“Oh my,” Mary gasped, pulling a handkerchief out of Sheriff Mables’ mouth. “Sheriff, are you okay?”
“My…foot,” Sheriff Mables moaned in pain. “Bowling ball…”
Mary looked down and spotted a blue bowling ball sitting beside Sheriff Mables’ right foot. “That’s the crashing sound I heard from the kitchen?” Sheriff Mables nodded. “Oh, you poor dears,” she said. She helped Sheriff Mables and his wife out of the closet and quickly untied them.
Lucy Mables grabbed Mary into her arms and hugged her. “I thought we were dead,” she cried. “That awful man pointed a gun right at me.”
Mary hugged Lucy back. The poor woman was shaking all over. If her hair hadn’t been completely gray already, Mary was sure it would have turned that color tonight.
“Agent Green nearly killed me, too,” Mary said as she walked Lucy over to a green and white couch and sat her down.
Sheriff Mables rubbed his wrists. “Mary, where is that snake?”
“I’m not sure,” Mary replied. She sat down next to Lucy and began rubbing her feet. “Sheriff, there is a lot that I need to explain. Please sit down.”
“I’d rather stand, thank you,” Sheriff Mables told Mary. He patted his hip. “That snake took my gun.”
Lucy grabbed Mary’s hands. “Mary, what is going on?” she asked.
Mary drew in a deep breath and slowly began to talk. “There is a spy in town, but it’s not what you think. The real spy is Agent Green. His real name is Eberhart Kruger.”
“A German!” Sheriff Mables yelled. “Well, it sure figures it would be that way.”
“Not all Germans are bad, dear,” Lucy said. “My cousin is German and she’s a wonderful person. She has two sweet children and she’s married to a good man.”
“That’s true,” Sheriff Mables agreed. He rubbed the back of his neck and then yanked a cigar out of his pocket and shoved it into his mouth. “Mary, keep talking.”
Mary carefully explained about Emma and how Farmer Griffith was connected to her. “Emma is a sweet woman, Sheriff. She means no harm.”
“Mary,” Sheriff Mables exclaimed, “this woman is still a spy stealing secrets from our country.”
Lucy looked at Mary. “My husband is right, Mary. This woman, even though she may appear to be a friend, is really our enemy.”
Mary wanted to debate with Lucy but knew better. The truth was, Emma was a spy stealing secrets—even though the secrets she was stealing were vital to her cause. The entire situation was a twisted piece of metal that no one could untangle. Certain logics simply clashed with valuable truths; purpose fought with integrity and reason was at war with honor. Emma had her mission, Agent Green had his mission, and Sheriff Mables and Lucy had their mission to remain patriotic to the American flag. Mary knew she would never betray the American flag, but she couldn’t bring herself to condemn Emma. She felt lost in an ocean of confusion.
“I know,” she finally spoke in a tired voice. “I realize that Emma is a spy. But on the other hand, she is not trying to harm our country. She is simply attempting to support her cause and—” Mary stopped talking when her words mimicked Agent Green’s ugly statements. “Oh dear, there is no excuse, is there?”
“No,” Sheriff Mables told Mary. “This woman is a spy on American soil, Mary. She must be arrested immediately.”
“No,” Mary begged. “Please, allow Emma to return to France. That is what she really desires to do anyway.” Mary looked down at the floor. She kept her mouth shut about the papers Emma was currently racing to find. “Sheriff, we need to capture Agent Green. He’s the one who killed Farmer Griffith.”
“And how do you suggest we catch that snake?” Sheriff Mables asked Mary.
“May I use your phone?” Mary asked. Sheriff Mables nodded. Mary climbed to her tired feet, walked over to a polished side table sitting beside the wooden staircase, and woke Heather up.
“This better be good,” Heather yawned.
“It is,” Mary promised. “Heather, we have a spy loose in town,” Mary explained in an urgent voice. “His name is Agent Vince Green. He’s the FBI agent, only he’s not really who he’s claiming to be. But,” Mary added in a careful voice, “have anyone who spots Agent Green tell him to come to the paper, okay? Don’t let the guy know he’s been found out. I need the full cooperation of the town on this. Also, in one hour have everyone surround the paper…pitchforks and torches, Heather. Got it?”
