Megan Franchino knows her chance for escape is now or never. With school finally out for her son Antonio, and her abusive husband going out of town she just might get far enough away before he starts looking for them. If they fail to get away, Megan knows she will not live to regret trying. There is no choice though, their recent injuries prove that if they stay one or both of them will eventually die from the beatings.

There is only one place she might feel safe to go, but will she be welcome there? Can she even get there? How long can she stay? What then? And if her husband's family does catch up to them, is there any way to keep Tony safe?

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The Legal Stuff: Dollar Runaways © 2014 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface

Like the first four books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I was planning to post it a chapter at a time, but due to some real life events that took place in the last week I am doing two per week instead so it’ll be completely posted before I get too busy with other things! The book has a total of 26 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by early March. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($5.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Several readers have commented on the similarities of the story to Wanda Cunningham’s ‘Incognito Parallel.’ I would reference you all to the ‘Dedication’ in the first chapter where I recognize that her tale most definitely sparked my imagination, and this book! I believe you will find that in the end though this work is its own story.

One caution before continuing through this book; it is darker than my past novels have been. If it were a movie it would probably be rated R for Language and Violence. Much of this novel is just as light as you are used to seeing from me though!

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy reading Dollar Runaways!!

 
Chapter 15: Summertime Girls
 
I FELT A hand tickling me, “Come on silly girl, it’s time to wake up!”

“Ah!!!” I screamed.

I looked up and glared at Mom. “Can’t you wake me up nicer?”

“Well you weren’t waking up at all!” She said with a smile.

She gave me a hug and said, “Come on, up and at ‘em, you have chores to do today.”

I groaned but looked around, “Hey, how did I end up in bed last night?”

Mom laughed, “You know, if you were seven or so years older I’d swear you’d been out partying and drinking. I don’t know what wore you out yesterday, but none of us could get you to wake up when we got home. Madison seemed to enjoy carrying you up here though.”

I turned beet red.

“Oh don’t be so embarrassed, it happens. You’ve been under a lot of stress and yesterday was a pretty long day.”

I nodded, “Umm... So when do we hear?” I asked softly.

“Tomorrow I’ll get a phone call at three or so. I’ll break it to you just before the hands go home.”

I nodded, “So I guess we get to win our Oscar awards tomorrow?”

Mom nodded, “sorry about this sweetheart.”

“It’s okay, you’re not the problem, that’s Dad.”

I found a pair of jeans and a pink Princess shirt before heading off to feed the birds. I was done pretty quickly and went through with my now nearly ritual shower. My hair was still up from the night before and I began to realize it hurt at that point. I stood in my robe in front of the mirror trying to take the braids out, but couldn’t seem to manage at all!

After several frustrating moments I went into my room to get dressed. I dug through my clothes for a moment and settled on a simple pink romper with some flowers printed on the front of it. I knew it was comfortable and that sounded good after being in my dressy dress all day yesterday. I loved how pretty it was, and it was fairly comfortable... But after a while the tulle in between the lining skirt and the outer skirt grew a bit annoying. On second thought I hung the romper back up and settled on the t-shirt I had worn that morning and a pair of denim shorts that had little flowers embroidered in pink and green.

I went to my underwear drawer and saw several more of the magical panties I’d been given the day before. ‘I’ll need it for swimming...’ I thought to myself and grabbed one. Soon I was totally dressed and glad I had used one of the new dance belts as she had called them. I couldn’t see anything that looked like a boy in the mirror and that made me smile.

‘I just need to get my hair out of these braids,’ I thought with a grimace. “Need some help with your hair?” I heard from behind me and saw Madison. I blushed a bit knowing she had carried me upstairs last night.

“Please?”

She had me sit down in the chair and pulled the braids out one by one until my hair hung by my shoulders all wavy. Without saying anything she grabbed my brush and began brushing it out gently until it was nice. “How do you want your hair today?” she asked.

“Not braided...” I said a little grumpily.

She laughed, “Your mom and I should have taken that out last night... Sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad it’s out now. I don’t remember the other braids hurting my head like that before.”

“Those were really tight braids!” She told me with a smile, “I spent an hour pulling them out myself last night.”

“Oh, I don’t feel so bad then...” I admitted.

“How about pigtails? I’ll do mine the same way then?” She suggested.

I shrugged, “Okay.”

Before long she had found some pink ribbon and tied off both sides in some really pretty bows. “How did you make those bows?” I asked, even as I had watched her do it.

“Lots of practice!” She smiled, “I use them for sewing sometimes on dresses.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Come on, let’s go to my room. Bring your new doll with you!” She said.

“Not the ugly one, right?” I asked with a smile.

“No dolls are really ugly...” She started to say. When I held up the doll though she said, “Okay, maybe that one is. Just don’t tell your parents, they were probably really proud of it!” She winked at me.

I groaned.

I grabbed my new doll that I had decided I couldn’t call by the same name as her actual name of Caroline... Madison’s doll had claim to that name. Madison had me sit on her bed as she sat in front of the mirror herself. I thought of other names and finally though, “Karen!”

“Huh?” Madison said as she sat in front of her mirror.

“Well I can’t call her Caroline, you have her name already... So her name is Karen!” I smiled, “And I get to keep my ‘K’ name streak!”

Madison giggled and said, “Cute!”

The two of us soon set off when she was done and ran into Mom coming up to check on me. “Oh good, you already took care of her hair. Thank you!” Mom said to Madison.

“No problem! It was fun!” She said with a smile towards me.

“Will you two be okay looking out for yourselves today?” Mom asked.

‘Gee Mom, just come out and ask if she’s okay babysitting me all day...’ I thought a little annoyed. ‘If we ever do move somewhere else and we keep this up I bet she actually hires sitters again...’ I mentally hit myself in the head for thinking this plan so grand. ‘You know, actually, if I just killed Dad... Maybe...’ I couldn’t smile at that thought though. As much as I hated him, the idea of killing him was not something I could be comfortable with. ‘Although if it’s him or Mom... Yeah, that I could live with.’

“I’m sure we’ll have a blast today Amber.” Madison said with a smile and a sideways hug.

“Good, we’re going to be busy doing stuff until late tonight, so mind your Aunt Gloria and Madison, okay?” Mom said to me.

‘Well, that is basically coming out and saying it...’

“Okay,” I said simply. I don’t know if the lasers made any impact from my eyes to her head, but from past experience I expected they never made it past Mom’s shields.

The two of us made it downstairs and into the dining room before the hands arrived. “You want to see if Consetta needs help?” I asked Madison.

“Sure!” She said with a smile. The two of us walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning Consetta, do you need any help?” I asked.

“Why both of the princesses are helping today?” She asked with a smile, “Sure, why don’t you cut up the melons over there Madison. Ashley you can help me scramble eggs!”

“Okay...” I said nervously.

“Hija, come put on your new apron first,” she said to me. I put on the apron and she tied the back for me.

Whether it was built originally or added in later I didn’t know, but the kitchen really was equal to most restaurants. Included next to the two stovetops was a gas griddle top. Consetta put a stool in front of the griddle and I ended up stirring the eggs as they cooked. She scooped them off when they were done into a platter. I stirred eggs on the griddle for about ten minutes before they were done and she covered up the eggs.

I then watched as she scrubbed the griddle down – it looked like a lot of work! Before long everything was in the dining room and I sat next to Madison to eat breakfast.

RAY LOOKED AT his father’s house and wasn’t looking forward to what was waiting inside. He sighed and went on in.

“Hey Pops,” he said to his dad who was in his office as usual.

“Don’t hey me!” He said, “I thought you were looking for Megan?”

“We’re looking Pops, but she seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet.”

“I don’t give a rats ass, you need to find her!”

“You weren’t the one this passionate about it last week, what the Hell changed?”

“This!” He said as he passed over a typed note.

Just to let you know the agency is actively trying to find Megan. Word is the deputy director of O.C. is losing sleep over it and bound and determined to find her before you do. You might want to patch that leak soon!

Ray fought the urge to just crumple the paper up and throw it at his dad. “I’ve got guys looking everywhere Pops. As far as I can tell they made it to Dallas, after that we don’t have a clue.”

“How did the Feds figure out she’d been to Dallas?”

“I don’t know, do you?”

His father nodded, “They figured out which car they bought and followed it through all of the plate scanner databases.”

“Where did the car end up?”

“The airport in Dallas.”

“You don’t think she flew...?”

His father shrugged. “That’s your job to find out!”

“How come you didn’t tell me all this before?”

“Because you’re an idiot!!! Honestly neither of them deserves an asshole like you...” He said.

“What the...?” Ray started to rise.

“But now, it’s business. Plain and simple business. If the feds get their hands on her we’re done for. I’ll give you everything I know from here on out in a timely fashion.”

Ray sat back down and fumed. “What else do you know?” He asked.

“Well the feds have come up empty after the night in Dallas. She may have stayed in the area, or she may have kept moving. She was heading west last we knew, so she could have made it to Colorado, Phoenix, or anywhere on the West Coast! It’s a big area to search. If you could find the video from Dallas it might help you. No way has Megan evaded both the feds and us without a change of appearance. That might help you out... Also finding where she went would be smart.”

“Her parents house, any activity?”

He shook his head, “No, not since the feds went there. You might want to go talk to them though... You never know?”

