To fully understand what is happening here, I suggest you first read "Houston Ch. 01: The Problem."
Many thanks to those who offered comments and constructive criticism on my previous stories. For those who want to say this or that would never happen, remember this is my universe, a place where nearly anything can, and often does, happen. At least on paper...
Please refer to my profile for more on my personal policy regarding comments, feedback, follows, etc. (And yes, I DO moderate comments) And please remember, this is a work of fiction, not a docu-drama...
End of "Houston Ch. 01: The Problem"
"There's a lot about me you don't know," he said. "And it's about time you did. You think that lasagna is still good?"
"Yeah," she said. "It's just staying warm in the oven."
"Good," he said. "Why don't we have some lasagna and I'll tell you a little story."
"Does this mean you forgive me?" she asked.
"We'll see," he said, standing up. "Care to join me for dinner?" he asked, extending his hand. She smiled, took his hand and stood up.
...
And now, "Houston Ch. 02: The Intervention"
Houston sat in silence and listened as her husband, John, told her his story - the one he had kept hidden for the last five years or so. She barely touched her lasagna as he told her about his childhood as Herman Muenster, his time in the service, including two combat tours overseas.
He, on the other hand, wolfed down his food as he talked about how he was recruited to join an outfit called "Alpha Sector," a government intelligence-gathering agency that she had never heard of before. He explained the reason for his name change and assured her that it was all legal and above-board.
"But you don't look like a secret agent type of person," she said quietly. He chuckled.
"What, you think we're all supposed to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger or the latest guy playing James Bond?" he asked.
"Well, that's what I thought," she said. He laughed again.
"Trust me, you've been watching way too many movies," he said. "The last thing the Company wants is someone who stands out in a crowd. The more nondescript and average, the better. And no, I don't wear tuxedos and frolic in ritzy casinos in Monaco or anything like that. Hell, most of my work is really rather boring. All I do is collect information. That's it. I bring it back and others do the hard analysis. Most of the time, I don't even know what the case is all about."
"What about what happened with Greg?" she asked. "Did they train you to do that?" He nodded his head.
"Yeah, most of it," he said. "I already had some martial arts training, so they just built on what I already knew. Fortunately, I don't have to use it very often, but it's nice to know I can defend myself if I have to."
"What belt do you have?" she asked. "Greg said he has a 5th degree black belt."
"Mine is leather," he said with a smile.
"Leather?" she asked. "I never heard of that one."
"That's what the tag said, anyway," he told her, showing her his work belt.
"You brat," she said with a smile, slapping his arm in jest. Her face turned serious after a few moments. "What's going to happen now? To us?" He stopped chewing for a moment and thought before answering.
"That depends on you, I guess," he told her. "Tomorrow morning, we're going to see my boss. If you think I'm a hard-ass, wait till you meet him."
"What time do we have to be there?" she asked.
"He said 7:00 am sharp, which means we'd better get there at 6:45," he said. "Regis hates to be kept waiting. And since it takes about an hour or so to get there, we need to be out of the house at 5:30. So we probably should get to bed a bit early." She took his hand in hers.
"I'm serious, John, I never meant to hurt you," she said.
"Well, you did," he said. "And it's going to take a lot of work to deal with that. Trust me, the only reason you're still here is that you never got a chance to go through with what you planned to do. I just want to know why. What in God's name ever possessed you to think I'd want something like that? This didn't come about overnight. How long did they work on you?"
"A little more than a couple months, total," she said. "But the big push came about in the last couple weeks. Greg and the other girls showed me some stories online that made it sound like every guy loves that kind of thing. They kept pushing, making it sound like it was so wonderful. At first, I told them no, but they kept pushing. Then I spoke to the head of that team, and she made it sound like it was the best thing to happen to her marriage."
"But you never spoke directly to the spouses yourself," he said. "So you really don't know if they were telling you the truth. Worse yet, you never spoke to me about any of this. I just can't believe you were gullible enough to fall for this."
"They told me not to tell you," she said. "They were just going to spring it on you. That's what Greg was going to do tonight."
"Yeah, well, that didn't work out too well for him, did it?" John asked.
"No, it didn't," she said quietly.
"You said earlier that they threatened to do something if I didn't go along with their plan," he said. "What, exactly, did they threaten to do?"
"I was told they would send the enforcers after you," she said.
"Enforcers?" John asked. "What is that?"
"It's the firm's private security force," she said. "Greg was the one responsible for them. They provide security for the executives and their support staff."
"I see," he told her. "And I take it they're all former military?" She nodded her head.
"Yeah," she said. "They're basically hired gorillas. Big, mean, ugly, you name it. Just thinking about them scares me."
"Which means they're not going to be very happy about what happened to their boss," John said.
"Probably not," she said.
"Did they tell you what, specifically, might happen to me?" he asked her.
"They suggested you might have an accident, or the brakes on your car might malfunction, or that you may get mugged," she said. "They said a lot of bad things could very easily happen to you."
"I see," he said. "Well, we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't we?"
"It would kill me if anything happened to you," she said.