Roy stood at the center with the young people in a half circle in front of him. Each man stood with those he was about to form a household with to his left. Itsy stood closest and slightly to the left, with the next girls just behind her and slightly to the left. Itsy and Annie had chosen the Ties that Bind ceremony, as had all the groups. Each new family group was arranged in this exact manner. As the ceremony progressed Roy would ask, who gives this woman? Their father or a male member of their immediate family would say. “I give this woman, freely and without reservations to…” Then speak the man’s name. One after the other each new family member went through the same ritual. Roy outdid himself with words of commitment, duty and honor. As was common at such ceremonies many women of the family were gently crying. With one last wish for happiness, Roy finished the joyous event.
When the ceremony was completed each man led his new family off of the dais and to the waiting crowds for congratulations.
As many Riders as could get back to the farm were there in their best outfits. Each one came up and shook the cousins’ hands and wished them well. Next came a long line of family members, the men shaking hands, woman kissing cheeks. For the young women in their new families, the older ladies had all kinds of advice on how to be happy.
The cousins were in a group talking and greeting all the well-wishers and being joked good naturedly about their new status.
Susie’s father came up and congratulated all of them warmly. He didn’t seem as upset as one would have thought.
“Got a second, Madd?”
“Sure, let’s step out of the way. What’s on your mind?”
“Two things, I wanted to officially say thank you for rescuing Susie from her own actions and arranging to keep her reputation whole and unblemished.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that but there really wasn’t much choice.”
“Don’t worry Madd, she is actually a good girl. She won’t let you or your family down.”
“The second thing?”
“I would like to know exactly what happened in the council chambers tonight.”
Real had been listening and stepped in.
“Not to intrude. I think I can help with that. There is a computer in the recreation room with a large monitor, I want to show you something.”
They headed to the computer room and Real got out a patch cord and hooked his iPhone to it, then started a feed from his cloud-based storage. The picture solidified and a clear video capture of the council room was displayed.
“I started this as soon as I saw that something was way out of whack.”
The video started with Jack throwing out accusations, marching around pounding the table and cursing Madd. It stopped right after Jacks’ death.
“I see. Well, I’m not surprised, my father was a cold s.o.b and while I am not happy he’s dead, I have to say I am relieved. The family almost never has any problems like the one between me and my father; I am just sorry we had to be the one family that showed their asses. I already knew how big an ass he could be, this just confirms it. Real, could you leave that hooked up for me?”
“Better yet, I’ll download it to the computer database.”
“Good, I want to bring some people in here to see exactly what went on with my father. Seeing this should satisfy anyone as to who was at fault. You guys should get back to the party.”
Al cornered them before they could get much past the door of the computer room. “Congratulations guys I am very happy and excited for you!”
“Thanks Al. I hope to attend your ceremony one day,” said Madd.
Madd excused himself and the others with, “The band is going to play some traditional music and we need to dance with our girls.”
A band was forming on the dais and tuning up. People made room and each of the newly created families danced with each new member, swinging and twirling the girls all around the dance floor.
The girls were decked out in their best, hair flying, with glowing faces, laughing and smiling at everyone there. When they were finished with the traditional dances and everyone was feeling great, the band paused and there were calls for Madd,
“Madd, get up here and help us out,” came from the band.
Earlier Annie had placed Madd’s fiddle where it could be easily found. After tuning it a little, he led the band into a foot-stomping two step. Fiddling and singing he had the whole room up on their feet, dancing and stomping the floor. Shouts of yee-haw came from the entire room. After close to two hours the band was ready for a break. They finished to thunderous applause, and there was a smile on every face.
Still on the dais, Madd waved up all the cousins and said to the crowded room, “I want to thank all of you for coming. It was a great honor for us to have you all here for this most special day.” Each one gave their own thanks to the gathered family.
“The hour is late and I think me and mine need to think about heading home. Again, thank you all for the great party!”
Not everyone was ready to call it a night so the party continued on.
As they were saying their goodbyes Madd noticed that Susie managed to look like she had been a member of the family for years.
Through the open door of the recreation room Madd could see Susie’s father showing the video to a lot of the older members, and they didn’t look all that sad. Mostly they were shaking their heads. Thinking on it, it appeared that not that many of the family were as sad as they might have been. Was there something about Jack he didn’t know, something that had made him some enemies throughout the family?
Walking home, the cousins said their good nights as they got close to their destinations. Al and Rose did the same. When they stepped up onto the porch Itsy shooed Annie and Susie into the house and then wrapped her arms around Madd’s neck and gave him one heck of a kiss.
Chapter 10
Southwest Colorado, the current family farm.