Ray nodded, “If we don’t find anything by the time I head down to New Mexico I’ll go up there before heading home.”

“I don’t care what gets done, but find her. Tony is off limits still, but I don’t care about what you do to that bitch. We can’t afford for her to talk to the feds... And contrary to whatever you have her believing, once she’s in witness protection I don’t think we’ll ever be able to touch her.”

MADISON LOOKED OVER at Ashley helping put the dishes into the dishwasher and shook her head. She was beyond cute, but she also liked helping people out. She severely doubted Ashley would ever get the prima donna attitude some of the pretty girls at her school had. It was amazing that someone so hurt and abused could still be so sweet.

“Gracias niñas,” Consetta said to us and gave us both hugs. “Now get lost! Go play and have fun!”

“Okay Consetta, bye!” Ashley said as she pulled Madison up the staircase.

“What do you want to do now?” Madison asked.

“Let’s play with our dolls!”

Madison smiled, this was what she had said they would do, but she was still surprised that Ashley was so enthusiastic about it. If she didn’t know any better she could easily continue to believe she was really eight. Mark was coming down the hall upstairs when they reached Ashley’s door.

“Hey Mark!” Madison called.

“What?” He asked gruffly.

“I just thought I’d let you know we were thinking about going swimming after lunch... If you wanted to come?”

He looked thoughtfully at her, “Maybe I will... Let me see where I’m at when we get there. I’m working on some things for all of that summer homework they gave us.”

She shook her head, “It’ll wait! You have like two months still!!!”

“We’ll see.”

Madison shook her head and finally followed Ashley into her room, “Boys!” she said annoyed.

Ashley looked nervously up at her. “Oh, no nothing to do with you Ashley, just my annoying nerd brother. It would be nice if he at least pretended to do something with us sometime!”

Ashley giggled and said, “I don’t think he wants to play with our dolls.”

Madison smiled, “Not anymore at least.”

“Huh?”

“I used to make him when we were little,” she said with a smile.

“Really?!?”

I SAT AND listened as Madison told me about how she had forced her brother to play with her and dolls here at Gloria’s for several summers, “I even made him dress up one time,” she told me with a wink.

I giggled, “was he cute?”

“No, definitely not!” The two of us giggled for several minutes. “So let’s see what all clothes you have for all of your dolls now!” She told me with a smile.

“Okay!” I said and we made a little bit of a show of putting everything out.

“You should soooo put Kaitlyn into that Merida dress that Aunt Gloria made!”

“Okay!” I began taking her out of the cute outfit she was wearing and put her into the even cuter princess dress. “What do you think?” I asked her.

“If you put on your dress like her you would make an adorable pair!”

I smiled, “Maybe later?”

We spent the next hour playing and basically reenacting the movie with our dolls. She pretended that her doll, Mackenzie was Merida’s mother. We sort of had to improvise for the other dolls, but I even had a teddy bear to stand in for the old mad king! We had fun and I don’t think either of us realized it was lunchtime until Consetta popped her head in.

“Hey girls, lunch is ready?”

“Oh... Wow, I didn’t realize it was that late already!” Madison said.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, huh?” she asked.

“Uh-huh,” I said, “I wish Madison was around all the time.”

Madison smiled at me, “Obviously I haven’t been mean enough yet!” She held her two pointer fingers out.

“Umm... You don’t have to be me...” I never got the rest of the sentence out before she started tickling me for a few minutes.

“Am I mean enough yet?” She asked giggling herself.

“Terrifying, waaay meaner than anyone else I know... You can stop tickling me now...”

I managed to get free and ran to the bathroom, then the two of us quickly finished putting our dolls away. Downstairs we enjoyed the soup and fresh bread that Consetta had made. “Where is everyone else?” I asked.

“They’re all working up in the high pastures today. So it’s just us three right now,” Consetta said with a smile.

“Thanks for making us lunch still,” Madison said.

“Well, I have to make sure the two princesses don’t starve!”

I giggled, “Thank you,” I said.

“You’re very welcome hija,” she said with a smile. “What are you two up to next?”

Mark chose that moment to walk in, “Decided to join us?” Consetta asked.

“Umm... Yeah, sorry, I got carried away upstairs and didn’t realize it had already been ten minutes since you told me to come down...”

“That’s okay, here you go,” Consetta said as she handed him a bowl of soup she drew up from the pot she’d sat on the table.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You were going to tell me your plans?” She asked turning her attention back to us.

“Well, I thought maybe we’d go swimming. Ashley hasn’t seen the swimming hole yet.”

Consetta nodded, “That would be good, it’s certainly hot enough outside for it today!”

She made small talk for a while and I finally asked, “Mark, are you going to come with us?”

He looked at me, almost startled for some reason, “I guess... If you want me to.”

“Please?”

He nodded and I felt Madison give my knee a squeeze in thanks. I was pretty sure she hated how distant her brother had grown. The four of us ate with Consetta dragging conversation out of each of us in turn until we all had finished the great soup.

“So, everyone go change into their swimming suits and then we’ll go?” Madison asked.

“Sure sis,” Mark said.

“Okay,” I said.

I started to help with the dishes, but Consetta shooed me away, “Go play child, enjoy having them here!”

I hugged her, “Thanks,” and ran upstairs.

I pulled off my shorts, t-shirt, and panties before thinking about hitting the bathroom. I had just gotten in and sat down when Madison opened her door. “Oops, sorry Ashley, didn’t realize you were in here...” She said embarrassed and closing the door.

I sighed, the fact was it didn’t bother me like I would have expected. I finished up and hollered, “I’m done,” before heading into my room and closing the door. I left the gaff on and then found one of my swimsuits. I picked a pink and white one-piece I couldn’t even remember buying and pulled it on. Just then Madison opened the door to my room.

“How you doing?” She asked.

“I’ve got my swimsuit on... Let me just find the shorts that go with it...”

I dug for a moment and found them near where the swimsuit had been in the drawer. “That’s cute!” She told me. “Here, put this top over it until we get to the swimming hole,” she said handing me my shirt I’d been wearing all morning.

“Okay,” I said and slipped it on over my head.

“Make sure you put your tennis shoes on, we have to walk a ways and you don’t want to wear sandals,” she warned. I could see she was already dressed and I had no idea how she had done it that fast!

“How do you change so fast?!?” I asked her.

She laughed at me, “I’ve had practice... And I thought you might need some help - though you did pretty well on your own!”

I smiled at her, “I’ve done this a couple times now.”

“Good, now that you have your shoes sit down here. It’ll be easier to deal with our hair if it’s braided.” I wrinkled my nose up, but she said, “I’ll even put it back in pigtails when we get back! I promise!”

“You’d better...” I told her. She didn’t take much time before tying off the end of my hair with an elastic band. “There,” she said with a smile.

“Let’s grab some towels from Gloria’s linen closet downstairs and then I think we’re ready to go!”

“Umm... Sun screen?” I asked.

“It’s in my bag!” She said and pointed to her bag on my bed, which she picked up on our way out the door.

The two of us walked down the hallway to Mark’s room where Madison knocked, “You ready yet?”

“Yeah,” an out of breath Mark said as he came to the door. “Sorry, just going to the bathroom.” I looked and saw that he was wearing a shirt that had his high school mascot and long colorful swimming shorts. He too had tennis shoes on. “Did you grab her some shoes to use in the swimming hole?” He asked her.

“Yep, I still had an old pair of mine that’ll work. I didn’t see any in her closet.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Beach shoes basically. The swimming hole is probably safe enough to walk in barefoot... But you never know.”

“Oh,” I said.

I looked accusingly at Madison, “So just how old were you when you fit into these shoes?”

“You don’t want to know the answer to that,” Mark said with a laugh.

“How old?”

“I don’t know... Maybe four?”

I groaned, “I guess you were a giant even then?”

“She’s been taller than everyone else around her since she was three,” Mark said. “I’m just lucky I finally hit my growth spurt! Last year there were three months that she was taller than me!!!”

I giggled at that, “Well, you don’t have to worry about that from me.”

He looked at me and said, “No, I don’t think we do.” He looked embarrassed for a moment, “By the way, I’m sorry I didn’t go last night, I just didn’t feel like being in a photo studio and shopping all day just to get great food yesterday.”

I nodded, “I can understand!”

Madison tickled me momentarily when we reached the linen closet. She grabbed three old towels for us and put them in her large tote. “Okay, anything I’m forgetting?” She asked Mark more than me.

“I don’t think so,” he answered.

“Okay, let’s go then.”

The two of them led me down to past the barns where the trees and brush started getting thicker. I could see there was a footpath though that was pretty well worn, even complete with a set of steps. It switched back and forth a few times, even leading to a clearing with a campfire pit. “Cool, does this ever get used?” I asked.

“Uh-huh, at least when the fire restrictions aren’t as heavy.” Mark said, “Right now though it’s too dry. In a few weeks maybe they’ll lift them… but right now it’s illegal to burn.”

“Too bad,” I said sadly.

“Yeah it is, if that wasn’t the case I’d say we should go camping this weekend.”

The trail wasn’t but another quarter mile or so before we went up one last mini-hill and then down into, “Wow!” I said.

“It is, isn’t it?” Madison giggled next to me.

In front of me was a big area of the small stream that ran through Gloria’s property. A beaver had constructed a damn at one end and the water formed a deep pool with a little sand and pebbly beach that surrounded it. “This is all natural?” I asked.

