"You can do this," Karen encouraged to Jenny as she helped Akane and Keiko Tachibana get the second dress on over the dress that Jenny wore for the first ceremony.
Jenny slowly nodded to her best friend in Moon Lake. She was fairly nervous about what was likely to happen and knew that she would probably have to have some forward confrontation with her father, but it was one she knew was long in coming. Her older brother had tried his best to keep her and the youngest Harper's protected from the absolute worst that her father could pull, but it had also left things in a sort of situation where unless her father realized how wrong he'd been over the years... the confrontation wouldn't be entirely friendly. Her one real hope was that when police arrested Dieter Wilhelm and his driver for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder would be enough to at least get him to stop seeing Dieter Wilhelm as someone who would help the family.
But that was a best case scenario. Jenny also knew that things might not improve that much as her father had never really changed over the years and the fact that Jenny also wanted to get her younger siblings to push for emancipation and get away from her father. That wouldn't go over well, but Jenny was fairly certain that it'd be about the only thing that would keep them physically safe, as her father's anger could easily turn to them when he realized he couldn't control Jenny and that Dieter Wilhelm wasn't going to get to claim her has his. But Jenny also knew that her older brother couldn't shield John and Janice forever. It was something that would NEED to be done.
"I know, but I think I'll be uneasy until it's all over," Jenny admitted with a weak smile to Karen, "but I do feel a bit more confident now that I am officially Mrs. Jenkins."
"We're all behind you," Karen promised as both Akane and Keiko nodded in agreement.
The support from Karen and the Skulk's leader, not mention all those who had come to the first wedding made her feel better. Jenny managed a smile and nodded, as she was almost ready. All that there was to do now was wait until her family arrived at the church and the "showdown" started.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Leaving the college left James Harper Sr. borderline furious. There weren't ANY of the sorts of uniformed security present when he'd helped Jenny move in and at the time there didn't seem to be any of the sorts of "measures" that had to be done first. In this, he had no way of knowing as to whether or not Jenny was even on campus, as the security wouldn't let him in. The only thing he could do now was find this Baptist Church and then wait for Jenny to show up, if she wasn't already there. He hoped she wasn't already there, as that would mean that she'd consciously abandoned her responsibilities and was trying to deceive her own family. There were many things about modern society and culture that James Harper Sr. found degenerate, but so far, family loyalty hadn't become one of them. It was that that he was counting on.
Meanwhile, in the backseat, Dieter also had some concerns. While the Harpers might not know why the college had security running around, he had a guess that one of his agents had left a pretty obvious sign of intrusion before going after Harry Jenkins. That had the college's security on alert and was a situation that he didn't want to challenge them on. However, the mention of a wedding that Elizabeth had told them had his own brain running on overdrive. While it was possible that there was another wedding going on, the fact that the wedding mentioned seemed to indicate that the wedding was still on, which would mean that the reports that Harry Jenkins was dead was in error. Maybe his earlier agents had misidentified their target and shot the wrong person, but that would mean force would be required.
For the moment, though there also seemed to be the frustration with Moon Lake's layout. Most towns generally had a checkerboard layout for its blocks and streets. It would allow for easily getting from point A to point B as there were plenty of streets that could be used to get there using those various streets. However, from what James Harper Sr. had explained on the way to Moon Lake was that the city was laid out like a wagon wheel with most of the streets being straight lines that radiated out from a central point and that the same street didn't didn't run the length of the town with the exception of main street that ran down the street's east/west axis. What made matters worse was that there were few roads that linked the individual spokes that ran out from the city's center. This resulted in a Doug gaining some frustration as he drove along the roads looking for the street on which the Baptist Church was.
"This town is totally wack," Doug grumbled, "Can't get to any different street without going into the center of their town."
"I told you it was an odd layout," James Sr. spoke, doing his best to try and hide his own frustrations, "Can't say why..."
"Just so long as we set things right," Dieter spoke, trying to provide some sense of calm, as he could tell that both Doug and James Sr. were showing their frustrations a bit too much.
"Right, boss," Doug answered.
