Chapter 19

The night surrounded us as our small force approached the Chinese drug cartel’s Houston hideout. I used the quiet to contemplate our enemies. There were too many thugs, pushers, gangsters, gang bangers and mobsters to try and deal with them all at once, but we had to find a way to get them off of our back and fighting among themselves.

The loss of a helicopter, trying to kill Andrea should have been a huge financial loss to them but it seemed not to have deterred them at all. The evidence of that was the ground assault they tried two days later.

Our intelligence was too good to miss the movement of personnel and when they massed near the Amarillo ranch our fighting force wiped out a bunch of them, broke their expensive toys and generally put the hurt to their operation. It should have been the end of our problem with those goons, but it wasn’t.

They kept trying to find ways to hurt us, so we needed to hurt them back ... really hard.

We’d spent all week preparing to wreak enough havoc to cause the Chinese to go after the Columbians and another small force was doing the same thing to the Columbians in their hideout. Some other radical mercenaries were preparing fire bombs that would incinerate every Mexican drug lord in the city of Chicago, while yet another group was doing the same to the Mafia in New York City.

I had to pick a battle since all four attacks had to be virtually simultaneous and chose Houston because it was nearest to Amarillo. Our decoys were busy acting like Penny and me while she covered my back and I followed a very scary dude with guns and knives strapped all over his body.

Malcomb hired all of our ‘soldiers’ through blind cut outs, working for blind cut outs. It was going to be impossible for any of our adversaries to track us down, even if they have the man power to do anything but attack each other for the next six months, or so. We gave them everything they needed for a successful attack and seeded the group with actual drug cartel mercenaries who thought they were working for the competition.

Malcomb clicked his mic twice and the fun began.

The nine-one-one phones in precincts nearby all went off at once. Our plan was to have the police running in every direction but towards our target when the shooting started and it worked just like we’d planned. With law enforcement out of the way, our forward men began to make a series of nuisance noises that would draw out the sentries giving us a clearer picture of the defenses before we went in.

Once all four guards were out of the game five fire bombs were triggered, cutting the bad guys off from any possible retreat. The ensuing confusion was complicated by voice blasting from our amplifiers demanding that everyone freeze where they stood and lower their weapons. No self-respecting drug gang was going to meekly surrender to the police and the cacophony of sound was punctuated by wild, unfocused gunfire as the gang tried to fight with unseen enemies.

The fire began to burn in earnest towards the gang forcing them to decide how to escape. It was fight, or flight time and neither choice was going to be the right one. When gang members broke for the south windows, their progress was cut short by a deadly stream of gunfire, reducing their numbers to exactly zero.

Seeing that direction as a dead end, the remaining thugs rushed the west windows finding them secured from the outside with razor wire and wooden beams. Their fall back options were reduced by withering fire coming both flanks, and all around them the area was alive dead and dying gang members, fire encroaching from all sides and a never ending stream of bullets picking them off.

It was over by then, and we left the job of identifying the dead for the fire department. The graffiti left behind clearly pointed to the gang’s deadliest enemy and local police accepted the bait without question, since it made perfect sense and it was what they expected to find, which helped them along to the conclusion we’d mapped out for them.

The other three operations went off as planned and we sat back to watch the fun. Our EVAC was preplanned and went off without a hitch. Once we were too far from the kill zone to be connected, Malcomb called all of our team leaders and got reports.

The Columbian mission was a shocking success. It looked like every leader of that cell was dead, with most of the command people either room temperature, or lying in a hospital bed without much hope of improvement. Mal said that the Columbians in Columbia were losing their minds trying to put together the appropriate reprisals and we’d get some updates within a day, or so. They needed to hit the Chinese while they were trying to mount a response against the Mafia and the Mexicans.

It looked like a lot of body bags were going to get filled as these four sets of psychos went Medieval on each other.

Oh, well...

You buy into a big-boy game, sometimes you don’t get to go home afterwards.

After the reports were complete and the team disbanded, Mal and I talked long into the next day. “These things take on a life of their own, Carl. You can’t script the outfall from this any more than you can script the aftermath of a tornado. We will keep close tabs on all four cartels, but the fighting has just started and the body count will explode exponentially as they start to go all prehistoric on each other.” We parted on those words and I prayed that the danger to Andrea and her family was in the past.

Rather than head home to Orlando and stay, I chose a side trip. There was nothing waiting for me at home except my dog and I’d picked him up as soon as I was clear of Houston. Instead of a long rest and some more trips to the gym, we chose to buy a Prevost Marathon H-3, which is the best coach for someone traveling long distances and wanting all the comforts of home.

Benjamin loved it. He hurried in, found his water dish and had a long, satisfying drink. Then he parked himself close beside me and settled in for the drive. I sent Danielle, Penny and the guards home with the jet and headed out for open road with no intended destination, or plan.