“Oh, this is juicy,” Heather said in an excited voice.
“Heather, please,” Mary begged, “pay attention. Agent Green is a very deadly man. We have to trap him.” Mary bit down on her lip. “I need Agent Green to come to the paper. Can you get that message out?”
“I sure can, hon,” Heather promised.
“Don’t call anyone who will spill the beans, either. You know who to call.”
“I sure do, hon,” Heather told Mary. “Now, stop chewing my ear off and let me get to work.”
“Okay,” Mary said and hung up the phone. She turned and looked at Sheriff Mables. “Sheriff, we need to get to the paper.”
Sheriff Mables chewed on his cigar. “If apples aren’t red,” he told Mary, “you sure beat everything, Mary Holland.” Sheriff Mables walked over to his wife and kissed her cheek. “Keep the doors locked, dear. I’ll be back before sunup. Have some coffee making, okay?”
Lucy stood up and hugged her husband. “Be careful,” she said, feeling like she was sending her husband off into a dangerous war that he would never return from.
Sheriff Mables hugged Lucy back, hiked up his pants, and then pointed at the front door. “Let’s go, Mary.”
Mary hugged Lucy goodbye and hurried outside into the night with Sheriff Mables. She didn’t get ten feet before Agent Green came racing down the street, jumped out of his car, and came running at the house with his gun drawn.
“Inside!” Sheriff Mables yelled, shoving Mary back into the living room. Mary tumbled back. Seconds later, Sheriff Mables crashed down onto the floor next to her.
“Don’t move,” Agent Green warned Mary and kicked the front door shut.
Mary looked up into a pair of vicious, furious eyes. “You won’t get away with this,” she promised.
Sheriff Mables rubbed the back of his head. “Put down that gun and fight me man to man.”
“Shut up!” Agent Green yelled. “I’m through being nice.” He pointed his gun at Lucy. “Where is Emma Charron? I want answers and I want them now or that woman dies!”
Sheriff Mables looked at his wife. Lucy turned pale and then fainted. “You’re going to pay,” he promised Agent Green.
Agent Green hissed. “Where is Emma Charron?” he demanded.
“I sent her away,” Mary told Agent Green. She brought a fake but convincing smile to her lips. “Emma escaped, Agent Green. She’s going to return back to France and further her own cause.”
Agent Green glared down at Mary with raging eyes. “You’re lying!”
“Do you see Emma standing in this living room?” Mary asked Agent Green. “You lost, jerk. Emma won.”
Agent Green stepped back toward the front door and lowered his gun. If Emma had truly escaped, he was in serious trouble with his superiors. Failure was not an option. “Mrs. Holland, I managed to capture the Andersons before they left town. Mitch Anderson is tied up in the trunk of my car. His parents are resting in a closet in their home.” Agent Green narrowed his eyes. “If you refuse to tell me the truth, they will all die, beginning with the boy.”
Mary stared at Agent Green. She was in quicksand up to her neck. “Okay, okay,” she told Agent Green and wiped her smile away. “I…what if I give you the papers Emma was searching for in exchange for Mitch? Please.”
Agent Green grinned. “That’s more like it. Where are the papers?”
“At my office,” Mary said, hoping for the best.
Outside in the night, certain phones rang as Heather began rallying her troops.
Chapter 9
/> Agent Green shoved Sheriff Mables back into the living room closet and then pushed Lucy in. “Get comfortable,” he said with a grin and slammed the closet door shut. “Mrs. Holland, let’s take a ride.”
Mary looked at the closet door. Agent Green raised his gun and aimed it at her. “Okay,” she said and walked outside with the gun pressed into her back. She got into the passenger’s seat, debated making a run for it while Agent Green walked around to the driver’s side, and then decided her enemy would shoot her dead before she ran five steps. “Be smart,” she whispered.
Agent Green climbed behind the steering wheel and closed the driver’s side door. “Mrs. Holland, it’s a shame that it has come to this. I have a great deal of damage control to accomplish after I achieve my goal.”
“You mean you’re going to come back and kill Sheriff Mables and Lucy.”
Agent Green placed the gun down on his lap. “Mrs. Holland, desperate situations require desperate measures. I have to ensure that my task is successful by eliminating certain…dangerous variables.”
