Unraveling a Cover-Up

"Hi; it has been awhile. What have you been up to? Really! That would be great. I'd love to see you. Oh and plan on having dinner Thursday night. I have two people that I need your approval on. Great. Call me when you get to town."

When she hung up, Bob asked, "Do I have competition?"

She grinned, "Of course. You know that tight end I told you about?"

"You mean the one who sports a four inch pop gun and says that it is a cannon?"

"Yep, that's him. He is going to be in Washington this week and is going to have dinner with us Thursday night. So you better impress him or you might end up like a bug on the windshield."

"Uh huh. Let me guess; this is a smoke screen to get him to meet Ellen. You should be aware that if he treats her badly, he will be the bug on my windshield."

"Listen buster, if he treats her badly, you will have to stand in line while I beat the crap out of him first. But don't tell Ellen anything about this; it needs to be a surprise." They both grinned at each other.

"Then why is it bad for me to keep a secret from her?"

"Because you are a guy and guys aren't allowed to have secrets. That's why."

"Oops."

As they were finishing the market, Ellen showed up with the two girls. "Bobby, your girls want you to spoil them with ice cream and junk food. So here they are. Penny and I are going shopping so I can look presentable in Washington. I checked and I don't have anything that I would wear around there."

"Ok, just don't drive us into the poor house. Girls, do you really want ice cream or would rather have a raw sweet potato? I have a couple in here."

"Yuk. I wan ith cweam." Becky just stood there looking at him like all girls always do when a guy says something stupid. Bob shook his head and for the umpteenth time said that she was growing up too fast.

Before they found the ice cream shop, they stopped at the pizza buffet with a game parlor. The girls actually ate a couple of pieces of pizza and fork full of salad but they were sweaty and ready for ice cream when they were through.

Bob took the girls home and put them down for their nap before he went to put the game camera in a tree near his trailer. He was satisfied that it would capture anything that got within fifty feet of the trailer. When he went inside, he took the added precaution of loading two of his rifles and the shotgun. The rifles he put on a shelf by the back door and the shotgun went into the basement. He hoped that he didn't need any of them but he was prepared to use them if necessary.

Since the women weren't back yet, he began cutting up meat and vegetables for dinner. With that finished, he put the meat in to marinade for awhile. Once it was in the refrigerator, he heard Ellen's car pull up to the house and went outside because he expected them to have a lot to carry in. He wasn't wrong.

The first thing Ellen said, "Did you miss us, stud?"

"Were you gone? I hadn't noticed."

Penny put on her Ms. Wainwright expression and said, "Robert Jensen, that is the wrong answer and you know it. But you now need to get a real job; you are probably broke."

"Then it is a good thing that I already fixed dinner. I would hate to look for a job on an empty stomach."

He picked up four large bags from the clothing store while each woman carried several hanging things inside. They were met by the girls who announced, "Uncle Bob took us for pizza and ice cream."

Donna said, "We play gameth."

"That's what I figured." Ellen gave him the evil eye.

"Ellen, you specifically told me to take them for junk food and ice cream."

"I did not! I said that they wanted you to take them for that. If they didn't have you wrapped around their little fingers, you would have known better."

"Penny, help me out here."

"I am totally neutral in this family debate; besides, I can't afford to piss Ellen off until after I get you wrapped up."

Ellen added, "Yeah, and that's another thing. You have four months to wrap her up because you need another deduction this year."

"Oh this sounds so romantic. Penny, I love you; will you be my deduction?" That earned him two resounding smacks in his arms. "Shit."

"Momma, Uncle Bob said 'shit' again."

"I know honey; Penny is now in charge of punishing him and I hear that you said that this morning too."

"Uncle Bob said that he would punish me later."

"I already did too; I forced her to eat a double dip cone." That earned him three more smacks.

"Donna, come save me from these crazy people. Take me to get some peppers for dinner."

"I safe you Unkl Bop." With a serious face, she took his hand and led him out of the back door. Penny and Ellen waited until they were away from the house before they both broke out in peals of laughter.

Dinner was light and enjoyable. The others had tasted Bob's grilled kebobs a number of times but it was Penny's first taste of Bob's cooking. She added another priority to his growing list of priorities. Bob read the girls a story while the two women cleaned up and plotted new ways to tease their favorite man. They had coffee and a plan ready when he came back from story time.

