The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Try,” Frank said. “Go on.”

  “Okay.” Joe leaned back. “Dean, tell me about Misha.”

  Without hesitation, Dean replied, “She’s a little bitch, Joe.”

  Joe nodded, impressed. “You talk good.”

  “I really don’t like her.”

  “But, let’s see if out of sight, out of mind wasn’t the case.” Joe raised his voice to the door. “Come in number one.”

  At that second, the door opened and Misha walked in.

  Dean turned to look.

  “Dean,” Misha gushed and hurried to him.

  Dean stood and . . . backed away. “You are the last person I want to see.”

  “You love me.”

  Dean looked disgusted. “Oh my God, I do not. In fact, I can certainly say you, little girl, are pretty much on my despise list.”

  “No. You promise me marriage,” Misha said sadly.

  Dean laughed. “Not anymore.”

  Frank clenched his fist. “Yes! See?”

  Joe nodded. “Good. Good. That was a tough one.” He motioned his head to Misha. “You can go.”

  “Dean.” She reached for him.

  Frank intercepted. “Go. Go on. Bye.” He wiggled his fingers in a wave,

  Slowly, sad, and backwards Misha left.

  “One down,” Joe said. “Now, Josephine.”

  Dean shook his head. “I feel nothing for her.”

  “Let’s see.” Joe called out, “Number two.”

  The door opened. A hiccup was the first sound then Josephine stammered in. “Why am I number two? That’s disgusting.”

  Frank shook his head. “Listen to you with your immature humor.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Frankie!” Josephine snapped. “No one’s talking to you. Joey, why am I here? This better be good. I was getting a nice massage at the House of Lesbians.”

  Frank grunted in disgust.

  Dean winced. “Oh my God.”

  “Unless . . .” Slurring, Josephine then winked at Dean. “Unless you’d like to rub me down, Skippy.”

  Dean’s eyes widened, “Oh my God.”

  “Or you can play with my feet.”

  Louder, Dean showed his distaste. “Oh my God!”

  “Works for me,” Joe stated. “You can go,”

  “Fine.” Josephine turned. “I’ll go back to the women.” She opened the door. “At least they know where to rub.”

  Dean gasped, “Oh my God!”

  When the door closed, Frank clapped his hand together once. “I think that proves it. Can you release him?” Frank began to undo the shackles.

  “Not just yet.” Joe held up a finger.

  “But, Dad.”

  “No, but Dads. Aren’t we forgetting something?”

  “Nope.” Frank moved quickly and released Dean.

  Dean rubbed his wrist. “I’m free.”

  “Not yet,” Joe demanded. “Frank, there’s one more.”

  “One more what?” Frank asked. “Dad, really, that’s all that . . .”

  “Nope,” Joe said. “Three things were messed up with Dean. Three things caused him to act weird and say things. One was Misha, the other Josephine, and the third. . .”

  The door opened.

  Hal walked in.

  “Hal,” Joe said.

  “Fuckin asshole,” Dean commented.

  Up in defeat, Hal tossed up his hands.

  Frank covered his eyes. “Sorry.”

  “Frank, ” Joe scolded. “He’s not cured. He still hates Hal.”

  “Dad, maybe he always hated Hal.”

  “Fuckin asshole,” Dean repeated. “I have. He’s a dick.”

  “I beg your pardon.” Hal moved closer.

  “Dick,” Dean said again.

  Hal’s eyes grew wide.

  “Frank,” Joe scolded. “Why does he still hate Hal?”

  Dean answered, “He’s a dick.”

  “See,” Frank pointed.

  “Dr. Hayes,” Hal stated strongly. “If you don’t mind . . .”

  Frank interrupted with a whisper. “Hal, don’t make matters worse. He might beat you up.”

  “I highly doubt that. He called me a dick.”

  “I did?” Dean questioned. “I’m sorry, I meant to say arrogant dick.”

  Hal saw red.

  Joe noticed it. “Hold it. Hold it. Frank, why is Dean still in that frame of mind. I thought you worked with him.”

