by D. R. Mather
After the crews left, he gathered everyone into the living room.
“Okay, I just got off of the phone with the last piece of information that I needed. The boxes in that room were the legal property of Will’s grandfather. It seems according to state and Federal records, he paid his own portion in gold. Everything in that room folks, is good old granddad’s paycheck. It seems we had a hoarder here, but because gold is legal to own now, it isn’t illegal for it to be there. In fact, the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury has just told me that the Feds will take it off our hands in one lump purchase, that price being below the selling rate a bit, but because of the amount, it’s worth it to not have to store it and move it, let alone sell it all piece meal.”
Alex stood up, “At what rate Kevin?”
“Guaranteed at one thousand a troy ounce, it covers any fluctuation if the market drops some.”
That was a no brainer Judy, “One billion, six hundred and seven million, five hundred thousand dollars.”
“That’s my girl!”
Alex yelled out, “TAKE IT!”
Kevin smiled back, “I already did. Two State security trucks will be here around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. The State of Colorado will assume possession of it until it’s transferred to the Feds.”
“Ah, Kevin, what about Will and Barb?” asked Beth.
“Meaning?”
“It belongs to them; shouldn’t they be the ones deciding this?”
“Good question. The last call I made was to Will. I told him that we had found the room. I didn’t tell him what was in it, but I told him it was incredibly valuable, and that it would do him no good as it sits now. Then I asked him if I could sell it on his behalf, and deposit the money into a special account through the Feds. He has no clue as to the ‘value’ in money; I left that for the surprise.”
“Will was really desperate to know what it was, so I had April help me a tiny little bit, she only told him that it was the right way to handle it. All I had to do was to promise to take pictures before the valuable item left. I agreed.”
Cindy looked at Kevin, “Oh Freaking sweet, you two make quite a team.”
April curtsied and Kevin bowed.
“Why do it this way Kevin, why not just wait until they come back?” Roland questioned.
“Easy reason, really, you ever hear the story of the neurotic man who robbed a house and ended up killing the owners who caught him in the act?”
No one had heard of it.
“He killed the husband and wife as I said, then he started thinking about being caught by the police. He started thinking about his fingerprints; what had he touched, where had he gone so far. A day later, the couple’s daughter walked in and found him mumbling to himself. He didn’t even see her; he had gone around and tried to wipe everything in the house, even ceiling lights and things in rooms that he’d never even gone into. He even wiped everything in the basement and attic. The psycho men ended up hauling him away in a straitjacket; seems he threw a fit when they tried to take him out as he wasn’t done wiping yet. I don’t want that happening here. Now that we all know the gold is here, it’s only a matter of time before the gold starts doing that to one of us, get it?”
They all got it, Kevin was right.
That evening, after a fresh round of microwave dinners, everyone spent the rest of the time cleaning up the room and the gold. Kevin gathered up six double unit halogen work lights and placed them in all the corners, as well as two at the boxes. Judy took a crap load of pictures, first of the room as it was found, then as they were cleaning, then after all of the boxes were opened and displayed, and finally as the boxes were neatly stacked in the library. She checked and used Kevin’s PC to transfer pictures after every ten she took, just to be safe. Her final picture was of all eighty boxes nicely stacked in front of the Inn’s main doors, with everyone around them in a semi-circle. She used the ten second timer so that she could be in it as well. Judy didn’t only take pictures – she would never have agreed to that – she was right there in the dirt and grime with the rest of them too. The final picture at the door said it all really; every one of them was gray and filthy with dust and dirt. The time stamp on the last picture was 2:43 a.m.
Kevin waited all night and into the morning when the trucks showed up. Judy was sleeping on a sofa with her pajamas, a robe, a blanket and her fluffy slippers. Kevin had sat at her feet most of the night, he had been her foot pillow. He even found out she snored in a cute was too. Not a lot of noise, but both in and out. At 7:50 a.m., he heard the safety beeping of a truck backing up. Kevin had already told the crews not to show up until ten, so he had that covered. He quietly and gently slipped out from Judy’s feet, went to the door and opened it. Four armed men were already making their way to the doors. A fifth man met Kevin at the door.
