

#### Black Cats: Lucky or Unlucky?

#### by David J. Wighton

#### 

#### Book #22 in the Wilizy Series

###

### Smashwords Edition

### Copyright 2020, David J. Wighton

###

### This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.

### Although this e-book might be sold at no cost to the reader at times, I retain ownership of the copyright and may elect to charge a small amount for its purchase at times.

### Thank you for respecting my copyright.

# Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to my wife, Dale, and to my other family members whose support made it possible.

Cover design by Rita Toews at E-Book Covers, East St. Paul, Manitoba.

**Parent and Reader Advisory**

As a science-fiction novel, some events in this book take place in a fictional location named _Heaven_ where mythical creatures named _angels_ exist. Included as well are mythical _devils_ and _demon_ s existing in a fictional _Hell_.

The descriptions of the two fictional afterlives are intended as a satire, not as a commentary on your religious beliefs. As a satire, these two afterlives are described in somewhat ridiculous ways. Please do not take these depictions seriously or as an affront to your religious beliefs.

# Wilizy Family Members as of March 2091

• Doc and Granny, about 80 years old.

• Hank (about 49) and Yolanda (about 45).

• Wolf (26), Mac (25), Jock Jr. (6), Emily (5), Jock Sr. (56).

• William (24), Melissa (25), Will & Izzy (6), MayaLou (4).

• Yollie (24), TG (26), Liset (11), Yo-Yo (7), Hank (5), Ivanika (5).

• Wizard (23), Dreamer (21), Wanda (61).

• Lucas (20), Lylah and Lohla (20).

• Theo (19), Nary (20), Marie (about 81).

• Mathias (18), Kashmira (18).

• Reese (16), Winnie (15).

• Maddy (11)

• Stu McKenzie (50), Momaka (46), Petro (4).

• Cassie (the ghost).

• Cowboy (26), Bean (23).

**Main Afterlife Characters**

• Arthur, Paula, Meghan, Lillian, and Joe-Joe.

• Lord Percy and the Duke of Earl.

**Other Characters**

• Governor Charlie Stookenhap and Sheila.

• Cattlemen: Llewellen Paup, Knute Krakul, and Bausch (Boss) Schnappe.

• Palesa, Andrea, and Jilly of the Valkyries; Dolly Holly (Fido) and Boris, the purple gnome. Agent Delacroix of the FBI (Frosty).

This page is to help you if you get confused about who is who in the story. If that happens, click your way back to the Table of Contents and scroll back one page.

# Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Books in the Wilizy Series

About the Author: David J. Wighton

# Chapter 1

It was a Sunday evening. As was the custom in the cadet camp on Sundays, the mess hall was full because this was the night when the kitchen staff trotted out their best entrees and desserts. All the cadets were there along with the Valkyries who had moved into their new barracks earlier that week. Most of the Wilizy families were there too, including Yollie, TG, and the kids. Their kids included Liset of course, whose presence would be notable later.

Nymph (Paula) was in the mess hall too, sitting at a table with Lucas, Lylah, and Lohla. She had arrived at the camp in time to help out with the final decorating touches on the women's barracks and had test-driven one of the rooms. Her skills in decorating had not gone unnoticed. Lylah and Lohla had asked for help in decorating their new home and that was where she had spent most of Sunday. Paula even gave them an email address (Nymph@ paradise.com) that the twins could use if they wanted more help with decorating.

Winnie and Arthur were not there. Winnie had wanted to have three days to relax from the stress of the rodent operation in Hell and all of the body diagnostics that had followed. She and Arthur had spent some time in the Wilizy ship, but Winnie was 99% certain that Lillian had eyes in the cabins. They spent most of those three days and nights camping out in the Athenian Caves and Grottos. Camping out meant tents and sleeping bags. For those of you with your minds in the gutter, yes, those sleeping bags did migrate closer and closer, but they never did become one joint bag. Nothing untoward happened during those three days, although Winnie and Arthur did spend some time checking that their companion's mouthwash was working up to expectations.

Winnie mind messaged Yolanda and Hank that she'd see them at camp Sunday evening for dinner. She didn't mention anything about Arthur arriving with her. For Winnie, this was a delicate situation. She wanted to let her parents know that Arthur was her boy friend. As you all know, she was not going to lie about that any longer. However, she was also influenced by her desire to keep the degree of her friendship secret from Liset who would be instantly motivated to catch them kissing in public as soon as she saw the two of them together. Technically, Winnie was still the Wilizy chief snoop, but she hadn't sniffed out any romances recently. Remaining the queen of the snoops meant that Winnie couldn't let Liset be the one to catch them kissing for the first time in public.

Plans were carefully made to set the scene for their first public kiss. That planning didn't include Arthur. He wouldn't have understood why such careful attention to the scene was necessary.

Winnie led Arthur into the mess hall at 6:15 when the line up to the food was dwindling. People noticed her of course and many called out her name and waved at her. Yolanda had already mentioned Winnie's intention to be in camp and so the family was expecting her. Yolanda hadn't mentioned the presence of a male companion because Winnie hadn't shared that vital piece of information.

About ten seconds after Winnie and Arthur appeared, Yolanda's head exploded. Figuratively speaking. She received about fifteen mind messages almost simultaneously, all asking the same basic question. _"Who is that boy with Winnie_? Mind message overload is akin to eating freezing cold ice cream underwater and without being able to take a breath between chomps. _[Narrator: You may be wondering how I know this. A word of advice. Be careful about making bets when you don't have all of your mental faculties functioning properly.]_

Naturally, all of Yolanda's interrogators were female; the men barely noticed Arthur's presence, so engrossed were they in their dinners: roast beef with gravy, if you're interested. If they had noticed him, they would have wondered if he were going to leave enough roast beef for them to go back for seconds. Arthur was happily loading up his plate, which would soon require him to rent a forklift to transport it to his table. Winnie didn't notice this. She was scanning the crowd for Liset. When she saw Liset's beady little eyes fixate on Arthur's face, Winnie smiled and began taking modest portions of dinner.

Their walk to Yolanda and Hank's half empty table was long enough and slow enough to cause a subtle silence to fall onto the mess hall. Winnie stood behind an empty spot next to Hank and set her tray down on the table. Arthur, who was following Winnie, stopped too by necessity in the crowded mess hall.

"Mom, Dad. Do you remember Arthur? He's my boyfriend."

Winnie didn't exactly yell it, but half deaf gnats in the corner of the room would have heard her. With that confession completed, Winnie turned to formalize her status with Arthur as a girlfriend. The kissing kind of girlfriend. She stepped towards him, raised her chin and prepared her lips to make the connection.

She hadn't realized that Arthur was still holding his burgeoning tray of food. As she stepped forward, her body slapped up against the edge of the tray, which followed the path of least resistance. Arthur's tray was now plastered, [ _Dare I say 'gravied'?_ ] against the clothes that Winnie had hinted strongly that he should wear if he wanted to be presentable and not embarrass her to the point of death. Arthur felt the smack of contact and looked down. Unfortunately, while Arthur was looking down, Winnie was delivering their first public kiss. It landed on his nose.

Arthur felt the moist connection on his nose and looked up. At that very same time, Winnie was completing a downward course correction, which meant that her second attempt landed on his chin.

By this time, the tray that had been plastered up against Arthur's body had clattered to the floor. Winnie's body was now gravied up against Arthur's food covered chest. Sensing the warm presence of medium-well done meat on her own clothes, she looked down to find herself in what could only be described as a grave(y), sticky situation. Silence mortafied its way around the room.

Winnie saw two ways to get out of this with a semblance, albeit slight, of what was left of her dignity.

First, she could declare that she had just received an emergency message from her boss and they were needed immediately in some foreign country. In other words, flee.

Or....

Winnie looked down at their food covered clothes. Arthur had been intent on finding some thick, juicy, slices of roast beef and they were still gravied to his clothes. She extracted one of them from where it had been stopped in its descent by his belt buckle. "Here's you go, Sweetie," she said and held it up for him to take. Anything would work so long as it took attention away from her.

Arthur wasn't exactly a man known for his adeptness in sticky situations involving women, but he did know Winnie and what the stricken look on her face meant. He took the piece of meat and put half of it in his mouth, holding it in place with his two front teeth. Then, he tilted his head forward in invitation and that was how Winnie and Arthur chewed their way to their first public kiss. At that moment, half of the Wilizy family mentally nodded in approval. The other half kept eating. I'll let you guess which half was which.

This wasn't exactly the way that Winnie wanted the family to _meat_ Arthur, but it would have to do.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 2

While Winnie, Arthur and Paula were relaxing in Montana, down in Hell, Lord Percy was giving one of his subordinates his next assignment, suitably called _Operation Demolish_. This briefing took place in the comfortable senior executive suite in Hell's most evil-ustrious office building. The target of the demolishment? Heaven, of course. The method of demolishment? Technology-Assisted-Torment (TAT) weapons. The devil who would organize that demolition derby? He was known in Hell as the Duke of Earl.

The Duke of Earl had never heard of Hell's new TAT weapon program, so he didn't know what else do at the end of the briefing other than to say, "I'll make sure that the weapon test for Operation Demolish runs smoothly, Lord Percy." He was pleased that he would have a free hand to conduct the weapon test as he saw fit. The Duke made one of his trademark deep bows, held it for a few seconds, and then began backing out of his lord's presence, his plumed hat weaving a figure eight of homage. The Duke shut the door behind him just as Lord Percy was bellowing, "Stop that bowing, you little pipsqueak!"

The Duke of Earl was an assistant serving Lord Percy, one of Satan's most trusted advisors. You've met Lord Percy already. He had enjoyed a rapid advancement into the SSS (Satan's Secret Service), but his career path was nothing like the Duke's. One day the duke was a beginning devil, the next day he was in the SSS. Nobody in the history of Hell had lifted the heavy portcullis into the inner sanctum of senior management offices faster. The Duke hadn't actually done the research to confirm the truth of that claim, but that's what the tagline on his Face Book page said, and nobody had contradicted him yet.

As one of Lord Percy's assistants, the Duke was required to be noticeable whenever he was on duty within Hell's milieu. The theory was that the more the SSS were seen, the more that mere devils would realize they were constantly being watched. To that end, when he was promoted to the SSS, the Duke had decided to give himself a double dip into nobility by assigning himself the moniker _Duke of Earl_. These noble titles were entirely justified because the SSS was the noble class of Hell. And besides, Lord Percy had obviously done the same thing. Adding an earldom to a dukedom was just natural for a devil who thought a lot of himself and wasn't reluctant to broadcast that confidence.

The Duke of Earl realized that he couldn't go completely overboard in his choice of name. He had considered _Duke of Earl, Baron of Marquess_ but had reluctantly rejected the quadruple honour as being too long for an SSS subordinate. But he could begin to outshine his Lordship immediately in his choice of appearance.

Lord Percy's preferred appearance was a customized set of scales - dark gray with vertical blue pinstripes for his legs and the appearance of an open suit coat in the same pattern. This was accompanied by dark blue scales where a shirt would have been along with a real, red tie that was knotted impeccably around his neck and hanging the correct distance to the black belt scales around his waist. Polished black shoes enclosed his hooves and a black bowler covered his enormous thick, red horns. As accessories, he carried a black leather briefcase, and even though it had never been used in Hell, a furled black umbrella. To complete the image, he added the baritone voice of a fruity, English aristocrat. He looked like a stodgy, constipated banker!

The Duke of Earl chose to dress himself as a 15th century courtier complete with a foil in a scabbard. Unfortunately, the scabbard held only a jeweled hilt since no devil could carry a weapon in Hell that might harm another devil. A devil's scales were nearly impenetrable to a cutting blow, but with the right angle, a thin foil's point could slide between the scales. Stuffy old Percy had denied him his toy. The Duke made up for it with a truly unique fashion statement.

An ebony doublet with a trim of spotted-owl feathers covered most of his gray, lace shirt. However, a row of black pearls sown into the cuffs of both sleeves was visible as was the gray lace collar and tar black ruff around his neck. Below the waist, his costume started with a set of coal black hose with interior pouches built into the thighs and calves that he filled with dried pea soup seeds to augment the appearance of his somewhat scrawny legs. Over the tights, he wore raven-black satin breeches, fully puffed, and extending to mid thigh. In the front, he added a large, licorice-black, heart-shaped codpiece.

### # # # # # # # #

_Narrator interlude. An explanation of the Duke's favorite fashion accessory may be in order. A codpiece is not a piece of cod, which is a type of fish. As you might expect, clothes made of fish would not do well in the 15th century, or even afterwards. Mortal courtiers of those times wore linen tights over their legs that extended from toes to the top of their thighs. Their woolen jackets were supposed to hang below the top of their thighs, but wool being what it was, the length of the jackets tended to shrink from the weather. Since underwear had not been invented yet, men began to expose themselves accidentally as they sat down or mounted a horse._

_If I may be delicate here, the word 'cod' in Middle English referred to the part of a man's body that was essential for the creation of babies. The codpiece was an extra piece of linen that covered that area. As time wore on, the linen codpiece became more elaborate, more decorative, and more noticeable. So instead of helping to conceal that vital reproductive area, the codpiece emphasized it. This was not something that men objected to. Even in the 15th century, men's awareness of what appealed to women was amusingly and grossly inaccurate. Emphasis on the word 'gross.'_

### # # # # # # # #

Back to the Duke of Earl's codpiece and his appearance. Naturally, the codpiece was artificially padded like his tights. Very well padded. Over his cloven hooves, he wore slate black crocodile leather shoes, complete with a silver buckle formed into the shape of a fist with an upraised middle finger that was always pointed at any devil facing the Duke. Outside the office, he added a black sable cloak with more spotted-owl trim, and an ink-black courtier's hat complete with a carbon black ostrich feather.

The Duke retired to his manor - a tiny, one-room cave in the congested condo-cave section of downtown SinSin-atti. There, he began to read the background material on Operation Demolish.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 3

Winnie and Arthur spent an entire week in the cadet camp. Given a choice of what to do most days, (meet with the scientists, watch the cadets train, accompany Winnie as she visited everybody....), Arthur spent most of his time in the cadet's mess hall where he chose to learn how to bake chocolate goodies. Naturally, anything he produced for the camp needed to be taste-tested first. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do in spite of the potential hazards to life, limb, and stomach. Arthur spared no effort to help the camp's kitchen maintain their record of zero deaths by food poisoning.

This meant that Winnie's visits with the Wilizy family didn't require any censoring to ensure that Arthur didn't learn any of their secrets. Instead, she asked the family what she had missed when she had been working elsewhere. She learned about all the operations the Wilizy had conducted as well as operations that were currently underway against the Denver Cattlemen's Association. To all queries about her career plans, she answered that she enjoyed working with a secret security firm and would probably stay with them for a bit longer. To all queries about Arthur, she merely said that she could read Arthur's face and didn't mind what she saw there.

Winnie also learned that the rustling operation was very imaginative; the operation to catch Stinky was very sneaky; and, the mining operation should turn out to be a complete surprise to the cattle ranchers. She learned, in effect, that the Wilizy didn't need her for her imaginative, sneaky ideas. This helped ease the guilt that she had felt about not being around for all of their recent operations, but it also made her feel like an outsider. A lonely outsider. She wasn't part of the family any more. She did not share this emotion with anybody.

With three days left in their holiday, Arthur had to return to Heaven for more body testing, which was boring to watch. So, Winnie decided to see how Meghan (Rat's former secretary) was doing in her new life in Halifax. She decided to use her mortal body and a short sling trip later, she found the city's Wal*Mart nestled on a hill overlooking the Halifax harbour. _[Some women have to decide each day what clothes to wear. Winnie had to decide what body to wear.]_ She figured Meghan would be in the store's pharmacy, filling out prescriptions. She wasn't planning to talk with her; she simply wanted to see her. Perhaps she'd follow her home and see Debbie-Lyn, her daughter.

Meghan wasn't in the pharmacy and Winnie didn't want to draw attention to herself by asking. She wandered around the store, but didn't find her. An invisible trip into the back rooms and offices was similarly unsuccessful. She assumed that Meghan might be working a later shift and was leaving the store when she saw her in the copter parking lot. Meghan was wearing blue jeans, a blue-Wal*Mart shirt, and a yellow safety vest. The reason for the safety vest was clear. She was wearing it so that she wouldn't be hit by a copter landing or taking off while she was dragging empty shopping carts back into the store.

Winnie waited for her to bring her current shopping cart train into the store and followed her in. She gazed at the store's specials of the day while Meghan slammed the buggies into place, turned to the Wal*Mart greeter, and asked, "What do you want me to do now, Great Grandma Bailey?"

Great Grandma Bailey was leaning on a walker and, in Winnie's estimation, was eighty years old at least. "Some kid puked in aisle three. Get a bucket."

This wasn't the picture that Doc and her dad had painted of Meghan's contributions to the store. According to them, Meghan had been a rising star when she had killed Rat and had disappeared into Hell. Now she was being bossed around by somebody's great granny? She was mopping up puke?

Winnie waited outside until Meghan reappeared, walked over to a full buggy queue, and began to rope them together for easier hauling. Nobody else was around.

"Excuse me," Winnie said. "I'm a tourist in town and will be meeting my boyfriend this afternoon. We kinda want to keep that meeting a secret. Could you tell me where we might be able to see each other without drawing attention to ourselves?"

Meghan answered without looking up. "Best way to not be noticed is to hide in a crowd. The boardwalk along the downtown waterfront will be full of tourists, shoppers, and hikers all day long. They'll be busy looking at the sights. They won't notice you at all."

"You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Meghan looked up. "Nope. I'd have remembered you. You don't see too many faces like yours in Halifax."

"If I were to say 'Patsy Phew,' would that ring a bell?"

Meghan paused, stretched, and in doing so, inhaled deeply. "I have no idea what a Patsy Phew is."

"How about a rat called Ratcliffe Buboni? How about a bird called Dim Wit?"

"I have work to do. Go meet your boyfriend."

"You knew me as Patsy Phew. I lived in the consultant's apartment. You lived in Rat's cave. I thought you were a pharmacist."

...

"So did I. I can't stay out her long. They're looking for an excuse to fire me."

"When do you finish work?"

"I'm on half shifts so that they don't have to pay me benefits. I'm off at 4."

"Meet at the boardwalk?"

"I'll be sitting on one of benches in front of the Canadian Museum of Immigration by 4:15. I thought Patsy was an angel, but you aren't. I'd have smelled you."

"See you at 4:15."

"Come prepared to prove that you aren't one of Rat's friends."

### # # # # # # # #

Winnie strolled to Meghan's bench in her Patsy Phew consultant body - the body that Meghan had met in Hell. "You know me as the consultant. But you also know that, as the consultant, I helped you get a devil's body and I helped you escape. If I were one of Rat's friends, would I have done that?"

"No."

"As a devil, you would be able to smell an angel. Pretend we're old friends, Meghan. Give me a hug. Take a deep breath."

...

"You're not an angel. So what are you and how'd you get into Hell?"

"I'm a sort of angel. Let's walk."

### # # # # # # # #

"Why are you working part-time hauling shopping carts into the store?" Winnie opened the strolling conversation.

"They had filled the pharmacist position after I disappeared. They couldn't fire my replacement when I returned."

"Fair enough. But surely they had some other job available that would use your skills. I was told that you were a bright and shining star."

"How'd you hear that?"

"Did I hear wrong?"

"No. I was on what my boss said was the _fast track to senior management_."

"What happened?"

"Rat happened first. Then, Wal*Mart caught my boss embezzling. He had also been involved in a sexual relationship with a subordinate who had helped him steal. According to the store's rumour mill, he hadn't named his partner when he was fired."

"But everybody thinks that it was you."

"Yeah. They also believe that that he fathered Debbie-Lyn. The new store manager had no evidence that I was involved in any way, so he had to give me a job, but not the one I expected."

"And he's trying to push you out."

"My salary isn't enough for a single person to live on. I've moved in with my sister, which was a good move. D-L was scared of me at first but is starting to accept me now. She's going to have two moms. That's best for everybody. Besides, I didn't have a house to take her to."

"Why not?"

"I couldn't pay my mortgage after I disappeared, so the bank cancelled my loan, took ownership of the house and sold it. What money I had invested in the house disappeared through bank fees, lawyer fees, realtor fees and so on. Before they did that, they hired a collection agency to harass my sister. Can I smell devils in this body?"

"No. You can only smell angels. Why?"

"The bank acted very fast and the fees were dodgy. I'd bet a devil's hand is in there somewhere. Could you find out?"

"Why? What would you do? Go after him?"

"No. I can't risk a devil seeing me. I just want to know who to stay clear of. I can't risk drawing anybody's attention. I'm already a self confessed killer, a partner to embezzlement, and a loose woman."

"I'll find out who you need to avoid. Give me a day. What's happening with the murder charge?"

"I'm still under investigation by the city police. Detective Andrews is not in any hurry to close the case."

"How do you know that?"

"That's what Andrews told me. He didn't like how I disappeared before the police arrived. He said no jury would believe my story."

"You told him about Rat?"

"No, I told him that I did kill a man trying to kidnap D-L but he had a partner who attacked when I got back home, knocked me out, and hauled me away. He was part of a roving criminal family of vagrants who'd wander around cheating and stealing. They put me to work running gambling dens. Eventually, I managed to escape. I gave them the names and descriptions of everybody in the family, but he didn't believe me."

"Is he looking for this family?"

"He says that he is, but he won't find them, will he?"

"So, you'll remain under a dark cloud. You're virtually unemployable."

"Yup. So what are you going to do about that?"

"Me?"

"Yuh. The other angel said that you'd be by this week to solve all of my problems. She said that you were responsible for dropping me into this mess and that you would clean it up."

"What did this other angel look like?"

"I didn't actually see her. I was sleeping and her bright light woke me."

"She had a pinky ring light and shone it in your eyes?"

"No. She was inside this super bright light that filled the room. She said that the light would kill all of Hell's cameras in the house."

"So, you never saw her."

"I only heard her. Female. Seemed nice."

"Did she talk about you meeting secretly with your friends in Hell?"

"Yes. I go down weekly and report back to her if they've heard anything strange."

"Did she give you her name?"

"No."

"How will you communicate with her?"

"I have a password that will open up a communication channel with her wherever I am, but not in Hell. All I have to do is say five words and she'll talk with me in my mind. I answer back by thinking what I want to say. No way anybody could overhear us."

"What is the password sentence you have to use?"

It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Foreign language?"

"No. It's English."

"So what are the words?"

"Wouldn't you already know about this kind of messaging?"

"No, the passwords that Heaven uses are all unique."

"I don't think I'm supposed to share."

"Did she tell you not to share those words with me?"

"Not really. But she said I have to be very careful about who I trust."

_Do you doubt that I'm sort of an angel?_

"That's amazing. It's like you're sitting in my brain."

_I'll have to set up a communication channel with you if I'm going to fix your problems. I'll have the communication link set up for you by tomorrow. To make sure that you don't use the same passwords with me as you do with the other angel, you should tell me what words you use for her. Break it up into two segments so that you don't trigger a call._

"First, I have to say the words _Winnie is_. After that I say: _a pushy teenager_. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Yes, that makes sense. Here's the code that you'll use to communicate with me. _Lillian is an old curmudgeon_."

"That should be easy to remember."

"I will certainly find it easy to remember."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 4

"And what password do you want Meghan to say to connect into the private communication portal that you want me to set up?" This was Joe-Joe asking the question. He had a bemused look on his face. Yesterday, Lillian had predicted the time that Winnie would appear in his lab down to the minute.

"Lillian is an old curmudgeon."

"That's unique."

"She started it."

"You ARE a pushy teenager."

"Lillian is way old and she's always in a bad mood. That makes her a curmudgeon."

"What are you planning to do for Meghan? Lillian is predicting that Meghan's sister will lose the house as soon as summer is over and the rains set in. The day care can't bring in enough money and Meghan will be fired by the end of August."

"Really?"

"That's what Lillian's boards say. She might be out by a couple of days."

"Huh."

"So, you are planning to....."

"I don't know yet. Setting up communications is the first thing. Next, I will..."

"... have to think about it." Joe-Joe answered for her.

...

"So, what have you learned from this?"

"I didn't think it through. I thought that Wal*Mart would immediately hire Meghan back. I didn't know about the replacement person."

"You should have known."

"Yeah."

"She's a confessed murderer. The story she told is hard to believe."

"We didn't talk about what she would say."

"And if you had?"

"I wouldn't have come up with anything better."

"You have to understand that any action Heaven takes that is as significant as taking a dead person and putting them back to life on Earth months after the fact has many repercussions for everybody who is remotely connected to your dead person. The sister will lose her house because she won't be able to make mortgage payments after Meghan loses her job. Meghan will lose whatever self-respect she still has as well as respect for you and for Heaven. She won't be willing to risk her life travelling to Hell when her life on Earth has made her and sister into two homeless people with two children under the age of four. All of this was foreseeable if you had thought about it."

"Yeah."

"There also were some foreseeable solutions."

"Like what?"

"You'll have to ask Lillian about that. She didn't share them with me."

...

"What about my communications portal?"

"It's done."

"How much time do I have before Arthur and I have to come back to work?"

"That will depend on when Hell decides to run a weapon test."

"Did you fix Arthur's body?"

"Shouldn't you be in Halifax now? You have less than three weeks to save Meghan's part-time job."

### # # # # # # # #

Visiting Halifax didn't prompt any bright ideas. It did confirm Joe-Joe's somber news. Winnie watched as Meghan's sister, Chelsea, took care of four preschool children. One of these was her own. Winnie recognized D-L from the picture on Meghan's computer screen; she was the youngest. The other two would be paying customers. Other than the naps, and the meals, everything that Chelsea was doing today, she did it outside. When summer was over, that would become very difficult because of the tiny house.

Inside, all the rooms were a reasonable size for a two-bedroom house. Chelsea and her daughter shared one bedroom. Meghan and D-L shared the second. The kitchen was a good size. They ate in a dining room on a table for four. The living room had no furniture. It served as a nighttime storage area for the toys and childcare equipment that Chelsea used outside. In the wintertime, that outdoor equipment would have to be stored inside the bedrooms. The living room and dining room would become a very crowded day care.

Winnie spent the rest of the day invisibly watching the house and the people inside. After work, Meghan took over the childcare functions while Chelsea cooked. Some of it was from bags of day-old discards that Meghan was allowed to bring home from Wal*Mart. Then it was game time, and reading story time, and bath time. Throughout all of this, the two girls were happy and huggy. Afterwards, Chelsea and Meghan sat in the dark in a Ronald McDonald double rocking chair, another Wal*Mart discard, saying nothing, but doing that arm-in-arm. At 9 pm, they set off to bed with a pinky-ring light to guide them. "I may have a job opportunity," Meghan said as they parted with a hug.

"What kind of job?"

"I don't know. A friend came by. She might find me something."

"If it doesn't work out, we'll be fine."

_No, you won't._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 5

It's been some time since I've been able to tell you about the Denver Cattlemen's Association. A quick reminder of what happened in the previous novel might be in order.

Only three big DCA ranchers were still operating in Colorado. The Colorado government had passed a law preventing a single company from having too much power and influence (the anti-trust law). This law targeted those three ranchers. They were forced to sell off some of their cattle operations to other smaller ranchers at a reasonable government-mandated price. The proceeds from those sales were intended to help those large ranches acquire/start other businesses that would diversify the state economy and bring jobs and prosperity to more citizens. However, the small ranchers who bought their cattle took advantage of a provision in the law to put off paying the large ranchers for two years. The purpose here was to give them a chance to grow. The large ranchers could still get their money by applying for an interest-free loan from the Ministry of Economic Development. All they had to do was give the Ministry a copy of their company books for the last three years.

Since the small ranchers had to do the same thing, it seemed eminently fair that everybody had to do this. The government's purpose in looking at the books? To make sure that nobody was cheating. Since the DCA ranchers had been cheating a lot, they couldn't let the government see their books. With a large portion of their cattle herds sold off, the DCA ranchers were facing some pressures. Let's listen in as Boss, Knute and Llewellen discuss what's been happening to their businesses in one of their regular Saturday evening barbecue meetings. TG was also at the meeting, but he wasn't eating or drinking.

### # # # # # # # #

"What, no barbecue? No staff? No families? How come?"

"A quiet private meeting inside the house is all we need."

"Cutting down on costs?"

"Yeah."

"I am too. I've had to let some of the hands go. Smaller herds means fewer hands to watch them."

"I've let my weaker guys go. They found jobs with the other ranchers."

"Me too, but I lost my best. I couldn't match the offers from the other ranchers."

"We're facing two years of staff attrition. When we lose our best hands, they won't come back even after we're paid the money we're owed."

"Disloyalty is what it is. I treated my men well. Their families too."

"You can't blame them. Blame Stook. He's behind all of this."

"We don't want our hands back. Our herd sizes are capped. We have to find other businesses to invest in. Has anybody been looking?"

"It's too early. The other ranchers have been busy though. The guy in Sterling is starting up a big grocery store that's pulling in customers from the area. The Greeley guy has a print shop that is already doing well. Fort Collin has a copter franchise. They're all using government money to start up."

"They're picking off all of the best opportunities. We'll be two years behind them. A big food store is a great idea. Everybody needs food."

"I tried talking to the Swiss Guards bank in Denver about a loan. They handle all of my accounts and investments."

"And?"

"They also handle most of the government's finances including the Economic Development loans. The manager said that we'd have to apply for one of those loans."

"Is the government putting pressure on the manager?"

"Probably. But, I couldn't explain why I wanted an interest-bearing loan when I could have a free loan."

"I've been up to Laramie. The bank guy there says I can have a big loan to carry me over for two years, but the interest rate will be exorbitant. Apparently, I'm a high-risk borrower. We only have income when we sell cattle and our herds are downsized. He says I won't have the stable income to pay him back every month."

"We all have big capital amounts invested in the Swiss Bank."

"If we start dipping into that to pay regular expenses, that'll be the end of us. That money has to be used to make money, not to pay salaries."

"I have a guy working on a fake set of books."

"Is he any good?"

"He better be. I'm paying him enough."

"What about our friends in government?"

"I had to stop paying mine. He couldn't do anything for me anyway."

"My guy says that something big is coming that's directed right at us. He can't say what as he's not directly involved. Says that he doesn't want me calling him any more."

"Your fake books guy. Would he be interested in two more customers?"

"Probably. But he's only one guy and he has to fake everything. Sales invoices, receipts, salary slips. It's slow work. He has another month to go on mine. I'll ask him."

"I can take out Stook. He has no security guards."

"Boss, you'd have to take out the entire government. It's too late for a single assassination."

### # # # # # # # #

_Lillian is an old curmudgeon. Meghan, remember to think your answer._

_I'm here._

_Do you have some time right now?_

_I'm cleaning a bathroom._

_Can you take a break?_

_I wouldn't mind._

_I've done some checking. Halifax's devils are concentrated in the city's business area. Devil teams are in the Nova Scotia government's tax offices, in a major fish processing company, and in the dock workers' union office. The bank manager that repossessed your house was simply being a bank manager. Evil, but not Hell evil._

_OK, I don't see myself having any business with any of these people. Thanks. What do I call you, by the way? I know you're not Patsy._

_Call me Winnie._

_As in Winnie the pushy teenager?_

_Some people see pushy; other people see determination and initiative._

_Who's Lillian?_

_Lillian's my boss._

_Are you really just a teenager?_

_Yeah._

_How old are you?_

_Old enough to get you out of trouble._

_That's encouraging._

_When you have time to think, I want you to write down all you can remember of what you told the Halifax police about your kidnappers. List their names, physical descriptions, and jobs in their fictional camp. Write down what you told the police about your escape too. If you aren't sure about something, put that in your document too._

_I remember clearly what I said. I practiced it a lot when I left Hell._

_Contact me tonight and tell me what you wrote as a mind message. Just read it out to yourself in your head. I'll record it._

_Mind message. That's a good way to describe it._

_What are your work shifts like next week?_

_Noon to 4 pm Monday to Friday._

_I'll work on the script tomorrow, Sunday. Let's say two days for rehearsal. Make sure you're at work on Wednesday. You're going to have a visitor._

_Script? Rehearsal?_

_It's something I like to do. You won't see me on Wednesday but I'll be there. Directors usually work behind the camera._

### # # # # # # # #

The key people planning _Operation Mining_ were meeting in Hank and Yolanda's house Sunday August 12. Yolanda was busy elsewhere. Hank had wanted to listen in so he had asked Melissa to have her meeting in his living room. In addition to Melissa, Mac, TG, Stu and Sheila were present. Melissa was running the meeting.

"Mac, where are we with the Valkyries?"

"Five have been trained in the use of the mining equipment. There's nothing else technically or militarily they need to know. They've been chosen for their ability to interact with the ranch hands, charm them, and plead despair as needed. Essentially, they need to be able to sell the con. Palesa will be the only one to interact directly with Boss, Knute and Llewellen."

"Palesa knows the underlying law?"

"Yes. The landowner cannot prevent a mining development company from exploring on his land provided the company had applied to the government for exploration rights. Producing a certificate of exploration is sufficient for the company to enter the land and explore for the designated period of time that the certificate stipulated."

"Do we have those certificates?"

"I brought them with me," Sheila reported.

"Mining costumes?" Melissa again.

"Momaka's sewing circle has already completed those and the Valkyries have them now," Stu confirmed.

"What name did you decide on?" Hank asked. "You were considering a few."

Stu answered. "We went with the simple one: _Colorado Mining Development Inc._ All of the legal papers have been filed with that name. Plus Sandy has given us a business account in the Swiss Guards bank in that name."

"Mining equipment, TG. Where are we on this?"

"Wolf has the fake ground penetrating radar instrument ready. He got the idea from an old science fiction film. It looks impressive. We'll use a big obvious tripod structure to do the drilling. In the mountains, we'll use an old oil derrick. We'll only have the one fake mine. On the prairies, we'll have three drilling sites operating at the same time."

"Copters?"

"We have three anonymous white freight copters with the company name prominently displayed," Mac answered.

"We had set Monday, August 13 for exploration to begin. Everybody OK on that date. Hands up if you are."

...

"Mac, you're authorized to begin _Operation Mining._ Let's move on to new business now. Stu, where are we on the criminal enterprise legislation?"

"It's ready to go. We've kept its development very tight. I don't think we had any leaks. TG, is anybody from the barbecue showing a leak?"

"It's no longer a barbecue. They had a tiny little meeting. They don't know anything specific about the new law. They've heard that something is coming at them though. Boss was talking about assassinating Stook, but the others talked him out of it."

Hank stepped in: "Sheila, tell Charlie to have the capitol's security force be more visible around him. Don't take no for an answer. Next time Boss thinks about it, there might not be anybody around to talk him out of it."

"Will do."

"What is Stook's timing on announcing the new law, Sheila?" Melissa again.

"He was waiting for enough evidence to appear that Stinky was continuing to run his business from inside the California prison. He has a document now from the warden detailing all the visits of Stinky's foreman and videos of them meeting. No audio was allowed. The videos show the foreman pulling papers out of his briefcase and Stinky signing them. He's also making out and signing cheques. This will be enough to convince the legislature that Stinky is making money while he's in prison. The new law should pass the house quickly. Next week for sure."

"TG, how are our rancher friends holding up?"

_[You already know what TG is going to say. I'll skip this part.]_

### # # # # # # # #

"And, we're adjourned," Melissa ruled. "Is it true that Winnie is running a secret operation with Wilizy personnel?"

"She cleared it with me first," Hank announced. "It's not a matter that affects the Wilizy. She's bringing justice to a victim that we know nothing about. It's part of her job with that global security company."

"I asked because I was hoping that she was coming back," Melissa explained.

"She approached some of the family and asked if they wanted to volunteer to be in her operation," Stu explained.

"You?" Mac asked.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that I have received a script describing the role of a sharp legal mind in her upcoming dramatic production. I believe the part could be described as her l _eading man_. I speak with due humility, of course, if indeed any such script existed."