  “I did.” Frank defended. “But I focused on Josephine and Misha. I mean, it’s Hal. So what? Dean hates him. What’s the big deal? That won’t affect anything. Hal’s a pussy. He won’t beat up Dean.”

  Hal gasped. “I’m a . . . pussy? Did you just call me a pussy?”

  Frank nodded. “And he called you a dick.”

  About to comment, Hal looked at his father who was snickering. “Good God, what is so funny? I’m being insulted and called immature names like pussy and dick.”

  “By Frank and Dean.” Joe shrugged.

  “Okay,” Hal said with confusion.

  “Never mind,” Joe grunted. “I found obscure humor in that. Pussy. Dick. Frank. Dean. The pairs of names go together like the pair who spewed them.” Joe saw Hal was not amused. “Forget it. Okay, Frank. He’s cured, he’s free.”

  “Yes. Thanks!” Frank said excited. “Come on Dean. Let’s go.” he gave a tug.

  “But I want to . . .” Dean felt himself pulled hurriedly from the office. “Whoa. Wait up.” He stopped in the hall. “What’s the rush? Your dad won’t change his mind.”

  “I know,” Frank responded. “I want to get you back to Beginnings.”

  Dean saw the look on Frank’s face. “Something’s up, isn’t it? You rushed me to get out of Containment today. You rushed me out of that office and now you want to rush me home. Why?”

  “I want to spend some time alone with you.”

  Dean stepped back.

  “Fuck you. Not like that,” Frank snapped. “I need you to talk to me.”

  “What’s going on?” Dean asked.

  “I’m hoping you can tell me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Frank hesitated and took a breath. “You’re a doctor. El’s a doctor. El took off for Lodi. She took your blue case. So that tells me not only is it something medical, it’s something you know about.”

  “Frank . . .”

  “Dean,” Frank interrupted. “I also know it has something to do with Johnny. I made a fuss. I caused a scene. I don’t want anyone to know I’m asking, but I am. You have to tell me, Dean. You have to tell me . . .” It was hard for Frank to say, but he did. “Is there something wrong with my son?”

  ^^^^

  “Twenty-four hours, Lars.” Mike shook his head. “He went on the roof last night with Tig but he still hasn’t eaten or come out. I’m worried.”

  “Mike, the boy is facing the reality of possible death,” Lars stated. “How do you want him to act? Jump up and down?”

  “Not isolated. I heard you delivered the news rather . . . callously.”

  “I delivered the truth,” Lars defended. “Plain simple truth. He’ll get past this.”

  “He lost hope.”

  Lars lifted his hands. “I wish there was more I can say. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do.”

  “Yeah. Yeah there is. We can tell him about sending word to . . .”

  “No,” Lars said strongly. “No. You think he’s bad now. Imagine if in a day or two our rider shows up and no one from Beginnings even acknowledged him. Imagine how he will feel then.”

  “I can’t worry about then. I have to worry about now. Get his state of mind up now and we can worry about other things later.”

  “What is telling him going to do?”

  “He has no direction. Like I said, no hope. At least, whether they show up or not, for the time being Johnny will have something to hope for.” Mike nodded as if he completed an argument in his mind. “I’m going to tell him.” He walked to the door.

>   “Mike,” Lars called out. “It’s a mistake to tell him.”

  “No, Lars.” Mike spoke soft. “It’s a mistake not to tell him.”

  Mike walked out.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jess was actually nervous. The sweat that formed between his fingers and on his palm reappeared even after Jess wiped his hands on his leg. Never had he recalled in so long his heart racing like it did. And why? A part of Jess knew why. It had nothing to do with what Jess was about to embark upon. It had everything to do with the fact of what would happen if, by slim chance, Jess was wrong.

  Broach the subject. Broach the subject. Jess came up with a way to do so. It took him all morning, but he did, and like a well rehearsed play, he had it all worked out in his mind.

  Confident, he walked to James’s door.

  ‘Commander James P. Slagel’. The name plate stared at Jess.

  Blank.

