by David Archer
“Jenny to Marco,” Marco heard, and he acknowledged the call. “I don’t know about everybody else, but I’m getting hungry.”
“Yeah, I could eat something,” Marco replied. “What about the rest of you?”
Cody and Renée answered quickly that they were also ready for some dinner, and then Marco was surprised when Esmeralda agreed. She had been fitted with a subcom shortly after they had arrived in England, although Wally had had to make hers a little different. The ones in the living team members were powered by the natural electricity of their bodies, and Wally had been forced to modify Esmeralda’s to draw its power from the diamond batteries that kept her energized.
“Esmeralda?” Marco asked, grinning. “Are you trying to say you’re actually hungry?”
“I don’t get hungry for food, but I do need to take in water fairly often, to keep my mouth and eyes moist. I’m running a little low at the moment, so a lunch break would give me a chance to replenish.”
Marco shrugged to himself. “Okay,” he said. “There’s a little restaurant about fifteen minutes ahead. We can stop there.”
Neil had contacted the local Internet company and arranged for a fiber-optic network to be installed the following morning. Since that was done so easily, he had decided not to wait till the next morning to go after the mobile homes; he took the Jaguar into London and found the mobile home dealer Noah had told him about. He had walked into the office and told the salesman that he wanted to purchase eight units, which earned him a chuckle from the others working there.
“Really, now?” the salesman said, while the ladies in the office grinned. “Eight of them, you say? And have you decided which ones just yet?”
“Well, no,” Neil said. “I’d like to take a look before I choose any.”
The salesman scowled. “Bloody hell,” he said. “It’d be bloody nice to get through a day without some wanker trying to play silly buggers with us. Go on, then, go back and tell your mates that we didn’t fall for it. Think we don’t have better things to do with our time than play games with the kiddies? Off with you, now, we have real work to do around here.”
Neil’s eyes went wide as he stared at the man. “I don’t think you understand,” Neil said. “I’m very serious, I need to buy eight of your trailers today, and I need them delivered out by Guildford.”
“What did I say?” the salesman said, glaring at Neil. “What are you, maybe eleventh year? Bloody high school kids, always trying to prank us, do you think we’re not getting used to it by now? I don’t know who keeps putting you blokes up to this, but we’ve had enough, we have.”
Neil stared at him for a couple more seconds, then took a couple of steps toward him. “Look,” he said. “Here’s my card. Check it out and see what its limit is, and then get off your lazy ass and show me these trailers. You got that?”
Something in his demeanor made the salesman pause, and a second later he reached out and took the platinum card that Neil was holding out to him. He looked closely at it, saw that it was a business card from the Royal Bank of London, and had Neil’s photograph on it. He looked from the card to Neil, then swiped it through a reader and entered the code to check the credit limit.
Ten seconds later, his eyes wide and round, he handed the card back and got to his feet. He quickly straightened his tie and put on his biggest smile.
“Right you are then, good sir,” he said. “Eight of them, you say? Well, let me show you the best examples we have on the lot.”
Neil huffed, but followed the man out of the office trailer and onto the lot.
Each of the models on display was set up with furnishings in place, to show what they would be like if someone were actually living in them. Appliances came with them automatically, so Neil turned to the salesman again.
“Does all this furniture come with it?” he asked.
The salesman grinned. “Well, no, sir,” he said. “These are just for display, but I can certainly tell you where to get the best deals, if you like.”
Neil glanced around the trailer they were standing in. “I got a better idea,” he said. “All this stuff is new, right?”
“Well, of course, sir. We want to show it with quality furnishings, don’t we, now?”
“Then just add the furniture on and I’ll take them the way they are. I don’t have time to go looking for furniture, and you can just order new stuff.”
The salesman sputtered for a moment, then began calculating the additional profits he could pad onto the furniture prices. His frown turned over and became a smile, and he assured Neil that this would not be a problem. An hour later Neil had made his selections, the card had been processed and the salesman was frantically calling every transport truck driver he could find.
“Right, sir, I’ve got them all lined up, now. All the drivers should be here and hooked up by five o’clock, so it would be my pleasure to take you to tea, if you would.”
“Tea?” Neil glanced at his phone to check the time and saw that it was almost four. “Yeah, tea is good.” He had learned quickly that, with tea, there were always cookies available.
* * *
Molly and Sarah had the easiest job that day, simply going shopping at some of the grocery and department stores in Guildford. Between them, they loaded the van down with sets of dishes, pots and pans, silverware, cooking utensils, brooms and mops and cleaning supplies, and then Sarah called Neil to find out about what size beds the trailers would have before buying sheets and extra bedding.
By the time they were finished, it was getting close to dinnertime, so they headed back toward Feeney Manor.
“This has been fun,” Molly said as she drove. “You and I need to get out and do things together more often.”
