Merry knows what the dream means… Obviously, we are the daughter-mother team. I wish I understood as much as she apparently does! The protected child and the end of the line of protectors... Hmmm, it does not bode well.
Toni frowned. She knew the dream was God inspired and she knew when she awoke yesterday above Hyde Park, she must accept the Nelson’s job offer but she couldn’t grasp the complete connection. Not wanting to speculate, Toni was nonetheless sure God was keeping the message veiled for His purposes. Eventually, she would understand and interestingly, Merry held a significant part in His plan.
God in His perfect time reveals His mysteries. I spoke what he showed me and that is enough... for now.
Chapter 7
Toni pulled into the parking lot of Silver’s Studio. Celina’s personal assistant, Jan Holmes had given her detailed directions the evening before. It was a few minutes before 9am. Her first day on the job and Todd Nelson arranged private self-defense classes for her. Opening the folder, Toni looked at the first page of her job description and there was her itinerary for Day One through Day Five. She smiled a tight bittersweet smile as she played back her reaction from yesterday when she looked at this same page. It was then, up in the woods with her back against the boulder that she had resolutely closed the folder with the idea to turn the job down – but she fell asleep and dreamed, instead.
“Well, now,” she lipped silently, concealing the folder beneath her car seat. Toni then repositioned the rearview mirror to make sure her mascara wasn’t smudged. There were three cars in the lot and another pulled in as she entered the studio. The foyer gave off a generic impression. There were half a dozen poster-size pictures on the wall which implied a photography studio or perhaps, a travel agency.
“Mrs. Merriweather… Hello, we were expecting you.” Toni focused on the young woman behind the front counter. Eyes alert, and lips closed, she was smiling and Toni smiled back.
Toni said, “Yes – that’s me.”
The counter gal said, “Okay. Sign-in here and go through the door to your left. Dan Silver’s office is on the right. Just go on in.” Toni looked at the sign-in sheet and it was simply that; previous signatures showed arrival and departure times. There were three signatures that arrived this morning but had not signed-out, she noted.
Dan and his office effused a clean, polished manner. Toni wondered later if he endeavored to live up to his name, “Silver” or if his name was changed to fit his persona. Dan Silver was not at all stiff or cold as his appearance portrayed. In fact, after a few minutes of chit-chat, Toni felt uncommonly comfortable with him and not at all anxious about the classes.
The clock on the wall above a chrome-framed bulletin board read a quarter after nine. Toni was beginning to wonder if her “intensive” self-defense class would ever begin when Dan said, “Okay… let’s see… I’ve got the picture.” He pulled a tiny laptop towards him and opened it. “Excuse me for a minute,” he said.
Curious, Toni watched him for a moment and then she shifted her gaze to the wall behind Dan where there were several family pictures and a boxy framed certificate but Toni didn’t want to put her glasses on to read it. As he continued to scroll and tap, she looked right and examined a map of Santa Fe and the surrounding areas that took up most of the wall. Looking left, there were dozens of various sized slips of paper tacked to the bulletin board. The papers seemed to be chaotic but simultaneously organized; it wasn’t the color or size but something else that brought order to the arrangement. Toni had an urge to get up and step forward to have a better read but the tapping stopped. Pulling her eyes away, she licked her lips anxiously and smiled at Dan Silver who was looking at her intently.
“So,” said Toni. “What’s ‘the picture’?” Dan lifted an eyebrow as his phone rang. He nodded toward Toni and said into his cell phone, “Dan Silver here.” Swiveling in his chair, he turned his back to her.
Toni shrugged within herself and then, got up to inspect the bulletin board on her left. A red blur passed in front of Dan’s open office door but when Toni looked, there was empty hallway… before she could return to her inspection on the papers another figure walked in front of the doorway and then disappeared from view. He had been dressed for a workout but the heavy jacket seemed odd on a summer day and he was undersized… inches less than her 5’5” frame. Toni stepped back from the mysterious bulletin board and angled herself wanting to keep an eye on the hallway too as she began to wonder about Silver Studio’s clientele. From behind her, Dan was making sounds as if to conclude his phone call. Reluctantly, Toni turned from the board without understanding the rhyme or reason for its purpose.
