The Morgans put the kids to bed. Ruff was placed on guard. Any animal who came


    into the camp site would get a fanged fury to contend with while he was laying by the


    tents.


    “Do we have time to snuggle?,” asked Marty. “I think that would be nice before we


    look at this other thing. And it will give the kids time to go to sleep.”


    Finch gestured for him to sit with his back to his log. She sat down beside him. He


    put his arm around her. She leaned in.


    “This is nice,” said Marty. “Why haven’t we done this more often?”


    “Work,” said Finch.


    “That’s a good point,” said Marty. “We do travel a lot. Maybe we should do this


    every year as a way of slowing down.”


    “Maybe,” said Finch. She smiled. “It does seem quiet.”


    “I know,” said Marty. “Maybe we could come up here by ourselves. Leave the kids


    with Barry. The two of us alone in a romantic spot.”


    They sat like that for a while. Marty stared at the fire. He had been on the run for ten


    years, then gathered some people to be a new version of his adoptive family, and now


    he had a natural family of his own. It was a lot of change for him to think about with


    his wife by his side.


    At one point, he thought he would already be dead by now.


    “The children are asleep,” said Finch.


    “So we should take care of this other thing?,” asked Marty. “I’m enjoying the


    snuggling too much. Can’t we do the other thing in the morning?”


    “Mark gets his laziness from you,” said Finch.


    “I like to think of it as tactical brilliance and smart use of resources,” said Marty.


    “So does he,” said Finch.


    “All right,” said Marty. “Afterwards we snuggle some more.”


    “Maybe,” said Finch.


    “All right,” said Marty. “No more snuggling for you. I’ll get Ruff to do it. He loves


    to snuggle and he doesn’t mind if I move around.”


    Finch got to her feet in one flowing motion. She turned and held out a hand. Marty


    took it. She yanked him to his feet with a single pull of her arm.


    “I wonder what Petey got involved in,” said Marty. “Guard the camp, Ruff. Protect


    the kids for me.”


    The dog barked once, but didn’t move from where it was laying. It had an eye on the


    whole area from its spot.


    “Let’s take care of this so we can get some sleep,” said Marty.


    Finch led him into the woods for some yards before she stopped. She pointed


    upwards. Marty pulled a tiny flashlight from his pants pocket and shone it on two


    men trussed up in their own clothes and left hanging upside down from a tree. Gags


    from dirty socks had been used to ensure silence.


    “If I take the socks out, are you going to scream for help?,” asked Marty. “If you do,


    I’ll have to put them back in. I can’t have you waking up the kids. I don’t want them


    to know my wife likes to beat people up and hang them up like pinatas.”


    The pinatas made noises to show they understood what was being asked of them.


    Marty reached up and pulled the socks out of their mouths. He dropped them on the


    ground.


    “Let’s have some introductions,” said Marty. “I’m Marty Morgan. This is my wife,


    Finch. And you are?”


    Finch handed him two wallets. He opened them and shone his light on the license


    cards inside. He handed the wallets back.


    “Joe Constanza, and Mike Mulligan,” said Marty. “Why are you here?”


    “We were just doing a nature hike is all,” said Constanza. “Then this broad came out


    of nowhere and hung us up.”


    Finch punched him in the face. He spun on his tether, dragging his partner with him.


    She stepped back. She showed Marty the two handguns she had taken.


    “Let’s try again,” said Marty. “Why are you here? If you lie again, I will walk away


    and let my wife beat the both of you until your brains come out of your ears. If you


    tell the truth, I will take you down to your car and let you drive away with just the


    beating you have already taken.”


    “Broken bones,” said Finch.


    “Really?,” said Marty. She nodded. “One of you is going to have to go to the hospital.


    Sorry. That’s the way it is. You know how women are.”


    “One of us has to go to the hospital?,” said Mulligan. “Which one?”


    “The one that lies,” said Marty. “The one that tells the truth gets to go home with


    everything intact. I think that’s fair. Why are you here?”


    “We’re here to grab the girl,” said Mulligan.


    “Shut up you,” said Constanza.


    “You shut up,” said Mulligan. “I need my legs, and I don’t want to go to the


    hospital.”


    “So you’re not here to bother us, just the girl?,” said Marty. “Which girl?”


    “What do you mean which girl?,” said Mulligan. “The Marston girl.”


    “Okay,” said Marty. “That’s better for you. For a minute, I thought you were talking


    about my daughter. If that was the case, well let’s just say the bears would be getting


    fatter in the morning.”


    “They don’t know,” said Finch.


    “I kind of agree,” said Marty. “What’s Petey doing to stir you guys up enough to grab


    his kid for leverage?”


    “What don’t we know?,” said Mulligan. “Who are you people?”


