2156

by C M Dancha

  As Raul approached Klaus's apartment, he could see the door cracked open by about three inches. Music and light streamed from inside the apartment. Otherwise, there was no sign of anyone in the apartment. Raul froze outside the door for about thirty seconds to make sure he wouldn't bust in on Klaus in an embarrassing situation. His intuition said there was something wrong, so he took an energy burst gun out of his coat pocket. He knocked lightly on the door as he pushed it open to get a better look inside.

  Face down on the living room couch was his boss, Klaus Ekstrom. From the smell in the apartment and empty bottles lying about it was a good guess Klaus was inebriated. The pool of vomit next to the couch confirmed that Klaus was not drunk; he was dead-ass drunk. Raul checked his pulse to make sure he was still alive and hadn't expired from alcohol poisoning. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to report a death this evening. Even though Klaus wouldn't be happy cleaning up the puke in the morning, vomiting and pissing himself had most likely saved his life.

  Raul thought about leaving Klaus a note telling him about Slice but decided not to waste the time or effort. Let Klaus get the surprise of his life when he finally woke up and stumbled into work. But, to cover his own ass, Raul decided to make a couple of contact attempts to Klaus. He knew his drunk boss wouldn't wake up and answer the call. This would give him an alibi when Klaus wanted to know why he wasn't notified of Slice's arrival.

  Raul took one last lap around the apartment before leaving. He wanted to make sure no one was hiding in the apartment and he hadn't overlooked anything suspicious. Finding nothing, Raul turned down the music volume and left the apartment. When he got to the street, he decided at the last minute to ask the doorman a couple of questions.

  "Hey, thanks for letting me in the building. I went up to Klaus Ekstrom's apartment and tucked him into bed. He was pretty drunk." Raul made it clear he had been at Ekstrom's apartment, so the doorman would think he was honest and freely answer his questions. "Do me a favor and don't tell him that I dropped by. He would be embarrassed."

  "No problem, glad to help you."

  "Would you mind answering a question or two for me."

  "Go ahead. What do you want to know?"

  "In the last day or so, do you remember seeing or talking to a tubby little guy, about fifty years old with red hair and a big, bushy beard? He's a drinking buddy of ours and he said that he was going to check in with Klaus to make sure he was okay."

  The doorman thought for a minute as he opened the door for a woman leaving with her poodle. "No, can't say I have. Believe me, I would remember anyone with a description like that. The guy must look like a leprechaun."

  Raul forced a mild laugh and said, "Okay, thanks again. Here's a little something for you." Raul handed the doorman a free dinner coupon at one of the better local restaurants. Many of the restaurants came by the large corporations, like Phoenvartis, with incentives for the employees. It was part of their marketing strategy to increase business. To get their menu specials posted at Phoenvartis, the restaurant representative gave Raul's guys a couple of free dinner coupons. It was a nice perk for his guys who shared their bounty with the boss.

  As Raul walked away, the doorman called out, "Hey, wait a minute. I just remembered something. A good-looking woman with long black hair came by yesterday afternoon and asked to see Klaus. I let her in and she went upstairs."

  "Really? She sounds like Klaus's ex-wife. She's got black hair and is very attractive for a woman of over fifty?"

  The doorman fell head-first into Raul verbal trap. "Oh, that couldn't have been her. This woman was in her late twenties or early thirties."

  "Sounds like Klaus has been on the prowl and doing pretty good for himself." Raul paused for a few seconds trying to assume the role of a buddy, jealous of Klaus's female conquests. "Now, I'm really curious to find out who this bird is. I wonder if I know her? Did this woman give her name?"

  "No. When I contacted Mr. Ekstrom for his approval to let her in, he sounded like he was expecting a woman visitor, so I didn't bother to ask her name."

  "Too bad, I'd like to know who he's seeing these days, so I can give him a hard time."

  "Sorry I couldn't help you more. Make sure you don't tell Mr. Ekstrom that I told you about the girlfriend, or whoever she is. Okay?"

