by Darrell Bain
* * * *
By the end of the day, the editorial, and the city of its origin was being touted on most of the national network news programs and by the next morning it was in most of the media; print, electronic and radio.
Tyrone had turned his den over to Daniel, Marybeth and Lisa, telling them that he had to go down into the valley to see the Mayor and Police Chief and would probably spend the night. The three of them enjoyed a light scratch meal that evening from Tyrone's kitchen, with Marybeth telling them she would see to replacing his supplies. After that they settled down on the big leather lounger and watched the media reaction to the still growing story. Lisa and Marybeth were working on a bottle of Berringer's White Zinfandel while Daniel contented himself with some more of Tyrone's smoky single malt scotch, making a note himself to replace the bottle as soon as he had a chance. Tyrone was being very generous, sharing his home with two women and a relative stranger, although Marybeth was no stranger here, as he understood it. And he was again wondering about the way she stayed almost as close to him as Lisa, and had been touching him almost as frequently. As usual in those types of situations, he ultimately decided to just wait and see where it went.
“Look,” Lisa said suddenly. “The White House is issuing a statement.”
Indeed, Gregory Sullivan, President Smith's press secretary had just entered the press room and was adjusting some papers while he stood in front of the podium. Very shortly, he began.
“The President has asked me to issue the following statement concerning the revelations yesterday and today about the City of Masterville in northern Arkansas. The President and his science advisors are still studying the situation and he will have something more definitive to say later. At the present time, he has said that he wants to be certain of the facts before taking any action, if action is called for. However, the President wants it to be known that if the reports of a valley of atheists are proven to be true, and that the beliefs are indeed caused by a type of prion, the same sort of protein that is responsible for Mad Cow Disease, the Stumbling Syndrome turning up in Africa and other prion-caused diseases, then it might become necessary to institute some sort of quarantine to make sure the disease doesn't spread. After all, this is a country founded on moral principles derived from Christian religions and he is sure that no one would want an infection that apparently leads to atheism to contaminate the whole country.
“As for reports that the National Security Agency has been investigating the city of Masterville, the President says that it appears to be quite the opposite; agents from Masterville who were working for the NSA have been identified and have been discharged. As you all must know, the NSA, along with Homeland Security and the Armed Forces, is charged with protecting the nation's security, and we certainly can't allow divided loyalties within those government agencies. Therefore, those agents have been removed. Unfortunately, one of them, Mark Terrell, committed suicide by ramming his car into a tree after he was asked to stay in Washington for questioning. The other one, Daniel Stenning has disappeared.
“Now I believe that is all I have for you today, and I won't be taking any questions. However, the President wished for me to tell you that he will be having a news conference in the near future, once all the facts about Masterville and its citizens have been separated from conjecture and innuendo. Thank you.”
Sullivan closed his briefing book and strode away from the podium, ignoring shouted questions.
“That's about as twisted a statement as a ball of yarn after a litter of kittens has batted it around,” Marybeth said. “None of the positives mentioned and the negatives distorted.”
“And not a word about those three dead agents,” Lisa added, giving a slight shiver as she mentioned them.
“Well, at least he got one thing right,” Daniel said. “I have disappeared.”
The instant analysis team of network experts came on next, giving their opinions on a completely new situation which they had never before encountered. It didn't even slow them down, as first one then another gave their take on the Secretary's briefing. A nationally prominent scientist was trundled in front of the cameras and induced by clever questioning to make a fool of himself. The shot had been taken earlier in the day and showed staged skits of him walking up the steps of the University where he reigned over the Genetics Department. Another view pictured him in his office, pontificating about how deviously the mutation might harm humanity if allowed to spread.
“I wonder how big a grant the National Science Foundation offered him for that little skit?” Marybeth said.
“A lot, probably,” Daniel answered her. “I thought better of him. The only thing he said that made any sense at all was that there might be others like us. Are there?”
“Not to our knowledge, though there almost certainly are,” Marybeth said, “and you can bet governments everywhere will start looking now.”
“Switch channels,” Lisa said to Marybeth, whose voice was programmed into the zapper.
Marybeth spoke and the screen changed. One of the smaller, more aggressive networks was taking a different track. Their pet scientists were suggesting that the people of Masterville submit themselves voluntarily for testing, with the end being to find out how much nurture, rather than nature, played in forming their attitudes, while suggesting that perhaps other communities could simply copy their methods.
Daniel laughed. “They sure got to be experts quick, didn't they? But they missed the science almost completely. Hell, I'm no genius, nor even a scientist, but I could have done better than that if they had pulled me off the street before I ever heard of Masterville.”
Marybeth patted his thigh, slim fingers lingering a moment, giving him more cause to wonder about her. Lisa couldn't have helped seeing it, but she apparently paid no attention.
