Barbara gave Kareena a warm welcome. Kareena complimented Barbara on her decorating skills, and they began a conversation about Barbara’s work.
Richard said he would get them a drink and be right back. Kareena gave him a wary look. He said “Your in good hands with Barbara, …. she won’t bite you!” Then he disappeared.
“What a beautiful job you did, I love the southwest décor. It happens to be my favorite.” Kareena said.
“Thanks, would you like a tour?” Barbara said. Sensing Kari’s shyness she began the tour. She never stopped talking, which made Kareena feel more comfortable. Barbara took her past the Dining room on the left through the hall to the Family room. The fireplace was huge with a large picture of an eagle head with feathers and an Indian brave. The camel leather sofa and chairs were adorned with pillows depicting southwest style hieroglyphics, and there was an Indian throw over the back of the sofa. There was a table over to the side with a chess game set up.
They back tracked to the spiral staircase and up to the Master Bedroom. The décor was also south west with a tall ceramic vase in the corner holding wisps of fronds. The walls were painted with a soft sea foam green and held a grouping of artwork with palms and ocean. The bed was a modern platform, with a quilt intricately made that picked up some of the designs in the painting down stairs, but used the colors of the room. You could see that it had been hand crafted to match. They headed out to the veranda and stood for a while looking out at the endless blue. It was just twilight so they were able to capture the beautiful colors that reflect back from the sun setting behind them in the west.
“It’s so beautiful.” Kareena said.
“Yes, It is, I never tire of gazing at the ocean in its magnificence. Shall we go down stairs? I can see Richard looking for you.”
Richard and Charles were standing by the bar with the drinks for the lady’s. Charles excused himself and Barbara said she enjoyed Kari’s company and would see them after a bit, and went off in the other direction.
“Now that wasn’t so bad was it?” Richard asked.
“No, she was quite the chatterbox so I didn’t have to say much, but don’t leave me alone again, understand! ”
“Ok, silly, …. I won’t”
Rian arrive at Dr. Barrett’s and Nakoma’s estate at Nine p.m. the guests were all mulling around down stairs and out by the pool. He got a drink from the bar and proceeded to find Charles. He hadn’t seen him since his senior year in college. He had come to Florida for spring break that year. Charles and Rian had met as boys when his parents first bought the Palm Beach estate. Charles lived next door, and they use to get into mischief every summer when school was out. They had a lot to catch up on. Charles had married and had two beautiful children. Grandma was babysitting tonight. His lovely wife Barbara was a tall slim blond. Charles had always been partial to blonds. Barbara was very beautiful and interesting. She was an interior decorator, and she had done a wonderful job in the good doctor’s house. Rian would be sure to mention that to her. Rian was a little envious of Charles. He seemed so happy with his family. Rian didn’t think he would ever find anyone that he could love as he had Kareena, and he didn’t know if he even wanted to try. Although his father had encouraged him to find a wife so he could have a grandson, and even introduced him to a few perspective brides. Rian never found any of them to hold his interest as Kareena had. He found Charles in the family room talking to some men that he didn’t know. He cleared his throat and Charles excused himself.
“Hay, buddy. How the hell are you?” They embraced.
“I’m quite well Charles, how about yourself?”
“Very well, come we’ll go upstairs where we can have some privacy.” Rian followed Charles up the spiral staircase and out to the veranda. They sat in comfortable tufted chairs, and were able to look down over the pool and ocean. By then darkness encompassed the ocean, and they could see a few lights upon the water from some vessels sailing out with there cargo.
“It’s a beautiful home the Doctor has here.” Rian stated.
“Yes it is. Did you know Barbara did the interior decorating?”
“Yes I did. She did a magnificent job.” Rian rose up out of his chair and walked slowly to the rail of the veranda. There was a familiar scent lingering, it made him shudder. A strange sensation came over him. A flash of heat coursed through his body and his heart beat quickened. 'Must be the drink.' “What’s in this drink Charles? I just got the strangest feeling.”
“You ok?” Charles got up and went to Rian’s side.”
“Aye, it has passed, that was really strange.”
As Kareena walked out to the pool area with Richard her pulse kicked up a notch, and a bead of sweat rose on her forehead. She stopped and Richard asked her if she was ok.
“Yes I’m fine.” She lied. She hadn’t had this feeling since Rian. She shuddered and followed beside Richard. As they walked out toward the deck and down to the next landing she turned slowly and looked up at the magnificent structure and to the place that she stood a short time before. She could see two figures on the veranda, and her heart palpitated again. The figures were in shadow and she could not make out their features.
She and Richard looked for a place to sit. Just off to the right of the pool there was a little alcove surrounded by hibiscus. A couple that Richard knew were seated there. They joined them and Kareena was introduced. The conversation continued and she was really enjoying the stories.
As she gazed across the deck down to the last landing she spotted a woman that she thought she recognized. But for the life of her couldn’t remember where she had seen her. The women turned and looked right at Kareena. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. The woman approached. “Have we met before?” She asked.
