Chapter 28

We got Teri and the kids away from the scene, and I had the pilot take us to the airport. We boarded the "G" and took off for Dale Hollow, rather than have them go back to the ranch with too much time on their hands, and start to worry. Teri kept her thoughts to herself, but never let go of me, or the children. She was pretty near the edge and I was as comforting, calm, and collected as possible, to keep her from losing her poise.

When we hopped out of the chopper, right beside the "G" Teri looked at me with questions on her face. "I am taking you three on a houseboat trip, away from all this, while you decompress. The last thing the kids need is time on their hands to worry about what happened, so you and I will take them out on Dale Hollow Lake and keep them so busy this will all fade in their memory after a couple of days.

"You'll see what I mean. There is nothing like a boat trip and a change of scenery to help kids forget a traumatic event. We'll sleep late, eat all the things that are bad for us, and generally act like slobs for a few days.

"It'll be a blast."

She gave me a very uncertain look, but let me lead them aboard the jet. Timmy was amazed, and Judy was quietly curious, so I got them belted in, and said, "This is my plane. I use it to go wherever I want to go, without worrying if the airline can take me there. I hope you like flying on jets, because we're going to Tennessee for a boat trip. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Timmy was all in, and Judy seemed interested enough that I felt like I had a shot with her. Teri looked around the jet like she was seeing the off limits places in Buckingham Palace. I let her gawk while the pilots got us airborne.

When we were leveled out at cruising speed, I took off my seat belt and invited the kids to explore the plane. Timmy ran to the back and came back with a look of utter fascination on his face. Teri glanced at him, did a double take at his expression, and asked, "What's wrong, honey?"

He looked at her like he was trying to make up his mind what to say. Instead of saying anything, he took her hand and dragged her to the bedroom. Judy hurried not to be left out. I could hear their exclamations of surprise and approval from the sofa, and I let them look around as long as they liked, without interrupting.

Eventually they trooped back and sat inline facing me.

Teri started the cross examination. "Where did you get a jet?

"I bought it," was all I said.

She smiled like I tricked her, and said, "But WHERE does a rancher from North Carolina get a jet like this?" She stretched out her arms indicating the whole thing.

"I went to a dealer in California and picked it out." I wasn't going to make it easy, and I was having fun making them dig for information. "You can just show up and buy them. It's what jet dealers do. They sell jets." My smile let her know I was not annoyed at all to be interrogated.

Something told me this interrogation was going far better than it was for Jose, and his partners.

Teri wasn't put off by my evasion, one bit. "You're not as old as I am. Where does a young guy get something like this?"

"I told you," I said without hesitation. "I went to the dealer in California and bought it."

"ARRRAGHH! You are not going to cooperate, are you?" She was getting impatient, but I was doing just fine.

Judy spoke to me for the first time. "Mom is trying to ask you what it is that you do for a living that lets you afford something so ... so ... REALLY ... amazing, as this?"

That deserved an answer. "I won a big lawsuit against some men that hurt me very badly, and I bought this jet because it made me feel a little better to be able to travel anytime and anywhere I wanted to go, whenever I wanted to leave." I suspected that that answer would settle the issue, once and for all.

As we jetted towards Dale Hollow I got an idea. "Hey, Jim. How are you and Millie?"

He sounded as pleased to hear from me, as I was to hear his voice, and we talked long enough for him to catch me up on Millie, and Colleen. He knew I didn't call to chat, and asked, "So? What brought about this phone call?"

I laughed, and said, "Is the big houseboat still at the Marina?"

"Hank has just finished getting it ready for summer. Why? Are you thinking of a visit? We'd LOVE to see you, boy."

"And I want to see you, but right now I need a place to disappear where some very angry, dangerous people won't think to look. I want to take the boat out for a few days and let the Judge figure out how to make them stop. I'd like to take the houseboat out. There will be four of us. Two children, and two adults, and I want a runabout, and two jet skis to go with us.

"We'll need food and soft drinks for at least five days, but if it turns out to be longer, I will pull in somewhere and restock, so no problems there."

He knew exactly what I meant, promised to have Hank get the boat equipped, catered, and stocked for a cruise of "indeterminate length." I thanked him and promised to tell him the whole story, soon. When I hung up I informed the pilots that we were heading for Branson, and used my laptop to cancel the boat at Dale Hollow.

Once I felt better about our little trip, I needed to inform Teri and the kids. "Hey," I said softly, after gathering them together in the main salon. "We are changing our plans, and I wanted you to know what I have in mind.

"I own a very large houseboat in Missouri, at a place called Table Rock Lake. The boat and lake have all kinds of fun things to do. We'll even get to ride jet skis, and you two will learn to drive them. How does that sound?"

They looked certain of one thing, and that was that they had no idea if this was a good plan, or not. Something told me that I could have told them we were going to the movies and gotten the same response.

Oh, well.

They'd learn differently pretty soon.

The flight wasn't very long, and Jack had made arrangements for our security, and transportation, so when the jet pulled up to our hangar, there was a huge welcoming party, as Jim, Millie, Colleen, and about a dozen armed guards met us.

Millie and Jim were pleased to meet Teri and the kids, but Colleen was a bit cool, which I understood, because she has asked me to give her lots of space. Teri and Colleen eyed each other with something resembling hostility, or suspicion. I'd have to keep an eye on that.

We were quickly moved to a helicopter that flew us to the marina.

The kids were getting used to the excessive security, so the presence of so many armed men didn't frighten them, but Teri looked around with lots of concern in her eyes. "It's Ok. This is my family, and we are visiting home town, so things are going to be alright from here on out."

As we landed at the marina, I could see Hank and JoAnna waiting for us. The place was clean, neat, and ready for the season, as anyone knowing Hank would expect, and I felt a tug at my heart being home again, even if Rebecca was dead, Beth Ann and Regina had left, and Colleen was off limits.