Andrea looked at the letters then at the Bible. She pushed the Bible away. “How dare you. I am insulted that you would bring the Bible and toss it in my face as if I would be less than honest with you. Ask your questions, Joe Slagel.”
“What do you know about these letters?”
Without hesitation, Andrea answered. “I wrote them. I tried to stop George from making his mistake. I thought if I could just . . . I was wrong.”
“Did George know you wrote these letters?”
“I don’t know.”
“Final question. Andrea, I’m gonna believe what you tell me, all right? But before I ask, I have to tell you. You know someone has been working for George in Beginnings, right?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“Things . . . things don’t look good for you, Andrea. So, just tell me, do you or do you not still have contact with him? Are you working for him?”
Andrea breathed out slowly. “You know me better.” She stood up. “Looking bad for me or not, I cannot believe you asked me that.” Andrea began to walk away.
“Andrea, you didn’t answer.”
Andrea spun with a loud huff. “No, Joe Slagel. I have not ever nor do I now work for George.” With another spin of her hurt and disposition, Andrea stormed off toward the bedrooms.
Joe sank deeply into his cup of coffee.
^^^^
Bowman, North Dakota
Frank released the living room window curtain. He turned in Hal’s apartment to Hal who had pictures scattered about the two-seater table. “Is it me or is it dark already.”
“It’s been dark for an hour, Frank,” Hal stated.
“Then what the fuck is taking them so long?”
“Don’t know.” Hal shrugged. “Hey did you see this picture of you playing baseball?” Hal held up the photograph.
“No.” Frank shook his head. “Are you sure she’s safe with him?”
“Elliott? She is very safe with him.”
“I can’t believe this shit.” Frank began to pace. “I finally get a chance to be semi-alone with her and she darted off in a free for all day with Chico and the fuckin man.”
Hal snickered. “Frank, be nice. If you’re that worried about them, go over to his house and check on her.”
Frank spun to a sudden stop. “She’s over at his house?”
“Yeah. After their walk they were going there to talk.”
“Fuck, Hal.” Frank tossed out his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me that’s where they were?”
Hal grinned. “You never asked.”
“Fuck.” Frank stormed for the door, barged out, and slammed it. A few seconds later, Hal’s apartment door opened. “Where does this Sgt. Ryder live?”
^^^^
“To me . . .” Ellen took a second to swallow her wine as she sat at the totally opposite end of the dining room table from Elliott. The dishes from dinner were still spewed out. “Hal’s still the same. He hardly ever shows anger, very polite, but he’s always up to something.”
“The Captain?” Elliott questioned.
“Yeah. Hal was a shit when he was younger. But he was so likeable that no matter what he said, right or wrong, lies or truths, you always believed him.”
“Did you know we were stationed in Hawaii together?” Elliott asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yep. I didn’t deal with him much. He was Ex-O, but always fair.”
“He earned that Hawaii position,” Ellen said. “He worked really hard for that.”
“I know. He was the top recruiter.”
“Hal could convince the Pope to join if the Pope wasn’t too old.” Ellen laughed. “He was Top Recruiter for the whole entire western United States for three years in row.”
“You know what amazed me was he never forgot a face or name. When men he recruited were stationed at our base. Captain Slagel knew them and remembered them even the cities they were from too.”
“You respect him.”
Elliott reached for his wine. “Very much so.”
“You know what though, Elliott.” Ellen pointed her finger. “I would be a little pissed at him. How long have you known him and worked for him and he hasn’t promoted you yet in ranking.”
Just as Elliott started to laugh, one single loud bang was heard from his door.. He looked quickly. “Odd.”
“Yeah, always odd. It’s Frank.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“El!” Frank blasted out before he stepped into the house. “There you are.”
“Oh, hi, Frank.”
“Oh hi, El,” Frank mocked her and walked to the dining room. “I’m waiting and waiting, stuck with my fuckin brother while you’re off on a date.”
Elliott’s eyes widened. “A date? No.” He stood up. “Frank, we were just talking and . . .”
“Yeah, yeah.” Frank waved his hand to Ellen. “Let’s go, El. Say good bye to Elliott.”
Ellen looked at her watch. “Oh, shit, Elliott, look how late it is?”
Elliott looked at his. Worry hit him and he moved his views to Frank. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I kept her so long.”
“Yeah.” Frank nodded, stepped closer to Ellen, and took her hand. “Say goodbye.” He helped Ellen to her feet then waved her hand for her, speaking in a high voice. “Bye Elliott, see you tomorrow.”
“Frank, stop.” Ellen pulled her had away. “God.” She huffed then smiled to Elliott. “I do have to go anyhow. We’re leaving at dawn. Will I see you then?”
Elliott nodded. “For sure. I’ll be in Beginnings in a few days. Mr. Slagel has some things he . . .”
“Hello!” Frank called out. “El, talk to him another time.”
“Frank, knock it off. Elliott, goodnight.”
“Ellen.” Elliott extended his hand to her. “It was a great day. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Now.” Frank gave her a tug.
“What is the rush?” Ellen asked.
“It’s late. I want to spend time with you and . . . I have a great story to tell you.” Frank led her to the door. “I went to the House of Lesbians today.”
