Joe never took his eyes off of Robbie, he called out his command once more. “I said weapons down!”
Frank apprehensively lowered his rifle. “What are you doing, Dad?”
Joe ignored Frank, he had Robbie to contend with, that was enough. “Robbie, what do you want. We don’t give hand outs.”
“We’re not here for hand outs. We are here in peace. I met up with these people Dad. They mean no harm. We want you to consider letting us back in.”
“Why would we do that?”
“Because we can be a help. If you let us in, we can prove we can be an asset. Harvest is in a few months. You need men. You need workers . . .”
“We need nothing. We’re fine. You have no right to even ask us to reconsider letting you in. We let you in once. That’s all the chances anyone gets.” Suddenly Joe noticed the giant rubicund man, he recognized Moses. “I know you. I threw you out of this place. Your name is Thomas.”
Moses cleared his throat. “I call myself Moses now.”
“O.K. Moses.” Joe spoke coldly. “Why don’t you lead your people the hell away from our community. You are not wanted or needed. Go.”
Moses thought it was funny the way Joe commented on leading his people. But he couldn’t let laughter or even a smile slip out. He had to be serious and deliver his final speech. “Robbie, I’m sorry I brought you up here. I just thought that, maybe they would consider if they saw we mean no harm.” He faced Joe again. “Sir, we’ll leave. I just hope someday you’ll see that we all are God’s children and hopefully one day, we can live side by side as brothers.” Moses turned his back and began to walk away. He signaled his men, and they followed. All but Robbie, who remained at the gate.
Robbie moved a little closer. “Dad, I’m sorry I let you down. I am. I’m gonna try harder. I’ll show you. I’ll make you proud of me again.” Robbie stepped back, he raised his hand and waved. “I love you Dad.” He quickly turned and chased after Moses and the others who had already mounted their horses. Robbie mounted his, and all of them quickly rode away.
Joe watched. A sense of sadness fell upon him. Watching Robbie ride off, brought along a feeling of loss. But he could not let that cloud his mind. He had to think clearly. Robbie and Moses’ little peaceful act was clearly that, an act. It was definitely a prelude to something, but what?
***
Joe paced around his office, hands in pockets. George and Henry, seated before him. “So, we are in agreement on this. This is what we’ll do? Correct?”
Frank knocked once then opened the door. “I’m here. Now you wanna tell me what’s up with you?” His voice demanding.
Joe turned to Frank and faced him off. “First of all, I will tell you this only one time. Don’t you ever question my actions again, is that clear?”
Frank wondered if he should square off with his father or not. Then he remembered, it was his father. “Clear.”
“Good. Now, what do you have in mind?”
“We know it’s the group from that town. I say let’s take two missiles, attach them to the chopper and wipe them out. Get rid of them.”
“Right Frank, we’ll just blow them away. For what? For walking up to our gate? Christ, I worry about what goes on within the walls, not outside. When they threaten what’s in here, then they’ll be no more. Not any sooner.”
“No.” Frank argued. His emotions strong within his speech. “I strongly disagree. You pride yourself on how everyone here sleeps safely at night. How safe are they gonna feel knowing what is lurking behind the walls? We know how many live in that town.”
“Whether or not you want to believe it, Frank. They are still humans. They are life.”
“They’re the ones who killed Jonas. I feel it.”
“Feelings aren’t proof. And we can’t just go around destroying what life there is left for our own peace of mind. Now, I know you want to beef up security. Do what you have to do. I’ll stand behind you one hundred percent. I’ll also stand behind you, like always, if you shoot anyone that comes within two feet of the perimeter, after sun down. But threat or no threat, our life rules still apply. In broad daylight, no. You know as well as I do they can’t take us.”
Frank couldn’t accept it. He knew his voice, no matter how loud he let it get, was just not going to be heard. He gave it one more shot. “Just tell me, Dad, how are you and the Council going to explain to our people, that we are beefing up security because we let a possible threat walk away?”
