A/N- I'm soooooo sorry there's too much going on in my life. And this chapter was hell for me and if it wasn't for Ominous JFR, who co-wrote this upcoming segment, this wonderful user who I correspond with from time to time, I would forever be stuck. So this is a HUGE thank you to him and you guys should definitely applaud him because he helped me out. Whenever you guys have a chance check out his Sly Cooper Story Clash of Canes as well as his other stories. I think he's doing a sequel…anyway Ominous JFR THANK YOU!
"Slow down Murray, you nearly ran into a tree!" Sly yelled.
"It is dark as hell out here!" Murray groaned as he strained his eyes to see the road.
It was Wednesday night, about 9:47 P.M. Sly and Murray were driving down the lonely road with little visibility, other than the headlights to guide them. Luckily, they were almost there, making the two friends a little more comfortable.
"Hey Sly," Bentley contacted the Raccoon via Binocucom. "Are you guys ok?"
"Yes, we're almost at Bino's hideout. I'm praying that Murray won't put us in the hospital." Sly playfully remarked.
"Hey." The hippo retaliated. "The Murray can handle this, unless the sarcastic thief wants to drive in the pitch black jungle."
Sly swiftly shook his. "No, I'm fine. You got this."
Bentley cleared his throat.
"Just be careful Sly. There's maximum security surrounding the place. I'm counting on you to find a way around it."
Sly giggled.
"Relax Bentley. You know I always find a way to get what I want. By the way, how's my little brother?"
The turtle chuckled.
"Damien is fine. He's just dancing to some song on VH1."
Sly smiled.
"Cute. Well, I'll hit you up when we finally arrive. Hopefully we won't die before we get there."
Murray gave him a side glance of disapproval but said nothing.
"Ok, be safe you two." Bentley said and then hung up.
Bentley put down his Binoucom next to his laptop. He had to go the bathroom for a second.
"Hey Damien?" Bentley turned to the little meerkat.
Damien stopped dancing and gave the turtle his undivided attention.
"Yes Bentley?"
"I'm going to head to the bathroom real quick. If Sly or Murray contact through Binoucom, just tell them where I'm at."
The boy nodded.
"Good, I'll be back. I don't want to pee on myself." Bentley mumbled as he went on his way.
Damien giggled at the comment and went back to dancing but stopped when he heard a low beeping sound coming from the desk area with Bentley's stuff.
He went over to the desk and at first thought it was the Binoucoms but quickly realized the sound was coming from the laptop.
The meerkat was always curious as to what the turtle did on there. He knew it wasn't right to go through grown folks stuff but he just wanted to take a small peek.
Damien was far from being computer savvy however, to a certain extent, he had basic computer skills since his school allowed the students to use them. He moved and clicked the mouse a few times until a window popped onto the screen. It displayed a website called Thiefnet.
"Wow, what is this?"
He browsed further on the site and saw an envelope shaped icon blinking rapidly.
"I guess Bentley got some mail." The boy observed. "I wonder if I should open it."
Still, he sort of felt guilty for going through Bentley's laptop and decided to minimize the window. Yet, he accidently clicked on the wrong button and the email popped onto the screen anyway.
"Ah man, I'm gonna be in trouble." Damien was growing fearful as he tried to fix the issue. Nevertheless, his eight-year-old mind got the best of him when he become distracted by heart and kiss icons, with a small message underneath.
Dear Turtletech75,
I think you're such a sweet guy. I know I've told you this once before but it's fun talking to you about video games and the latest technology. Even though we have never met, I see you as a really great online friend and maybe even more than that…well…I don't know…I know that seems a little silly but I really have feelings for you. You're very kind and caring and have a great sense of humor. Anyway, I hope you're having a great time in Panama, chat with me when you have a chance.
Your friend,
Black Baron.
All Damien could do was stare at the computer screen.
Suddenly he burst into a fit of laughter and sang.
"Bentley's gotta girlfriend; Bentley's gotta girlfriend, Ben-"
Then Damien heard the bathroom door swing open. He minimized the window and rushed back in front of the T.V., pretending to dance.
Bentley wheeled himself back to his desk.
"Did Sly or Murray call in?" The turtle asked.
"Uh…No, I ain't heard nothing from them while you were gone." The meerkat replied hesitantly.
"Umm…ok." That was all Bentley could say as he went back to his laptop.
