Chapter 16

"How about we relax while the coffee is getting ready?"

We went out into the grass standing fairly far apart. I let myself relax by closing my eyes and beginning. I'm told that I learned the Chuan or as some say Chuan Yang forms. It doesn't make any difference though, because as your body exercises, the smoothness and gracefulness of the moves takes over your entire physic, giving an internal harmony that is extremely peaceful.

An exercise can last a long time, but most people flow through five to ten minutes and are perfectly content. I stopped in the classic stance of feet together hands at my sides with my head bowed remaining still for a couple of seconds. As I brought my head up and opened by eyes Wanda was doing the same about ten feet from me. The interesting thing was the three ladies standing on the patio staring at us.

As Wanda and I came in, Bobby said, "I knew you went outside most mornings, but I didn't know what you did. That was beautiful. It was almost sensuous the way you both moved. You weren't doing the same things, but your movements were almost synchronized in the same slow tempo."

Jan and Marie looked at each other, and Jan said, "We're going to the Y after work to check out some of this stuff. I want that."

Wanda and I smiled at them, and Wanda said, "It is not usual that one will intrude upon another while forming, but I asked Chuck if we could do it together. I don't think either of us saw each other as it is very personal. We should have some classes in the evening so all of us can form together."

Bobby said, "Are you ready to swim now?"

I un-strapped my leg, dropped my T-shirt and shorts, hopped to the pool, and dove in. Splashes followed as the others joined me, swimming slower in the beginning, building up to an all out sprint back and forth until we were all winded at the side of the pool. Bobby pulled me to her and gave me a kiss. "I didn't get to thank you personally last night."

Wanda had come up to my back and pressed her big ones into my back saying, "I think I should thank him first, you had your chance."

I laughed, "Ladies, ladies, we're a little late this morning. Let's get rolling. I may have things to do, people to see."

The two ladies hauled me out of the pool, lifting me from my feet and carrying me to the chair where my leg was. Bobby said, "Let's just carry him into the house so he doesn't have to put his leg on again. He has to shower anyway."

Wanda said, "Let's wash him under the shower out here. That way I can tease him too."

That's what they did. Wanda is about five eight and less than a foot shorter than Bobby's six seven, but the two are so different. Bobby is big, full, and large. She's as firm as can be, with large breasts that barely sag. Wanda is slim, tiny waisted, but with huge tits that are firm, but are so long they just have to sag. There was no way out of it.

While being thoroughly washed, I played with both sets offered to me, bringing me to a full very hard erection. I saw Bobby out of the corner of my eye motion to Wanda, who was soon leaning against the side of the open shower with her legs spread as Bobby guided me into her. I enjoyed a very nice mutual orgasm with Wanda. When she turned around to hold and kiss me she said, "I still owe you. That was just for fun."

Bobby said as she kept stroking my dick keeping it up, "Now me."

She assumed the same position, but because her legs are so long, she has to spread her legs out wider or bend her legs a little. We matched up, and just the excitement of us doing this with each other in the open, got me wound up so fast that we were both quickly coming. The good feelings washed over me and I'm sure over Bobby. We had to wash up a little more while the two ladies were giggling and laughing, enjoying their camaraderie in totally draining my morning excitement.

Now we were running late. Jan and Marie were eating cereal when we came in the house. They hadn't seen the open fooling around we had been doing, so they didn't understand the way the two were acting. They were carrying me as I held all the clothes and my leg. This was really strange.

Soon, we three supposedly more mature folks, were dressed with Bobby saying, "I have to get in to give the briefing. I need to print out the logs for the guys as it is a busy day. Chuck, could you bring me a couple of biscuit sandwiches from Burger King. Bring me a milk, too. Anyone else?"

I ended up with orders from everyone. Marie went with Bobby so she could help Bobby get ready for the briefing, and Jan wanted to ride with Wanda. After putting dishes into the dishwasher, I locked up and went out to the ratty old Camaro. When you started the thing, it was so loud that it rattled your senses a little. I drove reasonably to the Burger King, then into the federal garage. I tossed Hank the keys and gave him a couple of sandwiches. He said, "I heard about someone doing wheelies on I-4 last night. Little Marie already called me to give me the whole story. Your legend grows."

"I'll be better. I couldn't resist trying it out. That thing could be dangerous."

Hank asked, "How about I clean it up, make it a little quieter and into a pursuit car. A deputy could use it on a capture. It might come in useful."

"If anything is near that fast, we shouldn't be chasing it. That car is a rocket."

"I know," Hank said, "I took it home night before last and had to beg to get out of a ticket. Good thing I have a badge."

I laughed as I headed across the street to our building. As soon as I came in, Wanda said, "Your station transfer is on hold. I canceled the charter without it costing us anything."

After distributing the breakfasts, I was doing my e-mails when Conish came in and sat down. She spied my two sandwiches and said, "I'll come back after you've eaten."

Before I could tell her to sit, she was out the door. I ate my sandwiches and walked to the door and asked her to join me in my office. As she came in, I shut the door, but left the door to Wanda's office cracked. She sat, and instead of going behind my desk, I sat in my other side chair in front of my desk.

Conish looked me in the eye and said, "I was not a hundred percent truthful on my application. I'm afraid you may find out and terminate me because of it."

"Should I have Wanda come in to hear this? She is the person hiring and firing in this case."

"No Sir, I have already spoken with her extensively about this."

She took a deep breath, looked all around, then straight at me, "I gave you a false name. I gave you my maiden name as I want to change back to it after my divorce. I have only been separated for about six weeks and have been almost hiding since the separation. I found out my husband has become a man that will be in jail as soon as he is caught doing what he is doing. I do not wish to be associated with someone like that and I do not wish to go to jail as an accomplice. I hope my false name will not prejudice you against me."

"If Matathena is your maiden name, what was your married name?"

"Houston, Sir."

"And your former husband's name?"

"Mathew Houston, Sir, he now goes by the nick name big T as he says his business empire will be as big as Texas."

I thought for a moment then held my hand up for her to stay seated. I went to my PC, hit the Bureau web site and logged in. My status allowed full access to everything. I put in Mathew Houston and in the block for aliases, I listed T and Big T Houston.

