“Well,” David said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
CHAPTER
12
Bao was filling machines at his favorite account. The building was loaded with attractive women and the owners treated him like a human being, not an errand boy. As he was refilling the Snickers, he could sense someone behind him.
“Hey Daniel.”
“Hey Charlie,” the man said, chuckling as he walked down the hall and into his office.
Daniel, whose actual name was Mike Wilson, called Bao “Charlie” because of his Vietnamese heritage. Bao wasn’t offended, he merely returned fire. Once Bao found out that Mike was from Texas he started calling him “Daniel” for Daniel Boone.
In his role as Insight Resource spy, Bao found the place to be highly important. Not only were these people becoming the most successful business in town, they had the person who took Charlie Henry on at the meeting at the amphitheater—Patton Larsen. He had yet to spend significant time with Patton, but he was working on it.
“What’s up Bao?” asked Frank, who was the nicest to Bao—probably because he knew what it was like to be an outsider. Also, as a Northern Californian, Frank had been around a lot of Asian people.
“Not much, Frank. How’s it hangin’?”
Frank chuckled.
“I’m good Bao, but I’m not sure you know what that saying means.”
Bao did know, but he let it go.
“You seen Patton today?”
Bao usually asked about Patton, but he always tried to seem nonchalant.
“He was off site this morning but I think he might be in his office.”
“Thanks,” Bao said, returning to his work. Frank walk past him and down the hall to his office.
Patton friggin’ Larsen, Bao thought, nearly laughing out loud. Among the Insight employees, and especially among the spies, Patton was now a legend. One of the spies had been able to capture footage of the “conversation” between Larsen and Charlie Henry. The video had been passed around the office dozens of times. Another spy had actually been able to infiltrate the committee that was forming the government. That was why Bao was working this account today—to leak some of the information gleaned from the spy on the committee to Patton Larsen and then see how he would react.
As he continued his work, Bao tried to concoct a reason to speak to Patton. By the time he got the snack machine filled, he had his reason. He gathered his things and made his way towards Patton’s office, which was on the other side of the building.
Bao peeked in and saw Patton working on his computer. He knocked lightly.
Without turning to see who it was, Patton said, “Yeah?”
Bao stepped in meekly and approached Patton’s desk.
“Hey Patton,” Bao said, fighting the urge to remove his baseball cap and twirl it in his hands.
“Hey Bao. How’s business?” Patton asked, still not making eye contact.
“Good. Not as good as here apparently,” he said with a goofy laugh, “but good.”
“What can I do for you?” Patton asked, finally making eye contact, but still business as usual.
“I like my clients to see their account sheets every quarter and I was wondering … well, some of the ladies were asking for a new machine.”
Patton’s eyebrows rose at that and he asked, “What kind of machine?”
“Refrigerated,” Bao said, pulling out a brochure. “Some of them want healthier food.”
Patton nodded, understanding their problem. He rarely ate junk food and he sometimes forgot to stock his mini fridge with healthy snacks.
“Okay,” Patton said, perusing the brochure. “Email me a price breakdown and I’ll get back to you on it. Sound good?”
Bao nodded. Usually he would say his goodbyes at this point and walk out, but he needed to float him the information. As Patton was leafing through the brochure, Bao cleared his throat. He decided to just come right out with it.
“I hear they’re forming a government after all,” Bao said, bracing himself for Patton’s reaction.
Patton set the brochure down gently and slowly met Bao’s gaze.
“Where did you hear that?” Patton asked, a tinge of anger in his voice.
“Around,” Bao said dumbly. “I’ve been hearing it all over. One of my accounts is someone on the committee,” he said, lying. “They say it’s a done deal.”
“Do they now?” Patton said, giving the young man an icy glare. “What else did you hear?” Patton asked.
Bao pulled up a chair, and for the next twenty minutes, he told Patton everything he knew.
Charlie was in bed, just about to go to sleep when his phone rang.
“Hello,” he said grumpily.
“Charlie, tell me you’re watching this,” came Anna’s voice through his earpiece.
“Watching what?” Charlie mumbled, trying to clear the sleep out of his voice.
“The news. I don’t know how this happened, but someone found out,” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
The committee had most of the details for the town’s government hammered out, but they weren’t ready to announce anything. Charlie and Anna knew that most people wouldn’t care, and that those who did care would be vastly outnumbered. People like the thought of government, Charlie had told the committee seemingly thousands of times. It brings a sense of safety and stability.
“Hurry Charlie,” she said, frustration creeping into her voice.
“Okay darling. I’ll watch and then call you back.”
Charlie found the remote and flipped on the TV.
“So Mr. Andrews, where did you hear this?” asked the female reporter.
Before venturing to Blue Creek, Devin Andrews had owned a small cell phone store in Nebraska. He was middle-aged, overweight, with mostly gray hair and bad wire-framed glasses.