"She approached me too," Sheila confessed. "I would be playing the part of a legal secretary, if any such imaginary operation existed."

"You're spending way to much time with Stu, Sheila." This opinion came from TG.

"How's Yolanda handling stress of not knowing, Hank?" Mac asked

"I found her tracking Winnie's GPS. She had a packed suitcase ready to go. William turned off Yolanda's sling remotely for me. It was either that or chain her to the bed."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 6

Wednesday afternoon, August 15, 2:05 pm. A Halifax police constable rapped on the Chief of Police's office door and poked his nose inside. "Chief, a foreign delegation is here to see you. They arrived in a rental copter. Two of them are law officers in pressed uniforms; the other two are well-dressed civilians. The guy that's doing the talking has a southern drawl."

"What do they want?"

"To see you in private. They won't say anything else."

"Show them to the boardroom and get them seated. Offer them something to drink. Bring me in when they're settled in."

### # # # # # # # #

"Chief Reynolds, I am Deputy Sheriff Jackson of the Denver Sheriff's department. With me is Deputy Sheriff Jackson of the same department. We're a husband and wife team, Sir, which always makes for some confusion. You can call me _Cowboy_."

"You can call me _Bean_." Both Cowboy and Bean flashed their sherrif IDs and put them away quickly. [ _They may have been a little out of date.]_

Cowboy continued. "Accompanying us are two civilian employees of the Colorado state government. They will introduce themselves shortly. But first, to police business. Two weeks ago, Bean captured the members of a criminal family in the process of stealing the proceeds of a charity dinner and dance. At first, we thought they were simple vagrants trying to take advantage of friendly innocent citizens who had welcomed them into town. As she investigated further, she found that she had captured the last remaining family members of the Buboni crime family. It's doubtful that you have heard of them here in Halifax, but they are notorious in the west."

"They committed small time crimes mostly, Chief," Bean took over. "We would have given them only a short stay in the jail cells, but we found out about Grandfather Buboni's passion for kidnapping young babies and raising them as members of the family. That's what made them notorious. Nobody could find them because they moved around all the time. The kidnapped babies grew up unaware of what happened to them. In our interrogations, we discovered that Grandfather Buboni was dead and he had been killed here in Halifax by a young red-haired woman named Meghan. Does that name wring a bell, Chief?"

"That would be Meghan O'Hara. She confessed to my detective to killing an intruder. We're investigating this as a homicide and may lay charges."

"Have you proven it yet?" the man with the brief case asked.

"No."

Cowboy continued with his fake story. "In that case, Bean and I would ask your assistance in arresting this O'Hara woman and bringing her back to the station where we will interrogate her in your presence. We want to know if she really did kill this Buboni character. We are prepared to extradite her to Denver if she does not cooperate. Your presence, Chief, in the room may assist us in that regard."

"She works at the local Wal*Mart. This is Detective Andrews' case; he'll accompany you."

### # # # # # # # #

While Bean and Cowboy were off to arrest Meghan, Stu went to work.

"Chief, my name is Stu McKenzie, and I am a Special Counsel assigned by the Governor of the state of Colorado to investigate crime and bring those who are guilty to justice. I show you now a letter of introduction from Governor Stookenhap describing my authority and asking for your personal assistance. Sheila is accompanying me. She is the legal secretary of the Colorado Supreme Court who will record the investigation here in Halifax."

Stu waited for Chief Reynolds to finish reading the letter and to glance at Sheila's government ID, the one that showed her last name as Enderby. Stu didn't think it would be a good idea to show another husband and wife team involved in this investigation. Too unusual. As if, this wasn't unusual enough.

"You people are really serious about the Buboni guy?"

"Kidnapping babies is a heinous crime. The great state of Colorado will prosecute such kidnappers to the fullest extent of the law. May I ask Chief, do you think your head prosecutor would be interested in listening in as we interrogate this O'Hara woman? He would be the person in your fair city to bring her to justice if she were found to be complicit in a crime, would he not?"

"I'll see. Prosecutor Sprockett asked about Detective Andrews' investigation a number of times."

"While you're doing that, do you think that we might conduct this investigation in one of your courtrooms? The more formal the inquiry, the more intimidating it will be. We wouldn't want your Meghan O'Hara to believe that she can get away with disrespecting the law. You'll be present, of course, to ensure her rights are respected."

"I'm sure we have an empty courtroom. Halifax is, by and large, a law abiding city."

### # # # # # # # #

The shoppers at Wal*Mart this fine summer day were buzzing as two police-type people in Stetsons accosted, briefly questioned, and then led the store's shopping cart lady away in hand cuffs. Detective Andrews of the local police was accompanying them. To prevent her from trying to escape, the guy in long hair held her left elbow and steered Meghan O'Hara through the sliding front doors. The tall, skinny officer had confiscated her right elbow and was also steering. The shoppers and Wal*Mart staff saw Meghan stop as she reached the parking lot.

"Let me catch my breath, will ya? What's this all about?"

Neither officer replied, but they did let her lean over and take a few deep breaths. Not satisfied at what she smelled or didn't smell, the cart lady, that everybody in town knew was a murdering fanatic, looked directly at the bean pole's eyes. A speck of dust must have been what caused the deputy sheriff's left eye to close and open. The two officers marched the murderer through town in cuffs before disappearing into the courthouse.

Detective Andrews followed. He hadn't really approved of the deputies' plan to _perp walk_ the O'Hara lady through town. "This kind of intimidation is very effective in softening up criminals before they're interrogated," the cowboy guy had said. It certainly started Halifax talking.

### # # # # # # # #

_I won't bother describing Stu's interrogation. You know what he's going to ask and you know what Meghan will say in reply. He did question her intensively to make sure that her accounts of what had happened in her house and how she had been kidnapped and later had escaped were consistent. Since Meghan had re-read what she was going to say that morning, she was able to answer all of Stu's questions without hesitation and without apparent fear of being caught in a lie. She even did that in the parts of her testimony that were outright fabrications._

### # # # # # # # #

"One last set of questions, Ms. O'Hara. One of the members of Buboni's family was named Katie. Please describe her."

"Average height, freckles on her face, red hair, about 20 years old, and very good at picking pockets."

"That description is correct. Were you friends with her?"

"I had no friends in that family."

"Did you confide any personal thoughts with her?"

"No."

"Did she share anything with you."

"No."

"Would it surprise you to learn that Katie had been kidnapped as an infant?"

"Yes, that would surprise me."

Meghan did look surprised because she hadn't created that background of a Katie in her fictional Buboni family.

"Would it surprise you to learn that Katie remembered being kidnapped?"

"Yes."

Again, that wasn't part of Meghan's fictional family.

"Would it surprise you to learn that after Katie was captured, she told Deputy Bean everything that she could about Buboni and his family."

"Yes, I never would have expected that from her."

_Stu was lying and doing so very well. Actually everyone there who wasn't a member of Halifax's legal establishment was lying. Katie had not been interrogated. The Buboni crime family had not been captured. They didn't even exist. And to think that the Wilizy family could be involved in lying in such a fashion... Well, it boggles the mind, I'm sure._

"You may choose a more comfortable seat, Ms. O'Hara," Stu finally said something that wasn't a lie.

"Deputy Bean, would you sit in the witness chair?"

Bean did. In doing so, she looked at the time. Right on schedule. Winnie would be pleased.

"Do you promise to tell the truth, etcetera?"

"I do, etcetera."

"You interviewed Katie several times and took extensive notes."

"I did."

"Ms. O'Hara stated that she awoke to find an old bald man in her daughter's bedroom. According to Katie, did that happen?"

"Yes. She knew that this was his plan."

"Did Mr. Buboni tell Ms. O'Hara that he was going to kidnap her baby?"

"Katie wasn't there to hear the words, but she said that's what Buboni always said. He liked to see the fear on the parent's face."

"Did Ms. O'Hara try to protect her daughter by attacking Mr. Buboni ferociously?"

"Katie said Buboni's partner who was waiting outside heard the attack and Ms. O'Hara's screams of rage."

"Did Ms. O'Hara kill Mr. Buboni in trying to fight off her baby's kidnapper?"

"According to Katie, Buboni's partner found Mr. Buboni dead in the bedroom. The partner knocked Ms. O'Hara unconscious with a garden shovel, put her into the escape copter, and went back to collect Buboni. They coptered away, found a hillside, and buried Mr. Buboni. Meghan was unconscious the whole time."

"Was Ms. O'Hara kept captive for months by the Buboni family? Was she forced to help out in their attempts to scam innocent citizens?"

"Yes, that's what Katie told me."

"Did Ms. O'Hara escape?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Katie said that she peed on her restraints which loosened them enough for her to slip out of them. Personally, I expect that Ms. O'Hara would not have wanted to disclose that. I know that I wouldn't." _[Meghan had missed that bit of information in her fictional account of her escape. Bean spotted it and provided a reasonable way for Meghan to have escaped and not have told anybody.]_

"Thank you, Deputy. You may step down."

...

"Here's the formal verdict now, Sheila. Put this in verbatim. _I, Stuart McKenzie, Legal Counsel for the state of Colorado, do find that Ms. O'Hara killed a man while she was defending her daughter from a criminal attack on her. In the Colorado justice system, she would never be brought to trial for this. A defense lawyer would rip the prosecutor apart with the evidence now in front of me. It's clearly justifiable homicide. I also find that the state's witness, Katie Buboni, was telling the truth. I will recommend to the Colorado prosecutor that she receive witness protection if she testifies against the Buboni family in their upcoming trial. Everything that Katie Buboni said to Deputy Bean was the absolute truth as verified today by Ms. O'Hara."_

Stu paused.

"I have a question for the Chief Reynolds and Prosecutor Sprockett. I may need to take Ms. O'Hara to Colorado to serve as a witness against the Buboni family. May I assume that she'll be available to me and she won't be facing criminal charges of any kind here in Halifax stemming from her entirely justifiable defense of her baby daughter?"

"I'm closing the investigation," Chief Reynolds said.

"There won't be any charges," Prosecutor Sprockett advised.

Stu continued. He was, after all, the leading man. "Deputy Jackson, I expect that you marched Ms. O'Hara through town in her handcuffs. This perp walk was a violation of Ms. O'Hara's rights. She should have been brought here privately. She has to live in this city, and by now, everybody will believe that she's a criminal. Chief Reynolds, was that how Halifax saw her?"

"Yes, I believe that many citizens thought of her in those terms."

"The justice system owes Ms. O'Hara our gratitude for assisting us in putting away a criminal family. She doesn't deserve to live in Halifax under this cloud. May I suggest that a press conference hosted by Chief Reynolds and Prosecutor Sprokett would change Mrs. O'Hara's reputation in Halifax back to what it should be: a brave young woman who defended her daughter."

"We'll take care of that right now," Prosecutor Sprockett announced.

_Cut and print. Operation Restore Reputation has been a success. Thank you all._

### # # # # # # # #

Three days later, Winnie flew through the Wal*Mart store and saw Meghan working in the pharmacy. _Mission accomplished._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 7

The week of August 20 saw a number of new developments, all of which had a common theme.

On Monday, Governor Stookenhap announced that he was recalling the legislature to vote on a new law that the Ministry of Justice was proposing. He felt it was important enough to warrant a special short sitting on Wednesday August 22. Apart from the members of the legislature, nobody paid much attention to the announcement. It was August, it was hot, and most people were on holidays.

Also on Monday, three white freight copters began exploring for minerals buried beneath Colorado's eastern plains. This appeared to be a wide-ranging search. The copters flew steadily and slowly across great swathes of the ranch lands in that area. Nobody paid any attention to them.

### # # # # # # # #

On Tuesday, Arthur began smuggling crates of chocolate into Heaven through its Porcelain Gates. From there, he transported them to the hold of the duplicate copy of the Wilizy/America. Smuggling the chocolate was necessary because Heavenly Protocol 15- 12 stipulated that any ingestible substances that could cause inebriation or otherwise cloud the mind could not be brought into Heaven. Chocolate was one of the substances that was identified in protocol 15-12-4. Back when the protocol had been adopted, a craze for chocolate was sweeping the mortal world. Hot chocolate had to be drunk in dark cellars lest the chocolate police found the low lives using and/or distributing it. Heaven had merely responded to the inappropriate use of this stimulant.

In case you're wondering, Heaven's Pearly Gates are for mortal souls. The Porcelain Gates are for equipment and supplies. Other than a quick search for hidden demons/devils, nobody paid much attention to what was coming into Heaven through this border crossing.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Tuesday, Winnie flew over Halifax to see how Meghan was doing. What she was doing was dragging shopping carts into the store. Since everybody was used to seeing the Wal*Mart cart lady dragging carts around by a rope, nobody paid much attention to what she was doing.

A coffee break later, Winnie found out that, yes, Meghan had a job in the pharmacy. That job was part-time. She worked eight hours on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Sixteen hours was way short of being considered a full time job with benefits. When she asked for more hours, Wal*Mart management said that she could continue with the shopping carts. When Meghan pointed out that the twenty hours she worked on the carts and the sixteen hours in the pharmacy on the weekend were well above the hours needed for a full time job with benefits, Management responded that the two jobs were entirely different and had different wage structures. They couldn't combine them. When Meghan approached her union rep, she received a very blunt answer. "They won't change anything for you. Employees can't work their way up the ladder by having affairs with management. If they allowed you to do that, anybody could."

### # # # # # # # #

On Wednesday, the legislature sat in a brief session and unanimously passed a law that would require the Ministry of Justice to investigate any companies that appeared to be _Criminal Enterprises._ A company would be considered as such if the company or executives of the company were making money after being convicted of felonious crimes. Any such company would be banned from operating in Colorado. Any felonious based money that the said company had earned before and during the Ministry of Justice's investigation would be seized and deposited into the Ministry of Economic Development's business loan account. This law was retroactive to the beginning of the 2091 calendar year. Nobody paid much attention to this new law as the news of its announcement was not circulated widely.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Wednesday, Winnie tracked down Reese and arranged to meet with him outside the prison where he was conducting his aura research. In response to her request for his help, Reese agreed to TiTr with her secretly, but it would have to be when the prisoners were sleeping. Three men had recently escaped and Reese was investigating whether those escapes had any impact on the auras of other prisoners.

That night, Winnie and Reese TiTr'd back in time to when the previous Wal*Mart manager had been embezzling money and sleeping with an employee. Winnie set the drone in the manager's office and the job was done.

On the way back to the prison, they talked. Winnie wasn't much interested in the aura research, and Reese wasn't much interested in some woman named Meghan, so they talked about something both were interested in, namely Arthur. Reese had met Arthur at the cadet camp, so he knew a bit about him already.

"Why are you interested in him, Winnie?"

"He's not like any other boy I've met before. I know what he's thinking. I know that he likes me. I know that he's safe and will be good to me."

"What if you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong."

"Do you know anything about him?"

"Yeah."

"Where do his parents live?"

"He's an orphan."

"Where did he live before taking that job with the security firm?"

...

"I guess I don't know that."

"What's his birth date?"

"I don't know that either. He might not know himself."

"Where was the orphanage where he grew up? Surely he would know where he had been living."

"I don't know that either."

"When did he leave that orphanage?"

"Why the third degree, Reese? Did Mom put you up to this?"

"No. Is he the one for you?"

"I don't know. I know I like him a lot."

"You know that I've always tried to protect you, Winnie."

"What are you trying to say, Reese?"

...

"Nothing. Just be sure about him. I have to get back to my research."

### # # # # # # # #

Thursday, Arthur started baking in Winnie's kitchen. He also started eating chocolate-based goodies. In case you're wondering, those two events are connected. On that day, he consumed so much chocolate that it took him thirty-six hours before he could sleep again. Nobody much cared about that except Arthur.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Thursday, the Duke of Earl took a trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island. He appeared as an anonymous looking mortal as he walked around two small villages that had been there for centuries. Both were very similar to each other in terms of size. The residents were similar in age range and approach to life. They were there because they all liked to live in isolation on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and its violent winter storms. In the summer, both villages benefitted from their location near Long Beach, a huge stretch of sandy beaches complete with large surfable waves. The two villages were far enough from each other to serve as two separate test sites. Statistically, they were perfect. Summer tourist season was almost over and September would see the villages shrink down to their usual small sizes. This was looking promising for a controlled study on Hell's TAT weaponry.

Nobody much cared that the Duke of Earl had _graced_ their villages. He was simply another tourist.

### # # # # # # # #

Friday morning, Winnie strolled with Meghan around the Halifax harbour. Nobody paid much attention to them. Tourists were everywhere.

"Don't ask me how I obtained this information," Winnie instructed, "It's accurate. The pharmacist that took your job was the one sleeping with the embezzling manager. She probably was the one to start the rumour about you sleeping with him."

"That's Hannah Menzies. She was frosty with me from the first day that I returned to the store. She was scared that they'd give me her job, I guess."

"They had their trysts in a cabin at the Shearwater Resort and Marina. It's not a difficult copter trip to make."

"That resort is in somewhat of a wilderness area. Lots of fishing. Not many people from Halifax would visit."

"They were always at the resort Saturday and Sundays. The check-in clerk would probably recognize them. Just show him their pictures."

"I don't have any."

"Here's the manager's picture from a website. Take a picture of her with your pinky ring."

"Being in a cabin together overnight is not proof of anything."

"Depends on what you're trying to prove. I didn't find any evidence that she was involved in the embezzlement. But, the check-in-clerk, the waitresses in the diner, room maids... All of these people can paint an accurate picture of what they were doing there and how often. An employee and a manager were staying regularly together in a cabin over night. That has to be against one of Wal*Mart's policies."

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Friday, three mining development copters flew tight circles over three ranches. They stayed for an hour before flying away. Nobody noticed. It was Friday evening. TGIF.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 8

Let's catch up with what happened during the week of August 27.

### # # # # # # # #

_Lillian is an old curmudgeon._

_Winnie, I talked with Hanna Menzies on the weekend. She admitted to having an affair with the previous store manager. She knew that she'd be sacked if anybody found out but she thought it was worth it._

_Why did she think it was worth it?_

_He said that he'd put her on the fast track to senior management._

_That sounds eerily familiar. He did say that to you too, right._

_Yeah, he did._

_Did he ever suggest a little weekend getaway to Shearwater?_

_No, but in hindsight, I believe he was working up to it. He was talking about giving me all sort of extra responsibilities. He also recommended that I attend a business management conference. I expect we would have been traveling together. I'd like to think that I wouldn't have fallen for it, but he did come across as very supportive of my career._

_Will she kill the rumour about you and the previous manager?_

_I didn't ask her to. She'd have to admit her own affair. She has a teenage daughter who wants to go to the University of Dalhousie. She can barely afford that. She's taking care of her elderly father. I won't make my life better by making her life worse. I told her I wouldn't say anything._

_What's your financial situation now that you have weekend pharmacy hours?_

_Better. We'll be able to pay rent now. Wal*Mart staff are always coming and going. I'll be able to migrate to better pay rates._

_The greeter position looks interesting._

_Great grandma Bailey will outlast us all._

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Monday, Palesa was hovering in one of the Colorado Mining Development's copters over an empty patch of prairie about fifty meters away from Boss' main house. She was perhaps ten meters up in the air. Her two passengers were pointing instruments at the ground, but mostly they were watching the house. Boss was the odds on favorite to be the first to confront one of the mining copters. Nobody had bet otherwise.

"Is he still looking out the window?"

"Yuh."

"I'm going to get lower. We'll be blowing up a lot of dust. Boss won't like that."

"He's not at the window now."

"Is that a shot gun?"

"I'm setting down. Co-pilot, prepare to draw your weapon. Navigator, record the scene and be obvious about it. The two of you stay in the copter. He'll be here to intimidate. I'll talk with him."

_[Fifteen minutes later.]_

"This is your copy of our application for an exploration permit. We do not need your signature on this. I am providing you this as a courtesy. Notice that our exploratory zone extends twenty meters in all directions. The state grants us permission to set down inside this zone and conduct physical tests to determine if there are any deposits of the minerals that we are looking for. If there are, we will start the paperwork to actually drill a test hole. If there aren't, we will remove our equipment and put the ground back to the original condition as best as we can."

"What are you looking for?"

"That's confidential. For the visual record, I am now handing you documents from the Ministry of Mining Development that describe what you are allowed to do as the owner of the property and what you're not allowed to do both in this exploratory stage and if we advance to drilling."

"Again for the visual record, this document explains clearly that as owner of this property, you do not own any minerals more than six feet deeper than the ground level. If we find a commercially viable deposit, we will owe you nothing from our sale of that deposit. We do have to rent, at a reasonable price, any additional surface ground that we might need to mine the deposit. I can tell you that with our equipment, such a rental will not be necessary."

"You're wasting your time. There's nothing underneath this ground except more ground."

"Perhaps, but our high level scans of the ground last Monday and Friday suggested otherwise. Our low level scan today confirmed a deposit. The only thing that's questionable right now is whether the deposit is worth drilling and extracting. Do you have any questions or comments?"

"This is the only part of my land that you can set down in. If nature calls, get off my land or I'll give you a taste of buckshot."

"We'll have our own portable toilets, Mr. Schnappe. We will start drilling next week. Don't you point that shotgun at me again, old man, or I'll whup your sorry butt!"

### # # # # # # # #

On Tuesday, Winnie went back to the prison where Reese had been researching. This conversation took place high above the prison walls.

_Something bothered me about our last talk, Reese. I know you lied to me._

_When did I lie?_

_You were trying to tell me something and I asked you what it was. You said it was nothing. That was a lie._

_I was going to say something and I changed my mind. That's not a lie._

_It seemed important to you. You were talking about always protecting me. What were you going to say?_

_The three escaped convicts are still loose. There's a big reward for their capture. Prisons often have to do that. The security in the prison on the east coast is not always top notch. The California prisons were much better._

_Are we going to talk about what was bothering you?_

_Usually, escaped convicts are caught quickly. They go back to where they used to live. They meet with old friends and family. Police are waiting for them there. These three are smarter. They've disappeared entirely. This reward for information is the only way the law has to find them._

_Reese, what's bothering you about Arthur?_

_These three didn't break any serious laws, so the reward isn't very large. But, some states and provinces will offer a lot of money if they believe the escaped cons are likely to murder people. Nobody will catch them so long as they change their lives._

_OK, I get it. We won't have a real talk. Why are you telling me this?_

_The whole purpose of prison is to try and rehabilitate prisoners so that they'll change their lives. That doesn't usually happen, unless they escape. I find that interesting. The only way the prison system works is if it breaks down. But the reward has to be huge and the escaped cons smart._

_How are your colour charts coming?_

_Very well, now._

_I'm going to go now, Reese. You've given me an idea._

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Tuesday, the two other exploration copters set down on land owned by the other two DCA ranchers. Their reception was much more friendly. Exploratory drilling on all three ranches continued throughout this week.

### # # # # # # # #

On Wednesday morning, Winnie had a pleasant visit with Doc. In addition to being fed goodies and hot chocolate, she also learned a lot about how many countries in the world before _The Troubles_ had a very active and extensive system of surveillance of its citizens. In some countries, it was possible to track a citizen from one surveillance camera to the next and to the next. The most advanced of these surveillance-based countries had facial recognition software that allowed them to determine who had been involved in protests, for example. Those people ended up in prison. This recognition technology worked even if the citizen tried to disguise himself.

### # # # # # # # #

Wednesday afternoon, Winnie had an intensive discussion with TG about facial recognition software. She first had to explain to TG why she was interested. Winnie did not have a history in the family of being interested in such things. Of course, nobody knew that Winnie was now a better hacker than TG.

"In my travels with the global security firm that I work for, I've noticed that there are still some places where citizens are closely tracked. It struck me that the Wilizy might at some point want to free some of those people from dictators who were using these surveillance systems. We could do that more easily if we knew how facial recognition software worked and how it could be confused."

Turned out that TG knew a lot of facial recognition software. He seemed surprised that Winnie picked up most of what he was saying so quickly. The critical questions came late in the afternoon.

"Is facial recognition software available for purchase or quietly borrowing now? We could use that to test out how to beat the software."

"No. All the companies that were selling that kind of software disappeared during _The Troubles_."

"If we TiTr'd, could we acquire some?"

"That would be very, very dangerous. We're talking about penetrating a country's highest levels of security. The risk of affecting the future would be too high."

"Could you develop this kind of software?"

"Any recognition system is based on two sets of images. The image of the citizen walking down a street comes from the surveillance camera. That citizen is walking, perhaps in dark surrounding, his head might be swiveling, he might be looking up, he might be looking down and so on, His real image may be difficult to discern. Now, what the computer does is compare that image to an image that the country has legally obtained. Like a pilot license where the citizen is looking straight at the camera. The computer has to be smart enough to connect the two images. Only then do you find out who that citizen is. That requires great software and very advanced computers. I could develop a crude system but it wouldn't work very well."

"You're mulling. Did I give you disappointing news?"

"No, not disappointing at all. I have a great idea now. It's just not what I had been wanting."

"What did you want?"

"I wanted to find a person in the past and then find him again in the future but he could be anywhere."

"The Wilizy can do that now with a radioactive paste. We even used it to find where Stook had been imprisoned."

"I wasn't here for that operation. I didn't know. You put some radioactive paste on somebody, go to the present, and find him. That sounds easy."

"The paste could wash off if you wait too long. You need a device that will read the radioactivity and that might not work if the person is out of range."

"Can I apply the paste from invisibility?"

"Yeah."

"Can you set me up to do a test run?"

"Sure. William has everything you'll need in his lab."

### # # # # # # # #

Wednesday evening.

_Lillian, I need a meeting with you and Joe-Joe. Ultra hush-hush. When?_

_Now is good. We'll start in Joe-Joe's lab._

...

"You didn't bring Arthur with you?" Joe-Joe asked.

"I haven't seen Arthur for a couple of days. I thought you might want to restrict access to this information."

"Well, that's interesting. Is something going wrong in teenage-love-heaven?"

"I've been busy with Meghan, Lillian. How much do you know about facial recognition software?"

"The basics, I suppose," Joe-Joe responded. "We know how it was used to imprison people. We know that the expectation of personal privacy disappeared in the early 21st century. It was instrumental in the world falling apart. Facial recognition software was part of that. Why?"

"Did you know that Hell takes a picture of every demon when it graduates to devil status? Meghan had her picture taken, for example."

"We didn't know that."

"That picture is stored in a giant database that attaches the devil's new name to his picture. Every devil in Hell has an entry in that database plus a front view picture and a side view picture. I can access that database from Heaven. If Heaven could develop some facial recognition software, accessing Hell's internal security cameras could reveal where every devil in Hell was at any given time. Over time, somebody like Paula could map where every major devil was working. Would this information be useful to Heaven?"

...

"You're mind-messaging together, aren't you. That's rude."

"You don't need to know what we're talking about," Lillian chafed.

"It would be dangerous for you if you did know," Joe-Joe softened Lillian's comment. "Be patient for a bit longer."

...

Two dings announced two arrivals.

Lillian introduced the two arrivals. "Winnie, I want to introduce the angels who used to be Issac Newton and Alan Turing. They are now Heaven's foremost computer scientists. Their mortal memories may have been lost, but their scientific skills have kept pace with new developments. They'll take you to a private part of Heaven where all of our scientists conduct advanced research. They want to ask you some questions."

"Gentlemen, Winnie is the mortal part of the team that penetrated Hell. She has hacking skills that your teams do not have. Winnie, you'll be busy for a while."

"Joe-Joe, I have to take care of Meghan. I have other things to wrap up too."

"You can have time to do that," Joe-Joe said. "Come back to my lab when you're done."

"What about the TAT testing?"

"Arthur and Paula will handle that for the time being."

### # # # # # # # #

Thursday:

_Winnie is a pushy teenager._

_What's up, Meghan?_

_I was in Hell last night, Lillian. One of my contacts told me that a devil named Duke of Earl submitted a travel redemption voucher._

_Why is this unusual?_

_According to my source, the Duke of Earl is a member of the SSS, Satan's Secret Service. These devils patrol Hell. They never go to Earth._

_Do you know where he went?_

_He visited Tofino on the west coast of BC. He also had some expenses in Ucluelet, which is nearby._

_That's very helpful, Meghan. Thank you. I hear you're no longer being investigated for murder._

_Winnie arranged that. I was surprised that the people helping her weren't angels._

_Winnie can be very resourceful when she's not around her boyfriend._

### # # # # # # # #

_Joe-Joe?_

_Arthur and Paula are on their way to BC now. I've asked them to prepare an inventory of the demonic forces in those two villages._

### # # # # # # # #

_Thanks for helping me TiTr again, Reese._

_No problem. What are we doing?_

_We're going back in time to when your three convicts escaped. As they come out of the prison, I'm going to drop some radioactive paste into their hair._

_The stuff that looks like bird poop?_

_No. Lylah redesigned it so that it's not so conspicuous. It's sort of like hair conditioner now. That's all I need you for. You can go back to your auras after we're done._

_Why are you doing this?_

_A women needs money to survive. It's part of a justice thing that I'm helping her out on._

_Is that the one that the family is talking about? She lives in Halifax and had killed somebody?_

_So much for having secrets in the Wilizy family._

_You didn't really expect that fake court case to remain secret, did you?_

_I expected Mom to crash the party._

_Dad took care of that for you. So, what are you going to do for this woman?_

_I'm going to track your three convicts to where they are right now. Then I'm going to tell her where they are hiding. She'll capture them, turn them in, and collect the reward._

_How will she capture them? These guys are big and nasty._

_She can handle them._

_I can help you track them if you want. It'll go faster if they've split up._

_Thanks_

[ _Three hours later._ ]

_That went very smoothly. I may want to help my friend out some more. Would you be willing to help me paste other escaped convicts?_

_Sure. You know, escaped convicts aren't the only ones who have rewards posted for their capture. There's a lawman network that lists criminals who are wanted for various nasty crimes. They actually have a "ten most wanted list." Some of these rewards can be big._

_Can you enroll me in that network?_

_Easy._

_Are you ready to talk about that thing you're worried about? You know, being my bodyguard and you wanting me to be safe._

_If I say something unbelievable, will you at least think about it? Don't reject it because you don't believe it could happen?_

_I will. I promise. And I won't be mad at you._

_I'll know if you are. Your aura will have a tiny little streak of pink in it._

_Tell me._

_Back in that operation when Annika was being accused of killing people, she had a medical emergency in a hotel in Brisbane._

_I heard something about that. Bean and I weren't around because of a solar flare._

_A doctor from Melbourne was staying in the hotel and she offered to help. Her name was Dr. Bachinski. The operation was successful but Annika lost some memories including memories about me._

_That's twice that you've lost her._

_Thanks so much for the reminder. The thing is, I looked closely at that doctor. She had no aura._

_You mean her aura was white._

_No. She had no aura whatsoever. I had never seen that before. I've only seen it once since._

_When?_

_When I looked at your boyfriend's face. He had no aura either._

_So, some people don't have auras. A biological thing perhaps?_

_I don't think so. Do you remember when you decided to name yourself 'Truth' and you were going to hunt down criminals and expose them to the people they lived with so that they'd face justice?_

_That didn't work out so well. I've given up on that now._

_You told people that extraterrestrial beings were watching our planet. They were studying us to see if we deserved to be part of a larger universe of civilized planets._

_I just made that story up._

_A lot of people believe that extraterrestrials have visited Earth and are even here now, watching us. They write books about that._

_That's crazy science fiction stuff. No decent author would write something like that. Especially for young people who might believe it._

_Humans with auras that reveal their personalities would be crazy science fiction stuff too. So would time travel. So would invisibility be. But the Wilizy all know that is true. We're the proof of that and we aren't living in a science fiction novel. I believe in extraterrestrials. I believe that they live among us and watch us. They can do that because they create a human body and then they live inside of it. Because it's a fake human body, it doesn't have an aura. I've only seen two so far, but I bet there's more._

_So, you think that Arthur is an extraterrestrial watching us and reporting to some mother ship._

_Yes. Something like that._

_Scary!_

_No, not really. I think they're helping us. They wouldn't be here to destroy us. Why else would they be here?_

_You believe it's to help us?_

_Yuh._

_Ok, so you have a theory and you like it. Why didn't you want to tell me this?_

_Because I believe Arthur is an extra terrestrial creature. He may be showing up as a mortal man, but inside, he could be a green skinned creature with four eyeballs on stalks, six fingers, four stomachs, and a tail. Even if he were humanoid in form, he's a different species than we are._

_I don't believe in your theory but you're welcome to it._

_If I'm right and if you fall in love with this humanoid body that is called Arthur, do you realize how badly this may affect you?_

_What do you mean?_

_People from two different species cannot mate and have babies. They have entirely different reproductive systems and entirely different sets of genes. I know you want a family. Do you realize that this will be impossible for you if you stay with Arthur?_

_..._

_Right now, you like Arthur, but you don't love him yet. This would be a good time to break it off with him. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. Break it off now. I know he's not human, Winnie. I just know it._

Back to the Table of Contents

#  Chapter 9

Meghan O'Hara resigned her shopping cart job at Wal*Mart on the day after Labour Day. She did keep her pharmacy hours though, and she did remain a loyal shopper as well. Before leaving for a little trip on Wednesday she filled two backpacks with Wal*Mart products: lots of duct tape, a pair of scissors, a large tarpaulin, a big bulky rain hat, a black wig that was part of a Halloween costume that hadn't been put on the shelves yet, and a large Halloween mask of a former US president.

Meghan dressed conservatively and wandered down to the Barrington Tower, which was part of the Scotia Bank Centre, one of Halifax's tallest buildings. Hell liked tall buildings because the foundation for such buildings had to be very deep. Meghan waited for a chance to enter an elevator alone, pushed the down button to the parking garage, and held it down. By the time she reached the end of her trip, she appeared in the Halifax PUS station in her devil body complete with elephant feet, a crocodile body, and the head of a pus dripping rat face.

Not many devils get on or off at Halifax, so she had the station to herself when the Toronto connector rolled in. From Toronto, she took the Central South Express with the first stop being Cleveland. An up-elevator ride later, she was in her mortal body complete with the black wig and was familiarizing herself with Cleveland's downtown. That familiarization included locating the FBI building on Lakeside Avenue. She also familiarized herself with a five story seedy hotel in a part of Cleveland that wasn't on the usual tour guide highlights.

A tourist trip wouldn't be complete without coming home with a souvenir. Meghan found a gun shop in the commercial section of downtown Cleveland that sold stun guns. US laws did not prohibit civilians from owning them. They did frown on people stealing them. Meghan's moral compass would stray a little distance from due north later that night. She would have bought the stun gun but didn't have any US money.

By about 3 am, Cleveland was asleep. Meghan assumed her devilian body. She used the scissors to cut a hole in the tarpaulin and draped it over her body like a very large poncho. The Halloween mask hid her features and the droopy hat covered her head with its devilian scales. Essentially, she was now a very big dark blob. Various places in Cleveland held security cameras but she didn't have to worry about them now.

DBBLYN's first stop was to acquire the stun gun which she did by walking through one of the store's walls, smashing a display table, grabbing a fully charged unit, and walking through one of the walls again. A security alarm sounded but DBBLYN was long gone before anybody showed up. With no sign of entry or exit, Cleveland detectives put the theft down to an inside job, but never did solve the case.

The walls of the room where Reese's three escaped prisoners were sleeping were not up to the task of keeping a devil out. The stun gun gave DBBLYN enough time to duct tape three mouths shut, three feet together, and three hands together. Then, she wrapped a blanket from each bed around each twitching ex-con. Those blankets extended from the tip of the head to the knees. They could breath, but they couldn't talk, walk, or squawk. Another jolt of the stun gun on their legs put them out. That allowed her to haul her gift-wrapped presents to the FBI building on Lakeside Avenue. (Remember, devils are enormously strong.)

Once there, she laid the no longer escaped cons on the grass in front of a bench, sat on the bench and turned herself back into Meghan O'Hara in her black wig. It took about two hours to receive payment of $15,000 US, which was the combined rewards for the three escapees. Following Winnie's instructions, she asked FBI agent Delacroix to make the bank draft out to _Cash_ which meant that no record of her name would appear in the FBI books.