Toni was stepping toward her chair when something odd caught her eye… Dan’s cell phone was on the desk but his back was turned and he was speaking into thin air. She looked first to one side of his head for an ear piece and then the other.
What kind of technology was this?
Dan turned and nodded toward her chair. “Have a seat,” he said.
Trying not to be annoyed, or at least not to appear annoyed, Toni sat down but she could see that he wasn’t talking on his phone and he probably hadn’t been for awhile. He glanced at the clock over the bulletin board, “Okay… Let’s see. You need to be paired to an instructor and I have the right one for you. Oh. By the way, you might have seen your instructor go by about 30 minutes ago.” He said and fell silent.
Toni said, “No, I don’t think so…” She looked over at the clock. It read ten o’clock. “Well, it’s later than I thought. Yes, maybe I did see him go by. A short guy with a tan jacket on?” She asked tentatively. Dan shook his head, no. “Well then it must have been someone in red… a woman, I think. I didn’t see anyone else go by…” She thought with exasperation, I had my back to the door!
Dan didn’t respond directly but said, “Hmmm… Okay. Let’s see if your instructor is in the gym.” He stood and looked at the clock again. Toni glanced at the clock before stooping to pick up her purse. She stopped in mid-motion and looked up at the clock again. Currently it read, seven minutes after ten!
How could that be?
Puzzled, she looked at Dan but his back was to her and he was heading for his office doorway. He turned back to her as she bent down again to get her purse.
“Is it me or is your clock messed up?” Toni asked him expecting no suitable answer. She was groping in her bag, planning to check the time on her cell phone. Dan stepped forward and caught her wrist gently but securely.
“Tell me, what time do you think it is?” He asked and then smiled encouragingly.
“I was going to check my phone to see but I suppose that is just what you don’t want me to do.” She said and he nodded. Apparently, this office interview was a psychological snapshot Dan used to get a read on his client, Toni decided.
“All right,” Toni sighed and he let loose of her wrist. “I guess it is actually somewhere between 9:20 and 9:25.”
Dan pulled his sleeve back revealing a watch and said, “Excellent, its 9:28. Mr. Nelson was right about you.” Stepping aside, he let her pass before him. He followed as she left his office and went right. “The last door at the end of the hallway… that’s our gym.”
The large room was overly cool. Toni guessed the temperature was kept at about 60 Fahrenheit. There were three groups of two separated by 20 feet or more. The instructors wore loose fitting uniforms in solid colors while the students were in street clothes. One middle-aged man had on a business suit minus the jacket.
Dan put his finger to his lips. He wanted Toni to remain quiet and to watch, as the next hand signal was his index finger to his eye. He pointed to a woman instructor in red. She had a small frame and she wore glasses! The student was a woman about 30 or perhaps, 35 years old, Toni guessed. She wore blue jeans and a collared button up shirt. Only the instructor was dressed for a workout. There was a pair of high-heeled sandals lying pell-mell and Toni was sure the student had kicked them off in haste, perhaps during and as part of the routi
ne. No one talked but there was a lot of grunting coming from the sparring partners.
They watched for 10 minutes. Toni was amazed at the maneuvers each woman performed. The instructor laid her student flat several times and the student seemed to give almost as much as she took. For the most part, the drills were slowed practices but there were several attempts aimed at catching each other unawares.
A bell sounded and everyone stopped. There was laughing and chatter now.
The student with the instructor in red, grabbed up the sandals before walking away as Dan Silver and Toni approached. Dan said, “This is Red. Red meet Stormy.”
“Hi, Stormy. Nice to meet you,” said the instructor as she tossed a hand towel aside to shake Toni’s hand.
Toni grinned and said, “Hello.”
“So Red, how long have you been working with the woman that just left?” asked Dan.
