by Linda Mackay
Todd shook his head as Mac directed the soldiers. “Notice he didn’t say retired?”
“I believe we’re all entitled to a briefing before we retire this evening,” Ed said.
Amanda flicked the band on her slingshot. “I’ll be the encouragement to talk.”
“I’m kind of missing the Piranha.” I whispered to myself.
“Did you just say you miss, Liz?” Todd asked.
“Not a chance. You need to clean the wax out of your ears.” I jumped off the steps, climbed on the four-wheeler, and headed to the Bat Cave. It was time to talk to Gramps.
In the few minutes it took to ride to the root cellar I worked on centering my thoughts with the natural world. Gramps watched as I rode up and turned off the noisy machine.
“You chose wisely, granddaughter.”
Stepping off the machine, I walked over and hugged my mother’s father. The energy emanating from him was stronger than any force I’d felt in my life. He held me away from him and smiled. “I’ve been preparing for this time for decades.”
“You knew?”
“When I was a boy, my father took me to the mountains for a journey he told me would prepare me for my life’s mission. While we sat by a small hidden lake in the Lewis Range near Apikuni Mountain, he spoke of many things past and to come.” Gramps took my hand and we walked to the edge of the hillside and he looked at the river below. “The waters flow to their destiny.”
He didn’t continue, and I was afraid to interrupt his musing. Finally, squeezing my hand, I felt him directing me to speak. “This time is our destiny?”
“Humans are so impatient. Rushing to what they believe is their destiny; they never complete their true journey. I am over 90 years old and my destiny is now.”
“Did great-grandfather tell you your journey would be long?”
“He told me to not use up my gifts before they were needed?”
“We can use up our gifts?”
“No my impatient granddaughter. You can use up your life.”
He picked up a rock, put it in my hand and closed my fingers over it. “When did this rock begin its journey to you? A thousand years ago, ten thousand, or maybe even hundreds of thousands of years ago? It is not part of your journey to know anything about its journey, until this moment.”
Gramps opened my hand and in it was a smooth, ugly, gray rock. Yet, something compelled me to believe, “It’s beautiful.”
“Your journeys are now forever entwined.”
Letting the energy of the rock and my grandfather flow through me, a thought hit me. “Why are you in the root cellar?”
What can only be described as an honest to goodness twinkle lit Gramps’ eyes. “I’m making a safe haven for the dogs and kitties when the cow pies hit the fan.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “And you plan to stay there with them so they won’t be afraid?”
“Obviously, I’ll be fulfilling my destiny.”
“You went from shaman to shyster pretty fast, Gramps.”
“At my age, I figured it was time to take destiny by the horns and yank it around.”
“I think Mac has been doing some yanking also.”
“Marjorie Clark, we’d all be dead or in jail if it wasn’t for Mac and that sweet lady spy.” Good grief, the piranha had Gramps enthralled too.
“I may still end up in jail.”
“Mac won’t let that happen,” Gramps seemed convinced, even if I wasn’t.
“I killed the President’s aide.”
“With your Recurve?” Gramps asked.
“Yes.”
Gramps doubled over laughing. “Whatever happens, I’m now ready to die.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because, it’s the twenty-first century and a Blackfoot just killed a US government agent with a bow and arrow.”
We both laughed till our sides hurt.
After Mac was satisfied Camp Ellis was secure, the off-duty soldiers ate in the bunkhouse. The rest of us had Frank’s secret-recipe chili at the main house. Tomorrow, Frank planned to butcher a cow so we had fresh meat for our new arrivals. They had arrived with a truckload of military food supplies; obviously they planned to stay the winter. But transporting steaks to an outpost wasn’t in the army handbook. Frank however, intended to keep his troops well fed and warm, which meant we’d all be out cutting more wood in the morning.
As soon as the dishes were cleaned up I excused myself for the night and went to my cabin to be alone. Alone, had taken on a new meaning, as Captain Ford was now my shadow.
