Chapter 80

I had a prickly feeling on the back of my neck when I woke just before six, but I couldn't put my finger on what or why. I scanned the women and all seemed well. After putting my shorts, T-shirt, and peg on, I went through the kitchen to put coffee on before going out the door.

I began my basic forms, but still felt as if something was wrong. Each form usually brought me some peace and solace, but not this morning. I began to look around to see if anything was out of place or something unusual. I didn't see anything, but what was surprising is that no one came out to join me this morning.

I went into the house and poured a cup of coffee instead of swimming, then went to the video wall and began looking at each monitor to see if anything abnormal was evident. My apprehension was growing, but I couldn't find anything different or out of place. I put the monitors on trace to see if they could track any movement. A rabbit was out in the meadow near the house, but that was the only movement I could find. I watched as one of the security people slowly drove past the house looking for anything he should be concerned with.

I didn't want to wait for whatever it was going to be, so I showered, shaved, and dressed. The women began getting up by the time I was dressed, but they were groggy this morning. We didn't stay up late last night, so they shouldn't have been that foggy. I went back outside and did some deep breathing that seemed to clear my head that had begun to feel fuzzy.

I made all the women grab their kids and take them outside. I ran up the stairs and woke Wanda and John and told them to go outside. Dennis and Maria, and Katana and Kai were next. I went back downstairs and woke Lena, Big Tina, and Mar, and told them they had to go outside.

I called security and asked if they had any gas masks and measuring devices. The man on duty thought I might still be drinking from last night, but I convinced him that I wasn't. I told him to get Hap up and have him come to my house.

I had forgotten Jan and Don, so I went upstairs to wake them up, and had to help them both out of the house. I then went to the giant air handler that serviced the house, took the filter out, and found the top of it covered with balls of something. I took them outside and put them into a bucket that was used for the pool.

I had Don and Katana begin opening windows on the second floor, and then the first. The kids were peaceful because they were being nursed while the women were all looking concerned.

Hap and Steve came rolling up at that time, so I showed them what had been on top of the filter. Jan had called her office to get her forensics people to come out to help figure out what was going on.

Brandy said, "A man from the company we have our air conditioner under service contract with was here yesterday afternoon. He appeared to clean our filters and said he made some adjustments. I didn't ask for ID, as he had one of their T-shirts on. It was unusual because it wasn't the first of the month."

The FBI forensics team brought an air quality meter that would register what type of pollution was present and if the area was safe to inhabit. That team cleared the house so we turned the air conditioner back on and closed the windows. The lab guys dusted all around the air conditioner and the thermostats that handled each zone. I asked Brandy if the air conditioner people went out to the studio, and she said that she had unlocked it for them.

This was perfect as the forensics people could get a better sample of the gas that was being emitted from the balls of whatever it was. I had a thought and called Sal. I'm sending Dennis over to the R&D center. You should be there too and I'm also sending Hap that way."

Steve suddenly became alarmed, and said, "That same company handles all our buildings and does the monthly preventative maintenance. We're going to have to check every building to make sure there are no problems."

Sal called me back and told me, "Nikki was in charge yesterday and she turned the air guy away when he wanted access to the back because it wasn't the first of the month and there was no one to watch him. She says the guy got angry and left. She even has his license plate number."

I told him, "I'm sending the forensics people to your offices. Let them check everything and have them dust wherever Nikki saw the guy touch. Dennis said no one came to the main R&D area to mess with the air systems, but he would check anyway."

Steve asked, "What do you think this is about? What kind of gas was being released in your home?"

"I don't know the answers yet, Steve, but the FBI forensics team should have some soon. It's hopefully nothing that will harm the kids and pregnant women. I'd like you to have your regular air conditioning people check every building to make sure there isn't any foreign material in the systems. There needs to be some form of security confirmation for anyone coming onto the property. Most of your area isn't part of what I have anything to do with, but I'm still interested in our overall security."

Steve said, "We're going to tighten up on everything. Any servicemen will have to be vetted before they get past reception. That's what that guy from Boeing was talking about. We were lax, but we will not be taken advantage of by anyone."

I told Steve, "Let me make sure the family is okay and we'll come over for coffee and breakfast. Sharon and Brandy were going through the video camera storage to see if we had any good video of the man who was supposed to be from the air conditioning company when I went into the house. The other women were all fooling with the kids to make sure they weren't harmed. I told Frieda, "Call our pediatric people and have the kids checked. It wouldn't hurt to do that anyway. You girls should be checked out too."

