ASYLUM: Chapter 30

 

   We ended up staying an additional ten days, which meant Debra got back to Asylum before we did. It was worth it though. After the Denver Rangers slapped down the ZPGers so hard, they decided to leave, but Denver handled it differently than we did. At Asylum, we allowed anyone who wanted to leave to go and we ended up paying a heavy price when they came back and attacked us. Higgins refused to allow that to happen and basically incarcerated all of the former leadership of the Denver Enclave. 3500 people left, or were invited to leave, and there were no tears lost from those who stayed. Also, a detachment of Denver Rangers followed them and kept meticulous records of where they went and who they contacted along the way.

   With the extra time we were there, I was able to really get their Intelligence Office humming and Danni was able to cement their education and Cadet programs. Stella Morrison, sorry, Stella Taylor, is running the education portion and Stacy Menendez is the titular head of the Cadets until the Denver people decide who will take her place. I helped formulate a deal that encourages local farmers to move closer in around the Enclave and they are going to develop new croplands in the vast areas around the Airport and the Solar farms. I think they are well on their way to becoming a true community now that the locals are included in the decision making. Yeah, we did a good job and we’ve developed a strong alliance between Denver, Holloman, and Asylum. Holloman has even moved a couple of wings of aircraft and support personnel to Denver and there’s talk of the Marines sending a few of their Super Cobras to Asylum; that’s a definite wow.

 

   When we arrived back home, there was a shitload of people waiting for us to arrive. Danni and I were standing up in the back of the truck we were in and searching for Debra and Danni Lynn; Danni saw them first and pointed them out to me. We started waving like crazy and Debra finally saw us and started running through the crowd trying to keep pace with us until we stopped. Danni got to her first and grabbed our daughter out of Debra’s arms as Debra launched herself at me. I caught her and she wrapped her legs around me and began to cry she was so happy to see us. Behind her, Danni exclaimed, “Oh my god, what are you feeding Danni Lynn! She’s huge!”

   I carried Debra over to them and was stunned by how big Danni Lynn had gotten. Yeah, it had only been a month since we last saw her, but wow, that kid is definitely bigger, and she’s a lot more active than she was before we left. The Colonel and Gilly joined us and watched us for a few minutes before joining in the welcome. Then Dak and Felicia, and Rich and Nadia. Nadia’s pregnancy, I swear, is already starting to show a bit. Packer finally told us to go home, but be at his office at eight the next morning.

   Naturally, Debra was shocked to see how prominent the scar was on Danni’s brow. Danni is very pale skinned; I’ve said that before, the scar is readily noticeable to those who have never seen it and Danni is very self-conscious about it. Debra actually cried when she saw it and I thought that was going to affect Danni pretty badly, but she just smiled and said now they both had facial scars. Because the wound went untreated and the swelling that was involved from the blow she received was extensive, it didn’t heal well so the scar does stand out.

   Our friends hung out at the apartment for a while and then they headed out and left us to ourselves, which meant Danni got to play with Danni Lynn and Debra got to play with me. Wow, that girl saved up some major loving while we were gone.

 

   I’m on my way to Holloman after only two days home and both of the girls are still at Asylum.

   Shit. I miss my three ladies and Packer thinks I will be gone at least three weeks. Debra was really upset and had some words with Packer over it, but she finally calmed down and accepted my leaving. The good thing is, she had her argument with Packer in private which gave him the ability to be more resilient in the manner he handled it. He realizes now that, though she was contaminated and can moderate her responses, there are still times when she will blow.

   It wasn’t until the day before I left that he finally sat me down and we discussed me and the other guy, the other me. At first, I thought maybe he was regretting the ranks he had given me and was considering revoking them and placing me down where I had less command authority. If that would have been his decision, I would have accepted it as graciously as I could; I realize most people find it a little, well in some cases, a lot concerning. However; it wasn’t the case. He told me he had already spoken with both Debra, Danni, and the rest of our friends about the situation and decided it was not a problem he needed to worry about. He told me both of my ladies were unconcerned and said they completely agreed that sometime in the future, there would only be me, or I guess, an integrated me. Dak is the closest we have to a psychologist and he told the Colonel he had no concerns about my mental health, or my ability to lead in high-pressure situations. Packer told me, after having our talk, he was confident I could perform well and to continue with what I was doing.

   Three weeks turned into four, four turned into five and then six. Holloman had me straighten out their intelligence correlation and get it running smoothly, then I went with them to settle a dispute between two groups of survivors down by Fort Bliss, and then another because the first went so well, and then another deeper into Texas. I think I may have created the foundation that an even larger alliance can be built upon. I hope so; it was emotionally draining and on more than one occasion, dangerous. I have a new bullet wound in my lower left leg and a stitched up cut that goes from my left shoulder to my left nipple. That’s what I get for not wearing my plate carrier the way Danny and Debra demanded.

   Both wounds are from separate incidents; the bullet wound was an accidental discharge from a .22 rifle a twelve-year-old was carrying at a farm where we stopped for water. The cut was a definite attempt to kill me as I stepped out of an outhouse. Yeah, wear your plate carrier even when you go to take a shit at eleven o’clock at night. Have you ever seen a fourteen-inch Bowie knife from the receiving end? Don’t. He got me on his first slash, but not where he was aiming, I dodged to my right and that’s how he missed my neck. Then I dodged to my right again as I was still trying to figure out what the hell was happening because he made a long sweep around, up, and then down. I felt the blade hit somewhere on my MOLLE belt and skip off, so I went for my P-89, but it was dangling upside down from my knee and then ended up around my ankle. He had cut through both of the PALS straps that the holster hung from. I wear my sidearm low because I have difficulty drawing it if it is fully mounted to the belt. The only other weapon I had was the roofing hatchet that belonged to Daniel Smith, yeah, I started carrying it.

   When I returned to the farmhouse we were staying at, I walked in and sat down at the kitchen table and said to the farmer’s wife, “Are you handy with a needle and thread?”

   She actually used sewing me up as a lesson for her fourteen-year-old daughter to learn how to sew up cattle that got hung up in barbed wire fencing. After she asked to be allowed to, she let her put the last three stitches in. The security guys with me went out with the farmer and when they returned, one of the guys cleaned off my hatchet and gave it back to me. The farmer, Louis Porter, told me he didn’t recognize the man, so he didn’t think he was from around there and maybe he was just passing through. Good, that meant it was probably not a planned attack by someone who wanted me dead.

   We were on our way back to Holloman at the time and from there I was returned to Asylum. As you can imagine, I was very eager to get home and instead of stopping, my security team and I drove straight through and arrived at eleven o’clock at night. The night security squad provided us with a crew cart and I sent my fire team home in it and walked home by myself. It was really late and I didn’t know if Danni and Debra had duty the next day, so I decided to try and slip in without waking anyone, like Danni Lynn. Don’t ever, wake up the baby! Momma gets cranky.

   I eased open the door and stepped through to find, well, Danni and Debra on the couch wearing nothing and totally oblivious to what might be happening around them. There was a candle burning on the coffee table and a couple of empty Bock bottles. I didn’t really know what to do, I froze and then stepped back out the door and gently pulled it almost closed. The thing has always made a rather loud clacking sound as the door latches, so I left about an inch gap, set down my ALICE pack and then took off my main MOLLE ruck before sitting down on the concrete bench outside.

   After a few moments, I heard a voice softly say, “Why is the door open?”

   Moments later, I felt the air around me disturbed as the door was opened, but then nothing. From inside, I heard Debra say, “Oh my god!”

   I didn’t really know what to do, I was exhausted and unbelievably sleepy. I continued to just sit there and wishing I had a bottle of Bock to nurse.

   “Daniel?”