  "My lips are sealed. Oh, by the way, how long did she stay with Klaus?"

  The doorman was in deep thought for at least a half minute before answering. "You know, I don't remember her leaving. I usually see everyone, but I go on bathroom breaks every so often, so I could have missed her."

  If he didn't have enough to do already, he added another item to his to-do list. Even though he suspected who this woman might be he wanted to confirm her identity using the city's monitoring system. It was too soon to go back and ask his city contact for access again to the system, so he assigned a low priority to this task.

  His curiosity about the dark-hair woman was replaced by Slice's comment about Klaus not feeling well. If he didn't stop in to see Klaus, how the hell did he know Klaus was passed out covered with vomit and piss? Did he slip by the doorman like the dark-hair woman? Or, was there more to Sedgewick Slice than Raul thought? Raul was starting to question his intuition to size up a person's character and abilities. Could his first impression of Slice be that far off after spending almost six hours with him? If so, it would be one of the rare times in his life when the evaluator located in his gut was wrong.

  About the same time Raul was checking on Klaus Ekstrom, Rollie was waking up from an afternoon sleep. He felt good for being up the entire night and working sixteen straight hours. He had about forty minutes to get ready and meet Raul at the Raven's Lair. The restaurant was only a five-minute walk, so he had enough time to shave, shower and put on clean clothes.

  As he shaved, a vision started to form in his head. It was a memory of some sort. It slowly replaced his image in the mirror. He could see himself running through a field of what looked like tobacco. Overhead were two black and ominous thunderclouds spouting lightning, hail, and thunder. The thunderclouds stayed directly over his head no matter how fast he ran or what direction he went. They blocked out the daylight, so he couldn't see anything in the field.

  Rollie ran, ran, and ran trying to elude the thunderstorm. Exhausted, he fell face first to the ground. He lay there trying to protect himself from the hail and thunderbolts hurled from the two sinister clouds. He realized if he stayed on the ground he would be pelted or electrocuted to death. He tried to lift himself off the ground, but his hands were locked onto something anchored to the ground. With the touch of his fingers, he could tell the item was a rectangular wood box. There was no use trying to see the item because everything around him was black as ink.

  His hands worked themselves around the wood box, caressing the finely sanded grain. Soon, his hands felt as though they had found a long-lost friend. They knew every pore in the wood, each direction, and angle of the corners and all the microscopic flaws hidden in the grain. With a hand on each end, he held the box in an odd, yet specific way. He squeezed the box until he heard a slight click. He knew there was no reason to continue applying more pressure to the ends of the box.

  The rain, hail, and thunderbolts stopped. A light appeared in the vision, so he could now see the field he was lying in and the box he held. A secret drawer of nearly a half-inch in height and almost the entire length of the box had popped out. He assumed the pressure applied at specific points on the ends released the lock holding the drawer in place and allowed it to spring open.

  Rollie didn't have to look in the secret drawer to know what was in it. He now remembered Grandma LeeLee's instructions from a quarter century before about the box and what was inside the secret compartment. As the vision disappeared from the mirror like a wisp of smoke, Rollie smiled and realized what he must do with the box sitting on his kitchen table. He wanted to open the secret compartment but there were only five minutes left before his scheduled meeting with Raul. There was no rush. He
could do it later after his dinner with Raul.

  Half a world away, Grandma LeeLee was sound asleep in her front porch rocking chair when the thunderstorms started.

  It was an unusually hot summer morning even by Macon standards. By 11 a.m., the temperature had already reached 93 degrees with 90% humidity. Grandma LeeLee appreciated the air conditioning in her home for sleeping at night but hated it during the day. It seemed so artificial and confining. With all the windows and doors shut tight to seal in the cool air, she felt like a prisoner in her own house. She needed to get outside for at least a couple of hours regardless of the weather.

