A commotion in the hallway made Angel pause putting her bedding on when a pair of female guards came rushing in, pistols out. Jill and April made eek ’ing sounds but Angelica turned to them with her hands up.
“What happened?” the one on her left asked.
“What? I’m making my bed, duh!”
“No, I’m talking about the other lady that was in here,” the second one said.
“Oh, she went to take a shower,” Angelica told her. “Is there a chance of getting a late-night snack here, and turn down service?”
“Oh, we got a smart one, huh?” the first asked. “It looks like Scorpia really got worked over. Did you three put a beatdown on her?”
“No,” Jill said quickly. “Not me.” April said. The whole room looked at Angel, who smiled at them sweetly. “No, the three of us didn’t put the beat down on her.” It wasn’t a lie, it had only been Angel.
“Then why was she upset?” the second guard asked.
“Because she tried to welcome me to 4C with a hug and a kiss. I told her that her body odor could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Besides, I’m not into girls. I guess I hurt her poor feelings, bless her heart. Told her we might be best of buddies, but she had to shower first. That’s the end of the story, really...”
Angel was smirking, but nobody said anything for a long few moments.
“No fighting,” the first guard said, holstering her gun. The second followed, and they walked out.
“Your best friend? I thought you said you were going to make her your bitch?” Jill asked, almost giggling.
“I mean, without my husband around to open jars for me, and reach things up high, it’ll be good to have my little bitch do the heavy lifting for me.”
April snickered and soon they were all laughing.
Twenty
Harry, Luis, and Goldie joined Leah after the workers had gone home. They had another ammo can that the metal detectors had found. It hadn’t been as simple to get that one out as it had been the other. They’d dug, then had to go get a hatchet to chop roots, then dug some more. A big rock had worked its way up next to it at some point, denting the can and making it hard to get out, so Luis had eventually gotten a pickaxe and broken it apart. It took them until after dark when the workers had gone home to finally be able to bring their find out.
“Who should open it?” Anna asked.
“I think it should be Harry,” Leah told them. “He stumbled on the first can of gold and silver coins, and if it hadn’t been for him, we never would have figured out the map.”
“I’m fine with that, I think it’s a great idea. Dante?”
“I’m good. Steven, Anna?”
“We’re good, now get going!” Steven said excitedly.
“Wait!” Luis said, then walked over to the fridge they had put in there.
He grabbed a case of Budweiser and brought it back. He tore the cardboard on the top and started passing out bottles. Everyone but Leah and Harry got one.
“Go ahead little Harry,” Luis said, popping the top off his beer.
Harry worked on the snap holding the ammo lid closed and was about to give up when it popped open. Carefully, he undid it and then opened the lid.
“Bingo,” Dante yelled loudly, startling them.
“Shit, I just spilled beer down my shirt,” Anna said, then smacked his arm with her free arm.
Dante made a motion to the table. Everyone turned as Harry started pulling out bundles of old canvas cloth. They made an odd clinking sound.
“Oh, this is good,” Anna said, taking a long drink of her beer. “You going to open yours, Hun, or do I need to get a nipple for you?”
“Huh?” Steven said, then popped the cap on his beer. “Yeah. Sorry, this is exciting stuff.”
“My mouth is all dry,” Harry complained, “and I don’t want no yucky beer. I’m just…”
“Nervous,” Goldie said, watching as he pulled the last cloth wrapped bundle out.
“Can you untie that, or do you want to borrow my pocketknife?” Luis asked Harry.
Six bundles sat in front of the ammo can. It had been enough to fill the can all the way up, but it wasn’t loose gold and silver coins like the last can had been, judging by how easy it had been for little Harry to pull them out.
“I can untie it, I think. Daddy says I can’t play with knives yet.”
The group drank beer and watched as Harry struggled with the knotted cloth. Finally, he found a tear in the side and just pulled it apart. The old canvas ripped easily, and something shiny fell out and rolled under the table.
“I got it,” Anna said and reached down. “What the…”
She held up a ring. It was gold, with a diamond and emerald inlay.
“There’s more,” Harry said, dumping the cloth bag out.
The familiar looking gold and silver coins came out, but so did other jewelry.
“Oh wow,” Goldie said, holding up a decorated brooch pin.
“I don’t think this is buried treasure anymore,” Anna said, walking over and picking up some jewelry from the table.
“How can you tell?” Luis asked.
“What lady would have more than a few wedding rings?”
They all looked in. The ring that Anna held was one of half a dozen that had spilled out of the cloth bag with the coins.
“What are we looking at?” Leah asked Anna.
“I don’t know, but I’m starting to get an uneasy feeling about this.”
“Look at this necklace,” Luis said, pulling it out. “It’s silver and looks very old.”
“Heirlooms. A family's heirlooms and savings?” Anna asked the room at large.
“Do you think it has anything to do with the bones?” Dante asked.
Leah shivered, and started rubbing her arms as goosebumps broke out. “You had to go there, didn’t you?”
“Hey guys,” Steven said. “Since we’re all here, are we going to send more pallets to the basement tonight, or let them pile up so the boys won’t get too suspicious?”