“Basically,” Mark said. “It’s been deep enough to swim since my mom was a little girl, but a few years ago a beaver moved in and he really went to town.”

“Umm... Is he still in there?” I asked.

“I think he may be...” he grinned. “But don’t worry, he won’t eat much of you!”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Come on, let’s go swimming,” he said with a smile. I watched him switch out his shoes for beach shoes and then he just jumped in shirt and all into the water. Madison and I meanwhile pulled our shirts off first. I debated about leaving on the cover-up shorts... but the truth was I was pretty sure you couldn’t see anything with the gaff, so I pulled them off too. I pulled my tennis shoes off and put the offered shoes on. These were actually a little bit tight, but not too bad. Apparently Madison had been a princess fiend as a kid too because they were featured. The shoes seemed to have been well worn too.

“Come on, sunscreen and then we get in!” She told me with a smile. She sprayed me down with a container of spray on sunscreen and rubbed a few spots in for me. She did her front and legs, but had me do her back and neck where she couldn’t reach. Soon we were both in the water and I was enjoying swimming.

“You’re like a fish!” Mark said to me lightly as I swam around.

To that I just smiled and kept swimming around.

He could touch the bottom all the way around the natural pool and keep his head above the water. Madison could almost do it on her tippy-toes. Me... Well if I was at the edge I could stand up, towards the middle there was no way! The pool had very little current in it, so it was fun to swim in. Soon I decided to join Madison on the bank though.

“You looked like you were having fun?” She asked me as we watched Mark standing at the front edge of the pool at the mouth of the creek.

I nodded, “It’s a little cold at first, but it’s fun to swim!”

We watched all of a sudden as Mark leaned down quickly and came up with a... A fish?

“How did you do that?!?” Madison cried out.

“Very carefully,” he said with a smile. He walked over to me and showed me the fish. “It’s a Cutthroat Trout,” he said, “they’re native in New Mexico but you don’t see them a lot in most places.” A few seconds later he turned around, and placed the fish back into the water.

“You just let it go?” I asked him.

“We’re not going to eat him tonight, no reason to keep him. This way maybe some day when I’m out here fishing I can catch him again.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Wow... My dad wouldn’t do that.” I said matter-of-factly, “But I already knew you were way cooler than him,” I added. I felt my insides freeze though as I realized that I was talking about my real dad and he didn’t know the real story. But I smiled at him when I thought about it; nothing should seem strange about what I said to him.

He grinned at me.

“So are we done then?” Madison asked.

I nodded, I was pretty tired of swimming myself.

“Yeah, I think so,” Mark said aloud.

We used the towels to finish drying off and switched back to tennis shoes. I noticed Mark smile at the Barbie shoes, “Hey, I didn’t want to ruin my Princess ones,” I said with a glare.

“Not judging,” he said with a smile.

“You’re eight, you can wear whatever cute girly stuff you want! Actually it’s kind of expected.” Madison added with her own smile.

We made it all the way back to the house before I realized I had never put my shorts and shirt back on. Neither had Madison for that matter. Madison led the way back upstairs and said, “Thanks for going with us Mark.”

“Thanks for asking me Sis,” he said with his own smile and with a, “See you later Ashley,” he disappeared back into his room.

“What now?” I asked Madison.

“Shower,” she said. “Keep your swimsuit on and we’ll just take one together. I can help you with washing your hair that way.”

I looked at her incredulously for a moment but nodded. Before jumping in she started the water and pulled out the elastic keeping my braid and then her own braids together. “By the way, thanks for the message on Sunday,” she said with a smile.

“I wasn’t sure you had seen it,” I admitted. It had pretty much faded off the side of the shower by yesterday morning.

“I did, I couldn’t find the markers to leave you a message back though!” She said with a smile.

“I’ll ask Mom where she put them and have her leave them in here.” I said.

“Okay, let me get your hair,” she said. I turned around and felt her rub shampoo all over my hair and massaged my head, it felt really good. She had me turn so she could rinse my hair out and then added conditioner like Mom had been doing for me since we began running. Once that was washed out I just kind of waited for her to finish her own showering. She had me rinse one more time and put a towel around me, and a smaller one around my hair.

“Go find a pair of jeans and another top to wear, Gloria should be back soon and we can go riding,” she said with a smile.

“Cool!” I said.

I changed quickly into a new outfit and decided to walk over to Madison’s room to ask her about my hair. I knocked, “May I come in?”

“Sure!” She said. I watched as she pulled a shirt over her bra and looked at me. “You want help with your hair?”

I nodded, “Please?”

“Go grab your brush and that pick comb.”

I walked back in and grabbed both of them and sat down on her bed to watch her blow dry her own hair first. When it was dry enough she put her hair up into two pigtail bunches and tied them off with two purple ribbons.

“Come here Princess,” she said with a smile and directed me into the chair she had. I felt her basically repeat what she had just done on me and smiled when she did in fact keep her promise of putting my hair back into pigtails.

I gave her a hug, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, “let’s go see if Gloria is back.”

We clambered down the stairs and she was in her office. “There you two are!” She said with a smile. “What are you up to?”

“Well, we were wondering if we could go for a ride?” I asked.

She smiled at us, “Madison, you know how to saddle up the horses, right?”

She nodded.

“Why don’t you go get your horses saddled up, and I’ll be there in a few minutes? Make sure Ashley has her helmet on before you enter the pens, and neither of you get on until I get there please.”

“Okay Aunt Gloria!” She said with a smile. As we were walking out the door she said, “This is the first time she’s ever let me put the saddles on by myself!” She grabbed my hand, “Come on, let’s skip over there,” she said with a smile.

It honestly took me several tries before I was skipping along with her the short distance to the barn. I couldn’t remember ever skipping, and the sad thing was it wasn’t easy!

She began by going in to see her favorite horse, Jewel, with an apple in hand. Madison stroked her affectionately for a moment before attempting to saddle her up. I watched her do as good of a job as Gloria had done when I watched her. “Okay, now that we’ve got Jewel done let’s take care of your Beauty!” she said to me.

“Okay,” I said and pretty much just stood out of the way as she saddled Beauty up for me. For whatever reason I got goosebumps as she helped me out by saddling her up. I had Beauty nuzzle my hand a bit after I offered her an apple and shortly after then Madison was done.

“Okay, I think we’re good to go,” she said with a smile to me.

Gloria walked in right at that moment and said, “Look at you two, you look all ready to go!”

We both smiled, “Let’s see how you did Madison.”

Gloria walked around both horses and tugged on the leather straps and buckles, making sure the saddles were tight enough. I watched her check a few other things here and there before she said, “Nice job Madison. Next summer I’ll probably just let you ride whenever you want to. If Ashley’s here then I’ll probably let you take her out with you too, you’re almost ready.” She said with a smile.

“Give me just a second to get my horse ready, why don’t you two go ahead and lead them outside.”

“Okay,” Madison and I said in unison.

“That’s so exciting!!!” Madison said outside. “I’ve been waiting to go out on my own since I was four!”

I smiled at her, “So you’ll be fourteen... Just six more years to go for me.”

“Maybe she’ll go for it after four,” she suggested kindly to me.

I nodded, “Maybe, but I doubt it. Of course we’ll have to see if we’re still in these identities. Who knows, maybe tomorrow Amber and I have to leave, and I have to shave hair off my head and become a boy again,” I said gloomily.

“She would never do that to you Ashley, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be a girl from here on out as long as you want to be.”

I smiled at her and saw that Gloria was finally making her way out. “Okay Madison, watch how I help Ashley mount up. I’ll have you help her like this next week just to see if you can do it.” Gloria helped me climb into the saddle and made sure I was sitting right. “Good girl,” she told me with a smile. Madison looked my way and giggled.

“What?”

“Those stirrups are just so short!”

“You’re just jealous,” I said, then stuck my tongue out at Madison.

“Madison go ahead and get on,” Gloria said as she began climbing on her own horse.

The three of us were all mounted a few minutes later and Gloria asked, “Where to?”

I shrugged and looked at Madison. “How about up to the springs and back?”

Gloria looked at her watch, “...I think we can do that. Are you okay with riding fairly fast Ashley?”

I nodded with a smile, “Uh-huh.”

“Okay then,” she said and we followed her up the trail at a pretty brisk pace. Madison followed behind me with Gloria directly in front. I was having a blast as Beauty followed adeptly and seemed to enjoy the exercise. Gloria pulled to a stop halfway up the trail to check on us.

“How are you doing Ashley?” She asked.

“She’s doing great! Oh my God, how long have you ridden?” Madison asked.

I gave her a weird look, “I think this is one week, right?” I asked Gloria.

“Never before?” She asked incredulously.

“Uh-uh,” I said.

Gloria smiled at Madison, “I wouldn’t normally even take a ride like this with someone that fresh on a horse, but she’s a natural like her mother. I’ve seen very few young girls get on a horse and have as easy of a time learning.”

“Did you ever do ballet or anything?” Madison asked me, suspiciously.

I shook my head, “A year of Tae Kwon Do that my dad forced me to take, but nothing else.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“How are you doing Madison?” Gloria asked.

“I’ll be sore tomorrow, but this is worth it,” she said with a smile.

“Okay then, shall we keep going?”

