Roswell Fanatics

Carolyn: Well, I'm a little late but after driving Judy to S.F. airport headed to son Paul's to dogsit for a week...it's time to haul kids back to college. If it's not one thing it's another but I'm home to more peace and quiet and I love it!! I tried to update on Paul's computer but I didn't have much luck with it and didn't feel like fighting it.

In the meantime our kids are moving right along here and Hopefully I will be back on Thursday. Enjoy.
Eve:Loved having my daughter here with me and the poor thing never stopped. She took advantage of every minute of her time and I began to feel like an invalid the way she took over but things look beautiful and it will take me months to find half the stuff she put away. Oh well, it was worth it.

As for our cast of characters, they are moving right along and managing to enjoy themselves as they do.

Natalie: Welcome back...have you seen the commercial where the mom crashes on the couch and asks if you can hear it? It's quiet, enjoy this time Natalie, they leave so quickly.

*****


Chapter: 20

Lois walked in to find Liz in the kitchen making a fresh pot of coffee and she heard the shower running in Liz’s bathroom and grinned.

“Let me guess, it was a long trip and he got dirty…” Lois said as she put her purse and keys on the table in the foyer.

“Shut up!” Liz replied as she replaced the coffee canister in the cupboard and turned the pot on…Lois giggled as she questioned her roommate.

“What are the plans for the rest of the week-end? Or have you had a chance to make any?”

“Lois, I said to shut up!!! And yes, we’ve made some plans. Tonight Max is taking us to dinner and then we thought we’d go over to the lounge for a while. Are you game?” Lois thought about that for a minute before answering…

“Liz, are you sure? I don’t want to be a fifth wheel or anything.”

About that time Max came out of Liz’s room wearing his jeans, a tee shirt and no shoes…

“Lois, if I didn’t include you in our plans my brother would cheerfully knock me into the next state.” And then he laughed…

“I’m kidding, I want to take both of you out to dinner, I will expect Clark to do the same when he comes to town without me…” and Max’s voice sort of took on a higher decibel as he chuckled, “Like that will ever happen.” And then he out and out laughed. There’s no way he was going to miss a chance at seeing Liz; never gonna’ happen.

Liz returned Max’s laugh with a giggle of her own…

“C’mon Lois…that’s the plan and tomorrow we’ll go out to the ranch and take a nice long ride up into the hills and give Max a chance to see where we do our range riding. I think he’ll enjoy it and we can take a picnic with us. It will be fun.”

“Well, okay then, if you don’t mind.” Both Max and Liz smiled at their friend and answered in unison…

“No. We don’t mind.” And then Liz added, “Oh, and Lois…Kyle called; he said hello and the baby is getting big and we need to make a trip home.”

“Gotcha…we got a new employee today?” Liz replied.

“Really?” Lois asked and Max watched with interest.

“Yep; new security guard.” Liz raised an eyebrow and then Lois added

“Hmm. Let me go freshen up okay. Do we have reservations anywhere?”

“Yeah, 7:00 so you have lots of time.”

“Great!”

And Lois took off as Max raised an eyebrow at Liz…

“Is there something I should know about Liz?”

“Well no, not really…” And Liz picked up the sharpie that went to the dry erase hanging on the other side of the pantry door…she learned a long time ago not to trust, something Kyle taught her when he first started training with the FBI and she and Lois were studying at George Washington U…CAREFUL"

She took the sharpie and wrote; “FBI” and Max just shook his head and mouthed WHY? Liz wrote, ‘he’s undercover and they’re here.’ And Max nodded and mouthed OH! Big eyes this time, and Liz pointed to the phone and other places around the room just in case.

Then she got a piece of paper and wrote…”Lois needs to know that Kyle called because he’s here investigating the Missoula PD and the investigation into your parent’s death. We think it has a lot to do with this virus.”

Liz showed Max the note and Max nodded. Liz then reached into the drawer on the side of the counter and took out a lighter and lit the note and set it on fire in the sink and then washed the ashes down the drain. Max could not believe what he was seeing and then she planted one fantastic whopper on him and he smiled and got the message…

“Liz, can we send Lois out to dinner alone tonight?”

“Max Evans!!! I don’t believe you!” And Max grinned as he whispered in her ear… “I think I like playing ‘cops and robbers’” and Liz giggled hysterically.

“Okay, I’ll behave, but keep that thought. I’m going to go get ready for dinner as well. Don’t leave without me.” Liz smiled…

“I’m not going anywhere.”

And Liz nodded toward the window. They were standing in broad daylight, blinds opened, drapes pulled and the whole town could practically see them…Max just smiled.

“Nice view.”

“Yeah, I know.”

About that time Lois showed up in the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee and Liz nodded to the phone. Lois acknowledged and grinned, this was going to be fun.

“Well, did you have fun while I was gone?” She asked…

“Shut up!” Liz answered.

*

Just as Kyle was grabbing his jacket and getting ready to call it a day Barnaby got a phone call on that private line of his and Kyle drug out the process of putting folders back into neat piles.

“Barnaby here.”

“Yeah, everything’s under control. Lose this number.” The voice ordered and Barnaby hung up as the in house phone rang…Kyle was still killing time.

“What’s up?” Barnaby asked, the only words spoken into the line.

“Hey boss, both women are back at the apartment…the Evans’ guy is apparently staying the week-end and there’s a lot of teasing going on about the overnight guest between the two women. Nothing out of the ordinary going on; they’ve just found themselves some boyfriends. Nothing else to report; they’re going out to dinner as a group this evening.”

“Okay, why don’t you take off for the week-end, I doubt anything will happen until Monday…oh, we do have a new guy starting in our department. You can meet him on Monday when you check-in; right now he’s at your desk plowing through the folders that have been piling up.”

“Thanks boss, I really can’t see anything out of the ordinary with these two women. Just what are we supposed to be looking for?”

“Like you said; anything out of the ordinary. I’ll see you Monday.” And Barnaby hung up. “Come on Don that has been sitting there for over a week, it’ll still be there on Monday…maybe you’ll be able to find an apartment over the week-end.”

“Yeah, I hope so. Have a good week-end Barnaby.” And Don (Kyle) smiled at the man as he left. ‘He’s watching someone.’ Kyle thought to himself as he grabbed his jacket and made his way outside. Boy, this was one nice day, and Kyle smiled as he made his way back to his motel to call Ava…he really missed her when he was on jobs like this.


As Kyle made his way back to his motel he passed Luke who was on his way to his new job as bartender at the Joker and Kyle made a quick change in plans and headed on out to the Joker for some dinner and then a quick drink in the bar. He would try to bring Luke up-to-date on what he found out without drawing any suspicion to either of them. If it wasn’t safe he would just have a drink and leave.

In the meantime Liz, Lois and Max had all settled themselves around the kitchen table while Max brought Lois up to date on Clark’s progress with the segregation of the cattle she had chosen for either trade or sale. Lois was more than glad to share what she had come up with as well and then at 6:30 the three friends left the apartment complex to go to dinner.

Earlier Clark Evans was having a really tough time accepting that his brother was in Missoula without him…as a matter of fact he was just a tiny bit jealous and this was a new feeling for him just as it was for Max and so Clark decided to hell with it; he informed Jose’ and Maggie that he was taking off for the week-end as well, packed himself a bag and took off. He figured he’d get into Missoula just about 10:30 or so if he didn’t stop to eat. He could live with that, and off he went.

*

“Hey Max, where are you staying? I’m on my way in and I’ll bunk with you.” Max looked at his phone like it had just stood up and bit him…

“Clark, what the hell are you talking about? I’m staying with Liz and you sure as hell aren’t bunking in with ME!!! If you know what I mean! Clark… what happened to, ‘I’ll stay home this week-end’?”

Liz and Lois looked at each other and both women knew exactly what was happening and Liz gave Max a nod and whispered…

“We have a couch Max…if Lois doesn’t want to share.” And Lois kicked Liz…and then grinned ‘ maybe’? She thought to herself. Liz didn’t have to be the only one getting lucky and she nodded and gave a ‘thumbs up’ to Max but Max decided to play for a minute…; his brother was intruding on his week-end.

Clark was semi-surprised at his brother’s answer but he didn’t want to seem too pushy to the girls either.

“Where are you right now Max?”

“We’re having dinner and then we’re headed to the Joker’s Wild lounge for a drink afterward…why?”

“Rent me a room and I’ll catch up with you there.”

“No, meet us there and we’ll talk about it.”

“Shit Max, get me some place to stay for God’s sake. If you wait too long it’ll be too late to find a decent place; it’s Friday night.”

“I know what night it is Clark…just meet us at the Joker’s; Later.” And Max hung up on his brother.

“Max, you’ve got a mean streak in you; shame on you treating your brother like that.” Liz couldn’t believe Max would do that.

“Hey, he could have come to town with me instead of waiting until the night was half over to make the trip alone. He deserves it.”

“No he doesn’t…would he do that to you?” Lois asked…

“Oh hell yeah, in a second; he wouldn’t even have to think about it.”

“Well, he can stay with us. Is he going to meet us here?” Liz asked with a semi grin on her face. She didn’t know whether to laugh or raise hell with Max.

“Ah, he’ll be here about 10:30 or so. Unless he breaks every speed limit known to man and Clark isn’t like that at all. Mr. Conservative would never dream of speeding.”

And out there on that highway there was a vehicle traveling way over any speed limits posted and the driver had a very determined look on his face. ‘Little shit, I’ll show him’…and Clark Evans put the pedal to the metal and made his way down the highway like hell wouldn’t have it.

*

Carolyn: Clark arrives and let's hope things get to moving...as for the "whirlwind", well, I miss her certainly and here goes a biggee...My daughter-in-law really liked some of my crystal pieces that we donated to the Salvation Army, she never said anything until after the stuff was gone. Guess where I went yesterday...to 3 Salvation Army stores looking for those particular pieces. I found one and bought it back. I've got the whole damned family in an uproar. But hey, my house looks nice and I'm still looking for stuff, not only at the thrift stores.
Natalie: I kind of get a kick out of them too.
Eve: She didn't move things around...she moved things out!!! They are gone!!! Really, GONE! She figures if you don't use it lose it. My contention is, you might need it that's why you have it in the first place. Oh well, I really don't have those big fancy family dinners anymore anyway and it was just stuff collecting dust. Here goes my regular Thurs. update, enjoy. PS: I'm not angry with her honest...the place looks great and i'll find what I need eventually, or I'll just go buy more!

*
Chapter: 21

Kyle walked in to the Joker’s Wild lobby and was truly surprised at how classy it was and decided to go ahead and go into the dining room for some dinner before catching up with Luke who was just clocking in and introducing himself to the other bartender on duty.

As Kyle entered the dining room he was immediately seated at a table for one near the far window from which he saw Liz, Lois and a young man enter through the doors and smiled into his menu. Liz and Lois noticed Kyle immediately but kept right on talking to each other as if the man didn’t exist.

Liz did make an obvious effort to scan the entire dining room just to make sure her tracks were covered and Kyle’s cover hadn’t been blown by any recognition on their parts and then she noticed one of the girls from the lab was there with her husband…Liz raised her hand and waved before following the maître d to their table.

“Anyone we know Liz?” Lois asked.

“No, that’s Mary Ann from the office upstairs and her husband. I met him at the Christmas party last year, really nice man, he works over at the court house but I forget what he does.”

“Oh, I guess it’s not important…” Lois remarked as she nodded to a few of the people she knew from the cocktail lounge.

Max just smiled as he held out Liz’s chair and the maître d held Lois’ before Max took his own seat.

Kyle watched all of this action from his vantage point in the corner and decided that this brother was the one interested in Liz. He wondered if the other one would be joining them…it was nice to be able to put faces with the players and then he continued to read the menu.

