Chapter 28

“Just one quick question before we get started. Do you actually hate us? I mean, really, do you truly find us to be despicable human beings?”

I shrugged as easily as I could with a one hundred twenty five pound woman sitting on my lap, her head snuggled contentedly on my chest.

“What’s wrong, James? I would have thought you’d appreciate the challenge of coordinating something new and different.”

“Something new and different ... you do have a way of phrasing things, don’t you? It’s not bad enough that you worked Brent and I around the clock all week, making sure that we got as many ‘safe’ government officials as we could to be here. It’s not bad enough you made sure we told them secrets that it first took a Presidential Finding to declassify so we could talk to them about those secrets in the first place. It’s not even bad enough you invited someone onto US soil with a working nuclear weapon, right into the heart of a major US city, and then bluffed him. No, oh, no, that’s not all! No, you have to go ahead and have the wife of the heir to the throne of England fall in love with you. And you expect us to clean it all up!”

I glanced at his partner. “Brent, did James leave anything out?”

He looked thoughtful for a second and seemed to count on his fingers. “No, I think that pretty much covers it all. How soon would you like it all wrapped up?”

“Ideally? Tomorrow. Realistically? Hell, I figure if you guys get everything figured out with Leonard and have it taken care of by the end of summer, we’ll be in good shape.”

Brent Cain nodded. “This is going to be interesting, that’s for damned sure. You know the funny thing is that you were completely right in your description of your newest ... well, let’s not call her your newest wife just yet, okay? At least not publicly. I can hardly wait to get with my connections at the National Enquirer. This is going to sell so many copies for them.”

Jeremy blurted, “Wait! You’ve got a connection there? I thought I was the only one who had a connection there.”

“Yours is to cover Cal’s safety and other stuff like that, to leak that information so the idiots realize that they’ll die if they come after him. Mine is to cover his political stuff, to leak just enough of what’s really going on so that the people who only read the supermarket tabloids will at least get a little bit of hard news that’s real.”

“Since I truly have no idea what the two of you are talking about, I presume that this is all good with Mike and my advisory council.”

From the sigh that came from behind me, I now knew where Mike was.

“Yes, it’s authorized by me, and by us. We figured out after Jennifer ended up killing Hannah’s dad that the tabloid market was going to try to exploit you and the family however they could. So we beat them to the punch. We give a couple of them just enough information on what the ‘rich, mysterious college student from nowhere’ is doing that’s actually the truth, so that they don’t try to put photographers in helicopters a mile away and find out stuff we really don’t want them to know. Like what really happened here today, as far as the demonstration of the shivalingam powers.”

“Not quite a Potemkin village, but also not quite outright lying, either. We’ll say that, due to your political and economic connections, you facilitated a conference that was an attempt to peacefully resolve the drug and governmental issues in South America. We’ll even say that part of it was because you have economic plans for expansion there, which I’m sure you will have at some point in time, even if they don’t exist now,” Brent said.

Margie said, “They’re on the board, but that’s several years down the road. We have to expand in the Punjabi and China regions first with our conventional plans. Of course, we’ll also have all of the medical and engineering advances that Cal comes up with over the next three years, too.”

“Presuming he survives Halley’s Comet, of course,” Mike said.

Several of my girls nodded at that.

Beth shook her head with a wry smile. “Well, if nothing else, that’s even more proof that somehow or other, she’s one of us.”

“What do you mean?” Mike asked.

“She’s sitting in his lap, sound asleep. A long time ago ... okay, last fall ... Spic told Elroy something. That feeling when your mother is holding you in her arms when you’re little, and you feel completely safe there, knowing that nothing can hurt you while she’s holding you. That’s what it feels like to be held in Cal’s arms. That’s why the Slut has said that when she opens her eyes in the morning, his face is the first thing she wants to see every day for the rest of her life.”

Hannah said with a smile, “That’s why I worked a corncob out of my ass on the golf course, and fell in love with him. Oh, he was trying to convert me into one of his ‘followers,’ but my sister-wife said it best. ‘He’s a bloody overachiever.’”

