The morning was just as calm. Before Bobby got ready to go into the office, we swam hard for about twenty minutes, then relaxed over coffee and some pancakes. While I cleaned up the kitchen and dishes, Bobby showered and got ready to leave.
When she came out of the bedroom, I whistled. "You really dress up nice, looking good, Kid."
"Thank you, kind Sir. I don't get a chance to dress up very often. With you around, I don't want to dress at all. Listen now, you have to keep all of the drapes pulled, all of the doors locked, and no loud music. When I leave, the house is supposedly empty. I'll showed you how the perimeter alarms work, so be sure to set them. Here's a cell phone to use in case you have to call someone. That way you won't be using the main line. I think that's all. I'll see you this evening."
Bobby got into the Expedition, made the garage door open, and left after closing it. I turned on all the alarms, making sure all the lights on the monitors were green.
My day was going to be exercising first, then some studying. I spent an hour and a half in the gym, then took a shower to clean the sweat off. I had to find some clean clothes, so I raided the inventory again for some jeans and a T-shirt. I was comfortable wearing the jeans so I didn't have to look at the damned leg all the time. Out of sight, out of mind.
I selected three of the advanced videos, one on counter-espionage, one on methods of attacking a fortified structure, and one on high-speed pursuit. After the first video, I took the written test, then it was lunch time.
While I was finishing lunch, the cell phone rang. I reluctantly answered it. It was Bobby, she was out of breath and began rattling on about a car exploding, and that Sarah and her had run down a bad guy.
"Slow down, Bobby, tell me slowly what happened."
She said, "I'll tell you in a little while. I don't think they will have that luncheon. We're finishing our report right now and I'll be leaving. The way Sarah is acting, I might bring her home with me. I'll send her mom to stay with a neighbor. God, you won't believe all of this."
I could believe just about anything at this point. I went into my room and put on my shoulder rig just to be sure I knew where it was. I checked to be sure there was a round in the chamber.
I began checking weapons that I had been shown the day before. The MP5 at the door in the umbrella stand had a full magazine, less two rounds, from the way it looked. That was good so the spring wouldn't lock up. There was already a round in the chamber. I double-checked the safety and put it back. I checked the MP5 behind the refrigerator and it was the same, locked and loaded, the Glock in the drawer was the same. I sure hoped this place was a total unknown. There was some craziness going on.
The cell phone rang and it was Bobby saying she was about a mile away, so I should turn off the perimeter alarm. For some reason she was very curt. I asked if Sarah was with her, and she said very harshly, "none of your business, goodbye."
Something was wrong. I called the office and got Howard. I told him something was wrong with Bobby coming in. He said he was on his way, but to be prepared for anything.
I was watching for the Expedition. It slowly came down the street with a Chevy Suburban following it. I knew I was going to be at a disadvantage if I stayed in the house, so I looked quickly out in the garage. I instantly grabbed the MP5 by the fridge and ran/hopped to the side of the upright freezer out there. Depending on where Bobby parked the Expedition, I would have a clear firing path to anything in the garage or in the driveway. I was hidden from view, so I would be a surprise. I felt my pockets and cursed. I didn't have my spare magazines for my sidearm. Hoping I had time, I hopped to the kitchen door, opened the drawer, grabbed the Glock and the two extra magazines, shut the door, and hopped back to the freezer.
The garage door began to open. I watched intently. The damn windows on the Expedition were so dark you couldn't see in. The Expedition pulled in and shut down. I was hoping Bobby would automatically shut the overhead door to shut out the Suburban. Just as the rear passenger side door opened, the overhead door began going down. A man said loudly, hurry, go open the front door. I saw people getting out of the Suburban before the door shut all the way.
The guy asked, "Where will your boarder be right now?" I heard Bobby say, "He's probably in his room jacking off. That's all he ever does."
The man laughed and said, "Both of you get out, slowly, no fast moves. Stay in front of me all the way to the front door." All the doors to the Expedition were slammed shut.
Apparently there was no one else in the Expedition so I waited until the man was in full view. He was so confident he didn't even have his gun held up. I didn't do probably what you're supposed to do and I wished I had a silencer. I pulled my 9 mm and fired a single shot hitting the guy in the head. Sure hope his blood didn't get all over the garage wall. It would be hell to cover up.
