Commander Murphy's Woman

Andy grinned back, "Me too! Now just go on down the road and you will see a narrow turn between two trees. Enter it slowly; there is not much room. Good. Follow this twisty trail. See how it is banked around the turns? Now look, see the pond ahead? The trail runs all the way around the ponds. It is like a figure eight. It is mostly sand with a few roots and other bumps along the way and there are a few wiggles in the trail. At the far end down there is some real rough terrain for you to try. Now go at what ever speed you are comfortable with."

Angela pressed on the gas pedal and they roared off. She squealed with glee as the hit a 'wiggle' where the trail turned one way and then back the other way. The little four-wheeler went through like it was on rails. Andy had her stop. He pushed a button on the dash. "You are now in four wheel drive. In the turns it will turn tighter but you will not be able to kick the back end around like you did before with a burst of power. Back off if you can't turn sharp enough." She drove with ever increasing skill and confidence.

He loved watching the smile of joy and accomplishment on her face. After two trips around the figure eight he had her stop. He took the vehicle out of four-wheel drive. He reached over and shut the machine off. He said, "Get out and stretch your legs a little. He went behind the buggy and dropped the little tailgate and sat on it. He swung her up beside him. "What do you think of my little toy?"

She turned and looked at him, "It is certainly no toy. That is one serious machine. Wow. I can't believe the power the engine has. You think it won't make the turns but it goes around really well. I don't think I ever felt a wheel come off the ground. Andy I love that. I just can't remember having so much fun."

He smiled gently at her, "I am glad you liked it. I want to show you what else it can do. Hop in I'll drive for a while." When they were strapped in he drove in an opening in the woods and brush along the trail. The path he followed was very twisty, weaving through trees and over logs Angie didn't think the Rhino would cross. He just let the vehicle crawl over the obstacles.

He entered an area of swampy ground. Grasses grew on top of mud and water. She could see the path he was following. The path turned and a narrow pair of ruts half filled with water lay ahead. She could see the path twist and turn through trees and stumps. Downed trees were everywhere. The little vehicle eased into the ruts and crawled around a corner to the right. The right rear rose alarmingly on top of a submerged log or stump. Then she felt it stop as if against a wall. The left rear wheel spun. He shifted in reverse and the wheel spun again without moving the buggy. He looked at her. "Think you can walk home from here?"

She looked at him, "It will be messy but I guess we can make it."

"Good girl, you have spunk. Let's try four-wheel drive first." He pressed the button on the dash. She heard the motor strain and as he added power the rear end and the front end climbed slowly over the obstacles. It slowly eased down on the other side. They moved slowly along, with the wheels alternately or simultaneously crawling over the submerged logs. After a few minutes they crawled up onto dry ground. They turned and twisted through the woods and came back to the road around the ponds. He eased onto the path and took the four-wheel drive off.

He grinned at her. "Hang on. It's my turn to play. The engine screamed and the buggy hurled down the trail, through the wiggles and into the turns, bursts of power snapped the rear end around just in time to avoid disaster time after time. Her knuckles were white when he backed off and ducked through the twisty little trail to the main road. He slowed to a stop and turned to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't scare you did I?"

"Hell no, Andy, I knew you wouldn't let me get hurt. I knew I was watching a master of this little beast at work. I loved it more than I can say. I might be ale to force down a fairly strong adult beverage very soon though. Just to ease my nerves a tad."

"Right." The engine started and instantly roared as they lunged ahead. In minutes they screamed into the driveway and skidded into the parking place." He shut the engine off and jumped out. He hurried around and effortlessly lifted her from her bucket seat. He gently set her on her little feet. "We are home my lady." He placed her hand on his arm and walked sedately to the front door. When they were inside he stopped and he carefully examined her and himself. He told her he was seeing how muddy they were. Amazingly they found only one single drop of muddy water on his sleeve.

Later that night, after dinner, they sat on the couch. She turned to face him, her knees on the couch too. She looked at him and smiled. "Andy that was so sweet of you to take me on that ride. I love you for doing that. It did get my mind off my darling baby for a few minutes. I needed that." He saw the tears seep from her eyes and his heart melted.

