Disclaimer: Mary and Marshall belong to David Maples. If they hadn't been misused by others I wouldn't be writing this.
Sonn of Mann – Chapter 52 – The End is in Sight
MARSHALL POV
After we watched the marshals frog march Bernheim out of the office the laptop screen went black. I couldn't tell if Conran had turned the camera off or if the battery died. I certainly thought it was better if Pierson didn't know we were watching.
The wait for news of what happened next seemed interminable. The kids woke up, chased each other and us around the couch and played with their trains. Mom and Mary made dinner.
"Mary!" Mom's voice was sharp. Mary was on the verge of doing a face plant into her macaroni.
"Huh?" Mary jerked awake. She looked around surprised at her surroundings. The kids were batting the table with their carrot sticks and didn't notice. I'd been watching Norah copy Marty's batting swing and missed Mary's drooping eyelids.
"C'mon Sweetheart. Bedtime for you." I scoot her chair away from the table and take her arm.
"Oh all right."
"You're just saying that because you love me." Mary's fun to tease, especially when the probability of retaliation is low.
"Don't push it Doofus." That's all she's got? We shuffle down the hall and she drops down on the bed and flops back. I remove her boots and put her legs on the bed.
"Sweet dreams. I'll join you soon my love." I lean over to hear her mumble something incomprehensible. I kiss her cheek as I pull the covers over her.
I'm bathing the kids when my burner phone rings. Mom heard the phone and came into the bathroom. Hands full of bubbles I pointed my elbow to my back pocket with the phone.
"Dad?" I guessed moving my head quickly to avoid a mouthful of bubbles.
"Oh Seth. Thank goodness. Are you and Connie okay?" He must have replied, but I was fully occupied trying to keep two slippery bodies from diving into the edge of the tub. Mom took the phone and left me to fend for myself.
I scoop up a handful of bubbles and threaten the two bathtime miscreants. "I'm gonna get you!" They squeal and I reach around them to open the drain and start the rinse cycle.
Mom kneels and joins me on the bath mat. "Your father said to call him when you're free and that it's okay to use the same phone." If he's not concerned with the burner being traced, things must have gone well. I'm anxious to hear what happened but the kids come first.
Mom and I double teamed the kids. She takes Marty and I wrestle Norah into a clean diaper and a white fuzzy sleeper with pink hearts. Wonder who bought that. Mary's not the hearts and flowers type. We get them in bed and Mom takes over story time while I call Dad.
He answers immediately. "Where are you? Is it really okay to call using the same phone?"
"It's safe. Conran got a scrambler or some such thing. Says not to worry." Then he proceeds to fill in the blanks.
Bernheim had been charged with threatening a federal official – for starters. Once the Attorney General gets involved other charges will be brought. Pierson was in the clear although her files, and Ferguson's were being examined as well as the entire DoJ network. Dad didn't say, but I'll bet Clint is the one scrubbing the network. While waiting for my call Dad had talked to Stan and filled him in on the DC doings.
I had just hung up with Dad when Stan called. Ferguson is under arrest. He faces child pornography charges and a slew of other federal crimes. Stan asked when we'd be coming back to Albuquerque. I told him it wasn't a decision I could make alone. He understood. He asked about the kids and I told him they didn't seem to mind staying inside but were definitely starting to act like siblings. "That's good, right?" Stan asked. I assured him it was.
After we hung up I remembered a time Norah had been wrestling Marty for his train engine. Mary scooped her up gently reminding her that it was Marty's train and that her train was "right over there." I had to laugh when Norah gave Mary her very own WTF glare. She understood all right, she just didn't like it. Mary scolded me for encouraging her by laughing.
I had enjoyed our time together but the layer of worry, hell the out and out fear, that gripped me every time a car backfired, every time the phone rang, every time Norah, the kids or Mom were out of my sight drained me. Mary accused me of spying. Nothing could be further from the truth, I protested that I didn't watch her in the bathroom! I listened! There's a difference between caring and stalking! She rolled her eyes, unconvinced but she let it go.
I check on Mary who is still sound asleep. We had slept in the same bed every night but neither of us got much rest, and not because we were intimate. We'd both been in witness transport mode since leaving Albuquerque. The pregnancy zaps Mary's energy and she needs REM sleep. Sleep she's not getting with one eye open all night. Now that her trap had caught the rats responsible for targeting her, she could sleep. I couldn't. What if Ferguson had hired another hitman? What if that hitman was still after her?
