T. Reeder - The Free Republic of Texas 2015 AD

Sing keep a running report on the state of the bank account, with my buy in share and the matching money Jody put in we were doing pretty good, but I knew if the need arose I would add more to the pot, what good is a lot of money if you don’t use it? and for ten long years I had not done so, ten years of big investment growth, and it was looking like it was time to think about spending it before it was worthless, so I wasn’t worried about it, in fact I was having fun for the first time in ten years, it was great to have a idea, work with Sing to get the information and then make it happen, I really had been missing a lot, I felt alive for the first time in…well…in years.

One day I asked Jody what his thoughts on security were, he asked if I meant like alarms, No I said, like weapons, lots of them. He also had thought about it but had been too busy to do more then that, so I told him I had an idea, We would build another business within the Mall complex, a gun store, a special gun store, one with a first class gun smith and we could also get in addition to the needed Federal firearms Lic. Any and all licenses needed to allow us to build and buy full auto weapons, along with having the ability to buy wholesale we could stock pile what we wanted right in the business close at hand to the ranch. But not having to allow the to come onto the ranch it’s self by setting up a separate LLC just for that business which would rent space from the Mall LLC which was separate from the ranch, sounds complicated but it wasn’t, Jody and Sing readily agreed and I undertook the task of finding the right people to run that business, and I had just the man in mind.

His name is John Quill; also known as Johnny Quick for his ability to beat all of the other guys during the shoot offs at the police range on weekends.

He was an ex LEO from my former Dept who had gone out on Disability after being shot in the line of duty, he had been the Special operations chief

(He hated the term SWAT Team) trained for everything in the books.

Then walked into an armed robbery while off duty, getting some beer to take home, he got two of them but the third got him, off duty, no vest, lucky to be alive.

After he was put out to pasture he decided since he love guns and anything else that made loud noise he went to school and became a gun smith, he was also a very big time competition shooter in most all the shooting sports.

We had kept a loose contact with each other thru the years, and I knew he was recently divorced from a woman who turned out to be a raving antigun nut who thought it was a passing phase for him and she could cure him.

We had last met up on one of my R&R trips to Vegas, we spent a week there, most of it at the range out side of the city, well the days, and the nights were another subject.

After telling the others about him I called him and set up a meeting just like with the other people, I knew he would go for the set up but we had agreed to not have anybody to the ranch unless they were fully informed with the purpose of the entire plan and had joined.

Jody and I went in to meet John and it went just like I figured, he was up for it right off the bat, when Jody explained just what the whole idea was he was really in, he too had been worried about the state of world affairs.

After hearing the entire plan and my ideas for a shop set up he said, OK, here’s the deal, you build it, stock it, and make it a turn key operation with my input and when it’s done I’ll run it and make it show a profit, and will do so for no pay, he said he too had gotten a settlement and his disability pay was more then he needed.

But he wanted a basement, heavily reinforced with the main gun vaults and his living quarters down there. We both agreed on the spot, he also said he wanted to interview all the people who might be working in the shop, we agreed!

He headed out right then to settle up things where he was and to pack for the move, he would supervise the way the shop was laid out and would live in a camper on the site.

After he was gone Jody said “Man that’s one sharp dude!” I had to agree, he also asked if I had any more like him stashed away, I said I’d think about it, John didn’t know it yet but he was going to be the head of security for the entire place and the training officer, a good move as we would one day find out.

Jody called me the next morning on my cell and asked me to meet him at the mall, when I got there he and Sing were standing off to the side watching the work.

When I walked over he asked if I had anything pressing at the moment, I didn’t and said so, he said I would like you and Sing to head into Dallas to look into some prefab buildings to use as bunk houses, Sing said, we need maybe three, built into small studio type apartments.

Looking at them both I wondered why it needed both of us to get it done but I sure wasn’t going to object to a road trip with Sing, it was settled that we would leave the next morning and drive the 125 miles and get our rooms near the plant that made the buildings.

Our trip to Dallas we had fun, Sing chattered along, talking about her life in America, her schooling which had been in a private school usually used by people from other countries who’s jobs had brought them to the US for a few years.

Most of whom wanted their kids to have a better education then they felt was available in the public school system, she said Jody had her and her brother there mainly because it was a boarding school, and the Dean was a former Marine he had served with who took the kids under his wing so to speak.

Also quite frankly Jody didn’t want Sing to be ridiculed over her tribal markings as children were sure to do, whereas the kids who’s parents worked all over the world would be lest inclined to pay much attention to such things having seen many other cultures in their short lives.

I thought it sounded like a lonely life for the two of them but Sing said they were happy and that when at all possible Jody worked out his leave time to coincide with the school breaks, so the three of them had at least some family time.

I was very curious how a single Marine was able to not only adopt two young kids from another country but to bring them to this country and set them up as he had. Sing only said that not only was Jody very resourceful but he also knew some very powerful people in very high places and as he joked, also knew where the bodies were buried, I some how didn’t think Jody was joking, and I for one sure knew how resourceful the man could be!

I’ve never liked Dallas, too big, too fast, and to much noise, but lady luck was in our favor as the place we were dealing with was actually about 20 miles outside the city.

Our Hotel was a very nice new place with everything a person could want without having to leave it, the rooms were awesome, Sing had gotten a suite with 2 bedrooms and sitting room and a bathroom bigger then my bedroom at home with a large hot tub, which gave me some unsettling thoughts but this was business so…

Our appointment was for later in the afternoon which gave us time to clean up and have a very nice lunch out on the pool deck off the dining room. This was my first exposure to being with Sing in an area where people had never seen a woman with markings like hers, It was interesting to watch, the women looked and then looked again, some with a frown, some with their heads cocked over like they were thinking Hmmmmm….the men looked several times, first at the markings, then the woman, then the woman some more, She was by far the most exotic woman I had ever known, there was an air of mystery around her and yet still something of the wild jungles of her homeland, between the markings, the long raven black hair and the fact that she never looked away from anybody who stared, well she was just…perfect!