We both nodded and she started off again. Eventually we came right to the hot spring and Gloria looked at her watch. “Why don’t we take a five minute stop here, and then we’ll have to head back?”

We both nodded and Gloria helped me down. I started walking to the edge of the meadow. I picked up an old bottle cap and was looking at it when all of the sudden I heard something and froze. In front of me about eight feet away was a coiled rattlesnake... And it was rattling at me!

AGENT KLINE LOOKED up from his report as his phone rang. “Kline,” he said. “He’s willing to talk?!?” He asked, “Go ahead and bring him out to the office here, maybe we’ll get something we can use finally!”

He hung up the phone and smiled. It wasn’t a break in the Franchino case he desperately wanted, but it was a possible chink in another family in Wyoming. They were closely affiliated with a cartel in Mexico. The family was a big source in bringing drugs that were sold to the oilfield workers there. Kline also suspected they did other things, but had never been able to get any proof one way or another. Maybe this new witness would change things.

He’d been at a dead end still while waiting for his agents in Atlanta to gather up the footage he had asked for. In the meantime he had been doing his best to try and track down the hotel Megan Franchino used in Dallas the next night. At least he hoped it was in Dallas, if it was anywhere outside of there it was going to be nearly impossible to locate. As it was he was afraid he probably was endangering Megan’s life if they didn’t find her and the boy soon. If there was a leak, the Franchinos were probably well aware by now that the FBI wanted to find her. He would just throw that possibility completely out since he trusted his agents… but…

‘God damn it, why couldn’t she just come to us?!?’ He thought to himself. With that and the fact that Raimondo seemed to have killed his other two agents...

He picked up the phone, “Jake, I need you in my office pronto.”

Kline had been acting under the idea that maybe Raimondo had just randomly got lucky and discovered their agent. A knock a few minutes later came and he said, “Come in and shut the door Jake.”

“What’s up Boss?”

“Why was Raimondo in Vermont?”

“Just checking things out? Wasn’t he?”

Kline shook his head, “What if he knew there was a leak and was trying to find it?”

“How the Hell would he know that?” Jake asked across from his desk.

“There’s only one way I can think of...”

“Bob, no way in Hell... That would mean someone in our office is passing along information.”

“Yeah, and I don’t think it’s our agents.”

“Who else could it be?”

“Jake, our agents aren’t the only ones to see our communications at times.”

“What do you mean?”

He held up the original fax of the information on the Atlanta hotel. “This came in via fax machine, it was handed to me by a secretary who probably had it handed to her by another person.”

“Shit man, are you serious?”

“Look into it for me. Start with tracing back anyone who could have seen this information. I specifically had other people being used in the Atlanta office for the footage, but if the lines of communication are being hit somewhere, we could be in trouble.”

“Could we shuffle personnel around for awhile?”

Bob gave his friend Jake a stare, “If I can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in court it’s not good enough. The director will have me out on my ass if I suggest this without proof. Find it for me.”

“Got it boss,” he said and turned before leaving the door, “I really hope you’re wrong.”

“ASHLEY, DON’T MAKE any sudden moves,” Gloria said from behind me.
“Okay,” I whispered.

A second later I heard a loud bang next to me and screamed, ignoring common sense and ran away as fast as I could, expecting the bite. I found myself running to behind Gloria who I realized then was holding a small rifle. From behind her I peeked and could see the snake was twitching a little, but looked to be dead.

I hugged her and cried, “I was soooo scared!!!!!!!”

“It’s okay baby,” she said soothingly, “I wouldn’t let it get you.”

I was hysterical for a while but finally calmed down. Gloria passed me over to Madison who had been hugging me tightly too by then and walked over to the snake. “Good sized one,” I heard her say. Just ate in the last day too, probably not too happy to have its nap interrupted.”

She took a knife and I saw her slice the head off. “Come here Ashley, you need to see this.” She said.

I walked up to the snake and felt like I wanted to run some more, “It’s dead, it can’t hurt you anymore,” she told me. She had strung it out and I could see it was not quite as tall as me.

“It’s like three feet long!” Madison said.

“I’d say a bit more. Good sized snake. Anyone want it for dinner?”

I gave her a look like she was crazy, “It’s actually pretty good,” she said with a smile.

I shook my head, “I’ll umm... Take your word for it.”

“Madison would you grab the small collapsing shovel I have on my saddle?”

Madison gave me a smile and left me standing by myself holding myself tightly. ‘Great, I’m running from Dad who wants to kill Mom, and for all I know me... And I almost die from a rattlesnake... This won’t give me nightmares...’

She returned a moment later with the small shovel and I watched as Gloria dug a couple feet down and then threw the head and body carefully in before recovering it. “We don’t want someone to accidentally step on the fangs,” Gloria explained to me.

“Oh,” I said.

She found a heavy rock and added it to the top of the dirt in the hopes that it wouldn’t be dug up by a raccoon or something looking for a meal.

“Are you good to ride home?” She asked me.

I nodded.

“Okay then, let’s go!”

She helped me get onto my horse after giving me a quick hug. We rode away and I was grateful to be leaving the area. I hoped I could convince myself to come back for a swim again at some point, but I had my doubts. I shivered.

The three of us rode a bit quicker than before down the path and came to a last clearing before getting to the last wooded area to the ranch. I looked up and realized Mom and the hands were coming back then. Gloria stopped and we waited for them to cross the large meadow. I expected Mom to follow the others around a log fence but instead found my mouth drop as she went faster and went... Over the fence!

“Oh my God, that was so cool!” Madison said next to me.

“How did she do that?” I asked Gloria in the two moments before she reached us.

“A lot of practice!” She said with a smile. I watched as Mom jumped over a ditch too and pulled up to us.

“Where have you ladies been?” She asked with a smile.

“Trying not to get bitten by rattlesnakes,” I said.

“Rattlesnakes?” She asked Gloria.

“She had a close encounter before I shot it. Ashley’s fine though,” she assured Mom.
I watched Mom and I couldn’t believe she didn’t start doing the Mom thing and freaking out over it. All she said was, “Ashley be really careful when you walk around the edges of places around here, or in tall grass. It probably won’t be the last one you’ll see if you hang around here a while.”

I felt my jaw drop and was too stunned to cry.

“Come on, let’s get home,” Gloria said. With the three of us now joined by thirteen other horse riders we created quite a bit of dust as we approached the barn. It was a bit chaotic dismounting and taking care of the horses, but after a while it was done and the hands all left for home having accomplished their jobs for the day.

It was only then that Mom gave me a big hug and said, “I’m soo glad you’re okay sweetie.”

I dissolved into tears then.

STELLA PICKED UP the phone and answered, “Hello, this is the Dale residence...”

“Hi Stella, this is Gary.”

“Hi Gary, what’s up?”

“Well I just wanted to invite you and Tom over for dinner tonight since Annette has made enough fried chicken to feed a small army.”

Stella laughed, “I’m sure Tom and I would love to come over there. We’ll be there in about half-an-hour?”

“Sounds great Stella,” he said, “see you soon.”

Stella was a bit shocked to hear back from Gary so soon, she hoped things weren’t worse than she already knew they were...

MOM LED ME upstairs to my bedroom and calmed me down after awhile. “Are you better now?” She asked me after I finally could breathe again without sobbing and gasping for air.

I nodded, “Sorry about that.”

“You had reason sweetheart. Although I have to say I hope you won’t do this every time you see a snake...”

“You and Gloria act like this is normal?!?” I asked incredulously.

“Sweetie the snakes have been here long before we got here. They keep down the mouse and small rodent population.” She paused and moved a stray hair out of my eyes - my pigtails had been totally decimated over the last couple hours. “And, it’s a good thing that it’s just rattlesnakes around here.”

“How is that a good thing?” I asked in disbelief.

“Did the rattlesnake bite you?”

I stared at her like she was stupid, “No, I wouldn’t be here if it did...”

“You’re right, now what did the rattlesnake do?”

“He coiled up and rattled his tail... That’s why it’s called a rattlesnake.” I looked at her like she was stupid.

“Exactly!” She said, “Rattlesnakes are actually the kind of snakes I prefer to run into! At least if they see you coming they’ll warn you off. They’ll say ‘hey, I’m here, I don’t like you, how about you just back off.’”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. You probably could have slowly backed up from the snake and it wouldn’t have done anything more than turned and slithered away as soon as it thought you were gone. It wouldn’t have chased you down or anything like that. Now, if we were down in the South that would be a different story.”

“Huh?”

“They have snakes that don’t warn you; they bite first and ask questions later.”

“Oh.” I said.

“So see, rattlesnakes aren’t that bad.”

“Why did Gloria shoot it then?” I asked.

“I shot it because I couldn’t be absolutely sure you would back away slowly enough,” Gloria said as she came in. “When it comes to you, Madison, or a hand I will shoot first and ask questions later.” She gave me a hug. “So... Do you think you’re up to eating some supper?”

“Umm... I guess so,” I said.

“Here, let’s get you switched into something else though first,” Mom said. She handed me a romper and had me go change in the bathroom.

The two of them looked guilty about something as I came back out. Mom wasted no time in grabbing the ties that were sort of still in my hair and then put it all in one tall ponytail. I grabbed my doll Kaitlyn and the three of us went downstairs. I saw the real Kaitlyn sitting at the table with Mark and Madison already. She got up and gave me a hug, followed closely by Madison and Mark.

