Dread Page 3

  I tell Tiphanae, “Find the electrical circuit box. Turn off the master power to the shack. Holler to me when you’re done.”

  “Yes, Lord,” she says with a curt nod before disappearing. I look around trying to find a path back to where Tiberius normally sits behind the counter. There are broken and split 2x4s, bent sheet metal, broken doors and cabinets, and no clear way back to that corner. I back out of the wreck, and Tiphanae hollers ‘done’ about the time I walk around the corner where she’s standing.

  We both chuckle at that. Everything looks like it’s leaning towards the back. I hear another cart pull up followed by a growled, “Where are you, Lord?”

  I call out, “Around back. Meet me at the front door.”

  Tiphanae and I walk back around to the front of the building to find Cholley, Louis, Frannie, and Karla. A third cart shows up at the edge of the clearing with Sherrine, Grace, Trina, and Daphne.

  I guide Louis and Cholley to look in the door. “Cholley, if you can get in there and push that 2x4 up and Louis can do the same with that one, then maybe I can get in there and pull Tiberius out. He’s making noise, so he’s still alive.”

  I hear a growled, “Husband, you will NOT go in there!”

  I’m shocked at the words and even more so when I see Grace, the most retiring of all my wives, giving the emphatic order.

  She continues, “I know you’re a ‘lead from the front type,’ Beloved, but you have people to do this. Stand there and look lordly, or we will pin you to the ground and lay on you while your people get Tiberius out of there!”

  I’ve never seen Grace angry before. It’s an awesome sight to behold. I quietly say the only thing a sane man would when confronted by emphatic demands from his powerful Goblin wife, “Yes, dear.”

  She gives me a glorious smile in response, “Good. Get over here, Lord Husband.” She holds her arms open for me, and I slide into them.

  Eileen chuckles, “I never thought I’d see the day.” I wink back at her as I cup Grace’s firm, tight ass in my hand. She still hasn’t deigned to put on any clothes. I can’t say I mind.

  I hear groans and growls inside the shack, and shortly thereafter Frannie and Sherrine, the two smallest of my Goblin ladies, crawl into the gaps created by the boys. Before long they return dragging Tiberius out into the sunshine. Louis extricates himself, and then Cholley follows him out.

  The ladies lay Tiberius on the ground. Grace lets me go to assess his injuries, and I find he has a concussion, two broken collarbones, a broken arm, and a dislocated knee. I mute all his nerves and align his leg. Then I dig into one collarbone and align it the best I can manually before I start to push healing energy into him and direct the bones to knit. I repeat this procedure on the other side. Afterwards I push the joints to heal and strengthen the damaged connective tissue. I focus on helping the concussion to slowly heal.

  He slowly comes around as I let his nerves do their job. “Wha…?”

  “Hey Tiberius. Tell me what happened,” I prompt.

  “The-the dark-eyes jumped on me. I wa-wa-was just co-coming around. Then. Boom!” He closes his eyes for a moment and then looks at me. “They gave me money.”

  “Who gave you money, Tiberius?” I ask. He passes out. I think he’s faking it at this point, but maybe not.

  I ask Sherrine and Frannie, “Please take him back to the staff quarters.”

  “Yes, Lord” Karla says as she joins them.

  Tiphanae volunteers, “I’ll fly to the cabins, Lord. I’ll see you there.” She pushes through the crowd for a kiss and then launches into the air.

  Grace takes a seat in my cart.

  Trina and Daphne each give me a kiss and join Louis and Cholley in theirs. After everyone else has taken off, I drop my gaze to the case with curiosity. I shrug and Eileen, L’liana, and I all mount up and head back to the cabins.

  I ask Eileen over the back of the seat, “Any idea what happened?”

  She shakes her head. “No, this was supposed to be a simple fly in, recruit you, and fly out to go find Abu bin Hassan. Stop in DC for a mission brief and then off to Germany. This is an absolute ‘Charlie Foxtrot’ if there’s ever been one.”

  I chew on that for a minute. I think, ‘Definitely a cluster fuck.’ Then I say, “Well let’s see if Jessica and Marigold have any light to shine on this.”

  5 - What the F…

  We get back to the compound, and L’liana parks the cart back where we got it. I grab the case and clutch and follow Grace inside. Jessica is sitting on the couch with her legs tucked under her, drinking a glass of water. She sets it down and blinks to arrive with her arms and legs around my torso with her face buried in my neck.

