Team: Echo (11 page)

Grunting he popped the tops off the beers and handed her one.
“I’m sure you had nothing to do with that either did you?” he
asked, scooping up the iPad. Moving to the table he pulled out a
chair for her and kicked another one out for himself. Sitting he
pulled up the schematics for the system.

“
Hell no, I don’t want her knowing anything about the bad side
of life. I’m the one who put the Internet protocol in place so that
she can no longer Google shit like that.” Taking a seat she took a
sip of her beer. “But it won’t stop her from learning other places.
I think the best bet when dealing with Honey is to be completely
honest, just not completely detailed.”

“
Hell, I already knew that one,” he shook his head. Picking
the schematic he wanted he pointed. “So this is the tree I want
out. These here,” he tapped the screen to highlight them. “Are the
ones that need to be trimmed back. There are dead branches but for
the most part the trees still appear healthy though I’ll need
someone that actually knows plants to give me the official word.
But here,” he pulled up a section of where the lawn would be. “We
decide on a random pattern for the plates all around the house and
move the first and secondary line back. I want the secondary just
inside of the plates but the first line needs to be much further
out and we need to bump the signal I think.”

Penny nodded. “The best person with trees, plants and
anything growing is Sarafina. She runs the Flower Shoppe in town.
She should be able to come out and give you an estimate on what you
want done. You might even want to remove some of the dead ones and
replace them with newer ones, live ones.”

“
I’ve been pulling all the dead ones but I’m worried about
compromising the fire break with too much new stuff. We get dry
here so I don’t want to mess up the water table or whatever it is
that keeps the damned things growing,” he said. Drinking some more
beer he moved the image to the backyard. “I think we need to put in
a full garden. Not just the one that D has now but a real life
sized garden. But in those raised beds, not ground level, something
up so when we’re all older than dirt we don’t have to turn into
accordion’s to get at things.”

“
Why not do what they do in Arizona? Have a water pit and run
PVC piping underground with holes in it. Kind of like an
underground irrigation system? It could work, it would help ensure
that everything remains watered and we could add fertilizers and
chemicals to the water pit so that the foliage can get all that it
needs. What do you think?”

“
That could work,” he said with a nod. “Put it on a timer so
it only runs at night when it’s coolest and less likely to burn
off.” Drumming his fingers against the beer bottle he looked to
her. “I have people coming out to check the water around here,
we’ll see if it’s plausible to hit some underground stream or
something.”

“
That sounds like a good plan. We would need to ensure that it
wouldn’t in any way interfere with the natural water table as well.
We don’t want to do anything that might contaminate our drinking
water since we run off of a well here.” Penny heard James and
Dieter talking about breaking the door down and grinned. “You might
want to give them the code now you know.”

Looking to her he put the earpiece back in and then rolled
his eyes. “Bozo alert, you can’t break down an eight inch panel of
titanium. Go to the control panel and put in the code you morons,”
he said, before pulling the earpiece out. “I swear that they get
stuck and revert to three year olds without any of their
training.”

She laughed at the creative cussing that her men were doing
and shook her head. “Should I let them know that you haven’t buried
me in the ground somewhere?” she asked with a smile. “That’s what
they are worried about, you hurting me.”

“
Nah,” he shook his head. “It gives them motivation to try and
remember the eighteen digit code I gave them.” Grinning evilly he
wiggled his brows. “I’m feeling peckish, you want a sandwich while
we wait on them to get their act together?”

“
Sounds good. Why don’t you get the meat out and I will go and
find that fresh loaf of bread that was made so that we can slice it
up and make our sandwiches out of it. Sound good to you?” Penny
began to go through the cabinets until she found the bread. “Ha,
tried hiding it didn’t he?” She asked with a smirk.

“
Who’s that?” he asked tossing meat, cheese, lettuce and
tomatoes on the counter. Grabbing the mayo and Dijon mustard he
preferred. Moving to the counter he looked to her, “Why was that in
the cabinet?” he frowned at her.

“
No clue.” Penny shrugged and moved to the cutting board and
pulled out the bread knife. “Someone was trying to hide the fresh
bread. No clue why but yeah. But that’s okay, we have it now and we
get the first slices.” She cut the end off and offered it to
Mikhail. When he said no she popped it in her mouth and sighed. “So
good.”

Shaking his head at her he took the first slices and began to
slap sandwiches together. “We should likely make enough for the
brat pack too. It might pacify them enough not to go straight for
my throat. By the by, how are they doing on the code?”

“
Good point.” She listened in and laughed. “Still cussing. Not
a single one of them can recall the code and Gareth is just
laughing his ass off. I hope that the boys don’t realize that or
else they will try to beat it out of him.”

“
Idiots,” he put the comms back into place. “The first number
is two you jack offs,” he growled and then listened for a time.
“They are rather creative with the swearing aren’t they?” he
commented to her as they all got even louder.

“
They really are. Remember Daisy threatened to geld them if
they taught Honey another curse word.” Accepting one of the
sandwiches from Mikhail she smiled, “Think I should get on the
comms and let my boys know that I’m okay and you are feeding me
instead of burying me?”

“
Where the hell is the fun in that?” he asked shaking his
head. “I say we take our sandwiches and our beers and go sit and
look at the stars. We’ll leave the leftovers here for them should
they ever figure out the combination. This way we can be
entertained by the idiots and have a nice relaxing evening with
good clean and wholesome country air.”

“
Sounds good to me. High Ridge would be a good place to settle
in. That way we can watch over the house while we watch the stars
as well.” Daisy was working and Honey, bless her heart, had talked
them all into letting her spend the night with her friend in
Sweetwater. “So which one of you is going to go later and check on
Honey? I figure that one of you boys have already figured when you
would go and check on her and get D from work.”

