by T. S. Hill
“Cowboy,” Lori spoke up, “We’ll be finished at Allie’s within an hour and a half, two at the max. Do you think that I could take her, Sash, and Rosita to Wasserman’s for breakfast? I mean, could you treat us with that?”
“Let it be my treat!”, Al interrupted. I’ll phone ahead, and have a table reserved for you.”
“Oh, wow, thanks Al!”, Lori responded, with Rosita and Sasha also expressing appreciation.
“Just one thing, Al.”, Lori added.
“Anything my dear!”, Al replied.
“Could you have them reserve Cowboy’s usual table.”
“You want your back to the wall, don’t you little girl.”, Al said, smiling.
“Always!”, Lori popped back.
“I figured. Sure thing, girl!”
“I don’t guess that Tagg told you, that when he’s not sitting there, unless I’m sitting with him, that table is my usual table too.”
“Actually, no he didn’t.”, Lori replied.
“Yeah, that figures too. Tagg keeps all my good secrets, safe from prying eyes and ears. Except right now, and that’s why he’s here.”, he said looking solemn. Then suddenly brightening up again, he stood from the table. “I know that you lovely ladies need your rest and have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, so I’m going to excuse you, and steal Tagg away for a brief bit to get a head start with him toward tomorrow, if that’s okay with you all?”
“Oh, thanks so much for the lovely dinner Al!”, Lori smoozed. And, for the use of your chopper, and breakfast at Wasserman’s! Sasha and Rosita chimed in, and the usual thank yous, complements to the chef, and nice to meet yous, were said all round.
“Oh Al, I never did answer your question.”, Lori piped up.
“What question was that my dear?”, Al asked.
“When we’ll be back. We should be back around two at the very latest, if all goes well.”
“Well I’m sure that everything will go just lovely.”, Al assured her. “Now if you will excuse Tagg and me, we’ve a little business to discuss in my study. Oh, Sasha!”, he said turning back. If you have any trouble at all getting your computer gear hooked up, or working with the Wi-Fi just get with Tony here. He keeps my satellite and Wi-Fi stuff all going around here pretty good.”
“Thanks Al!”, Sasha shot back. “We brought our own gear with us, but it’s good to have the back up.”
In Al’s study, the first thing out of his mouth was, “Tagg tell me that you didn’t hire these women for their looks, and that they have some kind of actual skill sets!”
“Actually, Al, I didn’t hire them at all.”, I said looking at him with my poker face. “They are all independent contractors, except for Lori, who is now a contributing partner. Lori is an absolute genius at organizing and managing business operations, and streamlining efficiency. She’s also amassed a huge pile of data about the operations of the outfit, that I suspect has infiltrated your organization, and using it to laundry money. The other two are everything that I told you in the dining room, and more.”
I ran over the qualifications of Sasha again and told him about the cowboy hero event in Lafayette and how Sasha had removed all of the surveillance footage in a matter of minutes.
“That sounds impressive Tagg. Of course, she’s quite impressive to look at too!”, Al said raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I noticed that too, Al.”, I shot back, still poker faced. “Rosita’s here as clerical assistance, and truthfully, I don’t have a clue how that will work out. But I am sure of her fashion sense, and the Spanish lace and items that she puts together, are second to none. I’m hoping that she and Allie will hit it off, and partner on this fashion thing, and, hopefully not see each other as competition. I feel like they have equally matched talent and grit, and together, with Rosita’s product lines, and Allie’s experience, they will be a powerhouse!”
“I’m sure that you’re right Tagg. You know, when I saw that cowboy hero piece on the news, it made me think of you. Hah! Just another one of my hunches that was on target. All that all eases my mind Tagg. So, thankfully, you didn’t hire them based solely on their looks, which are undeniably top drawer.”, Al said, squinting his eyes at a moth that was creeping across the white ceiling. But suddenly he snapped his head down to stare me in the eyes. “So, what else Tagg?”
