"Whatever are you taking about, Dennis?"
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Chapter 30
Two days after the big group meeting, William and Wolf were back at the home compound visiting their families. Doc, Granny, Hank, and Wanda were back there too. In Toronto, Lucas and Jock were working on attack strategies while Theo and Dreamer were concentrating on basketball. Nary came to the gym with Dreamer and rebounded for her. Dreamer showed her how to box out a pretend opponent, just because it was the right way to rebound. As far as Dreamer was concerned, nothing could come from Lylah's quest to get Nary onto a basketball team somewhere. Momaka and Stu were off touristing. Winnie suspected that their touristing was in a submarine, but she wasn't saying anything about that.
Winnie's personal research into the crime families had uncovered nothing useful. She wasn't interested in pursuing any of the little leads that remained. She had removed her spy bots and was putting them into the empty box that would contain any jewelry she owned when she was allowed to have a boyfriend. That's when somebody knocked on her bedroom door. Winnie was sharing a bedroom on the ship with Dreamer and she thought that it would be Wizard. He had been dropping by regularly. It was Marie instead.
"Hi, Marie. Did you want to go back to the home compound? I'll go with you if you want."
"Would you go somewhere else with me instead?"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?"
"Safe Haven Ranch #2. The Wilizy aren't working right now; Hank promised that the Wilizy would look into the Safe Haven ranches when you had time."
"We did promise that. But I don't know where your ranch is. Do you?"
"No, but I know how you could find it."
So, that's how Winnie ended up squished together with Marie in a single time-travel sling. It had to be a single sling because Marie's sling did not have that function activated yet. Marie directed her to the prison island. Winnie remembered that the attack on the island had been around Christmas, so she went back to December 24 and skipped forward. When the panther and the alligator came ashore, Winnie stopped skipping and began watching intently. Unlike Theo, she wasn't squeamish about what she saw.
"When you're killing like that as an alligator, do you know what you're doing? Do you remember any of it?"
"Both Nary and I are fully aware of what our companions are doing and we remember everything. We have a degree of control over their actions. I have more control than Nary because my powers are greater than hers. For now." Marie liked the word companion and used it whenever the topic of the alligator came up. She certainly wouldn't give it a human name. She had no great affection for the beast, although it did provide her with a safe body where she could sleep for a week at a time and restore her human body's energy. But, the alligator was cold-blooded and Marie was always cold afterwards. She could hardly wrap herself in blankets when she was inside the alligator.
"Does it bother you when it's killing like that?"
"Nah. I made sure that it killed them quickly. I may take smaller bites out of Big Daddy and Big Momma. Slaves learn that small bites make their food last longer. I wouldn't want to upset Big Momma unnecessarily."
"That's funny."
"I hope Big Momma enjoys the joke. Nary was anxious before the bosses came because she and Contrary had never shared a human kill before. But she wasn't a slave and she didn't see what those bosses did to the slaves. She didn't have any difficulty with her second kill. She understood that Mavis deserved to die."
"Nary killed Mavis?"
(I'll skip the part of the conversation where Marie tells Winnie how Nary stalked and killed Mavis. You already know this. They agreed that this news shouldn't be shared with the family. Some family members might object that Mavis hadn't been put on trial first.)
"Your alligator was almost bigger than Nary's panther. I thought panthers would have been bigger."
"I let the alligator get big because I wanted to scare the bosses away from the water. Nary could have created a bigger body too but she needed speed, not bulk."
Their conversation was like two assassins talking about what size bullet would kill their target most effectively.
"You can make the alligator any size you want?"
"Sure. All the way from very very big to very very small."
"Can you be a panther too?"
"Sure. We did that on the island. Contrary would drive the deer to the island in her panther form and then I'd kill it with my panther. Why?"
"Just curious. I've seen Patella and Scapula kill. They enjoy it. I don't know if I could kill."
"You didn't mind watching it."