I did my best not to breakdown again and asked, “So... Umm... What’s for dinner?”

“Roast,” Gloria said and brought a plate of sliced roast over, “and mashed potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, and if you eat enough to convince me you’ve tried your best to eat, I’ll even throw in the leftover cake from yesterday for dessert.”

I smiled, almost not forced. “Thanks Aunt Gloria,” I told her.

“You’re welcome Princess,” she said.

Dinner was a livelier affair than I remembered in the nights before they had arrived. It actually did feel like we were all extended family. Slowly as I ate a lot of mashed potatoes I felt better about myself. The roast was pretty good too and Gloria told me it was from the ranch.

“Madison? Ashley?” Kaitlyn said, “Why don’t you two help me with the dishes.”

“Okay Aunt Kate,” I said.

I helped the two of them put dishes in the dishwasher and was sure things were as safe as they could be then.

STELLA AND TOM both hugged Annette and followed her into the dining room where a monstrous bowl of fried chicken awaited them. “This looks great!” Tom said as they sat down.

“Thank you Tom,” Annette beamed.

The end of dinner led to a near repeat of the weekend, “Go on Stella, go join Tom and Gary!”

She smiled, “If you insist...”

“I do! I love cooking and I don’t mind cleaning up afterwards either. I don’t believe in guests helping with that, so shoo!”

Stella smiled, glad that Annette was so predictable! She found her husband and Gary just getting glasses of scotch when she got there. “Would you like some?” Gary asked her.

“No thank you, I’ll be driving tonight.” She said.

“Suit yourself!” He said and passed behind her to close the door.

“What’s going on?” Tom asked.

“Well, I wanted to let you know about your daughter. I’m not going to lie – things are pretty hot for her right now. The Franchino’s have decided she’s a risk they can’t afford, and the FBI wants her to close them down. Meanwhile I think the FBI must have a leak... No clue on how to help them get it plugged though. I think Megan’s right not to go to them,” He told them.

Tom sighed, “I was afraid of that...”

“Yeah, if she hadn’t gone through such crazy measures I think they all would have found her by now.”

“So you found them?” Stella asked excitedly.

“Well no, you did. You told me where they would be and I just backtracked from there.”

“So they are at Gloria’s?”

“Yes they are, and oddly enough you mentioned her childhood friend Kaitlyn? She’s there right now with her two kids. Apparently that’s been planned for a long while, so it’s just a coincidence that they’re all there.”

“They’re there under different identities?” Tom asked, hopeful.

“Yes, only a few of their staff seem to know who she is. Most of the ranch hands are clueless. It wasn’t easy to find out, but I’m pretty sure it’s her. She dyed her hair, cut it, and is pretending to be younger as well.”

“Well that works for her probably pretty well,” Stella said with a proud smile.

“Yes you guys taught her well.” He said with a smile.

“And our grandson?” Tom asked apprehensively.

“Well... If Raimondo recognizes him without a hint I’ll be surprised. Congratulations, you have yourself the most adorable eight-year old princess I’ve ever seen!”

“What?!?” Stella asked.

“She just turned eight actually,” Gary said with a smile.

“You mean he’s pretending to be a girl?” Stella asked, more stunned than outraged, “And he went along with it?”

“I’m not surprised actually,” Tom said, “he’s always been more inclined to play with girls whenever we’ve been around. It actually makes sense as a disguise since he has his mothers build and height. He’s always looked like he was four years younger than he actually was so disguising him like that is smart. Adding the girl thing on top of it... Well, good luck to Ray on finding them.”

“Do you think he’s okay with that?” Stella asked, concerned.

“It’s definitely better than the alternative honey.” Tom said.

“Actually, from what I can tell she looks very happy with everything,” Gary said. He passed over some photos his men had managed to get off of the photo shop they had used the previous day, along with some others from the restaurant, the ranch, and a few shopping the day before.

“She’s beautiful!” Stella said with pride.

“I don’t believe that can really be a grandson...” Tom added.

“Well, if her doctors notes are any indication I think she likes being her new self. If for some reason they can come out of hiding I’m pretty sure she’s going to want to stay this way.”

“How did you get all of this?” Tom asked, “Methods?”

“Two agents I trust helped out. I explained the possible national security implications to an old friend and he set them up. He’s got them keeping a discreet watch for us for the next few weeks.”

“And they have new identity papers?” He asked.

“On their own they managed somehow. Megan is now Amber Marie Caffrey, age 23 and older sister to her daughter who is now Ashley Marie Caffrey age 8. Somehow they even have a judge’s order granting her custody of Ashley next week due to the death of their parents. Ashley just celebrated her eighth birthday yesterday, which is when those pictures were taken.”

Tom and Stella sat their stunned.

“You, and your father Tom, taught her really well guys! If you hadn’t guessed where she was, I’m pretty sure I would never have found them.”

MADISON AND I had just placed the final dishes into the dishwasher, she started it, and then I asked, “umm... What now?”

“How about a board game?” She suggested.

“Umm... Okay.”

We walked over to where everyone was sitting. “Amber, can we play a board game with everyone?”

Mom looked at me for a moment. “I’ll make you a deal Ashley, you go take your bath now and then we can play a game.”

“Really?” I asked, it was already seven, by the time I got out of my bath it would be like seven-thirty.

“Really, I’ll even let you stay up till eight-thirty tonight... Just don’t tell Mom and Dad,” she stage whispered the last part to me.

“Okay!” I said and hopped upstairs.

I was just getting the bath water running when Mom came in. “Umm... Could you get those markers? Madison wanted to use them too.” I said with a smile.

“Sure thing sweetheart!” She told me. She came back in a moment with the markers and the rest of my toys, “Madison said she washed your hair earlier?”

I nodded.

“Okay then, just wash up and then come put these on,” she said pointing to a stack of underwear and pajamas. I noticed she had included another of my gaffs. “Mark still doesn’t know sweetie, I don’t want you to accidentally give anything away.” She said at my look.

“Oh.”

With that she left and I took a quick bath. I made sure I washed everything though, because I didn’t want to be told to do it again. I also quickly left a smiley face drawing on the wall for Madison. After that I was out of the water and getting dressed. As if to underscore it was good I had washed, Mom checked me over before leading me over to my vanity. The ponytail I had from earlier was high enough it had kept most of my hair dry. She went ahead and put it in a loose braid then and tied it off with a blue ribbon that matched my pajamas.

“This isn’t going to hurt like last nights, is it?” I asked.

“No, this one is much looser. Sorry I didn’t get those out before you went to bed.” She added.

“It’s okay,” I said, “I learned something...” I gave her a hug, “Why are you letting me stay up late

?”
“I need you tired tomorrow.” She said simply.

“Huh?”

“The more tired you are, the crankier you’ll be... And the more I think I can depend on you to cry and throw the appropriate tantrum we need it tomorrow.”

“Oh,” I said.

She gave me a hug, “It’s going to be okay sweetie, you’ll see.”

“I hope so.”

“Okay, let’s go downstairs, Madison thought she knew the perfect game for us to play!”

I arrived downstairs wondering what this magical game would be. We found everyone in the dining area we ate dinner and took spots next to the others. On the table was a box of a game called Apples to Apples. I read the box and noticed it said ages 12+ and hoped I could play without looking too smart. Madison wasn’t much past that age either though, so I figured I’d be okay.

Mark explained it to me, “Okay, we’re going to deal you these cards that have adjectives on them... Umm... Do you know what an adjective is?”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s a word that describes a noun. I learned that in kindergarten!” I smiled at him.

“Well then... So you have all of these cards. Each player pulls a card out of their hand that they think best describes the word. The person that drew the noun card gets to decide which one wins.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile.

I had to remind myself to be eight and not ten though... Well, that would have been a problem at ten too; my reading comprehension was waaay higher than his probably was.

We played the game for well over the time I was supposed to be allowed to stay up that night. In fact we played three games of it and it was close to ten when Gloria said, “It is waaaaaay past the princesses’ bedtime. Given the fact she’ll just beat us in another game I think we should call it a night!” She said with a wink at me.

I’d only won two of the games... And I was pretty sure the second one was a gimme so that Mark wouldn’t win!

Mom and Madison went upstairs with me and Madison asked, “Can I read a bedtime story tonight?”

“Sure!” Mom said with a smile.

She went over and picked out an old favorite of mine from when I really was little, Goodnight Moon, and started to tell it... But she didn’t tell it; she sang it! Between the story and the lullaby of her singing it I was out long before the end.

Chapter 16: Stormy Times

THE NEXT MORNING Mom practically had to pick me up out of bed. “Come on Princess, chore time.”

I spit a stray hair out of my mouth and looked at her bleary eyed. “Clothes?” I asked.

She sighed, “Well, I did ask for you to be cranky today.” Mom dug through my drawers and came out with a purple pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt that she thrust into my hands. I slowly stood up and dressed. Once I had my shirt over my head she pulled my hair into a quick ponytail and said, “Come on, let’s go sis.”

I groaned but found my feet moving one in front of the other. Madison was on her way out to the horse barn and gave me a quick hug, “I love that shirt!” She said to me before she left me.

I looked at the chickens and wanted to skip today. Mom had been so insistent on me getting an early bedtime the last couple weeks that ten-thirty when she finally had me in bed seemed really late! ‘No,’ I said in my mind, ‘Six in the morning is too early!’