“How about we move half,” Luis said. “We can always tell them that we’re taking them to one of the barns or the equipment barn for storage.”
“I like that idea,” Goldie said. “But I have to get supper going and get Harry squared away.”
“But we’re not done opening the buried treasure,” Harry whined.
“We’ll go in right after you open the rest of those then,” Goldie said.
Harry dug into the loot excitedly. He didn’t see the group giving each other uneasy looks.
Twenty-One
Rob woke up. He’d gone to sleep underneath his ghillie blanket. His body was cold and stiff from sleeping on the bare ground, but he would live. He had started scoping the barracks out again when a bell started ringing. He almost thought it was an air raid drill, or fire alarm, but he saw everybody leave the buildings and start towards the building that most looked like the warehouse. Right away he saw that the buildings were either populated by males or females. The entire bottom row from his position seemed to be where the ladies were housed.
“That’s good to know, where are the guards… oh got it,” he mumbled to himself. The guards were also in the bottom row, but it was the last building on Rob’s right side. He started making notes with the stub of a pencil and a pocket-sized notebook. He started making himself a map and labeling the barracks. Then he found the range for the front door of all the buildings, putting that info on the crude map he was drawing.
If he could get a glimpse of his wife, he’d know for sure that she was there, and where she was sleeping. That way he could come up with a plan. The clock was ticking. He wondered how everyone at the farm was doing.
“The house seems to be fine,” Curt told Andrea as they woke up the next morning, in their old beds.
“It just needs to be dusted and aired out,” Andrea told him. “Are you going with me to the hospital today?”
“Yes,” Curt told her, “buddy system. The la
st couple of times we left that place, it was pretty eventful.”
“More so for me than you,” Andrea said with a smile. “We have to leave the guns in the truck.”
“I know, but nobody would begrudge an old, pudgy, out of shape realtor guy having a pocketknife, would they?”
“No,” Andrea said with a laugh, “and I like your idea. We can go in, do the whole dog and pony show, and then you can do what you want to do.”
“I don’t want to close my office,” Curt said, “but this stupid Wuhan Flu and the lockdowns just ruined the economy. What’s the point of saving up and our savings are essentially worthless?”
“Don’t get yourself worked up. This is my doctor's voice if you haven’t noticed.”
“Doctor’s voice? We’re going to play doctor? Now?” He was smiling.
“Maybe later. It depends. Or we could play something else.”
“You mean the outfit you ‘forgot’” Curt said, using his fingers to air quote, “here, and it hasn’t been at the farm?”
“I can’t wear a leather catsuit while I’m still in casts, you goof.”
“Oh, yeah…” he said, then looked her over, “but if you get that last one off today…”
“Bingo,” Andrea purred.
They quickly showered and were on the road. Trash lined the highway on both sides. The grass in the median was also pretty unkempt. When they’d gotten to the house the night before, they hadn’t seen it in the dark. Other than that, the drive was mostly uneventful. There were crowds of people on both sides of the streets, all corners.
“The gas prices,” Andrea said pointing.
“I know,” Curt said. “I’m glad we have a spare tank on this baby and more in the back.”
“I know, but nobody is driving. The roads are mostly empty,” Andrea noted.
“Is this another protest you think?” Curt asked.
“I don’t know, but if you see a big crowd wearing black block with masks, go another way.” Andrea shivered at the memory.
“Everyone out there is wearing masks,” he told her. “It’ll be ok. If the worst happens, we can get out of here. Our suburban and millennial deterrent devices and cameras and…”
“I know…”
They pulled into the drive leading to the hospital. Leah handed over her hospital ID at the newly installed guard shack and they directed her to where she was supposed to park. They thought that was weird, but waited for the newly installed gate to open. They drove into the physician’s parking lot. Ten foot tall chain link was topped with barbed and razor wire. They found the numbered spot they were supposed to be in, and put the tag the guard had given them on the dashboard.
“Hand me my cane,” Andrea told Curt, putting on an n95 mask.
“But you don’t use it anymore, or only if—”
“It’s more window dressing than anything else. I’d love to get my last cast off, but I don’t want to go back to work, not really.”
“Can’t you quit?” Curt asked.
“I’m not sure at this point, it wouldn’t make much sense. That would just put a bigger target on my back than there already is. I’d rather be on the injured reserve list and spend the rest of the time at the farm before I fade away, than worrying if we’re bringing more trouble down on us in case there’s some sort of executive order requiring all medical pros back to work.”
“Um, they sort of did that,” Curt said.
“So, I’m going to limp my gimpy ass up there and ham it up. Don’t be a douche nozzle and fuck this up for me, got it Francis?” Andrea asked.
“I’m never letting you watch Deadpool again,” Curt muttered, but handed her the cane and put his own mask on. He locked up the doors and took Andrea’s arm. They noted that the parking lot had a fenced in sidewalk leading to the double doored entryway. They also saw the guard on the outside and the outline of the one on the inside.
“Good morning. Do you have your hospital ID?” the guard asked her.
“Yes,” she said, fishing it off the lanyard she’d clipped it on and showing it to him.