    “I’m going to give this to you because I still need a few answers,” said Marty. “Your


    boss sent you into a meat grinder. We’re superheroes. As soon as I am done with you,


    I’m going to give your names to the mother of the other kid I am babysitting. Her


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.husband will tell her who you work for. By this time tomorrow, Petey Marston will


    be the last thing on his mind because everything he owns will be burned down.


    Bond’s mother is a berserker who loves to hurt people.”


    “Are you serious?,” asked Constanza.


    “Hazard Scouts,” said Marty. He directed the beam of his light on the patch he wore


    on his jacket. The hourglass in a circle gleamed. “Your boss didn’t know, did he?”


    Constanza said some expletives at that.


    “No, he didn’t,” said Mulligan. “Marston is supposed to be some divorce snoop. We


    were just supposed to grab his kid so he would back off looking into Lorraine Greco.”


    “I don’t know who that is so I am going to take your word for that,” said Marty. “I’m


    really debating telling Corona about this. Once she starts burning stuff down, she


    might decide to go after the two of you. I don’t really care, but it seems like overkill.


    What do you think, hon?”


    “Burn them down,” said Finch.


    “I don’t think we need to do that,” said Marty. “I think what we should do is give


    these guys some time to warn their boss that Corona is on the way, and he should


    leave the country.”


    “Collateral damage,” said Finch.


    “Yeah,” said Marty. “She might burn down the city looking for the guy. We can’t


    have that. Barry would lose his mind.”


    “So you’re not going to tell your friend about this?,” asked Mulligan.


    “I don’t think we should,” said Marty. “I think we’re going to enjoy the rest of our


    weekend. The only problem I see is what to do with the two of you. We can let you


    go, but I feel like you would come back and spoil things for us. This is the first


    weekend I have had in a while, and I don’t want you guys ruining it for us.”


    “Bears?,” said Finch.


    “Do we really want to kill them?,” said Marty. “It sets a bad example for the kids.


    Putting one of you in the hospital just doesn’t seem like enough to keep you out of


    our hair.”


    “We’ll leave, and you will never see us again,” said Mulligan. “I swear. Please don’t


    break my legs.”


    “They will come back,” said Finch.


    “I think I have an idea where all of us will be happy,” said Marty. “This is the


    situation as I see it. You guys want Stella to use as leverage to stop Petey from doing


    whatever he’s doing. We want to enjoy our weekend without more of you guys


    showing up to bug us. Neither of us want to get anyone else involved because your


    boss might kill you for screwing up, and if something happens to my kids, I will


    definitely kill you. That seems pretty accurate, right?”


    “Yeah,” said Constanza. “It looks right to me.”


    “This is what’s going to happen,” said Marty. “I’m going to give you guys a weekend


    in the woods. By the time you get anywhere with a phone, we’ll be at home, Petey


    will be done doing whatever he’s doing, and you guys will be safe. Your boss can’t


    kill you if you’re lost in the woods for two days, and all the bad stuff happened while


    you were gone. And we won’t kill you in retaliation. That seem okay to you two?”


    “You’re not going to hurt us?,” said Mulligan.


    “No, I’m not,” said Marty. “I think you have been hurt enough. What do you say,


    Honey?”


    “Bears,” said Finch.


    “We’re not going to feed them to the bears,” said Marty. “We can take a step back


    and not be excessively cruel.”


    Finch glanced at him.


    “To the bears,” said Marty. “A people diet isn’t good for them.”


    “I agree with that,” said Constanza.


    “And he agrees with me,” said Marty. “I think you should cut them down.”


    “Don’t like it,” said Finch.


    “If they move, break a leg,” said Marty. “But we really need them away from the


    camp site before you do that thing you do if you want to do that.”


    “What thing?,” asked Mulligan.


    “My wife’s teachers taught her how to cut people a hundred times in a minute,” said


    Marty. “It’s really messy, and totally against what I am trying to do here.”


    “Please don’t do that,” said Mulligan. “Please.”


    “How many people have you actually killed, Mulligan?,” asked Marty.


    “None,” said Mulligan. “I usually do the numbers.”


    “Oh, okay,” said Marty. “What about you, Constanza?”


    “I haven’t killed anyone,” said Constanza. “I do break things.”


    “A legbreaker and a gambler,” said Marty. “I don’t feel that bad with letting you two


    go now.”


    “Thank you,” said Mulligan. “Thank you.”


    “Shut up, wussy,” said Constanza.


    Finch dropped them from the branch after scaling the tree in a moment. She came


    down just as fast. She retreated to Marty’s side.


    “Here comes your ride,” said Marty.


    A thing of green and tan erupted from the air. Wings spread to let it flutter in the air.


    It looked as big as an elephant to the would be kidnappers. Yellow eyes glowed in the


    dark as it looked at the two men.