The two undercover officers that had been assigned to Liz and Lois just happened to walk into the dining room right after Liz, Lois and Max and didn’t mind joining each other for dinner since most of the people in town knew who they were anyway; they hadn’t planned it, it just happened. The usual people they investigated didn’t frequent places like this for dinner.

“Hey Mark, how was your week?” Dennis wanted to know and Mark shrugged…

“One of the most boring weeks I’ve ever put in. This woman goes to work, comes home, talks to her friend and goes to bed. I swear, Barnaby is losing it; although the boyfriend showed up and let’s just say I don’t know if I’m happy or mad that we didn’t bug the bedrooms. They spent a lot of time alone this afternoon if you know what I mean?” Mark grinned…

“Well the other one spent most of the afternoon with her arm up the ass end of cows and trust me, I can sure as hell live without that.” Dennis added…

“Damn man! Did you have to paint that picture for me at the dinner table?”

“Well you’ve seen worse than that at crime scenes ya’ damned wuss!” Dennis continued…

“Not so jerk; I’ve never watched a woman shoving stuff up a cow’s ass; I’m glad you drew that detail.” Mark shuddered.

“Besides, there they are, right over there. Let’s talk about something else. Boss said we got a new guy in today…Don something or other. We’ll meet him on Monday; I guess he’s plowing through the files on my desk, that’s gonna’ be a big help.”

“Yeah, maybe when he’s finished with yours he can hit mine. I don’t know how long we’re going to be following those two over there but it’s one damned boring assignment as far as I’m concerned.” Dennis snarked just as Kyle passed their table on his way to the men’s room.

When he got to the outer hallway he turned and looked at the two men talking and then followed their line of vision; they were talking about Liz and Lois…’I need a couple more men’ he thought as he continued on to the men’s room to take care of business before his dinner arrived.

*
Liz, Lois and Max finished up their dinner about 8:00 and headed on into the cocktail lounge for a couple of drinks and some fun and they passed Kyle at the bar on their way to a table, never acknowledging the undercover FBI agent at all, of course Max had no idea who he was.

Kyle watched his two friends through the mirror at the bar and grinned at Luke who had just set his soda with a twist in front of him. Kyle thanked the man and then asked…

“Hey, how’s it going? You wouldn’t know where I might find a furnished apartment around anywhere would you”

“Sorry buddy…first day on the job and I’ve got the same problem…” Luke was wondering how he and Kyle would be able to do any real talking but so far things were fairly quiet…

“Damn, I was sure this would be the place to get some free advice. “ And Kyle looked into the mirror behind Luke and nodded…

Luke spotted two pretty women sitting over in the corner at a quiet table and nodded as he turned and started to mix a couple of drinks for one of the waitresses in his section…

“Betty, our young friend here is looking for a furnished apartment…do you have any suggestions?” Like any good bartender Luke knew there were no strangers in a bar…

Betty looked at Luke for a minute and watched as he started to mix her drink order before turning her attention to Kyle…All good waitresses kept their eye on the new guy, just something they did; too many orders get screwed up just by grabbing the wrong bottle, not so here, he was a keeper.

“Hi, sorry, I haven’t a clue. There are a lot of apartment complexes in the city but I don’t know if any offer furniture. Maybe an internet search might help.” Betty smiled as she took her drinks and the receipt and headed back out to the floor with her order, which was served up to perfection by the way...

“Well, was she able to help?” Luke asked…the regular bartender had been keeping an eye on the newcomer and seemed pretty pleased with what he saw so far…

“Nah…she suggested the internet; she’s probably right. Do you know anyone in town?” Kyle continued…“I met a couple of co-workers today and that’s about it; I was transferred out of Billings and here I am… Don, Don Valiant, no relation to the prince.”

Luke laughed, in spite of Kyle’s attempt at humor it was funny, always the clown…Luke pointed to the name tag pinned to his vest and posed for his audience and then he was off to fill another order; things seemed to be picking up and right at 9:00 the band started up and it suddenly got very noisy.

When Luke found a break in his duties Kyle ordered another soda and laid a ten on the counter; Luke picked it up and headed to the cash register as one of the biggest men Kyle thought he had ever seen up close and personal walked into the bar…Clark Evans made his trip in record breaking time and Max Evans started to laugh.

Betty looked over at the table where the raucous laughter was coming from and grinned as she placed another order with Luke…Kyle watched closely as Clark joined his brother and had to ask,

“Who are they?”

“Oh, that’s the Evans brothers with Liz and Lois; I think they’ve just started socializing. They were in a couple of weeks ago and left together; Liz and Lois have been regulars for years and the Evans men come in about once a month; although it’s only been a couple of weeks this time.” Betty replied…

“Well what do you think has one of them so tickled?”

“Oh, I don’t think Clark was supposed to be here tonight.” Betty winked at Kyle as she picked her order up and took off again.

“Hmmm, did I hear her right?” Luke asked…

“Yep, that’s them.” And Kyle drank up and left Luke to check out the four at the far end of the room.

*

“Clark…did you fly here?” Max couldn’t believe that his brother was standing there in front of him, “how many tickets did you get?” Max asked through his hysterics.

Clark smiled at Liz and Lois as he punched his brother’s shoulder and took a seat…

“Shut up Max…did you find me a place to stay?” Clark was trying to be mad at his brother but he was so glad to see Lois that the urge to slap him around was long forgotten.

“You’re staying with us Clark.” Liz answered and smiled as Clark raised an eyebrow at the group; Lois nodded her head in agreement and gave Clark a flirty smile, just a little more on the sexy side than Liz was offering and that made Clark one happy man.

“Have you had dinner Clark?” Lois asked and Clark just shook his head no as he watched the woman with interest. ‘She’s even more beautiful than I remember and it’s only been five days.’ Clark thought to himself as he stared…

“How about a sandwich, the dining room is closed but Betty can get you something from the coffee shop and bring it in.” Liz suggested; she was trying to be helpful by making suggestions for her friend who seemed to be tongue tied at the moment as she and Clark locked eyes…

“No, that’s okay.” Clark insisted and about that time Lois found her tongue again…

“C’mon Clark, I’ll go to the coffee shop with you and you can order something from the menu. I’ll have some coffee.” Lois suggested…

“Do you want us to join you?” Liz asked and Max frowned…

“No, you two stay and enjoy yourselves, we’ll be fine.” And Lois got up, grabbed Clark by the wrist and led him out of the bar toward the coffee shop. Just as they got to the lobby she turned and looked at Clark…

“Or, I could take you home and fix you something there.” She suggested.

Clark looked down into those impish eyes and grinned…

“Home sounds good Lois; what about Max and Liz?”

Lois smiled up into those beautiful baby blues and sighed, which was quite unusual for Lois…

“They’ll figure it out.” Lois led Clark out through the lobby and straight to the parking lot. They were home in fifteen minutes and Clark didn’t miss eating one damned bit.

“Do you think we should have joined them Liz?” Max didn’t want to strand his brother and put pressure on Lois, it wasn’t gentlemanly…Liz giggled.

“Max, I doubt very much that Lois and Clark are anywhere in this building; now relax and enjoy yourself. We’ll give them an hour or so before we head home.”

Max raised an eyebrow at Liz and she just smiled as she took him by the wrist and led him out onto the dance floor for one of her favorite songs… It was just what the doctor ordered after a long and arduous week with bugs and when Max heard what was starting up he had to laugh, Liz just winked, spun around and walked right into his arms...

(Check it out if you want to)
Nothing on but the radio by: Gary Allen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4-FaTaIWh0




I sure do hope this is a long night
Cause I’ve never felt one so right
Each look into your eyes I’m falling
A little more and more
(Max swung Liz around, brought her back into his arms quickly and Liz had to laugh, she was truly enjoying this, far more than she ever had before.)

Looks like we’ve started us a fire
Wrapped up in flames of desire
With every touch they’re burning higher
Two shadows dancing on the wall

(And Liz joined in with the band for the chorus…she loved this part and now Max laughed.)

With nothing on but the radio
(She bellowed out…)

Feel the music playing soft and slow

(She kept on singing as Max smiled broadly)

You and me and the lights down low
With nothing on but the radio

(Now it was Max’s turn to join in, just a little softer than Liz, and Liz just smiled…)

We’ll fall asleep here in the moonlight
In tangled sheets we’ll be here all night
And when we wake up in the morning
We might stay like this all day

Two people meant to be together
Two lovers dreaming of forever
And it just keeps on getting better
With every tender little kiss

With nothing on but the radio

(They swayed and sang to each other)

Feel the music playing soft and slow
You and me and the lights down low
With nothing on but the radio

Two people meant to be together
Two lovers dreaming of forever
And it just keeps on getting better
with nothing on but the radio

(Then Max stopped dancing and just swayed slightly to the beat of the music as he hummed the last three lines into Liz’s ear.)

Feel the music playing soft and slow
You and me and the lights down low
With nothing on but the radio!

When the song ended Max pulled Liz in close, hugged to him and kissed her lightly on the forehead and smiled.

Liz melted.

Eve: So glad you're enjoying this... here's another one for you.
Natalie: That has always been one of my favorite songs too...I liked it enough to go out and get a CD. As for the fic...well I think Clark is happy he made it too!!!
Carolyn: Do you remember in the series that they mentioned Liz couldn't sing...welllll, I think this song might have changed that a little.
Alix: Welcome back! I think both brothers are happy to be where they are right now and Kyle is going to be a pretty major player in the plot of things. Just give it a chance, they'll all be here eventually!

*****


*
Chapter: 22

Back at the girls’ apartment complex Max was finding a parking place right around 11:30 and Liz started to giggle…Max took his eyes off the road for just a second and then noticed Clark’s truck and grinned at his girlfriend; he was just as sure as the sun would come up in the morning that she was his girlfriend, then he remarked…

“Looks like you were right. Do you think we should call or something before going in?” Max wondered.

“No! I like surprises, don’t you?” Liz watched as Max shook his head…

“And you said I was mean. Damn Liz, remind me never to piss you off if you’re like this in a good mood.” Liz laughed.

“It’s okay Max. Lois has her own bedroom and bathroom and I’m sure, if we aren’t supposed to be seeing anything that those doors are going to be shut up very tightly.”

“Hmmm, do this often do you?” Max wondered aloud.

“No Max, we don’t do this often. As a matter of fact this is the first time we have ever had overnight guests except for our folks and on occasion a couple of friends from Roswell. When the folks come Lois and I usually bunk in together, other than that it’s always just the two of us but I think we know enough to close doors for privacy. Besides, I wouldn’t expect Lois to find someplace else to go if it was just you and me up there, as a matter of fact, she had no problem coming in when it was just you and me. Remember?”

Max thought for a minute and then grinned…this was going to kill Clark, and he knew it. Serves him right and then he wondered if Clark had managed that record breaking trip without a speeding ticket..hmmm.

“If you say so Liz.” And Liz grinned, she absolutely loved paybacks.

*

Kyle got back to his room about 9:30, kicked off his shoes and dug his personal cell phone out of the toe of his boot which was lying next to his duffle and he hit number one on speed dial…

When he heard the familiar voice he melted…

“Hi baby doll; miss me?”

“You know it baby…how’s it going?”

“Not too bad really, I saw our friends this evening and things seem to be going well for them…they were entertaining a couple of guests and seemed to be having a great time.”

“Oh good, I’m so glad…do they look like nice guys?” Ava asked her husband…they never used names on calls like this but names weren’t really necessary…And so the conversation went for over an hour. Ava told Kyle how much she missed him, how their daughter was doing and just before she hung up she said…

“Tell cornball that I got her package today.” Kyle knew immediately that Liz had sent her evidence to his home, smart girl, and he laughed…

“I’ll be sure to let her know…I love you.” Ava waited a second and bit her tongue…she knew better than to say ‘be careful’ so she just smiled and said…

“Love you too.” And Kyle answered,

“I know love, I know.” He smiled to himself as they hung up; he knew exactly what the unspoken words were.

