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

by Jacqueline Druga

  HEROES . . .

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  September 25

  Beginnings, Montana

  With a gasping breath, Ellen sat straight up on the couch, suddenly awoken from her sleep. She looked at her watched and sadly moaned, closing her eyes as if the time caused her pain.

  “You’re up?” Robbie walked from the hall into the living room. His hair was wet. He was dressed neatly and ready for work. “Why don’t you lay back down?”

  “I can’t.” Ellen stood up from the couch. “I didn’t even mean to fall asleep. I didn’t want to, not last night.”

  “I made coffee. You want some?” Robbie asked, watched Ellen nod, and moved toward the kitchen. His stride slowed when he saw the note, Dean’s note, on the breakfast counter. “When are you showing this to Henry?”

  Ellen ran her fingers through her hair, walked to the breakfast counter, and sat on a stool. “Do I have to?”

  “El.” Robbie poured her a cup of coffee, laying it in front of her.

  “I know. I know. This morning. I’m calling him to come over.” She lifted her coffee. “What time did Jess leave last night? I fell asleep.”

  Robbie snickered. “So did I. Remember I went to bed while you guys were watching that old movie.”

  “How are you going to explain his leaving?” Ellen asked.

  “Everyone in Beginnings knows about his family and how most of them survived. He already filed papers with my Dad asking for permission to visit a small town in Canada where other family members lived.”

  “Robbie, that’s really dumb. Who’s gonna buy it?”

  “Who cares.” Robbie brought the ‘traveling’ tin cup, as he called it, to his lips. “I’d better get to work. I have to start working on a security team to go with my Dad on the run.” Robbie walked from the kitchen and kissed Ellen on the forehead. “I’ll check in with you all day. O.K.?”

  “O.K.” She grabbed his hand as he stepped back. “You’re bringing some things over tonight, right?”

  “Yep. El,” Robbie lowered his voice. “Dean is fine.”

  “I’ll feel better when I get his phone call. I know it.”

  “Just don’t change the demeanor too much. And get mad.” Robbie made a growling face which caused Ellen to laugh. “Got to go. Call Henry.” He pointed as he walked to the door. “And take a shower or something. Today you seek out a new man.”

  Ellen closed her eyes, swaying her head as Robbie left. Though down, she enjoyed the little smile Robbie brought to her face, but that smile soon left her when she picked up her coffee mug and, for what seemed the hundredth time, reread Dean’s letter.

  ^^^^

  Quantico Marine Headquarters

  As if he were walking in a department store of soldiers, George paced himself slowly, hands behind his back as he moved through the lines and lines of motionless, standing, and staring soldiers. They could have been statues. They did not blink or seem to breath. Nodding his head with almost an approval, George approached Sgt. Landers who stood at the front of the gymnasium style building.

  “Sergeant.”

  “Mr. President.” Sgt. Landers saluted him.

  “You can go ahead and move these men to programming. I want them shipped down to Binghamton day after tomorrow.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Nothing more was said by George. He walked slowly from the CME showcase and out of the building. Dean was on his way. Binghamton was well on its way to being one of the top five sites. That’s what they had planned, the military, the technology. There would be reluctance at first. George expected that, but he was also certain that would change. As soon as Dean saw what the Society was trying to accomplish and he realized his family would be with him by Christmas, Dean’s whole outlook would change. Because Dean was a man who stayed where his priorities laid, and it wouldn’t be long by George’s time frame, that Dean’s priorities--his family--would be right alongside with him.

  ^^^^

  Binghamton, Alabama

  Frank wanted to think that it amazed him when actually it amused him as he watched the men training in a field before him. He could see Leonard engaged in conversation with another ambassador and a Society sergeant. Leonard, who the day before was breathing so hard down Frank’s neck that moisture formed there, now was no closer than ten feet from Frank. He didn’t think his face showed his amusement. Obviously it did.

  “What’s so funny?” Richie placed a clipboard in front of Frank. “Look like your signing this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just sign it.”

  “No. I shouldn’t sign anything.”

  “Frank, it’s orders for me to be on guard patrol at the new scientist’s home.”

  “Oh.” Frank lifted the pen and signed the form. “Did I order these? Just so I know.” Frank looked at Richie.

  “Yes.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “Thanks.” Richie tucked the clipboard under his arm. “Me being the guard will enable me to stop by your house afterwards. That way no one is suspicious why I’m in the area. I’d better give these to the security Sergeant standing with Leonard. See ya, Frank.”

  “You do that. Tell Leo I said hi.” Frank laughed.

  Richie shook his head, carrying the clipboard, and made an apprehensive approach to Leonard, the other ambassador, and the Sergeant. “Excuse me, Sergeant. Colonel Slagel said to give you these orders. He wants me placed on the house detail list for the new arrival.”

  Leonard intercepted the orders and looked at them. “Mr. Martin, the Sergeant here was just informing me that you were Colonel Slagel’s private assistant prior to my arrival. Is that true?”

  “Um . . .” Richie shifted his eyes to the sergeant. “Yes.”

  “He said you two were close.”

