The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  Dean closed his eyes. “Yes.”

  “What about those bio-hazard suits? How much of risk will you be if you wore those in there?” Joe asked.

  “Joe.” Andrea stood up. “You aren’t . . .”

  Joe held out his hand. “If I fly you two in there and you wear those suits, how much of a risk am I looking at?”

  Dean shook his head, “Even less.”

  “All right.” Joe looked at his watch letting out a breath. “Johnny, since he is immune, will fly you in there wearing those suits. Johnny will not leave the helicopter. We park the bird for twelve hours. You three disinfect and stay at the mobile for twelve hours. Can you do that?”

  Dean clenched his fist with a smile. “Yes Joe, we can. Thank you.”

  Andrea was still at a loss. “Joe, you’re giving them permission to go out there?”

  “Yes.” Joe turned and faced her. “No one is going to know about this. The only ones outside of this room who will know are Frank and Johnny.” He faced Dean. “Can you have your prototype or whatever, ready by tomorrow morning?”

  “Yes,” Dean said. “What time tomorrow?”

  “Let’s say about eight or nine in the morning.” Joe saw Andrea’s mouth open. “Quiet Andrea. You and I will talk. Dean, if I send you out then, figure an hour for the whole trip, I can have you three back in town and out of that mobile by ten, eleven at night at the latest. Sound good?”

  “Sounds great.” Dean held out his hand to Joe. “Thanks Joe.”

  Joe shook it. “Don’t thank me. Thank her.” He looked at Ellen laying his hand on her face. “You, like Frank, really have your moments.”

  Ellen smiled at him. “Thanks Joe.”

  Joe kissed her on the cheek then gave a pat to her face. “Too bad, like Frank, they’re few and far between. Let’s go, Andrea.” Joe took hold of her arm. “It’s time for that talk.”

  “Oh you better talk, Joe Slagel since you are diminishing my authority as a council member,” Andrea bitched at him as they left the office. Her voice faded as they moved down the hall. “Making me out to be the bad guy and you the good guy. Look at you right now. Dean and Ellen thinking you’re all that.”

  Dean laughed and faced Ellen as soon as he couldn’t hear Andrea anymore. “What can I say?”

  “Well, Dr. Hayes.” Ellen took his arm and led him from the office. “You can say you’ll do my share of preparations for this trip tomorrow.”

  “I can, can’t I?” Dean gave her a grateful look and stopped walking. “I can. I will. Thank you. He wasn’t hearing me.”

  “I have news for you Dean. Joe has never heard you,” Ellen snickered. “I have to go see Nick. I guess I won’t be seeing you later than?”

  “Oh you will. I’m heading to the lab right now. I can get it ready. I’ll have Johnny help me since he’s there.” Dean started walking backwards. “I’ll see you at the house tonight as planned.” He hurried back to her and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks again for your help.” He spun around to walk forward and stopped cold.

  Ellen noticed. “What’s wrong?” She moved to him.

  “Nothing I’ll be all right.” He held up his hand.

  Ellen rested her cheek against his shoulder. She could feel the vibration of his fast beating heart. “It’ll come back. Take a breath.”

  “It already is.”

  “Maybe I will come up there with you. How’s that? Keep you company and out of trouble with Johnny. Just for a couple hours till it’s time to get the kids.”

  “Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”

  “Who me?” Ellen scoffed. “Please. Let me take care of what I have to do and I’ll see you there.” She laid her lips on his cheek. “You all right?”

  “I’m fine.” His hand reached up to her face and he turned only his eyes to her. “I’m fine.”

  Ellen stepped back from him and watched him move a little slower in his stride down the hall. She knew he was really fine when his pace picked back up. Wondering if it was a good idea to let Dean drive there by himself, Ellen concluded that he pretty much had to drive through an open field so she put that thought from her mind and went off to see Nick.

  <><><><>

  “Frank, are you there?” Henry asked through the radio as he positioned himself in front of the newly installed keypad down at the communications room door.

  “I’m here,” Frank responded.

  “All right, I’m going to test this. Let me know what you see?”