Damien stifled his laughter as he whispered.
"Bentley's gotta girlfriend. Bentley's gotta girlfriend. Bentley's gotta girlfriend…"
Sly and Murray were at their destination as they parked the van they rented a few days ago in the bushes. They didn't want to get out just yet as they had to think of a way to get inside.
From the distance, the building was a gloomy gray color and it was huge. Bentley definitely wasn't exaggerating when he mentioned the security. A long barbed wire fence surrounded the building complete with a scary enormous gate, bright neon spotlights were up, cameras surveying ever inch of the joint, and the two creepy looking guards seemed to be ready to take down anyone or anything that got in the way.
Sly reached for his Binoucom and got in touch with the nerdy turtle.
"Bentley, you weren't kidding when you told me how tight the security in this place was."
"Told you so. Have anything in mind?"
"No, I was hoping you could help me out."
The turtle contemplated for minute and then an idea popped into his head.
"Do you still have those clothes in the back of the van?" Bentley asked, referring to some clothes The Cooper Gang had from doing laundry yesterday.
The Raccoon totally forgot about the load still being in there.
"Yeah I do."
"Do you also have those fake I.D.s I gave both of you?"
The Raccoon smirked once he understood what the turtle was planning.
"I sure do and I think everything will work out just fine."
There were two guards outside the humongous gate patrolling. The guardsmen, who were a koala and a Gorilla, were sitting at their booths being bored and mentally exhausted.
"I can't wait until our shifts are over." The koala yawned. "I hate being at this isolated shithole."
"Who you telling?" The Gorilla replied as he too yawned. "I'm beginning to think I should quit this lame job and find something else."
"I hear ya man." The koala guard agreed.
Suddenly, the guards heard bushes from afar bustling. They snapped into attention.
"What the hell is that?" The Gorilla questioned in alarm.
They both had their semi-automatics ready to blast whoever or whatever was in a mist.
"Come out this instant!" The Gorilla demanded.
"Don't shoot." A voice said cautiously and slowly emerged from the uncomfortable bushes and so did another person although it was hard to see either of them.
"Come forth! We will not shoot." The Koala spoke as him and his partner still had their weapons pointed at the mysterious people of the night.
The strangers trotted carefully to the guards, revealing themselves once they stepped into the spotlights. One was a little above average height and slender in contrast to the other man who was bulky and nearly as tall the Gorilla. The Raccoon was wearing a sunhat, Hawaiian shirt, and shorts while the Hippo was wearing a trench coat and beanie. The guards went over to them and began asking questions.
"What is your business here?" The Gorilla questioned as he patted each one of them down while the koala covered for him.
"Uhh…we're here to see Bino Blue. We wanted to invest in his arms." Sly announced as he lowered his voice to make himself sound older.
The two guards paused as they looked at each other then back at the two men as if they had extra limbs growing out of their sides.
"State your names" The Gorilla barked.
"I'm Marquez Smith and this is my partner Nico Johnson." Sly answered hastily.
"Why are you speaking for him?" The Koala growled, referring to the Hippo. "Does he not have a voice of his own?"
"Actually, he's mute, sadly. Uh, look, as much as I would like to chat with you two gentlemen, we are really behind schedule-"
"Now look here, Raccoon!" The Koala cut him off and shoved him back in place. "You're on private property and you can't just be strolling up here all you want."
"Yeah, you have to have made arrangements to meet Mr. Blue prior to coming here. Hand me your I.D.s just so we know you're not lying." The Gorilla impatiently held his hand out.
Nervously, Sly and Murray dug into their pockets and handed the fake I.D.s to the Gorilla guard.
The Gorilla went into his booth and ran their information through the computer as the Koala kept a close eye on them.
"Man, I hope this works, if not we're screwed." The Raccoon mused as sweat trickled down his face.
After 15 minutes, the Gorilla came back and gave them their I.D.s
"Ok, you two are cleared." He signaled his Koala partner to open the gate, which he complied as he walked over to his booth and smashed the button. The gate separated into two parts, going opposite directions.
There was another guard, a hog, come out and approached Sly and Murray.
"Follow me you two and keep up." He said dryly.
The Raccoon and Hippo followed as closely as possible as they passed the gate walked further to enter the building.
They went inside and turned their heads in every direction to see how classy and decorative it was.
