by Piper Stone
“Did somebody get into trouble?” Salk asked. “We could come back later.”
“I can find any kitchen in any house all by myself,” Pepper added, bending over in the chair. Placing his hands on the floor, he shot his feet into the air and walked on his hands toward the door.
“Jeep, really! We’ve got guests,” Jenny said. “You two take your seats.” She was at the door, shooing Pepper’s feet back in the direction of the table when Juan appeared in the hallway, bearing a tray. “Oh, look. I should have known. Juan already has everything under control.” She sat back down with an uneasy look at her husband.
Jeep knew when he was beaten. He might have stolen a few moments of privacy from just the two recently arrived jokers, but if there was food involved, not to mention yet another person, there was no way he was going to make that sort of scene. It might embarrass Jenny. She had done nothing to deserve that. “Saved by the bellman, or waiter, or butler or whatever. I’ll take a rain check on our plans. We have got things to talk about.”
“Like why you’re here,” Jenny agreed. “I mean, it’s wonderful to see you boys, of course, but we are on vacation. It’s almost Christmas.”
Salk looked at Pepper, who turned to Jeep, his eyebrows raised. “Who’s going to answer that?”
Jeep gave one slow nod. “Go ahead and tell me what you’ve learned.”
Pepper shrugged. “You’re the boss.” He produced a small cell phone from one of the pockets in his black cargo pants and opened a screen. “Mrs. Abernathy worked her magic and got hold of the satellite photos for the time in question.”
“Wait a minute,” Jenny interrupted. “What’s this about Mrs. Abernathy?”
“Jenny, you know the drill,” Jeep answered, using a signal they had adopted in order to help smooth over situations of this nature. “This is business. I’ll explain what I can, if I can, but later. Right now, if you want to stay…”
Jenny’s expression went from salsa to chicken soup in an instant. “One comment. I’ll keep it till later.”
Jeep was glad she had decided to reserve her right to speak. That was their rule: she had the right to weigh in on his security affairs when they invaded her home, but after having her say, she had to leave. She wasn’t a professional and didn’t want to get the training necessary to be one. She couldn’t be seen to undermine Jeep in front of his employees. If they wanted to keep friendships at work, there had to be boundaries. He wanted her to know what was going on in his work to the extent that it was safe for her, but he couldn’t ask his employees to answer all her questions and listen to explanations of topics they already understood well. So she was customarily welcome to stay in a business meeting until she made her one comment. Then it was considered polite for her to excuse herself. Jeep wanted her there so he didn’t have to go over it all again with her later. She should hear it from Salk and Pepper, so she would see for herself whether the situation was grave, annoying, or something in between.
“Within ten minutes of getting your call,” Pepper went on, “we had a fix on that baby bird that buzzed you.”
“Baby bird? So it wasn’t a threat?” Jeep said.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Salk interjected. “I don’t get warm fuzzy feelings about somebody taking pictures of my boss in the bathtub.”
“Do you ever get warm fuzzy feelings?” Pepper asked casually.
Jeep ignored him. “I wasn’t in the bathtub. We were in the indoor pool, but I get your point. A miniature satellite isn’t a welcome visitor, but it’s a far sight better than… what I thought it might be.”
“Or what it could have been. That’s how Mr. Tobin sees it,” Pepper said, amending Jeep’s comment. “His orders are to, and I quote, ‘lock that place down so tight, we’ll have to pipe in air.’”
Jeep’s insides gave a lurch, but he wasn’t willing to give up yet. He felt like he was setting fire to Jenny’s dream vacation. “Do we need to go that far? It was probably some paparazzi trying to get some hot snapshots of the rich and famous. When he saw it was just us, he kept going.”
“The drone was registered to TorWorld Enterprises.” Pepper let that comment hang in the air a moment.
“TorWorld?” Jeep let out a sigh mixed with a sound that, while wordless, was his equivalent to a swear word.
“I know, I know. I can’t decide whether to requisition dynamite or a flyswatter. What a pain Little Barty is.”
