Behind The Curve-The Farm | Book 3 | The Farm

by Craven III, Boyd

  “Won’t we eat the small ones too?” Harry asked.

  “I think we should start fishing for the medium sized ones for a while,” Rob told his son. “I’m not an expert on this, but I think too many little ones would choke out growth in the pond with new food. The big ones can keep the littlest ones in check.”

  “How?” Harry asked.

  Rob considered that. “They like catfish and hush puppies too!”

  “Ewwwwww!”

  Governor Christian was not having a good day. The news of what he’d done had barely made it out. He and his assistant had emailed everybody they could in the media. The story had gone out, but it’d fallen like a lead balloon. Nobody covered it for more than thirty seconds.

  “Governor shoots government agent who threatened his family’s lives and safety.”

  Even the conservative news media mega channel only gave it ten seconds, mostly on the chyron on the bottom of the screen. The pandemic and widespread riots across the country overwhelmed everything else.

  “Sir,” Christian’s reverie was interrupted by his assistant’s intercom, “we have a pair of FBI agents here to interview you.”

  “Where are the state police?” he snapped back.

  “I can’t reach any of them. There are also US Marshals parked in the front.”

  “Thank you, Brenda. Let them in,” Governor Christian said into the intercom, then sat.

  He was looking for the light on his more obvious camera to turn on, and it did as the two agents stepped inside the office. His assistant was recording this from the other room. They had planned for this eventuality. The governor was slightly amused that the farm that had started all this turmoil in his state would be the inspiration he’d needed to protect himself. The cameras that Dr. Mallory and the farm had employed to great success had kept any charges from being leveled against them.

  The agents walked to him and noted him sitting behind his desk, his hands out of sight. They were uncomfortable with that. One stepped to the desk, his hand extended.

  “No thank you,” Governor Christian said. “Gentlemen, please sit.”

  They shared a look, and then both sat. “I’m Special Agent Black, this is Special Agent White.”

  Governor Christian fought down the sudden urge to laugh out loud. He’d heard the same line in one of his favorite Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith movies. It’d sounded fake then, and it sounded fake now.

  “Gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

  “We’re here to get your version of the facts on the events that led up to General Rodgers’ death,” Agent Black told him calmly.

  “I’m sure you’ve seen the footage,” Governor Christian told him.

  “We’ve seen edited video, not the raw footage. We do believe context was cut out of it. Until we do, we’re asking for your version of events.”

  “Well, my version is the only one available, isn’t it? Besides, if this is a formal interview, then there is an investigation. If there’s an investigation, you believe it’s a criminal matter. I’d like to contact the state's attorney, as well as my personal attorney before we continue.”

  “It’s not that much of a formal interview,” Agent White told him. “Do you have copies of the raw video?”

  “I do, and I’ve sent it, raw and unedited, to many hundreds of people, even put it up as a torrent on the pirate bay.”

  “People don’t believe what they were looking at was authentic,” Agent Black said simply.

  “Many of the people who downloaded that video ended up with viruses that wiped out their hard drives. People are angry,” Agent White added.

  “How about this then?” Governor Christian said, his hand coming out from under the desk.

  Both agents flinched, but in his hand was a remote. He turned the TV on behind them. It blasted static for a moment, and then he hit play. The Blu-ray zoomed up to speed, and then the raw unedited video footage started playing. The agents turned to watch the video footage and the governor turned up the volume. Dropping the remote on the desk, he put his hands back underneath.

  He peeled the backing off the double-sided tape, and affixed it to the top of an identical disk. Sliding his pen drawer forward a few inches, he was able to attach it to the bottom of his desk without the agents noticing, and move the drawer back into place. Open or closed, the disk was now out of sight. On the right side of his desk, affixed to a magnetic holder, was the governor's backup pistol, an old Beretta 92F. It was ready to rock and roll. He studied the agents as they watched the video, taking notes in small notebooks they had kept in their jacket pockets.

  Wondering if these two were real agents, he watched them watch him gun down General Rodgers after he made specific threats to the governor, and implicated himself in an assassination against a sitting elected sheriff. When it was done, they grunted and turned back to him.

  “So, you claim this is the unedited footage?” agent Black asked.

  “It is, you even heard the conversation with my assistant before I turned off the video.”

  “We of course will need copies of that,” Agent White told him.

  “Go ahead, that blue ray disk was burned from the raw footage we took.”

  “And the raw footage, it’s on a local computer here?” agent White’s question came with a smirk.

  Governor Christian matched it. “Yes, and it’s also been uploaded to the cloud.”

  “That’s the thing. Computers, viruses, untrustworthy people. Apparently when we tried to find the raw footage through a subpoena, it appears that hackers, or maybe somebody inside the office here, had made the files unrecoverable. We were unable to get any of the files you claim to have. Raw and unedited.”

  “My assistant can help you with that. She’s quite computer savvy,” Governor Christian said, his sneer fading as he realized what they were saying.

