Operation: Austin

Chapter Four Part Three

When they were done eating, they carried the plates and utensils into the kitchen. Ignoring Carla’s instructions, Paige put them in the dishwasher and turned them on as they left. She and Gary walked outside to let Jax run for a while. Ever the guardian of his territory, the big red dog took a path around the property to check the perimeter. They walked around the buildings, making sure everything was locked up as he explained, without detail, what the buildings were. The last thing they checked was that the chickens were safe in their roost. There were always critters at night looking for a meal, and Jax slept in Gary’s room. He would not have left him out at night anyway. Even a big dog like Jax would have a hard time with a pack of coyotes, and occasionally, a lion strayed down out of the range to the south.

Paige had grown up around chickens and seemed to enjoy them. She also loved the garden and asked if she could help there; he nodded his head and told her to make herself at home. Those words brought a smile to her face. “I just might do that,” she beamed. She liked having permission to think it might be possible for her to make a home there.

As they walked back to the house, Jax was delayed, sniffing something he found. By the time they got to the front door, though, he was right behind them; he knew the routine. Gary took her hand and started to the other side of the house.

“Come on,” he urged. “I’ll show you the rest.”

Coming through the front door, the entry was wide before them. Beyond that was the dining table, and further beyond, the pool and terrace. Another large sitting area with leather couches and chairs was to the right of the open entry. To the right of that, open to both the sitting area and the large room, was a long hallway running the full length of the building. The first room on the left was a locker room with wooden benches, twelve lockers, and a huge walk-in shower with sixteen showerheads of different types. On the outside wall was a door leading to the pool. Paige stood for a minute trying to figure out the spray head’s uses. She pointed to one and asked, “What does that one do?”

“It’s a body spray,” Gary responded.

“Oh!” she snickered. “It’s like one of those brushless car washes.” Paige shook her head, humored. Locker rooms weren’t a standard feature in homes, which piqued her curiosity. “Why do you have a big locker room in your house?”

“Sometimes, there are parties here; people might want to shower.”

She didn’t think he was considering Cristel having pool parties with her teenage friends when he built his house, and thought his answer only raised more questions, but it wasn’t the time to ask what kind of parties involved groups of people showering together. As they left the room, he smiled at her, “As soon as you see Cristel here with her girlfriends, you’ll understand.”

“Ah,” Paige got it, at least part of it. The rest would be left for another time.

As they walked back into the hallway, it looked like a hotel corridor. On the left were four-bedroom suites like the one Paige was using at the other end of the house. These faced the pool, so when the glass walls were opened, they had full access to the courtyard.

On the right side of the hall was a large, glass-fronted media recreation room, with one door straight across from the locker room and another on the far end. As you entered, you could tell the ceiling was much higher than the corridor. A row of windows along the walls extended above the hallway ceiling height, a feature also found in the main living area and Gary’s office. There were two pool tables, foosball and ping pong tables, several old-style pinball machines, some arcade games, and a full bar with a popcorn maker. Gatherings of furniture encouraged conversation groups. In the center was a hardwood dance floor, and at the far end, there was a projection theater screen with twelve Seatcraft Sienna power-reclining theater chairs. Paige took a minute to glance through the DVD library, which she estimated contained more than 1,000 movies. The size of the room and the height of the ceilings made it look like an arcade. Paige took it all in with an open mouth and wide eyes as she moved around the room, checking things out.

“Whatever you do must pay really well. I’m guessing it’s not saving homeless girls from kidnappers!” she quipped.

If only you knew, he thought.

“It’s not my main line of work,” he admitted. “In fact, saving damsels costs money, but it does have other rewards.”

He smiled as she c****d her head to the side inquisitively. Then, with a more serious face, he confided in her, “We occasionally help people; sometimes somebody else pays the expenses, but often we do it just to help. In the past, it’s always been at a distance. You’re the only person we’ve helped who has visited here.”

Her face registered the admission. She nodded her head, wondering why no other rescue had visited, and why she was allowed to.

“One more room to go!” he announced. “It’s almost the end of the tour.”

He started walking to the door at the end of the theater, calling Jax, who had been following them room by room but had become distracted looking for popcorn around the bar. The dog’s faint hope was that Carla might miss a kernel while cleaning; he always checked and occasionally got lucky. Gary suspected that sometimes she left one or two just for him.

As they exited the theater at the end of the recreation room, another door was immediately on the right. This final room at the end of the right side of the hall was defined by a glass wall. From the corridor, you could see a massive gym with a wide variety of equipment, free weights, a large floor mat area, heavy bags, Wing Chun dummies, various martial arts weapons, massage and chiropractic adjustment tables, and several Peloton bikes. There were mirrors on the outside wall, and the room was painted bright colors. On the far end, there was another monstrous TV. Gary showed Paige how it was connected to a computer that offered every kind of online or DVD workout routine. There was an extensive library of discs on Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates, and just about anything else she could think of.

Paige reveled in the idea of living here for a while, making excited comments about the home’s features. Gary was happy she liked what she saw. As they walked through the gym, looking at the equipment and workout area, Paige marveled at the size. “All of this, and you are the only one who lives here? Your gym is larger and better equipped than the weight room in my high school!”

“Well,” he clarified. “The team does a lot of training here, so this is all assembled for the use of six to ten people, depending on how many we involve at any given time. But for the most part, yeah, I am here alone except when Carla or Cristel is here, or I have friends visit.”

She pouted. “That sounds kind of lonely, Gary. Sorry. I don’t mean to be too personal.”

“That’s okay. Yes, it can be,” he admitted. “Especially at night when Carla isn’t here. It gets kind of big and quiet. I try to keep music going, and I work a lot.”

Finally, they were finished with the Gym and left the room at the far end from the door they entered. “Well, the-the-the, that’s all folks!” Gary mimicked Porky Pig’s famous line.

As they walked back to the other end of the house, Paige was peeking into each bedroom, admiring the furnishings. Each room featured a different city, with murals of its skyline on the walls: New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Hong Kong.

The evening light was nearly gone as they walked back through the house, over to the wing where their bedrooms were. They continued to talk about the house and how it was built. The way she had admired the home and its features, he could tell she thought the idea of living there didn’t suck.

It had been a very early morning for him, waking up at 2:00 a.m. after only a couple of hours of sleep. He told Paige he was headed to bed, but she could make herself at home. She said she was going to bed, also, and they said goodnight as they walked past her door. “Good night Jaxy,” she said, rubbing the dog’s head.

As Gary walked away, he smiled. Jaxy. She’s already renamed the dog. He kind of liked it. Not the name, just her willingness to join their life. As he and the dog went into the room, he said, “Go to bed, Jaxy,” in a mocking, childlike voice. Jax didn’t seem to care one way or another, and he went to lie down on his bed in the corner of the room. Gary took off his clothes in the closet, threw them in the hamper, walked into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, peed, and crawled into bed. He had not even turned out the light when there was a soft knock on the door.