Page 10 of Ava
“I can do that.” She laughed and hugged her daughter.
“Oh, here,” Alan, the quietest one of the bunch reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a very thick envelope, and handed it to Dolly, the woman who cooked for them.
“What’s this?” she asked, but hesitated in taking it, though Wyatt had no qualms about it. He took it and looked inside.
“What the hell?”
“We’ve been saving our money ever since Justin told us about his plan to move here and help Morgan. We know we’re converging on you with no advanced warning. Not only are we invading your home and privacy, but we’d like to know where we can hook up the three fifth wheelers with water and electricity. The J’s will be staying in one, we A’s will be staying in the other, and the third one we’ll use as our work office, over to wherever the building is going to be built. That money is for you to buy extra provisions for us.”
“I can provide for Morgan’s family,” Wyatt said as he started to hand the envelope of money back. Morgan reached out and placed her hand over his to stop him.
“Honey, think of how much DJ and Lucas eat. Add six more mouths to the table.” She pointed to her brothers, and when understanding dawned, Wyatt passed the envelope to Dolly.
“Do you have a problem cooking for six more people? Or, ten more for the next week?”
“Not at all. Thank goodness we butchered just last week, and all the freezers are full for the spring and summer. I’ll just have to make a list and have someone go to town to buy whatever else we need.”
“We’ll go.” Peggy pointed to her and Dottie. “And while we’re here, we’ll help you cook.”
“Deal.” Dolly laughed, then invited the women into the house. Wyatt, Dillon, and Wilson, the ranch foreman, took the men aside, and discussed the best place to put the campers. They walked away toward the bunkhouse, which left Chip and Morgan alone.
“Well?” Morgan raised a brow at her uncle.
“Do you have a state map?”
Morgan turned, put two fingers to her mouth and let out a loud whistle. When the men turned to look at her, she called out. “Justin, with me.” When he joined them, she nodded and headed toward her pickup truck. They climbed in and she drove them over to her office.
“First, this is where the barracks is going to be,” she pointed to the area, and when Justin asked to use her truck to go back across the street for his blueprints, she grinned.
“Keys are in the ignition.” Then, she took her uncle into her office. After turning on the lights, she pointed to the wall to the right of the entrance. There was a huge map of not only North Dakota, but also of South Dakota, and Montana, along with the lower part of Canada where it bordered two states.
“Great,” Chip said as he studied it. He pulled out a thick file from his briefcase he’d brought with him.
“First, Ava Hanson?”
“What about her?”
“Everything came back clear. After her ordeal, she passed the psych eval, but not the physical one. Oh, she’s still in tip-top shape, but—”
“But not up to the Marines’ standards. Let me guess, the doctor examining her didn’t give her a couple more weeks to recover before he gave her the tests,” Morgan interrupted.
“Correct. She would be perfect for you, and what you’re putting together. I’ve contacted Angel over in Montana, and she said she’d handle it.”
“Good, I trust her. I wish I could recruit Angel, but I know that won’t happen.”
“I know. Here’s Hanson’s file, and I’ve also included the five women you sent me to check out. I approve of every one of them. It’ll be up to you to contact them when you’re ready. I’ve also taken the liberty to come up with a file of contacts for you. They are aware of what you’re doing, and are willing to help.
“What type of contact?”
“Agents with different bowls of the alphabet soup.”
“Ah.” Morgan nodded, then took all the files and walked them over to the opposite wall. She opened what looked like a file cabinet, but in actuality was a safe, she opened it and stuck the files inside.
“Good. Now before he gets back here, we’ve both read the J’s into what’s happening, or what we suspect is happening. That’s why they’re here, plus to help you get the barracks up and running. They understand what’s at stake, and that you are in charge. They’ve all passed the weapons training. I even threw in some covert ops stuff, just the basic stuff.”
“What about the A’s?”
“As far as I know, they know nothing about what the J’s have been doing, or why you need the barracks set up. I’ll leave that up to you to tell them, if you think they need to know.”
