The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “That’s true. See how peaceful it feels now.”

  Hal spoke up as he carried two mugs across the room. “Do you think it’s because Frank and Robbie are outside?” He handed the mugs to Joe and Ellen. “Coffee.”

  Joe took it. “Thanks. Yes, it could be, but we always bickered until we got settled.”

  “Always.” Ellen accepted her mug.

  Hal joined them. “Do you remember …” he sat down. “Oh, I think I was fifteen. It was the third mini family vacation Ellen took. I think.”

  Ellen’s eyes widened. “St. Joseph’s Retreat Center.”

  “Yes,” Hal smiled widely. “Friday afternoon, Dad did his typical, ‘pack it up boy. We’re heading on a weekend. Said we were picking up you and Frank and going. We were pretty excited.”

  Ellen continued the story, “That was until he told us all in the car we were going on a religious family retreat,”

  “To find God,” Hal said

  “No,” Joe corrected. “I said to be spiritual. That was the term I used.”

  Hal shook his head, reminiscing. “I was so upset. We were wired and fighting until …” He motioned out his hand. “We got settled. The first meal was tough with the nuns and monks, but it ended up being a blast.”

  “Oh, my God, how many times did Frank get in trouble?” Ellen laughed. “He kept saying …”

  “Fuck,” Hal imitated Frank. “He knelt that one day for six hours.” He sipped his coffee. “We had a great time. We’ll have to bring that up to Frank and Robbie when they get back. Dad? How come we never returned?”

  “Didn’t need to,” Joe stated. “I never told you guys the truth behind that?”

  Both Hal and Ellen shook their heads.

  “It wasn’t a vacation,” Joe explained. “It was a hiding. I received a death threat on your kids and I needed to get you away until they caught the guy. I took Ellen because, hell, she was always with us. We were in a safe house.”

  Hal’s mouth went agape, “Are you serious?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Joe nodded. “It was a very serious threat. Why do you guys think we did everything together on that trip? I never left the five of you.”

  “I thought it was spiritual bonding,” Hal said.

  Joe laughed. “No. It was protection. Fr. Bishop, remember him?” He waited for a nod. “He was an agent there for our protection.”

  Hal looked brightly, “No wonder he kept flirting with the nuns. I thought that was strange. This is great,” he said in awe.

  “Yes, I am,” Frank commented as he walked in with Robbie behind him. He shut the door and took off his gloves. “We’re back.”

  “Obviously,” Hal said.

  “Check this out,” Frank said upbeat. “Tell them, Robbie.”

  “No you tell them, Frank. You’re the man.”

  “I am.” Frank was smug.

  “Oh my God.” Hal shook his head. “Where have you two been?”

  Frank winked, “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Check this out. It’s momentous.”

  Robbie gave Frank a nudge. “Big word. Good job.”

  “Thanks.”

  Excitedly, Ellen sprang to her feet. “Momentous. I’ll be back.” She hurried to the door.

  Joe saw this. “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Danny gave me a camera,” Ellen replied. “I left it in the truck. I wanna get it.” She smiled as she rushed to the door and flew out.

  “Cool” Robbie closed the door again. “We’re taking pictures.”

  Frank nodded, “And they’ll be needed. This is momentous.”

  “There’s that big word again,” Robbie said.

  Hal stood. “What is momentous, Frank?”

  Frank answered, “A big word. It means a big thing.”

  “I know that,” Hal said irritated. “I’m asking you what you and Robbie did.”

  “Check this out. We …” Frank waved his hand. “Me and Robbie went in …. the hole.” He gave a single nod.

  Robbie repeated. “The hole.”

  Hal tilted his head. “Just now? You and Robbie went in the hole. The hole.”

  Again, Frank nodded. “Not just any hole. The hole.”

  “You two?” Hal asked.

  “Yep,” Frank replied.

  “Aw,” Hal whined. “Why did you go in the hole and not ask me to go in the hole with you?”

  Joe gave an agreeable look. “He’s right. You should have asked Hal to go.”

  “We would have,” Frank replied, “but it was dirty. Hal has a thing about getting dirty. I’m sorry, Hal. We should have gotten you.”

