United (The United Trilogy Book 1)

by Wheeler, Jaci

  He thought about what I said for a moment and then said, “You want me to get you another rock?” I laugh, like rolling around on the bed laugh.

  “Thank you Wes, I really needed that.” He looked at me more worried now than before.

  “Talk to me Roz, tell me what’s going on.”

  I turn and look up at him. “I wish I could Wes, that’s mostly the problem. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, it’s just there’s never been a time where I couldn’t talk things out with you, let you help me see the solution to my problems. But now, I can’t talk to you about too many things, and they aren’t just my problems anymore, it’s a whole country. What if I make the wrong choices and mess things up?” Wes thought about this for a minute and slowly started stroking my head. This is something he used to do when we were little and I would cry or get upset, it was his way of calming me. He said he read one time that when animals were upset, stroking them calmed them. So he thought he’d try it… as funny as this is, it always works.

  “There are no right or wrong choices Roz, there are just choices. You look at the situation, calculate your options, and make an educated guess with the resources you have available to you. You were given this country to lead, to nourish, to watch over. Your resources are all of us to help you, now the only thing left to do is use us to our best abilities and do what you can to help your people.”

  This is why he is my best friend. “I love you Wes, do you know that? I don’t even think I could love a brother more than I love you.”

  “But you mean you love me as a brother right?” HA! I couldn’t mistake the panic in his voice.

  I could tease him, but it would just ruin the moment. “No I don’t want to marry you and have your babies, geez!” He sighed in relief!

  “Thank God, heaven knows I couldn’t handle all the hugging and with my luck, the babies would want to do nothing but have dance parties and flitter about all day!” Ha! Yet another joke!

  “You better be careful, I might just make you the Ministry comedian if you keep it up!”

  Wes shuttered. “Oh good Lord, that’s not even funny, what a dreadful job!” I sighed and snuggled up more into his bed.

  “Are you sleeping here tonight?” he asked me. I nodded. He wedged the pillow in between us and turned off the light. “Good night Roz.”

  “Good night Wes.” I was just about to sleep when I heard his faint whisper. “I love you too!”

  I woke up the next morning way too early with Wes shaking me! “Come on Roz, get up, you have to go to prison.” Gah! I must be stuck in a nightmare. “Come on, get up.”

  I groan and push my face deeper into the pillow. “I swear Wesley, if you shake me again I am going to send your scrawny butt to prison. His hand flew off my shoulder and he made his way off the bed.

  “This is why you have your own room, remind me to tell your husband to invest in separate rooms…you are not a morning person.” Finally, left alone in peace at last. GAH!

  “Molly Hope Anderson, if you jump on me one more time while I am sleeping, I’m going to shave your eyebrows off in your sleep!” She chuckled, but rolled off of me.

  “Geez, Wes wasn’t joking; you really aren’t a morning person.”

  I sit up, “well no, I’m not and I really don’t want to have to go to a prison today, want to trade?”

  “Um, that’d be a no! But you need to get up and get going, there is chocolate milk and muffins downstairs, and you better get showered and dressed. Masters is going to expect you early.”

  She was right, but I had no clue what to wear! “CRAP! I forgot to ask Judy what I should wear!”

  “Yikes, don’t ask me, I don’t know any convicts.”

  “I’m not trying to impress them, you goon! I want to make sure I look like the President and not some teenage kid, yet I don’t want to wear a dress if you know what I mean. Dang it, why didn’t I think of this before? I guess I could message Judy.”

  Molly looks at me skeptically. “You know it’s not Judy you need to ask, now get over yourself, message Masters and get ready for a snarky reply, jump in the shower, and get your butt going!”

  “Geez, if I’m cranky in the morning, you sure are bossy!” She smiles and made her way out the door. I hated the thought of messaging Masters, but she was right. Here goes nothing.

  Should I dress in professional or functional dress code? And no snarky comments please.