Sarah and Bobby both turned toward me. I tossed the MP5 to Bobby and then, as I approached them, handed the Glock to Sarah with the extra two clips. I said, "We can do this two ways, raise this door and destroy the Suburban with the MP5 or go out the front and back and catch them in a three way. We have to move because they're probably going to try to kick open the door."
Bobby said, "You can't break that door or any of the windows. Let's do this. You go around, grab the other MP5 from the front door and go out the back. Go around the house to the left. There is a gate that's easy to open there. I'll give you to the count of thirty and raise this door. Sarah, you go out the back and cover to the right in case someone climbs the fence back there. Count of thirty, now go.
I began counting to thirty slowly as I nearly ran to the front door, grabbed the MP5, and ran to the back door. Sarah was right there looking out as I hopped out and went to the left. I went through the gate expecting to see someone. At the count of twenty eight I was at the right edge of the house and garage. All the doors to the Suburban were open so however many there were, they were all out of the vehicle. I peeked around the edge of the garage while sliding the safety off and there were five guys at the front door kicking it and a guy by a bedroom window hitting it with his gun.
The door began rising, attracting the attention of all six men. I looked down to make sure the gun was selected for single fire then looked back up. As they turned toward the garage and started toward the door, I raised the MP5 selected the nearest target and fired. I fired six successive shots downing six men quickly. I passed the gun over all six to make sure none were moving, then yelled, "Six down in front, I don't think there are any more. Go double check Sarah's position then we'll tag these guys.
Just as I heard the kitchen door open, a guy came from the far side of the house firing as fast as the gun would slide another round in the chamber. I was still partially behind the edge of the garage and I don't think he even saw me. I raised the gun and hoped this one didn't have any body armor as his head was moving around too fast. I squeezed off four rounds as fast as I could, standing the guy up and spinning him. When he was almost perfectly still, I put a fifth round in his head. He was a mess.
Bobby came back through the garage looking down the street. There didn't seem to be any other vehicles around. I told Bobby that I had called Howard and he was on his way. He would probably call for back up, so if she thought he would answer his phone, she should call him and stop him from leading anyone else here.
I was expecting neighbors to be coming out of their houses, but no one came out and no sirens could be heard. Sarah came through the garage and I asked her if she had a camera. She nodded yes and I said, "Take pictures of the bodies real quick and then we'll shove them in the Suburban. Hurry before they get blood on the sidewalk."
Shit, we had eight dead guys that we needed to do something with so we didn't attract attention. I said that to Bobby, but she said, "If our cover here is blown, we shut this down and open another. We may be okay, because I think this is all of them. They caught Sarah and me as we went into the garage to get the car. I think they were going to use us like they did Billy's family. They could tell we were part of the service because I was parked in a service slot.
Howard apparently told Bobby he wasn't being followed, because a car was following another Marshal that broke off from Howard to mislead whoever was following at the time. Howard pulled up and parked blocking the driveway.
He came up and looked around. "Good, Sarah's documenting the scene. What were you going to do, Bobby?" She looked at him and pointed at me.
I said, "I want to load the bodies into the Suburban so we can get them out of sight. I also want to get the blood off the sidewalk as fast as possible. Do we need the bureau or do we have to call the Sheriff's department?"
Howard said, "We can do what we need. We're autonomous in this situation. Thank God those MP5's are quiet. No one's called the cops. Let's get the bodies in the Suburban."
I hobbled over to the Suburban and dropped the seats down so the back would be open. I went with Howard and we loaded the guy in the garage into the truck first. Howard quickly went through the guy's pockets, throwing everything from them on the ground.
He told Bobby and Sarah, "Go through those guys' pockets and pull everything out. Do the closest first so we can get him in the truck."
Bobby said, "Chuck, you do the pockets, let me put these slime balls in the truck. It's easier for me to do it. I have two good legs. Hey Sarah, write down I.D. info from each of their wallets and stuff it in their shirt pocket."
I couldn't argue, so in the essence of time, I went through the first guy's pockets quickly. While Sarah was doing the second guy, I switched to the next. We leaped-frogged till I was at the last guy, who was pretty nasty. He was the crazy fool firing at me. I cleaned out his pockets, then pulled his coat up over his messy head.