The hallway had marbled, baby blue floors and the rugs were a navy blue silk material.
When they stepped into the main lobby, there were fish shaped water fountains in every corner. Just like the rugs in the hallway, the furniture was covered in silk.
Sly took notice of all the portraits of the Jaguar, Bino Blue, were all over the walls.
"Excessive." Sly whispered to Murray, who giggled softly without the hog guard hearing.
The guard faced the two men and motioned for them to sit on the couch, which they did.
A few minutes later, a short armadillo entered the lobby. He waved his hand at the hog guard, dismissing him, which the hog gladly obeyed as he hurried back outside. The armadillo went over to the two.
The armadillo had to be in his early thirties, wore all black, and he didn't have much hair.
"Ahh, Hola my good hombres." The armadillo spoke in Spanglish with his Panamanian accent.
"I'm Piri, Señor Blue's number one man. I'll be escorting you to his office."
"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Sly greeted as Piri stuck out his hand, which was bandaged.
"My mano is a little sore, let's just say I had a little accidente." Although in reality it wasn't.
"I see," Sly gently took his hand and shook it. "I'm Marquez Smith and this is my partner Nico Johnson, he's mute."
Piri raised his eyebrow.
"Hmm, interesting." He chuckled.
"Say Piri, we've travelled very far and would like to go to the restroom."
"Oh certainly, it's right over there." Piri pointed to the door near the end of the lobby.
"Thank you." Sly nodded and he and Murray rushed over to the restroom, which was just as decorated with fancy material as the hallway and lobby. The use of blue in the place so far, while calming, was sort of bugging the Raccoon which was strange because he loved the color blue. However, he knew it was mainly because of where they were and who the building belonged to.
Murray unbuttoned his trench coat, searched through one of the large pockets, and took out Sly's Binocucom. He tossed it to his friend, who caught it expertly.
"Boy am I glad that stupid Gorilla didn't get a hold of our Binocucoms. I guess this coat comes in handy after all."
Sly walked over to the sink and removed his hat to wash his face.
"I'm just glad that Bentley was able to hack into the database to put our fake names in Bino's computer system. If that didn't work, we probably would have been in real trouble." Sly sighed with relief.
After he finished drying off, Sly got in contact with the turtle via Binocucom to give him an update and what the next step of their plan was.
Bino Blue was in his board room watching T.V. He was receiving a relaxing head massage from his muse and girlfriend who, like himself, was a Jaguar. She was right behind him kissing his neck as she did it.
"Damn…scratch a little further girl." He moaned softly having no care in the world.
"No problem baby." She did was he was told as she raked her fingers through his hair. Her nails running throughout his scalp was soothing, to where Bino was moaning softly and closed his eyes. He was no longer focusing his attention on the T.V. program.
Just as things were getting heated, his phone rang.
He reached for it and answered.
"Yes? You already on the elevator Piri? Good, I'll see you in a few." Then he hung up the phone.
He faced his muse as he got up from his chair and pulled her close.
"I'm sorry this has to end but you know the deal, Latoya."
"I understand, boo." She kissed him and then smiled.
He smiled back and caressed her cheek.
"I'll see you later night, don't worry."
"Ok." Bino kissed her and sent her on her way as he gave her one last look and winked at her. She did the same and left the room.
The male Jaguar sighed heavily and plopped back down and slouched in his chair.
He didn't even know he had an appointment but then again he had so many people on his list doing business with or for him that it was easy to lose track at times. He eyed the clock that was hanging on the wall and pulled out his cigar to smoke it.
"This better be good…" He grumbled disappointingly and breathed out smoke.
Someone tapped his double doors from the outside.
"Señor Bino it's me, Piri."
The Jaguar watched as Piri walked into the boardroom, and he was followed by two other men, a Raccoon and a hippo. The armadillo walked over to him and leaned against the wall on his left, and the two other men started walking in when.
"Muthafucka, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Bino Blue growled.
Sly and Murray stopped in their tracks, seeing that the Jaguar was talking to them. The raccoon looked about coolly, and noticed the pictures, but didn't give them any attention, but he did notice that Piri was looking at him with a warning and somewhat suggestive glare. He nodded and looked at something behind the two, and Sly quickly caught on. He looked at his friend, and noticed he was sweating bullets.
