The Cat Easton Legend

"Well first, I do not want to let you out of my sight, second, I have a meeting with my cousin, Commander Murphy, in North Central Florida Thursday, then we have a meeting with one of our customers in Washington two days later. I think you will enjoy the trip."

"Oh Scotty, I know I will love it, do I need any special clothes, what do I need to wear?"

"Honey I will call my cousin tomorrow and let you talk to his wife, Angela, she always knows that stuff, she always looks perfect."

"Are you in business with your cousin and why do you call him 'Commander' Murphy?"

"Well, yes and no. We work together so much that it seems as if we are one company, but we are really separate companies. We have been friends all our lives, he is why I joined the Navy and became a Seal."

"You were a Seal?"

"Yeah! Until my cousin Andy got all shot up; then when he recovered, he was retired and went into the private intelligence business. He was a Commander in the United States Navy when he was retired because of wounds, and he is still entitled to use the rank. About five years ago he got in touch with me and said he needed my help. He was doing a lot of work for our Government, actually the Executive Department was one of his best customers. Anyway he needed a lot of work done in such a way that he could deny that he had anything to do with it.

"He helped me set several companies and on paper I am an employee of one company, that company is owned by another company of which I am the untraceable sole owner. He keeps me very busy, I sub contract out most of my jobs. Most of the people who work for me are ex- Seals, Rangers, CIA, or FBI. We do not do anything that is illegal. Some of it is not strictly by the rules governing Government Employees, so government or Military agents can't touch it. Most of the field work is sub-contracted out so we are not aware of how they obtain all of their information. They are all aware that we do not condone unnecessary violence or torture. Like I said, I am a broker, I buy and sell information. There, are you bored silly by now?"

"What, how could I be bored? You don't resort to torture or anything like that in questioning your subjects or suspects do you? I'm not sure I can accept that, I just don't see you doing that to anyone."

"Normally that is handled by our experts. I could do it and have done it when necessary."

"I thought it was generally considered to be ineffective."

I laughed, "That's bullshit! Why would people continue to use it for hundreds or even thousands of years if it doesn't work?"

"Isn't it brutal, cruel, and inhuman?"

"Let me put it to you this way, 'Do you love me.?'"

"Honey, you know I do."

"Ok then, suppose you had custody of a person who knew how to save me from a certain and horrible death. Would you use torture to save me?"

"OH! Well, I would have to, wouldn't I?"

"I would hope so. Torture can be used in many forms. At the hands of an expert not many people can resist for very long. In the Seals we went to many Escape and Evasion schools run by the various services. Most were fixed so that every student was caught one way or another. For instance in one school at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, one of the students told everybody that he had a girlfriend who would meet us at an abandoned gas station nearby. The few guys that made it that far found out he was a plant and the gas station was a trap and they were captured.

"Everyone was tortured. We were deprived of sleep, food, and water. That worked on a few guys. Some guys were teased by pretty female guards who offered their charms in return for information. It worked on a few guys. A more conventional torture was called 'The Post'. It was a 3 or 4 foot tall, 4 inch thick post, set in the ground vertically. The prisoner was helped to set cross legged so that the post went behind the instep of one foot and then behind the knee of the other leg. In only a few minutes the pain was excruciating. The only real relief was to lean back and support yourself on your arms. The guards stamped on your hands when you did that. The post broke a lot of people."

"Did it break you?"

"No, a thing called the water board almost got me though."

Catherine looked up at me with tears running down her cheeks, "We do those things to our own people?"

"Sure, after you have experienced a few of these things you learn to shut off the pain, the fear is harder to shut off but it can be done. One of the things you have to keep in mind is that it is not the intent of the questioner to kill you because then they get no answers from a dead man. The hardest thing is to scare or hurt the subject without doing permanent damage. Our real enemies operate under no such constraints.

"A simple way to look at it is this: Is it more humane to release a terrorist and get no information about a planned attack, or torture him and get information that results in stopping the attackers from killing hundreds, thousands or even millions of Americans?

