by Cole Reid
“How was that supposed to work?” asked Alan.
“I don’t know,” said Diane, “I don’t know anything about electronic locks. They only taught us about pin-and-tumbler locks.”
“Maybe it was the oxygen that got to you,” said Alan.
“So what was the answer?” asked Tanis.
“We don’t know,” said Hagan, “They didn’t tell us. I don’t know if escapology was part of the exercise or if it was team work or working together in a tight space under pressure or something like that.”
“I doubt there was an answer,” said Georgia.
“So do I,” said Yvette.
“We’re speaking about pin-and-tumbler locks,” said Alan, “I’d have to say that was my favorite part of the forty weeks.”
“Why?” asked Hagan.
“It was the most practical,” said Alan, “C’mon, I mean stuck in a steel box with an electronic lock with Diane. That sounds more like the plot of a pornographic film than reality.”
“In which case,” said Bryan, “Maybe I should have been a pornographer.”
“Please,” said Tanis, “Hard or flaccid you’d never be ready for your close up.”
“Damn,” said Alan, “She’s back. But for real, most locks aren’t electronic which means that in the field you’re probably gonna have to pick a regular pin-and-tumbler lock, if you have to pick anything at all. If you do have to go through some sophisticated electronic lock, well you’re gonna know about it beforehand and you’re not gonna have thirty minutes while you’re losing air. That’s not a real-world scenario.”
“He’s right,” said Georgia, “Of course we have to realize that pretty much everything we did the past forty some-odd weeks was psychological training. Even the physical part.”
“What makes you say that, Gigi?” asked Diane.
“The old adage practice how you play,” said Georgia, “Alan’s right. The scenario of being trapped in a box is more James Bond. Even then it would only apply if Bond did something wrong. If he were caught by Auric Goldfinger, only then would he be locked in a box with decreasing air supply. But our training has been to avoid such situations. They’ve been teaching us to think in a certain way. In which case, I think the two of you passed.”
“How?” asked Diane.
“You stayed together,” said Georgia, “You didn’t turn on each other. And you divided your resources to work on different solutions. You worked on the lock. Hagan tried to get a supply of air.”
“If either one had worked,” said Tanis, “You’d be better off.”
“I liked the trust roles,” said Yvette.
“Why?” asked Tanis.
“Because I think that’s what we’re doing,” said Yvette, “Our country is putting us in operation to do what we can on behalf of it. There’s a lot of trust going both ways. Plus, out in the field you’re going to have to make a quick decision to trust someone.”
“Did you like the polygraph exercises, as well?” asked Bryan, “That part was also part of the trust roles.”
“Yeah,” said Yvette, “But were those actors or what?”
“I think they were trainees from the Navy otherwise Camp Peary,” said Alan.
“They couldn’t have been from Camp Peary,” said Bryan.
“Why not?” asked Yvette.
“They wouldn’t have taken the risk that we’d recognize them,” said Bryan, “We did entry training at Peary.”
“But that was going back over a year now,” said Diane.
“We don’t know where they were from,” said Alan, “But for sure they weren’t actors. There’s no way the Agency would let plain actors onto The Point.”
“They already have,” said Tanis, “Look at all of us.”
“Oh,” said Alan.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” said Bryan, “She’ll be here all week.”
“Speaking of all night,” said Diane, “Where’s country boy and my salt.”
“Knowing him, he probably wants you to come find him,” said Yvette.
“Yeah,” said Alan, “He’s probably waiting in the next room under a mountain of salt waiting for you to come lick it all off.”
“That’s gross,” said Diane.
“That’s exactly why he would do it,” said Alan.
“True,” said Bryan, “True.” The motel room door opened.
“I’m trying to get drunk,” said Patrick, “And I’ve got a feeling I’m not the only one.” Patrick tossed a handful of salt packets onto the bed with Diane.
“You’re welcome Darlin’,” said Patrick.
“Where did you get these?” asked Diane.
“From the lady at the front desk,” said Patrick, “My neighbor Martha.”
“Your neighbor?” said Diane, “No one wants to live next to you.”
“Indeed,” said Patrick, kneeling in front of Diane’s face, “Why live next to me when you can live with me.” Diane pushed Patrick’s face back.
“Halitosis,” said Diane, “Good fences make good neighbors. Bad breath, well you can figure out the rest.”
“That’s nothing a little tequila won’t solve,” said Patrick, “Stuff’s like Listerine.”
“Taste’s like it too,” said Tanis.
“If you don’t like,” said Diane, “That’s more for me.”
“Enjoy,” said Tanis.
“And now you have salt,” said Patrick.
“Thanks to you my dear husband,” said Diane.
“Moving up the ladder, Big Man,” said Alan.
“Yeah,” said Hagan, “You were an asshole last hour. Now you’re Mr. Diane Connor.”
