by Mark Graham
“I knew what you know Ice . . . oh, now you’re Todd?” Joyce showed shock when she saw Ice’s name tag.
“Again, sorry about that,” Ice stated. “Here I am Todd, so please play along with it and don’t let out who or what I am.
“Okay,” Joyce responded slowly and carefully. “I am not a scientist, nor have I ever wanted to be a scientist. My interest is working with people, solving problems, and continually learning what makes people tick. What happened I know nothing about.” She cried a little to herself, wiping any tears away.
“Well Joyce,” Ice responded, “I’ll see about this whole thing and see if we can at least put you at ease. What clearance do you have?”
“Top secret like everybody else here, but have experience working with several federal agencies; some of course which is yours,” she said.
“Okay Joyce, I am supposed to meet everybody here today and tomorrow but I’ll see what I can do. Don’t have any high expectations for a while. It’s not like I’m going to jump on a big white horse and carry you out of here. I have rules too, and right now at this time cannot show any one person favoritism.”
“Okay, well I understand that,” Joyce said looking a little better, “at least it gives me some hope. I’ve been scared like the rest of them although there are a couple who I think are going for a nervous breakdown.”
“Who?” Ice asked.
“Let’s see,” she said looking around the room. “That woman right over there. Her name is Dorothy Freeman and if my opinion is right, she is ready to just flip out. I don’t think she is suicidal but she almost crossed the line a couple times and I intervened.”
Ice already knew Dorothy was on his list and wondered if she would be a real problem. “And who else Ice asked.”
“That tall dark haired man over there watching the two playing a game of pool. He stares off in the distance a lot and seems like he really isn’t here. Just strange.”
“Alright, thanks Joyce, I’ll make a point to go see Dorothy next if I can,” Ice said smiling as he walked a way. He circled the room first so that no one might think that Joyce had put him on Dorothy’s path. Ice stopped and told one older gentleman that he liked his beard then moved on.
As Ice walked up to another small table, he said as calmly as he thought he could, “Hi Dorothy, are you doing okay”
Dorothy kind of went into a fit by waving her arms around and trying to understand where she was at. Evidently she had floated off into her own private world. “Who the hell are you, and why are you here?” she demanded. “And when the hell are you going to let me go home.”
Ice sat down and calmly talked with Dorothy and told her basically the same as he did with Joyce, without as much detail. He could tell the woman was very agitated.
“You’re just another one of those bureaucrats who wants to take control of everybody. I have heard about your sort. You’re one of those spy kind of guys who hide behind the hedges and trees and such and report whatever it is you think is important enough to tell.”
“Sounds like you might have read “1984“ a few more times than you should have,” he said, not really trying to get her going.
“I don’t know nothing about any 1984 except it was years ago. You trying to tell me it isn’t the year it really is?”
“No Dorothy, just trying to help you with this situation,” Ice started to say.
“Well fuck you and the horse you rode in on. You are an asshole and if anything else I can spot an ass-hole a mile away. Get away from me and leave me alone,” she said almost reaching a scream with everybody in the room looking at them.”
Ice got up and said as he went to leave, “well Dorothy, I am here to help you and if you decide to talk I am available to listen anytime you would like.” He immediately turned around looking for someone else that perhaps he could communicate with.
Several feet ahead of him he saw Dr. Mosely sitting in what looked like a very comfortable chair.
“Well, hi,” Dr. Mosely said. “Oh, I see, well, good to meet you Todd” Ice felt Mosely was quite astute to figure out what was going on.
“Hi back at ya,” Ice said smiling, and shaking the other man’s hand. “Mind if I draw up a chair here where we can talk,”
“No, not a problem,” Dr. Mosely said pointing to another comfortable chair.
Ice shoved the chair so that the front corner of his chair was only inches from Dr. Mosely’s. “They taking good care of you here?” Ice asked as he sat down.
“Yes, and no,” Dr. Mosley answered, “the food is pretty good and they have plenty of stuff for us to do, but it’s kind of being in a nice prison. We do what we want to do, but don’t have the freedom to visit with our grand kids, friends our whoever. They won’t even allow us a telephone. I’ve missed several appearances that I was scheduled to speak at.”
Ice stated, “Well Dr. Mosley, as you probably know, our experiment seriously failed and it is up to us to find out what may have happened.”
“Well . . . everything worked well just before filling that cannister, so I don’t have a clue what might have happened,” Mosely said being quite nervous.
“You know how it goes,” Ice returned, “You’re the guy in charge so of course will be taking some of the responsibility in this manner.”
“Yeah, I figured that and already feel so bad that I think maybe I should just go work for some pharmaceutical company. Think I might end up in jail?”
“Who knows Dr. Moseley. At this point anything is possible. We need to find out what went wrong and if someone intentionally caused the chemical to fail in what it was supposed to do.”
“You’re the one who pulled the pin, so why aren’t you in here?” Mosely said showing he was also very bitter over the whole situation. “We work to create something our government can use and in turn something goes wrong and we’re all in here. . ,.in . .
in...in this over glorified prison!”
