Learning to Drive... Him Crazy (22 page)

"I'm okay now," Kelli assured them. "I want
to talk to Alana a minute, then we'll get dressed and be out."

Cal looked at her quizzically. "If you're
sure you're okay now."

"I am. Thank you, Cal." She reached up and
gave him a kiss, which she hoped would satisfy his curiosity.

John gave Alana a quick kiss, also, before
leaving them alone.

After the men
left, Alana asked, "What's going on, Kelli? What do you want to
talk about?"

"It might be kind of embarrassing, but I
really need to ask you something."

"Now you've got my curiosity piqued. What do
you want to ask me?"

Kelli hesitated, but finally asked, "What
happened to your butt? It's got ugly red marks all over it!"

Alana instantly turned red. She quietly
said, "John spanked me last night."

Now Kelli turned red. "Oh. Sorry." Then she
thought about it and asked, "Wait, he spanked you? Here? I can't
believe he'd do that here! Did the agents hear it? I would be so
embarrassed. And what did you do that he felt he had to do that
here where people could hear it?"

"Whoa, slow down. He spanked me for buying
those shoes that had the ruby in them. I told him I hate knowing
I'm going to be spanked, but having to wait. The anticipation was
driving me crazy. John said the office is soundproof, so he asked
the agents if he could use that office last night. That's what he
wanted to talk about last night."

"Are you okay, Alana? You look really
sore."

"I am sore, but I'm fine. It's not as bad as
it looks. I have really fair skin that bruises easily. You can just
barely pinch it and it leaves a red mark."

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Positive. I may not be able to sit
comfortably today, but I'm really glad John arranged that so we
could get it over with. My butt may be sore today, but my heart is
so much lighter. I was going crazy having to wait. Didn't you say
Cal told you that you're getting spanked when this is all over
with?"

"Yes, for taking you shopping when I was
grounded."

"Doesn't it drive you crazy, having to wait,
knowing you're going to be spanked?"

"I don't think about it. I guess I'm good
with putting it off as long as possible."

"Okay. I couldn't."

"We better get dressed and go out there or
they'll come looking for us again. I'm sure our guys will want to
know what I wanted to talk to you about. You can tell John whatever
you want, but I'm going to tell Cal I just wanted to ask you if
you're having any bad dreams since we've been staying here."

"I'll cover for you if he says anything.
I'll tell him we talked about the weird dreams we've been
having."

Fifteen minutes later the girls walked into
the kitchen, where Cal was setting the table and pouring orange
juice and coffee, while John was at the stove, finishing up
scrambled eggs. A plate of bacon waited on the table. They both
turned to the girls as they walked in. John turned the eggs off and
they took their ladies in their arms.

John asked, "Are you both okay?"

"We're fine," Alana assured him.

"Everything all right now?" Cal asked
Kelli.

"We really are okay, Cal. I just wanted to
talk to Alana a couple minutes to see if she was having weird or
bad dreams, too, or if it was just me," Kelli explained.

John asked Alana, "And?"

"We've both been having strange dreams, but
I'm sure when this is over and we're back home again we'll be fine.
But speaking of home again, Kelli said I'm welcome to stay at her
place if I need to when they finally spring us from here. Do you
know anything about my apartment? Did they leave it the way the
thieves left it, or what's the status on that?"

"I'm not sure," John admitted, "but we can
ask. I have a feeling they had to leave it for evidence, but I'm
not sure if they still have it sealed off or if they've gotten all
the prints and photos they need."

"If they're done with it, can I hire someone
while I'm still here to put it back so it's at least partially in
order before I get there?"

"We'll find out," John promised. "If you're
sure you're both okay, are you ready for breakfast?"

Both girls nodded and their old-fashioned
men quickly pulled out their chairs for them.

"This is really good," Kelli said shortly,
as she inhaled the savory smell of bacon. "If I scream every
morning, will you guys keep cooking us delicious breakfasts?"

