The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  Ellen watched Johnny walk away. There was an air of sadness about him that bothered her. Stepping back into the house she realized that the whole time Johnny was there, Frank barely spoke to him. In a sense, Frank had lost a part of Johnny as a son years earlier. As Ellen watched Frank with the twins, happily playing, she wondered if subconsciously he knew that and was making up for that part of Johnny he could never win back.

  ^^^^

  George scuffled around Joe’s dark office. He knew he was there late and couldn’t put the light on. He only hoped that the dim beam of his flashlight wasn’t noticed, but if it was, he had answer. Not the truth. Never. His desire to be in Joe’s office for a brief period of time was fulfilled. It didn’t take long for George to find what he searched for. The beam of the light hit the nice neat stack that sat center of Joe’s desk. Frank’s reports. Perched there so Joe could see them when he arrived in the morning. George’s fingers flipped over the tops of the reports, smiling as his eyes skimmed the dates. Weeks behind they were. So much work Frank did to catch up. But the awaited on reports were all there. After a smile, George turned off the flashlight, snatched up the stack, and using the moon’s illumination as his only light, George left Joe’s office.

  ^^^^

  Dean didn’t mind taking Ellen’s little advice on going home, resting and then returning. He did mind the fact that he slept to nearly midnight. It did have advantages. He felt rearing to go and doubted he would return back home for the night.

  Heading down into the cryo lab, Dean thought it was his grogginess or possibly he was losing it. He could see the goldenness of the cryo-lab light as it peered its way through the open lab door. But Dean knew shortly that it wasn’t his grogginess when he heard voices, and then saw Joe and Henry as he walked into his lab. His pace slowed down. “What’s going on?”

  “Dean.” Joe looked up to him as he walked in. “I didn’t think you’d be down here.”

  “Obviously not.” Dean moved across the lab to the counter. “Mind if I ask why you two are down in my lab when you know I wouldn’t be here? Because I’m finding this an awfully big invasion of my privacy. It’s almost like you guys are checking up on me.”

  Joe shook his head. “No. It’s not you.”

  “O.K.” Dean walked to them as they stood before a computer. “Who or what?” He didn’t get an answer. “Henry?”

  “It’s council business, Dean,” Henry told him.

  “Council business.” Slowly Dean nodded. “If it’s council business then where is . . .” He noticed the expression on both of their faces. “Oh, I get it. Well, I highly doubt that either of you are going to find the proof you need down here. I already looked.”

  Joe wasn’t giving anything away. “Proof about what Dean?”

  “About George. Look I’m not stupid. You’re having a council meeting down here without the other council member.”

  After a moment’s hesitation and a glance from Henry, Joe spoke up. “You said you looked for proof. What made you suspicious?”

  “Besides the fact that George came back untouched after spending a month in Colorado with the same people that killed Miguel and hurt Ellen?” Dean pulled a stool up and sat down to join them. “It scarily makes sense. Just . . . Just put George in the plan and it all falls into place. As President, if he knew about the plan, he would have known to get people, to get it ready for the scientists awakening. Hence, he finds us. We do all his work.”

  Joe interjected. “Including the cure. He knew the virus was worse than anticipated. All those air samples he asked you about, Dean. Think about it. Knowing the virus became the air, he would have had to of known the scientists in Cleveland would die when they awoke.”

  Henry snapped his finger in thought then added his own theories. “Which would explain why he was so adamant about me getting away from that wall. He was biding his time until Dean cured the virus.”

  “Actually . . .” Dean said. “He edged me on to cure the virus.”

  “And when you announced your perfected cure . . .” Joe stated. “Henry conveniently opened that wall.”

  “Yes, that’s right.” Henry nodded excitedly. “No.” He let out a whine. “That night he sent Frank down. If he was waiting for the cure, why did he still try to stop me?”

  Joe stood up and began to pace. He stopped with a spin. “Chester. Chester was in Beginnings still. He may have been waiting for Chester to spill his guts about the lab. But if George was in it from the beginning, then Chester knew about George.”

