Chapter 35

Flying home with Lisa sitting next to me after telling me that she was pregnant had my head spinning. Thank goodness being on mental autopilot reminded me call in to enter the landing pattern. I released my seat belt and leaned over to Lisa when we finally landed, had the aircraft shutdown, ready to refuel and put in a hangar. "Don't give me news like that while we're flying and I can't reach over to tell you how crazy in love with you I am. This is big, really big."

Lisa smiled and said, "I didn't know when to tell you, and I couldn't hold it in any longer. I'm so happy, Chuck. I thought it would be a couple of months when I went off the pill before I caught, but we've been so loving, as always, that my body sucked your juice up and I must have had a couple of eggs ready to go."

My mind was still spinning as I got out of my seat and attempted to help Lisa from hers. She told me, "Will you stop. I'm pregnant, not crippled, or sick. These two inside me are going to be fine and will be growing and busy from now until they are married and gone from our home."

"You're going to have to put up with me being nuts over our babies the same the other girls have had to." After moving away to let her out of the cockpit, I asked, "Who knows, Lisa?"

"Only those who have the gift, your Aunt Etta, Marion, Virginia, Mercy, Missy, the triplets, and their brother. I think Tina and the rest of the girls suspect, but none of them have said anything."

I asked the brunette as we got off the aircraft, "When are you going to tell everyone?"

"We'll talk with the girls first, and then tell everyone else. I want to tell you something right now, so you know. We're not going to change our lifestyle. These babies are ours and they are and will be tougher than most. You're going to continue to be the Deputy and Agent that you are, and I will assist you, but I won't go with you when you do your Lone Ranger imitation. I am going to stay out of skirmishes and already should have, but felt I needed to back you up. Jane could take my place, but she's so intent on having a baby that she wouldn't be any good to you for very long. I'm going to find you a sidekick like me that will be right for you and us."

I didn't say it, but another person to watch my back wouldn't be necessary because I was going to stand down from the really rough stuff. I'm sure the services can do without me, and tough crap if they can't.

I let the ground crew tow the aircraft into the hangar after it was fueled, and we went to the fancy car and drove home. We talked about the sailing trip we were in the process of planning on the way. I asked Lisa, "Do you still want to sail up to Friday Harbor and on to Hawaii? Should we potentially become Deputies in reserve for a while if we do that? I think Sam will understand if I explain it to him. He might have a few things for me to do, but I think the man recognizes how important something like this becomes."

Lisa nodded and said, "Let's try that. If it works, we'll do what we can and you teach some new men how to resolve problems while you take care of some."

I was surprised to find all of my ladies at the house. They were putting what we would need to go sailing together. Even Peaches was there getting things ready with the girls. Giovanni and Mesa said they didn't want to sail and would prefer to stay in Costa Rica while we were gone.

Lisa had everyone in the house come to the family room. She reached into the playpen area and picked Farah up and held her for her announcement. Lisa said, "Farah, you and Sara aren't going to be the only twins in the house. I'm going to have a boy and girl to keep you company."

There was silence as everyone who was gathered let the statement sink in. Tiani looked at Lisa and said, "So you finally let our man breed you. It's about time. Now you can join us changing diapers, nursing, and still trying to satisfy our husband's raging sex drive."

Gina came to me and kissed me as she said, "I'm sorry, Chuck. I thought I was pregnant, but I'm not. Tina says I shouldn't have any more babies, so Lisa will be having one for me."

One by one, the girls and family members told Lisa how excited they were for her. Peaches had tears streaming down her face when she said, "My biggest baby is now going to be a real woman with her own babies. My goodness, two of them at once."

In my head, I heard, "You better get your family over here and tell everyone here, or I'm going to announce it. Hurry, Chuck."

Mercy just has never been able to let me be. She's always in my head.

I told the girls, "Let's go to the patio for the evening, and have some fun and supper. We're all planning this big trip and we have some preparing to do. John is coming to give us a report on the boat, but our maritime home is spotless from the last time I saw it."

I was thinking of how many carts it was eventually going to take get the family to Steve's as I helped get the current little ones into their baby seats that already were in the carts. We had nine babies, the Freaky Five were pregnant, my Chinese dolls were now pregnant, or working on it, and here comes Lisa with the big announcement of more double trouble."

Etta came to me while we were getting everyone together to get over to the patio, and said, "Chuck, my love, the more we all learn about Lisa, we find that you may have to withstand more shocks. Remember that she is actually more Tasker than you are. Can you imagine the abilities of your offspring?"

I looked at Etta strangely, as in 'how much crazier can it get'?

