The Du Page Affair Ch. 17

This is an original work by Zeb_Carter and is protected under (c) copyright by U.S. copyright law. It is only being submitted at Literotica.Com and any submission to any other site has not been authorized by the Author.

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Last Gasp

John was sitting at his desk in his office in Kentucky with George who was sitting across from him. John and George were going over the quarterly sales figures. Actually, George was going over the quarterly sales figures. John was staring out the window of his office day dreaming and thinking about the past twenty years of his life.

He had moved his company and employee's to Owensboro, a medium size city on the Ohio River. It was a peaceful little community, which welcomed their business and the opportunities that such a company as John's offered them. Jenny and John had bought a small ranch just outside of the city where they could spend their final years together.

Michelle and Susan's families had also relocated to Owensboro where Susan and Michelle ran a free clinic with several other doctors, most of them from Chicago. George and Mark now worked for John's company as did so many other old friends from Chicago. On the weekends you could find the three couples at John's ranch enjoying each other's company and watching the children play with the dogs or riding the horses.

Several years had passed, since the year they spent together in what used to be Chicago. The government had tried to cause trouble for John and his company in the aftermath of that fiasco, but after a couple of conversations with the President and some of the political leader in Congress, they gave up.

Things were peaceful and pleasant. John's company kept inventing things that everyone wanted and they kept making money hand over fist. Life was good. Weekends spent with friends and family. Days spent working.

John and Jenny spent every moment they could together. And if Jenny wasn't with John you would find Susan or Michelle with him. When he was at the office George or Mark would be close by.

Jenny had enlisted their four friends to help keep her husband alive as long as possible. She knew how he died and kind of when he died. What John told her is he would die of a heart attack when he was alone. If he was somewhere with people he wouldn't die, but if he was alone he would. Even if Sally was with him, he would die.

So Jenny made sure he was never alone. Somebody was always with him. Michelle, Susan, George, Mark or herself, always someone, always a real flesh and blood person.

Eventually, John stepped down from running the company. For the past couple of years they had found more and more young people who, like John and the others, knew their futures. What they were doing was pulling the future into the here and now and making a pretty bundle.

Every new seer was made a partner in the company. They owned an equal share. It was theirs until the day that they died. Michelle, Susan and their husbands were also partners, along with those people who had stayed to help in Chicago.

The company handled hundreds of government contracts, contracts for almost every item that the company made. The only thing that John mandated was the company never to sell the government a Class I shield or an AI. They could have Class II Buster units and Class III Shield technology but nothing higher.

There was one other thing that John did that no one else had thought of doing. He used the six nuclear fusion furnaces that had decimated Chicago, to supply electricity to half the nation. From the Rocky Mountains to the Smoke Mountains, power was supplied by giant photovoltaic cells placed around the six candles.

Six giant globular structures went up three months after they left Chicago. Six structures blocking the light of the candles, which absorbed every erg, every photon, converting it to clean electric power. Power that once John's company dumped it into the power grid caused the price of a kilowatt of electricity to drop to almost nothing. Most other electric generating plants became backups to the candle plants or were freed up to generate electricity for the east and west coasts.

On any given day there were only three places that John would be found. At the office, even though he had turned the reins over to George and Mark, he still liked to keep abreast of the goings on. The second place you could find him would be the clinic that he had built on the outskirts of town. It included a surgical suite, an ambulatory care facility, along with the clinic. All procedures and visits were free. The doctors and staffs salaries, along with the supplies and instruments, were paid for by John's Company.

It was their contribution to the people of the city and state they enjoyed living in. The saying, 'you get what you pay for' was being turned around at the clinic to be 'the best things in life are free'. After three years in business, the clinic was handling cases from around the globe. There were doctor who were tops in their field clamoring to work at the clinic, for far less money than they were getting now. There was even talk of building a full facilities hospital across the street from the clinic.

The third place you would find John was home, at his ranch. Where he would be tending to the horses or playing with Susan and Michelle's children or playing with the dogs.