  “Oh!” Henry excitedly jumped up. “What if Chester didn’t commit suicide after all. What if George killed him to prevent him from talking?” He waved his hand. “Never mind, we could theorize all night and couldn’t get the proof. Chester is four feet under.”

  Dean’s face lit up with an idea. “We could exhume the body. Do a sort of autopsy to see what the cause of death was.”

  “Excellent idea.” Joe snapped his fingers. “Would you have a problem with that?” He saw Dean shake his head. “Good, then we can do that. Pile up the evidence so to speak.”

  Henry shook his head. “I’m not digging up a dead body. I’m not.”

  “You won’t have to, Henry.” Joe said. “I’ll need you in the security bay to shut down the front gate. We’ll have to time it perfectly. We can’t speak over the radio. Frank will hear us.”

  Dean seemed puzzled. “Under wraps from Frank?”

  “Most definitely,” Joe answered. “If Frank even gets wind of what we suspect, proof or no proof, he’ll kill George for what happened to Ellen. Kill him. I can’t take that chance. We need undisputable evidence for the people of this community to accept it, and you two know it.”

  Standing from his seat, head shaking, Henry held back his hair. “When do you want to go after Chester?”

  Joe thought about it. “We’ll have to wait until the ground isn’t so wet. Maybe next week. Until then we should start working on the passwords to those hidden files. Maybe something is in there about George. Dean, any chance I can get you to do that? I know you’re busy.”

  “Sure. I could get Ellen to help.”

  “No, no, no.” Joe argued. “I don’t want her involved.”

  “Joe, it’s perfect.” Dean said. “She’ll do it. She’s nosey. I’ll tell her it’s our next project and she has to do it. In fact . . .” He sat back looking smug. “She’ll never even ask why.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Why?” Ellen asked as she propped herself on the counter in the clinic lab to sit.

  “Because,” Dean answered as he sat reviewing Melissa’s baby chart. “I feel it’s time to get into the files, that’s why.”

  “But we’re working on the vials.” Ellen’s legs swung back and forth, her feet hitting with a bang on each swing.

  “Well, maybe the information for those vials are in the hidden files.”

  “Yes, but you never mentioned that before.”

  “I didn’t think of it before.” Dean finally turned to face her

  “I find that hard to believe. What are you up to, Dean? Why are you being so secretive?”

  “I’m not being secretive. I told you why.”

  “Yes, but it’s a lame excuse. I really think that if . . .”

  “Ellen.” Dean stood up. “Shh.” He walked to her. “And stop this.” He grabbed her knees holding her legs still, stopping her from making any more childish bangs. “Yes or no. Will you?”

  “Dean, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass. You want me to start alphabetically and keep trying. You know as well as I do, that the system shuts down after three failed attempts. It’s gonna be annoying.” Ellen looked down noticing he still held on to her legs. “Are you sure you’re not just making excuses to spend more time with me.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  “O.K.” Ellen nodded. “Then why are you holding on to my legs like that?”

  “Because you’ll start kicking them again like a two year old. Answer my question. Wil
l you help me?”

  “Um . . .” Ellen titled her head back, bobbing it side by side in thought. “Yes.”

  “Thank you.” Dean leaned in to her and kissed her quickly. “Now was that so difficult?”

  It was a feminine clearing of the throat, but a halting notion none-the-less. Andrea stood in the doorway grasping their attention. “Dr. Hayes, Mrs. Slagel.”

  Dean’s instincts caused him to immediately move. “Andrea.” He backed up. “What . . . what are you, um doing here?”

  Andrea smiled widely. “Just wanted to let you know. I’m back.” She started to leave but stopped. “And thank you guys for filling in and handling patients. I know it was a bother for you.”

  Dean shook his head. “Oh, no. No bother. Especially for you.”

  Ellen shook her head as well. “We didn’t mind one bit.”

  “Good.” Andrea grinned. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

  Stepping slowly toward the door, Ellen waited to make sure Andrea was gone. She clenched her fist and threw back her head. “Yes!”