The next morning when Madd came into the kitchen at 5:25 Susie was already there and helping get things going. He kissed and hugged his girls, not leaving her out. There were things about the previous night he would feel badly about for a long time. Sometime after going to bed he had come to the conclusion that Susie might have been impetuous but hadn’t really done anything wrong. All she was truly guilty of was standing up for herself and demanding her rights. How could he hold that against her? So, it was time to put that into the past and treat her like the precious gift she was. Chatting and speaking to them, he was enjoying his new family immensely.
When breakfast was finished and they had cleaned away the dishes he told them, “I would have preferred that you three had your own ceremonies and that we could have had time for a trip or something special just for us. Circumstances seem to have caught up with us, so that just wasn’t possible.”
“Oh sir, we couldn’t have asked for more than having all our family with us on our special night,” said Itsy.
“I second what Itsy said,” burst from the lips of the other two girls.
“Finally being able to spend the night with you, Itsy and Susie under the same roof is more special than any trip. Romance is where you create it, and that’s with you two and Susie, too!” said Annie.
Madd could feel his heart swell with love and emotion for these exceptional young women.
“I feel the same way, ladies. Sometime in the future we will try to get away from our responsibilities and do something special.”
Just before lunch Madd was working in one of the barns when his phone rang. His cousin Zeb was 20 minutes out. Barely enough time to meet him at the house. Just as he made it to his porch a rental car pulled up and a man who looked to be in his late 40s stepped out.
“Well, well, long time no see, Super Spy!” That made the man smile. The smile was on his lips but it didn’t make it much further than that. The man had a lot of worries in the back of his mind and it showed.
They hugged, and Zeb said, “You don’t look any older than you did the last time I saw you, Ma
dd. You probably get carded when you try to buy bubble gum!”
“Thanks, old timer. Come on into the house. Zeb, you remember Itsy and Annie. I don’t know if you remember Susie, but there she is. They are now officially part of my family.”
“Congratulations to all of you!”
“Cousin Zeb, it is so nice to see you again,” said Itsy. “You getting here for a couple of weeks a year doesn’t even let us get caught up.”
He received big hugs and a kiss on the cheek from all three girls.
“I know sweet one, but I never seem to be able to get any more time off than that.”
Looking at them, Zeb was more than pleased. They fit one to the other better than any glove fit a hand.
“You hungry, want anything to eat, Zeb? We can make you a salad, all fresh from the garden just this morning and I have homemade chicken salad.” She gave Madd a questioning look at the same time.
“That sounds great Itsy, and some sweet tea as well please.”
“I’ll take the same as Zeb. You can serve out in the sun-room, but we will need it to ourselves after that.”
“Yes sir.”
“You got a bag, Zeb? The bathroom is all yours if you want to shower and change clothes.”
“I could sure use a shower and a change of clothes, I have been on the run for the last two days. I’m going to have to get a nap at some point after we talk, I need to leave here in time to catch a 7:40am flight out of Denver.”
“OK, but we wish you could stay longer. I have to leave soon and you and I haven’t spent much time together in the last couple years.”
“I know, Madd. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to stay here and let the girls fatten me up and get some fishing in. It just isn’t in the cards right now. Let me grab that shower and we can talk.”
While Zeb was showering Madd sent for the cousins. They were all sitting in the sun room when Zeb came in. They all hugged and shook hands, making contact with a man they deeply respected. As they sat and waited for Zeb to start, he took a long look at these five men. Men that should have still been boys, but due to circumstances and the needs of the family had been made into men before their time.
Heaving a big sigh, Zeb started. “When I look at you five I feel badly for what we did to you. I just wanted you all to know that. Had there been any other way things would have been different.”
“How do you mean, Zeb?” asked Ivan.
“All the families’ young men were forced to grow up too fast, but you five especially. We took you and turned you over to some of the toughest military instructors any service has ever turned out. They heated you in a forge until you were red hot then hammered you out into a useful form. Much like a Samurai sword that is heated then folded over and over, then quenched. Then heated all over again until it is red hot, and folded thousands of times to create a weapon of the finest kind. We hammered you until your youth was gone and we created fighting men, unlike most have ever seen. For that I ask your forgiveness. We had our reasons, but as I grow older, I wonder if we had any idea what cost you five would pay for our salvation.”
Ivan looked around at his cousins, saw what they were thinking and said, “You did what you needed to do. We’ll do what we need to do. We aren’t complaining, so don’t let it bother you.”
Zeb knew that they hadn’t yet learned the full consequences of what had been done to them, and prayed they never would.
Itsy and Susie came in with sandwiches, salad and drinks for everyone, then left them to their business.
“Madd, I have been getting intel about the family and I hear you five are now the council for all practical purposes. What else is going on?”
It took a while but Madd went over all that had happened with the council and the Riders’ LLC.