   I looked up and both of them were standing there in bathrobes looking at me. I took a deep breath and sighed, “Hi, it’s been a while, sorry, I should have called and let you know I was coming, but the phone always wakes Danni Lynn and I know how upset the two of you get when she gets woke up and I tried to be quiet when I came in so I wouldn’t wake the two of you because you are probably working in the morning and maybe if I was less concerned about waking people I wouldn’t be stumbling around trying to figure out what to say and…” I was rattling on and talking faster as I started running out of words; not a good combination. I took a deep breath and said, “I think I’m supposed to be surprised, or maybe angry, but I’m not, angry that is, I am surprised. I guess I shouldn’t be, I mean the two of you have been together before and I knew it and I’ve been gone a long time and both of you have really strong sex drives and…I guess I have no idea what I should be saying, or feeling right now. I didn’t sleep last night, or today, and I’m feeling really run down and numb…”

   Debra reached down and took my bullpup from where it rested between my knees, “Honey, come inside, okay?” Then she picked up my ALICE pack. Danni picked up my MOLLE ruck and stepped through the door and out of sight followed by Debra. Moments later they were back and squatting next to my knees.

   Danni said softly, “Babe, you need to come in, come on, you’re obviously really tired.”

   I nodded and leaned forward, but I was just too damn tired and my leg hurt where I had been shot and what I had seen really took the wind out of my sails. I struggled a bit and finally both of them grabbed my arms and helped pull me up. I started walking in and realized I was limping; I really should have had the team drop me off, but hindsight is 20/20.

   “Daniel?” Debra said. “Why are you limping?”

   “My leg hurts.” I walked through the door and looked around; the Marlow chair was calling me, but I went into the kitchen and sat at the dining table instead.

   Danni leaned over beside me and said, “When was your last chance to bathe?”

   “Uh, I don’t remember, four, maybe five days?”

   “We need to get him in the shower,” Debra said.

   Danni agreed, “Yeah, I can’t smell his scent, the body odor is…”

   My voice broke as I said, “You can’t smell me?”

   “What?”

   “You can’t smell me anymore, was I gone too long? I…uh, maybe it might be better if I go stay in one of the squad bays until we figure out what we should do.”

   “Daniel,” Debra asked. “What do you mean? No, you’re not going to the squad bays and…”

   I looked at Debra and asked, “Can you?”

   “Smell you? Of course, but your B.O. is really strong. Once you have a shower it will be okay, I promise.” She turned to Danni and said, “Try again, he thinks you can’t smell him like we normally do.”

   Danni leaned down next to my neck and inhaled through her nose and said, “Yeah, it’s there, but wow, the B.O. is really strong. Come on Daniel, let’s get you cleaned up.”

   She was lying, I knew she was, “Can you smell Debra?” I asked.

   “Don’t,” Debra said. “Daniel, please don’t. Not until you’ve showered and rested, okay?”

   “Better to do it now, so I don’t have time to start creating all kinds of possible scenarios.”

   Danni leaned in close and said, “Okay, but take a shower, it will help you think straighter, okay?”

   I nodded and then leaned over and started removing my boots, but both of them crouched and each one started on a boot. “I can take my boots off.” I said.

  “Let us do it,” Danni said.

   Debra pulled off the left boot and then slid her hands up my pants leg for the top of my sock and stopped as she looked up at me. “Daniel, is this a bandage on your leg?”

   “Why is there a bandage on your leg?” Danni asked.

   I pulled both feet back, stood up, and pushed the chair back with the back of my knees. “I’m really tired and not in the mood to be castigated so soon after getting back. The two of you are forever picking at me because you say I deflect, well, what would you call what you’re doing right now?” I limped away and into the bedroom where I quietly opened a drawer and picked out fresh briefs, a pair of sweats and a tee-shirt. Before I left the room though, I looked in on Danni Lynn where she was sleeping in a bassinet. She was even bigger than I imagined she might be. I walked out and into the bathroom where I started stripping down and then removed the bandages on my leg and chest. I turned on the shower, got in and started soaping up when I heard the bathroom door open and then close.

   “Daniel?” Danni.

   “Yes?”

   “I’m going to come in and scrub your back, okay?”

   I thought about it for a moment and then relented, “Alright, but no bullshit about my wounds, I’m really not in the mood.”

   The door of the shower opened as I turned my back to her and she crowded in behind me. “Soap?” I handed it to her and she added, “Scrubber?” I pulled the ball of nylon lace from the hot water handle and handed that to her over my left shoulder.

   She started scrubbing my back and suddenly she stopped, “Wounds? As in more than one?”

   “Danni? I said…”

   “Daniel, you can’t just walk in with bandages and talk of wounds without the women who love you getting a little tense about it. Yeah, okay, you have questions about what was happening when you came in, but we love you, and if you’re hurt, we hurt, come on, Babe, it’s us, please?”

   “I need to think and I’m tired, so it may be a bit before I’m ready to get into that, okay? Just finish my back for now and then we’ll see.”

   “Alright, but…”

   “Just finish, please.” She did without talking again and then left. I finished and then dried off and dressed myself except for the tee-shirt. I figured it was as good of a time as any. I walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen where the two of them were waiting. Both of them stared at the long, stitched, slash, but said nothing as I went to the fridge and removed a bottle of Bock and set it on the table. From a cupboard I took out a glass and then turning to the two of them, I held it up in a silent question. Both of them shook their heads no and I was a little surprised that Danni didn’t ask for a glass. I knew Debra wouldn’t because she was nursing and Danni Lynn didn’t seem to like her milk after she drank alcohol. “I saw the empty bottles and figured…” I faded out.

   Danni pointed to the coffee table and said, “Thomas and Timothy were over earlier and had a couple of beers before they left.”

   I sat down in a chair, rubbed my eyes and then poured the Bock into a glass, “I really miss this stuff when I’m gone.” Neither one commented and then I said, “Shit.”

   They both said, “What?” At the same time.

   I actually chuckled because it was so unusual to see both of them so nervous. “I forgot the first aid kit.” I started to raise back up, but Debra was already on her way. She came back in and pulled a chair over and sat next to me.

   “Turn, so I can get a bandage on that.” I did and she went to work, “What happened?”

   “I was stepping out of an outhouse and I was ambushed.” I laughed and said, “I never imagined a plate carrier might do me some good while I was in the head.”

   “How deep?”

   “I didn’t have a ruler to stick in it. We were staying the night on a farm in Texas and I went out to use an outhouse the farmer had set up for travelers and some guy was waiting for me when I stepped out.”

   “Where was your security?” Danni asked.

   “Eating dinner and it was damn good. One of the guys got up to go with me and I told him to stay and eat. The bad thing is, he sliced through both of the straps on my holster, so I need to take it by the gear shop and see if they can fix it.”

   Danni nodded and then stood behind me to reach over and assist Debra by holding the gauze as she taped it in place. “Very neat stitching,” Debra said. Then she looked up and said, “Sewing thread?”

   “Yeah, but the farmer’s wife sterilized it with alcohol before sewing it up.”

   “Good, okay, let’s look at the leg.” She picked it up and placed it across her thighs, “This is a gunshot, what happened?”

   “Negligent discharge.”

   Her head snapped up and she said, “One of our guys…”

   “No, a twelve-year-old with his .22 rabbit gun.”

   Danni groused, “Well, I hope his parents tanned his hide for him.”

   “The father was going too, but the kid was so upset he shot me I told the dad to let it go. I really felt sorry for the kid.”

   “Humpf,” I had the feeling Debra was looking for some stiffer punishment, but didn’t say anything. “We’ll go to the clinic and have Horne check both of these out in the morning.” She stood up and started closing up the first aid kit.

   I turned back to the table as Danni sat back down and I looked her fully in the face and then said, “What the, your brow, what happened?” When I left, the scar along her brow line had been very prevalent. In the center of where she had been hit, the scar had been almost three eighths of an inch wide and sort of sticking out. The doctors at Denver said it was going to leave a bad scar, but it was too long from the actual injury to pull it together good. Now, there was a thin, almost invisible line that connected the two eyebrows together.

   She gave me weak smile and said, “Horne was looking at it and said he might be able to fix it. Originally, he was a plastic surgeon and it looks pretty good, don’t you think?”

   “You almost can’t see it.” I reached out and she leaned forward so I could trace it with a fingertip. “It’s very smooth.” She nodded, but when I pulled my hand back, she kept leaning forward.