  Grace takes the bag from me. She places it on the floor in front of the couch as I wrap Jessica in my arms. I tell Jessica, “You are safe, Baby. Marigold is safe, too. You did good, Sweetie.” I slide a hand under her to hold her up by her naked bum.

  She looks at me, “I was afraid you were going to have to resurrect me again, Boyfriend.”

  I kiss her and say, “I’ll do it as often as required, Sweetheart.”

  Eileen’s gasp indicates she heard that.

  She smiles, “Good, Boyfriend. I’m your Darkness. I go into the darkness to shine your light.”

  I chuckle, “Darkness, huh? And Boyfriend, too?”

  “Yeah,” she says with a gentle smile. “You ready to hear what I learned, my Lord?

  “Yeah,” I repeat back to her. “Let me check on Marigold first. Any chance that thing could be booby-trapped?” I ask as I nod to the bag.

  She unwinds from me and gets her feet under her. “Not much. It was open when I grabbed it. I stuffed a laptop in there prior to blinking out. Go check on Little Sister, and then we can talk.”

  I give her a lingering kiss, and then I look around to find Marigold. Jessica says, “Kitchen counter.”

  I walk over and see Marigold lying face down on a pillow. Acorn and Persimmon are holding her hands. Christie is stroking her head gently. I kiss Christie’s cheek before I murmur, “Hello, Merry. How are you doing, Sweetie?”

  She squeaks, “I’m okay, I guess. Can you give me wings back, Jack?”

  “I don’t know, Merry. I’m going to try, once I check to ensure that your organs and brain are healed,” I tell her. “I need to be careful because you’re so tiny. Let’s see how you’re doing.” I assess her health, and it looks like she might still have a minor concussion. I trickle some healing energy to heal any residual bruising and shock effects. Her organs are clearing up nicely. I look at Christie and raise my eyebrows at her. She grimaces at me.

  “Well Merry,” I say. “It looks like your organs are in good shape. Your brain is still pretty tender. I gave you a little boost there. I’m tempted to leave your wings until tomorrow. I’m concerned about you jolting your brain if you fly.”

  “I promise I won’t fly crazy, Jack!” she cries. “My wings are an integral part of who I am. I need to know if I’ll be able to fly again!”

  Christie shrugs, “I don’t know, Jack. I would say we don’t want her flying at all for a while, but I can’t see how her brain is progressing.”

  I chew on the inside of my cheek for a moment. “Okay, Sweetie. Let’s give it a try. If I see you flitting about, I’m going to put you to sleep. Clear?”

  “Yes, Jack,” she answers. Persimmon and Acorn cheer.

  I extend my will into Marigold’s back and tell her wings to grow. They slowly extend until they reach the full size they were before. I stop, but apparently I overpowered them because they’re 25% bigger by the time they stop growing.

  “Oops,” I whisper. Acorn’s and Persimmon’s eyes ogle Marigold’s new, larger wings.

  I tell Marigold, “Honey, I messed up. I grew them too big. You’re going to have to get used to them. Or I can take them off and start again.”

  Marigold looks over her shoulders and her eyes snap wide open. She exclaims, “Oh! This might be kinda cool.” She buzzes her wings and
gets some lift.

  “I will put you to sleep, Merry!” I scold her.

  She lands with a pout, “Yes, Jack.”

  I bend down and kiss her head. “Get some rest, Sweetie.”

  Marigold lays down obediently on her stomach and waves her wings gently back and forth while gently kicking her heels up and down.

  I twine my fingers into Christie’s. She calls, “Be back in a bit, Littles.” A chorus of ‘bye, Christie’ follows us into the main room.

  I sit down on a pillow facing Jessica. Christie sits in my lap. “Okay, Love. You have my full attention. What happened?”

  Jessica relates her story, “After a quick stop to ensure that Marigold got some water and almonds prior to heading back out, we blinked down the path to the customs shed. I put on full cover and transmitted a mind fog to encourage everyone to ignore us. Merry rode along. As I peeked in the windows, I came across one of the flight crew from the government plane. I think he was the pilot - four stripes on each shoulder. He had a watch band like the one on the shooter we found in the forest. Merry and I listened in.”