It was just after 9:00, the girls were in bed, and they had settled down in the den where they had just begun to tease him about him facing the hearing again when the night was broken by the sound of a loud explosion and tires screaming as a vehicle roared off into the night.

Bob jumped up and said, "Ellen, take the girls to the cellar and bar the door. I put a shotgun down there and it is loaded. Use it if anyone tries to get in. I'll call you when it is safe. Let's go, lover girl." He ran to the door and took down the two semi- automatic rifles and handed one to Penny. Then they were running down the driveway to the remains of his trailer that were burning brightly. Other pieces were still falling from the sky. They could hear the sirens starting up and knew that it would only be a few minutes before the fire trucks got there. No one was there, of course, but Bob took a close look at the fresh tire tracks and frowned. They were too big to be on a regular pickup truck. They looked more like they came from a modified swamp truck with oversized balloon tires used in the sloppy wet areas and he only knew one of them to be in the immediate area. It belonged to another of John's friends.

As the fire trucks pulled into the drive, he turned to Penny and said, "Stay here with Ellen and the kids. I am going to whip some serious ass and I might end up in jail." He started walked towards his truck.

"Bob, stop!" He didn't. Finally, she caught up to him and grabbed his arm and jerked him around. "Stop, dammit!"

"What? Those two assholes aren't going to bomb my place and get away with it." She saw the anger and rage pouring out of his eyes.

She returned his glare and said, "It wasn't a bomb; it was some kind of missile like an RPG."

Bob's face froze and then he asked, "Are you sure?"

"I heard enough of them in Iraq to last a life time. A bomb makes a big boom; a missile makes a focused blast. The damage is like this too."

He continued to stare at her and then went toward the tree where he had mounted the game camera. When he got it down, the sheriff's car was pulling in behind the fire truck. "Talk to the sheriff; I'll be in my study."

Penny watched him walk quickly back into the house. Before she went to talk to the sheriff, she called Ellen and told her that it was safe. Then she went to tell the sheriff what had happened.

When she and the sheriff entered Bob's study, he was staring hard at an image on the screen. It was a simple image; there was a dark vehicle with a driver in dark clothes and a helmet. Another man was standing in the passenger seat dressed the same. He had a short tube-like thing held on top of his shoulder.

He sheriff asked, "Is that who did this?"

Bob replied, "Yes."

"You can't tell shit about who they are and what the hell kind of vehicle is that?"

Bob replied, "It is a one-of-a-kind special vehicle. It has the body of a Humvee, a souped up truck engine and transmission, and an off road suspension, wheels, and tires from a Bradley."

"How do you know this and where is it?"

"I know what it is because I built it. The last place I knew, it was parked in a hangar in Afghanistan almost ten years ago."

They both heard Penny's voice say, "Oh shit!"

"I'll put out an alert for a strange looking vehicle in black and see if anyone has seen it."

"Go ahead but it will be hard to spot. It can go very fast and off road to boot." The sheriff left to put out his bulletin.

Penny put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure about that? Could it be a copy or something?"

He enlarged the picture until things began to break up. "Can you make that out?"

"It looks like 'FOUR2ONE' or something like that."

He pulled his file of photos from the previous night and thumbed through it until he took one out. She could clearly see on the hood the words "FOUR2ONE."

"Damn, there is no record of any equipment coming back from that area."

"It gets worse. I know that you have been sending regular reports back on me; did you e-mail or send those files up today?"

"Yes; I copied them and also scanned them. I sent them from the store to my boss."

"Get Ellen in here; we have to some decisions to make."

"Wait; let me make a phone call first." Penny took out her cell phone and pushed speed dial number. "Sorry to wake you up; we have a big problem. Did you get the reports I sent you for the past two days? Good; did you get the file I sent you this morning? Crap, there is a leak in the office. I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. I'll call and let you know."

Bob took the phone from her and said, "I'll tell you what we are going to do. We are leaving in the morning. When we are on the road, Penny will let you what we are doing and that we have all of the stuff with us. If they attack or blow up my family home, I am going to hunt them down and send them to their maker. This shit pisses me off. Here, talk to Penny again."