I came up with a folder generated in Miami and another in New Orleans. Both had pictures of a guy. I waved Conish over to look and she nodded. "That's him. Where did you find these?"

Pointing to the FBI header for the page, I went through the files quickly, seeing that the man was busily importing Mexicans, some middle easterners, and what do you know, Russians. He had connections to some slave importers in New Orleans and some suspected slavers in California. These slaves were noted to be children under the age of sixteen to be used within brothels. There was a link to an ATF site. I went to it to find that Big T was linked to several firearms dealers and was purchasing large quantities of firearms. An investigation was underway to discover where the guns were ending up.

"Conish, if I were to have some people come to my office, would you talk to them. You might be able to assist them in their investigation."

"I know a wife does not have to do that, but I would be happy to do it. I spent almost twenty-five years happily married to a real estate broker and then he got involved with some foreigners with names that ended in trov, sky, and like that. They were really scary people. They would joke in their language, looking and winking at me. I know they were not being nice. Matt would just go along with them, humiliating me in front of them by openly fondling me. He often attempted to encourage me to be more physically friendly with his foreign friends. As soon as I discovered what he was doing, I took a few thousand from our checking account and fled. I got on a bus and ended up here. I will be happy to speak to law enforcement about his activities and what I know of them."

I called the Bureau chief and asked it he had anyone working on the file, referencing it by the number. He said he didn't, but asked if I needed him to assign someone. I told him to consider it as I was going to get an ATF guy and probably a Homeland Security immigration specialist involved also. He told me to call him back when I needed an agent.

As I stood, I said, "Conish, I'll gather the appropriate people and have them interview you collectively. I will be present and they will not divulge where you are. You will state that you will give information, but cannot be used as a witness as you would be under threat and didn't have any direct proof anyway."

She stood up, smiled, and went back to her desk, re-closing he door. As soon as she left, Wanda was in my office with a stack of papers for my in basket. She said to me, "I see you did some research. Quite a story for Ms. Metathena."

"No kidding. She's agreed to a mass interview. I'm going to get someone from each group that is involved in the investigation and see if they will prepare sufficiently to do this only once. If any of them get careless, Conish will have to go into protection. I think we would rather keep her here."

Wanda said, "I would, she seems to be thriving in our environment. When I took Angie and her home last night, I found that they both live in public housing. She was lucky to have gotten in. I'm sure as soon as she begins getting paid, she'll probably find something near here. Angie has already said that the only reason she lives alone is to get away from her folks who she says also live in public housing."

"Wanda, how did you get a clearance on Conish? When did you find out her name and situation?"

Wanda looked as if she were trying to avoid the subject but answered, "During her initial interview, I told her we would perform a thorough background check. If there was anything in her background that would cause her to not get the job, what would it be. She gave me the whole story during that first interview. Something about her made me want to hire her. Somehow I knew she would be a good employee. Everything she told me checked out exactly. I hope you don't feel I broke any of the rules or jeopardized our security."

"Probably not Wanda but when you are confronted with something like that, you need to include me as soon as you can. Had I found out on my own, the result would not have been good."

"I won't let it happen again Mr. Johnson"

After clicking through the Houston files she said, "You don't have hardly any e-mails of any value and most of the stuff I just put in your box is also of little value. You are clear to work on this project if you need to. I can even take care of everything in your in box."

"I'll look at them. It's my job and will give me hints at what's going on where. E-mails are fine, I need to answer them and again it will give me an idea of what's going on."

I called ATF and they had an agent assigned to the file. They would have him contact me. Homeland Security was tougher. These people were trying to become the all powerful, all consuming, arm of the government that would give the Spanish language total acceptance. I was a little pissed that the girl answering the phone could barely speak English and kept asking me questions in Spanish. I told her in my few Spanish phrases, "Give me your supervisor."

It took almost five minutes before a voice answered the phone. I identified myself, but not my position because I didn't know what it was. It was a multi-jurisdictional position. I asked him if he were the manager or the supervisor of the receptionist.

When he said, "What's it to you?" That did it. "Please give me to your station manager now. Do it now, or D.C. will be on the phone ripping you a new asshole. Well no, that's not true, that's my job, now get me the office or station supervisor right now."

Two seconds later I got a "Customs,"

"Are you the station supervisor, chief, manager, or whatever you might be. Are you where the buck stops?"

"Yes I am, may I help you."

I identified myself and I heard him gasp. "First get someone as receptionist that speaks English and enroll the young lady that is there right now into an English class. Do it today. I want that to be reported to this office later today. You might want to make sure all of your people who regard English as their second language enroll with the former receptionist. I repeat; former receptionist. Second, teach your personnel to be respectful of all callers, regardless of how rude the caller may be. We still work for most of the callers. Third, I need to work with one of your immigration specialists, one who might be familiar with a specific file."

"What file is it. I'm supposed to be aware of all active cases. I'm trying hard to be a good station chief."

I gave him the file number and I could hear him typing. "I have someone familiar with the case, I can have him help you."

"I'm going to have a multi-agency group interviewing a person knowledgeable about the subject under investigation. She will not be a witness and her identify must be protected or she will have to go into the protection relocation program. Will you have your agent contact me?"

"Yes Sir, I'll do that and take care of the other matters you requested. I'm sorry for the treatment you received. I should observe my personnel's phone manners more closely and I will. You did a great job on that incident up in Jacksonville before your promotion. Congratulations on your promotion, I guess now that the super chief is in Tampa, I'll have to be on my toes."

"Just do the job you know how to do. Oh yeah, are you supposed to answer customs?"

"Sorry, Chief, I was customs for twenty-five years. It's a hard habit to break. I don't even know how to answer the phone because D.C. doesn't know how to do it either."

"That is a problem isn't it. You're still customs, but now you're immigration too, plus you're part of the Homeland Security investigative division."

"Yes Sir, I have responsibility for the ports, the airport contractors, and the customs and immigrations workers, and yes, thank you for saving my guy out there just a little while ago. This has become a monster job. I'm proud they chose me, but it can be a struggle. What do you think we should answer the phone as?"

"I would say the receptionist should say Homeland Security for customs, and immigration, and everyone else with their rank or title. You can just say chief, or boss, or God."