Mercy came up to Lisa and me as soon as we arrived at the patio and released the toddlers into the maze of tables and chairs, with Sue, Kathy, Mickey, and Juanita expectantly looking on. Lisa told them, "Mercy knows that I'm pregnant and I'm going to have more than one. I will be adding a boy and girl to our growing family. Chuck is as excited as I am."

I don't know why, but I was watching Mercy's face as a surprised look came over her. Missy was farther away and I saw her begin to laugh. Looking back at Etta, I could see a silly smile on her face that told me there was more to this. Sue was instantly telling Lisa she needed to get to the doctor's to have an exam and sonogram, start taking prenatal vitamins, and to stop having those big Beefeaters and Bloody Marys with me.

Tina burst through the front patio door and ran to Lisa, grabbing her and holding her out from her, "How did you let this happen? We were supposed to do this together. Lisa, Lisa, I knew you had something going on inside you, but twins? Come on, let's run over to the office and do a sonogram."

Lisa was almost embarrassed, "Can't we wait a bit?"

"Not a chance, Sweet Cheeks; I want weekly sonograms of this entire pregnancy for a scrapbook. You're going to be my guinea pig."

Tina was pushing Lisa out the door, with Brandy and Tiani helping her. They took off as Steve came through the door and waved me over to the bar with him.

He built a couple of Beefeaters and handed me one. "Rumor has it that Lisa might be pregnant?"

I nodded and told him that Tina had dragged her out of the patio to go do a sonogram. It looked like Etta and Mercy may have gone with them.

Steve slapped me on the back and asked, "Does this affect our sailing around to Friday Harbor and on to Hawaii?"

I replied, "Lisa says it won't, and the other girls who are pregnant say it won't either. Besides the Fun Five, Taiying and Sing say they're pregnant too. So I am about to enhance our family with nine more kids, Steve."

Steve stood there, sipped his Beefeaters, and said, "This is the way to keep our family together, growing and growing. Mickey just told me that she thought she was pregnant again. This is great as another bunch of kids will become a pack of wild ones. It makes me so happy that I could just about begin hollering to the world how great it is."

Missy came over and whispered in his ear. Steve's eyes flew wide open as he asked Missy, "He doesn't know, does he?"

Her reply was just as confusing, "She doesn't know yet either."

Steve smiled and raised his glass to me, "This is a great day for us, Chuck. The question is, 'how soon do you think we can sail'."

I told Steve, "I haven't heard from John about the condition of the boat yet. A lot depends on that."

Steve said, "Mercy and Sue were over there with John today, and they went over the boat and all of its functions. Everything is in perfect condition. The girls are having the existing crew move their belongings out to an apartment and setting them up to crew on some of our other boats. They're having all new bedding bought for the kids, and new ones made for us. Kathy is going to take Bonita over to check the equipment on board and what other instruments she wants to take. You know that she's going to want to play a lot of music on the trip with the way she's been."

I mused to Steve and Missy, "We do get carried away on our boat, don't we? It's a great time to enjoy a lot of things that we all like. This is going to be a special trip because we'll all be together, and there will be mine and your new kids, Steve. Just think that another crop is in the making."

There was a disturbance at the door, and Lisa came flying through the door, waving some printed pictures. She almost ran to me and said, "Look, look at these and tell me what you see."

I looked at the pictures the first time and studied them, not believing what I thought I might be seeing. I looked again tracing the images that I could identify on the fuzzy printed pictures. I looked up Lisa and said, "There's more than two, isn't there?"

Lisa was grinning too wide to answer. I then asked, "Do you think there are four of them there?"

Lisa hugged me to her and said, "That's what Tina said, and the other doctor came in to look and confirmed it. We're going to have quads. Tina and the other doc say they look good and that I'm in good condition to have them. Get ready, big daddy, your mate is going to drop four on you at once."

The excitement had spread through the house, creating a traffic jam around the bar. The women were all looking at the sonogram pictures and talking all at once. Lisa was grinning and rubbing her stomach that wasn't bulging yet. Mercy leaned over to her and said, "You had to show me up, didn't you?"

Lisa told Mercy, "I only wanted one for Chuck and me. I thought it was time for us to do it. Now I'm scared. How do you handle the three you have and think of adding another to the mix?"

Mercy said, "They were good babies, and yours will be too. I'm dying to see what your kids will be like when they get to the ages mine are. I'm surprised as to how developed their gifts are every day. Chuck's is so strong and yours is rapidly developing, so I know that you two will create some really unique babies."

I was hugging Lisa when I said, "You probably won't be able to do much more than some office paperwork for a while with four. I think you should devote your time to music and preparing for our family here, Costa Rica, and in Hawaii.

Lisa looked at her phone for the time, and went outside the patio to make a call. She said, "Jane says she's on her way so you can knock her up if she already isn't," when she came back in. She just told me that she needed to have a baby with me."