"Sugar, during the Vietnam War many of our men were tortured, some to death. Some endured unbelievable pain and suffering for years and are permanently disabled, what we do is college fraternity hazing compared to that. The dreaded 'Water Board' leaves you with a wet face and with water up your nose, it is really 99% psychological, your senses tell you, you are drowning within a few seconds, but it isn't true. Anyone can hold their breath for 30 seconds without even taking a deep breath. Only a very few people can go that long on the water board because the illusion is that it has been much, much, longer."

She looked at me seriously for a long time, then said, "I understand now. When we leave here, will we drive or fly?"

"Neither one, Sweetie, we will take Ranger and run up to Jacksonville then up the St. Johns River to Lake George where I have an old house I'm rebuilding. It has a deep water dock. We tie up to the dock. That way we take about 12 hours for the trip and whenever we feel like it, we can go below and make mad passionate love."

"Oooh! I like the last part. What do you think, five or six times?"

I had to laugh, "You must be planning on bringing along four or five of your lovers to help me out. The 18 year old can't come with us, I'm jealous of him."

"Scott Murphy! I'll do no such thing. You do not ever get any help. This is a DIY job."

"'Do It Yourself' I guess. OK, but I only guarantee two times. I'm not a 18 year old."

"Well OK! I guess I just love teasing you."

"Either that, or you have a death wish for him."

She threw herself on me and kissed me hard. "No one but you will ever touch me again, never, ever. I am your exclusive property. I belong to you, body and soul. OK?"

I held her tightly to my chest, "Sweetie, as far as I am concerned that is a reciprocal agreement. We belong to each other. You are going to love my cousin and his ladies."

"He has more than one?"

"Yep, he has a beautiful wife, Angela, and the beautiful Molly, and her sister, the lovely Katie."

"Hey, how does that work?"

"Molly is Angie's five year old daughter and Katie is Molly's baby sister by Andy. All three of them are heart breakers."

"I think I hate Angie already, she sounds too perfect."

"I'll bet that you change your mind in less than five minutes after you meet her."

"We'll see. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why do you say 'we will take Ranger' instead of 'we will take the Ranger.'?"

"OK. A boat or ship is considered to be like a living person, usually a female. This vessel's name is 'Ranger'. So do I say, 'I love Catherine.' or do I say, "I love 'the' Catherine.'?"

"Oh! That makes sense."

Long before we pulled in to the dock we were able to see the old house high on a bluff overlooking the river. The old house looked magnificent from a distance.

I called my cousin Andy and he said his helicopter would pick me up in thirty minutes. I told him I had a lady with me, he was very surprised. He said to plan on spending the night and did we need one room or two?"

I said, "One." I told Cat we would be spending the night at my cousin's place and we packed each of us a small bag. I told her to bring our swim suits, shorts and tops and a cocktail dress for her and slacks and a blazer or a suit for me.

When we were ready I showed her the exterior of my old house. The outside had been completely restored to its original 1842 condition. The interior was completely modernized while retaining as much of the antique flavor as possible. All new electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, and kitchen equipment was being installed. The interior was still a total mess, and we would be staying aboard Ranger.

Catherine was very excited by our new home. She wanted to get immediately involved in the project. I told her that after we finished our meeting with Cousin Andy we would meet with the builder and she could change anything she wanted to change. I pointed out a modern steel building a hundred yards away from the house. I explained that it contained all the old furniture and the old wall paneling, paintings, moldings and things. Everything was being restored, refinished or reupholstered to new condition.

She asked a number of questions. How big was the property? 3,850 acres, with three miles of waterfront, and a bit over 2 miles deep. Were the barn and other out buildings part of the property? Yes. Did I love her? Yes. Could we go make love on Ranger while we waited for the chopper? No! I also pointed out some houses barely visible a half mile away, behind a grove of old oak trees. I explained that they were on the property too and that it was a village where the help had lived for over one hundred and eighty years. There were families that had been there for many generations.

