I woke before six thinking about food. Wonder why I'm always so darned hungry. I did think that I should get up and get going so I could call John. I needed to get in touch with Bud to see what he's up to.
As I shifted, Kathy wrapped herself around me and said, "Oh no, you don't. You have to pay a toll before you can get out of my clutches. You have to pay one very good kiss first."
We kissed very gently and just looked at each other. She said, "I'm glad you have become part of us. I think Steve needs a bigger bed so you can sleep in there with all of us. That might be fun. I think he'd even go for that."
"Ah, Kathy, ah, I don't think so. Some things should be private. I know you guys are used to doing a lot of that stuff together but I'm kind of shy about some of this. I like it to be just the two of us."
"You mean you don't want a mother/daughter match-up? Barb would jump at the chance."
"No, definitely not that. I think it's been difficult enough with you and Juanita, or you and Mercy. I love all you girls, but I always remember you are Steve's wives. I feel special that you have let me in, but I sometimes feel like I'm taking something of Steve's."
"You're not taking something of Steve's. Steve and all of us are sharing us with you. He feels the same about you, and he knows we girls really like you, so he lets us show you how much. He enjoys knowing how much we all enjoy each other. You've even been with us more than Dewey or Michael. Both of them have been with us, but it's been when we've been in the hot tub or sunning on the deck. With you it's different. We all want to share the night with you."
We got up and showered. I got a cup of coffee from the galley and went into Steve's office area. I called John.
"Hey, John, what's up? Anything happening I should know about?"
"Let's see, my guy on convalescent leave was wounded again. That's not good. Ah, he used the military again, but this time it was a National Guard unit, so you're in the clear. Let's see, he wasn't the ramrod on the deal but, a, there were no survivors. That wouldn't be such a big deal, but there were over three hundred men inside that compound. How did you neutralize all of them?"
"I didn't do any of them. I didn't fire a round."
"I suppose you didn't hurt anyone when you were tossing grenades every few seconds."
"Oh yeah, I guess I might have accounted for a couple."
"Sure, a couple. At least your name was kept out of the bomb tossing stuff. The only mention of you was that you had multiple lacerations from exploding metal. What was that about?"
"A round hit my leg and metal splinters hit my thigh. No big deal."
"According to an Army Guard Colonel, you were the field leader that kept his men from getting injured. Your name just keeps coming up when it's time to pass out the attaboys. Another gold star for your file."
"Listen, John. I didn't call to rehash yesterday. I'm calling to see if you think I need to hang out here in Anchorage to help Bud on this multiple capture or do you think he can handle it."
"He already handled it. He pulled eight of them in yesterday, but four escaped into the bush. He has a couple of natives tracking them as we speak. I want to say that he was able to capture the eight with only two dead and two injured. He's not as good a shot as you are. He thinks at least one of the four he's chasing is hurt too. From what he says, he can handle it. You made a good choice as he is relentless. He doesn't quit, kind of like you."
"Good, glad to hear it. In that case, I'll be leaving here tomorrow heading for Hawaii. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'll be convalescing."
John was laughing when he hung up on me. Pretty rude.
I called Wanda to see how she was. She was happy to hear my injuries were only splinters. I told her what John had said and that Bud was doing fine. She said she would look forward to hearing from me at home tonight while all the girls were at the house. I told her to watch for a picture she should give to Lisa.
I went to find Kathy so I could get the picture downloaded and sent off. We figured out how to download it then I wrote a short note and sent it off with a request to get Lisa's personal email address.
My cell phone rang. I answered, "Johnson."
Lisa said, "Hi, Lover. Did you enjoy opening your presents?"
"Lisa, you went hog wild. I saw on your notes the deal you got on the acoustics. That was one hell of a deal. Wait till you see the picture of me with the Blues King. You'll know how much I like it."
"That is my present to you, Lover. I wanted you to have something special from me while you're gone. I found it and made it part of a collective deal with this same dealer. The six string bass is kind of for fun since I've never seen anyone play one before. If anyone can have fun with it, you should. The Ibanez fretless is supposed to be pretty good. The guy at the store made it sound pretty good. The Ibanez Strat copy plays real nice. I played it a little and it sounded nice. I think I got one of every kind of trick toy they had. The guy ended up discounting everything more than fifty percent. When I was done, he asked me if I was going to send amps and when I shrugged my shoulders, he gave me the two I sent. The drums were kind of an afterthought. He gave them to me at less than half his list, the same with the keyboard. I love the sounds of the keyboard as it has a real good Rhodes sound and has a B-3 sound that is beautiful. You'll have fun with it."
"Lisa, Lisa, you are a wonderful crazy lady."
"Do I make you happy?"
"Very happy, Lisa. You make me miss you all that much more."