“Mr. Chase, we have a lot of paperwork to sign if you have a place?”
“Follow me,” said Kevin, and three of them went into the dining room. Two stopped at the boxes and just stood there with their hands across their fronts, side by side. When the explanation of the paperwork was done, he started signing; the first was a faxed copy from Will authorizing Kevin to sign all the paperwork on his behalf. The second one was a ‘taking possession of’ paper which Kevin signed. The next was the actual legal transfer of the gold to the state of Colorado, which was signed by the Governor, in ink, not a stamp. The second Kevin signed it, the lead man took it, gave Kevin a copy and gave the other copy to the other guard. The guard took it and the two guards left the room fast. He could hear the sounds of the boxes being loaded onto pallet trucks.
“What was that?”
“That, Mr. Chase, was the paper that made the gold ours. The second you signed it, they have to protect it.”
“OH, yeah, I get it now.” Kevin had signed nine more papers by the time he was finished. The last one was the account and the special ‘draw on’ card, along with the account number.
“Mr. Chase, it’s been a pleasure, thank you very much. The Coburn’s will be able to draw money from that account as soon as we log it in on our side. I’d say, perhaps five or six hours from now. Just call this number at the bottom and they will confirm deposit of the money.” He stood, shook Kevin’s hand and walked out to the front. The gold was gone. Kevin walked to the front and both trucks were gone, and he never saw the state vehicle that was parked over on the right of the building.
He seemed a bit shell-shocked as he turned and went back inside, closed the door gently and just stood there.
“Man, those guys know their shit.” He laughed a little and went to gather the paperwork so he could put it in the safe behind the desk.
As he closed the safe he heard a sound. He turned and Judy was walking over to him from the living room, her arms were over her head and she was letting out a huge yawn.
“Morning sweetheart, sleep well?” he asked.
“Hi honey yes I di………where’s the gold!!!!!!”
“Easy baby,” he laughed. “It’s gone. They just took it ten minutes ago.”
“So where’s the money?”
“What, you thought there were going to deliver one and a half billion dollars in cash to us?”
“Oh, good point.”
Kevin could see she was still groggy. “I have the account number and a special phone number to call in about five hours, I’ll give it six. That will confirm the transfer of funds. Hungry?”
“Umhum…..for you stud.”
Kevin was learning a lot about Judy. One of the things he’d learned already were the eyes she made when she was, well, ‘wanting’.
“Easy there hot stuff, the crews will be here soon, we don’t want to get caught in any uncompromising positions now do we?”
“No, I guess not,” she pouted and walked off to the dining room.
Kevin walked and caught her, grabbed her by the waist and spun her to him. “I’ll give you a double tonight instead, how about that?”
She stepped back one step, put on a HUGE
smile and said with a super perky voice, “DEAL!” She then shook his hand, turned and headed out to the dining room.
By the time the crew got in, everyone else was up and knew the story.
They were all sitting around the table finishing their frozen or store bought breakfasts.
“Hold on, let me check something out,” said Kevin, “I’ll be right back.” He went out to the kitchen. A few minutes later he returned, “The electricians say they won’t be in the basement for the next two days. I think once we settle everything here, we should all meet there in, say, twenty minutes.”
Everyone agreed. Kevin went out and found Steve in the trailer.
“Hey Kevin, just in time, I need you.”
Kevin walked over, “What’s up Steve?”
Steve was standing over blueprints for the renovations, “If I understand this right, you want an outside door on the left side of the house, in that side hallway, right?”
“Right. They only have one logical place to have the cord wood dropped and I can personally tell you that it’s a bitch hauling in one arm at a time, all the way around from the pile, through the main entrance, through the living room, out into the side hall, only to end up ten feet away from where we started.”