“No way?” Ellen said shocked as Frank opened the door for her.
“El, I had to fight them off.”
Yelling ‘night Elliott’ Ellen waved once as she walked out. Frank, right behind her, pulled the door closed and stopped. So as not to leave the impression that he was rude, Frank reopened the door, popped his head back in, wiggled his fingers in a wave to Elliott, and then left again.
Beginnings, Montana
“I understand.” Rev. Bob had his face buried in his hand as he spoke on the phone. “I understand completely.”
“You won’t be forgotten,” Steward stated on the other line.
“I better not be.” Rev. Bob rubbed his eyes. “Are you sure though?”
“Positive.”
Letting out a long breath, Rev. Bob sat back in his chair. “All right then. If this is the way George wants it to go down, that’s the way it will. But I’m doing this under protest and for my best interest only.”
“This is the only way to get you out of there safely.”
Rev. Bob nodded. “I understand. I guess Johnny will be in touch from here on in.” Pulling the phone away from his ear, Rev. Bob looked at it and then hung up. He let the events of the phone conversation play over and over in his mind. He knew what he had to do and he would spend the rest of the night getting ready for it.
Bowman, North Dakota
Like a fine wine or an exotic cup of tea, Dean’s deep laughter seeped soothingly over the line to Ellen.
“Give my thanks to Elliott Ryder,” Dean said.
“Frank was really funny.” Ellen laid on her stomach on Hal’s bed with the phone to her ear.
“I bet. And speaking of funny, not that it is, but I was looking at Jeff’s face tonight.”
“That’s terrible, Dean.”
“Yeah I know. Anyhow, I was looking at him
and you know what I was thinking?”
“It plays into our new set of experiments with perfect timing?”
“Exactly,” Dean said. “You think he’ll be a guinea pig?”
“Really, what choice does he have?”
“Not much. Wanna talk to him tomorrow with me?” Dean asked.
“Sure. I’ll be back early. Frank’s driving us out of here at dawn.”
A short chuckle escaped Dean. “Why does that worry me?”
“Um perhaps because the last time I was beyond the walls with Frank, it turned out to be more than expected. Don’t worry, Dean. Hal will be there too. Two Slagel’s are better than one.”
“Actually one Slagel always does the . . .” Dean’s voice slowed and he looked up from his lying position o the couch.
“Dean?”
What Ellen didn’t see was Dean’s expression when he saw Joe, so down, walk into his house. “El, hold on. Joe just walked in.” Dean covered the receiver. “You O.K.?” he asked as he sat up.
“Nope.” Joe huffed out and sat on the chair. “I thought I’d give you a break from the kids. Why don’t you go down the hall?”
Dean removed his hand. “El, call me in the morning all right?”
“Dean, is everything O.K.?” Ellen asked.
“I’m sure it is. Be careful. I’ll talk to you later.”
“O.K. I love you.”
“Love you, too.” Dean hung up the phone. He stared at Joe who was silently staring down at the floor as he sat in the chair.
Ellen felt something was just not right when she hung up. As she readied to leave the bedroom, she heard Hal and Frank’s roar laughter from the other room. Figuring she was tired and really not in the mood to rehash through stories she found irritating years before, Ellen picked up her Brady Bunch Book and decided to read and look more at the pictures.
Beginnings, Montana
Holding the cell phone tightly to his ear, Johnny leaned against the east tunnel entrance opening. “I see him, Leo. Give it a few more minutes.”
“Got it, Johnny, but tell him to hurry out of range. Danny checks the history of tracking.”
“I’ll tell him to dart around. They’ll think it was an animal. Gotta go. Here he comes.” Johnny disconnected the phone, placed it on his belt, and stood ready when a tall Society solider approached. He handed Johnny a small black case. “Thanks.”
“We’ll be east in Cohegan. Tell them they’ll have to meet us there,” he spoke, almost in a monotone.
“Got it.” Johnny nodded. “On your way back out, dart in zigzags so tracking thinks you’re a deer.”
The man did not look pleased with Johnny’s suggestion, but Johnny didn’t really care nor did he see the Society soldier’s expression. Johnny had quickly hopped on the awaiting motorcycle and sped through the tunnels with the case.
An ornery, breathy, ‘ha-ha’ escaped Johnny as he held the case and stepped into his single bedroom townhouse. He shook the chill from him, shucked his coat, tossed it over the couch, and flew up the stairs. “I’m back,” he announced as he raced into his bedroom.
“I’ve been waiting.” Bev sat stark naked in front of a desk with a laptop computer booted up.
“Man, Bev, get some clothes on.” Johnny sat the eight-inch case on the table next to the laptop.
“That it?”
“Um, yeah.” Johnny rang with sarcasm. “Get dressed.”
“I’m being ready. I thought I could entice you.”
“Doubtful. You’re getting fat.”
Bev gasped in offense and slowly stood up from the chair. She walked to the bed and lifted a long tee shirt and placed it on. She crossed her arms and watched Johnny. He flipped open the case and pulled out a normal size, clear, round disk.
“The program.” Johnny smiled.
