Little Differences

Early in their relationship, each had shared their limited sexual history with the other. They had had several conversations after making love to each other about how natural their shared intimacy felt for them both. Peggy had once commented, "How were we ever strangers? I feel like we've known each other forever. You know my body too well, and I know yours without exploration or guessing. I can't remember what it felt like without you in my life."

Gabe couldn't explain the way that Peggy described the comfort, confidence, and knowledge that they seemed to have with one another, but he knew that it had existed from the first time that he had seen her poke her head around the edge of her front door.

He instinctively knew that their shower would be quick and utilitarian, with the sole intent being to rinse off the sweat and bodily excretions from their recent lustful coupling and prepare them for the lovemaking that would follow. There might or might not be more sex after their shower, but there would definitely be passion, intimacy, and lots and lots of love.

~~~

"Do you think those board members will be as solicitous today as they were last night?" Gabe asked.

Peggy picked up her coffee cup from the table beside the bed and took a sip before answering, "Probably, especially the three whose terms expire at the end of the year. I'm glad that my dad decided to hold the quarterly board meeting immediately after the shareholder meeting. It will save me having to come out again in just a few weeks."

"That, plus it allows the board members to meet the new General Manager," Gabe said.

Peggy snorted and said, "The board doesn't care about that. Hell, they wouldn't care if I was the janitor. All they care about is the fact that I control fifty percent of the votes."

"You control eighty-eight percent of the votes," Gabe corrected. "My votes will always be your votes."

Peggy clinked her ring finger against her cup when she returned it to the table. Gabe heard it and chuckled. She had purposely been tapping her ring finger on anything that would make a sound as a reminder that she now had the engagement ring on. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, "I know that, but they don't. At least not yet."

They were drinking their coffee while lazily lounging in bed. Their agendas were free for the morning, with only the brief shareholder and board meetings to attend later in the afternoon, so Peggy had easily convinced Gabe to stay in the condo rather than driving into the office.

"Do you want to tell your dad or do you want me to?" Gabe asked.

"You should tell him. That way, you can answer any questions that he has about the transaction. I still can't believe that you were able to pull it off, and so quickly."

"Has Angela mentioned anything to him?"

"I asked her not to," Peggy said. "I explained that I knew who had obtained the shares and that I wanted to tell him about it, so I'm sure that she will respect that."

Gabe nodded and focused on drinking more of his coffee for a few seconds. Peggy could see that he was thinking about something and didn't interrupt him.

Finally, he asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you be a little bit more specific?" Peggy asked.

Gabe thought about his words before answering, "I told your dad that my priority, at least in the short term, was to be available to support your career objectives. We hadn't discussed that beforehand, so now I'm asking you for your opinion on what it is that you want me to do."

"I told you when we discussed your resigning from Sagikkun that I just wanted you to be happy," Peggy replied. "I treasure your desire to be whatever I need you to be, but that pales in my desire for you to be happy and content. There's no place that I love you more than by my side, but I am a big girl. I don't need you with me twenty-four seven to know that you are there for me if needed. I won't push you away if that's where you are happiest, but I won't bind you there either. Understand?"

"That's not really an answer," Gabe lamented. "Let's look at this logically. You had a discussion with Bruce about where he thought he would be most effectively placed for his position. You need to do the same thing, and I don't believe that you are there yet. I know that we discussed how you believe that being based in Fallbrook makes the most sense for your role, but that was determined before you and your father have agreed entirely upon what each of your roles will be going forward. The point is, you are in a state of flux right now, and I'm fine with that. Nothing has to be carved in stone today, tomorrow, or in the next few months. However, the uncertainty over things like where you will spend the majority of your time will affect where I spend the majority of my time, which affects any decisions I can make about what I might want to eventually do to keep myself busy while you are running Armore. Hell, even if I took a job with Armore, that position might still impact my ability to be in the same places with you a great deal of the time."

