Flying from the right seat was not much different than from the left except for the perspective and reversing which hand did what. The plane handled the same and felt the same, just from across the cockpit.
On the way out west, John was right back to the quizzes on the G5. Man, I don't think I'll ever fly with him without him teaching the whole way. He was determined to teach me to be a good pilot and teacher. Dave was comfortable enough to make us coffee and fetch water for us. He said he was chatting with Sarah on the computer, so he was enjoying the ride.
As soon as we landed, Hal was waiting for us. He picked us up and drove to an old warehouse that was near the federal building. Inside was a large enclosed military command truck plus a bunch of Humvees. There were some Suburbans from the Marshal Service and the Bureau, so the troops were gathering.
Major Selby greeted me, "Hey, Johnson, good to see you again. You had it down my man. We've picked up three sets of snipers. They were so surprised to be found since they thought they were well hidden and they weren't even watching their backsides. Of course, my men can walk up on a mouse. Your men and the Bureau are questioning them right now. They've been coming out every fifteen minutes or so and it's about time for them to take a break."
A radio began some chatter and the Major answered the call. He looked up and said, "Damn, a team closing in on a couple of snipers was made. They were fired on. They're fine, but can't close in. They have the sniper team pinned down so they can't move. Think I should call in some air support?"
"Let me change and get Dave and me out there. I'll see if there's another way."
I changed into jeans and a heavy shirt with my vest on the outside, along with the combat vest. Dave and I hung our extra ammo on, patted ourselves down, jumped up and down to make sure we didn't jingle and turned to the Major.
"You two have done this before. Nice to know you learned something," he said with a laugh.
We were driven to the location in a Suburban as the Humvee was a little too obvious. We talked to the team that had made initial contact with the snipers, then circled the snipers to see if we could get in close.
I told Dave, "Tell you what, if I go up the fire escape, as long as I stay low, they can't get a shot. You and another rifle get in opposing positions so if they stick their heads up, you can convince them to stay down. When I get into position, I'll offer them a chance to live and see what happens. Ah, if you have to shoot, make it count. Make sure the team guy knows how it works. Just tell him any rounds that find their mark will be ours."
Dave said, "I should do the climbing and you do the marksman shit. I have both legs."
"I have the rank and it's my job. Be a good backup sidekick. You know the score."
I only had to climb the ladder from the last floor to the roof. I slid over the edge of the building and went down prone on the roof. I had to crawl with my rifle to a steel air duct about thirty feet to the side, but it got me closer to the hidden snipers.
When I was in position, I flashed my light back at the command team then hollered. "Give yourself up. You're surrounded and will only live if you give yourself up. Toss your weapons out and put your hands on top of your head. Do it now before we begin killing you."
There was a lot of moving around noises coming from where the snipers were. I could hear them whispering, arguing about what to do. One of the snipers tossed his gun out butt first then stood with his hands on his head. He cautiously took a few steps toward me. I yelled, "Move forward two more steps and lay flat on the roof with your hands out in front of you."
The man was taking the second step when the other sniper rose and put a burst into the back of the man who was giving up and put two bursts into the metal vent in front of me. I felt a burning in my thigh. Fucking great, another fucking wound.
The sniper who killed his partner and fired at me didn't live two full seconds after firing his first burst. Dave and the Marine made direct hits on the guy. Bang, bang, just like that it was over. My thigh wasn't throbbing, so I knew I didn't have an arterial wound.
I kept looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone else up here with me. Something felt wrong, like I was being watched, so I flattened out and crawled closer to a wall where I could see in three directions, but not directly ahead. I was hoping Dave still had me in his sights and was searching around me.
I heard a movement on the other side of the wall where I was. I pulled my Glock as the MP5 was too hard to move around without making noise.
There was a slight scraping that was closer to the edge of the corner of the wall where I was. I moved back quickly and just as I went around the corner, a muzzle came around the corner and an automatic, something that sounded like an Uzi, fired blindly. Zing. A round hit my fake leg. Hope it didn't hurt it. I stayed perfectly still waiting. I heard a movement then a rapid movement. I came around the wall low and saw a man was standing, holding the small automatic rifle sideways, trying to pull the trigger. I fired three times to the body and three times to head as he was falling.
I lay flat on the ground waiting for something else.
