All I get in return is a grunt, but it’s better than his normal growl.
As Adam joins the table, I prepare dessert.
Dessert is vanilla pudding with peaches on top. I found restaurant sized cans of pudding in the store today. I took every can, both vanilla and chocolate. I scoop spoons full of pudding into paper bowls, place a half peach cut in quarters on the top in a star design. Then, I pour a little of the peach juice over it, add a maraschino cherry in the middle and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Marco gets his in a china dish with two cherries.
After dinner, Marco comes in the kitchen. “Princesa, did you eat?”
Now he’s the nice Marco again. “Yes, I did. I ate while I was cooking.”
“Come sit with me for a while.”
“What about the kitchen? I need to clean up.” I pick up some dirty utensils and walk them to the sink.
“No, Tim and Fat Boy are going to clean up. You’re going to have a glass of wine with me, then I’m taking you upstairs and show you how much I loved that dinner.”
“Yes, Sir.” He takes my hand and leads me to the living room.
“Sit.” He points at the loveseat under the window, pours me a glass of wine and refills his. He joins me on the couch. “Shelley, you did a great job with dinner.”
“Thanks. It seems like the guys liked it.”
“Yeah, they sure did.” He snickers, “You even got to Adam. Saving him dinner was a nice gesture.”
“It was only fair since he took me to the store for the ingredients.”
“Well, it was nice of you.”
I take a sip of wine, then whisper, “I loved today. It felt good to be busy.” I kiss his cheek. “Thank you for trusting me.”
He puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in close. “You did well. You didn’t even try to leave me.”
Putting my head on his chest, I tell him another lie. “I don’t want to leave you.” He takes a deep breath and takes another sip of wine. “Will you allow me to cook again tomorrow? Please?”
“If it makes you happy, then yes. I’m assigning Tim as your permanent helper.”
“Good. I like him. And he doesn’t hit on me. I’m comfortable with him.”
Growling, he adds, “He better not hit on you. I’ll kill him.” He squints his eyes and looks around the room. “Did you clean in here?”
Rolling my eyes, I answer. “Of course, I did. It was disgusting. I told the guys they have to smoke outside from now on.”
“Spoken like a true Princesa.” He chuckles as he pulls me to my feet. “Come with me. I need you in my bed, right now.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Hank
Her note is burning a hole in my pocket, but I’m pissed she took such an unnecessary risk. What if somebody saw her drop it in my lap? She could have blown my cover and gotten me killed. But still, I’m happy she did it.
Dinner was great. The guys ate like it was the first real meal they’ve had in a long time. Hell, it probably was. Marco kept his eye on us and how we reacted around Shelley. If anyone had flirted with her, I’m sure they would have paid dearly for it. Luckily, everyone behaved. I controlled myself for the most part. When she served him special, almost like royalty, it pissed me off. I think I hid my feelings well, at least I hope so.
After we finished dessert, I call out an open invitation. “I’m gonna have a smoke, anyone wanna come?” I’d rather go upstairs to my room and read Shelley’s note, but I need to keep up appearances.
Outside, I grab a seat by the pool and light up. I don’t smoke, not really, but hanging with the guys, doing what they do, is a good way to learn what’s going on and work on being trusted. I don’t inhale. I hold the smoke in my mouth for a bit then blow it out. I smirk at the memories cigarettes turn on in my head. Afghanistan. Most of my Marine buddies smoked and I didn’t want to be an outsider. We’d spend hours smoking and bullshitting waiting for our time to go out on patrol. Very hard times. Good friends.
“Can I sit here?” Thomas asks as he points to the seat next to me.
I give him a nod, but my bullshit radar goes up. “Sure.”
He rubs his stomach. “Boy, that bitch can cook.”
Bitch? My free hand forms a fist under the table. I want to knock his lights out, but I can’t. “Don’t let Marco catch you calling her that.” I growl.
He looks around making sure we’re alone. “I’m not scared of Marco. He’s all talk and no action.”
“What about Adam? You scared of him?”
