The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  John was practicing. He was going to be the great UWA soldier, because Hal was giving him the chance to prove himself again. But he wasn’t a great horse rider, and that was where Jenny found him.

  John had been making progress, riding the horse around the track, practicing swinging a sword as he did so.

  She waved her hand, when she spotted her and John rode over.

  He dismounted and kissed her. “Did you see?” he asked. “I am getting so good.”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “I saw. I’m proud.”

  “What’s up, Jenny? How come you’re here?”

  “I know you’re training this week in Bowman, but, I got you permission from Sgt. Ryder. You have to come home, John. Come home to Beginnings now.” She hesitated then told him. “Joe has passed away.”

  ****

  Ellen wanted to. She had to go to the clinic to see for herself. Just to say her own goodbye to Joe. No doubt in Frank’s mind there would be a funeral, but the arrangements of such he was leaving with Hal and would check with him later on it.

  Jimmy was on his way with Robbie to see the kids and tell them with Ellen. Frank wanted to be the one to tell them, but he had other things to do. Things that had a sense of urgency, Ellen would be with them soon. She promised not to be long at the clinic.

  A part of Frank felt wrong for focusing on everything. That perhaps he should sit around with his brothers and Ellen to take in all that has happened. But he couldn’t He had to keep moving, keep busy.

  Frank, Dean and Henry were the only ones who remember Andrea’s reaction to Denny’s death. The ripple in time brought Denny back, but never erased her reaction. Her heartache and devastation. When Miguel died, Andrea was equally devastated.

  Frank expected the same with Andrea over his father’s death.

  She was calm, distraught but calm. Had she learned so much from his father? When Andrea saw Frank, she embraced him, thanked him and told him how proud she was of him. That she knew he had done everything in his power to save Joe. But, as her and Joe spoke, if it was meant to be it was going to happen.

  She just needed to take some time to take in life and think about how she would handle things from that moment on.

  There were those who knew, and most did not. It was time for that to change.

  Along with Danny Hoi and Henry, three others security guys were in the communications room when Frank entered. Their silence said enough. Frank pulled out a chair at the console, told Danny, he needed a moment, and waited for everyone to leave.

  He wasn’t a technological man, but knew how to tap into the ‘all call’ channel and the speaker systems around the community. And Frank did just that.

  “If I can have everyone’s attention for a moment. Please.” Frank spoke. Said the line again, then waited a minute. His voice could be heard throughout the community band on every radio. “A lot of you are listening to me. Wondering, what is Frank up to? Thank you for taking this moment. I will keep this short.” He breathed heavily over the microphone. “This is the hardest announcement ever to be made in our history. Today, at noon, an accident occurred at the utility buildings. This accident... it claimed the life of my father, our leader, Joe Slagel. All of you need to know how much he loved this community and everyone in it. He lived for us all. And we, not only as brothers and his wife, but as a community, a family, we will feel this loss for a long time to come. He would tell us all to accept it, and shake it off. But that is going to be easier said than done. We’ll get through this, in time. We’ll keep moving forward on our path, a path my father has so strongly set forth. I promise to keep all of you up to date on arrangements and I also promise, as hard as this is, as big of a loss as this is, this will not stop us, stall us, or interfere in what needs to be done in our day to day lives. He would want me to assure you of that, assure you that Beginnings must and will go on. We’ll do it for him and the dream he had for Beginnings, but we will never be the same. I am sorry for this loss … for all of us.”

  He shut down the radio and took a moment to just sit there.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  In a silent world, not complicated with the industrial noises, a world filled with the sadness of mourning, it seems a whisper could be heard.

  There weren’t many churches in the provinces of Beginnings. Only three were functional, yet, at 1:30 PM, even the churches not used for worship utilized their bells, and for one half hour straight, in memory of Joe, the bells tolled.

  They could be heard in the distance, and inside Beginnings. Frank just wanted them to stop. They were eerie, but he knew the meaning.