“Doctor Mallory,” he said, handing it back to her. “Good to have you back with us.”
“Thanks, but this is probably me getting a checkup here and seeing if I’m fit for duty yet. I got pretty busted up.”
“I can see, I remember hearing about that. As I recall, you used the best gun control method out there.”
“Gun control?” Curt asked.
“Hit what she aimed at. I heard she had a whole mob there and did the least amount that she had too. If she had done more, she might not have been hurt so bad. At least, that’s how I heard it.”
“So, they’re not blaming me anymore?” she asked.
“Doctor Mallory, only the dumbass media and one of the big bosses ever said anything bad about you. You have a good day, and if you need anything, you have them give Conner a call on the radio and I’ll be there to help you folks out. I got your back, you can take that to the bank.”
“Thank you, Conner,” she said, smiling despite the situation. She really wasn’t going to go back to work, was she? They had planned on that being a hard no. Most of it was due to bad memories of waking up after having to take several lives. Part of it was how the institution had treated her friends. Part of it was she felt like everyone here blamed her for the entire event. It was a lot to swallow, but it felt good to hear that folks didn’t blame her after all. At least, most of them didn’t.
“How did it go?” Curt asked as Andrea limped out of the conference room.
“About as well as expected. They want me to come in and help with paperwork and vaccinations. I guess that big group of people we saw? They’re waiting for the vaccines.”
“Oh crap, are we going to have to get it?” Curt asked suddenly.
“They told me I had to. My contract states that I have to be updated with all necessary vaccinations.”
“So, what did you tell them?”
“I made a deal with the board. Dante’s mentor to be exact. If I come in and help out for two or three days with paperwork and untangling the chaos, they’ll have no problem giving me some time off considering my medical conditions. It’ll work out well for our alibi.”
“Yeah, that. So they believed it?” Curt whispered.
“I guess I’m better at hiding pain than even I thought. They wanted to put my leg back in a cast, but they took the one on my wrist off.”
“I see that,” he said smiling. “So, your leg is getting you a few days of light duty?”
“Not just the leg,” Andrea said, pulling Curt away from the conference room by the hand.
“Is it your arm?”
Andrea bit her lip, but the edges of her mouth were turning up into a mysterious smile.
“I um, so you have to take a certain test before they shoot you full of x-rays and my test came back positive.”
“Really? We had the virus already and they were—”
“Not that kind of test. And… apparently in that psych eval they did earlier, that took forever by the way… Well, they think I’m suffering from some PTSD. They want me to see a counselor, but aren’t as worried if I’m not doing hands on work at the moment. That, coupled with the fact that I’m pregnant…”
“Wait, what?” Curt asked, pulling her close.
“Yes,” she whispered, kissing him deeply.
Curt let himself go. They had been actively trying for the last year and a half, and now all their wishes were coming true.
“So, our alibi is going to be backed up with legit paperwork and a baby… But they say I’m at a high risk… I mean, we’re not in our twenties anymore, couple that with the PTSD and just healing from some severe injuries, the hospital is willing to let me do a couple of little things to keep me on the books. Not like they have a choice. I hear Doctors, hell, any medical professional, is being pressed into work. Whether or not they want to do it, as long as they are under contract.”
“So, you think it’d be a good idea
and pretend to play along until we get the signal from… you know?”
“It’s the best I got. The only thing I’m going to hate is getting that fucking vaccine,” Andrea swore.
“Do you really want to take it though? Can’t you fake it, or fake the paperwork?”
“I’m sure I could figure out a way to fake the paperwork given enough time, but it’s a SARS type vaccine from what I’ve read. What could it hurt?”
Twenty-Two
Scorpia had come after Angelica the second night in her sleep, but the small woman had been expecting it. She’d taken a couple of hits with a sock stuffed with a bar of soap before she nearly broke the woman's skull open on the metal frame of the bunk beds. She didn’t even try to explain to the guards what had happened. She’d just laid down on her top bunk and stared at them blankly as they’d asked what happened, while a medical team was sent in to help the big woman out of there.
That had been a day ago. Jill and April cheerfully followed Angelica around, the three of them talking nonstop. The center wasn’t horrible, once you ignored the fact you were basically in one big open-air jail. It also wasn’t horrible if you ignored the fact the food portions were too small, and the quality of the cooking was suspect. Everybody wore the same color scrubs. Other than husbands and wives being separated in the housing, people tried to make the best of things. One thing Angelica noticed, was that she didn’t see any kids at this camp. She made a note to check it out and fulfill her curiosity.
“Hey, girls, after breakfast, I’m going to head to medical. Do you want to come with?”
“No ma’am,” Jill said. “I’m supposed to be in laundry in an hour or so. When you get you a jail job, you won’t have so much free time.”
“Yeah,” April grinned as she answered. “Although my jail job is a lot more fun. I get to help clean the men’s dorms.”
“What’s so fun about that?” Angelica asked.
“Most of the men there act like they haven’t seen a woman in a decade after being deserted on an island somewhere. They just about fall over themselves to be helpful and—”
The Farm Book 3: Behind The Curve Page 12