  I waited for a few moments just when I didn’t think he would write back I heard the beep.

  Dress in overly modest professional, but bring casual. See you at the train in 20 minutes.

  Overly modest professional? Do I normally dress slutty? Geez, thanks Masters, way to give a girl a complex before she goes into a room with hundreds of men! Since Molly is a little bigger than me I asked if I could borrow one of her suits. She is much taller than I am, so the skirt was ridiculously long, and the shirt was very baggy. I still wore my jacket so I didn’t look like I robbed someone to get the outfit and put on my functional dressy shoes. I put my hair up in a bun and called it good enough. I grabbed a bag with some jeans and sweats and my tooth brush and hair brush and a few extra suits just in case and off I went with chocolate milk and muffin In hand.

  I get to the train station and see Masters and two other men standing with him waiting for me. I flash them a brilliant smile and pray to get through the next two weeks. “Good morning gentlemen, thank you so much for escorting me on this excursion, it is greatly appreciated.” I flashed them my best award- winning smile. One of the men was around the same age as Masters, and very good looking. He was tall, but still shorter than Masters, and where Masters was all bulk, he was lean muscle, short blonde hair and bright green eyes smiling down at me. Maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all.

  The beautiful man put his hand out for me to shake. “Good morning Miss President, my name is Sebastian Green. It’s an honor to be able to escort you.” It shouldn’t be legal to have that good of looks and charm, and it’s certainly not professional for the President to swoon. I look over at Masters and see him huffing while rolling his eyes at Sebastian. I turn to the other man who is really just more than a boy. I would say he is 18, tops. He wasn’t bad in the looks department either, maybe not as blindingly beautiful as Sebastian, but certainly not bad to look at. He is also tall and built on the slimmer side, you can tell he hasn’t quite gotten to be as muscular as he will be yet, still being on the young side. “Hello, I’m Jeff Adams.” I shake his hand and then nod at Masters.

  “Good morning Masters.” He nods back, after taking in my appearance from head to toe, making me want to squirm. “That’ll do.” He then turns and walks inside the train without another word. That’ll do? Seriously, would it kill him to give me a compliment or something? Annoyed I muttered, “No wonder he's still single” under my breath, but judging from the chuckles behind me I wasn’t as quiet as I thought. Sebastian took my bag from my hand and led the way onto the train with Jeff taking the tail.

  “Don’t worry about him Miss Rosaline, a charmer he isn’t; you will just have to come to us for your compliments” he said with a grin. “But to keep you safe, there’s no one better than Masters.” He went to store my bag while I found my way to the seating area. Sebastian was right, safety is the only thing that really matters, it’s not like I need him to be my best friend.

  Once everyone was seated and the train began to move, Masters looked over at me. “Listen very closely Roz, no matter how much you don’t like it you are going to have to follow some simple instructions for your own safety, alright?” He said this in his very no nonsense tone, but it was filled with exasperation as usual; it had a tint of concern, and I knew he was only thinking of my safety, so I nodded. “I’m going to give you exact instructions on what to do while we are at the sites and I need to know you will follow them without question.”

  I nod again “Will we have time?” The last train ride I took was over in a matter of minutes, and I’ve seen the itinerary, i
t’s packed full. Safety is of upmost importance, but I’d hate to fall behind and be stuck there longer than I have to. Masters nodded. “Yes, we are going to the other side of the country first. It’s the furthest prison and the most dangerous. I figured if we get the worst out of the way first, it should be easier on you as we go.” Well that was thoughtful, maybe there is more to Masters than I first thought.

  “I have been doing this a very long time, I trust my instincts and I need you to do the same. If I say to head back, you go without question, if I tell you to move, you need to do it. Ok. The men don’t question me, ever, and while we are there, I am requesting the same from you. Do you think you can do that?” I nod again. “Good. Adams will be at your side the entire time, no exceptions. If you need to use the restroom, you do it before we enter the prison, you don’t use their facilities at any time. There is a cabin I stay in near, but far enough away from the site for safety. That is where we will stay, if you need to use the bathroom at any point we will go there. Adams is your new Wes, got it?”