  She takes a moment to order her thoughts. “He said someone named Branford grabbed his rifle kit, that he had a silencer, and the pilot was expecting him to show back up to report on a mission. The pilot said he, or the crew, loaded explosives on our plane as a contingency. I inferred it was in case the rifle mission went wrong. He also confirmed with his contact that he and his first officer were prepared to parachute out of their plane and detonate it.”

  Jessica directs her attention to Eileen, “They seemed confused about Eileen’s surname. They couldn’t decide if it was Pennyworth or Brock. Their tone of voice didn’t seem very respectful of you, Eileen. They were willing to write you off as collateral damage of the plane explosion.”

  Eileen studiously ignores me as she says, “It’s Brock. Lowell and I divorced. He gave me the divorce summons for Christmas a year ago out of the blue.”

  All the ladies gasp. I agree. Honestly, that’s just rude. Ex-fiancé or not, I may have to pay Lowell a visit to teach him some manners.

  Jessica says, “I’m sorry, Eileen. I’m a very good assassin despite my lack of success trying to kill Jack. I’ll take care of him for you as a personal favor.” Then she turns back to me. “The only other thing of interest was he addressed the person on the phone as ‘Lieutenant.’ He left. I took off my hood, and Merry flew into the rafters. I put on a glamour to look like Trina and opened my suit to just below my navel.” She shrugs as she says, “I thought I’d see what I could get him to reveal while I messed with his attention.” Jessica looks at Trina with a lascivious grin and adds, “Apparently he found Trina quite distracting.”

  Everyone busts out laughing.

  “So,” she continues. “He was forthcoming that they were US Government, the plane was registered to Carribean Import-Export, and that they paid the agent…”

  “Tiberius,” I interject.

  “...Tiberius? Really? He’s not nearly impressive enough for a name that grand,” Jessica laughs.

  “Right?” Daphne adds.

  “So, Tiberius eventually revealed under duress that he took money from the pilot to take a look at our plane. Neither Tiberius (giggle) nor the pilot saw fit to ask or inform our crew.” Jessica pauses for a moment. “Uh, Jack. I broke both of his collarbones and showed him my true form when Trina was no longer enough distraction.”

  That got another round of chuckles.

  “So,” she continues. “I tranq’d him, got back into uniform, and then Merry and I blinked to the bottom of the steps. I followed the pilot up the steps. He sat down with his FO and walked through options A, B, and C. Apparently option C was to blow themselves up after vectoring towards the Lieutenant’s boat. I suspect the Lieutenant would fail to pick them up or run them over if they executed plan C. Also based on what they said, the boys apparently had a high opinion of Branford based upon his stories - I’m assuming of missions. They called him a ‘fucking animal’ as though it was high praise.”

  She takes a big breath, “The FO also had one of those distinctive watch bands. I decided to tranq them, so we could search in a leisurely manner. I figured we could root around in the plane. The pilot’s bag, a computer, and the pilot’s sat-fone were all sitting right there. I gave a tranquilizer pen to Merry, and she took the FO. I got the pilot just before she got her target. We started to pick up any papers, the computer, and the phone when the pilot’s wristband started making a noise and blinking in a pattern that was working its way around his wrist. The FO’s started a couple seconds later. I screamed at Merry to go. She whizzed out the door, I took a quick look around as the whine started to get louder. I blinked out the door with the case in my hand. I spotted Merry and blinked to catch her. Unfortunately, the plane exploded before I blinked back down to the ground. I was close enough to the blast that I barely caught Merry before the blast wave hit me. I tried to hold her to my abdomen and tuck as I flew through the air. I wasn’t able to completely protect her from the initial blast, but it protected her from the fall.” Tears run down her face as she suffers her guilt.

  Marigold flies to Jessica, plants a kiss on her face, and then settles gently on her shoulder.

  Jessica says, “Thanks, Sweetie. I’m very happy you’re safe.”

  Marigold caresses her neck, “Thank you for saving me, Jessica. I wouldn’t have survived without you.”

  Jessica smiles gently for a moment before her expression turns icy cold. “That fuck with the rifle knows more about what’s going on.”

  Chelsea growls, “Let’s get him to talk.”

  “Yes,” I agree. “Let’s.”