Bobby and Howard had all eight guys quickly stacked in the Suburban with the doors closed. He took the keys out of the ignition then used the remote to lock it up. He said, "I'll call the bureau and have their tow truck haul this to their station so they can do the bodies. Let's gather the junk from the pockets and get them in individual plastic bags."
Thank goodness Sarah and I had kept the junk separate. All had a wallet and all had a cell phone. Some had keys, they had some change, but a couple had notes about various people, our people, written on them.
Howard had Bobby park the Expedition the way it was supposed to be parked then he had me move the Suburban while he parked next to Bobby. To make it easier on the tow truck driver, I backed into the driveway on the Expedition's side. Then, on second thought, I parked the Suburban on the street. I was happy to get out. The smell of the bloody dead bodies was not pleasant.
We all went inside, then Bobby walked out to the mailbox, looking up and down the street closely, to double check that none of the neighbors had witnessed anything.
Inside, Bobby said, "Now that I've seen how it's done, I think I can do this if it happens again."
Howard asked, "Why did you head shoot all of them?"
I looked at him like he had two heads, "Body armor."
"I didn't think of that. I guess it is pretty easy to get. If I were a shooter going into battle, I would have some. How did you think of that?"
"A lot of guys wearing towels on their head wore body armor. It sure is hard to knock those suckers down when they're wearing it too. If you can't get a head shot, you have to hit their bodies enough times to stop them, stand them up, and spin them. When they stop spinning, you head shoot 'em."
"You'll have to teach the men about that technique. The women too, for that matter." He looked at Sarah and Bobby then addressed Sarah, "Are you going to stay out here tonight?"
Sarah said, "I sure would like to. I need some downtime after that excitement. I didn't do anything, but I swear it seems like I was the one that fired every round. Who would believe a secretary could be involved in this shit."
Howard said, "Secretary, my ass, you're the Assistant Station Chief. If you didn't know that, you haven't read your mail for a couple of years."
Sarah smiled, "Yeah, yeah, I'm more of den mother than an Assistant Station Chief. Amazing, we haven't had an incident in almost fifteen years, gimp here comes along, and we have an incident a day and even get me involved."
"I'll tell you one thing, Sarah," Howard started. "Someone will come get you from this point until this thing gets put to bed; you and your mom are not alone. If I have to move you into the hotel, I will. I already have teams set up to watch everyone's family, or they are going on long trips. No repeat of what happened to Billy."
Howard cocked his head, "Sounds like the tow truck, check it out to make sure it's ours, Bobby."
Bobby hit a button and a wall in the family room opened to show a duplicate set of video monitors. It showed what must have been a familiar sight and face as Howard headed toward the door.
Outside, two men in coveralls got out of the tow truck. One went straight for the chains and lift controls on the long bed truck while the other came over to Howard.
Howard said, "Hey, Jeff, so you got assigned to this one. Sorry about so many, but our newest guy got a little firefight happy. I have all of the pocket stuff inside. I'd like to look at it and document it before I hand it over. Would that be okay?"
"Fine, just do it on forms so I don't have to do it again. I'll assign a newbie to double-check it and to tear everything apart. You didn't shut off the cell phones, did you?"
"I sure as hell did." Bobby said, "I don't know if any are GPS phones, but I didn't want to take any chances. We removed the battery on all of them. When you get them, you can do whatever you want with them but I'd bet there isn't much information you get from them."
Howard said, "Good thinking, Bobby, you've done the series on covert storage I see."
"Damn right. I've done every module having to do with this place at least three times, and several probably a half dozen times. I want whatever I do to be second nature and not have to think about it."
She turned around and looked at me, "Hell, this guy is as much of a curve as you can send me. Who ever heard of having to store a dead Deputy Marshal in protective custody. They didn't cover that one."
Jeff said, "Maybe you should write a new training module."
Bobby said, "I'll let Sarah do that. I think she'll have something to add for inside Deputy Marshals and their vulnerability. We sure didn't anticipate this one."
Howard said, "You and me both, we should have after what Billy went through. The bureau and us screwed up big time. You're taking this to the warehouse right, Jeff?"
"Right, the center needs to take this truck apart as well as autopsies on the shooters. Since you've stripped them already, it's going to be harder to identify them."