  “Fuck.” Jess cringed. “What was the plan? All the words he had mapped out in his mind flowed forefront like a jumbled mess. He tried to review in his mind his opening statement, only it popped into his mind as, ‘Know how lost brother find shit.’

  Another winced escaped Jess. It had to be done,. Taking a slow deep breath and releasing it, Jess placed on the brightest of smiles and figuring he’d wing it, Jess knocked.

  “Come in,” James said form the other said.

  Repeating the phrase, ‘Upbeat. Upbeat, be upbeat’. Jess, still grinning and nearly bobbing, walked in. “Hey.” he said brightly.

  , James peered up from his paperwork through the tops of his eyes.

  The word ‘fuck’ slipped from his mouth when he looked at James who looked like a Hal and Joe cross.

  “What?” James chucked.

  “Oh nothing. I just wanted to pop in.” Jess kept his voice up.

  “You sound like you’re in a good mood.”

  “Oh, I am. I really am.”

  “Don’t tell me you found something out.”

  “Yeah. Check this out.” Jess moved to the desk. “I ran into a man who knew my brother. We were talking.”

  “No, shit?” James seemed impressed. “Small world. Did he live in Canada?”

  “No. He knew my brother from being in the Society.”

  Confusion blasted upon James’s face. “Your brother is in the Society?”

  “Was.” Jess nodded with a hint of sadness. “He was killed in the line of duty.”

  “Holy shit.” James sat back. “That’s luck, not him being killed, but how he survived the plague.”

  “That’s nothing. My other brother lived too. So did my dad.”

  “What?”

  “Yep. My dad died from his diabetes, Luke, from Savages, but that’s not uncommon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Didn’t you know?” Jess asked. “The Society research says that if your father was alive when the plague hit, then he stood a forty percent chance of living. It male gender carried. And if a father and son lived, it is highly probable that more than one male sibling will live.”

  James blinked. “How do you know this?”

  “I worked in the higher departments.”

  “Man, there were a lot of us, too. I can’t believe my family didn’t beat the odds.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jess said. “I’m gloating. That’s not right. Of course you said it was six years until you woke up. You looked everywhere, right? Maybe someone lived and moved on.”

  “I thought that. But I headed to the one place I thought there would at least be clues., but the town was empty.”

  “Was that the town that the Society told you was wiped out? The one up north?”

  “Yeah,” James said brightly. “You know, Jess, you may have inspired me to look again.”

  “Hell, why not?” Jess shrugged. “I would. I’m proof, right. Where up north? Maybe I was there with my crew.”

  “A place in Connecticut.”

  “Hey, I had family in Connecticut.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, but it was a small town.” Jess flung out his hand. “You probably never heard of it.”

  “Try me.” James rocked back and forth in his chair in such Slagel fashion.

  “A town called . . . Ashtonville.”

  Slam! The four legs of the chair met the floor firmly when the shock of hearing the town name caused James to stop. “Did you just say Ashtonville?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Jess. Oh shit. I had family in Ashtonville.”

  “Did you know anyone there?” Jess asked.

  “Some people.”

  “Maybe you knew my cousin.”

  “I might have. It was a small town. Who is your cousin?”

  “Peter Callaway. He did die in the plague though.”

  Hands to the desk, almost in launch fashion, James sprang, nearly getting up. “Pete . .. Pete . . . Pete . ..” he lost his breath.

  “You knew my cousin Peter?”

  James couldn’t speak. He just nodded.

  “Yeah, well check this out. You know how I worked as a spy in Beginnings.”

  Again, James nodded.

  “Talk about difficult.” With dramatics, Jess whistled. “I had a task, because.” He chuckled. “Alive and well, and living in Beginnings is his former wife . . . Ellen.”

  Everything. The coffee cup, the papers, pencil holder, all the desk materials flew upward when James lost his balance and sprang to a stand. “Ellen is alive.”

  “Yeah, she . . .”

  “Please.” Almost in desperation James spoke as he moved slowly around the desk. “Tell me you aren’t lying.” He was hardly able to walk from the shock.

  “Why would I lie?”

  “She’s fine?”

  “Yes.”