“What else do you want to know, Al?”, I asked a bit puzzled.
“I just wanted to be sure that these women could do the job, and that you weren’t thinking with your little head instead of your big head. I think my operation here is in deep shit Tagg.”
“Al, I’m telling you, there are not three people that I could trust more than those three, including you, and Aug and Sal Benoit. And, they are everything that I have told you, and then some.”
“Is the then some going to get in your eyes while you’re doing this fix Tagg?”
“What do you mean Al?”
“Are you sleeping with any of those women, Tagg?
“Al, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t consider that to be any of your business at all.”
“Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be asking Tagg.”
“I’ve never lied to you Al, and I’m not starting now. Yes, Al. I am.
“Yeah, I figured Lori, but I needed assuring that they were here to really work toward getting this resolved, and not to just be a distraction to you.”
“Actually, all three of them Al, and they are also here to really work. But, if they didn’t distract me every once in a while, I’d explode and be no good to you anyway. Truthfully, the work that they will do for you here, will probably be of far greater value than the sum of what I will do.”
“Wait a minute Tagg. Am I understanding you correctly? You’re sleeping with all three of them?”
“Yes, Al.” His eyes rolled around and then looked back at me.
“What if one of them finds out about the others, or whatever? You know what I mean? Son, that shit’s gonna blow up in your face like a sweaty stick of dynamite!”
“They know Al.”
“About each other?”
“You want to do a head count of my bed tonight?”
“They don’t get jealous of each other?”
“So far not, and I try to not do stuff that would stir that kind of thing up.”
“Well, I’ll be damned!”, Al said, flopping down in an arm chair. Then he tilted his head back and had a hearty laugh.
“Want to share the fun, Al?”, I said chuckling as his laughter became a bit contagious.
“Ray Belcher called me after he got the chopper back today. You, and those female mercenaries, he called them, scared the hell out of him!”
“Well evidently, Ray scared the hell out of them too.”, I piped up. But in his defense, they were all armed, and I did, honestly, sling Ray around a bit for setting the chopper down practically on top of us, and stirring up a dust storm like the blown Sahara! They pulled their weapons, and if Ray had made a wrong move, who’s to say what might have happened.”
“Did one of them have an AR?”
“Yeah, Rosita did.”
“I thought Ray had just temporarily let his marbles shake loose, but he was telling the truth, huh?”
“His marbles were shaking loose, Al. But, yeah, maybe too he was telling the truth. So, tell me Al, what’s with this Ray, and what about what came up at the table about T.I.C. and veterans and P.T.S.D. etc.”
“Tagg, you’re going to love it! Believe me! But right now, you and I need to get some shut eye. You have an early morning wake up to see your ladies off, and I just have to get up at the crack of dawn from years of habit. I’ll fill you in on T.I.C. later and have the first quarter’s financials for you in the next couple of days. You’re getting like me Tagg, you need your beauty rest!”, Al said laughing again, as he walked out of the study door, flipping off the light as he went.
“Hey don’t leave me in the dark!”, I called after Al.
“Tagg you were born in the dark
, a few more days of it isn’t going to hurt you any.” I could hear him chuckling quietly. In the hallway, near the rear entrance, Al stopped and turned to me.
“Get this job done for me Tagg.”, he said with an almost scowl on his face. You can have your women and you can have your fun, but don’t you dare screw this up! You get the hooks of these criminals out of my business, and then see that they are locked out forever. When you do, I’m going to pay you every penny that it’s worth. But, don’t you screw this up!”
“Believe me Al! You’ve got the right people, right here, to get this done, and get it done right!”
“I hope for all of our sakes, that you’re one hundred percent correct Tagg Hill. Good night.” Then he turned around and left me standing at the back door.
“Al, you need to lock this door behind me!”, I called after him.
“Mrs. Baker will get it. I still have a small handful of people that I can trust in addition to you Tagg.” Then he stopped and turned around to face me. “Tagg?”
