Interlude (12 page)

“Get up sleepy head.” Karen said as she
nudged the bed. Cal groggily stood up, the covers falling away as
Karen looked him up and down. She was struggling with the zipper on
the back of her dress as Cal ran a hand through his hair.

“Allow me.” He said, grabbing the offending
zipper and pulling it to the top. His fingers skimmed her skin
through the fabric. She turned around to give him a scolding
look.

“I'll have you know I can barely walk thanks
to you!” She said, her serious tone rendered moot by her smile. She
added, “The backs of my thighs feel like I was riding a bull.” She
said as she rubbed them through the slinky, gray fabric.

“You know, that doesn't really make me feel
bad.” He said, shooting back his boyish smirk at her. He stifled
his smile as best as he could as she struggled to get her shoes
on.

“I want you to meet my crew this morning.”
She paused, adding, “They both really want to meet you, but I need
to prep you for how they might act and what they might say. They
know that I was going to tell you about our real business, and they
weren't happy about it. You're the first guy I've ever told. They
don't know how much you mean to me.” She finished.

“Wow.” was all Cal could muster in the wake
of her candid revelation.

“That being said.” she continued, “They can
be a little rough around the edges.” If you treat them with
respect, then you'll eventually win theirs.” She said. Her tone was
business-like.

“How many people do you have working for
you?” Cal asked.

“Just two, Ethan, and Soren, whom I've
already told you about.” She finished.

“I guess he's not an insurance guy?” Cal
quipped.

“Not really. He's actually a Bosnian War vet.
He was dishonorably discharged after he killed an entire squad of
Serbian troops when he saw them committing some kind of atrocity.
He’s never really talked about it. The Army didn't want to deal
with his mental problems, so they sent him packing.” She said in a
matter of fact tone.

“Is he...crazy?” Cal asked cautiously.

“No more than the rest of us.” She replied
with a smile.

“What about this Ethan guy,” Cal yelled from
the bathroom as he looked for his toothbrush in his bag.

“He's a sweetie. He's about my dad's age.
Daddy saved him from a tangle with some bikers in Adelaide,
Australia about thirty years ago. He's worked for the company ever
since.” Karen yelled back from the bedroom mirror, adding, “Hurry
up! I have a video conference with a Ukrainian mob boss this
morning. They hate to be kept waiting.” She said. She was standing
behind him in the bathroom. Her eyeliner gave her green eyes a deep
smoldering look as she appraised him, visibly, as he watched her in
the mirror.

Making their way into town, Cal asked Karen
why she was gone for over three weeks. She wasn't doing insurance
stuff, he knew that much!

“I was keeping peace with my dad's first
“real customer”, as he used to call them. I was stuck in that
hostage standoff you might have heard about.” She said as they
merged onto the highway. The fog was already burning off. It was
going to be a nice day.

“Wait, you were there?” Cal asked in shock.
“How did you get wrapped up in that?”

“Soren was supposed to make a delivery of
large caliber ammo to their compound. Our plane was down for an FAA
inspection, so he had to arrange to have the cargo freighted to
them. In doing so, he mistakenly sent the shipment to the wrong
address! I had to go down and fix the manifest and hand-deliver the
stuff in a rental truck. Since they're kind of reclusive, any
change in plans basically has to be handled by me and in person.
Long story short, there was an ATF investigation on the group and
right when I was planning to leave, they tried to storm the
compound.

“Tried?” Call asked.

“Since they're separatists, they tend to like
their guns and privacy. They shot a couple of agents before they
opened fire on all of the other police vehicles. I think they shot
down a helicopter too.” Karen recalled with an odd smile.
Cal
was feeling out of place again!

“So, how did you get out?”

“I didn't. I stayed holed up with them until
they finally ran out of food and water. When they surrendered, the
group's lawyer was on site to challenge all of the search and
seizure charges set forth by the ATF. They arrested me for all of
three minutes before one of the agents got a phone call. Then they
un-cuffed me and I flew back to see you.” She finally finished.

“So, that's why you didn't wasn’t me involved
in this?” Cal asked slowly.

“Yep, I've never been that close to the
danger of this business. I knew I could handle it, but it's hard to
think that you could have a normal relationship through all of it.”
Karen looked at Cal through her sunglasses as she quietly awaited
his response.

