Once we arrived at the shopping center we quickly discovered it was necessary to leave one of the guys out at the cars so he could relay our communications. The radios worked just fine portable to portable while inside the center and we could hear the repeaters, but we couldn’t reach them from inside the buildings and we could barely communicate with the agent we left out at the cars.

“Lynn, maybe next time you could purchase the high power packages and the high-capacity batteries?”

“The comms guys as well as Motorola said that would make the radios too cumbersome and it would also drop their use time to less than half even with the higher capacity batteries. They also told me we would be able to do everything we needed with the lower power. There was also this little problem of start-up capital. The initial radios were nearly a quarter of my total first year's budget and by renting repeater time and buying low power I saved enough to pay one of you for five months.” I offered in self-defense.

“Well, I suppose that was true when things were getting under way. Now though, things are getting more difficult every day. You've bought an entire set of radios since those days and stayed with low power.”

“Because it was working for us.” I added.

“Because it was working. Fine... Except now we're going for greater range and more adverse conditions of use more and more often so high power would be a godsend. We’re pushing at some hard limits now, if we could upgrade what we have it before it becomes critical, it would be a good thing. Maybe you could purchase twice as many of the high-capacity batteries so the guys could each carry a spare.”

He paused, as if in thought, before adding, “It might not hurt to have another two sets sitting on the chargers while the first two are out in use, then the guys could swap them out as they pass through the office or at their homes if they have chargers there.”

I winced at his suggestion that I purchase four high power batteries per portable. That would be somewhere around another eighty dollars per battery plus the high power module however much that cost. I was certain of one thing, it wouldn’t be cheap; maybe they would accept the low power modules as trade-ins like car dealers do with cars. Does Motorola do that? If not then I was looking at twenty-five thousand or so just for new batteries, never mind the high power modules.

I sighed as I gave in. I could see the need. It was a 'must have' concerning reliable communication.

“What the heck. It’s only money. If you guys can stomach carrying bulkier radio packages, I guess I can find the money somewhere.”

“Thanks, Lynn. It could make a big difference whenever we get into a fire-fight.”

“Do you know something I don’t?”

“No. I’m just making an observation. If push ever comes to shove, we don’t want our communication system failing on us at a critical moment. Isn't that part of the reason you bought the long-haul battery packages for the repeaters?”

“Yes, it is.”

I took a few seconds to give it a little more thought.

“You're right. Write up a memo and pass it across Nicci’s desk to my attention. That way she'll ask me about it. Better yet, mention in the memo that I want her to talk with me about it.”

“As soon as we get back.”

I sighed again. Here was yet another expense. I idly wondered if I could get Motorola to discount the upgrades a little if I had them done at the same time as the new orders went in for the European stuff?

Wait a minute... oh no! Does this mean the European stuff should also be higher power? The thought of that two hundred seventy thousand going out for new radio equipment probably jumping up to a cool half mil gave me heart palpitations — oh hell, plus there will need to be upgrades to our equipment which operats in the military channels as well. Damn. If I slit my wrists I don't bleed money so where was it going to come from? Oh my gosh... the coastal stuff I've already ordered will need the upgrades as well. I've got to contact our salesman and have that order amended in a hurry.

I need to study this and see exactly what all needs to be done, then I need to get a message to the Motorola rep to have the original orders modified to add the high power modules to every portable and to upgrade to all high capacity batteries — plus spares. What the hell, it’s only money… Profit margin? What profit margin? I hoped we would have a good second half of the year next year, I was about to spend all our surplus profit from the first half. I hoped I wouldn’t need to take out a loan against my rental properties again. I needed to have an idea of what it all this will cost. Financial needed to go over all this for me. I think I'm developing a headache. At this point to avoid any more sudden revelations that I needed to spend more money on our communications or weaponry, I took Cathy's hand and led her off to the department store at the end of the complex while the guys went their own way.

“I like that one, Mommy. I like green.”

