Jillian was gripping me tightly as I rode my bike towards town; we were followed by a hummer with six officers, three Canadians and three Americans. My chopper roared below me as the road howled by us. Jillian was still not comfortable with the loud roar of my hog, but to be fair I have a monster of a bike, and we were going a hundred and forty kilometres per hour.
The road was new, and it was flat, but my chopper has a hard tail, so the ride was still a little jarring to Jillian. She held on to me tightly all the way into the village. We had decided to go into town to meet with the mayor, and also to give our six friends a feel for the place, and an idea of where we might have to chase our foes if things got out of hand.
Colonel Fitzgerald asked me: "How much support can we expect from the local police?"
"More than half the force is in on the deal with the Colombians, the loyal ones will account for two dozen more people, but I have been given permission to deputise another eight dozen gang members if we need it. We have been training them, so even the weakest members of the training class could be used to secure the town."
"Hum, I don't want this to spill into the town, so let's get a dozen of your best men, and seven dozen of the mid-level ones deputised." He paused, thought for second, and then asked me: "Do you have the means to get them regular police outfits?"
"Yeah the mayor is in on the sting, I can meet with him today if you want the men to be able to integrate into the town before we strike."
"That sounds good to me, we will scope out the town while you talk to the mayor."
"We should have brought Phillip; he has connections all over town, and would have been very helpful."
"Nah, I think we should keep a low profile for now, but make certain he warns the town properly the day of the sting. We want to minimize casualties."
"Actually I don't want to minimize casualties, I want no casualties, and I will do everything in my power to prevent them; the town's people come first, then my men, then yours, but I also would prefer to avoid killing any of the Colombians, although I will not hesitate to dispatch them if they endanger anybody else."
"That is a lofty goal; I wish you luck in carrying it out."
"I will use my best men, but let's not get ahead of ourselves; I will take Jillian to meet with the mayor."
Jillian had been holding on to me during the entire conversation, and since I was still on my bike, she had not moved much either. I sped off to the town hall, leaving the colonel and his boys to explore the town a little.
When we reached the town hall we noticed Ronal coming out the front door. He noticed me and quickly walked up to me. When he reached me he asked, in a business like manner: "What brings you here today Vinny?"
"I need to see the mayor, I require a favour ASAP, and I also need to talk to him."
"Certainly, follow me; I am certain he will be anxious to see you once I tell him you are here." Jillian finally let go of me, and Ronal noticed her for the first time and softly asked: "Who do you have with you today?"
I got off the bike and help Jillian off as I said: "A new friend I picked up in England, her name is Jillian."
Jillian pulled off her helmet as I spoke. When Ronald saw her face he smiled. He softly said: "You are a very beautiful girl Jillian; it is a pleasure to meet you."
Jillian replied casually: "Nice to meet you also. I take it you're a friend of Vinny's."
"You could say that, what brings you to our fair country?"
"A need to get away from a vengeful ex boyfriend." She paused, hugged me closer, and then added: "I also followed my loves here."
Ronal was a little less happy upon hearing that, but kept his smile as he said: "I assume Vinny is one of them."
"Yes he is, and Mandy is the other."
Ronal turned to me and asked: "Who is Mandy?"
I replied: "She is one of my lovers, and a childhood friend."
Ronal was puzzled, as he said: "I thought you were lovers with Maya and Candy."
"I am, but they permitted me, well actually told me, to make love to other women. That led to a very interesting afternoon, where I met a few new friends, and found out that Mandy had joined my gang too. Well things snowballed and I have a much higher number of lovers now. But I still love Maya and Candy deeply."
"Well the mayor will be happy to hear that, but I have no clue how he will take the rest of the news."
"I think he'll be fine with it. He has already met Amber, Lynn, Mandy, Sarah and Kimberly; I think he will be happy to meet Jillian."
"You have been busy haven't you?"
Ronal guided us to Daniel's office. When we arrived he greeted me warmly: "Nice to see you Vinny. It has been a few days; may I ask who you brought with you today?"