  By noon, she couldn't stand being cooped up indoors for one more minute. She went to the kitchen, made a pitcher of iced lemonade and headed to the porch to rock back and forth and wave at neighbors who drove or walked by her house. By 3 p.m., after three glasses of lemonade, the sweltering heat won the battle of wills and put her to sleep. During the next two hours, she slept through two massive thunderstorms. Each raged and spouted a barrage of rain, hail and lightning bolts.

  Anyone seeing her sitting on the porch during the storms would have thought she was dead. There was no way anyone could sleep through the violent lightning strikes, howling winds and pounding hail and rain. Her trance-like sleep blocked out all the storms’ violence. None of it broke through to her subconscious mind which was busy sending instructions to her grandson, Rodolpho. It was important that he know how to open the secret drawer in the maple box.

  She was exhausted after waking. It was hard work using God's network to communicate His word half-way around the world. So hard, in fact, she felt like taking a nap. She got up from her rocking chair and started for the front door. It was then she noticed the lawn completely covered with small ice pellets. The bottom of her dress was sopping wet. What the storms delivered was interesting but not half as important as staying alive, so she could help Sunny Boy conquer evil.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Good and Bad at Raven’s Lair

  Rollie walked into the Raven's Lair ten minutes late. He spotted Raul sitting near the back of the dining area talking with a waitress. He found it humorous that Raul always sat far away and facing the front door in any public establishment. This was another of his military idiosyncrasies for staying alive. As Raul explained, "If someone is going to take me out in a public place then I'm going to make it as difficult as possible." It took Rollie a while to figure out what Raul meant. In his world, staying alive depended on seeing the enemy enter the building and being close to an escape route out the back of the building. Raul claimed that this simple rule saved his life a couple of times.

  "Sorry I'm late, Raul. Been here long?"

  "Oh, hi, Rollie. No, I just got here. I was giving Gretchen my drink order. Do you want something to drink?"

  Rollie thought for a moment about what would taste good and quench his thirst. He opted to order one of the local beers and turned toward Gretchen to order. He hadn't paid attention to the waitress when he walked over to the table. When he turned to order, he was captivated with her beautiful face and figure.

  Gretchen was a twenty-something beauty with long blonde hair and opalescent blue eyes. Her direct stare and beautiful smile caught Rollie by surprise. If he didn't know better, he would have thought she was flirting with him. It always amazed him how women wanted the guys who already had someone in their lives. Before he started seeing Sophia, he couldn't get a date, let alone establish a relationship with a woman. Now, he could feel the women looking him up one side and down another. It was as though they could smell Sophia's scent and decided immediately he was worth stealing from her.

  "Oh, hi, Gretchen. Tell you what. Why don't you bring me a bottled beer; you pick it out. Surprise me."

  Normally, Gretchen would come up with all kinds of excuses why she wasn't allowed to select an alcoholic beverage for a customer. But, in this case, she decided to play along with Rollie. He had such a warm smile and great body it was worth the risk of being caught doing a no-no by her boss.

  “Well, did you get enough sleep today? You look a lot better than you did this morning."

  "Slept like a baby. How did your day go, Raul?"

  As Raul was ready to answer, Gretchen showed up with their drinks. She put down two napkins and then placed a drink on each. On the napkin in front of Rollie, he spotted a ten-digit number which he took to be Gretchen's communication number. He looked up at her and could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted to hear from him.

  "Is there anything else I can get for you gentlemen?"

  "I don't think so. If you would, bring us menus in ten to fifteen minutes."

  "I certainly will." Gretchen turned and walked away with both men closely watching her posterior.

  "I think she likes you, Rollie. After you showed up, I became invisible to her."

  "You're imagining things, Raul. Anyway, she's too young for either of us." Neither man believed that but acted as though it was an unwritten rule they had to follow.

  "Well, she's probably too young for you Rollie, but she's still in my age bracket."

  Both men laughed at Raul's ridiculous statement. "I don't know who you're trying to bullshit. As I recall, you're older than me."

  "Yeah, but I look younger than you, Rollie."

