You're Clear

by JL LeGerrette

  Adrian was happy knowing that in a little while, they’d be free. Free from schlepping bags, free from watching their backs, free from hiding their highly-trained skills, and free from Mr. Perry Prattle. They had their escape already planned once the pipe was welded and the mere thought of freedom made him smile.

  In between the seriousness of the welding job, Adrian marveled at the Aquatic Vent, the breathing device they were using. He was proud that it was invented in their own country, Hungary, and was now being tested at Quantico. Using it, quite successfully he thought, was truly proof of concept. He tested it for a year before the FBI, and the Marines Special Ops, jumped onboard for testing. The swimmers he trained caught on quickly and once they trusted the device, nothing separated them from the fish. Oxygen in the water was converted by the crystals and swimmers could do many more things underwater that normally required tanks. Again, lighter weight. Freedom. Even the welding helmet was a new lighter weight that made traversing their amphibious path much easier than they first thought. Mimi gave Adrian an eager thumbs-up. The job would be successfully completed in no time. At that thought, daydreaming was set aside and focus took over. He watched as Mimi set to work and the bright flash of the underwater welder began its powerfully bright glow.

  Chapter 35

  The Mystery of the Rock Key

  Zale motioned to the group to sit around the large wooden table. He brought out a cauldron-looking pan and set it down on a round metal plate designed into the middle of the table. A stack of bowls was passed around. “Might as well eat before we leave. You need energy, am I not right?” Zale said while he handed each person a large spoon. They all took turns using the ladle to fill up their bowls.

  “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I smelled something cooking,” Jahnni said, to anyone listening. Ah... that must be why I felt a little faint when I watched Beau walk into the changing room. She glanced over at Beau then admitted to herself, Nope, that wasn’t it.

  “Me too. I’m starving,” Crutch said laughing, as he rubbed his hands together. He then waited patiently for everyone to fill up their bowls before he dug in.

  Silence took over the room as spoons clanked and lips occasionally smacked to make sure every morsel and dribble didn’t miss the target.

  After Beau had consumed most of his stew, he turned to Zale and asked, “Say, before we leave, I need a few minutes to clean my weapon. I know she’ll probably fire fine... but I want to make sure. Do you have a kit for cleaning guns?”

  Zale looked at the gun in the damp leather holster beside Beau. Beau flipped open his soggy ID with a smile. “Can’t say much about the money in it, but my ID seems okay. Good enough?”

  “Of course,” Zale said with a wink and smile. “I’ll grab it. In the meantime, fill up. You never know if they’ll feed you while in questioning.” He added as an afterthought, “You know they will separate all five of you and question you separately, right?”

  Beau smiled as he dipped another ladle of stew into his bowl. “I expect it. We just need to tell the truth, leaving out nothing.”

  “Well, I better decide what I can’t live without when we leave,” Zale said as he opened a tall olive green filing cabinet. “I believe that once we leave, I may not have the opportunity to come back here.”

  “Not so fast. You aren’t locked up yet,” Beau reminded him. “They are going to need you to walk them through everything in the underground plant and show them how the “under the river” ride works. Which by the way, was quite an engineering feat. How did you manage that?”

  “Oh, well, my brother here, was one hell of a mastermind in his own right,” Zale said as he nodded his head toward his brother, Arnad. “We took advantage of the river dredging project on the north side of the island at the time to manage our own project. I owned the rights to the island, so that wasn’t a problem being seen on the island. Except building projects were not necessarily allowed. The dredging equipment and basically the entire work zone, gave us opportunity to pull it off. They dredged on the north, we built on the south.”

  Samantha motioned to Jahnni like she wanted her to do something. Jahnni shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the word, What? Samantha darted her eyes to Mr. T and then nodded to Zale. Still, Jahnni didn’t know what she meant, so she shrugged again then pointed at the important task at hand; eating more stew.

