thorneinmotion

Thorne In Motion

Directly continued from Thorne In London

By Atonia Walpole

Part 1:

This time Toni brought a book to read, having read all the magazines in the visitor's lounge. Terry had gone back for his interview over an hour ago. She had no idea how long these things took and when the receptionist offered a cup of tea, she gratefully accepted it.

Terry knew he had to be very careful how he answered the questions being fired at him. He could only reference experiences and extractions he knew to be true and include nothing about Chechnya or Tecala. Missions that had occurred prior to his movie life were subject to investigation. It was only his knowledge of the actual jobs that got him through since the company he worked for at the time did not exist in the real world.

A little over an hour into the interview, they were interrupted. Brian Hogeland rose from his desk and excused himself. He was back within twenty minutes.

“Mr. Thorne, a rather sticky situation has arisen. My negotiator is apparently having chest pains and has been taken to hospital. There isn’t anybody else available at short notice. I wonder if you might step in? We have a man on site who is having a difficult time and needs our assistance.”

Terry stood up. “I’d be happy to do what I can, of course.”

Brian gave him the information they had regarding the situation. “You are to listen in and anything you would like to offer, please do. Our man’s name is Bud Osborne. You will hear his voice and that of the contact.”

Terry sat down at the bank of communication equipment and donned the headphones. He took a minute to assess the panel and to make himself familiar with the equipment, then switched it on. He identified himself as Tio. After all, they couldn't take everything away from him.

Brian was soon joined by another man and they stood back and listened as Terry communicated with Bud. They looked at each other and nodded. The man obviously knew what he was doing. He was soon feeding words into Bud’s ear for him to repeat and before long things were moving forward. After thirty minutes Brian quietly left the room and walked down the hall. Terry Thorne was hired.

“Mrs. Thorne, would you like for me to call a driver for you?”

Toni put her book down and looked up at the receptionist. “Where is Mr. Thorne?”

“I believe he is working, Mrs. Thorne,” she smiled.

Two things went through Toni, happiness that he had found work and fear that he had found work. She was aware they could not go on joined at the hip, but being separated from him even for a little while worried her.

“How long will he be?” she asked, standing up. “Can I speak with him?”

“I do not know how long and he cannot be disturbed. I'm sorry, Mrs. Thorne, but something unexpected has happened and he is needed. I'm sure he will contact you as soon as he can. Shall I call someone for you?”

Toni looked at the door he’d disappeared behind for a moment then picked up her purse and book. “Yes, and if you would, please let him know I’ve gone back to the flat.” Toni paced back and forth until a uniformed driver appeared in the doorway to tell her the car was ready. Terry wasn’t just hers anymore. Security International, Ltd. had a part of him. She would have to come to terms with that.

Back in the flat Toni washed the breakfast dishes and put them away. She made the bed and sat down to write a grocery list. If Terry was working he might not be there for meals, but not knowing what hours he would be home…home. She looked around the flat and it felt empty without him.

“Oh, what am I going to do without him?” she cried aloud in the quiet, empty flat. She left the grocery list on the table and walked from one room to the next. Stopping at his desk and picking up the photograph of his son, she broke down and cried.

Later she went to the bathroom, washed her face, picked up the half-finished list and walked to the little neighborhood grocery, also stopping at the newsagents and buying a paper and some cigarettes for Terry. Do normal things, she kept telling herself. Back on the sidewalk she looked at other people going about their business, women whose husbands or lovers were probably at work. It wasn’t the end of the world…but it was an end to the idyllic life she’d lived with him.

Terry shifted his shoulders. He’d been hunched over the table for hours. He’d been supplied with coffee, tea and lunch. Brian was in and out, listening for a while and either nodding his head or wiping his face in frustration. The contact was a tough nut but Terry had negotiated with worse and knew it took time. He’d established a good rapport with Bud who was thankful for the help Terry was tossing his way. It was all quiet for a moment and he called Toni, glancing up at the clock as he did so. It was after six.

“Hi, luv,” he said quietly.

“Terry, are you still there?”

“Yeah, still here probably until nine. Somebody else is coming in then. You okay?”

“Yes, I, uh, went shopping for food but I haven’t prepared anything because I didn’t know…”

“Don’t do for me. They’re feeding me.”

“I want to feed you.”

“Later, you can feed me all night. I love you.” He watched the screen in front of him as he spoke to her.