### # # # # # # # #

Meanwhile in Denver, Governor Stookenhap was holding a press conference. He has just reminded the media about the law prohibiting companies or their executives from benefiting from felonious crimes. He went on as follows:

"The Ministry of Justice has uncovered evidence that the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chauncey Vaughn, may be running his Supreme Beef Packing Company from inside the prison where he has been incarcerated. Convicted felons are prohibited from running companies while incarcerated by the Criminal Enterprises laws that the Ministry of Justice has established. To determine whether or not the former Chief Justice is breaking that law, the Ministry of Justice has seized all of his company books and has shut down, at least temporarily, the activities of the Supreme Beef Packing Company in Fort Morgan. Since this closure will impact innocent employees and other members of that community, the government will investigate quickly."

### # # # # # # # #

Following Winnie's instructions, Meghan used PUS to travel to Denver and she met Stu for lunch at the diner across from the street from the SPCA. She showed him the bank draft for $15,000. "One day's work," she exclaimed.

"How'd you find them?"

Winnie and Meghan had tried out various answers to that inevitable question. They had agreed on this one. "If I told you, I'd be giving away my trade secrets. I can't risk any other people finding out. It would kill my business."

Stu wasn't going to pursue this. He figured that some time travel might have been involved but ignorance was bliss, and Stu wanted to remain blissful. He did have one other question that Winnie wanted him to ask.

"Are you planning to continue as a bounty hunter?"

"Yes, but Winnie said that I'd need a way to explain how I was earning the bounty money. She said I had to talk with you about that."

"I am pleased to be able to tell you that Denver's two deputies were successful in finding the parents of the kidnap victim, the woman named Katie. They were able to find her because the parents had reported the kidnapping at the time. The parents had also established a significant reward that was to go anybody who provided information that would lead to her discovery. That reward was still in place when the detectives found the parents."

"Oh?"

"Here is a letter from the foundation that was holding that reward money in trust." Stu handed it over and Meghan read it slowly.

"The Caring Heart Foundation? No address except Denver, Colorado. I'm receiving a significant reward but they don't say how much. This signature is illegible."

"Use this letter if anybody in Halifax questions the source of your money. Otherwise, you'll find it difficult to explain any major purchases that you want to make with your bounty money. Pharmacy work twice a week will not give you much income. Got it so far?"

"Yes. What do I do with this bank draft?"

"You'll have an account with the Swiss Guards Bank here in Denver by this afternoon. They specialize in keeping details of their clients' bank accounts secret. After you have finished setting up your account, deposit this $15,000 into the account. Whenever you want some of that money, contact the bank manager and give her instructions to transfer your desired amount to your local bank account. That could take a couple of days. The money will appear in your local bank account and the transfer will say _Reward_."

"Is this legal?"

"It's a little dodgy, but you're not breaking any laws. You are in a high-risk profession. We are hiding the source of your income so that criminals who hear about you can't find you. Your safety is a justifiable reason for setting up a secure bank account like this. You are certainly earning that money. Reward money in the US and Canada is tax-free. That's one of the reasons that bounty hunters get into the business. All we're doing is stopping anybody from tracking you down. On that note, do not do any business in Canada. A young woman working as a bounty hunter would be too noticeable."

"That's it?"

"It is for me. I'll introduce you to Sandy, the bank manager. She'll set you up with the account and give you instruction on how to communicate with her. Come to Denver after each successful hunt and deposit the money into your account immediately. A bank draft made out to 'cash' is very risky. Anybody can cash it in. A young woman like you is vulnerable. You may want to think about hiring some big monster of a bodyguard."

"I've already done that. I gave him the afternoon off."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 10

Boss Schnappe had read the governor's announcement on Wednesday about Stinky being investigated and it weighed on his mind all night. That wasn't because he felt sad about Stinky being in prison and being investigated for criminal enterprise charges as well. There was no love lost between the two men, as my readers well know. What bothered Boss was the government's possession of Stinky's business records. He had done a lot of business with Stinky and now the government had Stinky's books. If they were running honest businesses, the entries Boss and Stinky made in the books for business between the two of them would have identical figures. That wasn't going to be the case here. Both men had fabricated the amounts without consulting each other.

Boss was angry because he had just wasted a whole lot of money ordering an incomplete set of fake books. If Stook found a reason to subpoena Boss's books, he'd be going to jail for sure. For now, the governor had no legal way to do that. But Stook had demonstrated that he was quite willing to create new laws. Boss had an easy solution to that problem.

Bright and early on Thursday morning, Boss set off for Denver. He brought with him a rifle, a shotgun, two side arms, a whole lot of ammunition, and a strong hankering to use it all up. Have I mentioned that Boss had a temper and was prone to violence?

The flight from Hereford to Denver took about an hour and Boss was stewing the whole time. He set down in a public copter lot near to the Capitol building, and did a recon of the outside of the governor's mansion. He saw no signs of enhanced security, like cameras, or men on the roof. He found the same lack of additional security at the Capitol building. Of course, that didn't mean that Stook didn't have security around him, but that would take a little longer to determine. There was no staff cafeteria inside the Capitol building. The Denver Cattlemen's Association's dining room used to be the first choice for staff and politicians in that building. Now that building was closed. Stook would have to walk somewhere to eat.

Boss set himself up in front of the boarded up DCA hotel building, and stared at it. He had an excellent view of the Capitol Building too. He was so intent on his surveillance that he didn't notice a young blonde, busty woman walking down the sidewalk.

"Hey, look who's here. Boss Schnappe."

Boss looked up and recognized who was standing in front of him. "If it isn't Dolly Jolly, by Golly."

Dolly's mind immediately registered the fact that she had heard this same stupid greeting 1,235,468 times before. Well, perhaps not quite that many times. Dolly didn't actually keep numerical records. The number of men who used that greeting varied according to her mood. Right now, her mood was best described as _ravenous_. She would have kept walking but Boss was one of her former clients. Ignoring him wouldn't be polite. Nor financially astute.

"Shame about the DCA building," she opened. "You and I had a lot of good times in there."

"A'yup."

...

"Are you still working out of Sally's?"

"You bet."

_Sally was the owner of a popular and nearby house of ill repute. This should confirm what you're thinking about how Dolly keeps herself fit._

"I thought she might have gone out of business when the DCA building was sold for back taxes."

_[That was Stook's work and Boss' level of anger started to rise once again.]_

"She lost all of her political clients, but Sally runs the best whorehouse in Denver. She never has any shortage of clients."

_[Stook was also responsible for forcing all of the legislators out of office. More heat now]._

"I'm famished. Why don't we go for lunch? My treat."

_[She didn't realize it, but Dolly had just stepped out of her position of men's companion to a position that suggested that she thought she was Boss' social equal. At this point, Stook left the Capitol building and strolled away. Two men followed him about ten paces behind. Was the appearance of the two men a coincidence? Following him would be easier if he had Dolly with him to camouflage his intent._

"I know a place a block or two away. I'd be honoured if you'd join me."

"What a gentleman, you are Boss."

The gentleman in question tapped the inside pocket of his jacket to ensure the pistol could be pulled out quickly.

### # # # # # # # #

Boss followed Stook to the diner across the street from the SPCA. He stopped with an excuse that Dolly might want to read the menu posted on the window. While she was doing this, Boss was peering into the diner. He saw Stook wave his hand at a man already sitting at a corner table and sat down across from him. A sandwich and a coffee were already on the table. The two men who had followed Stook also entered the diner and found a table. Boss entered as well and took a seat so that he could see the end table out of the corner of his eye. Dolly, who had still been reading the menu, scurried in and joined him.

The two men were almost certainly part of the governor's security. Boss would know for sure if they left their table immediately after Stook exited. Meanwhile, Dolly was prattling on about something. Boss scanned the menu and said nothing.

Dolly had tried a conversational opening that Boss had always responded to in the past. "How's business?" she had asked. Boss hadn't answered. Dolly was surprised by that, but perhaps he was as hungry as she was and wanted some time with menu.

They ordered. Dolly ordered a full meal. Boss surprised her.

"Only soup today?" Dolly asked. "Are you on a diet of some kind?"

"I don't want to take the chance of eating cat from the SPCA."

That was a well-known joke about this diner. Nobody believed it. Dolly began to think that perhaps business wasn't going so well for Boss. He didn't respond to her question; he ordered the cheapest item on the menu when he always had steak; his ranch had been forced to sell off some of the cattle. She began to regret maneuvering him into buying her lunch. For his part, Boss simply wanted to be sure that he could leave quickly. Soup was fast to cook and to eat. If Dolly were still eating, he'd leave her to pay the bill. She had offered after all.

...

Stook and his companion finished their sandwich and coffee but remained at their table to talk. They were clearly used to having meals together. The two presumed security men had a simple sandwich and were now finished and sipping coffee. Dolly was chewing steadily. Boss had finished his soup and was waiting, the corner of his left eye on Stook. The waitress came by and asked how their meals were and Boss took the opportunity to pay so that he could leave quickly if he had to. As he rustled through his pockets, he realized that he had left his wallet at home. He needed the space for the gun. "Put it on my tab," he instructed the waitress who was forced to inquire who he was. That didn't help Boss' mood.

Stook and his companion, a man named Stu, left and were followed immediately by the two men. That confirmed that Stook would be harder to kill than Boss had figured. It had been a wasted day, except that his table companion had always been adept at improving his mood. As they were leaving, he asked Dolly if she'd like to come up to the ranch for a couple of days.

"I'd love that, Boss. You were always my favorite client. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you my special mid-week rates just because I've missed you so much."

### # # # # # # # #

Boss interrupted the flight to the ranch by setting down in a patch of empty prairie a couple of miles east of Fort Collins. He pulled a sleeping bag out of the back of the copter, muttered something about not wanting to wait, and laid it out on the ground. Dolly was used to being asked to undress in strange locations. She hung her purse on the co-pilot's instrument panel, stepped out of the copter, and obliged. She felt sorry for this rich old guy who no longer had the cash to even pay for lunch. He had always been nice to her, although not generously nice with a tip. She compensated for his aversion to tipping by charging him a higher basic fee than she did for others.

For his part, on the flight up, Boss had been dwelling on Dolly's offer to buy him lunch, her comment on his choice of soup, and her offer of special rates. He didn't need pity from a harlot.

Boss had a particular opinion on the value of women in today's society. It was grounded in a white supremacist doctrine combined with a large dollop of misogyny. Boss didn't think he was misogynist; after all, he didn't hate women. He just didn't see why men had to put up with them.

Boss was a life-long bachelor. Other than harlots, he wouldn't allow a woman into his house. He didn't need them to clean up or cook; he hired men for that. He didn't need them to raise his children because Boss didn't want children. In his view, women provided no other value to society, so why should he have one in his house? Biological pressures did mean that he had to consort with some women, but afterwards they could be discarded much like he discarded milk cows that had gone dry.

In Boss' view of life as a ladder, men were at the top of the ladder, of course. They made the world run the way it was supposed to run. Ordinary women were on the second rung, provided they were white. Cattle were on the third rung. Harlots were on the fourth rung, provided they were white. Harlots who weren't white were on the fifth rung. Everything else was on the bottom rung.

You may be wondering how the topic of non-white harlots had entered our conversation about white supremist Colorado. Dolly had the distinction of being the only harlot in Denver who had aboriginal blood coursing through her veins. She was on the fourth run of Boss' ladder, slightly above prairie vermin.

Boss had sex with Dolly on that patch of prairie, of course, but as he was dressing, he pulled his gun out of his jacket pocket and shot her in the heart. He left her half dressed body on the prairie for the wolves.

Boss felt much better the rest of trip. He was right. Dolly was very adept at changing his mood.

### # # # # # # # #

The woman who would grow up to become Dolly Jolly was born to a white supremacist family in Colorado Springs. The father, Raymond Jolly, was a chemistry professor at the local university. He was fascinated by the search for new chemical elements and how they could be used to advance a person's wealth. He named his daughter Euphrenemia, which was what he was planning to name the new element when he found it. He thought his daughter would be proud to have the name of a brand new addition to the periodic table. He tried to consult with his wife, Winona, but she was heaving around in the hospital bed at the time and didn't want to talk about naming the child right then.

Winona Jolly came from Swedish stock. She was blonde, busty, and physically strong. Raymond came from less physical stock. He was, shall we say, willowy. Raymond was the boss of the family, of course. Winona obeyed him when she felt like it. If she wanted him to change his decision, she made his life a living Hell until he himself decided to change his mind. This is typical in a white supremacy society. For some unknown reason, some women don't want to be possessions and will snit up all emotionally about that.

Winona didn't mind what Raymond called his daughter while she was an infant. But, when Euphrenemia toddled up to Winona one morning and held out her dolly and said her first word, the name Euphrenemia was consigned to the _never use that word in my hearing again_ category. Dolly became her real name. It was at this time that Raymond learned that Winona was physically stronger than he was.

The Jolly family wasn't jolly. They were dirt poor. Raymond would give his wife her allowance each month after he had received his university pay. From that, Winona had to buy everything that the family needed. Food, clothes, medicine, rent and so on and so on. She would supplement the family's diet by walking out to the prairie and shooting varmints for supper.

Raymond kept the majority of his university salary for himself. He used it to fund his business interests, namely getting rich off his knowledge of chemistry. He ruled that no woman of his would ever work; that would be disrespectful of him. So, Winona didn't tell him that she was doing the laundry for the entire neighbourhood along with their own. Raymond never noticed that they had an awful lot of sheets and clothes hanging out to dry. Raymond was not particularly astute. You will now appreciate how unlikely it will be for Raymond to become wealthy off his chemistry knowledge.

It's not that Raymond was dumb. He was intelligent in his own little world. He simply had terrible judgment when he had to interact with the real world. Just when Winona managed to collect enough laundry money to improve their lives, Raymond's quick rich schemes beggared them. Dolly inherited his intelligence.

From her mother, Dolly inherited her blonde hair and her busty body. She found out early in her teenage years that boys found her attractive and would do just about anything if she would be short-term friends with them. With Winona worn out from scrubbing clothes, she was unable to keep up with Raymond's follies. She taught Dolly how to shoot the family's rifle and Dolly took over the on the varmint diet supplements. Ammunition was never a problem. Like other prairie retail outlets, the local grocery store gave free ammunition to all kids coming into the store with a weapon.

In addition, Dolly began charging for her friendship. That money went into her mom's secret stash. She didn't mind the sex. It meant nothing to her. She didn't mind the _white trash_ slurs that other girls whispered to her. She simply wanted to help her mom. Mom knew what was going on, but couldn't tell her to stop. They'd have starved if Dolly weren't helping them out. Raymond was oblivious to everything.

Dolly's life changed after her 15th birthday when her mother died. Dolly left Colorado Springs the next day and headed to Denver, carrying her mom's secret stash with her. She hadn't appreciated how much money was needed to eat and live in Denver. A woman named Sally found her hustling for tricks on the street in front of her sumptuous house. Dolly quickly learned that this was a house of prostitution and Sally was the madam, the person in charge of all the prostitutes. Sally took her in, gave her a private bedroom away from the business part of the house, and gave her a job that kept her out of prostitution. Sally had recognized Dolly's intelligence and made good use of it by giving her the job of keeping the house's books. Success in that led to some daytime courses in bookkeeping.

By the time that she reached the age of 16, which was the magical legal age for adult sex, Dolly was running the accounting part of Sally's business. Sally was acting as a mom and Dolly was responding as a daughter. Their only major argument came when Dolly told Sally that she was ready to work in the bedrooms. It wouldn't matter if Sally raised her bookkeeping salary; it didn't matter if Sally refused to send her clients or not. Dolly was going to do this because she had dreams and for those dreams, she needed money. Lots of money. She shared those dreams with Sally. She insisted on becoming a prostitute. She threatened to go to another madam if Sally didn't agree.

Sally tried to protect her from the worst of her customers by persuading Dolly that she should leak the news that her great-grandmother on her father's side was a member of the Arapahoe nation, which meant that Dolly had aboriginal blood. Sally believed that this rumour would scare away some of the men who would be attracted to blonde and busty. It didn't work out the way Sally thought.

Rich men, especially the men in the Denver Cattlemen's Association started asking Sally to send Dolly to them secretly. Dolly had become irresistible forbidden fruit. Sally did as requested but told Dolly to raise her rates as high as she could and sock everything away. As a working girl now, she had her daylight hours free. This allowed her to attend Denver University and enter the accounting program.

This brief biography brings you up to present time. Boss' copter is receding into the distance. Dolly's dead body is lying on the prairie.

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# Chapter 11

Second week of September:

On Monday, Arthur and Paula began to take an inventory of what demons were operating in the Ucluelet and Tofino areas. Arthur contacted Winnie that evening but he caught her at a bad time. She was in her third day of meetings with heaven's top scientists and was feeling decidedly inferior to Newt and Allan. She couldn't even understand what they were talking about when they discussed the complexities of facial recognition and how artificial intelligence was the answer. When they talked about computers, she had a hope of making sense of it. Every half hour or so, Newt would run an experiment which required Winnie to adopt a devilian body and stand perfectly still. By perfectly still, they meant breathing was alright if she desperately needed to. Alan would take pictures of her face. Next experiment, she would adopt a different devilian face, and then another face, and then another face. Joe-Joe was called in to tinker with her body settings. Apparently placing devil faces on top of angel bodies was not something he had anticipated her body would have to do.

By the time she reached home that night, she had a raging headache from the stress of being grossly inferior to the two men. This was a feeling that Winnie did not like and hadn't experienced much of before. William was a genius of course, but he was laid back and never revealed to others what was going through his head. Newt and Allan explained everything that was going through their heads, as a favour to her. It was way over her head. As a point of information: Issac Newton and Alan Turing were geniuses when they were mortals. Winnie had recently turned 15.

When Arthur called that evening, Winnie had settled into her hammock on the ship in her mortal body, throbbing headache throbbing away. She had put off eating because she was nauseous. Part of that was the headache and part was because of the state of the kitchen. Arthur had gorged himself on chocolate goodies before he left and evidence of that was everywhere. In his baking frenzy, he had used every possible bowl; every possible flat surface for baking, every possible utensil; every possible... well, you get my drift.

Every one of those every possibles was now sitting encrusted in some form of dried chocolate concoction. Nothing had been cleaned. Nothing had even been soaked. Even the counters, the stove, the interior of the sink, the cupboard doors... every one of these revealed that Arthur didn't believe in washing chocolate off his hands while he was baking.

Winnie couldn't even begin to think about cooking something to eat for herself until she cleaned up after him. She could re-energize herself in the sun, but she really wanted human food. Perhaps some raw vegetables? She looked in the fridge. He had even tried chocolate-coated celery. It hadn't worked out too well; she found it discarded uneaten and wilting inside the refrigerator produce compartment.

So when Arthur called, she blasted him with some very sharp words, closed the conversation, found the privacy setting for her body, and set it to maximum privacy.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Monday:

Dolly woke up lying on something soft and hearing some barking. She tried to move but she couldn't move her arms. Her legs were fine. She concluded that she had been tied down. Boss!

"Don't struggle," a male voice said. "You'll hurt yourself."

She felt a sense of panic and then everything went black.

### # # # # # # # #

By Tuesday, the cowhands at the three ranches had identified the routine of the women miners. They looked exactly like men in their heavy boots, overalls, long sleeved shirts, gloves and safety helmets. The only noticeable difference was the long hair hanging out the back of the helmet. Their grimy faces could have been male or female.

The miners would work on the drilling equipment for three hours, take a one hour break for lunch that had been stored in the copter. Sandwiches, fruit of some kind, and one or two raw vegetables. Also appearing out of the copter during lunch hour were water bottles that they'd need that afternoon. Working outside in September in Colorado is not as impossible as in the summer broil, but it's still uncomfortably hot.

Work would continue from 1 pm to 4 pm, at which point, the drillers would hop into the copter and leave. Before they left, they made sure that all of the dirt that had been removed from the drill shift had been raked into the surrounding ground. They didn't do this to be neat. They did it so that the cowhands would not realize how little dirt had been removed from the shaft.

At least twice a day, the boss gal would jump into the copter and leave the site. In some cases, she left to bring in more equipment. In other cases, she came back with a big closed storage container that was so heavy that it required all three of them to shift. Some times, it was obvious that some vital part of their drilling equipment had suddenly broken and needed to be replaced. This was obvious from the language that followed the mechanical failure. Women swore. Quite loudly and profanely too. Go figure.

As soon as the boss gal's copter had dropped below the horizon, the two other miners stopped what they were doing and sought shelter from the sun in the shade of ranch house. There, they removed their safety helmets, loosened the shirts, guzzled some water and poured the remainder of the bottle over their heads. The cowhands knew about this routine because the women had asked on the first day if they could sit in the shade. Some hands left their jobs to sit with them. Solely to be friendly, of course. The questions about what they were drilling for would come later. Both groups went back to their normal work as soon as the boss lady's helicopter appeared in the distance.

### # # # # # # # #

The second time she woke, Tuesday, Dolly checked immediately for restraints. She still couldn't move. She opened her eyes, but couldn't see anything. No, wait. A line of light.

Something was crawling on her body. Then, it was still. Another something moved. Then, it was still. Was she in a shallow grave? Were rats crawling on her? She had trouble breathing. Something that was lying on her throat moved. Another rat? "Get off," she tried, "but couldn't squeeze the words out of her dry throat. Then, she was gone again.

### # # # # # # # #

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice announced that they had uncovered sufficient evidence to conclude that Chauncey Vaughn, owner of the Supreme Beef Packing Company was still managing his company with the cooperation of his foreman, Rogers. The Ministry concluded that the Supreme Beef Packing Company was a criminal enterprise and appropriated _[snatched]_ all of its assets, property, and furnishings, including the main ranch house. They fired Rogers and put all of the other employees on indeterminate leave.

Since many of the employees were not involved in any crime, and since the community of Fort Morgan relied heavily on the operations of the beef packing company continuing, Governor Stookenhap announced that the government would act quickly, as follows:

"The former Supreme Beef Packing Company will be sold at auction on Saturday, September 29. Only Coloradoan companies may bid and only if they have submitted copies of their own financial records to the government before the auction. The auction is open to individuals, single companies, and companies in partnership. The assets may be viewed in Fort Morgan any day prior to the auction."

### # # # # # # # #

Also, on Wednesday.

Dolly's third awakening was better. She opened her eyes and could see a male figure wearing a white jacket.

"Good, you're awake." He rose from a chair beside her bed, dipped something into a bowl of some kind, and pressed it to her lips. "It's a watery sponge. Put it in your mouth and suck on it a bit. Spit the sponge out when you don't want it any more."

She did.

"I need to know that you are fully awake," he said from his standing position next to her bed. "I restrained your arms so that you couldn't tear out the drips. I'll remove them if I know that you can understand me. What's your name?"

It seemed like a reasonable request except that Boss had tried to kill her. If she gave this doctor her name, he would write it down somewhere. Boss had influence everywhere. The next time would be different. He'd make sure. Dolly didn't answer.

"Have you forgotten your name?"

Dolly shook her head.

"That's good. We're communicating."

...

"You don't want to tell me your name. Is that correct?"

"Yes," she croaked.

"I'll remove the restraints. Don't try and sit up yet."

...

"I'm putting the sponge in your right hand. The bowl on the bed is half full of water. Your right hand has an intravenous drip. Move your hand slowly from bowl to mouth so that you won't rip the drip out. I had a devil of a time putting it in."

...

"How long here?"

"Five days."

"Where am I?"

"A little hospital outside of Fort Collins."

"Will I die?"

"Not here you won't. But you almost died on the prairie. You were shot, as I expect you know because you didn't ask what had happened to you. The gunman probably was aiming for your heart, but the shot was high and the bullet went all the way through your body. It didn't touch any bones or major arteries, which is extremely surprising. But it did tear up a muscle. And you had lost a lot of blood by the time I found you. That's why you were dying. I found you as I was coptering back to my hospital. I gave you some blood. You responded. I brought you back here, stitched you up as best as I could and you've been in and out of consciousness since."

"You carried blood in your copter?"

"I set up a direct feed from me to you."

"How did you test blood type?"

"I didn't. I had no equipment and no other blood. If I had the wrong blood type, you would die anyway. I had to take the chance."

"Thank you."

He nodded. "It's part of what I do. I have to ask you a question that you may not want to answer, but I must ask. The law requires it. Would you say that you have all of your faculties now and can answer questions?"

She nodded.

"When I found you, I saw evidence suggesting that you had been the victim of a sexual assault. You were mostly naked. You were lying on a sleeping bag. A copter had landed near the sleeping bag and had taken off. Did the man force you to have sex against your will?"

...

"If you say _Yes_ , I will report the incident to the Fort Collins Sheriff's Department. They will interview you, ask you for the name of your assailant, and interrogate him. You know the name of the man, don't you?"

She nodded.

"If you tell me that it wasn't a sexual assault, I am still obliged to tell the sheriff that I found a woman that I believe was the target of a murder attempt. They'll investigate. The man will find out that you're still alive. Will he try again?"

She nodded.

"Did you accidentally shoot yourself while you were by yourself on the prairie?"

"Yes," she said.

"You're going to heal and regain full use of your left arm and shoulder. You'll be up and moving around when your blood levels are back to normal. The stiffness in your shoulder will take longer to disappear. In the meantime, I will need to have regular visits with you to ensure that your wound doesn't get infected. It would be easier for me to care for you if you remained here in this remote and safe location. OK?"

"Thank you again."

"Sleep as much as you can."

### # # # # # # # #

Thursday, Dolly awoke abruptly to find a cat standing on her chest; its tongue was licking her cheek. It felt like sandpaper. She moved her hand to its throat. A one-handed chokehold would work just fine.

"This one doesn't like to be petted," he said from his chair. "Would you like to sit up?"

"Please."

He shushed three cats off her bed before lifting her bodily into sitting position. Pillows followed. He pulled the blankets to her knees. "Here you go," he said but he was looking at the cats. They jumped back on the bed, found comfortable positions on her body, and dropped off to sleep.

"They've been sleeping on you since you arrived," he explained. "Cats know when a person is hurting. Their presence can speed up the healing process, but that's never been scientifically proven. They must like you. They've hardly left your side. You're probably a cat person."

Dolly looked down. All three were witch black. She wondered if he would be upset if she killed them in front of him while they slept. Probably. She put her hands under the blankets so that she wouldn't be tempted. When she looked down, she didn't see a normal hospital gown. Come to think of it, this room wasn't a normal hospital room.

"Is this your bedroom?"

"You're paying more attention now to your surroundings. Good. Yes, this is my bedroom."

"Did you dress me in your pajamas?"

"Guilty, your honour. I didn't peek."

"What kind of hospital is this?"

"It's an animal hospital."

"I remember hearing a barking dog."

"He had been mistreated by his former owner and was starving for attention."

"You're a vet?"

"Yes. Pets are mammals just like humans. I knew what I was doing when I stitched you up."

"Was the dog sleeping on me too?"

"On the covers on your feet. That way he wasn't lonely and wouldn't wake you with his barking. Dogs have healing powers too."

...

"I went back to your assault site this morning. I was looking for ID of some kind. Perhaps a purse. I didn't find anything."

_Bausch has it. I hung it on the co-pilot's instrument panel._

"I have to register every patient I treat. I run afoul of the rule makers if I don't. I assume that you still won't tell me your name."

She nodded.

"That's OK. You're in the clinic books as _Fido."_

" _Fido_?"

" _Fido the dog_ if you want to be formal. You're a bitch by the way."

"I'm a what!"

"Bitch. Female dog. I figured that out when I was stitching up your chest."

"What do I call you?"

"I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours."

"If my attacker knows that you have been treating me, he will assume that you and I talked. He will want to kill you. I can't give him your name if I don't know it."

"You can make up a name for me."

"Let me think about that."

### # # # # # # # #

On Friday, the three mining teams gave the ranch hands a reason to stick around the yard and watch. Once again, the crew chief found it necessary to speed off on some emergency repair trip in the heat of the day. The two remaining drillers watched her leave and then acted. Both went into the shade, and with different speeds and different accompanying commentary they stripped off all of their clothes including boots with the exception of a black tank top and a black set of briefs. Emphasis on the brief part. "I won't swelter in these stupid uniforms any longer," one declared angrily as she poured two bottles of water over her head. This same scene was being duplicated at the other two ranches. The other members of the other crews had different words, some less pure than others. The time needed for the strip down varied as well.

I should mention that in Melissa's Operation Uncover, the three drilling teams had a series of actions that they had to accomplish each week. For this week, they had to rebel against authority, strip off most of their clothes, douse themselves with water, and show in words their displeasure with their working conditions. How and when they did this was up to each trio. Each trio had a 'bad gal' who was in charge of demonstrating how much trouble the drillers were facing in their quests for whatever it was they were trying to find. Also, a 'slutty gal' was going to be slutty (duh), and the third gal was a back up to slutty gal. The Valkyries chose among themselves who would play each part. How immodest they became in playing the part was up to them.

The three drilling trios would _reveal_ their work related difficulties as well as their bodies at about the same time each week. _[Hence, Operation Reveal.]_ Melissa expected that the three DCA ranchers would be talking amongst themselves and, it was natural that all three trios would experience the same problems. Broken equipment, for example. But the trio working at Boss' ranch would have special memorable circumstance that would be confined to only that ranch. Bausch Schnappe was the key because he would be the one who could bring the other two ranchers into line. You've already seen one special circumstance. Palesa had been unusually confrontational while the other two boss gals were nothing but friendly. There was a reason for that which you'll discover later. Palesa's two teammates were Andrea and Jilly. Both had the bodies and willingness to star in their slut role.

This week, when each copter gal returned Friday afternoon, she would find two semi-naked drillers sitting in the shade surrounded by sympathetic cow hands, all trying their best not be caught staring. The scene that followed cemented their interest. Boss Gal objected to her co-workers' inattention to maintaining a modest and mandatory uniform. The two rebels pointed out that they could hardly work to Boss Gal's satisfaction if they were wilting in the sun. They were hot, they were exhausted, and they were sweaty. All three conditions had been noticed by the cowhands who wanted to express sympathy, but they stayed out of it.

Chin wagging turned into chin-to-chin confrontation. Fingernails were duly cocked, if that's how fingernailers fight each other. Hair pulling was a distinct possibility. The cowhands began talking sotto-voce about catfights and betting odds.

The Valkyries went further than the hands expected. One rebel grabbed the boss gal from behind and put her in a disabling hold while the other girl started to undress her. This took a long time seeing as how the boots had to come off first and, of course, the boss gal was struggling mightily. The rebels' intention was to show her how much better she'd feel without all those sweaty hot clothes, but the boss gal wasn't having any of this. She fought them through every piece of clothing that was removed.

Early on, the ranch hands' hopes in this phase of Operation Uncover had been to pray for a wardrobe malfunction. Their prayers now notched up to something much more than a malfunction. With two pieces of clothing left, the undresser gal gave boss gal a choice. "Either you let us work in comfort or your bra and panties are coming off right now." The cowboys' prayers shifted to ' _Don't let them work in comfort.'_

Sadly, for the ranch hands, Boss Gal realized that the rebels would indeed be more productive in skimpier uniforms. She agreed to keep quiet and to wear the same style of uniform. Since this had turned out to be a win-win situation for the cowhands, everybody ended the week happy.

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# Chapter 12

Week of September 17.

On Monday, as soon as Palesa had departed on yet another equipment problem run, Andrea revealed to the cowhands that the mining company would only provide one bottle of water in the morning and one bottle of water in the afternoon. It would be impossible to work with only one small water bottle. Could the ranch hands hook up a hose so the drillers could drink? Remember this request was being made by a girl who was wearing bra and panties and nothing else above her boots. Not surprisingly, two hoses were provided. _[The same information was revealed at the other sites; from now on, I'll only tell you is happening at Boss' ranch. You should assume the same story is being unfolded elsewhere.]_

### # # # # # # # #

Speaking of clothes, or the lack thereof: Also on Monday:

"I'd like to get my own clothes. Yours are comfortable but I need some feminine things. Like underwear and other stuff."

"Do you want to go on a shopping trip?"

"I don't have any money. I have everything I'll need back where I was staying."

"Where was that?"

"Denver. I also need to talk to my ma..... mom. She'll be worrying about me. Can you take me to Denver? We'll have to be careful not to be seen. The gun man has friends where we'll be going."

"You can take the copter, if you want."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure. But, the name and contact information of my clinic is pasted on my copter. Will that be a problem?"

"No."

### # # # # # # # #

On Tuesday, as soon as Palesa had departed on yet another equipment problem run, Jilly revealed that the company had cut everybody's rations to one meal a day and this would be the dinner meal. The drillers were starving. The ranch hands quickly suggested that food could be found for them but they had to check with the cook. At noon, a sumptuous meal appeared on wooden tables and they all sat down under sun shading large sized umbrellas for a friendly, comfortably cool lunch. Some of the hands doffed their shirts to help the drillers feel more comfortable in their clothe-less condition. The men chosen for this sympathy display simply happened to be high on the hunk scale. No hand pursued the main query line that was behind all of this friendliness: _What are you drilling for?_ That was still to come.

### # # # # # # # #

Wednesday morning, early:

"You're back," he said.

"I collected some of my stuff from Denver."

"I see that. Your bags are right by the door. Is that because you're planning to leave?"

"I believe I tweaked my shoulder lifting one of the bags."

"Could lead to an infection. Best not to go yet. You were up very early."

"Got to Denver at 4 am. Nobody's awake at that time. I had a good talk with my mom. I was right that she was getting worried."

"Did you tell her what happened and where you're staying?"

"No."

"Best for her, I suppose."

"I'm not comfortable taking your bedroom."

"That's why the bags are still by the door?"

"Yes. I'll sleep where you've been sleeping."

"That could be a problem. I keep a bed in the clinic in case I need to watch a patient over night. That's where I've been sleeping. If you're there, I wouldn't be able to watch my patients over night. Why don't I move some of my stuff out of the house bedroom? That'll give you space for your clothes."

"Is your bed in the clinic comfortable?"

"Comfortable enough. Stay where you are."

"I brought my money from home. I can pay you."

"Won't you need that money when you leave? You'll have to start a new life to stay away from the gunman. That can be expensive."

"It's not right that I live here for free. Your other patients don't."

"Bake me an apple pie. That's how some people pay me."

### # # # # # # # #

"In Tofino, Hell has one head demon and two assistant demons who work inside the Tourist Information Bureau on Main Street." This was Arthur starting his report to Joe-Joe and Lillian. "They also have twenty-six black shoulder demons who meet in the empty old water tower on Campbell Street, thirty-five reds who congregate in the attic of the Consumer Co-op store on First Street, forty-one purples who have a club house at the top of the flag pole in front of the fire hall, fifty-three oranges who have a bar inside the munitions supply cabinet in the RCMP office, and sixty-five grays who meet inside the ceremonial old totem pole on the water front on First Street. That makes 220 shoulder demons in total but we may have missed some. Call it 250 shoulder demons to be sure. That averages out to about one shoulder demon per local resident which is standard."

"Ucluelet is much smaller. It has one head demon and one assistant demon who work in the Tourist Information Bureau on Peninsula Road. None of the shoulder demons have enough to warrant their own bar or clubhouse. They all meet inside the Amphitrite Point Lighthouse on the southwest corner of the island. We counted sixty-five blacks, purples, oranges and grays."

Paula took over. "Tofino and Ucluelet are far too small to warrant any full demons. The five assistant demons working in the tourist offices are probably making their quota by sending tourists to the wrong places, which is kind of pitiful. There's not a lot of potential on that west coast for real evil. The shoulder demons have large numbers because there's very little for them to do that will get them promoted. Both villages have constant rain in the winter time that is mixed with ferocious wind and that must makes it hard for any demons of any colour to prompt a citizen to go outside and create havoc."