Sarah smiled. “Fine by me,” she said. “I never used to like shopping, but it’s been growing on me a lot lately. Noah thinks I’m going a little overboard on stuff for the baby, but I just want to be prepared, you know what I mean?”
“I can imagine,” Molly said. “If I ever have kids, I’m sure I’ll be the same way.”
“You just have to find the right guy,” Sarah said. “I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d ever be a mother. I mean, even before I got in trouble and ended up with our outfit, I never thought I’d be able to settle down enough to actually raise kids. Now, though? I can’t imagine not wanting kids, not looking forward to being a mommy.”
Molly smiled. “Well, it looks good on you. I wouldn’t mind having kids someday, but I’ve always been about my education and my career, up until now.” She scrunched her nose and her smile turned playful. “Cody’s kinda cute. I don’t suppose you know if he has a girlfriend back home?”
“I don’t think so,” Sarah said. “A little interested, are you?”
“Maybe a little,” Molly said shyly. “I’m just not sure how he’d feel about me, you know?”
Sarah grinned. “Well, let’s see.” She ticked off points on her finger. “He’s male, he’s single, every other woman here with us, except you, is taken and Esmeralda doesn’t count, he’s a couple years older than you but not that much, he knows it would be a mistake to get into any kind of relationship outside of our group and he hasn’t gone anywhere alone since we got here. Personally, I think you have a pretty good chance.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Gee, you almost make it sound like I’m the consolation prize. Okay, I take your point. I’ve just never been any good at initiating any kind of romantic situation. The only actual boyfriends I ever had were too intimidated by my brains to stick around more than a few dates.”
“Now you’re making excuses. Look at Neil and Jenny; those two are as opposite in every possible way as any couple can get, but they make it work. He’s a genius, she’s a psychopath; he’s extremely tall, she’s extremely short; he spends a week crying any time he has to hurt anybody, and up until lately she’s been ready to kill at the drop of a hat. If they can make a relationship work, then you can.”
“Okay, okay,” Molly said,
“I’ll—I’ll think about it. I just wish he’d make the first move.”
* * *
Noah had supervised the construction of the trailer spaces and the road that would lead to them while Wally kept an eye on the electricians and plumbers who were connecting everything to the power and water supplies of the building. Along with Charles, the construction foreman, they had mapped it out in such a way that each of the new mobile homes would have privacy from the others, and a trenching device had already cut a path for the electrical, water and sewer lines. The electrical cables and water lines had been laid and buried within an hour, a total of twenty-three truckloads of gravel had been brought in and spread, and another crew was now assembling the eight-inch sewer line, burying each section as it was completed.
Since everyone was busy and didn’t have time to stop for dinner, Molly and Sarah had made a couple of plates and brought them out for Noah and Wally. The four of them sat on the tailgate of the truck while the two men ate, and it was only a short time later that Marco arrived with his convoy of vehicles. They were parked inside the factory building, which was for the moment not much more than a big, empty garage, and then Noah and Wally took all of them on a quick tour of the new residential area.
Noah’s phone rang as they were finishing up.
“This is Travis,” Noah said, using his British cover identity.
“Hey, Boss,” Neil said. “I’m about fifteen minutes out, and I’m leading a convoy of trailers. Where do you want us to put them when we get there?”
“We’re basically ready for them,” Noah said. “After you come in the main gate, you’ll see a gravel road leading off from the parking lot. Follow that toward the trees and it’ll lead to the individual spaces where they can put the trailers.”
“Okay, see you in a few.”
Noah put the phone away and then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Charlie! Trailers coming in just a few minutes.”
The foreman shot him a thumbs-up sign, then began issuing orders over his walkie-talkie. The equipment operators got the machinery out of the way and the work crews stood back. Each of the trailer spaces had been leveled with gravel, and the only other sign of their existence was the wiring and plumbing connections that stuck up through it.
The sound of diesel engines echoed over the land and then Neil turned into the main entrance in the Jaguar. Behind him, as he had said, eight heavy trucks pulled in one after another and followed the little sports car as it crossed the big parking lot and turned onto the gravel road that led toward the wooded copse.
Noah, Wally and the rest stood and watched as the trailers passed them by, the entire convoy staying behind the Jaguar until the last of the trailers had entered the area. One by one, the trucks stopped in front of the graveled spaces and began backing the trailers into place.
The entire operation went as smoothly as they could have hoped for. The drivers were sharp and it was literally only a matter of half an hour before each trailer had been backed into its own spot and the setup crews were strapping them down to anchors that screwed into the ground. Charlie’s people moved in to begin connecting the wiring and plumbing as the delivery crews were still tightening those metal straps, ensuring that the trailers would remain where they were even in high winds.
During that process, Noah took Neil and everyone else inside the building and showed them the area he’d chosen for the briefing room.
“Neil, I’m counting on you to get it set up properly. I’m sure Molly can tell you what she’ll need as far as computers and video equipment.”
