Ashwood

by Cynthia Kraack

  24

  I barely looked up at the house as I climbed its steps. I walked through the doors, searching for what to include in my report to the Bureau on today’s incident. With Terrell caring for Ladd, and Lao involved in coordinating the estate’s security needs, Magda and Nurse Kim greeted me in the foyer. I assumed Tia, locked in her perpetual conference calls, remained ignorant of the threats facing Ashwood, her reputation, much less the actual physical attack on our transport and her husband.

  “Not a standard day for a matron,” I said when faced with Magda’s concern. “At least I found a great teacher before Jensen tried to kill us.”

  “Screw the teacher bit. I wanted to be sure you could walk in on your own.” She stepped forward, gave me a careful hug. A simple thing a hug, but one I cherished. I wanted to stand there in her strong arms and let tears fall. Instead I patted her lower back, all that I could to return her affection without squealing in pain.

  “Don’t try to do too much, Anne,” she said in a quiet voice not meant for Nurse Kim’s ears. “Director David is concerned about those ribs.” She stepped back. “The cook waits for me. We’ll catch up with you later and spackle those cuts.”

  “Spackle” came out with Eastern European moisture and emphasis, leaving me to wonder if she used the word in jest or error. She also left me alone with Nurse Kim, whose face reminded me of the Bureau’s accounting teacher facing a room of rookie estate trainees. No column of numbers ever met that man’s approval. We joked that his tight-mouth face seemed to suggest someone was sitting in the room with pants full of crap.

  But the matron walking through Ashwood’s front doors had survived a threat by a senior Bureau individual, rescued an abducted worker and escaped a transport bomb. Nurse Kim’s pursed lips at the front door no longer jangled my nerves, merely raised irritation that in a crisis she didn’t know her place to be in the nursery with Phoebe.

  “Where’s the baby, Nurse Kim?” I asked before she could open those prissy lips. “If you are finding significant spare time and we are all so stretched, I might put you in charge of Amber’s vocabulary instruction.”

  One foot tapped the floor before she spit out her concern. “You finally asked about Phoebe? Director David came in the front door and immediately asked about his daughter. Do you really want to know about her security?”

  So immersed in her self-righteousness, the irritating woman failed to spend even ten seconds considering how it felt to be in my shoes. “Let’s not play games here, Nurse Kim. A lot happened in the past few hours. Believe me, I have other things to do. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t willing to stand here, still bleeding, and in pain to wait for your answer.”

  “If that’s true, that you are interested in the infant’s safety, then perhaps you would have remembered the first protocol in a child abduction incident is to protect children of the intellectual residents, then the workers.” As if to emphasize my error in issuing orders, she ground one fist into the other as she spoke. “The cook’s first visit should have been to my quarters with a plan for securing the Regan infant.”

  She waved a fist in my direction, although her eyes looked somewhere over my shoulder. “I wasn’t consulted, found out about the estate lock down from one of the workers who appeared to be playing a game in the main hall.” Her lips came back together, thin almost parallel lines, and with a sniff she tossed her head upward and directly looked toward me with narrowed eyes. “Since this is not a safe estate, I demand a review of infant security plans before the matron busies herself with other mundane tasks.”

  “Does that include medical care for my injuries?” Her selfish lack of concern for David, Ladd, myself ignited my anger, and I began hammering back. “You haven’t answered my first question about where Phoebe is right now, Nurse Kim. Do you know?” I removed my dirty, tattered coat as I asked the question, made a show of looking around for someone to take it from me. With the coat removed, I felt cool air reach through a sliced trouser leg.

  “Director David took his daughter,” she threw back, a spitting cat of a woman.

  “That doesn’t tell me where the baby is at this moment—in the nursery, her parents’ room, the DOE offices? This is a large residence.”

  Lana appeared to take my outer wraps, her eyes widening as she avoided small metal shards still sticking from the fabric’s weave. I handed her my single glove as well. “I’ll be okay, Lana. Don’t worry.”