Sarah said, "We wrote down the driver's license info on each of them. It's in their shirt pockets. That'll get you started until you get the rest of the pocket junk. None of them had a lot in their wallets. So far I haven't seen any easy tells. The truck may give you more info than the shooters and their stuff."
We were all standing next to the big tow truck, with the Suburban up on the bed chained down now. Another black Suburban was coming down the street very slowly. I was watching it as the windows on our side of the truck came down. I saw what looked like a barrel stick out the window.
I said quickly but not too loud, "Everyone, in back of the truck, quick. Bobby, I'm going to try for the rifles."
Sarah still had the Glock and Bobby pulled a Glock from her waist. Jeff, Howard, and even the tow truck driver, all pulled hardware out as they moved to the back of the truck, watching the car as it approached. The tow truck driver was the only one to speak, "Damn those bastards better not shoot my new truck. Christ, it took three years of begging to get it."
I hopped to the house door and into the kitchen, grabbing the MP5 there, then coming back to grab the MP5 by the door. There was no time to go back to my room for my extra magazines, so I looked out the door to see the Suburban almost stopped on the other side of the tow truck. Bobby saw me coming and met me halfway grabbing the MP5, checking it for a chambered round and checking the safety and firing position. If it was where I had left it, it was still on single fire. A confident shooter always chose single fire over full auto. Bursts are good sometimes, but you can't carry enough rounds and magazines for full auto.
The truck was moving again and I could see the far side rear door open from my perspective. "They're coming out the back door on the far side," I nearly yelled.
Jeff moved around to the back edge of the tow truck, kneeling down to give himself a lower profile. The others were directly behind the tow truck now. I made it to the truck and dove underneath to roll farther under it, then edged forward to get a firing angle at the near side windows. Just as the truck came even with the tow truck, a round was fired from other side of the truck. I couldn't see the shooter because of my angle, but I was looking into the eyes of the guy in the near side window. He had a surprised look on his face as he tried to get the barrel of the AK47 he had out the window. I snapped a shot and luckily hit his cheek. That distracted him long enough for me to aim before putting another round in his face.
The driver's window came down, with the driver beginning to point an automatic of some kind at me. I hit him before the gun was even pointed my way. The Suburban lurched forward, leaving two shooters on the other side of the truck fully exposed. They looked stunned then began shooting wildly toward the house. They were both hit with multiple rounds within a split second. At least one of my rounds hit each of them.
I rolled out from the truck the way I had come in following the truck that was now being at least partially directed down the street. As it rounded the bend in the road, Bobby said, "Let's run, the street's a dead end. There's a cul-de-sac about a hundred yards down that way."
Howard said to the tow truck driver, "Move your truck to middle of the street, block anything from leaving and get on the other side. Sarah, you stay here with him."
Bobby, Howard, and Jeff were sprinting down the street, Howard and Jeff with handguns, and Bobby with the MP5. Since it would be dumb for me to try to catch up with them, I checked the two downed guys in the street. They were toast.
The driver put the truck in crossways in the street then he and Sarah got behind it. I didn't know what to do, so I went to the far side of the house and looked through the other open back yards trying to see something. The trio was standing around the car with their weapons pointing at it and a guy with his hands up standing next to the passenger door. Considering they had the situation under control, I turned in time to see another damn Suburban coming around the corner heading toward the driver and Sarah.
I yelled, "Move, get on this side of the truck."
As they were running around to the other side a guy came out of a sunroof and with some kind of small rifle pointing at the pair moving around the truck. I threw my MP5 to my shoulder and snapped a body shot. The man jerked back but wasn't down. I took the time and put one in his head. The passenger window opened and another guy leaned out the window with a handgun. I popped him before he could get off a shot too. Then I aimed at the driver's dark side of the windshield letting off three quick rounds then hit the other side of the windshield with another three. The car lurched to a stop in the middle of the street about fifty feet from the tow truck.
I knew more people were probably in the Suburban, but not how many. I yelled at the driver and Sarah, "Stay down, there's more inside that truck."
I slowly went forward keeping the tow truck between me and the Suburban. As I got nearer the tow truck, I yelled. "You're outnumbered. Get out of the truck slowly with your hands up. Be very careful, I'm a little trigger happy today."