“Well, it's good that we don't have a normal
relationship.” He said with a smile as he took her free hand in
his. Karen smiled quietly until they pulled up to the office
building.

The building followed the traditional Santa
Barbara aesthetic; Red tile roof, white stucco walls, and
Bougainvillea growing up the occasional trellis. Cal chuckled to
himself when he read the sign. “Lawrence Risk Management, Inc.”

“That's proof that daddy had a sense of
humor.” Karen said as they made their way to the beveled-glass
door.

The office building was empty except for the
shell company that Karen owned. As they made their way around, two
men came out of the very back door and waved casually to Karen.

“Oh there you guys are! Cal this is Soren
Clark and Ethan Roberts.” She pointed to the two men as they both
stuck their hands out.

Shaking Soren's hand first, Cal saw that he
was about ten or fifteen years older than him. His short black hair
had just started to turn salt and pepper. He was wearing blue jeans
and a Lacoste polo shirt.

“It's good to meet you.” He said with a
sincere smile.

Ethan jutted his hand out toward Cal. He was
about as old as Cal's dad would have been. He looked to have red
hair that had turned gray-silver. As he clamped Cal's hand in a
vice-like grip, Cal could see scarring on his neck that disappeared
into his white dress shirt. His blue eyes regarded Cal cautiously
as they broke the handshake.

“It's good to meet you lad.” He said
calmly.

“Well, I have to go sweet talk Sergei into
buying two boxes of grenades instead of three. You boys play nice.”
With that, Karen walked off with a perky spring in her step. Cal
looked to the two men as they closed in on him.

Ethan moved in and spoke first. “Okay lad, we
know you know what we do for real. I need to say this; Karen is our
little girl. When her dad passed, he told us on his death bed to
watch after her. Since she's just as feisty and unruly as he was,
she never listens to us. We didn't want her to tell you, but she
feels that it won't be a problem. If you breathe a word of this to
anybody, you'll disappear. Understood?” He finished. His tone was
more fatherly than threatening. Cal seemed to find that even more
unsettling.

“Mr. Roberts, er, Ethan, I care for that
woman very much.” Cal paused, adding, “She's made me complete in
ways I didn't know were possible. She basically saved me from my
miserable former life. I don't know what I would do without her. I
would gladly jump in front of a bullet for her.” Cal said with
uncharacteristic intensity.

“Don't write checks you can't cash” Ethan
said plainly.

“Ethan, stop it with the scary cop routine.
He doesn't buy it.” Soren said mildly. Ethan backed off the
intensity as Soren said his piece.

“I agree with Ethan on the fact that Karen is
like family to us. If you hurt her, we'll make life very short and
extremely hard for you.” He paused, his tone softer, “That being
said, I've never seen her this happy. She was starting to get kind
of mopey and snappy before you came along. You keep up what you're
doing; we'll all be just fine.” He said with a big smile, patting
Cal hard on the back.

Ethan cleared his throat, “Well, I guess we
should show the lad some of our wares.” He led Cal down a hallway
toward the back of the office building as Soren followed behind.
There were stairs going down at the back wall. As Cal descended the
cement stairs, Ethan questioned him like a disapproving father. Cal
smiled to himself as he tried to answer the questions on the dark
stairway.

“So do you like guns Cal?” He asked.

“I don't know. I've played video games with
guns in them, and that seemed fun. Shooting one in real life was
much different though. Karen was nice enough to not laugh at me too
much when she took me to the shooting range.” Cal responded,
smiling at the memory.

“Not a good shot eh?” Soren chimed in from
the back.

“Not yet. Maybe with practice, I guess.” Cal
paused, adding, “Soren, I wanted to thank you for taking care of
the thugs who beat me up. I don't really know the protocol for
something like that. Thank you card? Starbucks gift
certificate?”

“Any guy who can get our Karen out of the
dumps like you did deserves some protection. I also wouldn't mind a
bottle of Crown Royal every now and then.” He finished with a
grin.

“Done and done. Man, how long is this
stairway?” Cal asked as they turned another flight of stairs
downward.

