Chapter 18

Penny came back with a seriously sad look on her face.

“Mrs. Waters is ... well ... she ... Mrs. Waters is being briefed by a host of security experts, federal law enforcement officials and some other, less governmental types about the attempt on your life today. There seems to be a lot of concern about just how determined the people responsible for all this, might be when it comes to making sure you don’t survive long enough to testify. The FBI wants to move you to a more secluded location.”

I didn’t want to go into hiding and would have interrupted, but both Danielle and Penny had much to say ahead of my outburst, so I waited.

Danielle gave Penny a look that could cut steel and said, “Does anyone, anywhere, think that we can’t secure this ranch? There must be fifty people patrolling the grounds, all armed to the teeth. I counted eleven police cars and we’ve seen multiple FBI agents since we hit the ground. What more could anyone provide beyond all this?”

The conversation deteriorated from there as Penny and Danielle traded reasons for their agenda. I knew that none of it mattered. Whatever Andrea decided would carry the day. When the two women finally settled down, I suggested that I call Andrea and get her take on things. Penny nodded almost viciously. Danielle seemed nonplussed by my alternative suggestion.

It took a while before I got an open line at the Waters mansion and when I did the housekeeper couldn’t put Andrea on because she said, “Mrs. Waters left with some very important looking people about ninety minutes ago. I don’t know where they took her and I have no idea when she will come back. Dinner is sitting in the kitchen and it’s all about to get thrown out, which means I’ll have to start all over and make sure it’s hot and fresh when Mrs. gets home.” That had to be as many words as I had ever heard her speak at one time.

Before I could share that news with the ladies, we all heard the sound of a chopper roaring towards the ranch. I looked at Penny and she clearly was not expecting any guest, much less airborne ones. Thinking quickly, I shoved Danielle into the strong room outside my suite and gunned up to meet our unexpected arrivals.

Penny was right beside me as we charged downstairs and met the army Andrea had hired, also arming up to deal with intruders. “You,” the apparent leader shouted at Penny, “Get that child out danger right now! We can’t have him anywhere near this. There will be shooting and I can’t protect him and repel whoever is coming at the same time.”

He was sweaty, excited and seemed less than competent at warfare, so I grabbed the automatic pistol out of his hand, expertly racked a shell, thumbed the safety off and fired four shots into a small ring on the nearest tree to the front door. Penny added four more shots and we both opened our weapons, reloaded the clip and prepared to fight whoever the mob sent to kill us.

That shut down the noise coming from our side and we slipped outside, hugging the shadows until we each found a safe shooting place with significant clearance to do whatever damage it was going to take to end the attack. Penny was glued to my right side, which was clever, since I shoot left handed and our shooting hands wouldn’t be inhibited by proximity of the other one.

There was a rush of radio traffic coming from our team and I heard the leader shouting that there were two choppers. One was carrying Andrea and it was being shadowed by the enemy. To help our side, I shouted, Andrea Waters flies a BIG Bell Helicopter.

“Don’t fire at her chopper. Penny and I will cover her until she is safely inside, then we’ll join up with you guys and concentrate on the second one. Does anyone have an automatic shotgun?”

Two of our force sprinted to their vehicle and brought back exceptional shotguns and two bandoliers of ammunition. When I checked the rounds, they were perfect for people killing and I made sure one was loaded with slugs and the other with number two buckshot. They came to hurt us and I couldn’t wait to bring it to them with everything we had.

Andrea’s bird settled down hard and fast and I charged out and grabbed her before she could jump down. Between Penny and me, we hustled her inside and handed her over to her own security guys, who would get her inside the safe room with Danielle.

The second chopper made no attempt to land, but tried to strafe the house for some stupid reason, exposing the under carriage to my slugs. “Watch the pilots,” I shouted and opened up as fast as I could squeeze the trigger, hammering twelve gauge slugs, at close range, into the fuel tanks from below.

The pilot figured out that he was in trouble just as the starboard fuel tank erupted, sending screaming fingers of fire towards the cockpit. He tried to slither out of the way and use the rotor wash to keep the flames from engulfing him but it was too little and much too late. The screaming barely reached us before the chopper slammed into the ground about a hundred feet from us and burst into flame.

At least three shooters jumped clear of the chopper before it was overtaken by fire and we found two of them dead from the fall and the third one was screaming in agony with two busted legs and some other serious injuries.