Dave was at the edge of the roof. "You okay? I didn't see the other guy."
"There may be more. I can't tell. We should have a radio so we know when the team is sweeping the place."
"They are coming up the stairs. Let me get in position, so we can sweep the place without exposing ourselves."
"Careful, if they work in pairs, we're missing one. If he's here, he's waiting for us."
"Johnson," a voice called from where the stairs were.
I yelled back. "Stay down. We're missing a man out here somewhere. No chances. Stay down and we'll sweep toward you from both sides."
I rolled across the roof to lie next to Dave. "Listen, we have to get past each obstruction, so watch carefully. There is just enough light for us to see, so that means they can see too. Let's go, one at a time. One of us covers, the other kicks them out."
I said, "I'll bird dog, my rifle is under the dead guy." I remembered I had shot six rounds, so I exchanged magazines so I had fifteen in the magazine and one in the chamber.
Dave was up on one knee with his rifle ready to sweep in either direction as I threw gravel on one side of a large vent and dove around the other side. As I was on the roof, I heard a scraping sound in front of me, about twenty feet away. I waved at Dave and pointed. I gave hand motions to move around to the side. With practiced skill, he moved silently toward the area where he would have a good view of anyone moving. I crept in a quiet duck walk to keep low around the edge of a small wall barrier. Doing a duck walk with a lower leg prosthesis is a practiced art. The military rehab people made me do a lot of duck walking. I picked up a handful of gravel and tossed it into the air so it would come down on whoever was behind the metal vent. The noise of the gravel hitting the vent was enough to make the guy break. He rose, firing his rifle right at me. I fired four rounds at the guy while Dave hit him with a quick burst. The guy was down, but I was hit again. Damn, this one hurt. It was then I realized I was hit in the vest, thank God. It sure did hurt though.
Dave hollered for the Marines on the stairs and they stormed the roof, looking everywhere. One of the Marines had a radio, so Dave asked him to advise his command we had four down and a wounded friendly. I went to Dave. "Where're you hit. Let me see, where, Dave? Jesus, I didn't mean to get you hurt."
"Not me, you jerk, you. You're bleeding on your arm and I can see a stain on your pants. Look at your vest. You have a round buried in it, you lucky fucker. You're alive so let's get you taped up."
I walked downstairs on my own and was hustled back to the command center where a corpsman patched my leg by removing a small piece of metal of the vent from the wound and bandaged me. I told the corpsman I would take off my shirt since I didn't want to rip it up because I needed it for a while. As soon as it was off, he said, "Looks like you have a hole where your other hole was and you have another scrape on the other arm that is still bandaged. You, my friend, should get out of the field. This is getting close."
I pulled up my pants leg to check my stalk and heard the corpsman, "Oh fuck. Hey, Major, this guys got a metal leg. What's he doing in combat?"
"This isn't combat. This is civilian law enforcement."
"Hell if isn't combat. There are rounds going off, people getting wounded and people dying. That's combat."
The Major came over and looked at the nick on my stalk and said, "This is what happens to Special Ops guys when they get sent home. Is he fit for duty?"
The corpsman was finished patching me and said, "He'll need some stitches, but he'll be alright for now. I'm waiting for him to come down and go into shock."
Dave said, "You'll wait till hell freezes over. Once you've been through it several times, you don't get the rush too bad until it's all over. There is still more to be done, so he's still ready."
The Bureau Chief came out of the command van and said, "We know where and about how many there are. It's close to the border so we're setting men up between the border and the suspect building. I have a backhoe heading out there to dig up a possible tunnel. If we can dig up the tunnel, we can trap all of them in the building. They should give up."
I said to Hal, "Get us there." I turned to the Major. "Want to join the party, or are you stretching the leash too far?"
"Hell no, let me get the men together and we'll head that way. We'll bring the command van along and use it to stash captives. Let's roll."
Hal took Dave and me south until we were within sight of the border. To the west of the highway was a small cluster of old farm buildings. Between there and the fence was a bulldozer and two big backhoes. They were digging rapidly while the bulldozer was making pass after pass closer to the border digging a trench, trying to intersect a possible tunnel. Just about the time one of backhoe guys yelled he found something, the bulldozer broke through. He backed out and moved around to shine his head lights into the tunnel.