"Good, I want you to come back. Everyone out at the charter misses you too. Oh, yeah, I'm taking Brandy and Tiani with me on a trip this weekend out to San Diego. When we're through there we're flying to Seattle then back home. It will be from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. I think the girls will have a good time. John will probably be with me. It's either him or Molly the new chick. You'll like her. John found her with another charter service that doesn't like women pilots. John thinks women jet jockeys are great, so Molly came to be with us. Like I said, you'll like her. Very sweet. She's staying with me at your house right now until we can find her a place."
"I wish I were flying with you."
"Me too. I have to go, Chuck. I just wanted to say hi while you're in Alaska. Are you leaving for Hawaii soon?"
"Tomorrow."
"Good. Keep me posted as to where you are and perhaps I'll have another surprise for you while you're out wandering around."
"Great to talk to you, Lisa."
"Bye, Honey," she said, as she hung up.
I sat back in my chair thinking how nice that conversation was. I also wondered at my increased pulse rate and obvious excitement about hearing from her. Perhaps I need to look at this relationship a little deeper.
After shutting down the equipment, I went out to eat, joining the family as they herded the children through breakfast, getting ready for one last excursion into Anchorage. I was able to join in the excitement of planning to go into the city for sightseeing.
Dewey and Steve wanted to gather the un-needed guitars to take to a music store. They wanted me to buy any music that might be available to use with the kids. Kathy said she thought Bonita probably needed some more beginner's piano music so I could continue to teach her. I told Steve, "I think we should hang on to the remaining Gibson sets in case there are any kids at home that might want to get in on learning to play. With twenty-four guitars, that should be enough for a lot of kids to play and practice with. If you should need more later, you can always get them. Some of these kids won't want to continue, others will. You can find a local teacher to come and teach kids. You could even have classes up at your rec center if you wanted."
Steve nodded and said, "Good idea, Chuck. Bonita is really musically inclined. I'm glad we've had the chance to see how much enjoyment she's getting from music. We'll be sure to get her more instruction."
We did get the other guitars together that we had originally brought with us and took them into a music store in Anchorage. They happily paid more money than we had paid for the used practice guitars originally. We ended up purchasing a lot of sheet music, plus a whole country music fake book.
Michael surprised everyone by buying a very good keyboard and a set of teaching videos and beginners' music for his kids. He said, "I think they might want to learn more on this trip and I want to make sure we have the tools. Since no one played the piano in the lounge, we removed it. If the children learn the guitar and the piano, the ladies and I will be entertained for the rest of our lives."
The store even had the 220 transformer for the keyboard as the Irish Bell had the European 220VAC 50 cycle outlets on board. Michael mentioned that I might even stay a few nights on his luxury yacht on our trip to Hawaii.
The afternoon was busy getting supplies for the next leg of the trip. All three boats were filled with fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats for the ten to eleven day trip.
For our last night in port, we went to another restaurant that had been recommended to us. This was an Italian restaurant that catered to families instead of just the couples trade, as so many better places did. Since we had made reservations, we were expected and were able to be seated together. The food was wonderful and the kids all seemed to enjoy getting sauce on their shirts. We should all have had bibs, since I think all of us had spills.
When we left the restaurant and had got back to the parking lot, Lizzie said, "I left my purse on the table, can I go back to get it?"
I said, "I'll go get it. It will only take a minute."
Kathy moved with me and said, "I was sitting next to her. I'll be able to find it faster."
The parking area was behind the restaurant and required the patrons to walk around the building to the front entrance. Inside, we quickly found the purse and were exiting the front doors when a man ran up from behind. I turned just as he made a grab for the purse in Kathy's hand.
As the purse snatcher grabbed the purse from Kathy, I used my fake leg to sweep the legs out from under the attacker. As he fell, I followed him down, forcing his head into the sidewalk. The fall knocked him unconscious.
Kathy was paralyzed from the shock of what had happened. I stood, shook her and said, "Go inside and have them call the police, I have to stay to watch this guy."
Kathy came out of her haze and stumbled into the restaurant and came back out with the man acting as the Maitre D'. He began apologizing to us for having been attacked. I told him, "Don't worry about it. He didn't hurt us and didn't get anything. Can you watch him while I go tell the others in our group what's happened?"
With Kathy following, we walked around the building and headed toward the parking lot. As we were making the last turn into the parking lot, there were three men standing in front of the four men from our boats, including the Captain of the Irish Bell, with all the women and children behind them. I could hear what one of the men was saying, "Just empty your pockets and have the women toss their purses with their jewelry in them over here and you won't get hurt. This isn't a toy I'm holding."
I stopped, held Kathy back, and told her to go back to the front to make sure the cops had been called. As soon as she left, I pulled my Glock, thanking my habit of wearing my service weapon all the time. I mussed up my clothes, pulling my shirt partially out of my pants to give the impression of a drunk and stumbled out from the corner of the building.