“But he can’t be taken lightly. If challenging Mr. Tobin is Little Barty’s idea of making a move toward the big time, we’ll have to respond.” Pepper had finished the smattering of food on his plate. Sitting back with a contented sigh, he added, “I should have known Mr. Tobin’s chef would be top notch. What a meal!”
Salk dug into the breadbasket and retrieved a handful of assorted carbohydrates to throw on his plate. “What, a meal?” His correction of Pepper’s timing and grammar was tinged with a heavy dose of dissatisfaction. “I’ve seen bigger portions on the sample carts at the grocery store.”
“There are plenty of snacks in your room and all over the house,” Jenny consoled him. “At least there are in our room, and I assume you’ll be staying?”
“Right here, until this is over,” Salk agreed. “Sorry to barge in on your holiday, but Barty has to be reckoned with, even if he is a two-bit putz.”
Jenny nodded. “A two-bit putz with a miniature satellite drone and an uncle who runs half the drugs and most of the guns in Hathville and beyond. I recognize the name from the files. I guess I’d better start packing?”
“Mr. Tobin wants you to shelter in place until the threat is neutralized. He’ll get here in a day or two,” Pepper said.
“In a day or two I might starve to death,” Salk sulked, sending a pleading look Jenny’s way.
For many reasons, Jeep joined in. “I could go for a Jenny-style breakfast in the morning myself, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Jenny smiled sympathetically. “I’ve enjoyed all the gourmet cooking I can stand too. Cooking a hearty breakfast will be my pleasure. I’ve missed having the big Sentry gatherings at our house these last few years.”
“We’ve all been busy,” Salk replied. “Growing families, sports, overseas jobs. There’s never enough time to do everything you want to do. But there’s always time to eat and since we’re stuck here for a few days…”
Jenny pushed away from the table, so Jeep jumped up and held her chair. “Time for my one comment. I understand we don’t have any choice. Vacation is over. Time to get back to work. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but I intend to make the best of it. No use shaving your head just because you got a bad haircut. You make the best of it and wait for it to grow out. Or maybe dye it a different color. I don’t know. All I can say is that I’m going to pretend as much as possible that we are still having a good time. Nothing is going to ruin this Christmas!” She was wiping her eyes as she left. Jeep felt sure she would win the fight against the tears until she got to the bedroom.
“You need to go after her?” Salk asked.
“Let her have a good cry,” Pepper advised.
“We need to nail down our strategy, then I’ll go take care of my wife.” Jeep seated himself again, this time pushing his chair back and stretching his long legs onto the table.
“Mr. Tobin needs to get bigger tables or smaller guests,” Pepper commented. “You take up all the space in the room and make the furniture look like what one might find in a treehouse. It’s only going to get worse once the thugs start arriving.”
“How many did you bring?” Jeep wanted to know.
“We didn’t bring any. We were in Dallas on a small job when the call came in. Mr. Tobin is sending two more operatives and two shifts worth of guards from the main office.”
Jeep nodded. “That’s how you got here so fast. I was wondering how you made a two hour flight in forty-five minutes.”
“Dallas is only fifteen minutes by helicopter. The rest of the time was spent gathering information and laying pl
ans.” Salk turned the breadbasket over and dumped the crumbs onto his plate. “I should have taken an extra ten minutes to pack some rations.”
“There are plenty of snacks in the wet bar by the pool,” Jeep announced and he swung his ankles off the table. “You can see where we got buzzed and from there we can walk the perimeter.”
“We can walk the perimeter,” Pepper corrected him yet again. “You can go over the files on the thugs Mr. Tobin is sending. Of course, they’re the best he has, but still, I know you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the people who’ll be guarding Jenny.”
“I’ll be guarding my wife.” It was Jeep’s turn to correct Pepper. “That’s my job and I won’t entrust it to anyone else.” They had reached the pool enclosure. While Salk tested the ceiling struts by climbing the corner bracket and hanging by his knees from the polished metal rafters, Jeep continued. “You and the thugs can secure the house and grounds.”