“Yes, Al?”
“Thank you!”, he said simply, turning back slowly, and ambling down the hall.
“You’re welcome, Al”, I called after him. I set the night latch anyway, as I went out the door. The golf cart had somehow made it back, so I took it, driving slowly through the sweet heady scent of the rose garden, to the guest house.
I used the key codes that Mrs. Baker had given me, and the guest house door lock opened with a quiet click. The women had left a small lamp in the den on for me, so I undressed there, and crept quietly into the master bed room. There the three women were already quietly sleeping, piled against each other in the king-sized bed, with Lori in the middle.
I didn’t want to disturb them. I didn’t want to sleep in one of the other bedrooms alone either, and I really wanted to sleep holding Lori. But I decided in the end, that since they all were piled toward Sasha’s side of the bed to just settle in the open space beside Rosita. As soon as I had settled in, Rosita turned over, facing me, and wrapped an arm across my chest, snuggling in close.
“Mi dulce amante.”, she sleepily whispered in my ear. For all I knew, it may have been the intent of the three women for me to sleep there, snuggled with Rosita. I still figured that they would be my end. Within a minute, I was sound asleep.
Chapter Two
It All Begins
Some beginnings are abrupt and obvious, while others are so subtle that we don’t even recognize them, until we arrive at its appending destination. Then, when looking back, it becomes readily recognizable as the definite starting point.
Three forty-five A.M., and my eyes popped wide open. I instinctively knew that I wouldn’t be going back to sleep. My mind was racing, and full of worry. I went to sleep with a quandary on my mind, and I awoke with it unsolved, and still churning in my consciousness. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom, then headed to the kitchen, and put on the coffee. My worry was that I had been on the Sam Milinni assignment with the federal Organized Crime Task Force for almost three years. Their patience had been wearing a bit thin, even before Milinni framed me for a variety of crimes. Even though, I knew Steve, my attorney would be forwarding them the evidence that would exonerate me of all the accusations and trumped up charges, I didn’t look for it to return me to their most favored status.
I knew that the time that I had to close my net around Sam Milinni, the man that Lori would only refer to as the SOB, was limited. And, I didn’t know anyone who had the kind of pull that would get the OCTF to lighten up on me, and give me just a little more time. I needed my full team focused on processing the evidence data that I had gathered, and that which Lori had put together while in his employ, so that I could close out this assignment. I was afraid that the OCTF’s patience with me would run out and they would shut me down, and give the case to some other firm.
My conflict was, that Al Longworth was my oldest, loyal customer, and second oldest, loyal friend. He desperately needed my, and the team’s, help. I owed giving him every resource I had. Even though both cases involved the same gangster, there were two entirely different outcomes that were desired for each assignment. In Al’s instance, he just wanted the guy out of his operations, cleanly, and quietly, without fanfare, without publicity, and especially without police or government intervention. In the instance of the OCTF, they wanted the SOB convicted of every crime that he had ever committed. The more they could confiscate, of his ill-gotten gains, the bigger my commission fee would be. Not even counting Lori’s contribution, but based on my evidence alone, I knew I was conservatively looking at seven million dollars in commission on this assignment, if I could pull it off, and in a timely manner.
To compound the quandary, I had put out, approaching, a hundred thousand dollars of my own money, as operating expenses over the last three years. And, my finances were beginning to wear a little thin. At this moment, the way I saw it, was that I would have to get Al straightened out very quickly, collect my fee from him, so that I could continue to operate, then close the net on Sam Milinni. The payoff from that assignment, could be years. There would be convictions, appeals, eventual confiscations of his assets, more appeals, etc, in exhaustum. But, if I didn’t get my end of it wrapped up quickly, then, I could lose everything that I had put out during my investigation and operation. I know that if I ever take on another OCTF assignment, I will insist on full reimbursement of operational expenses, immediately upon the first conviction, regardless of appeals, or other pending charges and cases. Otherwise, I won’t take any more of their assignments. The risk of losing your shirt is just too high.
