Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2015 12:54:38 -0400 From: Eff Del Subject: Green Grow the Rushes O- Chapter 18 *Green Grow the Rushes O- Chapter 18* By Eff Del nolitimere156@gmail .com "My God. I've failed in my job completely!" Richard was sobbing. "Of course you didn't. You had no idea that the boy was going to leave the property. You had no chance to plan his protection. No one at the gate was instructed to restrict him from leaving. If anything, the failure was mine for not telling you. I knew he had early boxing practice but it never occurred to me to let you know. The idea of this terrorist threat was so new, I hadn't even assimilated it." I gazed down at the broken young body before me and just wept. He'd been torn up terribly but his sweet young face, despite the tubes and ventilators, was still beautiful and actually serene. I ran my hand down his white cheek and finally kissed his forehead. He was unresponsive; such an unfamiliar sensation from Jack who was usually hot and eager. "I'll spend some time in this vigil hoping for his life Richard, but starting right now, I want all of our resources spent on finding those mother fuckers and I'd prefer you find them alive because they are going to pay in pain for what they've done to my little boy. By the time this is over, I want to be the most frightening man on the planet. I want every evil fucker on earth to prefer to shit his pants and then eat it rather than go up against me and my family." He nodded his head and I knew he totally understood. Sean entered the room with Arlen and Brian. His amazing blue/green eyes were puddled in heavy tears as he looked down at his brother. He also bent down and kissed Jack's forehead. He leaned into me and he was sobbing, "Why would somebody do something like that to a person who never did anything but be good to everyone he ever met?" I hugged him tight and said; "I have no answer to that question. That kind of evil is beyond understanding." "Mister Tucker, I'm Doctor Raymond. I'm the trauma specialist here. I'm also a Colonel in the Marines and at a high enough security level that I know about the SKUGGOR so if I might, I'd like to speak frankly." I nodded. "Do you prefer `Doctor' or `Colonel'?" He smiled and replied; "I prefer `Sam' because that's my name." I smiled and liked him instantly and I thrust out my hand to him. "Thanks Sam. I'm Eric and this is Sean, this is Richard...if you know about Skuggor then you know that Richard IS Skuggor. This is Arlen and this young man is Brian." They all exchanged handshakes. "I assume that I may speak freely in front of you all?" I nodded my head. "Good, then, I'm happy to tell you that it's not nearly as bad as it looks. Whoever set the IED was certainly a bumbling amateur. It exploded in the wrong direction therefore the bulk of its dynamic force was away from the car Jack was driving. While I know his car looks horrible, that's because that's the way modern automobiles are designed to respond to stress such as collisions. They sort of look like they're self-destructing while the fact is, they're wrapping around the passenger protecting them. The Germans are among the best in the world at that so...congratulations on your choice of car for your boy. Jack hasn't lost a limb, based upon the way he's breathing; he doesn't seem to be affected by blast lung. He did suffer a concussion based upon the force of the explosion though he didn't receive a blow to the head and we're keeping him in a medically controlled coma so that his organs and the rest of his body can recover naturally from the residual trauma of the blast. He has numerous seemingly minor shrapnel punctures all over his body. I might tell you that one piece now lodged in his inner leg seems to have barely missed castrating him so...sometime in the future, you might want to let him know how lucky he was. We'll take advantage of his induced coma to surgically remove the shrapnel to minimize pain and stress. Based upon our preliminary prognosis Eric, the worst thing I've got to tell you is that his left eardrum seems to have been severely damaged by the initial explosion and we suspect he has permanently lost hearing in that ear." I nodded my head. I knew it was a damned stupid thing to be grateful that my son had lost hearing in one ear but by god...if that was the worst thing the Doctor had to tell me about my boy who'd just been blown up...I would in fact be fuckin' grateful. "Thank you Sam. That's very encouraging news. How long do you suppose you'll keep him under?" "Well, we'll bring him into surgery tomorrow to deal with all the shrapnel, then we'll let his organs rest for at least one more day so my guess is two to four days. Then, he'll be weak, confused half deaf but otherwise ready to go home and lead a normal life. Did I hear correctly that Jack is one of the researchers that made it off that foundered NATGEO ship?" I nodded my head in confirmation. "Well Eric, that's some tough little kid but maybe May is one month he should just stay home from now on." I smiled. "Sam that may be some great advice. We're going to leave. Keep me informed as you progress with my red-haired wonder." "Of course. We'll certainly let you know when we plan to bring him out from his coma." We headed home. John was driving the Lexus SUV and I took the boys into it with me while Richard jumped into the sleek little Subaru that Arlon used as the got to vehicle. They leaned into me and hugged me tightly. "S-so Jack's gonna be OK right?" "Yes Son it seems so. Apparently, Jack is a very lucky boy. It will be a few days before we can actually talk to him and from now on, we've got to learn to talk loud when we're on his left side...but he's going to live." "What's going to happen to the guys that did this thing?" I looked at him coolly and