Frieda said, "Tina already had us all pee in a cup and listened to our chests. She says she thinks we're okay, but she did say we should go in for blood tests. We'll get that done. Use your super sleuth abilities and get to bottom of this."

We all went to the patio where there was somewhat of a hush over everyone because someone had intruded into our space. Sharon came up with a very good full-face picture that she was able to get from the video. We were able to figure his height and weight. Sharon told me the forensics people had pulled some good prints from the air conditioner filter area and the filter.

Jan said she would call me as soon as there was determination of what kind of gas had been released.

There was no way that I was going to leave my family until I had more information. I know they were able to protect themselves, but there was no reason for me to be away from them. These women were all fairly close to giving birth and they needed all the help and protection they could get.

Sharon came to me and said, "A junky looking van has parked on the street, and a guy is bringing a bunch of equipment and jugs to the pool. The pool guys who usually come have white T-shirts with the company logo on them and drive company pickups. Let's take this guy down before he puts anything into the pool."

This guy might be someone to let my anger out on if nothing else. Sharon asked the guy, "How come you're a day early?" when he came into the pool area.

"We're overbooked and needed to get this done. I won't be long."

Sharon asked, "The regular guys usually show us their IDs when they come. Can I see yours?"

"Give me a break, Lady. What would I be doing here with all this shit if I wasn't who you expect?"

Sharon had her Glock in her pants with her T-shirt over it. She brought it out and pointed it at the man's face. "I think you're not who you say you are. Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head."

When the man didn't move right away, Sharon very forcibly said, "You don't want to test me, Buddy. I'm a U.S. Deputy Marshal and I'm here to protect the man who lives here. Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head or I'll shoot you."

I was just out of the guy's visual range and had my Glock out and ready. The guy reached for his waist, but Sharon kicked the guy between the legs, then stepped back to watch him. He fell to the ground and had rolled to where Sharon couldn't see his front. The guy began turning over and had a gun in his hand.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

The man lay still, bleeding onto the side of the pool. I stepped out to hold Sharon while she shook from the adrenaline rush. She took a deep breath and said, "That's the first time I've shot someone at close range like that. I did what we were trained to do. Three rounds, body mass, head, body mass. There isn't any way to be prepared for something like that."

I told her, "Now, call the Fibbies and have them come out to clean this up. Don't touch anything so their CSI people will have a good picture."

Sharon said, "I can do better than this. I'll pull the video. I was ready to go back home, Chuck, but I'm not going anywhere for a while. You attract more shit than almost anyone could imagine. You must run around stomping on peoples toes."

I laughed at that and hugged the girl. She hugged me back, and said, "My infatuation with you isn't helping either. I need to get out of here before I become woman number seventeen. I didn't understand how all of these women wanted to be a part of this family when I came here, but I keep getting the urge to be with you and them. I'm resisting and you have to help me okay?"

I hugged Sharon and told her, "Call in and get the CSI crew out here."

It wasn't my weapon that had done the deed this time. Sharon still had her weapon in her hand and was looking at it. She said, "That's a first. I know I probably hit someone in Afghanistan before, but you never really know. You have to shift from target to target without checking to see what effect your last round had. Women weren't supposed to be in combat, but I was almost always where I had to be a part of defending our position. This was different. This was right in front of me, and the guy was going to shoot me. I might have hesitated if I hadn't been with you when you instantly acted, and you would be holding my cold, dead body. Thanks for the lessons, Chuck."

It took three hours for the CSI people to get the body out of there and haul the vehicle away. The County Sheriff's Office had to get involved, but they were cool and not obstructive to the Federal people. It was lunch time, so I told Sharon, "Let's lock everything up and go eat lunch. We didn't get much breakfast, and I'm hungry."

I checked the house and locked everything up. The security system allowed us to enter our cell phones as additional locations to notify of any activation, so I programmed those in. The blood on the pool deck had been bleached out and you couldn't see where it had been. I hated the fact that our home was now part of the area we had to protect again more than just being aware.

Steve was still nervous because we had encountered another intruder. I told him, "I'm not feeling threatened and not feeling as if anyone is sneaking in now. I'm fine and our families are safe, Steve."

The man was still anxious, and said, "I can't stand the fact that our families could be in danger. What in the world could have triggered this?" Steve answered himself by saying, "I know the possible reasons."