  Finally, Samantha cleared her throat and took a big breath. “I know there has to be a story here,” she said, breaking the remaining silence. “Baptiste and Tropopoulis are two different names. I mean, for being brothers. And, your name is Harleyman,” she added as she pointed to Beau with her spoon. “If I am not mistaken about what I’ve heard over the course of the day, shouldn’t at least two of you have the same last name? I mean, since men keep their father’s names. Oh, I’m sorry, is that rude of me to ask?”

  “Zale, Beau, and Arnad are strong men of strong genes,” Mr. T proudly announced, raising his chin in pride. “Zale and I share same mother, different fathers. Zale’s father killed in war.”

  Zale jumped into the conversation, adding, “My, our, mother had a tough struggle during the war years, being a widow and a young mother, but she met and married Arnad’s father. They had Arnad soon after. But life was still hard. We spent many years escaping invasions of Austria, and then my father’s homeland, Greece. He was a very good man, rest his soul.”

  Zale continued his commentary, “It is a little confusing, but we were raised as brothers, not half-brothers. Arnad, or Mr. T as you call him, stayed with the family after they settled back in his father’s village. Arnad’s father is also Greek, but he was studying in Austria when he met our mother. Eventually, I left home at 14 to come to America, lived with a distant relative, and went to school. I am the first American in our immediate family. Arnad stayed in Greece.”

  Mr. T added more explanation, “Then I come with my new wife Konstantina, about six years later after my Daphne was born. Daphne grow up and marry Beau’s father, Reginald and here come busy Beau baby!”

  The table erupted in laughter. Jahnni looked over at Beau and said, “Hmmm... busy Beau baby, huh? Now, that is what we’ll call you from now on. Busy Beau Baby.” Again, everyone continued to laugh. Even Beau.

  Jahnni held Beau’s gaze as they continued laughing. His eyes felt like they pierced right to her thoughts and she felt the heat of embarrassment slowly creep up into her cheeks. She knew that her walls had been coming down and her real feelings were surfacing over the course of the day. Doubt told her to hold it in, but something else screamed for her to resurrect them. Then... Oh, damn. That quiver up and down my spine is still there.

  Zale cut in to talk over the laughter, “My beautiful Sue gave me Carlton. She was a wonderful mother to our boy. She died suddenly when he was only fifteen.” He paused to smile at her memory. “He grew up and married Juanita. They had many happy years. Until, that is...” And Zale got silent.

  Everyone waited for what came next, but he had tears in his eyes and just looked at the floor before glancing to some photos on the wall. He took a breath and said, “Carlton’s son Monty was killed in action in the Gulf war. It was called, uh, Operation Iraqi Freedom. His helicopter was shot down, but, he handled it long enough for his people... his team I mean, to jump out over the river. He is a hero. But he is very much missed by everyone.”

  Jahnni stuttered as she tried to say something comforting, but she knew too many words were useless. So, she said softly, “I’m sorry.”

  Beau looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. “What?” Jahnni managed to say.

  “You mentioned ‘Carlton said that there is a conspiracy theory for everything...’ Who were you talking about? What Carlton? I mean what does he look like?” Beau interjected with confusion.

  Zale looked up at Jahnni. “So, you have met my boy Carlton? He has had immense sadness you know. His mother died while he was so young, lost his boy in Iraq, then his wife Juanita died of cancer. He likes simple things now.
Hates war. He is very dedicated to protecting our old interests under the airport.” Zale shook his head as he let out his breath. “I have made a terrible mistake. I should have told them, but I thought it was too late. I thought I was going to have another chance to buy back my property so I didn’t want to destroy her. Then as the airport project got underway, I thought for sure by this time I could not tell them now. Later, I realized that there is no way I could EVER tell them. I have spent all these years trying to keep the airport safe in case someone finds out about the pipe system under it. Carlton is the only person that I could trust to help me, until now. No one else has known anything except for two others that I have come to trust.” Then he looked at Arnad, “I am so sorry brother for disappearing. One day led to many days. Then to months, then years. I wanted to contact you, but I thought it safer to just, hide. Not involve you.”