  “I won’t see anything, Henry I’m not at monitoring yet.”

  “I just asked if you were there.”

  “Yeah, but I thought you were asking if I was here. You know, on the radio, and I am. I’m here, but I’m not there.”

  “When you will be there, Frank?” Henry stood with little patience wanting to get it over with.

  “Just about . . .” The sound of a squeaking door came through the airwaves. “Hey Mark. I’m here now, Henry.”

  “God, Frank.” Henry shook his head. “Let me know what you get.”

  “O.K. Let me steal one of these monitors. Move, Curt.” Frank positioned himself in front of the computer monitor. “Now what will I be seeing?”

  “You should be seeing . . . wait, ask Mark if he reprogrammed this division on his end.”

  “Mark.” Frank looked over to him. “Henry asked if you reprogrammed it on this end.”

  “Tell Henry to quit being so anal. Yeah I reprogrammed it, Shit, he asked me ten times already.”

  Frank snickered, “Henry, even Mark thinks you’re gay. Anyhow, yeah he reprogrammed it. What am I looking for?”

  “O.K. I put new codes in. Normally it would come up 'communications room enter'. It should now add user definition. Ready.”

  “Fire away.”

  “O.K. what’s the first number?” Henry paused to think.

  “Four, three, seven, six, five . . .”

  “Frank.”

  “Nine, two, five . . .”

  “Frank knock it off. All right I have it. Eight, six, seven, five.”

  “Three, oh, Ni-e-eye-een,” Frank sang loudly. “I got it. I got your number on the . . .”

  “Frank.”

  “Sorry, I can’t believe I remembered that song and it isn’t even in the jukebox collection. Wait, got it. Enter by user eight. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “That’s it, Frank. Thanks, it works.”

  “That’s it? You made me come all the way here and that’s it? Fuck, Henry. Henry? Henry?” Hearing the dead air silence, Frank pulled his headset off and tapped his hand on the counter, watching the monitor. He watched as it flashed, ‘distribution center open’. A few seconds later, ‘mobile lab opened’. “Man.” Frank stood up. “Is this what you people do all day? Sit here and watch everyone go in and out of buildings around here. This has got to be the easiest fuckin job in Beginnings.” He walked to the door. “Denny and Josh are getting trained for this one and you guys are going full time back out on a beat,” Frank pointed, “at least until winter when they need you at the green house.”

  “Oh Frank,” Mark called to him before he walked out, “keep in mind before you put Denny and Josh up here that we’re the ones who shut down the perimeters for you when you need to go through them. Do you really want to leave that responsibility in the hands of those two?”

  Frank’s eyes widened. “You’re right. Forget I said anything. They’d fry me. All right, I’m out of here.”

  Waiting until he knew when was gone, Curt swiveled his chair to Mark. “Good thinking about that Denny and Josh point.”

  “Yeah it was. It's too important of a job to let two teenagers have anyhow. Besides, it’s not all that easy. We work.”

  “We work.”

  Mark rocked back and forth in his chair. “Cards?”

  “Sure why not.” Curt stood up and walked across the room to get one of their many decks.

  <><><><>

  How perfect! Ellen
thought. Such perfect timing! Jenny Matoose was on her lunch break from teaching the kids at the school. Of course, the thought of Forrest Caceres teaching them at the moment made Ellen shudder, but there Jenny was, sitting in the make-shift park area Joe had built around that flagpole center town. She sat there eating a sandwich perched upon her lap. From behind, Ellen moved to her, taking long, quiet, sneaky steps. Faster and faster she paced, the theme song from the movie Jaws playing in her mind the closer she got. “Jenny!” Ellen said her name so loudly Jenny’s lunch nearly toppled from her lap.

  “I’m leaving.” Jenny started to get up.

  “No don’t. I have to talk to you.” Ellen sat on that wall next to Jenny.

  “You aren’t going to hit on me are you?”

  “Do you want me to?”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Jenny.” Ellen grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back down. When Jenny sat, Ellen sneakily wiped her hands on the side of her own shorts. “I want to talk to you about something.”

  “So you said. It’s not about my husband is it?”