Bev walked closer to the case. She reached in and her fingers touched upon the tiny cassette tape. “What is this?”
Johnny grinned. “That is this . . .” Johnny pulled a small round disk from the case. It was similar to the one Danny Hoi had found them with. “In a program.” Johnny took the cassette. “This part is gonna be the funniest.”
“When do we hit with that?”
“Once the ball starts rolling.” Johnny moved the laptop computer closer to him. He handed the one small disk to Bev. “Put this away. This can’t be seen. We’re taking a chance as it is with the other one.”
“But if they don’t have the program, they can’t see what’s on here. Right.?”
“Right. But still . . . hide that somewhere. I’ll load the program now.” Inserting the larger disk into the computer, Johnny began to work.
Bev smiled, holding the small round disk. “Johnny, could I look at this sometime?”
“Why?” he asked with edge.
“It was a lot of fun doing this and . . .”
“Bev, get over it, all right. Fuck.” Johnny shook his head in disgust and continued working on the laptop.
Bev, drawing up in disappointment, walked across the room, looking for a place to stash the disk.
“When you’re done putting that away, get dressed and go down to the hall. I’m out of whiskey.” Johnny exhaled. “I have a feeling I’m gonna need it.”
^^^^
It was something new Robbie had been working on. It was nothing impressive, just a chord pattern he picked through on his guitar. He sat in a chair in the Social Hall with his legs extended on another chair. His guitar was in his arms and a drink was on the table. Jess sat with him, laughing.
Robbie stopped picking, “David.” He reached for his drink.
Jess shook his head. “David is not gay.” He sipped his own drink.
“David does it with anyone.”
Jess rolled his eyes. “So what? That’ll only make me a piece of meat.”
Robbie choked on his drink and set it down. “That was funny.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“I’m just trying to fix you up. With the odds, you have a greater chance than I do.”
“You’re trying to get me laid.”
“Same difference.”
“No, it’s not.” Jess set his glass down. “Sex is one thing. Companionship is another.”
“You have me for companionship.” Robbie started playing again.
“Exactly, so why do I care. You’re my friend. I’m good with that.”
“You’ve been tense . . . do you like this chord pattern?”
“It’s O.K. I like the slower one better. And I’m not tense. My shoulder’s been bothering me since Josh dove on me yesterday when your brother Frank told him I used to be a wrestler. God, that kid.”
“You’re tense.”
“So what?” Jess shrugged. “There are ways to take care of that.”
A snicker entered the conversation from Danny Hoi. He tapped Robbie on the shoulder as he passed the two sitting men. “Robbie knows all about that.” He winked and kept walking.
“Shit.” Robbie sprang up and handed Jess the guitar. “Hold this.”
“What wrong?” Jess asked.
“I have to take care of something. Fuck.” Robbie hurried over to Danny. Nervously he ran his fingers through his hair as he approached Danny at the dart machine. “Danny.”
“Hey, Robbie, did you wanna play?” Danny looked around the hall. It was Sunday and not many people were there, just a few men.
“No. I need to talk to you about that disk.”
“What disk?”
“The one Ellen gave you,” Robbie whispered.
“You mean the one with your little emails . . . private little raunchy, sexually explicit emails?”
“That’s the one.”
Danny grabbed the darts. “I haven’t read it.”
“Danny, then why did you make that comment when you walked by me and Jess?”
“What comment?” Danny smiled.
“Nothing. Can I have that disk? Please?”
“Why?”
“I want it.”
&nb
sp; “Why?” Danny asked.
“It’s personal.”
“It can’t be that personal. Ellen let me have it. Besides she said I could read it when I print things up for her. I haven’t printed anything up for her. I’ve been busy with the newspaper. Did I mention I was adding a gossip section?”
“Oh shit.”
“What?”
Robbie shook his head. “Danny, I would really appreciate you giving me back that disk before you read it. It’s really, really personal.”
“I won’t say anything.” Danny winked. “I’m looking forward to reading them.”
“Oh, God.” Robbie slapped his hand over his face. “Danny, if you insist on reading them, you cannot let what’s on them get out.”
“Me? Why would you suggest that?” Danny asked.
“For starters, how about the nicknames you and Trish gave yourselves for the paper? Danny ‘Rather’ Hoi and Trish ‘Big Scoop’ Koenig.”
“It sounds funny when someone else says that.” Danny laughed. “Robbie, rest assured, I wouldn’t dare think of mentioning those letters in my newspaper if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be.”
“Thank you.”
“Darts?” Danny showed him three darts.
“Maybe just a . . .” Robbie paused in his speaking when his eyes made it to the open door. Bev walked in and, not five seconds later, so did Dean.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Robbie shook his head. “Let me grab Jess and we’ll ask Glen if he wants to play teams.”
“Excellent.”
“If not, we’ll do a threesome.” Robbie stared to walk.
Danny snickered. “A Robbie preference.”
Robbie slowed down, looked back at Danny, and cringed in thought to himself. He was allowing his fear to take over. He walked on to get Jess.
Henry sat at the bar. His eyes shifted suspiciously to Bev who walked around behind the bar and then to Dean who sat down next to him. “Dean?”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 47