  “God.” Dean’s knees buckled. “I thought she’d never get back. I hated patient work.”

  “Could she have taken any longer of a grieving break?”

  “Tell me about it.” Dean’s hand tapped on the counter. “Hey, wanna go down to the lab for a while before the Marcus checkup? After all, we can.”

  “Andrea is back.” Ellen headed to the door.

  “Wait. Do you think it’s fair? I mean, she just got back. She has lots to catch up on.”

  “Dean, please, she’s been doing nothing for weeks. We have our own work. Let’s go.” Ellen hurried from the lab.

  Dean, really agreeing with Ellen’s point, wasted no time following her out.

  ^^^^

  “Whoa.” Henry leaned so far over the steering wheel it almost became an extension of his body. He looked out the windshield as they drove up the long drive way to the house that set way back. It was a huge house, barely seen through the large trees, and the ivy seemed to have grown like a carpet over it. “Is this really your house?”

  Tired and a bit irritable, Jason Godrichson leaned his salt and paper hair against the window. “It’s my house.”

  “Whoa. It looks like stately Wayne Mansion. Hey Jason, is there a bat cave?”

  “As a matter of fact, Henry, my lab.” Jason rolled his dark eyes and then shot daggers from them to Henry in anticipation of what his attitude would bring. “Only I don’t have a pole you slide down.”

  “Great house. Yard work leaves a lot to be desired. Jason, you know what you can do? You can jump in your time machine, go back, tell yourself to hire landscapers . . .”

  “Laugh and make jokes about my work. Go on. I’ll remember that. And don’t think I don’t hear everyone and their smart comments either.”

  “We’re only having fun.” Henry prepared to pull up directly in front of the house. “In a world with very little entertainment, what else is there to do?”

  “Dream.” Jason opened his truck door and stepped out.

  ^^^^

  George knew there was a meeting to attend and he made his way there. The one with Joe would be like the others . . . disturbing. George would listen, pass Joe as he spoke of things that gnawed at his insides, ideas that seemed like a waste, like a detriment to the master plan that George was far from giving up. He had to nod his head and smile a lot. Fake pleasantries. He supposed Joe was doing the same. He sensed it in his words. Words that were no longer warm when he spoke to George. Words that used to be.

  George was not a stupid man. He wanted nothing more than to stand up to the arrogant leader of Beginnings and take him down like his gut wanted. But he couldn’t. Not yet. The desire to end the Joe-era stayed constantly with him. And having the drugs in his possession, drugs that could do it, made that desire like a bad food inside of him, ingesting slowly, painfully, needing to be released.

  He kept telling himself it would have to be done soon. The militant soldiers were starting to trail up to Beginnings. It wouldn’t be long before the rest would start making it up in their brigades. With the amount of soldiers that didn’t die from Beginnings’ attack, combined with the ones that were being created by the scientist that were spared, the numbers of his forces would soon be insurmountable..

  But in order to bring about a successful blow to Beginnings--not that George actually thought the first one or two waves of fifty would do it--Joe had to be at least semi out of the picture. Expecting that first wave in three weeks or so, gave George enough time to plot his fall of Joe. And it would have to be done perfectly. The minor things George had planned, combined with the little attacks, would have Joe’s stress level so high, that a diagnosis of a major stroke would be not only plausible, but expected. But there was one thing that really was the icing on the cake George was certain and played on the fact that Joe knew. His confirmation of that came when he passed Joe earlier in the day. Joe was fixing something at the school in Henry’s absence. A mere lift of his head in acknowledgment was all Joe gave to George. And as their eyes connected in that brief moment in time, George could see it. Joe suspected. Joe wanted to know. George knew if Joe asked him about his involvement, he wouldn’t lie. He couldn’t lie to Joe.

  Of course, that would be the last thing in authority Joe would do for the community. Of that George was sure.