The tow truck driver was at the front of his truck covering the passenger side of the Suburban while Sarah was kneeling down, using the outside rear tire as a shooting position. I saw a hand stick up on the far side of the truck then I noticed the rear door of the truck start opening.
"Sarah, watch closely, someone's coming out the back." I began moving parallel to the street, keeping the MP5 pointing at the rear of the car. Just as I passed the driveway, the rear window on the driver's side exploded and I heard a mis-formed round whine past my head. I let off three quick shots in return, just as a head leaned out past the back tailgate area, with a handgun pointing at me. I fired two shots and the bolt of the MP5 locked open.
I dropped it and pulled my pistol. I was trying to remember how many rounds I had left, but couldn't remember. If I had at least one, it was better than none. I kept approaching the truck until I looked through the open rear tailgate to see no one moving except the guy on the side of the truck with his hands up.
"Move to the front of the truck and keep your hands high. I began checking the downed men to find that there was a guy that I had not seen that had been hit on the other side of the rear window shooter. He wasn't dead but he was damn near there. He was hit in the neck and blood was rushing out. His eyes had the look of dead fear while he clutched at his neck. Of the truckload of six men, only one was still standing.
I had the live one stand still while I patted him down, then had him move toward the two trucks. I hollered, "Who has cuffs?"
The driver said he had some and went to his truck, coming back with some. I kept my pistol on the guy's head while the driver cuffed him. "Take him over and sit him on the grass. Take him apart again; I didn't do a good job searching."
Now the sirens were coming. That was a lot of noise not to be noticed. Howard and Bobby were walking two cuffed men back toward us when three county sheriff's cars came sliding around the corner. Thank goodness I had my badge in my pocket, so I held it up in the air. Sarah had hers as she had put hers in the waist of her skirt. The tow truck driver held his up as well.
Three deputies jumped out of their car pulling their weapons yelling for us to put ours down. I yelled back, "I'm a U.S. Marshal and this is our crime scene. Stand down, come and identify yourself."
The three deputies were stunned. They weren't used to being challenged. Still holding my badge up I said again, "Please identify yourself with your agencies identification." This was straight out of a video I had watched over the weekend.
The three pulled their wallets and showed their I.D. I told them, "One of you call your supervisor and begin doing traffic until we can get the crime scene people out here. Keep traffic totally out of this area, I don't care whether they live here or not."
The three deputies walked back to their cars just as two unmarked cars came around the corner. One was obviously a federal car as it had the front U.S. Marshal plate on it. That one pulled up next to the Suburban while the other car stopped to talk to the deputies. Three more unmarked cars came around the corner, all with federal front plates on them. They stopped, blocking the street, with men rapidly climbing out of them at the ready.
The two men in the unmarked car behind the Marshal's car got out and approached showing their badges. One was a little huffy saying, "This is our jurisdiction, this is our crime scene."
Two men, who had gotten out of the Marshal's car, said from behind them, "Identify yourselves and do it slowly. There's been enough shooting today. Slowly get your IDs and hand them back here. Until we release this area, this is a federal crime scene."
Again, more words right out of the video. Cool, the other Marshals had watched it too.
Six FBI agents walked up and asked, "Do we need a cleanup truck?"
Sarah had come up next to me and said, "I already called in. They're on the way. I asked for your two trucks and ours. We have a lot to go over."
I asked the agents, "Do you guys have cameras? I'd like to document this area then go down the street and document the car around the bend."
Howard and Bobby came up with the two handcuffed men and said to me, "Deputy, I'll take over lead from here. Why don't you go sit down someplace and let the adrenaline settle down."
I was so tired, I was staggering. I knew that I still had to write a bunch of reports. Just the descriptions were going to take a couple of hours. At least Sarah and Bobby could help me on the first one. Howard and even Jeff could help on the second and Sarah and the tow truck driver could help on the last.
I got the attention of one of the Marshals and pointed to the MP5 on the ground. "Photograph that piece, then take it in the house." I looked at Howard.
Howard had a serious look on his face and said to Bobby, "Guess you need to start packing."
The two detectives didn't understand, so Jeff flashed his badge and said, "This obviously was a safe house. It's been compromised so it has to be moved. Now if you'll get your men and do some traffic control for us, we would appreciate it. If you could, keep everyone from getting to that corner. We would like to keep this as private as possible. Call in and tell the news helicopters to stay away. Any that violate that request will be grounded."