"Pick one." Steve said. "Ah, we have the knowledge to supply one of the most phenomenal weapons ever created. We have just licensed a fighter/bomber superior to almost anything in the military complex, and then, my friend, you commissioned an aircraft that can takeoff in less than a mile and will travel in excess of Mach 2. What's all that worth? I can't imagine how whoever is messing with us thought they might gain knowledge of our abilities, but they still tried. The fact is that we succeeded in stopping them."

Jan showed up for lunch. That was highly unusual as she always ate lunch at her office. She called Steve and me to her after eating. Sharon and Lisa joined us to listen in.

Jan said, "The gases you were supposed to fall under control of were some sort of gaseous truth serum that's supposed to make you drowsy and fall asleep. The idea was that any one of us would be willing to give up information. We're not sure what information they wanted, but we do know who they were employed by."

I looked a Jan and raised an eyebrow.

Jan smiled and said, "The men were a part of a PI group that wanted information on the laser project and the new supersonic aircraft. They figured that they could gain access to everything they needed before you became aware of what day or week it is. They didn't consider your physical condition, and the way they were going to administer the gas couldn't let enough of it out at a time to do the deed because the balls are supposed to be in water. I think the pool guy was the follow up who was going to hijack one or some of you in order to get the information."

I had to tell her, "Thanks, Jan. You've told us how far the military contractors will go to get the upper hand. They can keep trying, but we are a force and will resist anyone trying to get to our secrets. If it wasn't the military contractors, then it was the enemy. I think that we need to consider any insurgents into our information banks as the enemy, and eliminate the threat ASAP."

Jan smiled, and said, "I'll back you up on that, but let's try to capture anyone who tries to intrude. They will be of more value alive. Now, come and shoot with me. I have round two this weekend, and need the practice."

I did practice with Jan and watched as she was able to go through many shoot or not shoot situations until her gun and magazines were empty and she had flawlessly completed her rounds three times. Jan was an excellent shot and could make the decision course into her personal shooting gallery.

The day had been so screwed up that I couldn't figure out what time it was until I looked at my cell phone, since I had forgotten my watch. It was time to go to the patio and be with friends. It was time to join my family in enjoying our evening. It was time for me to be dad to a bunch of crazed kids running around among the tables.

Bonita came up to me when I sat at the bar with Steve, and pulled my head down to give me a kiss. I'm not sure what had changed, but I wasn't embarrassed to be kissed by his daughter in front of him. Bonita told me, "I've been working on your old stuff again, but I'm working on blues and ballads this time."

"Liz and I get goosey and want to do stuff with you every time we begin playing your music. (This was in front of her dad and mother, as Kathy was there listening.) Lizzy said, "We both want more than kisses from you. We think we should be one of your women now. Can't you convince my mom and momma Kathy to let us be a part of your house?"

I was almost in tears as I looked up at Steve. He wasn't any help, so I looked at Kathy. She was smiling. Shit! That's not what I wanted. Sue came to me and said, "You have to make sure my baby will come to see me every day if you're going to take her from me."

That's not what I expected either, but apparently it was what I was going to get. The two girls snuggled up to me and didn't let go until all the other women were around them. Brandy told Bonita, "This is something very important, Nita."

Frieda held Elizabeth to her, and kissed her forehead as she said, "It's going to be difficult to ever leave our man again after he fills you with his love, Lizzy. We all love you, Liz, but you have to know this is for keeps. You both need college and more life experiences before you settle down to a life with us."

I was watching and hugged the two not so little girls. They both snuggled to me and gave me kisses that told me how they felt. Bonita said, "I know you want us to go to college, but that might mean we have to go away from here and you, Chuck. Your women want us to go to UF, but that's way up in northern Florida and we wouldn't be able to see you every day."

Sue said, "Bonita is only a year behind Elizabeth. Both of the girls need to check out all of the available universities and find one with the right course of study."

Lizzy said, "I think we both want the same thing. We want to learn more music theory and composition. We know we need all that other stuff about business, but I think our future is music. USF has a serious School of Music that you can't just be accepted into the University and sign up for classes. You have to audition to get in the School of Music. Nita and I shouldn't have any problem with that because I'm sure prospective students have to be a better than good pianists. They will probably want something classical and then throw some music at you to see how your sight reading skills are. I don't think either of us would have a problem with an audition."

My thoughts were of the two girls and how they had played in front of huge crowds. No, they wouldn't have a problem with an audition.

