I can bring myself right to their door and save the taxpayers the money. I have this unbelievable travel agency. I can get halfway around the world in no time.”

We talked a bit more, and then she said she would make some calls. It seems that as far as the Treasury Department was concerned, any actions involving me are to go through her.

Olive and I went on into my house. I offered to let the agents come in to keep me from sneaking away, but they chose to remain outside. During our walk, someone from their agencies told them that I could be trusted to keep my word.

“It appears that now that I’m eighteen, multiple agencies now want to have a chat with me. Some did make the mistake of thinking they could do that by force. Whoever watches over us made sure the agents knew that it was a bad thing to do. I wasn’t about to let them have even a chance to do something that could have hurt Olive,” I explained.

“I was going to spring it on you at dinner, but plans have changed, it seems. I’ve contacted my travel agent. You, your wife, and my cousins are going to Hawaii in the morning. I found that I have a mansion there. April liked it. There are exotic cars you can drive if you want. There is even the classic red Ferrari I didn’t know I owned. The staff there have everyone’s sizes and will have clothes for you all. Swimwear is up to you when at the mansion, but I never found if I owned that private strip of beach in the cove or not. They can fill you in. I will provide you credit cards to cover whatever crazy things you want to go do and see while there. I found that I have some personal matters to address that can’t wait. Have a wonderful vacation. If you need more time off, call my parents, and they will let Molly or Paula know. I doubt your bosses will have any problems extending your vacation.”

Olive hugged me and thanked me for making today the best day ever for her. It sucked that I had to see what those agents wanted.

It is a bit deceitful, but she soon forgot all about my woes when someone on the staff brought her the laptop and tablet.

I did change clothes. I wanted them to see that I’m ripped and have no questions about my only carrying my wallet and cell phone.

When I walked back out to where the agents were waiting, I asked, “So who am I riding with?”

“If you would put your hands behind your back,” one agent said.

I laughed and asked, “Really? Before you make yourself look stupid, Giggle minigun-seal-killer and watch the video. I’m not going anywhere.”

After they all got to see the video, I said, “Now look for Christmas Day Kidnapper Mistake.”

That one got much more response out of them.

I have no idea what either of them showed, only that I got those names via the connection to my new implant.

“Can I keep my hands unbound? I can get out of them anytime I want anyway. I already said I would come along willingly after I got my niece to my house. I have no weapons other than myself,” I told them.

We went quickly to my favorite private, unmarked airfield and boarded the waiting military plane. The plain had special forces troops from the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

These soldiers are loaded out like they are about to be dropped into the middle of a hot zone where everyone hates the U.S. more than each other.

“Wow! Wait a damn minute! Is this because my friends didn’t invite someone to my birthday party? Or did I miss some email about me needing to save the world or something?” I joked.

One Army Ranger Officer looked at the agent in charge and asked, “Sir, are you fucking with us? Do you even know who this is? You are wasting valuable resources on this cluster fuck.”

“I have my orders. They noted that Mr. Jones is extremely dangerous,” the agent said. “Proper precautions were required to ensure that he had no choice but to accompany me to our destination. Resistance would cause escalating responses until he complied.”

“Sir, with all due respect, you are a fucking moron,” the officer told him.

A Marine officer summed it up nicely when he said, “I got briefed that this kid turned eighteen yesterday. I guess that is likely the reason some glory hound shoved his head up his ass. It is clear you weren’t read in, or you can’t read. Either way, as of midnight yesterday, he has a top-secret clearance in areas where the president does not. A general and gunnery sergeant at Area 51 has stated that he is welcome anytime he wants to come to visit again. I was on the phone when he told every leader around the world to stay the fuck out of his way as he went to get his kid.”

“That doesn’t have any bearing regarding my orders,” the AIC said.

“Sir, you still don’t get it,” the Marine officer said. “You could have called and asked him to come to you. Instead, you wasted tens of thousands of dollars coming to get him. It had better be damn important, or a lot of careers are going in the shitter. He has THE number in his phone that will get the president’s staff scrambling to get the president on the phone with David, should David call him, as quickly as possible.”

“I’m doing as told,” he replied, sounding like a broken record.

To me, one of the crew chiefs said, “Mr. Jones, we have clearance to take off. Please strap yourself into a seat.”

“I prefer to stand if it is all the same to you. I expect to be sitting a lot very soon,” I told him.

He tried twice more, and then one of the Seals said something that made him tell me I had a seat if I wanted it.

I like this! My reflexes and muscles can counter each force against me so that I don’t appear to be moving at all to everyone’s eyes.

Making a point during takeoff and while getting to the assigned altitude, I walked up to get a drink of water and then walked back. I then proceeded to retie my shoe with my foot against my thigh. Once we leveled off, I walked to the cockpit to talk with the pilots.