The Hidden Society

by R. Chauncey

  Chapter 45

  January 11, 4 p.m.

  Dodge had learned a long time ago when things went too well something was wrong. And so far things had gone just as he had planned them when he was in the Society’s underground headquarters on the Ames Ranch and Hotel three days ago. He had managed to convince Karl to set a trap by implying Marajo Smith was intelligent and was working with someone who was also intelligent and they could spend months looking for her and her accomplice thus forcing Karl to realize the only way to catch Marajo and her accomplice was to set a trap for them to walk into. It was impulsive planning on his part, and that sort of planning never went as one planned. It was like being an amateur poker player at a table with four poker experts and they all know you’re an amateur and every move you’re going to make. But what else could he do?

  He turned down the road he’d left the Land Rover on, and drove a few hundred feetbefore he stopped and got out. He looked around to make sure he wasn’t being watched knowing he couldn’t do anything if someone was watching him. Another dead body was the last thing he needed then walked to the large rock where he’d hidden his weapon. He knelt down and dug away the dirt at the edge of the rock where he’d hidden the electric weapon and retrieved it, sticking it back in his belt after brushing the dirt off it. Then he walked back to Chrysler 200, raised the hood, located the trip chip and removed it. He threw it as far into the woods as he could, then closed the hood, got back into the car, and drove to where the Land Rover was. He stopped a few yards away to see if there was anyone around it. He saw no one and no evidence anyone had been to the Rover. Then he walked over to it and opened the back hatch and took out the binoculars, a pair of night vision goggles, and a backpack which he put the medical kit in along with two sets of towels and a change of underwear and socks. Then he left the Land Rover and went back to the Chrysler. He had made sure to wear his gloves.

  Dodge drove for an hour before he decided to stop and get something to eat. He felt he’d think clearer with a full stomach. He decided to avoid truck stops. They were too busy with too many people to notice him, and they all had security cameras. Cameras the Society’s computer people could easily access. He found a small restaurant in a small town eighty miles north of where Karl and Willow were, and parked in the lot and went inside for food.

  There were only four customers inside. Two men were sitting alone at the counter and two women each sitting at a separate table. The other six tables and four booths were empty. And no one paid any attention to him when he entered the restaurant.

  He chose a booth far from the door where he could see all who entered and left, but where he couldn’t be easily seen but where he still had a clear view of the parking lot and the Chrysler.

  “Hi, stranger,” the waitress said, standing next to the booth he was sitting in.

  Dodge looked up at the waitress. He didn’t hear he approach he was so busy thinking about his problem. Must be more aware, or I could end up dead.

  She looked to be in her fifties with a nice shape, and had tanned country skin that said she liked being outdoors. She had natural blonde hair, tied back in a tightly braided ponytail, and from the way she thrust out her chest, she was proud of her large breasts though she didn’t show any cleavage from her green uniform. She had a friendly smile on her face, and carried a small computer order pad in her left hand.

  “Hello,” he said, returning her smile. His eyes fell to her tits. “What you got that’s good to eat?” He asked looking at her face.

  “Me,” she said. Her smile grew larger. “But I ain’t on the menu.”

  “How about coffee and bacon and two eggs? Eggs over medium,” he said.

  “Toast?” she asked.

  “Wheat. Cream and sugar with the coffee.”

  “On the table,” she said as she entered his order in the computer. “Be ready in ten minutes. Do you want water?”

  “Yes, please,” he said.

  She turned and walked away.

  She returned within two minutes with a clay jug and a mug. She sat the mug on the table, and poured a mug full of coffee for him, sat the clay pot on the table, and left. “Be right back with your water.”

  “Okay.”

  She returned in less than a minute with a large glass of cold water and sat it on the table next to the clay pot of coffee, and said as she walked off, “Your meal will be ready within five minutes, sir.”

  He was looking at how her pale green uniform hugged her ass just enough to let any man looking at her know she had a nice ass under the uniform when his com-cell vibrated. He had put it on sleep mode but it could still vibrate but not ring. He started not to answer it suspecting it was a call from Karl trying to locate him. But he decided it wouldn’t hurt to see who was trying contact him. He removed it from his pocket and looked at the screen as he touched the zero to identify the caller, but not give away his location. But there was no name just a message. He pushed the send button.

  ‘You have a tracking chip implanted in your back, upper body.’

  Dodge’s comfortable feeling disappeared as his friendly expression turned to one of deep concern as he thought, Damn!

  Things were not going so well now.

  ***

  Chapter 46

  January 11, 4:30 p.m.

  Karl had used his com-cell to run a check on Dodge. Dodge was eighty miles away in the small town of Hays. But the Land Rover was a farther twenty miles north. That only increased Karl’s confusion and anger. He couldn’t think of a reason why Dodge wasn’t using the Land Rover. Unless, of course, it had been damaged in the failed ambush and Dodge was forced to abandon it and get another vehicle using his Society credit card.