   “Daniel, about what you saw when you came in,” she started hesitantly.

   “I’ve been thinking about it and since the shower, things seem clearer.” I took a drink of the Bock and then continued as Debra sat back down. “Question, and don’t get me wrong, there is no wrong answer and there is no right answer. There’s just the answer, okay?” Danni nodded and then I looked at Debra, and she nodded as well. “How long as this been going on?”

   They glanced at each other and Debra said, “About two weeks.”

   “Every day, or night?”

   They both nodded. “Okay, am I still in the equation somewhere? What I mean is, if the two of you are convinced this is what you want, am I still part of the relationship, or am I a third-wheel? The odd guy out.” I held up my hand and added, “Look, I love you guys, I will always love the two of you, but I need to know where I stand in this. I think I understand in a way, both of you really, truly, care for one another, you’ve had experience with each other before I ever came into the picture, so I’m sort of a Johnny come lately. If you don’t think I fit in, can I at least still come and visit Danni Lynn?”

   “Daniel…” Debra started.

   “Please, please don’t try and make yourselves fit me in somewhere if it’s not what you want. If you’re more comfortable with just the two of you, tell me. I won’t cause an uproar, I won’t do anything to try and sabotage things, just, let me be my daughter’s father when I can; I’ll deal one way or the other with the rest of it, okay?”

   Danni leaned back in her chair and said, “It would be that easy to walk away from us?”

   “If you don’t want me? I don’t want to be where I’m not needed, where I’m not wanted. Would it be easy? Of course not, but it might be easier than sticking around wondering if I’m here simply because you don’t want to shit on me. The two of you are good people, you don’t go around just, arbitrarily screwing people over. What I’m saying is, I want to be here with the three of you, but not if it’s just a gesture, or some kind of misplaced concept of owing me something.” I shook my head and then added, “I’m not sure what I’m doing, or what I’m saying, when we got married, the three of us, I was concerned that one or more of us would end up hurt and I didn’t want that to happen. I, I’m out of my depth and, Debra, Danni, I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to feel right now. On the one hand, did the two of you cheat on me? That can’t be right because we are all three married to one another, at least that’s the way it seems to me. I married the two of you because I loved the two of you. Debra, you married Danni and I, because you love the two of us. Danni? The same thing, you married Debra and I because you loved the two of us. So, if the two of you have sex, how can that be cheating on me? If I have sex with you, Danni, are we cheating on Debra? Of course not. Debra, if we have sex, does that mean we’re cheating on Danni? Of course not. So, how can it be cheating if the two of you want to have sex without me?”

   Danni leaned back towards me and said, “We don’t want to have sex without you. We did what we did because we love each other and we were missing you so bad.” She suddenly wiped at her eyes and then continued. “We wanted each other, yes, and we will continue wanting each other, but not if it means losing you.”

   Debra stood up and dragged her chair around beside me where she could be close and said. “Danni is right, we love you and want you, and I agree with her, we want each other also, but not if it means we can’t have you. We had this whole thing planned out, we were waiting for you to come home so we could talk to you about it and see how you would feel about Danni and I making love, we want the three of us, together. The problem is, you came home early and saw what you saw and now we have to play catch up. This isn’t what we planned,”

   Danni said, “We shouldn’t have started without you knowing first, but we were so lonely and we missed you so badly and it was the only way we could be with you. I know that sounds kind of lame, but it’s true.” She stood up and then lowered herself down on my left leg.

  Debra did the same and sat on my right thigh, “I really believe that the three of us were meant to be, Daniel, and not just you and me and you and Danni, but the three of us. How could it possibly be anything else?”

   “So, the two of you have sort of planned this out a little.”

   Danni sighed and said, “Daniel, the three of us together, it’s too important not to.”

   I nodded and before I could stop him, he said, “Well, hell, let’s get this show on the road.”

   I said, “Shut up!”

   Debra gave her sexy throaty chuckle and said, “Ooo, look whose come out to play!”

   Danni cracked up and started laughing, but then sobered, “Daniel, so are you going to give it a try? Please?”

   “How can I not and say I love the two of you? Yes, let’s see where it goes, but,” I said. “I’m not real sure how I’m supposed to do this.”

   Debra leaned down and gave me a passionate kiss before saying, “I bet we can figure it out without any help from anyone.”

   Then Danni leaned in and kissed me, but then she said, “Okay, we’re on, now for the last two things that have happened that you need to know about.”

   I said, with a certain amount of dread, “Okay.”

   “First, you know how when I came back from the Battle of Las Cruces you could smell me and I could smell you?”

   “Yes, but we couldn’t figure out why because you weren’t contaminated.”

   “Debra and I went and talked to Sara and she tested me again; guess who is now testing positive?”

   “You?” I asked.

   She nodded and smiled, “Yes.”

   “But how? I mean…It’s been months and months, so…”

   “The only thing we’ve been able to come up with is, I inspected the inside of the APCs and tanks we captured from Fort Bliss. There must have been some residual contaminant inside of them where the UV light from the sun couldn’t reach.”

   “Holy shit,” I said. “Something else for us to worry about.” I started to run possibilities through my head, but instead said, “Alright, that was the first, what’s number two?”

   Danni suddenly started blushing and said, “I wanted tell you right from the get go, but I wanted you to decide to stay and work on our three-way relationship before I told you and maybe caused you to decide to remain for the wrong reasons. In about seven months, you’re going to be a daddy for the second time.”

   I think my heart skipped a beat and then I said, “You’re serious? Really, for sure?”

   “Yes, Doctor Horne said there was no doubt; I’m about as pregnant as you can get.”

   My heart soared the same way it did when Debra gave me the good news. Two children! Yes!

 

   We figured out how to make two girls and a guy work and between the two of them, we have discovered a multitude of variations. We’ve only had one night when things didn’t go right and that was quickly remedied. Danni wanted to try some of the stuff that Debra likes and it didn’t go over very well. Sometimes, Debra really enjoys being restrained and like I said, Danni wanted to try it. It went well until the final knot was tied and then she completely flipped out and started struggling to get loose. We released her and she ran from the bedroom and then started pacing back and forth until finally she went to her knees in the living room and just cried. Debra and I couldn’t even hug her tightly without her fighting to get loose and it took a while for her to finally calm down. Apparently, she had a flashback to the night her ex-boyfriend almost beat her death and killed her unborn child. The remedy? Debra has learned she enjoys it when Danni takes a more dominant role and Danni does too. It works for me.

  

   A new normal began developing and things began to run fairly smoothly. I still went by the Intel Office daily, but Julia was rocking it. A lot of the time I think she was asking what I wanted done just to kind of keep me in the loop. Morgan got permission from the planning committee to start construction on the first houses above ground and they had a lottery to see who would get them. They were going to be earth embanked with rammed earth walls and thick sod roofs. Heating would be wood burning stoves and the kitchen stoves were to be wood burning also. A solar array was installed that could power a group of ten homes, but we have trouble gathering the proper batteries to store electrical power with, so we have to limit power consumption at night and periods of inclement weather. But like I said. It’s becoming a new normal.

   Breast pumps, holy shit, they’re like gold. Every mother that has a job, or wants a job has a breast pump on order. I honestly can’t blame them either; the things are just too convenient to pass on. Danni and Debra share one, but Danni Lynn has progressed to more solid food and after Danni gave birth to John Daniel Monroe, Debra allowed herself to dry out. Which reminds me, Debra and I have changed our last names again. We are now, Debra and Daniel Monroe; we’ve taken Danni’s last name and all of our children will also have the same last name. We are now the Monroe Clan.

   I had absolutely no connection to my last name and neither did Debra to hers, so when her and Danni came and asked me what I thought about the name of Monroe, I said sure, why not. We have to put up with an occasional snide remark about two wives and one husband, but for the most part everyone is understanding about it. There are a handful of others who have formed multi-wife family units and I can understand why. The original makeup of the gender population was skewed towards women from the very start and then you add in the number of men who have been killed here and there and the shortage of eligible men becomes apparent.

