CH34

I'm on vacation for a week with no cell or internet connection available. So this will be your last update for just over a week. February 8, 2016. St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Maarten. Yes i know i should have kept that part to myself. So sue me.

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Rick, Kate, and Alexis were all standing at the shore line of the lake while he tried to teach Alexis how to skip rocks across the lake. The best Rick had done so far was a couple of skips while Alexis would throw them in and, "Ker-plop!" They'd go in and sink to the bottom first thing. "Keep trying, it takes lots of practice," Rick told her and left her to her practice while he stepped back to join Kate who was smiling while watching.

"I still don't understand how you can be this marvelous, sweet, and wonderful man and father after what your parents put you through." She was still amazed. From what she had seen Rick should be a vicious monster ten times worse than even his father was. "Mostly I vowed to be the exact opposite of my father. The more he beat me, the more I turned inward and plotted my escape. I suppose I'm lucky that I liked writing or being outside of the community might have been worse than staying," he tried to explain.

Kate took hold of his arm with both hands. "I hate to bring this up, but we need to go home and clean it soon or the stench of the dead bodies may never come out," she said hesitantly. "Plus the longer the blood has to soak into the wood floors the more likely the stain will never come out."

"I just wish I knew what the right thing to do was. Obviously they found me and wanted to capture Alexis for some reason. If it weren't for you they would have probably succeeded. There were just too many of them. Should we go home and clean and wait for the next attempt? Go home and clean then sell it and move again? We need to think of your mother, too. If they've been watching long enough they'll know about you, your mother, and maybe even Oscar." He just didn't know what was the right thing to do.

"Mom has her restaurant that she wants to open, and she's happy here. Plus I think she likes Oscar," Kate said. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Oscar likes your mother more than just a little bit. You should have seen him after his wife, Eileen, died. It wasn't pretty. He seems to light up every time he comes here. You might have a step-father in your future," he suggested. Kate looked up at him and away from Alexis who was still not having much luck. "You think so?" Her father hadn't even been gone a year yet. "Oh, he's not going to pop the question tomorrow or even next month, but yeah, if she doesn't scare him off I can see him coming out here a lot," Rick remarked.

"Mom isn't moving back to New York." Kate saw a problem if Oscar was thinking that.'And when is he going to ask us?' her dragon asked, which made Kate's heartbeat increase. Since they were bonded they were practically already married. They just needed a piece of paper and a ring to make it official.

"He might even decide to move here. Gut your house and remodel it completely from the ground up. Or he might build her a new one out here somewhere or in town," Rick offered. "You think he'd move for her?" Kate was curious as to what Rick thought. After all he knew Oscar best. "He already works from home a lot. Get your mother to explain what his apartment looks like," he chuckled lightly.

They were silent for a while as each was in their own head. "Rick, you could sell your house. Create a new name and sell it to yourself. That way when Paladin looks up the house they'll find it sold to someone else," she said. "Won't they just come out to see who it is and see me?" He shot her idea full of holes. "Not if we go to someplace like Waco, Texas. Buy an airline ticket in your name and another one back in your new name. While you're there you'll buy a $10 grand piece of junk that really needs to be torn down. Maybe 6 months later you put it up for sale and are willing to sell it for the same $10 grand or less. After those 6 months you disappear," she submitted. "And what about you and your mother?" Rick didn't want them hurt.

"We're not officially married, we were just dating and then you moved away and I never saw you again. Simple," she said. "So I change my name again?" he persisted. "Only the house will be in a new name. You'll still use the name you have now. And when we think it's safe enough, you sell it back to yourself with your old name. The name you have now," she explained patiently. "Kind of like a ghost writer with me being both people only it's for a house instead of a book." Rick was catching on. "Ghost house," Kate said gigging. "Oooo, my house is haunted." Suddenly he liked the idea.

They spent the day camping and rented a boat to motor around the lake, much like last time. It convinced him that they didn't need their own boat. The lake just wasn't big enough to worry about buying his own.

Rick and Kate decided to take the risk and let Alexis sleep by herself this time since she seemed to be taking being a bear a little better. "I'm still worried about her Rick." Kate snuggled in a little closer. "She just needs time and lots of love," he replied. "Too bad she's in the next room. Having a beautiful, naked woman that I love in my bed is difficult to resist." He twisted a little to wrap his other arm around her so that she was being hugged. She closed her eyes and melted into him. She knew what his hugs could do, but she was also finding out that they were addictive. She loved being in his arms.

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After breakfast they pulled up stakes and drove back towards Newcastle. "We need lots of plastic bags and a whole lot of cleaning supplies," Rick commented while driving; Kate nodded in agreement.

She leaned over the seat and reached in back to her bag which was next to Alexis. She opened it and pulled out the book her mother had given her then sat back down in the front seat. "What's that?" Rick asked allowing himself a quick look as he drove. "I'm not sure. My mother gave it to me. She said it was Dad's and that he had gotten it from his parents, and they from theirs," Kate said, explaining what little she knew about it.