  Jahnni looked around at everyone then got up and walked closer to Zale to say, “I am sorry to tell you this, but someone has found out about it. Or something about it. In fact, he has two very bad guys that are helping him. And there are two other people that seem to be looking for these two bad guys and watching the fountain already. To make matters worse...”

  Zale spoke up, “Ah, you mean Mimi and Adrian. They are the two that I just mentioned. They work for the Hungarian Water Preservation Council and were hired by me to get jobs at the airport and find out just how much people know. You know, the gossip among the workers. They were there a little over a month when they finally made it down to the secret pipes, checking for leaks, weak pipes, testing the water flow, and making sure that no one has found the entrance or tampered with anything. I thought I heard water movement during one of my own inspections but I am too old to be checking inside pipes anymore. I could hear the leak when I was there doing a routine check but it was too much for me to fix now. So, I reached out to the HWPC and Mimi and Adrian were chosen to help.”

  “Wait, you mean they are for sure... good guys? You hired them?” Jahnni asked.

  “Well, I know them from my more recent meetings in Hungary. Earlier in my life, I studied with the son of Viktor Schauberger in Austria. We studied the theories of Viktor’s understanding of water purification. I opened my water treatment plant... many, many years later right here,” Zale explained as he pointed with his entire arm in the general vicinity of PDX. “Later, when I had nothing left of my plant, I went back and forth to Hungary to work with the HWPC to improve global water issues. Although they are on the Water Preservation Council, they are also formerly with the Special Forces in Hungary. So, when I heard that... Oh, you were going to tell me about...” Zale stopped talking to look at Jahnni.

  Jahnni thought back to what they were talking about earlier then added, “Oh, ya. I was going to tell you about the Airport Manager and the things Mr. T and I have learned about him.”

  “Ah, yes, I forgot to mention to you brother, that I met a man named Perry Prattle. Bad man, he is. He want to kill nice Janie and me!” Mr. T said with wide eyes.

  “Yes, I know all about this person.” Zale looked worried and blurted out loudly, “What do you mean he wants to kill you?” Then he looked at Jahnni, “Please explain this to me.”

  By this time, everyone in the room was silent and staring at the three while they had their own conversation between them. Beau stopped momentarily to pipe up from across the room, “Ya, what do you mean he wants to kill you?”

  “Weeelllll,” Jahnni turned towards Beau and answered. “I was going to tell you, but I haven’t had time yet to tell you what happened to us when Craigs and Benson dragged us upstairs from the bagwell.”

  Mr. T stepped forward and placed his hand on Zale’s shoulder, “I know I am not a big man, in suit size. But up here,” he paused as he tapped his index finger on his temple several times, “I am very, uh, very, very, uh, crafty! Wily, like that coyote fellow! What I mean about meeting him is, well, I guess I know him, we both know him, many years ago, when he was a boy. But now I meet him as a grown man. By the way, he is still a brat.”

  “He’s right,” Jahnni said. “If it wasn’t for Mr. T’s quick thinking, we might never had gotten away.”

  Crutch finally piped up with eagerness, “Come on Jahnni! What happened while you guys were up there? Tell us everything!”

  Everyone was meandering around the room, having finished their stew. Zale motioned everyone to sit back down at the table. Then he nodded to Jahnni and Arnad, his brother, to go ahead, “Tell us what you learned.”

  Beau interjected almost without taking a breath. “And tell us what you mean by he wanted to kill you... I mean, I’ll tell you what I would have done if something like that would have happened!” He started mumbling under his breath, “Kill you? He’s lucky I am sworn to justice, or he’d meet the other end of my justice here,” he said as he looked at his gun he was reassembling. Then he looked up at Pop’s worried face. “Don’t worry, Pops, I’m not gonna do something rash... unless I need... or rather, it’s protocol for the situation.” He finished talking as he glanced back at Jahnni with a smile.

  Jahnni and Mr. T took turns telling them all that happened once they arrived upstairs in Mr. Prattles office. Mr. T kept calling him Perry, and Jahnni kept referring to him as Mr. Prattlaaayyy, wrinkling her nose and frowning every time she had to mention his name. When Mr. T got to the part about Perry’s plans to get rid of them, he exclaimed, “And do you know that he killed his own father!”