“Wait,” said Patrick, “When did we agree to me changing my name?”
“One night,” said Diane, “You were drunk. You don’t remember.”
“Sounds like truth to me,” said Patrick, “Alan can I get some of that J&B?”
“Sure,” said Alan, “What did you buy?”
“Wild Turkey,” said Patrick.
“Wow,” said Alan, “Bama Boy’s a bourbon boy.”
“All my life,” said Patrick.
“What do you think? You’re like Hunter S. Thompson?” said Alan.
“Yeah,” said Hagan, “Isn’t he from Bama as well?” Alan shook his head.
“Kentucky,” said Alan.
“Close enough,” said Hagan.
“Goddam Nor’easter boys,” said Patrick, “You guys think the South is all the same.”
“Isn’t it?” said Bryan.
“Another Nor’easter,” said Patrick, “Fuck, I’ll have to hide in my watering hole.” Patrick walked toward the bathroom. He came back in to the main room with a paper Dixie cup filled with Coke and bourbon. Patrick kicked his shoes off and sat on the boys’ bed next to Alan who was still seated in his chair.
“Wait,” said Diane, “Doesn’t Mr. Diane Connor think he should get me a cup while he’s up?”
“He’s no longer up,” said Patrick. Alan leaned in and whispered into Patrick’s ear. Patrick got up and went to the bathroom.
“What was that?” asked Diane.
“I told him he’s the one of us who’s got the best chance of getting any tonight so he needs to act the part,” said Alan. Diane started laughing. So did Tanis. Yvette laughed as much as she could.
“Why you gotta spoil it?” said Patrick, coming back into the main room with a paper cup. Patrick walked over and handed the cup to Diane.
“For you my dear,” said Patrick.
“Thanks, Hon,” said Diane.
“You bet,” said Patrick. She poured a little margarita mix on her finger and skimmed it along the lid of her paper cup. She poured salt in her hand and rotated the cup in her hand, grinding in the salt. She set the cup down on the nightstand and let pour a little margarita mix. She flushed it with tequila and took a sip.
“Tastes like forty weeks worth of life,” said Diane.
“There you go,” said Patrick
“Patrick,” said Bryan, “While
you were gone we were talking about what we liked most about training. What’s your pick?”
“I liked evidence gathering and source recruiting,” said Patrick, “But I’m leaning toward source recruiting.”
“Why?” asked Diane.
“I’m the kinda guy who likes to feel like I’m moving forward,” said Patrick.
“Are you talking about moving forward with Diane?” said Tanis.
“Can I finish?” said Patrick. Tanis nodded her head.
“When you’re collecting evidence or approaching a new source I feel like that’s my job,” said Patrick.
“It’s all your job,” said Diane.
“Yeah,” said Patrick, “But writing intel assessment reports, I understand the reason behind it. But I just wanna have my feet on the ground and not my butt in a chair.”
“There’s no way to know what we’ll have to do,” said Hagan, “We’ll have to do what we’ll have to do.”
“We are all in the capable hands of Director Witt,” said Alan.
“Capable indeed,” said Diane.
“We will never see each other again,” said Yvette, “Tonight is it.”
“Don’t say that,” said Georgia.
“It is true though,” said Yvette.
“Between you and the booze we’re all going to get severely depressed,” said Bryan.
“Haven’t had enough booze yet for that,” said Patrick.
“Anyone got any jokes?” asked Hagan.
“No jokes,” said Diane.
“How about this,” said Bryan, “How about we talk a little about ourselves? We don’t know about each other. We’ve been through a lot. I mean we’re the reboot program, right? So Project Full House may continue after us or it may not. They scrapped the Peer Program and brought it back with us. That should mean something.”
“I don’t wanna talk about myself,” said Hagan.
“Neither do I,” said Diane, “I’d rather hear jokes than some life story.”
“Why?” asked Bryan.
“I’m fine with everyone here the way I know them,” said Diane, “You could be some sort of demon baby, in and out of juvie, and I’d say that you all turned out alright.”
“I’ll bet Gigi was a demon baby,” said Patrick, “Weren’t you.” Georgia pointed both her index fingers and razed them to her temples to resemble horns.
“Beelzebub has a devil set aside for me,” said Georgia.
“For me,” said Tanis.
“For me,” said Yvette. Alan put down his second cup of J&B Coke to play air guitar while sounding out the chorus to Bohemian Rhapsody. Patrick and Bryan joined in. The girls laughed at the boys as they played air guitar. Hagan just watched.
“Hagan,” said Diane, “You don’t play air guitar.”
“Leave him alone,” said Tanis, “He’s just a poor boy and nobody loves him.” Georgia started laughing. She started the Queen reference in the first place.
“I actually don’t know the song,” said Hagan.
“What?” said Tanis, “You been livin’ under a rock or what?”
