“Oh, anyone would have done the same thing.”
Julia handed him a rose bud, dipped in gold. “I just wanted to give this to you to remind you that you’re a good neighbor who will always mean a lot to me.”
Tony took the rose from her and admired it in his hand. He turned and looked into the house. “Honey? You need to see who’s at our door.”
His wife emerged from inside the house and hugged both of them. “I’m so glad to see you up and okay, Julia.”
“I’m sorry I scared you that night. But we wanted to come and thank you for saving me,” Julia said.
“I know you helped stop the bleeding until the EMTs arrived,” Travis said. “I guess we owe you guys a towel.”
Tony laughed. “Yeah, I guess you do.”
*****
Dillon sat in front of the monitor screens at his new office at Morgan Retail. George was sitting next to him, training him. “See the red boxes?” George said.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Our green dots should never go in there.” He pointed to one of the boxes. “These are our competitors and stores that Morgan has blacklisted. If someone goes in one, a light will flash over here.” He pointed to an area on the screen. Just put the curser over the dot and it will tell you the name of the person.” He put his hands on the keyboard in the middle of the desk. “Just put the name in here.” He looked over at Dillon. “We’ll send them a warning the first time. Usually, they have some good excuse and we let it go. But if they keep doing it, we take it up a notch.”
“Okay, so what does that mean?”
“Well, if their name goes to corporate, they get a visit.” He shrugged. “I really don’t know what all happens, but last year a couple from this store got re-assigned.”
Dillon wondered if that was code for re-assigned to the grave. If it was the same as being selected by the Nazis. “So, did anyone ever hear from them again?”
George shrugged. “Well, I didn’t.” He glanced over his shoulder at the door. “Well, I heard one of them was killed. That’s all I’ll say.”
Dillon propped his elbow on the desk and his head in his hand. He let this sink in a minute. So, he was going to be responsible for getting some poor sap killed for shopping at the wrong store. He wanted to get up and walk – no run – out of the room, out of the store and out of the country. But he couldn’t quit. They had him now. He had the chip and they would simply follow him and bring him back. Maybe dead, maybe alive.
George continued. “If you ever see a dot change to red and start flashing, that means someone has removed their microchip.”
“Well, what if I’m in the restroom when something happens?”
“It’s all recorded. This computer will tell you if anyone goes where they shouldn’t or removes their chip.” He grinned at him. “Don’t worry, you can sit in here and nap all morning. It’s all automated.” He pointed at a blue dot on the screen. “Now, a blue dot is a Morgan worker from another city. Our system knows who’s who. Just hover the mouse over them and you can see their name and where they’re from.”
Dillon shook his head. “Wow. So, what kind of field surveillance do we do?”
“There’s always a few jokers, we just keep an eye on them.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s pretty easy.” He looked at Dillon. “I had to watch you.”
“Oh really.”
“Yeah, William didn’t want you to go to work for another company, so I had to intervene.”
Dillon felt his face turning red. He didn’t know whether to knock this guy to the floor for spying on him and stopping him from getting a job, or hug him for telling the truth. “You mean, you kept me from getting hired at those other jobs?”
“The way I see it, it’s for you own good. You belong here. You’ll get paid a lot more.” He glanced behind him. “But hey, don’t be mad at me, I was just doing what I was told.”
“So, how did you know where I was going to apply?”
“Pretty basic stuff. I sat right here and hacked into your computer. I saw where you were looking and kept you from applying online.”
Dillon interrupted him. “I wondered why I couldn’t fill out those forms.”
“I’ll show you how we do all that.”
“Is this legal?” Dillon knew good and well it wasn’t.
“It’s legal now that you’ve signed. It wasn’t then. But you agreed not to sue us when you signed.”
“But how can you tell other companies not to hire someone?”
“They need Morgan. They want to stay on his approved list. Nobody wants one of these red boxes around their business. I just told them it would hurt our business relationship if they hired one of our workers away from us.” He paused. “Sometimes they won’t cooperate, but usually they do.” He suddenly looked at one of the screens that had made an alert sound. “Oh look, green dot going into a red box.” He hovered the mouse over the signature. “See that? That’s a second warning. He’s been in that insurance lobby twice this week. He’ll get another warning email.” He glanced at Dillon. “This afternoon, we’ll go pay him a visit and see why he keeps going in there.”
Dillon studied the screens, seeing which ones were in which part of town. He found his house and zoomed into his neighborhood. Green signatures were scattered in the houses around his. Okay, workers who are at home right now, he reasoned. He looked at all of the dots in the downtown grid. A few blue dots were scattered among them. He started looking for the blue ones. He told the screen to filter to just blue signatures. It surprised him how many were there. One was in a house in a familiar neighborhood. He zoomed in. It was Christopher Forrest’s house. Dillon tilted his head and glanced at his watch. It was eleven fifteen in the morning. Why is a blue dot in Chris’s house?
He pulled out his cell phone. No signal. This room was too shielded. That’s just great, he said to himself.