In truth I needed to get moving and stay that way to avoid thinking about my many failed relationships. The universe used me and the never ending endings tore me away from people I loved, could love, or never got a chance to love. One night stands and short term affairs are only nice if you have a personality made for them. I craved stability and commitment. Those are hard to find when you keep dying.

For seven days Benjamin and I poked around the southern states, seeing Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas through the windshield but finding nothing of interest. A program that came in off the dish about Lake Tahoe sounded interesting and we started heading that way without a whole lot of enthusiasm but it was a destination to head towards and someplace to check out.

It would have been, too ... except for that thing that happened in New Mexico.

It was almost dark when I saw the little car start to skid across the highway, coming the other direction, right into our path. The car slammed through the guard rail, pounded across the medium and hit every tree, bush and rock in the medium as it plowed right into my lane. There was no time to think. All I had was a split second to react. The bus stayed upright as I swerved it hard to the right, narrowly avoiding the collision that would have ended the lie of whoever was driving and anyone in the vehicle with them.

It took some distance to right the bus, pull over and safely park. To shorten the walk I backed up on the right shoulder until I was alongside the little car. By then the occupants were outside the car, looking terrified at what used to be a serviceable compact car. It had been rudely transformed into a junker, and would be crushed as soon as the insurance underwriters got a look at it.

The women seemed too shocked to react and I had to ask repeatedly if she or the baby were hurt. “Are you two Ok? What happened,” I asked. “How did you come to slide all the way across the medium into my lane?”

When she finally spoke, I was comforted to know she was not too injured to speak, just very badly shaken up. She had a fresh scrubbed appearance and her sandy hair was piled carelessly atop her head and she had the look of a hard-working, farmer’s daughter, who would be just as comfortable driving a tractor as the Chevy they had just totaled. She had a wide bottom that wasn’t just from child birth. She was always going to be wide at the hips and flat across the bottom. Her figure was out of proportion but pleasant all the same. Her chest was extremely average in size but there was something wholesome about her that appealed to me. Her eyes and smile would have been pretty if she wasn’t so upset. She took her time answering and when she did, the tears crept out from the corners of those big, blue eyes. “I hit a chunk of a tractor trailer tire and it flattened our front left. At seventy-five, it was all I could do not to flip, forget about staying straight...” She stopped talking suddenly and her tears increased.

I could see she had experienced about all she was able to deal with and knew I needed to get her and her baby out of the road and somewhere safe while we waited for a tow truck. When I pointed to my new coach she looked suddenly warry, so I spoke softly and as reassuringly as possible. “My name is Carl. That’s my motor home. We can get out of this wind and noise in there. You can call for a tow truck and notify your family that you’ve had a small mishap. If need be, I can take you where you’re going as soon as the tow truck takes care of your car.”

She stood holding the little one, not sure if I was safe, or if she was safe. The baby fussed and she automatically stroked its little face but it didn’t completely help. She seemed unsure and frightened. There was something else but I couldn’t begin to guess, so I tried again. “Do you have formula and a baby bag in the car? Maybe you need to grab whatever your baby needs and use my motor home take care of things?”

After a few more uncomfortable seconds of silence, she seemed to snap out of her shock. She shook her head as if to clear away sleep, and said, “I’m Toni. This is Toby. We’re ... well ... we’re driving to Kansas, back home ... my home ... not Toby’s. He was born in California but my husband ... ex-husband ... I guess ... how can I be divorced??? ... He divorced us and moved in with his girlfriend and we need ... we needed ... Toby and me ... we needed somewhere to go and I was too ashamed to tell my folks what happened and all we really have is the car ... my car. It was a present for my college graduation ... But ... the car ... it isn’t going to be taking us home ... I’m afraid it isn’t going anywhere, anymore.”

She looked lost and hurt and scared and oh – so, sad. My heart went out to her as did my arms. When I hugged her lightly, she stiffened for just an instant and surrendered to the warmth and safety of a strong hug. Her tears wet my shirt collar and I held her until it passed, letting her work through the worst of her dilemma and get it behind her so she could start thinking about what comes next.

Toni let me lead her into the coach. She looked around, but seemed oblivious to the expensive furnishings. The sofa caught her eye and she gently settled Toby down and wrapped him in his light, baby blanket. Her eyes were still wet when she looked up and asked, “Can you watch him while I grab his ... our ... things from the car?” I smiled my answer and she thanked me and hurried to gather up whatever was salvageable and useful. Benjamin gave her the once over and sniffed Toby’s blanket, then laid down beside on the floor him like it was an everyday occurrence. Toni smiled at Ben and stroked the fur along his neck. He seemed to like her and gently licked her hand before she stopped.

As she stepped down out of the coach, I called to her. “Toni. I don’t think you can leave anything of value in your car. The tow lots are a tempting target for thieves. I have a big storage basement underneath the coach. If you have things that are too heavy, let me know and I’ll carry them for you.”

Eventually I pulled the coach across the median and parked it right behind her car. That gave her a safe space to work without worrying about travelers coming too close as she unpacked what she needed.

What she needed turned out to be everything she was moving. It was easier for her to supervise and let me do the donkey work, and I finished moving her belongings in a few minutes. Toni sorted as I loaded things under the coach and brought in those things they would need immediately.

I called my road service provider from a pay phone at the next rest area, which was just a couple of miles east and arranged for them to pick up the car and take it to their lot, keep it for the insurance adjuster and contact Toni at her home in Kansas. She seemed grateful for my intervention but still shaken from dramatic the change in plans.

We were in New Mexico and Kansas was a two day drive, especially since it was late afternoon – early evening. “Toni, let’s get off at the next city and find a department store where you can replace anything that got ruined in the crash.”

She looked fearful which told me she had another problem that she hadn’t shared and I thought I knew what it was. “I can’t ... buy things ... that is. Mark left us penniless and I have ... well ... I have just enough to get us home. It took everything I had left to get us the car and have just enough to drive home. We slept in the car two times, but I can’t even afford a motel room.” She sniffed her armpit and wrinkled her nose in embarrassment when she realized I watched her do it.

“Well, that I can help with. If you walk straight back towards the rear, you will see a full bathroom, complete with tub and shower. I will pull in to the truck stop coming up, fuel us up, get us all a hot meal, take you to a department store and buy you whatever you need, think you need, or might need. Don’t worry about the cost. Toby needs to be properly fed, bathed, and clothed. It will be my pleasure to get those things for you.

“ ... and ... I LOVE to spend money!” Toni gave me a suspicious look but realized she had no other choice but to trust me.

The truck stop took care of our fuel and immediate need for food. Gibson’s Department Store provided all the things that new mothers seem to constantly need and I urged Toni to buy without guilt, anything she thought she could use. It took some but she eventually gave in and picked out some things just for her.

We found a wonderful steak and chops place and ate like starved adventurers, while Toni entertained Toby to keep him calm. Toni managed to tell me some of the pertinent facts that caused her to be on the road. “We got married right after college. Both of us had teaching jobs to go to in California and had all summer to get ready and move. It was so exciting. “Mark seemed distracted almost from the first but I was so in love and couldn’t see the trouble coming because of the stars in my eyes.” Her eyes had something other than stars in them as she looked backwards at how things ended up. My heart went out to her because she seemed so transparently sincere. I could see how a young guy who thought he was the living end could get tired of someone so good and sweet.

Toni hesitated and went on. “It was strange. My mother was unsure of him but my father seemed to take to Mark right away. My father didn’t really like anyone and never hesitated to make his opinions known. I was afraid he’d scare Mark away but it was like they liked one another immediately.

“We packed up what little we had and drove to California. It was such an adventure. School was starting soon and we had rented a small, furnished apartment over the phone that was recommended by the school secretary. When school started we were assigned to different schools but in the same neighborhood, so we rode together and needed only one car. That was good because we had no money at all.

“It seemed like Mark grew restless with our marriage before that first school year was over. I was pregnant by the end of the second year and things seemed to improve but only a little. Mark was seeing ... someone ... by then but we both carefully ignored what that meant for our marriage, trying to pretend that we could stay together and work through whatever problem he was having with me since we were about to become parents...” Toni drifted into silence and it wasn’t something to talk about in a public place, anyway.

Back on the road we drove in comfortable silence until I felt my eyes start to droop. I had an RV Park map in the back seat pocket and asked Toni to see how far it was to the next one. She found one about thirty miles ahead and we pulled in there to park for the night. “We can sleep here and have a good breakfast before we hit eh road and see how far we can go tomorrow,” I announced, hopping out of the seat and starting the process of shutting down and hooking up.

It was completely dark by the time I got the leveling jacks down, electric cord plugged in and water and sewer hoses hooked up. When I was back inside I said to Toni, “This coach has a ten gallon hot water tank and we are hooked into a sewer line, so use all the water you want for a shower. Let a few minutes go by and you will have plenty to bathe the baby. I will use the RV Park shower house for my shower to give you some privacy. I’ll be about a half hour so enjoy.” Toni sort of smiled when she realized I wanted her to feel safe about undressing and caring for herself.

The RV park had passable water pressure and I enjoyed a hot shower, letting the heat work on my stiff muscles from driving all day. By the time I showered, shaved and otherwise made myself clean and presentable, more than thirty minutes had passed and I banged on the door before letting myself in, to give Toni fair warning. I found her standing in front of the mirror in my bedroom, studying her reflection. What she found seemed not to please her, so I kept silent to see what, if anything, she wanted to discuss.

She quickly moved away from the mirror and pretended to be fussing over the baby. As any good gentleman would do, I allowed her to fully believe I didn’t see her checking out her figure. She might not have been thinking about me and what I was thinking about her, but I doubt it.