The Librarian Pt. 03

"Hi," he turned to his oldest son, "What will the law enforcement community think? Will there be any blow back?"

His oldest son thought for a moment, then fixed Mike with a lawman's stare. He mulled his answer for a while. Then he looked at his father.

"AWW, SHIT, DAD! I like the guy, But this will hang our asses out there. But as long as no one figures it out, I guess we could cover for him-..... for a bit. Then, if anything comes of it, we could deal with it then." He turned and looked at his brother.

"Thanks, Hi, for nothing," said Jethro. It made him think of the old adage- 'A friend will help you move; a best friend will help you move a body; a brother will help you move a body- but you'll hear about it for the rest of your life.'

He sighed.

"I like him too, dad. And I'm concerned for Constance and my kids. You and mom, too. But the truth is it doesn't appear to serve any greater purpose to turn him over.

"Besides," he chuckled, "Being at Mom's mercy may be his divine punishment." He looked at Mike.

"May GOD have mercy on your soul, friend." His older brother laughed and raised the last of his beer to Mike.

Dad thought for a moment, contemplating his own Coors. Then he raised his eyes to Michael.

"Son, we're going to take a chance on you. I'll never live this down when Penney gets wind of our decision. But I'll handle it."

He held Mike's eyes.

"Don't make me sorry I did this."

Mike choked up and swallowed hard.

"Thank you. All of you. I won't let you down. I promise."

Hiram Sr. drained the beer and rose.

"O.K., let's go face the music."

***********************************************************************************

The atmosphere in the Lovebird's living room was electric. There was now Penelope Lovebird, their daughter Penelope Anne, Hiram Jr.'s wife Melissa, Jethro's wife Constance, son Micheal's wife Rosita, their two other daughters, Lucy, and Linda. Standing in the background was the subject of all the discussions.

Mary Louise Anderson.

Next to her was a petite young lady who appeared to be spitting image of Mary. They both seemed to be calmly observing everything about to go down. But the look on Mary's face told Mike that she was very upset.

"Ladies," started Hiram Sr., "This is Mr. John Dorne. He will be staying with us for a while." His eyes sought out Penney's and the silent communication between them spoke volumes. She surreptitiously nodded and looked to John Dorne's face for some sort of response. Hiram Jr. looked at his wife and shook his head surreptitiously. He mouthed 'later' and turned back to the other folks. Jethro blew a kiss to his wife and winked and smiled at her.

Hiram Sr. continued.

"John, I'd like to introduce Mary Louise Anderson and her cute little daughter, Jasmine.

"Ladies, this is Mr. John Dorne."

Mary came forward and extended her hand. John/Mike took the offered hand and shook it. He was taken with her presence. She WAS cute, and very well put together. He tried not to stare as her hair was cut so that it came down over her right eye and across her forehead and cheek. You hardly noticed anything wrong with her face and she didn't appear self-conscious.

'This woman appears to be very self-confident. I don't understand what everyone is so concerned about.' He realized he was still holding her hand and was just about drooling. She smiled and blushed and pulled her hand away.

"ERR, sorry," he stammered.

Penney was watching the interplay and thinking,'YES! Nailed it. I KNEW they would fit together. Take that, you doubting Hiram you.'

Hiram was also watching.

'Son of a Bitch', he thought. He shook his head and harrumphed.

"Well, what we propose is that John works on the farm here and helps Mary and Jasmine get around and back and forth to work. Hi said there were rumors that the bastard-sorry, dear- who attacked Mary was seen in the area. They were never able to catch him and he vowed to come back and kill her and kidnap Jasmine." He looked at the young lady that he thought of as his youngest daughter.

"I'm saying you seem to be capable, John, and we are trusting you to do this. Think you can handle it?"

Hiram watched John and waited for his answer.

John looked at Mary and then turned to Hiram and Penney.

"I think it depends on Mary and Jasmine. Would they be all right with this arrangement?

"They don't know me. They are entrusting their safety to a stranger. It's an enormous risk. I know I can do it, but would they be comfortable with me being responsible for their safety?" I turned to look at this young woman.

Mary studied the stranger. She was shook at the revelations. She didn't know about the threats or the recent sightings. But Hiram Jr. had kept tabs on everything to do with his family and was privy to the investigation. He had become concerned because this scumbag was almost invisible and police were no closer to finding him then when the crime occurred.