said; "When we get home, you and I will go down to my study and I'll tell you. Brian, this isn't something you should hear." He nodded his head recognizing the seriousness of the situation. As we drove up the road, the blue Beemer was gone but I suddenly remembered John talking about armoring our vehicles almost a year ago and I wondered if he hadn't had that done without telling me. That would be natural for him. He had total control of the maintenance of our cars and didn't have any reason to ask or enquire. I suddenly suspected that John had actually saved Jack's life. "Brian, go up to the room and play some computer games. Sean and I will be a little while." He nodded his head without protest and we parted company at the elevator. I pointed to the plush leather chairs in the corner. I walked to the bar and asked; "Would you like a glass of scotch Sean?" "Dad I never had a taste of scotch." "Well Sean, scotch is a serious man's drink and we're going to have a serious man's conversation." He nodded his head. "OK then Dad." I handed him his tumbler and he took a sip. His nose scrunched up but he didn't cry out. He looked over his glass and said; "It kinda burns an it's bitter but not bad bitter. I've never tasted nothing like it... it's OK." "OK Sean, sit down and listen to what I tell you. Listen very carefully because this is all so very important. You are the son of one of the richest men in the entire world...in other words me. We control the vastest business network on the planet our fortune is almost impossible to measure. That makes us very powerful but it also makes us targets to evil and crazy people. You know this very well. You were kidnapped once and almost harmed during the invasion of our estate and now, we have this attempt to murder Jack. We also have a vast private army that my father and Walter formed years ago. It's mighty and it's skillful. Right now, Uncle Richard and Chris are in charge of the business part of things and Richard is in charge of the military part with Barry and Wolfman behind him. I am in total command of all of this and someday you will be. It is essential that we be aggressive and decisive in both our business affairs and in the way we handle our safety. People should treasure us as friends and be very afraid of us as enemies. I expected to wait a couple of years before letting you know about all this, but the attack upon your brother tells me that it's probably time to begin to teach you about your life's work. I'm pretty certain that we'll very soon hear that Richard and his crew have located these scumbags who did this thing to Jack and then, young though you may be, you'll see how we handle people like this." He sat back and sipped his glass. "My goodness. You're enjoying that aren't you?" He smiled. "I actually like it better than beer." I grinned back at him. "So do I." ************************ I was wrapped between Sean and Brian and very content when the bedside phone sounded. "Eric we've got them. They're all twenty year old morons who are wannana be jihadists even though four of them aren't even Muslims. We've whisked them off to our familiar `slida av stall 4'...'the steel cunt'. There were twelve of them but only one had the balls to try and fight us. I'm sorry but we had to kill him. His body is in cold storage because we didn't want to leave any litter behind. I've torn down their stupid web site and turned it into a site promoting pork products. I thought that might be appropriate especially if there are other morons out there who signed into their site." "Great Barry. Have the helicopter ready for ten o'clock and understand I'm bringing Sean. His real education begins tomorrow. Do me the favor of informing Uncle Phil that I'll expect him on the copter with us as well." "Consider it done boss." As I hung up the phone, I realized that both boys were awake and sitting up in bed staring at me wide-eyed. I smiled and tried to look calming. "I'm sorry boys, but when you sleep with me you need to expect occasional wake-up calls. So... here's what's going on...we've caught the guys that did this to Jack. Brian, tomorrow after breakfast, you'll go up the classroom and when school is over, Arlen will get you to baseball practice. Sean, you will leave with me to a secret place and you'll begin to learn how we deal with people who think that they can do things like this to us. Uncle Phil and Richard will begin to explain to you about our family business. It's a vast and complicated enterprise Sean, but it will all eventually fall upon your shoulders but not for many years and you'll be carefully trained and prepared. I'd thought you didn't need to learn about this for a few years but this cruel action tells me that you need to start learning now. His eyes were wide as saucers as he softly said; "Kay Dad." I stroked his hair and kissed him right on the lips and then turned and did the same to Brian. After breakfast, I'd made certain that Arlen had personally taken on Brian's security. He promised to inform Barry about the schedule of leaving the estate even though we were confident that we had the entire group under our control. Richard and Uncle Phil joined us for a cup of coffee. Uncle Phil wrapped and arm around Sean and smiled. "Don't be afraid Sean. Today you're going to learn things about your family and about your future. You're going to learn some wonderful thing and some things that might be a bit scary but it's your future because eventually you're going to wield what may be the most power in the world and believe it or not, you're up to it and you're just the guy for the job eventually." Sean blinked. "I'm not afraid Uncle Phil. Dad wouldn't ever do anything that was wrong for me. I'm just a little confused." Phil squeeze his shoulder. "We'll try to slowly make it less confusing." Daniel