"Angela, Sweetheart, please don't cry. I know you don't believe me but all my people are hard at work trying to find Molly. I have never put all of them on one case at once before. Never. Even cases we have done for the President of the United States on a matter of vital National concern even got half of them. That cost the taxpayers of this country twenty million dollars before it was over. We did find our man incidentally."

"Oh Andy I know you are doing everything you can and I love you for it."

"Please believe me. If I thought I could help I would be in there with them. I have learned to leave them alone and not bother them during this stage of an investigation. They are working on this from many different angles as we speak. One or more threads of information will eventually lead us to him. My guys know all the tricks people use to try and hide and they know all of the mistakes they make that give them away.

When he is located then I go to work. I have a crew of my best men gathering here now. It will take a few days to get them all here. I don't know how many it will take but I don't want to have to look for them when we need them." She looked at him, "Andy I need to help too. I will go nuts just sitting around waiting."

"Hey girl, you have helped and will soon be called on to help more. When we get leads we will need you to help us. The guys will want to have you answer questions pretty soon. That will be a session where any of them can ask you questions about your husband. The better your answers the quicker and easier it will go. One little clue may give us the answer. Something that may seem trivial and unimportant can solve the riddle. Oh! You'll get your chance all right. Right now my job is to get you relaxed and your mind on pleasant thoughts so you will be fresh for your quiz."

"That will be easy for me; all I have to do is think of you, Andy. You have always been my favorite thing to think out when I want to cheer up."

"What?"

"Yes big guy, this little babe has had a crush on you for years. God I yearned for you. I thought the sun rose and set in you. I guess I have never gotten over it. Just looking at you fills me with nice sweet thoughts. I wish I- -I wish you--maybe we—Oh Andy I have always loved you.

You have always been my hero. Daddy knew how I felt. He said it was just not to be and to forget you, I tried, and I really tried hard. Never worked though. You creep into my mind every day. Just a silly girl's dream I guess. It is wonderful for me just being near you."

"Girl, are you serious?"

"Please don't laugh, I do love you."

"I can't laugh, I can only cry. I have loved you since you were a teenager. I was twenty five years old, you were a child. I fought my feelings for you for years. You were so sweet, so tiny, so perfect, so innocent and so untouchable for me. Every other woman I ever met never could stir the passion in me that you did with a smile. You ruined me for all other women. As you grew older the feelings grew stronger. I just had to stay away from you. I had to stay away from your dad too. I know he thought I forgot him but I didn't. I had to stay away from you."

Angie stared at him, "Really?"

"Yeah really. I was a pervert. I lusted after a child. I had to stay away. I had erotic dreams about you. I was afraid to be anywhere near you I was afraid I might loose control and force myself on you, rape you."

"Dear Andy, that would have never have been possible. From the first time I learned what sex was I wanted it with you. I would have been willing."

"It still would have been wrong, it still would be rape. I could have never done that to an innocent child, especially to one I loved beyond all reason. I did the only thing I could."

She looked in his eyes; she lifted and moved close to him. She took his face between her little hands. "Andy, do you still love me?"

"Oh God yes, more than ever."

"Then kiss me. Just once for now. Then we both need to be strong and concentrate on saving my little Molly."

"Girl, you are right. One kiss and I just turn off a lust I haven't escaped for a dozen years. Yeah, tell me how?"

"Andy I have the same problem. You just don't understand, Molly is never out of my mind. The best I can do is to push her off a little but she is still there." They looked into each other's eyes. Andy placed a big hand tenderly on each side of her face. He leaned forward and pulled her gently towards him. She moved towards him. He pressed his slightly parted lips softly on hers. He felt her hands slide around his neck. His hands left her face and enclosed her body in a warm embrace. Her tongue traced the line of his lips and then slipped between them and found his waiting tongue. She heard a low moan escape his throat. She held him tighter. She wanted him and she knew he wanted her. She felt his erection in his jeans. Her panties were getting wet. She knew the crotch of her jeans would soon be wet too. She pushed away from him. She twisted and jumped from the couch and then ran from the room.