  “Thank you,” Hal said. “Will you be going back?”

  “Abso-fuckin-lutely. Why?” Frank lifted a finger. “I’ll tell you why. We dug. Not deep, but we dug and we found this.” Reaching into his back pocket, Frank pulled out not just a bone, but a perfectly formed fossil of a claw. “Imagine what else is there.” He held the claw between his fore and middle fingers and reached out with a growl. “Ha!” he grinned.

  “Oh my God.” Joe stepped closer. “That’s a fossil.”

  “No,” Frank corrected. “A claw. A raptor claw.” Like a cat, he clawed out with the bone and a ‘rah’.

  “How do you know that is a raptor?” Joe asked.

  “Claw,” Frank stated. “I saw Jurassic Park.” Frank clawed out. “Rah.”

  “I’ll concur,” Robbie added. “It’s a raptor. I saw Jurassic Park more times than Frank.”

  Hal stepped forward. “I saw it more than both of you. I’ll concur. May I?” He reached for it.

  “No, get your own.” Frank clawed out. “Rah.”

  “I would have gotten my own,” Hal snapped, “if someone would have invited me to the hole with them.”

  “Wouldn’t have,” Frank retorted. “Robbie looked. I was the cool dinosaur bone hunter. So if I found this, I think there’s a whole dinosaur under the earth. I say we dig it up while we’re here and bring it back.” He extended the claw. “Rah.” He snickered.

  Hal looked at Frank curiously. “Let me get this straight. You want to dig up a dinosaur and bring it back to Beginnings?”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded. “I’m sure we can put it back together or come close. We have Dean. He’s a scientist. He can help. Robbie thinks it’s a fuckin great idea. Don’t you, Robbie?”

  “I say let’s do it,” Robbie said.

  “Hold it.” Joe held up his hand. “Three days. We’re here three days. That archeologist team was probably here for years. They obviously didn’t find anything in all those years.”

  “Dad,” Frank snickered as if Joe were being silly. “Uh … there was a plague. The past seven years they were dead. Of course they didn’t find anything.” Another snicker and Frank played with his claw at Joe. “Rah.”

  Joe swiped away Frank’s hand. “Not that, you moron. The team was here years before the plague. You think you can accomplish in three days what they failed to do in years?”

  “Yes,” Frank answered with arrogant certainty.

  “How do you figure?” Joe asked.

  “I’m Frank.”

  Robbie pointed. “He’s Frank.”

  “Rah!” Frank clawed out.

  Joe grumbled.

  “Wait,” Hal spoke up then rubbed his chin. “Think about this. This is a family vacation, right? Why not? Why not try? I mean, so what if we don’t get an entire dinosaur. It will be something different and fun, a family project.”

  “Uh, huh,” Joe looked at Hal. “The four of us and Ellen digging in a hole. Fun?”

  “Yes,” Hal replied. “Let’s do this.”

  Robbie intervened, “I can pull shit out of that trailer, set up stuff, and see what they have.”

  “This will be a fuckin blast,” Frank commented. “Dad, you’ll dig, right?”

  Joe tossed his hands in the air. “Why not?”

  Frank clenched his fist with a ‘yes’ and then clawed out. “Rah.”

  Hal clapped his hand together onc
e. “We should head to the archeology site and see …” His head turned to the right. “Where the hell is Ellen?”

  “Getting the camera from the truck,” Frank answered.

  Attention turned to the door. Hal took a step. “It’s taking her an awfully long time,” No sooner did Hal say that than Ellen’s voice was heard from outside.

  Eerily calm, she called out, “Frank? Uh … help?”

  Frank blinked and as calm as Ellen called, he stepped to the door at the same time Hal raced to the window.

  “Frank! Wait!” Hal called out. “The Society has her.”

  With a ‘what?” and zero hesitation, Frank pulled the revolver from his harness, flung open the door, and barged out.

  Hal grabbed one of the rifles that perched by the door. “Like mice, where there’s one, there are many.”

  With the same line of thinking, Joe and Robbie armed up and followed.

  In the clearing, one soldier held Ellen at gunpoint. That was Frank’s focus as he stepped off the porch. Revolver clenched firmly between both hands, he extended his weapon in a steady aim.