"They deserved it."
# # # # # # # #
Winnie followed the Safe Haven copter with its load of slaves back to where it came from, as Marie requested. But Marie wasn't happy.
"This isn't my ranch. We need to find Ranch #2."
"Any idea where it is?"
"It can't be far. The air smells right."
"We'll go to current time and then roam around a bit. If I take us up to the cloud levels, we'll have a good view."
They found Ranch #2 easily enough after that.
"That's where you were a slave? Do you mind if we go lower?"
"Go ahead."
Marie pointed out the slave quarters, the whipping post, the crop fields, and the big house. “That's Big Momma," she pointed to a spindly little woman rocking on a porch swing.
"You're not planning to kill her now, are you?"
"No. Theogun and Shango have to be here."
"Why?"
"That's what was foretold. It's afternoon. Big Daddy is making babies. I don't want to see that. We can go now."
"Toronto or the home compound?"
"Home compound. I'm tired of living on a ship."
"Good. I have something there that you might enjoy."
"What?"
"Something called Monty Python."
During that entire afternoon, Winnie and Marie were squeezed together tightly. They found that co-existing in the same sling was easiest if they stood beside each other – arm in arm. On the way back, Winnie slipped her hand into Marie's hand and that's how they ended the trip.
# # # # # # # #
Lucas and Jock were finishing up their planning. "I've never seen these kinds of forms before," Lucas said.
"Project management software," Jock replied. "With this software, you can break any military operation into small chunks and date and time each chunk. You can also assign personnel to each piece of the operation. There are windows available for risk management too. Battle casualty expectations, alternate plans, that kind of thing. You and I didn't look at those windows as I don't expect casualties or the need to make alternate plans. Not with Melissa doing the planning. She has already built those into her thinking."
"Melissa is really good then? She could be a general?"
"I'd hire her to be my battle planner. But being a general is more than fighting battles. She wouldn't be as good at the organizational part of the job. Mac is particularly good at organization."
"Being in the military means having to think a lot?"
"If you're an officer, yes. Why?"
"I've thought about joining the army after I finish school. I'm good at fighting; not so good at thinking."
"Some things can be learned."
"Not if you're dumb."
# # # # # # # #
Reese was walking Annika back home from school. He had arrived at the school from Toronto yesterday and had automatically met her at her locker. On the way home, she had asked him where he had been but Reese was evasive and Annika didn't pursue it.
The big news, from the perspective of the girls in the school, was the dance coming up. Annika had a new dress but she had figured that she wouldn't get to wear it. Then Reese showed up at school again.
"Did you hear about the dance on the 18th?"
"Yeah. A bit."
"All of the girls will be there. I'm going with
my friends. We'll be hanging out underneath one of the basketball hoops. The one by the score clock."
"My new sister is very good at jumping for basketballs."
That would have been a very interesting conversation. How can a little girl baby be a good jumper? Oh, you mean she's not a little girl. She's a teenager? How could a teenager suddenly come into your family? What's she like? What's her name? How could she have a name like that?
Yes, lots of questions would have been possible. But Annika had her mind set on something else. "Will you ask me for a dance Thursday night or not?" With Reese, she had learned that sometimes she had to be direct.
"Do boys dance with girls at these things?" Reese had never been at a school dance. But he knew his classmates well. None of them would willingly dance with a girl.
"The brave ones do."
That was a nice touch on Annika's part, but Reese still stalled.
"You'd only have to ask for one dance. The gym will be sort of dark. Probably nobody would notice."
Reese thought about it. He could go in his sling, stay invisible most of the time, and just ask for the one dance. It would be dark enough that he might not be seen. He'd wear dark clothes. "OK, I'll see you at the dance. When should I ask you to dance?"
"The last dance. They'll announce the last dance ahead of time. Just listen for the announcement."
"OK."