For those who had given their time and heart for a year, life was good. They were all working, almost all at jobs they loved. Those few who weren't still had a good clean place to live and a job they could be proud doing.

John was now sixty-two although he looked younger, much younger. The ladies in his life were quite a bit younger than he. Jenny, being the oldest, was fifty-five. Michelle was only a few months older than Susan at forty-six. George and Mark were the same ages as their wives. It was amazing to John how Michelle and Susan still loved him, even at his doddering old age. But love him they did.

There was many a time one of the three women would try to get him into their bed or his bed as the case me be. He never rebuffed them and wound up happy and satisfied each time. Jenny was no longer jealous of having to share him with the other two loves of his life and after a while encouraged the affairs.

Jenny was also surprised that two young men tried often to get her in their beds. Although she didn't trip often, the times she did she was not sorry.

About the sixth year after settling in Owensboro, Jenny was called away from home for one of the charities she was involved with. John was left to his own devices. He wasn't alone as Jenny had made arrangements with Susan and Michelle to alternate days to tag along with him as each doctor could manipulate their schedules at the clinic.

On the second day after Jenny left, John woke with Michelle lying next to him. She was propped up on her elbow watching him. He smiled raising his head and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled and winked at him.

"You know what Jenny is afraid of don't you?"

"Yes. And I appreciate you and Susan and your husbands helping her with her fears."

"Is it true though? Or is it a fiction just to get me or Susan into your bed so often?"

"That's a strange question after all these years. It's not fiction. I will die alone."

"But you don't know when and where, do you?"

"I know where. I will die in a hotel room in Denver Colorado. I just don't know when."

"What happens if Susan and I decide not to be with you anymore?"

"I don't know, let's see..." John paused closing his eyes for just a second. "I will die here in bed, alone."

"Oh. Or are you just saying that?"

"Ask one of the other seers if you don't believe me. They should all know the place of my passing. One of them may even know the approximate date."

"Have you talked with any of them?"

"No, I really don't want to know."

"So you haven't really looked to find out what the date would be?"

"No. And I won't. I don't want to know when I die. Would you?"

"No, I guess I wouldn't. Why Denver? What's there that you need to go there?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know. There must be a reason I'm there, although when I looked last I found no reason for being there. And no, I'm not looking again."

"Alright, so what's the plan for today?" Michelle smiled at John as she stroked his cheek.

"I don't know. I have no plans. Do you have to be at the clinic today?"

"No, I took the day off," Michelle said with a smile. John smiled back at her as she leaned in and gently kissed his lips briefly.

Michelle giggled as John reached up and tickled her ribs. As he continued she jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. John lay back smiling at the ceiling wondering how he had come to have such a wonderful life, with such wonderful friends and three beautiful women who loved him.

Michelle came out of the bathroom and jumped back into bed straddling John's hips. John reached up and tickled her again. Michelle fell to the bed laughing as John rolled over trapping her under him. He kissed her hard on the lips pinning her shoulders to the bed. She moaned with passion as she kissed him back. John rolled off of her on to his back.

"I would really like to continue this, but there are things that need doing."

"Like what?" Michelle asked.

"Breakfast, coffee, horses to be fed, stalls mucked out, those things. Would you like to help?"

"Sure, why not. Could we go for a horseback ride later?"

"Sure, we'll bring a picnic lunch."

"Sounds good to me," Michelle said bouncing out of bed and heading for the bathroom again.

John followed her into the bathroom and got in the shower with her. The warm water cascading down their bodies was refreshing. They soaped and scrubbed each other, both enjoying the closeness it brought. Rinsing, they dried and got dressed. Michelle beat John down stairs and had the coffee perking as he showed up in the kitchen.

"Eggs and ham?" Michelle asked.

"Yes please," John answered. Michelle cooked breakfast as John checked his email and read the morning news. They ate in silence as Michelle, sitting next to John, read the news with him. After eating John placed the dirty dishes in the sink and grabbing Michelle's hand as they walked to the barn.