*
The next day Kyle got himself up early, headed out to the coffee shop that was in walking distance from his motel, and bought himself a paper before going in for breakfast. The first thing he noticed when he took a seat in a booth next to the window was the two out of place, overdressed, dudes having coffee; they just looked too sleazy. ‘Talk about a couple of pumped up, out of place people’ he thought as he made himself comfortable and opened his paper to the ‘apartments for rent’ sections.

About that time Jonas Barnaby walked in and joined the ‘dudes’ at their table…Jonas didn’t look too happy and Kyle did his best to ignore the whole bunch of them, he didn’t want to be seen by Jonas and this was going to be tricky although the man wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings. Kyle surmised that Jonas would never make a good surveillance partner.

‘Damn, what the hell is he doing here with those two anyway? Better yet what the hell are they doing here? They sure as hell don’t look like tourists, besides this isn’t a tourist restaurant.”

Kyle ordered a coffee to go; left a five dollar bill on the table, picked up his Styrofoam cup, took his cell phone discretely from his breast pocket while keeping his back to Barnaby’s table and quickly snapped a picture of the three as he put the phone to his ear. Something all of the agents had practiced for hours and it definitely paid off.

Kyle walked out of the diner undetected and he considered himself very lucky as the plot just kept getting thicker and thicker.

*
Back at 4-D in the huge apartment complex there were some stirrings coming from both bathrooms as the girls made their way to the kitchen…Liz’s hair was in some sort of order while Lois definitely had not touched a brush to hers as yet, not that she cared, and both women looked at each other and grinned…both quite satisfied with life at this point.

“Well, you look pretty pleased with yourself.” Liz remarked with a grin…

“You should talk; have you looked in the mirror yet?” Lois retorted with a sly grin of her own.

“Yep, when I brushed my teeth; that’s about all I had time for.” And Liz giggled as she rinsed the coffee pot out…”How about you?”

“Well, I brushed my teeth but I really didn’t get a chance to look in the mirror, the view was sort of blocked.” Lois offered as she grabbed the eggs and bacon out of the fridge returning Liz’s grin.

While the girls were having their chat in the kitchen Max and Clark were both taking showers, one was humming about radios and the other was just scrubbing and smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Each man showed up in the hallway about the same time and neither said a word to the other, it wasn’t necessary, as they made their way to the aroma of coffee hanging in the air.

They each took in the sight of their girlfriends and smiled; if it wasn’t for the difference in sizes you could have sworn they were twins the way they moved as one.

“Good morning ladies.” Max said as he snuck up behind Liz and nuzzled her neck. Clark paid his brother no attention as he made his way over to Lois and gave her a hug around the waist.

“Good morning again beautiful, do we have plans for the rest of the day?”

Lois grinned…

“Well, sort of; we had planned on taking a ride out to the ranch and going on a picnic with the horses but if you don’t like that idea we can do something else.”

Max looked down at Liz and smiled, they were going riding regardless of what Lois and Clark decided…

“Liz and I are definitely going riding but you two can do something else if you want to.” Max decided…

“No, a ride and a picnic sound great. Can we rent horses?” Clark wanted to know.

“We don’t need to rent horses…there are plenty of horses out there just dying to be exercised. You’ll have many to choose from I assure you and they are all well trained.” Liz was certain the two men would like the stock at the ranch. It wasn’t their horses but they were good animals and Clark had to smile.

“Great, now about this breakfast; what can we do to help?” Max asked.

They may be rich but they knew how to take care of themselves and were not in the habit of being totally waited on. They had been away from home for many years without servants and the only reason they had servants now was because of the work they did. Liz and Lois were both impressed and put the men to work right alongside themselves

After breakfast had been eaten Max and Clark cleaned up the kitchen while Liz and Lois took their showers and got ready to leave. They packed up sandwiches, some apples and a thermos of coffee, loaded them into a couple of saddle bags and were off.

Two horses were going to be very happy today…as a matter of fact four horses were going to be very happy. And life was good.

*

Natalie: I think there's a mixture here...I hope the drama and fun balance each other. I'm not really good with angst but I tried this time...I hope I was a little successful.
Eve: I know you're on holiday but I must acknowledge your reply. Have fun.
Carolyn: You wouldn't be able to wipe those smiles off with a jackhammer!
Alix: Kyle will most definitely be very precise in his investigation...especially since his friends are involved...not that he wouldn't be just as conscientious with others but these women are very special.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 23

On the other side of town Kyle Valenti aka: Don Valiant, was sending an e-mail to his superiors in Washington, D.C., which was coded of course, and it contained a picture of two characters that Kyle was very suspicious of who were sitting with the lead detective in the precinct where he was now working as an undercover. As far as Kyle was concerned there was just something about these two men that he didn’t like; it could be nothing but he learned a long time ago to trust his gut.

He had gone back to his motel and picked up his rental car in order to find another source of food and lo and behold, just as he was pulling in to park, there was Luke walking into the I-Hop. Kyle wasn’t sure if he should go in or not and then figured, what the hell…the town wasn’t that small. It wasn’t that big either but I-Hop was definitely a popular place.

“Hey Luke, out scouting for living quarters?” Kyle asked as he sat down next to the man he had been speaking to the night before.

“Not yet, just got here, but I have my paper though…thought I’d check out some addresses on the Internet while I have some breakfast; how about you?”

“Had the same idea myself…how was the first night on the job?” Kyle asked.

“Not bad actually…nice people over there and the customers seem friendly enough.” Luke replied…Kyle nodded.

“Did you have a chance to ask anyone about the apartment situation?” Luke asked.

“No, not really…how about you?” Kyle held up his paper and pulled out his Cell phone…

“Great minds think alike. What do you think of the town?”

“From what I’ve seen so far I think it’s pretty nice. Just the right size…” and about that time a waitress appeared, Julie on her name tag, and asked for a drink order as she deposited two menus in front of the men.

“Did I hear you two correctly? Are you looking for a furnished place?” she inquired…

“Well yes as a matter of fact…two of them actually. We just met last night and happened to find out that we are both new in town.”

“Uh huh, any family?” Kyle looked at the young woman a little skeptically and answered, before looking at her left hand for a wedding ring…

“I don’t. I don’t know about Luke here.” And then he relaxed; she was just being helpful.


“Nope, just me. Corporate sent me here as a new hire on Friday morning and I started last night. Why?”

“Well, I know of a furnished house for rent but I’m not sure you guys would be interested in it. It’s fairly large for one person, even two for that matter…but I’ll give you the address. It’s not cheap but it’s very nice and it would work out fine if you split costs.”

“Just how big are we talking here?” Luke questioned.

“It’s my mother’s house. We had to move her to an assisted living facility but she refuses to sell. It’s very clean, up to date and close in; it’s old but in a nice neighborhood. I’ll bet you’d like it if you saw it.” Julie was really pushing this place.

Kyle looked at Luke and decided what the hell…

“What’s the address? If we’re not compatible one of us can move.” And Luke laughed…they had been roomies many times and he wasn’t so sure this was such a good idea under the circumstances but hey, they could give it a try.

Julie smiled at the two men and told them she would be right back…The cook nodded as she poured two cups of coffee and two glasses of water.

“Still trying to rent that white elephant Julie?”

“Hey, it’s not a white elephant, it’s just big!” And the cook laughed…

“Yeah, like an elephant. Who in the hell wants to live in a 6 bedroom house Julie?”

“People who need 6 bedrooms, that’s who.”

“Why don’t you live in it?”

“You know damned well why…Steve doesn’t want any part of those lawns and gardens. Besides, we are still working on our degrees and we don’t have time for a place that big. Who knows, maybe someday; in the meantime if I can get enough rent out of it to keep mom happy then I’m happy.” And Julie marched off with her drinks and an address.

She couldn’t wait to tell Steve she had a potential renter and Steve couldn’t wait to tell her that he just found a single guy, George, who needed a furnished place…the only problem was that George could use some help with the rent… and then Steve ran into Dwain who was looking through the paper for a place to rent while eating at the same restaurant as the ‘dudes’ and Jonas Barnaby. There were no tables left so the two men were seated at the counter next to each other and Dwain was diligently studying the rental pages of the paper while sipping his coffee.

“Hey, will you pass me the sugar.” Steve asked the man sitting next to him.

“Yeah…sure.” And Dwain shoved the sugar bowl over to the man sitting next to him and nodded; Steve had a brainstorm…

“Need a place to live?” Steve asked.

Dwain nodded and said, “Yeah, a furnished place. Just got transferred and I haven’t had time to get my bearings yet.”

“Well, how about that. A guy just started at my place of employment and he needs a place too. Maybe you two should meet…I know of a great place and it’s a big house, all furnished and everything but it’s also expensive. George could sure use a roommate…he works nights so you would hardly ever see each other” Julie was really going to be surprised if this worked out.

“Well hell, why not. We can always move if we don’t like it.”

“That’s for sure and Steve gave Dwain the address and his phone number then told him to give him a call so they could have a look at the place. Dwain thought this was bitchin’ except for the fact they were undercover and probably shouldn’t be doing this but it looked like a deal made in heaven. Both men continued on with their breakfast and ignored each other for the rest of their meal and Dwain kept right on reading the paper…he wondered what Kyle and Luke would think about this arrangement and he knew that very few people needed furnished places and the George that Steve was talking about most likely was his partner. This surely was a small world, small indeed.

In the meantime Barnaby and the ‘dudes’ as Kyle called them, were discussing their latest tactics when Barnaby informed the men that he thought they should lay low for a bit. Barnaby wasn’t in the least bit comfortable with his ‘business’ partners since he was informed that the Evans’ crashed vehicle was stored in Joe Andrews’ out building inside that big truck.

This was not good at all and Barnaby felt like he had been hogtied and left for dead. There wasn’t enough money on earth to cover what these two were pulling and Jonas Barnaby felt helpless.

Charles Shuman just sat there at the table studying the man in front of him and Chris’ mind was having similar thoughts along the line of Barnaby. Chris felt that Charles had crossed the line this time but felt helpless.

In the meantime our love birds had made their way to the ranch outside of town and were saddling up their horses for a nice long ride out in the countryside. Clark and Max both chose a couple of nice sized geldings and the stable hand smiled knowingly, these two knew their horses, and he gave a nod of approval to Liz and Lois as they took their horses from their stalls and readied them for the long afternoon.

Both Chief and Banner were dancing around like puppies, if you could think of big horses as puppies, and Clark and Max smiled as they readied their animals as well. Spoiled, that’s what these horses were, spoiled. And about that time Liz pulled an apple from her jacket pocket and held her opened hand out to give Banner a treat. Lois grinned as she did the same thing with a carrot. Each horse had its preference as to what it preferred as a treat and the girls were very aware. Clark nodded to Max and Max just grinned and sort of whispered, only loud enough for Clark to hear…

“They’re going to make great mothers Clark.” And Clark nodded his agreement.

“You two want to share?” Lois asked…

Max grinned…

“Not just yet Lois, but I think we will someday.”

“Uh huh, well, we don’t like secrets Max. Just keep that in mind.”

“Oh I will Lois, you can count on it.” Max teased back and mounted up, Clark was right behind him and the girls followed suit and they were off on their Saturday excursion.

*

Pom: It's so nice to hear from you and thank you...I hope you continue to read and enjoy.
Alix: A Saturday excursion would be so much better than most excursions I used to take...it wa susually to the bathroom floors, the laundry room and various other Sat. chores that waited for my week ends off...
Carolyn: I thought about all of those bedrooms and decided that, you know those plastic drop cloths, plastic drop cloths over everything, close the doors and when company came remove them and voila, clean rooms for everyone. What do you think..I'm getting very creative in my old age!