After giving Mom Dad and Stan's news I call Conran. He said all three of them were tapping every agency every informer they knew to assess the level of threat against Mary. We can't leave this sanctuary if someone is still after her.
I went to bed after talking to Conran. Mary didn't even bat an eyelash when I spooned her. She was still sleeping soundly when my burner buzzed. Not wanting to wake Mary, I slipped out of bed and into the hall. It was Eleanor and she had found a murder for hire site on the dark web. The description of the target fit Mary although her name wasn't used. Eleanor had alerted Clint and he and the cyber spooks traced it back to one of Ferguson's two henchmen. The site was taken down and the henchmen – one muscle, one geek – are under arrest. The other posts on that site will keep the cybercrime guys busy for months.
The kids aren't awake, but I hear Mom in the kitchen. I sit, making the bed bounce and gently put my hand on Mary's shoulder. "Wakey wakey Sunshine. You'll never sleep tonight if you spend all day and all night sleeping."
"What time is it?" Mary asks groggily.
"Time for little girls to wake up and smell the pancakes." I feel privileged to watch her. Her natural beauty is enhanced by the glow of pregnancy.
Mary squints and grimaces, unamused. "It's 8:30," I tell her.
"PM or AM?"
"AM. A lots happened while you were in la-la land. It's time to click your heels and say there's no place like home."
Mary lifts herself up on one elbow. Her hair falls over one eye remindeing me of the old time film star, Veronica Lake.
"Do you think it's safe to go home?" I've never heard her so coherent after being awakened. It shows how worried she is.
"Not yet, but I think it will be soon."
The kids are still asleep. Mary scampers to the bathroom. When she returns we sit side by side on the bed, our bed, even if it is borrowed.
"So," Mary clears her throat and focuses on my face wanting reassurance but needing the truth even more. "Tell me. What did Seth say?"
"Short version or long?"
Never one to compromise Mary insists, "Both."
"Oookay."
"Short version, Bernhiem and Ferguson are under arrest. Fetwell is being taken down by ABQPD today. Roach and McDaniels are in the wind. The solicitation for your murder is off the web."
Mary sits for a moment, staring off into space, digesting the news. "Long version?"
"Mr. Aaron Spikey Hair sang like a canary. Unfortunately, although he admitted the photo was taken in the party room of Knockouts . . . ."
She interrupts. "The strip club in Albuquerque?"
I nod yes. "He couldn't name the men with him. He was only in Albuquerque a short time and Ferguson didn't introduce him to everyone." It would have been nice if they had worn name tags.
"Bernheim did know that Tippy had ordered Ferguson to have you killed. I just got in the way." Dumb twit seemed to think this was just normal Washington politics. "He thought the gun smuggling plot was faked to discredit Pierson. It was, but it wasn't fake. He didn't know Fetwell was a real person, an actual gun runner. He'd never heard of Roach or McDaniel and couldn't pick them out of a series of mug shots. He claims he never met them."
"What about Stan? What's happening on the home front?" Mary needs all the facts to determine if it's safe for Norah-bug to be sleeping in her own bed.
"The marshals got to Ferguson's office before he flew the coop. The CSI guys sent me photos of his laptop. He had pried it open with a can opener, extracted what he thought was the hard drive and was trying to burn it in his trash can. The marshals who arrested him were able to stop the optical drive from being destroyed. The hard drive was untouched. If the marshals hadn't come to his office the fire department would have."
"As for Fetwell, he operates out of Albuquerque. When Stan talked to ABQPD they told him that they, specifically Abigail, had been tracking him for months. The leads we give them combined with what they already have should be enough to bring him in. They still need to dig up more evidence. Literally." I smirk. "Fetwell had keys to several mausoleums with enough space to store cases of weapons." Did Conran know the cemetery chosen for my internment was used to transfer weapons?
"Eleanor found the website soliciting your murder and the cyberspooks took it down. They arrested the two goons running it who have ties to Tippy and Ferguson. So, yes. unless something else comes up, I think it's safe to go back to Albuquerque."
I expected a heart felt hug of relief. What I got were more questions. "What was Tippy's beef with me?"
I look at my tousled hair beauty and sigh. "Tippy Boswell had a hard on for you since the first time he worked with us." Sometimes it feels like the entire male population lusts after my partner. Of course there was a time when the situation was reversed.