  “I’m sure she can; as we speak, US Marshals and agents with our cyber crimes division are arresting her, and seizing the equipment. I’m surprised that our ruse of talking to you kept you from noticing that your cameras are no longer recording.”

  The governor looked for the light on his camera in the bookshelf. It was now dark. A bead of sweat rolled down his face.

  “I was recording and broadcasting this live to social media,” he told them simply. “How is that for raw footage?”

  “We’ve already been in contact with them. Any live video feed from the governor’s office would be made private and taken offline. You know they have been feeding our intelligence agencies information for years now, right?” Agent Black’s tone was condescending.

  “Yeah, who would have thought the CIA’s little investment in a startup social media company would pay off so well. It did though, and they work for us. They always have.” Agent White was matter of fact in his delivery.

  “You can’t do this. I have other cameras recording to an offside cloud and DVR. You can’t possibly—”

  “Can, have, and did,” Agent Black interrupted. “Your brother in law’s garage server was removed three hours ago.”

  The dawning realization that he was about to disappear and never to be heard from again came across Governor Christian in a rush.

  “The Lt. Governor will never stand for this. He’ll raise so much noise that—”

  “He also works for us,” Agent White informed him, “or at least, we own him.”

  “Tell me something,” Governor Christian said, “are you two even FBI agents?”

  Both agents looked at each other and shrugged. Chuckling, Agent Black asked, “Does it even matter?”

  Both had started drawing pistols from their shoulder holsters. Governor Christian started firing, even as he was pushing himself back from the desk, falling backwards.

  “What happened?” Brenda asked, as the capital building became a hive of activity as two men were taken out on stretchers, red bloodstains on their white shirts.

  She recognized them as the supposed agents who had gone in to question the governor.
What she hadn’t recognized was the formless shape in the black body bag that came out on a third stretcher.

  “Apparently your boss killed himself when confronted with his crimes,” the Marshall told her simply.

  “How would you know that? You haven’t been in touch with them.”

  She had paid attention to him as she had been ‘arrested’. He hadn’t been wearing an earwig, and his radio hadn’t mentioned anything other than cleanup.

  “Oh, charges of child pornography, cyber crimes, felony murder and weapons charges were all on the table. You’re going to be facing much of the same, as well as accessory to murder charges.”

  “I… you… this…”

  “Or you can just shut up,” he told her simply.

  If her hands weren’t cuffed behind her back, Brenda would have made the sign of the cross. She prayed for herself, and for the governor, who had taken her in as first his personal aide and assistant, and as family. She worried what the governor’s family would think, say.

  “Cat’s got your tongue? Good. You’re going to need that, or you’ll be in for one rough ride.”

  Nine

  The market was busier than normal. The members of the farm were mostly present to act as security and to watch for trouble. Eggs had sold out, and Eva, who had the milk cow, was almost sold out as well. Leah and Dante were helping her transport her raw milk to market, and trading it for eggs and milk. She and her granddaughter were now eating good again. Rumors that the local grocery stores were closing had been broadcast far and wide. No shipments of food were coming, the rumors stated.

  Then, the night before, the TV had started playing a commercial on every channel. The pandemic was getting worse, and people were being asked to check in with their local FEMA coordinators. They had food and medicine, and the safe zones would be the first place the vaccines would be handed out. The big drug companies had had breakthroughs, and the president’s plan of fast tracking the approval process had worked. But go, go little people. To the FEMA safe zones. They had food, medicine and… It was laughable at first, but soon everyone at the farm, each in their own residences, turned off the TVs in disgust.

  Which was how they found the market so full. Everybody there was commenting on the rumors and the bizarre commercials. The only thing they didn’t interrupt were the presidential debates. With the election coming a month and a half away, the propaganda machines on both parties' sides had been pumping out information that nearly drowned out the mass riots and civil unrest.

  “Did you hear that the governor committed suicide last night?” Angelica asked Rob, as they stood near the front gate.

  “No, I didn’t. It wasn’t on the news, was it?” he asked her.

  “I guess it came on later. Ella May told me about it. Something about the FBI trying to arrest him on child porn charges and cyber crimes?”

  “That’s crazy,” Rob muttered.

  “I know, I also heard that he shot a government FEMA guy, and released the raw video. When I went looking for it this morning, I couldn’t find it, even with Harry looking. He said he found something that said it was a hoax and would load your phone and computer up with viruses.”

  “I betcha they hacked the governor’s devices,” Kerry told them.

  They’d drifted near her table at the entrance where she and LeBaron were vetting new members. It was a small community, so they were able to do things quickly.

  “It’s crazy,” Rob told her. “If they can do something like that? I mean, the news is full of the presidential crap and the riots. You would think if the governor killed a man it would be prime time news.”

  “I never heard of it, if he did,” one of the members said, paying his dollar to get in.

  “I saw it on the news, while late night news was on. It flashed by on the bottom of the screen,” Kerry told them.

  “The world has gone nuts.” Angel said by way of agreement.