“Ah, I see your point. I’ll get the mason’s started on it first thing in the morning then.”
“Do you have the door already?”
“I sure do, it’s a beauty too, every bit as nice as the main entrance. We couldn’t get an exact match, but it’s amazingly close to it. Anything else?”
“Yeah, these two units,” Steve pointed to the prints. “It’s going to be mighty tough setting up the plumbing that way; is there any way that you can think of to make it a bit easier?”
Kevin looked at the prints of the kitchen, “Ya, switch them, swap their places.”
Steve looked at the print for a minute, “Huh, son of a bitch, that would solve it, thanks Kevin!”
“Any time Steve; gotta run, I’ll catch up to you later.” Kevin headed back into the house and opened the basement door, “Everyone who’s down there, call out you name.”
He took a head count: they were all there.
He went in and locked the door behind him, then headed down. As he got to the bottom he was standing just to the side of them all. They were all sitting on the steel chairs Judy had provided.
“Okay people, class is in session.”
“Oh ha, ha,” said Beth. Kevin winked at her.
“Now, who to pick first… April, front and center.
She stood in front of Kevin and he thought for a second or two.
“Ah, I know, testing.” He turned and went to the side wall, where he had put the one inch thick steel plates, then brought one over. He leaned it against the left wall near the stairs, about five feet from where everyone was sitting.
“Ok, April, bend it.”
Everyone was just staring, unsure of what Kevin meant. April knew exactly what Kevin meant though. She turned to face the steel plate and started to squint.
“Ah, ah April,” Kevin said, and he pointed to her head.
She reset herself and just looked at it. After a few seconds, everyone could hear a tiny noise. It was kind of a metal noise, like something was being dragged across a metal floor. The steel panel quivered in place for a few seconds, then in a fantastic ‘crunch’, it folded in half like a piece of paper being folded to fit in an envelope. The steel fell over and hit the floor with a mighty boom. The awes from everyone were too numerous to count. Then the sudden loud and hard clapping started.
“WOOO APRIL.”
“GO TIGER.”
And from Alex, “Holy shit!”
Kevin walked up from behind April, “Nicely done, only I need that, fix it please.” He stepped away.
She faced it again. After the same sounds as before, the steel suddenly popped off the ground, straightened out and slammed loudly on the floor. Kevin and the rest had their hands over their ears.
“I think we need ear plugs. Ok, Beth, front and center.”
She popped up and did a salute, “Sir, yes Sir.”
“Ok, over to where April was please.” He walked over and leaned the steel plate up again, and then walked back to Beth.
“I want you to just ‘kiss’ it’.”
“Huh?”
“Very lightly, just ‘touch’ it.”
She got it now. She turned and put her right hand out, focused for a few seconds and then a blue flash went to the steel plate. She dropped her hand. Kevin walked over to it. There was a hole in it, but not in the wall. Kevin walked back to Beth,
“Honey, I need that plate. You hit it too hard, can you fix that hole please?”
“Am …fix…it?”
“Yes please.”
Beth looked at the hole. She thought for a bit, and then raised her hand. The blue bolt was instantly at the steel. However, now it seemed gentler. She started to move her hand in a small circle, then stopped and dropped her hand, “How’s that boss?”
Kevin walks over. The hole was sealed; you couldn’t miss where it had been, but it was closed up from front to back with no sagging steel left over. He came back and gave her a peck on the cheek, “Perfect, you may sit my child.”
She giggled as she sat back down.
Everyone called out, “Teachers pet.” Beth did the finger in the dimple thing.
Kevin slapped his hands together, “Okay, who’s next?”
Everyone looked at each other.
“Okay, let me help. Roland and Cindy, if you recall, I told you that you would be hanging back for support only. I’m not expecting you to be able to do anything special, you weren’t given the same thing as some others were. You were ‘accidental invites’ as you recall?”