“If it gets to warm out here, Captain Ford, you can close the damper.” I banked the wood stove early, since I was exhausted and ready to crawl in bed with Nuk and Spit at my feet, and my down comforter pulled over my head.
Captain Ford checked the view out each window before securing the curtains so no one could look in. “Please, call me Bernie, Dr. Clark.”
“Only if you call me Jorie.” She nodded in agreement sitting down on the couch that would serve as her bed until Mac called off the hounds. “May I ask you a question?” I cautiously asked.
“Sure. But I can’t guarantee I’ll answer it,” she smiled.
“How do you know you’re serving on the side of truth instead of the so-called-coup?”
“That’s easy. I’ve worked with Mac and Liz over ten years.”
“That still didn’t answer why you believe they are the ones working for America.”
Bernie stared at me so long it began to feel like a game of who-blinks-first.
She blinked. “I’m the one who stole the evidence.”
Chapter 30
Captain Ford didn’t reach for a firearm, so my instincts told me she wasn’t working for President Holmes. Instead, I smelled a rat. A rat named Mac.
“You called them Mac and Liz.” I challenged her.
“We all work at the DIA.”
“Then why the military rank talk?” I asked.
“Officially, this is a military operation.”
Turning my back on the Captain I accepted my ‘early to bed’ wish was no longer in the cards. “Want some coffee?”
“Only if it’s decaf.”
I searched the cabinet for decaf and turned on the machine.
“May I ask you a question?” Bernie asked.
“Sure. But I can’t guarantee I’ll answer it.” I gave her my best piranha look, but she wasn’t intimidated. Yep, she worked with Liz.
“Why haven’t you asked about my revelation?”
“I assume you were informed I’m above average intelligence?”
“Your IQ and resume would more than support that statement.”
“Since you felt the need to ask your question, I’ll assume you’re more of an order-follower than an intellectual.” Ouch! Even my socially inept brain knew that was harsh. Yet, I couldn’t muster an ounce of remorse since Captain Ford had participated in what I now accepted was a plan to flush out the assassins. A plan not only kept secret from me, but one that included putting my team back in harms way.
“That may be true, Dr. Clark, but hopefully following those orders will keep you alive.”
“And everyone else in this country, Captain Ford.” I walked into my bedroom and closed the door behind me.
We were back to titles and I no longer felt like sharing coffee with her.
I miss the piranha.
“What the hell?” Mac yelled from inside the front door of his cabin. We heard him run to the back door, and then bang on the windows. “Let me out, or I’m going to start shooting.”
“Don’t be such a weeny,” Todd yelled, bundled up against the morning chill.
Mac stuck his face in the window. “How the hell did you do this without me hearing you?”
I sipped my coffee from the comfort of a chair in the front yard of his cabin. “The hard part was sneaking Tata out of the main house. Lieutenant Finnegan and Sargent Hadley are to be commended. However, Captain Ford slept through the who
le thing, I’d put her on KP if I was boss.”
“I’d make her muck out the horse barn,” Todd said.
“Amanda, stop filming this!” Mac yelled watching Amanda holding her phone up, standing behind my chair.
“You screwed us over,” she said.
“What are you three talking about?”
The bum had no clue someone ratted him out.
“Let’s go. It’s cold,” I said.
Tata and I picked up our chairs and put them back on the front porch of Mac’s cabin. Mac had moved to the window next to the front door thinking we were going to let him out.
“See you later,” Amanda waved.
Todd blew a kiss through the window. “Sucks to be you, dude.”
I put my nose against the windowpane. “Let’s see you plot your way out of this one.” I walked down the steps and climbed on the back of Todd’s four-wheeler. “What’s he doing?”
“Staring at us. And not the good kind, but the I want to drill a hole in your nasal cavity, put a rope through it, and then hang you from a tree kind of stare.”