"He laughed, thanks Chief, I appreciate your understanding. Let me get to work, too much bullshit before five is not good."

I left with, "Talk to me when you need help."

I called the Bureau chief back and found him waiting for me. "How about we hold this interview in your conference room?" I suggested. "There will be too many for my office. I'm going to set this up for next Tuesday. If you have a chance, come up and meet the interviewee. She is quite remarkable."

"You have her there? How long will she be there?"

"She's one of my new clerks, like I said, you would enjoy meeting her."

"I'll be right there since I haven't seen your new digs yet."

I told Wanda that the Bureau Chief was coming up so to usher him in when he got there.

First was Conish, in her very proper refined voice, asking "How may I help you?" Next was Wanda, in her equally proper tone asking, "Mr. Harris, let me escort you to Mr. Johnson's office."

I was already standing when they came in. As I seated Frank, Wanda asked, "May I get you coffee, Sir?"

"That would be great, haven't had a cup all morning. Black, please."

Wanda looked at me questioningly and I nodded.

"This place is gorgeous. I would be jealous except I wouldn't want the responsibility. Who did the decorating?"

"My new office manager, Wanda. She enjoys plants and I'm very happy to have them as well."

"That's what we need in our place, plants. Perhaps she can show my office manager and clerk how to pick some out."

"How's your health, Frank? You scared me out at the airport."

"Scared me, too. I've not had a problem for a couple of years, then that whole month leading up to the airport thing just did it to me. I had four arbitration things with Forest, plus I was going to have to defend my office on an ACLU thing. You may or may not know that my divorce was finally final the week before the incident, and then the final straw was out there where I should have been able to be in charge and just take care of it. With all the personnel problems we've been having, the divorce, and the shit that Forest stirred up, it's been too much. I'm doing better though. I've exercised every day, walking everyday, eating right, sleeping good. I think having you around is keeping me calm too, and that's not blowing smoke up your ass."

Wanda had heard most of what Frank had said and added, "Mr. Johnson does have a calming affect."

Frank blushed, but accepted the coffee. Wanda had a donut and said, "This is a cake donut. It's not real bad for your diet and for you to come up makes this is a special occasion."

When Wanda left, I asked, "I didn't know about your divorce and I'm not good with gossip. You okay? Did you come out okay?"

"I came out fine. When I found out I was sharing my wife with several others, I tried to get her out of my life but she was like a bad penny, she kept coming back. I finally had to have a restraining order, hired Sarah Perkins, the most vicious divorce lawyer in the city, and was able to keep my home and my pension. I had to give up a little savings and a car. That's all. Financially I'm great, but my personal or social life sucks."

"It'll get better. The most important thing though is to take care of yourself, stay healthy."

We had finished our coffee and snack. I put the cups on the sideboard where the bar was, then after waving for Frank to remain seated, I went out to get Conish.

I introduced the two and explained briefly to Frank what the deal was. He said he would pull all the files so his person would be up on the case. He looked at Conish, "If I may suggest, I have a divorce attorney you should use. She is excellent at taking care of contested and potentially explosive divorces. You have a case like that, that's for sure. And the best thing, she charges guys like me a lot so she can do divorces for ladies like you pro bono."

Conish smiled broadly and said, "I would love to meet this woman."

Frank held his hand up as if to say stop, took out his cell phone and in a couple of seconds he said, "Sarah, Frank, can you come over to the Federal building real quick to see someone you need to help. Come to the top floor, when you get off the elevator, walk straight ahead to the old judges chambers. Thanks, Babe, I'm sorry, thank you, Sarah."

"She gets all uppity when I say 'Babe.' I mean it in a nice way though."

I stepped to the door and warned Wanda about Sarah Perkins. She came in and pulled an additional side chair to be next to Conish. I suggested, "Lets use the table, it's friendlier. I hate to talk across the desk at people."

By the time we were all around the table, Sarah was being ushered in. After all the introductions were done, Wanda asked Sarah if she could offer her a refreshment. She grinned and said, "I could kill for a Diet Coke."

Wanda looked at Conish and she was almost embarrassed, she asked, "May I?" Wanda said, "Of course, what would you like?" It was another Diet Coke and I asked Wanda to bring Frank and me a bottle of water each. It a minute, Angie and Wanda were bringing our drinks in. Once that was done, I gave Sarah a brief history so Conish didn't have to keep going over it. I'm sure it sounded better when I talked about it instead of her.

When I was done, Sarah turned to Conish and asked, "Are you just angry at your husband for doing something that may be illegal, or is there more?"

Conish looked down, then back up and said there's more. She looked at me and asked, "Will you say the words instead of me? It's very difficult."

I explained that the husband was trying to get her to have sex with his foreign business associates and was becoming increasingly more aggressive in his attention to Conish.

Sarah said, "I get the picture. I'll get you taken care of, but it's going to be tough to keep our secret. I'll handle it as if you're out of the country. Are you a natural citizen?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I was born here to Austrian parents. We lived both here and in Austria throughout my youth. I went to Harvard. That's where I met Matthew. Neither of us went to graduate school, although I had aspirations of becoming an attorney."

Sarah said, "Go right across the bay and enroll. One of the best law schools in the country. I could use a partner."

Conish was flustered, "Oh, I don't have the money to do that."

"You will, Conish, you will. I will separate your ex with a bunch of it before I'm done with him. Let me get right on it before these guys arrest him. We have to work fast. I'll get an emergency order for some heavy maintenance."

Conish was smiling beautifully. "If you do that, I will be able to pay for your services. Thank you."

"I know, Honey, that's why we'll work on this one. I am in this for the money. I'll do handstands for you if you don't have any, but I love to be paid, just ask Frank."

Sarah turned to me and asked, "Hey, Chuck, need a good divorce lawyer?"

"Not married, Ma'am."

"Want to get married and see how you like it?"

I laughed, "You need to meet some of the ladies I've been meeting lately. You're just as forward as they are."

"I just like to have fun. Thanks for calling me, Frank. Conish can you come to my office after work? We need to get a whole bunch of information."

Conish looked a little panicked, I said, "It's very difficult for her to get a bus if she misses the early ones."

Frank offered, "Conish, let me walk you to Sarah's office. I will wait for you and make sure you get home safely."