  Zale shook his head back and forth. “I suspected that when I read that he died on the Deschutes River. His son was quite a handful. Smart, but a handful. I should have done something earlier. But I waited to see if he was going to try to find a way into the airport underground. I wasn’t even sure that he knew about it. When I read that he was appointed the Port Manager, I knew deep down that something was afoul.”

  Jahnni and Mr. T started talking at the same time. Jahnni motioned for Mr. T to go ahead. “He say he found a key in his father’s belongings after he died. I was confused you see, because I do not remember anything about a key. He told us about a rock that had the roman numeral II on it. When I accidentally see it while looking around office, I just took it. Here,” Mr. T motioned towards the wall as he took a few steps to the chair. It was in a bundle of blankets and his wet clothes. He pulled out the rock that he had guarded on their journey, safely tucked into a buttoned inside pocket... in his brown plaid suit. “Mr. Perry Prattle say it is part of two rocks that work together to open a safe. I don’t know of this safe, but he startle me when he said he knew it was under the airport. I didn’t know that anyone knew about the old pipes. Just in case, here. You can have it.”

  Zale accepted the rock, and juggled it up and down with his right hand as if he was determining its weight, or value. He looked over at his filing cabinet and walked over to it. He waited a few moments, then opened the bottom cabinet. It rolled forward and displayed its contents. There were several rocks of similar size, similar also in that they all had markings on them. He pushed a few rocks aside then chose one. The room was silent.

  “This rock that I just picked up... is the other half of this rock that I hold in my other hand. The others you see here in the drawer are also similar. I chose them carefully myself. Each one has a special meaning to me, as well as the recipient.” He walked back to the table where everyone was still gathered. “But it is not a key... as you were told. It is a reminder of each large project I have worked on over my career. I always look for one of similar size, and have it cut in half, and a flat section smoothed out so that I can have a number engraved. This one here was a gift to Perry’s father, because he was instrumental in the research for our first project together. I had its match made for me. It had a Roman numeral I on mine because I was the lead. Some of my partners have rocks that have different etchings altogether. Like a scientific symbol or the E=MC2. My favorite rock had scroll letters that were written in medieval script that said H2O. Again, it is not a key. Unless you equate the memories o
f so many long years ago, of friendship and collaboration in quite a few projects as a key, to this old man’s heart. I could not have succeeded without his genius. Or anyone’s help. It is just... my thing. Rocks are strong and quite beautiful to me.”

  “So... it is not a key to open secret safe? That is what he told us it was for. He said he figure it out. And it must have a number I on other rock. He tell us it opens your secret safe,” Mr. T added.

  “Well, yes there is a safe, but it is no different than a large safe any household has,” Zale answered as he pointed to the safe he had retrieved the second rock from. “It preserves all of my life’s works. Articles, lectures, blueprints, copies of contracts. I also have all my court records and testimonies of witnesses when the city forced me to close down my company and sell my land. It has my citizenship papers when I became an American citizen, Carlton’s original birth certificate, things like that. Nothing of mystery. Although it is odd that Perry came to that conclusion, it warms my heart that his father saved it all these years.”

  Jahnni narrowed her eyes, remembering the conversation in Mr. Prattle’s office. “He said he was going to get the original blueprints, actually... I think he sent Craigs and Benson to break in somewhere and get them but they screwed up. He entered the water purifying contest using his father’s notes and apparently won. So, now he thinks once he retrieves all your stash, he will sell everything to the Chinese and become richer than Bill Gates.”

  Zale started laughing uproariously. He snorted when he tried to catch his breath and tried to talk but it triggered more snorting and laughing. One by one, they all started to join the laughter because his laugh made them laugh. Finally, Zale began to calm down enough to try to explain.

  “Forgive me. But that is like saying, ‘I am going to steal your technology for the 8-track player your father developed.’” Then he started laughing until he had to sit. “Oh my... oh my... I can’t stop laughing. He is so stupid. You are right, brother; he is still a brat. A dumb brat.”