Now, this.

"If what you say is true, I would welcome the security of an additional person. IF only for Jasmine's safety. I don't know who you are, Mr. Dorne, but if Penney and Hiram are o.k. with you, I trust their judgment."

There seemed to be an audible exhaling of breath in the room as this was said, and conversation escalated to family levels almost immediately.

So I was sucked into the Lovebirds family circle almost immediately. Third son Michael showed up after being out on the high line -- 'Wa, Wa, Wa.', and now I had met everyone. I shacked up in the 'bunkhouse' where seasonal help lived but I was alone. (There were no seasonal help at this time.)

What, you didn't think I was going to move in with Mary, did you? I am NOT that kind of boy!! Unfortunately, she's not that kind of girl, either. But Penney kept waltzing around with a poop eating grin on her face.

She was thinking it was just a matter of time.

We fell into a somewhat daily routine. I would drive her and Jasmine to drop off jasmine at school and then Mary to work at the library. We did it on random days, with no discernible pattern. On days when I didn't drive them, I would discreetly follow them and then run errands, coming back to watch Jas walk from school to the library, then wait till they left to go home. Some times they would go other places before heading home, so I found time to tour beautiful down town Palo Cedro. Pretty scenery, but if you were 'on assignment', as I was, you had to say focused.

This went on for several weeks, and if I was not an ex-spy, I would have gotten bored long ago. Then, one evening, as we were coming home from girls shopping at the clothes store, and fast food to feed the two children, (I am a boy, after all. And Jasmine mentioned that I looked hungry. Ergo, burgers.), I was carrying bags into their house. As I climbed the stairs to the front porch, Mary spun and pushed me against the railing.

"How come you haven't made a move on me? Am I really that hideous looking that I am not attractive to you??" she railed. She was furious.

I was stunned. I was so caught up in my 'assignment' that I wasn't paying attention to anything else. Actually, I had started fantasizing about her every night. She really wasn't too bad looking. And the legs! Oh, those legs. Her personality was dynamite, as they say. She was just a little paranoid about her scars. But he had no idea she felt like this.

'I guess I've outlived my secret agent days', he thought. 'Maybe it's best I was looking for a different line of work'.

So here I was pinned by the determined women with fire in her eyes demanding an explanation. What was I supposed to do?.

So I dropped her bags, grabbed her to me, and kissed her. Hard, passionately, with emotion, like a teenager. Get the picture?? About that time, Jasmine walked out and, without missing a beat, picked up my dropped shopping bags, turned and walked into the house. As she got to the door, she yelled, "About time," and continued on. We broke the embrace and turned, stunned and embarrassed.

"Busted!", I said. Mary dissolved into laughter.

"She has been onto me for a few days about hooking you. I think she likes you." She stared deep into my eyes.

"Can't imagine why."

Summoning my best repartee, I answered, "Because I'm so likable??"

She dissolved again, grabbed my hand, kissed my cheek, and led me into the house.

We prepared and ate dinner. Burgers, fries, and cokes. After we did the dishes, with me drying and Jasmine walking around smirking and chuckling, we sat on her couch, ate popcorn, and watched a movie. I think it was the third "Die Hard" one. I realized that except for the first movie, John McLain never managed to reconcile with his wife. I realized that I had a sort of parallel with my life. I was not going to make the same mistake.

After the end of the movie, Jasmine jumped up and came over, kissed her mother on the cheek, wiggled her eyebrows at me, and said, in her best admonishing tone, "Behave yourselves!" Then she winked and flounced off to bed.

I my best naive tone of voice, I said,"Now what was that all about?".

Mary turned and looked at me.

"Were you really a CIA agent? Because you sure can be dumb at times."

OH, SHIT!! My cover was blown again! Do I have to kill her now? I haven't had sex in a while so maybe that is possible, but I don't want to.

"What are you talking about? CIA? ME?? Come on, really???"

She stared.

"REALLY. I have talked to Penney at great lengths. Do you think she would set us up if I didn't know everything about you?"

What did she know? Did she even have a clue who I was or what I had done? Did she know what had been done to me?

Something in my face gave me away.

"I know you killed a man, and tortured another, for what they did to you and your family. I know what your ingrate wife did to you. I KNOW you are a good man. I've seen the way you look at me and at Jasmine, how you act around the other children here. I know you are human."