The jet helicopter swooped in and lightly touched down on the front lawn. We were loaded aboard with our baggage and were in the air quickly. This was Cat's first time in a chopper and she was delighted. I showed her all the sights as we flew low over the country side. I showed her the Ocklawaha River and the Rodman Reservoir. Then as we circled to land I pointed out Andy's place. I showed her Andy's huge home overlooking the river, the group of worker's homes and the perimeter fences. We landed and waited for the rotor blades to stop before we climbed out. Andy was there to meet us. He took one look at Cat and grinned at me with his big hand extended to grasp mine. He pulled me in for a big hug. He took both of Catherine's hands in his and welcomed her to his home, then he kissed both her cheeks. Not releasing her hands he turned to me, "She is gorgeous, she looks like a real keeper." He tucked her hand on his arm and led her toward the house.

Angie held the baby and Molly rushed to me and flung herself at me knowing I would catch her and hug and kiss her. "Unka Scotty, Unka Scotty, we missed you so much, you were gone a whole week." I hugged her tightly and kissed her. I lifted her and sat her on my arm and turned to Cat.

"Molly, this beautiful lady is Miss Catherine, my fiancée. Catherine this beautiful girl is Molly Murphy, Andy's daughter."

Cat shook Molly's little hand. I introduced her to Angie and Andy.

Angela handed Katie to Andy and took Catherine's hands and looked her up and down. She had her turn around, then smiled broadly, "Catherine, I am so happy to meet you, you are really beautiful, in fact as far as I can see you look perfect. I am happy that Scott has finally found someone. Come on, let's go get acquainted while I show you the house, the guys can watch the kids." They disappeared up a flight of stairs.

Andy led me into his den and he put Katie in a play-pen and I sat on a couch with Molly sitting on my lap.

Molly looked at me very seriously. "I have been a bery good girl while you were gonned Unka Scotty, I am helping Mommy take care of Katie. When she gets older I am going to teach her lots of things." Molly and I had a nice talk and Andy never interrupted her. When she was finished she informed me that she wanted to get down and go find her Mommy and Miss Catherine. She ran out the door. Andy and I both grinned.

He smiled, "Scotty ol' buddy, is this the one?"

"Yeah, Andy, she sure is, I asked her to marry me but she says she wants to live with me for a while to see how we get along. I haven't had a chance to get her a ring yet."

Andy laughed, "Wonderful, Mom and Dad gave me the collection of jewelry they inherited from old General Sean Patrick Murphy, our great, great, grandfather." He walked to a picture on the wall and pulled it aside to show a wall safe. He spun the dial then turned the dial back and forth. The door swung open. He withdrew a small wooden chest. He placed the box on the coffee table in front of me and opened it. He removed a velvet packet and put it flat on the table. He carefully unfolded the packet revealing several rows of rings. He grinned at me, "Help yourself, they are all very old but still beautiful."

I didn't know what to say, I was deeply touched by his gesture. We heard Catherine and Angela giggling as they found us. Cat walked right to me and kissed me, "You were right, I love Angie already! OH! What is this?" She was looking down at the jewelry on the table.

Andy answered, "Since you are going to be a member of the family it is only appropriate that you chose an engagement ring from the family stash of rings. They are all well over one hundred and thirty years old and are irreplaceable."

Angie sat Cat next to me on the couch and sat next to her. Angie said, "Honey, some of these are dinner rings, and some are too big to be comfortable. This diamond ring is one of my favorites. The center diamond is about ten carats with small rubies on each side. Very, classy but not ostentatious, here try it on."

Cat slipped the ring on her finger and held up her hand, "Wow! This thing is humongous, but I do love it."

Andy said, "Miss Catherine, please give the ring to me."

Andy took the ring, he looked at it carefully, he looked up at Catherine, he smiled and handed the ring to me, "Here ask her to marry you, if she says yes, slip this on her finger."

I looked at her, I dropped to one knee, "Catherine Easton, I love you and want you for my wife, will you marry me?"

"Oh! Scotty, of course I will, I love you too!" She pulled me up as she stood and I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.

Molly jumped up and started clapping, "Oh! Goody, goody! We are going to have a wedding, can I be the flower girl like I was for Mommy and Daddy's wedding?" Catherine whirled around and knelt in front of Molly, "You sure can, that would make me very happy, I think I know where we can find a Matron of Honor and a Best Man too!" She moved to Angie and they hugged each other, they both were crying. Then they laughed and dabbed at each other's eyes with tissues trying to salvage the makeup.