  “But you’re bleeding, Matron.”

  “That’s true. Why don’t you take this coat to the service hallway. It’ll probably need to be thrown out.” She began to fold things over her arm. “On second thought, just leave the coat here so we don’t trail bits and pieces of debris through the house.” She placed it on a bench. “Thank you, Lana.”

  Phoebe’s nurse waited for the girl to leave then shot her response as if nothing interrupted our conversation. “What’s your point, Matron?”

  “My point, Nurse Kim, is that we have been through a difficult five or six hours which started before what might have been an abduction incident.” I straightened my sleeves, realized my sweater was destroyed, continued trying to return the knit to smooth placement over my left arm as I wondered if I could stand the rib pain as we finished this conversation. “If there had been some more definite threat to our children or our people, there are safe rooms located across the estate, which are noted in the Ashwood materials you received before you arrived. There are standard protocols in estate management that you, and all adult staff, are responsible for understanding. No one should have to tell you what to do to keep Phoebe safe.”

  Terrell approached behind her, quiet as a dragon fly. He raised an eyebrow and pointed to his side. Nurse Kim stood head unbowed, defiant eyes directed toward my face, seemingly not bothered by the many small cuts I could feel. Playing my authority card earned her respect, but not her loyalty. I knew the truth of my mother’s warning that honey attracted more flies than vinegar and worked for a more embracing tone with the nurse.

  “If you could help me right now, I would appreciate your assistance.” I touched her arm softly. “I need Director David to join Magda and me to discuss this afternoon. If you could find him and direct him to my office. If he wants Phoebe with him, stay close.”

  She bowed her head, a slight sign of respect or a small carryover from her Asian upbringing. Not willing to have her walk away without commitment to our team, I circled back to an earlier discussion left unresolved.

  “Before you leave, I did want to say that my comment about teaching Amber her vocabulary words was genuine. Every one of us has made a commitment to at least one of the workers. She can be your special assignment.”

  Embracing your enemies has rewards I thought as the pleasure of being included in the estate management team satisfied what I now understood to be her recognition-craving soul. Nurse Kim ruled Phoebe’s nursery, but little else in Ashwood.

  “I would like to meet with the new teacher before I give you an answer,” Nurse Kim replied. “I don’t know much about young children and would need his help to understand how to approach this task.”

  Terrell, apparently through being patient, broke my peace-making dance. “I just checked for Director David’s location. He’s in his office. If Phoebe’s with him, we might all just walk over together.”

  “First I need to know about Ladd. Who is with him?”

  “Jack’s tending to a few deeper scrapes the medics didn’t treat and will keep an eye on the boy until I can get back to the kitchen,” Terrell said. “And I do need to get back before the kids mess up dinner.”

  So we headed to my office. A pain killer from the medics dulled the broken rib’s spear-like sensation as I walked, which wasn’t the same as keeping me comfortable. I now knew of dozens of small tears and rips in my best uniform pants, each with a matching wound below plus bruises on my knees and an elbow. Just twenty minutes or so in the winter wind chapped my nose and cheeks. A shower and clean clothes could be hours away,
but hopefully I’d be able to grab a cup of tea before we sat down.

  “Terrell, could you make me a strong cup of tea before we start this meeting,” I asked. “If my knees weren’t shaking, I’d do it myself. And, please try to find me something to eat in the kitchenette. I’ll be right in. Nurse Kim, why don’t you come with me?”

  Mumbled voices of yet another conference call formed a businesslike barrier around Tia’s office door. In David’s office, I saw him standing at a window, Phoebe in his arms. He turned. “Government transports have been streaking down the road,” he said. “Maybe they’re all heading to our blown-up vehicle.”

  “Possible. I need to report to my Bureau soon, which is why I’d like to have you join the estate team to talk about Jensen and everything that’s happened today. You can bring Phoebe, or give her to Nurse Kim, who is right outside the door.”