James nodded. “Okay, I think we have everything we need, then. Marcia, you’ll have Leonard get with us, right? And keep Beverly away?”

Marcia frowned. “Why?”

“Her reputation precedes her. We’re going to be trying to not start a war with Great Britain. The last thing we need is her telling Prince Charles that she’ll pull his nuts off if he’s not a good little boy.”

Marcia giggled. “Oh, I didn’t know that story about her had made your circles. It is true, you know. Only it wasn’t a Prince, it was a German Count.”

“Yes, well, she’s a legend in certain circles where it’s not necessarily a good place to be legendary. I’m sure she’s a sweet woman, but still...” he said.

Hannah chuckled at that. “When we were in France cleaning up the mess left for us by Sheikh Khalid, there was a police captain that had been getting regular payoffs to look the other way. He told Beverly that since he was no longer getting paid, he’d have to take official notice of what had been going on, unless she was willing to work something out with him. He should be out of the hospital by the end of March.”

From the far side of the hanger, where the Secret Service and other assorted security personnel had been kept, I could hear a couple of loud voices.

“Uh oh. Someone just found out something they didn’t like,” I said.

Mike laughed. “This ought to be amusing, actually. You ought to wake up the Princess and come watch.”

I gave her a gentle shake. She didn’t wake up. I bent my head down and put my mouth near her ear. Her hair smelled like a flower from Star Home that my mother used to love. “My Princess, you need to wake up now. Otherwise, you’re not going to want to go to sleep later.”

She moved a little. “Do I have to? This is such a lovely place to nap.”

Margie stepped up and took one of her hands. “We all know it, already. Come on, you already know how much fun it is to be pulling on things when you’re five months along, and I don’t want to strain anything.”

“Oh, definitely not.” Her eyes opened fully. “That wasn’t just a pleasant dream I had, was it? I really did kiss His Majesty, then snuggle with him and fell asleep on him. Oh, good!”

Her face changed into a deep and sorrowful frown, as she swung off of my lap and stood up. “I’m dreadfully sorry for being so presumptuous, you must think me silly. I don’t know what I was thinking, really, so ... I ask your forgiveness.”

Helen stepped in front of her, nearly nose to nose with Diana. “I don’t think you’re going to get out of it that easily, Your Highness. Look at me. Right here, in me eyes. Now! Tell me that you haven’t hopelessly fallen in love with him. You don’t know why, you don’t know how, but your very heart yearns and aches for his, doesn’t it? You know he’s the man for you, the man you want to be with, from now until the end of time.”

“I ... I ... can’t ... I’m ... I’m ... hopelessly in love with him. Please, can any, can all of you, forgive me?” She looked distraught.

Helen smiled broadly, as did the rest of my girls, lighting up the room. “There is nothing to forgive, my soon to be sister-wife. We know our man. We know your man. Join with us in simply enjoying the sight of him.” She turned Diana around.

I stood up from where I’d been sitting, held my arms out wide, pitched my voice low, and said, “My ladies, I am yours, you are mine. We are family.”

From my perspective, it was pretty much a toss-up on who lit up the room the most with their smile at those words. The Indian girls had all joined the other eight in waiting for Diana to wake up, so they knew I was including them in my statement. I decided that I wouldn’t say anything, but it was probably a tie between Beth and Diana, with Helen a close third.

Jeremy exclaimed, “Good God! I know you’ve done all sorts of other things, but if you could bottle up what you just unleashed, you’d make more money off that than from all the rest of your inventions, combined!”

That got a giggle from most of my ladies.

Marcia said, “That’s what’s so great, Jeremy. He just does it, without even having to think about it, and it’s all for us.”

“Speaking of just doing something, now that you’re mobile again, come on,” said Mike.

We followed him over to where we could hear a security guard getting a bit upset. Mike stopped behind the temporary walls they’d erected in here, where we were out of sight.

“Look, mate, we appreciate the food, don’t get me wrong. But our job is to guard Her Highness. Just because all the rest of these lads are sitting on their duffs doesn’t mean that we’re not going to do our jobs.”