The man made the call and reported that they may need an intercept. The subjects were in close proximity. Subject one is on the veranda and subject two is below out of eye contact.
His boss replied “Do what ever is necessary.
Kareena looked up. “Are you speaking to me?” “Yes, you look very familiar.” She extended her hand “I’m
glad you could make it to our little party. I’m Nakoma.” She extended her hand. “I have the strongest feeling we’ve met before.” As planned, Nakoma played dumb.
Kareena took Nakoam’s hand “I’m Kareena.” “What a beautiful name.”
“Thank you. This is Richard.”
“Yes Richard and I are acquainted.” Richard introduced
the others that they had been sitting with. After hearing the woman’s voice, ... Kareena suddenly remembered where she had seen her before. “Yes, I believe we have met before.” The woman was stunning with strawberry blond hair and beautiful skin. She was about 20 years Kareena’s senior and Kareena was trying to figure out why this women was so interested in her. “It was at the resort where I work.” She stated. “At one of the banquets. If I recall correctly, you tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and asked if I could help you and you looked at me really strange and said. ‘No.’ I asked if you were ok and you said ‘Yes, I’m fine. As a matter of fact I’m better than I’ve been in twenty two years.’ And then you walked away. I remember it, because it seemed so strange at the time.”
“Oh is that what I said? You must have thought I was a lunatic.”
“Well, it did leave me a little baffled.”
“It was just that, you show a striking resemblance to some one I knew a long time ago.”
“Oh, who would that be, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I’ll save that story for another time. What about you, are you from South Florida?”
“No, I’m from Massachusetts, North Western Mass, the Berkshires.”
“And what brought you south?
“My friend Genna and I decided we needed to get out of that small college town. People only became stagnant there, and there’s no room for growth. So one December day we flew the coop.”
“Just like that? You just up and left?”
<
br /> “Yeah, just like that, we had always planned to come down here one day so all of a sudden we decided it was time.” Kareena never talked about her personal life, not to strangers anyway, and Richard only knew what she wanted him to know.
“What about you, are you a native Floridian?”
“No, I’m from Ohio, came to South Florida in ninety-five, after my second husband passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t be. He served his purpose, and it was his time to go. That’s life or death, depending which way you look at it.” She chuckled.
‘What a strange thing to say.’ Kareena thought. ‘She just comes right out with it doesn’t she?’ Kareena found the women’s sense of humor odd but she was drawn to it.
As Rian sat back down he watched the Doctor’s wife speaking animatedly to a group of people on the other side of the hibiscus bushes. The younger women stood up with her back to him. She had beautiful deep brown hair and it picked up the lighting from the tiki torches. It reminded him of the many evenings he had spent just gazing at the shimmers that danced through those beautiful long locks of Kareena’s. He hadn’t thought of that for a long time. Why was it coming back to him now? He tried to put those memories out of his mind. They were just too painful, but this time he didn’t feel pain, only pleasure. “Charles, I think I’ll go on down by the pool and mingle.”
“Okay, buddy, I need a fresh drink, I’ll follow you down.”
As Rian rose he stumbled. He wasn’t drunk he had only had one drink. He placed his hand on the wall to steady himself, and had to sit again.
“Rian, are you ok?”
“I don’t know Charles, this is my first drink, but I’m not right. Something is defiantly wrong here. I really don’t feel well at all.”
“I think you better lie down. Come in here lie on the bed until you feel better. Or better yet maybe you’d rather go home. I could drive you!”
“I think that would be better. I’m really sorry about this. I hate to drag you away from the party. “
“Don’t mention it. What are friends for? Come on we’ll get you down stairs.”
Rian was embarrassed; he didn’t want the doctor’s guests to think he was drunk. Now if he really had been drunk it wouldn’t have mattered a bit, but he wasn’t and he didn’t want any one telling tails out of school.
“Do they have a side entrance Charles? I really don’t want to cause a scene, but I just can’t seem to get my balance.”
Charles led him down the side stairway off the kitchen and then slipped through the door to the garage and out to his car. He got Rian situated in his yellow Ferrari and went back in to tell Barbara he would be back shortly.
Charles had to practically carry Rian into his bed. “Do you think I should call a doctor Rian?”
“No Charles, I’ll be ok. It’s probably just a bug or something"
“Maybe that’s it, I’ll tell Marie to check in on you. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Aye, thanks mate.” Then Rian was out.
Charles removed Rian’s shoes and saw that his breathing was regular and covered him. He went down stairs to find Maria. Maria was the housekeeper, and had a room off the east wing. Charles explained the situation and Maria promised she would look in on Rian.
The man called his partner and left a message “Intercept complete” was all he said, and hung up.
Kareena surprisingly found herself really having a nice time. She was getting on fabulously with Nakoma, who was really entertaining the little group. Nakoma informed Karenna about the lab. She and her husband did research for the society and worked closely with the Federal Government.