"I don't want you putting your life on hold for me," Peggy insisted.

"I'm not putting it on hold for you. At best, I am putting it on hold for us. It's not a sacrifice for me, trust me on that. All I need you to do is tell me what you want me to do when I am with you while you are working, like at these meetings later today. I'll be your personal assistant, your consultant, your 'whatever-you-want-me-to-be'. Or I can simply stand silently beside you and let you use me as circumstances dictate. It's your choice, but please give it some thought. You need to set the boundaries."

"NO!" Peggy exclaimed. "You just need to be you. Never hold back. People will respect your words and actions because they respect you, not because they respect me or my title... "

"I have no right to say or do anything where Armore is concerned. People will know that and disregard me as irrelevant. That could put you in a challenging position. I don't want to do that."

"Hello?" Peggy said in frustration. "You own thirty-eight percent of Armore's stock, even if nobody knows it. In my mind, that gives you more of an interest in Armore and how it is run than the current CEO has. On top of that, this ring that you placed upon my finger will show everyone what you mean to me, and what we mean to each other. People will come to respect OUR hustle. They will recognize that we each support OUR ambition. They will appreciate OUR loyalty to one another. You want me to tell you what I want you to do? It's simple; I want you to be my partner, but only if you allow me to be YOUR partner as well. I need you to trust that I will never let anyone view you as irrelevant. I told Tank Chambers yesterday that when you speak, you speak for me as well, and I meant it."

Peggy took the coffee from Gabe's hand, leaned across his body, and placed the cup onto the side table. Snuggling against his chest, she continued, "When we're confident that my role at Armore is stable, then we will figure out what you want to do, and I swear that I will be just as supportive of your career as you are of mine. How does that sound?"

When Gabe hesitated to answer, Peggy giggled and said, "I know. How about if we assign you the role of being my personal security detail? You know, my 'body guard'."

Gabe pulled her body fully upon his and said, "If you put me in charge of guarding this body, I might never desire any other position with any other company."

Peggy began placing little nibbling kisses as she sank lower on his body. "Don't you worry. I think this body has enough positions to provide you with a long and very successful career."

Chapter Seventeen

"Christ!" Liam said. "The jackals aren't even waiting for the ink to dry."

He was expressing his frustration over the urging of two of the shareholders' representatives making a formal request to the Board of Directors for them to consider the offers to purchase Armore that had recently been received. Of course, Peggy, with an easy majority of voting shares was able to quash the request out of hand.

Gabe said, "Come on, Liam, you would have been surprised if no offers were made and you know it. To a lot of investors, Armore is even more attractive now that you and Peggy have such firm control over the shares and decision-making power that can't be challenged. You'll likely see a few more offers within a week and then one or two a month until word gets out to the market that you are firm in your intentions not to sell at any price."

"You mean that Peggy is firm in her intentions," Liam said.

"You mean that Peggy and Gabe are firm in their intentions," Peggy reminded them all.

The two couples were enjoying the pleasant summer evening in the screened patio off the back of the Donahue's house in Dunwoody. The calming sounds of the Chattahoochee River filled any silence in their conversation. Janelle was snuggled up alongside Liam on a large love seat, while Peggy sat between Gabe's legs as he reclined on a chaise lounge.

"It was ingenious of you to place the shares in a blind trust," Liam told Gabe. "But it sure frustrated the Board and several of the other shareholder representatives by not allowing them to know who owns the shares."