The Wackenhut guard replied, “I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. But my orders are that all of you stay over here, be comfortable, and just chill. This is a top secret conference, and until I’m told otherwise, you stay put.”

Cally, Carrie, and Holly had been waiting on Mike. He nodded to them, so they got up from their chairs and walked over to our guard.

Carrie said, “Hello, Officer Owens. Is there some kind of trouble here?”

Owens smiled. “Good afternoon, Ma’am, ladies. The security force from Great Britain seems to be getting a bit antsy, even though they’ve been told to relax, that we have everything under control.”

I used my vision to watch through the wall as she turned to the British security guard. “Is that true? You’re getting a little ‘antsy’ with just waiting?”

He looked at his partner, then frowned. “Aren’t you a little young to be in charge?”

“What do you think, Officer Owens? Am I too young?”

He snorted. “Not in the least, Ma’am. None of you are.”

“Then I wonder why he won’t follow simple orders. I presume that he’s former SAS.”

Holly said, “No, he has ‘By Strength and Guile’ tattooed on his shoulder, so he’s SBS, and the other has ‘Death or Glory’ on his shoulder, so he’s Royal Lancer.”

That made both of them stop for a moment. The first asked, a little shaken, “How can you know that?”

Cally said, “You know, I think the two of you need something to do with your time, while you’re just sitting here. I bet you like puzzles, don’t you?” She turned back, then hurried over to the box with the remnants of the Crown Jewels in it. Picking it up, she ran back over and then handed it to the second guard.

“Here you go. Her Royal Majesty gave permission for certain stones within them to be removed by whatever means necessary. You might want to check them out.” She stepped back while he opened the case.

“Bloody Hell! Eddie, look at this!” He picked up the crown. It was dented in several places, and it was obvious that not only were some stones missing, several of the others were simply laying loose in the bottom of the case. He put the crown on the floor and pulled the necklace out. While the chain was intact, the ornate centerpiece was broken and barely hanging together. The scepter was in just as bad shape.

“Where’s our Princess? We need to see her, about this ... this ... outrage!”

Carrie said, “What outrage? Your Queen gave us permission to do with them what we will. We did. We retrieved what was needed from them. Oh, perhaps you’re outraged because now they’re not priceless Crown Jewelry, they’re only fit for trash, and you don’t want to be bothered with the trash. My apologies, that’s easily rectified.”

Each of the girls held their hand out, raising a piece of jewelry up into the air. Carrie not only picked up the crown, she levitated the jewels that had been laying loose in the case. That little demonstration caught the eyes of every security guard present. At least ours had been briefed to not freak out, and most of them had figured out by now we were doing something abnormal.

Bringing her hands together, Carrie brought the jewels over to the crown, then folded it up, effortlessly crushing the silver, gold, and velvet into a small ball, the jewels sticking out in different places. While she was doing that, Cally bent the scepter in half, then each half again. Holly took the necklace and simply wound it tighter and tighter into a ball, until the only thing visible was a small ball of gold with a couple of gemstones poking out.

Of course, all of this was happening with the pieces suspended in mid-air, in clear view of everyone. They then held out their hands, with their rings in plain view. At the same time, they all three said, “We are the Guardians of the Planet. We are not subject to your rules, to your laws. Our mission is to protect this world from Shiva. Do not question our resolve in carrying out our mission. We have already died once, freeing this world from Shiva. We are prepared to do so again. So, too, you should be ready to die, not to simply save another, but to save all.”

THEN they raised themselves up into the air.

I was glad that they were actually all wearing shorts, and not skirts. Before, they’d only raised themselves into the air a little. They’d each put half a dozen shivalingam into their pockets, and because they could talk mentally, Cally had taught Carrie and Holly how to fly without using ‘fairy dust.’

There was one completely redeeming feature about the whole thing. We were inside Hangar One, so the ceiling was almost two hundred feet tall, while the building itself was over eleven hundred feet long and three hundred feet wide at the ground. That meant the number of people that got to watch three fourteen year old girls fly around was limited to the few hundred that we had in here. Everyone could tell where they were, because they each had the ring on their fingers lit up like spotlights.