Thomas scowls and blows a heavy stream of smoke out his nostrils. “That fucker…” he laughs and adds, “is a mean fucking rattlesnake. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
I answer, “Me, too.” He’s right. Adam is a rattlesnake that strikes when Marco tells him to.
Eddie joins us. “Hey, that dinner was something else. She even fixed dessert.”
“Yeah. It was good, that’s for sure.” I tell him with pride in my voice. I wish I could tell him, tell them all, that Shelley’s mine.
Adam appears in the doorway and yells loud enough for everyone to hear, “Meeting in thirty minutes.”
I snuff out my cigarette. “Gonna go upstairs for a minute. See you guys in a few.” There’s no way I’m waiting until after the meeting to read Shelley’s note.
My room is at the end of the corridor. It’s decorated for a young boy. The wallpaper has every kind of ball ever made on it; tennis, soccer, football, golf, you name a ball, it’s on there. It’s dizzying. But on the good side, I have a full-sized bed with a decent mattress and windows that look out over the side yard; so much better than the closet in the basement.
Once inside, I light the candles on the dresser and pull the crinkled piece of paper out of my pocket. My hands shake a little as I unfold it.
Scribbled in blue ink is written: One plus two always.
One plus two always? What does that mean? Wait! It’s in code. Leo’s code had a number for each person in order of appearance in the family. One is Shelley and two is me. Shelley and Hank always.
I look at myself in the mirror, smile wide, and whisper, “She loves me.” No matter what I see her doing, or saying, it’s me she wants to be with. I whisper to myself, “Don’t worry Marshmallow girl, I’m gonna get you out of here and back to our family.”
The last few nights I worked on rebuilding the walkie talkie I had hidden in parts in my pack. Tonight, I’m gonna use it. “Number two reporting in. Over.” I hear a double click then a set of four clicks. That’s Leo’s code; he’s listening. He’s not going to talk back. I’m just feeding him info. “Number one is eating crackers. It will be a few days before we can play monopoly. Just remember to keep Boardwalk safe for me. Over.” A series of three clicks lets me know he got the message.
Rereading Shelley’s note again, I can’t help but want to answer it. I ruffle through my backpack for my notebook, and rip out half a page. I write: Two plus one equals us.
There’s a knock at my door. I hurry and stuff the walkie talkie under the mattress and the note in my pocket before answering.
It’s Fat Boy. “Meeting’s gonna start.”
I follow him out. “Got any idea what it’s about?”
“Nope.” A man of few words.
This is the first meeting I’ve been to. I’ve been given orders every day, but it’s always individually.
We meet at the dining table. Marco sits at the head and Adam to his right. I take a seat at the far end of the table.
Marco pounds his closed fist on the table. “Okay guys, first off. Wasn’t that dinner fucking wonderful?”
Everyone hoots and claps. Thomas yells out, “Best one we’ve had.”
“My Princesa can cook. I’m a lucky man.” Marco beams with pride.
My face grows hot as my hands automatically form fists. I look down at my lap rather than look at the bastard. Then I smirk because I know the real truth. Just wait, Marco, the joke will be on you when I take her back. And she loves me, no
t you.
“Now, onto business.” Marco says as he takes a seat. “You guys are fucking slacking off. No one has brought in any new recruits in over ten days. You lazy assholes.”
Matt shows some balls. “Boss, it’s not like we don’t try. We can’t find anyone.”
Adam growls, “Boss, Matt’s right. I think driving around is a waste of gas. We need to try something different.”
“Okay, smart ass, what do you suggest?” Marco glares at Adam.
“Stake out supermarkets. Everybody needs to eat. Let the bastards fucking come to us.” Adam smirks and folds his arms across his chest. “We find the markets that have been broken into and stake them out.”
“Why the broken in ones?” Eddie asks.
“Because that means someone lives nearby. They’ve come out of hiding to get supplies.” Marco answers then slaps Adam on the shoulder. “Brilliant idea.”
Everyone starts talking to one another around the table. I roll my eyes at Eddie who does the same thing to me. Neither of us are happy about this.