“I heard it from another Blue Creek resident,” he said simply and confidently.
When the big recession of 2008 hit, his business was greatly damaged. Not only because of lagging sales, but because it was difficult to get loans to operate his business. As the country was driven further into the recession by bad economic policy, he had to lay off all but one of his employees—his own son. His frustration led him to joining his local Tea Party group.
“And who is that?” the reporter asked sweetly, but the man could tell she was digging for something he didn’t want to reveal.
“I’d rather not say,” Andrews said, trying to maintain his cool.
The reporter asked the same question in a different way, but Andrews stonewalled her.
“I don’t see how it matters. We’re talking about a very small group of people that want to establish a government for everybody and not giving everybody a say,” he said, finally betraying his annoyance.
The reporter was taken aback at his sudden anger, but returned her face to its normal, plastic, fake smile.
“Well, we just want to be able to follow up,” she said, betraying a little frustration herself.
The man glared at her, shaking his head.
“As always, you’re looking at the wrong story. The story is that a small group of people want to establishment a government for Blue Creek and we don’t know who these people are. Where are they from? What do they want to do? What will the government be like? Will it be based on the Constitution or will it be something new? Why don’t you find out who this ‘committee’ is,” he said, flashing his fingers as imaginary quotation marks, “and find out what they’re planning?”
The young reporter was blushing now, angry that some fat old guy was trying to tell her how to do her job.
“Sir,” she said, gathering herself, “I’m trying to get this angle locked down and then we’ll move on.”
Andrews laughed at her, shaking his head again.
The camera returned to the reporter, who was now visibly upset with her guest’s rant.
“Thank you Mr. Andrews,” she said, her hands demurely in her lap. “We’ll now go back to the anchors’ desk.”
“Go get ‘em!” Patton yelled at the TV. He was up on his feet, clapping and smiling down at his fiancé. “I told you he could do it,” he said, beaming.
Patton had recruited Devin to appear on the news. The two had started as clients of one another’s businesses, but they quickly became friends once they realized they had similar political beliefs. One of Devin’s friends knew the owner of the news station and the two had finagled Devin’s appearance.
Jennifer rolled her eyes and pulled on Patton’s back pocket to make him sit back down on the couch.
“Alright, alright,” she said, feigning annoyance. “Can we turn the channel now?”
Patton sat and handed her the remote. She selected a very boring and depressing show to watch, but Patton smiled the whole way through it.
“What the hell was that?” Charlie raved.
Anna clenched her phone and was tempted to throw it against the wall. As annoyed as she’d been watching the interview, Charlie was annoying her even more.
“How the hell should I know Charlie?” she asked. “I’ve never seen the guy before. Calm down. We need to think this through.”
The cat was out of the bag. They would need to devise a strategy to confront the opposition that was obviously forming in the shadows. The plan had been to sneak the thing through and get it to a vote by the loyal sheep of Blue Creek. That plan, however, had been shot to hell.
“When can we meet?” Charlie asked, still angry, but Anna could tell that he was trying to calm himself.
Anna sighed. It was past ten o’clock and she was in no mood for his anger. And she was especially not in the mood to deny his advances.
“Tomorrow. It’s late and I’m tired.”
Her desire had been to see Charlie in person as little as possible, but this was something they were going to have to figure out face to face. They might have to get Travis involved again, and when that happened, people tended to get hurt.
Word of the interview with Devin Andrews spread by word of mouth. The TV station refused to post it on their website, but it reached Blue Creek’s social sites nonetheless. Discussions led to further questions and it got a larger portion of the community interested in the potential government and what effect that might have on them. A group spearheaded by Patton and others was able to force the committee, led by Charlie Henry, out into the open for a public discussion. Eventually, the committee agreed to hold a forum where concerned citizens could ask questions, raise concerns, and air grievances. The meeting was held at a school auditorium. When the meeting was called to order, the venue was filled to capacity. Additionally, thousands of citizens were logged onto the intranet site to watch the proceedings.
Many spies, Bao included, attended the meeting, knowing that its outcome was going to have huge ramifications for the town. They were all logged onto a chat room where they could post their reactions in real time. They all filed independent reports when the meeting was over, but many Insight employees and researchers watched in real time. The most captivating narrative was in the spies’ chat room.
The person who’d infiltrated the committee wrote cryptically: Meeting originally set to begin at 7 P.M. now delayed. C. Henry and other members visibly nervous and agitated. Have it on good authority that committee plan was to establish gov’t by stealth. Rumor that P. Larsen behind movement to slow down establishment.
A spy in the crowd wrote: Crowd visibly anxious and jittery. Some with pro-government signs. Others with anti-government signs. Standing room only. Blue Creek Fire Service had to clear many out and send them home. Most in crowd seem to understand importance of mtg.