"It looks old. She didn't happen to give you the key, too?" He could see large, ornate bands holding it shut. "It doesn't open with a key. There's no lock to put the key into and Mom said Dad never could get it open," Kate told him. "A lock that isn't a lock that doesn't have a key. What's that on the cover?" Rick asked curiously. "It kind of looks like a dragon chasing its tail," she said. "You're a dragon," Alexis commented. "I am sweetie, but I don't know much and I don't have anyone to teach me. You have your father to teach you, but there's no one to teach me." Kate didn't like the thought about being on her own.

"Now how do you open this thing?" she muttered to herself as she tried to forcefully remove the bands, which got her nowhere. "They're connected on each end straight into the book, like they're part of it." She could feel the weight of it along with seeing lots of pages inside it. "The pages look thicker than paper," she commented as she ran a finger over the edge of the pages.

"If it's as old as it looks that's not paper like we have. More like papyrus than paper." Rick remarked.

Papyrus is a plant that grows wild all over the Nile river valley, which is to say it is very common in Egypt. You can cut the long stalks and soak them in water until they rot a little, and then you lay a lot of these stalks next to each other, and a lot of other stalks on top, crossways to the first ones, and then you pound them flat, until all the stalks get mashed into all the other ones, and you have something a lot like paper. This however was likely something different. It actually felt more like animal skin.

"Maybe a knife? Cut the straps off?" Rick suggested. "One would think my father or his parents would have tried that," Kate said dryly as she turned the book over in her hands. "What does your dragon think?" he asked her. She hadn't really talked to her dragon like it was another person. If this book held answers… 'Do you know how to open it?' Kate asked. 'I know nothing about this book. I am sorry,' was the answer she received. She shook her head when Rick looked at her.

"Well, if it can be closed it can be opened. Maybe there's something online," he offered, getting Kate to look at him like he had lost his mind. "Don't discount what's out there. A lot of fantasies or ancient myths may even have even a tiny amount of truth in them. We just need to learn more about dragons. Maybe that will give us an idea about how to open it," he defended himself.

Rick bought every blue tarp the store had since he wasn't sure just how many bodies there were. Plus he needed a plan to get rid of them. Kate meanwhile took Alexis shopping for supplies to clean up blood. Disposable gloves, bleach, paper towels, kitty litter to soak up the blood and disinfecting towelettes.

The burned out car was still in the driveway. "Go upstairs to your room pumpkin, please. Let us clean up the mess and don't come down until I tell you to," he told her. Still just inside the door were a few dead men that she had to go past. "I hope she isn't traumatized by all of this," Kate prayed. "We're all sleeping in the same bed tonight after we clean up this mess and go get the dogs," he told her, getting Kate to nod.

The bodies went in the tarps and into the back of Rick's truck to be dumped later. Then they both went to work on the blood downstairs and upstairs, including up on the stairs.

They stopped for lunch and ate in Alexis's room upstairs.

"I'll drop you and Alexis off at your house while I think of somewhere to dump the bodies," Rick said wearily as they loaded Alexis into the truck. "Please be careful babe. It's not likely there are more from Paladin in the area, but you still need to be careful," she reminded him then kissed him.

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Ziona Chana and 12 of his oldest sons were sitting at one of the many dining room tables while his 32 wives and 94 children were cooking dinner. Their home took up four floors that were each 12,000 square feet in space along with a roof deck that was also 12,000 square feet. The building was painted a light purple that distinguished it from all of the other buildings in the hills of Baktwang village in India. He also had 14 daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.

Chhuan That Run or The house of the New Generation.

Their house had exactly 100 rooms, not including closets or the roof deck. The 32 wives each slept in large communal dormitories save for a few of his youngest wives. A single meal could see the family pluck 30 chickens, peel 132 pounds of potatoes and boil 220 pounds of rice.

Ziona enjoyed his own king-sized bed. The youngest of his wives lived closest to him while the oldest slept further away. He even had a rotation system for who visited his bedroom. At 56 years old, he may have slowed down a little but it hadn't stopped him. He even married 10 women in one year. One such 18-year-old woman was simply walking in the village one morning and received a handwritten letter asking for her hand in marriage.

Today however was a business meeting, family business. Mizo is the dominant language of the area, however in their house English was a requirement of everyone. "We have taken some of our worst losses in recent history. I can only surmise that some if not most of the local members have been compromised in some way," Ziona began.

"Sophia may have been a failure, however Eric's methods have proven to be equally faulty. The recent loss of one of our largest research laboratories located in the United States is a large blow," one of his sons stated. "We should never have allowed Eric to have been elevated to the position he presently enjoys. He has no understanding of family. His constant rotation of loose women shows a weakness of character."

"Our first failure was expanding too quickly. We have not even cleaned out our own country of these vermin, let alone expanding into far off lands," another son stated.

"Perhaps we should restrict our operations to the more local area. India, Pakistan, China, and Southeast Asia. When we are satisfied with this result we can add Russia before moving on to Europe with the United States being last," one of them suggested, and watched over half of them shake their heads including Ziona.

"We have resources in the United States, what we need to do is weed out those that are weak and vulnerable. Downsize to a more manageable level while we focus on the local area first," yet another son offered.