*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 24

Back at the FBI headquarters a close to fortyish dark haired man had just managed to get some of his staff before closing for the day and had them busily running files on two men in a photo that his lead agent in Missoula had forwarded to him just an hour earlier. The third man in the photo was the chief detective in the police department where Kyle had been placed undercover just last week but the other two needed to be run through the system. It looked as though their suspicions were beginning to show some positive results and the investigation hadn’t really started.

They soon found out that the two men in the photo were being investigated by the Montana Real Estate Brokers Association and there were many unanswered questions about their past history in other endeavors as well. Nothing had ever been found to prove their involvement in anything illegal but there were many unanswered questions in many incidents involving the man named Shuman.

“Maria, please ask Michael to come into my office.”

Maria Guerin was the head of the office of forensic criminal investigations for the FBI and her husband was one of the lead investigative agents in that same office. They both answered to the same man…Jesse Ramirez.

“Michael, Jesse needs to see you ASAP. I think it has something to do with Kyle, he sent some photos this morning that seem to have stirred the pot so to speak.”

“I’ll be right there Maria…tell Jesse to keep his shorts on.”

Maria laughed, nothing seemed to get Michael riled up since Kyle and he almost bought it last year. Life was just too short to sweat the little stuff…If Kyle was onto something they’d find the answers in due time.

“Hey Jesse, what’s up?”

“I think you need to head on out to Missoula and give Kyle a hand, this thing could get really ugly.”

“Jesse, Kyle’s got Luke, Dwain and George with him, how many of us do you think he needs?”

“Michael, this is a whole lot bigger than a virus. I believe we have murder, conspiracy to defraud and any number of other offenses as well as deliberately poisoning cattle. I understand that you know Liz Parker, right?”

“Jesse, you know I know Liz Parker…does this have something to do with her medical background?”

“Yeah Mike, and I think she and that doctor friend of hers need your protection.”

Michael had to stifle a laugh before answering his boss…

“You do know that the two of them are black belts as well as sharp shooters don’t you. Anyone would have to be a fool to mess with either of them.”

“Not if the “messing” as you put it was sneaky and underhanded. Someone actually tried to slip them ‘roofies’ a couple of weeks ago but Liz was smart enough to put a stop to the ingestion.”

“I told you, they would have to be a fool.”

“Yes, but she’s also found evidence that a couple were murdered on their own ranch and one of the Missoula detectives covered it up. The vehicle that they were in has disappeared and Liz has evidence that proves the bridge that the dead couple was crossing was blown up and had not collapsed as the police report states. This is big Mike and they need your protection.”

“Well, do I have a cover or am I just going to move in with no reason for being there.”


“How would you like to just move into a nice apartment in a nice building and paint pretty pictures of the mountains?”

Michael looked at his boss and grinned…

“Doesn’t get any easier than that does it?”

“No it doesn’t and the fact that you have several paintings hanging in the local art studios doesn’t hurt either.”

“Well, can I take Maria?”

“No!”

And Michael grinned…

“Fine, you tell her that I’m going to Missoula and why. If she knows I’m going to see Liz I don’t want to deal with it.”

Jesse looked at Michael and grinned…

“Michael Guerin, I never knew you were a coward.”

“Coward my ass, I’m a smart man. You tell her. I’m going home and pack a bag.”

Michael stopped on his way out of the office and grabbed Maria by the shoulders, lifted her from her chair and kissed her right there in front of God and the entire office…Maria got a tight feeling in her chest and looked up into her handsome husband’s eyes…

“You’ll call me every night, right?”

“Yeah; I love you Maria.”

“I love you too Michael.” There was something she and Ava never said to their husbands but it was in their hearts just the same…’be careful.’

Michael Guerin, FBI agent, headed back to his apartment which he and his wife shared and packed a duffle bag, his personal cell phone, four disposal cell phones, his case of paint brushes, paints and various art supplies. He packed his laptop into his brief case and made his way out to the curb and got into the waiting taxi that would take him to the airport.

Kyle didn’t need to know that Michael was on his way, it would be perfectly obvious when he arrived that the man was there in a much different capacity than Kyle was but they would have each other’s backs as always.

In the Helena, Montana office of food and drug control another emergency meeting had been called by a group of scientists who were going over a sample of an anti-virus that had been sent via overnight express and they were all stymied. How could a healthy calf hold the answer to this problem? While they were all standing around discussing the new development one of their own made his way out of the meeting.

Although these men were scientists they were also investigators and when one of their own decided to leave the room during an important discovery it was duly noted and reported immediately. They all knew how important this information was and it was not going to be leaked to anyone that didn’t need to know.

When the news of the scientist reached the head office of the FDA in Helena an immediate alert was sent to the office of the FBI and Dr. Doug Shellow was to be apprehended immediately for questioning.

Doug Shellow had been able to make a quick phone call while descending the stairs in lieu of the elevator on the trip to the floor where his office was located.

“Hey, we have a problem here…check out Dr. Parker in Missoula.”



That was all Doug was able to get out of his mouth before a group of security met him.

Of course Dr. Shellow would have no idea whatsoever what these men were questioning him about; he simply thought the meeting had been completed.

It was going to take some very deep investigating to find out anything about the man but an investigation into his bank activities would be an excellent place to start; there were some very questionable transactions in the past few months and the information was immediately passed on to one Maria Guerin at FBI headquarters. Maria started working immediately on tracking numbers associated with Doug Shellow’s bank accounts and records of his deposits while letting the computer work on some other investigative processing as well. The sooner they solved this the sooner her husband would be home.



In the meantime, our young riders were enjoying a beautiful day out along the foothills of some very gorgeous mountains. The day seemed to have been made for just such an outing and everyone was having a wonderful time including the horses. There was only one bad thing about it all; it wasn’t long enough…and all too soon they had to head back to the ranch. Had they been on the E-N-S they could have just camped for the night but they weren’t so they headed on back reluctantly although the evening was going to be just grand all the same; they just knew it.

In the meantime, Michael Guerin’s plane landed at the Missoula airport and he was currently standing at the Budget Rent-A-Car getting a nice four-wheel drive in order to cover his “Painting” trip to the Montana Mountains.

*
Charles Shuman looked over at Jonas Barnaby and gave the man a very icy stare as he said, after having had a one sided conversation on the phone…

“We aren’t going to have any problems here Jonas, right?”

“None that I’m aware of,” Jonas answered. ‘How did he ever get involved with this person in the first place?’ He would have found a way to take care of his parents, he really hadn’t looked into all of the possibilities when this man had paid him to check out that accident scene on a rainy afternoon, in a helicopter no less without having a closer look, he knew better. What a joke, he had ruined all of their lives.

Chris Sevright practically shivered on the spot; this man was far more dangerous than he had ever imagined possible.

The two visitors got up from the table and left Jonas Barnaby to contemplate his plight as they made their way to the other end of town to visit the feed and farm supply.

That was another one of Charles Shuman’s worries; he wasn’t quite sure that Joe Andrews was being as careful as he should be and right now he needed to take care of a certain problem involving a certain doctor, he had his orders too.

Shuman needed to call in some outside help for this operation and he hated like hell to call his boss; that would put him in some serious hot water if the plan went to shit now.

*

Michael keyed in the address to his new place of residence and made his way through the streets of Missoula, checking out the surrounding area as he drove. It was really quite beautiful, no wonder Liz and Lois liked it here and he was sure those horses liked it too…’what’s not to like?’ he thought to himself as he made his way through to the underground parking facility which would give him parking right next to a big red corvette and he smiled. That Lois did have taste. His new home would be right across from 4D; this was going to work out great.

Natalie: h I hope so!
Carolyn: I've only been in those mountains once but it was truly an experience I'll never forget. It's kind of like leaving a special church service...somtetimes I leave those and get a feeling I've never been that close to God and that's what those mountains were like to me. Sorry, I shouldn't say things like that I guess...
Eve: Welcome back and I'm happy to hear you enjoyed yourself. Enjoy...

*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 25

Michael Guerin made his way to the office of the superintendent of the building and introduced himself as Michael Guerin since his paintings bore his given name. He was known only as Michael David in the FBI, which was his first and middle names. The name of Guerin was not yet famous but known enough in the painting community to warrant using it for anything having to do with his private life.

The superintendent set Michael up with keys, a renter’s contract to be signed and a large dolly to get his belongings up to 4B, right across from the two doctors he was here to protect.

There were four units to a floor…units A & B were directly across from C & D. One unit was the mirror of the other on each side of the building giving each renter a beautiful view, one of the mountains and the other of a lake and park. Michael and the girl’s apartments overlooked the lake with the mountains in the far distance. The architect had managed to situate the apartments in such a way as to take in the surrounding beauty without cluttering things up with too much concrete. All in all it was a very pretty place for apartments.


When Michael opened the door to his new living quarters he was quite surprised, this was very nice, very nice indeed. Maria would really like this place. Maybe, when this was all over, he would bring her here before checking out. The company must use this as a safe house or something…not your usual run of the mill stakeout location…although he wasn’t actually on a stake out, it was more of a protective assignment, he only hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to exercise that obligation in the truest sense of the word.

Our four riders were busy getting their horses curried, fed and stabled and talking amongst themselves while Michael kept himself busy unpacking and getting ready for a trip to the local super market.

Kyle, Dwain, Luke and George had all met at a huge 6 bedroom home in one of the older, finer sections of the city right at 2:00 p.m. and stood there staring at each other as Steve introduced his wife to the two guards and his wife in turn introduced him to the two men from the restaurant.

“Well, this is certainly interesting Julie, I wanted to surprise you with a couple of renters.”

“Interesting is a nice way to put it Steve, I found a couple of possible renters also.”

“Well okay…” and Steve smiled as everyone got to know each other…“tell you what. You are all single men; the rent is the same for one as it is for four. If you guys think you would like to share there are more than enough bedrooms and bathrooms to give you plenty of privacy. There’s even more than one TV in the place so you wouldn’t even have to see each other if you don’t want to. The gardening is hired out but you would have to cook and pick up after yourselves. There’s a nice laundry room so I’m sure you could schedule something among yourselves.”

Kyle started laughing; the irony of it all was just too funny…

“Okay, let’s have a look. With the money we save on rent we can hire a housekeeper to come in once a week and clean for us. Let’s go.”

And four undercover FBI agents followed a young couple into one of the fanciest houses they had ever had the privilege of entering let alone living in. Yessiree Missoula, Montana was going to be quite an experience. All four of the men agreed to the living arrangements and signed a lease on the spot. Julie’s mother was going to be one happy woman.

Kyle made his way back to his motel room to pack up his belongings and to get ready to head out to the large estate while his three “roomies” were doing the same.

It was about 5:00 or so when Kyle made his way into the local market to pick up some bread, milk, coffee, sugar and some other supplies he thought he might need before he and the other three could get together to make a grocery list when who do you think he spotted filling a grocery basket of his own.

‘What in the hell is Guerin doing here?’ he wondered. Something big is going down and I’m not totally aware of it yet but it has to be something to do with Liz and Lois. He surely would have been brought into the loop if Michael was going to be working with him.

Michael noticed Kyle at the same time but neither man acknowledged the other as they stopped at the refrigerated section of the market; Michael did mutter “protection detail” as he reached for the non-fat milk. Kyle waited until the man retrieved his milk before reaching for a quart of homogenized. ‘To each his own’ he thought to himself and moved on to the eggs.

This was getting to be a very crowded town as far as FBI agents were concerned and then Kyle started to feel just a little bit more comfortable. He wasn’t brought into the loop just yet but he was sure it was Liz. She was the one who was working on the animal virus.

The sun had settled itself behind the mountains about thirty minutes before our tired horseback riders got back to the apartment complex when Liz spotted Michael carrying two large grocery bags from the parking lot. She nodded in acknowledgement and knew that something important was going on for Michael to be here.

Max was the first to offer assistance to the man in the form of holding the door open for him and Michael nodded in appreciation.