   More people have moved to the area of Asylum and there is constantly construction going on. We have a saw mill and we make our own lumber, but it’s a small operation and can’t keep up with demand. Every region is developing an ongoing primary industry and Asylum is no different. Our primary export is rather unique; we export trained Light Infantry and they are reported as some of the best troops available. Our Cadet School has become famous throughout the Southwest and even farther North. The Grant County Rangers and Militia are now comprised of five Battalions and is a force to be reckoned with as some have discovered. Packer directly controls our one Ranger Battalion and the four Militia battalions are commanded by people who have been awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. I suppose we should be called a regiment, but regiments are commanded by a General and Packer seems reluctant to say, ‘Okay, I’m a General now.’ He wants the increase in rank to come from someone higher than him. Felicia tried to do it as Governor, but he held off on it. I think he’s being ridiculous.

   I keep getting sent off to do things like negotiate alliances and settle disputes where something a little more forceful might be needed and I now have a standing security detail of a platoon. They don’t always go with me in their entirety; I usually only take a squad, but the entire platoon will if the situation deems it necessary. Packer allowed me to choose the people I wanted and I picked what I considered the cream of the crop. Rich Morrison is now a Lieutenant and commands my detail. Most of the platoons in the Rangers and Militia have three squads, mine has four. The reason is, when I leave and take a squad with me for security, there are still three squads available to form a full platoon. There have been times I have taken the entire platoon, but not very often. After I asked for volunteers, I picked twelve from the platoon to form my security detail; the fourth squad that always accompanies me. The only pre-requisite is they must be single. I don’t want to upset my detail’s personal lives the way mine is. Stacy Menendez is the Squad Leader and Tracker, Toby Tyler is one of my snipers and scout, and the other ten are also extremely good at what they do. We have also integrated weapon systems that the Science Department and Eugene Henderson have come up with. Each four-man Fire team has two Riflemen, an Automatic Rifleman and a Grenadier.

   Eugene devised a bullpup that has a twenty-inch, heavy profile barrel and uses the same mags an AR 15 or M-4 uses. They are chambered for 5-5-6, so the automatic rifleman can be resupplied by the other members of the squad. In addition, one of the Grenadiers is trained to use a rocket launcher that was also developed by Eugene. It sort of operates the way the old Bazooka worked and everybody loves the things. They’re not very accurate long range, but if you can get the impact close to what you want taken out, it does a good job. My security detail has three trucks assigned to it and one of the trucks has a longer, one-piece-barreled Bazooka mounted to it that is more accurate and has a thermal sight attached. The fricking thing is too heavy to be man portable. Eugene wants to design a grenade launcher that can be mounted under a barrel, but not much sense in that until we can provide a steady source of ammo for them. We’ll see.

   Remember that Bowie knife that the guy in Texas used on me? I brought it home with me because it was really a beautiful instrument. When I showed it to Danni and Debra, they both fell in love with it and either wanted it, or wanted one like it. Well, I didn’t really care much for it myself, but I figured, why not? I started checking around and found an old guy named Nick Latimer who forged knives for a hobby. He was actually a farrier, otherwise known as a horseshoer, but everyone I talked to said he could really turn out some good knives. I looked him up and showed him the Bowie and asked if he could make me another one. He looked it over and finally said yes, but it would be expensive. I asked how much and he said a month’s supply of long-term storage food. I laughed and told him, yeah, right, and offered a week supply. He counter-offered and we finally settled on two weeks, but I had to supply the steel. I said okay, what kind of steel did he need and he told me he preferred working with old leaf springs from cars. I told him okay, and I’d be back when I had some. Not long after that, I had to make a trip down to the ruins of Silver City and I pulled the leaf springs from an overturned truck. I took both sets of springs to him and he got all excited because there was so much of it and said if I could locate a couple of 100-pound tanks of propane, he’d make the knife for free. Well, I knew where some were at a propane dealer and picked up five for him. I presented the two knives to the girls and wow; did I get treated like a king! His wife even made a leather sheathe for the knife he forged. Me? I just kept using the hatchet I gave to Dan before, that is now mine. It is just too handy to have around.

   Julia Ortiz continued to run the Intel Office whenever I was gone and I was gone, a lot. It seemed to me that she was probably getting better at it than me, but every once in a while, she would bring something to me that had her stumped. She provided the next hump in my life, the next, ‘yeah, but.’

 

   “Daniel, I really hate to bug you because you just got back, but I’ve got some stuff that is really causing me grief.” Julia was standing outside the door of our apartment looking a bit bedraggled.

   I stepped away from the door and said, “Come in, Julia.” She walked in and said hi to the girls and giggled over the kids a bit and then turned serious.

   “We’ve been getting these comments about someone selling information to other communities around New Mexico and West Texas and it’s starting to become a little concerning.”

   “Okay, what kind of comments?”

   “On the surface, it’s mostly kind of mundane stuff, but we keep getting mentioned and the comments about us are really unkind. Stuff like, we cheat other communities, we charge too much for our military help, we demand too high of payments and withhold help when we don’t get what we want. Stuff like that, and it seems to coincide with when we visit communities. Almost always, it’s right after you have been there negotiating an alliance.”

   “Really?” Both Danni and Debra sat up and started paying attention. “Alright, where are the comments coming from? Radio? Internet?”

   “Both, and they seem to be coordinated.”

   “Radio can always be difficult to narrow down, but the internet traffic should be traceable. Where is the origin of the rumors, or whatever?”

   “We’ve tried several times to chase it down, but the point of origin keeps changing, it’s like, well, sort of like it’s bouncing off of other sites and hiding from sight. Like it transmits from one website and then changes to another when we track it down.”

   “Some kind of malware maybe?”

   “Maybe, but it gets confusing. I want to bring in some help, but the person I want to bring in hasn’t been cleared for the Intelligence Office.”

   “Who?”

   “Walter. He works in Tech Support, remember?”

   “You honestly think he can help?”

   “Yeah, there’s been a few times I was having trouble figuring things out and he was really helpful.”

   I started getting uncomfortable and said, “You told Walter what you were working on? You know we have rules about anyone outside of Intel knowing what we do in there.”

   “I know, but I’m convinced he’s completely trustworthy. This is his home, he wants to marry me someday, and there’s no way he would endanger us.”

   “Julia…”

   “I know, Daniel, really, I do, but he’s just too convenient, you know?”

   I sighed and finally conceded, hell, I really like the kid myself. “Alright, bring him into the fold and get him up to speed. I’ll take care of the transfer paperwork myself. In the meantime, have you worked up a board on it?”

   “Yes, but it isn’t coming together; like I said, it just isn’t making sense to me.”

   I looked at the clock on the wall and said, “Well, it’s kind of late right now, how about I come by in the morning and I’ll…”

   “Can I get you to take a look at it now? Just a quick glance and see if anything jumps out at you?”

   “This is really laying heavy on you, isn’t it?”

   “Yeah, you know how in the past you’ve said something just felt wrong to you and you would keep digging and digging and until you finally saw the light? You would just get a feeling and know you needed to pay attention, but it wasn’t clear? That’s how I’m feeling.”

   I just looked at her for a moment and then said to the girls, “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

   Danni nodded and Debra said, “Don’t forget, Nadia, Rich, Tomas and Timothy are dropping by in about an hour.”

   “I know, I’m just going to take a quick look.” They both smiled and I followed Julia out the front door.

    Yeah, just a quick look.

   It was one o’clock in the morning when I finally went home. I sent Julia home at eleven and then started relining the corkboard. When I was finished, I sat down in my office chair and just stared at the board while occasionally standing up and reattaching a line to a different point. I could see, the same as Julia, that something was missing, but I was having trouble working it out. Finally, I added one more point of reference and started re-attaching the colored lines. When I was done, everything made sense from one certain perspective. I left the board as is and went home knowing I had somehow just screwed myself.