"It was suggested to me by my contact at SIPA," Gabe explained. "He believed that hiding the ownership of the shares in a blind trust would help mitigate any concerns from the SEC on the ruling by his organization to allow my purchase of the shares. I had intended to name my financial advisor, Admiral Jenkins to act as the trustee, but she suggested that I name Peggy so that she would not be relying upon having the proxies for the shares provided by the trust. As the trustee, she is authorized to make all the decisions anyway. Her not actually owning the shares mitigates any concerns about insider trading having been a factor in the transaction, or at least we hope it does."

"Your financial advisor is an Admiral?" asked Liam.

Gabe nodded and said, "Retired Admiral. She retired to serve as the undersecretary of defense (comptroller)/chief financial officer since it is a civilian position within the Department of Defense and she wanted to be closer to her family. She wasn't reappointed when the new administration took over, so now me and a few other former military friends get to reap the benefit of her expertise in managing our investments."

Gabe was gently running his fingers through Peggy's hair. He said, "You did an amazing job on the presentation of the organization chart. It impressed everyone the way that you broke out the different departments yet linked them back to the core leadership so neatly."

Peggy leaned her head back so that she could smile up at Gabe, and said, "It's not difficult to do if you have the right applications."

Janelle snickered and said, "I was impressed with the sleight of hand that you pulled with inserting that new position into the organization chart. I guess we'll have to meet next week and figure out the budget for this mysterious new 'President' position."

"I was interested in that as well," Liam said. "Although I have my suspicions about the 'TBD' in the name under the title

"First of all," Peggy said, "it's a non-paying position. Secondly, while I thought that the title of 'President' sounded more professional than 'GM's Hunky Fiancé' or even 'Former United States Marine Corps Aviator', I'm now leaning towards the title that Gabe and I discussed this morning."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what that title is," said Janelle with a giggle.

Peggy pulled Gabe's arms tightly around her and held his hands just below her breasts as she said, "He's my personal bodyguard. He gets to use and protect this body to his heart's content."

"Speaking of protecting this body," Gabe said, coaxing Peggy to get up, "we should probably head back to the condo before it gets much later."

"Are the fish going to be hungry?" Janelle teased Peggy.

Peggy put her arm around Gabe's waist as he stood beside her, then stuck her tongue out at her best friend and said, "You just worry about keeping your own fishies fed. What time do you want us here tomorrow to help with the setup?"

"I'm not letting you help to setup for your own birthday party!" Janelle exclaimed. "But if Gabe wants to show up around eleven, I'm sure that I can find something for a former United States Marine Corps aviator to do."

Liam and Janelle followed Peggy and Gabe to the front door of the house. They had just stepped out onto the front porch and Gabe was preparing to ask about the inside joke between Janelle and Peggy related to feeding fish when he caught a motion out of the corner of his eye and instinctively moved Peggy away from it. As the person came under the range of light from the porch, Gabe could see that it was a lone man with what appeared to be a handgun pointing in the direction of Liam.

Before either Gabe or Liam could react, the man had pulled the trigger twice, discharging two point-blank rounds into Liam's chest. As Liam began to fall backward, a stunned Janelle grabbed his body in an attempt to prevent him from crashing to the floor. Just as her body came around to try and hold Liam's larger frame, the gunman pulled the trigger two more times. Peggy watched in horror as Janelle's body jerked from the impact of the bullets entering her back.

Gabe grabbed the gunman's right arm and slammed it across his raised knee with as much force as he could muster. He heard the satisfying sound of breaking bone, followed by the sound of the pistol hitting the concrete porch. As the assassin screamed in pain, Gabe grabbed his head and pounded it against one of the pillars supporting the porch gable. He kept pounding until he felt the man's body go slack and then let it sink to the ground. Peggy was already kneeling beside the bodies of her father and best friend, imploring them to respond to her.

