The hairbrush had ridges along the edges and I think that's what gave me the long thin welts I'm sitting on as I type this. Perfectly done I think –...enough to remember with every movement but no real lasting pain. It did hurt getting them though. I'm quite sure from his technique that he'd been doing this for a long time. He knew how to do it soft and how to do it hard and how to do it just harder than I wanted but not hard enough to make me speak up to stop it. I bit back a few reactions, but. The fact that all their digging brought them no information left them frustrated. Law enforcement officials do not like being frustrated.Surprised and frustrated federal cops tend to do illogical things under the guise of protecting the masses. Their renewed interest in the McPherson family was one such instance.The LEOs failed to recognize that organized crime is considerably better than disorganized crime. They labor under the premise that disrupting my business was good for society as a. What about a joint then?” Alana asked, her eyes glinting.I shrugged. “That I’ll do.”“Well, there’s a few in my purse. Dig one out and let’s get our appetite ripping!”She set up the two chairs and dragged the cooler over between them as a little makeshift table. I found the promised joints in her bag.“Jeez, if this is a few...” I remarked.“You know my motto, man!”“Oh yeah, I forgot.”I grabbed an unburnt twig from my kindling stack and lit the tip in the fire. Soon I’d transferred the flame to. They were within a half-mile of the cabin when they heard distant gunfire.“That sounds like a pistol.” Tanya said.They listened as someone emptied their gun at something. They started running toward the cabin.A half-hour earlier...Béla awoke feeling relieved and refreshed. The last few days were receding into unpleasant memories. She reached across the bed to Jake. He wasn’t there. She opened her eyes. Maybe he was out getting firewood.“Jake,” she said, sitting up, “I’m still horny, baby.”“Aw,.