“Understood,” Pepper said. He slithered on top of the wet bar and reached down to root among the shelves. Selecting a handful of wrapped pastry treats, he expertly tossed one each to Jeep and Salk, but kept two for himself. When Jeep gave him a questioning look, he shrugged. “It is possible for one to enjoy fine dining and more simple pleasures.”
“Funky food and junky food,” Salk said.
Pepper grinned. “All things in moderation. A nice healthy balance. Hup! Hup!” He soared off the wet bar and caught Salk’s proffered hand to swing up to a standing position on an exposed water pipe that ran the length of the room.
Jeep usually tolerated their bizarre antics with infinite patience, but Jenny’s disappointment weighed on his nerves, sapping what little Christmas spirit he had left. “Do you really have to do that? Can you see anything from up there that you can’t see from down here?”
Pepper swung down in an understated dismount. “I can, actually. Solar panels.”
Jeep’s eyes snapped upwards, where he could just make out the telltale swervy glaze characteristic of the underside of a new type of solar charging cell. “That’s how he found us.”
“Probably. Mr. Tobin keeps a low profile, but those solar panels would have acted like a beacon to the drone’s heat sensors. You’re far enough for it to be distinct from Dallas, but close enough to be in range of a drone launched from the city.” Salk sat upright on the rafter to eat his packaged cookies.
“You need to be either closer in or further away,” Pepper added, helping himself to more of the snack stash.
“It’s not me,” Jeep reminded them. “It’s Tob’s place. I think it’s been in the family for a while too. He’s not going to get rid of it.”
“He’s not the one in danger,” Pepper said.
Caught off guard, Jeep took a moment to answer. “Well, you have to figure Little Barty wanted Tob, not me.”
Pepper shook his head. “Little Barty was in Hathville, eating dinner at the same club where Mr. Tobin was entertaining a new client. It was a set up. Little Barty wanted to be seen. He was sending a message.”
“So he was talking to Tob, but using me to do it.” As a reflex, Jeep caught the package of crème filled sponge cake that Pepper tossed him, but he didn’t notice it was in his hand until it was halfway to his mouth, paper and all.
Salk took the packet from him, tore it open and handed it back. “Looks like we might need more junk food.”
Jeep shook his head. “I’ll be all right. I just… We were thinking about retirement. Talking about it, really. I mean… daydreaming, mostly. Jenny wants a change and I… But now… How am I going to tell her that I’ve got to start a whole new campaign?”
“Taking on Little Barty doesn’t exactly count as a war,” Salk said.
Pepper opened a box of chocolate iced cupcakes and plunked them down on the table. “He’s not talking about Little Barty Torino. He’s talking about the uncle, Big Bad Torino.”
Jeep fell into a chair, which creaked under him. “There’s no way to neutralize the one without stirring up the other. That’s why Barty the Bungler gets away with half of his stunts, but I can’t allow him to get away with threatening Jenny.”
“Watch the furniture,” Salk warned. “I don’t want to be picking splinters out of your backside when you smash those twigs Mr. Tobin has scattered around.”
“You really do need a place better adapted to your… needs,” Pepper agreed.
“And diet,” Salk added. “But not until Mr. Tobin gives the go ahead.”
Jeep said, “I would have thought Tob would want us to make for the office building. It’s already secure. We could live in the night-duty apartment there.”
“Getting you there is the problem. You are a bit isolated out here and the country is too open. Mr. Tobin figures it’s safer to truck people in over the scrubland than to risk driving or flying you out.” Salk said. “If it’s you Little Barty is after. He should know in a few days for sure. He said to tell you he’s going to contact Torino through back channels and see what’s what.”
The sugar seemed to be restoring his good humor, at least somewhat. Jeep stood. “So I guess we won’t be alone for Christmas after all. That’ll be the silver lining Jenny is looking for. I’d better go tell her the good news.”