  “Sort of. But not bad.”

  “What is it?”

  “I need your help with something.”

  Jenny started to laugh. “What are you up to? You never want my help.”

  “This is a very serious request Jenny.” Ellen cleared her throat. “I was thinking about something. Something that I think caused the confrontation between me and John.”

  “You tortured the man for months that’s why.”

  “Maybe so,” Ellen waved her hand, “but it just dawned on me while I was talking to Dean. I said something to him and he snapped at me. Snapped at me mind you. And it hit me that maybe I’m the blame. Maybe it is me who makes people lose control.”

  “It I,s Ellen. You’re annoying.”

  “So are you and you don’t get people mad. Well, except me. Why is that?”

  Jenny puckered a sour look on her wide face. “I’m nice, you’re not.”

  “I’m nice.”

  “No you aren’t.”

  “I am too, ask anyone.”

  “They’ll say you aren’t nice.” Jenny stated and took a bite of her sandwich.

  Ellen watched her chew ad bits of red strawberry jam seeped from the corner of Jenny’s mouth. Ellen gagged a bit, visually showing her disgust as she watched Jenny eat and wondered if Jenny couldn’t have gone without that high calorie sandwich. Just about the point where Ellen was going to say that, she stopped herself. “So I’m not nice. Am I the only woman who isn’t?”

  “Yes.”

  “Jenny, you’re like the goddess around here.”

  “Oh now I know you’re up to something.”

  “I am not,” Ellen said with such a fake offense. “See, it’s Joe’s idea. My father said you sort of know how things are around here and that’s why your life is least complicated. He suggested I talk to you.”

  “And you’re taking his advice?” Jenny asked.

  “Yeah. So will you help me be less annoying? Will you help me be more . . .” Ellen swallowed. “... like you?” She quickly turned her head and pretended to sneeze when actually it was a slight release of the snicker that crept out.

  “Right, Ellen.” Jenny wrapped the remainder of her sandwich. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m not going to be part of an Ellen joke. Bye.” She stood up.

  “Jenny, you have jam on your mouth.” Ellen held her hand out. “I’m very serious!” She yelled but Jenny ignored her and kept on walking. “Oh well.” Ellen shrugged and stood up. “I’ll try again tomorrow.” As she was going to walk away, Ellen noticed something wrapped and lying on the wall. Seeing what part of Jenny’s lunch she forgot, Ellen unwrapped it. It was an uneaten piece of chocolate cake and it looked like a Josephine cake too. Ellen stuck her finger in the icing, shifted her eyes around, tasted it, and smiled. Ellen re-wrapped the cake and took it with her to Frank’s office.

  <><><><>

  “Now John.” Joe stood in an explaining manner in Frank’s office talking to Frank and John Matoose and so unlike Joe, he wasn’t behind Frank’s desk. He was leaning against the front, but not sitting behind it. “The way things are gonna go now is . . .”

  “Frank!” Ellen burst the door open and flew in. “Guess what I just . . . just . . .” She slid to a stop, closing the door when she saw John Matoose. “Just didn’t do? Knock!” She smiled and shifted her eyes about. “So what’s going on?”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “We’re having a meeting. Leave.”

  “I have to talk to Frank.”

  “Talk to him later,” Joe ordered “Leave.”

  “But I can’t leave. I walked all the way up here and I need a ride to the mobile lab. Can I have a Jeep?”

  “No. Frank will drive you. Wait outside.”

  “It’s hot out there. Can’t I stay?” She asked.

  “No,” Joe told her. “You’ll interrupt.”

  “No I won’t. I promise.” She held up her free hand, the other still held tightly to that wrapped cake.

  “All right but grab a chair and pull it to the corner. I don’t want to hear a word, Ellen.”

  “Not a peep.” Ellen slid the chair, hunching as it screeched when she moved it to the corner. Like a scolded child, she sat in the chair and set her wrapped cake on her lap.

  Joe waited until he saw she was situated. “As I was saying John, we’ve had some situations in communications and we need to make a few changes. We added a numeric keypad to the door to open it. There will be two codes, a general population code and a security and council code.”

