by Eric Vall
“So,” Brody said with a grin. “Should we get down to business?”
I downed the rest of my drink, gave Brody a wide grin, and slammed my glass on the table.
“Pleasure first,” I said. “Business later.” I figured a bit of suspense would be good for the man, maybe knock him down a peg or two.
“Finally,” Brody laughed. “Tav has come to play!”
He had no idea.
Chapter 5
After a dinner of fileted fish, roasted vegetables, and cornbread, it was time to discuss business. Brody had several drinks in him at that point, and I figured that would help when it came to his generosity for the mission.
“So,” I said with a smile. “Let’s talk business.”
“Indeed,” the dark-haired man said, and he looked around the table. “Have you come to a decision?”
“We have,” I said.
“And what might it be?” Brody asked with a raised brow.
“We have chosen to accept the mission,” I said sincerely.
“Fantastic!” Brody shouted, and he let out an uproarious laugh. “This is great news. We will make preparations for you tomorrow.”
“Actually,” I said. “We’d like to leave as early as possible.”
“Eager to get on with it, eh?” he chuckled.
“I suppose so,” I said.
“Well then,” Brody said, and he thought for a moment. “I’ll get the supplies ready for you tonight, and we can load them into your boat first thing tomorrow.”
“That sounds great,” I agreed.
“My crew will head down to the refinery two days after you leave,” the dark-haired man said. “That way the fight will be over, and they can begin on making the fuel right away.”
“Alright,” I said. “We’ll hold off on the attack until they get there. I don’t want to take out the refinery guys and have something blow up because it was unattended. But those couple of days will give us an opportunity to do some reconnaissance. How many of your people should we expect?”
“At least a dozen,” Brody said.
“Can you give us an exact count before we leave in the morning?” Paige asked.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “We just want to make sure everyone gets there safely.”
“I can do that,” Brody agreed with a smile.
“How long does it take to convert the oil into gasoline?” Paige asked.
“At least a full day is my understanding,” the dark haired man said.
“You don’t happen to have any books or manuals around here, do you?” the pretty brunette asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Brody said. “The workers know what they’re doing, so I never found it pertinent to try to obtain any.”
“That’s okay,” Paige said. “Maybe we can find some when we get there. I’d like to know more about the process.”
“I’m sure there’s some there,” the dark haired man said. “And you can always ask my guys once they arrive.”
“Okay, thanks,” Paige said with a smile.
“I can help you plot out your course if you’d like,” Brody offered. “The refinery is named Sneider.”
“I’m sure I can handle it,” the brunette said. “Thank you, though.”
“Paige is quite the navigator,” I said with a smile.
“On top of everything else these girls can do, I’m not surprised,” Brody laughed.
“They are well skilled,” I said with a proud look around at my team.
“How about some dessert then to celebrate?” Brody asked.
“Dessert sounds great,” Tara piped up.
“Count me in,” Paige agreed.
Brody stood up, walked to a nearby table, and carried a covered serving dish over to us.
“Ta da,” he said as he took the lid off.
Underneath was the most beautiful cake I had seen in a long time. It was a stacked cake with a deep, chocolate frosting that covered the outside. It reminded me of a cake you would see in a magazine, or on television, one that a master chef made which you had no hope of recreating.
“Oh my God,” Tara moaned. “That looks amazing.”
“Wait,” Anna chuckled. “Were you not going to give us cake if we said no?”
“You’d still get cake,” Brody laughed. “I’m not a monster. But now it will taste even better because it is a celebratory cake.”
“I’m not sure that’s how that works,” Paige giggled. “But either way, I’ll take it.”
Brody dished each of us a large slice of the beautiful cake. The inside was as dark as the outside, and I knew it would be rich and velvety even before it hit my mouth, but once I took my first bite, I was not disappointed.
The texture was creamy and moist, and the chocolate was decadent and delicious. I’d grown to love Betty’s cakes at home, but this was probably the best cake I had ever had in my life. I enjoyed another bite, then thought about the fact that the civilians probably wouldn’t get any of it, and the cake grew heavy in my mouth. As delicious as it was, it didn’t taste the same without sharing it with the person who had created it.
“This is amazing,” Tara sighed.
“It’s so rich,” Paige agreed, her eyes closed in pleasure.
“It is really good,” Bailey agreed.
“Mhm,” Anna added.
I gave the girls a smile and finished my cake, though I didn’t enjoy it as much once I remembered the civilians. Still, though, the cake was delicious, and I was happy to see my girls happy. It had been a long, strange couple of days, and they deserved a little treat after all the work they’d done.
“That was delicious,” I said after everyone had finished eating. “Thank you again.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Brody said with a grin.
“We should be heading to our room now, though,” I said. “We really need to plot out our course for tomorrow.”
“Of course,” the dark haired man agreed. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“We will,” I said, and I looked at the girls. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Anna confirmed, and she stood up, thanked Brody, and followed me out of the room.
I led us back to our chambers and locked the door behind us.