When the Major arrived, I asked, "Do you have any C4 with some short delay fuses?"
"How much do you need?"
"How about a couple of pounds and two five second fuses."
He asked, "Tunnels?"
"Yeah, I want to blow them in both directions. They probably know we're here, I just want both sides of the border to know that it's game over."
The Major had an ordnance sergeant come to me with two blocks of C4 and a couple of fuses. I had the machinery moved away then went to the edge of the border side of the tunnel. I pushed the detonator into the C4, looked around, hollered, "Fire in the hole." I pulled the timer up and pitched the block into the tunnel and laid on the ground to the side of the opening.
Four, three, two, one, "BOOM." Dust rushed out of the tunnel opening.
The ground above the tunnel raised then settled where the tunnel had collapsed for about fifteen feet.
I went the U.S. side and repeated the process, but on this one, I rolled the C4 into a ball and pushed the detonator all the way in. When I pulled the pin up, I rolled it hard into the tunnel.
Three, two, one, "BOOM." Dust exploded from the opening and the ground collapsed all the way to a barn like structure now surrounded by Border patrol vehicles, Marshal Service vehicles, Bureau vehicles, and in an outer ring, about two hundred Marines. I was impressed.
Using bull horns, the Border guys began announcing for them to give up, as they were surrounded. If they didn't give up, they would die.
We were getting a lot of attention, as several hundred Mexicans were up against their side of the fence, watching as the law enforcement officers began forcing the men out. The captives were searched, cuffed then tagged with the information of who they were and what they were being charged with.
The Bureau Chief said, "The local cells are bare. This will fill them up again, and I bet we'll have to house a bunch of these guys for a long time."
I gave instructions to the local Station Chief and the Bureau Chief as to how to handle the commendations for the Marines. I shook the Major's hand and said, "You'll see that silver on your collar as soon as I can get it arranged."
I said to Dave, "Let's get out of here."
"Not until you get stitched. The corpsman just gave you a field patch to get you back out, you know that. Let's get it stitched and get you a shot of antibiotic, then we'll get out of here."
The same corpsman, now accompanied by a field surgeon, cleaned the arm wound again and stitched it. After they bandaged me, they checked the thigh wound again. It was fine and didn't need anything else. The right arm had a deeper scrape than the recent one. The surgeon insisted on stitches. They gave me a shot and a bottle of pain pills and some more antibiotics. The doc said, "Stay off your feet for a day or so to let the leg heal. Keep your head down, and away from trouble for a while."
When Hal began driving us back toward the city he said, "Why don't you two go to the hotel for a nap. When you wake up, I'll take you to get something to eat, then you can go back. You do need some rest."
Dave looked at me questioningly.
"Okay, I wouldn't be able to stay awake anyway. Let's get some rest and check on everyone when we wake up."
This had been an all night operation. We had arrived here about four thirty local time and been involved with the activity right through about eleven in the morning. We checked in the same hotel I had been in before. Again I tipped a bellhop to get Dave and me a sandwich and a beer. Dave was surprised that I got us a double room instead of two singles. I said, "This is a maneuver, we bunk up when it's like this."
I crashed and didn't wake up until eight that night. I stretched and went in to clean up. With the fresh bandages and stitches, I couldn't shower yet, so I just washed off good, shaved, and brushed my teeth. I checked the gouge on my leg again and decided I should have it repaired instead of taking a chance on it. I did have a spare now.
Dave was coming out of his stupor and said, "Ah, to be young again. We old guys need more sleep."
He was quickly up and dressed. I called John to see how he was. He said, "I've slept all day, so I'm ready."
I called Hal to tell him we were taking a cab to the airport.
"Like hell you are. I'll pick you up in ten minutes, be downstairs. Too bad you won't have a chance to woo your west coast wife. Maria will be disappointed."
When he picked me up, he was accompanied by Juanita. She got out of the car and hugged me saying, "You were the one who made my Hal make me his bride. I love you for it and my Maria is in love with you forever as well. She will make someone a fine wife and mother of their children. I'm sorry it isn't you, Senor."
Hal drove us to the airport where John had sandwiches and coffee ready. He and I did the preflight and start up quickly, with me jumping in the left seat. In minutes, we were cued up in line for takeoff. We were in the air and on the way home by eleven.