Marybeth switched channels again and got a commercial but kept it there. After the ad for a vacation in the Cayman Islands flickered off, another news program came on. This one was taking a still different track, as if all of them were vying for fresh approaches to a story that was so new there couldn't even have been old ones yet.
There appeared a shot from the air, from not very high up. The reporter was doing the commentary from a helicopter, judging the faint noise of thwoking blades in the background.
“Below we see the two lane highway leading into the already notorious Masterville Valley. Inbound traffic is much heavier than normal for this time of day, as confirmed by one of our observers on the ground. Jessica?”
“Yes, Greta, I'm speaking to a resident of this end of the valley right now and he says he's never seen it like this. The camera view switched from overhead and panned in on the face of a bewildered looking farmer. “Sir, can you tell us your name?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Uh, well, you're on national television. Our viewers would like to know who you are.”
“So you say. I doubt it, myself.”
That interview ended quickly and they were again taken into the cockpit of the helicopter. “That seems to be the typical reaction of most of Masterville's residents. They don't appear to care whether they're on camera or not. Now back to the studio. Michael?”
An evening anchor came on. “Thank you, Greta.” He turned to his co-anchor. “I have to say, it has been a long time since I've seen a story gain so much attention in such a short time. The public is very interested in it. Is that your take too, Roxanne?”
“Yes it is, Mike. This is a human interest story and I don't think it will go away soon.”
“The President said it might be necessary to quarantine Masterville. Do we have any information about that from the Surgeon General yet?”
“Her office issued a statement. She said she is studying the situation in order to determine whether there is a health threat to the nation, as her charter specifies, before a quarantine could be ordered. I imagine she will dispatch a team from the CDC to test the population.”
“But Roxanne, suppose t
hey don't want to be tested? According to their newspapers and what limited information we've gleaned form the citizenry, they seem perfectly content to remain just as they are.”
“That's true, Mike. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.”
With that profound statement, the anchor assured them that they would be right back after a commercial break and insisted that they stay with his network as they followed “this fast-breaking story.”
“I think we'll pass on staying with this particular young man, if you don't mind,” Marybeth said, pointing the programmer at the big wall screen. “All right?”
“You can turn it off for all of me,” Daniel said.
“Me, too. I'm getting sleepy,” Lisa said. “Why don't we all go to bed?”
“Wonderful,” Marybeth said. “I need to run to my room first, though. See you in a bit.”
Daniel and Lisa began walking the short distance back to the room Tyrone had given them. Lisa already had her arm around him, leaning close to him as they moved and rubbing her head against his shoulder.
As soon as they were inside, Lisa began discarding clothes in all directions, then as soon as she was naked, began helping him out of the last of his clothes. She gave him a push and he laughed as he fell backward onto the bed, then braced himself as she landed on top of him, as lithe and sleek as an otter with silken skin. He hugged her to him, wound his tongue into her mouth in a long lingering kiss, then began giving her breasts, with their enticing pink nipples, his attention, marveling at their beauty as he did so. He felt the bed give behind him and rose up far enough to look over his shoulder. Even as he saw it was Marybeth, she was snuggling up next to him. So that's what she meant when she said she would be back in a minute! And that's what they've been giggling about all day-they were planning this! The thought held his mind captive until he felt the softness of her breasts flattening against his back, then disappeared completely as she snaked an arm around his waist and urged him over onto his back.
Lisa was smiling mischievously. She began kissing him from one side while Marybeth did the same from the other. Before long he found himself more excited and stimulated than he had ever been in his life, with Marybeth's lips moving down his body and Lisa hovering over him so that he could hold one of her breasts in his hands and tease and taste her firm pink nipples with his lips and tongue. He gasped as Marybeth closed her mouth over him. Lisa's laugh tinkled in the semi-darkness as she moved back down to where she could kiss him again while Marybeth did delightful things below. At the end, he thought it was almost more than he could bear. He didn't realize that the night was just getting started.
Later, spent for the moment, he watched languidly as Lisa and Marybeth made love to each other. Although he knew most men fantasized about being in bed with two women, he had never thought too much about it. Now he realized that it took someone, or in this case two someones, who were totally unashamed of sex in whatever variety they enjoyed it, to make it pleasurable for him. And it was. He loved Lisa, he knew, but he also knew that she would never try to own him, nor him her. And Marybeth was a woman he both respected and (he admitted now) admired. With both of them together, it was a wonderful feeling, one he knew most men outside of Masterville would never experience.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Let's move out,” John Simmons said in his gravelly voice. He climbed into the cab of the big pickup with the camper shell on back, assuming without question that his two partners would follow in the smaller trucks. Simmons didn't care much for transporting this load, but he kept the counter and dosimeter on his person all the time he was near the truck. It wouldn't do much good to finish this Op and then die of radiation poisoning before he could spend the money. So far it was working out well. The radioactive material was buried deep in the middle of the ton of explosives carried in the camper.