"Did you tell her we were about to sail through the canal and up the West Coast?"

"I did, Master, and she said that she was going to call in and tell her Chief Deputy what was up and would have a plane ride as fast as she could get it."

"So I'm 'Master' now, huh? That just doesn't fit somehow. Tell me truthfully how you feel about Jane. Is she really going to stay with us? I'm not sure that I want to only be a sperm donor and wave goodbye to one of our babies."

"No problem, Chuck, she wants us. She wants us more than she wants Hawaii. She knows we'll be going back and forth often, but also knows that her place is with you, the ladies, and all our children. She figured that out while we were there and tried to tell you. I'm sure she'll do a better job of it this time."

I was surprised when my phone in my coat pocket buzzed. The voice on the other end said, "Get the words, I'll call back in five," when I said "Johnson".

Looking up the day's codes was fast and I quickly received the e-mail. I was now outside the patio when the call came, and answered. We exchanged the Q&A and the phrase before he said, "I need you for something you won't like."

"Then why would you call me?"

"Let me repeat, I need you for something you may not like, but you may be the only asset who can do it."

I simply said, "Talk to me."

"Southern Mexico, the Marlegin cartel has just killed several people from a single town. We need you and as many other shooters as we can find to put them down fast and permanently. No one knew how vicious these people were until they began killing whole families to get what they wanted. We have eight other shooters ready, and need you and Lisa to fly the group down there and lead the operation."

I softly said, "Listen to me, Lisa will not be going on anymore ops, and that's written in stone. My Lisa is pregnant with babies. Hear that? She's pregnant with a bunch of our babies. I can't take a chance on her being hurt."

The man said, "You have precedent after your Hawaiian girl lost her baby."

"That, and also the fact that I won't allow her to go out, period."

"You have to look at this one and give me an answer, Chuck. This sounds as bad, if not worse, than lot of them we've done."

I told the contact, "Shoot the file to me, and I'll go read it and call you back. Tell me where you want to stage for the takeoff and where we can get in. You know I need a fairly long runway to set down and takeoff."

The contact said, "We have 'Company' people on the ground getting transportation ready. They are being very cooperative since they've lost a couple of their own, but they don't have enough resources to take care of the problem on their own. They actually asked for our help."

"I don't trust them. They are more dangerous to deal with than murderous cartels in some ways."

The contact said, "I think that the fact they have lost some of their own is making them deal straight with us on this. They are supplying four men on the ground to help hunt the cartel down. This is a bad one, Chuck, and they have to be totally eliminated or any one of those men could put the working operation back in place after we leave. Go read the file. It's up for you to look at."

I looked into the patio and saw Lisa talking with the women, so I hopped into a cart and went home. I downloaded the file and read it through twice and saw that it was going to be a long trip using surface vehicles to get to the area where the cartel was holed up. I kept thinking that we needed helicopters for more than transportation. We needed them with infrared capabilities for body heat images or we could end up missing some of the bad guys.

I called the contact after thinking about the situation. "The way to do this is to use a large cargo transport that can hold a couple of our silent combat helicopters. We can get to the area faster, and use the heat imaging to help hunt down any stragglers. What about the Federales?"

"We're on our own down there. Even the Army has taken casualties from these people, so we are being welcomed to help eliminate the problem."

"See what you can do about transport. Where do we meet?"

The contact said, "The western base. We'll have what you're asking for by this evening. We'll fly overnight and you can lead your group in the morning. Check the maps and satellite photos."

I asked, "The file said approximately a hundred and twenty-five men are locals of the cartel. We aren't going to kill that many men. What should we do with anyone we capture?"

There was a very long pause before the contact said, "These men are vicious and will probably put up a fight to the last man, but any you capture should be held for the locals. They will dole out what justice needs to be done. Make sure you hold all weapons for the local leaders whose pictures are in the file. If the first one listed isn't still alive, go to the next man in the file until you find one alive who will take charge of the village and area."

I said to the contact, "This is brutal. This isn't law enforcement, it's almost genocide. Are these people that bad?"

"You didn't read about the all the incidents, did you, Chuck?"

"No, I didn't, because they are related and not necessarily documented."

"Read about the Juan Esposito incident, where the man was being disciplined by the cartel, Chuck. They cut his wife's head off in front of him, and then decapitated his infant the same way. What could be justice for that?"

I asked, "Tell me how many men we will we have again."

"There will be fifteen of our men, two Mexican Special Forces, and three CIA, twenty in total including you. That should be enough. You should surround the area, set up sniper locations first, then pinch them together and clean them out. They supposedly stay within a very small area except when making deliveries. They are storing right now before making a large delivery. Leave your conscience at home, Chuck. This isn't a nice one."