“We keep a large safe down about five
flights. Kenneth, Karen's dad, had the place built to some exacting
specs. He wanted to keep everything as far out of sight as
possible.” Ethan said, inching in front of him to swipe a key card.
As he blocked the keypad with his body, Ethan entered a ten digit
code. A loud thud could be heard inside the door as a whoosh of air
escaped. Hefting the large door open, Ethan showed Cal inside. As
the florescent lights groaned and flickered to life, Cal saw things
that he had only thought real in movies! On the back wall was a row
of, what looked like missiles, sitting in a metal rack. There were
so many different kinds of guns that Cal lost count. The wall,
ceiling, and floor of the fortified room were lined with weapons
and ammo crates. Both of the men paused in proud silence as Cal
spun around in place to take everything in, nearly tripping over an
upright row of anti-tank rounds!

“Easy there chief.” Soren said as he stepped
out to protect the large shells from falling over.

“Sorry. I guess that could have been bad?”
Cal said sheepishly.

“Well, not for us. We would die pretty quick.
The rest of the block might have some problems being tossed into
orbit though.” He said, clapping his hand on Cal's back again with
a big smile.

“So, how bad of a shot are you kid?” Ethan
asked.

“Bad, I mean, I hit Karen's target more than
mine.” Cal admitted, with an embarrassed smile.

“Shoot me.” Ethan said flatly.

“Beg pardon?” Cal asked in surprise.

“Like when you were a kid playing cops and
robbers. Shoot me with your fingers!” He said more insistently.

“Oh, okay.” Cal aimed his gun-shaped fingers
at the man as he sighted down his thumb.

“Ah ha!” Ethan proclaimed, adding, “You're
not a bad shot! You just have an eye dominance problem.”

“What's that?” Cal had been doing this his
whole life, now shooting people with his fingers was wrong
too?”

“You shoot right handed, but you’re trying to
sight with your left eye. It's an easy fix.” He finished. They all
turned as Karen's shoes came clicking into earshot.

“You two aren't being too hard on my guy are
you?” She asked as she stepped into the large room. The flickering
fluorescent light couldn't even take away her beauty, as she
gracefully maneuvered around the various forms of artillery
littering the floor. She gave Cal a knowing look before Ethan
Spoke.

“So, how's Sergei doing lately? Will he be
partaking in our wares?” He asked in a mocking Russian accent.

“Yeah, but he wants an on sight transfer.”
Karen said with a disappointed tone. All three audibly groaned as
Cal tried to get up to speed.

“What's so bad about an on sight transfer?”
Cal asked.

“An on sight transfer is when we have to be
on hand, in person, to exchange money for goods. Normally it's not
too bad. But, when you have to go to the Ukraine to do it it's no
fun. Eastern Europe is no place for a vacation.” He said, turning
back to Karen, “Why can't he arrange the transfer in France, or at
least Germany?”

“You know Sergei, pride in the motherland.”
Karen said, rolling her eyes.

“ONE-TWO-THREE-NOT-IT!” Both Soren and Ethan
chorused as Karen slammed her fist softly on her leg.

“Dammit you two, just once I'd like to win
that!” She said, adding, “Well babe, it looks like we get to
vacation in the former USSR. Thanks guys.” She finished
sarcastically. Ethan gave her a friendly nod as Soren chuckled
quietly.

“We best get going. I wanted to introduce you
to the girls. We'll have lunch and then get you some clothes.” She
scrunched her nose up at him as he kissed her on her soft lips. She
had a way about her that made the whole world evaporate. Here in
this subterranean basement of doom, Cal's thoughts could only
manage to focus on her. Ethan and Soren rolled their eyes and
groaned exasperatingly as Karen addressed them with a mischievous
smile.

“You push off Sergei on me, I submit you to
witnessing a make out session, seems fair to me.” She said. Cal
gave the guys an apologetic shrug as she led him out.

“Cal, we'll meet in a couple of days to go
over you shooting issues.” Ethan shouted after them.

“They seemed to really like you.” She said to
him with a smile.

“Even though they basically threatened to
kill me if I ever hurt you,” Cal asked.

“We arms dealers are big on hyperbole.” She
joked, unlocking her SUV with the key fob.