  “My new best friend got it!” Adams, who was formerly Jeff, smiled over at me. What is it with the commando type that decided against first names? Oh well, do as they do I guess but I refuse to go by Thatcher. “Green will be taking the rear, and he is to remain behind you at all times. If for any reason at all he is not there you keep going, don’t stop, don’t look back’ but you may alert Adams if he hasn’t figured it out all ready.”

  “That won’t happen.” Adams chimes in with a cocky grin.

  “Better not,” is Masters response. “I will be taking lead. I am to be in front of you at all times. If I stop, you stop. If I say down, you get down. If I say do the chicken dance…”

  “Yes I know, I do the chicken dance, got it.”

  He gives me a crooked smile, “Yes I remember your fondness for dancing.”

  “Just make sure you pay attention and are aware of your surroundings and you will be fine. You can talk to the prisoners, but if they start in on you, or heckle you; you do not respond. Don’t give them any response. When you are alone with us you can be Roz, when we step foot on the grounds you are only Miss President or President Thatcher, do you understand? You never once refer to you self as Roz, and don’t ask anyone to call you anything other than those.”

  “I understand.” I’m glad he reminded me of that, because I would have asked them to call me Roz out of habit.

  “I know this is a lot to take in Roz, but you will be fine. You can’t show any weakness or nerves of any kind. They will feed on them. You are never to be alone with an inmate for any reason. We don’t use weapons Roz, but the guards and my guys have stunners; I’m also going to give you a stunner and it is to be worn at all times.” That actually makes me feel better, much more safer knowing that I will have some way to defend myself if need be.

  “You shouldn’t have to use it, but Green is going to show you how once we stop. He will also be showing you a few basic defense maneuvers. I would have shown you before we left, but I want it to be fresh in your mind. You will do fine, don’t over think it, and just follow your gut; you have a pretty good one.” He said with a smile. Wow, I must look pretty freaked out in order for Masters to pay me a compliment.

  “Is that all?” I ask him feeling very underprepared all of a sudden.

  He nods. “It should be. Once we get there, you and the boys will go to the cabin, where they will teach you some things. I will head over to the prison to make sure it is secure and to talk to the warden, he won’t know you are arriving, but he had to know I was. This isn’t uncommon for me to do these rounds so he won’t know that it is anything more than a routine inspection. Once I deem it safe and ready, the boys will bring you over and I will be waiting.”

  He seems to have this very thought out. “Thank you Masters, for doing this. I know you don’t want me going in there, but I do appreciate it.”

  He nods back. “I know you do, and the fact is you were right, if you were about ten years older and a man, I would have expected nothing less than for you to want to tour the prisons, it’s the right thing to do, and I was wrong .” He left it at that, but it warmed me to hear him say I was doing the right thing, because after the safety instructions I was starting to doubt myself.

  To keep myself distracted, I started talking to the guys. Apparently Green is second in command, which doesn’t surprise me, and Adams is just out of his internship. This is his first big assignment to prove that he is fit to lead his own team. They were both easy to talk to and passed the time quickly. Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the station and the ease I felt just moments before settled in the pit of my stomach and dread filled me. I pushed it down the best I could and followed Masters out the door. The other two men went to retrieve our bags and I followed Masters to a storage unit attached to the train station. He scanned his hand and punched in several code sequences on the panel until the door unlocked and four motorized scooters we released from their locks. I looked at Masters in surprise and he smirked at me. “What you didn’t think I was going to have you walk the whole way, did you? We ride in style.” And stylish they were. They were sleek and amazing and looked like they were very fast. I’ve never seven seen one up close let alone ridden on one. He gave me instructions while the guys strapped the bags on the backs and off we went. I was a little nervous, and it took me a few tries in the beginning but I finally got the hang of it.

