Chapter 20

Having pitched the night before I knew I was free to rest and recuperate, so I buckled down to business. The Branson Eagles needed two broadcasters with TV experience. Baseball was forever changing broadcasters, so experience would be easy to come by. Talent was going to be the hard thing to find.

I called the Meghan, the secretary in the Royals media department and asked her to help me find the names of experienced broadcasters who were out of work, between contracts, and/or needing a paycheck. We had talked several times, and she always treated me nicely.

Rebecca was with me the last time I stopped to see Meghan at the stadium. "That girl has a strong attraction to you, Mister," she said laughing. "We do not have a big enough bed to add another woman, but if we did, I'd like to take a run at that one."

Meghan was in her mid to late twenties. She was sweet natured, kind, soft spoken and polite. At five foot ten, she was tall, big boned, and carried about fifteen extra pounds all on her bottom. She had what we used to call a 'cushion made for pushin.'

If you were to picture the sweet, gentle, kind woman in the neighborhood, who everyone liked, but nobody wanted to have sex with, you were thinking about Meghan.

Meghan was as kind to Rebecca as she was to me. My dear Rebecca liked to break in a new girl from time to time. Especially one who had never been with a woman before and Meghan probably fit both bills perfectly.

"You sure come up with interesting questions, Brian. Most of our calls are from agents wanting us to interview players they represent that need publicity. You get me working and it always ends up interesting.

"Thanks." I could hear the smile in her voice. That old saying went through my head, 'If I wasn't attached we'd make music together.' Rather than hurt my chances of getting the list I wanted so badly, I wisely kept my thoughts to myself. Meghan said she'd get back to me by the end of the day, even if only to tell me she had nothing to tell me.

I told her I'd be at the stadium in time for BP and would try to arrive early enough to stop up and see her. That seemed to please her inordinately. Maybe Rebecca was picking up the right kind of vibes.

It was a good place to start. I knew I needed to reach out further in search of TV voices. My morning and early afternoon disappeared without much success, and I headed for the stadium in time for batting practice, though I wasn't shagging balls today. Wayne saw me and about killed me, giving me a hug for last night's performance.

In fact, everyone seemed much happier when they saw me, than before last night's game. Winning in the post season must make you better looking...

My morning was far better than my afternoon...

We were enjoying a very late breakfast, early lunch, as a family when Jack knocked, and opened the door. "Mr. Bell, Colleen, Brian? I was certain you were all here. You three have visitors." Jack made no move to leave, and Winnie took a protective stance between us and the door. It was subtle but certainly not lost on us.

Jack stepped back and allowed three men to enter. They looked like federal agents, but acted like lawyers. The one in the lead spoke as they came in and arranged themselves in the living room of the suite. "Mr. and Mrs. Bell, Ms. Bell, Mr. Nelson, Doctor Temple, my name is ... let's just say that my name is not important.

"We were sent by Judge Cleveland Jones to give you a heads up. It seems that you folks have provided unimaginable assistance to the FBI, DHS, NSA, DOJ, and other federal agencies. Your lives have been immeasurably altered, and inconvenienced by the actions taken against you for giving us that assistance.

"Things at our end have become rather ... complicated, lately. A number of elected officials have been implicated in the giving of assistance to those that have tried to do harm to you, and several sudden, and unexplained resignations are about to hit the news.

"The Judge is afraid there might be another round of reprisals. He has asked us to assist your personal protection contingent with some unusually talented contractors to the federal government."

Jack interrupted and asked, "Not the Copper Mountain Section?"

Mr. No-Name nodded and said. "Mr. Bell, these people have skills, methods, and resources we don't have, couldn't find, and wouldn't know what to do with, but they will keep you and your family safe. Have no doubt." He seemed to relax, just a tad, and then said, "The Judge asked me to convey his congratulations to you, Brian for your successful game last night, and he expressly wished me to inform you that he and his wife will be at the next game you pitch."

His mission accomplished, Mr. No-Name and his 'assistants, ' left us. Jack stayed and Winnie seemed very uptight, so I asked the pregnant question. "Who are the people you were talking about? What risk are we at, and what, if anything, should we do about it?"

Jack came and sat with us. Winnie drew her handgun and put her napkin on top of it, to shield it from anyone's gaze, should they come through the door. I could hear stirring around out in the hallway and shot a look at Jack, inclining my head towards the door. He smiled and said, "Yeah. That's the Judge's boys. They have some rather ... intriguing toys out there.

"I'm sorry Brian, but we're back where we started. Winnie or I go where you go. The other one of us never leaves the Bells, the babies, and Rebecca. My team will handle you close up. The Judge's team will handle everything that moves beyond our perimeter. We'll be back to using helicopters to move you around for a while, but the DOJ is apparently sending two choppers to handle ferrying.

"Mr. Bell, Brian will not be in anywhere nearly as much danger as you, Mrs. Bell, Colleen, and the children. The three of you represent everything that has haunted the mob lately, and we will have to throw a blanket over you and make sure there are plenty of agents around at all times.

"The man you just met is talking about a team that is a legend in our business..."

Winnie interrupted, "You mean he's talking about... ???" She was wide eyed.

"Seriously???" Jack nodded and Winnie turned to us. "I can't say his name. Even knowing it violates national security rules, but we are talking about THE MAN when you need to take out someone. If the Judge reached all the way out to the rim and brought him in, then it's really, really serious. Game on boys." She checked her weapon, unloaded and reloaded her extra clips, and made sure it was ready to go. As an afterthought she said, "Those poor bastards won't know what hit them until they meet the devil face to face. And by then it'll be too late..."