  About five feet from them, eyes determined, and not a flinch to his body, Frank held a stand still.

  When Joe, Robbie, and Hal emerged from the cabin that was when it happened. The shifting of rifle chambers rang loud and clear all around them.

  Joe knew it. Far too many had sounded off.

  Hal and Robbie aimed upward, shifted their bodies left to right, and looked out for their surrounders.

  Frank didn’t move.

  “Drop your weapons,” a male voice called out. “You are surrounded.”

  Not a Slagel did as instructed.

  “Drop your weapons,” he ordered again.

  Back to back, Robbie and Hal still held tightly to their rifles. Six or seven soldiers stepped from the trees.

  Robbie smirked, “We’re surrounded. Yeah.”

  More stepped out.

  Hal sniffed. “We can handle them.”

  Within a moment, an entire brigade of Society soldiers, shoulder to shoulder, appeared. They formed a wall around them.

  Hal lowered his weapon, “Maybe not like this.”

  “Fuck,” Robbie whispered. “We have to think of something.”

  “Lower you weapons,” again the man ordered.

  “Dad?” Robbie asked. “Any ideas?”

  “I’m thinking,” Joe said.

  “Why aren’t they shooting at us?” Hal quizzed “They’re allotting us time. Think. Think.”

  “Lower your weapon.”

  “We did!” Joe blasted.

  “Lower your weapon,”

  Joe turned and looked. “Frank! Lower your weapon.”

  Frank hadn’t moved an inch. After another order from his father, reluctantly, Frank did.

  Jimmy was whistling a happy tune as he trudged the last mile to the Fort Peck Lake campsite. He wondered how he’d make his approach. Jess told him he’d be coming in from the south and would arrive from the hillside. Jimmy contemplated calling out, ‘I’m back’ as he did his best ‘Little House on the Prairie’ imitation and raced down that hill. But all those thoughts went asunder the second he saw the two Society trucks. It was quiet, too quiet, and no soldiers were spotted.

  Immediately, Jimmy went into a ‘sneak’ mode and after he located a thick portion of the trees, he slipped into the woods to find out.

  His heart skipped a beat when in the distance, he heard Frank’s voice. “All right. All right already. Fuck!”

  Something was up. It didn’t take a military genius to figure it out. A few steps into his walk, Jimmy received a semi-confirmation.

  Three Society soldiers were belly down and peeking over the hill.

  What were they looking at? Were they watching his family and waiting to make a move? With only one way to find out, Jimmy veered quietly left and inched his way to another section of the hilltop.

  Without making a sound, he crawled on his stomach and slowly brought his head up to peek.

  His mind screamed out, ‘Fuck!”

  In all his visions of his reunion with the family, never did Jimmy expect the first visual moment to be tainted with concern. He couldn’t bask in seeing his long lost family because he didn’t expect to see them completely engulfed and surrounded by Society.

  Obviously, pulling a Little House on the Prairie was out of the question. It was his big homecoming, however Jimmy had to think and think fast. If he didn’t, there would be no family to come home to.

  “It’s evident,” Hal whispered to Robbie.

  “You think?” Robbie kept his voice in a whisper as well.

  “Absolutely. In fact, I feel slighted, perhaps even jealous.”

  Robbie tilted his head. “Maybe I do too.”

  “All this, just to get Frank. There’s no denying it.” Hal motioned his head to Frank. Not only were the Slagels surrounded, but inside the little area so was Frank. Four soldiers with rifles encased him, one in front, one behind, and two off to each side. “Get Ellen, have Frank charge out and then toss Ellen aside to us. They want Frank.”

  Joe huffed. “Will you two knock it off? Get your minds on getting us out of here,” he said as he held Ellen close to him.

  Hal nodded and side-leaned to Robbie. “I’ll bet you ten Danny Dollars that he only takes out two.”

  “Two?” Robbie snickered. “Please, it’s Frank.” He nudged him in lieu of a handshake. “You’re on.”

  The three Society soldiers were so engrossed in looking over the hillside and keeping watch that Jimmy highly doubted they would even hear him coming. A foot apart, on their stomachs, they didn’t move.