“It does look nice doesn't it? It would be nice for next summer but I'm afraid it would be much too cold for the winter coming on. If we bought it now, you might grow too much to be able to wear it before the weather became warmer. Right now I think we should stick with Fall and Winter clothing for you. It's going to become much colder before it begins to warm again.”

“O..h,” disappointment could be heard in each syllable of the word as she said it.

Bucking right back up, “maybe this one?”

She held up a pastel blue creation that once again would have looked very nice, if it fit, but was also a little light for cold weather wear.

I gave in and let her try it on.

“It's big, Mommy.” she remarked with a slight tremble in her lower lip as she turned while looking at herself in the mirror.

I had checked the price and it was marked down as well as large on her, so if she didn't grow too very much my next spring and summer it might still fit long enough that she could get one or two uses out of it. I thought perhaps I could use it as an incentive.

“It does look nice. I suppose we could get it in the hopes it will fit later on, but if we do then you need to start trying to help me find you some nice warm clothing for the winter.”

“Oh, yes. Can I wear it while we look at other clothes?”

My eyebrow above my left eye must have raised to my hairline but I gave in and allowed her to be happy while we continued to shop. Eventually though, I had her back into winter wear as we took our selections up to the counter along with the tags for the warm coat she now had hanging open over her other clothing. I paid with the corporate card and we then went off in search of the guys.

Cathy and I had a lot of fun shopping together. I had gotten away with shopping with Cathy while on our own through the expedient of authorizing two of the guys to use their company cards to pay for everything the army people needed. Before we split up to do our shopping I confirmed to them that I would ask Nicci to have their card balances brought back up to match the others who were on this detail once we got to the office tomorrow.

By the time Cathy and I returned with our four bags of clothing, as opposed to the eight we would have had if I had given in to Cathy's every whim; the guys had been standing around with their purchases waiting for us to show up. By chance or by design they had managed to congregate near the food court which I took to be a hint. I gave a couple of them our bags to take out to the cars then told them to put all their purchases in the cars and return to meet Cathy and myself at the restaurant here at the center rather than partaking of any of the junk food. While Cathy and I were shopping we had taken the time to go in to place a reservation for the entire party. In between our fun and games at the various stores and then taking everything out to the cars, our reservations were about to come up.

“Oh. When you drop the purchases off at the vehicles I want everyone to come back in for supper so bring the mobile phone along. We’ll just have to accept being out of radio contact while we are in the restaurant.”

Once everyone arrived at the restaurant we had less than a fifteen minute wait before they were ready for us. We had beaten the supper crowd by about an hour which meant they could easily make room to seat all of us as a party. Timing is everything I suppose. Most of the reservations they had were for much later so they weren’t particularly concerned since we would likely be gone or just leaving when they began to need the space.

Of course, just to be perverse, the portable radios were able to reach the repeaters from inside the restaurant. One of the comms guys tried to explain the reason to me but it just went over my head. I mean, steel is steel isn’t it?

I guess not. I wish I could have had a couple of the radios we had back when I was on active duty but hauling a PRC around wasn't exactly simple. They were no where near as small as the radios we were using.

By the time we sat down to eat, Cathy had forgotten all about her pizza and milkshake so I managed to get some reasonably good food into her. Of course being the only princess present in a large party of adults let her show off her people skills. At least until she nearly fell asleep at the table, but by then we were ready to leave. The restaurant people rewarded her table manners and excellent behaviour with a stick of wrapped peppermint candy which was carried in the same hand as Andy’s ear. I again made a mental note to have the stitching for the ears reinforced.

Cathy hadn’t found a satisfactory replacement for Rebecca while we were shopping but she seemed just as happy with Andy so I wasn’t going to fight it for now. At some point I thought it would be necessary for one of us to give up Andy so finding a replacement, either for Rebecca or for Andy would become a priority in the not too distant future.

We made it back to my home unscathed and the five army personnel were assigned rooms. Two enlisted per room plus a room for their officer. Several of my men also stayed overnight and the rest wandered back to their homes while retaining their radios so they could be reached at a moment’s notice.