Conish said, "Thank you, Mr. Harris, that would be excellent. I will see you, Ms. Perkins, as soon after five as I can."

Sarah and Conish got up. Conish left to go to her desk and Sarah turned to Frank, "That one is right up your alley, Guy. She's class, probably more than you, but you got some couth. When you take her home, be cool, be nice, and offer to take her to supper. Take her somewhere nice, open, safe to her. You'll both have a great time."

She turned to me and said, "Don't mind me, I'm a matchmaker in my spare time. I just can't find a match for me yet. Thank you for letting us use your office."

Sarah Perkins was gone as fast as she came, saying thank you and goodbye to Wanda and Angie as she left. Frank said, "See why I like that Babe, lady, that is. She's good, but she's full of it."

I said, "Okay, our deal will be Tuesday, say ten in your conference room. For security, I would like to enter it through your hallway entrance. Have one of your folks out in the hall to direct them. Let me know who your agent will be for my file. Just tell Wanda so she can e-mail them to confirm."

"Got it, Chuck, sure glad you're doing this instead of me. Talk to you later."

I looked at my watch to see it nearing the noon hour. This had been time consuming. I quickly called ATF, then Homeland Security to give them date and time, and to have their agents contact Wanda. I would call the IRS, but those guys had loose lips and always screwed things up. I was thinking I needed to get Bobby to assign someone but it wasn't within our jurisdiction and all we would do was to cloud the issue. If we couldn't keep Conish hidden, it would be our problem but not until then.

Okay, that was set. I wrote a quick e-mail to Wanda with the details and what to expect and to notify me if she had not had responses by Monday noon. Silly wasn't it to send an e-mail to my Office Manager a few feet away. I walked to the door and explained the coming e-mail to Wanda. She said, "You did exactly right. You don't have to warn me it's coming. I would expect an advisory. It's better that you put it down on paper instead of just telling me about it. Now the project is real."

Hank called me and said, "Bring me a Subway. I want a roast beef, provolone, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and jalapeños peppers. I have soft drinks here. I need to talk to you."

I walked in one direction to get the Subways, bought two of the same, then walked back to the garage. I gave Hank his sandwich and sat down on a folding chair in front of his desk to eat my sandwich. He gave me a Coke and got himself one as well and began eating.

Between mouthfuls, I asked, "So what's up, what can I do for you?"

"Let's eat first. I love these sandwiches. We'll talk in a minute."

We ate, we both wadded up the paper from the sandwiches and hit the waste basket with our basketball type shots. Almost at the same time we drained our Coke cans and tossed them as well.

A car came up to the ready spot near the door. It was an obvious police car of some form, a neutral color, which is sort of tan. The driver came in and tossed the keys on Hank's desk and said, "It's ready."

Hank said, "Come look at this, it's pretty nice." I noticed the car looked new and when we opened the door, it even smelled new. It was a Chevrolet Impala. Hank opened all the doors, then opened the trunk. The trunk had compartments and gun racks so it was fitted as a police car. Every thing looked pristine. The part that bothered me was the leather seats. Police don't get leather seats.

Hank said, "This is a protected car that does not fit the SUV directive. I picked it up because it has a modified engine instead of the stock for this model. It ain't real pretty, but it sure is fast. It handles real tight. I'd like to see if we could test it on the TPD track just for fun. I'm sure they'd like to test the Camaro there as well. I got this for your driver. You said fast, this is fast. You said it didn't have to be pretty, it ain't pretty. You said protected would be a bonus. This is protected. I did put some wheels on it and installed all our radios and telemetry in it. Please note that there are no exposed antennas."

"It's just different enough I thought you would like it. You could have a Ford, but we have a ton of Fords. I might find another Chrysler and I know there are more SUVs. There are all kinds of Mercedes and BMWs, but you're not the foreign car type. If you decide you want this to be pink, I'll get it painted. But this is a nice car. If you don't want it, it will make one hell of a duty car. Oh yeah, this came with a deal. I got this with no transfer fee because it was on the back of my new flatbed, or rather my new used flatbed. This truck's bigger so I can haul the heavier SUVs that we've been running into. Now we have two trucks. Every time you've needed a truck, you've needed a bunch of trucks. Now we have two."

I said, "Let's see what it feels like."

Hank locked his office and jumped in. The car had the heavy-duty wide seat belts and we buckled them up and I rolled out onto the street. I accelerated gently up through normal street speeds. It felt good.

There were cops out everywhere, so I couldn't nail it. I rolled up on the Leroy Selman Expressway and as we hit the straight away at thirty-five, I floored it. It didn't fishtail, but it did burn a lot of rubber and we were almost instantly at one thirty. I let off. I didn't know what it would do but this wasn't the place to find out. I got off, hoping there was a Sun Pass transponder for the tolls. For fun, I did a power one eighty to get back on the toll road and it stayed flat as a pancake. We went through the toll gates so fast, that it couldn't have taken our picture anyway. I let off this time before one twenty.

I nodded and said, "Not a normal Chevy at all. Wonder what they did to it?"

Hank said, "It's got the big Z06 427 engine from the Vette. The tranny is something that has been developed similar to the turbo 350, but stronger with better fluid take up. The suspension has to be special because this is heavier than a regular car. What do you think? Want it to be a different color or keep it a sleeper?"

"This will be fine, Hank. Thanks for looking out for me. The Camaro is awesome, but I'll hurt myself in that one. Besides, if I need flash, I have the Boss. Speaking of the Boss, where's it at?"

"Getting your 302 put in it. One of my guys is from up there and took it up. He said he knew the car. I also had Carl, the mechanic up there, open up the 302 so it would be as fast as the Windsor. I doubt it, but we'll see. You have a car that all the numbers match now. It's damned near new perfect. If you want to sell it, it will bring a bunch."

"Thanks for sending it up for me. I was going to take a couple of days off and run it up. This works out fine."

"And my guy gets to drive one hell of a nice car for fun," Hank said happily.

Back in the garage, Hank gave me all the paperwork so I could keep it with me. I said, "Keep your eyes open for our guys. When a duty car is in need of rotating, just bring another of these in as fast as you can. It's okay for us to get heavy on cars. I may get bored driving the same one all the time. Get some stake out cars that are different, get some chase cars that are different. You know what I mean. Let's keep the area's budget low so we can use it for better things."