“
Depending on if Gareth is out in time I think I’m going,”
Mikhail checked his watch. “We have time yet to see if he calms
enough to give them the combo. Or to see if they kill him and
figure it out on their own. Grab a couple of sandwiches and then
throw a cover of the others. I’ll get fresh beers and we can head
out.”

Chapter Nine

Penny watched Dieter moving around in their room and frowned.
“Look I know that you aren’t really happy with me right now but you
need to see the doc too Dieter. The headaches are affecting all of
you and we need to find out why. I will not take any chances with
your health and most especially with your lives. I care too damn
much to do that.”

“
He hates doctors,” James said from his sprawled position in a
chair in the corner of the room. “Not that I blame him in the least
given this batch we have to deal with. They are not exactly the
warm and cuddly types.” Looking up from his phone to her he sighed.
“Marius already has it arranged for us to go to the base for a full
workup.”

“
Good,” Penny again looked to Dieter. “I will come with you. I
will stay with you if that’s what you want but please? I just need
to know that you are okay Dieter. It kills me to see you hurting
and while you try to hide it I still see it in you and I don’t like
that, at all.”

“
You’re not going to win with her big guy,” James turned his
attention back to his phone. “You can either give in gracefully or
you can prepare to be nagged for the rest of time. And I have a
feeling that when Penny here sets her mind to something she can
just keep going and going like a rabid dog.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “I’m trying not to nag but dammit I’ve
never felt this way for someone before. I care more about your
well-being than I do my own and yes, if that means that I’m going
to nag you then I’m going to nag you because I love you Dieter,
dammit.” She went silent, her eyes widening as she realized what
she blurted without meaning to.

“
Ha!” James shot up and danced around. “I knew it, I told you
and you didn’t believe me. Pay up sucker!” he held out his
hand.

Dieter growled and pulled out his wallet. “He said you felt
that way but I had to play stubborn to get you to finally admit
it.” Slapping the three bills into James’s hand he shook his head.
“He will be impossible to live with for the next week
now.”

Grinning James lifted up Penny and kissed her. “We love you
too babe,” he said softly, with a smile against her mouth. “I had
no idea you’d take stubborn to this new level and not tell us for
so long.”

“
Oh I could go more stubborn but I do.” Penny let out a breath
of a sound. “Damn I didn’t mean for it to come out like that
though. I do love you. I love you both so much that it scares the
hell out of me. That’s why I need to know that you are both okay. I
love you and it would kill me if anything happened to you
boys.”

“
Nothing is going to happen to us, babe, we’ll get checked out
and figure out what’s going hinky with the tech,” James smiled.
Brushing another kiss to her lips he held her to him. “I’m not
giving you up ever, Penelope, so I fully intend to stick around
until you shoot me for some lame ass thing I do. Then and only then
will I give up the ghost and keel over, not one fucking second
sooner.”

“
Good,” Penny laid her head on James’s shoulder and smiled.
“Good thing that you are going to keep me Pretty Boy or else I
would have to track you down and hurt you. And you really don’t
want that, do you?” She asked with a smile and then looked towards
Dieter who hadn’t said a word and felt her heart hurting from that
silence.

“
He would pout if you left,” Dieter told her moving in closer.
Dipping his head he kissed her gently. “I would just hunt you down
and hogtie you to drag you home and you’d stay that way until you
gave me the right answers to all my questions.”

Penny turned so that she could wrap her arms around Dieter’s
shoulders and sighed after the kiss. “I was worried that maybe you
had changed your mind about me. I felt my heart hurting because you
were being so quiet after I said what I did.”

“
I was just taking it in,” he murmured stroking his hand over
her back. “I did not mean to hurt you, Penelope, not ever.”
Squeezing her close with his other arm Dieter nuzzled her neck.
“You are too important to ever hurt.”

“
That’s good because you are very, very important to me as
well. I do after all love you.” She gave him a nod and then rubbed
her fingers over the back of his head. “Are you okay? The headache,
has it gone away a little at least?”

Shrugging he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It is
negligible,” he told her stepping back a little. “I will be fine,”
he said with a slight nod.

“
Keep telling yourself that big guy,” James said, shaking his
head. “You’re still getting a look over by the doctors. I know,” he
held up a hand. “You don’t trust them. I don’t either and I know
they are running their own game on the side but until we have proof
or catch the sly bastards it’s only a gut feeling.”

“
And I will be in the room with them and
follow their happy asses all around to ensure that they aren’t
doing anything that they shouldn’t do.” She was after all
the
liaison
, so she would
liaise
, and make people’s lives
hell.

“
Our little pitbull,” James winked at her. “I like it.”
Sitting back in his chair he pocketed his money and leaned back to
close his eyes. “Just remember that they will have our brains at
their mercy when you’re pestering them darling. I’d rather not be a
vegetable or a brain starved zombie.”

“
Don’t worry; I won’t let them do anything to untoward to your
brains. I really love being able to hold a somewhat intelligent
conversation with you boys. Although, I might ask them to tweak
yours a bit, Pretty Boy,” she shot over her shoulder at James.
“Something along the lines of putting your dirty socks in the
hamper.”

“
I try, they just don’t cooperate,” he grinned at her. “And
what the hell is with this pretty boy crap anyway?” he frowned up
at her.

“
It’s because you’re so pretty,” Dieter told him shaking his
head. “You really need to work on your man stuff.”

“
You are my pretty boy, James, I think that you are devilishly
handsome and you could make me do anything you wanted just by
batting your eyes at me so I have to remind myself not to succumb
by calling you pretty boy, that’s all.”