The next morning I found Cathy asleep in my bed. That told me that I was more tired than I thought since I didn’t remember her coming in during the night. That didn’t go down well with me especially since we were supposed to be on alert and no one told me she was up in addition to my not noticing she came to my room. After a few enquiries I learned she had awakened during the night, gotten up and into her slippers and robe, dragged Andy out with her and intercepted one of my agents who came to check on her. He brought her to my room and helped her into the empty side of my bed before departing. I have no idea where I was during all that.

I made two other discoveries that morning. One, I forgot to arrange for the cooks to come to prepare the meals so yours truly spent a couple of hours fixing breakfast for everyone as they showed up. The second didn’t come to haunt me until late afternoon. That was when I made the additional discovery that I had completely forgotten about my morning skating lessons. Can you say - preoccupied? Again, I didn’t think it was a total loss until I remembered that I had to pay for the instructors time for lessons that I had simply brushed off due to my mind concentrating on other things. It was about that time that I remembered my outfit needed to be cleaned and I couldn’t find it. That had me puzzled for all of two or three minutes before I remembered it was at work on the hanger which should have had a clean uniform on it. Was Cathy that unsettling an influence on me?

The remaining skating lessons were cancelled, and rescheduled to begin again next week. That was only two sets of lessons so that wasn’t too bad. I hoped nothing would happen to cause me to blow off the lessons which I had now scheduled for next week.

We reached the weekend and things had settled into a more or less smooth routine. More than half of my agents on the Cathy detail had gone on to money making projects and the Army guys had finally flown home leaving only six agents, two per shift.

Before leaving, two of the Army guys had expressed the desire to join my little company once their present periods of enlistment ended. I gave them business cards and suggested as they got to the last sixty days, then we should talk, meanwhile their information was taken and we would run them through the ringer to see what their military records look like. That would leave enough time both for us and for them to make a decision concerning the possibility. It would also allow them sufficient time to still re-up should they not fit into my little family very well. I was still waiting for Colonel Madison's promised information concerning the weapons which had been used in the attack on James people but it hadn’t yet materialized. I decided to give it one more day before I asked Lucy about it.

My skating routine began once again and quickly become just that, the start of a Monday through Friday routine. The only difference was now Cathy and two of my agents came along which puzzled the skating people a bit. I guess they expected my ‘guests’ to be skating in addition to myself. They also went through a bit of a shock when Cathy was running around calling me Mommy and here I was with no wedding band. It didn't take a lot of explanation to get them to understand but just the fact I needed to do it was a bit wearing. Cathy, meanwhile, was oblivious and began showing great interest in the skating again. She probably would have been out on the ice in her shoes if both I and the rink had allowed it. It was with great resignation that she accepted the need to be as tall as the height bar they had in the lobby.

“See, I’m tall enough.” She reached up and grasped the bar.

“That's good, honey. I'm afraid though that you need to stand under the bar and your head must touch it.”

Renee informed a very disappointed young lady. She watched as Cathy moved under the bar and stretched on her tip toes as she tried to touch the bar with her head.

“Getting close, young lady.” She winked to Cathy. “I’ll tell you what; when’s your next birthday?”

“I’ll be four.”

“No, I mean when will it occur?”

“Mommy?”

“She’ll be four in March if I remember correctly.”

“Okay. All right young lady, here’s the deal. When you are four and if a pair of skates actually fit you, we’ll see if you can stretch enough to touch the bar with your head. If you can then I’ll teach you to skate. Deal?”

Renee held out her hand to Cathy who stood there a moment digesting what she had just been told. Suddenly her face lit up and she grabbed Renee’s hand and held on. Renee gave it a little shake before saying: “Okay. It’s a deal. Remember your head still has to touch the bar.”

Cathy nodded her head, grabbed my hand and led me back to the bar where she stood under it and stretched for all she was worth.

“How much do I need to grow, Mommy?”

“It looks like you need three or four inches, sweetheart.”