“Bingo.” Joe pointed. “A possible threat is no reason to eliminate them.”
Henry, not one to want to get in the middle of a Slagel-tempered argument, did. “Joe, uh, I think he may have a point. Not about blowing them away, but on how everyone is going to react. Perhaps that should be an option tonight?”
Joe walked over to his desk and sat down. “You’re right. We’ll make that an option. Tonight we’re calling an emergency meeting. For you, Frank, I’ll bring up our options to them, let the community decide what they want. We as the Council will take that in consideration.”
“You can’t ask the community as a whole to voice an opinion. Most of our community won’t buy it. They were once what just walked up to our gate. They won’t for one second want to see anything happen to Robbie and them.”
“You’re driving me nuts!” Joe viciously rubbed his eyes in aggravation.
“Dad.” Frank walked up to his father’s desk and rested his hands on it. He leaned in to his father, his eyes pleading. “Listen to me. Do not make the mistake of waiting. Don’t. We can’t for one second chance losing anyone in this community. We can get rid of them in a heartbeat. If we let them just linger out there, then any blood shed in this community is on our hands.”
“It won’t come to that, Frank. You know our security here. Now you know what you are to do. You know when you allowed to do it. That’s all I’ll give you.”
“Fine.” Frank slammed his hands on the desk. “But make no mistake. My job is to protect this community. I do that. I do that well. But day or night, if I see a threat, I will override council and attack.”
Joe rose up in anger. “You will not!”
“I will!”
“Then I’ll remove you from duty, and that’s not want you want!” Joe leaned further into his son. “Now I suggest you get rid of the attitude, get your ass to work on our extra security, and leave me to my job. I also suggest that you avoid me for the next hour. Is that understood? First you question me in front of everyone, then you get in my face. Right now you have really pissed me off! Don’t you forget, I may be an old man, but I’m the only one in this community who can kick your ass!”
Frank was fed up. Arguing with his father was pointless. Instead of screaming back, Frank, enraged, rushed backwards. As he exploded from the office he slammed his fist with his every frustration into the filing cabinet, causing a loud crash, a huge indentation, and everyone to jolt in their seats.
“Hey!” Joe called to him. “You will come back and pound out this dent . . . again!”
Frank ignored him and kept on walking.
“Son of a bitch!” Joe made his way to the filing cabinet. “He did it again.”
Frank walked off his feelings. The whole situation gnawed at him, he knew he was right on this one. He knew his father, though not wrong about many things, was wrong about this. The only thing was, Frank prayed that his point would not be proven correctly. If that happened, that spelled tragedy. He had work to do and headed back to his office to start on it.
Upon opening his office door and stepping inside, he saw Ellen seated behind his desk. “What’re you doing here?”
Ellen stood up and moved to him. “I was worried. I just said . . .”
“Did I not tell you to stay put?!” He scolded at her like a young child.
“Well, yes but . . .”
“Didn’t I tell you don’t move?!”
“Yes.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?!” Frank backed up as he bega
n to shout about. “I told you that for a reason. I wanted you where I knew you were safe! How can I protect you El, if you’re off running around?!”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Frank. I am not your child!”
“No, you are not. But you are carrying mine. And I’d fuckin’ die if anything happened to you guys and I could have prevented it.”
Ellen knew at that moment something far worse was going on in Frank’s mind. It just wasn’t her, it couldn’t be. “Frank, you’re not really mad at me are you? You’re venting.”
“Yes!” Frank stopped, and calmed himself down. “I’m venting.”
“You wanna tell me what’s up?” She followed him over to his desk. He leaned against it, arms folded. “Come on.” She pleaded. “It’s me. What’s going on?” She ran her hands up and down his folded arms.
“Robbie and twenty other men showed up at the back gate.”
Ellen blinked long in surprise. “Robbie showed up?”
“It’s the second time it happened. We didn’t want anyone to know or worry about the first time. But now, he’s got this group. And they’re being bold. Marching right up to us. They have some sort of plan, I know it. I know Robbie. I saw behind his eyes. But my Dad . . .”