"Sweetie, unless there's a real good reason,
if you scream every morning, you'll scream again every evening when
you go to bed with an extremely sore bottom," Cal casually replied
as he took another bit of eggs.

Kelli's eyes shot wide open and she looked
over at Alana, but Alana didn't seem too shocked. John noticed that
and had to smile. His little lady was learning to take this
spanking thing seriously.

* * * * *

Two more days at the safe house and all four
of them were getting frustrated. Cal's meeting had been
rescheduled. Their bosses were all being very understanding, but
they were tired of being cooped up in the house. They were tired of
watching movies, and nothing much on television held their interest
except the news, and even on that they were talking less and less
about what had happened.

Early Friday evening the girls went into
their bedroom to get something. While they were in the bedroom they
heard a noise outside their window. They looked at each other and
froze. Alana put her finger to her mouth to signal to be quiet, and
they listened. When they heard it again, she quietly crawled to one
corner of the window, while Kelli crawled to the other corner. Very
carefully they pulled the curtain back just enough to be able to
look out the very corner of the window. They saw a man on a
stepladder fall, which made a louder racket. The man immediately
got up and grabbed the ladder and ran. Before he ran off they both
saw his face.

The girls jumped back from the window like
they'd seen a ghost. Then they both screamed.

Agent Barstow and Agent Kline had heard a
commotion outside, and Agent Barstow was already on his way to the
girls' bedroom, where the noise had originated. Agent Kline was
checking the surveillance cameras, and looking out windows. When
the girls screamed, Agent Barstow ran into the room, gun drawn
again, John right behind him, and Cal close behind in the
hallway.

As soon as they all got there, the girls
both pointed to the window and said, "Joe."

John reached over and pulled them away from
the window. "What? Where?"

Alana managed to get out, "He was on a
ladder, climbing up to the window. He fell and when it made a bunch
of noise, he took the ladder and ran that way, away from town." She
and Kelli were both pointing. Agent Barstow got on his radio and
radioed the information in to Lieutenant Berry.

John said, "Let me go outside and see if I
can find any prints."

Barstow stopped him. "No. John, they'd have
my badge if I let you outside, especially now. He may be outside
waiting, and you know that as well as I do. I will, however, let
you stay in here and keep the girls away from the windows while I
go out and take a look."

John grudgingly agreed.

Barstow went outside, while John and Cal
took the girls into the library, away from the windows. John
repeated instructions they'd been given in case they thought they'd
been compromised. "I don't want to know right now how you two both
happened to be looking outside, since you'd been told to stay away
from the windows, but you're both positive it was Joe you saw?"

"Yes," Alana answered.

"Positive," Kelli confirmed. "He turned
around to grab the ladder before he took off running, and we saw
his face when he turned around.

"Did he see yours?" John asked.

"No, I don't think so," Alana answered. "He
had fallen, and he was grabbing the ladder that had fallen, as
well, and immediately took off. When he fell it made a pretty good
racket, so I assume he figured someone would have heard it and
would be checking it out, so he grabbed the evidence and took
off."

Agent Barstow came into the library.
"Someone was outside the window for sure. There are footprints, and
two marks from something else."

"A stepladder perhaps?"

"Very possibly," Barstow said. "Fill me in,
John."

He told Barstow what the girls related about
seeing Joe. Barstow got on his radio and repeated this information
to Lieutenant Berry. There was talk back and forth between Barstow
and Berry, with the girls answering a few questions about what they
saw. Berry informed them that they had eight agents on their way to
the area, and four police officers in the area had been dispatched
to aid in the search as well.

The police force had made it clear they
wanted to be involved in the hunt for their former fellow officer
to try to help clear the name of the police force. They wanted the
community to know it wasn't the entire police force that was
involved, and they also wanted Officer Decker in custody.