As soon as I was in the shadows, away from the light, I said loudly with a drunken slur, "Hey, buddy, can you spare a drink. How about a buck so I can get home, huh? Come on, buddy, spare a man some change?"
The three men all turned as one. The middle guy had what looked like a small caliber revolver and the other two were empty-handed. The middle guy said, "Get the hell out of here, you drunk. Get away from us. Don't come any closer or I'll shoot your drunk ass."
I was now to the side of the group, in position so they would not get hit by any rounds that missed. I said, "Ah man, don't be like that. Spare a little change for a guy down on his luck."
The man began raising the gun toward me. I did what I had to do. I shot the guy. I consciously fired at his right shoulder, knowing he couldn't shoot me if his shoulder was crushed. I knew better, since you never shoot to disarm or disable. If you shoot, you shoot to kill.
My round did make him drop the gun and throw him from his feet. The robber nearest me went to his knees to try to pick up the pistol. Before he could get hold of it, a body shot took him down. The third guy was rushing me and it looked like he had a knife in his hands.
It was a choice, shoot him or try to disarm him. I think I actually just shook my head at the stupidity of what was happening and put a round in the guy's leg, knocking his feet out from under him. As he fell, he put his hands under him to keep from hitting the ground. Unfortunately, the knife in his hand was pointing up and sliced into his throat.
I yelled, "Get the kids and women into the cars, hurry. They don't need to see this."
I went to the guy I shot in the shoulder and pushed him over on his back. He was a goner. He was bleeding from a main artery having been cut by bone fragments. I should have just body shot him as there would be less blood. The guy that had scrambled for the gun was dead and the guy who had stabbed himself with the knife was gone as well.
I automatically dropped the magazine on my Glock and seated my spare to ensure a fully loaded sidearm, then holstered it.
Kathy came running up, looked at the three dead guys, then at me. She closed her eyes and shivered, then said, "I guess it's better them than one of us."
Four police cars came sliding into the back parking lot. Uniformed officers jumped out of the squad cars and were looking back and forth between the dead guys, the five of us men, and Kathy. "What happened here?"
I pulled my badge and ID and handed it to the cop asking the question. "These three tried to rob my friends as I was coming back here to tell them about the purse snatcher up front. When that guy," I said, pointing at the guy I shot in the shoulder, "tried to shoot me with that gun," I pointed at the gun on the ground and added, "I shot him."
I pointed then to the guy I had body shot and said, "This guy was on his knees grabbing for the gun so I shot him."
Pointing at the last guy, I said, "This one had a knife and was running at me so I shot him in the leg or knee, and when he fell, the knife was sticking up and he cut his own throat."
Looking back at the officer, I said, "I didn't have time to warn them and there wasn't any time to perform first aid on them. The first guy bled out as I tried to be nice and shot him in the shoulder so he could live to tell of his stupidity."
The officer said, "I'll have to have your weapon. You'll get it back after the inquest."
I looked up at the cop and said, "You need to talk to the local Federal prosecutor and or the U.S. Marshal's office. If you need ballistics tests, they have them on record. A deputy never surrenders his weapon except to a superior with the service. If you'll call the local Marshal's office, you'll find I'm giving you the straight scoop."
The cop went over to his unit and used the radio while the other cops began photographing the scene. Some detectives arrived, along with a crime scene crew. The detectives wanted to take statements, so I suggested, "How about letting us take the women and kids into the restaurant and make them comfortable while we handle this. I think the kids have been traumatized enough. If you guys will stand in front of this mess, we will get the kids out of here."
J.J. came up to me and asked, "Do you need Ben, Carl, and me to stay. We saw it and we should be able to give statements."
"I'll tell the cops, J.J. You be in charge of keeping the women and kids comfortable inside."
As the family went by, I received a quick hug and kisses on the cheek from all the women, including Barb, as they passed by. Kathy was refusing to leave, but J.J. convinced her that she didn't need to be here with the mess.
I heard later, that as she passed the purse snatcher that was sitting with his back against the wall, Kathy kicked the man in the stomach and said, "It's your fault, if you hadn't stopped us, that wouldn't have happened back there."
The Station Chief from the Marshal's office had to come to the crime scene to vouch for me. He told the cops that I was on convalescent leave from being shot, but as a deputy, I was required to carry my sidearm at all times. I was also authorized to use deadly force if necessary to stop a crime or to apprehend a criminal.
I advised everyone that our group was departing in the morning for Hawaii and I would be at sea for about ten days to two weeks, depending on the winds and weather.
The Maitre D' again apologized to us, but I assured him it was not his fault. It was just an unpleasant sign of the times. The restaurant staff was getting the kids a dessert and a drink for all the adults. I elected to have coffee until everything was settled. I could see Steve, Michael, Dewey, and the Captain downing some booze to settle down.