“Hi, I’m Michael…just moved in up on the fourth floor. Do all of you live here?”

The night janitor was just starting to work his way down to the end of the hall with his push broom when he noticed the newcomer and he smiled as well.

“No, my brother and I are just visiting the ladies for the week-end. What do you do for yourself Michael? Oh, and I’m Max by the way. The short one is Liz, the tall one is Lois and the really tall one is my brother Clark.”

“Pleased to meet all of you, forgive me for not shaking hands I’m kind of loaded down as you can see. I’m a painter by trade. I’m just renting by the month until I get some landscapes to add to my collection. I was doing an internet search and fell in love with the surrounding terrain; it’s just what I’ve been looking for.”

Liz and Lois both smiled as Michael explained his reason for being here in Missoula and they were sure it didn’t have anything to do with his art

“Well Michael, what apartment are you in?” Lois asked as Clark eyed the new tenant with an uneasy glare…jealousy was new to him as well as to Max and he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it.

Michael noticed this and got a glint in his eye as he answered…

“I’m in 4 B, which floor do you need?”

Liz grinned as she answered…yep, something’s definitely up.

“We’re in 4D Michael. Hey, why don’t you come to dinner with us this evening since you’re new in town and don’t really know your way around.”

Max and Clark both looked at the little brunette like she had a hole in her head but they were the guests after all so they just kept their mouths shut and went along with the program, although they didn’t offer any encouragement either.

Michael took notice of the girl’s companions and decided he would wait until the coast was clear to get schedules and make “acquaintances” so to speak.

“Nah, not tonight it’s been a long day and I’m really bushed. I’ll take a rain check though. It was really nice meeting all of you. Do you men live here in town?”

Max smiled,

“No, we came in from our ranch…it’s about a three hour drive from here. We only make it to town on week-ends but I’m sure we’ll see quite a bit of each other.”

Michael returned Max’s smile,

“I’m sure we will Max. Enjoy your evening.” And with that Michael headed to his apartment right across the hall from Liz and Lois. Neither Clark nor Max were very sure they liked the idea of this guy but it wasn’t their place to voice an opinion one way or the other. The man seemed too friendly to suit either one of them and Lois and Liz were eating this up.

After the four young people entered the apartment and settled themselves in Liz suggested they do a delivery for dinner.

“Hey guys, it’s been a long day. Why don’t we order a pizza or Chinese maybe? I really don’t feel like getting dressed to go out again.

“Hey, take out sounds great and whatever you guys would like is fine with us.” Clark answered for both he and Max.

“Well, we have a whole bunch of menus in the kitchen and we like everything so you guys choose since you’re the guests.”

Max looked at Clark and they both grinned as they said,

“Pizza?” And all four nodded, pizza it was. Liz picked up the phone and didn’t even bother to look up the number…”Deluxe pizzas with everything but anchovies?”…And they all nodded.

They all headed for the bedrooms and decided to co-op showers and an hour later they were seated in front of the TV eating pizzas in their night wear and enjoying life in general. Sunday was going to be here all too soon to suit any of them but they weren’t going to think of that now. Now was all about fun and relaxation.

Meanwhile across the hall one Michael Guerin was enjoying a long conversation with his wife who was clear across the United States and he was suddenly very lonesome.

*~*~*


Luke, Dwain and George were all busy with their night time jobs while a very respectable business man was busying himself with the latest spreadsheets his secretary had just set on his desk along with a fresh cup of coffee.

*~*~*

Alix: I decided that, since they are all FBI, they are trained to not show emotion. (It's my story and I'm sticking to it... seriously, it never entered my mind.)

Carolyn: I think it'll work out okay...let's see.

Chapter: 26


Liz lazily opened her eyes and smiled through a web of hair as she made out her boyfriend’s profile next to her. ‘This is the way every woman on earth should start each day, in the arms of the man she loves’, she thought to herself. And yes, she did love this man whom she had only known for such a short time. He was open, honest, sincere and caring and she loved every inch of him; if there was such a thing as love at first sight then she had just signed on for the program.

Max felt a stirring under his left arm and then he smiled…’AH! The beauty of it all, could life get any better than this?’ He thought to himself as he tightened his grip and pulled Liz closer still if that was possible.

“Hey beautiful…how do you feel this morning?”

“Absolutely great…and you?”

“Never better.” And as he bent to place a kiss on his best friend’s forehead he suddenly realized that nature was making severe demands on his body that needed immediate attention. As he untangled himself and crawled out of bed Liz had to giggle at the sight…

“Max, can you really use the bathroom in that condition?”

“Not now Liz, I’ll get back to you on that.” And Max took off just as fast as he could. Liz decided to take that opportunity to get herself up and use the bathroom as well. Just a quick going over with the tooth-brush should take care of some of the urgency and then it was back to bed for some more “conversation”.

Across the hall a very similar scene was taking place with a semi-shy young man who was laying on his side watching a very beautiful young woman as she slept right next to him, all curled up with nothing more than a sheet wrapped around her middle and he smiled. She was everything he had ever dreamed of and more. She was beautiful, intelligent and had one wicked sense of humor. Of course her roomie was right up there with her, but that one was his brother’s problem.

Just about the time Clark decided that he really should head to the bathroom for his morning call Lois started to stir and managed to roll over and see the handsome hunk just as he was getting out of bed and she got this huge grin on her face as she eyed him up and down causing the young man to blush profusely…

“Ah come on Clark, tell me that’s not for me and I’ll leave.”

Clark turned fifteen shades of red before answering…he suddenly decided that what they had been doing the past couple of days left nothing to be embarrassed about…

“Ah Lois, it’s all for you but I’ll be very embarrassed if I don’t go use the bathroom and I mean right now. You hold that thought and I’ll be right back.”

Lois grinned as she got herself up as well…A little trip to the bathroom wouldn’t hurt her one bit either so she brushed her teeth while Clark was busy taking care of his problem and then he could do the same, she was gong to miss this and then she suddenly felt a little lonely.

“Clark, do you think you’ll be able to come back next week?”

“Lois, why don’t we wait and discuss this with Liz and Max. I think we should make some sort of plans; maybe we can all meet up at the ranch for a couple of days. Let’s see what the rest want to do.”

“Sounds like a plan, now, about that little problem of yours…”

Clark grinned knowingly, he’d been called a lot of things in his life but little had never been one of them…

“Little Lois?” And he grinned; Lois blushed and then gathered herself…

“Well, maybe “little” was the wrong word. Let’s just take care of our problems together. How’s that?” Clark was still smiling as he grabbed Lois around the waist, easily lifted her and laid her back on the bed…

“That’s better.” Suddenly all shyness was gone and they were at it again. Oh it was going to be a long week.

Liz and Lois finally showed up in the kitchen around 11:30 a.m. and they both looked quite content with themselves; showers were running in both bathrooms as they busied themselves.

“Well, it seems like it was a long night for both of us.” Liz smirked…

“Well, speak for yourself short stuff, it wasn’t long enough to suit me. I can’t remember ever feeling so close to anyone in my entire life and I don’t think I want to ever give it up either.”

Liz giggled…

“Lois, I know exactly what you’re saying and I feel the same way. It isn’t anything I can put into words but It. Is. Wonderful!” And Lois returned Liz’s smile after emphasizing.

About that time Max came wondering into the kitchen with his Levi’s and t-shirt on, no shoes, and he smiled. He overheard part of the conversation the girls were having and although he couldn’t speak for his brother he felt exactly the same way and as soon as all of this mess was over with he was certainly going to do something about these ‘feelings’ that no one could explain.

He nodded to Lois and wrapped his arms around Liz’s waist and kissed the top of her head since she was facing the stove with her back to him.

“Good morning beautiful, what can I do to help?” Liz managed to turn around and give Max a huge smile as she pointed to the toaster, but before Max could move she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a nice soft kiss.

Lois took all of this in as she reached up over the sink to retrieve some more dishes for the table. They didn’t need all of the place settings as a rule so they only kept those they used in the lower cupboards. It was a standing joke in the apartment, if it wasn’t for Lois’ height everything would be sitting on the counter…there was a small ladder between the counter and the refrigerator for when Lois wasn’t around but that wasn’t very often.

Clark joined the threesome in the kitchen shortly after Max had and he in turn gave his girlfriend a similar greeting and soon the foursome were enjoying a leisurely breakfast and talking about cattle, what else.

Across the hall Michael Guerin was enjoying a breakfast of cereal, juice and toast while reading the paper on the internet. He found it quite handy to be able to find the local newspaper wherever he was, computers certainly made life simple.

Across town Kyle Valenti, aka: Don Valient, was loading the washing machine with his underwear and the towels he had used the night before and this morning; Ava would be very proud of him. Luke was still in his room, so Kyle figured he was still sleeping and George and Dwain had just gotten in an hour or so ago, had some cereal and headed for bed.

Kyle started to think to himself that this situation was going to work out pretty good. He was the only one working a regular 8 to 5 shift, Luke probably wouldn’t be getting up until hours after he left for work and the other two would be getting in as Kyle was leaving. Yes, this was an ideal situation for all of them. Now all he had to do was figure out how the hell he was going to get in touch with Michael.

*

After Liz and the gang finished up their breakfast and cleaned the kitchen they decided to go to the park for a jog before Clark and Max headed on out to their ranch. None of them really wanted the week-end to come to an end but they didn’t have much choice. Liz and Lois both had to be to work tomorrow and Max and Clark shouldn’t both be gone from the ranch during this time of the year so it was kind of a forced fun that was going on around apartment 4D and all too soon the two young men had to say their goodbyes and head on out.

It was a shame that they had come in two separate vehicles but in another way it gave each of the young men a chance to digest their feelings so to speak.

As they Liz and Lois were saying their goodbyes Michael could see the activity down in the visitor parking lot and had to smile. It was horrible that the reason he was here had to be kept so secretive…it would be so nice to meet these two men as Michael their friend instead of the total stranger he had to pretend to be. He just hoped that Maria would be okay with all of this, well he knew she would be, but it was a strange situation all around.

“Hey girls, I see your friends took off. Did you have a nice week-end?” Michael greeted as they got off the elevator.

They both smiled at their old friend and Liz answered…

“Yes, I can only speak for myself but yes I did and I think Lois did too. Are you going out? We have fresh coffee if you’re interested.” Liz answered with a huge smile plastered across her face.

”Well, I was just going to go out and get some fresh air, would you like to come along? I still need to get orientated, I’m kinda lost if you know what I mean.”

”Yeah we do as a matter of fact. What do you say Liz…want to help our neighbor out here.” Lois knew what the deal was as did Liz…no eavesdropping.

“Yes, maybe the rest of the evening won’t seem so lonesome after all the company we’ve had…let me grab my jacket and keys.” Liz smiled as she headed for their door and Lois was right behind her.

“Come in for a minute Michael, we won’t be but a sec.” And Michael followed the girls into their apartment. It was a little bigger than his was and very nice. He would bet that it didn’t come furnished.

“You have a nice place here, did it come furnished? Mine did.”

“No, we bought this stuff ourselves. It isn’t the best but it wasn’t that cheap either. Of course at the time we thought it was a fortune since we bought it right out of medical school. Well, I’m ready, how about you Liz?”

“Ready.” And they locked up and headed for the elevator.

Once they were in Michael’s truck Lois had to know,

“What’s up Michael? There seems to be an influx of agents in this town.”

“Well, you’re right about that. You’ve opened a can of worms Liz and I’m here on protection detail.

“Kyle is investigating the police department and Dwain and George are pretty much protection and investigations as well.

“Luke is checking out the townspeople and keeping an eye on the comings and goings at the bar.

“All in all we’re trying to keep you two safe while figuring out what the hell is going on.

“I had a private message from the brass this morning that Dr. Doug Shellow is now on our radar. The director thinks he might be the one behind this virus you’re working on Liz and if that’s the case you just might be in more danger than you realize.