After what to everyone else probably seemed like an eternity, but was only about two minutes, the three of them landed back in front of the security forces.

“I think the two of you ought to go sit down now, don’t you?” Carrie asked.

“Yes, Ma’am!” The former SBS member actually saluted her.

The three girls turned as one, then walked away. The three crushed pieces of jewelry seemed to pick themselves up off the floor and deposit themselves into a convenient trash can. Once the girls were out of sight of the guards, they broke into quiet giggles, then joined all of us as we walked back over to the conference tables.

There was quite a crowd waiting there. Everyone, including Cris and his three ladies, had taken seats around the tables again while the girls had been flying. Once we’d taken our seats, and before any of us could speak, Cardinal Gantin stood up.

“I have met the Messenger, I have met the Angels. I had told His Majesty before that he shared some of the physical characteristics with the Messenger, but it was obvious that he was not him. It is also quite obvious that these three remarkable young ladies could not be the Angels. The Church is quite satisfied that the Messenger is exactly what he says he is, an alien visitor from another world. The Church now pledges it’s support to His Majesty and his endeavors, no matter what they are or may be, in defeating the coming blight upon this planet. We also pledge to support the good deeds that His Majesty is performing around the world.”

He paused, then looked at everyone, stopping when he locked eyes with Cris. “The Church has a history that it is not necessarily proud of, but one that by our future actions and endeavors, hopes that those shall redeem it in the eyes of the world. So, too, my son, do you have a history that you are not necessarily proud of. While it may not be something you personally believe in, by my authority as Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission on Latin America, and in my simplest and humblest role as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, I hereby decree that your actions today have been your Penance, and grant you, Cristian Calvin Bauman, absolution from your sins. I do the same for you, Evelin Maria Santos, for you, Salvadora Angelina Ibañez, and for you, Maria Elizabeth Aguilar. The Church has declared that a marriage is between one man and one woman. It has not declared that you may not form a family. The four of you have my blessing, for now, and from this day forward.”

Then he turned to me. “California Lewis. As Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, in the name of His Holiness, Pope John Paul the Second, and with the authority and power of the Roman Catholic Church, I charge you to defend this planet and the people thereon, to the best of your abilities, to your death should it be necessary. In the completion of this task, you are found to be pure of soul and Holy, in a state of Grace, and incapable of sin in the eyes of God, regardless of what the hearts of Men may think. Such is the Official Position of the Roman Catholic Church. I, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, acting with the blessings of and the authority of His Holiness Pope John Paul the Second, so decree.”

There were a lot of satisfied looks at me from around the table. Some of the people also had smiles upon their faces now. But no one said anything.

Finally, I stood up.

“To be very honest, unless someone has anything else that they need to bring up in front of the group, I think we all know where everyone stands. The planet is united, as best it can be right now, in the fight against Shiva that will be coming up. In short order ... a few weeks now, instead of a few months ... North, Central, and South America will all be at peace, and united to support the new World Government that you and the leaders of your nations and allies, shall create. A Government that will not make the mistakes that the former United Nations did, but a Government dedicated to actually governing the entire planet Earth, while allowing and guaranteeing the freedom and sovereignty of each nation on this planet. Ladies and gentlemen ... let’s make it work.”

Apparently that was good enough for a long standing ovation from everyone. I’d just made it up on the fly, because otherwise I didn’t think we’d ever get out of here tonight.

Marcia asked a couple of security guards, “Please tell me we got that.”

One of them replied, “Oh, yeah. From multiple angles. I’ve been with the crew since Kansas. I’ve always wondered, a little, what was going on. Now, not only do all of us know why things have been like they were, we understand it, too. As best we can, of course. Wow!”

“You’ve been recording this?” I asked.

“Well, yeah,” Marcia said. “Can’t make a movie later on about how you saved Earth without proper documentation.”

Andrei Gromyko saw the expression on my face then and started laughing. He pointed it out to several of the others, who joined him in laughter. Even Cris did so.

Once they had settled down, he came up to me, shook my hand, then gave me a hug and brought his cheek to mine, giving me a kiss. “Next time we are together, I shall do so when we greet each other as close friends, my cous ... my brother!”