It took almost two hours for the detectives to take down statements from everyone old enough to give a coherent statement. The cops kept trying to lead some of the kids into saying something different, but fortunately they had seen most of what had happened and told the same story.
When we were finally allowed to leave, I saw Dewey hand the Maitre D' a couple of hundred dollar bills to cover the extra desserts and drinks. The man didn't want to accept the money, but Dewey said, "You're in business here. We've disturbed your business. Hopefully, it won't have any long-term effect.
Back on board the Mercy Mercy, I sat back with a giant glass of scotch as the moms put the kids to bed. All the little girls came up to me and gave me a kiss and said, "Thank you, Chuck."
The boys were all a little giddy about having seen something so dangerous and that had turned out alright. I'm sure all of the parents were very pleased that all of our people and kids were alright and safe.
Mercy was sitting on one side of me, and Kathy was on the other, as we all sat back, relaxing in the lounge on the main deck. None of us wanted to talk about what had happened, as it was just too crazy to even consider.
Kathy turned to me and said, "When you knocked the purse snatcher to the ground, you were so fast I barely saw everything you did. I just knew that you had stopped that man from taking something of ours and from hurting me."
"When I came back out of the restaurant after they called the police the second time, I heard the last shot and was terrified until I got back there and saw you putting your gun back into your holster and those three men all on the ground. You don't scare me anymore. Steve doesn't scare me anymore. You two just do what you have to, to protect us, to protect everyone."
Kathy hugged my arm then got up and went to sit on Steve's lap. She was hugging and kissing on him as if she was seeing him differently for the first time.
The Captain asked, "Do you all still want to leave early in the morning or should we leave a little later. How about we get together for a big breakfast together and then get underway a little late?"
Steve, Dewey, and Michael all thought that would be a great idea. With the kids all having a sleepover in our main lounge, Sheena and Lucille decided to stay to help supervise the mass of kids sleeping together. The rest of us migrated toward our quarters. I brought my cleaning kit out and sat at the table to clean my Glock while still drinking my scotch.
Mercy, Missy, and Beth were sitting with me as I performed the necessary ritual to keep my piece in good working condition. Beth said, "I knew you were going to come back and take care of us. I knew you were coming and knew you would think of something. The drunk act was perfect, as it distracted the men and took their attention away from us."
When the gun was reassembled, I slid three fresh rounds into the magazine and slid the magazine home. After putting a round into the chamber, I pulled the magazine and put the extra round into the clip and slid it back in. I put all the tools back into the case and sat with the women.
Missy said, "You know, Chuck, you are very open minded toward Mercy and me. We both think we can teach you to connect to us as we do with you. This will help you to connect with others too. You'll be able to perceive good and bad in others that you deal with. Between the two of us, Mercy is the strongest since she can connect with almost anyone in an instant. She has the ability to look deep into someone's mind and quickly find answers. She thinks you can develop that kind of perception as well. Will you let us work with you? If you were to nurture this ability, it would help you with your work."
"Sure, Missy, I would love to be taught by you two. What do I need to do? Are there some books I could read, or do you have instructions?"
Mercy smiled, "No books, no instructions. Just open your mind and let us in completely. You really don't try to hide from us, but I feel like I'm intruding when I'm in your mind. You're a little apprehensive about women and about being too close to Steve's ladies. Don't be, we all love Steve completely and are only his. We share our bodies with you since we love you too, and enjoy being with you. Don't worry, we are Steve's, but we are yours too. I think Steve feels exactly the same way."
I looked at Beth and Missy a second and Beth said, "Don't look at me, I don't have any supernatural powers. I'm just a horny old lady sometimes. You represent some youth that is attractive to me, and I enjoyed the way you made me feel. I'll be back for seconds."
I blushed at Beth's directness.
Missy said, "Mercy and I want to get into your head and live inside you. Don't be nervous, it might be a little erotic some times, but we'll be gentle."
"I'll open my mind. I don't know about you ladies, but I'm bushed, ready for bed. I'm going to wash up and go to bed. I'll see you ladies in the morning."
I gave each a little hug and kiss on the forehead and headed to my cabin. I almost picked up the Blues King as that would relax me more, but I was really tired so I went into the head to wash up and brush my teeth.
When I came out, the lights were all out except the glow lamp by the head door. There was a body in my bed, but I couldn't tell who it was. I slid into the bed next to a nude person who flooded my mind with visions of all the women on board. Mercy said to me, "Make love to me with our minds fully into each other. Make me feel you inside my body and inside my mind."
Whatever we did, it was good, very, very, good. When we came it was like the loud thunder after a lightning strike. My mind was whirling, reaching out to tingle Brandy and Lisa and Tiani and Nancy and Judy and Frieda. I actually heard them in my mind.
As the random thoughts raced around in my head, Mercy kissed me sweetly and snuggled into me. My mind suddenly was at peace and I drifted off.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious