Chapter 31

It was always on my mind that any of Gregory’s surviving partners had to be furious that so many of their cabal ended up worm food. My security people were like wolves, scanning the area for predators, reacting like lightning and keeping things safe. Baby Girl, her babies, and I blended into the landscape while our protectors put themselves out like flashing lights, warning off would be troublemakers.

For three wonderful years we existed within our world, spending long periods in Scotland and on the island. The things that concerned me were miniscule compared to the things I’d lived through in other lives, and I began to enjoy living a reasonably normal life.

The first hint of trouble came from Jack.

“Terry, we are getting intel about some very unpleasant people, who wish to avenge the scorched earth way we reacted when Cathay was killed. You might need to tighten down the castle and prepare for reprisals.”

He wasn’t one to push the panic button early, so I took his warning seriously and beefed up our protection details. We hired several Special Forces veterans and equipped them for just about anything, including an air assault. The castle was very secure. After it was bombed we added lots of reinforcement and specialty toys. I asked Jack if he wanted to send us some of his best people for backup and he showed up in person one day.

“Hello,” he smiled as he walked into the castle vestibule. “We were in the neighborhood and have some really lethal playthings we wanted to break out and try.” He was all smiles and joy, but the underlying message was clear. Trouble was on its way.

For almost a week, Jack’s guys put their defensive plan into motion. The grounds were wired so tightly that we knew when the old groundhog waddled from her nest under the pole barn, to her favorite lunch spot to see what the kitchen left out for her. Our guards were drawn inside, while Jack’s special group moved silently among the trees, using the swales and hollows to stay invisible to those who were coming for me.

On the sixth night Jack clicked his special radio and I hustled Baby Girl and her babies into the strong room, with plenty of food and water, along with their favorite maids for company. By the time I was armed and ready for action, Jack’s unit had begun to reduce the odds against us.

Jack’s voice was barely a whisper in my headset. “Four took out the forward scouts. They put five men a mile in front to scout the best approach, but we jammed their radios and took out the scouts. The main force looks to be twenty-two strong, and heavily armed. They’re weighed down with lots of unnecessary gear. Some of it might be used against them in a few minutes. We’ll have to watch and see how they play it.

“Five arranged for their quartermaster to take a long dirt nap. Some of their toys won’t be working when they finally figure out that the rear guard is gone.” His whisper kept me in the loop. By the time the attack force was within rifle range, they were completely unnerved. Between faulty communication gear, lost soldiers and some unpleasant surprises, the men coming for me were off balance and scared.

As the minutes ticked away I got to wondering why people were always trying to kill me. If the universe used me to right wrongs, was there an opposite force that was trying to keep me from correcting the evils of the world? And while I was contemplating the yin and yang of universal balancing, just how many alternative realities really existed?

The answer to that had to be either only one reality with no alternatives, or an infinite number of alternative realities operating simultaneously, each one operating in complete ignorance of the others. Somehow the universe was bouncing me from on to another, using me to even the score. Then I got to thinking that maybe the universe decided to use me to change the score from time to time for reasons unknown to me and the world.

My musings got me nowhere, but when a pair of shooters appeared almost right in front of me I got my head back in the game and triggered a flash that blinded them because of their night vision goggles. While they pitched about in blackness, I used my Glock to put them to sleep ... permanently. It was so much fun to go hunting for the people who killed my love.

It probably wasn’t quite as much for fun for them...

Jack spoke into my earpiece. “We’re almost out of attackers, Terry. It seems the opposition didn’t plan on a well-prepared welcoming party. Their force won’t be reporting in, and I’d love to be a fly on the wall of wherever the leaders are right now. They must be nearly frantic having lost total communication with their team.

“We took several of them hostage. Once we’ve had a chance to fully empty them, I’d imagine we’ll know much more about their mission and who is behind it all.” Jack was supremely confident. His men were almost as good as any group of mercenaries anywhere, and he was right to be proud of them. “Then, after we know all about their plans and desires, we will go and see them...”

Things went so well that I worried about it.

I should have.

Chief Younger, head of MI6 showed up bright and early the next morning. Jack’s people have moved all the dead shooters and live prisoners almost immediately once the shooting stopped. My staff and the mercenaries that Jack left behind to make sure we got no other uninvited guests, were busy cleaning up any trace that we’d had an altercation long before dawn, so when the Chief was announced, there was no evidence to tie us to anything other than being farmers.

“Lord Terrance, we can’t have Royals running about with their own armies. It just isn’t cricket...” Younger was determined to find something to use to jack me up, but his efforts were such a dismal failure that he resorted to a stern lecture that wasn’t the least bit interesting to someone who had been up for over thirty hours. I’m afraid that the Chief failed to achieve whatever goals he set out for himself when he gathered his troops and launched an international inquiry.

Even though we committed no crime in England, he could make things difficult with the Scottish government if he so desired. The UK includes Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so I could be in hot water, but to do so, he’d have to prove something where nothing exists. That wasn’t going to be easy since the dead went into the ocean and the prisoners went somewhere very far away. Jack’s men played the part of dumb farmers to the hilt, and I wasn’t about to incriminate myself. Such was the hostility coming from both ends of the spectrum that I decided to take my dog family and get the heck out of Dodge.

The dog pack apparently loved to travel by air. When I took them to the island the first time, they were too young to really appreciate it., However, this time they romped all over the jet, played with the toys I purchased to keep them occupied, wrestled for hours on end, and ended up sleeping squeezed around me and Baby Girl on the king bed in back. They’d jelled as a family the old fashioned way. They were born into it.