"Man, I hope Murray plays it cool." he thought.
"Go close the door would you," the Raccoon told the hippo. He nodded and went and closed the door, and when he got back they headed up the long business like table, which was covered in ash dishes, that had been emptied out earlier.
Bino's mood had calmed down but as the two approached he raised his hand and they stopped seeming to have understood this. They weren't any more than halfway down the table, but he wasn't sure of these two, they weren't his normal buyers, and he had never seen them.
"One of you on the left side of the table and the other on the other," the Jaguar explained. The hippo stayed on the left while the Raccoon vaulted over onto the other side and landed in a pulled out chair, not knocking anything over or crashing like Bino had hoped. Show off was one of the words he could use to describe him.
Once the two had settled in their seats, and Bino had gotten a good look over them, he decided to start this late meeting.
"So why are you two here? To do business with me, ask for a job, or something? And what are your names again?" he asked gruffly.
"I'm Marquez Smith," the Raccoon said, and gestured a hand to his accomplice. "And this is Nico Johnson. We're here to-"
"Wait a minute youngblood, why can't he introduce himself?" the jaguar asked curiously.
"He's mute, he got punched in the throat when he was younger, hasn't been able to say anything since. Such a shame." the one called Marquez explained with quickness.
"So I guess that you will be doing all the talking." Bino grumbled.
He could have been spending time with his girlfriend Latoya than talking to these two clowns. At the moment he wasn't willing to listen to anything they had to offer or ask of him, not unless they started getting his attention, whatever they were here for better amuse him.
"Back to why you're here?" he asked, wanting to get this meeting started.
"We're here to do business with you, you know get some weapons and whatnot." Sly spoke calmly.
Bino intertwined his hands and rested them on the table with an actual interested look.
"Now, you're talking my language, shorty. So who you run with? As in, being affiliated with, this isn't just some vacation protection I hope?" he asked smoothly.
"No nothing like that, we were actually sent here by our boss. We're having some problems with some undesirables robbing our mules and dealers with our "merchandise", if you catch my drift." Smith aka Sly made air quotes with his fingers.
"Our boss has gotten tired of losing money and now he wants to deal with it. He heard of you guys from another gang who uses your weapons, and he decided to send my associate and I to set up a deal with you."
"Hmmm," Bino thought. "What gang was this youngblood?" he asked.
"It was these guys called the Ruffnecks." Smith said casually.
Bino looked at the hippo who was called Johnson and noticed that he was fidgeting with his hands, nervously it seemed, and when his associate said that name he seemed to shirk.
Bino Blue already knew that he didn't do any dealing with any gang called the Ruffnecks, but he wanted to see if this kid would break his character, he didn't but his friend's reaction was all he needed.
"Ahh the Ruffnecks. If you know him, how is Reggie doing?" he thought smugly to himself.
Sly slapped himself mentally. Him and his big mouth sometimes.
"He's fine, he told me to tell you hello, you know" he kept his cool, be it feeling less confident.
"Ahhh, well tell him that I hope his little act is going well," Bino noticed that the raccoon's eyes opened a bit, and he sat up straighter before settling down.
The Jaguar smirked.
"So, what kind of arms are you packing around here?" Smith asked, getting back to the fake topic.
"Aks all the way to Uzis, and a few RPGs, but those are probably out of your bosses price range, but we mostly deal with cheap and reliable guns, and we also deal with drugs like you, so we won't be accepting that as pay. It's cash or nothing here, youngblood." he said.
"Our boss is willing to pay in cash, but all we want is some uzis and hand guns."
Throughout the entire conversation Murray was just sitting there, waiting this out. Part of him just wanting to go back to the hotel room, the other just want to outright beat the son of a bitch Jaguar. He was nervous, and the longer they stayed there, the more chances there were of them being found out that they weren't actual businessmen from another gang. Sly had already made a mistake and they both knew that the other two men knew as well. At least he didn't have to do anything but be quiet, which was probably for the best. He was just there just in case things went even further south and Sly needed some extra muscle.
Piri, was leaning against the wall and was wondering why his boss was letting these two phonies keep talking. He knew that Bino knew that these two weren't legit, so why let them keep talking. Sure Bino and he weren't considered friends, just partners in a bloody business, but he did care about their dealings. For all they knew these two could have wires, they probably did have wires, and were gathering Intel for the cops. Why not just blow their brains out now and have done with it. He kept his mouth shut though, the Jaguar probably already had plans forming in his head.
