Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 113741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“Hmmm… Well, it’s your loss, but I meant every word I said. Now, what do you say about Thursday?” Gage asked.
“I think…” Trent started and chuckled. Gage stood before him nodding his head yes as Trent spoke. The kids would love it, so would Rhonny, and they never got to get out of the house together like this. Having them exposed to art and the artistic culture couldn’t be a bad thing… Slowly Trent responded, thinking through it all as he spoke.
“I think it sounds good, very good. I think the kids and Rhonny would love it. She might even ditch class for the chance. Sophia’s at month end with her job, I’m not sure she can break away from work to go, but I’ll ask her if you’re sure,” Trent said, and a clock chimed in the room, reminding him of the time.
“I have to go. I’ll need to call a cab,” he said, stepping out of the circle of Gage’s arms, pulling his slacks on, buttoning them up.
“Absolutely not, I’ll drive you,” Gage said, and padded back across the floor to his bedroom.
“I don’t want to put you out. I should have met you in town,” Trent called after him and put on his shirt where he stood.
“No, this is the way we’re doing things. Besides I’m finding I like this old fashioned way of dating. And we agreed, we’re dating, we said it in bed, and I made you nod your head in agreement, so you’re stuck with me. I’ll be picking you up from here on out,” Gage called back to him.
“I like the sound of all that. I can’t imagine I would have argued much, had I heard it,” Trent said, smiling as Gage came back in the room wearing a pair of blue jeans, a T-shirt, and holding sandals in his hand. Trent slid his shoes, then his suit jacket, back on.
“I like the sound of it, too. I didn’t want to risk it, so I asked while you were sleeping and helped you nod in agreement. It was a tough move to do. I didn’t want to wake you. You’ve had me on a big, merry chase this last week. I won’t be risking much where you’re concerned,” Gage said as he dropped his sandals on the floor and toed each one on. Trent placed his socks and underwear in his jacket pocket and looked around the room as Gage spoke. His newfound confidence slipped a notch or two with the sudden memory that this down-to-earth Gage was beyond wealthy. To think this could be any sort of meaningful relationship, which might actually work for long term, would be an error in his thinking. He’d be wise to remember it before his heart got too far out of control.
****
The clock blinked two in the afternoon and Gage reached over to flip the Keurig on. The lack of sleep last night finally made its presence known. Up until now, the silly smile he wore and the happiness in his heart overrode the fact he didn’t sleep at all the night before.
After he dropped Trent off, he returned to the gallery, where the work crews were in the midst of a shift change. He got the latest update on their overnight progress. Gage went into his office, caught up on all the surveillance videos and several photo logs sent overnight, and then watched the live feed for several hours. Abdulla wasn’t doing much more than sleeping, eating, and meditating all day and all night long. Gage found it all incredibly interesting, though somewhat boring to watch. Abdulla must be the most wanted, unknown man on the planet, and he currently sat in a mission on his hands and knees praying… Praying for what? For the hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives he tortured and sacrificed over the years? Or the women, who at his hand were stolen, kidnapped, sold, and repeatedly raped for nothing more than money in his pocket? Probably not those things… His evil deeds ran too deep, and he liked himself too much to just give it all up on a prayer.
Nothing in Abdulla’s recent background indicated he’d found God in any way. Him being there had to have meaning. But what? The background reports on the priests, bishops, and other clergy in the mission were coming back indicating none had any sort of documented past. Gage spent hours thinking over the possibilities, but nothing made any sense at all. After becoming frustrated with piecing together the meaning of Abdulla’s presence, he switched to planning for his upcoming trip. His flights were booked, his equipment being prepared, and his on-ground transportation ready. He scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday the following week as tentative reporting days, and notified Sid under the condition of extreme confidence to find him time for a breaking news special report. It gave him five full days on location before he began the report. He could check out the surrounding cities, hit some local bars, and see if he could find anything out on why Abdulla chose this path before he broke the story.
Next on his long to-do list, he placed a phone call to his buyer at Nordstrom’s. Gage arranged to have the Cooper family outfitted for The Gallery’s grand opening. The buyer, who he’d known since grade school, thoroughly questioned him about the purchase. Asking all the questions he knew his mother would ask her once she spread this information around. Who were these people, why did he do it, and if he were willing to donate to her latest cause to keep this quiet from his family.
Of course, Gage gave very little information away, just his open credit card to get them all ready for the evening as well as to donate a sizable amount to Doctors without Dolce, or whatever she pushed this week. But he gave two stipulations on the deal. First, take the price tags off everything they showed Trent and the kids. Second, the entire process needed to be done in Trent’s home. He didn’t want Trent or Rhonny to know what store provided the clothes.