entered the room. "The copter is out in the car park and rotating. Here are travel mugs of coffee and I'll take Brian down to the wing for his classes." As we flew out to the `Steel Cunt', I sat silently as Uncle Phil explained to Sean in simple but honest terms the complex make-up of our family empire. As the explanation drifted to the SKUGGOR, Richard entered the conversation and filled in more information. The little boy sat with a serious face and listened attentively taking in all the information that had been provided. Eventually, he stopped them both from talking. "I can't take in more information right now. I want to have some time to understand it. I'll have lot's of questions for you later an' I know you've got a lot to teach me but now, I want to learn how we deal with people who try to blow up my brother." "I'm going to warn you, this will not be pleasant or pretty Sean. You may wind up thinking that I'm horrible and cruel." "Dad, nothing could be too cruel for the guys who did this to Jack." I hugged him into me. "That's what I was hoping I'd hear you say little man." The eleven of them were naked and chained to hooks in the floor. For the most part, they were smug and cocky as I entered the room. "You're the infidel in charge here?" the one who appeared to be the oldest of the group asked arrogantly. I walked up to him silently and slapped him seven times across his face. He fell to his knees weeping. "Oh, I guess you're not so brave or tough when you're not planting booby traps against innocent kids." With a whimper in his voice, he managed a bit of arrogance; "Well at least we killed your infidel elitist son Allah be praised." I kicked him in the mouth and knew that I'd broken a few teeth. I faced the camera that I'd had placed in the room and motioned for it to be activated. "My name is Eric Tucker. Twelve men have threatened my family. One is dead and the other eleven will soon be dead. I'm sending you this video so that you understand that whatever depraved program you have in mind, my world is off limits to you. You don't want to experience the vindictiveness we would have for even a threat and this will be a brief example. I have no quarrel against any of your ideals or beliefs just so long as you carefully exclude any part of my family and business operations. As what you will soon see will demonstrate, I have less mercy for attacks against my family than any man on earth. Unless you are ignorant fools, you know that I have the resources so that whoever you are, I can find you within hours and I am not kind." I turned so that the attention of the camera would be the focus of the picture. "These fools are wearing beards like they are actually men. Remove them." A team moved in and bent the boys back and used clippers to remove their beard to stubble "You fucking inept morons didn't kill anyone. You don't even know how to plant a bomb you imbeciles. My son will be good as new in a few days but you did take the hearing in his left ear so now I'm going to take yours." I turned to the selected Skuggor who were placed strategically and in unison, they moved to the left side of the bound young men and skillfully inserted a long pick into their left ears leaving them screaming in pain. Blood soon was dripping from their ears as they collapsed as far as their bonds would allow. I turned back to the camera. `These fucking idiots tried to blow up my son. My son survived but these animals will not. Here's how I deal with people who try to blow up what is mine." At my signal, the Skuggor bent the captives over onto their knees and lubed their assholes and then shoved heavily lubed M-80s into their rectum. The fuses were lit and very quickly their rectums exploded. The screams were loud and hideous and relatively quickly, they all bled out. I had no intentions of offering aid to these bastards. I wanted them painfully dead. I turned to the camera after it had scanned the carnage. "So, come near me or mine and the howling wolves of Hell will come after you. Leave me alone and I don't give a shit what you try to do with all your `Allah' bullshit By the way, if you ever want to discuss some serious non-Islamist real world commerce, you might just find that I'm a great partner to connect with." Sean was white faced. I wrapped him into a hug. "Sean, if they don't fear us, then we're vulnerable to constant attacks. That's why the deaths today had to be so horrible but setup to match the crime. Tomorrow, Barry will upload a copy of that video to every known terrorist site on the Internet and I suspect that we'll be left alone. We'll become a `scary' family. What was your reaction to today?" "It was scary and upsetting but after hearing that first guy, I wanted him dead I hated him and I hated the rest of them looking like they were so proud of doin' somethin' so mean and horrible. I gotta say that blowin' up their asses was a surprise but considerin' what they tied to do to Jack, it was prollyl a fair deal." "In just a few weeks, you're turning thirteen. In most cultures, that is when a boy traditionally becomes a man. I was hoping that, you would be allowed to be a boy for a while but, from now on, for an hour or so every day, you'll spend time with Uncle Phil or Chris or Richard or Barry or Wolfman and you'll learn about the scope and operation of `Magnus Venatus'." He looked at me questioningly. "That's Latin. It's what my father called this all. It means; `the Great Game'. We're involved in so much stuff that it really is a game and Sean, don't be afraid little man most of the time it's fun. Just once in a while we have issues like this." "Kay Dad. Thanks for trusting me enough to share all this. While I'm learning though, I'm gonna try to be a boy as well. I don't have to be a man while I learn grown-up stuff." I hugged him