Ice looked into Mosely’s eyes and putting that together with his actions felt that Mosely was a very frustrated and agitated person. If Mosely was not in any way responsible for the massacre, he could see why the man was so upset.
“Well, Dr. Mosely,” Ice started, “this is a big nasty mess. As you know the government runs around like a bunch of crazy folks and feel they have to find the one responsible. I can’t in all honestly tell you one way or another. But for now, try to hang back and do one day at a time. It’s not, and I realize this, going to be easy for you. However, I will try to support you as a friendly if you wish. I don’t blame you for your thoughts at the present time, and I’d feel the same. For your sake and the sakes of your employees here, and your family, just try to hang back and be patient.”
“Easier said than done though Ice. Oops, sorry, I meant Todd.”
While Ice had said what he had to say, the doctor had a vacant stare, but in the last few seconds his face showed that he was going to try to be a passive person. Being a positive kind of guy he realized to make the best of it, he himself would meet his employees, one at a time. He realized he didn’t really know any of them except for a nod in the halls and other non-personal ways. At that point he made a personal oath with himself to try to talk to every single one of them. He knew most of his employees were at wits end, and needed some kind of stable support.
“Ya know Todd,” Dr. Mosely said finally, “I think you are entirely right. I’m glad you stopped by. Sorry if I became angry.”
“No problem,” Ice answered.
“As a personal goal I think I’ll try to spend some time with all these people. They are after all my employees and most don’t even know me. I won’t and can’t do your job, but at least I’ll know more about them personally. If I do hear anything bad about this thing, I will let you know.”
Ice thought this visit with the doctor probably would pay off in the end. Unless the man was a complete psycho, or had a problem in showing himself, Ice felt this man was not the culprit. The man’s face was so open about his feel
ings, and he knew the man to be quite a caring person. Ice did realize that Mosely wasn’t the kind of guy who just loved his employees and showed it every day. He was more a person who enjoyed not having to deal with people, and gained all his personal motivation by himself.
“Dr. Mosely,” Ice said while standing, “it has been my pleasure.” Dr. Mosely stood too.
“It seems like you have some how put yourself on a better path. Hopefully you can feel a little more positive about this whole thing. Something happened to cause this catastrophe, but I get the feeling it wasn’t you.”
Dr. Mosely reached out and gave Ice his hand. I big look of relief wiped across his face, which was very obvious. “Thank you I . . . Todd, your trust makes me feel so much better.” The man showed his feelings in both face and body language. The only thing Ice worried about was the man was going to hug him or something.
They shook hands and Ice departed and continued on his way. He tried to talk to as many people as he could, and tried to get the rest of his assignees. He was able to talk with a woman who he was assigned to. She was the prim and proper kind of woman and didn’t waste words on what she said. She was not a problem, just way over professional, Ice thought. Again, when he left here she seemed much more relaxed. He realized and hoped the others did too; that these people were in limbo for a couple days and had no idea what was in store for them, or what would happen. With Ice and his cohorts mingling with them seemed to turn the stress down several levels. After talking to about a third of the people, he headed back to the administration building. He watched as two of the other agents met and walked out together.
Chapter Twelve
Before the meeting started, Ice walked up to Sid and asked, “At the end of the meeting I would like to talk to you about something. I believe it’s important to ask the Director about, but since you’re in charge here, I thought my idea should be thrown out to you and the others here for us to talk about.”
“Okay Ice,” Sid said, “at the end of the meeting you can bring it up.” Sid stopped a minute, looking like he wanted to say something, but was searching for words to say.
“Aren’t you the agent who pulled the pin that killed all those people?” Sid asked looking concerned.
“Yep, I am the one,” Ice admitted. I have no idea what happened but it was not supposed to happen. And yes, that is why we are now doing what we’re doing, and all those people over there are in our custody.”
“Damn Ice, you feeling okay about it?” Sid asked.
“Actually I am taking it a step at a time. You know me and when at work I’m very serious and my mind takes a trip. That has actually been a good thing for me,” Ice said.
Sid returned with, “Yeah, we all have our ways, but it’s a bitch you ended up taking out so many people. Probably set a record,” Sid said with a smile.
“You have the total count yet?” Ice asked.
“Yep, we do,” Sid answered, then looked into Ice’s cold eyes, “the count is a hundred and four men and women.”
“Damn!” Ice said in wonderment. He didn’t feel personally responsible which was one of his own defense mechanisms. “That’s way too many, especially when only one guy was meant to get killed right after setting the thing, I knew something was going wrong when people started dropping and my target continued to live. Only after he stood did he get any of it and dropped.”
“Well,” Sid said as he turned to go to the front of the room, “Don’t feel slammed because you just might get a new nick name tonight. I have to announce that final number to the group this evening.”
Ice shook his head and walked over to a seat that was next to Eagle. He was glad to see that all the chairs were the same as the comfortable one in the big building. In addition there was kind of a table top that swung around in front of the person in the chair. Sid took his seat on a bar stool facing the other agents. There weren’t many so it was a very casual meeting, with joking and talking and almost about anything was allowed.