  He looked out over the rocks he was sitting behind at the desert and thought, He and Betty set up an ambush on Marlene Done and her accomplice. Betty was killed and the Land Rover was seriously damaged. And Dodge may have been wounded. That’s why he’s in Hays. Getting medical help? The Land Rover was totaled in the ambush. Everything in it destroyed or render useless except the tracking chip. He looked back at his com-cell and decided to send Dodge a message.

  “Dodge, if you’re seriously wounded get to an open area, and call for help,” he said to his com-cell. “Society medical help will arrive within the hour. Send that message to Dodge.”

  He put his com-cell on sleep mode and wondered if he should order medical help to Dodge’s position? Maybe Dodge wasn’t wounded and was still after Marlene Done and her accomplice? Maybe that was the reason why Dodge couldn’t contact him? He was in a dangerous position where any attempt to contact anyone would reveal his position and expose him to death. Maybe Marlene Done and her accomplice were smarter than he’d thought? Maybe she just wasn’t some former executive of Julian Franks’ hardware stores? Maybe she had somehow learned survival techniques and the skills of a killer? Twenty years was time enough to learn the skills of a well-trained killer, and to learn how to spot an ambush.

  And there was her accomplice. He could be some long retired Special Forces man Julian chose because of his killer skills. Some trained experienced killer the Society didn’t have on its lists of trained military personal. Even the Society could overlook someone like that.

  If that was the case, and Karl was beginning to suspect it was, then it would be to Dodge’s advantage not to contact anyone, which meant he’d have to wait until Dodge contacted him. But what type of vehicle was Dodge using?

  Karl hated being on an operation in which he couldn’t predict the moves of the person he was hunting. It gave him the feeling of helplessness. A feeling he hated because it implied weakness in him something else he hated having when on a job.

  He took out his com-cell and typed in on the small keyboard th
e special code that would allow him to find out if Dodge used the credit card he had to get another vehicle. Two minutes passed before the information came through to his com-cell.

  Dodge had used the credit card to buy a five year old Chrysler 200 bought in the town of

  Grove Point popped up on the com-cell’s small screen. Karl typed in the code that allowed him to access a passing satellite to get the Chrysler’s trip chip to get its location. He hoped there was a passing satellite overhead.

  ‘No trip chip found,’ appeared on the small screen.

  “Probably malfunctioning,” Karl said as he returned his com-cell to sleep mode, and got up from his position and walked to the coffee pot.

  “Want some coffee?” Willow asked him.

  “Yeah,” he said, sitting down on the ground across from Willow and crossing his legs.

  “Found out anything else about Dodge and Betty?” Willow asked.

  “Betty’s dead,” he said, helping himself to coffee.

  “Damn,” Willow exclaimed. “Betty was an excellent soldier. One of the Society’s best.”

  “That’s why I chose her for this operation,” Karl told him.

  “What about Dodge?” Willow asked him. He couldn’t have cared less about Betty. He didn’t like the bitch anyway. She was too mean and nasty to be his type of woman even if she was one of the best soldiers the Society had and a beautiful woman.

  “He’s alive, but he could be wounded, I don’t really know but I’m going to wait a few hours,” he said.

  “Think this person with Marlene Done is a special ops guy?”

  “Could be. Long retired and not on any of the Society’s lists,” Karl answered. “And she may have had special training.”

  “Why not access the Society’s computers for information on where all the special ops

  guys are like I suggested. We got that sort of information don’t we?”

  Karl looked up at Willow and thought, You ain’t so dumb after all, Willow. “I’ve already done that, Willow, and there are no special ops people unaccounted for,” he said. “The best I can figure is whoever Done’ with, they’re good and smart. Smart enough to kill Betty and maybe wound Dodge and wreck the Land Rover.”

  “That means we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Willow added.

  Karl took a swallow of his coffee, it was hot but not as hot as he liked it, and thought, you have no idea, Willow, because if you did you’d walk over to that oversize camper that asshole leader of ours is in and kill him.

  ***

  Chapter 47

  January 11, 4:07 p.m.

  Dodge knew he had trouble. Karl knew he was still alive and because of that tracking chip in his body, Karl knew exactly where he was. But not what he was doing or what condition he was in. That gave him a slight edge which could evaporate in less than a second if Karl suspected him of killing Betty. Karl was one of the best soldiers the Society had. He wasn’t the sort of soldier who made foolish mistakes, and right now Karl knew Betty was dead, because like him she had a tracking chip in her body, but hers was no longer transmitting. But his chip was still transmitting telling Karl he was alive. And right now Karl was considering every possibility that could have resulted in Betty’s death and his failure to contact him. Then he’d make his decision as to what to do, and move with caution.

  The only thought that passed through Dodge’s mind was I’ve got to get this damn tracking chip out of my back and convince Karl I’m dead. But how dammit how?

  Dodge looked around the country restaurant and tried to figure out what he could do to blind Karl as to his whereabouts. Forget that as long as I’m alive Karl knows where I am because my body is supplying energy to that dam chip in me. He looked carefully at the men in the restaurant and decided from their physical shapes they weren’t soldiers and he didn’t have to worry about them. To them he was just an outsider who had stopped in the restaurant for a meal. They hadn’t even paid him much attention outside of a glance in his direction when he entered the restaurant. They were no good for his purpose and no threat to him.