Chapter Seven
The only reason Rachel let Kurt into the house was Stephen was home. She would have never let him in if she was home alone. He had come to the door, looking very handsome, and what was that cologne he was wearing? She had never smelled anything like it. But she wasn’t glad to see him. This was too uncomfortable. She didn’t like him showing up at her house.
“You look so good!” He said. “And you didn’t even know you had company coming over.”
She felt herself blushing. “Oh thanks.” She turned and looked into the house. “Won’t you come in? My son is in his room asleep.”
He followed her into the living room. “I wish I could sleep all morning. I remember those days.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
He sat on the couch. “Sounds good, thanks. I can only stay a moment.”
She walked over to the kitchen counter. “You’re not working this morning?”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m on vacation for the next two weeks. I have a condo in Pensacola. I’m heading down there first thing in the morning.”
She handed a warm cup to him. The cup said Jesus First Always. “Well, that sounds nice. I love that part of the country. The white sands, blue water.”
He took a cautious sip. “Oh it’s beautiful.”
Where was he going with this? She wondered. “So, you’re going by yourself?”
“Yeah, this time.” He glanced over at her. “It’s relaxing, but not as much fun. I have some friends in the condo. I hope they’re there. We’ll go out in their boat if they are.”
“That sounds fun.”
“You ever been down there?”
She sat in Christopher’s easy chair, a cup in her hand. “Yes, we’ve been a couple of times. It’s been a few of years though.”
“Well, tell Christopher that you’re going this year. Has he taken his vacation yet?”
“We went to Texas to see Jason earlier in the summer.”
“I want y'all to come stay a day or so with me. I have three bedrooms in my condo. There’s plenty of room.”
&nbs
p; She sipped her coffee and didn’t answer. This was getting deeper and deeper. The last thing Christopher would do is spend the night with this guy in his condo. And he would be furious if he found out he was in the house with her. “That’s so nice of you to offer.”
“How ‘bout it? I’ll leave my address with you and you can come down anytime.”
She shook her head. “I just don’t think so. But that does sound really nice.”
“I tell you what. No one has booked the condo in September. Plan to go then. I’ll hand you the keys myself.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain and dangled the keys from his finger.
She looked at the keys for a moment, then over at the clock on the wall. Suddenly she became much more uncomfortable. Was the room getting hotter? Christopher would be home in thirty minutes. He might even come early. She could never be sure. Here she was, with an old boyfriend sitting on the couch, but she didn’t want to be rude to him either. “Would you like a warm-up?” She gestured toward his coffee cup.
“Oh, no thanks. I better be going. I have several things to do before I leave for the coast.” He stood to his feet. “But, remember, the offer stands. You and Chris come down there and see me this week, or you can go this fall if you wish.”
She stood up and walked him to the door. “I appreciate your offer. It sounds fun. I’ll have to think about it.” She would have to think about it a lot before she mentioned it to Chris.
He hugged her at the door. Not a long embrace, but enough to make her a little uncomfortable. This hug was more intimate than the one at the coffee shop. “I’ll be in touch,” he said, heading toward his car.
“Have a safe trip. It sounds fun.” She closed the door and went back into the kitchen, relieved that he had left as soon as he did. The visit wasn’t that bad. He seemed to be just an old friend trying to rekindle their friendship. But he was a lonely old friend who had lost his wife and was undoubtedly looking for a new one. Someone to share his condo in Florida. Someone to ride in the boat with him out on the ocean. It seemed foreign and a little exotic. And she looked good enough to be on his arm. He would be proud to show her off, his trophy bride.
“Mom, who was that?” Stephen startled her as he suddenly appeared behind her.
She spun around. “Oh, mornin’ sweetie. That was just an old friend.”
“He said something about a condo in Pensacola?”
“Yes, he has one, and invited your father and me to go down there if we wanted.”
He scratched his hip. “Wow. That would be nice. I’d go.”
*****
Christopher let down all of his windows and turned up the air conditioner, trying to cool the car. He got up to speed on the road in front of the church and headed toward the house. One thing he liked about his job was being able to go home for lunch with Rachel. She hadn’t worked since right after his trips to Denver five years ago. The Big Confrontation, he called it now. First, he and Dillon had driven out there, with a stop in Telluride, then they had whisked him back in the helicopter for that terrifying meeting with Charles Morgan. It still hurt to think about the helicopter crashing as they took off. He would never forget all of that. He had never felt like he was going to die like that before or since. Rachel had put in her two weeks’ notice right after that.
It had been tough, financially, but Rachel had been able to make pretty good money helping people with their taxes every year. She had built up quite a clientele now, and they were getting by. Her money was seasonal, but they could make it if they were careful.
He hugged Rachel when he walked into the kitchen where she was standing, assembling sandwiches for lunch. “Hey sweetie. Wow you smell good. I’ve never smelled that before.”
“Hey sweetie.”
He looked over at Stephen, who was now eating potato chips on the couch. “Hey Steve. What’ve you been up to this morning?”
“Sleepin’.”
“Sounds about right. I guess that grass is going to cut itself.”
“I’ll get to it, Dad.”