Dave managed to figure out how to enter his incident report. I took a thirty minute break from the cockpit and did mine while eating a sandwich and having some coffee. I called home to tell them I would be there in the morning, so they could sleep well. Brandy said, "I'm so glad you called, I've been so afraid. I'll tell you more when you get here."
John began his questions on pilot training and continued until we were on approach to the air park. We radioed and turned on the lights to the runway. They were a welcome sight. The Lear handles so smoothly that you can be on the ground and taxiing to the hangar without even feeling a bump. As the plane is so light on its wheels, the landing gear locking in place provides a bigger bump than touching down.
I helped John get the plane in the hangar and we all took off. I dropped Dave off at his house, waited until the inside light came on, then drove home. It was time to go to work and everyone was up and ready. I was wearing my short sleeved knit shirt because I didn't have another long sleeve shirt with me. My two arm wounds were immediately seen and they were all critical of my not telling them about them. Brandy looked at me, and in front of everyone said, "Where else?"
I frowned and she repeated her demand. I pointed to my thigh and said it was only a scratch. She said it again, "Where else?"
I said, "Nowhere else. Just three wounds."
She said, "I know you were hit more than that. I felt it and Mercy felt it." She was holding her hand over her stomach where the round had hit my vest.
"A round lodged in the vest, but that just bruised me," I said, thinking that was it.
"One more, where?"
"Christ, Brandy, that's all. A round hit my fake leg but it didn't hurt anything."
"Let me see your thigh and your leg."
I dropped my drawers as I was getting aggravated. I showed her the big bandage covering the gouge made by the exploding metal and the gouge to my fake leg."
"Seen enough? That's all. None are serious. I went back to finish the job after all of these. I'm fine."
Brandy hugged me.
"So how do you know how many times I was hit? Who told you? Did someone call the house? Did Wanda already hear?"
Wanda quietly said to me, "I would never divulge what you've done. You and only you can tell others."
Brandy said, "Mercy called me. She called here yesterday evening. She said you were hurt and wanted to know where you were. She scared me to death. I told her you were in San Diego and she said she would be near there in a day or so, and wanted to talk to you as soon as possible. She was talking on a satellite phone. She gave me some cell numbers and instructions on how to call her on the sat phone. Chuck, when she called, she scared me to death. I could hear the fear in her voice. She said she knew you were alive, but not your condition."
"That's a little strange, isn't it? I wonder what kind of ESP, or whatever you call it, that she has. She's always looking at me as if she was inside my head."
Brandy said, "She said she has special mental connections with some people and you're one of them. Here are the numbers and the instructions, call her."
Nancy came and hugged me. "We missed last night, and by tonight I may not be as receptive as I am now. Please, can you take me back to bed?" She kissed me very softly with a lot of feeling. The other girls said, "We'll tell Metarie that Nancy had to take off this morning. You bring her to work later. Love her, Chuck, make her a mommy."
The other four girls gave me kisses and Wanda gave me a full body hug. She said, "I'll call you if something important comes up, but you're on leave for a while. See you tonight."
This place is amazing. One second it's teeming with activity and the next, peaceful, quiet.
Nancy was being self conscious and bashful. When I took her hand to lead her to the bedroom, she was having a tough time looking at me. I rained kisses on her until she began relaxing. As she felt more relaxed, more comfortable, I began to slowly remove her clothes. I took my time and it was over five minutes before we were stretched out next to each other, face to face.
Nancy seemed to enjoy hugging me, feeling all of my body against hers. We hugged and kissed, touching each other gently, intimately, until our fever was rising fast. While we were kissing, Nancy pulled me on top of her and whispered, "Put more of yourself in me. Give me your baby, our baby."
We made love slowly, gently, with lots and lots of feeling. If I was going to join with a woman to create life, I wanted our coupling to be memorable as possible. I wanted us both to remember how special it was.
After filling Nancy twice with half the makings of the beginning of life, we lay peacefully, still kissing, still gazing into each other's eyes. Nancy asked, "You don't have a problem with me being black do you?"
I asked a little aggravated, "Are you?"
She asked in return, "Am I what?"
"Are you black?"
"You know I am, and you know what I mean."