She listened and said, "Yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir. I will tell him. Yes, sir; he is rather unique and no, you might not like the way he says things but he doesn't lie. I'll be in touch."

"Can I ask who we were talking to? Whoever it was seems important."

"I don't know, do you consider the Army Chief of Staff important?

"Aw shit!"

"I'll punish you later for that. I'll get Ellen." She left Bob to shake his head.

They came back and Ellen looked very shook up."Sit honey; I think that things are going to be all right tonight. They would be really stupid to come back this soon. Come to think of it, Penny, send whoever an e-mail now to the effect that my trailer was attacked and the damage was significant. We won't know for a couple of days if anything important was safe. Add something to the effect that we will drive up leaving on Monday morning and will bring what we can. Make up whatever you think might be important and use your normal report style. Make sure you say something to the effect that I am pissed off and will shoot first and worry about the results later. We don't want anyone to get suspicious."

She nodded and pulled out her tablet and began writing. "Ellen, we don't know who or what is going on but it has to do with me and Afghanistan. Can you take the girls to John's parents in the morning?"

She answered shakily. "Yes, Penny and I talked to them today and if we take them tomorrow, they will leave for Florida tomorrow. They don't want to be there if John comes around. Their RV is already packed and ready to go."

"Good. Pack your and Penny's bags in your van also and after you leave, go to Chet's place and wait for me. I am going to clean up the mess out there a little and take a load to the dump. When I leave there, I will take the back road to Chet's place."

"Is everything going to be all right, Bob?"

"If I knew who was doing this or why, I would go after them tonight. I hope that everything turns out all right but I don't know for sure. All I know is that I want you and Penny with me so I can protect you. I think the kids will be Ok with John's folks. They want something I have or they think I have."

Penny had finished her e-mail and sent it and was listening. "Who is Chet?"

Ellen said, "He is our cousin. He is very safe."

Bob picked up his phone and dialed a number. "Hello dumbass yourself. Where the hell are you? You are going to get fat eating all of that French food. Hey, can Ellen and I use your bus for a week or so? We've got to go to D.C. for a couple of days. Great, tell your security that Ellen and my fiancé will be there in the morning and I will be there around noon. Yes, I said fiancé. I'll tell you when you get back. Oh, and don't try to speak French to the girls over there. You might want to know where the rest room is but they will think that you are asking them to marry them. Uh huh, you've been there three times already and don't need to go there again. Bye." He rang off and then continued, "Chet's in the Riviera trying to see how a French woman tastes. His bus will be ready for us. When you get there, load your things on it and wait inside for me."

Ellen replied, "I'll go pack and get to bed. Penny, we'll talk in the morning on the way to drop off the girls." They hugged and kissed each other.

Penny looked at Bob and said, "Now do you want to explain this fiancé thing you told you cousin about?"

"You know, I asked you to be my deduction; that sort of make you my fiancé, doesn't it?"

"Get your ass in bed; we need to talk."

"Yes, we do. I want to hear who you are and who you really work for. And you aren't even going to get a kiss until you tell me."

"Damn, you make it hard on a girl."

"Not as hard as I will make it after you tell me what I need to know."

"That is the part I want. Let's go."

When they fell asleep exhausted, Bob had learned that she did work for the Army Investigative Service and had been assigned to the Secret Service as an investigator. In this capacity, she solved several cases without embarrassing important people. When several other cases reared their heads possibly involving some of top officers in the Army, she was assigned to those and reported to her Congressional channel but also to the Army Chief of Staff because of the sensitive nature of the men and the issues involved. The Afghanistan thing started as a minor part of a bigger picture. The Congressional hearing had been set up to get testimony and perhaps ferret out one or more of the people involved. It had escalated way beyond what was expected. Penny also got what she wanted which was a promise that he would ask her to marry him before Thanksgiving as long as she would quit asking him to reveal his secrets. She promised but had her fingers crossed.

Bob rose before dawn and was out of the house soon afterwards. Penny wanted to go with him but he said a firm "no" and snuck out in dark camo clothing with one of the rifles. He was back in twenty minutes with a frown on his face. Penny had coffee ready for him. "Well?"