  There’s only one way I can get this tracking chip out of my body, and I’m going to need help to do. He looked at the rough looking hands of the two men and dismissed them as a sort of help.

  He looked at the two women sitting at separate tables. Both of the women looked like they could maybe of to help him, until he noticed the wedding rings on the middle fingers of their left hands.

  No, he thought. Husbands would be a problem, and they might have children, too. What I need is someone who lives alone that I can use. Someone I can scare into following my instructions. Then he noticed the waitress behind the counter pouring coffee for one of the two men. He looked carefully at her hands. No rings on any of her fingers. There wasn’t even a faded ring mark on her fingers. Maybe. Just maybe. He picked up his glass of water and drained it.

  Five minutes later she brought him his meal and sat it before him.

  “Anything else, Mister?” she asked.

  He looked up at her. “No,” he said, noticing her name tag. “Thank you.”

  “Just raise your cup if you run out of coffee and want more,” she said, turning away from him. “Free refills.” She started to walk away.

  “Can I have another glass of water, Miss,” he said before she had gone a yard.

  “Maize,” she said as she turned to him.

  “Another glass of water, please,” he said with a half-smile of friendliness on his face as he held up his empty glass.

  “Be right back,” she said as she walked away. She returned a few minutes later with a large glass of water with ice in it.

  “Thank you,” Dodge said as he began to eat his meal. “You’re a good waitress. Been doing this all your life?” He wanted her to think he was just making idle talk.

  “I use to be nurse,” she said. “But there’s not much call for a nurse in Hays. We already got three here in town, and they spend most of their time at home.”

  “No kidding,” he said as he looked up at her. “I bet you were a good nurse.”

  “I was,” she said.

  “Thank you,” he said, turning his attention back to his food to avoid getting into any long drawn out conversation with her.

  “You’re welcome,” she said as she turned and walked away.

  Luck had smiled on him, and he was certainly going to smile back and thank the Lady.

  Even if all she did was take temperatures and do paper work, she probably has basic medical skills, he thought as he continued eating his meal.

  He took his time eating, and had a second cup of coffee as he looked out the window at the growing darkness. At four thirty-three he called for the check, and paid it leaving a tip that was thirty percent of the bill. He got up and left the restaurant immediately. As he left, he noticed the opening and closing times printed on the glass door of the restaurant. And the sun was down and darkness had settled on the town.

  Plenty of time, he thought as he walked to the Chrysler, got in, started the engine, and drove off. He was glad he had had the foresight to take the medical kit and one of the two binoculars from the Land Rover. All he needed now was for Karl to wait a few hours before he sent out soldiers looking for him.

  Dodge found a secluded spot a quarter mile outside of town among some trees a hundred yards off the two lane road where he knew the Chrysler wouldn’t be seen. He looked at his watch. It was four-fifty. The restaurant closed at nine. He had a little less than four hours to get ready and to get into a position where he could see Maize leave the restaurant and head for home. He hoped she didn’t live far away, and didn’t drive. If she did, he’d have t
o figure out another way around his problem. And time was rapidly running out for him.

  He packed what he needed from the trunk of the Chrysler into the backpack he’d taken from the Land Rover, relieved himself of some of the liquids he’d drank, and moved toward the town making sure to avoid the road. He had seen only three cars and two pickup trucks on the road when he left the town.

  The nice thing about the town of Hays is that it was not only small but spread out over a wide area. There must have been half an acre between the seventeen houses he’d passed as he walked around the western part of the town. He made sure to keep to the dark shadows to avoid being seen. And he looked carefully for any dogs. The last thing he needed or wanted was some barking dog alerting its owner there was a stranger on his property.

  The sign posted on the western edge of the town said its population was 450. Dodge assumed it was probably ten to maybe fifty people larger. Town councils didn’t like spending money every year changing population figures on town signs about the number of people in town. They probably did that only after a federal census. And Hays certainly wasn’t a tourist attraction that would interest outside businesses.

  The restaurant set on the eastern edge of the town’s business district. Which was only two blocks long and two blocks wide, and had only one building taller than three stories. And it was the town’s courthouse, town hall, and police department headquarters. And all the buildings in the business district were built of brick. All of which had faded over time into a dull brownish gray. The restaurant was probably the favorite dining spot of the town’s population. It was the only restaurant he’d seen in the town.

  As Dodge moved quietly through the town heading east he’d seen two bars on the western part of the town which he was sure were the hang outs of the town’s people on a Saturday night. And today was Saturday. He found a wooded spot with a lot of brush around the trees to hide in thirty yards across the road from the restaurant and settled down to wait for Maize to get off from work. He checked the medical kit to make sure it had what would be needed to remove that chip from his back and put it back in the backpack. If it hadn’t he would have had to settle for a sharp knife.