“Oh, man,” Tara said as she flopped onto the bed. “I’m stuffed. That chocolate cake was something else.”
“It was super good,” Paige agreed as she laid down next to the platinum blonde.
“Well, I hope you two aren’t so full that you can’t work,” Anna said with a raised eyebrow.
“Right,” Paige sighed as she sat up. “We do need to plot out that course.”
“How can we help?” Bailey asked.
“I’m not sure there’s much help you can give,” Paige said with a small smile. “It’s nothing against anyone, it’s just really a one woman job.”
“Alright,” Anna said. “What can we work on while Paige plots our course?”
“Do a quick inventory first of all,” I suggested.
“On it,” Bailey said with a smile.
“Thank you,” I told the pretty blonde.
“Tara,” Anna said as she poked the platinum blonde who was sprawled out on the bed. “Tara!”
“Huh, what?” Tara breathed as she shot upright. “I’m up, I’m up.”
“I hope so,” I laughed. “You all have work to do.”
“This bed is just so damn comfortable,” she said with a stretch.
“We wouldn’t know,” Anna said with a glare, “you sprawled out in the middle last night and hogged the whole thing.”
“Oh whatev,” Tara said, and she rolled her eyes. “This thing is huge. You had room.”
Paige pulled out her maps and compass and laid them all out on the floor of the room while Anna, Tara, and Bailey began to count our rations and bullets.
“I was going to ask earlier,” Tara said, “but why didn’t we plot out our course with Brody? Doesn’t he know the area better than we do?”
“Brody doesn’t need t
o know our exact course,” I said in a low voice. “We need to have our own plan.”
“Okay,” the platinum blonde agreed, and I knew she wouldn’t question me further.
“Besides,” Paige said. “I’m more than capable of plotting out our course without Brody’s help.”
“I already knew that,” Tara said with a smile. That chocolate cake had obviously put her in a good mood.
The girls went back to counting while I looked over Paige’s shoulder at the maps. The brunette studied them carefully for a moment, then she began to make notes in her small journal with directions for us. She even included some rough diagrams to help her navigate our path better. I knew that it would be easier for her to use the map itself, but I also knew that she took pride in her maps, and she used them so frequently that she couldn’t have them cluttered with past trips. They were a reference, but the real course was in her head.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked after a few moments.
“Well,” the pretty brunette sighed. “We’re going to have to backtrack some.”
“Why’s that?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed in on the map.
“There’s no place where Lake Champlain connects to Lake George directly across,” she said, and she pointed at the map.
“So we’ll have to go up La Chute river,” I said with a nod.
“Right,” Paige agreed. “There’s one problem with that, though.”
“What?” I asked.
“There’s a falls on La Chute,” the brunette said, and she indicated the place on the map.
“How large is it?” I asked.
“I can’t say for sure,” she said. “But I don’t think we’ll be able to go up it.”
“Is there another way to Lake George?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “But the falls seem to be all the way across, but not very wide. I think if we can find a trailer nearby we should be able to get the boat out of the water, and once it’s on level ground, we’ll be able to pull it around. It’ll be heavy, but I think we can do it.”
“I’m sure we can,” I agreed. “But we’ll need a winch set up to get the boat out of the water. But that also means we’ll have to do the same thing on the way back.”
“Actually,” Paige said, and she bit her lip. “It looks like there’s some small rapids right after that, so we probably wouldn’t be able to get back up the river.”
“We’d have to leave our boat on Lake George,” I sighed.
“Yes,” she agreed.
“We’ll see if Brody has a vehicle he could send down for us,” I said. “We’ll add it to the deal so that we can get the boat home. But what about the current after we get over the falls?”
“Upriver it shouldn’t be too bad,” she assured me. “They aren’t very large falls so there won’t be a huge current to draw us to them.”
“Alright,” I agreed. “And where do we go from there?” I was hesitant about the waterfall we were going to encounter, but if Paige thought this route was best, then I knew better than to question her. Besides, we were crafty, and even if we had to figure out a way to get the boat home on our own, we were headed to a refinery where there would be plenty of fuel.
“We’ll take La Chute all the way down to Lake George,” the brunette said. “The Hudson flows right by the oil refinery, but there’s no way for us to bring the boat that far, so we’ll have to leave it and travel on foot from there.”
“Okay,” I said. “How long do you estimate the trip will take?”
“Three days at least,” Paige said with a shake of her head. “It’s no quick journey, that’s for sure.”
“You’ve done well,” I said with a smile. Three more days just down to the refinery wasn’t quite what I wanted to hear, especially since we had already been gone from home several days. I knew Rolly, Betty, and everyone else would worry about us, and I didn’t like the idea of keeping them waiting any longer than we had to.
“I’m going to keep working for a bit,” the bookish brunette said. “Just to make sure this is the best way.”
“I understand,” I said, then I turned my attention to the other girls. “How are we doing over here?”
“We’re all counted up,” Bailey said.
“And what’s the verdict?” I asked.