  We pull up to the cabin and it was small compared to my house, but big for being an overnight cabin. It had two bedrooms; of which Masters informed me that I would have my own, thank God, while he and Green share the other room with the two beds and poor Adams was stuck on the couch, but he didn’t seem to care. Masters left to go “secure the prison” and Green told me to change into something comfortable so I don’t wrinkle my outfit. I put on my sweats and came out to find all the furniture in the living room had been pushed out of the way so that we would have enough space to work in.

  “The first thing we are going to teach you is how to use a stunner.” Green said while he pulled out this odd looking black thing. It fit in the palm of my hand and wasn’t as heavy as I thought. He showed me how to use it and hold it and made sure I was comfortable with it before we moved on.

  “That was great Roz, you picked it up like a natural, now we are going to show you a few self defense tactics.” Green nodded at Adams, who stepped up behind me, he laid a hand on my shoulder and made me jump. Yep, been hanging around Wes way too much. Green laughed, “Guess you’re not as much of a ladies man as you thought Adams.” Green said while chuckling. I could hear Adams giving him a faint growl.

  “Now Roz, the fact that you don’t want him there is good, but letting him sneak up behind you is bad. Use all of your senses, keep that awareness humming at all times. Now, next time he creeps up behind you like that I want you to turn your body away before he makes contact. Don’t rely on your vision, feel him, and sense him. You don’t need to see him approaching you to know he is coming.”

  We practiced this several more times until I could feel him and keep that awareness in place. I got good at evading his touch each time until I never failed to evade him. Green declared me ready to move on. He taught me some moves to disengage an attacker once he does get a grip on you, and I was pretty good at those. We kept practicing until Green got a message from Masters saying it was time.

  “Very good Roz, you are a natural at this! Anytime you want to train with the men you are welcome to join us.”

  This got a scoff from Adams. “Yeah, I’m sure that would go over real well with Masters. Let’s bring a pretty girl into the training arena, and by the way, she runs the country! Ha!” Adams continued his bickering with Green while I snuck off and got changed back into my clothes. Once I was ready, we got back on the scooters and made our way to the prison. I swallowed the dread and brought back the feeling of empowerment I got from learning to defend myself. We reached the prison and I was instantly overwhelmed with the sheer size
of it.

  “Is she ready?” This question was directed at Green but if I was going to go into this nightmare with confidence it was going to have to start now.

  I take a step toward Masters, “She’s ready. Are you?”

  This earned chuckles from the guys. It took one dirty look from Masters to quickly shut them up.

  Green cleared his throat, “She’s right, she is a natural Masters, I’ve never seen anyone with no experience what so ever take so well to the training.”

  This earned a big grin from me. “You hear that Masters, I’m a natural. Maybe I will decide to take over your job and you can run the country.” With a scowl from Masters and the two guys fighting back laughter we made our way to the front of the building. All joking was quickly lost as we approached. The guys fell into place as if it was like breathing for them. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and nodded at Masters. He scanned his hand and stepped aside so we could all do the same. Then the doors unlocked and we stepped through three more doors having to do the scan each time before we actually got inside the prison. Wow, intense.

  We made our way in and instantly my nose was accosted. I had to literally fight the bile back from my throat. “Oh Mary, Joseph, and the camel, this smell is horrid! What in the world is that?” I asked Masters.

  All he replied was “Keep walking, you can ask all your questions once we reach the warden's office.” He led me directly to the warden’s office and I was panting by the time we got there. Masters knocked and then scanned his hand to open the door.

  The warden looked shocked to see him again and then completely paled at seeing me. “President Thatcher?” A middle aged man in very good shape came around his desk to greet us. He had graying hair and a tired worn looking face.

  “Yes, that’s me and you must be the Warden.” He quickly tried to bring himself together but I could tell he was flustered and thrown off; good. “The name is Stanley Hicks Miss, but please call me Stanley.” He said offering his hand.