Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (39 page)

“
Got you
a little excited, huh?”

“
Yeah.
And Alice and a couple of the busybodies in her coven were sitting
just a few tables away.”

Rosemary
chuckled, then laughed, to the point where she started snorting.

“
What?”

After a minute
or so, when she managed to control herself, at least somewhat, she
was able to blurt out, “I just had a mental image of Alice and
those two twerking.”

“
Whatting?”

“
Twerking.”

“
What's
that?”

“
You
haven't heard about twerking?”

“
No; I
live such an ivory tower life.”

“
Yeah,
right.”

“
So
what's this – what was it – twurking? Is that that
social
media thing, with the 150 characters?”

“
No,
that's something totally different. And I think its 140 characters.”

“
How do
you spell it? T-w-u-r-k-i-n-g?”

“
No,
t-w-e-r-k-i-n-g. It's a thing teen girls are doing, wiggling and
shaking their butts around and sometimes rubbing 'em
up against teen boys' groins.”

“
No,
really?”

“
Yeah,
really. You'd be amazed at what us old folks can learn from our
grandkids.”

“
I'm
amazed at a lot of the things you've learned just in the past few
months.”

Rosemary didn't
blush at that. She just smiled and said, “I know, and I'm
learning more every day.”

“
You're
reading Dallas' books?”

“
That I
can neither confirm nor deny.”

“
Oh,
turnabout; bravo,” he said, chuckling. Then he groaned.
“Ohhhh, I just had a flash of your mental image.”

“
Of Alice
twerking?”

“
Yeah.
Ewwww.”

“
Hi,
Gordy,” a cute blonde girl said, giving him a gesture with her
thumb and index finger perhaps a half inch apart.

“
Hi,
Laurie,” he responded, but his gesture had a space of about
three inches.

She laughed and
said, “Hi, Rosemary.”

“
Hi,
Laurie,” Rosemary replied. “Still working at Pop's?”

“
Yeah;
super busy this year.”

“
It seems
that way; the beach is jammed.”

“
Yeah.”

“
How's
Jeff?” Rosemary asked.

“
Doin'
fine. See him down there?”

Rosemary looked
south, but shook her head. “Too many people.
Tell
him we said hello, okay?”

“
Will do.
See ya.”

“
Hey,
Laurie,” Gordy said, “got a question for you.”

“
Shoot.”

“
Do you
know what twerking is?”

“
Sure.
Like this.” She turned away and wiggled her butt, did a quick
back-to-front pelvic thrust, then turned back and said, “Why?”

“
I never
heard of it till Ro just told me.”

“
And we
both had an image of Alice and the Hat Squad twerking,”
Rosemary added

“
Oh,
ewwww.” She pointed her index finger at her open mouth. “Ick.
On that note, I'll take my leave,” and she walked off, another
“Ewwww” escaping her mouth, accompanied by a shiver of
her shoulders and head.

“
Sorry,”
Rosemary hollered after her. Laurie shivered again, but turned and
smiled.

“
She's
gonna tell Jeff about that, I'll bet,” Gordy said.

“
No bet;
I'm sure she will,” Rosemary replied, chuckling. “Hope
he doesn't throw up.”

“
Hell, I
hope that image doesn't come up again for me while I'm
chewing
on my dog.”

When they got
to Deb's cart, she smiled and said, “Hi Gordy; hi, Rosemary.
What'll it be?”

“
Two
jumbos, one with ketchup and mustard, and the other” –
Jake said.

“
Everything,”
Rosemary said.

“
Coming
right up.”

“
Anything
new with the Hysterical Society?”

“
They've
got a few things cooking, but nothing I can talk about yet. I'll
have some fliers when they've got something scheduled.”

“
Cool.”

“
Hey, did
I tell you the one about the Buddhist hot dog vendor?”

“
Yup,
last year.”

“
Oh,”
she said. “Well, here ya go.”

“
Thanks,
Deb,” he said. “Keep the change.”

“
You know
change comes from within, right?”

“
Yup.
See ya.”

- 102 -

February
6, 2013
9:31
a
.m.
local time

Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant,
Wales

The Ocelot
limped out of the hotel and past the hotel's car park, then stepped
into the antique phone box at the edge of the public car park, but
before picking up the phone inside, she pulled out a satellite phone,
held it next to the regular receiver and dialed.

“
Authentication
9845739. It's time.” She then clicked off and slid her
satphone into her purse, but she stayed in the box with the other
phone to her ear for another two or three minutes,
then hung it up and limped to the newsagent, picked up a Dublin paper
and slowly made her way back to the hotel, getting in the door about
fifteen minutes after she'd left.

The desk clerk
came over to her as soon as she was inside and gave her a message,
informing her that one of her grandsons had been in a serious auto
accident at their home outside Dublin and she needed to return home
as soon as possible.

“
Och, no.
Young man, do you have any idea how I could get back to Dublin?”

“
Well,
ma'am, there's a bus at eleven and another at three, and
the
driver can tell you how you can get to Holyhead in time for the next
available ferry. So if we rush, we can get you on the first one, or
you can wait for the three o'clock.”

“
Thank
you. If it wouldn't be too inconvenient, could you arrange for the
eleven o'clock? I'll get my luggage together and freshen up.”

“
It would
be my pleasure, ma'am. I'll arrange your bill forthwith.”

“
Thank
you. I shall be down shortly.”

- 103 -

February
6, 2013
2:28
p
.m.
local time

Bonita Beach, Florida

Gordy was
awakened from his postprandial nap by a combination of a gentle
caressing of the top of one of his feet, an alien-to-him humming
noise and Rosemary's gentle, quiet voice.

“
Do you
hear that, Gordy?”

“
That
buzzing sound?” he asked, only gradually becoming alert.

“
Yeah.”

“
Yeah.”

“
Oh,
look, Gordy, just down there. What is that?”

“
I think
it's a – yeah, it's a little drone.”

“
Looks
like a baby helicopter.”

“
Here it
comes. Looks like a toy.”

“
Wow,
that was close.”

“
Yeah,
Ro; couldn't have been more than ten feet up. And it's a fast little
bugger.”

“
Wow!
It's almost up to Pop's. Uh-oh. Now it's coming back. Wait a
minute. Where'd it go?”

“
It flew
behind the palm trees there, I think. Hear it?”

“
Oh,
yeah; just faint, though.”

“
Maybe
it's checking out Deb's hot dogs.”

“
Oh,
there it is.”

“
Where,
Ro?”

“
Over
there, coming toward the stairs.”

“
Oh,
yeah; got it.”

“
It's
still pretty low; can't be more'n seven or eight feet up now.”

“
Why the
hell is there a drone here anyhow?”

“
I don't
know, Gordy – oh, rhetorical question, right?”

“
No; I'm
really wondering. Sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, some other alphabet
agency?”

“
Oh,
geez. I have no idea. I've heard stories, but I don't” –

“
Oh, god,
it's coming toward us. Keep your head down, Ro.”

“
Wha”
–

“
Down!
Oh, sorry; down, please.”

“
Okay,
I'm down.”

“
Now it's
hovering right here. What the hell?”

“
Jake
Devlin?” An electronic voice came from the drone.

Jake looked up
at the drone and noticed a tiny camera and what might have been a
speaker mounted under the chassis.

“
Jake
Devlin?” the voice repeated, noticeably sharper.

“
What?”
Gordy replied.

“
Are you
Jake Devlin?”

“
Who's
asking?”

“
Answer
my question. Are you Jake Devlin?”

“
Again,
who's asking?”

“
Don't be
a smartass. Are you Jake Devlin?”

“
All
right. No. No, I'm not.”