Marco slaps the table to get everyone’s attention. “Tomorrow, I want each group to find a store and plan your stakeout. Adam will assign the teams.”
Tim speaks up. “Boss, is Shelley gonna cook for us from now on?”
“Yes, Tim. She offered to fix us dinners.”
That gets another round of cheers.
Marco signals everyone to quiet down. “You’ll still be on your own for breakfast and lunch.” He points at Tim. “You’re gonna be her permanent helper.”
I’m glad it’s Tim. Shelley likes him.
“I’m off to spend time with my lady. Adam take over.” Marco stands and heads out the door.
Adam assigns teams. I’m going out with Fat Boy. Eddie is riding with Thomas. Damn it.
While everyone is shuffling out, Eddie calls my name and holds up his cigarettes and points at the door. “Smoke?”
“Sure, I could use some air anyway.”
We walk to the far side of the pool and sit on the chaise lounges. Eddie whispers, “I wish I was riding with you.”
“Me, too, but I still want to keep to our week deadline. We’ll figure something out.”
“Good, because riding with Thomas is shitty. He always manages to find people. I don’t want to bring any more people into this hellhole.”
“I know, but we’ll get the good people out. We just have to figure out how.”
Thomas saunters over. “Listen, Eddie, I want to be fucking out of here early. Be downstairs at eight.”
“Will do.” Eddie answers and gives him a one fingered salute only I can see.
There’s no way I want to hang out with Thomas. I drop my cigarette butt on the ground and grind it out. “I’m gonna go talk to Fat Boy for a minute then head upstairs.”
Thomas snickers at me. “It’s not even nine o’clock, why you leaving early?
“I’m reading a good book. Want to finish it.” I tell him.
“Oh, that’s right, you’re an educated man. An intellectual.” He acts all uppity as he talks.
I let the insult slide since no good will come out of starting something with the ass. “Good night, guys.”
I find Fat Boy in the living room, playing a game of solitaire. For the life of me I don’t know why he has that name. He’s not the least bit overweight. “Hey Fat Boy, what time you want to leave tomorrow?”
“How does nine sound? I think we’ll head over to Laurel Canyon. There’s stores on the way we can check out.”
“Sounds good.” I watch as he plays his cards. He’s missing an obvious move. “Hey, move that Ace over there,” I point to the empty place it should go.
He snorts and moves the ace. “Thanks, man.”
“Okay, see you in the morning.”
He waves but never looks up from his cards.
Upstairs, I use the walkie talkie again. “This is number two. Over.”
I hear Leo’s double click plus four clicks.
“Still enjoying crackers. Over.”
Leo breaks protocol. “Remember the story of Rip Van Winkle? Over.”
“Yes. Why? Over.”
“What did he do for twenty years? Over.”
Damn. He slept. Why didn’t I think of that! I can drug them, put them to sleep like Rip Van Winkle. “Got it, number three. Thanks. Signing off. Over.”
The next morning, after eating a nutrition bar, I meet up with Fat Boy and we’re given guns and assigned a car; a white Toyota Camry that’s seen better days. The only thing good about it is it’s quiet.
Fat Boy gets behind the wheel and I climb in the passenger seat riding shotgun. Two blocks from the house, Fat Boy sighs and takes a deep breath. The look of relief on his face tells me he’s happy to be away from Marco and Adam. I am, too, even though Shelley’s still back at HQ. I know she’s safe there with Tim. It’s better for me to keep my eye on the end game and not on what’s happening minute by minute with her.
Twenty minutes later, Fat Boy looks over at me and raises his eyebrows. “So, Ben, what’s your story? How did you end up hooked up with Marco the terrible?”
I laugh. “Surprise, surprise, Fat Boy talks.”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t talk at the house. I don’t trust any of those assholes.”
“What makes you think you can trust me?”
“Because Eddie does.”
Now I’m alarmed. Did Eddie talk about our plans? “What do you mean?” I ask defensively.
“Relax, I only meant that he doesn’t associate with any of the other guys, but he asked you to go smoke last night. It looks like he trusts you. Eddie is one of the good guys and if he likes you. I know I will, too.”