Reese didn't understand the significance of the last dance. He was more concerned about the fact that he didn't know how to dance. He didn't know that the last dance was when they turned the lights down low and put on slow music. Annika knew. Sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.
# # # # # # # #
"Maddy, you have to do exactly what I tell you to do."
The Weight Watcher in Minneapolis was being very serious.
"You have to sit still. Don't squirm."
Maddy had been staying with Victoria for over a week now. She was very nice. Right now, Maddy was sitting on the kitchen table and would try to stay still even though another person was in front of her with a sharp knife. Maddy hadn't seen her before, but she was built like Pililiani and Victoria had said she was nice. Still, that knife was very sharp and it was right in front of Maddy's face right now. Maddy closed her eyes.
The lady with the knife put one finger inside her dog collar and pulled it a little way from Maddy's neck. Maddy immediately tensed up.
"It's OK. We're only going to cut your collar open a bit so that Sylvia can look inside it. Sylvia is very smart about computers and technology. She won't hurt you."
Maddy heard some cutting sounds. Soon enough Sylvia said, "I have the leather away from the electronics now. I'm going to take a look."
Maddy didn't know what any of that meant, but the cutting sounds had stopped and Sylvia's hand wasn't pressing against her throat now.
"Somebody has put a whole pile of electronics inside the compartment, Victoria. Two wires go into the two prods placed against Maddy's skin. Put current into those and it would be painful, I expect."
"Are those wires hot now?"
"They could be if the receiver were activated. There'd have to be a transmitter somewhere. It would send a wireless signal to the receiver, the wires would be electrified, and that would create the charge."
"The machine in her back pack might be the transmitter."
"How long has she been carrying it?"
"Since March 1."
"I better look at it. It's unlikely to be active now, but it's best to be sure."
"Maddy, Sylvia is going to look inside your flat machine. She won't do anything that will cause it to go off. You don't have to worry."
That was like telling Yolanda not to clean, or Winnie not to snoop, or Granny not to bake. Maddy started to whimper. She knew what would come next. The whimpering got worse as Sylvia rotated the machine, looking for an access panel.
"Hurry."
"I'm hurrying as safely as I can, Victoria. Somebody has used this collar on her a lot. She's been conditioned to expect pain."
Victoria held Maddy close to her body as Sylvia worked on some tiny screws in the transmitter. She stroked her hair. When that didn't work, she picked Maddy up, held her close, and carried her around the kitchen, rocking back and forth as Maddy started to wail.
"Got it. It's dead. And if it hadn't been dead already, it is now. Maddy, this thing will never hurt you again."
Maddy eventually calmed down, sat on the table again, and Sylvia cut the collar off. "What beast would do this to a little girl?" Sylvia asked nobody in particular. Nobody in particular answered.
"Let's get that ice cream now, OK?"
Maddy wiped some tears off her face with the palm of her right hand and shook her head in agreement. Later in the copter, she smiled at Victoria and bounced up and down in her seat. Victoria had given her ice cream on the first day she had been in Minneapolis.
That afternoon, Victoria and Sylvia took Maddy shopping. They didn't take her to Minneapolis' Mall of America because that mall had been taken over by gangs and it wasn't safe to shop there any longer. Maddy didn't know anything about that. She just knew that they took her on a copter ride, they stopped where there were lots of buildings, and Victoria took her to eat at a place that had ice cream.
Victoria also bought new clothes for Maddy to replace the others that were now too small. She even bought a pink rolling box for her. She called it a suitcase. Maddy could put her new clothes in it and pull the suitcase behind her. She didn't have to put her clothes in a backpack. Victoria promised to show her how to pack all of her new clothes in her suitcase tonight. But first, she took her to a place where another big woman took a picture of her in her new clothes. Victoria took one copy of the picture; Maddy got another copy that she could put in her suitcase and then give to her mommy and daddy. A digital copy went onto the bot that Maddy was still carrying around with her as she travelled west.
