“Good, because it could ruin the weaponry of it. Think about it. The ultimate invasion tool. Frank Slagel, Master Mind Manipulator. Oh, yeah.”
Dean almost thought, ‘oh, no we’re all in trouble,’ but he didn’t feel like being read, so just in case Frank could, he just said it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
December 17th
Deep, soft, resonating, and heavily sexual, the moan emanated from Frank reverberating off the tile of the bathroom walls with almost an echo effect. After a quiet moment, he repeated the sound.
“Frank,” Dean quipped in an early morning whisper. “Knock it off.”
“I can’t help it, Dean. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had feminine small hands manipulating my chest?”
“For as much as I’d like to feed your ego and tell you that you have great nipples, I can’t.” Dean held the four-inch flat device to Frank’s chest. “This is purely science.”
“But you’re thinking it.”
“I am not.” Dean placed a piece of adhesive on the object center Frank’s chest.
“Yeah, you are. Whoa. Now you’re thinking, how massive I am.”
Dean withdrew his hands. “I am not. You’re not funny.” He brought his hands back to Frank’s chest, causing another joking moan. “Quit that. Besides . . .” Dean grabbed another piece of tape. “You promised me last night you wouldn’t make an attempt to read my mind.”
“I did. I’m not.”
“Good.” Dean’s focus was on the object he secured to Frank’s chest.
“But, to be honest, I tried. No luck, though. I kept getting a bunch of letters. Is that a scientific formula?”
“No, Frank,” Dean said calmly. “I keep reciting the alphabet.”
“Oh, no wonder it sounded familiar.”
“No wonder. OK,” Dean exhaled. “Done. Put your shirt on.” He tossed Frank the tee-shirt.
“I feel used.”
With a tilted head, Dean just gave Frank a look that said, ‘are you done yet with the comments’
“Dean. Attitude. What’s up with this thing anyhow?”
“That is courtesy of Danny Hoi. It’s to monitor you. See this . . .” Dean lifted his own tee shirt and reached for the rim of his jeans.
“I’d rather not.”
Rolling his eyes, Dean ignored the comment. “This beeper, asshole. This will sound off when your heart rate increases and your respiration increases. You want to be the big security guy overseeing everything, fine. But overseeing is all you’ll do. One ounce of excitement, this sounds off to me.” Dean turned the beeper on. “Ah.” He peered down to it. “Your heart is beating 70 beats per minute.”
“How fast am I allowed to let it go?”
“Within reason.”
“What’s within reason?”
“Like it makes a difference, Frank.”
“Dean, I can keep it in control.” Frank said, “Or put it on someone who can.”
“I have that covered.” Dean lifted a finger. “You move that, it will alert me. You put that on someone else, I put you under the Salicain.”
“You keep threatening me with this. How do you think you’ll pull it off?”
Dean chuckled. “You have to sleep.”
“You can’t sneak into my room without me hearing you.”
“True, but Robbie can.”
“Ok.” Frank nodded an agreement. “Robbie can. Can I go to work? It’s pushing five-thirty.”
“Yes, you can.” Dean reached for the bathroom door.
“Dean, just so you can know how great your hands are . . .” Frank moaned then laughed and opened the door before Dean, only to stop cold.
“What’s wrong?” Dean asked.
“It’s your Mini-Me.” Like a giant, Frank, with his hands on his hips, peered down to Billy.
Billy, with attitude, looked up at his father and Frank. “Are you two done with whatever perverse behavior you were doing in the bathroom?”
Frank nodded. “Yeah, we’re done. Thanks for asking. Let’s go, Dean.”
In his squeezing by his father to get in the bathroom, Billy just looked up at Dean with the most disconcerting expression.
“What?” Dean asked.
“I won’t make mention of this to my mother . . . yet.” The bathroom door closed.
^^^^
Dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, Jess Boyens lowered, almost sadly, to sit on his clinic room bed. His eyes gazed past Ellen to the open door and the Beginnings guard that stood there.
“I’m sorry,” Ellen whispered. “We tried. We really tried.”