   I got the cold shoulder from both of the girls the next morning because I failed to show up for the get together with our friends, but I think they both realized after a while that I was walking on a razor’s edge. I think that was the reason they left early to drop the kids off at the day care center and then to work. I showered, dressed and then went straight over to the Intel Office to stare at the corkboard again while I waited for Julia to come in. When she arrived, I told her, “I added a reference point last night after you left.” I showed her the board and she began to go over it for herself. When she finished, she turned around and looked at me.

   “What the fuck?” The fact she used the word she did, indicated how upset she was; Julia never curses.

   “Yeah, according to that,” I pointed at the corkboard. “We have a major leak right here in this office.”

   “I don’t believe it, there is not one person in this office I don’t completely trust, no one! We need to go back over this and re-examine the whole thing.”

   I kept looking at her and finally said, “You do realize who this chart is indicting, right?”

   She took a deep breath and released it, “Of course, I do, but…”

   The door to my office opened and Major Williams, along with three armed men I didn’t recognize stepped in, “Major Monroe.”

   Okay, this wasn’t a friendly visit, “Major Williams?”

   Two of the strange men pulled their weapons and pointed them at my face as the third walked around them and behind me where he pulled my hands behind me and cuffed them.

   “Daniel, these men are Federal Marshals from the United States Federal Government.”

   The man behind me, the Marshal behind me said, “You are under arrest for sedition and treason. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

   Julia’s eyes were wide open as she said, “Daniel?”

   I looked at Williams and said, “What the hell, Williams? What is going on?”

   The man behind me asked, “Do you understand your rights?”

   I looked back at him and said, “Of course I do!”

   “Do you wish to make a statement?” He asked.

   “Yeah,” I said. “Go fuck yourself!”

   It was the wrong thing to say. How did I know that? The elbow strike to my right ear wasn’t very subtle. Williams stepped forward and said, “That’s enough of that shit, right now! If you so much as…”

   The guy behind me slammed me down on the floor and started punching me in the kidneys as I tried to block his blows with my cuffed hands, but I wasn’t being very successful. One of the other two pushed Williams away and then they dragged me to my feet and started pulling me out the door of my office and then out of Intel all together. They literally threw me into a cart and the man who climbed into the back seat with me knelt on my throat to keep me under control. I couldn’t see outside the cart, but I knew they were traveling at an unsafe speed as they raced through the interior of Asylum and then out into the open air. They made a hard-left turn onto the road leading to the highway as one of the men in front turned around and stabbed a needle into my neck beside the knee of the man bearing down on it. I immediately started feeling hot flashes and as the man kneeling on me rose off of my neck, I started blacking out.

 

   Noise, loud noise that was getting, louder.

   “Get…fucking…him…”

   “What? What did you say?” I was confused.

   “Daniel! Hey, Hey! He’s waking up! Daniel, just lie still and until we get these cuffs off of you, okay? Daniel, did you hear me? Can you hear me?!”

   “No, I mean yeah, I… what did you say?”

   The same woman’s voice, “Whatever they injected him with, has him all screwed up. WHAT DID YOU INJECT HIM WITH!” Everything was confusing except the woman’s voice, so I concentrated on it. “Thomas! That fucker with the smirk on his face, ask him what they injected into Daniel.”

    “Needle, they shot me with a needle, I mean they needled me with a, uh…”

   “Easy, Dan, easy, you’re going to be okay, they say it was just a sedative.” Her voice blurred out and then back again. “…kill you very slowly, do you understand? She will make it last a long fucking time, so you better give us those keys, right FUCKING NOW!”

 I started gagging and choking as vomit started projecting out of my mouth, then, I couldn’t breathe. I started to struggle as I was turned on my side and I felt fingers digging in my mouth. “Open your mouth, Daniel, come on, open your mouth, DAMN IT, OPEN YOUR MOUTH!” I coughed, spit, and coughed again. “There you go, that’s it, almost…there! Okay, you’re okay, I’ve got you, you’re going to be okay. I don’t care if you have to cut their damn clothes off! Find the fricking handcuff key! Daniel, how are you doing? Can you breathe okay? Uh, oh, here comes his wife and you know what? You three guys? Your shit just officially got weak, yeah motherfuckers, I’ve seen that look before.”

   “Shayla?”

   “Yes! It’s me, Dan, do you need water to rinse your mouth?”

   “I think I, I, uh…”

   “How is he? Is he hurt?” Scent, roses, Debra.

   “Babe?”

   “Yes, Honey?”

   “Don’t kill, okay?”

   “No promises.”

   “Babe, intel, okay?” I heaved again and bile spewed out of my mouth as Shayla rolled me to my side. I finally finished and realized someone was screaming, in pain, real pain. “Are you done?” Shayla asked as the screaming reached a fevered pitch and then died out. “Damn,” she said. “That was unfortunate.”

   “Is he dead? Did she kill him?” I wanted to have a talk with those guys.

   “Naw, he fainted.” She was quiet for a moment and then said, “Oh, crap, better him than me.”

   I tried to focus and finally said, “What happened? My vision is really sucking.”

   “Uh, I’ll let Debbie explain, but at least she has the key to the handcuffs now.” She rolled me to my side towards her and my face was buried in her camo smock. I felt someone fiddling with my wrists and then my hands were free. Shayla released me and another set of arms enveloped me.

   “I’ve got you, Honey, and there’s a crash cart coming to take you to the clinic.”

   “You didn’t kill him, right?”

   “No.”

   “No?”

   “No, I didn’t kill him, I promise.”

   “Good, we need to talk to them, but I need to sleep.”

 

   It was the squeaking that started waking me up. I finally stopped trying to sleep and opened my eyes. Danni was sitting in a rocker with John nursing contentedly as she slowly rocked the chair back and forth. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting against the back of the chair.

   Someone from behind the curtain around the bed said, “Knock, knock?”

   Danni was startled and she said, “One moment please,” as she spread a baby blanket over John and her breast, “Okay, you can come in, Colonel.”

   “Hi, Danni, how’s the patient…oh, well look who’s decided to make an appearance.”

   Danni looked at me and started to get up, “Do you need something?”

   “Relax, Hon, I just need some water.” I reached over for a glass and pitcher, but Packer beat me to it. He poured the water and then gave it to me to sip on. “How long have I been out of it?”

   Danni responded, “Five, almost six hours; the assholes gave you too much.”

   “I think I remember being sick?”

   “Yes, Shayla said you were choking and she had to clear your airway. After you went back under, she had to insert an airway tube so you could breathe. Whatever they injected must have been similar to the last stuff you had an allergic reaction to, or it’s something else we need to worry about.”

   “Wonderful; my throat does feel a little sore.”

   “I bet it’s not as sore as her fingers,” Packer said.

   “Huh?”

   “She had to dig in your mouth to clear your throat; you bit her.”

   “Oh, shit, how bad?” I asked.

   Danni replied, “Not bad, one stitch in one finger, the other was bleeding, but not bad. Doctor Horne sent her home with some antibiotics.”

   “Christ, tell her I’m sorry if you see her before I do.”

   “Debra and I already did, Babe, and we thanked her too. She’s coming over with a friend of hers for dinner tomorrow.”

   “Okay, I can tell her myself.” I looked at Packer and said, “Those three guys, what the hell was going on? Were they really Marshals?”

   “No, they weren’t, and the shit’s going to hit the fan over that. What they were though, is bounty hunters.”

   “You’re kidding me? Someone put a bounty on me?” Why? I mean, do I have to start watching my back all the time?

   “Yeah, Williams and a couple of others are interrogating them still, but their talking as fast as they can.”

   “Why? I sort of had the idea they were refusing to help.”

   “They were, until Debbie got there, then they changed their tune.”

   Danni chuckled and said, “Real fast.”

   “Why?”

   Packer shivered and said, “I hope that girl never gets that pissed at me.”

   “Again, why?”

   “Shayla’s people had all three tied with their hands behind their backs. Debbie walked up behind one of them and tied his ankle off to a cart, then tied the other leg off to another cart. Then she got in one and went for a short drive.”

   “Ow,” I said.

   Packer shook his head and said, “Then, she pulled out her combat knife, sliced open his pants, grabbed a handful of his junk, but before she could do anything, he fainted.”