  He stood with a clipboard, at the explosion site, his reading glasses perched on his nose, cigarette in mouth, Frank looked around.

  He’d look, lift a sheet, mark.

  “Frank?” Danny got called his name.

  Frank turned around.

  “What are you doing?” Danny asked. “I thought you’d be home right now, with Ellen.”

  “I was, I’m back. I have to keep busy. What are you doing here? Aren’t you working on the uplink?”

  Danny shook his head. “I can’t concentrate. I don’t …”

  “Danny, you have to do this.”

  “I know but …”

  “I’ll give you today and tomorrow. I want you back on this ASAP.”

  Danny nodded. “What are you up to?”

  Frank looked at his watch. “I thought Robbie would be here. I am cross referencing the inventory of the office to what remains. Most of which is intact.”

  “What do you need Robbie for?”

  “I want him investigating this explosion. What was the cause, try to piece together the events.”

  “Frank, maybe Robbie right now isn’t the best one ...”

  “Robbie, is the best one. He needs this. Trust me.”

  “Okay. Don’t get me wrong.” Danny held up his hand. “But what if you guys take a few days. Just a few.”

  “And what?” Frank asked. “I can’t stop, Danny. I don’t want to stop. And If I start now, here at the beginning and stop, I won’t get moving in a few days.”

  “I understand. Can I help?”

  “Yeah, but be careful where you step. Everything is evidence right now. In fact …”

  “Frank!” Dan called out. “We found him.”

  Frank handed Danny the clipboard, took off his glasses, and turned. “You found him?”

  “Yeah. We found him,” Dan said. “He’s alive. Breathing, but unconscious.”

  “Excellent.” Frank clapped. “That’s one piece of good news.” Frank saw the confusion on Danny’s face. “Darrel. We had him in the suit watching my dad.”

  Danny blinked in surprise. “Wow, I forgot about that.”

  “We all did,” Frank said then turned back to Dan. “Get him to the clinic. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Who should I call?” Dan asked.

  “Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it. Get Melissa to get him situated, everyone is too occupied. I’ll meet you there.” Frank returned to Danny. “Can you finish that up?”

  “Absolutely.” Danny raised the clipboard.

  “Thanks.” Frank gave a swat to his arm, spun, and talked as he walked backwards. “Dan. Clinic.” He then turned once more and took off.

  Danny pulled a pen from his pocket. He watched as Dan returned to the men, who in the distance were talking and encircling Darrel. He then looked at Frank who was moving from sight. He shook his head as he focused on the clipboard. The words were a blur, his mind was a blur. Inventory? Such a small task to accomplish, yet Danny felt as if it were a mountain to climb. He didn’t know how Frank was doing it. His entire being felt at such a loss. He stood there alone amidst it all, Joe wasn’t even his father and he wondered if he’d ever function normally, and upbeat again without him.

  ****

  Just inside the confines of the community square, Frank spotted Lars Rayburn stepping from his wellness center. After a short whistle, and an up lift of his c
hin, Frank called Lars’ name.

  Lars stopped. Frank in view, he walked his way and immediately extended his hand to Frank. “My condolences on the loss of your father and it is a great loss.”

  “Thank you.” Frank responded with a firm shake. “Hey, I have a favor.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I had a man on my father. He was wearing an invisi suit, so my dad wasn’t aware. He survived the explosion and is at the clinic now. I want you to cut Andrea off at the pass, deal with him, get him stabilized, do whatever doctor shit you can for him, and check back with me. I don’t want Andrea or Dean, or even Jason to worry about this now. Okay?”

  “Absolutely, Frank,” Lars said. “I’m on my way, consider it done.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m still in shock.” Frank shrugged. “It hasn’t hit me yet. It will when things slow down.”

  “And you’re going to do everything in your power not to let them slow down.”

  “You got it.”

  Lars nodded. “And you’re going to be where, so I know when I need to reach you?”