Bonita said, "The school has some special jazz emphasis that would be good, but there's not a lot about blues on the website. There is one professor who teaches the history of blues. We're going to be gigged because we are not in the band program in high school, but that's not our fault. I think the band director and music teacher is jealous that we played with the Expedition and he didn't get to. We should get extra consideration for our performances and albums. It would be good if we can use Comesar, the one piece we wrote, as my composition.

I asked the two girls what instrument they would play if they wanted to play in the marching band.

Bonita said, "I'm pretty good with a trumpet, cornet, and trombone now. I'm learning clarinet and how to play a sax, but I'm still learning. Liz is already better than me on woodwinds. I think she sneaks in more practice time than me."

I was amazed because I couldn't think of how the two could have learned so many instruments and were damn good at the ones they played for our music. The two played duets on their violins that sounded perfect to me. They played duets with the piano and violin, and switched back and forth. It was similar to what Bonita and the Irish girl did the time that now seemed to be so long ago. Then a sly comeback occurred to me: "Bonita. Elizabeth. I'll tell you what's going to cause you a problem. It's the same thing that's wrong with television. Too much sax and violins..."

Everyone groaned. The two finally agreed to wait for that final step before joining the family on a permanent basis. I was hoping age and college might get them interested in someone their own age.

Lisa had been sitting on the couch rubbing her belly this whole time, and didn't look very comfortable. Tina was sitting with her and questioning her. Lisa's color didn't look that good, and she was sitting sort of spread-legged. Tina told me, "Go get a car; we need to take Lisa to the hospital. She may give us some kids early."

I became flustered and was having a tough time trying to quickly think. I ran out to my cart, rushed home, and went inside to grab a set of keys for an Expedition since I knew the truck would be full. Frieda came sliding in driving another cart as I was leaving, and hollered that she was going to get Lisa's hospital bag and another car.

I was back to the patio in a flash. I didn't wait to see if Lisa could walk out to the car. I just picked her up, carried her to the Expedition, and put her in the middle seat. Tina sat next to Lisa, comforting and reassuring her. Brandy jumped into the driver's seat, while Tiani and Jane got into the back. I rode in the front passenger seat, wondering why the industry did away with the wide bench seat for the front.

We made it to the hospital in good time because it was past the evening rush hour. We were met by several people with a gurney as soon as we pulled into the emergency entrance. I lifted Lisa out of the vehicle and lay her on the gurney while Tina was talking doctor speak with the people meeting us.

Tina was a physician with privileges at the women's hospital, so she was directing people as they went in. She looked at me over her shoulder, and said, "Park and come in. I'll send for you as soon as I can. The other doctor should be here soon."

I didn't get a chance to park the truck since Brandy was already moving it. I waited for her to come from the parking area and we walked in together. A nurse there directed us to the maternity waiting room and said there was coffee and soft drinks available there.

Brandy said, "Lisa isn't but a week to ten days early. She's only like two weeks ahead of your Fun Five. You were doing some heavy duty loving right then. I think we caught within a day of each other, so get ready. We could all be in here having our babies at the same time within a month."

A nurse came out and asked me to follow her. She had me scrub up in the hallway, and then fitted me with a gown, hairnet, gloves, and a mask that she didn't tie the top strings. She told me, "You may not need the mask, but I wanted to have it on you in the event there's a problem."

This was a special birthing room, as it was larger than the ones the girls used before. There were four incubators along one wall, with a nurse and a female physician who I recognized as the kids' pediatrician. Tina was with the other female doctor, Dr. Marten, who had birthed the first bunch of babies. Julie had actually delivered Frieda's twins, and Tina delivered Nitika.

Tina was between Lisa's legs with Dr. Marten leaning over her shoulder. Tina made the statement, "The first one is crowning and appears to be fully developed. Here it comes."

Dr. Marten took scissors and a clamp from a tray and handed me the scissors. She said, "You know how to do this."

Tina was telling Lisa meanwhile, "Don't push, let the contractions do it for you. I'm still holding your first boy."

Dr. Marten took the infant from Tina and handed it to the pediatrician. They went right to work on him, but my attention went back to Lisa as I heard a grunt from Lisa and a little gasp from Tina. I saw her holding what was another boy. I did the cord cutting and saw the nurse write something on the top of the foot of boy number one before she put a plastic band around his ankle as the pediatrician took boy number two. Tina was holding a little girl in her hands before I could watch how the baby was handled. I was totally blown away as the babies kept coming from my precious Lisa.