Andy watched her go. He wondered what he had done wrong.

He lay in his bed and listened to a thunderstorm in the distance. He prayed it would move over them. It didn't.

The next morning he entered the kitchen at six and saw Angela looking in cupboards. "Can I help you find something?" She jumped, startled.

"Martha told me she would be in late, Bob, her husband, had a Doctor's appointment, so I thought I would start a frittata for breakfast for us."

"Let me get everything out for you. The pans are in here. Here is a spatula. I see you have eggs, cheese, ham, peppers, potatoes, and onions out. Let me guess, you want a 12 inch cast iron skillet, right?"

"How did you know?"

"I suspect that the same guy taught both of us how to make one."

She pulled him down and kissed his cheek. She whispered, "I love you. Did you sleep well last night?"

"No, I couldn't get to sleep. An angel kept me awake. How about you?"

She smiled, "I heard a storm in the distance and prayed it would find me."

Andy laughed, "You too?" They stood and smiled at each other, Andy got a cutting board from a drawer. He put a Chinese cleaver on the board. "Do you want to do the chopping or do you want me to do it?"

"I'll watch you, Andy. Martha told me you are a very good cook, really super with a lot of things. As a matter of fact She thinks you can do anything."

"What do you mean by that!"

"I just mean that Marsha thinks the world of you."

"Did she tell you we love each other?"

"Yes she did, and I thought I would die, until she told me she is your sister."

Andy reached for Angie's hands. He pulled her close to him. He looked in her eyes. "Girl I want to kiss you, and hold you, and never let you go. We can't do that. We need to be focused on only one thing this morning. Finding Molly."

As he spoke he started chopping the potatoes, peppers and onions.

"Sweetheart get the eggs cracked into that mixing bowl and beat them well." He put butter in the skillet and turned on a burner on under it. He glanced at the eggs Angie was beating, he swirled the melted butter around the skillet. He stirred the peppers and onions in the sauté pan. He took the mixing bowl from her and asked her to chop the ham into small cubes. He watched the butter until it was very hot, just before it started to burn he sliced the potatoes into the bottom of the skillet. Angela spread the half cooked veggies and the ham over the potatoes. He turned and went to the coffee maker and poured two cups. They sat and sipped the hot brew looking at each other.

Angie grinned and shook her head. Andy said, "What?" She smiled, "You wouldn't believe how many time I have fantasized about this."

He looked puzzled.

"I dreamed of setting across a breakfast table from you sipping coffee in the morning."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Little girl dreams, big girl dreams too."

"I like it. A whole lot." Andy smiled and got up and went to the stove to check on the frittata.

Angie moved close beside him and held his arm tightly. He could feel the warmth of her breast against it. He jabbed the potatoes with a fork, they were tender so he put two large hands full of shredded cheese over the top then poured the eggs over everything. He turned the broiler on. When the eggs were all most set he slipped the skillet in under the broiler. He left the oven door open and they stood and watched as it slowly browned.

"Honey, get a couple of plates from that cupboard over there. Yes, Great! Now how much can you eat?" She giggled, "Not quite half of it."

"Want anything else with it?"

"No, just ketchup."

"Ah, a connoisseur of fine frittatas."

She laughed, "Daddy taught me to cook them just like that and he always ate his with ketchup and a little hot sauce."

He chuckled, "I forgot the hot stuff." They both watched the other eat. They enjoyed the breakfast and the company. When they were finished he said, "I leave the dishes for the kitchen crew. That way they don't have to be here so early and they are only responsible for lunch and dinner. Martha says as long as I have to fix my own breakfast I won't get too big for my britches."

"She is a smart lady and I really loved shopping with her. She is almost as sweet as her brother. I like her a lot."

"I think she knows how I feel about you. I think she is afraid I'll get hurt."

"OH Andrew Murphy! I could never do anything to hurt you. If I can help it."

"IF you can help it?"

"If you feel about me like I feel about you, I know it would hurt you if I had to go back to Rem to save Molly."

"I would never fault you for that."

"Oops! My pager just went off." He looked at the little gadget and remarked, "Jeff is ready for you now, let's go."

Andy took her arm just before they entered Jeff's domain. He turned her gently to face him; he softly kissed her lips, "Girl, that breakfast with you has just become my favorite dream." He saw a tear run from her eye. She rubbed it away.

"I know, me too."

Jeff grinned when they entered. "Angie, girl, good news, we think we found him. He is only about 60 miles from Gainesville or 105 miles from here." He owns 125 acres of swampland out there. It has an abandoned tethered balloon site on it from back in the 60s or 70s. Here are some satellite photos of it. You can see it has several buildings, a double barbed wire fence around the couple acres of dry ground. The big concrete circle was the balloon launch and retrieve site. The balloon carried a radar and was known as 'Fat Albert'. It flew on a long cable as high as a mile. The radar covered a huge area watching for drug smugglers.

"Only one road in and out of there. Looks like a paved road with one bridge over a creek and has a power and phone line."

Angie looked up at Andy. "I think that's it. It is protected by where it is located just like a castle and all the two rows of barbed wire, just like a modern castle."

"We'll have people checking it out within an hour, Angie." Said Jeff. Andy asked, "How many men are you sending?"

"Well we can't get too close real soon. We have a communications intercept team enroute. He is communicating by cell-phone with Angie and we can work with that. Hopefully he is using Alltel, we have good luck with them and we suspect that is only one of three companies that have coverage out there."

"Angie has a phone he gave her to communicate with him at certain times."

"Bring it down girl and call from where my guys can detect the frequencies it sends and receives. They will know the company in seconds."

"Jeff, I assume you are getting an observation post in place to watch the access road."

"Right, we need to know how they get supplies and such. We'll learn a lot in the next few days hopefully."

Andy explained to Angie, "Sweetie, we can't just go rushing in without knowing how many people he has there. We have to try and find out what security forces he has, if any. I would like to surprise him so he doesn't have a chance to harm Molly. We need to know if the ground surrounding the place is passable by vehicle or by airboat only. We have to find away through the two fences without a lot of noise." He brushed his lips gently across her forehead. "Girl can you think of anything that might help?"

"Not really, I do know he has a very low opinion of the Law Enforcement people and of the Military. He always says they are all cretins and idiots. Those are his exact words. He thinks anyone with any average intelligence could outwit them."

"Well Honey, I think we are going to have to bring the law in on this very soon. We have a very good relationship with the local law people and help them whenever we can. We never want the credit or publicity so they are happy to work with us. We don't want to be in the position of breaking the law if we don't have to. All of my people are reserve U.S. Government Agents of the Executive Department. I can have us activated at any time. I need a request for assistance from a duly authorized Law Enforcement Agency to make it legal. It will be easy to get that."

Angela looked up at him and smiled, "I feel some real hope now for the first time."

"Good Babe, I am going to be up in my den getting a better look at the satellite pictures. I'm going to blow a bunch of them up. If they don't show current conditions I will order new ones. When Jeff is finished come on up and we'll do lunch."

Later Angie and Andy poured over the satellite pictures with magnifying glasses, marking and discussing spots of interest. Most of the shots were over a year old. Andy requested new pictures of the old site and the area surrounding it. It was only a matter of an hour before Jeff knocked and brought in the pictures. They were much enlarged. Jeff told them that the pictures were of very high resolution and on the big computer in his office the could enlarge any portion to where you could read the label on a soup can on the ground."

Angie said, "Really? That good?"

"Yeah, We can request even higher resolution but it will take a while."

"Amazing."

Andrew grinned, "A few years ago there was no way we could get anything like these in less than a day or two. Then it would be by aerial photos from a plane."

Jeff said, "Yeah! And they would see and hear the plane and be spooked by it."

Andy put his lips close to Angie's ear, "Would you like to take me for a Rhino ride?"

Angie smiled at him and took his hand and nodded. He grinned back.

"Jeff, if you need us for anything page me. OK?"

"No problem Adam, we shouldn't have anything new until tomorrow."

They walked hand and hand out to the parking area. Angie remarked, "Did I hear him call you Adam?"

Andy laughed, "Yeah, it has always been my code name because of my initials A D A M."