### # # # # # # # #

Thursday morning: While Palesa was on her equipment run, Jilly let it slip to the hunk that was now hanging around her all the time that the company had cut their access to laundry facilities in the base camp. From now on, clothes could only be washed on the weekend and only one set of the uniforms could go into the laundry tubs.

"Why is the company being so mean?" Hunk #1 asked.

"I shouldn't have said anything. Don't tell anybody, OK?"

Hunk #1, who was more commonly known as Boss' foreman, agreed not to say anything and then told Boss at the first opportunity. Boss had set up three hunks to pry information from the miners. Hunk #1 (Roy) would court Jilly. Hunk #2 (Tex) would focus his attentions on Andrea. Hunk #3 (Jingle-Jangle - a spur loving cowboy) would focus on Palesa, the scary one. He had asked for danger pay, but Boss had turned him down. "Best way to have your way with a woman is to get her drunk or put the end of a gun barrel up her nose," he had advised. "Either way works." This advice is why Bausch Schnappe had to rely on professional women to satisfy his biological urges.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Thursday, Meghan reported to Lillian that Duke of Earl had applied for travel funding for a three-day trip to the west coast of BC. The funding had been approved. The trip hadn't been scheduled yet.

Ten minutes later, Paula was reassigned to Hell with instructions to find out all she could about the Duke of Earl and what his assignment to the west coast of BC entailed. Arthur would continue on his own. Winnie was not available.

### # # # # # # # #

Friday.

"I've decided on your name," Dolly said after they had finished the supper that he had cooked. "I was heavily influenced by the name you had given me."

"You didn't like Fido?"

"It lacks a certain something."

"Is that why you ignore me when I say _come Fido_ or _heel Fido?"_

"You may have hit on something. Do you want to know your name?"

"Yes, please."

"Boris, the purple gnome."

"I'm not a gnome. I'm as tall as you are."

"You are almost as tall as I am. That means you're shorter. Gnomie even. And you're purple."

"I am that."

"I have decided that I will not pretend to not see your purpleness any longer. Will that bother you?"

"No. Most people deal with my purpleness by ignoring me all together. It's easier for them that way."

"Why is your face purple?"

"It's a skin condition called _Argyria._ It is caused by excessive exposure to silver. When I was a kid, I lived close to a silver mine. Their silver tailings seeped into the ground water which I drank."

"Others got it too?"

"My whole family. Other families too. We found out why, but not in time."

"Doesn't the colour wear off?"

"It's not like a tan. The skin molecules are permanently affected.

"It only appears on your face?"

"It appears other places too. Let's just say it could ruin a romantic evening if I ever had one."

"You seem to be alright with it."

"Nothing I can do about it, so I try to get on with life."

"So you became a vet."

"No. I became a doctor, thinking that I might be able to learn enough about the condition to prevent people from committing suicide when they found themselves disfigured. I found that no treatment is possible and the colour will never disappear."

"You mentioned suicide?"

"My two sisters killed themselves because of intense teasing and bullying. My parents killed themselves because they thought that my sisters died from their decision to live near that mine."

"You're alone."

"I am. But, I'm comfortable being alone. I have loving pets."

"Why are you a vet now and not a doctor?"

"People are uncomfortable with me. They don't want to ask why I'm ugly; they deal with their uneasiness by going elsewhere for their medical treatment. Dogs and cats don't care and their owners only have to drop them off and pick them up. They don't have to sit in front of me and make conversation."

"Appearance is not everything."

"Says the beautiful woman."

"That hasn't been good for me."

"Is that why you were shot?"

"I don't know why I was shot."

...

"When are you going to bake me my apple pie, Fido?"

"After I learn how to cook, Boris."

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Friday, mid afternoon.

It had been a hot one on the plains of northern Colorado. All three women were dripping with sweat as they wrestled with a pipe that didn't want to connect to its sister pipe.

"I've had it," Jilly exasperated. "I need water!" She strode over to the shade where Roger was holding up a wall with his slouching body. "Where's that water hose, Big Guy?"

Roger pulled it out of a jumble on the ground and handed the nozzle to her, expecting her to drink from it.

Jilly handed it back and said, "Spray me like a shower."

Roger found that easy to do if he stood on the porch and she stood on the ground in front.

Jilly rotated under the nozzle, hands running through her hair and then guiding the water down her body, front and back. "Ahhhhh," she sighed.

Not unexpectedly, a crowd had formed and that included Palesa and Andrea. Jilly continued to rotate. "This is soooooooo good! It's like sex in a shower."

That caught the men's attention. She liked to have sex in a shower. Hoo, boy!

Her next comment caught a lot of attention too.

"These stink," Jilly said, referring to her underwear which she proceeded to take off and hold in her hand while she continued to rotate oblivious to the ranch hands who have gone catatonic. In this setting, _catatonic_ meant that that they were frozen in a jaw dropping stupor accompanied by metaphorical drooling and panting.

"I'll be needing a temporary boyfriend soon, Palesa. What are the chances of a two day leave?"

The men straightened up at that. Nobody quite raised their hand but all were thinking _Pick me. Pick me._

Jilly stopped rotating and rinsed out her clothes and wrung them dry. Putting on damp clothes is always a difficult task, but she managed it in a tortuous process that could have collected a lot of hands willing to help. Big Guy Roy stepped up to the challenge and held her elbow as she gyrated herself into a soggy top and a soggier bottom. Jilly looked up when she was finished and saw the crowd of cowhands staring at her.

"What are you doing standing around? Aren't we supposed to be working?"

Operation Reveal had just sunk to new lows. Or highs, depending on your gender.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 13

The week of September 24 was a momentous week for Boss and his hands who had been trying to find out exactly what those drillers were doing.

On Monday morning, the cowhands were eying Jilly who was watching Palesa's copter fade from view. They ogled her as she strolled over to the shade where they were gathering. She was sweating a little, but the morning had been relatively cool, so she might not need a shower quite yet. Still, one could always hope.

Jilly didn't mind the men's stares, she had volunteered for this role after all. She found her target and drew closer and closer to him until they were almost touching. She put a hand on his arm, and beckoned him to bend over with the other hand. This hunk came in the tall size. She put her lips close to his ear and breathed a little to warm him up for the next act. "Can we go somewhere private, Big Guy?" she whispered into his ear.

Big Guy opened the back door of the house, steered her inside, and pointed to the stairway up to the second floor. This would be where the bedrooms were. Jilly put a hand on his arm again and lifted her face. This process must have made her unsteady as she had to put her hand on his chest. Big Guy lowered his face.

"We don't have much time," Jilly whispered into his ear, her lips brushing his ear lobe in the process. Had he been a tuning fork, Big Guy would have been vibrating in 8-4 time right now.

"I can't go upstairs with you this time. I need to tell you something."

That took care of the vibrating.

"The person in charge of all of the drillers spoke to me on Saturday. Palesa the Witch must have told him about my shower. She warned me that if I did something like that again, she'd fire me."

"We could find a job for you here."

"Will it pay me one million dollars over ten years?"

"What? Of course not?"

"Well, that's what I'll be giving up if I have another shower, or if I go upstairs with you. You don't know how badly I want to, but I just can't. _[Gag, gag.]_ I have plans for the million dollars."

"Nobody earns that kind of money in Colorado."

"I will. So will all of the other drillers. Other people in the company will earn even more."

"How?"

"All of the company's employees are working for free right now. Instead of money, we are paid with shares in the company. When the company hits big, so will we."

_[Here it comes.]_

"How would you hit it big? What are you mining?"

Jilly answered a question with a question. Stu had been most emphatic that she could not tell him directly. He had to make the conclusion. "What is found deep in the ground, is small, is very valuable and is desired by many people?"

Hunk was searching his memory banks, which were holding loose change at this moment in time.

"Desired by women especially," Jilly said and waved the fourth finger of her left hand in front of his face.

"Diamonds?"

"You didn't hear that from me."

"There are no diamonds in Colorado."

"You're wrong. We are going to find diamonds less than 50 metres from where you and I are standing right now. Plus, the company has filed more than one hundred claims in the mountains. We have already started our first big mine there. We have the technology to find even more diamond bearing deposits. Nobody else has the technology to send mineral sensing pulses deep into the ground. Our guy who invented it is a genius. You saw us using that equipment here. We'll be ten years ahead of our first competitor before they can even start exploring."

"Have you actually found any diamonds?"

"Today is our last day of drilling here. Tomorrow, we'll bring up our first diamonds. The plan is to sell those diamonds so that we can go full steam ahead in the mountains where the deposits there are much bigger and much more valuable. Each mountainous mine will produce at least $100 million in diamonds. One hundred mines. You do the math."

Hunk tried, but he was suffering from calculational interference. He had seen a marvelous body yesterday. He knew an awful lot about that body. Now that body was pressed up against him. He knew exactly what those parts looked like and how they fit so perfectly against his body.

"You and I can find a way to be together after I earn our first million."

_[Now, that's downright obscene what she's doing to that poor man. Way to go, Jilly!]_

"Palesa will be back soon. We should join the others."

_[For those of my readers who may object to the Valkyrie's use of sex appeal as a tactic to send false information, I should point out that Boss had been trying to use sex appeal to get information. Jilly had more sex appeal to work with than they did.]_

### # # # # # # # #

At 3:10 exactly on Tuesday afternoon, Palesa exchanged the cutting bit on her drill rod for a collection tool. She lowered the rod to its fullest extent and began a gentle rotation. This rotation was designed to collect loose soil at the bottom of the shaft and bring up samples for study. She had done this many times before, but this time, Jilly and Andrea were watching closely. Also watching closely was a blonde woman in a business suit.

The hands watched from a distance as the blonde opened a small steel box and Palesa emptied the samples into it. The blonde stirred the samples and nodded. She locked the steel box, gave the three drillers an emphatic handshake, and disappeared into a white business copter that displayed the company name. The three drillers gave each other a much more enthusiastic celebration that included hugging, spirited hops into the air, and muted yelps. When that celebration ended, all three began disassembling the equipment and storing it away in their transport copter. Thirty minutes later, they were gone and the mine site looked exactly like the rest of the yard in front of Boss' main building.

### # # # # # # # #

While our drillers are having a well-deserved rest from their fake exertions, let's check in on the vet and the prostitute. Fido was washing the supper dishes since Boris had cooked once again. He was sitting at the kitchen table working on something on a tablet when Fido felt the need to apologize.

"I'm sorry I can't help out more. I've never had to cook."

"Not even growing up?"

"We were dirt poor most of the time. The kind of food we ate growing up didn't improve with cooking. My mom just threw some stuff together when she had a spare moment. Most of the time, she was washing clothes to earn enough money to buy the food."

"Did you help in some way?"

"I had a sort of part time job and gave all my money to my mom."

"And after you left home?"

"I lived in a house that had a hired cook."

"You were a lodger?"

"You could say that."

"How'd you pay the rent?"

"I guess you'd call it physical labour. But no cooking."

"I don't mind cooking our meals so long as you don't mind eating very simple food."

"I don't mind." Fido lifted the plug in the sink, dried her hands, and came to the table. "What are you doing?"

"These are what's know as my company books. The bank requires that I keep a record of everything that I spend and earn. I want to borrow more money from them at some point, so I thought I shouldn't refuse to do it."

"Why would you want to borrow money? You get lots of business. Do you own the house?"

"Yes, I managed to pay that off."

"That's a big deal."

"I still have money owing on the land next door. My rancher neighbour went out of business and I had a chance to pick up a huge amount of land at a sale price."

"You're not going to go into ranching, are you? I know a bunch of ranchers and they're struggling exactly like your neighbour."

"No, I'll use the land next door to expand. I want to have an animal hospital, one that can take horses and cattle. It will have a big operating room with a winch or hoist to put the animal up on a table. Big ranch animals are where the money is. Horses are vital for the people in eastern Colorado. People will put pets down; they will travel any lengths to heal a horse, especially a stallion. Also a bull."

"So, you'd have ranchers bringing the injured animal here?"

"Yes. I'd need sterile conditions."

"The rancher probably wouldn't know how to transport the injured animal properly, or he wouldn't have a big enough vehicle," Fido observed. "Then, he'd had to stay here when he'd probably would want to be back at his ranch. Then, he'd have to transport the healed animal back."

"Yeah, that would be a problem, alright."

"Why don't you think about buying a big animal transport and call it your clinic ambulance. Safe pick up and delivery guaranteed. You could charge them for the service and no rancher would ever have to come here. They'd agree. Cattle can bring $1,000 a head easily, so they wouldn't want to lose that income by putting it down if they could avoid it."

"How'd you know about that $1,000?"

"I knew some ranchers a long time ago. What do you think?"

"It would be sort of a new business so I could probably get a loan from the government's Business Development fund."

"It's a chance to have your dream come true."

"What about you? What's your dream?"

"I used to have a big dream, but that changed when I was shot. Now my dream is to see tomorrow's sunset."

### # # # # # # # #

Thursday morning, Palesa and her companions were back. They unloaded their equipment at a spot about 75 metres from the first mine and began setting up. Jilly used the excuse of walking to the water hose to approach the house. She used a discrete hand wave to keep Hunk at distance. Hunk had appeared about ten minutes after Palesa's copter had landed.

"No diamonds?" he whisper-asked from a distance.

"We've found lots of diamonds. They've all been sold. Palesa will be watching me. Don't come near me until she leaves."

Unfortunately, Palesa didn't have any equipment emergencies that day.

### # # # # # # # #

Friday afternoon, in the stairwell. No physical contact this time. Jilly had pleaded anger management issues.

"You can't be anywhere near me when Palesa is here."

"Andrea?"

"She won't blab. She's pissed too."

"About what?"

"The company has not been completely honest in its dealing with the drillers. Those cutbacks in food, water, and laundry access were supposedly temporary. They're not. They are permanent. They let fifteen other drillers go, as they didn't have enough copters to keep them busy. They don't have enough money for copter maintenance and they didn't want any deaths, as that would have brought governmental inquiries. They sold the diamonds we mined here but all of that had to go towards maintenance for the copters working on the mountain mine. Plus, they don't have enough metal casings for that to proceed further and they're searching for more. The two other mines here in the prairies are close to recovering some diamonds but that may not be enough. We're back here to try this site; it had good possibilities when we were scanning the ground."

"What are you going to do?"

"The three of us have volunteered to drill into the evenings. We've given them too many free hours to give up now. The other two teams on the plains are doing the same. I don't know what the company is doing. Apparently starting a mine can be very expensive. They thought that the loan from the Ministry of Economic Development would be enough. They didn't realize how much of a load those transport copters would have to haul or how hard it would be find metal casings for the very deep bore holes they'll need in the mountains."

"I'm worried for you." _[Gag. Translation: Keep me informed]_

"Don't let Palesa see you near me. Better yet, keep all the other hands away from our drilling. The company is very worried about what would happen if word got out about the cash problems they're having."

### # # # # # # # #

Friday afternoon, Arthur, Paula, and Lillian were meeting in Joe-Joe's workroom. Paula had just returned from Hell and had asked for an immediate meeting.

"Where's Winnie," Arthur asked.

"Not available," Lillian replied.

_[That was true. The experiments on creating some facial recognition software had continued with Winnie serving as the devilian mug that had to be recorded and compared to a devil's License to Torture ID. They were testing the ability of the software to work properly if the mug, namely Winnie, was looking up, down, sideways and so on. But as scientists, they insisted on checking small changes in the orientation of Winnie's mug, like one degree up, two degrees up and so on. This is not something that Winnie could do precisely, so Turing had wrapped her body up in a tight package, attached it to a long rod, and then altered the rod one degree at a time. Winnie couldn't help but think of herself as being a roast pig on a barbecue spit.]_

"I found the Duke of Earl's apartment and spent some time watching him. He's been put in charge of designing a controlled study that would allow Hell to know if their TAT weapons worked. If they did, did they work better than Heaven's exhortations to be good? I found him sitting at a table with half a dozen books on statistical experiment scattered around him. If he had had hair, he'd be tearing it out. He has no idea how to conduct a statistical study."

"I thought all devils had to take courses in statistics," Joe-Joe said.

"I believe some devils make a nice after-living by taking statistic tests for other devils," Lillian explained.

"That's why he didn't know anything," Paula commented. "He can hardly ask for help because the Duke's operation is supposed to be top secret."

"If he doesn't know what he's doing, we could involve the shoulder demons in his test," Arthur said.

"How?" Lillian asked.

"I could be a stinker bell. The demons would listen to me."

"That could work," Lillian agreed.

"He'll need help interpreting the results he finds," Arthur pointed out. "I could provide that. So could Winnie."

"She doesn't know anything about statistics. Besides, she's tied up right now."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 14

_[What follows is an excerpt from TG's drone that was recording the conversation that took place in Boss' living room on Monday October 1. Present were the three DCA ranchers plus Boss' foreman Roy. Boss speaks first.]_

"I've heard the results of the auction for Stinky's meat packing business. The official announcement will come out tomorrow."

"Which ranch won?"

"Six of them won. They formed a consortium. Equal partners. All the other bids were submitted by individual businesses."

"Those six ranches will give themselves very favourable slaughter rates. They'll save a lot of money."

"Plus they'll get prime delivery dates."

"We're going to pay through the nose. Most of those guys hate us."

"My cattle business is not profitable now because of the cap on my herds. If my slaughter costs go up, I'll be operating at a big loss."

"How are your other businesses?"

"Can't start them without money from the forced sales."

"Me too."

"I'm in the same boat."

"It's at least another eighteen months before we can expect to get paid for the cattle we sold."

"I'm running out of options, Boss."

"Me too."

"Those mining people, are they still drilling at your place, Llewellen?"

"Yeah. Wasting their time. There's nothing to find."

"Knute?"

"Same for me. They don't cause any problems though."

Roy here established a close relationship with one of the drillers. She told him some interesting information.

_[We'll skip this part. You know what Roy is going to tell them.]_

### # # # # # # # #

"Sounds like they're desperate for money, Boss. Roy, you done good."

"One of my men also managed to get friendly with one of their drillers. She told him that all the copters were ordered to fly low in case they crashed. Nobody wanted to fly in them. They were death traps."

"Does any of us know anything about diamonds?"

"They're very valuable and they come out of the ground."

"That's all I know too. Boss, what about you?"

"Same. What about this mining company? Anybody know anything?"

"I know they hired a lot of women."

"The boss lady was a woman."

"That explains why their business is failing. Sounds like they don't know what they're doing." Boss' conclusion.

"They have technology that nobody else has," Roy reminded them.

"Invented by a man," Boss reminded back.

"So they hire a bunch of women to drill because they can get them for cheap. The brains behind the company are male. To me, that sounds like they know what they're doing. They just ran short of cash, that all."

"One hundred million from each mine. It's worth checking out."

"What's the point? If we buy them out, we'll have to submit our books."

"Dead end then."

"Has anybody tried the Swiss Bank?"

"For what?"

"To put a mortgage on the land and house to raise cash for new businesses. I don't want to touch my investments."

"And where would we put the mortgage money?"

"We could invest out of state."

"Ranching is dead everywhere. Too many guys chasing too few profits."

"What's that noise?"

"Women outside. Whole bunch of whooping and hollering."

"Check it out, Roy. Could we start our own beef packing company in Wyoming?"

"All their ranches send their cattle to the plant in Sioux Falls. Big company. Been in business for decades. North Dakota and Nebraska ranches send their cattle there too."

"We'd never be able to undercut them with a brand new company."

"What if we sent our cattle to Sioux Falls?"

"Transportation would be tough. It's at least four times as far as to Fort Morgan. We'll still end up losing money on the sale."

"Roy? What did you find out?"

"The drillers are celebrating. The witch lady told them something. Don't know what. I do know that they're loading their spare pipes into the copter. I can find out as soon as the witch's copter leaves."

"Do that. We all have investment accounts at the Swiss Guards. What about..."

### # # # # # # # #

"This changes everything," Boss declared. "If that mining company has found a way to get money from outside of Colorado, that means they've found a way to hide it. The law was very explicit. Colorado companies only. Did your friend say how they were going to hide the investment?"

"I don't think she knows that it's illegal."

"Women can't help themselves from gossiping. No man in his right mind would share that information with the drillers." _[Guess who said that.]_

"But she did say that their money troubles were over."

"Not quite, Llewellen. They have to have a meeting with the new investors, but they know that there'll be a lot of money available. The investors haven't committed yet. They want to see the diamonds first."

"And the mining company has agreed to show them?"

"They expect to have results from their mine in the mountains soon."

"Seeing the diamonds first makes sense. We'd do the same thing."

"The mining company is anticipating the deal will go through. They're moving all of their drilling equipment into the mountains today."

"I don't know," Knute said. "It sounds dodgy. They could be creating fake diamonds and we'd never know it."

"So, we find an expert who can tell us how to test for real diamonds. There must be a way. We can also find out if diamonds in Colorado could be possible." This from Llewellen.

"In a few hours, these drillers will be gone," Roy warned. "We'll have no way of communicating with their company after that."

"We don't have to commit right away. We just have to tell them that we're interested. Why would they exclude us?"

"Boss makes a good point. I'll find us a diamond guy we can talk to. Knute, you find a guy too. Two experts; two ways of checking that we're not being conned."

"Roy, tell your friend that we'd like a meeting with her company."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 15

Meghan had tried repeatedly to contact Winnie but she wasn't receiving any calls. She decided to return to Cleveland and see if there were any opportunities to pick up some easy reward money. Working in the pharmacy only two days a week meant that she was helping her sister five days a week. Teaching toddlers how to use the potty was not her idea of a good time.

She was going through the FBI's book of wanted people when she was interrupted by a pleasant female voice.

"I thought that was you. Are you looking for another contract?"

"Agent Delacroix. I'm back, as you can see. Yes, I'm looking."

Agent Delacroix was a hydrant-sized version of the typical FBI agent. Her dark black hair was tied in a bun. She wore a black suit, white shirt, and a black tie. From what Meghan could see from others in the office, this was typical FBI uniform but in a small size and with no adjustments possible for female agents. Even her shoes were manly. Even her fingernails were manly.

"There are some good rewards, but the FBI has no idea where the escapees are hiding so it may take you a while to find them."

_With Winnie not available to find them, this meant that Meghan would remain unemployed._

"You might want to look in the binder for collection agencies. I saw some big rewards there."

"Collection agencies? How does that work?"

"Government agencies will transfer a person's debt to a collection agency if the debt has been outstanding for some time and if they believe they have no chance of collecting it. This debt is commonly for unpaid taxes. The collection agency takes 10% of the debt for convincing the debtor to pay."

"Convincing?"

"You're not allowed to torture, maim or commit any other forms of grievous assault."

"That takes all the fun out of it."

"We're pretty flexible on what constitutes grievous assault. Essentially, we ask for no visible injuries."

"Why would the government not be able to collect?"

"Most of the time it's because the debtor is enormously rich and has friends in high places. They live in mansions with high security and their politician friends deter any strong action against them."

"The rich run the world."

"They certainly do in a world that is mostly lawless. Let me show you the binder."

...

"Look at this one. This guy Sanders is in Cleveland. His friends call him Colonel because he's in the chicken business. He's a personal friend of the major who operates loose and free. "

"Meaning he's crooked."

"More crooked than the letter S, but you didn't hear that from me."

"This contract is more than two years old."

"Nobody will take it on. It's impossible to collect."

"You just said the magic word. How do I get you the $150,000?"

"Don't let him write you a cheque. No jewelry or art work. It has to be cash and you must show some indication that the money came from this guy. Bring it to me directly."

"What are the challenges?"

"He has top notch electronic security, attack dogs on the property, and at least one armed guard awake, inside, and watching the doors at all times on the ground floor."

"Where's he keep his money?"

"Most of these guys have safes built into the walls. It's hard to find them, hard to remove them, and virtually impossible to crack them with all the internal security that they have. If a silent alarm goes off, the police are obliged to respond. If you let me know when you're going in, I could build in a little delay. I know a person who monitors those signals."

"I'll be there tonight in the wee small hours."

### # # # # # # # #

Meghan dressed as she had when she captured the three escaped convicts. She also brought her tools, although she wasn't sure if she'd need them or not.

DDBLYN entered a very secure mansion by stepping down through the roof. He found his way quickly to the top floor of the building and kept walking through walls until he found the master bedroom. A person worried about being robbed might put a safe in his bedroom

With his devil's night vision, DDBLYN was able to see a single figure in the bed. It was a bald middle-aged male with severe snoring issues when he was on his back. No surprise that he was sleeping alone. DDBLYN slapped a piece of duct tape over his mouth and held his head down as he struggled. "I'm robbing your place. You'll be alive when I leave if you act smart," he said in his deep growly voice. The struggles ceased.

It took only a minute or two for DDBLYN to prepare Sander's personal travelling cocoon of duct tape and blanket. He left the cocoon on the bed and began looking for a safe. This was quite easy for somebody who could stick his head through a wall and peer left and right for a big metal container. He found it on his tenth attempt. None of his searching left any signs of his explorations.

Removing the safe did result in a visible clue for whomever would be looking for clues. He just put his arms and hands through the wall, grabbed the safe, and yanked. That exploded a lot of the wall, but the noise would not be heard two floors down.

The safe was a compact model, sufficiently large for money and papers. It had a combination dial and a handle to open the door when the right combination was entered. DDBLYN put his hand through the back of the safe and felt around for the inside latch with his fingers. Opening the safe from the inside took a little force and the latching mechanism shattered. But the door opened. DDBLYN ripped the door off the hinges to hide how he had gained access.

Sanders had kindly arranged his money in $10,000 bundles. DBBLYN put fifteen bundles in his satchel bag, and went looking for Sanders' wallet. That entered the satchel as well. Some money was still in the safe along with some documents. He had plenty of time to go browsing. That browsing changed Meghan's disposal plans a bit.

DBBLYN picked up the safe and hurled it through the window. This would undoubtedly trigger an alarm, but time was not going to be an issue. He walked through the bedroom wall and leapt to the ground. That produced a hearty thump but the security guard would be climbing the stairs and out of hearing range. He scattered the rest of the cash from the safe on the ground, but stored the documents in the satchel bag along with the $150,000 and Sanders' wallet. Then he picked up the safe and disappeared into the night.

### # # # # # # # #

"You should get a nice promotion out of this, Agent Delacroix" Meghan predicted.

"Call me Frosty. I'll never be promoted out of this office. They believe I'm too small for field work."

"Frosty?"

"I may be a little curt with idiots who come into this office from time to time."

"What did Sanders say?"

"He admits he was robbed and tied up. He didn't know anything about the robber since it was too dark. He had a deep voice. He also admits that the safe held only the money that police found on the grounds when they responded to the alarm. He doesn't know where the safe could be. He claims the robber had no reason to take what would have been a near empty safe."

"He's being careful and hoping that nobody finds the safe."

"Here's where I'm unclear. Where will I find the safe and what do I say about what's in it?"

"You'll find it six blocks west of his house. Look behind the large rhodo bush in the rectangular park. It's partly buried. The door wasn't working all that well when I buried it."

"And I'm supposed to say that I found the $150,000 which you just gave me in an open safe."

"Yes, you had a hunch to look for it further away from Sanders' place. I didn't want to leave the money there in case somebody found it before you did."

"And I found these documents in the safe too," Frosty said and waved the envelopes.

"Along with Sanders' wallet. Those documents are very incriminating. Sanders is going away if your prosecutor isn't crooked."

"He wants to be mayor. He's looking for dirt."

"He's going to find out that the mayor is a big fan of Sanders' businesses."

"I can't give you a reward for putting Sanders or the mayor behind bars."

"No worries. I hate rich crooks."

"I do remember though that when you and I were talking about the reward for Sanders' taxes, that I mentioned to you that this file has been so impossible that we were prepared to double the reward if you managed to get the tax payment to me before the end of the month."

"This is legal, right? You're not going to expose yourself to accusations?"

"I have the authority to increase the reward in special circumstances. This additional information certainly qualifies."

"Appreciate that."

"Come back Wednesday next week and I'll show you what contracts have come out for collection agencies in the last week. I always post them on Thursdays."

"You're putting yourself at some risk with that."

"You didn't have to think of me and my so-called career in law enforcement. You could have claimed your reward, taken all that extra money, and started a blackmail business. Nobody here would have been the wiser."

"Not my style."

"Are you ever going to tell me how you beat his security system? What about the deep voice? Are you even going to tell me your name?"

"See you next Wednesday."

"Strange name."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 16

Wednesday, October 3.This mental conversation was between Arthur and Paula. Paula spokes first.

_The Duke ordered all the Head Demons and their Assistant Demons in Tofino and Ucluelet back to Hell this morning. Effective immediately._

_Sounds like he's getting ready to act. Is he receiving any statistical advice?_

_He has three devils as his aides now. I haven't seen any signs that they are helping him with his planning. They look like dumb brutes._

_Any idea on his test dates yet?_

_He hasn't filed his travel dates yet. He's worried about the weather._

_He'll need sunny days so that he can observe how effective the TAT guns are. People have to be outside for him to observe the effects._

_He's planning to stay in Port Alberni and pick up a copter from the local devils. He told his hench-devils that they'll stay there until the weather allows the test. How's the Stinker Bell business these days._

_Boring._

### # # # # # # # #

Boris and Fido were relaxing after supper. Well, Fido was relaxing in a rocking chair, Boris had been working on his company books and had stopped in frustration.

"I can't believe you never had to cook. Weren't you on your own for a long time?"

"I left home when my Mom died. I was fifteen."

"How old are you now?"

"Twenty-three. You?"

"Twenty-eight. And a hired cook took care of all the meals?"

"For me and the other boarders."

"Will you go back once it's safe for you?"

"No. I don't think so."

"Getting too old for physical labour?"

"I can still handle the physical part. Pay was great."

"Why did you stop?"

"Let me ask you this. If you had to clean toilets all your life, would you stay with it if you were receiving good money?"

"That's what you did?"

"Would you stay or not?"

"Not."

"Why not?" Fido asked.

"I feel good about what I'm doing now. I get respect. I guess a room maid wouldn't receive much respect."

"People looked down at me. It didn't used to bother me. Now, it does. I feel dirty now. I can't go back to my old job."

"What changed your mind?"

"A near death experience, I suppose."

"What was that like? Did you know that you were dying?"

"I saw the bright light everybody talks about. The light asked if I were ready."

"The light talked?"

"A woman behind the light talked. It made me think. I said _No_ and the light disappeared. The next thing I remember was waking up in your bed."

"So now you're a new woman?"

"I am. I still can't cook though. I could do your books if you wanted my help. I've taken some courses."

"I'd like that. I don't know what I'm doing."

"Gnomes rarely do, Boris."

### # # # # # # # #

You may be wondering what a Stinker Bell is.

In the early 1900s, Hell had created the body of a flying devil that could perch on telephone poles and tap into mortal conversations with their toes. The CIA would have been doing the same thing, but they didn't have any agents who looked like crows from a distance. Since the new devils were always tinkering with telephone equipment, they were initially designated as Tinker Bells. That name had lasted about twelve seconds. If that doesn't make any sense, think of Peter Pan and who his sidekick was.

Over time, the need to have Stinker Bells sitting on telephone wires around the world disappeared. With telephone toes no longer being a vital commodity, Hell had to do something about the Stinker Bells – there were far too many to kill quietly. So today, Stinker Bells travel around Earth, cleaning the lens of Hell's invisible hornographic cameras and ensuring that they are pointing in the right direction. It's mindless work, which is right up a Stinker Bell's alley. These _almost-a-devil_ creatures exist in a limbo-like afterlife between demon and devil. They perform adequately enough to avoid a return trip to the torture pits, but they don't have that true spark of evil to become a productive devil. However, Hell needs to keep clearing out the demonic ranks in order to reduce crowding conditions in the torture pits. Being able to give their losers something to do that is marginally important is essential. Canada used to do the same thing with its retired politicians. They called it the Senate.

### # # # # # # # #

"How was your business trip?" Chelsea asked.

"Good," Meghan replied. "I didn't realize how many people wanted business development advice. I found a source that could give me more gigs."

"Good money?"

"Very."

"Are you going to stay with Wal*Mart?"

"I don't believe so. I don't enjoy it."

"I thought you liked helping people."

"I want more than standing behind a counter and counting pills. I'm a different woman now, Chelsea."

"What changed you?"

"A near death experience, I guess. I thought that I was going to die when I saw that old man in D-L's bedroom."

"Did your life flash before your eyes?"

"No. Not that."

"Did you walk to a bright light?"

"I didn't see a bright light. I saw a lot of darkness. Really nasty darkness."

"I thought you were going to tell me that you saw a light that was an angel leading you to Heaven."

"What would you think about us buying a house, Chelsea? We're very cramped here."

"We can afford that?"

"We might. I have that reward money and the business consulting gigs that I believe will work out."

"I can't contribute my share, Meghan."

"You took care of D-L for two years, Chelsea. I owe you big time."

"A separate bedroom for everybody?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 17

Thursday, Oct 4. Paula was reporting to Lillian, Joe-Joe, and Arthur.

"The Duke is committed to running the test on this Friday and Saturday. The weather forecast is promising. If he has any details on what kind of test he's going to run, they remain inside his head."

"It may be difficult for us to skew the results so that he concludes what we want him to conclude," Arthur warned.

"It doesn't matter what the tests are," Lillian reassured. "What matters is what the Duke concludes, and Arthur can get inside his head."

"Winnie could be very helpful right now. She can get into his head too."

"You and Paula can handle it."

"It's possible that he wants to see our Subliminal Thought Messages in action," Paula warned. "He may want to see if their TAT weapons can overwhelm them."

"I can't set up something that will make the population of Tofino all warm and fuzzy with so little warning," Arthur added this disturbing news.

"Joe-Joe and I can take care of that," Lillian said. "We'll need a high wire and some big balloons, Joe-Joe."

"What musical instruments can you play beside the pipes, Arthur?" Joe-Joe asked.

"I'm good on the drums."

"Paula?"

"I can't play any instrument, but I can sing."

"You'll need a super sexy body, please Paula," Lillian directed. "No slutty look. Tight red dress."

"What about Winnie? Surely she's not tied up on the weekend."

"She can join us Saturday, Arthur. Can she play an instrument?"

"I don't know."

"We'll find something for her to do," Joe-Joe assured.

"I'll prime the shoulder demons tonight," Arthur advised.

### # # # # # # # #

"My guy said that diamonds can be found in mountainous terrain," Llewellen Paup advised Bausch, Knute, and all of the Wilizy listening in on the conversation. "They're locked inside kimberlite, an ultrabasic volcanic rock formed very deep in the Earth's crust."

"My guy agreed on the kimberlite. He said they're found inside rock formations called cratons, which are shaped like inverted mountains. The mines have to be very deep."

"That explains why they are having difficulty drilling," Boss noted. "They really need us. What about testing for fake diamonds?"

Llewellen answered first. "My guy said they come out of the ground looking like gravel, pebbles, or shards of glass. They'll be shiny, but not in the way you find them in a jewelry store. That happens after a jeweler polishes the stone. To check for a phony diamond, use a magnifying glass. Look for imperfections within the stone. If you can't see any, the stone is a fake. All diamonds have imperfections."

"My guy told me about a specific gravity test that involves panning in water. This is something that we could do quite easily. He also said that we probably wouldn't recognize it as a diamond. His test will tell us for sure."

"Have we heard back from Roy's friend?"

"She dropped by yesterday. She said that we have a meeting with the mining executives in Loveland on Monday in the board room in the Rocky View Panorama resort hotel at 11 am."

### # # # # # # # #

The black fuzzy shoulder demons of Tofino were crammed together into a tight circle around a stinker bell deep in the woods far from Hell's nearest hornagraphic camera. Stinker bells were Hell's equivalent to the traveling minstrels of medieval ages who provided news to information-hungry villagers. This particular minstrel had a most interesting song to sing to the assembled demons.

It was the stinker bell's first night in town, so naturally the twenty-six black shoulder demons were the first to have a 'meet and greet' session for him. Normally, the blacks weren't the top of the demonic hierarchy in Tofino, but with the head demon and the two assistant demons all out of town, the blacks shoulder demons were figuratively sitting on the top of the local manure pile. At least for now.