I had to ask before I hung up, "Why me?"

"You're the one man who all the men we were contacting said would do a good job in leading them. You'll have good men to help plan on the way down. Bring your equipment. The men are bringing theirs."

I sat at the desk in my beautiful home office, and tried to imagine how crazed I would become if someone killed Lisa in front of me, and then killed one of my babies. The rampage I would go on would last as long as I was alive.

I have to go, so I went to the bedroom closet, changed into my BDUs, and stuffed some extra clothes into the bag. I grabbed an extra two boxes of .308 ammo before I went out to the car. This wasn't good since I had to leave Lisa here, but I had to tell her and she should probably take me to the airpark.

I called Steve's. Mercy answered and said, "I felt you were doing something. Can you say?"

"Not really, Mercy, but can you get Lisa for me?"

Lisa said, "What's up, Honey?"

"I have to go, and go right now. Do you want to go with me to the airpark so the car won't be there?"

Lisa took in a deep breath, "I'm going with you."

"No you're not, Lisa. You are staying right here and keep building the babies within you. This is something you can read about on my desk at home. I left the file up on the PC. It really shouldn't be a big deal, but I supposedly need to lead it."

"How am I supposed to hold my breath while your gone, Chuck? We've been through crazy things time after time for how long?"

"Should I just go now and not come by to pick you up, Lisa?"

"No, Chuck, you have to say something to those you're leaving behind. Come by, and I'll have all of us together outside."

I was getting choked up now. I was only leaving them for a day or two. There's no sense in them getting all weepy about it. I checked the trunk of the Lincoln to make sure my equipment case was in there and threw my duffel bag in with it.

Lisa and all the women of my home were outside waiting for me at the patio. They all surrounded the car as I stopped in the middle of the street. Wanda even came out to get a hug. I gave kisses to all of my women and every one of my kids. Etta was third from last, and told me to use my gift to keep me safe. I told everyone that I had to get going and shooed them away so I could turn around and leave. Lisa and Tina were in the car with me as I drove to the airpark. I didn't feel comfortable telling Tina what I was going to do, but told Lisa to remember what I had told her earlier so she would understand.

We pulled up in front of the charter office where my Citation was sitting with one of the mechanics hovering around it. The man told me that he had gone over the preflight twice, but he would go over it with me again. We did the basics together, making sure the battery compartment was secured, the fuel panel cover was tightly closed, and everything was ready. I kissed Lisa and Tina, and sent them back inside the charter office as the tech said, "Your passengers have already boarded. They arrived on a charter they had from us a little while ago."

What the f,,, heck is going on?

I stepped up into the aircraft, and there sat John Scott and Sam Nightfox dressed in BDUs, smiling, and expectantly looking at me. The question had to be asked, "Is this that important? You shouldn't be here, John, and this isn't within your pay grade, Sam."

John said, "They felt this was important enough to request my presence. They advised me you were leading, so I'm here to be an asset."

Sam was smiling, "You know that I don't get anything to do that's worthwhile. We did that little thing a while back, but you and Lisa did everything. I was along for the ride. I'll be beside you the whole way this time."

As I pulled the steps up and closed the door, I said, "Well, Guys, we're nonstop to our debarkation point. If one of you wants to come up front now or after we're on the way, come on up and we'll talk. The noise level inside this one isn't bad at all."

I went through the startup procedures by the book, and was soon watching the gauges come up to what was expected. I requested taxi/takeoff instructions, and then radioed the charter service to file a flight plan to Amarillo for me as I approached the runway. I knew I would shut the flight plan down when we reached a certain point, but I wasn't concerned since I knew I would be contacted.

John came up and sat in the right seat, with Sam sitting in the jump seat behind us, almost as soon as we were at altitude. John said, "What are you going to do down there?"

"If you didn't know, I've requested helicopters to take us in instead of bouncing all over the place in a truck or bus to get there. We'll have the helicopters to help us hunt down any who try to escape. My plan is to capture as many as possible, and I will leave what happens to the captives to their peers, the people they have been so brutal toward. We are to eliminate the cartel's main body, and to destroy any and all product they have and are preparing to ship. The Mexican Government is in a pickle over this one, as they have had soldiers and officers killed by the cartel, in addition to two entire villages being wiped out. Every man, woman, and child was killed. They are keeping some of the men alive to work in the fields and to package the product. We're here in an attempt to save a third village from being annihilated by these people."

Sam asked, "What about collateral damage or population?"

I advised them, "We're going to make contact with the people of the village and have them stay inside and not be out of their homes. The cartel people apparently stay together in their own place. What I found interesting is they didn't take the young women from the village to use. They were as likely to kill them as anyone."

Sam offered, "Maybe they brought their own women with them."