“I understand.”
“Dean and I kept you in here as long as we could, but Andrea reviewed your medical records and told Joe there was no need and that you were here far longer than you should have been. She . . . she tends to butt in.”
“No.” Jess, with partially closed eyes, just shook his head. “She’s doing her job. That’s all. Like him . . .” Jess motioned his head to the guard, then stood up. “A criminal.”
“Jess.”
“At least I’ll be in Containment until they oust me.” He winked softly. “We’ll bond. It was Containment or Holding. I should just say screw it and go. I want to tell you something, Ellen. I have every intention of camping out close to Beginnings, cold or not, until you . . . until you . . .”
“Get temporarily ousted?” Ellen asked.
“I’ll wait. I’ll go with you. That way there’s no need for anyone to leave Beginnings.” Jess locked on the stare Ellen gave him. “You don’t trust me to?”
“That’s not it, Jess. I trust you out there with me. I know I’ll be safe and protected with you. I just . . . . I just don’t think they’re gonna oust you.”
Emotionally, Jess snickered. “They’re having that meeting today. You know it has to be urgent if they’re having it on a Sunday.”
“They’re discussing other issues as well. It’s not all about you,” Ellen stated. “You have a good shot. Hal Slagel is arguing for you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“And for what it’s worth. I’m going to argue for you as well.”
Robbie stepped into the room with a ‘me, too.’
His breath was lost for a second and Jess turned to Robbie. His voice cracked. “Really?”
“Come on, Jess. Really?” Robbie walked in.
“Thank you.” Jess extended a hand and shook Robbie’s firmly. “What, um, are you doing here? Don’t you have services?”
“Yes, yes, I do.” Robbie nodded. “In ten minutes. I know I’ll see you in Containment and all, but I wanted to stop over and let you know that I’ll be checking in at that meeting. However . . .” Robbie exhaled. “I do have to get over there. I’ve avoided Andrea long enough.”
Curiously, Ellen looked at him. “Are you two arguing?”
“No, not at all.” Robbie shook his head. “She asked me to write that new song for her and I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Sooner or later I’m gonna have to wing it.” he stepped to the door. “Are you coming to services, El?”
“Uh, um, you know what? I can’t. But I’m there in spirit.” Just as Robbie started to leave, Ellen called to him. “Robbie? By the way, what is the song Andrea’s been pestering you to write?”
“Oh,” Robbie replied, “just some tune she had in mind. If I end up really writing it, it’ll be good. You’ll have to come and hear it.”
“I will,” Ellen said.
“I did think of a couple titles though to appease her.”
“Really? What are they?”
“Pretty basic, but . . . . Either, Jesus is a Futomara or I have a Futomara in Jesus. Which do you think?”
Awkwardly, Ellen smiled. “Either one . . .” She cleared her throat. “. . . works.”
“Good.” Robbie grinned and left.
The smile dropped from Ellen’s face while she took on a moment of dramatics. Even though Jess stared inquisitively at her odd behavior, Ellen still heaved out shoc
k and an abundance of religious offense she didn’t even know she had.
^^^^
Big Bertha Callahan. Or rather, Sgt. Callahan of the Eastern Caceres Society. She stood a little over six feet tall with a chest as brawny as any man. Her hair was in a butch near buzz cut and she took an at-ease stance with her hands behind her back, her knees slightly bent, and eyes forward in the corridor outside of Johnny Slagel’s room.
The doctor peered. “Is she waiting for you?” he asked George.
“Probably.” George peeked as well, then returned to his conversation with the doctor as they stood by the door. “Now, what is going on?”
“An infection, but we expected as much. It appears to be meningitis.”
“So I shouldn’t be in here.”
“Well, yes and no. Keep your distance and don’t touch but you can visit. Perhaps you should wear some protective garments.”
“I understand.” George checked out a sleeping Johnny. “You have him resting.”
“Yes, we do. We think it is under control, but he . . . he is experiencing some brain clouding.”
“Brain clouding? Is this a scientific wording?” George asked.