  Richie swallowed. “Yes. See, we go back before the plague sir. President Hadley is aware of . . .”

  “Why are you not his assistant now. Is it because of me?” Leonard asked.

  “I think. I think with me being what I am . . . . you know . . . he didn’t want that to get in the middle of any relationship you two may have.”

  “I see.” Leonard looked at the Sergeant and the ambassador. “Excuse us.” He placed a firm hand on Richie’s arm, leading him back to Frank.

  “Shit. What did I do?” Richie asked him.

  Leonard walked up behind Frank and tapped him on the shoulder with the clipboard. “Colonel Slagel.”

  Frank turned around and smiled. “Leonard.”

  Leonard handed Frank the clipboard. “You’re a busy man. I think perhaps it’s best that you reinstate Private Martin here as your assistant. You two were close before. Perhaps that is the best working relationship there can be. Think about it.” Leonard didn’t wait for a response. He walked away.

  “Wow.” Richie grinned. “Frank, he like just handed me over to you. Wonder why he did that? He doesn’t even care that were close. He want us to be together.”

  “I guess my plan to keep him away from me worked.”

  “Sure did.” Richie smiled. “What was the plan? What did you do?”

  “Made him think I was gay.”

  Richie’s eyes widened as he watched Frank turn back around to supervise the training men. He didn’t know what to say, but he did know now why Leonard, the sergeant, and the other ambassadors were giving him them funny looks.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  Dear Ellen,

  You are probably wondering right now if I am at the clinic. If you go there, you’ll see I’m not. In fact ,by the time you get this note, I will be long gone from Beginnings. I didn’t want to leave you or the kids, but my work calls for me to be where it is needed most and I could do more with it. I was made an offer by the Society and I found myself in a position that I didn’t want to turn down. That’s where I will work now. That’s where I will live. I hope that one day, both sides can see eye to eye and then maybe, you and I can live together as a family, once
again. I love you always. Dean.

  Henry looked as if his heart were broken as he raised his eyes from Dean’s letter. The sensitivity he was feeling for Ellen reflected in his eyes as they glossed some in sadness. He looked so upset as he sat at the breakfast counter that Ellen couldn’t look at him. She just couldn’t face him and she turned her back.

  “El.” Henry’s voice cracked. “El, I am so, so sorry.”

  “Henry, I just don’t want to talk . . .”

  “I wondered when you called me, why you sounded so down, and why you needed me here. Does anyone else know?”

  Ellen shook her head. “I came to you first. The community is going to wonder. You’re the leader, Henry.”

  “I’m your friend, El. I’m your friend.”

  Ellen swallowed and turned to face him. Her insides shook staring at Henry.

  “El, There has to be a mistake. O.K.” Henry held the note up. “I don’t believe Dean would do this.”

  Follow the plan? Lie to Henry? Ellen tried to do it but the words failed to come from her mouth. Quickly she searched her mind for truthful words that would not give it all away. “No, Henry. He left for the Society. I know it.”

  “How?”

  “He was talking to George yesterday.”

  Horrified, Henry turned instantly pale. “El, you have to . . .”

  “I can’t talk anymore. Not now. O.K.? Not now.” Biting her bottom lip, Ellen hurried from the kitchen, pausing to look at Henry as she raced out of the room.

  Like Ellen did earlier, only from a leader’s stand point, Henry read Dean’s letter.

  ^^^^

  Poplar Bluff, Missouri

  It had to be the jerk of the movement that caused Dean to finally open his eyes. He was lying on his side, yet his feet were on the floor. His hand rested against a velvety softness, and moving his eyes some, Dean saw the grey color. His senses began to kick in as he awakened more. The moving had a bit of shift to it. He heard the sound of an engine, but not a motor vehicle, but nothing gave it away to Dean more than the long loud whistle that blew.

  “A train?” Dean said out loud and sat straight up. When he did he get glimpse of the small private compartment he was in, he was alone. He looked out the window to see the outdoors moving quickly by him. “I’m on a train?”

  His stomach flipped and his head spun. So much nausea filled Dean at that moment that his mouth salivated and it took everything he had to keep from up heaving onto the floor. He felt as if he were feeling the effects of anesthesia. When that thought hit him, he remembered the pinch and he reached his hand behind his neck. His fingers felt the dried bump of blood and how tender the area was. He had been drugged and that was the injection site. He didn’t see it coming and by the time he heard it, it was over. Dean physically felt bad at that moment, wanting only to lay back down and go to sleep again. And if his stomach wasn’t sick enough, it became ten times worse when Dean looked at his watch and saw he had been away from home for eight and a half hours. How far away from them was he? He knew for sure it was further than he ever had been or ever wanted. And he would only get further away, because that train kept moving and it was moving fast.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  “Damn it.” John Matoose reached for his belt as he and Jenny sat in the ‘Joe’ park. “I forgot my radio.”

  “How can you forget your radio, John? You wear it.”

  “Yeah, but I was under the counter in the communications room with Danny, fixing the connections, and I took it off.”

  “Just go get it after our little breakfast break.” Jenny handed John a muffin

  “I really should get it now. Do you mind?” John asked.