“Okay. Just sayin’.” Christopher looked back at Rachel. She was pulling a drink out of the refrigerator and taking it, with his sandwich, to the table. “You okay this morning?”
“I feel good,” she said.
“Any mail today?”
“Couple of bills. Some flyer for the church. I left it over there.”
Christopher said the blessing and bit into his sandwich. Was Rachel a little guarded this morning? She wasn’t quite her usual, cheerful self. “You okay?”
“You already asked me that, sweetie. I’m fine.”
“I have a funeral to do Saturday. I just got the call a few minutes ago. Remember Mrs. Hill, that used to come?”
“Yes, I remember her.”
“It’s just a graveside. I don’t think she has a lot of family around here anymore.” Christopher’s phone vibrated then rang in his pocket. He looked at it and saw that it was Dillon McGee. He answered it. “Hey Dillon.”
“Hey Chris. Are you at home?”
“Yep, having lunch.”
“And Rachel is there with you?”
He glanced at her. “She’s right here. What’s up?”
“This is going to sound really strange, but–” He paused. “Well, it’s a long story, but it looks like a Morgan worker named Kurt Gregory was at your house. I’m not trying to cause any trouble, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay there.”
Christopher looked over at Rachel. “Rachel, was Kurt Gregory in this house this morning?”
She nodded. “He came a few minutes ago. I was just about to tell you about it.”
Christopher frowned and spoke into the phone. “Yeah, he was here.”
“Look, I’m sorry if I–”
Christopher cut him off. “No, I appreciate your checking on us.”
“I gotta go,” Dillon said. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Okay.” Christopher ended the call and looked at Rachel. “So why was Kurt Gregory here this morning?”
“I wouldn’t have let him in the house, but Stephen was here with me. Kurt came by to tell me that you and I are invited to his condo in Pensacola anytime we want to go.”
“Oh really? You and me, in his condo?”
Stephen came in from the living room. “It’s true Dad. I heard the whole thing.”
Christopher sat a moment, contemplating all of this. “So, he just shows up after thirty years and says, ‘hey you guys come stay at my condo sometime’?”
“He’s been in Arkansas,” Rachel said. “But his company just moved him back to Springfield and Bolivar. His parents still live up there.”
“His company is Morgan Retail.”
She tilted her head. “No, he said he works for an insurance company.”
Christopher shook his head. “No, he’s lying to you. Dillon just said he works for Morgan.” This wasn’t adding up. Christopher didn’t know if the guy was lying to Rachel to impress her, or if this was something more sinister. “I’ve never liked that guy and you know it. I don’t want him in this house again. Ever. I don’t want you seeing him. I don’t care if he is an old friend.”
“I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “I didn’t ask for any of this. He just showed up.”
“If he comes back to that door.” Christopher pointed to the front entrance. “You call me. And don’t let him in this house.”
“Ok. I’m sorry.”
Christopher finished his sandwich. He said very little as he sat at the table. He was accustomed to spiritual warfare, being a pastor, but he seemed to be facing frontal assaults all of the sudden. Here they were again; every time he and Rachel got into a fight, it had something to do with Morgan. And how did Dillon know he worked for Morgan? How did he know he was in this house? He looked over at Rachel. “So he was really friendly. And just invited us to his condo?”
“He said more than that. He asked about the kids and told me about his family. You know, just chit chat. He seem
ed like he really wanted to catch up.”
“Are y'all Facebook friends?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I just don’t get this.” He left the table and went into the bathroom. He didn’t want to go back to work, but he knew he couldn’t stay home forever. He had to trust Rachel and, frankly, he had to trust God. He kissed her goodbye and sat in his car a moment, with the air running on high. Before he put it in gear, he pulled out his phone and texted Dillon: Help me keep an eye on Kurt if you will.
A couple of seconds later his phone chirped. Will do.
Chapter Eight
Dillon sat in his truck a block away from a house he was watching that afternoon. George was in the passenger seat. At first, he thought this was easier than guarding the door back at the store, but into the second hour, he began to wish he was at his old post. This was torture, just sitting and watching. He had his laptop beside him, with green signatures scattered on it, but this was still tedious. No one was moving and nothing was happening.
He looked over at George. “So, how long do we have to sit here?”
George looked at his watch. “Well, our shift ends in an hour. We need time to get back. Let’s stay another thirty minutes. If he doesn’t go anywhere, we can say we did our job.”
“Is this normal?”
“Yeah, It’s usually pretty easy.” He glanced over. “But sometimes it gets really interesting.” George looked back at the house and sat up straight. “Look, there he is. Follow him, but stay back so he doesn’t see us.”
Dillon put his truck in gear and slowly accelerated down the street, staying at least a block behind the man they were tailing. He pulled out onto a busy thoroughfare and Dillon struggled to keep up. After several miles, he pulled into the parking lot of an insurance company. Dillon watched as he got out of his truck, walked up the sidewalk, and into the lobby. Dillon put the truck in park at the curb and he and George got out. They walked calmly up the sidewalk and in behind the man.
The Dead Peasants' Contract: A Sequel to The Dead Peasants File (The Dead Peasants' Series Book 2) Page 5