Angie asked Catherine to set a date, my future wife looked over at me, "Six months from today if I am still wearing this ring."

Angie said, "Is that long enough to plan everything and get everything ready?"

"Yes! No problem there. That is what I do for a living, plan weddings and parties."
"Where do you want to get married?"

She turned to me, "When will the old house be finished?"

I smiled at this beautiful woman, "Are you saying that you would like to get married there?"

"Yes, if it is ready on time."

I kept smiling and took out my cell phone and hit a speed dial number. It rang twice, a familiar voice answered. I said, "Hi, Tony, it's me, Scott, how are ya doin'?" . . . "Great, listen, there has been a new development in my plans. I am engaged to a beautiful girl and we want to get married at the old house. When will it be ready?" . . . "Do you mean we should be able to move in then?" . . "Great, listen what time tomorrow can you meet us out there, show my fiancée the plans, and see if she wants any changes made?". . . "Great, see you there at noon then."

I looked around, "Well, it will be ready in about four months, if Cat doesn't have too many major changes she wants made." Catherine asked Angie if she was familiar with the plans for the house. Angie nodded and said that she had been over them with me several times.

She said, "Cat, I love the way they have retained the layout on the ground floor. The kitchen and pantry was added on the main house prior to 1900 sometime, so they enlarged that part quite a bit only changing how the exterior looks a little bit. There is a fully finished basement with the laundry, some maids quarters, and stuff down there. The only change I would make is that I would make the smaller bedroom next to the Master suite into a nursery, with a door between the rooms. But only if you want kids, when Scotty and I talked before we were going for a bachelor's pad."

Catherine held my hand in hers and squeezed it, "Which side of the house is the master suite on?"

Angie answered before I could, "Oh! You will love it. It has a spectacular view of the lake. It is simply magnificent. The master suite takes up the whole lake end of the house on the second floor, French doors or tall windows open onto a porch under the roof all the way around the bedroom and the master parlor. With all the windows and doors open it will be like sleeping out of doors. The porches run all the way around the house on both floors. The ceilings are all ten feet high. It is going to be a showpiece. "

I heard Andy say, "Why don't you guys take the helicopter and run over and look around while Scott and I talk business for an hour or two before lunch?"

Angie and Cat agreed that it was a good idea and Andy called and alerted the chopper pilot. Damn, I missed Cat when she was gone. I had trouble concentrating, I kept thinking of her. Andy knew what my problem was, he said he was still learning to think about other things when Angie was away. He smiled at me and said, "Scott, ol' buddy, isn't it amazing how a girl you didn't even know existed last week, now occupies your every waking moment?"

I agreed with him completely, he went on to say, "You know I fell in love with Angie when she was about 14 or 15 years old, I was twenty five then, I don't think a day went by for many years when I didn't think of her. When I saw her again 12 years later I was in love again in seconds.

"I still hate to have her leave me, even for couple of hours."

We got back to business and were just winding things up when we heard them chattering and laughing as they came down the hallway. When they entered the room, both girls hurried to their men. Cat kissed me hungrily and hugged me as hard as she could.

"Oh Scott, the house is wonderful, I love it. I could have stayed all day just exploring it if you had been with me, I just can't stand being away from you anymore. I just hate it."

I laughed softly, "Honey, Andy and I sweated it out too! Both of us had to really concentrate to get anything done."

We had a nice lunch, then Angie and Andy showed us around the office spaces below the house. Catherine couldn't believe the size of the underground installation. We saw room after room full of computer terminals all with multiple monitors. One room had wall sized displays that were constantly being updated.

We introduced Cat to Jeff, who is the man who runs the shop. He sat in front of two dozen monitors. When we approached, he hit a button and all the screens but one turned black. He grinned at Cat, "Missy you are as beautiful as we heard you are. You caught me watching twenty three porn shows and Fox News."

We all laughed, Cat didn't have a clearance and most of Jeff's screens displayed Top Secret, or better, information.

Andy took Catherine and I aside and told her that he would like her permission to run a background check on her for a Top Secret Clearance. He was giving her a chance to stop the investigation. She smiled, "By all means, I have nothing to hide."