I hugged and said, "Why do I only see a woman who wants me to join with her to create a new life? It is totally unimportant in our lives right now that we are two different races. I would rather us just be lovers. I can't believe how fortunate I am to have a woman who wants me to be the father of her child. Did your Mom question you about this? Is she worried about a mixed baby?"
"No, she's lighter than I am and my dad is very dark. She says the races have been mixing for hundreds of years. That's why there are so few very dark people. Look at Angie. She's not very dark, but has all the characteristics of an African American, except for her eyes and head that give her that oriental look."
"See, more mixing," I said. "We need to focus on keeping you healthy, growing a healthy baby inside you."
Nancy kissed me and lay back. "This is so nice, just you and me together. Funny, I like us alone like this, but at the same time, I want us to be making love with the others as well. I'm glad you're willing to make love to me, I like it."
"Ah, Nancy, I think you would be surprised at the hundreds and hundreds of men of all races who would be ecstatic to take my place. You are a very attractive person. You're smart, gentle, loving, and good looking. I'd say you were a real trophy for me."
Nancy punched my shoulder and reached down to take hold of me. Her gentle grip had me growing again. She asked, "Do you think it will get up again? Do you have any stuff left for a third time?"
We did make love a third time and a third helping was served into Nancy. This time when we were relaxing, holding each other, I fell asleep.
I heard Nancy talking to someone, "Can you take me to my house real quick so I can get my car. Chuck is worn out because he just got home this morning."
A female voice with a Spanish accent, "Si, I do it. We go so I can finish the house."
I woke with a start, voices were in my head. I listened to hear where the voices were coming from, but the house was quiet except for someone in the suites. Probably Maria, cleaning.
I sat up, slid some shorts on with my peg and went to the bathroom. I groggily walked out to kitchen, poured a cup of coffee from the cold pot, and put it into the microwave to warm up. The voices were still there.
That's when I saw the piece of paper Brandy had left with the satellite telephone number. I decided to try the cell phone first and dialed it. It took a few seconds for the connection to be made but Mercy's voice answered immediately. "Chuck, are you alright? I had a horrible day yesterday and last night. I know you're hurt, but I don't know how bad."
"Mercy, relax, I'm fine. I have a couple of scratches, but I'm fine."
"They're more than scratches, I know, are you really all right?"
"I am and I will heal fine, no big deal. I'm back in Florida and am feeling fine."
Mercy said, "Thank goodness. Mom said you were okay, but I was letting my heart overrule my head. She likes you too and feels a lot of thoughts from you."
"I don't know how you do this stuff, Mercy, but you and your mom should quit telling people like my ladies here about stuff like that. If you read my thoughts, then you should know that I'm private about stuff like that. When I need to tell people about things, I'll tell them."
"You, Sir, need a keeper. I'm glad you're okay. Sue and I were terrified something had happened to you. Steve kept telling us that if you were critical, the word would be passed fast, very fast. We just had to know, we all love you, you know. We all think of you often. Sue's mom and my mom have only met you a couple of times but really enjoy being around you. You're like Steve. If I didn't know better, I'd bet you were Steve's little brother."
"Thanks, Mercy. I'm fortunate to have so many friends. So where are you guys anyway?"
"We're off the coast of Baka, Mexico, heading north. Now we won't stop in San Diego to find you."
"You're not supposed to worry about me. Worry about your family."
"You are family, we all worry about you," Mercy said, filling my head with pictures of her, Sue, Kathy, Juanita, Steve, and a pile of kids. "You just don't know it yet, but you are family. We all have a connection with you."
"Well, I'm fine, Mercy. You know I have a messy job that can sometimes have its drawbacks. So relax, I'll watch out for myself and take care when I have to."
"We all love you, Chuck, take care of yourself."
When I hung up, my cell rang immediately. "Johnson."
"So how many times did you get hit? Are you sure they are all scratches? The field surgeon from Pendleton said you had another through wound next to the other and another deep graze on the other arm. Let's see, it says you have a shrapnel wound on your thigh, a deep bruise that will require x-rays from a round in the gut that was stopped by your vest, and your prosthesis was hit. What the fuck were you doing, providing target practice?"
"Look, I'm not in the hospital, I'm not dead, I'm up and about and have just woken up from a nap. I'm fine and I'm planning on going to my office to check on what's going on."