  “I’m heading back to …” Frank’s eyes shifted. “Actually, there’s my brother, Robbie, he’s who I need to speak to. Keep me posted on my guy.”

  “You got it.”

  Frank slipped by Lars with a nod of thanks, and moved to Robbie.

  Little in life made Frank stop to take in what he saw, but looking at Robbie did. Hands in pockets, Robbie didn’t walk tall, his eyes dark, lips pouty, face drawn.

  “Hey, little brother.” Frank gave an embrace to Robbie. “How are you?”

  Robbie softly chuckled in his sadness. “How do you think?”

  “Are you headed up to Dad’s office?”

  “No, I’m heading to the clinic; I want to walk Andrea home.”

  Frank nodded. “Then the office?”

  “No, Frank why would I go there?”

  “I told you Robbie, I have you leading the investigation.”

  “We know what happened.”

  “Robbie, we need to know how. We need ….”

  “We need to take time to think about our father. He just died Frank. A couple hours ago. What the fuck?”

  Frank closed his mouth tightly. “You’re right. I’ll put someone else on it.”

  “Why don’t you put someone else on putting people on jobs?”

  “What do you mean?” Frank asked.

  “Again, Frank, our dad just died. Tell someone else to handle things.”

  “And then I do what?” Frank asked. “Go home? Cry? Mope?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No.” Frank shook his head. “Dad would not want that. He would expect one of us to keep things moving.”

  “Yeah, in a few days.”

  “No, now. I’m delegating, Robbie. I can’t leave things go. We are on the brink of war and Dad’s death is the first sign. You think Dad is gonna rest easy if we let this go. He’d be fuckin pissed. You do what you need to do; I’ll get Jess Boyens on this, or John Matoose.”

  “What are you looking for up there, Frank?”

  “The type of explosion and how they pulled it off will tell me a lot about the person that set it. You know that. I want to know as much as I can what happened in that room.”

  “I was on the phone with him. He never saw it coming.”

  “Well, that’s good. But I want to know. We still have to rule it a homicide and not an accident.”

  “It’s not an accident.”

  “Internally, you and I know that. I want proof. I wanted you on it; because this is so close to you I don’t think anyone would do a more thorough job. But, I’ll get Jess or John.”

  “I’ll help them tomorrow or the next day.”

  “Little brother, don’t worry about it. I’m sorry for expecting you to do this. I’m heading to the house to check on things. See you there?”

  Robbie nodded.

  Frank began to walk away.

  “Frank.”

  Frank stopped.

  “Don’t get Jess or John. I’ll do it. I’ll... do it. It might help to keep my mind occupied.”

  Frank smiled. “Thank you.”

  Robbie didn’t return the smile; he flashed a saddened look, turned and kept walking.

  Frank headed toward the living section.

  ****

  “Will there be a memorial service?” Jess asked. “And where? I hate to bring this up, but usually in Beginnings we move on things pretty fast.”

  He spoke to Henry on the phone and Henry replied. “As far as I know it’ll be tomorrow afternoon, or Monday. I’m with Andrea now and she’s thinking about that already. This is our leader, Jess, our father and our leader; this has to be more than the typical service.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s very adamant about getting this done. Her focus is there.”

  “So she’s holding up?”

  “Like Frank, she’s staying busy and concentrating on the memorial, is one thing.”

  “It just happened. I mean, you’d think they’d be unable to function.”

  “I know the whole community is paralyzed now. Numb,” Henry said. “They just want to keep moving. Things will hit them soon enough.”

  “True. Okay, thanks Henry, let me know.” Jess hung up the phone and stood. He looked at his watch. The residents were all gathered in the social room. And knowing how much the residents loved Joe, Jess felt he had to inform them.

  They were watching old Andy Griffith shows when he walked in. He shut of the TV and faced them.

  “Hey, Hey,” Said Chester-Chester. “We were watching that.”

  “I know.”

  “We were watching that.”

  “I know.” Jess repeated and stood there. “But there’s something very important I need to say. If I can have your attention. All of you.”