   “What was she going to do?” I asked as I cringed.

   “I guess we’ll never know for sure,” Packer said. “I got there and told her to save it for later when we interrogated them. That’s why they’re talking so hard and fast; Debbie is just sitting in the room working the edge of that big Bowie with a whetstone.”

   “They deserve it,” Danni said. “They weren’t being co-operative and they made a couple of remarks to Debra about what they’d like to do with her. It didn’t go too well for them.”

   “That’s crazy, why would anyone…I wonder if they were contaminated?” I asked.

   Danni shrugged, “Who cares at this point? If they were contaminated, they can’t control themselves, so screw them.”

   “Anyway,” Packer said. “Debbie asked me to check in on you; she’s really worried and wants to be here, but she knows Danni is and she wants in on the interrogation also.”

   I nodded and said, “Tell her I’m awake and not feeling too bad; tell her I love her, okay?”

   “I will, but I was talking to Julia and she’s really concerned about what the two of you were working on when those guys showed up. She showed me the corkboard you put together and what it seems to imply.”

   “Yeah, I’m kind of upset about that myself,” I said.

   Danni interrupted and asked, “How is Williams holding up? When I saw him earlier, he was stressing about how those guys screwed with him in order to get to Daniel.”

   Packer shook his head, “Not very well. Williams is a real stickler for following protocols and when something out of the ordinary occurs it can really throw him, so he reverts to default settings. When they showed up with official paperwork and said they were there for you, it completely disoriented him and he fell back on past procedures that were in place before the shit hit the fan. It’s one of the reasons I keep him mostly concerned with what’s going on inside the hole and not the greater exterior.”

   “Yeah, I’ve noticed that about him,” I said. “But he’s damn good otherwise.”

   “Not really,” Danni said, but she didn’t offer more.

   I looked at her and asked, “What do you mean?”

   Packer answered, “Williams has trouble thinking outside the box. I knew that about him when I gave him his last promotion and was a little concerned about his ability to stay with the program, but I did it anyway to keep things copacetic with the ex-INSEC guys. Unfortunately, I pulled the same bureaucratic bull shit I always bitched about; I advanced him to an area of responsibility he couldn’t handle and then left him there. I don’t know if the two of you have noticed, but all of my recent promotions are provisional; the people know upfront that if they fall short, they’ll return to their previous rank in order to improve before being considered again.”

   “At least you’re giving the promise they can try again with a little more experience under their belt,” I said. I laid there a moment and then asked, “You know you can be honest with me, right?”

   “Of course.”

   “Do you have any regrets about the promotions you’ve given me?”

   Danni released a heavy sigh and said, “I saw that coming.”

   Packer laughed and said, “Dan, remember when I said I could see you running the Rangers and the Militia someday?”

   “Yes, Sir.”

   “Nothing has changed, so forget that nonsense. Alright, back to that damn corkboard; especially with this supposed bounty on you, what do you think is going on?”

   “It seems pretty obvious; someone wants me out of the picture.”

   Danni looked back and forth between us and then asked, “What are you talking about?”

   “Chatter over the radio channels, and the internet.” Packer said. “Someone is trying to undercut us as a driving force for rebuilding by attacking Daniel’s reputation as a mediator.”

   “Why would someone do that?” She asked. “He works so hard to make every agreement mutually beneficial.”

   “It’s pretty obvious if you’re interested in power games and not the people,” Packer said. “Asylum is quickly becoming a powerhouse in the American Southwest and farther. Even Denver has basically been following our lead. We have alliances with groups in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and now Utah has contacted us and wants to talk about working with us. Remember the ZPG Enclaves in Kansas?”

   Danni nodded.

   “People around there have sent feelers wanting advice on ending the ZPGer control of the area.”

   “Oh, no, you’re not sending Daniel to Kansas, are you?”

   “It’s not on the short list at the moment, so no.” He smiled, but she didn’t.

   “That sounded suspiciously like avoiding the question.”

   Packer smiled, but I noticed he didn’t deny her statement. No, Kansas is out of the question, period. “Sir, after looking over the information that Julia has gathered together, I honestly believe I need to spend some time here and get to the bottom of this. Someone is working towards discrediting me and through me, discrediting Asylum. I don’t know why they would want to, but that’s just another reason to start digging.”

   “I know and that’s why I’m pulling strings to get you all the help you need. I’ve already contacted Holloman and Denver and they have agreed to put their Intel offices on this also. You can expect regular updates and share anything you gather with them as well; sound good?”

   “Most definitely, Colonel; both Holloman and Denver have greater radio capabilities than we do.”

   “Good, Horne says if you have a good night, he will probably release you in the morning. Don’t push it, but if you want, go gangbusters on this, okay?”

   “Yes, Sir, count on it.” Packer smiled at Danni and then left as we sat quietly for a minute absorbed with our own thoughts.

   “Daniel, these three guys, even if they are contaminated, this whole episode just seems wrong, you know what I mean?”

   “Yes, I do. I’m wondering if they are a distraction?”

   “Good, you’re thinking straight and that makes me feel better.”

   “Go home, Hon, and get some rest, okay? I know this shit has got you wound up.”

   She sat there a moment and finally said, “I’m more concerned with Debra, she was there and saw how you were reacting to the injection; when I spoke to her she seemed really upset; unusually upset. If Packer hadn’t shown up, I guarantee she would have castrated that guy before she killed him.”

   “Maybe, but she knows for a fact we need to interrogate them. The old saying, ‘dead men tell no tales’ is well-known for a reason.”

   She stood up and handed me John as she cleaned her breast, closed up the flap of her nursing bra and then closed her shirt and buttoned it. When she was done, she leaned over and gave me a warm kiss and said, “Okay, I’m going home. John needs to be changed and put down for the night and I’ll probably have to give Danni Lynn a bath before she goes down too. If Debra comes home, do you want me to send her by here before she goes to bed?”

   “With what’s happened, she’s probably wore out. Tell her I’m going to be sleeping and maybe she’ll crash and get some rest herself.”

   She leaned over and kissed me again, “I love you and I’ll see you in the morning.”

   “You bet.” She turned to walk away and I brushed her ass with my fingertips. She kind of wiggled at me and blew me another kiss as she walked away and out of sight. After she was gone, I felt the smile I was wearing disappear as I stared at the wall. Someday, someone was going to get lucky and remove me from the equation. What was going to happen to my family? Who would put their life on the line to protect them? I didn’t have any answers and that worried me.

   I woke up in the middle of the night and laid in the bed unmoving. In the dim light available, I could see someone was sitting in the chair next to the bed and it took me a moment to realize it was Debra; she had one hand over her mouth and the other covered her eyes, judging from the way her shoulders were moving, she was crying. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

   She wiped her eyes and said, “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

   “I don’t think so, but I’m glad I did, what’s wrong?”

   Instead of answering, she stood up and then crawled onto the bed and laid her head on my shoulder. “I need you; how can I live without you?”

   “Talk to me, Babe.”

   “I’ve been counting how many times I’ve sat next to your bed and wondered if you were going to be alive in the morning. It’s hard, you know?”

   “Yeah, actually I do. It probably sounds selfish, but I prefer to wake up to you than have you wake up to me.”

   I felt her head bob up and down, “Yeah, it’s getting old and I don’t like it. Packer wouldn’t let me kill those guys and now I have to worry if somehow, they’ll get loose and come for you again. I’m afraid to leave you alone.”

   I looked at the clock on the wall, 2:30 am. I picked up the bed remote, pushed the nurse call button, and then laid it by my hip. Moments later, Mary Cho walked in and saw Debra lying next to me, “Mary, Debra is really wired; can you give her something to help her sleep?”

   Debra started sitting up and said, “No, I have to stay awake, I have to protect you!”

   “Babe, you’re wore out and I’m wide awake now. You sleep and I’ll watch over both of us, okay?”

   She yawned and asked, “Are you sure? You won’t fall asleep?”

   Mary said, “Debbie, I have the doors locked and no one can get in unless I buzz them in. Go to sleep and I’ll watch over both of you; that’s why I’m here.”