One of the FBI guys moved his car so the detectives and the three deputies could leave. The four cars moved down the street and around the corner just as a white van with U.S. Marshal's office markings came around the corner. It was followed by two more white vans with FBI markings on them. A fourth white van came too but had no markings. Howard commented, "The clean up crew came along early. That's good."
Bobby came to me and said, "Let's get you inside before you collapse. You've had a busy day."
"No more than you and Sarah," I said, hobbling toward the house.
"We've been paid to do this for a long time," Bobby said. "You shouldn't have to start out this way. Besides, I think you accounted for every downed man out there. The two that were exposed from that second car were hit by all of us, but you hit them too. I noticed that you used up an entire magazine. When are you going to learn that you reach down inside the umbrella stand for some spares before you go out?"
Inside the house, the first thing I did was to go into my bedroom and find the other two magazines I had and slide one home and put the other in my pocket. I put the gun back in my shoulder holster and went into the kitchen where it looked like Bobby was pouring a drink.
"If that's for me, Bobby, I don't want one until everything's put to bed out there. Coffee would be great though."
Bobby looked at me saying, "Where's your adrenaline rush, how can you still be standing. I'm about dead and you're still coherent."
"I'm bushed, but you forget, I've had several years of that sort of thing, and with guys that were a hell of lot more deadly than those guys. This was all pure reaction. Nothing like worrying about your team around you taking fire from all angles."
Sarah asked, "How about we start on our reports? That might calm us down. We have three distinct incidents; let's start with the guys that took us down in the garage."
While we were going through each incident, various men would come to see how we were doing. Howard and Jeff came in, saying the three of us were going to be put up for commendations. He said to me, "I don't think the service has had many Deputy Marshals that had multiple incidents their first few days."
It was dark by the time the other two cars were up on flatbeds and cars began leaving. Howard said, "We're leaving two men out front. Turn on your perimeter alarm anyway. You probably won't get that much sleep, but try anyway. Chuck, you stay here. You're just as safe here as in the hotel. Sarah, do you still want to stay?"
"More than ever, Boss. How about I get the guy that gets relieved out there to take me to the office in the morning? I have clothes in the Expedition. You know we didn't even include it in the clean up on the investigation."
Bobby said, "That guy had rubber gloves on anyway. He was pretty professional, so I don't think he left anything in there. How long do you think it'll take to find and modify a new place, Howard?"
"We already have one that's not been opened yet. It's our reserve, waiting for something like this to happen. You'll move there tomorrow or the next day, if we can keep this area clear. It's close so it won't take long. It's probably easier to defend too, because there is open space all around. We can put perimeter alarms completely around the property. The only problem will be the raccoons and other critters that wander by."
Sarah finished printing out our reports and handed them to Howard. He handed them back and said, "You three have to sign them, then they are official. We each signed the reports and Sarah handed them back to him."
"Print up four more and sign another," Howard said. "Sarah, you bring the signed one in and each of you keep a copy. Have it around with you for the next week or so, because you can bet a bunch of people from DC are in the air as we speak. No one downs eight, or in your case a couple dozen, bad guys in one incident without getting a psychiatric exam. You did those eight guys, four from the second car and what, four or five from the last car. It'll take you all night carving the notches in your gun. Anyway, you guys are probably going to have to come in tomorrow morning. Chuck, you're alive again. You can just get your clothes yourself in the morning. If you want, you can wear something in and change once you get to the office. I want you to live in our secure house for a while though. It's easier to let Bobby watch you than have you somewhere else."
"Jeff and I are leaving now, I think this is his first incident and we have to go back and write up our reports before we go home. Bobby, I'll call you in the morning and Sarah, I'll tell the duty guys to bring you to the office with them in the morning before they go home."
Bobby said, "I think we'll just drive in with the duty guys in the morning and let the relief watch the place while we're gone. If you think the big shots are going to want to interview us, we might as well be ready for them first thing."
"Good thinking, Bobby," Howard was nodding, "Always looking ahead. You are a good Deputy. See you tomorrow."