The stinker bell opened the meeting with a bombshell. "All of Tofino's and Ucluelet's shoulder angels have been pulled back to Heaven because you kicked their butts. They've given up. Conceded defeat."

Well, that comment created quite a stir in the assembled blacks, plus a dramatic drain on the coolers of demon beer that the stinker bell had brought to the party. It wasn't hard to sell the lie. Like every other village in the world, the local shoulder demons had been kicking the butts of their heavenly opposition. That's because demons routinely waited until shoulder angels flew off to help another mortal in their workload before plying their craft unopposed.

Stinky #35,423, the stinker bell holding court, waited for the celebrations to die down. Like all devils, each stinker bell had its own unique name. However, since this class of devil was probably the most inept, uncreative class of devil in the entire hornocracy, most chose simply to be called Stinky. Stinky #35,423 knew that nobody would remember the number that he had picked for himself.

The stinker bell delivered the second of three announcements that he would make to this group this night. "Tofino's head demon and two assistant demons have been promoted to full devil. That's why they've left town. They won't be back." Stinky's comment produced only a rustling of murmurs at first, and then dead silence.

A village the size of Tofino didn't need many head demons and assistant demons. Both of those positions were much more common in larger urban centers with their government tax offices, large insurance companies, media outlets, rampant crime, institutionalized poverty, and the like. The summer tourist season on the west coast of Vancouver Island opened up the opportunity for some temporary torment projects, but other than that, there wasn't any great opportunity for creative, large-scale tortures. Of course, the constant rain during the winter is a form of torture, but not even the most egotistical demon ever could lay claim to causing that. Thus, Tofino could support only one head demon and two assistant demons. The twenty-six black shoulder demons were quiet because plotting how to get promoted to the top of Tofino's demonic hierarchy took a lot of brainpower. With a head the size of a pus-filled pimple, the blacks didn't have too much to work with.

Effective plotting requires full information disclosure so Stinky dropped the third bomb. "With shoulder angels abandoning their mortals, there will be less need for shoulder demons. Hell's outposts will probably be restricted to head and assistant demons in Hell's final push to victory."

The blacks knew the numbers. Twenty-six blacks, three positions. Twenty-three blacks would be taking up residence in the torture pits.

Stinky cheered them up with some scatological gossip from Hell and the party broke up hours later with all of the blacks drunk and happy. Stinky # 35,423 left quietly to meet with the next lower caste - the reds. He wouldn't have to meet with the other colours. His news would circulate quickly enough.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 18

On Friday morning, the Duke of Earl was standing at attention at the periphery of a small circle of Inner Pentagram devils clustered inside a computer room. Lord Percy raised his hand and the gathered dignitaries fell silent, all eyes on the $2.49 power bar from the local Cave Depot outlet. Lord Percy dropped his hand, flicked the bar's toggle switch and the timer that would turn on Hell's TAT weaponry began ticking.

_Heaven's highest echelon angels were known as the Inner Circle. Satan wanted to have an equivalent body and so created the Inner Pentagram. Unlike Heaven's executives, the Inner Pentagram served only as a public relations gesture. Satan made all the important decisions and allowed input only from his senior officials in the SSS._

"This marks a hellacious day in Hell's history," Lord Percy intoned. "Tonight at 9 pm their time, the inhabitants of a small community in Tofino, British Columbia, will begin hearing powerful and intense instructions to be sinful. After a few weeks to iron out some kinks, we'll begin a program to blanket the world with messages that mortals will be powerless to resist. And now to mark this illustrious event, let's join together in Hell's ritual salute to our esteemed Lord and Master."

Lord Percy raised his hand again and everyone in the room began taking deep breaths. On the cue of the descending hand, the room erupted into a cascade of rolling, thunderous belches. Most of the room's occupants were also able to add some other noxious gasses to what passed as the atmosphere in Hell.

Some eons ago, Satan had demanded that his assistants come up with a form of salute that would be equivalent to Heaven's prayer ritual. His assistants at the time were savvy enough to know that they couldn't invent a ritual and then convince mortals, demons, and devils to adopt it as a form of satanic worship. Instead, they simply identified the two most common origins of mortal/immortal gaseous eruptions and arbitrarily designated them as salutes to Satan. Keep that in mind the next time you're feeling some internal pressures. Any release of those gases could mark you as a Satan lover.

With the occupants of the small computer lab now finding it difficult to maintain the level of decorum suitable to the occasion, Lord Percy motioned them to the adjoining foyer for the Exhibit Hall for the remaining formalities.

The Duke of Earl stood at what he thought Elizabethan parade rest would look like while the ritual signing of the "On this day" milestones book began. Since this was a formal ceremony, the Duke had changed his tar black neck ruff to one of scarlet and he had also exchanged the ostrich plume in his hat for a sprig of starched angel feathers. He had picked them up off the floor of a meeting room used for inter-agency negotiations and they were sufficiently gray to be allowable.

_[Satan hated the colour white so much that a devil wanting to ambush another devil wasn't able to wait to see the whites of his victim's eyes. The correct expression in Hell is to "wait to see the reds of his eyes."]_

The Duke noticed that Old Sobresides was in his usual dour pinstripes. As Lord Percy straightened up after signing the book as Satan's representative, the Duke readied himself to make a quick dash to his side so that he would be the second-in-line in the procession leaving the foyer. He was eying the crowd to see who he would have to push past. The duke's small beginner-devil size relative to the height of all the experienced devils in the room made such planning necessary. A quiet cough brought his attention back to the podium. Lord Percy was beckoning him with the official pen. The Duke came to full attention, clicked his heals together, bowed briefly, and strode forward. Lord Percy handed the pen to the Duke and placed a claw next to the words at the bottom line of the document – Signature of Project Manager, the Duke of Earl.

After signing with a flourish, the Duke doffed his hat and stood smiling beside Lord Percy while the media representative did his job. The signing ceremony and the project itself were still top secret so the photographer would face the usual security restrictions. Since no reporter anywhere could resist the temptation of a scoop, Hell simply incarcerated any reporter who knew something that Satan didn't want revealed. Mind you, the press was still free. They had the freedom to walk around their cell (most prisoners were strung on razor wire) and, with such freedoms, Hell didn't have to worry about troublesome surprises.

As the invited dignitaries gathered around the podium to smile and shake Lord Percy's claws (obviously also hoping to get into the picture spread), the Duke unobtrusively dropped the official pen into his hat, which he carefully donned when his boss made motions to leave. A quiet cough froze the ambitious hangers-on, and the Duke of Earl took his rightful place behind Old Constipated in the regal procession out of the exhibit hall.

### # # # # # # # #

By 10 pm, only three blacks were left alive in Tofino – exactly the number of upper echelon demon positions to be filled. The three blacks that survived were the most ruthless. They weren't the smartest. There were thirty-five reds in Tofino.

By 11 pm, the bloody massacres were well advanced. Down by the fire hall, a purple scout was reporting to his purple leader that the surviving red demons were safely barricaded in the attic of the Consumer Co-op store that was serving as their battle headquarters. Since the reds were effectively blind up in the attic, they weren't receiving any more envoys from the subordinate colours. Suffice it to say that their temporary liaison with the oranges had not gone as planned, especially for the oranges who had been wiped out. The barricaded red army's headquarters in the attic was nearly impervious to direct assault, but their leaders were effectively blind now that all of their spies had been unwillingly demobilized. The reds remained, however, a potent force and, in hierarchical terms, they were still technically the demons-in-charge of the town now that the blacks had all been killed.

The purples had witnessed the mistakes of the blacks and the reds and so they had created two semi-independent leaders. One was in charge of spying and the other was in charge of defense. Fully 90% of their forces were on what would have been described in human terms as red alert, but it was really rainbow alert since they were looking out for an attack from any demonic colour of the rainbow. The other 10% were polishing the flagpole in front of the fire hall. The purple headquarters on the top of the flagpole would not only be impervious to direct assault but it gave them a great view of the streets of Tofino where the battle would soon rage between all the other colours. The strategy of the purples was to let all the other colours kill each other off and then mop up at the end.

### # # # # # # # #

A burst of flame from the roof of Tofino's Co-op announced that the red headquarters was under attack. It was time for the purples to circle the wagons, so to speak. While the attic of the co-op store burned, one by one, the purple demons climbed the rope ladder to the top of their flag pole, and descended the other rope ladder hanging down the inside of the hollow pole. The purple defensive leader pulled up the outside rope after the last demon was safely inside the solid tubular walls of their fort. In case any of their enemies thought that they'd shimmy up the pole, they'd soon find themselves coated with the grease that his troops had been polishing into the pole for the last hour. To keep an eye open for any possible attacks, the purple defensive leader remained at the top of the pole, enjoying his large cigar.

Soon, the purple leader sent word down the interior of the pole to his forty members that they were surrounded by the remaining demons in Tofino. The blacks were all gone now. Six red survivors had made a peace pact with the fifty-three oranges, and of course there were still sixty-five grays who had not been deemed worthy of attacking. All of them were clustered in front of the fire hall, keeping a jaundiced eye on the other armies. All of them were eyeing the flagpole with furrowed brows.

The defensive leader duly reported that the enemy leaders outside had met and had sent a small cadre of representatives from each colour into town on some errand.

Nothing happened for at least an hour.

Things started to heat up when the drunken mortal driving the battered pick-up arrived. It was obvious he was drunk even before he staggered out of the cab – the cadre of demons on his shoulders had had difficulty keeping him on the road. The purple leader had thought the drunk would try to ram the flagpole since he had been traveling at such speed. "Nothing to worry about," the purple demon had called down the pole's interior when the drunk had stopped in time.

The observer didn't say anything when the mortal wrestled a crate out of the bed of his pickup because it wasn't clear what he was intending to do. Even if the demon had recognized the tank and the oxy-acetylene cutter, he couldn't have done much about it what with the multi-hued group of demons posted at the base of the pole. The first flash of the cutter caused a flame to run the length of the flammable, greased flagpole and left the purples without their defensive leader. The remaining purples boiled away into the atmosphere long before the red hot, iron flagpole finally bounced off the ground.

### # # # # # # # #

The partnership between the reds and the oranges lasted only as long as it took the flagpole to stop bouncing. The battle of survival had now come down to fifty-three oranges and sixty-five grays. The grays had the superior numbers and, in theory, had the best chance of coming out on top. However, they had no leadership. They had survived this far only because they stood around and tried not to get involved. That lack of leadership changed when a Stinker Bell arrived and gave them some much needed help. He quickly organized them into a fighting force that was based on having at least five grays battling with one orange. The oranges retreated to the secure weapon storage locker in the RCMP office. The oranges had bored a small screw hole into the metal top of the locker for their entry purposes. They used that hole now to retreat into safety. Any gray trying to come through that hole would be facing fifty-three oranges. It had seemed like a good defensive plan at the time.

The Stinker Bell solved that problem by having his forces fill the storage locker with demon beer one dripping bottle at a time. The oranges tried to drink the beer dripping through the screw hole but eventually ran out of thirst as well as air.

The next stage in the battle of Tofino was for Stinky #35,423 to inform the grays that a devil from Hell would be arriving soon and their best chance for survival was to disappear. No devil would allow the survivors of a rebellion to survive. He just happened to find a drunken lady who was coptering down to Ucluelet and they hitched a ride. Naturally, the Ucluelet demons would not feel kindly about the grays' arrival so they had only one chance for survival. Murder them all. Since the Ucluelet demons were sleeping the sleep of the highly inebriated, this wasn't that hard after all. Arthur and Paula returned to Tofino and messaged Lillian and Joe-Joe that Operation _Where'd They Go?_ had been successful.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 19

"Where'd they go?" the Duke asked his hench-devils on Saturday morning. He was referring to the demons of Tofino who hadn't been anywhere is sight, or out of sight for the matter, when he parked their copter in a central parking lot.

One hench-devil replied, "Wha?" He was still looking at the burnt out shell of the co-op's attic. The other hench-devil replied "Huh?" He was wondering why anybody would want to cut down a metal flagpole. The third stood there, scratching his head.

As a retinue, they made a bold statement. The three were dressed in black dress pants, black dress shirts, and black ties. They could have been back up singers for Johnny Cash but that time had passed long ago. The Duke himself had the same black pants and shirt, but he wore a scarlet red tie along with a dab of scarlet in one of his shirt pockets. For a touch of sensationalism, he sported a scarlet red, half cape draped around his shoulders. His copter had received a custom paint job the previous evening in Port Alberni. Black with red slashes on all doors. You probably could have predicted that.

The Johnny Cash guitar-less look-alikes were bewildered spectators to the damage to the village that had appeared over night. Even the RCMP office had been attacked by vandals who for some strange reason had filled their arms cabinet with a week beer that contained orange coloured flavouring. Nobody could make sense of it, not even the mortals.

Arthur could have explained it, but he was busy whispering such gems as this into the Duke's brain: _If this is what the TAT guns could do to a small village, imagine what they'd do to a big city._ Also on the whisper parade were: _If this is what the TAT guns could do outside, imagine what must have happened inside the homes and businesses last night._

As to the whereabouts of the demons, the Duke found himself with this amazing conclusion: _The TAT guns must have exploded the shoulder demons into fluff particles_. That led to this speculation: _Can you imagine what the guns could have done to shoulder angels if they had been here?_

It was only when Arthur started dropping hints into the Duke's subconscious that the duke remembered to check out how Ucluelet had handed Friday evening. The TAT guns had left that village unbombed. Would there be a difference?

Yes indeedy-do, there was a difference. Ucluelet had not been damaged so that meant that what happened in Tofino was a result of the TAT bombardment. Also, Ucluelet had demons. Surprisingly, all of them were grays. The village also had some dead demon bodies lying around. In response to some pointed questioning by the black and red dandy, some of the grays admitted that they were Tofino grays that had come from Tofino last night and had butchered the Ucluelet demons. At this stage in their slow path to temporary sobriety, they weren't quite sure why they had done that.

I mentioned that the Duke had conducted a pointed investigation. That point belonged to the tip of the foil that the Duke had stored out of sight in the copter. Since the grays undoubtedly were guilty of mass fluff-murder, it seemed appropriate that the Duke should not only pronounce the sentence but administer it as well. Two of the hench-devils blocked the exit of the small room in the lighthouse where they had questioned the grays while the third used the fire hose to force each gray into the middle of the room one at a time. Duke would plant his feet properly, perform the classic lunge, put the hilt of his foil to his face, watch the demon's body slide down the blade, and say touché.

_I should mention that Arthur had not expected this kind of response. He had expected the grays to report that all of the killings were a result of the demons expecting to be declared surplus to needs when Hell started mopping up the angels._

Then it was back to Tofino with Arthur whispering into the Duke's subconscious such thoughts as how well the pilot test had been gone for Hell, how well the Duke had planned it, and how well he had executed it. _[Pun intended.]_ The Duke didn't get it.

### # # # # # # # #

Just before 1 pm, the Tofino villagers were streaming into the high school football field and finding spots to sit in its bleachers. A circus copter had hovered over the village that morning to announce a free show. The Duke hadn't heard the announcements, but he did see the crowds. A voice in his head said _Why not see what's going on? Perhaps it's a village meeting to discuss Friday's damages._

A taut steel cable stretched from goal post to goal post with a large piece of canvas hanging from it at center field. Two performers, obvious in their circus attire, helped the crowd find seats so that the spectators would be crowded together into the space directly in front of the backdrop – the better to hear, they'd say. Four surly men in black suits took seats at the very top of the bleachers while Arthur disguised himself as a rickety old grandpa and found the quiet resting spot under a distant tree where Lillian had instructed him to wait.

The show began with a burst of circus music, and the two performers ran to a spot in front of the audience. She was tall and quite slender; he was short, stocky, and built like a weight lifter. She pushed the stop button on the remote controlling the music generator, raised her hand, and the crowd quieted in anticipation.

"Folks, my name is Natasha. My husband, Vlady, and I were visiting Tofino this morning. We're members of a traveling circus but we had taken a holiday from our schedule to visit your beautiful area. To be completely frank, both of us were tired and quite unhappy. Life has not been good for us recently. We came to Tofino to see Long Beach, to visit your art gallery, and then we were going to leave. I can't explain what happened. When we saw this field, both of us immediately thought it would make a great place for a circus show. We both said to each other, Let's do something good today."

With that, Vlady grabbed Natasha by her feet, and started swinging her in faster and faster circles. Taking the stance of a hammer thrower, he flung her into the middle of the field. As Natasha sped past the cable, she reached out a hand, began a series of intricate one-handed and two-handed gymnastics routines, which ended with her standing on the cable. Projecting her voice quite easily, she said, "Usually, I get up on this cable with a ladder, but Vlady left it behind. He's very sorry about that. So am I," and she mimed being dizzy. The crowd closed their mouths and roared in appreciation.

The first act that afternoon, of course, was the wire and the crowd oohed and ahhed at the height of the artiste's leaps and the accuracy of her landings. Then, as part of her ongoing banter with the crowd, she announced that she would walk on the cable from one goal post to the middle of the field, a difficult challenge at the best of times, but somewhat more difficult given the sag in the cable that was now apparent. The first part of the trip went smoothly and she was confident enough to do some double and triple flips in the air before landing. However, motioning to the audience to keep their mouths shut, Vlady had attached a rope to the portion of the cable that was behind her back. When Natasha was at the top of one of her flips, he pulled the cable out of place. Barely managing to catch it with a hand, she swung back onto the cable and tried to carry on. "Gotta do better than that, Vlady," she called out.

That started the challenge. When pulling the rope sideways didn't work, he made it oscillate up and down. Nothing worked, and Natasha finally made it to the middle of the field and gracefully acknowledged the cheers of the crowd. Vlady stepped away, in fake disgust for her exploits.

"Vlady, come over here. I need your help."

Vlady refused to budge.

"Please..."

Vlady maintained his budge-less determination.

"I need help getting down," she said to the crowd. "I'm scared of heights." When they had stopped laughing, she said, "I believe he needs some motivation." She quickly had them on their feet, clapping and stomping the ground rhythmically. When the noise was sufficiently deafening, Vlady deigned to move and stood directly under the wire, looking up at her, hands outstretched to catch.

"Don't look. I have a rip in my tights."

Vlady turned around.

"Move forward three big steps."

Vlady did as he was told.

"Are your eyes closed?"

Vlady nodded.

"I don't think they are. Are they?" she asked the crowd.

Since Vlady's eyes were clearly wide open, their answer was clear and deafening. Following Natasha's directions, three spectators found and inspected three multi-coloured hoods and placed each of them over Vlady's head. "Are you sure he can't see?" she asked the volunteers. While they were each swearing to the crowd that the hoods let in no light whatsoever, Natasha was quietly lowering herself from the high wire and creeping quietly off to the side. As the third man was attesting to Vlady's blindness, Natasha charged at Vlady and tackled him viciously from behind.

Almost. Just before she arrived, Vlady had corkscrewed into the air and landed in full defense mode and facing his unseen attacker. For the next 15 minutes, Natasha tried to exact her revenge for Vlady' nefarious meddling with her high wire – all to no avail. If he weren't dodging, he was grabbing her and flinging her away. Each time, the slender figure would perform some miraculous feat of gymnastics to land safely and each time, Vlady would stand facing her, arms folded across his chest, waiting.

_I'm getting too old for this_ , Lillian breathed into Arthur's mind at one point.

_You're not the one doing all the throwing. Next time, how about choosing a body with less flab_ , Joe-Joe retorted.

_Flab? Flab? I'll show you what flab feels like._ But Lillian couldn't make contact.

_Normally, we'd do this routine with weapons, but we can't risk that in front of the Duke. We also cancelled the routine where Joe-Joe uses his knives. He's losing his touch_ , she explained.

Joe-Joe caught Lillian as she launched a cartwheel attack and their bodies fused into one and cartwheeled the length of the field. _One little nick; a single drop of blood. Wouldn't have happened if she hadn't flinched._ Both minds were breathing hard.

_Time for your just desserts, Big Boy._

_Don't forget to aim me at the wire this time._

Vlady fled down the field towards center stage with high, powerful flips through the air. Natasha waited and then began her pursuit with lower, faster flips. As she closed in on her target, she switched to a high, leaping back flip and caught Vlady's feet just as he reached the apex. They came down together, and Natasha immediately began her imitation of a hammer thrower. As Vlady's head became a blur, she released her prisoner who caught the hire wire on his way past, performed a twisting, double flip and dismounted perfectly. By then, Natasha was by his side, untied his hoods, and together they stood their with their hands upraised in the classic circus performer finish.

Arthur was standing, clapping along with everyone else in the crowd including the four devils, when he felt a tug on his coat. He locked down to see a little blond girl looking up at him. "Hi grandpa," she said.

### # # # # # # # #

Natasha introduced Vlady, Balloon Magician Extraordinaire, and excused herself to go behind the backdrop. "Somebody has to blow up all the balloons," she said. Vlady followed her but exited shortly afterwards, dragging a large balloon that was shaped like a dragon. Placing the cord in his mouth so that the balloon couldn't float away, he waved his hands, twirled his fingers, lifted one foot or the other, wiggled his bum, and went through any manner of contortions, and each time the balloon figure _[Lillian]_ would do the same. When the dragon had exhausted its ferocious antics, Vlady picked up an oversized, six-foot long hatpin at his feet and stabbed the dragon. The balloon immediately burst.

_Paula and Arthur, you two are up next. Do it just like we practiced._

Paula and Arthur both looked at the field where a large puppy was dancing. To the sounds of appreciation of all but four devils, the puppy balloon leaned over and licked Vlady's face.

_Now, Paula._

The crowd chuckled as the little blond girl ran awkwardly towards the giant puppy. Reaching it, she tried to give it a hug but it was too big. She settled with patting its head, which the puppy seemed to enjoy since it rolled over onto its back. The crowd laughed. They voiced a collective "Awwww" when the little girl jumped up and down in excitement as Vlady gave her the cord to the balloon. They applauded when she started back to the bleachers. They grew dumb in fear when she rose into the air.

An elderly man burst onto the field speechless in terror. He tried to grab her feet but she was too high. Vlady tried to grab her feet too, but even he couldn't reach her. The little girl and her puppy slowly drifted higher and higher, the elderly man running around in circles in despair, finally collapsing to the ground. The little girl was obviously frightened to death since she didn't make a single cry.

While the crowd implored somebody - anybody- to do something, Vlady took action. Grabbing his oversized hatpin, he sprinted to the goal post that was closest to the puppy-balloon. All eyes were on him as he paused for breath, held the hatpin over his head and began the sideways crabbing run that all world-class javelin throwers perform. Not a sound was heard as the hatpin sped through the air towards the giant puppy which was getting smaller and smaller. Then, the crowd heard a distant bang, and the puppy balloon disappeared. The relief applause was cut short when the crowd realized that the little girl was plummeting towards the ground. They all looked to Vlady, who was bent over in exhaustion.

As the little girl's pink dress became more visible, her grandfather rose from his knees and staggered toward the falling girl. The girl's tiny body descended faster and faster as her grandfather held up his arms, hoping to break her fall at least a little. The crowd burst into cheers when she plopped safely into one of his hands.

ONE of his hands? There was a moment of silence and then the grandfather raised the hand holding a blonde-haired doll above his head for all to see. Next, the balloon man started to grow, and grow, and grow. Soon he towered over the field. _I never should have had that second root beer,_ Arthur thought to Paula. A second later, the grandfather balloon exploded, revealing Natasha and Vlady hiding behind him in their final bow to the crowd.

_I'm here, Arthur. What did I miss?_

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 20

Arthur's words: Saturday afternoon.

Lillian and Paula were ahead of us, acting like schoolgirls. That was good, because they were dressed like schoolgirls and they were playing the role perfectly as they talked to the Duke of Earl who was standing on a street corner in the center of Tofino. Paula was clearly flirting with the devil and I could see he was responding. Lillian was standing beside Paula, twirling her long brown hair, and giggling. Joe-Joe, Winnie and I were floating invisibly and waiting for the devils to move off the corner.

Around us, the townsfolk were still gushing over the circus performances.

"I must have walked right by that grandfather balloon, and didn't notice a thing. He was so lifelike."

"Are you going tonight?"

"That gorgeous gal walked out of the crowd, invited everybody to a free concert, just because she wanted to do something good today. You bet I'm going. I'm gonna bring a whole lot of cans of food too."

"You only need to bring one."

"Yeah, but think of the good we'd do with more."

"The clean-up went faster than I thought it would."

"Everybody pitched in. Five minutes, that's all it took. We even picked up all that exploded rubber from the balloons."

Paula and Lillian both grabbed a regal arm and started to tug. We could hear them inviting the Duke to the concert and then they skipped around the corner and disappeared from sight.

_Winnie, make sure he comes to the concert. The rest of us have some roles to play._

I had already told Winnie what Lillian would ask her to do, so she was ready. I was planning to tell her more about the operation as we left the playing field, but she said that she wasn't interested. Then she hung around Paula so I couldn't talk to her about what had happened in Ucluelet. I had already briefed Lillian and Joe-Joe. Lillian had looked surprised. Joe-Joe had asked me about the Duke's feet when he was spearing the grays. I hadn't been looking at his feet so I couldn't tell him much.

The Duke and his three hench-devils began strolling around town watching and listening to the people around him. Lillian was with Paula and she had teamed me with Joe-Joe. We were supposed to demonstrate how effective Heaven's subliminal thought messages were working. One team would demonstrate while another was waiting half a block away for the Duke to arrive. That team would demonstrate and the first team would leap frog them. Paula couldn't influence the citizens of Tofino with mental suggestions, so Lillian had her pretending to be different citizens.

Joe-Joe had said that he'd follow my lead, so we had practiced a few routines. In one, he was a whistling shop keeper who was sweeping the sidewalk in front of his store, noticed litter in front of another store, swept that up too, and then kept pace with the devils as strolled slowly by.

In another one, I was a little boy who ran out of a store clutching some stolen candy. Then, I changed my mind, went back in, and came back out again empty handed.

In another, a little bird (Joe-Joe) fluttered injured to the sidewalk where I (a little boy) picked it up, cradled it, and asked one of the hench-devils if he knew how to fix little birds. Little scenarios like that. In between, Joe-Joe shared some things with me. At first, I didn't realize why he was doing that.

_Lillian and I never had any problem figuring out who would take charge, plan, make decisions, and so on. Before we were a team, if somebody needed to get a punch in the nose, I'd go up and punch him in the nose. Lillian could find a way for the guy to punch himself in the nose. She was much better at the plotting. We always worked on the plan together though and I always got my say. Still do._

It was here that I figured it out. Lillian knew what had happened in Hell and had put me with Joe-Joe deliberately. I didn't mind. I needed the help.

_That where Winnie and I got to when we were in Hell. I messed up big time by being too secretive. She's better at planning and making quick decisions. I do the sabotage work._

_That's your nature. You're like Lillian. Devious. Your natural tendency is to keep things secret. You've never had to share before._

_I was trying to keep her in the apartment to protect her._

_How'd that work out for you?_

_Badly. Big fight. Paula helped us sort it out._

_That's why Lillian put her there._

_Huh. I thought Lillian didn't want us as a team._

_Lillian didn't want you as a team that would self-destruct._

_You and Lillian were working as a team way back in the bubonic plague time. How long did it take you to stop wanting to protect her?_

_What makes you think I've stopped? Lillian and I had our problems too. One time she became so mad at me that she hung me upside down over a cliff and threatened to drop me. I can still remember the exact words that she yelled at me. 'You give me equal share of the risk or I'm going to let your hairy ass fall, you big baboon.'_

_When was that?_

_Sixteenth century. We were in Gibraltar, keeping loose surveillance on some slave traders who were being led by a nasty devil. Lillian wanted to let herself be caught. I wouldn't let her. At the time we were pretending to be two of the Gibraltar monkeys, so her description of me as a baboon was doubly accurate. Now, when she thinks I'm being over protective, she just yanks on the little toe of my left foot. It was the only one she was still holding when I gave in and agreed that she should let herself be caught._

Just in front of us, a mother and father were struggling with a young child who was stamping his feet and screaming. As the devils walked by, both parents kneeled down in front of him. "You can't get your way by having a temper tantrum," the father said. "Remember, you must always try to be good," the mother said. "Sometimes it's hard but you have to learn this. Give me a hug and you'll feel better."

_Winnie must have finished convincing the Duke to come to the concert._

_So, I still have the need to protect Lillian. That's my nature. But I've learned to do that without denying her a share of the risk. She knows I'm always watching over her. She says it's like having a warm blanket around her. She's happy and I'm happy. Like today. We hardly ever are able to do joint operations anymore._

Lillian, Winnie, and Paula messaged us that they were going back to the field to set up the speakers and portable stage. Joe-Joe and I converted ourselves into two anonymous male bodies and we strolled back too.

### # # # # # # # #

It was 7:25 and the skies were dark with nighttime. A few lights around the stands were sufficient to guide the spectators to their seats. The angels, minus Paula, were standing in complete darkness at the back of the stage. Paula was trailing the Duke.

_The Duke and his three stooges are coming into the stands now. Looks like they'll be sitting in the same place as before._

Paula joined them seconds later and converted herself into the sex object that Lillian had asked for. Arthur was a scruffy, longhaired, pimply teenager. He left them and took up position on the stage behind the drums and started to warm the drums and the audience up.

Lillian briefed Winnie on the overall plan for the evening while Arthur was on the stage. With no experience in playing a musical instrument, and with her ability to sing rivaling that of her father's tone deaf renditions, Lillian simply handed her a tambourine and instructed her on how to play it. _Bang it against your hand. Be sure to stay with the beat._

As to the body that she would take, Winnie suggested that she appear as herself. Aboriginals in BC were a positive for most musical bands.

"Show me how you're going to appear?"

Winnie did.

"Add thirty pounds, give yourself dowdy clothes and stay in the background," she instructed. "We don't want you taking any attention away from Paula."

"Are you going to be male or female tonight?" Joe-Joe asked Lillian.

"Male, I think. I don't want there to be any resemblance whatsoever to a female gymnast. You?"

"I like to be myself when I issue the warning."

On the stage, Arthur had found an invigorating beat and the audience was clapping in time with him. Lillian picked up her guitar, Joe-Joe did the same with his trumpet, Winnie banged her tambourine against her hand, and Paula tried to pull her satin sheath lower without success. Together they strode out onto the stage.

### # # # # # # # #

The Duke looked at the stunning girl in front of him – not sure what to say. He and his three hench-devils were the only ones in the stands – the entire village was on the school field gyrating to the raucous music. "What is it exactly that you want me to do?"

"Help me start a line. All you have to do is stand behind me, put your hands around my hips, and do what I do."

Well, grabbing this gorgeous young thing around her hips would certainly be high on the Duke's wish list. She was tall for a mortal, a couple of inches shy of his 6-foot body. Dark black hair, beautiful face, an even better body, but sadly it was encased inside a tight, short, scarlet sheath. He had noticed the dress earlier in the day when she had announced that her group would give a concert that all men, women and children of Tofino would enjoy, just because they felt like doing something good for the town. Now he was seeing her close up. It was a pleasant experience.

"We only came to watch."

"Yes, but you look so lonely sitting up here in the stands. You should come down on the field and have fun with us."

Fun was certainly what was happening on the field. The burly man on the trumpet had started the concert with what had to be the longest, most piercing peal of a single note that he had ever heard. Without taking an apparent breath, he started an exuberant version of Alexander's Ragtime Band with the tall thin guitarist, teen-geek drummer and an overweight somebody standing in the semi-darkness. The merriment was on. Boisterous song after boisterous song soon had the crowd on the field, and Scarlet Sheath was everywhere. Leading them in Y.M.C.A., doing the hokey pokey, and most recently, going up on the stage to demonstrate the twist. Wherever she went, merriment followed.

"You have to be the second in line! This dance won't work otherwise."

"Why not?"

"Well, you see I have my scarlet dress here," and she ran her hands down her dress, smoothing its wrinkles and managing to wriggle at the same time. "And you have a tie that is the exactly same colour." She took the end of the tie and held it against the top of her dress. "See?"

The Duke swallowed. He certainly did see.

"You and I are obviously meant to be together." Then, the clincher. "Surely the most exquisitely dressed man in Tofino should be near the start of the line."

Scarlet Sheath led the Duke and his two friends to one of the goal posts and stood there waiting, the Duke with his hands on her hips, fingers sending out the sensory question, _Where's the underwear?_ The trumpet demanded attention. When everyone was looking, the guitarist pointed to the goal posts and boomed out, "Form a single line." With the peal of the trumpet echoing _Charge_ , the crowd surged to the end of the field.

All the Tofino adults knew the song. Only the children, and four devils from Hell had to be led through the actions as the music filled the field once again.

_Put your right foot forward._

_Put your left foot out._

_Do the Bunny Hop._

_Hop, hop, hop._

_Dance this new creation._

_It's the new sensation._

_Do the Bunny Hop._

_Hop, hop, hop._

Soon, Scarlet Sheath and thee smiling devils were leading a line of hundreds of bunny-hopping mortals the length of a football field. As they approached the hornagraphic camera that wasn't supposed to be on, Paula disengaged herself and whispered in the Duke's ear: "I'll be back, save the next dance for me." Then, she disappeared from camera shot.

### # # # # # # # #

At 8:30, Scarlett Sheath announced that the band was getting tired and they could all probably use a rest. She invited the crowd to come back into the stands and enjoy a sing-along. The band changed instruments and began a slower, more sentimental concert.

That had been almost half an hour ago and the people were still singing along to the sappy songs that the band was playing. Sappy as far as the Duke was concerned. Each time one song ended, Scarlet Sheath and the burly man now on the bass would harmonize through the first verse of another slow song, and the crowd would join in. The Duke had slipped out of the stands and into the darkness of the playing field because 9 pm was the time that TAT guns were scheduled to begin bombardment. He wanted to see for himself how the citizens reacted. With most of the small community gathered for the concert, what better place could he be? That's why he had come to the concert. To see what happened to the villagers at 9 pm.

At 8:55, Lillian messaged: _Joe-Joe, you're up now. Everybody else should back off the stage as unobtrusively as you can._

"Well folks, that's about it for us. All these songs are making us kind of sad and sleepy. I think it's time we called it a night. We'll finish our concert with one of our favorite songs – one that we're sure you'll recognize. You may think it's a poignant Irish love song from a woman to a man. However, it's not. In Ireland's early days, when an army had to be raised, a bagpiper would go through the fields and valleys playing this tune as he went. Young men would fall in behind him and they would march off to war. The original Celtic lyrics were written by an Irish chieftain who was bidding a sad farewell to his son. And so, we bid you too, our sad farewell."

Joe-Joe began to sing, quietly at first.

_.Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling._

_From glen to glen, and down the mountain side._

_The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying._

_T'is you, t'is you must go and I must bide._

_But come ye back when summer's in the meadow._

_Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow._

_T'is I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow._

_Oh, Danny boy, O Danny boy, I love you so!_

_And if you come, when all the flowers are dying._

_And I am dead, as dead I well may be._

_Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying._

_And kneel and say an Avè there for me._

_And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me._

_And all my dream will warm and sweeter be._

_If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me._

_And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!_

_I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me._

Joe-Joe's tenor voice had resonated through the silent night, reaching the high notes with ease, and ending in a smooth caress. He had sung the song in the traditional manner – with a crescendo in the second and fourth verses and a quiet ending. He whispered the last words and the crowd as one sighed.

Before they could move, Joe-Joe added. "Some of you may appreciate the song even better when it is sung in the original Gaelic." Joe-Joe stepped back and breathed deeply for a few seconds. Arthur, Paula, and Winnie watched in awe as his barrel-chest expanded. Lillian pulled them back even further into the darkness behind the stage and pressed the button on the remote that controlled the lighting for the playing field. The field went dark. "You don't want to be standing near him."

