Chapter 25
Freshman Year
Marty had landed with no problems… he called from the airport in Florida to talk to me as we flew in from the west coast. He mostly wanted to check in on Stacy though I think.
“Hello, Wilson?”
“Hi, Marty”
“Is Stacy, OK?”
“Perfect, just like you left her.”
“Thanks.”
I heard a sigh of relief in his voice.
“So, what happened to the helicopter I gave you?” I asked.
“Oh… It couldn’t carry everybody.”
“Steven figured the weight out before you left and said it would, he wasn’t wrong was he?” I asked doubtfully.
“No… he was right… but we had a few bullet hole issues, you know.”
“No, not really, tell me about it.”
“We crossed the beach coming in, low so we would not be detected.”
“Yeah, that’s how we planned it.”
“Well there must have been a mercenary on the beach late that night showing a native girl how sea turtles lay eggs or something, you know.”
“Sure.”
“So, by the time my group got in and back out of the facility with the SA members this merc must have taken off from the beach and made it to the chopper the same time we did…”
“Uh huh.”
“So when he was about 50 yards out he started firing at the chopper with his machine gun.”
“OK…”
“Well, you know how we were not sure about giving Steve a gun.”
“Yeah.” I felt like I was prying this story out of Marty wit ha crowbar.
“Well, I think it’ll be ok… see, he had this old rifle we took off one of the patrolmen. As we were running back to the chopper, Steven took aim and dropped the merc with a single shot, dead center.”
“And…”
“Before Steven dropped him the guy put a few rounds into the hydraulic lines of the chopper. Steven and I figured we could only get about ten minutes flight time if we loaded everyone on board.”
“So, then what?” I urged, still prying away.
“So… I decided that was plenty of time to fly everyone back to the maintenance facility were they kept plenty of jets… we took off, landed back beside one of the jets in the field that looked prepped for flight and we all jumped in.”
“And then?”
“It took me a minute to fire the jet up and by then we were getting more company because they had discovered the SA groups were missing. It wasn’t hard for them to guess where they were, with all the jet engine noise and all.”
“Interesting.”
“We finally got going down the run way but the mercs grabbed a jet that had attack capability and were on my tail right after take off. About then two F-19’s flew past. They doubled back right away and before I knew it they open up on the merc’s plane with AA missiles.”
“Is everyone safe and unharmed?”
“Yes, everyone is celebrating and hugging, you know the scene. Did you have a little to do with the F-19’s?”
“A little.”
“Are you mad at me Wilson?”
“Nah, you did great Marty, I’m not mad, but if you keep getting yourself shot at every time you go out… Stacy is never going to let you out of the house again.”
“Yeah, I know… so…we don’t really mention that part…OK?”
“Yeah, OK, I get away with lying to Stacy all the time. See you in a few hours.”
None of the SA teams left the airport after landing. They all wanted to stay and meet the rest of the team responsible for their rescue and the salvation of the Golden Gate Bridge.
We wanted to let Melissa be the first one off the plane when it landed, so her mom and dad who were waiting anxiously could see that she was unharmed. The door to the plane opened as stairs were moved up to the open door way. Mr. And Mrs. Conner stepped back as the Bengal tiger’s head came out of the plane’s door followed by the next six feet of him, and of course their prize possession was perched on top… waving both arms with a big smile on her face.
“Hi, momma, see me? See my pretty kitty!” The Conner’s froze in place not willing to give another step. I was next out the door wanting to keep the panic to a minimum. The last twenty-four hours had been tough enough on everyone.
“It’s OK everybody, the big kitty is with us. Nobody panic, it’s OK.”
The group of SA agents crowded back around, giving Kobe a few extra feet as they met and thanked everyone that got off the plane.
“Baby!” Mrs. Conner stepped up to the tiger and Melissa reached up to her mom’s neck to squeeze her tight.
“I missed you momma.” Melissa said rubbing noses with her mom.
“I missed you too baby, who’s your friend?”
“Dis is Kobe, he’s a big kitty.” Melissa reached back and pet the tiger that had not moved from Mrs. Conner’s side.
“How is my little girl?” Mr. Conner said ducking out from behind the crowd that was surrounding the stairs.
“Daddy!” Melissa reached and leaned out hard toward her father.
“Hi baby girl, I missed you so much.” Mr. Conner said lifting Melissa into his arms.
“Me too.” She squeezed her father around the neck and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“See my kitty, daddy?”
“Yes, I do, he’s hard to miss. Where did you get the kitty?” Mr. Conner asked looking in my direction.
“Meya gave him to me.” The tiger nudged up against Mr. Conner’s legs and started to purr.
“Down peez daddy,” Melissa said, leaning back toward the tiger. Mr. Conner’s looked over at me.
“It’s OK, sir. That cat would protect her with his life.”
“Yes, it’s true, sir. The tiger will never harm her.” Meea added.
“Hi Melissa, have you been a good girl while I was gone?” Marty said pushing his way through the crowd.
“Yeah, I’ve been good.”
Marty reached over and gave Melissa a kiss on the cheek.
“And has my other girl been good?” Marty said turning to take Stacy out of my arms.
Stacy wrapped her arms around Marty’s neck and kissed him over and over. “I’m perfect now.”
I went back to the back of the plane to get Stacy’s buggy, though I was pretty sure she wouldn’t come out of Marty’s arms for the next week.
Mr. Conner stood on the plane stairs to see over everyone. “Attention Please! Can I get everybody’s attention? We’ll have a celebration dinner for everyone at our house tomorrow afternoon.”
“Mr. Conner, we weren’t able to straighten up much before we left.” I said, not knowing how to broach the subject of all the damage we did with bullet holes and such.
“We have a girl come in weekly to clean up Wilson, it’ll be fine.” Mrs. Conner said.
“Well, sir… never mind…”
“He’s going to kill you. You know that right.” Marty whispered before he carried Stacy off for a private reunion.
The party was going full tilt when Meea and I arrived. There were people in the pool, playing volleyball, eating on the patio by the pool and on the beach throwing a Frisbee.
Marty was levitating plastic cups in the air for Melissa, while she threw tennis balls at them, trying to knock them out of the air. Melissa waved to Meea and me when we walked in. We went to sit with her and gave her big hugs and kisses. I ended up catching the balls she threw at the cups and rolling them back to her. She was always so happy.
“Where’s kitty, Melissa?” Meea ask.
“He’s in her bedroom sleeping. She rode that poor cat half the night, up and down the beach over and over again. Thank God she’s light as a feather or I think she would have killed him.” Mrs. Conner said.
“He probably needed to run since we had him cramped up on that yacht so long.” Meea laughed to her self. “I’ll pull in some tuna for him before I leave. I think he’s
getting a taste for them now.”
“Wilson, glad you made it.” Mr. Conner said.
“Hello Mr. Conner, Dr. Ishmail.” Dr. Ishmail had a plate of food looking relaxed and comfortable for a change.
“Can we see you for a minute?” Mr. Conner asked. I bent over and kissed Meea and Melissa before getting up. How mad could this guy be… he left me with his daughter who I saved once, and then kept pretty much out of harms way during a full out attack. Aside from my girlfriend giving her a Bengal tiger as a pet I did as good as I could. Ok so the driveway and the garage got shot to hell… and a few bullet hole in their house and a few in his car… and that big hole from Steven’s shot gun back by the pool… and the bushes and most of the yard…Ok and a few holes in the neighbors houses and barns…yeah, Marty was right… I’m toast.
“Yes, sir?” He stopped right in front of the garage door where the five bullet holes were.
Dr. Ishmail spoke first. “Wilson, if you don’t mind I have one question for you before I leave you two gentlemen alone to talk.”
“Sure, Doctor.”
“How did you know to have me shoot down the back executive jet, let alone even know the SA group was in the front jet? The F-19 pilot said if he would have fired a few second later the back jet would have had time to bring the SA group’s jet down… how did you know all that?”
“Marty’s only call to me said there was a problem. Marty had the group and the SA teams, so his only problem would be in leaving. You said the F-19 pilot said no chopper was in the air so I knew Marty would improvise, meaning he would try to fly something he had no training or flight time in just to keep it interesting. It’s just his… lets call it style, to be polite, but he means well. I figured if he had trouble leaving as planned he would have company still trying to stop him. I knew the first thing Marty would look for on a jet was the gas pedal, so I was sure his jet would be the one in front, that and the fact the other jet would be in back trying to shoot him down or there would have been no reason for them to chase Marty… that’s pretty much it sir.”
Dr. Ishmail laughed out loud and patted Mr. Conner on the back and then started to walk away looking back at me. “Good Wilson, very good. I can’t wait for next semester. Mr. Conner and I laughed quietly and nodded our heads in agreement as Dr. Ishmail walked off.
“Wilson, I wanted to let you know how thankful we are to you. I know you were pushed way beyond what anyone had a right to ask. All of you were pushed way too far. Well, without getting to mushy, the school wanted to give you and your group a token of our appreciation for what you were able to accomplish. So we want you to have this...”
The garage door opened up and there was a brand new Red Porsche 911 turbo sitting beside the Jag with the five bullet holes in the trunk. I cringed a bit seeing the holes in that pretty jag again.
The license plate on the Porsche read, “Voices.”
“Each one of your group has one of these being delivered as we speak to their parking spot back at the college. We took the liberty of adding unique license plates to each of the vehicles. We thought we would let you tell your group. Here are the keys to their cars.” He dropped seven keys in my hand and I looked up with a questioning look.
“We weren’t sure what to get Stacy so when you have time to ask her ... let us know, what ever it is she would like in place of a car, and it will be hers, we’ll see to it.”
“Thank you just doesn’t cover it Mr. Conner, but thank you.”
“Now you know how we feel when it comes to thanking you for what you did Wilson. You’re right. Sometimes thank you just doesn’t even cover it. Now let’s get back to the party and get something to eat. Oh, bye the way Wilson, does Kobe ever look at you funny when you’re eating a tuna sandwich?”
“I’ll get Meea to catch him some fish before we leave. That should keep you safe for a while.” I joked.
Mr. Conner gave me a funny look as we walked back, not knowing if I was serious about the keep you safe remark.”
“Hey girl, have I got a surprise for you.”
“Oh yeah, what is it?” Meea eye’s lit up.
“First where’s Stacy I wanted to talk to her first?”
“Marty left to pick her up about fifteen minutes ago and they aren’t here yet.”
“Let’s get the rest of our group together in the living room with the Conner’s then.”
Everyone was in the living room taking about the surprise I called them in for. I was just about to let everyone know they had new rides waiting for them back at the dorm when…
The front door opened and Marty and Stacy WALKED IN!!!
Stacy was smiling from ear to ear and so was Marty. Stacy was walking, right beside Marty. She was on her own two legs.
“Marty are you holding her up?” I asked. He shook his head to indicate he was not holding her up. Meea jumped up and ran to hug Stacy. Stacy was able to brace her self for impact when she saw Meea coming and looked like she was keeping her self-steady when Meea collided with her.
“Stacy!” Meea cried. “How is this possible, how are you doing this… when did you…” Meea just wouldn’t slow down on the questions to give Stacy a chance to answer. Now everyone was up hugging her and crying and laughing. Marty was just standing back now watching Stacy revel in her triumph. Once the group had laughed and cried for about ten minutes. Stacy asked for everyone to sit down and she would explain.
“Thank you all for your love and caring. Let me try to explain.” Stacy had to wipe the tears from her eyes to continue.
“I haven’t walked since birth as you all know. My parents took me to a few specialists when I was young to see if they could figure out why, but we weren’t wealthy enough to go through lots of testing, so we never got any definitive answers as to why I was not able to walk. Anyway, when Marty and I first met, it was love at first sight for both of us. I was happier than I had ever been, and since I pretty much know exactly what other people are thinking (everyone laughed) I knew Marty was very happy with me too. We were out on the beach one day and Marty was showing me how strong he was getting lifting cannon balls with his energy.”
“There not really cannon balls.” Marty interjected, causing everyone to laugh.
“As I was saying, men are men, and Marty wanted to show me how much he could lift at one time, so I said, Ok. Lift me then. Taking my challenge, he focused and stood close to me, as he lifted me up to a standing position. Then as he moved me away from the buggy, I could feel my feet in the sand. I was just the right height like if I was really standing beside Marty. We started to go down the beach with Marty basically carrying me the whole way. I was moving at the same pace Marty was, it was like walking… or what I thought walking must be like, and I loved it. I never realized how nice it would be just to walk down the beach with Marty. He eventually couldn’t hold my weight any longer and I fell to the sand. Since I loved it so much Marty insisted we do it again, then when he started letting my feet down I found I could sort of use the muscles in my legs to move them along by just the tiniest little bit. Then in the tiniest way, I started trying to help Marty carry me along so our walk would last longer. I wanted to help Marty hold me up so bad I forced myself to use my muscles, and day after day it just started getting a little easier to help him. I guess it kind of hit us at the same time, that maybe with some work I might be able to walk. I guess I need a reason to walk, and that reason was the best reason in the world, to walk beside Marty. Thank you, Marty. I love you.”
I walked to the back of the living room where Mr. Conner was standing, “Mr. Conner.” he was nodding his head in anticipation. “Do you think I could get one more set of keys?
To be continued…
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