  He waited for the silence, and for Fort and Bob to stop conversing.

  “I just wanted to let you guys know, because you loved him. Things are gonna be different. Miss Ellen will be different for a while. There was an accident today, and Joe was killed.”

  They gasped, released moans, and sounds of shock.

  Jess sadly nodded. “This is a really sad time for all of us. I’m going to see if I can get you guys to attend the funeral. Okay. If you have any questions, find me.”

  The mood in the room had dropped, no more needed to be said. Jess turned.

  “I have one,” Fort stood up. “You gonna tell them about Frank? Or are you leaving that detail out?”

  Jess just stopped. He looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

  Fort gave a smug look. “Thought so. It would be too much to handle knowing about both of them dying.”

  The room erupted. The residents went insane. One even shouted it was the apocalypse.

  Fort kept that smug look and sat down.

  Jess stared at him. He opened his mouth to counteract the news of Frank dying, and calm the residents, but he didn’t. “Are you happy you got them like this?”

  Fort didn’t answer.

  “Because you’re stuck with them now.”

  Jess walked out and closed the door, locking it behind him. He stood there thinking. Was it a ruse to get a rise out of the residents by a disgruntled Fort, or did the tight lipped Fort screw up and slip?

  There was one way to find out.

  Hating to do so, Jess headed off to call Frank.

  ****

  When Dean woke up in room 23 of the clinic, he noticed the time and ran. He still had a half an hour before he had to get to Frank and Ellen’s, but not a minute to spare in getting ready.

  He raced from the clinic to his house.

  His clothes were laid out, or at least he hoped so. He wanted to grab them, and hop in the shower.

  He responded, ‘After my shower,’ to Ritchie’s “Dean, I need to talk to you.” And flew into the bathroom.

  The shower was quick, his hair was wet an
d he had his clothes laid out.

  “Dean.” Richie stood in the doorway of the bedroom.

  “What’s up, Richie?” Dean asked “I can’t find my tie. Have you seen it?”

  “You don’t have a clue do you?” Richie asked.

  “About what?”

  “Where have you been, Dean? Everyone’s been calling you. Looking for you.”

  “I went to sleep in the clinic,” Dean said. “I crashed hard. But, I have to get ready.” He looked at his watch. “I have fifteen minutes to get to Frank and Ellen’s.”

  “Dean, there’s no wedding.”

  Slowly, Dean faced him. ‘What? Why?”

  “Joe …” Richie said. “Joe died.”

  ****

  “You’re leaving again?” Jimmy peered up from feeding Nick in the high chair. Frank was hugging Ellen.

  “I have to,” Frank said then looked down to Ellen. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I envy you, right now." Ellen pepped out. “To be able to keep moving. To have things that keep you moving. Yeah, I’m sure. Go.”

  Hal asked. “What’s going on?”

  Frank sighed out. “Jess thinks Fort slipped up at Containment today. Released a bit of information that he wasn’t supposed to release. Assumed history went one way.”

  “Really?”

  Frank nodded. “Did you want to come?”

  “I’d like to, thanks. El? Do you mind?” Hal asked.

  “No.” Ellen said. “Jimmy is here and …”

  At that second the door to the house burst open and Dean rushed in. He looked frazzled, out of breath, pale. “I’m sorry.” He announced looking around at everyone. “I was sleeping. I didn’t know. Oh my God, I am sorry.” He went immediately to Ellen and took her in his arms. “I’m sorry.”

  Ellen just started to cry.

  From the embrace, Dean raised his eyes to Frank. “What can I do?”

  Frank laid his hand on Dean’s back “Stay here with her. I’ll be back.”

  Dean nodded.

  With a motion of his head to the door, Frank led Hal out of the house.

  Dean was at a loss. Holding Ellen, looking at his children, to Jimmy, the devastation was evident. He still didn’t know what happened, or how, all he knew was in the middle of his family’s worst nightmare.