“People are not variables, you jerk,” Mary snapped. “People are God’s creation that deserve to live free and have a chance at happiness. Life is difficult enough without the likes of you making it more complicated.”
Agent Green turned his head and stared at Mary with cold, soulless eyes. “Mrs. Holland, the clash of ideas is a long and very tedious war. The Civil War was a war fought over ideas. The Revolutionary War was a war fought over ideas. World War One was a war fought over ideas. You see, Mrs. Holland, we are in a constant war of ideas. Physical force is simply used to carry out those ideas into a realistic form.”
“Take your ideas and sit on them,” Mary told Agent Green. She snapped her arms together. “I don’t need to sit here and listen to you spout off a bunch of garbage.”
“What you call garbage I call a noble cause, Mrs. Holland,” Agent Green said through gritted teeth. “Tell me, what good are humans if they are allowed to live free?”
Mary gaped at him. “I don’t—”
Agent Green threw up his right hand. “Humans will end up destroying this planet and each other, Mrs. Holland. You see, humans need to be constantly monitored and controlled. Humans need to be taught and guided. Humans need to be molded into functioning servants that perform a worthy cause.” Agent Green motioned his hand around. “This little town you call home is a prime example.”
“Pineville is a lovely town.”
“Your town, Mrs. Holland, is filled with a disease called the ‘American Dream,’” Agent Green snarled. “The streets are lined with cozy homes. Men work neat little jobs and the women stay home and bake all day. Children walk to school with their milk money safely intact. The local bank doesn’t even lock its vault during business hours.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Mary asked. “Pineville is a community. Neighbors trust each other and—”
“Your way of life is a disease,” Agent Green snarled again. He brought his car to life and got moving. “You stand behind a Constitution that teaches rebellion. You create a way of life that infects the thinking of men and women that need to be converted into obedient slaves.” Agent Green slowed the car and turned right onto Redwood Lane. “My people are pushing Germany forward while America continues to infect the world with ideas of freedom and liberty. Freedom and liberty is a disease, Mrs. Holland. If man is given unlimited freedom, he will rebel against the truth.”
Mary shook her head in disgust. “You’re a very sick person,” she told Agent Green. “You’re spewing the words of a madman.”
“I’m speaking the truth,” Agent Green told Mary in a firm voice. “The German army has managed to control Europe. Someday we will control the world. But controlling the world is impossible as long as men and women think they are free. The German government has brainwashed its people and manipulated them into obeying the cause of a truth they would have never agreed to if they had not allowed their minds to become altered.” Agent Green snatched a Lucky Strike out of his pocket. “We will infect your college campuses with our agenda, Mrs. Holland, and alter the minds of your youth. We will change your educational system and religious systems. We will transform your government and destroy political opposition. We have men in power already. Mr. Hoover is only the beginning.”
Mary felt cold chills run down her spine. “You’ll never change the true heart of the American people, you snake. America is a proud, brave, and free country.”
Agent Green sneered. “The American people, perhaps, but the men within your government are spineless. In time we will succeed in destroying this country. The war will be long, but we will win. In the meantime, my people will dominate Europe, Africa, Russia, and Asia. We already have the Italians and the Japanese on our side.”
Mary looked out of the passenger’s side window. She felt trapped inside of a nightmare. How had her little town become a breeding ground for danger? But boy oh boy, if she lived through the mess she was in, she sure was going to have a whopper of a story to write.
And speaking of the story, Mary reminded herself, she needed to make sure Betty got credit. After all, Betty was her best friend and had helped her uncover a valuable truth. Mary wished Betty was with her. But Betty was home in bed, dreaming one of her dreams, and most likely sucking her thumb. Mary didn’t know why Betty still sucked her thumb when she slept—an unconscious habit, she guessed. Not that thumb sucking was bad. Nah, Mary thought, if Betty sucked her thumb while she slept, what was the harm? Life was short and if Betty found comfort in sucking her thumb, then so be it. Of course, Mary would never tell anyone. Betty had pride and dignity and…and…
Mary stopped thinking about Betty. Trying to take her mind off her fear wasn’t a good idea. She had to deal with Agent Green and not shy away from his evil words even though her mind wanted to run as far away as possible from every word spoken. “You’re forgetting that we won our freedom.”