   Debra reached and pulled her Glock from its holster before she held it out to Mary, “Do you know how to use this?”

   “Yes, I do, but I don’t need it; I have my own.”

   Debra looked surprised, “You do?”

   “Of course, I do, when I’m here all alone and this place starts making creepy noises? You better believe I have a gun.”

   “Okay,” Debra conceded. She reached across me and placed the sidearm on the table next to me. “There, now we both can reach it.” She closed her eyes and was instantly asleep. I glanced up at Mary and shrugged as she smiled.

   “You get some sleep too, Daniel, when morning comes, Horne will come and release you if you’re good to go, okay?”

   “Thanks, Mary.”

 

   When I woke in the morning, Debra was already gone and I impatiently waited for Horne to appear. By 9:00 am he released me and I walked to the apartment, showered, dressed and went to the Intel Office. The first thing Julia did was place a plate on my desk with a breakfast wrap on it and coffee.

   “Danni came by when I unlocked this morning and left this for you. She said for me to sit and stare at you until you ate it.” She pulled a chair over and sat down and then, sure as shit, she stared at me.

   “Julia, she was kidding, you don’t have to stare at me while I eat.”

   “No, actually she wasn’t; she said to make sure you ate, so the quicker you do, the sooner I can get back to work.”

   “Geez, there’s officially three of you.” I smiled to remove any hint of disapproval and she smiled in return, but kept staring at me anyway. “Alright,” I said. “But I’m going to run your ass off today.”

   At least she smiled when she said, “I’m afraid of Debra and Danni. You? Not so much.”

   I shook my head and started eating, the sooner done, the better. When I finished, Julia brought me a fresh cup of coffee and we once again took up our study of the corkboard. “I added some more points to the board, Major, and it seems to be headed into a definite conclusion of you.”

   “I know,” I said. “Whoever is behind this is really comprehensive.”

   “Yeah, but how are they knowing what you are doing? I mean, look, see here? Remember when you told me to look for Hispanic surnames at UTEP when we were looking for Mary Stevens? This internet blip was the very same day! How could they be that close to what you are deciding to do? It’s almost like they know what you are going to do before you do it.”

   “Parker, or Spencer, may have been letting someone… no,” I pointed to a different junction on the corkboard and said, “That was after Parker and Spencer, so, no, it wasn’t them.”

   Julia went quiet as I studied the board and finally, I turned and looked at her, “What?”

   She shrugged and then said, “I found another hit last night while I was here late.” She stood up, approached the board, attached a printed notation with a colored pin. She then tied a corresponding colored cord and stretched it to where my name provided a center to a spider web. I read her note and then sat down behind my desk.

   “Shit.”

   “Yeah, we really need to find out what’s up, you know?”

   The pin indicated the mission to Denver of Debra, Danni, Dan, and the rest of Thomas’ squad. The one when Dan was killed, and it was dated three days before they were ambushed in the rail yard. The printed note read, “Info provided by CO Asylum Intel Office.”

   “Okay,” I said. “Someone is trying to implicate me in their activities.”

   “Yes, and they’re doing a good job. If I didn’t know you, I’d be taking this to Packer and Felicia Ortiz without you, knowing.”

   “If I, wasn’t me, I’d be encouraging you to. Who else knows about this?”

   “Just you and me, I haven’t discussed it with the others.”

   “Alright, run off a copy of everything you have and give it to me. Take that one,” I pointed at the folder she had. “And put it somewhere safe as a backup.”

   “Okay, I’ll put it…”

   “Don’t tell me, put it somewhere safe where you can retrieve it if we need it.”

   “Daniel, I completely trust you, there is no way you would have done what we are seeing.”

   “Julia, this is important for you to remember, when it comes to this office and what we do here, trust no one. What we do is outside of caring for someone. Yes, use your instincts. Yes, it’s okay to trust, but verify, always. Understand?”

   “But, Daniel, if I go by that, then you are guilty and I should go to the Colonel.” She was looking very uncomfortable.

   “You’re right, and the Colonel’s safe might be a good place to store your copy. Better yet, make two copies of your files; one for you to secure somewhere, one for Colonel Packer, and this one for me.”

   “Really? But…”

   “We have to keep this quiet because we don’t want whoever is behind it to know we are investigating, but we also need to be upfront with those that need to know. I’m trying to cover my ass here, Julia.”

   “Well, okay.” She was looking dubious and unsure of herself.

   “Lieutenant Ortiz, carry out your orders.”

   “Yes, Sir!” She saluted, picked up the folder and walked out of my office. I stood back up and walked to the corkboard and continued to study it deeper.

 

   I locked up the office at 5:00 o’clock and walked home. Danni and Debra were also arriving with the kids they had picked up at the day care center. “Hey, Lovely Ladies! Okay, a round of kisses, please.” It was becoming a family norm and everybody either kissed me, or held out a child to be kissed.

   “Hon,” Debra asked, “How did it go at work, are you feeling okay?”

   “Yeah, I’m good to go.” I unlocked the door and stepped aside as the girls carried the children in. Then I added, “I might go back and do some more work after dinner, we’re a little behind with me being gone again.”

   “No,” Danni said. “You’re home for the evening.” Short and to the point.

   “Honey…”

   Debra cut me off, “Danni’s right, you are home for the evening. After last night, both of us want to shower some special attention on you; we talked about it on the way home.”

   “Danni, Debra, you know how important this crap can be sometimes, how about I promise to be home by…”

   Both of them, at the same time said, “Dan?” Danni was starting to call me Dan like Debra did when she was pissed at me. “Okay,” I said. “I’m home for the evening.”

   “Good,” Debra said. “Because we have a surprise for you; don’t go into the bedroom until we say so.”

   “I’m going to need fresh clothes after my shower.”

   “You have two wives,” Debra quickly said. “I’m sure one of us can get them for you.”

   After we had dinner, Debra put on some music and I danced with both of them off and on until bedtime. Danni is almost as good of a dancer as Debra and frankly, I’ve come to really enjoy dancing with them. I showered and finally walked out of the bathroom and knocked on the bedroom door.

   Debra said, “Wait! Just a minute!” So, I did.

   Then Danni said, “Okay, Babe, you can come in.”

   I opened the door and stood transfixed for a moment before saying, “What the hell?”

   The three of us have been sharing a ¾ size bed for quite some time, but where that bed had been, was a bed that was huge. It took up a large portion of the bedroom. Debra and Danni were both kneeling in the middle of it wearing smiles and nothing else. On each side of the bed was a bassinet for the kids to sleep.

   “It’s King sized!” Debra stated. “Now we have more room to sleep and play!”

   “Wow,” I said. “That’s a beautiful sight.”

   “It is, isn’t it!” Danni said.

   “It certainly is,” I said as I started undressing. “The two of you together like that, waiting for me? There can’t possibly be anything more beautiful.”

   Debra laughed and said, “Danny, it’s a new bed, silly.”

   I stopped crawling across the surface towards them and looked around in comical surprise, “Oh, yeah, how long have we had it?”

   Danni slapped my shoulder and said, “Daniel!”

   I smiled and said, “If you wanted to surprise me with a new bed, you shouldn’t have parked two very naked and sexy ladies in the middle of it; you know I only have eyes for the two of you.”

   Debra purred and said, “Oooo, that’s going to earn you a very satisfying evening, come here.”

 

   Julia did bring Walter on-board and he was an interesting addition to the office, but mostly as a tech rather than analyst. His analytical abilities were limited to say the least. He seemed more than capable when it came to fixing things, maximizing program capabilities and that type of work, but he seemed to stumble, a lot, when it came to seeing connections in information. Sometimes I felt as though he was being purposely obtuse. I mean, when we would be socializing after work, he was actually very sharp and witty, but he seemed to switch off in the office unless it was a hardware or software related problem. He was worth having around though because he could rectify problems much quicker than anyone else. Hell, I was dead in the water with just about anything involving computers outside of correlating information and research.