“It’s a laymen way of telling you he’s pretty much in the fog and isn’t remembering much.”
“That’s a good thing,” George said. “At least he won’t suffer mentally over the anguish of leaving my daughter behind. Well . . .” he shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you.”
“Good luck with . . .” The doctor gave a motion of his head to Bertha.
Grumbling a ‘hmm’, George stepped into the hall.
Loud and strong, Bertha spoke up as if the president were a hundred feet away. “Sir!”
“Geez.” George cringed. “We’re in a goddamn hospital. Quiet.”
“Sorry . . .” Bertha dropped her voice. “Sorry, sir.”
“Walk with me.” George began to move down the corridor. “Am I late? I thought I still had time before our strategy meeting.”
“No, sir, you are not late,” Bertha’s voice graveled. “I wanted to let you know I stopped by the residence of It.”
“I see. So you are attempting to find out what is going on with all the guards stopping by.”
“I have it down to three, sir. Three guards. They say they are just visiting It. There’s no other reason.”
“You don’t buy it?”
“No, sir. They are stopping by at regular intervals at odd hours. It’s never for long, just briefly and almost secretively.”
“So, how did it go with It?”
“Sir, It didn’t take too kindly to me.”
“Well, you know . . .”
“I tried to make it a ‘get to know you’ you sort of thing but to no avail, It insulted me.”
“That’s not out of the ordinary,” George said.
“I’d prefer not to go back unless under direct orders. There was a level of uncomfortableness about the insulting.”
“Really?” George asked, “What was said?”
“It referred to me as a behemoth lesbian and said should I want to further my career instead of playing ‘I spy’ for you, I should take the easier route of . . .” Bertha cleared her throat in nervousness. “Orally copulating your penis . . . Sir.”
“Christ.” George winced. “All right, though you’re a big girl, a really big girl,. I won’t place you in that position. It was just worth a shot.”
“I understand.”
“So, clear your mind, Callahan.” George opened the door to the stairwell. “We have other things to concern ourselves with and I need a plan from you.”
“On what, sir?”
“On a way, without raising suspicions, to get in touch with a Jess Boyens inside Beginnings . . .” George slowed down. “He works for us and it’s time he did his job.”
^^^^
Joe didn’t quite understand what the infatuation was about the meteor. Though he himself particularly liked those types of movies, he wasn’t one to cause an uproar about showing it at the community day movie. Or at least that was what he figured was the reason four of Frank’s security guards approached him about preparing. Thinking he set them straight by telling them to seek out Danny Hoi later, Joe was able to finally make it from the chapel to his office.
He extinguished his cigarette and coughed a little on the smoke. For the first time in a while, he noticed the cough. His hands hesitated before opening the door and he stole a moment. He knew what waited on the other side of that door and even though it was only a brainstorming pow-wow, it was still a meeting of sorts and in Beginnings, in Joe’s office, a meeting was never simple.
He opened the door and greeted those in attendance with the announcement of their names. “Hal, Elliott, Jason, Danny. Ah, Mr. Baydee, glad you could stop by.” Joe made it to his desk. “You do know you didn’t have to come.”
“Yes, I realize this,” Warren spoke politely. ‘But I had nothing else planned. I’ll not suggest or speak if you wish me only to be silent.”
“Nah. You interject. Everyone does. Beside . . .” Joe exhaled. “I hold high hopes that this will be a simple meeting.”
Upon the completion of his sentence, a blast of cold air brought in by the fling open of the door was accompanied by Frank’s, “Oh, yeah, I’m back.”
“Maybe not,” Joe said.
“Sorry I’m late.” Frank shut the door.
“Frank!” Joe barked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m on acting Council. There’s a meeting, I’m here.”
“Standing Council,” Joe corrected. “Standing, meaning you fill in when someone can’t be here.”
“Exactly.” Frank pulled up a chair. “That’s why I’m here.”
Hal noticed the perturbed look grow on Joe’s face. “Father, may I offer you advice?”
“No,” Joe told him.