'I also know you make me wet when I think about you', she thought.

"You know a lot about me. But I don't know a lot about you," I said.

I moved my hand to the side of her face. She freaked.

"NO. DON'T!!", she exclaimed. I took her hand and gently moved it.

"Why not?", I asked softly.

"DON'T!," she pleaded, with tears in her eyes.

"Are you ashamed? Because I'm not. Of what I did. And I'm sure my soul is scared far worse than your face. So what have you got to lose? If you're wanting to be intimate with a man who probably has VIP reservations in hell, then the least you can do is let me see who I'm going to make love to."

"Make love? You want to make love to me?"

"I can go have sex anytime. I am very fussy who I make love to."

She let go of my hand and started to hiccup, between tears. I brushed the hair off her face and for the first time in a long time, someone gazed at her face unobstructed.

The scar started at the peak of her nose and trailed down to her lower jaw. Right through her eye-socket. The flesh around where her eye had been was distorted. It was withered and puckered. Her cheek was sunken and discolored. Her face sagged just a little. Other than that, she was pretty. Cute. Even if she had not been scarred, she would never have been beautiful. But she would have been attractive. Hell, she was STILL attractive. He leaned over and kissed her scar, even as she recoiled. Then she melted into him.

"OHH, GOD, I want you so bad!!"

He may have been 42, but he was in good shape. He stood, scooped her into his arms, and carried her to her bedroom.

***********************************************************************************

O.K., one more trip to Virginia

Alexander Colton and Timothy Ross walked into FBI head quarters-again. This was getting old. They were ushered into Lance Fresno's office and took seats. Lance smiled and said it was good to see them again.

"O.K., Lance what prompted this call? I just delivered the weekly briefing on our favorite cold case. The Director was not pleased. I'm sure your boss will be hearing from him."

"Well, maybe we can change his demeanor. I think we caught a break. A small one, but something."

He had Alex's attention now. Tim just straightened a little more and decided to pay attention.

"We got a text from the Mississippi State Police. They busted a small biker gang for a liquor store robbery. One of the bikers was riding a 1982 Harley Davidson Super Glide II, Cobalt blue, with New Jersey tags, registered to a Mr. Richard Smith, Freehold, N.J." Alex looked at Tim. He turned back to Fresno.

"SO?"

"Trouble is, he wasn't Mr. Richard Smith. We had the Trenton Office check on Mr. Smith. Doesn't exist. The address is in the Freehold Park Racetrack parking lot. N.J. DMV had no record of the motorcycle ever have been registered there.

"So the Jackson office paid a visit to Mr. Herschel Devers, aka Richard Smith, and had a little chat. We had the motorcycle returned to Quantico and the techs tore it apart. They also have Mike's truck, which we located in a Long John Silver's parking lot about 10 miles from his house. Oh, by the way," he said, opening his desk drawer, "here's your tracking device," he said with great effort, pulling the magnetic attached tracker out of his metal desk drawer. He handed it to Tim, who took it and looked it with a grin on his face.

"So you found the truck??", said Alex.

"Oh, yeah, we found 'the truck' alright. The truck this thing was attached to. When you gave us the info and the frequency that this thing was pinging on, we stared to trace it. After a few days, we expanded the search and, low and behold, there it was-in Key West Florida, attached to an eighteen wheeler in a seafood company parking lot!".

Alex and Tim looked at each other.

"So we started to look for the truck back along the route the eighteen wheeler had taken and that's where we found it. And it just so happens that there is a storage facility across the street from the fast food place. And while no one at Long John Silver's recognized him, the manager at the storage facility did.

"It seems that Mike had a unit there for more than 9 years. Paid cash, on an annual basis to get a good rate. There is still 1 1/2 months left on the lease. So we got a warrant and opened up unit # 243. Inside, various items belonging to Mr. Micheal Starne. One of the things was a battery charger, 12 volt 4 amp capacity. Also, a half case of guess what? Anyone? Anyone?

"O.K., motorcycle oil.

"We went to the state prison outside of Goochland, the Virginia Correctional Center for Women, where Lorelei is being held.

"By the way, she's a basket case since she got Mike's letter. They are holding her there for psychiatric treatment.

"She said Mike bought a motorcycle about 9 or so years ago. He was real excited. Wanted to take trips together. She told him no; it was beneath her, not her style, and to get rid of it. He was crushed and she said he sold it and she never saw it again."

