“Hmm.” Mark Harmon relished the obvious compliment.
“Finally, someone who sees the sense of what I’m trying to do around here.”
“Ahh, Brad, pull down that tutu and take it easy,” said Ryan. He gave a mock salute to the huge bald-headed man, and then settled into devouring his pancakes. All ate well, exchanging pleasantries while small talk continued until their bellies were stuffed. In time, Terry relented first, pushing her plate away. The men were not that far behind.
“Wow, Mark. That was incredible.”
“Yeah, you outdid yourself,” added Andy.
“Thanks, Mark,” said Ryan.
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” said Kevin.
Mark beamed, waving the waiters to the kitchen with a final word of thanks.
“You’re welcome. All of you.”
Brad gave Ryan a telling lift of his eyebrow. Clearly, he wanted to know the purpose of this “official” visit request. Of the same mind, Mark Harmon decided to immediately explore the purpose of the visit. “Well, Terry, Andy, you guys asked for this formal meeting, so… what’s on your mind?”
Terry wiped her mouth gently with the white cloth napkin, smiling before answering. “Two things, at this point.”
“Yeah?”
“One is… you have a woman here, Aldonza and her boy.”
“I do.”
“I know she works your books, tracks your trades.”
“Yep.”
“I hear she’s pretty good at it, too.”
“Go on?” said Mark. Talk of his money always made him cautious.
“You’ve taken Aldonza under your wing and have grown quite fond of her and her boy Carlos.”
“Ahh, your point, Terry?”
“I meant like a father figure.”
“Again, your point in all this?”
“Okay, well in that regard, Kevin here wants to talk with you some about that… Kev?”
Kevin Kowalski stood from his end of the table, walking around to stand near Mark. Pete and Jake took hard notice of his movements, but did nothing other than move a step closer. Nervous, Kevin was intimidated by the easy power and charisma of Mark Harmon and knew how Connor Mac had loved this man. Gathering his reserve, he motioned for Mark to stand. Interested, Mark did so.
“What’s this?”
“Mr. Harmon, sir, I’d, uh… like your permission… to marry Aldonza. Take her and Carlos into our clan.”
Mark blinked and smiled as he caught up to the request. After a few seconds, he softly grasped Kevin’s shoulder. He glanced at the MacMillen group, before refocusing on Kevin. “Umm, Kevin, I don’t have authority over Aldonza and her boy. There’s no blood between me and her.”
“I know.”
“She can do what she wants—”
“I know that, sir. She knows that, too. It’s just that she respects you, like her father, and told me she wouldn’t do anything to make you unhappy.”
“Oh, I see.” Mark blushed deeply beneath his tanned face, clearing his throat a few times before answering. Touched by the request, he walked away a few steps, deep in thought. Kevin looked a bit lost; Terry decided to help Kevin along.
“So, Mark, we wanted to formally ask for Aldonza’s hand in marriage, isn’t that right, Kev?” suggested Terry.
“Umm, yeah, straight up. That’s right. I’d like to ask for Aldonza’s hand in marriage.”
Mark paced a few more steps forward beyond his bodyguards, rubbing his chin. With a furrowed brow, he seemed troubled by the request. Mark walked back to Kevin, holding out his hand. “I think she’s made a wise choice, Kevin.”
Exhaling a held breath, Kevin shook hands. “Thank you, sir.”
“Not a problem, Kevin.”
“Okay. Great.”
“But, I do have one condition I’d like you to consider.”
Emotionally spent simply asking for Aldonza’s hand, Kevin sought Terry’s help with a glance her way. She nodded that he continue and that he was doing fine.
“Umm, sure. What condition is that, sir?” asked Kevin.
“Well, would you mind if we had the wedding here?”
“Here… at Nemacolin?”
“Yeah. Here at Nemacolin.”
“Umm…”
“You know, I’m told I can put on quite a show when I want to.” Mark chuckled at his own comment. He seemed in good spirits.
“But, ahh… I don’t think I can afford that,” said Kevin.
Terry laughed loudly and Andy and Ryan joined in. She stood, walking to Mark. Standing in front of him, she sensed his mind churning as to the logistics of putting on a special wedding reception for Aldonza.
“It would be on my dime, Kevin,” suggested Mark.
Terry interrupted his thoughts. “Which brings me to my second request.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a similar situation.”
“Alright.”
“It concerns Andy and I.”
Mark stared at Terry for a moment. Making the connection, his eyes lit up. A second later, the deep creases of concern etched his brow. “Oh. Aww… shit, Terry… you mean… really?”
“Yeah. Tell me about it.”
CHAPTER 7.16-A Democracy
“Crap! Our straight shot to Liberty Bridge and into the Tubes isn’t gonna pan out,” said Connor. He let the binoculars drop gently to his chest.
“Why not?” asked John.
“The Liberty Bridge connection to the Veteran’s bridge into the city’s ripped out. Shit!”
“We make our way around then,” said Marty. He edged toward John and Connor for a better view.
“Yeah, but that means we’ll have to slip through into downtown proper and back around to reacquire the Liberty bridge and the Tubes.”
“Let’s do it, then,” said Marty.
“More exposure.”
“We’ll avoid most of it.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. We can try.”
“This team’s ready for that kinda heavy shit, Surf Boy? This is a city center we’re talking about.”
“I know.”
“Lest you forget, we got us a few new non-coms.”
“I know. But, they’ll do it. They did good in Cleveland, right?”
“Yeah, they did okay.”
“And responded near perfect to the wolves attacking, right?”
“Yeah. Not bad.”
“So, don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Good idea, you do that. John, let’s draw up a route together through this mess to arrive at the Liberty Tubes by 17:00 today.”
“Okay. Jackson? Give me that map,” said John McLeod.
Like a soft wind, the team slipped through Pittsburgh street-by-street and building-to-building in the early morning light. They patiently waited for the occasional strangers to clear before advancing.
“Keep an eye up top. Everyone.”
“Uh, huh.”
“Got it.”
“Yep.”
“Understood.”
“Copy that.”
Uneasy, all incorporated a slow scan of the upper level windows of the buildings nearby; no one wanted to feel the impact of an unannounced bullet. Walking slowly, they spread out with the horses held in reserve by Jason and BB covering the rear. With care, they eased their way through cars, trucks, and vans rotting where they sat. Huge rats ran around in heavy wave-like concentration and strewn junk was scattered everywhere.
“This city’s dead,” said Marty.
“Yeah, this particular section hasn’t fared well,” said Connor.
Broken office desk chairs with flaking paint and rusting Swingline staplers dappled the streets in a weird theme of corporate decay. Downtown center was a dusty ghost town.