[Ramesh_Rocky]

I looked at her and wondered if she felt the same way now. She’d given up five years of her life when I was advancing myself to work at a bank executive job, raise a little girl, and keep me happy. It had worked out pretty good, but I wondered if she now regretted putting my life first.

At 11:30 p.m. Roy yawned and held his hand out to Cathy, saying, “Come on old girl, I need my beauty sleep.”
She grinned at him and said, “I don’t?”
“Never,” and the look he gave her told me that Debbie had put them together in Kelly’s bedroom, moving Kelly in to sleep with her while BJ kept his own bed. There were two beds, which we’d put in a few years ago for the times when


he’d want male friends to sleep over, in his room, but I doubted she’d put Kelly and BJ in the same room
As Roy pulled Cathy to her feet and they looked at each other, it hit me harder than I thought it would. They were who I had always thought Debbie and I would be in another 20 years. Now we never would be.
As they left the den Debbie gave them a look that made me think she might be having the same thoughts I’d had. There was a definite sadness there.
“Did you find out anything?”
“No. Everybody is still checking things out. If and when I find out anything, I will tell you first. I promise.”
She stood and, as always, it was a symphony.
“Well, I’m going upstairs to try and get some sleep. Will you be alright down here?”
“Always have been.”
She turned to leave, then swiveled to face me again.
“They told me you almost killed yourself a dozen times trying to get here tonight. I – I’m touched that you were that. concerned.”
“Being divorced doesn’t change some things, Debbie, not at all.”
We stared at each other for a minute. There were a hundred things I wanted to say, yet I couldn’t think of one of them.
I slouched on the couch after she left and clicked on the Television From Hell. The local news was over so I found CNN, checked the headlines, then switched over to Fox. I listened to the world’s woes and felt the house all around me, like a living thing. It felt like it was in my blood, every square foot had been a part of my life. As long as I stayed away, I had kept the memories at bay. It was as if all this had happened in another life.
Nevertheless, it was my life.
I had begun to convince myself that this old life was behind me and I’d begun to feel like I was settling into the single life. I’d begun to think that the day would come when I would look at Debbie and not see her through the eyes of the 20-year-old who had fallen in love with a gorgeous woman on first sight.
However, like Michael Corleone in one of the ‘Godfather’ flicks, “they had pulled me back in!”
I had started out the evening as an increasingly well-adjusted single man lusting after a very big breasted woman whom I’d never seen naked, but was looking forward to, and I’d ended it as a divorced father living a lonely life forcibly separated from everything I’d ever cared about.
I was sleeping on the couch the way I had hundreds of times before over the years when the Old Man’s cell phone rang. It must have been ringing for a minute or two but I shook the sleep out of my eyes and keyed the talk button.


“Mr. Maitland, I apologize for being away on business. Did I wake you?” “Yes, but thank you for returning my call.”
“I think I know the reason for your call.”
“Why am I not surprised? I assume that the man with no head lost it to your people, and you probably know what river we should drag to find his partner?”
“He sleeps not with, fresh water, fishes, to use a line from that great old classic Godfather film, but salt water fish - whatever is left of him. Sharks tend to leave very little uneaten.”
“What is going on? I think I know, but please confirm my suspicions and tell me how great a threat my family is facing.”
“Both of them were employees of the Cartel. They had been shadowing your son for three days.”
“What – why were they watching him/”
“It was psychological warfare on the Cartel’s part. They had no intention of doing anything. They were merely going to see that photographs of your son and wife made their way to the security officer along with some vague threats. Their goal was to make you so focused on the threat to your family that you would have no desire to become involved in their affairs.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“My people spotted them and after – eliminating – one, they discussed matters with the other. After a – lengthy – discussion, they were convinced the remaining employee was completely honest and forthcoming in his answers. He was convinced this was strictly a psychological ploy.”

“But...”

“Obviously, often low level employees are not kept informed of policy, but, following our termination of the two men some of my people contacted some Cartel representatives. Up until that point they were not aware of our interest in this matter. When our position was made clear, they indicated that this was merely a feint, a precautionary effort. Following our recent contact, the Cartel representatives have given their word that no one from their organization will in any way threaten or come anywhere near to anyone close to you.”
“Do you believe them?”
There was a long silence and I wondered if he was taking the question as some affront to his own code of honor.
“My business – and that of the Cartel – is surrounded by many myths and stereotypes, but they are at bottom businesses. We employ violence because that is the nature of the world in which we live and work. If we did not employ violence we would be murdered, our women taken and our riches plundered. Regardless, when you strip away everything else, a business is a business. It exists to provide products and services, to make a profit - to make money.


“A war disrupts business, the supply of products to customers, frightens off customers, results in the destruction of product, brings down the disruptive force of government upon our organizations, results in the death of valued employees and, the bottom line, it costs everyone money – great amounts of money.
“The Cartel - any organization such as our own – tends to be cautious when it comes to attacking powerful government officials. The Mexican Cartel has become – arrogant – about such actions because of the situation in that country. This attitude has shaped their actions in your country because they – and we – operate outside the legal world. They tend not to fear retribution from official sources but, we are not a government.
“Our people were very clear, that any attack or hostile action against you or anyone close to you would bring forth an - unlimited - response. In other words, war, without regard for any damage that might result to either or both of our organizations. In other words, in language they would understand, no quarter.
“At this point, they know only that this is a personal matter to me, but they will investigate and will learn of the connection between us. It makes no difference, except that before this I stood in the shadows watching your back. Now it will be a secret no longer.
“This doesn’t mean they will take no action against you, only that they will consider their next steps very carefully and weigh them against the threat of what they stand to lose. This means that, if the Mendoza trial comes to you, I have no idea what they will do. Until that time, I can guarantee you there will be no further threats to you or yours.”

I considered what he had said, then asked, “Does this place me in your debt?” “You did not ask me to take this action. Consider it what you would call - a freebie, I think the word is. However, if you were in my debt, would that be such a terrible position in which to be? There is very little that I would ask you directly to do, and you could become immeasurably wealthy and powerful with my backing. There are a number of politicians around the world who have made

good lives being in my service.”
“As I’ve said before, I have to decline your gracious offer.”
“Ah well, that does not surprise me. You can sleep securely tonight. There is no immediate threat to your family.”
Before he could hang up, I said, “Unfortunately, the local law enforcement will have no way of determining that the threat has passed, and I obviously can’t tell them how I know. Could you...?”
“Within the next several days, we will ensure that information is received from sources within the Cartel about the nature of their attempts to spy on your son. Your intelligence agencies will receive confirmation of these reports.”
“Thank you.”


“Good night, Mr. Maitland.”
I looked to see Debbie’s eyes gleaming in the darkness, reflecting the light from the hallway. In the dim light I could see that she wore a robe, and apparently nothing else.
“Is that the man who called you in the hospital?” ‘It’s better that you don’t know, Debbie.”
“You know that I kept secrets from you, Bill, but I’ve always known you had secrets of your own. This involves us – me and Kelly and BJ. Don’t you think I deserve to know your secret?”
I told her everything.
“You would have betrayed all you’ve ever believed in to keep us safe?”
“I would have sold my soul to the devil to keep you and Kelly and BJ safe.
There was a time you would have known that.”
She just stared at me for awhile, then turned without a word and left the den. I lay back on the couch which seemed to have the imprint of my body in it, and fell almost instantly asleep.