“I love you, too. Miss you.”

“Me, too. I have to go, luv.”

A little after nine Terry quickly wrote up his report detailing what had gone down while he was on and left it for the next guy. It was a little thing but something he’d been trained to do. He’d basically been back-up for Bud, the guy in the field. It would have been nice, he thought, if LRI had done that for him. He’d been on his own from the time his plane touched down in whatever country he’d been sent to. He wrote good reports and when Brian noticed he was writing something, looked over his shoulder, reading the screen.

“Good work ,Terry. Sorry you had to jump in before we even talked terms.”

“Nothing like getting your feet wet first.” Terry rose and picked up his jacket, slipping his arms into the sleeves.

“I want you to realize I know you’re overqualified for what it is you want to do.”

Terry grinned, “Not over, just qualified.”

“Ted’s had a heart attack. I’m going to put you on this situation. I like the way you handled Bud.”

“He’s doing the right thing. Even the best get frustrated now and again. You just can’t ever let anybody hear you sweat.”

Brian chuckled, “I’ll have your paperwork ready tomorrow, say around ten in the morning, if you could come in. Oh, and I liked the moniker you assumed…good touch.”

Terry was driven home and hadn't finished punching the code on the keypad before the door was opened.

Toni pulled him inside and threw her arms around him. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

Terry kissed her and hugged her tight. “Why were you worried? You knew where I was.”

“Because you weren’t with me." She ran her hands down his arms.

“You’re going to have to get over that. I’m hired.”

“I know…I’m happy for you, Terry, really I am. I know it’s something you want to do.”

“Something I have to do. I don’t suppose you made it by the bottle shop?”

“I did and bought you ciggies.”

“I must have bought you flowers. What a thoughtful fellow I am,” he smiled and patted her bottom, noticing the vase of flowers on the table.

Toni poured him a drink, brought it to him and settled on the sofa by his side. “So they put you to work right away?”

“Well, the man who was working this job had a heart attack. I was there and they put me on it to see what I could do.”

“And you must have impressed them. I knew you would.”

“I have to be back by ten in the morning. I don’t think, Toni, that I am going to be working regular hours. There are shifts, as I understand it, but if something is hot I’ll have to stay with it. I’m basically working as a back-up for the field operative.”

“Back-up, and what happens if the front man goes down?”

“Then it’s up to me.”

Toni licked her lips and looked him in the eyes. “You’re one step away from the man dangling from the helicopter.”

“No, this company does things a bit differently, honey. I won’t be dangling again. I promise you that.”

Toni smiled and touched his face, brushing her fingers through his hair.

He caught her hand and kissed her fingertips.

“I know it’s been a roller coaster for you every since we landed here. I hope things will settle soon for you.”

“They’re already settling. I mentioned working from home and Brian said they had several people doing that in different countries. Right now they don't have anybody on the East coast of North America. They lost the man in NY to a different company. It’s going to settle, Toni, for both of us.”

“Terry, honey, how are you going to spend time with Henry when you’re in Virginia?”

“I’ll bring him over for his hols. We can come back here anytime.”

“And your work?”

“Is portable. I can get a sat hook-up anywhere.”

“And me?”

Terry grinned, “You are definitely portable, and I can take you anywhere.”

“Like where?” She ran her finger down his neck then on down his chest.

He turned his drink up. “Like to the bedroom.”

“It’s early yet.”

“Early…for what?” He met her eyes and took her hand, running his fingertips up and down the inside of her arm.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“Making shivers run up and down my spine.”

“Then I’m doing it right.”

Part 2:

The next few days were stressful for Toni. The situation he was working on required him to be gone ten hours at least a day. With no idea when or even if they would be going back to Virginia, she was in limbo. She decided to do something about the bare flat and went shopping. She bought bits of china, enameled boxes, shell boxes, books and picture frames. Terry told her about the little boutiques across the bridge and she took a taxi over there and shopped; bright tasseled pillows for the sofa, a handmade pottery basket, which she filled with fruit on the kitchen counter. She was satisfied with her efforts. The flat now looked like someone lived there.

One day she went out, taking photographs of the bridge and the river, then came back in and downloaded them onto her laptop, thinking she would hook Terry’s printer up later if they were good and frame her work. The camera had been a Christmas present at the house one year. She was unprepared for what was still on the chip.