"Stay away. Your other boss, Wanda, has been instructed by your supervising Marshal to keep you out of the office until next week. You're very popular and they don't want to lose you, so mind them. Your legend is growing as the word is circulating that you're now a real live commercial pilot. Is this your final flying goal?"
"I want to teach, so I have some low hurdles to jump yet. It's within reach, so all I have to do is get some kind of state teaching certificate. Wanda has applied to the state for me."
"I told you to keep your head down. I guess you did that, but exposed everything else. Glad you're okay and not seriously hurt. If you don't mind, I want you to either go out to the base or to the attending physician for the Marshal Service you went to before. Have him look at you. He'll report directly back to us and that will make me and all of your fans happy. You can't take that many hits lightly. I'm sure you were responsible for some opposing casualties, but I'm more concerned about you."
When John hung up, I called out to the charter service to see what time we were flying out tomorrow? DeDe answered and as soon as she knew it was me she said, "You can't go anywhere. You have to take that charter to Spain with Lisa. All the jet jockeys are going to be busy. We've even rented another G5 and subbed out an entire crew. The agent is talking Italy and Australia now, so these are some high profile, money making, bookings."
"Relax, DeDe, I'm calling to see what time you want us out at the air park."
"Oh, are you okay? John said you were shot. Can you still fly?"
"I can fly and I'm fine. I just have some more holes, but I'm fine."
DeDe sighed, "You guys will be leaving here between eleven and noon, picking up your fare where you dumped them Sunday morning, and heading non-stop to Barcelona. There is only one concert, so you'll be flying back Sunday. The next concert isn't for three weeks, so they have some time to make up their minds. They have specifically asked for you and Lisa, so it's not optional, you're second pilot on this one."
"Okay, we'll be there about ten, ten-thirty to go over the aircraft."
DeDe said, "Good, thanks for helping out. We could have subbed someone last weekend and we're booked solid again this weekend. Both of your planes are flying this weekend too, so you're making money in all directions. Ah, since we're using your 206 so much, we decided to paint it. Shawna and Hank are doing it right now. It won't be as wild as the 200, but it will be distinctive. I think our planes get us more business."
I hung up and decided to wash up and go see the doc. I called out there to see if I could get in. The nurse said, "We were told you were going to call, so hurry, come on out. Doc wants to fly this afternoon before it starts raining."
I drove out to the doctor's office and was quickly ushered into a room. I was told to drop my pants so he could look at my thigh, but before he saw me I had to have an x-ray of my stomach.
Back in the exam room, the doc came in waving the x-ray and stuck it into the clip of the viewer. He did a lot of hmms and ahs until he finally said, "There doesn't appear to be any damage. We should look at that site every six months for the next year. We don't want anything growing because of the bruise."
The nurse with him took the bandage on my thigh off. The doc poked around it, applied some goop, and put another bandage on it. They checked my two arms and decided neither would fall off, so they bandaged me back up and said, "You're not fit for duty, Son. You need bed rest for at least a week. Will you do that?"
I looked at the doc, "You have to be kidding, right?"
He smiled and said, "I gave you the cautious, intelligent, recommendation. Knowing how you probably are, just keep your head down and try to stay away from explosions and guns that are going off. I wish I could get you an entire jumpsuit of the material the vest is made of. You could use it. Be careful, Chuck, take care of yourself. You were lucky again, don't push your luck. You're not a cat."
I asked about a shower, and the nurse gave me some waterproof over bandages that I should put on before a shower and remove afterward. I was instructed to take all the antibiotics and to check daily for any swelling or redness around the wounds.
I was fine, no sweat. I know I had been lucky, but it seems that I've been so damn lucky lately, I could be pushing it a little.
I was curious about the trip tomorrow, so I drove to the air charter office. John was there and I asked him about the flight plan and distances. He said, "The France trip was just about the maximum distance and Madrid is just a tad closer. You'll have a full load of fuel and still be okay on weight. The wives aren't going, so it will just be the band and the agent unless they bring someone else. Oh yeah, you will be topped off in Clearwater just to be safe."
It's a long flight, near eight hours. I wondered how Lisa would prepare in order to give me that much schooling. I don't think she can.
The next stop was the repair shop that had my amps. They were both done, so I paid for them and collected the amps and the spare tubes. The shop's owner told me to enjoy.
I went home by way of the meat market to purchase steaks, then stopped at the grocery store for mushrooms for the steak, romaine for salad, and some broccoli and cauliflower to steam. I needed the protein.
The first thing I did was to put the amps in the media room and try them out. The guitar sounded really good. I practiced with the various pedals to see how they affected the sound and the delivery. The bass amp was dynamite. It really had a full range of sound and reflected what I was playing so very well. I spent almost an hour messing with the guitars, but shut the amps down after that thinking I could get too involved.
After changing into shorts but keeping my regular leg on, I used the stationary bike and then the treadmill. I tried some light weights but the weight pulled on the stitches, so I decided to use some of the waterproof bandages and shower.
I was sitting back with a Coke when the family began arriving. Dennis and Marie came in with their energy levels peaking. They said, "We're going to change and work out."
Don and Jan came in with the same attitude. Wanda arrived with a morose Angie, as Angie's friend was losing interest in the relationship. Wanda told me that John had called her to go out and she was going out to eat with him this night. I was smiling as I knew how nervous John was about asking Wanda out.
The fab five came crashing into the house. They were excited because Brandy and Tiani were heading to Spain in the morning and Judy put her mouth to my ear and said, "I'm glad you have money. That makes all of us feel better. Now we're equal at least about that."
Nancy asked, "Is it okay if Mom comes over again? She likes you and wants to hang out around you a little. I think she's just curious since she hasn't had that much contact with whites except at work."
Nancy and Judy left to get Nancy's Mom.
While they were gone, John came to pick up Wanda. Wanda gave him a quick tour of the house and he became hung up on my Mustang in the back garage. I wished them a nice evening, wondering how Wanda would treat John. Would she be Wicked Wanda, or the demure and stiff Ms. Johnson from work?
The folks swam for a little, got out, showered, and came back into the kitchen where I was prepping the steaks. When Mrs. Atom arrived, I turned on the grill before making drinks for everyone. I couldn't have any booze since I was taking the antibiotics, so I had more Coke.
I served the salad and put the steaks on in stages so they would all be done close to the same time. Soon, we were eating some delicious meat, savoring the juicy flavors. When we were done, the girls quickly did the dishes.
Angie came into the family room and asked, "There are guitars in the media room. Whose are they?"
Brandy told her, "Those are Chuck's. Lisa, the pilot, gave them to him. They were her dad's."
Angie asked, "Can you really play them?"
"A little."
Tiani exclaimed, "More than a little. We heard him jamming with the band in France, and they are going to make an album of it. I only heard him play the guitar a little, but he sounded pretty good."
Nancy asked, "What kind of music do you play, Chuck?"
"Mostly blues, some jazz, some metal blues, some bluegrass, but mostly straight blues."
Mrs Atom asked, "Can you make music like B.B. King. I just love his music. Of course, there is Stevie Ray Vaughn that is always a turn on, and lots of other good blues groups."
Nancy asked, "Can you play for us? Please?"
We all went into the media room that became a little crowded with all the people. I decided to bring the guitar and the Sundowner amp out to the family room where there was more room.
Thinking about it, I went back to get the bass and its amp and brought it in. I hooked up the digital recorder so I could get a sample and use it as a back.
I messed with some runs for a minute then did the bass lead-in I was thinking of and about sixteen bars of some medium blues base runs. I had separated the lead in and the runs, so after the lead, the run would repeat. Don't ya love electronics?
I found my fingers working the six strings on the guitar the way they should and sat back. I tapped the first button on the sampler for the lead in and then, as I tapped the run, I began with some classic B.B. King wailing. I was impressed. The sounds coming out were better than I was. My fingers were having fun making sounds and wails that are pure deep blues. I played with the sampler backing me through four repeats then brought it to a close, pushing the off button on the pedal.
Mrs. Atom said, "That was so wonderful. You have soul, boy." She hugged Nancy and said, "You picked a good one, Honey, if he'll play like that for me every once in a while, I'll be one hell of a mother-in-law."
I toned everything down on the amps and the pickups and played some very conventional bluegrass folk songs that everyone knew. With a little encouragement, everyone was singing along and suggesting other songs. I could do most, but not all, of what they asked for. If I had the music I might have been able to do some, but then I have not read music for years.