"Hi Daniel, this lovely creature is Jillian, I picked her up on my recent trip to England. She and Mandy have hit it off rather well."
"Good to hear. How is Maya doing?"
"She's adapting to life with the gang. She still has a few things she does differently, but nobody notices any more. I am also happy to tell you I have finally built a place for all of the girls and me to live."
"I hope it's safe."
"It's less than an hundred meters from Max's house, and we have just about finished a barracks that sits beside it, all of the gang's elite members will be next door. So I am pretty certain everything is quite safe."
"Wonderful to hear my friend. So what brings you into town today?"
"I am here to recruit your help, we are taking down the Colombian's this week, and the security staff at the university should fall next week, and with any luck, we will be able to finish the clean up of the police force soon after. So I need some patsies to take all the praise and anything you can spare to protect the town. I am going to send a contingent of my boys to help defend the town in case the fight spill beyond the expected borders."
"Of course, anything I can offer is yours. I will have a general emergency plan created ASAP, so if needed we can move everybody in town into a safe location."
"Thank you. I have some business to attend to this afternoon with the RCMP and DEA boys they brought with them, but once you're ready just have Ronal sent word to Max, and Sid will come to meet with you and iron out any details we may have missed."
"Sid, isn't that Sarah and Kimberly's father?"
"Yes it is. I have put him in charge of defending the base during the sting. So he will be best to talk to in order to organise a well split defence between our base and the town."
"Sounds good to me. I will stop by your base myself later today. I miss my daughter and want to see the new stuff you've built with my own eyes."
"You know you're always welcome at our base. The gang may be a little rough when they first meet you, but they won't hurt anybody who is related to one of my girls, and they will protect my girls with their lives."
"Is my daughter just one of your girls?"
"Daniel, I love Maya, just like I love all of my girls. I know calling them my girls seems impersonal, and even a little derogatory, but I only use the term for their safety. If their names are hard to come by then they are harder to target."
"I have to admit I had never thought about it like that, but you're right; that must them harder to identify. I believe you love Maya, and I will always respect you for saving her life, and her girlfriend's, as painful as it is for me to admit that."
"They love each other, which is all that matters in my eyes."
"Maya is happy, that is all I need to know. But enough of this conversation. You have to go and I am going to call it an early night and head over to your base to see Maya. Later my friend."
With that I headed back out with Jillian as Daniel returned to his office and finished up his day. When we got outside I got on my bike, and Jillian spryly hopped on behind me. I brought my hog to life and headed out towards the main strip. It only took us five minutes to reach it. Phillip told me that we pretty much had every store on the street affiliated with us.
I took Jillian with me as I went into each store and introduced myself. Even the three stores who had not signed on with us were happy to meet me. Jillian and I ended up getting quite a few free things and promise of more in the future. I told each store that they would be asked to help with something in the near future, but that I was not yet certain when. I also told them that Phillip would be in contact with them to give them more details as they emerged.
Jillian had a good time looking around all the nice shops while I talked with the owners. She got a few things, which she put in the saddle bags I had hanging on the back of my bike. Jillian and I ended up having lunch in the diner. It was on the house. We talked a little and cuddled while we ate. It was getting late by the time we met up with Colonel Fitzgerald and his boys.
He told me that his covert ops specialist had arrived and would introduce us when we got back to the base. Jillian and I hopped onto my hog. She was getting more comfortable with the roar of the engine by the minute, but she still loved to hold on to me tightly. The ride back was slower; I stayed at the speed limit the whole way. But it gave Jillian a chance to get used to being on a chopper.
We got back to the base as the sun began setting. I hugged Jillian and asked: "So little girl, how did you enjoy your first ride on a real hog?"
She bubbled over with joy as she said: "I loved it. I can't wait to do it again."
"You know you will have to learn to drive a bike at some point. You should ask Mandy to show you hers, it a little less intimidating, but it's a solid ride."
"I didn't know she had a motorcycle."
"She has a crotch rocket, as we call them, it's fast, with a soft tail and an engine that whines, unlike mine that roars."