  6 - Things go sideways

  Sowie and Liesl drag the rifleman to the porch of the main house. The paralytic is still working on him, and he’s stiff as a board. The ladies are very upset with him. They took it into their minds to drag him by his feet, face down letting his arm and his stump drag in the dirt. As they approach Louis picks him up by the scruff and holds him in place while Trinity ties him to a post.

  Once he’s secure, Acorn pokes him with a different compound. It supposedly relieves the symptoms of the paralytic. Kristina and Geri hand out bottled water to everyone as we lounge around waiting for him to loosen up. ‘I crack myself up!’

  I feel the anklets vibrate gently in laughter. Apparently Bobo and Pally appreciate my sense of humor.

  Eliana shares her opinion, *Very droll, Lord!*

  L’liana chimes in, *Don’t egg him on!*

  I fire back with a mental chuckle, *Whatever drove me to marry someone that can read my mind?*

  L’liana responds, *Maybe it’s because your first thought was that I look like a little girl with big ears?*

  *Oh, you are so getting punished for that one!*

  *Oo! That thing where you tie me up and spank me? Maybe this time tied to a tree in the yard! With an audience!*

  *Yes, dear!* I send back to L’liana.

  Eliana pleads, *Please, Lili! Remember I have no body to follow through on the lustful thoughts you’re creating. All I can do is whisper them to Durec, and then we’re both frustrated.*

  *None of that, please! That’s the hardest thing about this existence,* Durec chips in.

  *Sorry! I hadn’t known I could eavesdrop on your conversations with our Lord. Once I did, it was too much fun not to play with you! Sorry guys! Are you getting stronger?* L’liana asks.

  I’m just sitting on a bench chuckling like an idiot as this all goes on in my head. I sip my water as I listen in and wait for ‘fuck-stick’ to come around.

  Eliana responds, *No. I’m full up for energy reserves from all the loving you all have been giving Jack. I think we’re just getting better connected mentally. Honestly, no one else has ever talked to me like this other than my family here in the set of relics and our host Lord. We’ll have to see if we can talk without bringing everyone else into it...just us girls.*

  L’liana says, *I’d like that! Bye for n
ow, Ellie!*

  I laugh, *I guess it’s official that you’re part of the family, Eliana. You now have a pet name.*

  *I’m honored by you both. Durec has always called me Ellie in private moments,* Eliana says warmly.

  About that time, the rifleman sags against his restraints. Sherrine holds a bottle of water up. I nod, so she cracks it and holds it up for him to drink from.

  I call out, *Lili! Listen to his thoughts as we question him. Don’t talk to him. Just listen and report out.*

  *Yes, Lord Husband,* she answers.

  Turning to Eileen I say, “Let me prep him, then you do the interrogation. I recall you were quite good at that.”

  She smiles at me gently and nods.

  I walk up and smack him enough to give his face a little sting and call clearly, “Markus Branford!” He looks up at me with hatred in his eyes. “Listen and obey!” I flood his brain with a cocktail of neurochemicals. I’ve read enough since November to know dopamine and serotonin are in it - reward and stress reduction - but I still haven’t figured out what else I’m creating in there. Regardless, I can feel the tight lock I have on his will.

  I tell him, “You will answer all questions completely and truthfully. You will voluntarily expand on your answers to please us. Repeat your instructions.”

  Markus says, “I will answer all questions completely and truthfully. I will voluntarily expand on my answers to please you.”

  I nod to Eileen.

  Eileen starts the questioning, “Who were you planning to shoot and why?”

  “Jack Jerome. Orders were to get back from Paris, so you would pick me from the available pool. Lowell was pretty certain you would as I worked with you as an active field agent.”

  She then asks, “Who gave you the order to kill Jack Jerome?”

  “Lowell Pennyworth. He has been planning this hit for about six weeks. He didn’t want to send me after Hassan, but when Hassan killed the last three shooters Lowell sent, he decided to send his best. The idea was he would tell you that you needed to qualify on your weapon to be prepared to go to the field. He knew you’d cream your panties to get back out in the field. Then he’d supposedly pull me back from Paris just in time for you to pick me to go along to recruit your old boyfriend Jack on a Carribean island. We would split up to supposedly cover the island faster, then I would set up, and put two rounds in his brainpan. Then I was to kill you and feed you to the fish.”