  ^^^^

  Boot tapping fast as he sat in the chair, forefinger pressed tightly to his eye socket, it took everything Frank had to remain in control. He felt like a child as he received the lashing of his father’s words. So strong. So hard. He just wanted to jump and yell ‘enough’. But respect kept Frank in that chair, and he endured every painful verbal bash Joe delivered. Life had made him adverse at that. But if asked, Frank wouldn’t even begin to know what Joe yelled about; practice and singing Journey’s songs in his head gave him the ability to block his father out.

  “Do you?” Joe yelled. “Frank?”

  Frank lifted his head “Yes.”

  “So we’re clear?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” Joe saw his son stand. “So I should expect those back reports today and that keypad fixed by night.”

  Frank stopped walking. “Is that what you were yelling about?” He saw his father’s face turn red.

  “You weren’t listening.”

  “Yeah, I um, yeah. But I wasn’t clear on it.”

  “I asked you if you were.”

  “I know. I misunderstood.”

  “Misunderstood?” Joe’s voice rose as he stepped to Frank. “How in God’s name can you misunderstand me yelling at you about two week old reports and a goddamn keypad that leaves the warehouse open to everyone? I said it six times. You nodded.”

  “I did it.”

  “Did what?”

  “I did the reports and the keypad. All yesterday.”

  “Bullshit, Frank.” Joe yelled.

  “No. Not Bullshit. I put them on your desk and I fixed the pad.”

  “Well the reports aren’t here and the keypad is still dangling!”

  “No.” Frank shook his head. “I know . . .” He looked around. “I think I did. I thought I did.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “But, Dad, I swear I did.” Frank scratched his head. “Maybe I was only thinking about doing it and thought I did, but didn’t.”

  Joe grumbled and headed back to his desk. “You didn’t and I want them done by . . .” Before Joe could finish, over his radio on the desk, and Frank’s headset, the call from Dan came.

  “Frank. This is tower come in.”

  “Yeah.” Frank spoke into his headset.

  “Greg and I spot what we believe to be SUTs at the back gate.”

  Frank quickly looked up. “Repeat that Dan, my uh, father is listening.”

  “Oh.” Dan said. “Sorry. We have Elks at the back gate.”

  “On my way.” Frank charged to the door and stopped. “We’ll finish later about the report
s Dad, and see how nice I am. Did you hear Dan? We have . . . Elks at the back gate.”

  “Let me know.” Joe called out as the door closed. Proud that Frank was quick on picking up the ‘under wraps about the SUTS’, Joe sat down and relaxed a minute before his tedious meeting with George.

  Frank raced top speed from the office building. Turning the bend to head to the back gate, he nearly plowed over George. “Sorry.” Frank called out.

  “Everything all right?” George asked.

  Still running, Frank replied. “Yeah, Elks at the back gate. We think. Gonna take them out.”

  George scratched his head and watched Frank so excited, fly toward the back gate. “Elks?” He questioned to himself. He always suspected something was mentally deranged about Frank, and the fact that Frank took great pleasure in taking out helpless deer-like animals only confirmed that to George.

  ^^^^

  “So how long will it take us to move this machine of yours into the truck?” Henry asked as he followed Jason to the front door of his home.

  “Few minutes maybe.” Jason placed the key in the knob. “I had packed up everything before my cryogenics processing. It’s ready.”

  “Hey.” Henry spoke as Jason turned the knob. “You think anyone’s home?”

  “Do I think . . . Henry…let’s just grab my lab so we can get home by dusk.”

  “Sure.” Henry shrugged walking into the house. “Great house. This is huge.”

  “I was rich.” Jason led Henry to the back of the house.

  “Really? Then we have a lot in common.”

  Realizing that Henry was just being facetious, Jason brought him to the lab. “Here we are.”

  “What? No steps, no dungeons . . .wow!” Henry walked into the lab. “Dean would be so jealous of this.”

  “I’ll take it that’s a compliment. O.K. Henry, grab one of those three monitors and I’ll begin on the drives. I have a box of cords on the floor.”