I managed to get the chickens fed and then almost got bit by George before I smacked him across the head. He looked dazed but got up and ran away so I was pretty sure I didn’t do any permanent damage, ‘Unfortunately...’ I thought to myself. As if to add to the day I heard “Help Me!” from the stupid peacocks!

I was moving slower apparently because Madison was getting upstairs right when I was too. “You okay Ashley?”

I nodded, “Just tired.” I thought for a moment, “That was a really pretty song last night by the way. Did you make it up?”

She laughed, “No, there’s this composer that my choir teacher at school likes. His name is Eric Whitacre and he’s like really really cool.” She smiled, “My teacher has such a crush on him too, because he is really hot!”

“Madison?” I asked.

“I’m not boy crazy, but I have to say he is cute!”

I shook my head, “Anyway...?

“Well anyway she played the whole album for us at one point and this song came on. He wrote it as a lullaby for his little boy that he and his wife could sing - she’s like an amazing singer!” She smiled, “Anyway, I couldn’t help but think how lucky that kid was at the time and, well, I learned it so maybe I could sing it some day.”

I gave her a hug, “You sang it really pretty last night!”

“You should hear the original, maybe I’ll play it for you later, I have it on my phone.”

I smiled at that. “Now, what took you so long to do your chores today?”

“George came at me again,” I said.

“George?” She asked.

“Haven’t you met him yet?”

“No...?”

“He’s this turkey that has it in for me!”

Madison laughed, “Okay, I think I remember Gloria telling me about him over the phone. Just take a shovel and whack him!”

I blushed, “The shovels are all too heavy... I just normally take a broom handle I found, but I forgot it at first today.”

She gave me a sideways hug and said, “I’m sure today will get better.”

“Do you want to shower first?” I offered her.

“You don’t mind?”

“No, go ahead.”

“Thanks!” She said and I watched her walk quickly to her door and our bathroom door was closed soon after.

I sighed, ‘Today is going to suck...’ I thought in a decidedly un-eight-year-old girl like manner.

I looked at Kaitlyn and wished today was a day when we could just play with dolls. I had a bad feeling that until this afternoon I was going to find it really hard to concentrate on anything. I wondered what Madison might actually want to do today since it had been all about me so far.

“I’m out,” Madison said a moment later with a bathrobe on and a towel wrapped around her hair.

“Kay,” I said. ‘I’ll figure out what I want to wear after I shower...’ I thought to myself. Just as I got to the bathroom I saw the shirt Mom had given me had Snow White on the front and said, ‘Animals Are Our Friends.’ I snorted at that, ‘Not George!!!!’

MADISON FINISHED DRYING her hair about the time she heard the shower turn off. She gave Ashley what she figured would be a good ten minute start on getting dressed and was surprised she hadn’t come in to get her hair done yet. ‘Maybe Amber is doing it?’ She thought to herself. It was funny, but even though she knew her real name she just couldn’t use it... Amber seemed more right.

She decided to check on Ashley and found her hugging her new bear tightly in her bathrobe with signs of fresh tears going down her face. “What’s wrong Ash?”

“Today.” Was all she got out of her.

“Huh?”

“You’ll see later, I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you yet.”

Madison looked surprised at that and a little worried, “I hope you’re not leaving...?” She said and was suddenly enveloped in a hug.

She stroked the girls hair for a few minutes before saying, “No matter what it’ll be okay Ashley, I’ll always be here for you.”

After a little while she sat her up and said, “Okay, now what do you want to wear today?”

“I don’t know... That’s kind of why I started crying,” Ashley looked even more embarrassed then.

Madison gave her a big hug, “That’s why we girls pick clothes out the night before silly!”

Ashley gave her a strange look, “huh?”

“You think you’re the first little girl to start crying because she didn’t know what to wear?”

Ashley shrugged her shoulders, “No...?”

“Right, I did it a month ago!” She said with a smile. “Want me to pick?”

“Sure...” was the hesitant response.

Madison looked through her clothes to find something that looked like it screamed comfort to her. She saw a couple dresses that might work, but with as down as she was Madison thought Ashley would be better off without a dress. But still be dressy... ‘This could work, she seems to like the rompers...’ She thought as she saw a cute denim romper. It was almost to the point of being too cute for an eight year old, but not too bad. It looked comfy to her, and that seemed perfect.

“How about this?” She asked Ashley as she held it up.

She watched her think about it and said, “Okay.”

“Okay, here you go, why don’t you get dressed and then I’ll do your hair.”

Ashley surprised her by just taking the robe off right then and pulling the romper on in front of her. She’d already put on panties so that didn’t take long. ‘I can’t believe she did that in front of me...?’ She was puzzled, but the more she thought about it she had done that a couple other times by now with the dress. ‘I guess she really has gotten comfortable around me,’ She thought to herself.

Once Ashley was satisfied with the straps on top she sat down in her chair expectantly and Madison asked, “What do you want to do with your hair today?”

Ashley shrugged again, “Whatever you feel like.”

Madison thought for a moment and tried to think of something that hadn’t been done on Ashley’s hair yet while she had been there. She played with her hair for a few minutes before settling on making two small braids from the front of her hair back and tying them around the back of her head in the middle. They held her hair back and Madison brushed her bangs down.

“Hmm...” She said, “Come here Ashley, we need my curling irons.”

She led her to her room and sat her down in the chair and waited a couple minutes for the curling irons to warm-up. “What are you doing?” Ashley asked her.

“I thought we’d curl your hair a little bit today,” she said while poking her head into her view.

“Umm... Okay.” she said uncertainly.

“Trust me!” Madison said. ‘I just hope I can do this...’ she sprayed her hair down with some stuff she’d been told to use before and then set about adding a number of curls going down the back of Ashley’s hair. It tightened it up quite a bit and Madison was surprised at how long her hair was. ‘How in the world did she get away with this hair as a boy?!?’ She wondered. ‘Actually, how in the world did she ever pretend to be a boy...?’ There was no doubt in Madison’s mind that Ashley was really a girl.

The last thing she did for her hair was to curl her bangs and used some hairspray to make them stay up a little bit more. She sat the curling iron down and unplugged it. “Are you done?” Ashley asked her.

“Not quite, hold on just a moment, I want to go grab some hair stuff from your desk. No peeking!” Madison warned her with a finger.

She had a feeling halfway through the bathroom and said, “I mean it, no peeking!”

From the ‘aww’ from the room next door she figured she’d been right and giggled. She found the little barrette card she had seen earlier and grabbed it. On the card were six cute butterfly barrettes that had glitter on them. They seemed like the perfect thing to add around the hair braids to either side and she added a total of four before she announced, “Okay, now you can look!”

Madison enjoyed watching Ashley look happy for the first time that morning. She hugged her and said, “Thank you, sorry for being grouchy.”

“It’s okay, I get grouchy sometimes too,” she said with a big smile. ‘Why do we have to live in the very town where I don’t think she and Amber will ever be able to go?!?’ She knew she would love to have this sweet little girl around all of the time back home. Madison also worried that Ashley was going to have to leave for at least a while if she remembered what she had told her at one point. No one deserved to have the pain those two had dealt with.

She found herself giving Ashley an extra sideways hug on the way down to breakfast.

MEGAN LOOKED AT her daughter sitting there at breakfast and felt bad with how depressed she looked. At the same time she looked adorable between the romper and her hair. She’ll have to make sure that she doesn’t wear that around school or friends though, she was pretty sure some of the girls would pick on her for it being babyish. ‘I shouldn’t have bought that one...’ she thought to herself, ‘but it is adorable!’ She practically squealed inside her head.

‘This whole thing sucks completely. The fact that Tony had to give up a great house, great...’ she paused for a moment and sighed inside her head, ‘The truth is the only thing that Tony has given up is being a boy and a few years of age on paper. Truthfully I haven’t seen anything that makes me think he hates either. I guess that might change in the fall though... Being back in third grade is going to be really embarrassing I would think.’

She paused and had to admit, ‘No one will think anything of it though. That’s the bad thing about his height... Well one of them.’

The rest of breakfast was pretty subdued with the people she now considered her extended family. Gloria and Kaitlyn were in on the setup, but neither Ashley nor Madison knew what was going on to finish their story. She looked over at Mark and wondered if they should just let him in on it too. He definitely had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to like Ashley from what she could tell last night. That was a little contrary to the initial impression she’d gotten from him, but he was a teenager after all.

Megan couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing the right things here. For the hands sake, and for the sake of her cover story, they had to do something like this. Roger was even coming through in a big way for her and helping make some extra things happen that she’d never dreamed of. If she could only be sure it would be worth it.

‘If I decide he’s getting close I’ll send Ashley home with Kaitlyn. We can change her hair color to match theirs better and say she’s their niece they took in. I know Kaitlyn would do it, Ashley would be happy to have Madison, and she’d probably be safe... Safer than with my ex-husband at least.’

Megan had no illusions about her life if her husband found her. The main thing was making sure that Ashley survived. Her father-in-law wouldn’t willingly let Ray kill Tony, but she was pretty sure no one would understand Ashley on that side of the family. The very idea of it would probably convince him to let Ray just go ahead and kill her too.