“You need to be on your toes now more so than ever. And Lois that goes for you too…this cattle thing is a whole lot bigger than any of us thought.”

Michael was more than glad for the apartment arrangement; it was making it easier to communicate with the two women this way and they really needed to know what was going on around them and to be extra careful.

Both Liz and Lois nodded as they listened to Michael and then, when he was finished filling them in on all that was happening Liz had a brainstorm.

“I need to know what is happening at the lab in Helena. That’s where this Doug Shellow works, I’ve met him on several occasions at seminars and his work is genius when you get right down to it.

“Tell the director to send me the notes that Doug has filed with the head of his department and let me see if I can find anything unusual. If he was working on this virus he would have had to spend quite a bit of time on it and he would also have had to justify this time with something.

“I’m sure his superiors didn’t even bother to read the damned notes if the truth be told. I know mine don’t…they let me do my work and we’re both happy.” Liz was on a roll and Michael and Lois both smiled.

The girl genius would get to the bottom of this; they had no doubts at all, as long as she stayed safe.

*

Max was driving along behind his brother and had a brainstorm…he put his phone on speaker and dialed Clark,

Clark noticed who was calling and put his phone on speaker before answering…

“Max, what’s up buddy?”

“Hey that neighbor of Liz and Lois’s, did he seem strange to you?”

“Strange? Max, what the hell’s wrong with you? There was nothing strange about that man. Max Evans, are you jealous of Liz’s neighbor? A neighbor she just met yesterday? For God’s sake Max, get real.”

“Clark, something is going on there…they knew that man.”

“Ah shit Max, you’re manufacturing things here.”

“Didn’t you notice the gleam in that man’s eyes? He knew them, I know it.”

“Max, I’m gonna hang up now and I suggest you put on some happy music and dump that “Counting Crows” shit…it’s depressing.”

“Yeah, yeah…I’m right behind you bro but I still say something weird is going on there.”

“Good bye Max. I’ll see you when we get home.”

Clark Evans hung up on his brother as his girlfriend discussed the dangers of viruses with an old friend. Max didn’t miss much; you can say that for the man.

*

Carolyn: Michael strange??? Ah, really??? Just kidding...enjoy.
Alix: I think Max is very observant, Clark is too but he isn't as outgoing as Max, maybe that's the wrong word here...the story is primarily about Max and Liz afterall so maybe I sort of slighted his character a little, maybe not. We'll see. A day late but I lost a day somehow this week, sleeping like I've been bitten by a tse-tse fly or something. Maybe it's the windy weather we're having. Enjoy.
Eve: And the protection keeps growing...

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 27

*+


(I borrowed a line from Season three here, only Liz said the original, Max uses it here.)

Tony Sklar was looking over his recent acquisitions in Missoula and frowned at the report; he grabbed a map of the area and started to section off various areas and suddenly he had some questions, things he should have questioned before. He took his private cell phone from his breast pocket and hit number three on his speed dial.

“I want you in Helena in exactly two hours.” And he hung up.

Charles Shuman sat there at his desk stunned…should he take Sevright with him? No, he figured this was something he should take care of alone, after all he was the one that was summoned and Sevright was only privy to some information. A lot of it was best kept under wraps.

At 10:00 a.m. Charles Shuman walked into a very posh looking office located in the Capitol of Montana and announced his arrival. He was ushered into Tony Sklar’s office without preamble and stood as the middle aged man glared at him.

“Sit, I have a few questions and I want straight answers. How is it that the only real estate you have acquired is a few small ranches of no significance?

“When you gave me your projections they were off the charts and look at this spread sheet. What are you doing over there anyway? Why aren’t you able to buy the big ranches as we discussed earlier this year. You assured me that these people wanted out of the cattle business and that we could develop these areas into beautiful vacation retreats. Just what the hell is going on here Shuman? And you’d better be honest.” Tony Sklar was livid.

“Well, it has gotten a little sticky and I needed to put a hold on things for awhile.”

“Define sticky? What have you been up to?”

“Well, I had a chemist mix up some ‘medicine’” Charles Shuman took a deep breath and held up his fingers to mimic quotes, “and things got out of hand for the time being…but I’ll take care of it.”

“What do you mean by medicine? What kind of medicine? Does it have anything to do with this virus that is hitting a lot of these ranchers?”

“Yes.” And the office suddenly got very quiet. Tony Sklar suddenly felt the need to double his blood pressure meds. Had his mother been wrong in begging him to hire this imbecile? Her sisters nephew, a part of the family, he’s such a nice boy! And the list went on. The word boy was an understatement, this ‘boy’ as his mother stated is missing a few brain cells here.

“What have you done? Tell me all of it and you’d better not leave anything out, you are too well paid to be lying to me and way too well paid to not discuss anything that would jeopardize this business.”

Charles Shuman suddenly felt ill; this was not going to be good no matter how he looked at it.

“Well, I had one of the local farm suppliers lace some of their feed with a virus that I paid a chemist to develop. The virus was spread throughout the herd when the ranchers brought their breeding stock in for servicing; we had one of the people at the breeding grounds personnel use feed from the store and the virus was spread that way. When the ranchers started losing their cattle I picked up their property for a song.

“Then one of the larger ranchers, a biology major in college, discovered the source, I think? I hired a Vinny Santori and some guys to blow a bridge up that I knew the rancher would be traveling over. He and his wife were killed in the explosion.

“Then I bribed the lead detective on the police force to skim over the wreckage and declare that a bridge was washed away in a freak storm. Then I hired a truck to remove the wreckage and I’ve got the truck stored in the Farm Supply owners out building.

“Now I think that the Dr. in the Helena lab who made up the virus is being investigated by the FBI because a Missoula doctor has discovered a cure and I think she knows the source.

“That about covers it. I had a call from the chemist in Helena telling me to look into Dr. Elizabeth Parker. Apparently the woman is a genius when it comes to biology and chemistry.” Charles Shuman sat back and watched his relative, by family association, and wondered what his next words would be…

“Have you listened to this tale you have just spun? Are you insane? No, don’t answer that, I know you’re insane. You get out of here and go back to Billings and lay low. Don’t you dare go near Missoula again, ever. Do you hear me? No where near that town, and don’t you dare talk to any of these people. I need a list of all the players in this scheme of yours.”

“But, we need to clean this up.”

“Hey cowboy, listen to me, what part of “lay low” don’t you understand. I said to get your ass back to Billings and keep it there. I’ll be calling you when I’ve had time to think about this. Now get the hell out of my sight.”

Tony Sklar could not believe that this man was that stupid. How in the hell was he ever going to get this mess cleaned up? What a nightmare! He had worked very hard to build a legitimate business, he had promised his mother he would stay out of the rackets…He was forced to hire this cousin of sorts as a favor to his dear departed mother and now look at what it has cost. DAMN!!!

Tony was about to do something he promised he would never do again and it was killing him to have to make this call.

“Uncle Lou, Tony here.”

Tony Sklar’s voice was anything but friendly as far as his uncle was concerned; his mother’s brother recognized that tone immediately, trouble.

The kid had been a pain in the ass since the day he was born. That sister of his had positively ruined any possibility of him ever amounting to anything to anybody; Lou couldn’t stand the man. He had set him up in a legitimate business in Montana hoping against all hope that he would never hear from him again.

“Tony, to what do I owe this pleasure? What have you done now?” Pleasure my ass; he needs something, Lou mumbled.

“Uncle Lou, you wound me.”

“Wound you my ass! What have you done now? Let’s not waste each other’s time here Tony.”

“Well, there is one thing. You see, I need to get rid of a couple of problems if you know what I mean, Shuman being one of them.”

“I believe I know exactly what you mean Tony and let me tell you right now, if you got yourself into something then you need to take care of it yourself. I am not risking my life for you anymore.

“Your mother, rest her soul, did this to you now you need to learn to take care of it yourself.

“You have a nice business going for you, is it not good enough for you that you have to mess it up with problems? Fix it yourself and forget this number. Better yet, I’m having this number changed.

“You died when your mother died, do you understand.” And with that, Tony Sklar’s Uncle Lou hung up on him.

What was he supposed to do now? He had no one if he couldn’t go to Uncle Lou, maybe he should call Vinny. He was even more insane than Shuman. Yes, he could see a plan forming here and then he took the list of names Charles had left for him. He needed to talk to this Dr. Shellow too. If they needed to get rid of this Elizabeth Parker then Dr. Shellow should be able to come up with something that would do the job and not leave any trace. Damn, what a nightmare!

*~*~*~*

Liz and Lois left for work right at 7:30 and Michael was hot on Liz’s heels. They had passed the ‘breeding grounds’ yesterday on their little ride through the town so now Michael needed to have a look at Missoula Labs. It was a pretty nondescript building, two story brick, a nice front with great looking older style windows and a nice entrance. Michael decided to go in and have a look at the interior after Liz had gone in. He smiled at the receptionist and asked to see Dr. Parker.

“I’m not sure she’s in yet sir. May I tell her who is calling?”

Michael smiled, this was going to kill Liz, oh this was going to be fun.

“Tell her it’s her new neighbor. I was wondering if she would like to have a cup of coffee and point me in the direction of some really great streams. I understand she spends a lot of time in the hillsides riding and I’d like to put some of these places on canvas.”

‘Oh dear!’ The young receptionist thought. ‘Liz just started seeing that Evans man how is this going to look?’

Michael smiled as he watched the wheels turning in the young woman’s mind…he looked down at the name plate…Jenny.

“Well Jenny, would you check for me? I’m sure I saw her truck parked in the parking lot not just five minutes ago.”

“Of course, and do you have a name Mr. New Neighbor? Or does she not know it yet?”

Michael had to chuckle…this was so much fun. Maybe Maria would give him a new “stick” for Christmas, the old one is getting so well used. He really needed a new one to stir his shit better…wait until I tell Kyle about this; he’s going to roll over laughing.

Jenny looked at Michael with a raised eyebrow…”Well?”

“Yes, my name is Michael and she knows it. Tell her I would really like to see her.”

Jenny glared at Michael as she pushed the intercom to Liz’s lab…

“Liz, there’s a Michael up here. Says he’s your new neighbor and wants to have coffee with you.” Jenny practically growled into the phone line. She really liked that Mr. Evans who was here last week.

Michael smiled and then he heard Liz…

“Jenny, tell him I’ll be right up as soon as I put these new tests out to ‘roost’ if you know what I mean.”

“Yes Liz, I know what you mean and he heard you. Did you see Max this weekend?”

Now it was Liz’s turn to giggle…

“Yes I did as a matter of fact. He helped Michael move in. Do you need anything else Jenny?”

“No, thank you.” Jenny’s glare lightened a little but not enough to take the smirk off Michael’s face and then Liz showed up.

“Michael, how nice to see you. Would you like to go into the employee’s lounge for coffee or would you rather go elsewhere?” Liz wasn’t quite sure what Michael’s purpose was so she thought she’d ask.

“The employees lounge is fine Liz. I brought my Atlas with me and I was hoping we might take a minute and go over it together.” Michael felt that was great cover for Jenny who wasn’t missing a single word that was being said.

“That sounds great Michael, come with me.” And they took off down a long hallway and while they were walking Michael counted several doors with no windows, before arriving at their destination.

“Liz, what’s behind all of the doors in the hallway and are there any access doors to the outside?”

“You know Michael, I’m not really sure what all of them are for. Several are supply closets, no access to the outside, no windows etc.

“There are office supplies in one, my overflow lab supplies in another. One’s a broom closet and then there are two rest rooms, but I’m sure you saw the universal logos on the doors.

“The administrative offices are all upstairs and my lab is on the other side of the hallway. There are two doors that open into it for safety purposes but no outside access. There are large air vents to the lab, which are positively necessary for ventilation but they also have large filters in case something gets loose on me.

