Love and the White Wolf - Book 3

18. Fourth Time is the Charm

When Rebecca started climbing out of her crib the first week in May, and started weaning herself we knew it was time for the next child.  I went to see Dr. Hunt on the second week to remove the implant.  He looked sceptically at me, at first.

"That's not the two years spacing you were going for, that you got between Sam and Rebecca," he said.  "I thought that was your plan."

"We thought so, too," I said. "But they really are good kids.  If we have one now this child will be close enough in age to be friends with Rebecca.  Of course, it would help if it were a girl."

"Alright," he said.  "You're in charge.  I want to be present at this one, too."

He removed the implant and said it would take up to a month for the medication to dissipate from my system.  In fact, it took less than a week, the day after Mother's Day, in fact. 

James was contacted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF, when they intercepted a shipment of weapons entering Florida illegally from somewhere in the Caribbean.  Included in them were weapons they had never seen before.  Knowing of his background and knowledge of HYDRA weapons he was tasked with determining how the weapons worked and hopefully where they originated. 

The morning he was to leave he came to the shower door to say goodbye and ended up staying an extra 20 minutes to enjoy me instead.  He almost missed his flight, arriving at the airport with 15 minutes to spare.   His security clearance levels got him on the plane but the airport security staff were not happy with him.

When he arrived at the ATF warehouse in Florida and saw the strange weapons he began carefully inspecting them, each individually.  On one of them he made out a small engraving.  It was just different enough from the others that he, with his superior eyesight, could notice it.  Under a microscope it jumped out plain as day, the initials TJ.  He said nothing to ATF about it but continued inspecting the other weapons.  There were four different models.  Each group of the different models had one piece that had the initials TJ.  Using the weapons experts at ATF they were able to recreate the type of projectile needed for each weapon.  The bullets were massive and on a hunch James asked to use the outdoor range to test them.  The projectiles went through the safety barriers on the outdoor range like butter.  The ATF made up different projectiles using the same dimensions but added armour piercing capability.  Using surplus tanks marked for disposal as targets the projectiles went through them easily.  The implications hit all of them hard. 

James placed a secure call to Nick Fury and told him about the four weapons marked with TJ, meaning Theo James, his clone, and younger brother to Carlito Chavez, aka Ernesto Santana.  There had been no word of him since I was pregnant with Steve and Theo had sent a note in a drone that it was too dangerous for him to contact James anymore.  Obviously, he had banked on James being called in on this weapons haul.  Chavez was into arms dealing or even arms making, a very dangerous prospect for the Avengers and anyone else who got in his way.  James felt ATF had to know about the connection and that Theo was trying to warn them.  Nick gave him permission to read in the local ATF agents while he read in the ATF director but not to tell them Theo was James clone, just that he was an informant.   Chavez was dangerous to everyone now, not just James or the Avengers.

James told them about the informant with the initials TJ and that this was his way to warn them about the weapons.  ATF shared that Chavez's name had come up several times but that he was very mobile.  It was believed he was working and living on a stealth enabled warship, constantly moving.  He had connections with cartels and 3rd world arms manufacturers.  The word came down from ATF in Washington to keep Avengers informed on any further information on Chavez and vice versa.