Debbie looks at her husband as she helps remove his body armor. She couldn’t believe how dented it was or the bruises she was seeing on his chest. His face was a little swollen from the punches he took.

“What the heck hit you, Jack?” Debbie knew her husband was a well-trained fighter.

There weren’t many people her husband couldn’t defend himself against or takedown. She examines him carefully, to make sure he doesn’t have any broken bones or fractures.

“Ed was jacked up on something. He ran into his office and shot himself up with whatever, was in these syringes.” Jack holds the two syringes he found in Ed’s office.

Debbie takes the syringes out of Jack’s hand. There was still a little bit of whatever Ed took still in them.

“I’ll call Harry and have him analyze what’s left to see what it was.” She sets them down on the medical cart next to her.

They were down in their medical clinic he uses for taking care of the animals on the ranch. It was equipped for taking care of people as well. Debbie was a certified paramedic and had years of tending to broken bones and injuries from her rodeo days.

“Let me take a few x-rays of your chest before I bandage it up.” Debbie moves the portable x-ray machine over to Jack and takes several x-rays of his chest.

She examines them carefully but doesn’t see any broken ribs or fractures. She files them away just in case she missed something and needed them later.

“Well, you don’t have any broken ribs or anything. Which means all the damage is done to the tissue covering your chest. Do you want anything for the pain?” Debbie looks at her husband.

“Yeah, give me the bottle of Scotch.” Jack prefers to drink alcohol, instead of taking pills.

“I thought you might feel that way.” Debbie walks over to the medicine cabinet and unlocks it.

She looks at the collection her husband keeps in the cabinet and takes out the 14-year-old Scotch whiskey for him. She closes the cabinet back up and walks back over to him.

“Here you go, Jack. One bottle of Cardhu single malt.” Debbie hands the bottle to her husband.

“Thanks.” Jack opens it and drinks from the bottle.

Debbie starts wrapping Jack’s chest and arms. She would do his head, but she knows it would raise too many questions with their daughters and grandchildren.

“You’re getting too old for this type of work sweetie.” Debbie was fifteen years younger than Jack.

“I know, I’m supposed to be retired.” Jack stands up off the examination table.

“You retired? This year along, you have managed to get yourself into several fights and send messages to your enemies.”

Jack walks over to the closet and pulls out one of the black t-shirts he keeps in there. He looks towards his wife “this fight I didn’t pick. They came after our family. You know I can’t let that go.”

“I know and I agree with you. It’s your getting to old to keep doing this. How much more damage can your body take?” Debbie knew it took Jack at least thirty minutes each morning to be able to move.

“I know sweetie. Once these pricks learn their lesson, I’ll give this mess up.” Jack takes another swig from the bottle.

“I don’t believe you. You enjoy this too much.” Debbie places a kiss on Jack’s cheek.

“Maybe. Have you heard from the rest of the family?” Jack was concerned about Gina, his sister in England and his niece in Hawaii.

“I spoke to your Uncle Sheamus and your mother. They had a few visitors, but your Uncle Sheamus gave them a Scottish welcome. Gina and
Anika are doing okay. Hatter and her boyfriend have been getting your message across to the Hunter’s in New York and New Jersey that
started this mess. Gina is working with a former Hunter. She saved Gina and Anika when a Hunter group ambushed them.

As for Casey and her new wife. Cheshire had to send an archive group in to catalog and store everything in Hunter’s house that tried to take them out.” Debbie knew what an archive group was.

She met some of the people from the group Cheshire and Jack used. She never knew they existed until Jack introduced her to them at a function they had gone to.

“Let me guess, Cheshire wants me to cover half the cost?” Jack looks at his wife and watches her expression.

“Well, it never came up, but from talking with her, I think she is expecting you to cover half the cost for their services.” Debbie knew how
Cheshire hinted at things, without saying or asking for much.

“Go ahead and transfer the money from the Swiss account to Cheshire’s Cayman account.” Jack takes one more swig from the Scotch bottle, before closing it up.

Debbie notices her husband closing the bottle. It was three-quarters of the way empty.

“Feeling better?” A smile appears on her face.

“Yes.” Jack was feeling a lot better.

Jack helps Debbie clean up the medical clinic, before turning the lights off and heading back to the main house. Selina was already fixing some lunch for the house. Jack spots his daughter’s Alyona and Silvia eating their lunch.

Alyona looks at her mother and father. She knew her father went out early to handle a problem.

“Is everything okay, father?” Alyona spotted some bruises on her father’s face.

“Everything is fine, Alyona.” Jack walks over to see what Selina had made for lunch.

He goes to stick his finger into the pot but gets smack by the wooden spoon in Selina’s hand. He looks at her after she did that to him.

“You know better Jack, about sticking your fingers into what I am cooking.” Selina had a serious look on her face.

She knows Jack was dangerous, but this was her kitchen and she made the rules. She just watches him.

Debbie just smirks as she heads towards the refrigerator to get the ingredients to make a cobb salad. She was in the mood for a salad, instead of the stew Selina made. She knew Jack could eat three bowls of the stew Selina made.

Selina serves up a bowl for Jack to eat and hands it to him.

Jack accepts it and sits down next to Silvia. He notices there was a basket of sliced bread on the table. He looks towards Silvia “did you bake the bread, Silvia?”

“Yes, sir.” Silvia had gotten up early and baked several loaves of bread.

Jack was proud of Silvia and Alyona they had come a long way since they came to live with him. After Jack finishes eating lunch, he heads to his office to check a few things.