“It hit a little close to home, didn’t it Thomas?”
“You better believe it,” Connor admitted. “When I saw Derek in that house, knowing his daughter was about to die, it ripped my heart out. Seeing him with her tonight did not ease the pain of being the cause of it all in the first place.”
“You plan on trying to blame yourself for this,” Karen asked in exasperation, as they resumed walking.
Connor held up his hand. “I know we all went into this with our eyes open, but I am still human, and watching Derek almost lose Kim. “
“Almost being the operative word here,” Karen broke in. “We all know how much you care Thomas. If any of us want out, we know where the door is. If you get any more powerful, you will not need us anyway.”
“In this town, I will need all the help I can get. The limousine business, and repairing vehicles, and eventually selling comic books keeps me going. I can see the better times down the road. I just want everyone to reach those times alive, and I am being reminded on a daily basis it may not be possible. I don’t think I can ever get to the point where I can project shields for all of you.”
“At the rate you are going, we will have to block you up within a cement bunker,” Karen offered.
“That scary huh?”
“Think about the things you’ve accomplished Thomas,” Karen said, her voice rising with excitement. “You are a one of a kind, and I have given up thoughts of ever studying your abilities. I guess we could dissect you.”
“Thanks a lot there Doc,” Connor laughed in appreciation.
“I’m only saying,” Karen continued, “do what you can, and the rest of us will take responsibility for our own actions, okay? Scary, you ask. Hell yes you’re scary, but the good you have done cannot be discounted. It gets damned exciting being Superman’s girlfriend. I am thinking of changing my name to Lois.”
“I hear you Lois,” Connor laughed. “With Haynes in as CIA Chief, we can keep a closer eye on things. Using NSA personnel can call undo attention. I meant to ask Derek if you all turned up any connections in the FBI we can exploit, and I do not mean our two kidnapping agents.”
“Derek did mention someone high up in the justice department we may be able to use. We can’t use them like Clinton did. The best we can probably do, would be some surveillance work, or permission for Greg to look into something domestic.”
“That will do for now,” Connor replied. “In time, knowing human nature, we can have tendrils into every department. All we need to monitor some of these agencies will be one or two well placed moles within the structure. Attila can do the rest under our guidance.”
“You feel any better about this stuff today?” Karen asked.
“I never did take it personal,” Connor pointed out. “I just felt helpless at a couple of moments. You should have seen Derek tear into that Senator when he knew Kim was safe. Derek definitely has the stones to run this up front, and he has you helping him, so I think the storefront seems solid. Once the intelligence sifting begins, you and Derek will be that much more safe, along with everyone else.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I began writing a program for Attila,” Connor answered. “using the various agency passwords and codes I have gleaned. Some of these jokers have the trail flowing from agency to agency, knowing how zealously the nitwit heads of these agencies hide information from one another. We will end that, just not with their knowledge.”
“How in the hell will you be able to do all this?” Karen asked laughing.
“Attila will do most of it. If an area comes up we think looks suspicious, we will turn it over to you and Derek. Nate and I will only get involved in it if matters require a heavy hand.”
“I think I will concentrate on my job and let you work out the details.”
“That’s the spirit,” Connor agreed. “Want to get something to eat?”
“I thought you would never ask.”
Connor looked down at the dog. “How about you Barf?”
Barf looked up at his name and barked a short note, much to Karen’s amusement.
Karen awoke, and felt the bed next to her, without opening her eyes. She felt something warm and hairy and sat up, jerking her hand back. Connor was out of bed already, and Barf had come up to keep her company. She bent down and hugged the dog’s shaggy head. She walked out of the bedroom naked to find Connor brewing coffee behind the bar. He saw her and came over to take her into his arms. She could feel the effect she had on him right through his sweat suit.
“It’s only six o’clock Thomas.”
“Barf and I already went on our morning jog,” Connor informed her.
“It didn’t do much to dull the edge of your energy level I see,” Karen observed.
“If you would try to keep a little decorum around here,” Connor pointed out, “instead of walking around like a cheap hussy, you wouldn’t be complaining.”
“Who said I’m complaining,” she whispered.
Nate passed Karen on the way out to her car. He gave her a little wave, but Karen stopped him. “Nate, do you think Thomas is okay?”
“You obviously just spent the night with him,” Nate laughed. “Why in the world would you think I knew anymore than you about his condition? What happened, did you tell him you had a headache, and then he sent you to the roach and rat hotel for punishment?”
“Beetles.”
“You know Karen,” Nate sighed, “you are getting to be as big a smart ass as that mutant miscreant. Now what makes you ask?”
“I just can’t comprehend these changes he’s going through, the powers he keeps adding.”
“So you think he will just blow up or something?” Nate asked. “Relax Karen, and take things as they come. You should have seen me when he projected that naked woman next to me on the way home to my wife.”
“Kathy,” Karen said, with her lips tightening.
“Uh oh.”
“Was the naked woman’s name Kathy?” Karen asked through clenched teeth, “and don’t give me anymore of that uh oh crap.”