It was getting darker, but there was a lot
of activity over the next hour. Agents were checking in, letting
Lieutenant Berry know where they checked and reporting no signs of
Joe. Agent Ryan Reed reported, "We found two people that saw him
running with a stepladder. We then found where he stashed the
stepladder, so we were on his trail. But then it's like he
disappeared."

John suddenly jumped up and said, "He's in
the trees."

Agent Brad Barstow, who was on the radio
talking to Lieutenant Berry, stopped and looked at John. "He's
where?"

"Tell the men to look in the trees. We grew
up in the same neighborhood and we all played together. Back then
we used to climb trees a lot. Joe said one time that trees were the
perfect place to hide. He told us about hiding from his dad in a
tree. He broke a streetlight and said he knew his dad would be
irate, so he hid in a tree in their neighbor's yard. It was in the
summer, and he stayed there until the middle of the night. Then
when he went home he told his dad someone in a black car saw him
accidentally break the light and chased him. He was afraid and ran,
and the car kept chasing him. He acted scared to death, and his dad
was so glad to see him, safe and sound, that he didn't do anything
about the streetlight. "

The agent radioed the information to the
lieutenant, who sent the message out to the agents in the field and
the police officers.

A little over an hour later Agent Reed
announced, "We have him. Thank John for the tip. He was in a tree.
We walked past him half a dozen times before John said to look up.
We're bringing him in. Our ETA at the FBI office is eleven
minutes."

A cheer went up from everyone at the safe
house. Agent Barstow quieted them quickly, though. "Joe somehow
knew you guys were here. Until we have a chance to question him
thoroughly, we don't know if he was working alone out there or if
there were others involved, or if he brought in someone else
recently. If there is anyone else, they more than likely know about
this location, as well. Until we've questioned him and are
confident that you're safe, we're going to move you to another safe
house."

At their collective groan, Agent Barstow
laughed. "Are we really that bad as hosts?"

"Nothing personal, Brad," John said.

"I completely understand," the agent assured
him. "The good news is, hopefully, it will only be for one or two
more days, while they question Officer Decker and make sure they
have everyone."

Cal tried to lighten the mood by pointing
out, "Well, guys, at least we can see the light at the end of the
tunnel now."

"Yeah, but I wish the light was a little
brighter," Kelli said. "It's kind of hard to see as I'm getting
ready to go to another house."

They all chuckled a bit, trying to make the
most of the situation.

Alana asked Agent Barstow, "Do you have
something with an indoor pool, maybe an exercise room with a nice
punching bag we could take our frustrations out on?"

"I'll see what I can do," the agent said,
laughing. "If you guys want to go get your stuff together, I
imagine the lieutenant's going to want to get you moved
a.s.a.p."

Sure enough, ten minutes later two more cars
arrived and parked in the garage, along with the two already there.
There were men lying in the back that got out, and when they left,
John and Alana were laying in the back of one car, while Cal and
Kelli were lying in the back of another car. Two men were sitting
in the front of all four cars. Two cars left, followed five minutes
later by the other two. The lights were still on in the house after
they left.

All four cars drove all over the city,
passing by each other occasionally, going out of town and back in.
The four of them eventually all ended up at another house, arriving
fifteen minutes apart. When John and Alana went in, Cal and Kelli
were already in and looking around.

Kelli grabbed Alana's hand and pulled her
toward a hall as she said, "You gotta see this, Alana." When John
looked at his brother and saw a big smile on his face, he followed
along behind the girls. Kelli went down the hall and turned the
corner and opened a door.

Alana smelled chlorine right away, as they
walked into an indoor pool area. "He got us the indoor pool!" She
was laughing as she went over and leaned down to feel the water.
"Ooh, it's nice! I wonder if we can get someone to bring us
swimsuits?"

"Is there an exercise room with a punching
bag, too?" John asked gleefully, sharing the girls' enthusiasm.

Agent Barstow laughed behind him. "Across
the hall. We can go look at it if you want. Then we can come back
here, and Alana, swimsuits of all sizes are on the shelves in the
closet over there."