"What's with the goofy smile?" Really Mare? You always think my smile is goofy.
"Remember that case on the Reservation? Remember the American Indian officer?"
"Oh yeah. My lady parts are still twinging. They ached for weeks after riding that bang tail. That officer had a thing for you big time. It was downright disgusting, like high school only worse."
"Yes," I reply wistfully. "She was sweet." Mary groans.
I turn to see her face. "I was glad you got to experience someone make a pass at your partner."
"Yeah, I could tell it did wonders for your ego." Mary's mouth purses in distaste.
"Ah well that's all in the past. Now that I'm no longer engaged I don't attract that kind of attention. I seem to have lost whatever allure I had." As long as Mary is still attracted to me I could care less.
Mary nudges my shoulder with hers. "You Doofus! You still go it. The women still appreciate you, but they backoff when I give them my best stink eye." She shakes her head and turns away. "I can't believe you haven't noticed."
"Ah, Sunshine," I cradle her cheek and gaze into her eyes. "I'm so besotted with you other women don't even register on my radar"
"Don't say besotted. And you damn well better not flirt. Not if you expect to father any more children."
"Flirt? Moi?" My brain finally catches up with her last statement. More children?
"Mare? Would you consider having another baby? A baby after this one?"
Mary has the look she gets when her mouth outpaces her brain. She looks up sheepishly. "Let's just get this one hatched. Then we can talk."
We can? Not only is this pregnancy going well – so far – she'd actually consider doing it one more time? Is this really my partner talking or her pregnancy hormones? Should I get Finkel to check her out? It's probably hormones.
"You know I see men giving you the once over all the time. You are a strong beautiful woman." I lean over and kiss her blushing cheek. Mary's adorable when she goes all shy. I never thought I'd see her like this.
Mary shrugs off the kiss to compose herself. "You were going to explain why Tippy decided on me for target practice."
Oh, yeah. Tippy. "When you mocked him, calling his attempt to ask you out lame, he was angry. Didn't he threaten to have you prosecuted for not complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act?"
Mary laughs. "I thought he was joking! It wasn't very funny, but I laughed."
"That didn't help, Mare. You humiliated him. His lust turned to hate. Honestly I was surprised that you didn't tell him he was hired to meet some sort of ADA quota."
She gives me a look that asks if I'm kidding. "So you and I caught Tippy leaking WITSEC information. I'm sure that didn't sit well. How did we miss his other criminal activities?"
"He kept a close eye on the gun smuggling and human trafficking stuff but was very careful. Never used a DoJ computer or phone. Didn't keep any records at his place or his office. He had everything stored off site with a security system."
"You mean one of those self storage places?"
"Yup. They found it by going through his financials. He blackmailed Ferguson from prison. His henchmen had photos of Ferguson having sex with children they took from Tippy's storage space." The thought of the abuse those children suffered makes me want to hurl.
"Those children could be the ones who had been separated from the parents while crossing the border. Weren't McDaniel's coyotes instructed to do that?" she asks. I nod. "Pedophiles are lower than mother-humping scum." She sighs. "So, there was more than one bad apple in the AUSAs office? Wonder what other worms will crawl out? If I get a hold of Ferguson I will cut off his balls and Bobbitt him." Yup, partner. Exactly what I had in mind. She halts and swallows hoping to foil the nausea caused by Ferguson. "What about Roach and McDaniel?"
"Roach – totally appropriate name for that sack of excrement - he and McDaniel are in the wind. The cybersquad is scouring Ferguson's computer, tablets and phones for leads. Ferguson admitted that he met with them regularly. They got the money or guns and Ferguson got the children."
"What happened to the kids?"
"I don't know. Homeland Security and the FBI are working on it, starting with the ones whose parents turned themselves in. They're trying to identify the children in the photos with Ferguson."
Mary sighs sadly. "Is there a way we could help? Find the kids, I mean."
"I dunno Mare. I'll ask. Maybe Conran knows."
Mom expects Dad and Conran to be back in time for dinner tonight. Time to start packing? It will be good to get back home, except which home? I'm not ready to live alone without Mary and my Norah bean.
A/N: Thanks Jojo78 for the read through. All remaining mistakes are mine. Yes, after over a year this story is winding down. The remaining chapters have yet to be written, so if there's anything you'd like to see addressed, let me know. I have no idea if you can open a laptop with a can opener. Don't try this at home!