Both of them agreed that they were aware of that.
“So, next up is Alex.”
Alex meekly stood up, “Ah, Kevin…I…I can’t…do…anything like that.”
Kevin wagged his finger at him to come over. Alex did so.
“Okay Alex, show me what you have.”
“Kevin, I told you, I don’t have anything.”
“Oh come on Alex, you do to, show me.”
“I’m just a computer geek Kevin. If you want to see me fix a computer really fast I might be able to, but other than that, I don’t have anything.”
Kevin stood quietly in front of Alex for a minute, and then got two inches from his face. He was getting angry, “BULLSHIT, show me!”
Now Kevin knew what he had to do, but every fiber of his being didn’t want to have to pull it out of one of them. However, he saw now that he had no choice.
“Fine, stand here,” said Kevin. “Beth, come here.”
Beth went to Kevin; he backed her up about three feet so she was standing about five feet from Alex.
Kevin whispered in her ear, “Do you know that I love you Beth?”
She whispered back, “Yes.”
“Do you trust me beyond all doubt?”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand that at all costs I must get this out of Alex?”
“Yes.”
“Then please, please forgive me.”
Kevin stepped back one step and slapped Beth across the face, hard.
Everyone was off their chairs in half a heartbeat.
“KEVIN, STOP THAT!” yelled Judy.
Beth was holding her face and crying; Kevin spun fast and pointed to them, “SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND SHUT UP!”
They sat, they shut up.
Alex was still where Kevin had left him.
“Hey, Kevin, please don’t do that to Beth.” Alex knew there was nothing he could do to stop Kevin.
“Why not, she deserves it doesn’t she?” He slapped her again, hard.
“Kevin, please stop,” Alex was getting frantic.
Kevin grabbed Beth and pushed her back. She hit the floor with a thud. She was crying hard now, and she was begging him to stop, “Please Kevin, don’t do this, please.�
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He walked to her and kicked her in the leg, “Get your ass off my floor bitch.”
Now Alex was crying and screaming; “KEVIN STOP IT NOW!”
Everyone sat crying hysterically as well. Judy had stopped looking; she couldn’t see anymore. Her mind was racing out of control.
Alex screamed out at the top of his lungs, “GOD DAMN IT KEVIN, STOP THAT!”
Kevin grabbed Beth and stood her back up, stepped back and swung to hit her again.
“NO, GOD DAMN IT, NO!!!!”
BLUMP.
Kevin’s hand had stopped half way to Beth, who was cowering at the coming blow. He swung his other hand.
BLUMP.
Something was in front of Beth, something no one could see, it was preventing Kevin from getting to her. Kevin stopped his swing and tapped the air. If it hadn’t been invisible, it could have been a glass or plastic wall. Only it wasn’t. Kevin tried to touch Beth anywhere he could. He let out a single word, “Aha”, and then turned to Alex.
“Can’t do anything huh?”
Alex was standing there with his hands in front of him, his palms facing Beth.
Kevin went to Alex, “It’s okay Alex, you can let it go now.”
Alex hesitated, and then slowly lowered his arms. Kevin rushed to Beth, grabbed her and held her tight.
“I’m so very, very sorry honey.” He kissed her cheek and pulled her tight to him again. She was reluctant at first because she was hurt by him, then she hugged him back and cried into his chest.
“It’s okay Kevin, I understand now, Alex wasn’t going to release it until he had to, but it may have been too late by that time. I got it now, it’s okay.”
They hugged for a full minute longer, then Kevin pulled back, “Judy, come here please.”
Judy was there in a shot, hugging Beth.
“Honey, if you would, please fix Beth.”
She looked at Kevin, then at Beth, then to the group. She knew what Kevin meant; she looked back at the group.
“No lesbian joke, you butt holes.”
She placed her mouth over Beth. The glow began immediately. It was quick as there wasn’t much to fix: a lip that was split in two places, a bitten tongue, and a swollen leg.