“In three months when the current trainees finish up, we will be able to field 36 new trained troops from the ranks of the Riders and forty-one troops with combat experience who just went through some refresher courses. All under 30. There are of course all the younger guys who finished their training at an earlier point, plus former military who served somewhat recently but are in their 30s.” He left nothing out.
“Good lord, you have really been moving since you got back,” said Zeb.
“True, but a lot of it wasn’t something I wanted to get into right at this point. It isn’t something we are proud of, but it had to be done.”
“I can see that. You now control the day to day of the family. You can vote anything you choose in or out. You have managed to bank more money in three years ear marked for our survival, than the council has done in ten years. Even managed to create a household. I take it back, you haven’t been moving, you’ve been flying.”
“As far as money goes Zeb, it’s a start. We have done our best but we are desperately short of what we need.”
“I know Madd, I am familiar with the realities.”
“Your turn. Why the sudden trip?”
“You know about the other cousins in DC. Those three have been working with me for several years on the money issues. We are in different agencies, different departments and levels. Since even before you started the LLC we have been on the lookout for anything that might generate the family money. Something where we don’t have to compromise our moral convictions too much, or our loyalties to the US. Not sure what we are being loyal to any more though,” said Zeb. “Every day we see more and more underhanded politics, dirty deals and outright ignoring or circumventing of the constitution. If our founding fathers aren’t whirling in their graves I would be surprised. I believe there isn’t much left of the country we thought we were serving.
“We looked into your friend Al, as you asked. He is a significant part of why I am here. We found out who he is and got a look at his file. As far as we can see he is a straight shooter. Honest as anyone who is in his line of work can be. Wet work alone calls for some… moral flexibility. There are a couple of things in his record that his handlers didn’t like. I managed to get some in-depth on those situations. By reading between the lines, what actually happened is he refused to carry out some missions the way he was instructed to. He is OK with taking out targets that are a threat. He isn’t OK with mass murder of innocent people while performing his missions.”
“I told you about his feelings for Rose and the declaration that he would never allow anything to happen to her. What is your take on his trustworthiness, Zeb?”
“Trust? Outside the family I’m not sure I have any trust left, Madd. For our purposes it’s a matter of managing risk. I wish there was another way, but we are going to have to trust him for what I have in mind. The four of us in Washington are analysts, thinkers, planners. We gather facts and figures, find a clue here, find one over there. Then make sense of a whole lot of disparate facts. We are not front line operators. For what we have in mind we need an operator.”
“So do we trust him with what you have, Zeb, or not?”
“I think we have to, Madd. The Iranians are talking all nice about their uranium enrichment, and claiming they are only making fuel for reactors. They may even allow inspectors in from time to time. We had a source that claimed they have hidden facilities. We have seen a couple of hints that indicate they are getting small shipments of weapons-grade fissionable material. Probably provided by some of what was the former Soviet Union. The exact facts are hard to come by. We have no proof to point at and say for a fact they are making nukes.
“One thing we can say for sure is that they have a timetable in place. I have seen it and can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that in less than two years they intend to have nuclear capability. It is a possibility that they already have a few nukes. The Israelis have some of the world’s best spy networks. It’s a sure bet they have at least some of this information. They are never going to allow Iran to have full-fledged nuclear capabilities if they can help it. If Iran manages to gather nukes, then the Middle East is up for grabs.
“Not only that, Putin is g
etting closer and closer to going off the rails. He wants to recapture the glory days of the Soviet Union. That would seem to be a nonstarter for the EU and Russia’s neighbors,” said Zeb.
“If political pressure can’t reign him in, the world is in trouble. I can’t go into it, but believe me, we have no more than two years max before we will see a world changing event. Sooner if something like what Iran has planned happens. It will accelerate conditions in the world and not in a good way,” said Zeb.
“Obviously you have something in mind, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” said Madd.
“I do, and it will take a smart operator with connections to pull it off. One that is willing to take some big chances.”
“Fine, how do you want to handle this?” asked Madd. “You give me the info for whatever the scheme is and I put it to Al?”
“What is your gut feeling about this guy, Madd?”
“My gut wants to believe and trust him, my head says he is in the business of winning people’s trust.”
“Very good points. Can you get him over here?”
“I believe so Zeb, give me a minute. I’ll get him on the phone, shouldn’t take him more than ten minutes to get here.”
While they waited the group kicked around ideas for upcoming family projects. Finally Itsy ushered Al in.
“Come on in Al, and take a seat. This is my cousin Zeb. I trust him with the family business and my life,” said Madd by way introduction. “More to the point I would trust him with Itsy and the other girls’ lives.”
“That’s what I call a serious recommendation,” said Al.
“Pleased to meet you, Al. You can call me Zeb; the family does. Madd tells me that you intend to join the family and form a relationship with Rose.”
So, You Want to Live Past Next Tuesday Page 19