The three dogs came running in from the fields to accompany them. Michelle had grown used to the three happy and energetic canines and petted which ever one came with reach. The horses were whinnying as John and Michelle reached the barn, signaling that they were hungry.

John filled the hay cribs with fresh hay and ran fresh water in to the trough, while Michelle opened the stalls of each horse to let them out into the corral to eat and drink. Once that was done, John and Michelle started to muck out the stalls and spread new straw around in each.

John then brought two horses at a time into the barn so they could be groomed. Michelle loved grooming the horses and they were soon finished. Michelle then ran back to the house to prepare the picnic lunch while John saddled the horses. When Michelle returned from the house with the picnic basket they mounted up and road out into the wilderness that surrounded John's ranch.

The sun was shining brightly and the air was cool. The grass was green and the flowers were in full bloom as the two rode slowly through the rolling hills. Coming to a small stream that wound through a small valley filled with trees the two halted and dismounted.

Michelle ran to the stream and sitting on a large rock removing her boots and socks so she would wade in the cool water. John tethered the horse within drinking distance of the steam and unstrapped the picnic basket from his horse. He then unstrapped the blanket from Michelle's horse and walked over to a flat grassy spot close to the stream.

All the while Michelle was giggling and splashing in the cool water. John spread the blanket and lay down watching Michelle. Michelle came running over to where John lay and plopped down next to him on her back. She smiled up at him and caressed his cheek.

"God I love living here," she said, smiling up at him. "And I do love you." Her eyes twinkled in the soft filtered sunlight.

"I love you too," John replied as he leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips. Their passion rose as the horses whinnied and nickered beside the stream.

The days were filled with such interludes. Jenny, Susan and Michelle loved living a quite country life, where the days were spent doing what they loved. John loved his life and didn't want it to end, so he too made sure that there was always someone with him. If Jenny needed to be away, Susan or Michelle were always glad to keep him company when asked. Sometimes Mark or George would accompany them, most of the time they didn't.

John didn't care either way. He liked the company when Jenny was away and he liked talking with George or Mark. And if they brought their children his day was made. John and Jenny loved children but had not been lucky enough to be blessed with any of their own. The dogs, even though they were getting on in years, loved the company too. Especially, the children, they loved to play with the children.

The months past, the days were spent having fun working and playing. John soon let the circumstances of his death fade in his mind. Jenny did too, as there was always someone with him.

One day on his way home from the office in Owensboro, John's car was involved in an accident. He hit his head on the door frame as he was t-boned on the driver's side. As he faded in and out of consciousness, he felt himself being lifted to a stretcher and placed in the back of an ambulance. He watched and listened as the paramedics started an IV and he faded into unconsciousness.

John woke in what looked like a hospital room. He was hooked up to several IV's. He had a mask on his face giving him oxygen. He was dazed and groggy. A nurse held his wrist in her hand taking his pulse.

"Well it's about time Mister Abernathy, we were all beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up," the nurse said softly.

John closed his eyes wondering why he had not foreseen this little event in his life. There had been no warning, no flash of insight, of his involvement in an auto accident. No glimmer of his being laid-up in a hospital.

And where were Jenny, Michelle and Susan? Why were none of them at his side waiting for him to awake? John opened the door in his memory to the future and saw blackness. His ability to see his experiences into the future appeared to be gone. Maybe it was the bump on the head, maybe it was the medications he was being given. Whatever the reason he could no longer recall memories of his future.

The nurse left shortly after that and John was alone. The door was open and as he gazed out into the hallway he noticed a pretty young woman sitting at the nurse's station staring at him. She was dressed in street clothes, not nurse's scrubs or a doctor's lab coat. John smiled weakly at her and she smiled back but did not move from her chair.

John was very weak and more tired than he had ever felt in his entire life. His eyes closed and he was asleep by his third breath. The woman rose and walked into John's room, sitting in the chair by his bed she fished a cell phone from her pocket.