“Joe doesn’t see it?”
“Oh, he sees it, but he doesn’t want to do anything about it until we know for sure. I, on the other hand do not think we should wait. It’s a mistake El, a big one. So . . . Do me a favor.” He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “When I’m not around you, don’t be alone. Whatever you do, even if it means being around Dean. Don’t be alone.”
“I’ll try,” Ellen said softly. “Will this end soon, this confrontation with Robbie and them?”
“I hate to say it, but it looks like it’s only going to end, when they make their move.”
“And will they?”
Frank hesitated in his fear of overreacting, but he answered Ellen with his gut sincerity. “Without a doubt.”
***
The burnt to a crisp squirrel rolled across Moses’ plate after its short basting on the fire. It actually didn’t smell bad to Moses, of course evening had hit, he hadn’t eaten and he was hungry. Ready to pick it up and sink his teeth into the charred flesh, Moses retracted from his rodent feast and turned his head to the sound of the approaching horse. Dropping the squirrel with a ‘clink’ on the plate, he dusted off his hands and stood up. He smiled the closer the horse drew and he saw it was Robbie. “Thought you weren’t coming back. Got scared we lost ya.”
Robbie dismounted before the horse even stopped. He controlled it by the reigns and lifted the cloth sack attached to the horse. The sack moved.
Moses looked curiously. “What’s that?”
Reaching into the large sack, with a loud and high squawking noise, Robbie pulled out a chicken holding it by its throat. “Dinner. Courtesy of Beginnings.”
“Well I’ll be.” Moses reached to the beak of the vocal bird clenched in Robbie’s grip. “You got in.”
“Nah, not yet. But I will. And without a problem” Robbie stroked the chicken’s head. “I just wanted to give this to you, Moses. My little assurance that I mean what I say. Getting into Beginnings in not a problem.” Robbie winced only once at the loud chicken, then with arrogance, he bit his bottom lip, grinned, squeezed his hand and crushed the chicken’s neck.
***
From the roof of containment Frank could hear the community joining up for the late evening ‘decision’ meeting. A meeting he opted not to attend, he didn’t want to be anywhere nearby when they voted the wrong choice. Frank preferred to be farther away from the social hall than containment. But he had to finish up adding the extra spotlight, then he’d go home. Too much was on his mind, so much that not even the site of Henry walking with, as Frank called her, It, bothered him.
Making the final adjustments on the light, Frank heard the bang and thump. He lifted his head and listened. Again he heard it, a bang against the metal side of the building and then almost a ‘plop’ sound. Tightened the brackets, Frank grabbed his screwdriver, stood up and peered over the roof’s edge. He saw the reason for the noise. Denny.
Jumping for the hanging rope, Denny would grip it, climb a foot against the wall and fall back down.
“Hey,” Frank yelled down to him. “What the hell are you doing?”
Denny scratched his head and peered up to Frank with an embarrassed smile. “Climbing.”
“Why?”
“The rope was there.”
Shaking his head, Frank gathered up his things, hit the rope and climbed down. “You shouldn’t be running around out here. Get to the meeting.”
Denny whined. “I don’t want to. I want to play security guy.”
“You can’t.”
“But I got nothing else to do. There’s no one at containment anymore. Ellen’s at the clinic working on experiments. I don’t want to work in the field. Can I join security, huh, can I?”
“Denny.” Frank laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Maybe when you’re older.”
“But I’m big. I’m bigger than Dean. And he’s old.”
“Everyone is bigger than Dean.” Frank nodded. “But you can’t.”
“I’d be real good. Always there. Always around.” Denny pleaded. “Please.”
“Denny, I wish I could use that quality but . . .” Frank caught glimpse of Dean and Ellen entering the social hall. “But . . . you know what?” He smiled brightly. “Maybe I can. I do have an opening for a special detail. Undercover.”
“O.K.” Deny nodded. “Undercover?”