Speaking of budgets, I needed to review the area and regional budgets. It was in John's binder. Before going upstairs, I went to the range and fired my minimum twenty-five to a maximum non-competition one hundred rounds. Actually, I went through three magazines real quick. I asked the range officer, "How about buying all the extra magazines you need for this idea? What would be nice is to be able to walk in, pick up three full magazines of range loads, put on the headset and fire. Pick up the brass, clean my piece, and book it."

"I'll fix you up, but I still have a lot of people using revolvers, and your Homeland guys are still learning how to shoot. What I'd like to do is to get you and Jan to help me make a training video. I want you to go through your training steps. Then, as a second video, I'll have Jan teach the competition courses. For a finish, I want you two to do a dual competition run on film. That would be awesome. I have the budget for it, can I set it up?"

"Set it up, but get the Bureau Chief's permission and write a specific script. Find me someone to teach who has never fired a handgun before and we'll do it."

"Thanks, Chuck, I'll get right on it."

When I walked into the office, Bobby was there and both Bobby and Wanda asked, "How do you like your new car?"

"It's fine. Exactly right. It's fast, but not flashy. It'll work."

Wanda said, "He's so calm about a new car. I dreamed about the new Chrysler all night. I know you are excited about your car, Bobby, and all he says is, it'll work."

I smiled, "It's a tool. I may not be in the field, but it will do what I want when I expect it to. I don't like flashy cars to work in, I don't like flashy guns to shoot, and I have my Boss for fun and a house full of Bobby at home."

"Careful, Mr. Johnson," Bobby said, "That is close to harassment."

"I didn't say anything about you. Do you know if I have a Bobby at home?"

"The car's great, Girls. Let me do my work. This is Friday and I have to check in with my boss. Wanda, I should review budgets, it's on my schedule."

"I'll pull the ones we have. They are slow in coming in."

"Memo everyone so we can put them on a spreadsheet. It will be easier to look at all of them at once to see if there are any anomalies. When you do the spreadsheet, grade the offices by the population that it serves. Use the three grades that D.C. uses. Keep the type of offices separated. Have one of the clerks do the tough stuff. Use your time more effectively."

I ran through my paperwork, answered all the e-mails and called one of the stations about a resubmission of the collective incident report. Instead of talking to the deputy, I spoke to the chief deputy in charge.

I asked why my request was not responded to in the manner I had requested. "Get off my back, you young punk. I have years and years of service and I know what I'm doing. You and that asshole in D.C. think you know everything about being a deputy, but like I said, you're just a punk looking for trouble."

"Are you done?"

He hung up.

I called him back and said, "I'm not done. You will be in the office at oh seven hundred Monday. If you still want to be a deputy, you will write down, in essay form, why you should remain a deputy and present it to me when I eventually get there Monday. Be prepared, you may need a ride home. All deputies are courteous to all people, and to all whom they work with. You, Sir, have possibly exceeded the limits of what I think is courteous."

The phone slammed again.

I asked Wanda to pull the Chief's file and all communication with that station for the last year. She said it would take some time. I told her to use her clerks.

She quickly brought me the Station Chief's file and I read it through, not seeing anything except he didn't have a great relationship with other agencies. What was I missing? He had enough time to retire but termination would kill retirement. There was a regulation that specifically discussed the issue.

I composed an e-mail to the Station Chief in question and included the regulation number about termination without benefits.

My next call was to John. He was in a good mood and I hated to screw it up. I asked him about the Chief. He said, "Shit, he's off his meds again. Call him back up and tell him to go take his medication. I'll call his wife. He's a manic depressive and really gets bad without his medication. Don't fire him yet; let me try to salvage him again."

I called the station and asked the clerk quietly after telling her who I was, "Are you okay?"

"Yes Sir."

"Is the ACE around?"

"That's part of the problem."

"Why's that?"

A hesitation on the other end of the line, "He is usually able to get him to take his meds when his wife is out of town. It just so happens that they are both out of town at the same time."

"Do you know where his meds are?"

"The Assistant has extra in his desk."

"Do you want to help?"

"Sure, tell me what to do."

"Go get a glass of water and the pills, or whatever it is he has to take. Take them into his office; he's very stressed out so you may have to do something really silly to keep his attention. Do you have a paper bag?"

"Yes Sir, a small lunch bag."

"Perfect, set the pills and the glass of water on the desk, when he looks up at you, blow up the bag and pop it hard. Then stand up on a chair and yell at him as if you're really mad at him for not taking his medication. He should be shocked into taking it. Call me back. It'll take a half hour before he starts thinking right, but call me back if he takes the med."

I waited impatiently for almost ten minutes, until Wanda said the clerk was on the phone. The clerk said, "He took them. He really thinks I'm strange now, when I popped the bag he was really confused, and when I stood on a chair, he actually looked scared. He cringed when I yelled at him, but he grabbed the pills and swallowed them. I yelled at him to sit down and be still. He's still sitting there."

"Good, when he's straight, ask him to see his physician to see if he can get the newer long lasting implants. He has a tough problem. I'm surprised he made it to be Chief."

"He developed all this after he became Chief. It's supposed to be some kind of chemical thing."

"Okay, call me before you go home to let me if know he's okay."

Wanda was at the door, "Do you still need all those records?"

"No, sorry I didn't stop you right away. A manic depressive is tough to handle and I didn't want him to go off the deep end because of my e-mail."

I looked at my PC to note the e-mail was still there. I had not sent it. I canceled the e-mail and called John back.

John said, "His wife is out of town. I heard from the clerk about what you told her to do. Where did you learn that?"

"There was a troop in Iraq that had the problem. When he took his meds, no sweat. He should have been sent home as soon as his problem was diagnosed, but a couple of docs thought he might be faking. We learned we had to do something outrageous to get him to listen, then yell at him to take the meds. Half hour later, he would be normal. He was finally sent home, but I heard he blew his brains out shortly after that. I suggested that our guy get the implant if he can."

John was quiet a minute, "The man has been good for a lot of years. I've been trying to get him to retire, but he doesn't want to quit. Maybe you can figure out how to make him retire."