Joe-Joe turned at an oblique angle to the crowd and faced the darkness where the Duke of Earl had enjoyed listening to a song that had been full of death and sadness. The opening verses of the musician's Gaelic version grabbed his attention and he found himself listening.

Joe-Joe started quietly again – "Is milis briomhar leathanbhog an t-aer ann,"

Lillian's voice intruded into three angelic minds. _Even from here, it's best that you don't listen to the words too closely._ They turned to her in curiosity and Lillian continued. _I'll explain._

_The ancient Celts were not the kind of people to sing sad songs over their dead. The Romans knew that and that's why they never tried to invade Ireland. Modern scholars think that the Romans referred to Ireland as the Land of Winter. They didn't. In the every-day Latin vernacular, their expression meant Land of Death._

_The Celts sang this song, individually or as a group, to their enemies before battle. The first verse is a gentle pardon that they have been forced to this action. Now, here in the second verse, they start describing the enemy. Joe-Joe usually personalizes this. Let's see. Blood-sucking, maggot-faced, piece of dog... Yup, he's personalizing. Joe-Joe likes to use the ancient Celtic curse words and they can be quite graphic, so I'll skip translating this part._

_Joe-Joe's barrel-chest expanded even more and his voice boomed through the dark night._

_In the third stanza, he lists the crimes that the enemy has committed. With devils, he usually mentions murder and torture in the first two lines. Yes, that's what he's doing. Now here in the third and fourth lines, Joe-Joe likes to give the names of the victims that have necessitated this song. It's difficult to do in original Gaelic so he has to give general descriptions._

Lillian paused at the beginning of the last stanza. Together they listened in awe as Joe-Joe's voice rolled through the sky. The crowd shivered and couples everywhere hugged for comfort. In the darkness away from the stands, the hairs on one imitation mortal's body stiffened upright.

"Good night, folks," Joe-Joe said in his normal voice. "Be careful in the dark." There was a sporadic round of applause and then a sprinkling of flashlight beams showed the subdued crowd edging to the exits.

"What in Heaven was that?" Paula was the first to ask.

"The Celts customarily sang that song in the darkness of night. The last stanza was essentially a warning to the enemy that the Celts were watching, the enemy could not escape, and they would all be dead within twenty-four hours. Joe-Joe has changed that a little. He gives a longer time frame in case the listener wants to mend his ways. Joe-Joe likes to err on the side of being fair."

"But, it was all in Gaelic. Surely nobody could understand him," Winnie said.

"Not the words. But, the meaning, yes."

"And if the listener doesn't change?" Arthur asked.

"Joe-Joe will sing to him again, but he won't hold back the second time. We're not finished yet. Paula, catch up to the Duke and lure him away from the crowds and into the darkness. Arthur, we don't know exactly how the Duke will respond to that song, so follow Paula and make sure she's safe. Joe-Joe and I will have a little meeting with the hench-devils outside the field. After that, we will fabricate some sounds of mortal violence in the darkness. Winnie, I don't have anything for you to do right now, so if you could start packing up the instruments and the stage, Joe-Joe will be here with the circus copter soon enough. We'll have a little celebration on Long Beach before we go home."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 21

Arthur's words:

Long Beach was a gorgeous stretch of miles and miles of sand and ocean. The large area of the park and the time of night meant that we didn't have any trouble finding a private location. We soon had a small bonfire going. Joe-Joe produced a cooler with hot dog buns, wieners, marshmallows, and other goodies, and we used his collection of hatpins to do the roasting.

Joe-Joe had kept his bass-playing body, but Lillian had reverted to her gymnast disguise, but in comfortable clothes instead. Winnie was in her aboriginal mortal body with blue jeans and a loose sweatshirt. It did get a little cool away from the fire. Paula had discarded the tight scarlet dress in favour of sandals, jeans, and a hoodie. I was back to my normal Arthur mortal body and was wearing blue denim jeans, a t-shirt and denim jacket.

Lillian and Joe-Joe were leaning back against a small log, toasting their feet while Lillian was humming _My Bonnie lies over the Ocean._ This was a very old song but it was appropriate because we were sitting in front of the edge of the Pacific Ocean. As far as we could see from the rising moon, it went on forever. Paula had found a longer log for us and she was sitting on the sand and leaning back against it. I was to the left of her. Winnie had come in last and had decided to sit next to Paula at the other end of the log.

"Joe-Joe, I've been meaning to ask you something about Hell," Paula began. "But I keep on forgetting."

"Ask away."

"Arthur saw a devil in a very mortal appearing body pushing a large container of some kind in the darkness. She had golden horns, hands, and hooves. They might be gold covered cloth of some kind. Do you know anything about her?"

"We've heard some rumours, but it's hard to know what to believe. We're pretty sure she's a courier that is taking currency of some kind to Earth to pay mortal companies who are unknowingly completing manufacturing work for Hell. These would be things that Hell can't shoplift. No devil will go anywhere near her because Satan has made her untouchable in some fashion. Otherwise, she'd never get out of Hell with the currency that she's couriering. The gold costume might be a way to tell all devils to leave her alone. We don't know whether it's real gold or not."

"I have another rumour," Lillian added. "This one is high on the juicy side, and low on the verifiable side."

That got everybody's attention.

"Because she's carrying currency, Goldie has to be absolutely loyal to Satan. She has a very comfortable life in Hell as a result. No caves for her. Instead, she stays in the Black House and that keeps her happy and loyal. Supposedly, the mortal body underneath the scales keeps Satan happy."

"So when Rat was planning on keeping me in Hell, he was actually trying to duplicate what Satan had done?" Winnie asked.

"He was, and that gave Satan concerns that Rat had eyes on the Black House."

"Like I said," Lillian said. "These are just rumours about the perks of the job. She definitely exists and she stays out of sight unless she's pushing some container in the dark of night. We don't know where she goes on Earth. She'll have some mortal body but we don't know what it is."

### # # # # # # # #

"That was amazing what you did to the hench-devils," Paula said when we had finished eating.

Both Paula and I had heard the commotion so when the Duke left at a run, we had followed him angelically. We had seen most of it. "I bet you enjoyed that part of the evening," I piped in.

"What did you do?" Winnie asked. I had forgotten that she was packing up the instruments.

"You tell her, Paula," Lillian said. I'm going to lie back and cuddle with Danny Boy here.

"I didn't see it all, but I'm pretty sure I've figured it out properly. Joe-Joe and Lillian started bombarding the hench-devils with hate messages against each other as soon as they left the field. Those messages must have been strong because they started to physically fight each other. But, in their anger, they must have forgotten they were wearing mortal bodies. We could hear the fighting from the alley and the Duke dashed off immediately to see what was going on. When Arthur and I arrived, they were trying to gore each other, which wasn't working so well with their hornless heads. The Duke tried to separate them, but ended up hauling off and hitting them. He fought like a...".

"Don't say _girl_ , Paula," Winnie interrupted.

".... like a limp celery stick that's been in the sun far too long."

"Both Lillian and I sent him hate messages to get him started."

"So they fought for a while, but the Duke stopped suddenly and began yelling at them something about the TAT guns working. Was that you, Joe-Joe?"

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know."

"The Duke couldn't stop them until he grabbed two of them by their nose and squeezed."

"That was Lillian who told him what to do."

"It can be painful if you're not used to having a nose. Long story short. Thanks to Arthur the Stinker Bell, the Duke was already wondering if the TAT guns had caused all the demons to kill each other. Then he sees three devils trying to gore each other just after the TAT guns started firing again. He's going to report back that the TAT guns work."

"What about the Duke's foil practice?" Arthur asked. "Is that important at all?"

Joe-Joe responded. "We don't know for sure. The foil was effective against fluffs of fuzz. How good he is with it remains to be seen. He's very high in the SSS. He's obviously trying to make a name for himself with his costume. When that doesn't work, and it won't, there's a risk that he will try something more daring to make his name. Two degrees of royalty won't be enough for him. I sent him the Danny Boy warning so that I can act quickly if I have to."

_What's a stinker bell? What's a foil practice? What's the SSS? What costume did he wear? What are two degrees of royalty?_ Winnie had a lot of questions, but didn't ask them.

For as long as I can remember, I had known that Joe-Joe and Lillian worked together. Lillian gave out the assignments while Joe-Joe did the security briefings. I hadn't seen them together very much at all other than that. Then, Paula, Winnie and I had learned they had been an operational team during the bubonic plague. Today, we saw them doing a circus routine that they must have performed a zillion times. And tonight, we were seeing an off-duty Lillian snuggled into Joe-Joe's chest. This was a part of their afterlives that I didn't know had existed. Frankly, I felt good seeing them that way.

So, I was feeling in a somewhat sentimental mood when I broke the silence with my question to Lillian. "How did you and Joe-Joe get together?" I had phrased it vaguely on purpose. She could tell me how they got together as an operational team, or as a couple, or not at all.

Lillian said nothing. Perhaps she hadn't wanted to let us know about her private, off-duty life? Perhaps I shouldn't have asked what was an intrusive question.

"I'm hesitating because this is somewhat embarrassing for me. In my own defense, it was a long time ago, and I was a different angel back then."

"Yeah, you were nice back then," Joe-Joe muttered and received a fist in the ribs for his comment.

"In actual fact, I wasn't very nice. I had completed a fair number of undercover operations for Martha, my boss, and I was feeling my oats. She was the most experienced female operative in Heaven. She had assigned me to trail a trio of devils who were traveling through Europe in a type of minstrel show. It was essentially the precursor to traveling circuses. The devils were spreading a deadly virus in their wake and I was frustrated because Martha wouldn't let me run the operation the way I wanted to."

"Bubonic plague?" Paula asked.

"No, earlier. Mid 1300s."

"June, 1348 to be precise," Joe-Joe added.

"Right. They had named it the Lymphangitic Plague because it attacked the lymph nodes."

"I've never heard of that," Paula said. "Hang on, I want to put some more wood on the fire."

Paula did exactly that, but when she came back to our log, she started to sit down at the far end of the log. Winnie said something to her and Paula came back to sit in between Winnie and me. I wasn't paying too much attention at the time. I was focused on listening to Lillian's story.

"You didn't hear about it because Martha's plan was successful. My plan would probably have failed. I wanted to stop the devils in their tracks before they could spread the virus. I had a convoluted operation all ready to go, one which would have ended with the devils killing each other in jealousy – over me, naturally."

"Proof positive that devils were stupid even back then." Another fist to the ribs followed Joe-Joe's cheeky interruption.

"Martha wanted to let them distribute the virus so that she could identify all their agents and then roll up the network. Her approach was very basic, very brutal, and very effective. I couldn't see that at the time, partly because Martha and I were having a lot of arguments. I was very angry during that period. I took it out on her."

"Why were you angry?" I asked.

"I felt my afterlife was being driven in a direction that I didn't want it to go. I felt that I had no control of my afterlife – in part because Martha was very authoritarian and in part because that was the way Heaven was back then. So, I was very rebellious and I must have made her miserable. I know I certainly was. We had a battle royal over my role in the minstrel show and I said some things."

"She said, _I wish I weren't an angel."_

"Exactly. Stupid, stupid thing to say. So, Martha took my powers away and left me on assignment, but in a mortal body. In the minstrel show, I was the equivalent to a high wire artist. Two of the men would shimmy up two trees, throw a rope across, and presto, a high wire. I had no trouble performing on the rope when I had an angelic body as a back up in case I fell. But since I truly am deathly afraid of heights, I couldn't even climb the tree without shaking. So, I faked an injury, and started looking for something else that I could do that would allow me to stay with the minstrel show and find Hell's agents before they spread the virus. That's where Joe-Joe comes into the story." Lillian patted Joe-Joe on his stomach and scrunched herself up against him again.

"I hadn't worked with Lillian before that. I was in an experimental program and was given a temporary posting to Lillian's unit. Martha assigned me to protect Lillian but without revealing myself to her. Lillian never caught on. She just thought I was the strong man of the show. Me lift big heavy rocks. Me grunt! Me follow pretty woman. That kind of thing."

"What was your other job in the halocracy?" I asked.

"You decide," Joe-Joe said to Lillian.

"Tell them everything. Start at the beginning," she replied.

"I was a warrior as a mortal. I found I could handle any kind of weapon as soon as I picked it up. Back then, I used swords, lances, and bows. I was bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive than any angel in Heaven. They didn't have anybody like me."

"Don't forget gallant."

"Thank you, but that certainly wasn't true back then. At the time, I was essentially a streak of raw violence that once pointed, could not be diverted. Only the best devils could even slow me down. I was working in the Angel of Death Corps when Martha asked my boss if she could borrow me."

Joe-Joe waited for us to digest the news. "I was the one who brought death to devils who ignored what few peace treaties we had at the time," he added in explanation just in case they hadn't figured it out.

"You killed the mortals serving as their agents?" Paula asked with some degree of anxiety. "Did Heaven really do that?"

"The agents weren't mortal. They were devils hidden in mortal bodies. Heaven didn't have the technology to find disguised devils easily. You had to be close to smell them. I was the one charged with getting up close and personal."

"And you never knew Joe-Joe was protecting you?" I asked Lillian.

"Not during that assignment. I knew he liked me. All that drooling gave you away, big boy!"

This time it was Joe-Joe's turn to receive. "Ouch" he said. "Mostly true. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Fortunately for me, I had been ordered not to."

"So, I went to Joe-Joe because I knew he'd agree to help me start a new act, and we learned to do some gymnastic stuff, but no hire wire. That's when we invented the try and hit the blind man stunt. Joe-Joe also did a knife throwing act that was sort of successful."

"One nick, one little nick in over 700 years. Besides, you moved."

"And we prevented the lympho-whatever plague, and I got my powers back, and I had a reason to be more happy, and in time, I stopped being such a hostile angel."

"Ahem!"

"Well, I stopped being angry with Martha and every other heavenly immortal who came in touch with me. I couldn't do my job if I didn't stay a touch hostile to Hell."

"And I went back to my old posting but it wasn't the same anymore. Something was missing – namely You Know Who." Joe-Joe brushed the top of Lillian's hair with his lips. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"I asked for a direct transfer to Martha's Undercover Ops program which was refused. Next, I asked for a direct transfer to the Christian Soldiers' special ops program which did a lot of joint work with Martha's section but that was refused too. Instead, they gave me positions in all three divisions but I mostly work in Undercover Ops now."

"And do the occasional mopping up?" I asked.

Joe-Joe shrugged. "Hell will always push the boundaries. Lillian deals with them in such a sly way that they don't realize what she's done. I send them dismembered corpses. It's difficult for them to miss that kind of message."

"And Martha? Is she running a larger organization now?" Paula asked.

Joe-Joe answered in Lillian's stead. "No, but that's another story and You Know Who will be asleep soon. You don't want to be in the vicinity."

"Is my ship ready," a drowsy voice replied.

"Your cloud bank awaits."

A large cloudbank was indeed touching the ocean a short distance away. I could see some masts sticking through the top.

"The three of you are welcome to join us. It's a big ship. 18th century vintage."

I was going to accept. I had always wanted to see a tall ship in operation. Paula spoke before I could. "No, that's alright. We'll keep an eye on the fire to make sure it doesn't spread."

That didn't make any sense. We were in the middle of a huge beach with the tree line at least a hundred yards away. _That wasn't a real invitation_ , Paula messaged me.

"Well, in that case, we'll see you back in Heaven," Lillian replied.

With that, Joe-Joe scooped Lillian effortlessly into his arms and flew her into the cloudbank, which started to drift to sea. I heard a tenor voice crooning what sounded like an Irish lullaby.

When I looked up, Paula was staring at me like I had lost my mind.

"What?" I asked and looked at the far end of the log. "Where's Winnie?"

"She left after Joe-Joe and Lillian left. Didn't you see her? She was standing by the log, looking right at you. She was waiting for you to say something to her. Why didn't you?"

"I was counting the masts."

"You're on your own, Bud. I can't help you."

I thought that Paula meant that I was on my own in terms of getting the equipment back home. When I had done that, I went to see Winnie in her ship. It looked like nobody had ever set foot inside the ship before. Everything was clean and sparkling. Winnie wasn't there.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 22

The three DCA ranchers were sitting in the ground floor anteroom outside the Rocky View Panorama boardroom at 10:45 when the door opened and two elderly aboriginals in full regalia came out of the boardroom. The woman was clearly a chief. She had the headdress flowing down her back with eagle feathers galore. She used a big bow as a cane and walked with a visible limp. Her companion was male and also dressed in aboriginal apparel but without feathers. Gnarled hands carried a business briefcase. They shook hands with the four people inside the room and departed, but not without glaring at the ranchers first. A blonde woman in a gray business suit told the ranchers that she'd bring them in at 11 am and then shut the door behind her.

"New Mexico money," Boss announced in case the other two hadn't caught on. They had.

"Filthy aboriginals and their gambling money."

"The people inside the room are white. How can they even consider taking their money?"

"Desperation," Boss reassured.

### # # # # # # # #

At 11:00 sharp, the blonde opened the door and invited the ranchers in. She introduced herself as the Mining Operations Director and the three white men standing in front of their chairs at the boardroom table as the President, Vice President, and Treasurer of the company. All three were wearing identical gray suits, white shirts, and gray ties. _[Momaka had some gray fabric left over after sewing the suits.]_ Hands were shaken and all six men took up positions on either side of the table. The ranchers opened their brief cases and pulled out the reports from their science guys. To show that they meant business too, the mining executives pulled out some papers from their briefcases. Mac hovered.

_[Mac had introduced the mining company executive with fake names, but I'll use their real names here: Jock, TG, and Stanley. My readers will remember that Major Stanley Vincent, the Camp Commandant, was now an auxiliary member of the Wilizy. Melissa had asked him to join this part of the operation because they needed another white man and his military bearing would create positive impressions. He was already familiar with the broad strokes of the operation due to his involvement in helping to train the Valkyries.]_

"Coffee?" Mac invited obsequiously. _['Obsequiously' means that she virtually got down on her hands and knees and pleaded that she be allowed to bring these gods some coffee.]_

No god was interested.

"This room could use some air freshener," Jock announced. "See to it, Mac." Mac scuttled away to please her master and shut the door quietly behind her so that he wouldn't have to hear the sound of her departure. _[Are you sensing a pattern here?]_

"TG, show them the map."

TG led the ranchers to a large map of Colorado that was attached to a display board on the wall opposite the windows. It had over one hundred black marking pins stuck into the map, most in Colorado's mountainous area. Three green pins were also present. As was one large red pin.

"I'll ask you not to take any pictures of this map," TG cautioned. "The black pins represent sites where we have already filed exploration claims. We file claims when we know that the site has diamonds. Our scans are always accurate. We don't know how economically feasible the mines will be to develop. Some diamonds will be buried very deep; others will exist within easy drilling distance. Naturally, we would begin with the mountainous sites that have diamonds closest to the surface. The sites on the prairies are easy to mine, but we're expecting to find only small diamonds like what we found on Mr. Schnappe's ranch."

Mac tiptoed into the room and deposited small pods of some kind on the windowsills. Next, she went to a chair in the corner of the room and sat there with an open steno note pad positioned on her knees in case she might be needed. She kept her head down as gods didn't like mere women looking at them.

"This red pin is the mountain site where we have been actively drilling. We expect to break through the craton top this week. Our seismic scans show a large deposit. If you'll return to your seats, gentlemen, Stanley will show you some scans of our discoveries."

...

"This is the scan from our active mountainous mine. I have circled the chimney where the diamonds are located. You'll see that the area is much paler in colour than the surrounding rock formations. That's because diamonds are not as dense as the granite of the mountains themselves. And here are scans from proposed mines #2, #3, #4, and #5. Again, I have identified the diamond bearing pipes for you. The deposit in #4 is particularly abundant."

"Gentlemen, we protect the technology that we use to find these deposits very assiduously. _[Assiduously means they protect it a lot. Gods often speak like this so that mere people will be impressed.]_ As you'll know, we have no way to protect intellectual property these days. We can't register patents, for example. We believe that we can keep our competitors from copying our technology for at least ten years. To that end, we will not share the secrets of our technology to any of our investors. Mac will now collect the scans I have given you and burn them. Mac, there are fifteen scans to collect."

Mac resumed her head down scuttling and disappeared with fifteen pieces of paper.

Jock took over the presentation. "Gentlemen, we are all aware how the Colorado government has made it impossible for miners to receive investments from anybody who is not resident in Colorado and who has not bowed to their incredulous demand for access to private company data. We believe their ruling is unjust and unfairly eliminates investors who want to provide Coloradoan citizens with a more affluent life. Fortunately, our accountants are smarter than the government's accountants."

_[Mac returned at this point and carried an odour of smoke with her to her lowly chair. She resumed siting, note pad at the ready if it were ever needed.]_

"I will share with you how our investors can avoid the government's odious regulations, but I must caution you that if the secret of how you can legally invest in our company gets out, the government will plug that hole by passing a new law. We would also expect that they would pass that law retroactively. To lock in your profits so that the government can't touch them, I urge to consult with an investment advisor. Do not speak with your advisor about diamonds. Simply inquire about _non-voting shares_ and how they work. May I suggest that you choose your advisor very carefully. Your investment advisor must be in a position where he can invoke banker-client confidentiality. We deal with the Swiss Guards Group for that reason. We know of no other financial institution in Colorado that guarantees that level of privacy."

"I will give you a brief explanation of non voting shares now. You may not take any notes. You'll notice that my girl is not taking minutes. That's because everything in this meeting is in the strictest confidence."

_[Jock went ahead and gave a good explanation of non-voting shares as Eleanor had personally explained to him in Switzerland. Jock will continue to talk now.]_

"We have one final item on our agenda. You are undoubtedly skeptical that we can actually mine diamonds here in Colorado. My girl will hand each of you a little gift before you leave. It will contain a rough diamond that we took out of Mr. Schnappe's property. This diamond is very small and is worth perhaps only a thousand dollars. This is a miniscule amount when you consider the millions of dollars we will take out of Colorado's mountains. We offer you this gift as a token of our appreciation for your interest in our company. Take it with you. Test it. We want you to be confident that our offer to you as investors in our company is real and can make you immensely rich. But not as rich as us, of course."

Jock paused for the laugh that TG and Vincent started.

"For a cash payment of $5,000, we will allow you to enter a bid to invest in our company. The deadline for you to submit this bid is this Friday, October 12 by 5 pm here in this boardroom. Your bid should reveal how much capital you plan to invest in our company. If your bid is accepted, your financial institution will transfer the bid amount to our financial institution. We do not deal in cash or promissory notes."

"We will receive your bid orally. If the government hears about what you are doing and subpoenas us, they won't find any written documents. No record of this meeting will exist and no official record of your bid will exist either. If you have submitted the top bid, we will take you to our mine in the mountains where you will see the diamonds that we will be producing by that time as they come out of the mine. We will put one of those diamonds in your hands. You may test it right there to ensure that it is a real diamond. If you wish to proceed with the bid, you will have two days to arrange the financial transfer of funds. After they are received, we will provide you with the necessary stock certificates. If you choose not to complete the bid, you will forfeit the $5,000 and we will move to the next bidder. If your bid is not high enough to be considered, we will return the $5,000."

"The minimum bid that we will consider is $500,000. To give you some perspective, we anticipate extracting $10 million dollars of diamonds in the first ten years. If no competent competitor surfaces in the first ten years, we know of enough diamonds in these mountains to continue mining for at least another thirty years. Do the math, gentlemen."

"Since we will have multiple bidders, we will not entertain questions at this point. We want all of our bidders to have the same information. That's only fair."

Jock, Stanley and Vincent stood and shared handshakes with the ranchers. Mac produced three little gift-wrapped packages which she handed out to the ranchers as they left. She bowed to each of them obsequiously as they left. Momaka had helped her with that bow. Not the mechanics of the bow. Those were easy. Momaka used her needles to give Mac the serenity she would need to play her role without strangling somebody."

### # # # # # # # #

Later that Monday.

"Hi, Melissa."

"Winnie! It's good to hear your voice. How are you?"

"Doing fine. Melissa, I won't keep you. I know you're running a complicated operation. I have some time away from my security job and I wondered if you needed any help on your operation."

"Thanks, Winnie. We're actually wrapping it up soon and all of our roles have been taken. Doc and Granny are playing wealthy investors from New Mexico, for example. We even have Marie involved. A lot of people have been involved in this one. We're all having a blast."

"No need for any drones?"

"TG has taken care of all of that."

"I'm glad to hear the operation is going well. I'll pop in for a real visit when I'm in Montana next."

"That'll be great, Winnie. Thanks for asking."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 23

Tuesday morning.

"Winnie! What a surprise. What are you doing in Halifax?"

"Just passing through. Thought I'd drop in and see how you're doing."

"I'd invite you in, but all the kiddies...."

"Shall we go for a walk?"

"Let me get my coat."

...

"I tried to reach you, but the messaging system wasn't working."

"I'm sorry about that. I was in a secure site where no messages could come in or go out. I'm out of that place now. Thought we might work on another escaped convict capture again. I have lots of time to help."

"I've found something way better. I'm now working as a collections agency. The FBI has rewards for obtaining payments from reluctant rich people. I earned $15,000 in US money for one hour's work last week. Best of all, I have a friend in the FBI who gives me an advance look at any new contracts that come open. Fifteen thousand dollars every week for a year would be $780,000, Winnie! Chelsea and I are going to buy a house. I don't expect to have a job every week, but an average house in Halifax costs way, way, less."

"You don't need me to do anything to help?"

"Are you interested in wiping snotty toddler noses?"

"Not really."

"Then, no. Sorry. I helped with one of Lillian's operations, you know. My guys in Hell found out in advance that one the senior devils was traveling to BC to do something. I warned Lillian about it. She asked me a bunch of questions about the SSS."

"What's that?"

"Satan's Secret Services. Lillian messaged me last night that her operation went very well and my help was instrumental in its success. I thought she was very nice to tell me that. She plans to use me as much as possible when they have an operation involving Hell."

"Huh."

"Were you involved in that operation?"

"No. They didn't need me."

### # # # # # # # #

Tuesday evening: Fido had finished making the evening entries into the clinic's books and Boris was relaxing on the sofa describing the symptoms of the most recent addition to the hospital \- a Siamese cat, which was quite a rarity in Colorado. A mountain cat had taken quite a bite out of her and Boris was describing the injuries and what lay ahead in terms of recovery. She had said that she didn't mind hearing about blood and gore and would frequently come into the hospital if he needed help on some operations. Wolves and young mountain cats were the main predators for family pets.

Speaking of cats, Fido was sitting in her rocking chair, her hands resting on the arms of the chair. Two black cats were nestled on her lap, purring away.

"You can pet them, you know."

"That's OK."

"They'd like it."

"They're your cats. You should do the petting."

"They're our cats. I know you're a cat person."

"How do you now that?"

"Cause the cats took to you immediately. They helped heal you. They recognize cat lovers."

"They did take to me."

"I can see your hands twitching. I know you want to pet them. They'll enjoy it and you'll enjoy it."

"They won't enjoy my kind of petting. Let it go, Boris."

"Why wouldn't they like your kind of petting?"

"You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"What's to let go? Let your feeling towards these cats loose."

"If I let my feelings about these cats loose, they'd be dead. I hate cats."

"The twitching fingers?"

"Strangulation desires. Five fingers squeezing each throat. It can be done without being scratched."

"And the other animals you help me with?"

"I like them. They are victims of predators. I want them to survive."

"You didn't want to strangle the Siamese cat today."

"He wasn't black."

"You hate black cats?"

"With a passion."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause you love all animals. I would never hurt one of your animals, Boris."

"Why do you hate black cats?"

"They bring bad luck. They're evil. They ride with witches on broom sticks."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"My mom told me. She read me stories about how they were evil and were witch companions. If one passed in front of you, that meant that you'd have bad luck. She wouldn't have one in the house, ever. She showed me how to strangle them."

"But you never did?"

"No. I don't like killing of any kind. But when I see a black cat..."

"How old were you when she read you those stories."

"I don't remember. It was before I could read. I do remember falling asleep and having nightmares about black cats."

"Your mom was reading you scary fairy tales. There's no scientific evidence that black cats are evil."

"I can't help my feelings. My skin crawls when one of these guys rubs around my legs."

"They're telling you that they like you."

"Their purring is a warning sign, like a cougar scream."

"It's not. It's a sign of contentment."

"Perhaps for domesticated cats. But feral cats are dangerous to humans."

"Do you remember that I used to have three black cats?"

"I do. One of them didn't stick around long. I was relieved about that."

"That one was a feral cat. She was with you on the prairie when I found your body. She came back with you in my copter but left when you started to recover. Do you remember the cats lying on your body when you were first here?"

"Yes."

"She was the one that started that."

"Really?"

"Yes. Here's the scary part."

"I told you black cats were scary."

"When I found you on the prairie, that cat was lying on your wound. When I shooed it off your body to inspect how badly you were hurt, I saw that your main wound had stopped bleeding. I also saw that the fur on the cat's tummy was all matted and bloody. She was the one that stopped most of the bleeding by putting pressure on your entry wound. I simply patched you up."

"And gave me your blood."

"Can you explain why a feral cat would be lying on your wound and slowing down your bleeding?"

"No."

"There is no scientific explanation. That's the scary part."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 24

Lillian walked down the long row of recently-planted flowers until she reached a figure sitting on the ground. "Hello, would you like some help?"

The mortal brushed the straw hat that was shading her eyes from the brilliant sunshine. She had white hair and a deeply lined face – a face that would have been striking in her youth for its hard, sharp lines. She saw a slim woman dressed as she was in a straw hat, loose fitting clothes, and gardening gloves. "Are you one of the other people with gardens here?" she asked.

"No, my name is Lillian. I was in the area and wanted to put my hands into some warm earth."

"I'm planting peonies," the mortal said. "I'd love some company. I never seem to be here at the same time as the other gardeners," she added wistfully.

Lillian sat down opposite the mortal in the same cross-legged position, and started creating a small hole in the rich soil. Her companion was already back to her gardening, humming tonelessly to herself.

### # # # # # # # #

"My, you must be very agile," Lillian commented a few minutes later. Her companion had risen effortlessly from her cross-legged position to get more composted soil.

"It's the gymnastics, dear. I've always been limber but you have to work at it. Tumbling exercises every day. That's the ticket. Do you do any tumbling?"

"Yes, every day, just like you."

"I used to teach gymnastics, you know."

"Really? Were you an instructor in a school?"

"We didn't have schools like you think of back then. But it was a school of a sort. A finishing school, you could say."

"And your students learned gymnastics?"

"To help them to be agile and graceful. And needlework. Lots of needlework."

Lillian could remember those lessons clearly even today. Parry and thrust; parry and thrust. Over and over again until her leg muscles were quivering in exhaustion. She had hated it. "But only girls?"

"Oh yes. Back in my day, you couldn't have men in the same classes as women. They were out in the field learning to ride, swing a sword, and carry a lance. You know, the manly arts."

"What will you be planting tomorrow? Petunias, perhaps?"

"Oh, no, I only have this one row. Other gardeners plant the other rows. The one doing the pansies did a nice job. I like pansies. But, I have to be back at work tomorrow. What day is it, dear?"

"Wednesday."

"Thursday morning is ballet. Do you know any ballet, dear?"

"Why, yes I do. But, I'd love to learn more. I saw a small gymnasium at the horticultural center. Do you think you could give me a brief lesson?"

The mortal looked up to find herself at the end of her row. She rose effortlessly, gathered up her tools, and looked at the building off in the distance. "Gardening is easier in this mortal body, but I am going to fly to the care center. Supper will be soon. Can you fly, dear?"

"Yes, I can."

"My name is Martha. What's your name?"

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 25

The Four Corners Casino sat squarely in the middle of a square-size piece of land where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico met. This was Ute Nation and Navajo Nation land. Technically, the four state governments were able to assess taxes on businesses in state land. Businesses such as casinos fell under their jurisdiction. The Ute and the Navajo weren't particularly fond of state governments. They didn't want to confront them, but they didn't want to pay them either. Their lawyers were significantly smarter than government lawyers. Plus, casino lawyers were paid significantly more than government lawyers. They designed a novel way to avoid paying taxes.

When the lawyers from the four governments eventually decided to go after casino tax payments cooperatively, the casino lawyers argued that their tax payment should go to New Mexico, because the largest portion of the casino building was in New Mexico. After much discussion within the four governments accounting offices, they agreed with the Ute/Navajo arguments. (Privately, the governments agreed to share the money, but the New Mexico government would do the collecting.) So, after reviewing the casino's books, the state accountants collectively assessed the taxes that would have to be collected. Government bureaucracies grind very slowly. Eventually, New Mexico sent the appropriate tax bill and awaited payment.

They didn't get any payment. What they got was a legal document that stated that since the casino had added a hotel to the casino in the last year, the majority of the casino buildings were now in Arizona. The casino lawyers said that they were entirely willing to make the appropriate tax payment if Arizona simply told them how to much to pay.

The government bureaucracy went to work. Slowly. _[I'd say 'glacially' instead of 'slowly,' but my readers probably don't know what glacial means.]_ By the time that they were able to send out a bill, the casino had added a standalone restaurant. The majority of the casino buildings were now in Colorado. The casino lawyers said that they were entirely willing to make the appropriate tax payment if Colorado simply told them how much to pay.

Casinos generate a lot of money that can be reinvested. All the casino management had to do to keep the taxmen away was keep expanding very carefully and they had the money to do that. The state accountants and lawyers went back to their respective governments and told them that this had to stop.

The four governments agreed to calculate one single payment that would cover all of the back taxes that were owed. Payment was required within sixty days. Any changes that the casinos had made in their property in the previous year that increased their taxes would be applied to next year's taxes.

Casino lawyers argued back that the state hadn't calculated the taxes properly and they suggested the real payment was substantially less. The Colorado Government replied that the deadline had passed and payment was required now.

The casino lawyers.... etc.

Colorado notified the FBI that they wanted a collection agency to collect the taxes. Guess who had visited the casino that afternoon. Guess who would return for a second exploratory visit in the middle of the night. Hint: there was no physical resemblance between the two.

### # # # # # # # #

The security people who had planned the casino had looked at all the oldie- moldies movies where casinos had been robbed and had created what they thought was an impregnable security system. The upper floor of the casino was staffed with security personnel looking for individual players who were trying to game the system. None of the games or tables on the main floor held any cash. Any cash that came into the casino came first to the cashiers who converted it to chips. Some cash was kept in semi-secure cashier stations so that chips could be converted back to real money, but attempting to rob the cashier stations was high risk, low reward. Security guards with automatic weapons were stationed in hidden locations where they could see out, but robbers could not see in.

Vast amounts of cash were transported to the basement counting facility in small carts that could not accommodate a human body. Even if somebody tried, body heat would be detected by a sensor in the small elevator that carried the carts (maximum of two) up and down. The staff in the basement received the carts, counted the cash, secured the cash inside transparent containers and then stored the containers in a very large and secure vault. At the end of the day, all loose cash and cash containers were stored in the vault and the vault door closed.

Staff left and entered the basement via two sets of stairs (fire safety reasons) that opened up at a security station were they would be patted down. These pat-downs were standard procedure for any staff leaving the basement during a shift. These security stations were staffed 24 hours a day but security checks were conducted only above ground. During off hours, the basement was off limits for everybody.

The next morning, entry to the basement would require staff to show their credentials to the same security station and being patted down. Entry to the vault would be achieved by two employees simultaneously subjecting themselves to iris scans, fingerprints, and foot impression checks. If all were correct, the vault would automatically open. There was no combination that could be stolen and there was no gap in the door that would allow an explosive to be inserted.

Through this security system, nobody other than staff could enter that basement. If somehow non-staff did, they'd need to supply two predetermined sets of bodily data simultaneously. The casino was so confident in their security that their website told would-be robbers exactly what they could expect. They did this because they didn't want bungling crooks to put lives at risk. To date, nobody had tried to break in. Meghan had read the website, scouted the casino during the day, and had returned that night as DBBLYN. Satisfied, she had turned around and gone back to Cleveland.