Nakoma invited Kareena to have a look. It was a huge room on the first level in the North Wing. The walls were stark white, quite a contrast from the rest of the house. There was expensive equipment every where. Kareena could see the care that had gone into the set up of the facility. She told Nakoma about her studies at B.C. and how she really hated to drop out, but had no choice under the circumstances. She didn’t like revealing too much about herself, but Nakoma had a way of drawing her out. She was very down to earth and really listened as though she was interested in you. So Kareena told her about her medical problem with CFIDS.
“I’m really sorry to hear that. Maybe you could come and work with me two or three days a week.”
“I don’t think that would work out. My job seems to take up most of my energy. And it is so far to drive, although the thought of working in the lab again really gets me excited.”
“Well just think about it. I would pay you for your time, quite generously I should say.”
“Oh?…. And just what do you mean by quite
generously?”
“What do you make now, about $16.00 an hour?”
“Yeah, about that.”
“How about, I triple that and give you three days a week. That would more than make up for your salary, and give you money for gas, and it wouldn’t tax your system too severely.”
“Really, you would do that?…..Why?”
Nakoma used the pretext of Kareena's condition to cover her real reason for wanting her to come to work for her in the lab. “Because, I’ve never come in close contact with anyone with CFIDS and maybe we can do some research in that direction? You could serve as a case study. And who knows, maybe we will both learn something.”
“I don’t know, I really don’t like the idea of being a Ginny Pig. I have an aversion to drugs. Most drugs do not agree with me.”
“Oh, but we wouldn’t be testing drugs. We work with gene therapy. It would be strictly based on gene study.”
“Really? … Well I’ll think about it. You know my mother died of kidney cancer last February.”
“I’m so sorry to here that.” Nakoma said quite sincerely.
“Yes she talked about research that they were doing in Boston for a gene study program, but they were not advanced far enough for her to participate. She died before anything ever came of it.”
“Oh, that’s to bad. It does take time for these things to develop; my husband has been working for 25 years and is just now finding answers. We’re getting very exciting with the progress that has been made. We work in conjunction with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. It is believed in principle that a human genetic disease can be cured using a combination of gene therapy and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology.”
Kareena was stunned at this news. “That has been my precise interest, and I will certainly think about joining you Nakoma.”
Nakoma handed Kareena her card and led her out of the lab back out to the pool area. Richard was talking to some people near the bar and stopped when he saw her approach.
“I though you got lost.” He said.
“No, Nakoma was showing me the lab. It is very interesting. I’ll tell you all about it on the way home.”
“You’re ready to leave then?”
“Yes I think so,… it’s getting late, and I’m afraid I’m very tired.”
They headed for the car; Kareena got that awful feeling again like she was being watched. She shook it off, she hadn’t shared this with Richard and wasn’t sure she wanted to. 'It’s probably just my imagination again.' But she glanced around scanning the area anyway. Again she saw nothing.
Agenda
The three met one more time. It was a modest retreat and the hour was late. There was one more matter that needed to be discussed. The others were not needed for this purpose. It was simple. Only the exact day and time for the ceremony was to be decided. The others would be notified and the planning would begin. It would be an elaborate celebration. Over one hundred would attend. Security would be at its highest. The new subjects would be sworn in with all the pomp and circumstance befitting future leaders.
The subjects had been selected years earlier. And they had been schooled for the past two years in the ways of the organization. By the time the ceremony came to pass they would be ready and more than c
apable for the tasks at hand.
The date was set the initiation would be held in 2 months in Scotland. The final transition would take place December twenty first two thousand twelve (12-21-2012) three years and two weeks from today.
The propaganda was working. Many were preparing for the worst. There were many dooms day prophecies;
Nostradamus, the Mayan Calendar ending, the alignment of the planets.
All that was needed was a little fuel for the fires and one major event for the people of this great planet to believe almost anything. It was really interesting to watch. Of course there were the naysayers, but that only made it all the more interesting. No one suspected what was really being made ready to take place. It was beautiful.
The ride back from Palm Beach was a long one. Richard asked Kareena about her visit with Nakoma and her tour of the lab.
“They really have a beautiful house, and the lab was large and extensive. We entered from the front of the house. It’s on the north wing with a completely separate entrance. On the right was the service staff office and beyond that two more offices, his and hers. Then beyond the offices was a huge stark white room lined with tables and shelving loaded with lab equipment. Off the lab was a stairway leading up and beyond the stairway the rest rooms. From the outside it seemed much bigger, but that was all I was shown. I could see that they spared no expense when setting it up.”
“Sounds wonderful, I know you have an interest in research, and feel bad about having to drop out of B.C.” “Richard, …. she offered me a job.” “Really?” Richard feigned ignorance.
“Yes, she said she would triple my salary and she would only need me three days a week.”
“And, what did you say?”
“I told her I would think about it, although I can’t imagine why she would pay me so generously. I seems kind of strange. She talked about researching C.F.I.D.S.”
“That should interest you.”
Humorlost (Humorlost Book I of III) Page 11