His women came up and did the same with me, then they all did the same with all of my ladies, including my newest one.

It was still two more hours before we got most of the diplomats out and headed back to their hotels, embassies, or consulates. The chefs and their crews had all left prior to the flight demonstration, and Dora’s cousins that had still been present and helping, wouldn’t say anything. That left one group, Princess Diana and her guards.

The two of them had calmed down after the demonstration, but they were both confused when the Princess was making no effort whatsoever to prepare to leave the hangar as all the others had done.

“Your Highness, um, shouldn’t we be going back to the hotel for the evening?”

Diana looked at him. “I suppose you’re right. You and Eddie can go ahead. You’ll have a long flight tomorrow morning, after all.”

He blinked. “Excuse me, Ma’am, but we’re assigned as your bodyguards. Why would we go anywhere without you?”

“It’s simple, George. I’m not going anywhere other than, well, to his house,” she said, nodding at me.

Eddie said, “Bloody Hell, Ma’am! That’s not within our mission orders!”

“What are your mission orders, then?” Mike asked.

“We’re from the Royalty Protection Branch, ordered to protect Her Highness from all threats. That’s why we’re more like you cowboys, and are allowed to carry firearms. Our mission is to escort Her Highness here for whatever this meeting is, then see her safely returned home when that meeting is complete. The meeting is over, and because it’s later in the evening, we’ll return to our hotel for a British Airways flight out in the morning.”

“It’s interesting that the Princess was a last minute switch,” Brent Cain said. “When we contacted Her Royal Majesty, the Queen, on Monday about getting these three specific pieces of Crown Jewelry brought here, she had said she would send them with Prince Charles. That was the plan all the way up until Thursday, when we learned that it was possible that Bauman might try something if he felt threatened. That’s when the plans switched from Charles to Diana. I’m sorry you were separated from the main dinner, but at that time, it was felt that individual security teams might blow up, no pun intended, when they found out that Bauman had brought a nuclear device with him.”

George said, “Bloody right we would have! What maniac allowed that?”

I held up my hand. “Me. I had to make a statement to Bauman that he was safe, no matter what, and I was risking my own family. We didn’t tell anyone that he was bringing a nuke, because we didn’t know, just that Bauman might try something that could be potentially dangerous to those attending if he felt trapped. No one else changed who they sent. The Queen was the only one. So, ask yourself why? Is it because her son isn’t capable of doing the job? Or is it more likely that, on the off chance that things went poorly today and even if he didn’t have a nuke, that Bauman might have managed to do something that could have had fatal consequences for the Princess? In which case, not only would the blame for her death be upon those ‘damned colonials’, but that would free Charles.”

Eddie went stone faced. “Our job is to protect the Royals, not engage in gossip.”

Diana shook her head. “Yes, but is it gossip if it’s true?”

George shook his head in return, then looked at his partner. “Eddie, we’ve been with Her Highness four full years now this month, ever since the engagement. We’re not the American Secret Service, for God’s sake. You were there for their engagement announcement, when that reporter asked them if they were in love. What were their responses?”

Eddie blinked, then said, “She said, ‘Of course’, and he said, ‘Whatever in love means.’ Dammit, George!”

“Our job is to protect her! Look at her. Look at her! That’s the smile she had before she got engaged and found out that Camilla was part of their marriage. That’s the smile she had before he called her ‘chubby’ and she started puking up everything she’d eat to lose weight, to try to make him happy no matter what. Now she’s been to see the doctors, because he’s literally making her sick! How the hell is that protecting her?”

I turned to Diana. “I saw that you ate normal portions of lunch and dinner. Did you go into the bathroom and make yourself sick, to lose it again?”

She blinked, then sadly nodded, “Yes.”

“Well, that won’t do. Not at all. Just a second.” After I’d found during the attempt on Jennifer’s life that I should be totally attuned to the shivalingam, I figured out how to do just that. I simply hadn’t known about the, for lack of a better description, long range effect. I held my hands to either side of Diana’s head, then closed my eyes for a couple of seconds. “Okay, that’s taken care of the physical issues. I can’t fix the mental issues the same way, but with love, which you really didn’t have before now, we can.”