The armadillo rubbed his scarred hand, remembering when Bino stabbed a knife through it. He didn't want to aggravate the Jaguar, he liked his hands and he didn't need another knife through his hand.
He looked at the time and the two had been talking for an hour, and it seemed like they were nearly done talking. It was mostly about how exchanges would be done, how they would sneak the weapons through security and to insure that the pay would come. Now it seemed like they were just talking about stuff that wasn't even related to any of the things that they did, it was nonsense really.
"...yeah I've had that happen to me a couple of times, it fucking hard to not have it happen though," Bino chuckled in amusement.
"I know," Sly agreed with a chuckle of his own, which he had to force. He was already sick of talking to the obnoxious Jaguar.
It was due to the fact that the Jaguar thought too much of himself, and his brandish decorating. The blue satin covered walls, the silk blue curtains, the satin tiled floor, and even the chairs had blue satin cushions. Bino Blue, made sense that he did everything in blue, but it was overkill. The one thing that he noticed was that the Jaguar wore a midnight blue satin suit.
He was also what it seemed to be an egomaniac. He had portraits of himself in the room, and in the hallways and in different corridors of the factory, either wearing a business suit or dressed as a thug from the projects.
It really was too much, though Sly pretended that this was all cool, and he believed he complimented him on it earlier. But what really made him wonder were the portraits behind Bino, they were of Scarface, Al Capone, and Malcolm X. Why did he have these?
"What's wrong Mr. Smith, tired or something?" Bino asked as he eyed the Raccoon.
"No, it's just that I noticed that you have a picture of Malcolm X. I find that quite interesting."
"It very sad that he's gone, your generation could have benefitted a lot from this man if were still alive."
Bino took a sip of wine and used the umbrella pick to swirl the liquid around.
"Malcolm once said 'A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything', a very powerful statement, wouldn't you agree?" The Jaguar darkly smirked at the Raccoon.
Sly was really getting ticked off by Bino but he calmly nodded and gave the older man the same expression.
"Of Course, Mr. Blue, can't argue with that."
"Well, it was nice doing business with you," Bino said, and looked at the time. "This meeting is over, I've kept you long enough and I know that men such as yourselves have better things to do
As the two business men left the room, and a good minute had passed he got up and walked over to the armadillo. He placed both his arms on either side of his head and glared at him, and Piri to his satisfactions seemed liked he was about to pass out, and there was this look of fear in his eyes that he enjoyed seeing. It made him feel confident knowing that he could strike so much fear and worry into his men. Though he was feeling in a somewhat better mood from this, he did though still feel very annoyed about the whole ordeal.
"The fuck type of shit was that?" he growled, and had a sudden urge to beat his accomplice to a bleeding whimpering pulp.
"Señor Blue, you allowed them to sit there and ramble on…" Piri mumbled angrily, already knowing what was going to happen.
"Muthafucka," he punched the short henchman in the gut and he dropped like a flimsy piece of paper.
"Don't even get smart with me." he gave the crouched down man a kick to the gut and he heard him groan, begging him to stop.
Knowing that he had had enough he picked him up and dusted him off, and pushed him against the wall and walked away, and kept on talking.
"The Ruffnecks, that youngblood thought he could play me." Mr. Blue said, a growl in his tone.
"Not that it matters now, but why didn't you make sure those two weren't phonies," he said, feeling tired.
"Well Señor Blue, I mean they seemed legit at first, I didn't think they were impostores." Piri breathed out, feeling like his guts had been rearranged with his lungs.
"Swear...sometimes Piri your bitch ass pisses me off." He said leaning over the table.
"You can be a damn handful yourself hijo de puta." The armadillo thought to himself darkly.
"I don't think that Mr. Smith, and Mr. Johnson are who they say they are," the Jaguar continued his tirade.
"That has been establecido…" the armadillo said aloud, and got a murderous glare from his boss, but he waved it off.
"That mapache did look familiar though." He added. "I just can't remember where I saw him."
"Doesn't matter who he is, he and his little bitch of a friend are going to get their asses handed to them before...stabbing us in the hand." Bino chuckled in amusement, and Piri just glared at the back of his head.
"Bastardo." He said, and that just made the Jaguar chuckle.