“No,” said Hagan, “I’ve been in training with you all.”
“Yeah but that song came out, what? Two years ago?” said Tanis.
“Last year,” said Georgia.
“It’s been so popular for so long it’s hard to tell,” said Tanis.
“It is,” said Georgia. Yvette took the liberty of starting from the beginning of the song. The song was known by everyone in the group. Even Hagan, who claimed not to know the song, knew a few lines. The atmosphere took a more cohesive but less structured color. Tanis moved around the corner of the bed to face Patrick who was sitting on the boys’ bed and Alan who was sitting on a chair in the corner. Hagan pulled a second chair to sit in front of the dresser, while Bryan sat on the dresser itself. The Peers continued to drink and share each other’s company. They drank till their paper cups turned soggy. They replaced the soggy cups with fresh ones and continued drinking. They shared stories about their training, not about common experiences but different ones. They all fell on the conclusion that the individual exercises were tailored to fit their individual assignments, although they committed no intelligence breaches. They said nothing about their individual assignments. Perhaps it was their training at work but the alcohol made them more talkative only about non-censored topics. They revealed nothing they weren’t supposed to. Perhaps it was one of the Director’s training exercises. Even though Project Full House was a preliminary program, Director Witt wouldn’t be worthy of his position if he didn’t guess his selected group would celebrate their graduation. They did. But a noticeable change came in the middle. There was a subtle decline in their celebration, marked by Twilight.
Chapter Three Marked by Twilight
It was the same with all human celebrations. They talked. They didn’t sit looking at the clock. But they could feel the time passing. It wasn’t just the effect of the alcohol. Their energies began to wear, even though they were all young. At sometime after midnight, Diane asked for the key to the next room. Bryan had the key in his pocket.
“You going to bed?” asked Bryan.
“Something like that,” said Diane, “Dear husband, won’t you come and tuck me in.” Patrick took time to realize husband meant him. He finished his last few sips of his Olympia beer and followed Diane out the door.
Yvette was now resting on Georgia’s lap, trying not to sleep. Tanis sat against the bed with her arms folded around her knees, tucking her head between her knees. At first, she wasn’t asleep; she just kept her eyes closed as she listened. Tanis, always full of industry, burned a lot of energy like the factory she was. But she was spent. She fell asleep. Her snoring made it obvious. Georgia had the key to the third room, the girls’ room. Georgia patted Yvette’s head and stroked her hair.
“Time to get some sleep, Honey Bun,” said Georgia. Yvette’s eyes opened.
“Ok,” said Yvette. Yvette sat up under her own steam and stood up. She helped Georgia to her feet and Georgia lied down on the bed, bringing her head within inches of Tanis’. She whispered into Tanis’ ear. Tanis slowly raised her head.
“Now?” said Tanis.
“Yeah,” said Georgia, “We’ve gotta be ready for appointments tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” said Tanis, “I guess the Soviets aren’t gonna wait for us.”
“No they won’t,” said Georgia. Georgia helped Tanis to her feet then moved toward Bryan and gave him a hug. Hagan stood up and hugged Georgia while Alan waited his turn. While Alan hugged Georgia, Yvette and Tanis followed behind Georgia hugging Bryan, Hagan and Alan. The girls said their goodbyes. So did the boys. They let a mutual wish hang in the air, that they would see each other again.
The girls walked to their room down the hall. Unlike the room the boys were sleeping in, their room was undisturbed. Their room was a twin. Tanis had one bed to herself and Yvette and Georgia shared the other.
“Drink some water before you go to bed ladies,” said Tanis, “Avoid the hang over.”
“Good call,” said Yvette. All drinks were down the hall in the boys’ room. The girls drank from the tap. They brushed their teeth together in a silent ritual. It was instinct. They had different assignments in different places but they had the next few hours together. And that was how they saw it. Even with the lights turned out they talked in the dark for an extra hour. It was one less hour of sleep. That didn’t mean it wasn’t well spent.
The morning wasn’t tearful. Everyone was too dehydrated for tears. Georgia was up before the rest. She drank less, much less. She didn’t experience the subtle then solid aftershock of having drunk too much the night before. Her head felt a little unstable because of lack of sleep. Yvette was still motionless except for the up and down of her near silent breathing. Georgia tapped her shoulder gently at first. Georgia tapped harder until Yvette stirred.
“Coffee?” said Georgia.
“Yeah,” said Yvette. Georgia went to the other bed and kn
eeled next to the bed where Tanis was sleeping.
“Tan,” said Georgia, “Coffee?” Georgia waited.
“Coffee,” said Tanis, “Ok.” Georgia left Tanis and Yvette who were still lying under covers. She made her way out the door as quietly as she could and walked all the way to the front of the row of motel rooms. The office was just around the corner and the door was open. There was a late middle-aged woman behind the desk.