They continued until James Sr. finally spotted the road sign that identified the street that the Baptist Church was on. It created a sigh of relief as they drove along. They eventually came to a modest sized building, painted white, and with a small parking lot just outside the building. James Sr. noted that there were plenty of cars there. There weren't too many, but it was clear that there were plenty of people there. This only worsened James Sr.'s mood as it made him think that Jenny had gone against her family's honor. From his seat, Dieter only observed things with some nervousness. He and Doug were armed, but he really didn't want to go in and cause a riot by shooting first. Much of the idea, in that regard would be to force an argument with Harry Jenkins and provoke this guy into an actual attack. Dieter could then shoot Harry and claim "self-defense," however, with so many people present that strategy might not work. There would be too many witnesses.
"The church looks nice," Janice commented.
"At least she had some sense," James Sr. grumbled.
James Jr. only sighed as they all got out of the van and looked to the building, "Just try to be polite, it likely that they are getting ready to start."
James Sr. turned back to his oldest son, "and let some Yankee continue to lead her astray and cause trouble?"
"You don't know that," James Jr. answered, "and regardless of what you want your end message to be, being polite is the better course of action. Do you really want to start a fight if either Jenny refuses to leave her fiance leave Moon Lake? Or risk losing contact with Jenny at all?"
James Sr. didn't answer, but glared at James Jr. before stalking off toward the church doors. Elizabeth Harper looked to James Jr. as well and then shook her head.
"And Jenny has the right to run off in the way she has?" Elizabeth asked, "the sudden announcement of the wedding and the shortness of time to that wedding?"
"I'd think she could have done things a bit differently," James Jr. admitted as Janice and John formed up behind Elizabeth, "but at the same time... you can't deny Jenny's right to choose who SHE wants to be with."
James Jr. then glared toward Dieter and Doug who were following James Sr. fairly closely.
"And not push things because of dad's plan to get a handout," James Jr. pointed out.
"Your father works hard to keep this family afloat," Elizabeth scolded.
"But his goal is for Dieter to provide a lot of help in addition to what he pays dad to work for the power company," James Jr. answered, "THAT is a handout."
Elizabeth didn't say anymore as they made their way toward the church and following James Sr.
++++++++++++++++++++++
"Kids have no respect for honor anymore," James Harper Sr. grumbled as he reached the door to the church.
"I'd think your son just means to be tactful," Dieter commented, "just be polite, explain the error that has been made and your rights as Jenny's legal guardian and things will be settled out from there. As we don't want a fight while we're here."
James Sr. stopped and glanced to him, saw what looked like a friendly smile and then sighed. He could be quite tactful when he wanted to be, but James Sr. figured that there were times for tact and times to be blunt. He'd figured this was one of the times to be blunt, especially given the suddenness of Jenny's announcement of being engaged and the fact it went against everything that James Sr. had planned out. However, he wasn't going to argue with his boss. He simply reached out and opened the door for both Dieter Wilhelm and Doug. As they entered, however, there came a loud buzzing sound that made all three of them stop inside the door.
"What the...?" James Sr. said slowly as a group of four people began to approach them.
Three were dressed normally, but two were in fact regular Moon Lake patrol officers, but in plain clothes so as to help sell trick and plan to deal with Dieter Wilhelm. The third man was Yamato, dressed in the same formal attire that all Tachibana security personnel wore. The fourth man was actually the church's minister.
"Welcome to Moon Lake Baptist Church," the minister spoke, "I would ask that you surrender ALL of your weapons before any further access will be allowed."
"Weapons?" James Sr. spoke and stepped forward, "I've come all this way to deal with some mess that my daughter has gotten into and you're going to give me the runaround on weapons?"
"This is a house of God," the minister spoke, "I will NOT have armed men in my church."
Dieter watched as the minister remained firm and the security men in front of him approached James Sr. The minister looked a bit older, but in surprisingly good health for what Dieter assumed to be a man in his forties. Two of those personnel began to pat down James Sr. to check for any weapons, while the other two watched Doug and Dieter. Something in this didn't sit right.
"You can't..." Dieter began.