The dirt road twisted down out of the Mountains of New Mexico where they had been hiding the goods, each of them spending time at the camouflaged storage site while the other two rested in a decrepit motel used most frequently by migrant families. This time of year it was mostly vacant, and they encouraged no conversation with the few transients who rented there from time to time.
Simmons was elated to finally be moving, and at the prospects of action. Even more, he knew that after this mission was completed, he was through. He could retire to the Caymans or anywhere else he wanted to. That was what he had been working for, ever since his less than honorable discharge from the Army. He was getting old enough for security, rather than adventure, to become the guiding principle of his life. The agency had provided no security. Even though they paid well, it was all off the books. No retirement, no separation pay. But this time ... he didn't like it, but whatever it took. Fuck the government and fuck the country. He was going to get his now.
He glanced into the rear view mirror and wondered what arrangements the other two men had made with Phillips. He had never asked and didn't want to know. All he cared about them was that they follow orders until after the Op was finished and they split up. He began whistling, thinking of all the money that would soon be his due, and not at all about the consequences of his actions.
* * * *
Daniel woke up wondering what was wrong, then realized that a female body was snuggled up on either side of him. Now how was he going to manage to get up without waking one or both of them? They had him wrapped up so securely that he could barely turn to see the clock on the bedside table. When he did his face nearly touched Lisa's. Her long lashes were closed and her lips had the touch of a contented smile. He wondered how much longer she would sleep. Sometime soon he was going to have to get up, regardless.
Lisa's eyes opened and caught him staring at her. She winked at him, then yawned and moved far enough away to stretch her arms up over her body. The sheet which had been covering her fell away to her waist. She touched a finger to her lips in a motion of silence and slid out of bed. He waited until he heard the sounds of the shower going then moved to the edge of the bed and stood up, trying to keep his movements to a minimum and not wake Marybeth up.
He entered the bathroom, used the facilities, then tapped on the shower door. Lisa responded with a welcoming tap of her own. He slid it open from the far end and joined her. The water ran for a long time. Marybeth was gone when they returned to the bedroom, flushed but clean.
“Where's Marybeth?” Daniel asked as they began dressing.
“She's probably gone by now. I know we talked last night, but what do you think this morning?”
“I think I died and went to heaven. How about you?”
“I've been there ever since we met. I mean about Marybeth, now that the, um, stimulation isn't around to blur your thinking.” A faint blush appeared on her face.
Daniel laughed and hugged her. “I noticed that Marybeth sort of ordered the sequences. Am I wrong in thinking that she's the more experienced in this type of arrangement?”
The faint pink color on Lisa's cheeks darkened. “I guess. It was just the other day that we-that was the first time I-oh heck, does it matter?”
“Not in the least. Just curious. I love you.”
“And I love you. And I'm hungry. Let's go eat.”
* * * *
Chief Masters had spent the day organizing security for the town meeting and finding volunteers to deputize. Twice he had gone out looking for more deputies as he spotted increasing numbers of strangers and out of state license plates on vehicles parked along main street. Camera crews with their reporters had begun arriving the previous day, then finding no place to stay overnight, had left sometime after dark. Now they were back, in greater numbers than before, accosting people on the street, blocking traffic and crowding the restaurants and cafes. By late afternoon the situation was beginning to get out of hand. He personally visited every news van which was blocking traffic or parked on private property and told the crews in no uncertain terms to either move or face arrest and impoundment of their vehicles. When that didn'
t work, he carried through with the threat, backed up by his new deputies. His older, more experienced ones had already been placed in charge of contingents of newly deputized men and women to provide knowledge and guidance. The last thing he wanted was an incident where someone got hurt.
It took only a few arrests to get the word spread that the sheriff wasn't taking any nonsense from out-of-towners. The news vans remaining either moved out of town to a state park just outside the valley or paid property owners to park. A few found takers, then sent their reporters and cameramen into town on foot. There was no way to keep them all from the football stadium, though, simply because some of them got blocked in by the influx of Masterville residents showing up as early as midday. There the townspeople began talking among themselves and passing flyers and printed copies of internet news back and forth. Many carried Comphones with ink book cradles to download data to. New bits of information were quickly passed around by mouth until someone with a laptop printed the news, which was then taken into the stadium offices and reproduced in volume. The school board had managed to get a voluntary crew together for that very purpose.
By the time the town meeting started, half an hour behind the announced time, the stadium was filled and most of the football field was crammed with citizens, intermixed with curious strangers who had flocked into the valley like carnival patrons jamming into a freak show tent.