Then another wrote: Mtg. finally begins. Emcee is introducing committee. P. Larsen D. Andrews spotted among audience. Expecting fireworks. Question from crowd about how people will vote on different measures told via intranet, mobile devices, paper ballot under each chair available.
The person on the committee wrote from the stage: Before cmte came onto stage overheard C. Henry telling another member, “If Larsen causes a ruckus I’ll wring his gd neck.”
Another wrote: Emcee claims that 75% of eligible voters are either present or watching online. Unlikely, but it has been agreed that only 50% needed to be “present.”
Another wrote: Committee member reading proposals: exec. officer to be called “Governor”. Leg. body will be called “Council” with 21 members…serve 3 yrs with 7 members up for election every year. Gov. and Council will appoint three judges.
Another wrote: Proposed voting age of 18. Voted on and agreed to.
Another wrote: P. Larsen standing to be recognized. Asks that government be based on U.S. Constitution, including only first 10 amend. C. Henry says that Gov. and Council should decide laws and will be voted on after that. P. Larsen reiterates need for U.S. Const. before gov’t is established, says “How are we going to be able to hold (gov’t officials) accountable” without Const.? Heated back and forth between Henry and Larsen. Larsen getting crowd behind him. Asks for vote on whether to use U.S. Const. Henry objects, states that much of Const. doesn’t apply to this gov’t as there is no bicameral leg. Asks to reword Bill of Rights into plainer English. Will vote amend. by amend.
Both the in-person and online audiences considered amendments one by one. They were reworded and then voted upon by the people. Many amendments, like instituting and ending Prohibition, were considered to not be applicable so they were skipped. However, all of the Bill of Rights was passed, even the 3rd, which prevents the government from quartering soldiers in private citizens’ homes.
The meeting dragged on and many people began to log off and leave the meeting, but enough people remained to make the votes legal. By the time the voting was over, Charlie Henry was about to kill someone.
The spy on the stage wrote: C. Henry visibly angry. Hands shaking. Speaking angrily with other cmte member A. Radinski.
When all was said and done, the long-awaited showdown between Charlie Henry and Patton – at least by those who knew about the first confrontation – did not disappoint. There were few, if any people, who thought that Mr. Henry came out on top in the exchange. After the meeting was over, Jennifer and Mike congratulated him, but he didn’t feel like celebrating.
He’d won the battle, but lost the war. A government was going to be established. It was like the Allied invasion on D-Day. The war wasn’t won that day. In fact, it would take nearly a year to make the Germans surrender. However, they did eventually win. Not that Patton wanted to liken himself to the Nazis, but the analogy fit. The committee took a beating, but they established a toe hold. It would only be a matter of time before they expanded their influence on Blue Creek.
His friends complimented Patton on his debating prowess and congratulated him on his “victory.”
“I didn’t win anything,” Patton said, surprising everyone.
Confused, Mike Wilson asked, “What do you mean? You just kicked the old man’s ass.”
Patton shrugged.
“That’s the thing. Just because I beat him tonight doesn’t mean that it’s over. People like him don’t give up. We have to keep paying attention to what they do. Otherwise, they’ll end up doing what it is they had planned all along.”
Mike, Frank and Shontae, and Jennifer were deflated. Noticing that he’d taken all of the fun out of the room, Patton tried
to put a positive spin on it.
“But I did kick his ass,” he said, grinning widely.
“That son of a bitch!” Charlie screamed, throwing his whiskey glass against the wall. It shattered and sprayed bits of glass all over himself. The next morning he would notice the broken ceramic tiles on his wall where the glass had hit. Charlie resembled a child, standing there, just inside the open door. He held his chin to his chest, shoulders hunched, fists clenched. He was literally seething.
Why couldn’t they have killed Larsen when they had the chance? He walked to his bar and made himself a vodka tonic. He slugged it down and then made another. He fought the urge to throw the second glass. He had a big enough mess to clean up already.
How could that bastard have outwitted him so easily?
Charlie went into a small washroom and turned on the light. He splashed cold water onto his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. It was an ugly sight. Disheveled hair, bloodshot eyes, drawn and pale skin. Charlie would usually smoke some marijuana to take the edge off, but this was going to take something with a little more punch. Charlie reached into his nightstand and pulled out a small black leather case, unzipped it, and readied the contents. He removed a small plastic bag from his night stand. It contained an off-white colored powder, a spoon, and a lighter.
Charlie was trying to quit this habit, nasty as it was. Shooting heroin was like playing Russian roulette, he knew, especially when he was amped up. He prepped the dose using pure muscle memory. He could, and sometimes did, do it in the dark. Charlie depressed the plunger and untied a rubber hose from his arm. The rush was immediate and incredible. In his mind’s eye, the last thing he could see before drifting off was Anna’s glorious, naked body. Then … everything … went black.
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