“Well,” Nate observed, “you didn’t expect him to screw around with me using your naked body, did you?”
Karen turned back toward the building, “I’ll.”
Nate caught her by the shoulder. “Now where do you think you’re going Karen?” Nate turned her back towards her car as she fought to get back in the other direction.
“C’mon now Karen, our young crew will be here soon. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I’ll slap his little mutant head until his eyeballs rattle. I’ll. I’ll. oooooooohhhhhhhhh,” She turned angrily to her car, as Nate watched her with much amusement, although he gave no outer sign.
Karen turned back towards Nate, “you tell Tommy Terrible I will be back later, and I am not happy.” She got in her car and slammed the door before Nate could reply. He stood watching as she pealed out of the parking lot. Connor had come out with his coffee cup in hand to stand next to Nate.
“Good morning Nate, what’s all the noise about?”
Nate put his arm around Connor, and walked him towards the building. “I may have mistakenly mentioned you putting a naked woman on the seat of my Lincoln with me.”
Connor choked his coffee up through his nose as Nate pounded him on the back and brayed with laughter. Connor took a handkerchief from his coat, wiped his face and blew his nose. He looked up finally at Nate. “Oh, you no good. rotten. dog. How could you do something like that to me, you dolt?”
“Oh my Lord,” Nate wheezed. “What a way to start a morning. Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it partner?”
Connor put a hand through his short-cropped hair. “I am in sooooooo much trouble.”
“I forgot to tell you the message she gave me for you. She said ‘tell Tommy Terrible I will be back later, and I am not happy’.”
“Road trip.”
“You chicken-shit,” Nate teased him. “Just do a mind meld on her again. She needs discipl
ine.”
“She didn’t need anything until you decided to bring something from a top secret confidence between us to her attention,” Connor replied.
“Top secret confidence my ass,” Nate objected. “She threw me off stride, asking me about whether you were getting too scary.”
Barf met them at the doorway. Nate ruffled the fur on his head and shook hands with him. He turned to lead the way inside, and over to the bar. Connor poured himself another cup of coffee and gave Nate a cup.
“Hey Mutie, you planning on drinking any of that this time, or are you just planning on inhaling it?” Nate asked.
“Oh, you are so funny,” Connor said, shaking his head. “I am toast. You know that, don’t you?”
“The Fall of the Evil Mutant, huh? You’ll live. Can we start talking business or does everything have to be about you today?”
“I think you had better take Henry and Joseph out for some more driving,” Connor said. “Then we will get them suited up for Friday. Jeff and Jeremiah will stay here and alternate some shop time with monitoring the cars. How many appointments did they take for today while we were gone yesterday?”
“We have six for today,” Nate replied. “Luke and Sammy are doing amazingly well. We already logged a call complimenting them on that first ride. I listened to it after we got back yesterday. I think one more time out with Joe and Henry will give us two more drivers.”
“They know their way around the town,” Connor added. “With the GPS, and our monitoring, they have the confidence.”
“I heard Jeff had Attila monitoring the traffic too, and feeding the updates as they concerned Luke and Sammy.”
“I never even thought of that,” Connor acknowledged. “What the heck gave him the idea?”
“Just initiative I guess,” Nate allowed.
“I expect after yesterday you have Claire well prepared.”
“She takes care of home security, and I told her not to go unarmed anywhere,” Nate said.
“We can ask Karen to put a couple of agents on to watch out for her and Nate Jr.”
“It would just call attention to them,” Nate said, shaking his head. “We have tied up loose ends so fast, we should be on a business as usual basis soon.”
“I really think Greg may end up to be our last puzzle piece,” Connor said optimistically. “Karen says with the information we have given Quenton, we will have enough pull to keep the FBI and Justice Department on board in some crucial situations. With Greg at CIA, we will have the manpower to keep the heat up everywhere.”
“You think Derek will be getting the call for Greg today?”
“He should be calling me before noon,” Connor answered.
“I know you have a connection with our man Greg, but I want to caution you on not overestimating what we can achieve with him.”
Connor nodded. “Noted and filed Nate, but unless you want to run CIA, I have no one but Greg.”
“I want to stay with you and our crew Thomas. I have visions of actually passing something down for Nate Jr. Besides, we will run the important CIA operations through Greg anyway.”
“I am going to turn him loose on day to day operations. I want to see how well his ideas work,” Connor said, “and how quickly he can build up our overseas information. He could be invaluable in getting those kidnapped girls I can track down back to their families.”
“Any ideas on that yet?” Nate asked.
“Well,” Connor observed seriously. “Some people will die in that operation. I will make it so unpopular for these assholes to take our children, the business will dry up here.”
“You will be taking a personal hands on approach to that?”
“Yes Nate, I can shape shift, and extract the girls without getting them killed. With Red Chinese money paying the way, I will help Greg set up hits on them right after I get the girls out safe and sound. The ones I do not find alive I will handle myself.”
Nate whistled. “You will be one busy mutant. You will definitely need an operation in place here to coordinate all of that.”