“We each have enough ammunition for five full magazines in our rifles,” Anna announced. “And ten mags a piece for our pistols.”
“Hm,” I said with narrowed eyes. “I may ask Brody for more bullets tomorrow.”
“That’s kind of what we were thinking, too,” Bailey said. “I mean this is sufficient, but I’d rather be over prepared.”
“Always,” I agreed with a grin. “Good work, girls. What about food rations?”
“Well, we haven’t eaten much of them since we’ve been here,” Tara said. “But we still only have enough for a day and a half or so.”
“Alright,” I said. “I’m sure Brody is already planning on giving us supplies, but I’ll make sure before we leave. If not we’ll stop somewhere and do some hunting or scavenging.”
“Okay,” Bailey agreed with a soft smile.
“Anything else we can do?” Anna asked.
“There’s running water here,” I said. “Let’s make sure we fill all of our water bottles, and if anybody wants to hand-wash a couple items of clothing let’s do it now so they’ll be dry by morning.”
“Oh, yes,” Tara said. “I definitely need to wash some clothes.”
“I’ll fill all the water bottles,” Bailey said as she hopped up and began to gather supplies.
“Thank you,” I told the blonde hippie.
“Let me help,” Anna said, and she took some of the bottles out of Bailey’s arms, which had quickly become far too full.
I gathered my own water bottles, along with a couple shirts and two pairs of boxers, then I led the girls down to the large bathroom. We filled up the water bottles first and set them aside, then I added some water into the bathtub and threw my clothes inside.
Tara did the same, then Anna, and Bailey.
“Did everyone get a couple things to wash?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “I figured why not?”
“We get sweaty out there, too,” Anna chuckled.
“I’m sure you do,” I laughed. “Did anyone ask Paige if she needed anything washed?”
“I didn’t ask,” Bailey said. “But I grabbed some of the stuff I know she likes to wear most.”
“That was very sweet,” I said. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Bailey said, but I saw her pale cheeks go red at my compliment.
“After we’re done with this,” Tara said, “I kind of want a shower if that’s cool.”
“I don’t see why not,” I said. “I think we could all use a shower.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to join me,” the platinum blonde said with a wink.
“I might take you up on that,” I laughed.
“All we have is shampoo, conditioner, and body wash,” Anna said. “What do you think is best for the clothes?”
“Let me see them,” Tara said, and she grabbed the bottles and quickly read the labels.
The platinum blonde poured some bodywash into the tub, swished it around a bit, then looked at the rest of us.
“I’m not washing all these myself,” she said.
“Of course not,” I said. “I think we’re all just curious why the body wash is the best?”
“It will be the best for cleaning,” Tara said. “But we’ll need to add some conditioner after we’re done washing so that our clothes don’t feel all stiff and icky once they dry.”
“How do you know that?” Anna asked.
“You’ve obviously never had an emergency laundry situation,” Tara said with a small shake of her head.
“No,” the redhead chuckled. “I can’t say I have.”
“I’ve had too many,” the platinum blonde said with an eye roll. “You pick
up a few tricks after a while.”
“How many emergency laundry situations can one person have?” Bailey asked, her small blonde eyebrows pinched together in confusion.
“I’m still wondering what qualifies as an emergency laundry situation in the first place,” I said.
“I’ll give you an example,” Tara said as we all scrubbed our clothes in the tub.
“Oh this should be good,” Anna laughed.
“It’s terrible, actually,” the platinum blonde retorted. “This one time I was at a hotel party with my friends, and I was wearing this super gorg white dress. Well, this dumbass guy Ricky, who totally tried to hit on me like a million times, and just wouldn’t take the hint. Anyway, Ricky got super wasted early on, like, he was partying before anyone even got there. And he came up to me all crazy like and somehow managed to spill his whole glass of red wine right on my dress.”
“Oh no,” Bailey said with a frown.
“Right,” Tara agreed, and she nodded her head as if the situation was incredibly serious. “And I couldn’t exactly call room service and have them dry clean it since I didn’t have any other clothes. Not to mention I needed to do something fast to prevent the stain from setting in.”
“So what did you do?” I asked.
“I went to the bathroom,” the platinum blonde explained. “And since it’s a hotel, you know they have those little things of soap and shampoo and stuff, so I went to the bathroom, took the dress off, rubbed some soap on it, rinsed it with warm water. This was after I already knew a thing or two. But I got that stain out, blow dried my dress mostly dry, and got the hell out of there.”
“Wow,” Anna said. “That was the most boring, yet interesting story I’ve ever heard.”
“Thanks,” Tara said with a proud smile.
“I’m not sure that was a compliment,” I laughed.
“I’m not sure if it was either,” Anna admitted.
“So whatever happened to Ricky?” Bailey asked.
“He inherited his father’s company,” the platinum blonde said with an eye roll. “So he gets paid to do nothing. Pretty sure he was off on a yacht somewhere when the EMP hit, so there’s a chance he’s still alive I guess.”
“You turned down a guy who was set to inherit his father’s company?” Anna asked, her jaw open wide.