    “I need you to take these two deeper into the park, Daisy,” said Marty. “Say about ten


    miles north of here. Can do?”


    The dragon roared. It lifted off and grabbed the two men with giant claws. It breathed


    on them, singing their hair.


    “Take Spike,” said Marty. He tossed a yellow squirrel up to the dragon. The animal


    caught an arm and scrambled to the shoulders of the dragon. “Spike, these guys need


    some exercise. Make sure they can find some berries and water, but they don’t come


    back this way. Understand?”


    The squirrel chittered and rubbed its paws together. Little sparks danced around its


    ears.


    “All right, guys,” said Marty. “Spike will look after you until you reach civilization.


    Don’t come back here if you know what’s good for you. Understand?”


    Daisy headed up in the sky. She vanished against the night as soon as she was away


    from the tree line. Marty waved at her captives.


    “Soft,” said Finch. She smiled.


    “I know, I know,” said Marty. “We should have broken both their legs and arms and


    made them crawl down to the ranger station. Really teach them a lesson. I’m on


    vacation. I didn’t want to ruin it with something that was a lot like work.”


    “Soft,” said Finch. She hugged him close and took his breath away.


    “Why did we have to bring the kids?,” said Marty after a minute. “I could do this all


    night.”


    Finch smiled. She released him and led the way back to the camp. Marty took the


    pistols apart and dropped the pieces as he walked. The last to go were the empty


    magazines.


    He took the money out of the wallets and threw them in the dark.


    They reached the camp and found Ruff still in position. He gave them a look, but


    otherwise didn’t move.


    “Looks clear,” said Marty. “Let’s spread our blankets and sleep next to the fire like


    cowboys used to do.”


    Finch nodded. She pulled the blankets from the tent and they lay down against the log


    Marty had used as a rest. She threw the blankets up and they covered the two when


    they landed.


    “You have to teach me how to do that one day,” said Marty. He held his wife close.


    “Stella?,” said Finch.


    “Pete must have gone back to criminal investigations,” said Marty. “He might have


    put his mask back on. I thought he was out. He seemed to like divorce work the last


    time I talked to him.”


    “Some kind of threat?,” said Finch.


    “Maybe,” said Marty. “I don’t know. I should have asked Cog to back Pete up.”


    Cog helped out when he wanted, but he liked to stay out of the spotlight, and kept to


    himself whenever possible. He patrolled underground Chicago when not on a case


    with the Scouts, and fixed things in the infrastructure with his tentacles and tools.


    Turning him loose on some Syndicate would be like using dynamite to hunt sheep.


    But the reports filed with Barry would be something to read despite his dry style and


    humorless affect.


    “Corona will be mad,” said Finch.


    “I know, but I can’t just whack every wiseguy I run into in a national forest,” said


    Marty. “There would be piles of bodies if I did that. I would rather keep things down


    to a dull roar until I’m ready to really do damage.”


    “Soft,” said Finch.


    “It is what it is,” said Marty. He kissed her neck. “We can’t all be death dealing divas


    of darkness like yourself.”


    “Don’t wake the kids up,” said Finch.


    “I’ll think about it,” said Marty.


    Someone stirred in one of the tents. Ruff looked up.


    “Next time, we’re definitely leaving the kids with Barry,” said Marty.


    “Agreed,” said Finch.


    Melinda peeked out of the girl’s tent. She rubbed an eye. She looked around the


    campsite.


    “I thought I heard Daisy,” said Melinda. “Is something going on?”


    “Not anymore, Lin,” said Marty.


    Finch lightly punched him in the leg.


    “What?,” said Melinda.


    “Go back to sleep,” said Marty. “If there’s trouble, we’ll wake you up.”


    “Are you sure?,” said Melinda.


    “That’s why we have Ruff, honey,” said Marty. “Go back to sleep before you wake


    the others up and we have to tell another boring ghost story.”


    “All right, Dad,” said Melinda. She gestured for Ruff to follow as she climbed back


    into the tent. The dog settled down where her feet might be and kept an eye on things


    from his new position.


    “It looks like the romantic bubble has popped,” said Marty.


    Finch smiled. She snuggled in closer.


    “Why did we have kids?,” said Marty.


    “Experiments,” said Finch.


    “Barry wanted to do experiments on them,” said Marty. “I’m thinking we should have


    said yes.”


    “Frog children,” said Finch.


    “I am not seeing the downsides now,” said Marty.


    That earned him another light punch.


    “You keep doing that, and I will have bruises, and not in the good way either,” said


    Marty. He wrapped his arms around his wife with a smile.


    “The two men,” said Finch.


    “Right about now, Spike is giving them a run for their money,” said Marty. “I imagine


    two days of running from lightning will teach them a lesson, but who knows.”


    Finch kissed him on the cheek.


    “Hard,” she said in his ear.