“The only windows in the building are out front and upstairs. I can draw you a diagram this evening if you would like and I’ll find out where all the outside doors are. I am sure there’s more than just the front door but I’ve never been bothered to find out before. “

“That’ll be great Liz. If we’re going to watch out for you we need to know what’s going on. Who’s the tail you’ve got?”

“I didn’t know I had one.”

“Yeah, you do. I’ll check him out too. Now, where do I find a pond or a tree around here to paint so I won’t look as conspicuous as the character sitting out there in the sun watching you. He followed you from your apartment this morning and Lois has one on her too.”

“Damn Michael, what in the hell is going on. I wonder if it has anything to do with the murders of the Evanses or the virus…or both?”

Liz’s big brown eyes suddenly got much bigger, her voice lowered questioningly and Michael smiled in spite of the seriousness of it all.

“It’s not your worry now Liz. You let us take care of it and if we need more men we’ll get them. I’ll talk to Kyle about George and see what he has to say.”

“George? The new security guard?”

“Yeah, he’s one of us Liz…you’re going to be fine. The new guard at Lois’ facility is also one of us. We’re trying to cover all bases here. Not even the local office knows about us, this is big Liz, or a great big FUBAR, one or the other, and if it’s a FUBAR then we are dealing with amateurs and that could be bad. They don’t always have the best of plans.”

(FUBAR: Fucked up beyond all recognition)

Suddenly Liz Parker sensed fear for first time since this whole thing started.

*
“Hey Liz, are you still in the employees lounge?” It was Jenny….

“Yeah Jenny, what’s up?”

“Max is on line one for you, do you want to me to tell him to call back?”

“No, I’ll take it here.” And Liz got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked over to the phone on the wall.

“Hi Max, what’s up? We just talked this morning.”

“I know, but I was wondering if you girls would like to come out to the ranch this week-end? Clark and I were talking after we spoke and we think we have the bulls lined up to deliver to Lois but we’d like a final seal of approval if you know what I mean.”

“I do Max and I’m sure this is feasible. Let me talk it over with Lois and see what she has to say. Okay?”

“Yeah, that would be great. Jenny told me that you were having coffee with Michael…” and Max sort of trailed off. Liz looked over at Michael and grinned.

“She did, did she? Well she wasn’t lying Max. He’s sitting right here with me and I would like to bring him with us if it’s okay with you. I’ll bet he’ll be able to find all kinds of lakes, trees, streams and mountains to paint. Although I don’t think Michael rides I’m sure there is something he can haul his equipment in. What do you say?”

“Well, if that’s what you want to do Liz, yeah. It’s fine with me and I know Clark won’t mind. I’ll see you when? Thursday?”

“Thursday afternoon Max, oh… and Max.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you Max.” Max Evans felt like he had just been hit in the stomach with a 2X4. What the????

“I love you too Liz but I think face to face for that announcement would have been a whole lot more fun.”

“I know what you mean Max, but I sorta feel you needed to hear that now.”

“Well…” and Max hedged a little, “Yeah, I guess I did. Did he hear that?”

Liz giggled as she looked at Michael and Michael grinned in return…

“Yes he did.”

“Well good. I’ll tell Clark to get the stock sorted one more time, I’m recording their numbers as we speak and I’ll talk to you tonight Liz. I really do love you.”

“I’m glad Max, talk to you later.” And the young couple hung up.

“Do I sense a little uncertainty here Liz?”

“Yeah, just a little. We’ve only known each other for such a short time Michael but I’ve never felt like this before in my life. I just wish things were different.”

“I know Liz, but we’ll get it taken care of. In the meantime where is this ranch we’re going to anyway?”

“Oh Michael, you aren’t going to believe this place. I swear the Prince of Wales doesn’t live any better.”

And Michael Guerin laughed at his young friend. He was so happy she finally found someone to make her happy and he could tell by the gleam in her eyes that this Max Evans did just that.

*

Natalie: Thank you so much, I really tried on this one. Honest!
Carolyn: I agree, Liz is very, very happy.
Alix: You've sure pegged Michael, but he really is a good guy at heart...you just have to look.
Eve: You have no idea how hard it was for me to keep track of all of these people...I never worked this hard translating the Iliad from Latin to English in high school and that was a bitch!

*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 28

Tony Sklar called his secretary into his office after Shuman left and after he’d had his conversation with his uncle.

“Marlene, I need you to set up a lunch date with a Dr. Doug Shellow who works at the Helena Disease Control Center. Today would be preferable if he’s Available. If not, at his earliest convenience; let me know what you find out and then make a reservation at the Ritz for us.”

“Yes Mr. Sklar…anything else?”

“No, that’s all for now. Thank you.”

And with that Marlene left her boss’s office and made her way to her computer to locate the phone numbers of the various government offices.

*
Back in Washington D.C. Maria Guerin had just completed her first search through bank tracking numbers for Doug Shellow, which led her to the Real Estate offices of Charles Shuman.

“Jesse, look at this. Charles Shuman is the CEO of the Billings Cattle Company but they don’t deal in cattle they deal in Real Estate and it looks like the majority of the money is deposited elsewhere and the Billings Cattle Co. gets an operating allowance. A substantial allowance but an allowance just the same. The P & L’s don’t coincide with the bank balances. I’m having a little trouble tracking the mother company but I think I’ll have it by the end of the day. This Shellow fellow, excuse the rhyme, was paid by the Billings Cattle Co. and the check was issued by Charles Shuman himself.”

“Good work Maria. Did you talk to Michael last night?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t say where he was. Is it a big secret or can his wife know his whereabouts?”

“He didn’t tell you then. Well, I’ll just leave that piece of information for him to give you when it’s safe.”

Maria frowned at this, this was unusual as hell…something was going on here besides Michael being undercover but she knew better than to ask questions. It was just safer that way.

“Well alright then. I’ll get back to you with more information as it comes in but I thought maybe someone should be made aware.”

“You’re right in your assumptions Maria and someone will be made aware. We have a tail on Shellow but it looks like we need to keep an eye on this Shuman as well. I think, after the information we’ve received so far that I’ll just dispatch a couple more agents to Montana.”

“Fair enough; is this what Michael is working on also?”

“Maria, go run your searches.”

Maria grinned as she walked out the door to her computer station…secrecy was the name of the game after all and part of her job description was to keep her mouth shut and don’t ask questions.

*
Michael took the drawing Liz had made of the building and headed out to the side of the building with his little map and watched as Liz’s tail sat in his car with the visor pulled down eating some sort of chips. ‘What a winner that guy is!’ Michael thought to himself as he walked to the end of the building and headed out back to check for windows and doors. The only opening downstairs was one heavy steel door with a sign reading “employees only” on it.

Michael looked up and noticed a balcony type extension upstairs and then around the other side of the building was a fire escape leading up to another heavy metal door. So that left two accesses from the back of the building and around the other side was just another blank wall on the lower level with evenly spaced windows on the second story.

He would have to do his surveillance from the inside of the building, possibly Liz could let him in through that back entrance. He would check with George when he checked in later for any catching up they needed to do.

Michael pulled out the cell phone he had chosen for today and dialed Liz.

“Hey, there’s a back door marked employees only Liz. Can you let me in so I can station myself somewhere that is safe to watch in silence? Your Tail is still out front by the way. I don’t think he’s dangerous, just stupid.”

“Sure Michael, sit tight, I’m on my way.”

And Liz promptly made her way down the short stairwell leading to the only back door she was aware of and found Michael waiting for her.

“Michael, is all of this necessary?” She asked in a whisper.

“Yes it is…now that I know you’re being tailed along with Lois it is necessary. There is a day guard at Lois’ place but none here so here’s where I stay. Now where can I sit unseen?”

“Well, take your pick Michael. I don’t think anybody uses this hallway except the janitor and he doesn’t come on until after hours and one of your guys is here then isn’t he?”

“Yeah he is but we need to set up a routine. Do you lock your lab up at night?”

“Yeah, but the janitor has a key to everything. He’s been checked, verified, and bonded by the state Michael I don’t think he poses any problems.”

“We’ll see. Now where can I go?”

“Wherever you want to Michael; only the supply rooms are frequented and that’s about it. There are restrooms upstairs as well as down here and Jenny uses the ladies room down here. Of course there is the employee’s lounge. Do you want to sit in there?”

“No Liz, I don’t want to be seen for God’s sake; nothing like announcing yourself to the entire company. Get real here!”

And Liz laughed out loud at her old friend.

“Michael, just choose a place and light, I’ve got things to do.”

And on that note Liz left Michael standing in the stairwell alone.

‘Well, this is as good a place as any I guess, not far from the men’s room and close to the lab’. And Michael settled himself in for a long day…he took out his sketchpad and started penciling in some memories of his ride with the girls yesterday. ‘It certainly is beautiful country.’ He thought to himself.

It never entered anyone’s mind that unknown “bugs” could very easily enter that lab for any number of reasons.

*
“Clark, I spoke with Liz and she said that they would be out on Thursday; she also said that they’ll be bringing that new neighbor with them. I’m not so sure about this guy.”

“Take it easy Max; I’m sure it’s just a friendly gesture on their part. You remember what the bartender told us, if they like you then you can call them Liz and Lois. Apparently they like him or they wouldn’t be giving him the time of day and if they didn’t like us they sure as hell wouldn’t be giving us what we’re getting.” And Clark gave Max this huge smile.

Max returned the smile and then got serious…

“That’s not what concerns me Clark. Something just isn’t right about him.” Max wasn’t smiling now…

“Well, let’s just wait until Thursday and see what develops from there. In the mean time we’ll have Maggie get the girls rooms cleaned and readied for them and we’ll stick Michael in the other end of the house with us. How’s that?”

Clark nodded toward his brother as he lifted another bail of the special feed for the stock in the corral.

“Damn it Clark, they’ll laugh their asses off at us, no, let’s not be that damned obvious, and I’m not so sure it’s jealousy. No, I’m sure it isn’t jealousy, it’s just not comfortable.”

And Max grabbed another bail as his brother cut the wire on his bail and started to separate it for the animals.

“Well, like I said, let’s just wait and see what comes of this visit. Now relax, we’ve got three and a half days to get used to the idea. I KNOW! We can always stick him up over the barn in that old apartment dad used to have for added help.” Clark all but laughed out loud at his suggestion.

“Shit, now you’re making fun and I’m not in the mood. Just forget it.”

Clark was starting to rattle Max’s cage and he wasn’t real happy about it, but all he had to do was think about Liz’s parting remark and he suddenly got the warm and fuzzies; that made him smile big and wide as he worked alongside his brother.

Clark laughed and kept on working right alongside his brother and he good-naturedly chided as he said knowingly…

“You’d better quit thinking about Liz Max or you’re really going to be in a bind, if you know what I mean.” And the world at E~N~S continued on.

*

Back in Helena Marlene knocked on her bosses door before entering, it was very rarely that this door was closed and when it was she knew enough to knock before entering.

“Come in.” Tony had failed to open the door when he had completed his phone call and he was almost apologetic about it as Marlene approached him.

“Mr. Sklar, Mr. Shellow can meet you at 1:00. I told him to ask for your table when he arrived at the Ritz…they will have a private table ready for you when you arrive.”

“Thank you Marlene and I believe you have worked for me long enough now that you can call me Tony. It would really make me more comfortable you know. And I’m sorry about the door but I really have a lot of personal business to take care of today.”

“I understand Mr. Sklar but you must appreciate that I am more comfortable calling you Mr. Sklar. Do you want your door closed again?”

Tony Sklar smiled; he would never get this woman to call him by his given name.

“Yes please. I have one more phone call to make before I leave. Thank you.”

And with that Tony dismissed his secretary and took out his private cell phone once more; it was a time to revert to what he knew best.