“Well, sort of a body guard.”
“Oh, I can do that.” Denny said with excitement.
“Good.” Frank patted him on the shoulder. “Start now. Your job is to protect Ellen. Watch her at all times. Watch her with . . . Dean. He’s a . . . uh . . . security risk. Yeah, we’ve been watching him.”
“Dean?” Denny asked surprised. “Is he bad?”
“Could be the worst.” Frank leaned to the boy and whispered. “There’s talk that he’s . . . the anti-Christ.”
“Oh no.” Worried, Denny stepped back. “What’s the anti-Christ?”
“Ask your mom. But you’d better hurry to the hall.”
“O.K.” Denny gave a thumbs up. “I will. Thanks Frank.” Saluting, Denny backed up, spun, almost tripped the flew to the social hall.
Frank grinned watching Denny race away. With all that was on his mind, it felt good to Frank that he was able to take a moment and amuse himself.
***
“Denny. She’s fine. Go.” Dean pleaded at the front door of his home. “Go. Now. Or I’m telling your mom. Home.” Growling in frustration, Dean closed the door, leaned against it and banged his forehead off the surface.
“Situated,” Ellen said as she came down the steps. She slowed down at the bottom when she saw Dean. “What’s wrong?”
Forehead still against the door, Dean slightly turned his head her way. “Denny.”
“My body guard.”
“El.” Dean turned around. “Frank’s an asshole.”
“Why are you blaming Frank? He gave Denny a little job. Denny’s just excited.”
“Ellen.” Dean stepped to her. “The kid called me Satan three times tonight. He didn’t come up with that on his own.”
Ellen snickered. “Sorry.”
“Speaking of Satan. Don’t you have some news to deliver to Frank?”
“I’m going.”
“You’re stalling.”
“I know.” Ellen slowly nodded. “Maybe he’s sleeping.”
“He won’t be. He’s waiting to hear the community decision”
“And I have to figure out the best way to tell him.” She exhaled. “Anyway I do it; he’s not going to take it good.” Ellen drew in thoughts before going over to Frank’s as to the how to handle the news. But knowing Frank the way she did, Ellen knew the best way to tell him was to be straight forward, blunt, and to the point.
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“So then Jenny rambled on and on about John’s work load.” Ellen’s hands waved as she sat on the bed talking to Frank. “Henry started whining about distribution policies and did I tell you, Frank, I really like the fact that your hair has grown a little. I don’t think I ever saw you with more than a half an inch of hair on your . . .”
“El. Enough. What’s the decision?”
“It was close, Frank. Very close.” Ellen said assuredly even though she and Miguel were the only ones who voted to side with Frank. “Joe merely stated the situation and told everyone the choices. Wait or take them out. And . . . we wait.”
Frank closed his mouth tightly and nodded as he started to pace. “Close huh??
“Very.”
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I do that?”
“To make me feel better. But that’s all right. I’m fine with this, I am. I have extra men on tonight. My radio is on. I set a few traps outside the perimeters. I think we have enough coverage. I’ll get up every two hours and check on everything.”
“Frank.” Ellen rose slowly. “These men have been out there and gathering for a while. You never worried before about them.”
“They never had Robbie.” Frank told her. “And this peaceful approach is a smoke screen for something else. You know, they have a lot of men, but even if they got in here, I don’t worry about it. We’ll be ready. Wanna know why? We can see a hundred men coming. One man, one very well trained man, we can not.”
“Robbie.”
“Exactly. You know this is what he did. He was trained to break perimeters designed not to be broken. Slip in, do his job, slip out. My concern does not lie in whether we can get him if he breaks in. My concern lies in how much damage he can do while he’s in.”
“What can you do?” Ellen asked.
“Be him. Think like him, see like him. Try to get ahead of him. Be ready.” Frank’s voice dropped. “But he has to have a focus. A goal he’s going after. And that’s my big hold up. Because El, I haven’t a clue what or who that is.”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 62