"You have anything else for today? This has been a strange day so far."

"Why, what do you mean?"

"I explained the deal with Conish, gave him the file numbers, and told him how I set up a meeting for a collective interview. I told him about the car, then backtracked to tell him about Frank and the lawyer. With all this, and then this guy going off the deep end, it's been busy."

"Some days are like that. Have you begun reviewing budgets yet?"

"Started to compile them."

"Let me know if anything is out of the ordinary. Otherwise, just make sure you keep the numbers under the big number. We have to be careful because money is getting scarce and we are going to be taking some hits. They ask us to do more, but want to give us less budget."

I said sarcastically, "I know how to take up some of the slack on budgets."

"How?"

"Make damn sure fewer people make it to the pen. If they escape, just neutralize them. That would be a lot cheaper."

"Don't say that. You never know when someone is listening and may believe you. Christ, you have a record. You're known as being a little bit of a neutralizer."

"Sorry, it just pisses me off to see our guys busting their asses for the money we pay them."

"Well, you're one of the guys that's underpaid too."

"I don't count, I'm single, I can live cheap, I know how to live cheap. Family guys have it tough. They are constantly working extra shifts to make ends meet. I actually have a guy doing air duty all weekend to make some extra bucks so his wife doesn't have to work. You know him, Sam, the guy with the kid with Cerebral Palsy."

"Yeah, our Association of Deputies was supposed to be getting him a stipend. Wonder what happened. I'll check on it."

"I'm hoping we can help the DEA and the ATF on a drug bust and get the guy a bone."

"Don't do that either," John said. "He'll have a hard time with the IRS."

I thought of something, "You know what, I wonder if Matt, the bad guy, has a DEA file. Let me go check and bring them in if I need. Call me Monday if you need me."

The clerk called me telling me the Chief was too embarrassed to talk to me, so she was doing it. "He told me to tell you he apologizes. He'll try to be more consistent with his meds."

"Tell him to call everyone he pissed off today and apologize. His friends will understand, but they need to hear it."

"I'll do that, Sir and thank you, you taught me a lot today. Hope I get to meet you one day soon."

"Me too."

Another crisis avoided. I went out to apologize to Wanda again for pushing the panic button. She said, "It's your responsibility to learn as much as you can to avoid a problem. I'm sure you did what was necessary."

I explained what the problem had been and how we took care of it. She said, "We need to go for a little, don't we? It would settle us down."

"Actually, it's almost Miller time. I'm going to be ready. Conish is going to that attorney's office. Frank is taking her, so she's taken care of. My desk is clear unless you have more. We need to work on budgets between crises next week so we can report to John. I'm going to see how Bobby's doing and we'll go from there."

I walked in to see Marie with a concerned look. She nodded toward Sarah's office. Sarah was busily typing something on her PC when she looked up to see me. She said, "Bobby's out on an incident. Two of her duty people at the court house may be dead. They were shot by some men with automatic rifles trying to kill the judge. He's okay. We have crews on the way."

"Why didn't you call me, I'm right next door?"

"Bobby said it was her responsibility."

"What's the status of the shooters?"

"We don't know. Everyone available and the Bureau are out taking statements, looking for them."

"I'm going down not as the Senior, but as an investigator. Would you use the radio to ask permission?"

Sarah said, "You don't need permission."

"I know, but let me protect her dignity and ask. I don't want to try to take over."

"Base to number one."

"Number one."

"Deputy C. Johnson is 10-8." (10-8 is in service/available for assignment.)

"See me on site."

"Base out."

"One out."

I rushed to the office to advise them of what was going on. I advised them to lock down and to only leave accompanied.

I was downstairs, burning rubber in my new car, almost instantly. I was looking for the switch for the lights and noisemaker, and finally figured out that the floor button was the noisemaker and not the hi/lo beam.

I slid to a stop near the mess of people, white clean up vans and damn, a coroner's van. I found Bobby directing traffic but that was all she was able to do because of the bedlam. She looked at me and looked ready to cry. She said, "Help."

I said, "Continue doing what you're doing. It looks like you have the scene in order. Keep it that way. Let me go take a look."

Going to the sheet that covered a deputy. I didn't know who it was and I didn't want to know yet. That there was only one sheet told me one lived so far. I looked to see how the one had fallen, then began looking around. This was just like trying to identify where a sniper was located.

Something bothered me, so I went back to Bobby and asked, "Sarah said automatic rifle fire, was it?"

"I don't know, the witness just said that a lot of shots were fired all at once. We haven't been able to identify where the shooters were."

"You just said shooters, plural, why?"

She looked at me and nodded, "They way they described the fire. It had to be more than one."

I gave her a thumbs up sign and went back to the where the body was. Okay, now it could be from a distance, because no one saw anyone up close, but they heard multiple rounds at once. From how the body was lying, I looked out and gradually looked up until I found an open window. It almost looked as if there was someone in the window, but away from it. I stepped behind a pillar, probably the pillar that saved the judge. I walked a couple of pillars higher and after being behind, it I peeked out cautiously. There was a guy watching everything from back in the shadows of the room. I counted the floors that it should be on and used the radio that I had swiped from the ready room as I left the station.

"One"

"One"

"How secure?"

"Totally."

"There is a guy on the seventh floor watching what we're doing. I think you want to talk to him. He should be in the, let's see, one, two, three, four, fifth room to the right from center. Get him. We need to talk to him."

"Got it."

Fuck this ten shit. If this is secure let's just talk.

I heard Bobby directing traffic. She was smart enough to not send anyone from this side of the street. I went inside the building and watched from a window almost directly across the street. I wish I had a rifle, but I knew there was no way to make a shot at this distance. I was standing there watching when I saw another man stand up with a rifle.

Fuck, they may shoot again. Damn. The guy with the rifle looked like he was breaking it down. Good. The man standing leaned over and picked up another rifle and handed it to the guy that was lower. Maybe we were lucky. They would have both rifles broken down.

I radioed, "I want them alive if possible."

Bobby knew everyone heard, but she said, "You heard the man, we want them talking."

The door behind the guy opened and many people came in the room. No shots were heard, so I guess they captured the two shooters.