“Ha.” Frank sat down.
“Frank,” Joe grumbled.
“Father,” Hal spoke up. “If you want to keep the meeting simple, why do you bother arguing with him?”
“Hal.” Joe swung a view his way. “No one asked you.”
“Yeah,” Frank instigated. “No one asked you.”
“Frank.” Joe snapped. “Why are you here!”
“Standing in. Well . . .” Frank looked down to his position. “Actually, I’m sitting but it holds the same effect.”
“Frank.” Joe decided to take the calm approach. “You’re only to be here when a Council member can’t attend. No one is missing.”
“What about him?” Frank pointed to Jason.
“What about him?” Joe asked. “Jason’s here.”
“But he’s dead so in an essence, he isn’t here.”
Hal rolled his eyes. “Good Lord.”
“Hal.” Joe turned back to Frank. “Jason is not dead, you asshole.”
“Yes he is,” Frank argued.
“Look at him!” Joe pointed at a snickering Jason. “Does he look dead?”
“He is a little pale.”
“Frank!”
“Dad!” Frank blasted back. “Maybe not now, but he was dead. Dead.” Frank glared at Jason. “He was blown up into a million fuckin pieces. Blown up! I should know.”
Hal huffed out. “And how should you know, Frank?”
“Because I saw what was left of him,” Frank replied. “A million pieces and I’m not exaggerating.”
“Frank . . .” Joe tried to halt him.
“Blown up here, blown up there. A piece of him here. A piece of him there,” Frank continued. “I was fuckin scraping his intestines off of Warehouse Six for three days.”
“Frank!” Joe slammed his hand. “Now was that necessary?”
“Dad.” Frank scoffed a laugh. “What was I supposed to do? Just leave him there like some sort of sick memorial? We didn’t leave Robbie’s arm so why would we leave . . .”
“Frank.” Joe slammed his hand on his desk again. “Enough! Now open your mouth one more goddamn time
and I’ll throw you out myself!”
“But you need me here as standing Council.”
“Frank . . .”
“Fine.” Frank lifted his hand. “My mouth is shut.”
Hal murmured a ‘for now’
“Shut up, Hal,” Frank snapped. “Oh hey, did I ask you if Dad ever licked you when you were a child?”
“What?” Hal questioned in shock.
“Lick you,” Frank said as if to explain. “Elliott, how about you? Danny? Did your parents . . .”
“Frank, enough of the licking.” Joe held up his hand.
“What?” Frank was baffled. “I didn’t lick anyone.”
Groaning, Joe took a second, calmed down, and gave an apologetic look to Warren. “Are you sure you want to stay?”
“Absolutely. Continue.” Warren smiled.
“Thank you. Now. . .” Joe noticed Frank’s hand lifting. “Why are you raising your hand?”
“To be polite and ask a question.”
With a slight whine, Joe shook his head. “What?”
“I would like to discuss killer babies.”
Joe stared for a second, took a breath, and nodded. “Since I know nothing will get finished if we don’t cover this topic with you, go on. Discuss.”
Frank smiled. “Thank you. I just need to steal this moment with Ryder, since he’s been running around all day. I didn’t ask him. Why wasn’t there any small predator carnage reported on the kill stats last week? Tracking said there are about fifty up there.”
Joe lifted his hand with a closed mouth look. “Valid question. Elliott?”
“There were no kills,” Elliott answered. “Actually, I’ve been just keeping them fed and busy until Frank returned. He is the master slayer of killer babies.”
Nodding a ‘true’, Frank accepted that.
Danny Hoi saw the horrified and confused look on Warren’s face. “Something wrong?”
“Killer . . . babies?” Warren asked.
Danny shook his head. “Nah. It’s just a term for wild dogs.”
Frank had one more question to ask of Elliott. “Were there no suspected intrusions? Farming reported eight mutilated chickens.”
Elliott nodded with a lifted finger, “I checked that out. There were no underground passages dug and Hector stated he saw a wolf but he darted back out though an open perimeter.”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 241