  “Can I ask why?” John questioned. “What’s been happening down there?”

  “Well for example.” Joe prepared himself to lie. “We busted Lloyd down there with his partner, you know, kind of in a heated moment.” Joe drew up an utter look of aggravation when he heard Ellen huff. “Ellen.”

  “Sorry Joe. Just listening.” She unwrapped her cake. “He’s gay, you know.”

  “I don’t give a shit and don’t listen. Just stay quiet.” Joe returned to John. “Back to what I was saying. I wrote down both codes for you.” He handed John a sheet of paper. “Don’t give the security code out to anyone in General population. Got that?”

  “Got it.” John looked down at the two numbers listed there.

  Watching John observe the numbers, Joe’s mind quickly went to Henry and how he programmed in four codes. One for security and council, one for population,. and the two left over went to John. All the bases covered in case he decided he would use a general population code, but from that moment on, it didn’t matter what code John used. The ones he held in his hands no one else knew. Joe turned to explain some more to him, despite seeing his son creep over to Ellen.

  Frank couldn’t be more obvious as he made his way to Ellen. He whispered. “What do you have?”

  “Cake.” Ellen licked her finger. “Good too.”

  “Where did you get cake?”

  Ellen looked at John who talked to Joe. “Jenny left it behind and I took it. It’s a Josephine cake.”

  “It looks good. Let me have some.”

  “No.”

  “Come on El, Please. One bite.”

  “All right but a small one.” She picked up the cake and held it out for him to bite. “Don’t take a huge . . . Frank!” She yelled. “God, you ate half my cake with your one big bite. Now look at you. You have to be a pig. Now you have chocolate on your face and we have no towels.”

  “Really.” Frank leaned down, gripped the back of her head, pulled her face close to his, and in a kiss, smeared what chocolate he had on him, onto Ellen. “Thanks El.” He stepped back. “That was good.” Giving a thumbs up to her, he bumped into his father. “Dad.”

  “Are you two done?” Joe asked.

  Frank looked at the empty office. “Where’s John?”

  “He left,” Joe said and walked to Ellen. “Give me that.”

  “Joe my . . .” Ellen’s hands follow
ed as Joe took her cake. “Joe,” she whined.

  “Too bad.” He sat down behind Frank’s desk and smiled at the cake. “That’s what you get for bursting in here and being annoying while I was trying to talk to John.”

  Ellen pouted as she stood up. “I’ll have you know I had to sit next to Jenny for that cake.” She moved to the door, wiping the chocolate off her face. “Frank, will you drive me to the lab?”

  “Sure, El.” Following Ellen to the door, Frank stopped and bent down to the last drawer of the second filing cabinet. He pulled out an old tee shirt and tossed it to her. “Here, for your mouth.”

  “Thanks.” Ellen took it and wiped. “I can’t believe I’m wiping cake off my face that I didn’t even get to eat. Feel bad, Joe?” She asked as she opened the door.

  “Nope.” Joe shook his head.

  “I didn’t think so.” Ellen stood in the doorway waiting for Frank’s leading hand to touch her back and she walked out with him.

  Joe looked down at that chocolate cake after Ellen had left. He debated if he should feel guilty at that moment. He could have felt guilty if that cake didn’t look so good, but it did. So foregoing the guilt like a cheating dieter, Joe indulged in Ellen’s cake, enjoying every bite of it that Frank left behind.

  <><><><>

  Ellen immediately turned off the water in the kitchen sink at Dean’s house. She did so quickly when she thought she heard her name the called. Hearing the last of the dripping water, Ellen heard silence. There was no one calling for her, only silence. She turned the faucet back on and continued to wash the dishes, a task she set aside because she hated it. But it was either that or bathing the kids and that task bothered her more. Why Dean insisted on never using the dishwasher was beyond her. Under Beginnings’ conservation water rules, there were enough occupants in the house to run that dishwasher once a day, but Dean, like most people in Beginnings, found it more of a bother than a help. But Ellen and Henry found it a great place to hide the dirty dishes when there wasn’t time to do them by hand.