“You didn’t win your freedom,” Agent Green corrected Mary. “You were born into freedom. You do nothing to sustain the freedom given to you. Your military defends your freedom. You, Mrs. Holland, are a selfish bottom feeder.”
“Boy, are you insane,” Mary barked. “A person is not selfish because he or she is born in a free country, you looney bird. And just because I enjoy the freedoms my God has given this country doesn’t mean I’m selfish. If I was asked to take up arms and fight I would do so without blinking an eye, so stop throwing your trash at me.”
Agent Green glanced at Mary. The woman was hardheaded, stubborn, and beyond hope. Mary Holland, he knew, had to be destroyed. “Mrs. Holland, once you give me the papers I need I’ll go away,” he lied.
“No, you won’t,” Mary corrected Agent Green. “You’re going to kill me, the sheriff and his wife, and the Andersons.” Mary steadied her mind. “I lied. I don’t have the papers you want at my office.”
Agent Green slammed on the brakes. “What do you mean?”
Mary thought fast. “I hid the papers at the farm. If you…let Mitch go free, he’ll go get the papers for you.”
Agent Green threw his cigarette out of the driver’s window. “Mrs. Holland—”
“Please,” Mary pleaded, “let Mitch go get the papers. He’ll do as you order him because you have his parents locked in a closet.” Mary decided it was time for her to play a little spy. “And…if you promise not to kill me…I’ll tell you all about Farmer Griffith and how we’ve been running a…spy ring,” Mary said and deliberately lowered her head in shame.
“Ah,” Agent Green said, “so it’s true. My suspicions were correct. You have been helping the French.”
“Yes,” Mary confessed to a lie. “There are…many of us that have been helping the French Underground Military Movement fight the Germans.”
“Your husband is part of the movement?” Agent Green asked.
Mary reluctantly nodded her head, feeding Agent Green the lies he wanted to hear. She needed to lure Agent Green to the paper but free Mi
tch first. “My husband is giving information to the French.”
“Perfect.” Agent Green grinned. He threw open the driver’s door, ran to the trunk, snatched it open, pulled Mitch out, and carried him to the passenger’s side door. “Boy,” he said, standing Mitch on his feet, “listen to what Mrs. Holland is going to order you to do.”
“Mitch,” Mary said, “go to the farm and get the papers with the funny writing on them. You know where I hid them.”
Mitch gave Mary a confused face. “I do?” he asked and then read Mary’s eyes. “Oh, sure, yeah, I do.”
“Bring the papers to my office when you get them, okay?”
“Oh, sure,” Mitch said.
Agent Green pointed a gun at Mary. “If you don’t, boy, this woman will die.”
“Just don’t try to find the sheriff.” Mary winked at Mitch without Agent Green spotting her. “Whatever you do, don’t try to find the sheriff.”
“Oh, no ma’am,” Mitch told Mary. He looked up into Agent Green’s face and then kicked him in the leg. “That’s for locking my folks in a closet!”
Agent Green grabbed his right leg and pushed Mitch away. “Get going, boy!” he yelled.
Mitch looked at Mary. “Avoid the sheriff, Mitch,” Mary said and nodded her head. “Get going.”
Mitch took off running. Agent Green watched him disappear into the night and then crawled back behind the steering wheel of his car and started driving. When they arrived at the paper, he forced Mary inside at gunpoint. Mary walked to her office, clicked on a lamp, and sat down behind her desk. Agent Green tossed his fedora down on a chair and went for yet another Lucky Strike. “Okay, we have time. Start talking,” he ordered Mary.
Mary rubbed her feet across the floor and then rubbed the small of her back and studied her situation. She had Mitch going to fetch the sheriff, or so she hoped. Emma was at the farm retrieving her papers and then she would come back to the newspaper. Heather was rallying her troops, who, unfortunately, would not spot Agent Green lurking about, but would eventually make their way down to the newspaper—not with pitchforks and torches, of course, but with shotguns and town strength. Agent Green, on the other hand, was standing alone, trapping himself inside an office without any way out.
Bought the Farm Page 13