  “Hurry up. Forrest only teaches art for a half hour.” Jenny told him

  “Be right back.” John kissed Jenny on the cheek and darted away.

  Joe, Robbie, and Jess watched Dean’s tracking signal move steadily in the communications room.

  Joe, staring at the wall map with one arm folded across his waist, spoke up. “He definitely is going that way. Hal.”

  Hal’s voice came over the speaker. “So he looks like he’s heading to Frank.”

  “Looks that way,” Joe stated.

  “Then, really, preparation time for Jess’ trip should be minimal. I can get as much detail as possible from my men when it comes to location,” Hal said.

  “That might not be a bad idea. Get what you can, but we still won’t know anything until that signal stops steady. Right now, the most we have seen it at a standstill is ten minutes.” Joe stepped back some and stared at the wall speaker.

  “Steady, still signal then send Jess out to scout. Good idea. But here’s the problem I see, Dad,” Hal spoke. “ . . . Jess.”

  Immediately Robbie looked at Jess then to the speaker on the wall as if he were going to be speaking to his brother. “What the fuck ,Hal?”

  “No, Robbie, not what the fuck.” Hal came back. “He’s one man, Robbie. You think it’s wise to send one man alone out there to scout this reserve base? I don’t. I think it’s foolish and I have never sent a man out alone. Ever.”

  Joe swayed his head to Robbie.

  Robbie, whose arms were folded, lifted a hand. “What do you want me to do? I’d go but I can’t. I have security here to run.”

  “Is there someone else you can trust?” Hal asked. “If not, let me send one of my men with Jess. They are actually quite proficient in scouting Society camps. It’s only a matter of making their minds snap back to the old world and adapt to your more technical surveillance ways.”

  Robbie rolled his eyes at his brother’s words. “God, are you dramatic?”

  “Excuse me?” Hal came back.

  “Why couldn’t you just say, ‘my guys know how to scout Society camps. One should go with Jess.”

  “Because there is more to it,” Hal defended.

  “Like what?” Robbie asked. “They don’t remember how to use a camera? A camera, Hal, not a technical surveillance way.”

  Hal remained big-brother calm. “Robbie, you’re irritated. You’re probably tired. I’m going to forget this tone you’re handing me, but make no bones about it, if I was there, I’d nail you.”

  Robbie laughed. “With or without your sword, Hal?”

  “Robert!” Joe yelled. “What the hell is with you? Huh.”

  “Oh no.” Robbie held out his hand to Joe. “You can’t ask me that when you gave Jess orders to shoot me in the leg if I went against the plan and tried to follow Dean?”

  “Obviously you tried to go against the plan or you wouldn’t have known this.”

  “Uh Dad?” Hal interrupted. “You gave someone orders to shoot your own son?”

  “Hell yeah,” Joe stated. “When innocent lives are at stake, son or no son, he is not immune. And don’t think for one second I wouldn’t have you shot either for the same thing. But enough of this shit. Tension is high, I understand that. Robbie, are you going to close the attitude so we can discuss this?”

  “Yeah.” Robbie nodded, stepped back, and leaned against the far wall by the open door. “I’m sorry. Hal. I’m worried about Dean, worried about Frank, and now you have me worried about Jess.”

  Jess gave a closed mouth look at Robbie. “Just show up to get me when you’re supposed to and I’ll be fine. I really can do this alone.”

  Joe looked at him. “But should you? Hal has a valid point.” Joe’s eyebrow raised when he heard this little voice, high tone, whiney, and murmuring, ‘Hal has a valid point’. Joe turned his head over his shoulder to look back. “Robbie! Knock it off! Christ.” Joe returned to the speaker. “O.K. Hal, pick out a man. I’ll send the chopper down there for . . .”

  “No need, Joe.” The new voice entered in the room.

  Joe spun from his speaker view to see a very sweaty and nervous looking John Matoose. “Shit.”

  John took a step. “No need to bring someone in Joe.”

  “Dad?” Hal called out. “Is everything O.
K.?”

  “Let me get back to you, Hal.” Joe told Hal. Then not removing his eyes from John, Joe disconnected the call. “What did you hear John.”

  “I . . . was I was coming back for . . . for . . .”

  “What did you hear!” Joe blasted. His hand slammed hard on the counter.

  John grew even more jittery. “I . . . I heard Dean left to . . . to help . . .Frank. You’re sending Jess to scout, alone and . . .” There was a vocal shudder of fear that came from John when he felt the cold metal of a revolver barrel pressing to his temple. “Oh God.” John tried to shift his eyes.

  Robbie held the gun firmly against John’s skin. He stepped closer to him. He spoke so closely his breath was hot against John. “You know too much.” He clicked back the hammer on the revolver.

  “No,” John cried out.

  Jess sprang forward. “Robbie no!”

  “Robert,” Joe spoke calmly.

  “What am I supposed to do?” Robbie asked emotionally. “Let him get away? We let him get away with too much. This piece of shit wanders freely around our community while my brother is taken by the Society. Dean had to give up his family for the Society.” He pressed the gun harder.