She frowned and began to digest that information as she lowered down again moving out from under the bar. We went back to the changing rooms while the two agents waited for us in the lobby. Twenty minutes later we were out and the four of us made our way to my car.

I made a stop for fuel then headed on in to the office for another day of fun and games. I had another potential client to see at eleven and two details were due to show up just after lunch since we had clients flying in this afternoon for their own fun and games at the convention center the remainder of the week. Otherwise? Well, things had diminished to a dull roar and Christmas was looming ever nearer.

Two days later I met early in the day with the Motorola rep and made some serious changes to our previous orders as well as added a new one to his in-basket.

“Thank you for the order, Ms. Stevens. Delivery on everything will likely be around the middle of February, maybe even by the end of January. There will be a slight delay due to the need to clear the military portion of the order with Washington and the Pentagon but that probably won’t take long since you have gone through those clearances before.

The European portion will take a little longer since the equipment will need to be certified and equipped to operate in a multitude of countries. Most of them still have their own ideas of what frequencies can be used for what so that might complicate things a little. Worst case… the European portion won’t be delivered until Mid April. I’m certain your communications people have already warned you that not all equipment will be usable in every country.”

“Delayed delivery is okay, I think. We are still working on getting our first agents vetted there. It’s just that I need to start getting all the ducks in a row so when it all comes down we can outfit quickly.”

“You do realize that you cannot use the European equipment in the U.S. and vice versa?”

“Yes. We’ve been over all that before. That’s why my comm. people have
asked for the extra equipment. They’ll probably check it out on those funny things that look like artillery shells with antenna connections on them here in their labs though.”

“Yes, dummy loads. That’s all right.”

“That’s what they called them. Are there dummy loads for the portables as well?”

“With the proper cables the same loads could be used.”

“Good. Well, thank you Mr. Greene. I’ll have finance begin to allocate the additional funds for those extra costs beginning in January. By the time Motorola is ready to deliver we will likely be ready to pay the whole balance due.”

“That’s why I like working with you, Ms. Stevens. Your company pays the balance on delivery rather than going for payments. That helps to keep the overhead low, both for you and for me. I'm sorry that the transmitters can't just have their output changed through a swap of a module. We will have a number of high power transmitter boards shipped pretuned so the local Motorola rep can just have a tech park here and make the swaps. It might take a week or so but they will all get changed out.”

“Thank you again, Mr. Greene. If they contact us well in advance we can try having as many of the portables here as possible.”

“I'm sure as they come in they can be handled.”

“No. What I'm saying is we are a national company. Right now we have portables and repeaters in operation all over the country and some of them are not due back for a month or possibly more. We have one team, for example, who is working with Federal agencies and the military. Their return date is open and we still don't have any indication of a possible date of return.”

“Really? I wasn't aware of that. How do you handle the licenses?”

“We have been cleared for national operation and if Motorola checks the frequencies we use they will find they are special channels held clear nationwide for special security use. Since we are coupled with Civil Defense and other Federal agencies we have been granted authority of use. The parent agencies have copied the FCC and they granted us the permissions. We usually stick to one set of channels but we sometimes share equipment with whatever Federal agency is working the same region. That's the reason our repeaters are so different, or at least I've been led to believe they are. I’m afraid I've got another meeting I should be attending so I'll ask Nicci to see you out. They are probably wondering where I am even as we speak.”

“I’ll get these changes in as soon as I get to the office. The upgrades to your existing equipment will likely be able to begin in January since it’s a little difficult to do a lot over the month of December. We will try to work with you. Thank you for the order once again.”

I shook his hand and began to prepare for my two o’clock which supposedly started four minutes ago, even as Nicci opened the door inviting Mr. Greene to exit ahead of her. I scurried out the door right behind them with my arms loaded down with my notes and reference information I needed for the meeting. It would be fast since the client was due in on a four ten flight and my guys would need time to set up at the airport. At least I hadn't heard of any problems with comms or our advance man at the airport. Cathy tagged along right behind me dragging Andy by his ear. Mental note to me... again... have Andy's ear stitching reinforced.

