Back in the car, they all called home as they drove around
Durango a little before returning to the airport and getting back in
the air, heading Northwest for the Canyonlands at Kit's
suggestion.
        The shadows of late afternoon congealed pretty darn
magnificently to enhance their experience of Eastern Utah's
shapes and colors as they flew up to Moab, then zigzagged their
way down the Colorado Valley. The day was glorious. There was
a high right over them. In fact, it seemed that wherever they went
that day went the center of that high, whenever they checked in
with Puter for the weather. The chipmeister was playing a trick
on them, though, they figured out later. Over Bryce Canyon, then
Zion in the last vestiges of the day, they talked about dinnering in
Vegas, and maybe gambling.
        Well, that's what they did, going to the "Gold Mine" for
steak dinners, then to the dice tables, choosing the first one, and
the bones came around to Jess. She put $1o,ooo of chips out on
the table - it didn't seem like too many chips to her, she says -
and the others some lesser amount, Jessy asking Kit where to put
them all if she was going to roll a 7. The girls quietly shrieked, Kit
smiled and shook his head as he helped her place them, and
Jessica rolled a 7. She let her money ride, as did just about
everyone else, and she rolled an 11, let that ride, made her number,
4, then reduced her bet, rolled another 7, bet $5,ooo and crapped
out going for 5.
        The girls whispered their screams to her as the cubes went
to Flece. She rolled $5,ooo into $3o,ooo, the others making good
money on her too. Then they vouched Essy was 21, and she won
$1o,ooo herself, the others more.
        Kit crapped out. They played a little on other rollers and it
came around to the girls again and they did well, but not like that
first roll, despite the small crowd that had gathered to cheer the
lovelies on.
        They ended up winning over $15o,ooo between them, Kit
even ending up way ahead from the girls' rolls. They left the table
to some cheers from the crowd for the girls to come back,
comments about those bodies and faces wafting through the whole
casino, and took their chips to the cashier and asked her to wire
the money to BR's account at their bank except for, O, $25,ooo
for spending money and Essy's $12,ooo.
        "God..." Jess was shaking her head, "I don't think I've made
25 thousand in my whole life!...before you, Hickok."
        "I don't think both of us together had, cowgirl," Flee helped.
        "That would make three of us...a la vay," Es added.
        They went to have some champagne in the bar while they
waited for the wire, taking a table in a back corner, and listened to
the band.
        Two bulky suits approached them. "We were asked to tell
you that you're invited to a poker game upstairs," one said to them.
        "Uh, thanks, but no," Kit answered.
        "The owner really insists," the talker continued, taking
Jessy's arm in his hand, the other taking Felecia's and Essy's arms.
        Kit quietly said, like Redford doing a bad guy, "take your
hands off them right now or I'll shoot your fucking arms off,"
putting a hand in his pocket with the gun and getting it into position.
        The ape boys let the girls go, the one saying, "you're asking
for more trouble than you can handle, asshole." Two more gorillas
in suits started over toward them, but were waved back by the
talker. He leaned down and got in Kit's face, "I suggest you get the
fuck out of here and never come back, if you like living. And if I
ever see you around town, I'll blow your fucking arms off, just
for starters. Got it?" He backed away, motioned for his partner to
follow, and they started to leave.
        Kit was roiling. But he figured if he said anything more there
would be blows and they were big. As in huge. He would have to
go to the gun and was sure they would too. And he had the three
wonders to take care of, besides the whole enchilada to risk. He
kept cool, chomped on his tongue and figured he was getting off
lucky.
        "Fucking monkey bastards," Jess said in the suits' direction,
loud enough for them to hear. They slowed a step, but kept going.
Kit gave her a pained look. "I'm sorry honey," she continued, just
as loudly. "I can't believe they can do that. How can they do that?
Can't we report them or something?" even a little more loudly and
looking around for witnesses as the band played more loudly.
        "We can't afford any notice, Jessica," Kit lightly reproached
her, then added, "just forget about it. It could have gone a lot
worse."