tightly. "You are wise beyond your years Sean Michael Tucker." He wiggled in my arms and looked into my eyes. "That's `cause I've got a great father Eric Arthur Tucker." ******************** Daniel informed me that there was no change in Jack's condition other than the fact that the shrapnel had been removed and it had all been superficial. During his conversation with Sam, he'd been informed that they would be keeping Jack in his induced coma for two more days for therapeutic reasons. Daniel also told me that Arlen and the security convoy were on their way back from Deer Run with Brian. So, all was well it seemed. "Come on Sean, let's go down to my study and talk about today." We were seated across from each other and like yesterday, he'd accepted a glass of single malt and sipped it like a forty year old. We discussed the mechanics of what had happened in that horrible room. "They are required to grow beards by their religion in order to be considered a man. Therefore, I had them shaved to demonstrate that they weren't men. I had each of their left ear drums punctured because the explosion did that to Jack. Finally, I had them killed by an explosion because that's what they intended for your brother. Every action was very appropriate but also designed to make us scary to any crazies out there. By tomorrow, every organization sophisticated enough to have a WEB Site will have the video from today. Barry is VERY good at that kind of stuff." "So Dad, Walter used to be the head of the SKUGGOR? He wasn't just your butler?" I smiled. His quick bright mind was already putting together the pieces to the puzzle he only just been presented with. "Actually, Walter organized the SKUGGOR many years ago along with my father who I hope you'll come to think of as your Grandfather even though you never knew him." "I actually do already an your Mom is my Granma as well as my actual Granma in that place in Georgia and Kyle is like my brother an' my uncle...that's confusin' but I love him and also Walter is like my Grandfather too. We didn't learn about norman...sorry I mean `normal' families a lot in the NEST but I often wondered what it would be like to have a norman family an I kinda got the chance to learn. Mrs. Edwards is what it must be like to have a wonderful Grandma. I can't imagine a better Granpa than Walter and Dad, there can't be a better father in this whole world than you." I smiled warmly at my wise little boy who had so quickly taken such a burden upon his shoulders and seemed to be handling it so well. "So Sean, let's talk about your birthday. It's in three and a half weeks, which means that Jack will be home for it. Who would you like to invite and how would you like to celebrate? "Well every one of our family of course." I smiled as he said that because I knew he meant our close staff members. "Mr. Gary and Bobby and `course Spider an Charlie and Ricco." "How about the rest of your team Sean?" He crinkled up his cute little nose and though for a moment. "You know Dad, with everything that's happened; I haven't had the chance to get to know them that well. I'd rather just be with friends an' family." I was beginning to believe that Sean was what some people call an `Old Soul'. He was so much wiser than his age would imply. My heart ached with love almost all of the time when I was around him. ************ After supper was finished, Sean quite abruptly announced; "Spider an me are sleeping in my room tonight and we're goin' up now. It's been a long day." Brian actually looked a bit bewildered at this proclamation but he followed Sean down to the elevator after they'd both hugged Martha and kissed me. I walked down to the library and poured myself a drink and laid out on a couch with my Nate Mentor novel and spent a very pleasant two hours. I'd learned that except for a hearing loss, Jack should be all right. I'd administered swift and frighteningly vengeful `Tucker justice' and had a very interesting conversation with my young son who was much wiser than his years. After my second drink and many enjoyable pages, I closed my book and decided that bed was more alluring than even the fiction of my favorite author. I noted that it wasn't very late and decided to give the boys a kiss. Being boys they probably weren't asleep yet. Sean's door was ajar but I didn't quite expect what I saw as I approached. Brian was on his knees with his torso and head lowered onto the mattress and Sean was aggressively reaming his athletic raised ass. It was obvious that Brian...although the larger boy, was completely submissive. I wondered if Sean was exercising his dominance after learning about his inevitable future. I knew that I was certainly by nature an aggressive top so, this might be normal. There was nothing wrong with that as long as pleasure was shared. I decided that this might not be the time to walk in and kiss them good night so, I walked down the hall and climbed into my bed and despite the fact that I'd dealt out death today, I actually slept wonderfully. (To be continued) I apologize for my tirade at the end of the last chapter. I realize that there are people reading these stories who are too lazy or too incompetent to have the courtesy to simply write a bit of feedback to authors who write for you for free. Just take this story...do you want to guess what you'd pay for something like this saga? However, it's free. It's a shame so many of you don't take a moment to write the authors expressing interest. That's the reason so many wonderful stories just stop. Why would someone write for you when you won't even take the time to acknowledge his or her efforts? For those many of you who do provide me with wonderful feedback, THANK YOU! I treasure you and appreciate you and you are the ones who keep me writing. During my illness, you are like bright lights.