*

Jonas Barnaby approached Don Valiant and asked him how things were going, figuring he should at least acknowledge the man’s presence.

“Not too bad Barnaby. I’ve got most of the filing done down in the ‘vault’ and I’m catching myself up on current work in process over here. I see a new desk sitting over there in the middle of the floor. Is that for me?”

“Yeah, but we have to move stuff around before finding a permanent place for it. How is Crowley doing? Is he able to answer any questions you have?”

“Oh, he’s doing fine. So far the only major questions were the location of the men’s room and the coffee pot as always. Other than that things are moving along just fine. When am I going to get to meet this Mark and Dennis?”

“Oh, they are currently on special assignment for the department. We had some strange events a while back and they are doing some follow up work. They should be in on Friday but that depends on the weather.”

“The weather? What would the weather have to do with anything?”

“Well, in this case everything.” And Jonas Barnaby suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. “SHIT” he thought and made his way to his office across the hall, he felt as though he’d had this conversation a while back. ‘Where the hell was his mind?’

*

Natalie:Nope, no bugs yet, sorry for the confusion. I meant that Michael recognized the possibility of how easy it would be from his point of view, mainly Liz's safety.
Carolyn: I think all kinds of stuff is going on if I remember correctly but remember, fluff is my middle name...
Eve: You are so right about the brothers not knowing the whole story but it will come out soon enough.

*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter: 29

Back in Washington D.C. Jesse Ramirez was diligently working over the reports sent in by his various agents stationed in Missoula and the Helena office of the FBI along with the Billings office. He summoned Maria to his office with some special instructions to go along with her usual duties.

“Maria, I want you to contact Michael with your private e-mail account and send him the following updates. I don’t want this going through regular channels, I know this is a strange request but right now there are just too many players.”

“Will do Jesse.” And Maria left Jesse’s office with her special project. She knew better than to question Jesse on anything. This had to be some assignment Michael was on.

*

Michael made his way to the men’s room just to stretch his legs and then returned to his station on the steps leading to the back of Liz’s building. This was one assignment he wished was over but he also realized the importance of it and as he was thinking about his aching back his cell phone quietly buzzed in his breast pocket. It was a text message from Maria instructing him to check his e-mail as soon as he was able.

*
Located at a quiet table at the Ritz were a very sharply dressed gentleman and another one looking quite comfortable in a pair of Levis, a blue t-shirt, a beige corduroy blazer and a pair of alligator Justin’s. He was really quite handsome when you got right down to it and Tony Sklar was very impressed with what he saw.

The man presented himself as very intelligent, and he couldn’t figure out what had ever possessed him to get involved with the likes of Charles Shuman. He must have been very well paid, something Sklar intended to find out before this was all over.

Of course intelligence didn’t always mean that a person always thought intelligently, logic and intelligence didn’t always go hand in hand.

Tony stood as the young man approached with the hostess and held out his hand in a friendly gesture. Doug Shellow smiled and shook hands with this total stranger; a lunch at the Ritz was a lunch and he took his seat, prepared for anything.

“It’s nice to meet you Dr. Shellow, my name is Tony Sklar and without preamble I think I should explain who I am exactly. We have an acquaintance in common. Well actually he is an employee of mine and I understand he paid you quite a sum of money to perform a certain chore for him.”

Doug Shellow swallowed hard as Tony Sklar kept a neutral expression on his face. Tony was playing this for his life as he knew it and he couldn’t afford to screw this up. “And I have a similar proposition for you.”

Doug frowned, ‘what in the hell was going on here?’ He wondered to himself.

*

Back in New Jersey a very handsome, buff looking young man clad in Levi’s and a leather blazer made his way into an Italian restaurant not far from his family home. He made his way to the back of the restaurant to join up with his kumbas and was greeted by a very pissed off waitress who handed him a note that her boss insisted she hand to him personally when he arrived.

“You need to get yourself a phone Vinny; I’m not your private secretary.”

“Chill.”

And Vinny Santori ignored the woman and took a seat in the booth with his friends. He didn’t bother opening the note while visiting his friends because; if a message came in at the restaurant it meant business.

*

Back in the “big house” George and Dwain were just getting themselves up and about and met in the kitchen where they found a note from “Don”.

“Hey you two, there’s coffee and other food stuffs in the fridge and cupboards, help yourselves but be sure to make some contributions too. I bought laundry soap as well so if you need to wash some clothes help yourselves. We’ll probably run into each other before you head off to work this evening so I’ll see you then.” And Kyle signed the note Don. Undercover was undercover and these men were seasoned players at the game. If anyone came in, such as a cleaning woman, they wouldn’t be any the wiser.

*

About 1:00 p.m. Michael made his way to the lab and knocked on the door, he knew Liz’s work could mean the need for privacy so he wasn’t about to barge in…

“Come in.” And he was greeted with a smiling Liz when he entered the very sterile room where one Doctor Parker looked like a little kid in her jeans and lab jacket…he had to smile.

“Hey there, are you going to break for lunch today or do you want me to order something to be delivered to the curb?”

Liz giggled at her old friend…

“I’ll be right with you Michael. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I’m doing that I forget to eat all together.”

“Well hell Liz, tomorrow I pack a lunch just in case. No wonder you stay so thin.”

“I’m not thin Michael…why don’t I call Lois and she can join us.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. That should confuse the hell out of those two tails out there.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea for us to be seen together Michael?”

“Hey, I don’t know why not…I’m your neighbor after all.” And Michael winked just for good measure.

“Well if you’re sure. Let me give Lois a buzz. I’ll have her meet us at Sophie’s. It’s local and the food is really good.”

“That sounds like a plan. I’ll just go out the back and make my way to the front door. Let’s really piss Jenny off.”

And Liz giggled once more. Poor Jenny, she really had taken a liking to Max; Liz took her cell out of her jeans as Michael made his way to the back door.

“Hey Lois, can you get away for lunch?”

“Yeah, what time?”

“Well, Michael just made his way back out front to pick me up…Sophie’s in fifteen?”

“Sophie’s it is.” And they hung up.

Michael made his way back to the front entrance and was so tempted to bang on the side of the car the man was sitting in and then he smiled. ‘What a waste of time’ he thought to himself. The only thing this woman is interested in is her bugs, but of course so were a lot of other people.

“Hey Jenny, would you tell Liz I’m here for lunch.”

Jenny gave Michael a scowl and buzzed Liz…

“Your neighbor is here for lunch Liz.” And Michael chuckled as he waited. This was the best part of his day…

“Are you ready Liz?”

“Yep, Lois is going to meet us at Sophie’s so we’d better hurry.”

Jenny raised an eyebrow as Liz mentioned Lois and wondered just what was going on here…she said he was a neighbor…oh well, Lois was her roomie so Michael was her neighbor as well, apparently it was all friendly and nothing more, then she sort of relaxed once again, just a little.

Michael and Liz made their way out of the building and Mark Adams watched as the big man led Liz to a car that had been parked there all morning and Mark wondered where the hell he came from.

Maybe he was a new hire at one of the buildings in the area and he kept on watching. Barnaby had to be out of his mind to waste the manpower on this detail.

This had to be the most boring woman on earth, and Mark Adams started his engine and followed the couple to Sophie’s, passed them up and headed on down the road to I-Hop. He couldn’t even eat at his favorite restaurant and then he saw Lois pull up in her Corvette with Dennis hot on her heels. He caught Dennis’ eye and motioned for his fellow officer to follow him over to I-Hop, which of course he did.

Lois quickly joined her friends and they entered the restaurant together then Liz proceeded to fill Lois in on their weekend plans.

“Hey, Max called me at work and apparently they have the bulls sorted out and numbered and they wanted to know if we could come out this weekend. I told them of course and that we’d leave on Thursday. Is this okay with you?”

Michael almost choked as Lois looked at Liz with a raised eyebrow.

“I guess it’ll have to be won’t it. Did you think to ask me before making plans for me?”

Liz winked at Michael as she answered her friend.,,

“Nope.” she said with a grin and Michael had to laugh…they sounded like an old married couple, which he knew of course they were anything but, but they still sounded like Maria and him. Liz joined in the laughter as did Lois and then Lois agreed.

“Sure I can go. I’ll get some photos of the exchange stock and bring over some blood samples for you on my way home. I assume you’ll be going home with Michael.”

“Yeah, and Michael spotted a couple of men tailing us. It never entered my mind that someone would be watching us. Have you noticed anyone sitting outside of your building?”

“No, but I haven’t been looking for anyone either. What in the hell are they following me for, all I do is study livestock.”

“That’s the crux of the situation Lois, livestock. Someone isn’t happy with something and it involves you two somehow but we’ll get answers I can assure you.” Michael informed her...

“Have you had a chance to talk to Kyle yet?” Liz wanted to know.

“No, not yet but I do have a photo on my cell of your tail, I’ll get one of Lois’s tail and then present them to Kyle and see if he recognizes either of them.

“I have a private e-mail from Maria that I have to share with him as soon as I read it; possibly George and Dwain need the info as well. My laptop is in my briefcase in the back of the car, I’ll get it when we go back to the lab and check it out while I’m sitting in the back stairwell.

“I don’t know how we’re going to manage a meeting but we need to set something up. Maybe I can see George before we head on home tonight and see if he has any ideas. I’ll need to fill him in on what’s going on also.”

“George doesn’t start until 10:00. Let me give Ava a call, she can contact Kyle without any suspicions and maybe you guys can all meet at our place for dinner tonight. These tails don’t come into the apartment building do they?” Liz wanted to know.

“No, and it seems they are on a regular shift…like maybe 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. I swear, something is really fishy here. It’s like they have a regular work schedule; I don’t think they’re private, they just seem to want to know what you’re up to, which isn’t a helluva lot.”

“Oh come on Michael, you make us sound boring.” Liz chided.

“Well, from what I’ve seen of your working facility it’s pretty damned boring to me Liz.”

Liz giggled,

“You just don’t see what I see. If we could make your presence known I would take you through a day. I think you’d find it pretty damned interesting.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“Or you could come over and watch me.” Lois interjected.

“Yeah Michael, she sticks her arm up cows asses for a living. Now that’s really interesting and then there’s the milking of those bulls. WOW! Who would want to miss that?”

Liz scrunched her nose up into the strangest shape and Michael had to laugh. They were funny even if they did have boring jobs.

All three of the diners gave Julie their orders and were served almost as soon as the orders were given, or so it seemed. Their lunch hour just seemed to fly by.

When Julie returned with their checks she asked Liz how things were going and Liz introduced her to Michael as their new neighbor and Julie smiled brightly and asked Michael,

“Hey, you don’t need a place to stay do you? I just rented my mother’s place to four newcomers over the weekend and there are still two bedrooms Available. I’ll bet they’d love another break on the rent.” And about that time the cook’s bell rang indicating another order was up.

Michael smiled as the young woman bid her goodbyes and told her he had everything under control.

“Well okay then.” And she took off.

When she got to the order up window the owner/cook gave her a look and said,

“Quit trying to rent that place out on company time Julie. You’ve got four renters and that’s enough already. Stop it.”

“How did you know I had four renters? We just rented it over the weekend.”

“Steve was in this morning and told me about it, now you’ve got the place rented so give it a rest. If those men didn’t want to pay the rent they would have rejected the offer. Steve said they probably wouldn’t even see each other the way their work days run.”

“It seems Steve has a pretty big mouth doesn’t he?”

And the conversation ended. What the hell was his problem anyway, everyone was happy with the deal…it was a good deal too. And Julie continued on with her waitress duties.

*

Over at the I-Hop Barnaby’s men were sitting there having one of the daily specials and discussing the most boring job the boss had ever managed to dole out. He had to be nuts to send them on an assignment where they just sat in their cars all day and watched a building where nothing happened. And even if something did happen at Lois’ building you can bet that Dennis would get as far away from that woman and those cows as he could get.

*~*~*