“That felt a little odd,” she said.

George said, “I’d bet. There was a light that went between his palms and passed through your head. How’d you do that?”

“Same way the girls were flying earlier. You had to have gotten the briefing that Charles’s guard got, since you escorted Diana and she had those Royal items,” I said.

“Um, no. That’s what made us so gobsmacked when they told us so much about ourselves, and why we were rather pissed off about the jewelry,” Eddie replied.

I nodded. “Definitely playing games, then.”

Hannah said, “I’ll contact Grandfather. He’ll pass along a quiet word to the people that need one.” She chuckled. “He’ll also pass on a rather loud word as well, one that the National Audit Department won’t like.”

“Thank you. George, Eddie, it’s pretty simple.” I gave them the short and dirty talk about the shivalingam. Then I fixed the torn cartilage in George’s knee that had gotten him removed from active military service, and did the same with Eddie’s shoulder.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were shaking their heads in wonder.

“The surgeons told me I’d never have full range of motion in that shoulder again,” Eddie said with wonder.

“As far as they were concerned, you wouldn’t. That shrapnel had done too much damage to the muscle connections and nerve tissue. It’s all fixed, and I healed the scars on your back, too, just for good measure. Don’t worry, I didn’t mess with the extra asshole you have on your leg, since that was a simple through and through, and you healed up nicely from it.”

Mike chuckled. “From the expressions on your faces, right now the two of you don’t know what to do. How about we compromise, for the night? You two go back to your hotel, you get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow morning, pack everything up and come on back over. If Princess Diana still wants to stay, we can talk about it at breakfast. Keep in mind that Wackenhut guards nuclear weapons. I think we can handle her. Oh, and not to influence your thoughts or anything, but we do pay a bit better than any police force in the world.”

That’s what ended up happening, with the two of them going to their hotel. I figured they’d both be back in the morning, and applying for jobs. In the meantime, the now larger immediate family loaded up onto a bus and were driven home.

“Not exactly Buckingham Palace,” I said when we pulled in.

“No, but even though I’ve always been in the peerage, I’ve definitely stayed in much worse.” She chuckled. “Many of the ones that were ‘better’ lacked something, though. Sandingham and Althorp aren’t ‘homes.’”

Hannah nodded, saying, “Exactly. I lived at Waddesdon, and Grandfather’s given us Eyrthorpe, but those are bloody museums, not designed for people to actually live in.”

“I truly didn’t make the connection until just now. You’re Hannah, the granddaughter of Baron Rothschild, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Hannah performed a curtsy in the bus aisle.

Diana ran a hand through her hair. “Oh, no. Not between us. Prince Phillip told me that ‘there’s no rank in the wardroom,’ and certainly not between family. I’m ... confused inside, but I’ve never been surer of anything in my life, if that makes sense.”

Margie snorted. “Oh, yeah. You were asleep in his lap earlier, so you missed it.” The bus had pulled into one of the attached garages, so we unloaded and started in. “Do you know what my nickname in the family is?”

“Um, no.”

“It’s Slut. Security actually uses it for my code name, and it’s a badge of honor I proudly wear. I met Lover Boy on a Sunday afternoon, and two hours later, I was in the hayloft of the barn, my legs wide up in the air, not only totally in love with him, but knocked up by him, too.”

“That would be lovely if that happened to me, I think. I just can’t explain this, at all. I have two children already, and I want to get them away from that environment if I can. You must think me horrid for saying this, but it almost doesn’t matter to me, even if I can’t, so long as I’m with him.”

That made Jennifer chuckle. “I’m not exactly mother of the year material myself. I do love all three of my children, but when I found out I had breast cancer, I had decided I wanted some happiness in my life. My husband didn’t cheat on me with his former girlfriend like yours does now. He was worse, a pedophile and child molester. I was married to him for more than twenty years and had no idea. Becoming one of Cal’s wives has been the best thing in my life. I’m finally free to do what I want to do, I have a family that I love and loves me, and I’m only a month behind my sister-wife in being pregnant with Cal’s son.”