When Howard was gone, Bobby brought out a bunch of cleaning kits and the three of us cleaned up the two MP5's, the Glock, and my 9 mm. We reloaded magazines and stored everything back where they belonged. Hopefully, we wouldn't need them again.
Bobby said, "There are steaks, Chuck, light the grille, Sarah make salads, I'll do some potatoes and some veggies. Let's eat."
It didn't take long before we were sitting at the table next to the counter in the family room off the kitchen. The video wall was still open and everything was green except the patio. Even the perimeter light was on. Surprisingly none of us had gotten the shakes from the excitement. That happens a lot when the excitement is prolonged and one after another. There is a huge demand on your psyche. You seem to skip the shakes and are just beat.
Bobby told Sarah to get her clothes and put them in her room, then we were all going to get in the pool and the hot tub. Sarah said, "I didn't bring a swimsuit."
Bobby looked at her with a frown, "Come on, Sarah, we're adults here. Get those clothes off. Let's see what you've got. If Chuck can strip his leg, you can strip your bush."
Sarah blushed as she said, "It's already stripped. I started keeping it that way when I began looking for a mate."
"Well then, no time like the present to show off your new look."
I was first to the pool and was able to get a good view of Bobby's bountiful body next to Sarah's as they came out of the house. Sarah looked really diminutive next to Bobby. They walked up to the pool then walked down the stairs and slid into the water gently, slowly gliding toward me.
Bobby took me by the waist and pulled me into her, hugging me, and turned me around to hug Sarah as she approached. The problem was that contact with Bobby's rich full luxury had me pointing at Sarah. The contact with my straight poker made her look down. She smiled and said, "I see you are happy to see me."
Sarah slid her arms under mine, then around me, hugging me to her in a full body hug. She rose on her tip toes, taking me between her legs still hugging me tightly. She said into my ear, "Now this is the right reward for such a tough day."
As Sarah released me and stepped back, she took hold of me and said, "There is this thing down here, Bobby, that appears to be a toy of some kind. Do you know how to play with it?"
Bobby said, "If you keep messing with it the way you are, it's going to let you know what it's for. It's going to spray you with some special lotion."
I had to say something, "You ladies are a treat. I think someone said something about a reward. Just the sight of you two is reward enough."
Big Bobby wrapped Sarah and me in her arms and said, "Isn't he the golden-tongued one."
Sarah joked, "I don't know, I haven't felt what it will do yet."
Bobby said, "Let's get into the jacuzzi and perhaps that thing will relax in there."
The ladies preceded me, but Bobby was more used to me, staying behind to act as another leg while I traversed between the pool and the tub. While we were getting in, Bobby hit the blower motor, and we were soon relaxing in the warm bubbles beating our muscles into a more relaxed feeling.
They were sitting on each side of me and Sarah reached over to hold me and said, "It didn't go down yet. We'll probably have to perform some type of first aid on it."
"Let him relax, Sarah, the man has had a very traumatic day. I don't think we've ever known a Deputy Marshal that has been in as much action as this one has in the short time he's been in our service."
"You're right, Bobby, I'll let him relax, but that thing is fun to hold and I've not ever had a chance to just play with one. Don't mind me, Chuck, I'm not usually this forward. You're just easy to be around."
Bobby agreed, "Isn't he though."
The phone rang.
Bobby was prepared, she reached behind and picked up the cordless from the table.
"Yeah," Bobby said?
"Okay, we're fine. Did you tell the duty guys? Good. Yeah, we'll be watchful. Thanks."
Sarah and I looked at Bobby as she put the phone back down.
"There is apparently some kind of mega-contract out on our guy here, and now sweet Sarah, you and I are in on it. They're sending a couple of more teams out to watch us tonight and are going to move us into the hotel tomorrow. The bureau apparently got wind of it and they're sending a team out here as well. Let's go in and get ready for bed. I think we should sleep in shifts tonight, with one of us awake all the time. Come on, let's get prepared."
The girls dried me off, and not surprising was my pointer. It had quit pointing. They helped me in, carrying my leg so I could dress and be prepared in case I had to get up. Minutes later, we were all dressed, ready to take turns sleeping. Bobby said, "I'll take the first two hours, then Sarah, then you, Chuck. Go to bed you two and I mean in two separate beds. Try to get some sleep. Knowing I'm out here should relax you."
It did. I was instantly asleep.