  James released a short and sweet shriek of joy. “I . . . I have to go. Jess, you have to tell me where Beginnings is.”

  “Wait . . .”

  “Jess.” James grinned and grabbed his arms. “We have to get her out of here. Jess. Ellen . . . Ellen is my sister.”

  “I thought you only had brothers.”

  “I do. But El . . .”James chuckled. “She was as much of a sister as if she were blood. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” He grinned. “She’s alive. You’re sure she’s in Beginnings.”

  “Oh yeah,” Jess said with certainty. “She’s there.”

  “Excellent.” James hurried past Jess and to the door.

  “Along with . . . Hal.”

  James stopped.

  “Robbie.”

  James didn’t move.

  “Frank.”

  James moved his hand way from the door.

  “And Joe. Your whole family, Jimmy. The entire bunch,” Jess spoke to James’s back, “Is alive, well, and in Beginnings.”

  James turned around, but not as Jess expected.

  He turned with a vengeance, revolver extended and pointed. “You lie!” James charged to Jess.

  “What? Shit.” Jess backed up in shock. “No.”

  “What is this, huh? Some sort of sick trick from Beginnings? What did they do?”

  “No!” Jess defended.

  “I ought to put a bullet in your fuckin head right now.” James drew closer.

  “I’m telling you the truth!”

  “You know nothing!”

  “I know your family.”

  “Bullshit.” With a shift of the chamber, James touched Jess’s forehead with the gun. “Say goodbye.”

  “No, I know them,” Jess spoke rapidly. “If I didn’t, how would I know that Robbie spilled the green paint on Sgt. Pletcher’s cat, Lipshaw . . .?”

  James relaxed the aim for a second.

  Jess continued, “You guys tried to clean the cat, but failed. You had one big green fur ball that you had to shave bald.”

  “Oh my God.” James backed up.

  “And if I didn’t know you’re family, how would I know Hal used the money he made from swindling Flower Girl Cookies to buy a sweater for t
he cat. You guys, like you always did, covered for Robbie. And Hal, like he always did, came out smelling like a rose.”

  James’s mouth murmured and his hand lowered.

  “Let me tell you something, Jimmy.” Jess tilted his head. “Frank is still dumb as an ox. Robbie is still the innocent and Frank still covers for him. Hal is still arrogant and still believes he’s perfect. Your father . . . your father knows better, but just to irk Robbie and Frank, he always sides with Hal.”

  “Still,” James said in shock.

  “Still.”

  Blindly James felt for a chair. “Still.”

  “And still . . . Robbie’s hair sticks up.”

  With a shocked smile on his face, James sat down. “I can’t believe this.”

  “It’s true.”

  “Jess.” James looked up. “My family is the enemy?”

  “No. No,” Jess said strongly and passionately. “The Society is the real enemy. Your family sent me here to spy on the Society. Your family is the future. And you . . .” Jess dropped his voice. “You need to get home to your family.”

  ^^^^

  “Mike.” Lars, in a near racing walk, struggled to keep up the pace. “This is an error. Do not do this. Not yet. Do not tell Johnny.”

  “Lars, I have to.” Mike stopped walking. “I don’t know why, but I feel a sense of urgency. I just feel it in my gut. I feel the need to intervene.”

  “It’s the father in you.”

  “That’s right and the father in me is screaming something is not right with that kid.” Mike looked at his house not far away. “I have to talk to him.”

  To my Family. The note read. I hope, somehow, I can still label you my family. I hope, somehow, this note eventually reaches you. It took me a while to write it and it took me some thought to come to the decision I made. Right or wrong, I feel justified and perhaps, in a sense, you will feel some justification as well. What I did to you all, to my home, was unspeakable. I lie to you not when I tell you I do not know what was going through my mind when I did the act, said what I said, and felt what I felt, but I know what I feel now. My heart is broken. It’s broken because I wronged you. Broken because I miss and love you all very much. Please know I love you. Maybe some would look at it as cowardly that I do this. I chose to look at it as my last life saving move. The tumor in me may not be able to be destroyed, but maybe, I can destroy what the tumor is capable of doing. Love, Johnny.