When I came out of the court building I had been in, there were news trucks everywhere. I hopped down the stairs as fast as I could to hunt for a Tampa Police Department man in charge. When I couldn't find them, I went to each news truck and flashed my badge. "You have three minutes to get this truck out of here. If you are still here in three minutes the truck will be confiscated." I radioed the garage on their channel. "Bring your tow trucks, we're gonna own some news wagons."

The one guy heard me and was yelling to get his cameramen back. I went right down the line telling each of them the same thing. One smart-ass said, "You're obstructing free speech."

I said, "You're obstructing an investigation of a murder of a government employee. That is worth five years. One more word and you will be under arrest."

The man looked at me and said, "What are you going to do about it, Crip?"

I turned, drew my weapon and shot both tires on this side of the van. "I guess you won't be able to make the five minute max to leave, will you?"

"You son-of-a-bitch, you disabled my truck so you could confiscate it."

I jumped in and pulled the recording plug between panels then grabbed the tech and threw him out of the truck. I punched the locks on all the doors and pulled them shut.

After doing that, I held him down with my fake leg that has a shoe on it and said, "Yes, I am a little short on one side. I would want you to please roll over so I can cuff you as an obstructer of justice."

When he didn't want to do what I asked, a Tampa uniform came up and said, "Need some help?"

I handed him my cuffs and asked, "Please do the honors for me, okay?"

My radio crackled, it was Bobby, "We're taking the shooters in for interrogation."

"Get out of here and don't look back. This is getting nasty."

"I know, I had a news lady in my face while I was trying to direct traffic."

I told the Tampa cop quietly, "Take this creep to the county lock up. Just write up that charges are pending. Try to keep your name off the log. Lie, do whatever. He'll stay in till Monday morning, and he'll be released for not being charged."

The cop smiled and said, "I can do that."

The news trucks had pretty much pulled out, some leaving their cameramen who were not transmitting now that the trucks were gone. I found a Tampa Police Captain, and after showing my badge, asked, "Call some cabs to take these cameramen to their stations. Put it on the Marshal's tab. Get them all home for me, will you?"

"Got it. I've never seen them move so fast getting out of here. Too bad that one guy has two flat tires."

When Hank was loading up the truck with the two flat tires, I told him, "Take it to the TV station, wherever it is, and just drop it there. I wouldn't know what to do with it. If you can get in it, have Brian from the Bureau make sure there isn't any good tape on board."

"Consider it done, I see you used the non-descript car to get here."

Hank was laughing as he loaded the truck. He yelled out, "See I needed this bigger truck."

The place was getting back to normal. The body was gone, and even the window the shooters had been using was closed. I took a deep breath and began walking to my car. I shorter person with her shoulders hunched down joined me. Jan said, "Sorry about your man. I heard the other one is in surgery, but is going to make it."

That's what will break you up in the military, in law enforcement, in life. Knowing you lost a man and there was nothing you could do about it.

"Need a ride?"

"Yeah, can I see how the interrogation is going?"

"I don't see why not. We'll see what's up."

When we got to the parking garage, Bobby's car was there, but not the Bureau Chief's. We went through security and up the elevator. Marie and Sarah were still there. My surprise was that Angie and Wanda were with Marie and Sarah, talking quietly waiting to hear news, any news.

Bobby came into the secretarial area and said, "Oh, Jan, just the person we need. I think these guys are Russian, once again with some very nice AK47s. If you would, I know this isn't your jurisdiction, but would you help?"

Jan pulled her weapon and laid it down on Marie's desk. "You know I'll help. Have you totally searched them yet?"

Bobby looked surprised and said, "You know I didn't think to strip them. I'll be back."

I went with her to watch. Jan came along to watch through the blacked out windows of the interrogation room.

Bobby had the first man stand up and began using scissors to cut his clothes off. When he was nude, she told him to lie on the table. With paper towels under his head Bobby began combing his hair. She combed his underarms, then his pubic hair. The prisoner couldn't believe a woman did the entire thing. Bobby looked as if she were counting, "I have seven GPS devices, eight audio devices, one camera, and three transmitters. She had the guy lay over the table and combed out his eyebrows, and said, "One GPS, One audio, and one transmitter. Hold it, a camera too."

She said to the room, "This guy probably has a GPS and or transmitter inside him as well. We'll have to take him to the warehouse first."

They put a set of coveralls on the guy and led him to another room. Jan began questioning him, saying his only chance to live was to talk. The guy said that he was diplomatically immune and ranted and raved about it. Jan said, "Trust me; no one will know we cut your balls off and fed them to you. Remember, you're in Florida. We have very nice sharks just off shore that enjoy dining on Russians that are bleeding. Do you think your friends will come to look for you?"

We actually didn't hear this right away because it was said in Russian. Jan told us later. The man began asking for Harding. Where is Harding? That made my stomach churn. These people were everywhere. The best way to handle these guys would be to just, shit, I can't think that way.

Jan came out and said, "Can I cut him, to show him how the sharks will know he's in the water?"

One of the deputies said, "Hang on, let me get a boat down there. That ought to convince him. Then cut him."

Fifteen minutes later, the deputy went to the window and opened it. He yanked the prisoner up and dragged him to the window sticking his head out to look down. Jan was jabbering to him fast and furious. The deputy brought the guy back and slammed him on the chair. Jan took a pair of scissors and slashed his arm. She said something else to the guy then acted as if she were going to cut him again.

He broke. He began talking fast. Telling Jan everything he knew. We didn't know what he was saying, but it was being recorded. Jan listened until the man sat there staring at her. She said something very vehemently, then hit the man hard, back-handed. It was hard enough his nose and mouth started bleeding.

She came out and said, "He was sent to kill our witness, a couple of escaped whores, as he called them, and to kill the judge. They couldn't get to the witness and couldn't find the whores, so they shot at the judge. I say we let him swim back to Russia."

"Can he identify anyone that is still here, his contacts, any of the brothels?"

Jan took a deep breath and said, "I'll find out." She went into the room and slashed the guy with the scissors again. We found out later that she said, "I want to go ahead and kill you, but my weak bosses say that I can't unless you don't talk."