Holding on to Todd as we rode back to Frank’s house, I thought about the numerous old bear-bars we’d put over the windows and doors. They wouldn’t meet any kind of building code by today’s standards, since Mac had no egress because we’d secured the building from the outside. These cabins originally were empty all winter, and had been broken into or damaged by bears, moose and bison repeatedly. Frank had designed the slide in wooden bars with fasteners that neither man nor bear could open easily. Once the slats were in—like cross beams on a jail cell-you screwed them into the wall of the cabin so they couldn’t slide out. Working with stealth to prevent being discovered, we used hand screwdrivers instead of drills, to secure them in the old pre-drilled holes. It was worth every blister.
Once we’d accomplished our goal, we’d enlisted Dad, Frank and Gramps to convince the soldiers to go along with the prank. It was easy once Cowboy Frank told them if they interfered they’d eat military rations all winter instead of steak and real mashed potatoes.
Todd and Amanda parked the wheelers and we entered the house to the scents of bacon and cinnamon rolls.
“Smells, oh so good,” Todd said.
“Bacon only for me,” Amanda said, “I’m watching my weight.”
“Me too,” Todd said.
“Are you making fun of me?” Amanda gave Todd a raised eyebrow.
“No way. I’m just saying I’m watching your weight too. Watching it on your hips, your butt and even your boobs are getting fat.”
“Youngsters!” Frank commanded. “Wash up and sit.”
“Need any help Frank?” I asked watching Tata push and shove their way out of the room.
“No thanks, your timing is almost perfect. Gramps has already been in the bacon, so I had to fry up more.”
“Takes a lot of protein to keep a working man going.” Gramps walked in from the kitchen with a piece of bacon in each hand.
“When was the last time you worked?” Dad asked pouring juice for everyone.
“He worked me over in the poker game last night,” Ed said. “It’s going to be a long winter if he keeps kicking my behind.
“Shhh,” I said. “Todd and Amanda haven’t figured out they’re not leaving this winter.”
“For being so intelligent they’re kinda slow,” Gramps said.
“Stop that, Gramps.” I snatched a piece of bacon out of his hand.
“Dad-blamed young lady, give me that back.”
I broke the bacon up and shoved it all in my mouth.
“Everyone eat up while the eggs are hot.” Frank said, putting a huge plate of food in the middle of the table.
Besides bacon and cinnamon rolls, Frank made a western scramble that was so spicy your stomach happily gurgled for hours digesting it.
Tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat.
Frank looked up from his plate as the noise continued. “Sounds like the boy found a way out.”
“Hope he was smart enough to shoot the wood bars off the front door, cuz no one’s going to town for glass to make a new window,” Gramps said.
“I’ve got my slingshot in case he tries anything,” Amanda said.
“What you shooting him with, bacon?” Todd asked.
Amanda stuck her tongue out and let a piece of bacon sail from her slingshot at Todd.
“None of that at my table,” Frank said, “or you eat with the horses.”
The door flung open and Mac walked in. “Morning. Did you leave some for me?”
“Pull up a chair, son,” Frank said.
“I’ll sit right here by Jorie.” He rubbed my neck and I swallowed hoping he wasn’t planning on using the twisty-neck-spy-thingy that took the dude down in Yellowstone. “Smells delicious.”
“Door or window?” Leave it to Gramps to get right to the heart of it.
“Window.”
“Oh, that was a mistake son,” Frank said.
“Didn’t want to waste the ammunition shooting out the bars on the door.”
“Problem is, we don’t have any extra glass so the only way to fix that window will be to board it up for the winter. And you are going to miss that sun exposure,” Dad said.
“Guess I’ll bunk with Jorie when it gets really cold.” Mac pulled me in next to him.
Ed choked on a roll. Amanda coughed swallowing her juice wrong. The rest laughed, while Frank looked at me and twisted the edge of his mustache. “I guess that’d be copasetic.”
“It isn’t copasetic with me,” I said.
“Not sure you get a vote since you was the one who pulled that stunt.” Frank held his hand out stopping me from interrupting him. “Since you mean so much to me, I’m going to rule Mac stays in his cabin and learns a valuable lesson about not shooting out a window in winter.”
“Sorry, sir, next time I’ll only shoot windows out in the summer.”