"We have a watcher. When you are ready to take the girls, I will see that he doesn't follow you."

"Robert Jensen, you aren't going to do something stupid are you?"

"It depends on your definition of stupid. Trust me, he won't follow you."

They stopped talking when Ellen came out. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything is under control Ellen. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, we can leave as soon as the girls have breakfast."

"When you leave, the sheriff will be making an arrest just south of out gate. Ignore it and do what we planned."

"Penny, what is he talking about?"

"He is showing us that he has a very devious mind. Ignore him. Let's get the girl's up."

An hour later, Bob loaded all of their suitcases into Ellen's van but before he would let them leave, he took out his cell phone and called a number. "Good morning, Ron. Listen, you know that rape that happened last night? No; I know that it happened but I'm not sure who it happened to. It doesn't matter anyway. I am about a hundred percent sure that the guy who did it is parked about a hundred yards south of my gate in black car. That's exactly right. I think that you really need to check this guy out thoroughly. If he has done this once, he probably has done it before. I agree totally. X-rays, DNA, all that stuff. Two or three days would be just fine. No, I am taking a vacation for a couple of days and so is Ellen. We are going to the California wine country. Same to you, say hello to your wife for us."

Ellen and Penny were giggling as he hung up. "When you hear the sirens, you can go. I hope the girls have fun. I'll catch up to you at Chet's."

Ellen said, "Bobby, what are you going to take. We can take it with us."

"Ellen, you know that I don't have anything but jeans to wear and after last night, I have very few of those. I'll buy some stuff up there. I am sure that Penny knows where the accused can get a uniform to wear for his bar-b-queing."

Penny said, "Robert Jensen, that is bull shit and you know it."

From the car came Becky's voice, "Momma, what is bull shit?"

"Nothing honey, Uncle Bobby will punish Aunt Penny for that later."

Bob said, "Maybe I'll just borrow some of Chet's things to wear to the hearing."

Ellen laughed and replied, "Fat chance of that. Let's go, Penny."

"What is wrong with what Chet has?" Penny asked.

"You'll see."

They got in the van and drove off. Based on what Bob heard, there were at least five squad cars out there. He backed his truck up and began loading some of the scrap junk that littered the yard. An hour later, he drove out the gate to go to the dump and the five squad cars were still there tearing the seats out of the car. Bob grinned as he drove out into the countryside toward the landfill. Forty five minutes later, he was certain that he hadn't been followed by another vehicle and there had not been a helicopter or small plane in sight. He cut through the back roads and entered a well manicured pasture from a little known gate. Five minutes after that, he parked his truck in a barn and was met by Penny with her hands on her hips by the door of a garish tour bus.

'You didn't tell me that Cousin Chet was Chet McAdams, the bad boy of country music."

"I figured that Ellen would tell you. Maybe we can get him to sing at our wedding."

"For some reason, I don't think that 'Outlaws and Bad Guys Make Great Lovers Too' would be appropriate at our wedding."

"You are probably right. Maybe he would do "Shut Up, Bitch; I Am Through With You Forever Until I Change My Mind Again."

Penny was glaring and Ellen was rolling on the floor in laughter. "Penny, that would be so appropriate."

Penny glared at her too. "And why would that be so appropriate, pray tell?"

"Because Bobby wrote it for Chet."

Penny turned red and said to Bob, "You and I need to have a talk about what a secret is."

"I don't have any secrets, dammit. If you want to know something about me, just ask Ellen the Blabbermouth. I do what I do and don't worry about it. She keeps track of things."

"Ellen, what else do I need to know?"

"Did you now that he keeps four other tour buses on the road besides this one?"

"No."

"Did you know that he also wrote two erotic novels that he won't let me read?"

"No."

"Shit. Bobby, why do you want to marry such a nosey woman?"

"Because I love her. Now get settled; it is a long drive to Washington."

An hour after the bus had left the city limits, Bob called Penny to sit with him. "I might be paranoid but I have seen a couple of cars that might be watchers. Why don't you send an e-mail that we left early and that four of us are traveling in an SUV on I-20? We plan to stop in Mississippi or Alabama for the night. I don't think that they would check out Chet's bus but you never know."