"If the loss of the research lab results in them finding the names of the remaining members of the council that we set up there, we need sever all ties with them. Clean out what information they have access to," still another son insisted. "We could just let the information leak out who and what they are," another said. Most of them shook their heads immediately. "The information they have could fall into the wrong hands and destroy everything we have in that country." One son shook his head. "Each country may be compartmentalized, however we cannot allow the information they have to become available."

"Eric Vaughn and the remaining council members need to be removed. We need to start again, only this time we select our people with more care. These Americans…" Ziona did not understand how Americans could be so materialistic. Family came first and foremost, everything else was second. "We will move those least affected to Utah and start again. We will stay out of their big cities. Work and recruit only in the rural areas. They are more likely to be friendly to our cause," Ziona stated firmly.

From there they got to work on how to move those they trusted to a community in Utah, even if they had to build their own enclave. "Send someone to eliminate the last three council members and Eric then make sure their homes are empty of everything. Blow up the houses, incinerate them, bury them in some manner," Ziona ordered. "Now let's get to work on where in Utah to base the new operation and what people we are going to transfer there. First, however, is do we utilize an existing location or build our own?" Ziona asked them.

Location, power, water, climate. Everything was considered. Still they did not reach a consensus that day so it was tabled until next week.

Next week brought up a question of why they just couldn't hide in one of America's largest cities. Renovate then relocate who they chose. Money was not an object. The new question was what city was large enough and central enough to work from.

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Lee and Francine Mueller lived far enough outside of town that Serena wasn't worried about the Osprey being seen by anyone and they lived alone. Their kids were all grown and lived in other states. Since the closest holiday was weeks away she felt they would be safe to stay there. It didn't hurt that Lee and Francine were both retired.

They had done well for themselves and since they both were, at one time in their lives, surgical nurses, they were Serena's best option to save her friends. The downside, of course, was that they didn't have an operating theater to work in. Nor did they have all of the necessary tools. Still they did the best they could with what they had.

Of the remaining mountain lions in the Osprey only 3 had the same blood type and the three of them were almost drained dry giving blood to their friends. Right now those three were sleeping, getting IV fluids, as Lee and Francine emerged from the impromptu operating room. They looked dead tired and had blood all over them. "I'm not even going to bother asking who or what you people are, however your two friends should be fine if their healing continues at the pace it currently is," Lee told them. They watched all of them relax, like the weight of the world had just been taken off their shoulders.

"They are both going to need to stay here for at least a week. We'll know more as they recover. Now I maybe an old fool but those wounds had to be made from an automatic machine gun to get those kinds of patterns," Lee told them and held up his hand to keep them all quiet. "But I'm not THAT old of a fool, and you, Serena, owe us big time," Lee informed her.

"And even whether they live or die I would and will gladly pay any price you desire," Serena said. "Me too," added Joanne. "Us three," added one of the others. "My wife and I will think about it. They are both still out of it and likely will be for several hours, but you can look in on them. One at a time," he quickly said when it looked like everyone moved at the same time. Serena gave the others the first look while she and Joanne stayed with Lee and Francine.

"Are you…?" Francine looked at Serena who shook her head. "I'm the odd one out in this group," she informed them. Joanne took exception to that statement. "You are not the odd one out in this family, my love. You are most definitely in," Joanne told her. That had both Lee and Francine looking with new eyes at Serena, who immediately began blushing.

"How do you know each other anyway?" Joanne asked since Serena had never mentioned these two before. "My husband and I used to be surgical nurses but not just any surgical nurses. We were both assigned to an aircraft carrier, just not the same one. But at the time we were both deployed in the same theater. One of our destroyers picked up a signal about a person in a boat whose motor was running slowly going in a straight line. That ship's doctor stabilized her for transport to my ship where I put her back together," Francine explained. "That was you?" Joanne asked looking at Serena who only nodded. "That certainly explains the scar on your…" Serena cut her off. "JO!" Her blush was back in full force while Francine and Lee simply chuckled at Serena's expense.

"What was never explained was the multi-million dollar painting that was also on that boat," Francine commented. "A painting that I'd never seen before or since," Serena quickly added, not that either of them believed her then or now. No one, including the Navy, could pin the theft on her so it was simply returned to its owner; Serena was closely watched by the FBI for months following.

"We should go get cleaned up, you are all staying for dinner," Lee informed them and headed for their bedroom with the ensuite. Joanne turned on Serena. "You are so telling me what happened that day," she demanded. Serena simply moaned.

Joanne used to be such a simple, sweet girl whose mother, that she loved dearly, was killed and stuffed into a safe. The image of seeing her mother's broken body stuffed into their safe was still seared into her brain. A night didn't pass that she didn't see that image. She called it blind luck that Serena was in town and she ran into her, literally. Joanne to this day didn't understand why she latched onto Serena, but where Serena went so did she.

It had taken every last ounce of courage she had to actually kiss Serena after a couple of days with them being together. The rest was history. Now her heart that had been put back together by Serena, which was also in her possession. She was truly living again. Joanne had even forgotten about the card she still had which had that female detective's name on it.