“Two weeks,” Red replied. Glancing towards Toni, she added, “She is a fast learner.”
Toni nodded in agreement but she thought, two weeks?!
Dan and Red talked for another few minutes while Toni tried to follow their conversation. She couldn’t. The terms and jargon were beyond her scope. Finally, Dan said, “Okay, let’s see… You have Stormy until Friday. You don’t have two weeks. I’m going now.” He looked at Toni and said, “If you need me, you know where to find me.” Dan smiled and nodded at the women before turning to leave. He went out through the same door they came in by.
As Dan was leaving Red said, “I need some water. Come on.” Toni followed Red across the gym to a counter where bottled water and a platter of fruit. were available.
“That was pretty impressive and she’s only been with you for two weeks… very impressive!” Toni told her.
The instructor’s brown eyes lit up with recognition and agreement as she drank from a bottle. Toni popped a couple of blueberries into her mouth. She noticed that Red wore no make-up. The eye glasses had no glass; they were merely frames! Toni guessed her age as 40ish – not younger but possibly older. Red’s dark hair was sprinkled with random grey strands but scarce few as to be overly noticeable.
Red spoke nodding toward the far door where her student exited. “She has a lot going for her. She is confident, young and athletic. She has a wholesome diet which undoubtedly helps when it comes to doing any intensive regimen like the one she is on. It’s sort of a boot-camp and she has another two weeks – 12 days to be precise.” They started back toward the mats. Red said, “Those are her strengths… she has plenty of weaknesses but our method hyper strengthens a student’s strong points as we work on compensating for weak or vulnerable areas.”
At the workout mats, Toni laughed – she was a bit giddy.
“Listen, with me you will find that there will be a lot of compensating to do… I am chock full of vulnerable areas!”
Red replied, “If you understand your vulnerabilities – it’s a strength.”
“Yes? That is good to know!” Toni was cheered by the statement. “And your student, if you don’t mind me asking. What are her weaknesses?”
“I thought you would never ask. In her case, her strengths are also her weakness. Rather, her confidence in her strengths is her weakness,” Red answered. “Come on – let’s stretch. We have a busy day.”
For four days, Instructor Red or “Sally” (which was not her real name) put Stormy (Toni) through the drills. Toni asked a lot of questions and got factually few answers to the reasoning behind their varied workouts. Some, like the three hour session she and Red endured on a hiking trail were obvious but numerous drills were not.
It was almost ten o’clock Friday night as Toni drove away from Silver Studios at the conclusion of her training. She had mixed emotions about the exercises but at the moment she wanted to climb into the hot tub at the big house and then into bed where she planned to sleep late the following morning at her “cozy cottage.” Merry landed a summer job as a waitress making the two of them like passing ships in the night.
As busy as she had been, Toni spent a longer time in prayer each day before she met with Red. God seemed far away while she was learning military hand to hand maneuvers, grunting, sweating and all the rest. Still, when she closed her eyes in prayer – there He was. His presence gave her the determination to follow-through on this unorthodox adventure.
Besides learning the half-Nelson, the full-Nelson and that Todd Nelson was part owner of Silver Studios, Toni was briefly instructed in psychological warfare and physiological camouflage. “Sally,” Red found Toni to be a willing and teachable student off the mat. For her part, Toni viewed the book learning and hands-on instruction Sally gave her beyond the confines of the gym, intriguing. Almost as important to Toni, the book learning was a reprieve from the physical work-outs. Toni likened it to two household chores that needed to be accomplished: Walking the dogs – they must be walked each day, compared with doing the dishes, cleaning out the frig or vacuuming her truck. Household chores were never enjoyed by Toni until after they were completed. Taking the dogs for a daily walk was the exact opposite – she thoroughly enjoyed that daily duty. So, physical exertion on the mat verses off were similar.
Toni glanced over at “the” bag. Sally referred to it with different names, including, the essential bag and even saying, “Stormy, in a real pinch, it’s your bug out bag.” Earlier in the day, after lunch, a young geeky looking man brought the pack into the conference room where Toni was being given instruction on how to close a gaping wound with super glue. He set the bag down at one end of the table and left without a word.