        A cashier runner came over and handed him the bank wire
receipt, and he gave her a $2oo tip. "Let's vamos," he told the
girls and they were out of there, cabbed back to the airport, flew
up to Salt Lake and got a couple of hotel rooms for the night.
        Well, Kit tried being a dad and keeping his promise to Ria.
He really did. But Es would have nothing less than joining that
orgy, promising to keep it secret, so they attended to her absolute
pleasure. She remained a virgin, though, and just loved how they
loved her, especially relishing Kit's touches and kisses. Jeez.
        They flew out in the morning, hung around a little over
Sundance, then went all around the Uintas and Wasatch, then
over to Colorado and lunched in "Tell Your Ride". Dinner that
night was in Denver.
        There was no real news from Pute when they checked in
up in their hotel rooms. The WPG was up against the stone wall
and was needing a lot of trumpets. Even the search for the Execs
was cooled some. The surveillance of the ranch wasn't showing
the agents a thing except the mining, other work and parties, sans
puros outside. The suits were not looking good. And NRO was
saying that they would be ending that surveil early.
        The guys called the ranch and there was another $10
million blown up and dug out and they were going to keep going
until it was all "blowed and dugged" before the final pickup, they
had decided. Of course, it would take a lot longer as the vein
shrunk, so they figured on two more pickups. Finally, Es could
tell Maria that everything was fine. Really.
        Next light was Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods,
Royal Gorge, up the Arkansas, over Aspen and Crested Butte,
and then following the Rockies up to Rocky Mountain National
Park and lunch in Steamboat Springs.
        Afternoon took them West to the Dinosaur Monument, up
to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, and bedding down in Cody,
Wyoming. They found out about some ranches in the area for
sale from a real estate agent in the hotel bar that night and flew
over them in the morning to look them over on their way to the
Medicine Bow, and especially liked the one with the dirt road
long enough to land on, a barn big enough to hangar a plane in
and a couple of cabins. They flew East to the the Greater Rapid
City area - Deadwood for lunch - and called BR to ask him to
buy that ranch - a quarter million down - and talked with him
about everything else. And things were bueno.
        After lunch it was Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse
Monument, Black Hills and Devil's Tower on the way to the
Bighorn and George's last hot dog stand, then West to Billings,
Bozeman and Butte, then they headed down to Sun Valley for
the eve.
        They flew around Potatoland in the morning and on up
the Snake, then over the Bitterroots, lunched in Coeur d'Alene,
and zoomed across Washington and toured the Cascades before
stopping in Seattle for the night and catching a band at a bar -
the "Crunch Pups", in from Maui on their way to Monument
Valley. And our guys were on the tour, everyone there figured
them up, looking like some kind of band themselves.
        Kit was still fending off the cowboys from time to time,
but getting pretty good at it. And the girls helped him out a little
more. Of course, his reward was Heaven. And Jess loved
sharing him with her best friend and her new best friend. And
she loved loving her girl friends. And vice versa. Kit, well, Kit
was beyond any dreams he had ever had. Essy was in a new
world. And Felecia was having a very good time.
        Now, it wasn't that they were aloof when they went to
eat, drink or shop. They were open to conversations with
anyone, and got good feedback on the concert and the fund
and stuff, plus even some contemporary or older history of
the West, western world or the world in general. Or talk of
women. Or, hell, anything.
        But, anyway, their next day would be an adventure,
they talked about as they bedded in for the eve after switching
rooms to keep the door-knocking by the men down, or the
knocking the door down down.
        "Come a long way since I first reached your bed, Cody,"
Jess kissed her lion, always seeming to be working on her
lyrics.
        "What a trip!" Flee added, taking off her jeans.
        "There's still Oregon, Nevada and California," Kit smiled,
already laying into Jess, both of them naked in bed.
        "Viva! Viva!" Essy whispered, slipping off her panties
and joining them all on the sheets.
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