Tina kept saying, "You have to bring your guitars out to the patio. Lisa brings hers sometimes and the two of you could play together. Please, will you?"
About nine, the girls took Mrs. Atom home and didn't return to the house. Tiani had gone with them. Brandy and I started getting our clothes ready for tomorrow. Brandy was in a happy mood and said, "It's so nice to have a nice evening with everyone. You have to play for my folks too. Some day soon, we need to get all our parents over to this house so we can entertain them and make them feel good about us living together."
"Are they going to accept and understand that you guys are all part-timers here?"
Brandy said defensively, "I'll always be here, at least most of the time. Tiani probably will be too. The girls are a little bashful that they are so into each other and don't want to embarrass you."
"How would that embarrass me? Don't you think that would probably turn me on?"
Brandy didn't frown, but said, "Could you get turned on and not join in? Would you still like it if we just wanted to be with each other?"
"I think so. If I'm supposed to love all of you, I'm going to have to enjoy all of you the way you are. Besides, there are times when I may not want to do anything but watch how sexy you five are."
Brandy was serious, "I don't think we'll all be just into each other at the same time. I'd bet at least one of us will want you, in addition to being with each other. I'll talk to the girls to see how they feel. If none of us wanted you and you were horny, what would you do?"
Holding up my hand, I said, "This works wonders when there is no one available to help."
Brandy laughed and said, "Yes it does, doesn't it? I use mine sometimes when I don't have help."
"I would really enjoy trying to be closer as a group, not just snippets of one or two of you at a time. We can do that too, but I really want our loving to be together when we can. I think that will help me accept that you five are serious about being my wives, or harem, without the benefit of a legal commitment from any of us."
Brandy was leading me to bed, "Can I go get Tina to sleep with us? I like her a lot and would enjoy her being with us again. Do you mind?"
"Not at all, why don't you two play for a while and invite me to join when you've had enough of each other?"
Brandy laughed again, "That might take a long time. You might fall asleep."
"Then I fall asleep, so what? I like to watch you. I'll learn how to make love to you two better if I do."
Brandy shivered, and as she left the room, said, "Get naked, I'm going to get us a toy."
I was still in my boxers when a naked Tina preceded Brandy into the room. While Brandy was quickly stripping, Tina came to me, kissed me and fondled me, "Can you hold it a while, Stud? Brandy and I are going to enjoy each other for a bit. If we can still move, we'll both want you to plug us. I think when you come tonight; you should come all over us so we get to lick it off each other."
They had not even started and I was standing tall.
I watched the two experienced girls love each other so very thoroughly. I did learn something. I learned that girls seemed to enjoy repeating some of the sensitive things over and over again, but just barely touching. The excitement was making them come continuously.
After over forty-five minutes, the two looked at me and smiled. They both crooked their finger at me, beckoning me to come to them. We played together, kissing, touching, and sucking, then I slid into one, followed by sliding into the other, until I was about to pop.
Tina, the almost a doctor, said, "He's gonna blow. Chuck, get on your knees, shoot it all over us, get it on my tits, on my lips, all over my neck, shoot it, Lover."
Both of them were lying back, arching their bodies to me while masturbating, as I began shooting all over them. I must have needed the release, as gobs and gobs of thick white sperm were all over their faces and bodies. When my orgasm was over, the two girls attacked each other, licking and sucking all of the juice from each other's body. It was sexy enough to get me hard again, but I just sat back on my heel watching them enjoy each other.
They pulled me down between them and pulled the cover over us. They each had a hand on me as Brandy turned off the bedside lamp and joined Tina in having her head on my shoulder. Tina said, "Wait till Aunt Mercy finds out how much of a lover you are and how you patiently wait for us to enjoy ourselves. Aunt Sue and Aunt Mercy are going to drag you off. You know, that's why I don't go out with men much. I really enjoy ladies and I usually want them first. Guys just can't wait for me to get primed. You did perfect. Brandy and I were totally satisfied and you were a sexy dessert. You made us both come very nicely."
The thought of having the beautiful, petite, and mysterious, Mercy, and the buxom Sue at the same time had me almost coming again. I had to force myself to relax so I could join my two lovers in sleeping.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious