Message-ID: <22221asstr$947430601@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: From: artie Subject: {ASSM} TGM: Finding a New Life 4/7 by artie (MF ROM) Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 10:10:01 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, kelly <1st attachment, "t04.txt" begin> Tales of the Golden Mule (c) Copyright 1999 by artie@netgate.net This work may not be reposted or redistributed without the prior express written permission of the author. A work of fiction, meant for adults. Read something else if you are not an adult, or are offended by stories with sexual content. Then again, if all you're looking for is in-out, in-out, in-out, you should probably read something else. I welcome constructive comments. Enjoy. Tales of the Golden Mule - Finding a New Life - Part 4 We woke up to the alarm clock the next morning. We held each other for a while, but I had to get up. It was going to be a busy day. I left Nancy in bed as I showered and shaved. She got up as I was getting dressed. Karen was downstairs already when I got down. "You let us sleep!" I told her. She smiled as she drank her coffee and read the Wall Street Journal. "You looked like you needed it," she told me. "We did." I rummaged for breakfast and poured a cup of coffee for Nancy. She came down a few minutes later, just as I was about ready to leave. We hugged and kissed. "I'll see you this afternoon, hon," I told her. "Okay, take care of yourself." She and Karen were going to start packing things up for the remodeling work. We wouldn't need a lot of things, and she welcomed the help. I headed to Palo Alto. I met Angie, and we went to a larger room in the back. There I met a young gal, a student named Deb. Deb needed some catch-up work, so this fit in well. I spent time working under Angie or Deb's guidance, learning how to do feet. We practiced on each other, and I had to admit it felt great. We went a bit over our planned hour, but Angie told me I was doing well, and Nancy would be pleased. From the look on Deb's face, she thought I was doing pretty well too. My stomach twitched as I drove to the shrink's office. As invigorating and energizing as the hour with Angie and Deb had been, the hour with him was exhausting. I did most of the talking, with him guiding, prodding, questioning. I stepped back into the sunlight, walking to the Jeep, and shook my head. Wow. I felt better, stronger, and starved. What to do until one? I laughed. I had an office I could use, with a sandwich place nearby. I picked up a sandwich and headed for "my" office. As I ate, I checked the fax traffic. Some of it I'd drop off with Jill after seeing Marshall. I thought about lying down on the futon, but knew if I did, I'd go to sleep for sure. I turned on the confuser, and checked my new medication on the World Wide Wait. As I'd guessed, mechanism of action unknown, but it seemed to help with anxiety problems. Minimal side effects were reported, with an increase in libido among them. Well, that was a relief! I was worried it would leave me limp and twitching. The session with Marshall was the least intense of the day. I was focused, and we went through things fairly quickly. He'd fax revisions to me at home, and we'd sign on Thursday at one in the afternoon. That part done, I hit him with a question. "Hypothetically speaking, of course, would my getting married affect the trust in any way? Would it complicate matters?" He smiled and looked into space for a moment. "Hypothetically, of course, when might this be happening?" "Possibly before we leave for Europe." He nodded and took a breath. "Okay, I'll start looking at that question." I shook my head. I was the decision maker here. "No, what I want you to do is to think of how to minimize any complications if I get married next week. I expect to hear what you have to say on Thursday afternoon. Okay?" He smiled and nodded. "Got it. Can't think of any problems right now, but we'll check to be sure." We shook hands and I took off. The ladies weren't at the house when I arrived around three -- Karen's Jeep was gone, but Nancy's car was in the garage. I had to turn off the alarm system when I went in. I installed the last two switches; the rest were still on order. I opened up the pool, and out of respect for Karen, went upstairs and found my swim suit. I put it on, and went down to the pool. The water felt great. I swam for a while, then spent a few minutes in the spa. I'd gotten out to dry off when the phone rang. I went inside and answered it in the kitchen, saying, "Hello?" "Both of you are going to die." Click. I took a breath. I recognized the voice. Gee, someone must be out of a job. I walked over to where the answering machine was, and Jill's box. I pushed buttons on the separate called ID box we had -- the last call had deliberately blocked caller ID -- not surprising. I picked up my cell phone. One of the other things I'd done was programmed Jill's numbers into the speed dialer. I called her office and asked for her. "Hi Bill, what's up? Did you meet with Marshall?" "Yes, things went well. I also just received a call from our friend Mister Morris. I think he must be out of a job. He called to tell me we were both going to die. Jill, I'd like you to do something about that twit for me." "Where's Karen?" "Don't know. I'm the only one home. I think her box recorded the call, but the caller ID information was deliberately blocked. But the voice was unmistakable." "What exactly did he say?" "The phone rang. I picked it up, and after I said hello, he said, 'Both of you are going to die,' and hung up." "Okay, call 911 and tell them you just got a death threat and need to file a report. Mindy and I will get the paperwork together. We'll have a restraining order within 24 hours." "Jill, thank you. I'll call the cops. Talk to you later." "Okay Bill, one of us may be by later on." I hung up my cell phone and picked up the kitchen one, and dialed 911. I'd never done that before. I told the dispatcher I'd just received a death threat, and needed to file a report. After a few moments hesitation, she seemed very interested. Someone would be out shortly. It was about ten minutes later when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole -- I was getting paranoid. It was a uniformed policeman. I opened the door and invited him in. We were just going through things when Karen and Nancy came back. Nancy was freaking out as she came into the house. Karen was very controlled, but obviously running on full alert. "What's happened? Why are the police here?" Nancy demanded. "Calm down darling, sit down, please," I told her. I looked at Karen, then at Nancy. I told her of the call I'd gotten, and of speaking with Jill, then calling 911. I introduced Karen to the cop. It turned out Karen had spoken to the local authorities already, alerting them there may be trouble. That's why we had such good response. She played back the message from her box, and confirmed the calling number had been blocked. Then she gave another of her predatory smiles, and picked up her cell phone. She dialed a number, asked for a particular extension, and identified herself. She asked for the number that had called us at that time. She wrote it down and gave it to the cop. "Cell phone," she said, "Should be easy to tell who it belongs to." "How did you do that?" I asked. "I had a trap trace set up on both places, just in case. Glad I did." The officer finished up the report. He told us we'd be receiving regular patrol checks. We gave him our vacation schedule. Karen surprised us by telling him she'd be staying here during that time. I signed the report. He left. "So, what did Jill have to say?" Nancy asked. "She's going for a restraining order, I guess. I hope she's giving this guy's presumably ex-employer an ear full as well." "You can count on that," Karen told us. "So what have you ladies been doing?" I asked. That put Nancy a little more at ease. They'd run out of packing boxes, and needed to do some grocery shopping. Nancy wanted to know how my day had gone. I held her hands and told her it had been exhausting, but rewarding. I showed them the switches I'd installed. Nancy saw the pool was open. "Looks like you went for a swim." I nodded. "I even wore a suit, in your honor," I told Karen. That broke the tension a little. "What's for dinner?" I asked. Nancy gave me an exasperated look, then laughed. "Rack of lamb. I'm going to get it in the oven, then I'm going for a swim." I took a pill, my first of the day, with some 7-Up, and got my suit back on. I was swimming again when I looked up after hearing and feeling someone else dive in, to see Karen in the pool. "This is great!" she said. "Enjoy it while we're gone," I told her. She laughed. "Beats my apartment, that's for sure." I shook my head. I didn't like what was happening. "Bill," Karen said, "We've done all we can do to prepare. Worrying won't do anyone any good, especially you." I took a deep breath. "Karen, you're right, of course. Part of me understands that. But, another part doesn't, and that's the part that's freaking out." She moved over to where she could stand on tiptoes, head above the water. "Bill, I understand. I'm the same way -- part of me is calm and calculating, but the other part isn't. But that part is hoping he actually shows up here and tries something." I laughed, seeing the way her muscles moved as she said that. Nancy joined us in the pool. I liked watching her swim. I liked watching her move. I liked watching her. I'd actually unwound a bit when the phone rang. The first ring sent a spasm through me, but I didn't lose anything. I took a deep breath as Karen got out of the pool and picked up the cordless phone. She hit the button, listened for a moment, frowned, then hit the hang up button. She started to say something to us when it rang again. She answered it, shook her head, and hit the button. She stepped back to the pool, phone in hand. As she sat by the edge, legs in the water, it rang again. "What's going on?" I asked her. Karen pushed buttons on the phone quickly and said, "Someone is trying to send us a fax, it seems." I got out of the pool. "More likely, a bunch of faxes. Are they coming from the same number?" By now we were all getting dried off. The phone kept ringing, and Karen kept clearing the calls. "I was going to suggest replacing this phone with a newer one with caller ID display in the handset. I'll check in the house." The three of us walked to the answering machine and caller ID box. The calls were coming from all over. I sighed. "If I was going to do something like that, I'd call fax-back services all over the country. I'll be right back." I went to our office and got the fax machine. I set it up by the answering machine upstairs, next to Karen's gadget. "You're not going to receive all those faxes, are you?" Nancy asked. I shook my head, and pulled the paper tray out of the fax machine. "Not a chance. I'll set this to answer on the first ring. It will tell the other side to piss off. Any voice calls it will pass through. Sound good?" Karen nodded, as did Nancy. I reprogrammed the fax machine to answer immediately, then hooked it up to the phone line. It got a call, gave us an error beep to let us know it was out of paper, and hung up. A few seconds later, it did it again. Karen had her cell phone out. "Hi, Jill -- this is Karen. I'm at the house, and the phone is being flooded with fax calls. If you need to reach us, call my portable. Bye." Nancy frowned. "What are we going to do?" I smiled. "Have dinner? We have cell phones, so we can call people, and Jill knows how to reach us. This is juvenile." Karen nodded, but frowned. Nancy sighed. "I guess we can get the number changed. I've got to check the meat." I hugged her, and she headed back to the kitchen. I frowned. "Karen, I would have thought this was an unlisted number. The phone at the townhouse was listed." Karen nodded. "This is an unlisted number. He probably has the same kinds of friends I do, who can look up information like that. And in case you're worried, the phone company, utilities, banks, everyone we could think of, has been notified not to give out any information or make any changes in services, and to make records of any such requests. Is your cell phone listed?" "Good thinking, thanks. No, I got my phone through part of a package deal some of us set up at work. I get the bill, but it's registered to the company." I had another bad thought. "Oh shit. We're going to need a shredder. I tossed a credit card receipt in the trash when I cleaned out the Jeep this afternoon." Karen nodded. "You're right -- you need to be very careful. I moved the trash cans inside the garage when we got home. We'll go through everything before trash pickup next week." All this time, the fax machine had been merrily answering calls, beeping with each one to let us know it still needed to be fed. So did I. I walked into the kitchen and hugged Nancy. "Need any help?" I asked, with a kiss on the back of her neck. "Bill, I need to be held. Why don't you go change, then help me set the table." "Okay hon. I'll be right back down." She laughed a little. Karen was standing at the caller ID box, going through the numbers, shaking her head. "I'm going to change and get ready for dinner," I told her as I headed up the stairs. In our bedroom, the first thing I did was unplug the phone. I dried off a bit more, then put on sweats. I'd have to carry my cell phone around with me. Hmmm... I thought a bit more about our emergency training at work. I wanted a phone on the fax line. I went downstairs. Karen must be up changing; she wasn't by the phone. I picked up my cell phone and turned it on, then clipped it to a pants pocket. I set the table for the three of us. When Karen came back down, I told her my concern. "Karen, if I remember correctly, 911 cell phone calls all get routed through the Highway Patrol. I was thinking of moving the cordless phone to the fax line -- so far it hasn't been hit, and if we need to make a 911 call, that line will go right to the local cops." She smiled and nodded, and handed me the base part of the cordless phone. "Good thinking. Do it. I'll keep the cordless with me, along with my cell phone." I took the stuff to the office and hooked it up. That's something else I could do -- make sure all the phone jacks in the place were wired for two lines. Only the office had a two line phone in it, for both the "normal" house phone line, and the line for the fax machine. Good, something else for me to do tomorrow. We sat down to a nice dinner, aside from the fax machine ringing and beeping five or six times a minute. After a while, the three of us tuned it out. While we were clearing the table, Karen's cell phone rang. She answered it. I guessed it was Jill or Mindy calling. I helped Nancy in the kitchen while Karen walked around to the assortment of electronics we had on the hallway table. We overheard some of her conversation. "Pretty much nonstop for the last two and a half hours, I'd say. No, they're coming from all over the place -- a lot of different area codes. Oh, twenty or thirty different numbers, I'd say. Oh hell no! Bill had a great idea -- he put the fax machine on the line, but pulled out the paper. It answers on the first ring. Yeah, I thought of that as well. We have the second line, the fax line, and so far it's clear. Yeah, I should check that it's good. Really? In that case, I'll give Carl a call right away. See you in a while. Bye." I expected Karen to join us in the kitchen and let us know what the hell was going on, but instead, she walked out on to the patio and closed the door behind her. Guess she didn't want us to know. Oh well. I put a hand on Nancy; I could feel how tight she was in her shoulders; it wasn't like her. "Relax, or try to. You're tight," I told her. She sighed, put down the dishtowel, and hugged me. I put my arms around her and rocked her gently. Karen came back in a few minutes later, smiling. "What's going on?" I asked. She waved us to the couch. Nancy and I sat together; Karen sat in the chair next to us. "Mister Morris was indeed fired earlier today. It shouldn't surprise you that he didn't take it very well. Jill got his former employer to admit that he had made statements intimating violence. She's lining up a judge to sign a protective order, but to be honest with you, the problem is going to be serving him with it. That, and protective orders are like stop signs on the road -- they only stop people who pay attention to them. But, we're in good shape." Nancy squeezed my hand. "Really?" I asked. "Are you leveling with us?" I sensed something else. "Let's wait for Jill to get here." "No, Karen. I asked you a question. How can you expect me to make informed decisions without information? I want to know. You can't explain everything and its implications to us. I understand that, but I want to know your chief concerns. I expect you to tell us." Karen looked at Nancy. "Nancy?" she asked. Nancy surprised me. She gave me a hug, then got up. "I'm going to take a long, hot bath. I don't need to know right now." She kissed me on the head, and as she walked by, put a hand on Karen's shoulder. We were silent until we heard the bedroom door close. "Bill, do you want to know?" Karen asked. "How the fuck can I tell? Karen, I'm sorry. It feels like something's got you bugged. What is it?" She nodded. "I'm not sure if the fax thing is just harassment, or a cover for something else, just insuring the phone line is tied up. That, and Mister Morris has a concealed weapon permit." "Oh fuck." "Bill, we've informed the police department, and they've spread the word. We're also assuming Morris is able to listen to the police radios; I know I can, and do. I've also arranged for a couple very skilled people to watch us. One will be coming over with Jill in a while, and spending the night in the garage." I looked at my hands. They were shaking. I looked back to Karen. "Do you feel safe?" I asked her. "Bill, I don't know. Having said that, there's nothing else I can think of doing, nobody else I can think of calling, nothing else I can think of putting in place." "What do you recommend we do?" "For tonight, stay put. I'm staying. Jill and Carl will be over in a while. We'll look at things again in the morning." I stood up. "Okay. Would Carl like coffee?" Karen stood as well. "Oh yeah." We walked to the kitchen and I helped her find the stuff to start a pot of coffee. I watched with interest; it was something I should learn to do for Nancy. A while later I went upstairs with a glass of Lemoncello for Nancy. She was still in the tub. "Something for you, beautiful," I told her. She smiled. "How are you?" I sighed. "I'm okay, I guess. Jill will be over in a while, with reinforcements." She looked at me. "We could leave, tonight or tomorrow -- just go to the airport and go." I shook my head. "No. We're not running. At least not yet." I chuckled a little. "I trust Karen and Jill. When they say run, we'll run." I bent down and kissed her, then headed back downstairs. It was another half hour before Jill and Carl arrived. Karen got the door. The fax machine was still beeping. Carl was someone I wouldn't want to offend. He was only a couple inches taller than me, but very muscular. He had a couple bags of stuff with him. Jill and I sat down at the kitchen table. Karen showed Carl around the house and then to the garage. "Well, counsel?" I asked. She gave me a tired smile. "We're getting some assistance from his ex-employer, after a few heated exchanges and a nasty fax from Mindy and I." She slid a document over to me. "The restraining order is signed and filed with the police -- Mindy called me as we were driving over here; she is hand-delivering copies to other jurisdictions. If he shows up within a hundred yards of either of you, or the two houses, or the office, he's subject to arrest." "Hundred yards? How good a shot is he?" Jill gave me a grim smile. "Karen told you about that?" "I'm not sure how much she told me. After some prodding, she told me he had a permit to carry a gun." She nodded. "That's about all we know. His house is staked out, and we'd love to go in, but the authorities don't feel they have cause yet. The Constitution protects us all." "Okay, so what's the plan?" She shook her head. "I'll level with you. I don't know. We'll look at things in the morning. I know that's not a very good answer." I reached across the table for her hand. "Jill, it's an honest answer. Those are the best kind." She smiled. "I'm glad you understand. I'm going to take off. You know how to contact me. Try to sleep tonight." She looked over at the fax machine. It was still doing its thing. "Has that thing shut up?" I shook my head. "Not since I connected it. I figure we'll change the phone number tomorrow, but I'm not sure what good that will do." She nodded as she stood up. "A very realistic appraisal, I'm afraid. We do depend on our friends to be able to bend the rules some times." I'd thought about that, how we'd expected Karen to be able to do that with the phone numbers we'd gotten from the fax machine, what seemed to be so long ago. I walked with her to the garage. The lights were off, and Karen and Carl were sitting in folding chairs, looking at a little TV set. There was a side door to the walkway on the side of the house -- the window was now covered. The little TV set was showing what looked to be a black and white image of the street and our driveway. I looked and saw a wire going from the set into the darkness and over to the garage door. "Miniature camera?" I asked. Carl turned to me. "Low light as well, and very small. Don't think anyone can spot it from the street." Jill said, "I'm taking off. You know what to do." We all nodded. I said, "I'll walk you out." Karen said, "No you won't -- I will." I shrugged my shoulders. Karen and Jill walked out. Carl motioned me to the other chair; I sat down. "Mister Wilson, you're taking this really well." "Not a fucking lot of choice, pardon my French. What else could I do?" He smiled. I was glad he was on our side. "Oh, you could be running around yelling nonsense at people, demanding impossibilities, that kind of thing." I shrugged my shoulders again. "So what can I do to make your life easier, other than not get into shit like this again?" He actually laughed. "Mister Wilson, this is my job. I like it. I'm sorry my skills are still in demand, but I'm glad to be here when needed. You can do exactly what Karen already told you. Anything that happens, stay in your room, go into the bathroom and close the door and stay there. Leave the lights off. Don't come out until one of us comes to get you. Don't do anything stupid. Other than that, sleep well, and I hope it's another boring night -- most of them are." We watched Jill drive off. The camera was quite good. Karen came back to join us. I stood up. "Well gang, I feel better, but I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you I'm still worried. I'm going off to bed." Carl stood up as well. "Karen, can you watch the monitor while I familiarize myself with the layout?" Karen nodded and sat down. Carl took two radios out of his bag and gave one to Karen. He clipped the other to his belt. He smiled. "Mister Wilson, you can show me the bedroom, if your wife doesn't mind." "Carl, call me Bill, please. And we're not married yet." We walked upstairs. I checked the bedroom first -- Nancy was still in the bath. I showed Carl the bedroom. He looked out the sliding glass doors onto our small balcony overlooking the pool, and checked that it was locked. I described the bathroom layout to him. He shook my hand and wished us a good night. I closed the door behind him. "How are you, sweetie?" I asked, walking into the bathroom. "Who were you talking to?" Nancy asked. She was looking more relaxed. "Reinforcements. Ex-Navy seal. Glad he's here." "Okay, I'm getting out. Time for bed." I held a towel out for her as she got up, and helped her out of the tub. She dried off as I brushed my teeth. We both went to the can, then went to bed. We held each other fiercely at first, eventually drifting off to sleep. I awoke with a start. It was still dark, and Nancy was moving, getting out of bed. "What's wrong?" I hissed. She put a hand on me. "It's okay -- I have to go to the bathroom." I tried to relax back on the bed, my heart pounding. It was two thirty in the morning. It was a while before Nancy came back. She got into bed and we snuggled together like two spoons. "Good news," she said softly, "I'm not pregnant." I kissed the back of her neck and held her. I took that as her period starting. I held her and after a while went back to sleep. It was light out when I woke again. It was my turn to get up and use the bathroom. I didn't take as long. It was quarter after seven when I got back into bed. As I moved closer, Nancy slipped off her nightie and held me to her. I settled in, my arms around her. She sighed as she held me close. It was another of those times when she took me to some wonderful place -- not awake, not asleep, held, comforted. We got up after a while, showered, dressed, and headed downstairs. Karen was at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, and reading the paper. The fax machine was still answering and beeping. "Good morning. Where's Carl?" I asked. "Upstairs asleep," she told us. "How did you two sleep?" I rubbed Nancy's back. "I slept pretty well," I told Karen, "How about you, sweetie?" Nancy smiled. "Pretty well, I guess. I need coffee." I got a banana, and started some toast for us. "So did the fax machine go all night?" Karen answered. "Think so. I talked to one of the support people at the phone company. They'll be happy to change the number whenever we want. I've got a list of ten numbers you can chose from." "And how long will it take him to figure out we've dumped the old number, and get the new one?" "That's an optimistic thought," Karen said between sips. "And your answer is?" "Depends on how good his contacts are. Within a day, certainly." "Well, in that case I'm not sure just what good it would do. I take it he hasn't shown up or been served?" Karen shook her head. "Nope. His residence is under 24 hour surveillance, and he hasn't shown." "Can we change the number temporarily? Let the old one go dead for a week or two, then pick it up again?" "Don't see why not." I fixed toast for Nancy and I. We discussed the day. I wanted to rewire the phone jacks, get a new cordless phone, and complete the installation of the light switches. Nancy was going to pack up some more. Karen would take care of the phone, and wanted to try running some things. Carl would be with us for another day or so. I decided to start the phone rewiring first. I'd done a similar job at the townhouse, setting up all the jacks for two lines. It was pretty easy -- all the jacks had four wires running to them, with only two used. Setting up for both lines was a simple matter. Each phone company line was two wires, a pair. Since the house was fairly new, all the utilities ran underground. The phone lines came up into a Network Interface Box on the side of the house outside the garage. The jacks in the house were wired daisy-chain, one hooked to the other. The second line in the office had been added as an afterthought. Luckily, both the main set of jacks in the house, and the second line jack in the office were put in with four wire cable. I should have two four-wire cables in the Network Interface Box. Normal RJ-11 single line wiring used the red-green pair of wires. For two line wiring, what I was going to do, the second line used the yellow-black pair. All I had to do was wire the yellow-black pair of each cable to the red-green pair of the other. That would give us two lines all through the house. Unless, of course, someone was sloppy and didn't bother with the other pair somewhere along the line. Oh well, more fun for me. I gathered the tools I'd need and went to the box, which was located between two gates. The tall wooden gate was at the street; our garbage cans usually sat there. About thirty feet farther along the house was a lower metal gate that led along to the pool shed and pool. I knew that both gates were now tied into the alarm system. The wooden gate was silent; the metal one wasn't. When I looked at the plastic phone company box set into the side of the garage, I noticed two wires sticking out from the bottom, each about six or eight inches in length, resting against the wood siding of the house. When I opened the box, I saw that each of these wires went to a block of black plastic. One had a green dot on it, the other an orange dot. Two wires came out the other side of each block, and these went to the screw terminals for the phone lines. "Fuck," I said to nobody in particular. I walked back into the house. "Oh Karen!" I called out. She walked out from the kitchen. "What is it?" I hooked a finger. "Got something to show you." She raised an eyebrow and followed me. I pointed to the black goodies attached to my phone lines. "Shit -- bugs," she said. "That's what I thought. But look closely at the wires. See how the copper is tarnished? Those things have been here for a while -- copper has to be exposed for a couple months, at least, to tarnish like that." She looked closely, then back at me, brow now really furrowed. "So most likely, they're not from our friend." I shrugged. "That would be my guess." After a moment, I continued. "As I see it, I can either take 'em out or leave 'em in. Got an opinion?" Karen gave me a very ugly look. I chuckled a little. She told me, "I'm for leaving them alone." I nodded. "Okay." "You're sure about those things being there for a while?" Karen asked. I loosened one of the screw terminals to put in the extra wires. I pointed to part of one of the wires. "See the bright spot where the wire was under the screw? It takes time for copper to oxidize. We'll have some new spots to use for comparison, but I'd say it was at least a few weeks, if not longer." Karen frowned. "I want to get some pictures of this shit." I did my wiring, and closed up the box. When I walked back into the house, Karen was standing next to the fax machine and her monitor. She turned and gave me a big grin. "Hey, good job -- it works. My tracker found the second line." "Thanks. Want to call the phone company and get them to switch our phone number?" "Okay. What are you going to do?" "Where's Nancy?" "Sitting out by the pool. I'm not sure how she's taking this." "Thanks. I'm thinking of getting a two-line cordless phone, and picking up the extra switches -- they should be in." "Sounds okay. Take Nancy with you?" I nodded. "Hope to." I walked outside. Nancy was sitting in a patio chair, looking off at the valley. I went down on a knee beside her. "How are you doing, sweetie?" I kissed her shoulder. She sighed. "I don't know. I'm sort of numb." "Well, come for a ride with me, then." She turned and a small smile started breaking through the pain. "Okay, what are we doing?" "I need to pick some things up." "Like?" I grinned and held out my left wrist. "I was thinking maybe a Rolex." She frowned for a moment, then laughed. "That's better," I told her. "I need to get a better portable phone, and the rest of the switches. Karen says it's okay, and you should come with me." She sighed and nodded, then held out her hands. I helped her to her feet, and we hugged. "I'll be ready in a few minutes." "Okay beautiful, take your time." We needed Karen's help to move Carl's little camera, but we got underway. Our first stop was for the phone. I went to Fry's, a West Coast phenomenon. I could tell a little ways into the store that Nancy hadn't been here before. I held Nancy's hand as she looked around in amazement. "This is nerd heaven," I told her, "a great place to avoid on weekends." We got the phone I wanted, a Panasonic two-line unit with caller ID built in. I picked up some miscellaneous phone cords and adapter blocks. We went over by the video cameras and I got another battery and charger for the camcorder, and picked up a couple more blank tapes. Nancy was still bewildered. "Need anything?" I asked her, "Memory chips? Ethernet hubs? Vibrators?" She gave me a low laugh. "They don't..." I took her hand. "Let's look." They had massagers of a few varieties, but nothing that resembled the more "personal" variety. "Guess that tells a lot about the sex lives of nerds," she chortled. She did spot the coffee bar though, and ordered a coffee. We stood in the checkout queue. A pair of geeks were in front of us, their cart laden with hi-tech stuff -- I saw disk drives, a motherboard, some other stuff. As we inched along, one of them scooped five or six packages of Hostess cupcakes into their cart. I thought Nancy was going to fall down, she was trying so hard to keep from laughing out loud. We paid cash and made it back to the Jeep. "Never been there, I take it?" I asked as we pulled out of the lot. "I guess I've led a sheltered life. That's some place!" "It's Silicon Valley, that's for sure." We went over to the store in Cupertino and picked up the rest of the switches. I showed Nancy what other varieties they had; she liked the multibutton ones, so I picked up a couple of those as well. We stopped at a little Greek place for lunch. It was almost two when we got back to the house. We carried stuff into the house and put it on the kitchen table, walking by the answering machine, fax, and Karen's box. The fax was merrily clucking away. Karen came out of the hall. "Hey!" I said, "I thought we were supposed to get a new phone number!" She smiled. "Oh, we did. It took him under an hour. I chewed out the head of security for the phone company. We're getting another number after shift change in a few hours. Before the abuse resumed, we also got another call from Mister Morris. Jill has heard it. She's working on an arrest warrant." Nancy shook her head. "I'm going for a swim." I gave her a hug. "Thanks for going with me. I'll put in the new stuff." I set up the new phone, checking out both lines. Installing the switches took another hour. I thought about the cordless one. It would work better if the base part was up high. That would be the outlet in our room. I picked it up and took it upstairs. I plugged it in to power, then to the phone jack. Line 1, the old line, worked fine. Line 2, the new one, was dead at the jack. I got my screwdriver and pulled out the two screws, pulling the jack from wall. There was a broken wire on the back of the jack. There was also a small black blob attached to the rear of the faceplate, with wires going to another black plastic block crammed in the back of the box. My stomach lurched to my throat. I gripped the edges of the table; my hands got cold. I swallowed, hard. This Technicolor yawn stuff had to stop, and now seemed to be a pretty good time. I swallowed again. I looked it over. Two wires going to the main line -- those would supply power. Two wires going to the little blob on the back of the face plate -- a small hole on the other side -- okay, that was the microphone. I took a breath and stepped into the hallway. "Karen! I need you upstairs, now!" She came running. She started to say, "What's..." but I put a hand to her mouth. I led her into the bedroom and pointed out the bug. She turned a little pale. I pried the block part out of the box. It had an antenna wire sticking up into the wall. I got out my wire cutters. I turned the plate over, and said loud and clear into the microphone, "Fuck you." I cut the wires at the jack. I looked at her, and said, "Not a word of this to Nancy." She nodded. We found two more -- one in the office and one in the kitchen. Just for grins, we went around looking at every phone plate. Then we looked at all the plates, electrical, cable, you name it. We didn't find anything. I got the ladder from the garage and took the smoke detectors and alarm pieces off the walls. I found one more bug. Karen looked shaken. She told me she'd have the office and the beach house swept. I wanted to do Tahoe myself. Looks like we're going back up there. She didn't want me to do that. The roads were too open. What a comforting thought. Carl appeared. Karen briefed him in whispers, showing him the bugs. I went upstairs and got my swimsuit. Nancy was in the pool, in one of the floats, wearing sunglasses. I dove in and swam to her. The way she moved, she must have been asleep. "I love you, beautiful," I told her. She shook her head. "Oh, I love you, Bill. My God, I need to get on dinner. I guess I needed that." Before I could grab her, she rolled out the other side of the float and swam to the side of the pool. She got out, not turning to me. I left her alone. Carl came out about a half hour later. He looked pretty happy about something. He stood by the back fence, looking down the hillside. I got out and walked over to him. "What's up?" I asked. He grunted. "Thinking about perimeter security. This fence isn't that good." I pointed down the hill a ways, just beyond the solar collectors. "Best fence Nature can provide. You won't find me going down there, or up from the other side. Manzanita and Poison Oak -- wonderful combination." He looked at me and smiled, nodding his head. "I like it. I might rig some wire by the collectors, though." I shrugged my shoulders. "Be my guest, but the poison is all around the things. What's got you so cheered up?" He laughed a little. "Come on, I'll show you. Your wife says dinner is in twenty minutes anyway." I grabbed a towel. He led me to the garage. We had a phone outlet in the garage. I saw a wire plugged into it, leading to an old Styrofoam cooler I'd brought from the townhouse. He opened the lid. There inside was one of the phone jacks I'd bought, and all our bugs. Also inside was a small radio, turned to a Spanish language station. He put the cover back on the cooler. We both laughed. "So, who do you figure planted those?" I asked. He shook his head. "No clue. I called a friend -- he'll drop by tomorrow to let us know what frequencies they run on. That might help." "Effective range?" I asked. It was his turn to shrug. "Up on a hillside like this? Five miles line of sight, or more." I nodded. "From the dust around things, and the oxidation on the wires, they've been here for a month or more." He looked at me and nodded. "I'd say two or three months, at least." "So, you've seen things like those before?" He nodded. "Place in Vancouver, Canada sells them, if I remember correctly. They're made in Japan. Not cheap. Whoever did this cared enough to send the very best." "I'm fucking honored." Carl laughed again. We went back into the house. Nancy and Karen were setting the dining room table for the four of us. It was a simple dinner, but good. Nancy and I had wine. Karen had iced tea. Carl drank about a half gallon of milk. After dinner, as the others were clearing the table, I said, "I'll go check the mail." I started to turn to the door when an iron hand gripped my arm. Carl said, "No. It's dark out. It can wait until morning." He was serious. I nodded. I helped Nancy with the dishes. She seemed subdued. I was still somewhat cold after learning our house was bugged -- even our damn bedroom. And after all that work, Karen had insisted on having the base set for the cordless downstairs with her stuff. We sat around and reviewed the day. Carl and Karen reviewed what we were to do in case anything unusual happened. She told us the phone company wanted to switch numbers in the morning -- they thought they knew who was leaking information to Morris, and wanted to flush the bastard out. Fine with me. I took Nancy upstairs around nine. I was tired, but not too tired to show her what I'd learned. "Nancy, get ready and then I want you on the bed on your back. Would you like something to help you sleep? I think we've got some of those pills left." She shook her head. "No -- I've been taking tranquilizers all day. I'm going to need a therapist if this goes on very long. I'm scared, Bill. I'm cold. I need you to hold me." That helped explain how she'd been acting today. I held her. "Nancy, I'll hold you, and protect you, with everything I have." We quietly got ready for bed. I checked the handheld radio on her bedstand, and moved it to my side. I'd wake up easier, I was guessing. After she was on the bed, I had her move down so her feet were slightly off the edge. I got the fur coat from the closet, and a towel and the massage lotion from the bathroom. I put the coat over her, fur side down. "Enjoy, love." "What? What are you doing, Bill?" "Relax, hon," I told her. I raised her feet and put the towel underneath her feet and legs. I sat on my knees by her feet, spread some of the massage stuff on my hands to warm it, and started massaging her feet. After a few seconds, she moaned appreciatively. "Oh I love you." I put everything I had into massaging her feet. I worked on her for about forty minutes. When I stopped, my hands were a little sore. She was breathing slowly -- I guessed she was asleep. I took the coat off her, and helped her get under the covers. She made some noises, but never really awakened. I picked up the coat, carrying it back to the closet to hang it up. The soft fur was so enticing. I could just ... but I walked by the phone outlet that had held the bug, and I went cold again. I hung up the coat, went to the bathroom one more time, washed my hands, and got into bed. I snuggled up close to her, wrapping an arm around her. She held on to me tightly, but I don't think she woke up. END of Part 4 Tales of the Golden Mule Tales of the Golden Mule by artie@netgate.net http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www http://artie.web1000.com/ The entire Tales of the Golden Mule is available in HTML format on my web site (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www/TGM.html). It's also available as a single LARGE (about 800kb!) text file on the asstr ftp site (http://www.asstr-mirror.org//pub/Authors/artie/text/tgm.txt). ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ This post has been reformatted by ASSTR's Smart Text Enhancement Processor (STEP) system due to linelengths exceeding the 75 character limit. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. The post was sent as an email attachment and has been converted by ASSTR ASSM moderation software. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: | | FAQ: Moderator: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Archive: Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository | |, an entity supported entirely by donations. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+