  The element of surprise was more than jumping out and yelling, ‘boo’. Something they didn’t expect would be a surprise as well. With his hunting knife in his hand, but concealed under his sleeve, Jimmy gave them something they wouldn’t have expected.

  He quietly walked up behind them and within a few feet of them.

  “Hey, guys. What’s going on?” Jimmy asked.

  All three turned and looked.

  One of them had nerve enough to pump his gun.

  “Uh-ah.” Jimmy shook his head. “Why would you even want to shoot me?” He took another step to them. “I was only curious to what is going on. See …” Another step closer. “I was walking. I live about four miles from here.”

  “Sir, you should leave. I’m giving you warning, right now. If not, we will have to shoot.”

  “Okay,” Jimmy nodded, “I see. Have a good day.” He turned, stopped, and gripped his knife tighter. “But there is one thing.” As he spun around again, he flung out the knife with a sharp toss of his hand. End over end, it sailed quickly and landed with a thump into one soldier’s chest. Just as quickly, Jimmy pulled out his revolver.

  Frank didn’t flinch. Eyes not blinking, head not moving, he didn’t even labor a breath despite the fact that a revolver was a mere two inches from his forehead.

  “Gentlemen,” he spoke calmly. “This is fuckin pissing me off. My legs hurt. You wanna shoot me, get it the fuck over with and shoot me. Either that or let me …”

  Bang.

  A shot from the distance rang out. The soldier directly in front of Frank barely jolted when the bullet seared directly into his head, causing it to explode in a rain of blood.

  Quickly, Frank grabbed the revolver from him. In a sweep of one graceful movement, he extended his arm to the right, fired a single shot at that gunman, pivoted to his left, and shot that one as well. As he turned completely around, in his spin he extended out the raptor’s claw, still clutched in his left hand, and sliced right through the throat of the soldier behind him. “Fuckin Rah.”

  Four more shots rang out in the distance.

  Joe, protecting Ellen with his body, backed her up. “Boys! The cabin.”

  Robbie and Hal snatched the weapons from the ground.

  Frank fired out and watched the wall of soldiers start to disperse. “They’re taking cover!” he c
alled out.

  Ellen was given no chance. Joe shoved her in the truck, started it for her, and handed her a gun. “Go. Go!” He banged his hand on the hood. “Take off fast. Stop for nothing. Now!”

  Ellen’s hands trembled. “But …”

  “Now!” Joe ordered.

  Ellen threw the truck in reverse and jolting the wheel, she back up until the truck turned completely around. The dirt spun under her wheels for a split second and then it sped off. She watched in the rearview mirror as Joe and Frank flew into the cabin, then Ellen placed her sights forward and headed down the road.

  “Bunk it down,” Joe ordered. “Fast.”

  Frank, with Hal, began to do as Joe asked. They slammed the shutters on the windows while Joe extinguished the fire.

  Robbie pulled a duffle bag to him, opened it, and slid with it across the floor. He pulled three tubular objects out of the bag and quickly put them together. He crouched under a window, and connected one end of the tube to the metal shutter. “In the hills south. Ten … thirty. Thirty five.”

  Joe said, “There are shots being fired. This cabins an awfully big target. I haven’t heard anything hit yet. Do you see anything?”

  “Looks like no one’s shooting south,” Robbie replied. “They’re scattering, covering.” Hurriedly, Robbie ran to another window and repeated his earlier actions. “West. Small grouping. Twenty. One down. Another.” Dismantling the tubing he moved to the next window.

  “Robbie,” Hal called out. “Bag two.”

  Robbie slid the duffle bag and dropped by the window.

  Frank relayed the bag to Hal. “Pull out Dean Ami tip 4.”

  Curiously, Hal looked up. “Short range?”

  “Can’t do long, now can we?” Frank raised his eyebrows. “Robbie. North.”

  “Big area, Frank. More secure, digging down, Preparing. My guess to charge. Double. Sixty.”

  Joe joined Hal. “So saying that the entire missing Society brigade is out there, that would make approximately forty left roaming the hills and to the west.”

  Frank quickly looked at his father. “Wow, you’re fast.”

  Robbie was at the last window. “Got a few going down on the west. Looks like Dad is right.”