His problems had just begun.

Our ground force swept the ranch for other intruders and found none. This attack appeared to be an amateurish one off, that got their people very dead - except for the one prisoner and he would be questioned until there was nothing of substance left to give and disposed of efficiently.

By the time we got back to the house, Andrea and Danielle were out of the safe room and hugging themselves for lack of something else to do. I walked straight to Andrea and kissed her the way only I knew how and felt her sag into my arms. She was far too exhausted, and had been through too much to continue to be strong and forceful, so I took her hand and led her to my sanctuary, closed the doors, stripped her to her skin and took her to bed.

Andrea transformed from near hysterical rage to wild passion in a matter of moments.

That’s what we do...

... and we’re good at it.

It took two hours to completely satisfy ourselves. Andrea was particularly needy. Our lovemaking covered the entire gamut from sweaty, pounding, passion, to a slow, gentle, rhythmical, joining and back again. The bed reeked of sex, and the room and our sheets were going to need more than the standard wash cycle before they would be useable again.

In the quiet after our final explosion Andrea wanted to talk. “I’ve missed you ... missed ... this ... all of this. When you were injured and I came to Orlando to keep you company we ... well ... we were like ... you know ... before.”

Andrea swept her arm encompassing the whole room. “I’ve never felt so ... so ... weak and ... and, I don’t know ... weak and needy, Carl. You provide something that I never knew I needed, but when I look into your eyes, I remember everything ... every single thing ... you did to me and I start to drip...”

She was baring far more of herself than I’d ever seen. Her face was a moving picture show. The emotions running through her must have been intense because she hugged me to her and cried.

Tears...

Tears from Andrea Waters...

Now THAT was something you don’t see every day.

“I never cried when Herb died,” she said through a runny nose. “I was determined to be strong so our partners wouldn’t see weakness and try to fleece us. Herb’s partners were rather unsavory. They wanted everything in every deal and he had a knack for keeping things in line. “I suspect they thought they were going to run all over the weepy widow, but then we met at Herb’s lawyer’s office and when they started to object to the terms of his will as far as distribution of power, Lawrence simply waved at them to quiet down and read the next line in the document. ‘Any dissension over the terms of distribution shall result in ALL shares of ALL companies being sold on the open market to the highest bidder.’ That shut them up and by the time they met privately to figure out how best to get me out of the way, I had already sewed up complete control.

“I’m not WEAK, Carl, but you’ve changed me. I’ve changed. And I can’t figure it out. How did I, THE Andrea Waters, go from tough as nails to someone as soft hearted as a baby’s butt?” She was truly perplexed, so rather than let her stew, I kissed her with all my power, releasing her inner demons and bringing out her true self for another round of love making.

Morning brought some clarity to the overall situation. It seems our involuntary overnight guest had lots to say before suffering an unexpected heart attack. The mob wanted not only me dead, but their goal was a total takeover of Andrea’s empire. Something told me that her enemies were connected to her late husbands’ former business partners and holding a very ugly grudge.

Not a smart strategy.

Between the communicated ‘concern’ of the Governor and the senior Senator from Texas, to the full cooperation of the Texas Highway Patrol and Rangers, we were overcrowded with armed assistance, just aching for a chance to take down those responsible. Andrea took the news stoically. She heard every word but gave nothing away until after the last servant gave his report and departed.

Then, and only then, did she turn to her inner circle and say, “How hard will it be to turn this whole thing on end and take out the top echelon of this mob? If their bosses die, then they can’t help but start killing each other to see who gets to be top dog, and by that time, we’ll have ferreted out everyone that is a danger to me and Carl, and have arranged their own unexpected demise.”

That was the Andrea I knew and everyone else feared. She was all back and all in.

We spent the day staying out of sight and inside the mansion. It got smaller as the day wore on. When you can’t go out, it doesn’t seem to matter how big the house is. It’s just too small. By late afternoon Andrea was back in Dallas and I was playing video games to pass the time. Penny turned out to be a pretty good adversary and we lost hours driving Daytona USA.

When bedtime came and we still had no word from Andrea, or the family security people, Danielle AND Penny joined me in my suite and we talked for hours about everything and nothing. Penny encouraged Danielle to tell us about her life before Andrea Waters and she finally caved in.