"Grab me the paper would you, I need to think about how we're going to "dispose of our guests"," Bino said, feeling himself relaxing. It wasn't the first time he had killed, and it wasn't going to be the last. His second in charge did as he asked and plopped it down in front of him and leaned back on the wall, thinking about his own problems.
Mr. Blue skimmed through it and on the third page there was a small news article about this kid called Sly Cooper and his gang. Just a band of punks who stole from men like him, or anybody he wanted, and always seemed to get away with it. He resented the Raccoon more than admired him. Who did this guy think he was, stealing from hard working men like himself, and then getting their unfortunate behinds busted by the cops?
He also vaguely recalled his former associate Muggshot mentioning The Cooper Gang when the bulldog bought arms and drugs from him. While he was a good buyer, Bino always thought there was something off about the bulldog. However, it didn't matter as of now. Last he heard Muggshot was behind bars in New York. The Jaguar surely didn't want to wind up in that position.
"And look who managed to crawl his way into the paper this week." Bino growled aloud and brought Piri out of his daze.
"As if I care…" the armadillo muttered under his breath, not wanting to talk to the haughty Jaguar who had kicked him down earlier.
"Just listen to this," Blue had heard what his henchman said; his smart remarks were steadily irritating him.
"Cooper and his notorious Gang of thieves once again have eluded cops and haven't been seen for the last two months. What an arrogant shorty. Who does he think he is... " he paused for a second seeing a small headshot of the thief himself in the picture. His mind caught up with him and he went over the meeting from earlier.
"What's wrong now, choking on your cigar again, Señor Blue?" Piri joked in bitterness.
"Tell me you know who Sly Cooper is and know what he looks like?" the Jaguar asked menacingly.
"Of course I do, Señor Blue. Why do you-Hey! what the -," Piri yelled as his boss grabbed him by the collar and forced his head down and made him look at the picture in the paper.
"If you know him so well, then why can't you recognize your boyfriend's face, maricón?!" Bino nearly yelled.
Piri saw the same Raccoon that they had been talking to nearly ten minutes ago, and he gulped, fearing the worse. It wasn't as bad as he thought but it still hurt.
Blue brought Piri's head back and then smashed his face into the table and it made a loud thump and the man rolled off it, clutching his nose where blood was gushing out.
"OH DIOS!" the armadillo nearly screamed in rage and pain.
"Oh stop bitching like the cheap ass hoes you fuck with." the Jaguar said emotionless. "I could of just stabbed you in your other hand so be thankful." he waved a hand over him, seriously Piri complained too much.
"Now, I'm going to have this screw up of yours fixed, so just lay there and keep your mouth shut, alright," the Jaguar said, walking over to a radio. "Yo Obie," he growled into it.
"Yeah, what do you need boss?" a somewhat deep voice came.
"We got two phonies heading out of here, a man called Mr. Smith a raccoon, and a mute hippo, who goes by the name of Mr. Johnson. I want you to get rid of those guys." he ordered.
"No problem boss, I'll take care of them for yah." Obie chuckled evilly. Finally he got to go out and have some fun tonight. There was static then a click and he put the radio away.
"Alright Cooper, you think you're such a big shot, but let me tell you something," Bino began as he sat down in his chair and leaned back, hearing Piri growling as he was seemingly pissed about his broken nose.
"I'm the don in this castle, if you think you can just walk in here with that foolish swagger of yours and get away with it, you're messing with the wrong muthafucka, and you're going to be a dead man at the end of this."
"Señor Blue, must you always hear yourself speak?" Piri forced out a low chuckle getting up from the floor, and blood dripping onto the floor, he didn't care if Bino attacked him again.
"Oh come on man, you're getting blood all over the floor! Go get someone to clean this up!" Blue said exasperatedly, he was tired of using the armadillo as a punching bag even if he did deserve it right now.
"Yes Señor Blue." Piri said, looking for something to stop the bleeding.
"I fucking hate that cabrón!" He said within the very depths of his mind.
Ch 29 Will be posted later today…stay tuned and Leave a Comment. :D Oh and Chapter 30 will be posted by at least the end of this week with some Carm/Sly stuff, hehe among other things. Sorry it took so long. Again, I appreciate the support and Love for this story, if you have an questions, concerns, or suggestions, PM anytime. Peace.