"He's asleep again," she spoke into the mouthpiece and flipped the device closed. She carefully studied John's features, memorizing every line of his face. She started to hum to herself as she relaxed back into the chair. Her eyes closed and she was asleep in an instant.

* * * *

When John woke the young lady was beside him, smiling down at him. He closed his eyes as pain rolled over him. He didn't know where the pain was coming from and didn't care. He just wanted it to stop. A sharp pain in his arm brought his eyes open and a smile crossed his face as the pain was washed out of his body.

"That's it, just relax, the pain will be gone in a moment."

"Wha..."

"Don't try and talk Mister Abernathy, just lay back and relax."

John lay there looking at the young lady standing over him. She was not familiar to him and his future self had no knowledge of her or he would know. He closed his eyes and tried to see what was in his future and couldn't. He tried harder, all of a sudden the pain was back. He winced at the sudden pain throughout his body.

"Mister Abernathy, don't try to see into the future," the young lady said as she pressed the needle of the syringe into his arm again.

The pain dissipated almost as fast as it had started, John exhaled in relief.

"What have you done to me?" he queried hoarsely.

"We have temporarily dulled you ability to see into the future. Well actually we just introduced a drug into your body that will cause you intense pain when you try to look into the future. I'm sorry but it was necessary and not my decision."

"Why?" John croaked.

"We need you not to know some things that are happening right about now."

"What?"

"Don't worry, you don't need to know."

"If it involves my people or company or country I need to know."

"It doesn't, but you would be hard pressed not to get involved and we don't want you to be involved."

"Why?"

"When it's over I will explain everything to you. You will also be briefed by several others. And if you're wondering about the other seers in your company, they are here with you in other rooms of this facility being given the same drug as you so don't expect a rescue."

John slumped further into his bed, disheartened to hear that his friends and colleagues had been brought here too. He closed his eyes and thought about Jenny, Michelle and Susan. He thought about how frantic Jenny would be. He thought about how she might construe that he had lied to her about their future together. As he thought about these things he drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

When John woke he found himself, not in the hospital room, but on a bed in what appeared to be a hotel or motel. He was extremely tired and could barely move. He found that he was fully clothed. Struggling he leveraged himself out of bed and hobbled to the window. It was extremely overcast and a steady rain was coming from the heavens. Looking down into the parking lot he saw his car, without damage, had it been a dream of some kind, the hospital, the woman, the pain.

Checking his pockets he found his keys and wallet. Looking on the desk in his room he saw the brochure for the hotel. Picking it up John read; Marriott Courtyard Denver. John was stunned, the brochure slipping from his fingers as he stared at the wall in front of him. He stood transfixed for several moments. Then John picked up the phone, his cell seemed to be missing, and dialed home. Jenny picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jen, it's me. I love you. Just remember that please."

"Oh god, are you hurt? Are you okay? Where are you John?"

"I'm okay so far, but I'm alone."

"Oh..." John heard as she cried and they were not tears of joy. John's throat started to tighten as Jenny's emotions were felt by him.

"I'm in Denver, I'm afraid to say. And I feel like...well...crap. I'm really sorry Jen." Now John was weeping.

"I know, I know. How?" Jenny asked between sobs.

"I really don't know darling. I was driving home and then I was in a hospital and then I was here."

"Oh god," Jenny said. Then there was a commotion on her end and several voices could be heard. "Michelle and Susan just came in. Yes he's okay for now. He's in Denver and he's alone."

"Jen. Tell them I love them please."

"I will, I will. Oh god. Oh god." John could hear several muffled questioned being asked as Jenny put he hand over the mouth piece.

As John waited he sat in the only chair in the room. He actually felt quite serene and peaceful as he sat back listening to the muffled sounds on the other end of the phone. He suddenly realized he was at peace with the world and himself. He had a wonderful life. He was most fortunate to have loved three beautiful women and had been loved back. He had accomplished much in his life and his legacy would remain. Jenny, Susan and Michelle would see to that. All three women were tenacious and strong willed and would see that the company would continue no matter what.