"Search you?" one of the men spoke as Yamato escorted James Sr. closer to the minister. Dieter watched as the man pulled out his wallet and produced a police badge, "I assure you, we can. You will hand over your weapons and put your hands up."
"What?" Dieter gasped.
"I will not have guns in my church," the minister spoke, "and Moon Lake's police have issues with you sending people to our town to kill our residents."
Dieter's eye's widened. He wanted to reach for his weapon, but was too surprised by this. There had been a fair number of surprises in all this, but he didn't expect that. It would make it seem as though they were waiting for him to arrive. Doug, however, wasn't quite as "frozen" as Dieter was. That only triggered a quick response, as Yamato moved quickly and landed an open handed blow to Doug's hand. The result was that Doug was sent staggering back and his weapon fell to the floor with a audible clatter and earning gasps from the rest of the Harpers who had just arrived. It was at this point when Dieter finally began to move, only to be rushed by two of the cops.
One officer grabbed him by one arm while the other got him by the other arm. Before he knew it, Dieter found his arms pinned behind his back and placed in cuffs. A lone officer stood over him and Doug, who had been similarly cuffed.
"Dieter Wilhelm, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and the arranging of the attempted murder of Harold Jenkins," the officer spoke, before finishing with the standard Miranda Rights. By the time he was finished, additional people had come out from the sanctuary and into the entry area to the church.
James Sr. noted that the new arrivals were powerfully built, better than any NFL linebacker. They were all male and they moved to form a wall between his family and the sanctuary and another door that was presently behind James Sr. and the minister. However, James Sr. was caught in a mix of extreme surprise and moderate anger that Moon Lake's security had practically jumped his employer.
"You can't..." James Sr. began to protest, "we came to bring my daughter home where she belongs! Dieter's done nothing wrong."
"His own actions speak otherwise," Yamato spoke, "Young Ms. Harper has spoken with Tachibana Security on the actions of one Dieter Wilhelm. Mostly voicing her concerns that the man would try to ruin HER happy day. In our checking through Alabama state records, while Mr. Wilhelm has never been convicting of any major crime in the state, there have been multiple incidents of drunken driving and reckless driving, but for various reasons, likely the influence of either his family or his money, the State of Alabama has always taken the minimum sentence and he's never lost his licence... There have also been supposed rumors that he has also spent time with... ladies of questionable virtue..."
"That doesn't relate to saying he's tried to kill someone he doesn't know, and I'm sure NONE of it is right!" James Sr. spoke up, the minister standing beside him.
"True," Yamato admitted, "but it does show that he is FAR from noble. Far from being the good and honorable man that Harold Jenkins is. What relates to his arrest here, happened a few days ago."
"A few days..." James Sr. said slowly.
"It's a lie!" Dieter protested.
"Earlier in the week, an agent hired by Mr. Wilhelm attempted to gain access to Jennifer Harper's dorm room," one of the officer's spoke, "she wasn't there at the time and the agent fled before campus security could catch him. That agent committed suicide by cop after being arrested on criminal trespass and stalking charges, among others. The a couple of days ago, another agent pulled a drive-by shooting on Henry Jenkins Jr. The shot was nearly fatal and has left the man hobbled. The agent was caught, however, and has proven EXTREMELY cooperative. It's from him that we've able to get the list of events and actions that Mr. Wilhelm has engaged in."
By this point, the officers had retrieved both of the pistols that Dieter and Doug had had had on them. A lot of this still seemed to be a lot to process for James Sr., but James Jr. did have something quick to say as both of them were prepared to be lead out of the church.
"I always knew you were a snake!" James Jr. declared to Dieter.
"It's a lie!" was all that was heard from Dieter as he and Doug were lead out.
The minister, meanwhile, gave a sigh of relief. The greatest lethal threat to the second ceremony was dealt with and outside of Doug and Dieter, none of the Harpers appeared to be armed. Of course that didn't mean that things couldn't still turn violent, but at least now it'd be something that wouldn't involve gunfire and would allow for the rest of the security for the second wedding to be a physical deterrent from actually causing trouble. In a sense it was half the battle.