“There you go, lesson learned,” Frank said.
The door swung open and Lieutenant Finnegan ran in. “Excuse me, sir, but the President is about to speak again.”
Mac ran to the TV and turned it on. A minute later the President appeared. “My fellow Americans, I am coming to you from a secure location. Our government is intact. For the next 48 hours all Americans are to stay in their homes. All businesses and schools are to be closed. Only emergency personnel, including all hospital employees, are to report to work. Anyone else will be subject to incarceration. Do not fear. We have the situation in hand and with your cooperation we will return to normal in 48 hours. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The screen went black.
“She sounds like a robot,” Amanda said.
“Yes, she does,” Mac said. “Lieutenant, place everyone on high alert for the next 48 hours.”
“Oh boy,” Todd said, “she’s a murderer, and now she’s declaring Marshall Law without admitting it to the population. What a piece of work.”
“I don’t care if it is early, I need a vodka?” Amanda said. “And she’s a murderess, not a murderer.”
“Seriously, that’s what your worried about?” Todd shook his head. “She kills people to get her way. Get with what’s important, sister.”
“Speaking correctly is important,” Amanda said.
“Somebody just shoot me now,” Captain Ford bellowed. She’d been watching from the sidelines; and now stepped forward and pointed at Amanda. “That kind of smoke and mirrors thinking is how we got in this mess. Be quiet and listen.”
“Colonel MacAlister you had a question for me?” Frank said to Mac.
“When will your cowboys be back with the rounded-up stragglers?”
“Don’t worry about them. They’ll be out for days yet.”
“Then secure the other livestock so they’ll hopefully be safe from an attack on the ranch,” Mac directed.
“Todd you’re with me,” Frank said.
“On it.” Todd ran out the door and jumped on the four-wheeler.
Mac looked at Gramps. “How many people can you get in the root cellar?”
“There’s a problem. That cellar is full of winter food stores.”
“Empty them, and if needed, dismantle shelving. Now how many?”
“Enough,” Gramps said. “Amanda and Ed can help me.”
Mac hurried them out of the room. “Joe and Captain Ford, I want you to organize the ammunition and guns in the house for easy access. And most importantly, stay aware of any communications on the TV or satellite radio. Notify me immediately if you hear anything important.”
“Will do,” Dad said.
“Jorie, you’re with me.” Mac was out the door before he finished the sentence.
I kissed dad on the cheek and ran after Mac. I got on the back of his four-wheeler and we took off at a disturbingly high rate of speed for Dad’s house. Once there, I peeled my fingers from around his waist and on wobbly legs climbed off the wheeler. “What are we doing?”
“We’re video conferencing with Liz.”
“How’s the operation?” Liz asked.
“We’re set. How was your operation?” Mac asked.
“Piece of caked.” She giggled snapping her fingers.
Mac squeezed my leg, signaling me to not laugh at Liz’s reaction to some obvious awesome pain medication.
“The doc says I can go home in two days. Shhhh. Don’t tell him I’m not going home.”
“We won’t,” Mac said.
“Hey, Jorie, you shot anyone with an arrow recently?” Good grief, she was high. And I hoped it was the kind of high where she wouldn’t remember this conversation later.
“No, but I put bear bars on the doors and windows of Mac’s cabin and he had to shoot his way out.”
Liz pointed at the computer screen. “That’ll teach you to piss her off.”
“I don’t think he’s a fast learner,” I told her.
“Next time sleep with him.”
“Okay, let’s get down to business,” Mac said. “We’ve got a couple M2’s and four .50 caliber Brownings, plus the usual firepower.”
Mac kept talking but I wasn’t listening. He didn’t flinch or even blink when Liz made her suggestion I sleep with him. Not that I was interested, but a woman likes to feel wanted. He could’ve at least blinked and called me, sugar. Did he need my boobs oozing out of my shirt before he was interested? My butt not big enough to warrant squeezing? Would it hurt him to toss me a look like I might be attractive enough for him to want to canoodle? He could at least pretend to want to diddle with my lady parts.