  As Rollie rolled his eyes, Raul took a drink and decided to hit Rollie with an unexpected question or two to see how he reacted.

  "Besides, Rollie, you already have a girlfriend."

  Rollie was taking a long draw off his bottled beer when Raul made the indirect reference to Sophia. It gave him the time to process Raul's statement and hold back any physical response which might give Raul a clue that his statement was true.

  "You're wrong, Raul. I have several girlfriends."

  Raul saw Rollie flinch a small bit and display a couple of other revealing responses. He tried to use a smart-ass response to cover up the truth, but his involuntary physical responses were enough to tell Raul all he wanted to know. The years Raul devoted to studying kinetics interviewing techniques once again paid off. Although he used these techniques hundreds of times to determine truthfulness, he was still amazed at how most people reacted physically when they lied. Unless the person was a habitual liar or on drugs, they all exhibited the same physical responses which screamed, "my answer to your question is a lie." To the trained investigator like himself, these techniques were more revealing than hooking the subject up to a truth verification device.

  Knowing Rollie was seeing the dark-hair woman was the first step. Now, he needed to figure out why this woman was going to the homes of two Phoenvartis executives on the same day.

  "Well, good. I'm glad to hear you're getting a lot of action. Do me a favor. When you get rid of one of your little friends, send her my way, Mr. Irresistible."

  "Yeah, yeah. No problem. I'm sure any young lady would love to be interrogated and go through a background check before going on a date with you."

  Both men knew this banter had run its course, so Rollie waved Gretchen over to get a couple of menus.

  As each of them scanned the menus, Rollie went back to his earlier question about the day Raul had at Phoenvartis.

  "Raul, you never answered my question about how your day went."

  Without taking his nose out of the menu, Raul answered. "I spent the entire damn day with a member of the World Council. A guy named Sedgewick Slice."

  Rollie's head snapped up like an explosion went off in the restaurant. "What did you say?"

  "I said, I wasted an entire day escorting a World Council member around the Phoenvartis campus."

  Rollie stared at Raul who was still previewing the menu in earnest. A hundred questions were swirling in his head, but he didn't know which one to ask first.

  Before Rollie decided what to ask, Raul looked up and said, "I've decided. I'm going to have the garlic and cheese crusted cod dinner."

  "Yeah, me too." Rollie couldn't care less what to eat after Raul's surprise comment abo
ut the World Council guy.

  "I thought you told me the World Council guy wasn't coming until tomorrow or sometime this coming week?"

  "That's what I was told. I was surprised to find this guy wandering through the offices and labs as though he owned the place. To make things worse, two of my guys gave him a VIP guided tour. They lapped up everything he said as though he was a god of some sort. They were eating out of his hand. I was so pissed, I kicked them back to their normal jobs and took over guiding this Slice character through the building."

  "Don't you think that's a strange name, Raul?"

  "Yeah, it sure is. The guy is a tubby little dude with raging red hair and a full red beard. He looks like a leprechaun but sure doesn't act like one."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "The guy is super slick. He knows way too much about Phoenvartis and its employees. By the way, do you know if Claude has ever met this guy or any other members of the World Council?"

  "I don't know. I guess it might be possible but if I had to guess, I'd say no. In fact, I'm sure he hasn't because Claude is the type of guy to brag about something like that. He's never said a word to me about knowing anyone in a high government position."

  "Well, somehow this Slice guy knows Claude, or at least he claims to know him. He asked me if Claude was leaving Phoenvartis about the same time he arrived."

  "That's very strange. What else did this guy want to know?

  "Rollie, we spent hours looking at virtually every piece of equipment in the place. Get this, we spent about two hours in the CR47 lab. Slice looked at everything over and over and asked me a bunch of questions, most of which I couldn't answer. So, I recommend that you prepare for those questions. My guess is that he'll be at Phoenvartis early in the morning and the CR47 project will be at the top of his priority list. In fact, I think that's the real reason why he's here. He wants to know the status of the cloning project and when it will start producing results."