The Independents (24 page)

As
the Colonel
closed his eyes, Bishop looked down at the folders in his hands. He owed the dying man a lot, but even deeper
than that,
he was a patriot
.
He picked up the heavy steel case and put the folders back inside, but didn’t turn the locks. Picking up his coffee, he quietly left the room and walked through the pre-dawn gardens thinking deeply about the events of the last few days. On his way past Terri’s room, he checked in on
his
wife. She was breathing deeply and still hours away from waking.

Bishop needed someplace quiet to concentrate on the three folders. He returned to the main office and
let Doc Hopkins
and
Betty
know
the Colonel
was sleeping again.
Betty
offered him a
refill of the excellent Manor h
ouse brew
,
and he gratefully accepted.

Bishop
had a puzzled look on his face.
“
Betty
, what time does Pete normally open the bar?”

“Bishop, don’t tell me you need a little nip already? It’s only five in the morning. Did your friend
upset
you that much?”

Bishop laughed and nodded.
“Didn’t you know I was a lush
,
Betty
? I
just
pretend to like coffee so I have a chance to flirt with you before Terri gets up and catches us together
.”

Betty
giggled like a school
girl and waved Bishop off
.
“Now I know you
’re
blowin
g hot air up this old skirt, hun.
But
Pete is probably
up
already
.
He likes to read in the morning before opening
for business. If you see candle
light in the window, he
’s
up. By the way, my coffee is a lot better than his.”

Bishop laughed and turned toward the front door.
Pete isn’t the only one who needs to read this morning.

As Bishop walked the few blocks down to Pete’s place, he looked around
Meraton
and wondered if he would get a chance to shop
the market when it opened. I
n the distance, he heard a coyote howl and paused
for a bit to see if the call were
answered. It was not.
Sorry bud, seems like you are on your own this morning.
You don’t know how lucky you are..
.
be careful what you ask for.

Sure enou
gh, there was a dim candle
burning in Pete’s window. Bishop walked
to the front of the building as he
remembered Pete’s shotgun was always close by.

“Hello Pete, it
’
s Bishop. Can I come in?”

Bishop heard the lock being turned, followed immediately by the door being slowly o
pened. The solar powered street
lights revealed Pete’s cautious gaze peering outside. His
look of concern was quickly replaced with a big toothy grin as he waved Bishop inside.

“Bishop, what has you up so early this morning? Is everything okay?”

Bishop flashed thumbs up and said,
“Pete, I can’t explain right now, but I need someplace quiet to read for a bit. It’s important.”

Pete swept his a
rm in a grand jester of welcome.
“Well
,
my friend, you have come to the
right place. Welcome to Pete’s
bar and reading room. Can I get you some coffee?”

Bishop nodded to his still full cup and asked for a rain check. Pete brought out a candle from behind the bar and motioned for Bishop to take any table he wanted.

Bishop settled
for the small table Terri and he
had
used
the first time they
entered Pete’s bar. They had been new in town and absolute strangers that night, completely unsure of what they were walking into. Bishop felt the same way now.

It was three hours later when
he
closed the last folder. He sat back
, rubbed his
eyes,
and finished
the
third cup of coffee since he had been at Pete’s. The sun was up
,
and the people of
Meraton
were going about their business. He stood,
stretched,
and then put the folders back in their steel case.
I should spin the locks and
set off the booby trap – make it all burn.
What
’s
in there shouldn’t see the light of day. How do I get involved in this shit?

Movement outside on the street caught his attention
, and he looked out in time to see
Terri walking toward Pete’s, smiling and waving at almost everyone passing by. Terri seemed to be enjoying their newfound celebrity status more than he did, but then again, she is probably just being friendly.

The front door
burst
open and in stormed
Terri
, pistol drawn. She winked at Pete and then
swept
the room with her weapon until her gaze landed on Bishop.

“Sooooo, where is she? You’ve only been in town one night and already yer cheating on me
,
ya scoundrel
. Where
’s
the little tramp? I’ma
h
gonna give her a bad case of lead poisoning!”

When Bishop and Pete both snorted out loud,
Terri couldn’t keep a straight face
and started laughing as she lowered the weapon.
Pete came around from behind the bar and gave Terri a hug while offering her a cup of coffee. Terri declined and rubbed her tummy claiming to be cutting back for the baby. Pete nodded knowingly and went into the back room to leave the couple alone.

“Bishop, seriously, I never took you for a guy who closes down a bar. You okay
,
baby?”