  “I’d rather keep my hands on her. We came too close to losing everything. I just kept seeing Phoebe grow up alone. And, now her baby brother’s on the horizon.” He eased a hand from Phoebe’s back to smooth her sweater. “When I knew you were okay, my thoughts went to my kids. My God, Anne, now I know how it feels to be a father.”

  David’s emotion-clouded face reminded me of the loneliness of being the last one standing in my family as well as realizing this man risked his own life for my safety.

  “David, I don’t think I said thank you for everything you did today. I might not be standing here if I’d faced that man on my own.” My right hand extended toward him. Then I noticed the many tears in his shirt and knew we were both badly bruised.

  “Life has been much more interesting since you joined the estate, Annie.”

  I smiled, but failed to find words to respond to him that were not part of our official roles. “Bring the baby with you. We’re meeting in my office.”

  Ashwood’s community irreversibly shifted that day—hiring a quality person like Teacher Jason, surviving threats from Jensen, circling Nurse Kim, David’s self-discovery and the word “Annie” he’d said after the blast. No time to process any of the personal, just the pull and push of the estate. I went to the bathroom before joining the group, a first opportunity to see myself post-trauma.

  Each small cut burned in a way that made me expect worse than the handful of nicks on one side of my face, a long ice scrape on my cheek, a bruised chin and bedraggled hair. My eyes appeared dilated—maybe the effects of the pain medicine. Dousing a wash cloth with warm water, I wiped my face. I ran my fingers through the remnants of my fancy hairdo then found a clip to pull some of it up on my head.

  Terrell whistled low as I walked into my office. “Ms. Matron, I know we got plenty of serious things to discuss, but first I want to say something nice about that haircut. Don’t let any of these estate groomers hack at it.”

  “That’s what the stylist said. I can’t believe only four hours ago I was having a neck massage and drinking real coffee in the city.” I carefully settled into a chair. “No more half days away for me until we know Ashwood’s safe.”

  I lifted my mug to inhale the tea’s steam, but it shook in the air, sending small waves across the surface of hot liquid. I raised my other hand to steady my drink and the unsteadiness doubled. Terrell extended a hand to help me set the cup down.

  David, Magda, and Lao watched, and I saw their concern. “Phoebe’s fortunate to be in her daddy’s arms,” I said to move beyond my trembling. “The world looks like a scary place right now. Let’s make this short—a twenty-four hour planning session only. We’ll meet again tomorrow after breakfast and determine if anything further needs to be done.

  “I’ll start.” I tucked my hands under the table. “I’ve put Ashwood under top security for seventy-two hours. Lao and I will review our needs at that point. Beginning immediately, access to the estate is restricted to established vendors, every vehicle and driver to be validated at the delivery gate before entering. No workers outside any building without an adult. No temporary laborers. No visitors in staff quarters.” I looked around the table at the people I had to trust. “Can you all live with these restrictions? David, will it cause problems in the offices?”

  “I’ll tell our staff and bring Tia up to date on what’s happened today.” He nodded. “We’ll make it work.”

  I invited Terrell and Magda to describe the late morning note from Jensen. The facts remained the same. Jensen’s well-formed script on the paper Lao handed me took my full attention as David shared his view of our encounter.

  “This man is a serious head case.” David brought a handkerchief-wrapped piece of candy bar from his pocket. “Cook Terrell, can you do a tox screen on this? I gave the rest to the police, but they may not share their findings with us.”

  David continued. “He’s been selling Ashwood products illegally to private sources, and hasn’t been able to find substitutes of the same quality.” The baby shifted, and her father’s hand brushed away her fussiness. “That’s illegal, but, more important, he wants our trial water reclamation system and suggested he’ll use information against my family in order to gain ownership of it as well as Ashwood. He also threatened matron’s physical safety.” Sitting back in his chair, he winced.

  “Matron Anne.” The Bureau, that anonymous electronic voice inside my ear.