A few minutes later, Sally retrieved the bag and one by one she pulled out its contents. Toni wasn’t at all surprised to see super glue among the items. Red made Toni try on the few pieces of clothing found in the bag to make sure they fit including a pair of black stretchy gloves. Everything fit, and again Toni was not surprised. Silver Studios did their homework. Sally told her that every assigned bag was unique to its owner.
Putting everything back into the pack, she had Toni take each item out and put it back. This was a drill. Toni did this three times. The black bag looked like a cheap but chic backpack purse exteriorly although it was nothing of the sort. When it was completely empty there remained a water sack that held a liter of fluids and a tube for drinking much like a camelback hiking pack. The third time Toni emptied it, Sally took the bag from her and turned it partially inside out. She peeled back part of the lining which had some sort of synthetic clasp sealing it. Inside was a lot of cash. Toni’s eyebrows shot up. Now, that did surprise her. Sally told her the emergency money consisted of $5000 in one hundred dollar bills and as many fifties. “In a tight spot, hundreds always work,” she had told Toni. Nodding, Toni could only agree.
As Toni drove home, the bag lay across the passenger seat. The teachings of the last four days were packed into the bag. Most were items she had trained with – like the super glue.
In the job description, this preparation was depicted as precautionary. Although the intense sessions were behind her, Toni didn’t feel any different excepting for the fact that she sensed she was prepared for the inevitable. This line of thinking simultaneously brought comfort and anxiety.
Toni was asleep when Merry came in about midnight.
Saturday noon after an especially lazy morning, Toni drove out to the Nelson’s Santa Fe home which was not in Santa Fe at all. Their house was a solid half hour from town on the other side of Tesuque. She needed to drop off her signed contract and meet with the staff which consisted of Janice Holmes, Celina’s personal assistant who she had spoken with on the phone, the housekeeper, Glenda and her daughter Lori. There was also a houseman, Fred Storr who usually traveled before the Nelsons preparing their homes ahead of their arrival. He stayed on while the family was in residence doing upkeep and managing property repairs; sometimes he acted as a butler. Fred had left for upstate New York, the day before the Nelsons did.
Jan took Toni on a ten minute tour of the ranch. At the
back deck, she pointed out the barn, and riding ring, a guest house (there were two) and a small gazebo that stood next to the narrow river that ran through the middle of the estate. The place was an old property with the original adobe-log cabin acting as one of the guest houses and a newer, uber modern house.
Glenda and Lori were introduced and then, Jan led Toni to the kitchen table. Jan held a copy of Toni’s “marching orders.” Toni was to pick up Mishael, his cousin, Huram and also, Mishael’s personal servant – Rifta. They were arriving Sunday late afternoon at the Albuquerque airport. She could drive down in her truck and park it long term and pick up the car that Mishael arranged for them through a car rental agency. Jan gave Toni the paperwork for the car and the flight itinerary.
Initially, Toni would drive. Mishael had never driven in the States.
Jan said, “And, Rifta has never been in the U.S. Give him some time of adjustment before turning the wheel over to him… And cousin Huram? My take on him is that he is a bit of a snob. He probably expects to be chauffeured about and that’s what you and Rifta will do.”
The short-term plan was to spend a few days at the ranch and then head for the beach. Toni was grateful that Mishael picked the Atlantic Ocean rather than the chilly Pacific… She thoroughly despised cold water.
Busy with her emergency training, Toni hadn’t made time to search online or at a book store, for a surfing basics manual. Vance taught her a lot but the application was nonexistent as she had never succeeded in standing and staying up on the board. Oddly, after recently learning a tad-bit about psychological warfare Toni decided she knew sufficient surf-lore to get Mishael up on the board, surfing a “decent” wave as Vance might have said. Her weakness was her age but in this case it would be her strength…
Cynic, Surfer, Saint (Scenic Route to Paradise #1) Page 5