"So this bike was probably Mike's?"

"Probably, hell. We called Harley Davidson and the VIN # matches one sold to..... Tad Da, a distributor outside of Falls Church, who sold it to a Mr. David Wells. He was almost 70 when he bought it, and only owned it for about two years when his arthritis forced him to sell it. To a Mr. Micheal Starne.

"6 months later, according to a title on file in Richmond, he sold it to a Mr. Richard Smith, of New Jersey.

"Well, actually, he told the state and his wife he did."

"So we talked to Mr. Herschel Devers and made a deal. He only sat outside at the gas pumps, waiting for his buddies to come out while they hung up the liquor store. But they picked the wrong liquor store. The owner tripped the silent alarm, pulled his shotgun, shot two of the perps, and held the other one at gunpoint till the State Bears arrived. They arrested all of them. So when we showed up and talked to the locals, they shrugged and said they really didn't need him.

"So we made a deal with them, then sat him down and sweated him. He lasted about five seconds, and then he caved in- for a deal also.

"Seems like he arrived in Sturgis two days before it ended with some friends. No bikes, just a van. While walking around, he came upon the 'parking lot' of motorcycles. There were only about a dozen and half left. The Super Glide caught his eye, and, when he realized the keys were in the ignition and the bike was covered in dust and a few bird droppings, he decided to take a chance. He pocketed the keys and went and got a beer.

"Sitting at a nearby outdoor table, he watched the bike. He left about 10:00 p.m. and came back the next day and resumed watching. By 5:00 p.m., there were only two bikes left, a full dress Hog and the Super Glide.

"About that time, a big dude strolled up wit a waif, a thin blonde with pneumatic tits, who strolled up to the hog, and without a glance at the other bike, they mounted up, cranked it up, and left.

"He figure it was not or never. The 'convention' if you will closed that night, and tomorrow the city workers would be trying to put the town back together. So he walked over, put the key in the ignition, turned they fuel cock, and started it. He Said it was in 'real good shape' and lit right off. He left and ran into he other three outside of town and they hit it off. Next stop, Mississippi. He was waiting for them to get the beer when it all went to shit.

"So we sent a team from Denver to Sturgis to canvas. They found nothing. No one recognized him, even with the digitally modified photos. It was a while ago, and with the number of people moving through there, it's understandable.

"They are widening the search but it's not like there are many spots to look."

Alex thought for a moment.

"So Mike takes the motorcycle to Sturgis, South Dakota, and disappears again. Damm, the boy is good."

Tim covered hi mouth and smirked.

Alex looked at him and said, "Something you'd like to add, Agent Ross?"

"No, sir. Just coughing."

Holding his stare, Alex muttered, "Didn't think so."

He turned back to Special Agent Fresno.

"So where are we?"

"UH, FBI Headquarters??", said Fresno.

Alex scowled and stared at the FBI agent. But Lance wasn't cowed.

"Nowhere, actually. We're still looking, but so far, nothing."

"Great; just great", snarled Alex.

***********************************************************************************

Now, let's get back to Mary's bedroom

Mary was shivering. She started to sob as Mike stood her up at the foot of the bed.

"Please, I've wanted this for a while now and I didn't know how to go about it. You are so fragile; I'M so fragile. But I want this. I want you."

Mike was stunned. He had had feelings for Mary for a while, but they weren't quite this strong. But then again, he hadn't gotten laid in quite a while. He wasn't quite sure whether or not it was love on this scale or strong sexual attraction. But here he was, in the woman's bedroom, with an invitation to take her.

His hands went to her blouse and the buttons came undone. The bra revealed inside the blouse was lacy, but a demure white kind of sexy. Her breathing increased and she started to sweat. She began to hyperventilate. She closed her eye and moaned as his fingers caressed the sides of her breasts and moved towards her rapidly hardening nipples. Her hips snapped up against his pelvic region and she ground her mound against his hardened cock.

'OOHH,' he groaned, and knew that one way or another, he'd have his answer tonight.

She grabbed his face and kissed him like she hadn't kissed anyone in a long, long time. Her hands went to his shirt and she wasn't quite as gentle as he was as she ripped the buttons loose and pulled his shirt open. Her mouth latched onto his chest and she bit his skin and drew blood.