She’d never cleared anything from the chip and all the pictures she’d taken at the house were still there, pictures of John, Jack, Cort, Max, Bud, Maximus and Terry. Memories came flooding back. She couldn’t help it. She cried for her lost loves, touching the screen here and there. She had loved them all equally…once. One by one she said goodbye and deleted the pictures except the one Jack had taken of her on the bluff and the ones she had taken of Terry. One of him in particular touched her heart. She’d taken it after he came back from his ordeal in the sea. She printed it out and the one of herself and put them in matching fames.

Terry walked around that evening, admiring her efforts, smiling softly when he looked at her. He picked up the photos. “I’ve never seen this one of you. It’s really striking. Who took it?”

“Jack took it the first year. He didn’t like being photographed and took the camera from me.”

“It’s a good picture…why in bloody hell did you print this out?” He turned with the photo of himself.

“It touched me. Remember I took it the day Jack brought you home after you’d been washed out to sea. It was late in the evening.”

He looked at the photos again and set them back on the end table. “I remember.” He remembered what came shortly afterward when they’d gone upstairs and loved each other with a starving hunger from almost losing it all. He absently picked up a shell box and thought about Jack. He hadn’t told her about his visit and about the connection he still had between her other seasons. He set the box back down. He wasn’t sure he wanted to.

“I like it all, Toni. It reminds me of you. You’ve put your stamp on this flat.”

“You know me. I like a little clutter.”

“You see how empty my life was before I met you?” He put his hands on her waist. “I will never forget what you said to me the first day I met you. You said what if there was a place you could come to and you would always be welcome and somebody would love you. I found that place and it had nothing to do with the house…it was in you.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her for a long time.

“You leave me breathless, Terry,” she breathed when he released her and held her close.

“I hope I always will.”

Later she asked him about Henry. “Has he ever been here, Terry, to this flat?”

“No, he hasn’t. I wasn’t here much, Toni. Downtime was usually a couple of weeks somewhere else, warm weather and…recreation.”

“Hmm…recreation. Well, I’d like to have him and his friend come by Saturday before or after the trip to the RAF museum. He needs to know where his father lives so he can think of him there.”

“I don’t think he thinks of me at all, Toni…I don’t. He’s involved with his school and his friends.”

“And his mother and step-father. There is room for you.”

Saturday morning they drove to St. Albans and to Henry’s school. He and his friend Peter climbed into the back seat of the hired car.

“Sir, what happened to the car with the driver?” Henry asked once they set off.

“That was a company car, Henry. I don’t work for the same people anymore.”

“Do you have a new job?”

“I do. I work for Security International Ltd. I started on Tuesday.”

“When do you leave, Sir?”

“I won’t be traveling like I did before. We need to talk about that later today.”

Toni wondered if he’d ever called Terry 'Dad'. She turned in the seat and met Henry’s wide clear blue eyes. “Your Dad tells me you want to be a pilot.”

“Yes, once I’m out of school I plan to join the RAF.”

Terry turned. “It’s the uniform, Toni. Attracts all the girls.”

Toni noticed Henry blushed.

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that. How about you, Peter? What are your plans? Are you going into the RAF, too?”

“No, mum, I’m going into engineering…like my Dad. I reckon it’s in the blood…right, Henry?”

Henry looked out of the window. “In the blood,” he repeated.

Toni looked at Terry. Had he been a pilot? He was offering up nothing on the subject.

They spent several hours at the museum allowing the boys plenty of time to examine the planes and afterward they stopped for a meal. There'd been a slight change of plans as Peter’s sister was in town, wanted to meet up with him and would take him back to school. After talking with her on the phone, Terry dropped Peter off at her flat and talked with her, making sure she would, indeed, take him back to school and then they took Henry home with them.

“I understand you have never been here.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t expect much,” Terry remarked as he opened the door to their flat.

Henry walked in and went immediately to the window overlooking the river, then he turned, looking around, and saw the photos. Toni had also moved his into the living room.

“I was wondering, Henry, if you have some more pictures of you? I’d like some if you do.” Toni went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. She thought a cup of tea and some of the good pastries she’d picked up down the street might be a good thing.

“I dunno. School pictures maybe.”

“You haven’t given your Dad a recent one, have you?”

“Well, I haven’t seen him…when I had the pictures with me, that is.”

Terry came out of the bathroom and picked up a pastry from the plate Toni was arranging. “Why don’t you wait for your tea,” she glared at him.

Terry grinned around the jam and cream at Henry.

Henry smiled back at him.

“These are good. Did you make them?” Terry wiped his mouth with his fingers and licked them off.

“You know I don’t bake.”

“She’s a good cook, though.” He raised a brow at Henry.

“When did you get married?” Henry asked his father.

That was a hard question to answer correctly since they never made it legal. “Last fall, in September.”

“We were married on Cape Cod. That’s in Massachusetts,” Toni offered.

“I didn’t know…that you were married.” Henry accepted his cup of tea.

“Now you do. Look, Henry…I’m, ah, kinda glad Peter went to visit his sister because it gives us a chance to talk. I know I haven’t been around much over the years, haven’t spent much time with you at all.”

“You had to work.”

“Yes, I did, but I've come to realize that there are more important things in life than work. You can thank this woman, my wife, for that clarity. I still have to work but I won’t be going away for months and years at a time. You’ve got, what, two more years at school? And then Cambridge?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to ask you about that. I just never got the chance.”

“About what, university?”

“Yes, sir. I’m not sure I want to go.”

“Henry, there is no question but that you will go to college.”

“Does it have to be Cambridge?”

“What’s wrong with Cambridge?”

“I want to join the RAF Air Cadets.”

“What are we talking about here, Henry?”

“I’ve been trying for a year to talk Mom into letting me join. She doesn’t think I’m serious about this and I am. I sent away for all the literature on it. It’s all I think about and my mate John has joined. You get to fly….”

Terry bit his lip. “Why doesn’t your mother let you join?”

“She says it’s too dangerous, but it’s not. They’ve got all kinds of volunteers that know what they’re doing. It’s not dangerous. They even let girls join.”

“This is the first I’ve heard about this.”

“Mom won’t tell you…she thinks... she doesn’t want me to…”

“Be like your father?”

Toni quietly got up from the table and walked into the lounge. Henry was very much like his father and she thought it was time for his father to take responsibility for him. The boy was half grown. He no longer needed his mother to spoon feed him. He needed Terry and she so hoped he would see that.

Henry was appalled at himself. His face turned red and he looked down at the table placing his hands in his lap. He couldn’t believe he’d spoken as he had and was trying to come up with the words to an apology for his outburst.

Terry sat back in his chair, looking at Henry. He could see himself in his son and he could also hear it. What was it the boys said in the back seat on the way to the museum, something about it being in the blood? It had to be, he thought, for he hadn’t been around enough to influence him.

“Sir…I…”

“Henry, I know the word might feel strange on your tongue but try it anyway…I’m your Dad. I’m late coming to the realization of what that word means. I can’t make up for the lost years, Henry, but I can do something about the ones to come…if you will allow it.”

Henry looked up and blinked, locking his eyes on the man across the table from him.

“Sometime in the coming weeks, maybe a month…I don’t know yet…Toni and I are moving to Virginia. I know you have two more years in school and I hope you will want to come to us on your holidays. If that’s not possible for some reason, we will come to you. I know…you’re thinking I’m running out again…that’s not so. I left you in your mother’s care and she has done a remarkable job with you but you’re on the runway, Henry, ready to become a man. I want to take responsibility for guiding you down that path.

“Where...where are you moving?”

“Virginia…Toni has a large estate there. It’s going to be our home base but this flat is ours, too, and I intend to keep it. We’ll divide our time as needed because I intend to be here for you. I make you that promise today and I don’t promise lightly. Now about the cadets…I’ll talk to your mother about that.”

Henry stared opened-mouth. He thought he’d just been given something he’d always dreamed of having, always hoped for. He was afraid to believe it was true.

Toni had been listening to what was being said and she did what Terry couldn’t seem capable of doing at the moment. She walked over and put her arm around Henry’s shoulders, giving him a quick hug.

“I’ve never been a step-mom before. I hope you will forgive me if I screw it up once in a while. Now when you come to Virginia I want you to know you can bring a friend or two if you’d like. There’s plenty of room, and a swimming pool, and we might even have a horse or two by then. You will always be welcome there, Henry. You’re family and families are important no matter how they are arranged.”

“Th…thank you,” Henry managed.

Terry looked up at Toni, “It’s a place you can come to where you’ll always be welcomed and there will be someone to love you.” He looked across the table at his red-faced son whose eyes were about to erupt.

“Well, it’s getting late. We’d better get you back to school before we get into trouble.” Terry stood up and Toni moved back, taking the near-empty plate of pastries from the table and carrying them into the kitchen. Henry rose awkwardly from the table and moved out into the middle of the room.

Toni wondered if she were going to have to prompt Terry. Touch him, she kept trying to send a mental message to him, hug him, do something.

Terry stood up and walked over near the door, looking back at Henry. “Have you got everything, all your booklets from the museum?”

“Yes, Sir.” He met his father’s eyes.

Terry looked up a moment, swerved around, came to Henry and enfolded him awkwardly into his arms. “I meant everything I said, son, all of it.”

Toni turned on the water in the sink and grabbed a paper towel to dab her eyes.

“Are you riding, Missus?” Terry asked

“Yes, just a moment.” She pulled it together, turned and smiled.

Part 3:

Terry was no financial guru. If money was in the bank, it was spent, if not, it wasn’t. Right now he was sitting on a tidy sum which had nothing to do with his and Toni’s account in Virginia. He’d just come out of the bank where he’d set up a separate account for Henry, one which he would oversee but would give the boy a little money of his own. The banker suggested he might think of investing. Terry couldn’t think of investing. He had no idea how to go about it.

And so as he was walking down the street in the banking district, he checked his watch. He still had an hour before reporting to Security International when someone fell into step beside him. He noticed the expensive Italian leather shoes and looked up.

“Max!” He stopped in the middle of the pedestrian flow.

Max smiled, “Terry, how goes it, my brother?”

“I’m not going ask what you’re doing here. I was just thinking about you.”

“Let’s pop in here for a drink.” Max steered him into a pub.

“I have to be at work in an hour.”

“No problem. Have you had lunch?”

“Yes, before I left home.”

“And where is home? Here in the city?”

“We have a flat here, yes.” He sat down at a table Max found.

“Indulge me. I haven’t eaten.” Max ordered them both a pint and himself a sandwich.

“Tell me about Toni. Is she well…is she happy…I shouldn’t ask.”

“She’s doing fine, Max.”

“What happened to Virginia?”

“It’s still there. We’re going back in a week. I found a job with Security International Ltd. which will allow me to work from home. I’m not going back into the field.”

“Smart man, but then you always were. I always felt I was a step behind you, never quite getting there. I never got the opportunity to do anything with Toni’s inheritance; perhaps I can do something for you. I’m not quite the cold-hearted bastard this city would have you to believe.” Max took a drink from his pint.

“I never thought you were.”

“Security International is a solid company, does well on the stock exchange. Want I should play with it? You could own it,” he smiled.

“I’ve only been there two weeks, Max.”

“You should have your own company. Weren’t you going to do that at one time?”

“Ah, yeah, that was Dino’s idea. He’s not real, Max. You have no idea what this has been like. Some things are real that you remember and some not. I went through the transition in a taxi. If I’d stayed in the taxi I would have been driven to the gates of the house. As it was I got out in front of my building so everything that was there became real…including my son and my ex-wife. The papers were in my office.”

Max met his eyes. “So…you have a son.” He thought about Toni…and children. “All the more reason to be your own man. You didn’t expect to find him, did you?”

“No, I didn’t expect to find anything, but I had to come to London. I had to know.”

Max looked at him a moment. “Have you a check book? A deposit slip will do. I just need the number of your account.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Watch the stock market and check your email. Ah, lunch is served…thank you,” he smiled and checked out the waitress’ behind as she walked away. “What I am going to do is look out for my younger brother. I do have certain talents.”

“Don’t do anything illegal on my account.” Terry found a deposit slip and handed it to him.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Are you sure you won’t have a bite? This is very good.”

Terry picked a chip from his plate. It was real and he bit into it. “I should go. I have to get across town. Max… I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Don’t go soft on me now. I’ve never known you to be soft. Take care, Terry. I’ll be in touch.” They shook hands and Terry walked out of the pub onto the street then looked back through the window. Max was not there. Such was his life.

He found a taxi and headed for the office. He had no idea what Max would do but he trusted him. He wondered how Max would have fared had he been the one. What would he have done when he found nothing he knew was real? No banking life in London and no chateau in Provence. Terry thought he had been extremely lucky.

With only a week left in London Toni was food shopping daily, knowing everything would be tossed out when they left. She liked the city and had become acquainted with the neighborhood, met a few of her neighbors in the laundry room located in the basement of their building. When everything had been up in the air she’d reconciled herself to living here. There was a part of her that would miss it when they left. There was so much to do and so many places to go but Terry assured her they would be back soon.

She would be glad to have Terry back home. His working hours were long and lately his sleeping hours had been short. She’d been in touch with Munchie about the equipment that would be arriving for Terry to set up in his office. Munchie was living in her rooms above the kitchen wing and overseeing the house and grounds. Everything seemed to be falling into place for them.

Terry arranged to meet with Liddy alone for lunch the next day. He wanted to discuss Henry.

They greeted each other with a kiss and sat down. “What’s this about, Terry? You don’t usually want to see me alone.” Liddy picked up her menu.

“It’s about Henry. I intend to take an active part in his life now. I had a talk with him last Saturday before I took him back to school.”

“Oh, that’s right. You took him and Peter to the RAF museum. I’m glad you did. I would have been bored to death looking at airplanes.”

“He has a passion for them right now. Why not let him pursue it?”

“Like everything else, he’ll be onto something else in a month. Some things are best left alone. Let it run its course and then onto the next thing.”

“He’s wanted to be a pilot since he was ten. Why won’t you let him join the RAF Cadets?”

“Oh, so he’s been at you about that, a more sympathetic ear?”

“Yes, he has. I don’t understand your objection. It’s an admirable thing to do. I think it would be good for him. They don’t just fly planes.”

“No, but they do fly. It only takes one time for it to fall out of the sky.”

“He’s more likely to get hit by a car crossing the street than fall out of the sky.”

“Oh, that’s comforting! Tell me about this new-found paternal instinct you’ve suddenly developed.”

“I probably deserved that.” Terry took a sip out of his water glass. “You’ve done an excellent job with him, Liddy, but I’m in a position now to take some of that responsibility from you. I want to be a part of his life and him to be a part of mine. He has a school break coming up. I’d like him to come to Virginia and stay with us.”

“His break is in three weeks. When are you leaving London?”

“Friday, we’re flying out Friday morning.”

“We were going to the south of France. Plans have been made.”

“Unmake them as far as Henry is concerned. I need this time with him, Liddy.”

Liddy studied him. “You’ve changed…is it Toni?”

“She’s had a tremendous impact on my life.”

“I’m glad for you, Terry. I wasn’t liking what you’d become. I have no objection to his spending time with you. Have you talked to him about Virginia?”

“Yes, I have. I believe he wants to come.”

“I’ll talk to him as well. I do wonder how you’re going to spend time with him living across the pond.”

“We’ll work it out. I may not see him every week but we’ll keep in contact. I’ve set up an account for him, a joint account that he may draw money from for whatever a fourteen year old boy needs.”

“You’re not going to spoil him now, trying to make up all those years he didn’t see or hear from you?”

“I don’t think so, but if I want to indulge him once in awhile, I will. I told him I would talk to you about the cadets.”

“I need to think about that. After his break we’ll talk again. I’m not sure he’d keep up with his school work.”

“That might be an incentive for him.”

“We’ll see,” she smiled. “I’m having a salad, if the waitress ever comes back.”

Terry sat back in his chair and smiled to himself.

Thursday they went to St. Albans to see Henry and had lunch at his school with him.

“You’re okay with this, flying on your own? Your mother will put you on one end and I’ll be waiting at the other.”

“Oh, sure. Flying doesn’t bother me,” he grinned across the table.

“I’m really looking forward to your coming, Henry.” Toni was sitting beside him and she squeezed his hand. “It’s a big house and needs company.”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, too.” He was excited about going and spending time with his father. “Did you ask her about the cadets?”

“I did and she agreed to think about it. We’ll talk again after you get back from Virginia. It may all rest on how you handle your school work. Just thought I’d let you know that.”

Henry sat back in his chair with a little smile on his face.

They were on the plane headed home. Toni slept and Terry worried. He’d received a phone call in the airport from Security International congratulating him. He now owned the company. He’d said nothing to Toni about it and wasn’t sure how he was going to explain it. He’d been so busy trying to work and getting ready to leave he hadn’t checked his email or the stock market. He didn’t know what the bloody hell he was going to do. This was an established and respected company, not some little rag tag organization like he and Dino were going to start. Oh, Max, what the fuck have you done?