I GOT UP from breakfast and helped Consetta around the kitchen. Madison seemed to be watching me and worried about me. Well... I was really tired from the previous night and really stressed about whatever Mom was stressed about. Between all of it I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“Ashley,” Madison asked, “how about I teach you how to sew today?”

I looked up, “You really think I can sew?”

She nodded, “We’ll start off simple. How about a pillowcase?”

“Umm... Okay...” I said.

She ran into Gloria just getting ready to leave the house, “Aunt Gloria, would you mind if we used the sewing room today to teach Ashley how to sew?”

Gloria looked guilty about something for some reason and said, “In just a few minutes... Umm... Give me some time to clear up a project I started last night.”

“Okay,” Madison said. “We’ll sit on the porch until you’re done?”

“Thank you!” She said.

She left and I asked Madison, “Is she sewing something for me?”

“Who knows, Gloria is one of the sneakiest people I know! My birthday is in three weeks, she could be working on something for me too.”

“Oh,” I said, “I hope she is... I mean you were nice enough to make me that beautiful dress and there’s no way I could ever catch up to you there!”

She smiled, “If you start sewing now I guarantee that when you’re is thirteen you’ll be doing just as well!”

I smiled at her, “Maybe... I don’t know if I’ll be around that long.” I kicked my feet a bit and pushed the swing forward.

“What do you mean?”

“That’s five years... My dad is probably going to find us by then.”

“I hope not,” Madison said and then scooted over closer to me on the swing and put her arm around my shoulder.

I leaned into her, “Madison?”

“Yes Ashley?”

“Thanks... I don’t know what I would do this week without you. It’s going to suck when you have to go home.”

Madison giggled, “I agree, and don’t say ‘suck’ anymore young lady. You’re an eight-year old little girl, it is most certainly not appropriate language!” She chided with a giggle.

“When can girls say it?”

“Seventh grade!” She said with a smile.

Gloria waved at us about that time and we got up and headed over to the barn. “Have fun girls,” she said as she headed off to do her work.

“Thanks!” I heard Madison say in stereo with me. The two of us giggled all the way upstairs to the room.

“Okay, first things first, let me find you some scraps to teach you some of the basics!” She told me with a smile. From a corner of the room she appeared with some odd shaped bits and pieces of different fabrics and had me sit down at the machine.

Madison taught me first of all how to thread the machine, then how to choose the different stitches. After a half-hour she had me stitching some of the junk fabric pieces together. Another half hour later she’d taught me how to switch the feet to do different stitches and we had fun playing with the gazillion stitching options Aunt Gloria’s machine had!

“Okay, let’s start with something simple now,” she said with a smile to me, “Let’s make a pillowcase!”

“Umm... Okay,” I said, not having the slightest clue how to start. From somewhere in Gloria’s stash she found a pillowcase pattern.. Very simple since it was just two rectangles to cut out!

“Okay, fabric!” She said to me and walked over with me to some that she thought would do well, “Let’s stick with something basic cotton wise right now...” she suggested, “one of these solid colors will work great! Which one do you want?”

I looked and there was yellow, purple, red, orange, green, white, and pink in the section she was pointing to. I sighed in my head and said, “Pink?”

She smiled at me, “You made the right choice!”

I just giggled and she carried the bolt of fabric to the cutting section. “Okay, so the first thing is let’s lay this pattern on top of here like this,” she said with the fabric doubled over and the pattern horizontally on the edge that was folded. “By cutting it here it’s one less spot where we have to sew it, and by doing two at once anywhere you save yourself time and make it easier to keep things consistent,” she instructed.

“Okay, now let’s pin it down,” she told me and handed me a red apple stuck with pins after showing me how to pin one first. I probably went overkill with them, but the fabric and the pattern weren’t going anywhere when I was done!

“Now, you have to be really really really really really careful with this rotary cutter. It will go right through your fingers without blinking. First though, put on this glove – it’s called a klutz glove,” She told me as she handed me a rotary cutter after I put on the glove.

I eyed it nervously, “are you sure it’s safe for me to use it then?”

She gave me a hug, “You just have to be careful and move slowly through the cuts. I know you can do it!”

Madison pushed the blade down and locked it in place and I carefully maneuvered the blade through the three sides and then asked, “How’d I do?”

“Great!” She said with a smile. She grabbed the cutter from me then and quickly sliced off the junk fabric from the rest of the bolt, wrapped it back up the rest of the way, and took it back. Madison was back over before I could even think of climbing down from the counter. I was short enough there had been no way for me to comfortably reach the counter and had to do it from on top.

‘I bet Gloria had this adjusted for her height!’ I thought semi-amused. ‘It seems taller than normal...’

“Okay, now there aren’t any markings on this pattern, but let’s go ahead and mark the seam allowance so it’ll be easier for you to sew it! Use that blue pencil, it has chalk instead of lead.”

From somewhere she grabbed a large yardstick and held it for me 3/8” inside the edges that needed to be sewn while I carefully marked along the edge. Once those two lines were done she said, “Okay, let’s go give this a shot?”

“Okay!” I said and we started to head to the sewing machine.

Just as we were about to get started though Gloria appeared in the doorway and asked, “Are you two ladies coming to lunch?”

I looked up at the clock and couldn’t believe it was already Noon! “Umm... We’re coming Aunt Gloria,” I said.

We followed her to the dining room and grabbed a bowl of the chili that Consetta had made. Madison and I put almost as many crackers in as there was chili by the time all was said and done. Along with plenty of cheese!

I noticed right then that Mom dug around in the pocket of the overalls she was wearing for her phone. ‘Here it begins...’ I thought to myself. I watched her do a great job of acting, but keeping it together.

“Umm... Aunt Gloria?” I heard her say.

“Yes Amber?”

“I need to go to town and make a phone call... Would you keep an eye on Ashley this afternoon?”

“Sure thing hon,” she said.

I sighed and tried to act normal.

When Madison and I had finished lunch we went back up to the sewing room. “Here, let’s just start by putting a stitch along the edges here, just move it up and down with the motor a few times,” she said with the insides facing out. I carefully started the stitch for about seven cycles and stopped it. “Okay, press this and reverse it for about five stitches,” I watched it slowly do that before she said, “Okay, and now just sew it almost all the way to the end!”

I had a few moments where it went faster than I was comfortable but quickly released the pedal and started again. Madison had found a stool for me to put the pedal on so I could reach it from the chair I was sitting in. As I neared the end of the line I asked, “What now?”

“Keep going a little bit farther... There!” She said and I released the pedal. “Now use the back button again,” she said, “and go ahead and finish it off!”

I watched the last fabric go past the needle and waited for her to saying something. “Good job!” She praised, “Let’s cut these strings off and then do the next side...” Madison walked me through the other side and then finally the entrance edge of the pillowcase.

“Wow, it looks like a real pillow case!” I said a few minutes later.

“Uh-huh, I told you it wasn’t hard!”

“I guess not...”

“Now, so we can make it last a little bit longer go ahead and turn it inside out and let’s go play with one of Aunt Gloria’s toys.”

She led me over to the machine that she called a serger. “This will let you put a really nice edge on those inner seams and keep them from unraveling.” Madison did one edge and I did the other, but we stopped at the entrance part for some reason.

“Wow,” Gloria said from behind me, “look at you!”

“See what we made?” I said.

“For a first time sewing, that is excellent Ashley! Your stitches are pretty straight!” She said with a smile. “You want to add some other things to it?”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Well, I have these fun embroidery machines, I bet we could add a pretty picture in the middle of it and maybe even put your name in!”

“Really?”

“Really,” she said.

Madison seemed just as excited as I was about getting to play with the embroidery machine. Gloria showed us all of the built-in images that she had and of course I wanted a Princess one. We picked out a design that had several princesses and then set the case in the hoop. “Now this will take a awhile,” she told me, “so you’ll have to be patient!”

I smiled, if I was really eight that would have been a problem! “Okay.”

We all watched as it stitched out the design and Gloria switched out some thread every now and then. When it was finished I couldn’t believe that it had been made before my eyes, it looked like something from the store! I thought she would pull it out when it was done, but she adjusted some programming on it and started it again. She’d moved so fast I hadn’t been able to see what she was doing. Soon enough I got it though, it said, “Princess Ashley” underneath it.

I gave her a hug, “You are the coolest Aunt ever!”

She smiled, “And you are the cutest two princesses I’ve ever had here!”

Madison blushed amusingly enough at that too as she was drug into a hug.

“Now, why don’t you two go throw that in the wash and then go play with your dolls till supper, that’s just a couple more hours at this point.”

I looked at the clock and was once again amazed at how it seemed to run faster when we were in there. “Okay,” I said.

Madison and I walked past the house as I saw Mom drive up the driveway. I just waved though and kept going.

MEGAN DROVE UP and watched her daughter and Madison walk upstairs without a care in the world. At least that’s how it seemed. She knew very well that her daughter was looking forward to this like a visit to the dentist!

Some of the hands were just walking up to the house to get something to drink when Gloria stopped at the porch and waved at her. Starting the water works up she ran up to Gloria and sobbed into her shoulder. After all they’d been through the last few weeks it really wasn’t that hard to genuinely sob!

“Oh Gloria, how can I possibly tell Ashley?!?” She sobbed a moderately coherent sentence and knew the hands had to have heard that. It wasn’t Hank and Annie, which was even better.

“Calm down sweetie, it’s okay, tell her what?”