Having finally resigned myself to handle the assignments by giving Al the priority, I breathed a sigh, but was still worried about the outcomes and timing. When the four A.M alarm clock in the bedroom went off, simultaneously with the coffee ready alert on the coffee maker, I carried two cups of coffee to the bedroom for the women. I didn’t trust my not quiet awake self, with trying to handle more than two cups of hot coffee at once. As things played out, that was for the best anyway.
The girls had decided among themselves the night before, that the shower in the guest house wasn’t large enough to accommodate more than two people at once. Lori and Sasha were to be the early risers. Rosita, and I, were to be allowed to sleep in a while longer, while the other two showered and readied themselves in the bathroom. There was just one catch, the alarm clock roused all four of us at the same time anyway. Of course, I was already up, so it didn’t really impact me, but it did Rosita.
When I arrived in the bedroom with the coffee, Lori took hers, and Sasha, said she would get her tea after her shower. I told her That I would put on the water for her. As Lori and Sasha left down the hall toward the main bath, I placed the other cup on the bedside for Rosita, who was heading to the half bath just off of the bedroom.
Returning to the kitchen, I put on the kettle at medium heat, figuring it should be hot by the time Sasha and Lori finished their shower. Then pouring myself a cup of coffee, I returned to the bedroom. I sat on the side of the bed, and had just taken a sip of my coffee, when I heard the toilet flush in the half bath, and Rosita came out. As she walked around the bed in a sleepy stupor, I reached for her coffee cup and handed it to her as she approached. Even in her sleepy mode, and the dim light, that diffused into the room from the hallway beyond the door, she was an exquisitely beautiful woman. She took the cup, and stood beside me as though she was going to sit on the bed, but instead, she put her right arm across my shoulders and leaned against me. Her warm naked body felt wonderful against me, and I wrapped my left arm around her upper thighs, beneath her sweet, velvety ass, and held her close.
“Tagg, if we get to sleep late, then why were we awakened by the alarm clock?”, she asked me, in an almost American sounding voice, although I failed, in my own sleepy stupor, to immediately pick up on it.
“Well, I was awake anyway.”, I responded.
“I wasn’t.”, She replied. “But since you’re up with me, i
t’s not such a bad thing.”, she quipped, squeezing us together with her right arm, and then tousling my hair playfully.
“Mi dulce amante, why could we not fall in love before you met these other two women? I love them both, but I’m in love with you.”, she mused aloud.
“Rosita, I think that we were in love. And, but except for your occasional sexual advances toward me, what we felt for each other was kept secret. As you know, I had my reasons.”
“You are a man of principle, mi dulce amante. Only one man in a thousand would profess this, and only one in ten thousand would live it as a fact.”
“Rosita, as long as a woman is dependent on a man for her employment, or even her sustenance, he should not leverage that circumstance, for either lust or love.”
“Tagg, for lust? I agree with you. For love? I’ll do what I need to! And, I love you Tagg Hill with all of my heart, and I only wish that I had all of yours.”
“I don’t expect that you will fully understand this or maybe, quiet grasp it, but Rosita, you have my full heart. The thing that totally baffles me is that Lori has my full heart too, and very rapidly now, Sasha has an… is taking her place there also. I didn’t anticipate this. I didn’t ask for this. And, I don’t understand how it all works. Rosita, are you fond of Sasha and Lori?”
“Si. Very fond of both of them, and my love for them grows every day.”
“So, do I have all of your heart, or do I share it with them?”
“I see what you are saying, mi amor. Do you think that our hearts grow with each person that we find to love?”
“I haven’t a damn clue, Rosita.”
“I will tell you what I think.”, she offered, “I think, that you were meant to love the three of us, and we each, were meant to love you, and each other. It is our fate, and not a curse. And, we will bless each other, and many people because we love so much.”