“Let’s get the official real meeting out of the way and behind us, then we can socialize all you want. There is coffee of both types, cokes, and some snacks on the table over there. Feel free to just go get what you want and come back.”
The room wasn’t too large and it fit the the seven men comfortingly. When a person would get up to get something they were still only a dozen feet or so away from Sid. They knew they could sit, stand, or walk around if they wanted to.
“Okay, first thing you need to know is that there were a hundred and four men and women killed in Ice’s massacre,” Sid knew it would get the group going.
All of them gave a ‘hoo-rah’ and looked at Ice. Most probably felt sympathy for Ice, but to them it was like telling something funny to a child when he fell, resulting in the little kid laughing. However, these were big boys and played big boy games so had to get that macho crap out. Some were naturally quiet but at least three of four gave their verbal support.
“I think Ice needs a new nick name,” Nick Littleton hollered. Nick was an American Indian and about average in height and weight. He could be a fun guy to be around but was as cruel as he was personable.
A few names were hollered out but none seemed to stick with anybody. Finally, someone yelled out, “how about mass murderer?”
“Yeah, somebody chimed in and we can call him M and M!” another of the agents hollered out. Ice turned a little red on that one.
A small Arabian looking guy said the first thing in the meeting, “All for M&M?!” All of them whistled and carried on.
Sid broke in, “Okay, that sounds good to me but my thoughts are that his name could be M&M the Iceman. Makes it more easy for everybody to realize who is who and such.”
“That’s a good idea,” Talon stated speaking up. With Stu starting it, and Talon saying it was a good idea kind of put the seal on it. Even if playing around, Talon could put the hurt on a person in the worse way.
“Okay, how’d it go today?” Stu asked and most of them started talking.
“Now, now, let’s do one at a time,” Stu said with a smile. “Start over here with Cynthia, and one at a time you can speak.”
Cynthia was a pretty young lady who appeared to be from Chinese ancestry. She was well spoken, and they knew she had a degree in management, with a minor in criminal justice. What she was known for was that she spoke fluent Chinese, Mexican, and Russian. She also had earned herself a couple black belts in two of the martial arts. she’d trained in since being a small child.
“I was able to talk to about half the people. Most were very closed in and some were on the edge. I think talking to these people kind of comforted them enough to make their life here a little easier. I was able to talk with four of my six assignees. I spoke with them more than the others and tried to start a friendship with them.”
“Any success there, Cythia,” Stu asked.
“Not really,” she responded. “All of them were at different levels of denial, and were very concerned with what was going to happen. It will take a couple days for them to open up at all I think. Tomorrow we have more time, and I plan on meeting all those I have not talked to yet, and the rest of my assignees. I feel it important that I re-visit the four assignees I have already talked with too.”
“Jack?” Stu said when Cynthia motioned she was done. “what do you have?” Jack went by Jack Hazelton. He was a small, very fit black man. Of all of them he probably looked more like a yard keeper than an agent. What all the people present knew though was that he was one tough guy. As did Cynthia, he was very proficient in martial arts. He had also been a drill instructor for the Marine Corps. He was rated highly, with the only fault being he might have been too tough on his recruits. He actually had a degree in social science and he loved to read almost anything.
“Well, my day sounds kind of like Cynthia’s, “Jack started. “I only talked to about a quarter of the people, but I did get to all my assignees. Kind of a weird day. The six people I have are all different as night and
day. One problem I ran into that I think we can solve right here. One of my assignees is a Joyce Weathers. She seemed more relaxed than the rest of them and I felt she actually knew what was going on. The problem that arose was when she spoke up and said, “I’ll talk to Todd over there, but don’t really care to talk to any of the rest of you. Who the hell is Todd,” Jack asked with a frown on his face. When looking at Ice and his coveralls he smiled. “Damn, these names confuse me. I have no problem with it since it’s Ice; maybe we can do a trade.”
Ice was an agent all the rest looked up to. Some because he was so dang affective in his work; he seemed to succeed with many things other agents sometimes failed at.
“I’ll take that trade Jack,” Ice said, “Check out my list and figure who you want. Just a warning, the Dorothy I have is one pissed off woman and I think she might have one foot over the edge and her second is ready to drop. Also, with this Joyce person I need to talk to you about something when we’re done here which may put you at ease, or me in the bone headed seat”, he stated and nodded back to Jack..
“Okay, cool,” Jack said. “I’ll take Frank Hanker if you don’t mind?”
“I have no problem with that. I haven’t even met the guy yet. Any body here have a problem with that? Ice asked.
Every body shook their heads.
“That’s all I have,” Jack said. “Just an after thought though I think it will take a couple of days to lighten this group up before we can actually do a more thorough investigation with them.”
“Noted,” Stu said.
“Ice, M&M, or whoever the hell you are, you’re next,” Stu said.
“I really don’t have anything different to say,” Ice started. “I talked to about a third of the people and only got a chance to talk with two or three of my assignees. I agree with the others. We should take a couple days just to get comfortable with these people. I think the hard ass behavior from us would only be a detriment. If we can narrow it down, then perhaps use a heavy hand, but only if and when we have to.”