“No problem,” Neil said. “Remember all the stuff I set up in the video conferencing room back at the mansion? We’ll bring all that out tomorrow and install it, and I think that’ll do everything we need.”
Molly nodded. “I agree, it should serve nicely.”
Noah nodded. “Wally knows what he wants and will start making those arrangements this evening, and I’ll leave setting up our offices to you two. Don’t worry about making things look like it was back in Neverland, just make it functional. We need to be able to get back to work within a couple of days, and the sooner this is all set up, the better.”
The rest of the day went smoothly. Within an hour, each of the trailers had power and water connected, and Charlie came looking for Noah.
“All finished but for the sewer line and putting in the decks and skirting ’round the trailers,” he said. “I’ve told my lads to be out here in the morning by seven, so we should be finished up by midday. That all right with you, sir?”
“That’ll be fine, Charlie,” Noah said. “Our first people won’t be coming in until the day after tomorrow, so it should all be done by the time we get them here.”
“Right you are, sir. Only I hope you will remember us, should you need more work done.” He held out a hand and Noah took it firmly.
“I’m sure there will be more work coming your way, Charlie,” Noah said. “In fact, I may have some work at Feeney Manor in the near future, as well.”
“It’d be our pleasure, sir,” Charlie said. He shook Noah’s hand once more, and then whistled loudly. He and his workers climbed into their vehicles and were gone a moment later.
“It’s been a good day, folks,” Noah said. “Everyone ready to head back to the estate?”
“Gosh, yes,” Sarah said. “I haven’t been on my feet this long in weeks. I need to lie down.”
“All right, let’s head back, then. Tomorrow’s going to be an even bigger day.”
No one seemed to object, so they climbed into their vehicles and headed back to Feeney Manor.
SIX
As usual, Thomas was waiting for them on the front steps when they began to arrive. Since all of them would be leaving again in the morning, the vehicles were left in the circle drive, all but the Jaguar. The little roadster had no top, and it was likely to rain during the night, so Neil put it away in the barn.
Beatrice had supper ready when they arrived, but they all took the time for a quick shower and change of clothes before entering the dining hall. They’d already learned that Beatrice had some magical power when it came to keeping food hot without letting it burn or dry out, and the roast pork that she put on the table in front of them was as succulent as any they had ever had. All of them ate heartily, and then they headed over to the Great Hall for an evening of relaxation.
For some of them, however, relaxation was only camouflage. Wally and Esmeralda were huddled to one side of the room, speaking in low whispers as Wally chose the equipment he wanted shipped from back home. Esmeralda could send the necessary messages directly to his former staff members, and most of them responded immediately. Within an hour, they had promised to get everything loaded into a couple of cargo planes and to then be packed and ready to leave themselves within twenty-four hours.
* * *
As soon as breakfast was finished the following morning, everyone headed over to the new building to get started on various projects. Molly and Renée were going to Guildford to purchase office furniture, Esmeralda and Jenny were going to help Neil set up all of the electronic equipment, while Wally, Marco and Cody started cleaning up the rest of the building. It had been empty for some time, so there were a number of old mattresses and lots of other trash lying around.
In fact, there were so many signs of illicit teenager presence that Wally insisted they look for how the kids might have gotten in. There were a couple of broken windows in the office section, he knew, but some of the areas where the detritus of youthful hangouts had collected were places that were sealed off. Careful searching, however, revealed a few doors with broken latches, and some of them led to the outside. Marco made a note of what was necessary to fix them and headed into town, and a couple of hours later the building was as secure as it could be.
Charlie’s people had shown up right on schedule, and by the time they broke for lunch, each of the trailers had a deck going all the way around it, with a picket-fence-type railing. Stairs
had been installed and everything properly connected, so Noah shook Charlie’s hand and promised to call soon with more work.
They spent the rest of the day getting all of the office furniture and equipment set up, dealing with the telephone people who came in to set up the new system and the internet company Neil had arranged to set up the high-speed connectivity and servers that would be housed in the building. By the time dinner was ready, they were all back at the Manor and ready to relax.
* * *
The following morning was going to be extremely busy for everyone, and they talked about all that still needed to be done as they ate breakfast. Neil and Molly were going to be concentrating on the electronics once again, including installing Wi-Fi for the mobile homes. Marco would be working with Wally and Esmeralda to make sure the new R&D area was secure.
Sarah’s appointment was at ten thirty, so Noah had stayed home with her after breakfast. When it was time to go, he brought the Ford Transit van they used for a people carrier to the front of the house, then helped Sarah get inside before they headed into London.
Doctor Mahindra was smiling and efficient when Sarah arrived for her appointment, and they were quickly taken back to an exam room. Noah accompanied Sarah for the examination, including an ultrasound that the doctor said would help them prepare for the impending birth. The ultrasound was a necessity, the doctor said, and then she asked if they were already aware of the baby’s gender.