### # # # # # # # #

"It's impregnable, right?" Frosty said to the disguised and still anonymous Meghan.

"I might be able to get in and out," Meghan revealed. "Not easily though. I'll need some time to plan."

"I'm surprised you're even considering it."

_[Meghan already knew how to get in and out. She was pretending to be stymied because she had to project a certain amount of human difficulty. Plus, she had something else in mind.]_

"Can you put me in touch with the Colorado people who are trying to collect these taxes?"

"Perhaps. They can't give you any help."

"I don't need their help. I want to suggest something to them."

"Along the lines of..."

"The casino will do the same thing over and over. They're able to keep their tax money for years and they use it to make themselves wealthier. I can suggest something to Colorado that will stop that."

"But won't that eliminate a big healthy reward for you?"

"I hate slimy lawyers."

"I'll see what I can do. They'll need your name."

"No they won't. Nice try, Frosty."

### # # # # # # # #

_Lillian, I need some time off._

_OK Winnie, I have nothing for you right now. You may as well relax on Earth._

_When do you want me back?_

_Monday, October 22._

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 26

The deadline for entering a bid to share the enormous wealth that Coloradoan diamonds promised was 5 pm, on Friday, October 12 in the Loveland boardroom. Boss and his two cronies arrived in Loveland at 2 pm. They parked their copter far enough away from the Rocky View Panorama resort hotel that they wouldn't be noticed. With high power binoculars, they'd be able to see who was going into the boardroom. _[Ranchers need high power binoculars handy to find their cattle on the prairie.]_

At 2:10, the delegation from New Mexico entered the boardroom and left one minute later.

At 3:15, a woman arrived. At least they assumed that she was a woman; it wasn't actually possible to see anything about her body. She was covered head to toe in black cloth. Her face was also covered. The bridge of her nose looked female. A thin gawky young woman accompanied her.

"I've seen those kinds of people before," Knute observed. "They're Mormons."

"I think you mean that they're Muslims," Paup corrected. "These are the ones that pray every half hour. Usually they're brown. That tall woman walks like a soldier. She could be a bodyguard."

"They won't be a threat. The company executive is solidly white supremacists. They'd never select brown money." Bausch with the opinion.

"They would if they had the top bid," Paup corrected. "They're desperate for money, remember."

At 4:45 a trio of Texans arrived. The ranchers knew that they were Texans because the old lady was wearing a square dance skirt, a gaudy top, and a Stetson. The Japanese looking lady accompanying her had cowboy britches, a square dance shirt, a Stetson, and a holster with two ivory handled handguns. That brown lady was walking in a half crouch, rotating into a different crouch, and rotating into a different crouch, eyes alert for any threats from anywhere and hands ready to draw. "Body guard," Boss pronounced. "I've seen them in flics. They're called sumo wrestlers, I believe."

"Those Texans could be trouble. That's an old white biddy who has so much money she doesn't care what she wears."

"Agreed," Knute agreed. "We'll have to go with our top offer."

The DCA's top offer was submitted at 4:55. They were told that the winner would be notified by Monday at 5 pm. If they weren't notified, that didn't mean that they were out of contention. The top bid would still have to agree that the diamond mine was real and then find the financing.

### # # # # # # # #

Back at our favorite animal clinic, Boris the purple gnome and Fido the dog had just left the hospital after cleaning up both the operating room and themselves. Like any other kind of doctor in a hospital, Boris wore surgical clothes when he was operating. Fido had been wearing them too. That's because she was now assisting him with the surgery. Think of her new role as an operating room nurse-in-training.

Fido didn't mind the blood. You can't live on the prairies and obtain some of your food from shooting varmints without dealing with blood and guts. She was hesitant about wielding a scalpel herself because she didn't know what she was doing. But she wasn't hesitant about passing equipment to Boris and checking his patient's vital signs. Part of that change in her role in her life at Boris' house and clinic was because she wanted to contribute more. Doing the books was now easy; a few entries every evening. Five minutes max. Part of her change was also due to having a new relationship with the black cats that continued to cuddle onto her lap when she was sitting in her rocking chair. She petted them now, an absent minded action, as she and Boris watched another old flic on their big screen. Boris had his sofa that he could stretch out on and Fido had her rocking chair. They'd watch it together, become sleepy together, say good night to each other, and pad away to their separate bedrooms.

Tonight as they entered the living room to watch their show, Fido plopped down on the sofa beside Boris. "We make a good team," Boris said.

"Yes, we do," Fido agreed and linked her left arm inside his right arm. This was a natural action of two people of the opposite sex who had been living together in harmony for almost a month now. But it wasn't a natural action for Fido and Boris. Fido had just initiated a seismic change in their relationship.

The awkwardness of the new sitting arrangement passed quickly as they watched the show. The black cats ignored the entwined arms and found their way to their usual warm lap. Fido continued to pet them absentmindedly but with her right hand only. Boris couldn't stretch out on his sofa. He didn't seem to mind. The flic ended, they rose, disentwined themselves, said goodnight and padded away to the separate bedrooms.

You may be asking, _Why was this a seismic shift in their relationship?_

When Fido chose the rocking chair as her place to sit in the living room a month ago, she did so because the narrow rocking chair ensured that there would be no physical contact between her and her host. That 'no contact' aversion was maintained in everything she did with Boris after he had pronounced her healthy and not in need of his nursing. She never touched his hand as he passed food to her, for example. When they stood together at the sink washing and drying dishes, she was always two steps or more away from him. When they walked to and from the clinic, she was always two steps or more away from him.

You may be confused. We know that in her previous life, Dolly was a touchy feely kind of person. But Fido was going through a period where she was discarding her old life and anything that reminded her of that. She went through a period feeling intense shame for what she had been. Before, she didn't care what people thought of her. Now she cared deeply what Boris thought of her. We can't know if she would care what people other than Boris might think of her because she was very safely hidden in a clinic out in the semi-wilderness where she had no contact with anybody other than Boris. If she had a friendly relationship with a neighbouring lady, would she care if that neighbour found out what she used to do? Probably.

So why was she now out of her rocking chair and sitting arm in arm with Boris?

In her previous life, Dolly had never had a relationship with a man who didn't give her money. (Her relationship with her father, such as it was, didn't involve a transfer of money, but it didn't have a love component to it either.) The men she knew were interested in only one thing; the length of their 'friendship' could be measured in minutes, not hours, and certainly not days. In these kinds of relationships, one does not develop a high regard for the male gender. Her own self-hatred had extended easily to hatred of men as a gender.

But Boris was different. He didn't know what she did for living. She had successfully deceived him on that. Still, he never tried to flirt with her. There were no 'accidental' hand touches. He never gave her the, _I wonder what you're wearing under your clothes_ look. He was safe.

After she let the two black cats into her life, Fido became aware that she actually enjoyed the feel of them on her lap. The warmth of their bodies as they slept felt good. She noticed that wherever they were sleeping, they were always sleeping with lots of physical contact with each other.

Fido didn't know why she had sat down with Boris; she didn't know why she had put her arm insides his. There was no plan here. This was no subtle seduction. The idea of sex with Boris, if it had ever come into her mind, would have sent her fleeing to a deep dark cave that she could hide in. This was a case of a starved body starting to heal itself.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 27

On Monday, October 15, the DCA ranchers were notified that their bid had been successful. _[My readers probably won't find that surprising.]_ _Surprise_ wasn't the emotion that Bausch Schnappe and his friends felt. _Relief_ was probably what they felt. In deciding to submit their very best possible bid, the ranchers had tied their financial future to that of the mining company. Yes, they still needed to verify the rocks coming out of the mine were diamonds, and yes, they still needed to arrange the financing. But both of those steps were natural parts of running a business. They had succeeded in finding the solution to their financial future. Everything that followed was doable.

The DCA ranchers started to think of themselves as miners. They began researching the mechanics of drilling. Nothing they read was going to reduce their optimism. It was as mining executives that they would enter a company copter on Wednesday at 11 am to take a forty-minute ride to the site of their first mine.

### # # # # # # # #

Meghan arrived at her meeting location an hour early. She had insisted that no security people could be watching or listening, something that was entirely likely if she were meeting the governor of Colorado as Frosty had indicated she would. Supposedly, the governor himself had suggested this location for its lack of traffic. She had set the time: 7:30 in the morning while it was still somewhat dark. Meghan positioned herself in a copse of trees, made herself invisible to mortal eyes, and waited.

At five minutes before the appointed time, a figure in a thick wintery coat sat down on the bench in front of the swings in the little park with a kiddie playground. Meghan reverted to her mortal body complete with warm weather clothes plus a black wig. She approached the figure from behind and slid onto the bench beside him. Make that a her.

"I thought I was meeting Governor Charlie Stookenhap," she said quietly.

"Charlie is still sleeping. Technically, that means that I am the governor."

"Because?"

"Because I'm Sheila Stookenhap, his wife. Anything you say to me will go directly to Charlie and to nobody else. I suggested that he not meet with you in case he needed to deny knowledge of what you may suggest that we do."

"Does he always follow your suggestions?"

"Most of the time. Charlie is straight-arrow honest. He's a former sheriff and he won't break or bend the law. If it looks like a law has to be bent, I fill in for him."

"And you believe a law is going to be bent?"

"It feels like one will. A secret meeting is not normally necessary for perfectly legal doings. What's your name?"

"Telling people my name could lead to other people who aren't particularly friendly finding me. If you need to communicate with me, work through Agent Delacroix at the Cleveland FBI. Don't expect your message to reach me quickly."

"Tell me why we're meeting."

"I will collect your tax money early Thursday morning. I also plan to stop the casino owners from finding a way to delay their taxes in the future ever again. That second plan won't work if Colorado isn't participating to a degree."

"It looks to me that you are making an unwise business decision. You are giving up future contracts to recover taxes from the casino. As I understand the fee structure, you will receive $40,000 from this one job."

"I will."

"And that means in a couple of years you'll have the opportunity to earn a similar amount. Do you believe that the casino will be able to stop you from collecting the taxes the next time? Is that why you are giving up the second commission?"

"No. When I make this collection, they will have no idea how I avoided their security. They can't update their security if they don't know what's wrong with it."

"Why then?"

"I hate corrupt lawyers. I saw enough of them in my former work life to last an eternity."

"What work life would that be?"

"The work life that I'm not going to talk about."

"Are you trying to bring justice to those who need it? Are you some sort of superhero?"

"Me? No. I'm simply a person who knows how to break into secure locations and take money from wealthy people who try to defy the law. I'm in it partly for the money. I have a family to provide for. Plus I want rich people to learn that they aren't above the law. I help to teach them that."

"You're not the Caped Crusader?"

"No."

"Wonder Woman?"

"No."

"The Masked Marauder?"

"I'm not familiar with that comic. I do wear a costume and mask when I break into secure sites, but solely to protect my identify. There are no superheroes in the world these days."

"Charlie will approve your idea. He also likes to teach rich people that they aren't above the law. What do you need from us?"

"Early Thursday morning, you will find a heavy duffle bag full of tax money underneath this bench. I will be around to keep an eye on it until you arrive. I will consider any attempt to find me as an act of bad faith. On top of the money in that bag, you will find a sealed letter. Do not open it. Process the tax money as you see fit."

"Is that it?"

"No. Also on Thursday, perhaps early in the morning, the casino owners will call Governor Stookenhap and ask him if their taxes have been paid. He may honestly say that they have been paid and a tax receipt will be forthcoming. They may ask him, in a round about way, if he has anything to say to them. His response should be one of confusion. Later in the call, or perhaps later that day, the owners will ask him desperately for a personal meeting. The governor should respond positively, but if he wants to up the pressure, he can delay a bit. If he wants to make himself aware of why the owners are so desperate, he could send an agent down to the casino. That agent will find that the casino has been closed until further notice."

"Are you going to tell me how you plan to do that?"

"No. The owners will indicate that they've been told that he has something to tell them. The governor can indicate that he did receive a sealed envelope but hasn't opened it yet. He can say that he probably won't open it until the casino owners pledge in some fashion to pay their taxes on time in the future. He will have all the leverage he needs. He should drive a hard bargain. When he's satisfied, he can give them the sealed envelope."

"You're going to shut them down until they promise to play nice."

"Right."

"Why'd you really want this meeting?"

"To make sure I wasn't just switching money from one rich person's pockets to another's."

"You got that from this meeting?"

"In my previous work life, I saw a lot of evil. You aren't evil, Mrs. Stookenhap."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 28

On Wednesday, Bausch, Knute and Llewellen climbed into the back of a Colorado Mining Development Company copter. They emerged forty minutes later in a deep narrow valley surrounded by towering peaks. They were led to a cleared spot on the valley floor where a derrick stood currently inactive.

"Perfect timing," Jock said. "We're almost ready to bring up the first diamonds. We broke through the top of the craton an hour ago. We've changed the drill bit and our collection bit is ready. We'll show you what it looks like."

Jock led them to the shaft of the mine where they could peer down into the darkness.

"It's a narrow shaft since we didn't have to insert metal casings to prevent any loose debris from falling in," Mac said. "The shaft is pure granite." She was now dressed in work clothes.

Jilly held out a piece of equipment. She was fully clothed now too. It gets cool in mountains. "This is our collection bit. The word _bit_ is misleading. Bits usually are made of very sharp cutting tools. As you can see, this bit is not set up to drill." The newbie mining executives nodded in understanding.

Andrea took over. "Let's call this the _diamond collection compartment_. We are going to stuff this hollow compartment as deep as we can into the debris at the bottom of the shaft. We will rotate the compartment so that the debris will be funneled into its interior. When our instruments show that the compartment is at maximum weight, we will send an electronic pulse down the shaft that will close the compartment. We'll bring it up, open it, and see what we have. It's quite simple, actually."

The newbie mining executives nodded in understanding.

Andrea didn't mention the micro-camera at the bottom of the compartment that would allow them to see exactly what they were going to collect when they wanted to collect it.

"Perhaps one of you might want to manipulate the bit?" Mac with the helpful offer.

Llewellen Paup was the first to raise his hand.

It took about five minutes for the collection compartment to make it down to the bottom of the very deep shaft. William had supervised the drilling that morning with a laser-cutting tool. The shaft was only ten feet deep. I guess it wasn't that deep after all.

"Here's the wand," Jilly said. "Now rotate the compartment using this joy stick. Keep doing that until Mac tells you to stop."

...

"We have full weight," Mac said. "Bring it up Andrea."

....

Five minutes later, Mac poured the contents onto a tarp and sifted through them. "This diamond is worth a couple of thousand dollars. I see nothing else of any value here. Who wants to go next?"

Knute Krakul was the next designated collector. He was a little more successful, but not by much.

Bausch Schnappe took the last turn. His turn at rotating the compartment was cut very short.

"That's full weight now," Mac said.

"Why so quick," Bausch asked.

"I think it means that you picked up a big one."

Well that news prompted the company executive to come over and everybody peered at the debris as it poured onto the tarp. One piece of debris landed with a thump.

"Oh my goodness," Mac exclaimed. "I've never seen a diamond so big before."

Well, actually she had seen a bigger diamond the very first time that William, TG and Wolf had started mining for diamonds. In comparison to those, this catch was only moderately big. But, they couldn't throw a bigger diamond down the empty shaft that morning because the shaft was so narrow."

"Test it," Jock said.

"Impurities confirmed," Jilly said after peering through a magnifying glass.

"Specific gravity right where it should be," Andrea confirmed after putting the diamond in a container of water and fiddling with some switches.

Andrea reverentially put the diamond in Bausch's hand. "You are now holding a diamond that is worth anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 depending on how a jeweler wants to cut it."

"Pictures," Stanley boomed in excitement and everybody had a turn holding the diamond.

"Keepsakes," TG reminded Mac who went to the copter and brought out three leather pouches with long drawstrings.

"This one is for you, Llewellen," she said as she dropped the smallest diamond into the bag with drawstrings, pulled it closed, and lowered the drawstring over his head.

"Pictures," Stanley reminded and Mac and Llewellen had to repeat the ceremony.

The second diamond went into the pouch that ended up hanging around Knute's neck, as recorded for posterity.

The third pouch had the biggest diamond and that went around Bausch's neck. Again a picture was taken for posterity, or at least for distribution within the Wilizy family.

"Gentlemen," Jock drew a close to the ceremonies. "Each of you has a diamond that is yours to test and to keep. Go to somebody you trust. The luck of the draw wasn't very kind to Llewellen and Knute. But after testing them, you can determine how you want to handle the sale of these diamonds. You have until Friday at 4 pm to bring the money that you offered us to our offices in Loveland. We will post these pictures in the boardroom of our offices where everybody in the company can see them."

### # # # # # # # #

The Four Corners Casino truly was impregnable for crooks to rob. Mortal crooks that is. Not devils from Hell. Not even devils from Halifax, which many people in Dartmouth across the water from Halifax think is Hell. Early Thursday morning, DBBLYN simply walked into the casino's highly secure basement counting facility and walked into the vault.

DBBLYN came into the blackness of the basement as a blob of darkness in case cameras might be around. But he hadn't detected any in his scouting trip, and the casino had very kindly described its security system and had not indicated that there were any surveillance cameras. Nevertheless, there was no point in taking risks, at least not outside the vault. That is why he was wearing his mask and his usual concealing garments. The heat that was generated from inside those garments didn't bother him. Devils are reptilian after all. But the clothes did have the potential to make him clumsy. Clumsiness would be bad. He had some precision work to do.

As his previous client had done, the casino had stacked its money in neat bundles inside containers inside the vault ready for pick up. DBBLYN counted out the appropriate number of bundles, stashed them into a large-sized duffle bag, and walked through the vault wall and another wall to leave the building. He returned with the components of what would become his surprise package for the casino owners.

When Meghan was devising her surprise, she had naturally conducted research. In this case, the research was to learn how to burn a lot of paper in a sudden fire. She found out that flour was very dangerous.

That's right. Flour. As in everyday flour that is used to make bread and pastries. You can't put a bowl of flour on your counter and stick a lit match into it. The match will probably go out. But if flour dust were floating in the air, and if an open flame met that powder, the air would explode. That explosion in turn would burn anything that was flammable in the immediate area.

Here's what DBBLN did.

First, he carried all of his supplies into the vault by walking though the wall.

Second, he opened up all but one of the remaining containers that held the stacks of money, undid the stacks, and loosened that money so that it would burn freely if lit.

Third, he emptied two large sacks of flour onto the floor.

Fourth, he exited the vault and borrowed two portable electric powered fans from the counting room and brought them into the vault. He had spotted a lot of rotating fans in his first visit. The basement counting facility had no windows because that would have been a security risk. They also had doors to the upper levels that were always closed, for security reasons. They had many staff in the area and they were always busy. This generated heat in a closed and unventilated area. The casino took pity on their staff by allowing them to come up to the main floor regularly to cool off. Meghan had seen them wiping the sweat off their faces in her mortal scouting trip. The casino also provided the staff with electric rotating fans in the counting area.

Fifth. In DBBLYN's initial scouting trip, DBBLYN had seen what he expected. An electric light blub inside the vault. If you were going to take items out of the vault, it would be handy if you had a light to see by. If a switch for that light bulb was on the inside wall or on a nearby outside wall, somebody entering the vault would use that switch to turn the bulb on and off. He found no such switch. That meant that opening the vault would automatically turn on the light. Closing the vault door would turn it off. The casino had very correctly made sure that electricity wouldn't be wasted if somebody forgot to turn the light off when they left the vault. That made DBBLYN's booby trap easier to set up.

Sixth, light bulb sockets can be easily converted to a three-plug power outlet. DBBLYN removed the light and inserted such an outlet.

Seventh, DBBLYN plugged two fans into the overhead power outlet.

Eighth, DBBLYN also plugged in a timer that was set for 15 seconds.

Ninth, DBBLYN connected that timer to two electric wires. When that time ran out, electricity would run down those two wires and normally a closed electrical circuit would turn something on, like a third electrical fan. But, these wires had been tampered with. Meghan had removed insulation from both wires at a spot where the wires were touching each other. That meant that when those 15 seconds ran out, the electricity would run down those wire and a short circuit spark would flash into the air and ignite the flour dust swirling around the vault from the two rotating vans. That ignition would char all of the paper money lying open. The casino would lose almost all of the cash that was left after their tax money had been removed. This loss would hurt them badly. It would bankrupt them if they hadn't deposited some of their money elsewhere.

Tenth. I mentioned that the casino would lose almost all of their cash. Here's why they wouldn't lose it all. DBBLYN took the container of cash that he had set aside, walked through the still-closed vault door, and put it on the floor. He put the following letter under the container.

_Dear Four Corners Casino owners: I have removed cash from this vault that totals the amount of money that you owe in taxes to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. You will receive a receipt for your tax payment in due course. I have also placed a booby trap inside the vault that will incinerate the rest of the money that is stored there if you try to enter the vault. You have only one way to avoid losing the entire contents of your vault. Governor Stookenhap can tell you how to turn off the booby trap. This trap was my idea. He knows nothing about it. If you wish to resume your casino's operations, I'd recommend that you talk with him. Until you do, your casino is effectively shut down._

_Oh, by the way. You might think that I'm bluffing about penetrating your vault and paying your taxes. Why would Colorado be preparing a tax receipt for you right now if I hadn't paid your taxes for you? Go ahead. Contact Governor Stookenhap. Ask him how much in taxes you owe the four governments._

_You might think that I'm bluffing about the booby trap. If I were bluffing, why would I go to the trouble of warning you about it? I could have taken everything you had in that vault. But, I didn't, as you can see from the container of cash in front of you._

_Here's my message to you. Pay your taxes. If I have to come back here again, I'll take everything._

_Signed_

_The Masked Marauder_

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 29

Friday was full of good news for Meghan. The money she took to Denver was picked up as planned. Phone calls had been made as required. The governor had negotiated firmly as suggested. Promises were made and Governor Stookenhap had finally opened the envelope and read out the instructions on how to defuse the bomb enclosed within.

Meghan watched as an electrician and a plumber crawled through the venting that existed between the first floor and the basement of the casino. Using building plans, the electrician found the conduit that supplied electricity to the vault. Electrical conduits like this were built to carry more than one wire. In this case, there was one wire and a lot of empty space. The plumber used a long series of garden hoses to dribble water down that conduit. That water seeped through the light box at the top of the vault and dripped onto the floor below. Those drips would dampen the flour lying on the vault floor so that it couldn't be blown into the air. Thirty minutes later, they exited from the crawl space, gave a thumbs up the casino executives, who instructed two nervous men with bare feet to open the vault. Nothing burst in flame. But they did discover that the Masked Marauder hadn't been bluffing. Meghan PUS'd to Cleveland, collected her reward, PUS'd to Denver, deposited her money, and went home happy and much wealthier than she had been the day before.

### # # # # # # # #

Also on Friday, three brand new mining executives brought several suitcases of cash to the board room of the Rocky View Panorama resort hotel. Mac was there to count it and record it as fully paid. She then signed three certificates that showed each man now held a certain number of non-voting shares in the Colorado Mining Development Company. She passed all three certificates through a crimped-sealing machine that made the certificates look very realistic. In truth, the sealing machine was worth more than those shares.

The number of shares that each of the rancher held depended on how much each he had contributed. All three had contributed as much as they could, as far as the Swiss Guards' bank accounts and their investment accounts revealed. Sandy didn't know if they held other money elsewhere or if they had money at home. She did know that each of them had mortgaged their ranch houses and property to the hilt. That meant that the bank would own their houses and property if they couldn't pay off the mortgages. Each had given themselves one or two months of cash to handle expenses until the diamonds that now were figuratively pouring out of the mine could be sold.

Mac paid today's boardroom rental in cash, checked that she had left nothing behind, and flew to Montana. There she gave the money to Stu who would use it fund anonymous scholarships for women trying to enter Colorado's legal profession. Meanwhile, Wolf and TG were removing all signs that a mine might have existed in that area and they then flew to Montana to join in the celebrations.

Everybody joined in on a night of festivities that included William's fireworks. This was the last of a multi-year series of operations to remove the DCA cancer from the Colorado government. The three DCA ranchers were bankrupt; they just didn't know it yet.

The only Wilizy who didn't attend was Winnie. They had tried to find her, but she had disappeared. Everybody else was very happy.

### # # # # # # # #

"I had an interesting query this afternoon," Boris said to Fido as they were sitting down to dinner.

"What query was that?" Fido asked this between fork lifts.

_[I won't continue to describe them putting food into their mouths. This is dinner time. Pretend that the food is appearing magically in their mouths and they are chewing with their mouths closed before talking.]_

"One of my customers wanted to know if I could do a health check on his entire herd. He'd have his hands bring them all in to the transport pens."

"Do you do this kind of thing often?"

"Not often in normal circumstances. It's a common request when a buyer might have a concern about the health of the herd."

"Are any cow diseases floating around?"

"No. He's trying to sell his entire herd. A health certificate will help him do that. People will wonder why he's selling the herd. The certificate will reassure them."

"I would wonder too. Why's he selling?"

"I don't know, but I do know that we can make a lot of money in a very short time if you were to help me. I'd tell you what to look for. It won't be difficult. He's anxious for a quick result. He told me that the cost for my time would not be a problem."

"So you'd have to go to this guy's ranch and work there?"

"Yeah. He's not going to bring the herd to me."

Boris hadn't noticed that Fido's fork had stalled out in mid-lift.

"What's this guy's name?"

"Knute Krakul. He's a prosperous rancher but times are tough now. I guess he's leaving the business. I figure eight hours of work for each of us would do it."

Boris had his head down and didn't notice that Fido's face was now blood free, meaning that she and Casper the Ghost would make a lovely couple.

"I can't."

Head down, Boris responded with a little peeve in his voice. "I don't ask you for help very often, Fido. This is a simple thing. Listen to a heartbeat, check the mouth, look at the hide, and lift the feet. Simple."

"I can't. I just can't." The gust of wind caused by Fido rushing out of the room brought Boris' head up but too late to see her face. He grumped his way through dinner and left his plate on the table. She'd have to take it to the sink herself.

### # # # # # # # #

It was 9 pm. Boris was in the living room, stewing up a storm. The dishes weren't done yet. The table hadn't even been cleared. She was supposed to clean up because he had cooked. Hearing a gentle feminine cough, he looked up to find Fido at the door, dressed to go outside. Three suitcases were by her feet.

"I'll sleep in the copter tonight. I'll walk to your neighbour and hitch a copter ride tomorrow morning. It's too dark now. Thank you for taking me in. I'm sorry."

"Why are you leaving?"

"Because you're going to hate me. You won't want me in your house."

"Why would I hate you?"

"Because I have to tell you something that I've been hiding from you. I've been deceiving you. I'm sorry for doing that to you. You didn't deserve that. I'm very, very sorry."

Red teary eyes revealed that Fido was telling the truth.

### # # # # # # # #

My readers already know what Dolly is about to share, so let's skip that part. She started with her childhood and didn't slow down until she reached the day that she ran into Boss Schnappe. By this time, Boris had convinced her to at least take her coat off. Since then, she had been sitting on the edge of the rocking chair, spewing her guts out and weeping the whole time.

Boris waited for her to end her story. "Knute?"

"One of my clients. He's a very close friend with the man who tried to kill me. If he saw me, he'd tell him for sure."

"Who was the man who tried to kill you?"

"Boss Schnappe."

"Why did he want to kill you?"

"I don't know. He was taking me up to his ranch and I was going to stay for a bit. I gave him a discount because I was feeling sorry for him. He said he wanted to have sex right away, so we landed, I undressed, and he did what he wanted to do. Then, he shot me."

"Did he say anything?"

"No. He looked at me like I was vermin though. He had never done that before."

"And you believe he'll try again?"

"If he knows that I'm alive, sure. He tried to kill me. He believes that I could put him in jail, but I can't. No judge would believe me. I'm a whore. He's the richest cattleman in Colorado. He doesn't have anything to fear from me. But he'll kill me to be sure. And, he'll kill you too if he finds you with me."

Boris stood up, turned, and walked quickly out of the room.

Dolly waited for a bit but he didn't return. She wiped her eyes, stood up and put her coat back on. She was lifting one of her suitcases when Boris re-appeared.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Leaving like I said I would."

"A judge will believe you."

"You don't understand how whores are treated. I am the lowest of the low. I am subhuman vermin."

"I have a spent bullet here that says otherwise."

"What bullet?"

"The bullet that almost killed you. I dug it out of the soil you were lying on when I picked you up. I'm not sure why I did that. I put it somewhere and forgot about it. Had to hunt. Please don't go."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 30

"Found you!" Paula exclaimed. "What'cha doing?"

"Looking at all the colours," Winnie said. "Arthur and I camped here for a couple of days. It was very peaceful. Who told you I was here?"

"Lillian."

"I think she put a GPS locator inside my body. Whatever. I don't care what Lillian does or says any more."

"Why is that?"

"Long Beach."

"The story she and Joe-Joe told about their operation?"

"Yes. I hadn't realized that angels could live that long and still be as young as they seem to be. Arthur is a really young angel compared to how old they are. And they don't look old. Perhaps 50 years old in human terms?"

"I liked how they snuggled together and then left for the sailing ship."

"I did too. That made her seem human. When she's being Lillian, she's simply doing her job. I'd keep my plans as secret as I could too if I were her. I'd lie too if it meant saving lives."

"Do you think they're lovers? They sure looked like it."

"They can't be."

"Why's that?"

"I know somebody who was working on angel bodies as part of a job and she said that angels don't have any baby making equipment. She was building the bodies, so she would know."

"They have been together for over seven hundred years and they still cuddle."

"But, they can't have babies," Winnie pointed out.

"I guess that's not important to them."

"It would be important to me."

"Really?"

"Yes. I've always wanted babies and a big family. Like Mom and Dad."

"You're young. You'll have lots of time to have babies."

"Not if I stay in Heaven. When would I meet a husband if I'm always doing operations for Lillian?"

"Arthur?"

"I like Arthur and he likes me. But he's an angel. There are no babies in any future I'd have with him."

"I thought you might have been upset with Arthur at the beach party. I was trying to make room for you to sit next to him so you could sort it out."

"I saw that. I was a little angry with him, but I didn't want to ruin the mood. So I left."

"Why? Because he can be a slobby teenage male?"

"I was going to get on him about cleaning up after himself in the kitchen. And not being such a glutton. And.... well other things. But, what's the point. The longer I stay in a relationship with Arthur, the harder it will be to break it off. That's the advice my bachelor brother who has no girl friend gave me. He's right. I have no future with Arthur in spite of some chemistry."

"Chemistry?"

"Don't ask."

"What brother?"

"Reese. I don't think you know him. He's hardly ever around."

"Is that why you're here staring at a wall of colour, Winnie? Are you not sure how to break up with Arthur."

"I know how. But that would mean I'd have to quit working for Heaven. I don't want to do that."

"I'm sure Lillian can put you on different operations. Arthur and I worked alone on the Duke of Earl operation."

"If she did put me on separate operations, when would I meet my mortal husband to be?"

"I think I see. You really want to work here, but the babies are more important to you. That means you have to leave Heaven. Is it possible that you could give up on that dream? Not everybody finds raising babies fulfilling. You might not either. I know you like to have intellectual challenges. Wiping babies' bums is not intellectually stimulating."

...

"I could give up on that, I suppose. All my older sisters and sisters-in-law are raising kids. Dreamer is planning to start a family soon. Perhaps I'm the one that doesn't have kids. I could be an auntie with a big family that lend me their kids from time to time. But there's another reason I have to leave Heaven."

...

"Are you hesitating because you don't want to tell me? That's OK."

"Major family secret, Paula. You can't tell anybody."

"I can do that."

"Reese is a year and half older than me and has always felt it was his duty to protect me. I was the baby in the family and he was my guardian angel, if you like. He's continued to do that even though I carry lethal weaponry and fly in and out of Hell. He's always there for me. I can't hurt him. I just can't hurt him, Paula."

"Why would you continuing to work for Heaven hurt him?"

"Reese has some unique abilities that allow him to perceive things that very few humans have been able to do. Those abilities came into play one time when he saw Lillian in a mortal body. He has also seen Arthur in a mortal body. He knows, he absolutely knows that Lillian and Arthur aren't human. He thinks that Lillian and Arthur are extraterrestrial beings who are keeping an eye on earthlings to see if we belong in the cosmos. They call themselves _The Cops of the Cosmos._ "

"Could you ask Lillian for advice?"

"Lillian doesn't know anything about family relationships and how close humans can be. Angels don't have families."

"Can you talk Reese out of it?"

"I have tried to dissuade him from his belief in extraterrestrials, but he was sure of what he saw. He warned me that I shouldn't have anything more to do with Arthur. He told me that Arthur's real body might have four eyeballs on stalks, six fingers, four stomachs, and a tail. He will want to protect me if I show up on Earth with Arthur. If he sees another agent from Heaven, he will be convinced that extraterrestrials are everywhere and he will try to protect me."

"Like me?"

"I don't know if he will perceive your real self or not. Best that you never are in the same room with him."

"So he tries to protect you but why don't you tell him emphatically that you don't need his protection. Will he back off?"

"Definitely not. He'll tell Mom and Dad about how unsafe I am. At some point, Lillian will hear about these extraterrestrials. Reese has a loose mouth. He could unknowingly reveal Heaven's secret existence. She can't have that. She'll wipe his memories and take away his powers."

"Oh."

"The only thing that Reese has going for him right now are his special powers. He spends all of his time trying to understand them and learn more about them. He has nothing else in his life. No girl friend. No close relationship with anybody else. Losing his powers will kill him."

"I understand why you're staring at a wall of colours."

"Sometimes I get ideas on unusual ways to solve problems. I've been waiting for a bright idea to strike. I have two days left in my leave. By Monday, I have to find a way to work for Heaven, continue to have my own family life, have babies with some human who doesn't have eyeballs on stalks and doesn't mind that I can see everything he's thinking, and keep Reese safe."

"Would your bright idea come to you more easily if you were thinking about something else?"

"It might. But I can't think of anything else. I've tried but I can't."

"I came here to tell you that your family was looking for you. They have a project they'd like you to do. That might take your mind off Reese and Arthur."

"I can't take on anything else right now, Paula. My brain is fried."

"That's fine. They have a back up they can go to if you aren't able to make it home."

"Good. TG and his drones?"

"No. Liset has volunteered to take your place."

_[That was a lie. Yes, ghosts can lie.]_

"Let's go."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 31

This is Molly Moonblossom reporting from Denver, Colorado. Today I bring you a remarkable story of what happens when crooks con crooks. Our story begins in North Carolina five years ago when a criminal gang of women set out to make themselves wealthy by stealing from other crooks. Their idea was that if they were successful, the victimized crooks could hardly go to the law and complain.

Stealing is perhaps the wrong word. They _conned_ their victims into believing that they could make huge amounts of money by breaking the law. Being crooks, that naturally appealed to them. It also meant that a lot of secrecy would be involved in the con. This would be ideal for setting a trap, conning the victim, closing the trap, and leaving with the money. Their first scam was in Charlotte, North Carolina and it was successful.

North Carolina authorities were not impressed. They set up a small task force based out of Charlotte to find and arrest the gang that they now were calling the _Charlotte Scammers_. I spoke recently with two of their agents. To keep their identities secret, I'll refer to them simply as Agent A and Agent B.

Agent A is a woman of Japanese descent. She is young, and when she's not pursuing criminals, she is at home with her husband raising her young boy. In their pursuit of the criminals, the two agents adopt disguises so that they can actually get close to the quarry. In their time in Colorado, she posed as a security guard. Agent B is an expert in disguise. In Colorado, she presented herself as an elderly Texan woman of vast wealth. She's actually a beautiful young mother of three.