“That’s where you come in my friend,” Connor smiled. “I will need you to make the extractions go off like clockwork.”
“Or there will be huge collateral losses until I get you out, right?”
“I will kill everything getting between me and the girl’s extraction,” Connor admitted, as he looked seriously into Nate’s eyes. “I will be as a plague upon their houses, and no one will know where it will be safe, or when it will end.”
“I believe you,” Nate agreed. “I will coordinate with Greg when we get him in. Between Attila, Greg, and our planning, there will be a lot of happy parents back here in the USA.”
“I hope so. It will be difficult work, but we can get it done Nate.”
Chapter 26 Business As Usual
The door opened up, and Luke led the rest of the crew inside. Connor looked up at the clock and smiled. “You boys are an hour early for work. Nate and I will just sit here and turn you all loose to get things set up. Anybody want some coffee?”
They all came up to sit at the bar as Connor set out coffee, sugar, and creamer. He took out some sticky buns he had in the refrigerator and heated them in the microwave. The crew dug into the plate he set out with ardor.
“You boys been skipping breakfast, or are the cupboards bare at home?” Nate asked chuckling, as they devoured the rolls.
They looked at one another and then Sammy spoke up. “Nothing bad Mr. Johnson, just more kids around at home who could use the meal more.”
“Why didn’t you ask for a little advance?”
“We don’t want anymore advances,” Sammy informed Nate. “Tomorrow we get our first paychecks. We can wait.”
“Yea, we aren’t destitute Mr. Johnson,” Jeff added. “We will take care of everything tomorrow after we get paid.”
Connor nodded. “Sounds right to me, but just remember, Nate and I can always lend a hand. Go on then, and get things started. Nate and I will throw down another cup while you guys get set up.”
After the crew left the room, Connor looked up at Nate. “They meant it too. It looks like they had a little meeting amongst themselves.”
“Yep,” Nate agreed. “I think they want to impress us.”
“They succeeded.”
“Indeed they did Thomas. You want me to have some more groceries sent in for around here?”
“No,” Connor replied. “I’ll call in an order to the same place I got all the stuff I have now. They have a website and they deliver quick.”
“You going to call Greg and let him know how we are doing?”
“I’ll wait for Derek to call me this morning first,” Connor answered. “No use in rattling Greg’s cage unless we have something for him. Now how in the heck did you get on the subject of naked Kathy in the front of your car with Karen?”
“Karen stopped me to ask if maybe you were evolving into the danger zone,” Nate told him, “and I just wanted to lighten things up a little. I figured she would think it humorous. How was I to know there must have been some history behind that joke?”
“She thinks I’m flipping out huh?”
“I think you may be progressing faster than she can handle,” Nate admitted.
“I will talk to her later. We better get going for now, and get things ready for the appointments today, at least oversee it until you take Joe and Henry out. Yesterday I was eager and anxious about starting the day Nate. Today, after seeing these guys in action, I am just eager.”
“I know what you mean,” Nate replied. “Let’s do it.”
The call from Quenton came at 1:30 in the afternoon. Jeff relayed the call to Connor out in the shop, using Attila to scramble the call as Connor had shown him.
“Connor here.”
“Our friends in the Senate were most cooperative Thomas,” Quenton said. “Greg will be the next Director of the CIA. The President had his reservations, but in the end, he went with the recommendations. Greg’s confir
mation will go smoothly.”
“How are you and Kim doing?” Connor asked.
“Good Thomas,” Quenton answered. “She has taken it a lot better than I could have hoped. I hope I am dead before anything like that ever happens again.”
Connor paused, remembering his own daughter’s violated body. “I know Derek. I cannot make light of the danger for you. I can only say we are on the verge of being able to reunite some other parents’ daughters to them, they thought lost forever.”
“I know Thomas,” Quenton replied, “and I do not plan to back away from what we had hoped to ultimately accomplish. You have fulfilled all that you had promised me with your help. I will provide you with any help behind the scenes possible overseas to the very point of plunging the Country into war.”
“After I get overseas, I will get the names of the girls they have taken. I will then have Nate send me all the information involved with their disappearance, and the most recent photos. The danger will come after I have the girl. If you and Greg can get a handle on our resources overseas, we can extract the girl safely, and punish the guilty on the spot. If I feel it only concerns one man at point of contact, I will take care ofjustice on the spot. If I find a small army around the guy, I may need to protect her until I can get some help.”
“Once you find a victim,” Quenton agreed, “we will be poised to strike Thomas, and God help anyone in the way. We pull out all the stops on this quest my friend. We are agreed on that. Do you still feel the Chinese are behind this whole operation?”
“I believe they are financing it to achieve blackmail means against the ones taking the girls,” Connor answered. “We have the originators of the plan already. I will be going to see Pierre in the form of our Mr. Yee. Once I get into a meeting with him physically, I will find out the list of these names. I have already hacked through his computer records and I could not find it. He has to have it somewhere, along with who he gave a copy to with the Chinese.”
“Then you will not be taking prisoners?” Quenton asked.
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