For her special picture, Maddy was wearing a long sleeved white blouse with a collar that buttoned up to where her dog collar used to be. She wore a blue jumper over the blouse and that went down as far as her knees. She had a pair of knee high blue socks and black shoes. For the picture, Victoria combed Maddy's blonde hair so that her curls were over her ears and away from her forehead. The photographer stood on a chair in front of Maddy and told her to look up as she snapped the picture. Maddy wasn't smiling, but she wasn't crying either.
The next morning, Sylvia took Maddy to Fargo, North Dakota and left her with another Weight Watcher. Maddy was now 500 miles away from Fort Peck Lake. At her current rate of travel, Maddy would be wearing a dog-collar again in two weeks.
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Chapter 31
On April 13, Annie's biggest and most expensive brothel was empty by 10 p.m. This brothel was advertised as a health care center for men wishing personal attention. The men who were engaged in field-testing the linens on Annie's beds earlier that evening didn't appreciate the personal attention they were receiving from bed bugs the size of miniature alligators. Thanks to Winnie, Annie's customers quickly turned to cuss-tomers. Annie's staff didn't realize that only two bed bugs were the source of the problem, but they were very mobile. Invisibly so.
By April 15, news of a plague of bed bugs had caused Toronto's wealthy health-conscious males to abandon all plans to become more healthy through exercises with Annie's health care specialists in her main facility. By April 17, the bed bugs had shut down Annie's entire prostitution business. The sisters had been sending texts to the judge, but not hearing a thing back from him. That was because the judge had been kidnapped by two figures dressed completely in black leather and wearing black motorcycle helmets. The shorter of the two figures was a woman and she spoke a foreign language of some kind. The taller figure was also a woman. She carried a softball bat and looked like she knew how to use it. The judge was blindfolded and taken for a one-way copter ride.
When the blindfold was removed, the
judge found himself in a clearing in the woods. For shelter, he had a tarp to sleep under. For warmth, he had blankets and additional clothes. All things considered, the judge had all the amenities he'd need for a pleasant stay in the woods, minus any device that he might use for communication purposes. For entertainment, he had two dogs to keep him company. If he had owned a ball, he could have played Fetch with them. He didn't have a ball, so the dogs had nothing to do other than lie in the clearing and growl when he tried to leave. If the judge had been more knowledgeable about canines, he would have noticed that they were wolves. Winnie fed them regularly in a nearby clearing and visited to keep them company, but without revealing herself to the judge, of course. She was getting increasingly annoyed that her role in this operation was confined to feeding her wolves so that they wouldn't eat the judge.
Losing customers wasn't the only thing that Annie had to wrestle with. She was also losing her health care specialists. Some do-gooders were finding them and convincing them that prostitution was not a good career choice for young teenage girls. Those girls disappeared as quickly as Annie's customers had.
Melissa's Operation Bite Me was considered successfully concluded on the evening of April 18. The Raging Gardeners had transported over 75% of Toronto's young prostitutes to a Wilizy Foundation center. Annie's entire business plan was in shambles and she was begging her sisters to lend her enough money to start up other brothels. Her sisters pointed to her lack of personnel and said No. In anger, Annie threatened to branch out into other business lines. That didn't sit too well with her sisters who again bombarded the judge with texts. They all received a reply telling them to sort it out for themselves. The judge wouldn't be a referee any longer. Annie told her underboss to skip the meetings in the pub from now on. He would be too busy making expansion plans to attend.
# # # # # # # #
On that evening of April 18, Melissa told the Wilizy that she was delaying the next step in the operation. She wanted to give the ABCD families more time to make their problems worse. This meant that the Wilizy would be sitting around with nothing to do for several days. Marie and Nary had been the only Wilizy warriors involved in the first operation; others were itching to go. Annie's customers had already itched and gone.
The conversation around the dinner table was subdued. Boredom was the most common emotion until Winnie erupted in a peal of laughter.
Maddy's a Baddy Page 15