In Colorado, the scam was this. The Charlotte Scammers posed as miners and targeted three Colorado men who were very wealthy but who also had a background of shady dealings. They started mining on their property in a legal manner. They found ridiculous reasons to expose their bodies to the men who were curious as to what they were doing. Using the promise of being able to see even more of their bodies, the women started passing on lies about their business. They revealed that they had advanced technology that could find diamonds hidden far below in the rock of the mountains. Enormous wealth would follow because nobody else could find the diamonds and extract them. They showed the men that the exploration mines they were drilling were finding diamonds. Those diamonds were real but they had been purchased months ago. The Charlotte Scammers planted them in a fake mine that was about six feet deep.

The victims of the scam never realized the mines were fakes. They believed the stories that the women drillers told them. They believed that their mining company didn't have enough money to finish drilling their mines. They were going broke. Equipment was breaking down. Oh my, what can we do? Boo Hoo!

The women tantalized these three men with the idea that they could become silent partners in their diamond business. Yes, it was illegal for them to do this according to Colorado law, but there was a way to get rich any way. It was a secret way so that the law could not find them. They might have added, "This offer is only available to gullible crooks."

The three men fell for it. But they naturally wanted to see the mountain mine in operation and they wanted proof that it could produce diamonds. To add pressure to the three stooges, the women sent out requests for other illegal investors to come and hear about this great opportunity. Three other parties indicated interest. This was an added bonus for the Charlotte Scammers. They decided to expand their con to all of the bidders one at a time. One of the parties bidding was the North Carolina team of agents. They had heard of the con and had managed to travel to Colorado in time to pretend to be interested. They actually had a meeting with the women and their three hired male actors. They submitted a bid for illegal ownership and waited for a response.

Unfortunately, the Charlotte Scammers focused their attention on the three Colorado men. They took them into the mountains where a small mine site was in operation but they used a circuitous route to make sure that it would be impossible for them to find their way back unescorted. The mine that was in operation? It consisted of an old oil derrick and some lose soil that had been dug up. They had salted the mine earlier with an impressive real diamond that they allowed the men to bring to the surface personally. That mine was barely ten feet deep. The three men fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

The three Colorado men paid an enormous amount of money to become illegal partners in an operation that did not exist. Perhaps sensing that the law was closing in on them, the Charlotte Scammers have now disappeared. I don't know the identity of the three stooges that were bamboozled, but I suspect they're feeling very stupid about now. Also, they're feeling very poor. When I spoke to Agents A and B, they were philosophical about their near miss. "It's hard to catch them," Agent A explained. "Men become so stupid when a woman flashes a naked body at them. It's like their brains become disconnected. Anybody with any sense would have known that the mines the women were drilling were not mines."

Before leaving Colorado, Agents A and B briefed Governor Stookenhap on their near miss and how the crooks had used Colorado's new mining venture to scam money from other crooks. I was at the meeting and I spoke with Governor Stookenhap afterwards.

"I find it hard to be too concerned about what happened to these three men," the governor stated. "I know about these three. They amassed their huge wealth by trickery, deceit and illegal means. They victimized a lot of Colorado people in the process. As far as I'm concerned, losing their wealth to other criminals is a form of justice that I applaud. The state of Colorado is better off now that these three men have lost everything."

"Will you be pursuing the Charlotte Scammers, Governor?"

"They've left the state, Molly. We have no jurisdiction. I would say this though to the Colorado people. Mining in Colorado is an industry that can be successful. We have created laws that will provide capital funding for legitimate companies. Do not let this unfortunate incident colour your opinions on the potential of that industry."

"Would you say this to the fine people of Colorado: _If something is too good to be true, it's probably not true._ "

"I couldn't have said it any better, Molly."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 32

Molly's report circulated quickly through Colorado's media, including the neighbour-to-neighbour gossip channels. The most overwhelming reactions was to try and figure out the identities of the three idiots that had been bamboozled. That investigative effort played out rather quickly at the kitchen table of a certain vet.

"Knute Krakul has to be one of them," Fido argued.

"I agree. That's why he was selling all of his herd. Bausch has to be one of them too."

"Why?"

"Because Molly spoke about immense wealth. Bausch is the wealthiest of all the ranchers."

_[It's interesting how people can identify with celebrities that think and act they way you'd want them to. They call them by their first name as thought they were intimate friends. They do that because they identify with them. Molly Moonblossom had made quite the impression on Coloradoans with her announcement of the back taxes being applied to people who had been cheating on their taxes. That news was very popular among Coloradoans who paid their taxes, meaning almost all of Colorado. They were willing to ignore her brownhood. This was something that she couldn't help. Deep down, she was a 'good ol' gal'. So that meant that around Colorado, people were saying 'Molly's done it again.' She was one of the people. She was Molly, not that 'brown reporter.']_

"Plus, Bausch is very close friends with Krakul."

"The third idiot is probably a rancher," Boris started. "I don't know any ranchers other than these two."

"It's probably Paup. Llewellen Paup. They are very close friends."

...

"I know you want to ask. So ask," Fido said. "Remember we promised to be open about my past life."

"Was he...."

"Was he a client of mine? Say the words."

"Was he a client of yours?"

"Yes, he was. All three of them were. I believe the fact that I was one quarter aboriginal drew them to me. I was forbidden fruit. They wanted everybody to know that forbidden fruit wasn't forbidden to them."

"Everybody knew?"

"Everybody in the Denver Cattlemen's Association knew. They were men; of course they exchanged information about who they were sleeping with."

"You didn't mind?"

"Being part aboriginal was a lie, but it also was a great marketing tool. Sally thought it up. Besides, I had my own little revenge on how they treated me."

"What?"

"I had a nick name for the three of them. It was something very silly, but it made me laugh about who they were and how they were repulsed by my brown blood."

"What nick name?"

"Do you remember the name of that cereal that made noises when you ate it."

"That was Rice Krispies. You still see signs about it in old places."

That's what I called them."

"You called them _Rice Krispies_?"

"No I called them _Snap, Crackle and Pop_ after the little goofy cartoon characters in their ads."

"Huh?"

Schnappe, Krakul and Paup. I'd picture the stupid little cartoon character in my mind when I had appointments with one of them."

"Funny."

"Whores do have a sense of humour you know."

"I wish you wouldn't refer to yourself that way."

"I'll stop when you stop flinching when I say the word."

"I have just thought up a certifiably bright idea."

"You're going to buy some Rice Krispies?"

"No. We agree that Boss has been conned and robbed. In vet terms, he has been de-clawed. He's lost his wealth, which means he's lost his power. We should confront him, show him the bullet, and warn him that if anything happens to you or to me, that bullet will put him in prison. We could put everything we know on paper and give it to a lawyer."

"I'd be safe. I'd be able to come out of hiding."

"Exactly."

"He's still dangerous."

"So, we take some guns with us to protect ourselves when we confront him."

"I wouldn't mind retrieving my purse. It has all my ID."

"We should go up to Hereford today while he's still digesting Molly's column."

### # # # # # # # #

"I don't think he's here," Fido said. "The front door is wide open."

"Nobody answered when you called," Boris observed. "I don't see any of the hands."

"He's gone. I'm going to look inside for my purse."

"I'll go around the back and check the barn. You should take the rifle in case he is inside."

"That will leave you with the pistol which you said has accuracy only up to one foot."

"It's only useful for putting animals down. I won't need it. He doesn't know me so why would he harm me? He knows you. Take the rifle."

"OK, but I'm only staying inside until I find my purse."

### # # # # # # # #

Boris found the back yard equally empty of any signs of life. He could see cattle grazing in the distance; somebody would have to arrange to sell them. For now, they could continue to graze. Water might be an issue. Boris moved towards the transportation pens to see if they had any water troughs. That brought him closer to an empty copter transport which on approach provided a pungent smell. Curious, he looked inside.

"Get away from that copter," a voice ordered.

Boris was going to back away from the smell anyway, so he did as the voice wanted. He turned to see who was talking to him. Boss.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm a vet. One of your neighbours was worried that those cattle needed help."

_[So....., that's not exactly what Boris and Fido had talked about doing. Boris had discovered a smelly reason for changing the plan.]_

"That's none of their business. Get off my property." Boss was standing at the entrance to his barn. It appeared as though he was dressed for a normal workday, if that workday required him to have a gun hanging off a gun belt. Boris' gun was lodged in the inside pocket of his denim jacket.

"I'll leave," Boris said. He turned and slipped his jacket off, hung it on a finger, and draped it over his back. "Sure is hot today," he remarked. In removing his jacket, he jostled the pocket enough to know that the gun would come out without getting caught in the lining. The gun wasn't in a perfect position, but it was better than before. Mind you, the gun was useless, but Bausch didn't know that. Yet.

"I have a question," Boris turned and tried to look casual. "I noticed that your copter was full of manure. Were you planning to transport it somewhere?"

"Yeah, it's going somewhere."

"Well, my wife is very much into gardening and she'd love to have some manure. Could we buy that load off you?"

"No, it's spoken for."

"I'm sure she'd be willing to pay you more than your other customer. I'd be happy to compensate your other customer. Who is it?"

"It's spoken for. I'm delivering it today. Right now as a matter of fact." Boss started moving to the copter.

Boris did the same. He switched the jacket so that he was holding it by the collar. That was better. "I noticed something else when I was smelling your copter. Are you sure the manure you're selling doesn't contain something else? I'm trying to place the smell. Did you notice it too?"

"Don't go any further!" Bausch's holster was empty. His hand wasn't.

"That mixture you have in that copter could be dangerous for you. It's not something that I would want in a copter with me."

Boris edged forward a few steps. Bausch's hand was steady. He looked normal. _Question: How do you recognize a crazy person? Answer: After that crazy person has done something crazy. Up to then, they can appear normal._

"Krakul and Paup took their families and will be out of state by noon. They left everything behind. They had to leave after that Moonblossom creature spread all those lies. I have no family so I have no reason to leave."

"I remember reading about those lies. Suicide isn't the answer."

Boris accomplished a few more steps. His intention was not to get close enough for his gun to work. For that, he'd have to be nose to nose with Boss. He wanted to get close enough so that he could fling his weighted jacket to distract him. That copter was a flying bomb. The only thing left to determine was who would be on the receiving end of that bomb. Boris didn't need that answer right now. He did need to sneak closer.

"If I wanted to commit suicide, I'd use my gun for that."

"I know about you, Boss and I admire you. You're the biggest, most powerful rancher ever. How you managed to do that is beyond me. When you were in control of the state, everything worked like it should. People were happy. The government was happy. Ranchers are the backbone of this state. Without ranchers, we'd be nothing. You did that. Now, the government is pushing ranchers into bankruptcy and they're giving away money to people who want to mine for diamonds. Why would they do that?"

"Stookenhap did that."

"You're right. He forced out the old government and put his cronies into power. They'll do anything he says. Didn't I hear that he went to prison for corruption?"

"He got back in power and he's been after the Denver Cattlemen's Association ever since."

"Not the DCA? Surely not that. The DCA is historic. They're heroes to people like me in the state."

"He has destroyed everything I've built. I'm going to destroy his mansion along with everybody in it."

_Question: What's another way to recognize a crazy person? Answer: When they reveal that they intend to blow up an entire building with a bomb. That's usually a reliable sign._

"And so you should," Boris continued talking very softly and persuasively. "But not with a bomb. He won't see it coming. You want Stookenhap to see his death coming. What you should do is go gunman on gunman, like in the good old days. Picture this. You're walking down Colfax Avenue with your gun holstered. Stook is coming towards you. He's got a gun, but he's never used it before. Did you know that? Stookenhap was a sheriff who was afraid to pull his gun. Denver people are in the buildings, cheering you on. You can hear their calls of support. Stook is getting worried because he knows that you are an excellent shot. You're calm. You draw quickly and your gun clears the holster cleanly. He's still pulling on the handle of his gun. You know exactly where your first shot will go."

...

"Where will your first shot go, Boss?"

"Belly."

"Great choice. He'll suffer like he should. Do you see the bullet hit him?"

"Yeah."

"What's happening now?"

"He's bending over, clutching his stomach. Blood is spouting through his fingers.

"Great! Now's the perfect time for the second shot. Describe it for me, Bausch. I want to be there with you."

"He's bending over. I don't have a clean shot at his face, but his head..."

Bausch wasn't able to finish describing where his shot was going because a weighted jacket obscured his vision. By the time, he had thrown it aside, Boris was attacking ... the copter.

Boris' gun was useless at a distance, but if he could climb into the cockpit of the copter, he could put that gun up against some vital equipment and put that copter down for good.

Boss managed five shots. The first two were wildly inaccurate because he thought a crazy man was charging him. The crazy man was charging in a different direction. His third shot missed to the right; his fourth shot missed to the left; his fifth shot didn't miss.

Boss stepped into the copter and the rotors began to turn.

"BORIS!"

This screech from the house was matched with another screech.

"BOMB IN THE COPTER! SHOOT HIM DOWN!

Boris heard no shot as the wheels cleared the ground. Had she put the rifle down somewhere?

Boris heard no shot as the copter banked and headed west over the prairie. It would fly parallel to the house for a few seconds.

And that was when Fido demonstrated that she really did know how to shoot varmints. For example, if you shoot a prairie dog too early, the dead dog will fall back into its hole and fall out of reach. It's best to wait until the prairie dog is clear of its home before shooting it. It was the same with rancher varmints. If she shot too early, the falling copter and/or the explosion of the bomb would kill Boris. If she shot later, she could down it like a prairie partridge. And that's what she did.

The copter fell, the bomb exploded, and Bausch Schnappe was toast. Literally and figuratively too. Bausch Schnappe's soul was on its way to the great cow pie in the sky, or to a destination further south.

### # # # # # # # #

Fido had shot the copter from an upstairs window. In her panic, it took her far too much time to reach Boris. She knew that he had been hit hard enough to knock him to the ground. She had seen blood. She was ripping off her shirt and tearing long strips off it as she ran. _Tourniquet, if necessary. Blood control, if not._

Boris was lying on his back when she skidded to a stop and fell to her knees. She saw dark black blood on his thigh. No pumping blood though. This was good.

Boris heard her saying, "Shoo, shoo, shoo."

"What are you doing," he moaned.

"I'm trying to get one of your black cats off your thigh so that I can treat it. Stupid thing must have hitched a ride in the copter."

Boris had enough strength to lift himself up on his elbows and peer at his wound. "That's not my cat," he said and then collapsed back onto the prairie.

The cat hissed and showed its teeth when Fido tried once again to look at the wound.

"I'm not going anywhere near that creature," Fido declared but Boris had gone nighty-night.

### # # # # # # # #

Fido and the cat established an uneasy truce. She would stay away from Boris and the cat wouldn't claw her to death. She was allowed to soak a strip of her shirt in water and place it on his lips. She could drip water into his mouth if she wanted to, but Boris didn't seem to be feverish so she only did it once. She was allowed to examine the ground around Boris' leg and she found the spent bullet. That meant that she wouldn't need to probe around inside his leg for a bullet. She didn't know what else to do and the cat was obviously putting pressure on the wound.

"I'm going up to the house to find my things and locate some bandages. Do you mind?"

The cat yawned and went back to sleep.

### # # # # # # # #

Boris was stirring when the cat lifted itself off his thigh and meowed. Fido began cutting away his pants around the wound and didn't notice it disappearing. Boris woke at about the same time.

"How long?" he asked.

"Thirty minutes about. Are you thirsty?"

"A little."

"Suck on this."

She grabbed the cloth strip and pulled it away when he tongue pushed it out of his mouth.

"More?"

"No. Wound?"

"Bullet went all the way through. You haven't lost much blood because the cat stopped that. Do you remember the cat being here?"

"I thought it was a dream."

"No dream. I'm ready to tie these cloth strips over the wound so that the scab won't rip open when you move. Is that alright?"

"Yes. There'll be fragments of my jeans in the wound but we can deal with that back at the clinic. I'm fine for now."

How are we going to move you into the copter?"

"I have one good leg. Can you get the rifle for a crutch."

"It's already here."

Boris was sitting up when the cat returned carrying something in its mouth. A mouse perhaps? It looked at Boris sitting up, smelled the wound and dropped the mouse on the ground in between Boris and Fido.

"What is that?" Boris asked.

"I think it's a charred mouse."

"Thanks, Cat. I'll save it for dessert."

"Really?"

"Cats sometimes deposit their kills in front of the human that they allow to feed them. It doesn't look like a mouse to me."

...

"It's a charred pouch I believe," Fido brushed some ashes away. "Used to be leather. The drawstring looked like a tail. Something is inside."

"What?"

"This big honking diamond."

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 33

Several days later. Boris was lying in his former bed, not doing much of anything. Recuperating required that. Fido came in, plopped herself on the empty side of the bed, kicked her shoes off, and curled up.

"Do you mind?" she asked. "I'm not used to wearing heels again and my feet hurt."

"S'alright."

"This pillow is too flat to be comfortable." She raised his arm and scooted underneath. "Your chest is just right."

"I have a Goldilocks chest. Purple chest actually."

"I'm not ready for sex yet."

"Good. I wouldn't want you to think I was easy."

"I'll be ready in time. How's the leg?"

"Much better since you put your head on my chest. Not sure why that is. Last anatomy book I looked at said the two weren't directly connected."

"I checked with the two jewelers in Laramie that you told me about," Fido said. "It's a real diamond."

"Did they give you a value?"

"It'll depend on how it is cut. Both were very willing to do that. Call it $40,000."

"What are you going to do with it?" Boris the purple gnome asked.

"What are you going to do with it?" Fido the dog replied with a question of her own. "The cat gave it to you."

"The cat put it down between us," Boris claimed. "It's as much yours as it is mine."

"You should finish buying your neighbour's land with it and build a hospital on it."

"Are you sticking around?"

"If you'll have me. I'll help out more in the clinic. I like being a nurse. I have some money saved that you can have for ambulance copters."

"We could split everything 50-50."

"OK."

...

"I might make a few changes in this bedroom. Would you mind?"

"Nah. I'm not exactly an interior decorator. By a few changes, you mean that everything is going to the dump. Right?"

"Not the floor, walls or ceiling." Fido snuggled in some more and closed her eyes. "This is nice."

### # # # # # # # #

Same place, some contented sighs later.

"I'm going to die my hair purple."

"Why?"

"Colour coordination is a fundamental principle in interior decorating."

"People will think you're out of your mind."

"People can go to Hell for all I care."

...

"Will you lose business because of me?"

"People can go to Hell for all I care."

"If people give us a hard time, I'll run for the School Board."

"That'll teach them."

"Was that a pun?"

"Sort of."

"I don't know anything about puns."

...

"When I run for school board, my slogan will be: _For a really good time at school board meetings, vote for the whore._ "

"Good one. Except it's ex-whore."

"You didn't flinch."

"Probably because you have your arm around me. My mind was on that. I find your manic grip on my body threatening."

"I'm not ready for sex."

"Good."

"In time."

### # # # # # # # #

Same place, some contented sighs later.

"I'm going to go back to calling myself Dolly. Would you mind?"

"I'll make a note that Fido has left the hospital."

"Dolly is who I am. My mom said it was the very first word that I spoke. Are you going to tell me who you are?"

"When I'm not being a gnome, I go by Doug."

"Dolly and Doug. Who would have thought?"

"I thought. First time I saw you on the prairie, I knew you were the one."

"That's sweet. I know about you being the one now."

...

"I'm not ready for sex."

"I'm certainly not ready on the first date. I have a reputation as an untouchable purple freak of nature to maintain."

"I don't think I could stand to have that purple body touch me," Dolly admitted. "Keep it away from me."

...

"This is nice."

"I might be able to tolerate sex with you in time."

### # # # # # # # #

Same place, some contented sighs later.

"I thought that diamond was a fake that one of the Charlotte Scammers had used," Doug admitted.

"Molly said that they put a real diamond in the fake mine. They must have given it to Boss."

...

"I wonder if the Charlotte Scammers were the same people who put the child prostitute into the DCA hotel," Dolly mused.

"What child prostitute?"

"All the DCA members used the hotel to meet up with prostitutes. There were rumours that one of the pimps was supplying a child prostitute. A little aboriginal girl."

"If that were true, it could ruin the DCA's reputation."

"It wasn't a rumour. I saw her once from a distance. Skimpy red dress. She was walking away from me and didn't see me but I got a good look at her. She wasn't a prostitute."

"How could you tell?"

"From the way she walked and carried herself. You learn to read people quickly in my line of work. Former line of work. It was around that time that the DCA began to fall apart. The government people started to disappear."

"Black mail?"

"That what I was thinking too."

"I wonder if that little aboriginal girl could have been working with the Charlotte Scammers to destroy the DCA." Doug pondered.

"Molly said they were all white."

"But Molly is aboriginal. What if she were the child prostitute?"

"Is there a picture of Molly?"

"I don't think so," Dolly replied. "It seems very unlikely that it could be the same group."

"As unlikely as a black cat saving your life on the prairie and then disappearing when you're healthy? As unlikely as the same black cat saving my life, giving us a diamond and then disappearing?"

"Nobody will believe that happened. We can't say anything about that to any body."

### # # # # # # # #

"I'm sleepy," Dolly yawned and admitted. "Would you mind if I crawled inside the covers with you?"

"What time is it anyway? Doug murmured."

"I think it's time," she said.

Back to the Table of Contents

# Chapter 34

Narrator interlude: Present time.

I was slinging on my way to Denver to visit a granddaughter. Fang was slinging next to me and complaining about a tooth that had broken off when he had been chewing a bone. Fang is my wolf and is getting up in years. He's a direct descendent of Patella, but I'm not sure how many generations back that would be. I call all my wolves Fang. It's easier to remember their names that way. You may now rightfully conclude that I was getting up in age too.

Any way...

I was tired of the constant griping. I don't expect Fang appreciated it when I called him a little puddy-tat. I felt bad about that, so I set down in Loveland and asked if they had a vet. I was told to try the D&D Animal Hospital in Fort Collins, which I did.

It was an impressive building. Huge would be an accurate description. I waited in the public reception area while they whisked Fang away. I was told that since he was in pain, they'd fill him up with happy juice, and do some dental surgery immediately. Fang described where he was going, but when he started giggling in my head, I decided to block his messages. You don't want to hear a grown wolf giggling. Trust me on this. It sure destroys the image that you might have of a ferocious wolf. Fang had a habit of snickering from time to time, but outright giggling was over the line. I took a walk around the complex to pass the time. Passers-by were happy to tell me what I was seeing.

I saw three D&D Ambulance copters sitting on a pad. Two stand-alone buildings held large animal operating theatres complete with hoists. Another stand-alone building had four small animal operating theatres. Recovery rooms were in the large main building. Off by itself was a small building that looked like an old house, and that was exactly what it was. But not a house that people were living in.

It was the original converted farmhouse that the founders of the D&D Animal Hospital had lived in. The name "D&D" stood for "Doug and Dolly" or "Dolly and Doug." Apparently, they never told anybody what name came first. Dolly was a prostitute in her early life but became a registered veterinarian after meeting her husband. The museum noted that they never did marry formally. Doug was afflicted by a skin disorder that turned his skin purple. Dolly died her hair purple when they started their new joint venture. I saw a picture of them breaking ground and she actually looked quite good in purple. The skin disorder wasn't genetic so their two sons and daughter appeared in pictures with a normal white skin tone. One son and one daughter worked in the hospital as youths and took over the enterprise when Doug and Dolly were unable to continue. The current owners and managers of the hospital are direct descendants of D&D and they run the biggest animal hospital west of St. Louis.

As I perused their walls of pictures, I was stopped dead in my tracks by two pictures. I've reached the age of never-you-mind and am not easily astounded. That's the only way that I could describe my reaction.

The caption under the first picture stated: "This is the DCA rancher who tried to kill Dolly when she was a prostitute. Doug saved her life. Later, this rancher tried again to kill both of them. Dolly shot him and his copter down. That copter had a fertilizer bomb in it. Dolly shot down the copter and the resulting bomb explosion killed the rancher."

The picture was of Bausch Schnappe. I wasn't directly involved in this Wilizy operation, but everybody knew the main combatants and saw their pictures on the battle board that Mac maintained. This picture was definitely Bausch Schnappe.

The second picture blew my mind.

It showed Doug and Dolly holding a huge diamond and smiling. The caption read: "This is the diamond that Dolly and Doug found lying on the prairie. They used the proceeds of the sale of this diamond to start the D&D Animal Hospital."

### # # # # # # # #

You may be wondering why I would be astounded. After all, I had written about Doug and Dolly in the chapters you've just read. But, you see I hadn't written about them in the book that you didn't read.

When Fang and I had taken off to Denver, I had just finished the book about how the Wilizy had taken down the last three DCA ranchers. As usual, I created the main plot of the story from Wilizy records along with my own recollections. I had titled the book _The DCA Hits the Dirt._ This title was based on how Bausch had died by crashing his own bomb-laden copter into the dirt in front of his deserted ranch house. Death by Suicide was the conclusion of the coroner's inquest that had been requested by the members of the closest Sheriff's department. Mac attended that inquest invisibly and reported back to the rest of us.

**When I wrote** _The DCA Hits the Dirt_ **, I didn't know anything about Doug and Dolly or the interactions they had with Schnappe.**

I did know about the diamond that they found. By this time, the Wilizy had accumulated barrels and barrels of diamonds that were safely stored away for future use. Wolf had taken the pipe that he was planning to use to drill the fake mine in the mountains and had rooted around in those barrels for a diamond that could slide down the shaft. Everybody knew that when they closed the trap, Mac had given Schnappe that diamond and hung it around his neck in a leather pouch. It was a symbolic move on her part. "This is what brought you down, you piece of cattle dung." _[Mac didn't actually use those two words. Censors are cruel, ignorant people.]_

When Mac gave him the diamond, we considered it gone. We didn't want it back. Nobody went through the wreckage of the copter looking for it. The deputies did conduct a through search for evidence about the crash, but they didn't report that they had found a honking big diamond. We certainly wouldn't ask for the diamond back if they had found it. But here was a picture of the lost diamond with its new owners smiling. That diamond actually did some good for somebody. It didn't do any good to the DCA crooks.

I need to repeat this: Nobody in the Wilizy knew anything about Doug and Dolly, what they had done, and how they had become owners of that diamond. This was a story that I had to pursue. The life of a prostitute and a purple man had to be told.

So, I put a big mental "DRAFT #1" on the cover of "The DCA Hits the Dirt," and started TiTr'g. Fang, as always, accompanied me in case something untoward happened, but nothing ever did. William had built in a lot of protection to our time travelling so that we couldn't change the future. I brought Fang along for company. He went hunting while I dropped into Dolly and Doug's life and listened in. I saw every significant thing that happened to them. _[Yes, I was snooping. Why would that surprise you?]_ I slipped stories about Doug and Dolly throughout the first draft. The book you've just read contains those stories. They are an accurate report on Doug and Dolly and how they influenced the future lives of so many people.

You may be wondering how they did that.

If Doug hadn't coaxed Dolly into confronting Bausch, he never would have smelled the fertilizer bomb in Bausch's copter. He never would have tried to prevent Bausch from taking off. The noise of Bausch's handgun brought Dolly to a window where she could see Doug bleeding on the ground and hear his yells to shoot the copter down. If she hadn't gone to Bausch's ranch, she never would have shot him and crashed the copter.

Bausch would have flown to Denver in a lethal copter and he would have crashed it into the governor's mansion as he had vowed to do. Charlie and Sheila Stookenhap would have died along with dozens more people.

Governor Charlie Stookenhap would never have instituted the changes in Colorado that would begin to bring the state out of its white supremacist fanaticism. Governor Sheila Stookenhap would never have finished that transition. Former governor Sheila Stookenhap would never have been elected as the first president of the new Western United State of America republic. All those changes to the states that the Stookenhaps brought to their citizens would have died in that mansion if Dolly and Doug had not gotten together.

When I say that I saw everything, I did see everything.

I saw a black cat lie on Dolly's almost lifeless body and staunch the flow of blood.

I saw a black cat lie on Doug's wound and staunch the flow of blood.

I saw a black cat scrounge through the wreckage of a copter and bring a charred leather pouch containing a diamond to Doug and Dolly.

I saw Doug and Dolly agree to never mention that black cat again. And they never did. There was no mention of it anywhere in that heritage home.

I wonder a lot about that black cat. Perhaps you do too. So, I ask you a question.

**Black cats: lucky or unlucky?**

I know what Dolly and Doug would say. What about you?

Back to the Table of Contents

# Books in the Wilizy series

As of March 2020, the Wilizy series contained twenty-two novels as listed below.

**Book #1: I Got'cha**

If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.

**Book #2: The Get-Even Bird**

Will and Izzy are forced to flee from Zzyk's army. After months away from Alberta, they fly their sailing ship into B.C. thinking that they would be safe there. Bad mistake! Izzy is captured. All Will has to do to save her life is turn himself in for a free brain-band fitting appointment. That's what happens when you wear a Zorro costume to a dance.

**Book #3: Assassination Day**

A DPS technician offers to defect if the Wilizy will rescue his daughter from _The Citadel_ – some super smart military people who are friends with Zzyk. Izzy thinks that their new recruit is an assassin, but Yollie insists that he's a decent man. Can assassins be decent men? It will take a hair-raising experience to find out.

**Book #4: Hoist the Jolly Lucas**

It's bad enough that Zzyk pins the blame for two assassinations on Izzy and launches a full out assault on their home compound. But then, another enemy takes advantage of a security lapse to get revenge for a war that happened 20 years ago. The Wilizy are left reeling with two key members kidnapped and stashed where they can't be found, let alone rescued. For the family to survive, everybody must enter the battle. The story is as much about the past as it is about the present.

**Book #5: Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes** (Yes, this is a Wilizy book.)

Mac disappears and doesn't want to be found. Will and Wolf use time-travel to search for her and discover secrets she wouldn't want them to know. The Alaskans attack when Will is finding out what happens to a submarine's air when it is lying helpless on the ocean floor. Between the Alaskans' impenetrable fortress and their bubblegum weapons, life is going to get a little sticky for the Wilizy.

**Book #6: Bob, the Invisible Dragon**

Raging hormones as well as Raging Gardeners play key roles when young Wilizy warriors are attacked and the Wilizy's scientific marvels offer no protection. The youngsters' future will rely on a different kind of warrior protecting them. Warning: events at the end of the story will move quickly. They certainly won't _drag on_.

**Book #7: Nary, Nary, Quite Contrary**

Theo and Lucas move to Toronto to live on their own. Both meet girls but neither is brave enough to introduce his new friend to the family. They wouldn't have the time anyway, what with villains trying to assassinate them and Voodoo royalty greeting them as though they were Voodoo gods. At the end of the story, Lucas receives a surprise Boxing Day gift that leaves him speechless.

**Book #8: Maddy's a Baddy**

Maddy had escaped from Big Momma only to find herself all alone in the cold and begging for food in Eastern Canada. While she's trying to return to her home in Seattle, the Wilizy have their own problems. Everybody in the family is intent on bringing the judge to justice for what he did to Lucas. It would have been so easy for them to rescue Maddy, but they didn't know anything about her.

**Book #9: Bite Me!**

Spurred on by Marie's desire to eat a meal with her former slave masters, the Wilizy plan to put Safe Haven ranches out of business. In the process, they encounter two foreign assassins intent on abducting Maddy. Theo and Nary become closer but a red-eyed chaperone does not approve. The Wilizy's war with Safe Haven starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.

**Book #10: Wheelchair Moccasins!**

A 13 year old girl pretends to turn to prostitution to gain her freedom from her crime boss father. In Wilizy family news, Winnie agrees not to meddle in Mathias' love life. No, the world isn't ending, so long as you don't have a green vegetable for your name. Best advice ever? If somebody wearing moccasins and sitting in a wheelchair offers to sing you to sleep... run!

**Book #11: Trial by Nick**

After the Scandinavians attack their home base, Winnie develops an idea for defeating Crown Prince Wilhelm that is a dramatic departure from their normal military battles. In their personal lives, the Toronto teenagers have to become schnobs to keep their basketball futures alive, Lucas and Lylah begin dating, and two of EmmaGee's personalities leave her body.

**Book #12. Tickled Pink**

A man uses his unlimited wealth and power to assault women without fear of legal consequences. If they object, he'll humiliate them publicly and ruin their lives. If they don't stand up to him, their lives as they knew them will be over. But how do you fight a man who is above the law? Here's how. The Raging Gardeners help the women while Winnie attacks him where he isn't looking.

**Book #13: Second Base**

Granny and Doc enjoy a spirited life in their new Australian house while Bean has to adjust to her mother joining her in the Wilizy cadet camp. She meets a charming man with country pumpkin witticisms whose entire life is dedicated to becoming a cold blooded killer. Meanwhile, Safe Haven's impenetrable offices aren't as safe as they thought they were.

**Book #14: Old Stone Face**

Bean moves to Toronto with her sheriff who takes a job as a private detective. Before long, he's trying to bring a mad scientist to justice - the same man that Winnie is after. With both the Wilizy and a countrified sheriff after the same man, you'd think he'd be easy to catch. Too bad there are no laws about a mad scientist killing twenty-one babies.

**Book #15: Remember the Halocracy**

Reese finds Annika - his first, and only, girl friend. For reasons that nobody fully understands, he sort of kidnaps her but she willingly accompanies him to the far side of globe. Reese figures out later that she could be trying to seduce him when in fact, she's actually going to try to kill him.

**Book #16: Coffee Can Kill Ya!**

Convincing Paula's brother to give her a proper share of her parents' estate had seemed so easy. Turned out that it wasn't so easy after all. In the Wilizy's defense, murdering extra-terrestrials that tried to kidnap a corpse created unique challenges. To their credit, the Wilizy dealt with those. But, how do you deal with something that you can't see and don't even know exists?

**Book #17: Nice Birthday Party, Governor.**

Plot twists abound as the Wilizy take on the Colorado government and the NORAD military simultaneously. Maddy quits the cadet corp to run a secret operation that ends in a one-on-one battle. Melissa breaks Reese out of jail and Cowboy shows his dramatic talents, which do not include stripping. Winnie directs two dramatic productions but only one of these involves wearing respectable clothes.

**Book #18: The Tale of the Scorpion's Tail**

The Wilizy have to neutralize NORAD's nuclear missiles while defeating their air force without causing any casualties. A special weapon (guided bird poop) will be needed. Meanwhile, Heaven's guardian angels are under attack from within. The key to success? Rescuing a gerbil imprisoned in an escape-proof cage. "Molly Moonblossom" and "Nympho Maniac" play key roles. One of these actors is Winnie.

**Book #19: Brunhilda, the Steamroller.**

Billy Bump resurfaces and plans Maddy's death. Winnie accepts a secret mission but runs afoul of Yolanda, who is sure that she has a boyfriend. Yolanda's vision that Winnie will be attacked comes true. Demonic infiltrators into Heaven escape detection when the steamroller named Brunhilda prosecutes Arthur and finds him guilty. This time, he won't be going back to guardian angel school.

**Book #20: Lock Up Your Corn Starch!**

While Paula, Winnie and Arthur are on a perilous mission for Heaven, the Wilizy family is trying to rescue Charlie and Sheila from prison. Wilizy forces battle demented escaped convicts intent on slaughtering innocent victims to help a brown supremacist politician win an election. If you're intent on going to Hell when you die, be sure to read this book for a preview of what's waiting for you.

**Book #21: The Champion Kisser**

Melissa's Operation Beef Jerky, featuring pragmatic momma cows and flying unbranded calves, goes after a stinky justice. In Hell, Winnie has to deal with a dead pharmacist and an asparagus-shaped devil geek in her operation against the perfume-toting, hog-riding Rat. On her side is a pussy tat named Santa Claws and a junk food eating canary that has a fatal encounter with a loaded frying pan.

**Book #22: Black Cats: Lucky or Unlucky?**

Strange characters abound in this story. You'll meet a woman named Fido, a purple gnome, a mining gal that can make a cowhand vibrate, a safe-cracking masked marauder, a stinker bell, a high wire gymnast afraid of height, three hench-devils, and a devil wearing an Elizabethan ebony doublet, complete with raven black satin breeches and a heart shaped codpiece. Oh yeah. There's also a black cat.

Back to the Table of Contents

# About the Author

David J. Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil.

Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

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