“That...” she sobbed, “that... Our parents are dead!” She broke down into tears again and felt Gloria consoling her.

‘Oddly enough this feels pretty real even to me...’

Right then she felt another set of arms surround her and looked up to see Kaitlyn, crying too.

MADISON AND I sat on the floor of my room playing with the Barbie’s and the dollhouse for the first time together. Madison had claimed it was a crime if I didn’t occasionally use such a pretty dollhouse! She also wanted me to know how to play with it in case my friends came over. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that my friends would love to play with it!

We were just finishing putting the ‘dinner’ onto the table in the dining room when Mom came in with her face red. Kaitlyn and Gloria came with her like I knew they would if it was real. “Umm... Ashley, I need to talk to you.”

“Okay?” I said.

“Why don’t we go downstairs to the living room?” Gloria suggested, “It’ll be more comfortable there.”

“Okay?” I said continuing the act. On a whim I grabbed my Kaitlyn doll and went downstairs with them. Mom directed me to sit next to her on the couch and I couldn’t help but notice there were a few hands in the next room quietly talking to one another.

“Ashley,” Mom said with a sniffle, “I really don’t know how to say this...” She sniffed again but took a deep breath in. Mom could have earned a Tony Award that day! “I got a phone call this afternoon... Mom and Dad...” she sobbed, “Mom and Dad died yesterday sweetie.”

“No!” I shouted.

“Sweetie it’s true, I’m sorry,” Mom said.

“Mom and Dad can’t...”

She reached over to me and grabbed me in a hug and I began to sob. Staying up too late and suffering from so much stress the last several weeks made it easy to cry like a baby. There were other arms around us. Kaitlyn, Gloria, and Madison all made their own great supporting roles.

By the time we had ‘gotten it together’ I could see that the hands were gathered in the dining room. Hank and Annie came up to us, “Ladies, we’re real sorry to hear about your folks... If there’s anything we can do, you just let us know.”

Mom and I sobbed a thanks and accepted similar sentiments from all of the hands until it was only the six of us in the house. Mark had come down to find out about the commotion and started to offer his own condolences. Mom shook her head though, “Mark, can you keep a secret?”

He almost looked affronted by that.

“Yes, of course I can.”

“This isn’t a play secret,” Kaitlyn told him, “this is a ‘these two will die’ secret.”

He looked oddly at her and said, “You know I can keep a secret Mom.” Mark looked suspiciously at us, “What’s going on?”

“Mark, let me apologize up front for not telling you this sooner... But I didn’t want anyone else to know. Madison finding out didn’t make me very happy with my child.”

“Okay, I’ll accept that...?” He said questioningly.

Gloria stood up and made sure everyone was in fact gone and locked the doors just in case.

“Mark, we’re not really sisters...” she looked at me for permission and I nodded, “Until a couple weeks ago we were living in Columbus with my husband, and my daughter was actually my son Tony.”

Cue lead balloon!

“What?” he said, looking over at me.

“Mark, my son and I were being badly abused by my husband. I don’t ever want to think about the bruises Tony had when we ran, or think about how much pain I was in as well. About two weeks ago, and I can’t believe that’s all it’s been, we left home shortly after my husband left to go somewhere for work. We drove to Dayton, switched cars, and then drove to Atlanta. Down there we started talking and decided we needed a disguise... A waitress kept calling Tony my daughter and we decided that maybe it would be better to go ahead and disguise ourselves as a big sister taking care of her baby sister while her parents were on a vacation.”

“No way?!?” He said, “This is something like out of a spy movie. Why in the world would you need to do all of this?”

“This like everything doesn’t leave the room Mark, but my husband’s family is a pretty powerful mafia family. They have a major ‘front’ business that operates all over the country letting them smuggle just about whatever they want. Dressed as we were, or being ourselves would have let them find us pretty quick,” Mom said quietly.

“Wow...” he said, “so why come here?”

“Your mom was my best friend growing up, and I came here one summer with her. I figured if there was anyone we could turn to it would be your Aunt Gloria. Coming here was our best hope...”

“And... Tony...? You’re okay with this?” He looked at me.

I nodded, “It’s Ashley now... Even if we could guarantee my dad would never find us I want to stay Ashley. It would be nice to be older again though...” I added with a smile.

“How old are you really?”

“I’ll be eleven next month,” I answered.

“So that wasn’t a real birthday party?”

“Oh, it was most definitely a real birthday party for Ashley,” Gloria said with a smile.
“The truth is Mark, we’re probably going to have to stick with our new identification and stories until we die. Odds are my husband will never give up.”

“Why don’t you just go to the FBI?”

I looked at Mom, “I’m so tired of getting asked that question...”

She laughed and said, “My husband has a source there. He’d find us through them and eliminate me and take Ashley back home...”

He nodded, “And the extreme waterworks just now?”

“Have to keep up our story that Ashley and I are orphans. We’re going to head to Dallas tomorrow to take care of the estate. Our story though is that we’re just waiting for the ashes and we’ll spread them around here somewhere. It’s not worth shipping a set of bodies up from Chile where they were supposedly skiing. Both of them died together in an avalanche.”

“Wow... This doesn’t seem real,” he said. “So what should I call you?” He asked me

“Please call me Ashley,” I told him with a smile.

“So I just treat you like an eight year old princess and life is good?” He asked with a smile.

I nodded.

“Good!” He surprised me by coming over and picking me up and giving me a hug, “You are awesome, to do this.”

“Thanks,” I said, “and thanks for keeping our secret.”

“You’re welcome.” He said and gave Mom a hug too.

“So what now?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Well, Gloria is going to drop us off at the airport tomorrow...”

“And you’re just going to bum around Dallas for a week?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Something like that Kate, I’ll tell you later.”

Mom looked at Kaitlyn, “Madison, there are going to be some times where I need Ashley to have a babysitter available, you want to come with us?” Mom asked with a smile.

I frowned, “Babysitter?!?” ‘I knew this was coming!!!!’

“Not as a babysitter,” Madison said, “I’d love to come as her big cousin who is hanging out with her while you do things.”

I smiled at her, she understood me…

“Okay with you Kaitlyn?”

“Definitely, I do not want to have her moping around here because Ashley isn’t here!” She smiled.

“Okay you two need to go pack enough clothes for a week. Once you’re done I want you to put them outside in the hallway so I can make sure they’re packed with the right things.” Mom said. “Both of you bring one doll each and one stuffed animal each,” she added.

“They have to go into the suitcase?” I asked sadly.

“We’ll keep our dolls out,” Madison said with a smile.

“That’ll work,” Mom agreed.

The rest of the evening was spent in planning and Mom putting me to bed early. She made arrangements for a compassionate last minute set of plane tickets to Dallas before I went to bed. I hoped it wasn’t a mistake to fly back there.

MEGAN AND KAITLYN talked downstairs in Gloria’s office. “I think this will work and make it to where Ashley can have a stress break.”

“What’s this Ashley business Megan? You need one too!” She said with a smile. “I wish I could go with you, but I don’t know how to make that look right.”

“I do too!” She said with her own smile. Megan suddenly gave Kaitlyn a hug, “I’m so glad we’re friends again!”

“Me too,” she said, “Even better that our daughters are getting close too!”

“Do you think Madison will be okay with this?”

“Oh, I’m sure she’s going to love it. They’re both going to be ecstatic...” she giggled, “and probably both are going to beat up on you a bit too! They’re not going to believe that you lied to them about that.”

“I never really lied Kaitlyn, I just didn’t tell them everything...”

They both laughed then and kept talking for a long while before Megan knew she had to go to bed.

STELLA AND TOM drove back to their house in silence. Once home they made their way to their own home office and Tom turned on a new gadget Gary had just palmed to him. With a few minutes effort he found and eliminated three listening devices, putting them inside a solid lead and copper shielded firebox, rendering them harmless. It was sound proof and would stop signals from transmitting. He did leave the phone one in place. “Is that all of them?” Stella asked.

“I hope so,” Tom replied.

“I’m so glad they’re alive...” Stella said.

“I know hon, I just wished I knew how to help them out more...”

“I know. Do you think Tony is okay with everything?”

“Yeah, I would be willing to bet this is for the better for him,” he said as he hugged his wife. They had an unspoken agreement that their cover identities wouldn’t be spoken, nor would their location. But, with the bugs taken care of they should be able to speak without too many problems.

“How long do you think before they get desperate and come after us?”

“I give it two months,” Tom said. “At that point he’ll be so furious he’ll do anything. Actually Giovanni may decide at that point they have to because he’ll be worried they went to Witness Protection...”

“They’ve done as much as they would have done for them...” Stella noted.

“Yeah, I don’t know how the hell Megan pulled that off, but it was slick work. I wish I could give her a hug and tell her how proud I am of her.”

“I’m sure she knows honey, I’m sure she knows.”

“Don’t forget, don’t go anywhere unarmed from here on out,” he reminded her.

“Tom, I haven’t left the house without a gun since we were recruited,” she reminded him with a smile.

“I know... I just worry,” he said.

The two of them re-planted the bugs for the moment since they knew where they were. The sensor got placed in a safe place near and dear to their guns. With the security system armed, and a separate security system armed as well they called it a night and slept holding each other tight.

What did you think? Comments and/or Kudos are always appreciated! Thanks for reading!