  Luis had elected to work on the new greenhouse and was being helped by Curt, Harry, and Goldie. The plan had been to stretch plastic and get the plumbing installed in the buckets. Before sunup, Rob had seen that Luis and Goldie were already out there, putting buckets down on the pad the ladies had scraped clean.

  “Ranger, heel on me,” Anna told the shepherd.

  Ranger came to her side, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. He liked working with the lady with the colors all over her arms.

  “I sort of forget who the dogs belong to sometimes,” Steven told her, giving the pup a nod.

  “I know. He’s Rob’s battle buddy from the war, but he’s been in the shit with me too.” Anna pet him on top of his head, making the pup lean into the loving.

  “I know. I just wish…” Steven’s words drifted off.

  He was dressed in what Rob and Anna would call his heavy loadout. He had everything on, strapped, and had backups in his vest and pockets. He hadn’t been pulling a lot of security work and wanted to make sure he was a known quantity.

  “I know, but it happened, and it turned out ok. I’m ok. What Rob did, it helped. He was right; you can’t control the dreams, but you can control everything else.”

  “I know,” Steven said, leaning in to hug Anna, both of them creaking and clinking as their equipment made noise.

  “Once I get home from the farm and feed, you and I are going to—”

  “Oh yeah, about that… Rob parked his truck outside the fence before everyone set up. I think Angel and him are going to make the run. Actually, I know they are. Goldie is going to watch Harry, so that means you and I…” he whispered his plans in her ear.

  She grinned, rubbing the goosebumps on her arms into submission, nodding. “You better not be joking,” she teased.

  Andrea was working at the market stall. The eggs had sold fast. They knew they were already getting a premium price for eggs, but the entrepreneur in her wondered what the eggs' actual worth was right now, in a world where food was hard to find. Then she mentally shrugged the thought away. None of them were poor, and the money from the eggs probably amounted to four or five hundred dollars a week. When they grew their own feed and hatched out their own replacements, their costs were very little. The community needed this more than they did. She was only too happy to help.

  Her leg was sore, but it was mostly from the strengthening. It had atrophied a bit from being in the cast for so long. Her new freedom of movement now allowed her to use her muscles properly and she was careful not to overdo it, but wanted to do a little extra, to push the limits and reduce her recovery time. She was a doctor and thought she knew what she was doing.

  “Deputy Daniels,” she greeted Kerry’s new boyfriend as he walked up. “How is the policing business?”

  “Pretty good. Lord, I thought the fallout from those Homeland and USDA goons was going to be ugly, but all I got was a verbal warning. So that makes me one of the happiest state policemen ever.”

  “See, when you put up a united front, the bureaucrats have to decide if they want to take on all of you at once. If you had only stood as individuals, they’d have knocked you over like dominos. One by one, until you all fell.”

  “That’s true. I was surprised to see the sheriff’s department show up like they did. I hear they didn’t get off as easy as we did. They suspended a few guys.”

  “Is it because of the new sheriff?” Andrea asked him.

  Daniels nodded. “I hear he’s a real political animal. It surprised me that he wasn’t interested in running for the spot permanently. I guess he’s got his eyes on a bigger seat somewhere.”

  “That’s probably true. I hear he was appointed by the governor as some sort of favor to somebody else. By the way, did you hear about him?”

  “The governor? No? What happened?”

  “There’s rumors going around that he killed himself. Something to do with child porn, and he killed somebody?”

  “No way,” Daniels stated flatly. “I know Governor Christian. There is no way he was into kiddies.”


  “Just repeating what I heard, sorry. I just worry, because the sheriff dies mysteriously, and your guys come here to question Leah - and now the governor who appoints him commits suicide.”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t think he’d kill himself either. He was a Catholic. When I say I know him, I mean we went to Catholic school together from kindergarten through middle school. There is just no way, the rumors have to be wrong.”

  “Do you think he’d kill somebody? That’s the other rumor I heard. That he committed suicide because of stuff on his computer and killing some government agent guy.”

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to find out,” Daniels told her.

  Dante and Leah snuck away. Leah had been feeling crampy, and he wanted to get an ultrasound done. Leah had gone along with it to humor him. She wasn’t as old as her husband, but he was making her feel ancient with how he had been babying her. Telling her the pregnancy was high risk because of her age and…

  “There,” Dante said.

  The electronic feedback from the machine settled and they could not only see their little one inside of Leah’s body, they could hear the heartbeat. Dante moved the wand to the right, smearing more goo on her abdomen for a clearer picture.

  “Wait a minute,” Dante said, hitting a button, then moving the wand back faster than Leah could follow the screen.

  “What is it? You sounded worried?”

  “This isn’t… I don’t…” The printer started spitting out an image, then he moved the probe again, hitting the button.

  “What’s going on, don’t make me get off this damn table and do it myself!” Leah was spitting mad.

  “I uh… sit back,” he said pushing her gently back into the bed.

  “What is--”

  “Look,” he said, moving the probe half an inch. “This is our baby.” His voice had gone very soft.