   I would touch bases with Packer every once in a while, concerning the traffic related to me, but Packer didn’t seem to concerned about it; he just encouraged me to keep digging at it until we got to the bottom. It seemed as though every time we started getting close to making a breakthrough, whoever it was would change channels on us and we’d have to start over again. It was like watching a movie on TV and having someone change the channel on you every time it got to the same point in the plot. I had this feeling that we were missing something really obvious.

   Then, one of the most exciting things that could happen, did. We received a communication in the clear from the Federal Government. The government of the United States! The Communications Room notified Packer and Felicia Ortiz and they spent at least an hour talking back and forth with them. Don’t get me wrong, they were both suspicious of the people claiming to be connected to the government, and were reluctant to reveal our associations with the other groups we were allied with, but they made plans for a sort of diplomatic visit to take place. The one thing we established was the President was named Seymore and had been the junior Senator from Ohio. If a junior senator was President, there must not be very much government left. Apparently, they are sending a delegation with a military escort to sit down with us to discuss possibilities. One thing they do have is a strong military presence involving all four of the branches. With the presence is the ability to react swiftly; the diplomatic mission will arrive in two days from Maryland.

   I immediately set the Intel crew the task of chasing down rumors and evidence of my participation in subverting Asylum’s actions. I had a growing feeling of unease; this crap about me and the sudden appearance of the Federal Government had me nervous. We started finding more references, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a lot. What we were able to come up with, was seriously damaging. I wanted to talk to Danni and Debra about what was going on, but was it necessary to cause them to worry also? And the notation about the ambush in Denver, how do I tell Danni about that? God, even Debra was almost killed. I knew one thing for sure, if the information gathered had been about someone else, I would be extremely suspicious of them, even if they were a friend I knew well.

   On the day before the Feds were supposed to arrive, we started making some headway and just as a picture began to develop of where the fake info was originating from, the computer system went down. Walter worked on it frantically, but no matter what he tried, he couldn’t get it up and running correctly. When we contacted Denver and Holloman to find out if they were having the same problems, they immediately shut down their connections with us to avoid what was probably malware from infecting their own systems. We were completely in the dark and dead in the water. I told Walter to keep working on it and sent everyone else home for the day.

   The next afternoon, I received a phone call and was informed that all of the department heads were to meet at four o’clock in the Bunker Ready Room to be addressed by both Felicia and Packer. I knew the envoys from the government had arrived and even how they had done so. Two C-130s had landed at the Grant County Airport and unloaded their people and vehicles which they then drove to Asylum. They had two vehicles of civilians and four of military for a total of seventy personnel. They obviously seemed capable of projecting power if they needed to.

   After delivering the children to the Day Care Center, Debra, Danni, and I went to the Ready Room and waited for the meeting. Danni was there as head of the Cadet Program, Debra because of her duties with the SST, and me because I was CO of the Intelligence Office. The closer we walked to the meeting, the fewer of our own people were present until finally, the only security personnel were outsiders. I didn’t like that at all, I mean, you allow outsiders to completely control your security? What was Felicia and Colonel Packer thinking?

   The three of us sat together, several of our friends joined us and the discussion was rather animated. We were all wondering what it was going to be like with the Feds running things again until Felicia called the meeting together. As she was making her opening remarks, Major Williams leaned down from behind me and said, “Dan? The Colonel wants you to join him in the back.”

   “Now?” I asked.

   “I’m afraid so, he has some questions that need to be addressed right away, before he takes the podium himself.”

   I nodded and gave both the girls a quick kiss and then followed him out the double doors of the entrance and then around the back way through the old Family Barracks. When we approached the hall that led to the room I had been in when Packer had me held for three days, two of the new security personnel stepped out and pointed their weapons at me. I turned to Williams and said, “What the fuck, Williams?”

   “The Colonel, well, actually, General Packer, has ordered me to place you in confinement until he can come and speak with you because there are questions both he and the Federal Security Forces have for you. Don’t worry, okay? It’s more a formality than anything else.” He looked uncomfortable, but then added, “I need your sidearm, Daniel.”

   I nodded, reached to the buckle of my belt, released it, and then I handed it to him. “Keep that close,” I said. “I’ll be wanting it back.”

   “Of course,” he said, but I had feeling I wouldn’t be getting it returned to me.

   “Same cell as last time?” I asked.

   He nodded and I continued to walk to the corner and turn to the right. From there I walked to end of the hall and waited as the door was opened and I stepped inside. The door was closed with a solid thud as I examined the inside of the holding room. It hadn’t changed since the last time I had been there a year before. In fact, it didn’t even look as though it had been dusted. I sat on the edge of the cot and waited.

   I really don’t know how long I sat waiting, I’m fairly sure it wasn’t as long as it felt like, but long enough for me to start getting angry. Finally, Packer stepped in front of the window and stared at me. I stood up and walked close to the window before I said, “I’m not going to be released, am I?”

   He shook his head, “No, I’m afraid not. I wish I could say otherwise, but, no.”

   “You realize, that getting me out of the way is going to make it easier to do whatever they want here, right?”

   “The case they presented is formidable, Daniel. The evidence? There’s a lot. I can’t help but think maybe they have been watching you for a while, they even know about the other guy, the other you. Why didn’t you tell me your other personality could do things without your knowledge?”

   “He can’t, Jerry, he can’t do anything without me knowing about it.” My stomach began to twist in knots.

   “Well, apparently, you’re wrong. Like I said, the evidence they presented is really…” He faded away.

   “So, is this one of those chess moves Higgins talked about? I get sacrificed for a better position later?”

   “Don’t, Daniel, I’m not taking any pleasure in what is happening.”

   I stared at him and finally said, “No, General, I suppose you’re not. What’s it going to be? I doubt life in prison is on the table, firing squad, or hanging?”

   “No, absolutely not and I promise you that. By their own evidence they would have a hard time getting the death penalty. Your...” He paused and then hurried on. “Your mental illness will exempt you from that right off the top.”

   “Yay, so I get to spend the rest of my life in an asylum?” I laughed, I actually laughed at the play on words.

   Packer exhaled heavily and said, “As a matter of fact, yes. They told me you would receive psychiatric treatment and if you come out of it, possibly a release.”

   “And you believed that? Do you really think there is a mental health facility out there for me? It’s not there, Packer and you know it. You…know…it!”

   “Daniel, I would never…”

   “Will I be allowed to see the girls before they take me away?”

   “Yes, if they wanted to see you, but after they found out about…” He trailed off again.

   “About what?”

   “The information you, your other self, sent to the Denver Enclave that resulted in the death of Daniel Smith and the other five people killed, Danni was horrified. Debra, well, I guess she is trying to be supportive of Danni as she works through the knowledge that the father of her child is responsible for her husband’s death.”

   “I’m not, Jerry, I’m not! Dan was my brother; I would have never done anything that might harm him! My, God! They think I tried to have them killed the same way, but failed? Is that what you and the two women I love, think of me?”

   “It wasn’t you, Daniel, we know that. It was the other guy, the one you thought you could control.”

   “I can control him! Why won’t you believe me?”

   He looked away and said, “Some of them are returning to Maryland tomorrow and they’re taking you with them.” A simple statement of fact. “I’m sorry, I really am; goodbye Daniel.”

   He turned and started walking away as I shouted after him, “It wasn’t me, Jerry! Tell the girls, it wasn’t me!”

 

   Yeah, but, been there, done that.

 

   I called him and he came, we talked awhile and he convinced me that what I knew, about him and I, was correct. Simply put, the direct problem was, I was screwed. The two people I loved the most no longer wanted to see me. They were through with me. Okay, time to start over, I’ve done it before, but this time would be different. This time, there would be no one to betray me. First thing, how the hell do I get out of the predicament I’m in?

   I tried the door, of course, it was locked; no surprise there. I looked at the ceiling vent for the AC, it was out of my reach, but maybe if I pulled the table over under it? It was bolted to the floor, so was the single chair. I sat down on the bed and tried to think of something, but there was nothing, no way to change my circumstances at all. Okay, maybe not here and now, but there was tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Sooner, or later, someone would screw up, and I’d be ready. I laid down and closed my eyes.