She talked to the prisoner another forty minutes writing down many things. She finally came out of the room and said, "We need to raid here, and here. This is the only brothel he knows about, but this is where the bosses live. Call the FBI, it's their jurisdiction. They will want in on this."

The second prisoner was faster, after finding as many devices on him as the other guy, Jan started her interrogation by slashing his arm then holding the small man by the hair, she dragged him to the window to show him the boat. The man was jabbering in no time at all. He was only able to give us one additional place to look for people, but he had come to the states in a different way. He had been on board a cruise ship as a worker and jumped ship, something for us to pass on to immigration.

When we were done, the prisoners, in coveralls, were taken to the warehouse where they were found to have transmitting devices inside them. They were given laxatives to see if the devices were intestinal. The prisoners got to hold the electrical shorting devices, but it didn't kill one each of the transmitters. They took the two men to Tampa General and gave each an MRI and had the transmitters surgically removed from the area between their balls and their asshole. Amazing what these people were doing.

When the two men came out of surgery, they were more willing to talk than ever before. They really didn't tell us anything new, but relayed information about their homeland that we knew or suspected.

The two were taken downtown to stay until someone figured out what to do with them.

Bobby said that she would be home as soon as she was sure her man was alright. I made sure that Wanda took Angie home, and I took Jan and Marie home. We stopped at Publix on the way home and bought a bunch of fish and fresh vegetables. I knew that we would be cooking in shifts, so I started the steamer for the veggies and began cooking the Tilapia in the oven. Twenty five minutes, with seasoning, butter, and lemon, and you have good fish.

I made instant rice while making up the other stuff, and fed those home at the time. I was a little stressed out, so had a salad with most of a small bottle of Beefeaters.

Bobby came in with the news that the deputy was doing well and was conscious. The deputy that was killed was single, thank God. The injured deputy was married with two kids. He was proud they had saved the judge by pushing him behind a pillar, and was pleased we had caught the shooters.

I fed Bobby and myself. Bobby wouldn't drink as she said, "If these people are that nuts, they may try for the witness or the judge tonight. The hotel is safe, so the Judge and his wife are staying there tonight. I'm just crazy over losing one man, and all of the bad guys aren't accounted for."

I tried to console her, but she said she would feel better when the trial was over. She said, "According to the prosecutor, the witness wasn't much good. The translator acted as if the witness was hostile and wasn't telling any real information."

I said to Bobby, "In the morning, we are going to get the tapes of the trial and have Jan listen to them. Meanwhile, have D.C. run the translator, they provided the person."

"I didn't think of that. The original translator said this witness would do the trick. We thought that maybe he was just too optimistic."

I called John to advise him of our status. I knew he had already heard of a death, so I told him the second man was going to be fine, and that we had the Bureau busting multiple places as we spoke.

"Good deal. You were right that you didn't send our men out on it. It would have been a slaughter and the ACLU would have been on our asses forever. Oh, I wanted to tell you. The Association said they had let Sam and his kid slip through and they had already wired him a few thousand to help his wife and him through some bad times. The Association even sent someone down to handle his duty this weekend so he could be with his family instead of working to keep his wife home. That's more like what the Association is for. They will take care of burying the man killed too. His family will receive the insurance proceeds. That's pretty cold, but at least they have the opportunity to have something to remember him by."

"Thanks, John, Bobby's taking this pretty hard. She's trying to be big Momma to everyone."

"It takes a few before you can only write the letter home and choke back the tears, then go on to the next. She's living it right now, Chuck, you know what it's like. Let her work it out as she has to. All of us have to do it differently."

"I know, John, I just want to keep her from having to go through it."

"You can't, it's happened, she's a good leader, she feels the loss. She'll adapt, just be there for when she needs you."

"I got it, I understand."

"I heard she's requesting a security check on the translator, is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure yet. The translator keeps saying the witness won't talk. We are going to have a resident translator listen to the trial tapes and tell us what she hears."

"Damn these Russians, they are causing us grief everywhere. We're just too lenient about illegal immigration. If we're going to rid ourselves of the problem, we're going to have to get tough."

"Go tell them, John. No, don't say anything or you'll be out too. Get elected or something, then tell them."

"I wish. I'm forbidden to run for office. I can only advise those that run or are already in office."

"I'm going to get off, John, I think Bobby is going to need my help."

I said to Bobby, "Get changed and let's work out a little. It will help. Come on."

We changed and I let Bobby run on the treadmill while I used the bike. She swapped to weights, so I used the treadmill and Jan used the bike. Wanda was doing light weights in a Kata, an exercise form for martial arts. Marie exactly imitated everything Wanda did. Total idol worship. When my time was done on the treadmill, I did some weights, but light, as I wanted to observe Bobby to be sure she didn't overdo it. When she was on her back with over four hundred pounds, I said, "Let me be your weights tonight. Your mom said that would be good for both of us, trust and all."

Bobby did reps with me until she was tired, then lay me onto her chest. With giant tears streaming down her face, she said, "I know I can't protect them all or even any of them, but I sent them on that duty today. When those two men were in the interrogation rooms, I wanted to just go in and kill them. I put my weapon down on Marie's desk to be sure I wouldn't lose it and just do it anyway. My emotions are all over the place. I feel guilty for sending them on the duty. I feel guilty that I couldn't protect them. I feel guilty that I didn't avenge their death. God, Chuck, I am really right there. Am I a leader to not be able to protect my own?"

I said, as gently as possible, "You're asking the same question military and law enforcement leaders have asked for ages. You know you're a leader because you feel and realize the loss. If you didn't, you would be worthless."

She was still for a long time, then said, "Let's swim."

We all swam for a while, but not at the killer pace that would wind us totally. We swam hard, but paced. When I stopped, everyone stopped. Wanda and Bobby carried me out as usual, and we washed under the outdoor shower. Bobby even said, "A far cry from our loving this morning."

When it was time to get in bed, I tucked Bobby in, and Wanda snuggled up to her while I shut down the house and locked up. When I came to the bedroom, the night light showed Wanda cradling Bobby while she nursed on one Wanda's large nipples. Wanda had big tears on her face, but Bobby was sleeping.

I lay awake a little while but not long. I slid into a troubled sleep, knowing how Bobby's heart was broken.

Primary editing by Pepere

Proofing by Sagacious