~~~

Although the Donahue house on Jett Ferry Road had a Dunwoody mailing address, it was actually located within the city of Sandy Springs. While adjacent to each other, the two cities were located in different counties. The confusion that this frequently caused for the 911 dispatchers was once again evident when the reports of the shooting started being received.

The first two calls handled by the dispatchers came in from residents who were reporting hearing gunshots, but they were unable to provide much information on where they might have come from. They had explained to the dispatchers that sounds carried strangely along the river bank, but the shots had definitely been close by.

The third call received came in from a cell phone with an area code unfamiliar to the dispatcher taking the call. She knew that it had to be a cell phone because the area code was not from the local area. This caller was able to calmly provide not only an address for the dispatcher, but also details on the seriousness of the situation. The dispatcher was frustrated that the man wouldn't remain on the line until units arrived on the scene, but their system had captured the cell phone number if she needed to call him back.

Even though the Sandy Springs police were the department with primary jurisdiction, the original dispatch sent to the Dunwoody police resulted in their closest unit responding, since the two cities have a mutual aid agreement in place. This officer informed the 911 dispatchers of the error while en route, which prevented them from also dispatching the wrong county paramedics to the scene.

Gabe wanted to assist Peggy in her efforts to tend to the wounds of Janelle and Liam, and even though he had retrieved the handgun that the assailant had dropped, he still didn't feel comfortable ignoring the man until help arrived. He watched as Peggy rolled Janelle's still body off from Liam's and heard the gasp from Peggy as the severity of Janelle's injuries became obvious.

While Gabe couldn't look into the lifeless eyes that Peggy gazed down upon, he could see that there was a bloody and gaping hole where Janelle's right breast had been just moments ago. That injury alone would have been fatal, but when coupled with the other wound, where torn and bloody remains of her internal organs were visible through a huge hole in her abdomen, they left no doubt to the futility of the situation.

Watching Peggy turn her attention to Liam, Gabe saw four bloody entry holes on his chest, which was surprisingly rising and falling as he attempted to breathe through lungs that had been severely damaged. Blood was leaking from the side of Liam's mouth as he tried desperately to avoid suffocating on his own blood. Peggy was speaking softly to him as she tried to reassure him that help was on the way and looking for ways to stanch the blood flow, at least on the outside of his body.

There was a groan from the assailant that drew Gabe's attention. He put his cell phone in his pocket and brought the recovered handgun around to point at the man. Gabe was relieved that he hadn't killed the man by pounding his head against the pillar. He wanted to know who he was and why he had targeted Liam. The conspirators who had attempted to eliminate the Donahues were all dead, so if there was a continuing threat against them, Gabe wanted it identified as quickly as possible so that he could begin taking steps to deal with it.

Hearing the first police units screaming up the street, Gabe placed the handgun inside the waistband at the small of his back but kept his attention on the still unconscious man. It was tearing his heart apart to not be able to kneel beside Peggy and attempt to comfort her as she continued to mourn her best friend and pray for her father. That would have to wait until whoever the man was that shot them was securely in police custody. "Only a few more seconds now," Gabe hoped.

Like many others, the Dunwoody Police Department maximized the number of patrol units available by using solo officers in each vehicle. It was at the discretion of a responding officer, based upon the nature of the incident that he or she was responding to, whether they would do so alone or wait for backup officers to arrive. As she parked her patrol car in front of the mansion, Corporal Eloise Timmons reviewed the details of the dispatch and decided not to wait for backup. According to the caller, there were reportedly injured people and the shooter was supposed to be out of commission. She would have her service weapon out as a precaution, but she hoped that it wouldn't be needed.

Before she had closed the door on her patrol unit, she saw two additional police units racing up the street towards the house, followed by paramedics. Knowing that reinforcements had arrived, she turned and ran towards where a concrete walk indicated that the front door of the mansion would be. As soon as she rounded the garages, the front porch of the house came into view. Knowing that her initial assessment of the situation would influence the actions of other arriving units as well as the paramedics, Corporal Timmons began speaking into her shoulder microphone as she continued briskly up the path. She relayed what she was seeing, reporting a secure situation, and urging an immediate response from paramedics.

Timmons assumed that the man standing on the porch was the person who had reported the shooting, so this is who she spoke to first, even as she stepped past him to examine the two victims laying across the doorway into the house, "Sir, can you tell me what happened?"

Gabe provided a quick yet concise account of the events. He knew from his years in the military that any post-action report was usually done in phases. Authorities needed the basic and most relevant information to assess the current situation. Details on the why, how, and who could be provided in subsequent interviews. He also wanted to get to Peggy as soon as the paramedics pulled her away from Liam.