“How are you doing, Sweetheart? I'm sorry Mommy's in so many meetings today. Tomorrow there will be a couple of other children here and you will all have a big room in which you can play while Mommy's working. How's that sound?”

“I'm tired.”

Okay, I guess that equates to being bored.

“Do you need another nap? Pretty soon we'll be back at my office and you can have another nap in that 'funny' room.”

“Can I have some more milk?”

“As soon as this meeting is over. Tell you what. After this meeting is over and we go back to my office for a few minutes, then we'll go home early so you can sleep in your own bed and I'll read you a story. Okay?”

“When will the meeting be over?”

“Soon sweetheart, soon.”

“Are you going to turn that noise thing? I don't like it. It hurts my ears.”

“No. We don't need it for this meeting.”

“Good. I'm hungry Mommy.”

“We'll go eat after I finish this meeting, Sweetheart.”

“Can I have chocolate milk again?”

“We'll see.”

“That means 'no' doesn't it?”

“Not necessarily. Sometimes it just means we'll see. Chocolate milk doesn't go with just anything.”

“I don't want a salad.”

“Oh. I think we'll find something better than that this time; after all, you are a growing girl. What do you think about having some chicken?”

The meeting lasted forty minutes and Cathy fell asleep for part of it. Once it was over, I picked her up and she half-dozed as I carried her back to my office where I put her on the cot until I could finish a few things.

It bothered me that there wasn't much for her to do here at the office but I couldn't hand her over to a day-care because of the possible threat and the need to protect her. I called Nicci in for a small conference concerning the possible future need to provide a protected day-care facility for the children of clients. This was something which I had not considered before. It was something which I thought needed to be brought up in an one of our all-staff discussions. Although I could use a solution now, the next all-staff meeting wouldn't occur until nearly Christmas since we would have people out on assignments until the twenty-second. I was beginning to wish we had the same easy-going atmosphere that we had this time last year.

Something tickled at the back of my mind and it took a few seconds for it to form into a cognisant thought. We still hadn't seen the report concerning those weapons. I picked up the handset and punched the intercom button, then dialled Nicci.

“Nicci!”

“Hi Nicci, it's Lynn. I was wondering if you had received the report concerning the weapons used in the attacks?”

There was a short pause and I hear her rustle some paper before she came back on the line.

“Not yet, Lynn.”

“Could you call Lucy's group and see if they have it? I would really like to see it.”

“I made a note, I'll be sure to do it before close of day. Maybe they just misplaced our FAX number.”

“Thanks, Nicci.”

“Not a problem, Lynn. Got anything you want passed to Lucy while I'm at it?”

“I don't think so. If I think of something I'll let you know.”

“Okay, I'll get on everything as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, Nicci. I think I'm going to take Cathy out to supper. Could you have the guys on detail meet us in a few minutes?”

“Sure. They've been bumming around looking lost so they'll be happy to have something to do besides filing my paperwork.”

“Ooh... You're mean.”

“Just taking advantage of available labor.”

“Do you need help? I can hire an assistant.”

“What? And let someone else make a mess of my random disorder? Not on your life.”

We both laughed and said our good-byes then I cleared my desk, locked my pending paperwork in my safe and went to collect my baby.

On the way out I remembered we needed a cook at my house so I made a slight detour to let Nicci know about that. She flipped through her Rolodex then asked me who I preferred out of three who weren't on assignment.

“I don't care so long as the person can cook without burning water.”

“Tomorrow morning too soon?”

“If he or she is there to cook breakfast tomorrow that would be wonderful. There are still eight in the detail so there will likely be me, Cathy, and six for breakfast plus the cook of course. Have finance budget some funds for the cook so whoever it is can do the grocery shopping. I've been feeding the horde from my own funds the past five; no, seven days. My how time flies. I like to put it on the companies ticket rather than my own.”

“You could always turn in the grocery receipts, Lynn.”