“Thanks. I like Eddie, plus, he’s as unhappy a camper as I am. Neither of us want to help Marco take over the world.” I study his reaction to my words.
I’m surprised when he smiles, and answers with, “Me, neither.”
Do I dare trust him? Or am I taking too many gambles? “Hey, it’s killing me to know, why does everyone call you Fat Boy? You’re skinny as a rail.”
He chuckles, and his face turns pink. “Because I was riding my Harley Fat Boy when they drafted me to the team. My name is really Doug Hastings.”
“Then they should call me Big Feet, because I was walking when they found me.”
This gets another chuckle out of him. “Actually, I refused to give them my name, so I ended up with a nickname. I guess the rest of you fools caved and told them your names.”
“Now, now. I gave them my name before I knew what they were up to.” Not the truth, but I’m not ready to share my whole agenda.
He points to his left. “There’s a Pavilions supermarket, let’s check it out.”
He drives through the parking lot slowly. “Looks like no one’s been here.”
It’s time to see where he stands. “Let me ask you something. Do you really want to find more people and drag them into Marco’s gang?”
“Hell, no!” He fires back at me. “No fucking way!”
Just the answer I wanted from him. “How about we break in, make it look like it’s been used by survivors and just stay here. That way, we won’t find anyone.”
He brakes hard and the car jerks to a stop as he stares over at me. “You sure?”
“Hell, yeah. I don’t want to be responsible for imprisoning anyone else.” I admit.
I swear a dark cloud lifts from over his head. “Thank God. I knew you were one of the good guys. Let’s do this.”
Breaking in is easy. We use the crowbar from the trunk. The minute the glass crashes, the smell of rancid meat and decaying food hits us.
“Jesus Christ, that’s disgusting.” Doug gags.
“It really is.” I agree as I tie a bandana around my face. “I’ll go in and look around, maybe open the backdoor.”
He pulls a mask out of his pocket. “Hell, I’m coming in, too. Let’s head for the toothpaste aisle first and put some under our noses. It will help kill the
smell.”
“Or Vicks VapoRub, which ever we find first.” I say trying hard not to lose my breakfast.
With a thumbs-up, we enter the store. I grab some boxes of heavy-duty lawn-sized bags and rubber gloves from the cleaning aisle while Doug gets a tube of Crest.
After suiting up, we look around. Most of the vegetables are nothing but mush, the exception being the onions, potatoes and garlic. The meats are crawling with maggots.
He suggests, “Let’s really make it look used. Let’s dump the veggies and meat out the back door.”
“Smart, it’ll look like some group cleaned up the bad stuff, so they don’t have to gag on the smells every time they come for supplies.”
“Which do you want; the meat or the veggies? I ask Doug as I hand him a box of bags.
He shrugs, and we end up flipping a coin.
I groan, “Fine. I’ll do the damn veggies.”
Scraping veggie mush into bags is ten times worse then mucking a horse stall. It drips all over and squishes through my fingers.
Doug comes over when I’m about half done. “Are we throwing everything out the back door?”
“Yeah, but leave the loading deck clear.”
The produce aisles end up being twelve full bags of mush.
“And whatever you do, don’t open the freezers, please.” I snicker as we put the last of the bags outside.
“Hell, no!” He says and holds his nose.
Doug knocks things off shelves to make the store look visited while I take a grocery cart and fill it making the shelves in the front of the store look picked over.
We find two folding camping chairs in a picnic display and set up our base to the left of the front door. This way, no one will see us until they’ve entered the building. Hopefully no one will.
After we eat some snacks, I decide to go for it. “Doug, I’m going out on a limb here and trusting you with some sensitive information.”
He looks down at the soda can in his hand and takes a deep breath. “You’re thinking escape. Right?”
“Yeah. But I want to take down Adam and Marco first. I don’t want them to hurt anyone else.”
He doesn’t even act fazed by my idea. He volunteers, “He has other men that are loyal to him, you know.”
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