Jeep approached the bedroom door with the care and caution he usually reserved for breaching a drug lord’s private compound. Neither noise nor light issued from the door. Did this signal calm acceptance or frozen sulking? No other way to find out. Out of force of habit, he opened the door from the side and slipped in. There she was. It always made his breath catch in his throat. How sweet she looked, lying there, one hand under her cheek, her hair spread out on the pillow behind her. He knew the color was grey, but his mind turned it blonde again. His eye skimmed the outlines of her frame, enjoying every curve, every dip and rise.
She had left the miniature Christmas tree lit for him and by its glow he crossed to the bed and sat down at her feet. “Jenny?” His voice was soft and low so if she were deeply asleep, he wouldn’t disturb her.
She turned to him, making his blood start to simmer. Those eyes. They did it to him every time. The years melted away and he was a young buck again, snorting and pawing the ground for his mate. How could he let anything threaten her? He had to clear out all the Torinos for her to be truly safe. But the fight to secure her would come between them as surely as a fence. It would protect her but divide them.
“Turn over.”
“What?”
“Face down. I’m collecting on my rain check.”
“Oh, Jeep, we don’t have time for that.”
“I always have time for you.” Jeep forced the words out, vowing to himself that he would make them true.
Jenny’s hand slipped protectively over one nether cheek. “No, Jeep. We’ve got too much to talk about.”
“Who decides when you need to be spanked?”
“You do.” Jenny’s voice sounded small, but could he hear a note of satisfaction mixed with the resignation. It was as if she had known all along, felt compelled to resist, and experienced relief when the assurance came that he was as she had expected him to be: stalwart, steady and strong. She rolled over, face turned toward the middle of the bed, as she had always done, so that if she made any noise, the pillows would muffle her cries.
“That’s right. I do.” Jeep demonstrated by laying a slow pattern of slaps on her backside. He covered her bottom thoroughly, intending to get her attention, but no more. “You fought me tonight in that pool.”
“Only a little.” She was sipping air as if it were hot sauce, but she wasn’t gasping.
“Even a little is too much. You can’t fight me. Especially not now.” He paused and rubbed away some of the sting. He needed her to hear him, not just endure the pain. Emphasizing each sentence with one significant swat, he went on. “Barty Torino is gunning for me in order to get to Tob. We will have to respond. That means taking on the uncle. Until this is over, you are going to have to obey some rules.” He laid his hand
on her backside, noticing that it was growing warm.
“All right. I will. I know how to act in a crisis.”
He gave her rear a gentle rub. “You do, little one, and you are a real trooper, I’ll give you that. I know you won’t complain when we shut down outside communications. No TV, radio, phones, nothing. Those lines can all be tapped.”
“Oh, Jeep! I can download some books to my reader, can’t I?”
“It’s already done. You’ll have to survive on the ones you have now, plus Tob’s library. I’m sorry, but Tob ordered us to lock the place up tight. That means you don’t go out of the house. Not even in the courtyard.”
“But Jeep, it’s completely surrounded.”
“And completely uncovered; vulnerable by air. We know he’s got one drone. He might have more. You stay inside. Period. Do I make myself clear?” He gave her a firm swat to reinforce his point.
“All right, all right. Inside. No TV or internet or phone. How very historical. It’s going to be one quiet Christmas. Won’t the kids get worried when we don’t contact them on Christmas day?”
“Hopefully, the immediate crisis will be over before then. We could secure a way out of here in a few days. No need to give up on Christmas calls yet.”
“I’m not just talking about the day itself. There’s a lot that goes into the run up to the holiday, you know. Salk and Pepper will be away from their families too. It’s not right to make them miss the parties and pageants and especially the food. I know Sentry Security employs plenty of people who don’t have anywhere to go, anyway, for the holidays. Couldn’t they take the duty here?”
“Oh, we’ll get some of those, I’m sure, but Salk and Pepper were in the neighborhood. Now that they’re here, they’ll want to see it through to the end.”
“I’d like to ask them all the same. I know how I feel, cut off from family during all the festivities. They should be allowed to leave if they want to.”
“We need them, Jenny. They’re the best. Tob wants it this way and so do I. I’m sorry, but Christmas is going to have to take a back seat to your safety.”