“I can't do that. The company is about to have some rather large expenses and every dollar saved is important. This meeting with the Motorola rep. will likely be another half mil. so I'm beginning to count pennies again. At least I've got my rental properties against which I can pick up a loan which will tide us over. I'm just hoping that won't be necessary.”

“I know you made me a partner, Lynn and I wish I had something I could use to help but partner or not, I'm just a working girl.”

“And a valuable one at that, Nicci. No I'm not that worried. I guess I just expected everything to do nothing but grow. I forgot that sometimes growth is painful.”

“Wait until Cathy begins her rapid growth. My niece has changed three sizes in the past year and likely will go two or three more next year. She's shooting up like a weed.”

“How old is she?”

“Not that much older than Cathy, I think.”

“Lucky me.” I looked away and seriously thought about beating my head against a wall.

“Mommy, I'm hungry.”

“Okay, sweetheart. We're on our way. Have you got Andy?”

Cathy held both her hands up discovering Andy was missing. Her face became concerned then she ran back toward my office.

“Cathy. Walk.” I called to her as she turned the corner to go down the hall. I heard her pace slow for a moment then pick up again. By the time she came back, holding Andy in a hammerlock, the two agents had arrived and were waiting with me.

We were out and driving when Cathy saw a Denny's.

“ There, Mommy! There! I want to eat there.” Cathy screamed.

I bit the bullet and we went for the Denny's. Someone remind me to have my hearing, in the ear that was closest to Cathy, checked tomorrow. For such a small girl she had a set of lungs.

We went in, securing a table almost immediately and began examining the menu. Cathy spent a lot of time carefully examining the pictures of the food before announcing her choice.

“I want that one.” She pointed at the picture.

“That's a lot of food, sweetheart. Are you sure you can each that much?”

“I want that one... and a milkshake. Chocolate.”

The waitress looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head so she wrote it down.

Cathy didn't have chicken... but she did have something which let her have that chocolate milkshake she wanted. I marvelled at how much she could eat, wishing I had a metabolism which could slough off the calories. I took solace in the fact that all those calories she ate would go to help her grow as well as be burned off due to her physical exertions such as running from any given point A to any other point B... repeatedly. Flashbacks of my running regimen began to haunt me, and I gave more thought to the continuation of my skating lessons which had been doing a wonderful job of helping me to maintain my figure.

After supper, we stopped at the grocery on the way home and I picked up more makings for breakfast and lunch, hoping that the cook would have time to shop for whatever might be needed for supper and the meals for the next few days.

The next morning I was up and halfway down stairs when I realized I could smell fresh coffee. I followed my nose to the dining room and discovered the twenty-cup pot just over two-thirds full of this delicious smelling brew. Seeing no one around me I held a cup under the spigot to drain off a cupful, added my preferred poisons to it, grabbed one, glanced around the took a second of the pastries plus a pair of napkins before I beat a hasty retreat back to my room hoping that no one had noticed me making off with my goodies.

Suitably fortified I first prepared myself for the day then went to check on Cathy. Once again she had Andy firmly in the crook of her arm even though she was fast asleep.

“Come on sleepyhead. Time to get up.” I kissed her forehead then leaned back to avoid her arms as she stretched a moment later.

“Hi Mommy. I had a nice dream,” she reached up to be hugged and lifted into a standing position on the bed.

“Good morning, sweetheart. What was it about?”

“I don't remember.”

“Then how do you know it was nice?”

“Because it was.”

I couldn't argue with that kind of logic, I might need it in the future.

All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relationship whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. The characters contained herein are not even distantly inspired by any specific individuals known or unknown to the author. All incidents described or alluded to within this work are pure invention. No affiliations, involvements or gender assignations due to the use of any images contained within this work are to be implied, intended or inferred.

Cover image copyright Maps.com and shown for clarification of area in which the story evolves.

DUTY CALLS, L.J. Stevens Vol. One Copyright  © 2013 USA, Earth by D. A.Trask.

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