“That was funny as shit
,
Terri. If I would
’ve
had a woman here with me
,
I
’m
sure she would have
wet
her
pants
.”

“If you would
’ve
had a woman here
,
h
oney
, I would have shot you, not
her
. Always remember that
,
my love.”

Bishop nodded, absolutely believing she
would
.

“So baby, what
’s
in that case everyone told me you were carrying around after you talked to
t
he Colonel
?
Top-secret
stuff? Spy stuff? Do tell, do tell.”

Bishop looked
annoyed and then shook his head.
“I guess there aren’t any secrets in a small town
,
are there? Terri, I gave my word to
the Colonel
I wouldn’t talk about what’s inside.”

Terri smiled and walked around to Bishop’s side
of the table. She bent over him,
kiss
ing
his
cheek, slowly working her way around to his neck below the ear. Her kisses became more and more
determined
,
and
Bishop tried to tilt his head to protect his neck. His wife was relentless, nibbling and kissing him all around his face and neck. She whispered in his ear, “Baby, I need you so, so very bad. Why don’t you tell me what’s in the case so I can concentrate
on making your who
le universe spin out of control?
I think all this secret
agent
stuff
is incredibly hot. Tell me what’s going on
,
and I’ll
take you out to my new Hummer and
rock your world.”

Bishop gently
brushed
her
back
, both of them
grinning
. He
stood to escape her onslaught and then
pulled her close.
“
Y
ou s
hould change your name to Mata Ta
ri.”

Pete came out from the back room,
pretending to be embarrassed.
“You two should get a room.”

“We have a room
,
”
they both replied in the same voice
.

Pete smiled,
“Then you should use it. I run a reputable business here. You two keep that up
,
and
it will
taint my
near perfect
image.”
I’m going to have to kidnap my own wife and take her back to the ranch so we won’t be interrupted.

Terri kissed
Bishop again and smiled at Pete.
“If I keep this up, business will be better than ever,” causing everyone to
laugh again.

They
thanked Pete for his hospitability and head
ed
back for the hotel. The townsfolk were beginning to set up the tables for the market
,
and it reminded Bishop of both good times and bad. He had witnessed a murder here and had practically lost his mind over it. Terri had pulled him ba
ck from what would have been
a suicidal charge at the bank robbers. He looked down at her and realized what was bothering him the most about this entire affair with
the Colonel
and the briefcase.

“Terri, is
the Colonel
awake?”

“I don’t know. The kids were eating breakfast with
Betty
when I
left
to find you. Samantha was asking where you were by the way. I think you have a new member
of
the
‘Bishop Fan C
lub
.’
”

Bishop rolled his eyes, “I need to talk to
the Colonel
. He is ask
ing me to keep a secret -
even from you
-
and I don’t like it.
We’ve
made it this far because we were together. I’m not about to go solo. Either we both are in, or I’m out.”

Terri thought she understood, but couldn’t be for sure. She smiled and said, “You men go do all your silly secret things. I’m going to get something important accomplished today. I’m going shopping. Let me know if
I need to learn
the secret handshake
or buy a new
secret decoder ring or anything
.”

They
walked back to the hotel parking area and opened the back of the Hummer. The weapons
Bishop
had taken from the dead Colombians were in the back. He took out one of the
MP5 sub-machine guns and double-
checked it was unloaded
. He handed the weapon to Terri.
“Here’s your charge card
darling
. Take two of the magazines in case you need a higher limit.”

Terri looked at the weapon and asked, “You don’t have one like this. Don’t you want it?”

Bishop shook his head,
“Nope. They shoot a pistol round
,
and out here in the
wide-open
spaces, they aren’t much good. If we lived in the city, I might consider it. It’s a fine weapon, just not real practical for out here. A lot of guys will think it’s cool though. You should be able to get about anything you want for it.”

That thought made Terri smile
,
and she slung the weapon over her shoulder and shoved a magazine into each back pocket. She turn
ed
away and shoved out her butt, “Bishop, does all this ammo make my ass look fat?”

Bishop wagged his finger at her,
“You
really
expect me to tell a woman carrying a sub-machine gun and lots of bullets that her butt looks fat? Do I
look
stupid?”

Terri blew him a kiss and
headed
off to spend the morning bartering.

As Bishop strode
back to the hotel, he couldn’t help but think about what was in those three folders. He ente
red
T
he Manor’s gardens
via the back door in order to avoid
Samantha,
as he didn’t want a shadow just yet. He went to his room to wash up and grab some
of his
gear – but really to think.