  “Excuse me,” I told my group. “I need to answer a Bureau call. It could take time, so maybe we should get together later. In the meantime, think about ways we could further protect Ashwood.”

  “And you,” Terrell said, looking at me as he stood.

  “Matron Anne, please answer.”

  I moved to my desk as I acknowledged the caller.

  “Video capability please. We need full reporting on an incident at Giant Pines.”

  Nodding at David as he left, I turned on my screen. “Matron Anne here.”

  Sandra appeared. Her familiar office with shelves of books and pictures looked like the closest thing to home I knew in this world. “Rough day, Anne?” she asked.

  “This must rank a fairly big muck-up to have the region haul you in as an intermediary.” I settled in my chair, moved a bit too far left and straightened as my ribs protested.

  “The audio file and Research Director David Reagan’s report put local Bureau leadership in a difficult situation, Anne. Senior Executive Director Jensen carries significant regional authority. But, you know that, right?”

  “Until today I only knew his name in connection with siphoning off of Ashwood’s non-market required production. Have you read the reports from my first week here?”

  “Yes, Anne. The Bureau attempted to rectify irregularities through the assignment of Cook Terrell and additional food allocations. That’s not what we need to discuss today.”

  “But, it is, Sandra. We’ll be back to bare shelves and malnourished workers if Jensen carries through with his threatened blackmailing of the directors.”

  “Senior Executive Director Jensen believes comments have been taken out of context, Anne.” Sandra’s tone made it clear this wasn’t a call to sooth my nerves. “You know how audio files can be altered. Tell me what you believe you know and/or heard today.”

  “The day started with a note delivered to Ashwood by a young Giant Pines’ worker, demanding Ashwood restart delivery of non-market required production to Jensen, Inc. according to a contract signed by Matron Barbara.” I pushed a finger into a rip near my wrist bone and twisted the shredded knit. “As the worker left the estate, he and one of our workers began a snowball fight. Our worker walked outside the estate gates and was grabbed by an adult who placed him into the Giant Pines’ transport.”

  Looking out my window I wanted quite suddenly to be in my rooms, to be out of these clothes, to move beyond the day’s events. “From the city, I contacted the number left with our cook and received directions to meet at Giant Pines. You know everything else from the audio tape.”

  “Actually there are two tapes, one from Director Regan given to the police and one from Senior Executive
Director Jensen. The tapes aren’t exactly the same.” Sandra tapped a pencil on her desk. “I’d call the differences significant.”

  “Do you believe what you’re seeing right now or do you think I roughed myself up for some kind of power battle? What do you need from me?” From the original workforce assessments conducted during employment round ups to every evaluation prepared during my training, Sandra knew more about me than possibly I did. I trusted her with a blind eye to her official role because I needed to feel someone in the world cared about me.

  “Before we talk about that, tell me how you are doing today and at Ashwood in general. Sounds like it’s a tough first assignment.”

  In her question lay the reason for keeping my own fears and concerns private throughout these first weeks. No one could create a list of quotes to show I thought I was in over my head or suggest disloyalty to Bureau superiors. Even Terrell, the closest person I had to a confidante knew more facts and figures than feelings or doubts.

  “I would say background preparation on the general conditions at Ashwood was inaccurate, and I took actions which were highly praised in the first twenty-four hours. I’ve structured a business plan to take the estate to profitability sooner than expected, built a solid management team to make that possible, bolstered worker training and care and developed good relationships with our directors in residence. It’s satisfying.”

  She smiled. “Don’t worry, Anne. No one’s questioning whether you’re the right leader for Ashwood. I’d say your accomplishments have been astounding. Frankly, I’m surprised you’ve been willing to take a few risks like accepting the Bureau’s cook assignment or choosing this new teacher. Gutsy moves to hire older, more experienced folks who have off-center credentials.” Sandra put her pencil down, leaned toward her own screen, her voice showing that she cared about my success. “But what about your feelings? I might have thought Senior Executive Director Jensen’s more distasteful comments related to the surrogacy may have been painful?”