Never Forsaken

by Michael Anderle

  Lance said, “Ok, times a ticking, who’s our candidate for craziness today?”

  Frank looked at Lance funny, “Do you know what I’m about to ask?”

  Lance swallowed his bite, “No, but you rarely ask me about anything related to people, so this has to be out of the ordinary.” Taking a bite of his sandwich, he twirled his finger in a universal ‘get on with it’ symbol.

  “Bobcat called me asking for a rocket scientist.” Frank pulled the tab off the can of beer.

  Lance snorted as if to ask, ‘Really?’

  Frank answered the unasked question, “Yes, a real rocket scientist.”

  Lance swallowed, “Ok, what’s the problem?”

  “Other than those chips are god-awful loud?” Lance just smiled at him, “He has a bit of a stigma attached to him.”

  “In what way?”

  “Like the tin-foil wearing type.”

  “Ok, explain more while I crunch as loud as I can.”

  “Has anyone told you what a pain in the ass you are?”

  “Outside of my daughter? Not too many who could get away with it when you’re a General.”

  “It might explain your poor table manners.” Frank took another swallow of his beer.

  “If I remember correctly, I was making my sandwich and eating in the normally proscribed location to eat - namely the kitchen. You followed me down and are now harassing my eating in the aforementioned eating area. I believe you are actually showing less decorum than I.”

  Frank sat there for a couple of seconds, dammit, he was right. “You’re still an ass-munch.” Lance just laughed at the man. “Ok, Marcus Cambridge was with NASA for about three decades until he got kicked out for political reasons. Then Space-X grabbed him where he lasted three years before they also showed him the door.”

  “What for?”

  “Apparently, as he is getting older he is getting more and more strident about his belief in UFO’s. Such that he is making his point of view more often and it is getting him into political hot water. Being so boisterous in public with his views is not mixing well with the establishment.”

  “So, what’s the problem? Does he have the skills we need?”

  “Oh, his skills and knowledge and even his research is what we need badly. The problem is do we need a tin-foil hat scientist working on our team?”

  Lance put his sandwich down and pushed his beer to the side. He clasped his hands together and placed his elbows on the countertop. “Let me get this right. You came down to the kitchen, interrupted my lunch and criticized me for my eating habits to ask me whether a scientist who believes in UFO’s is appropriate to work on a UFO, right?” He grinned at Frank.

  “Yes, but he is... Well. Oh, dammit. You’re right. I’m letting other’s opinions of him cloud my judgment. He’s right but doesn’t have proof to back it up. I’ve got the proof that he is right and I’m letting others persuade me that believing in the truth and speaking to it without evidence is a problem.” Frank got up from the chair and grabbed his beer.

  Lance grabbed his sandwich, “Where are you going?”

  Frank called back over his shoulder, “Packing for California, Orange County area to go speak to the guy.”

  “Need backup?”

  “Not fucking likely, you ass-munch.”

  Lance just chuckled and finished his sandwich. Ten minutes later, he noticed a missed text message from Patricia, she was arriving in … he checked his watch. Too soon. Oh damn.

  He called William, but was unable to raise him and then remembered he was supposed to be off. Tossing his trash, he grabbed the keys and jumped in one of the SUV’s. He made very good time to the airport and was pulling up outside when his phone chimed with a text message that she had landed.

  Two hours later, Lance pulled into the house driveway, listening to gasps of surprise from Patricia as she noticed the expensive surroundings and the smell of the waterway so close by. She had made remarks as they went through the security post at the beginning of the subdivision and another when he pulled into the street. Finally, when he had to open the gate to drive into the driveway she just shook her head in amazement.

  This was so unlike the General Lance Reynolds that Patricia was familiar with. He was a gruff man who wasn’t into large displays of wealth. “Is this yours?”

  Lance laughed, “Hell no. It’s my… Well, it’s owned by the primary owner of the company I help manage. She is out of the country…”

  “She?”

  Now why did that sound like he had just said something wrong? “Yes, she. As in female. What is it with you ladies? You want females to move to the top of the chain, but when a man works for one it becomes an issue?”

  “You are in her home.”

  Well, taken out of context, she kind of had a point. Damn women and their logic.

  “Sort of her home. This home and the one next door are used as a base of operations for when she and her team are here in the States. Although I am working to find a much bigger and better facility. When ‘she’ is here, she has about nine to eleven people spread between the two homes. Right now, there are three of us using the two houses.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “God only knows. She said she might be in the area and able to drop in. I think she is on her yacht near South America. Who the hell knows? It isn’t like she alerts me when she needs to move around.”

  “Why so many people? An entourage?”

  Lance snorted, turned off the car and retrieved Patricia’s luggage and opened the front door. “Not exactly.” He stepped aside to let Patricia in while she was admiring the large entryway her attention was drawn as Frank descended the stairs. “Patricia, let me introduce Frank Kurns, one of the three employees living here at the moment.”

  Frank held out his hand, “Pleased to meet you, Patricia. Love to chat, but I have to catch a flight over to California to pick up a rocket scientist.”

  They shook hands and spoke briefly. Patricia watched as he hit the button to open the gate, an Escalade was waiting to take him to the airport.

  Frank closed the door and took her to one of the bedrooms made up for visitors. It wasn’t overly large, but it did have its own full bathroom, TV and computer setup. A large, red rug set off the darker grey and white color scheme, Patricia just stared at the furnishings which had a very European flair. She looked around, “I would love to meet the decorator, this is lovely.”

  Lance, remembering his last comment about Ecaterina to Patricia, decided to let that opportunity pass him by because he really did want her help.

  “I’ll have to ask who did the decorating for you. Are you hungry?”

  Patricia turned around and smiled, “Something light would be nice. I’m planning on seafood tonight with you picking up the tab.”

  Did he just get stuck with the bill that easily? Well, he did ask her to fly out. “Ok, seafood tonight and there are snacks in the kitchen.

  “Did Frank just say he had to go ‘pick up’ a rocket scientist’?” They walked to the kitchen and she sat on the same barstool Lance had a few hours before, getting comfortable after setting her purse beside her.

  “Yes, the team needs his expertise to build some craft with new technology from one of our… acquisitions.” He grabbed snacks and put out a couple of bowls. Patricia just raised her eyebrows and held out her hand. Lance handed her the bag and she grabbed her own chips.

  “So, are you messing with the military industrial complex then?” She popped a chip in her mouth.

  He grumped, “Not really. Well, we don’t have any plans for it in the near future, too early to tell for the farther future.” They would have to eventually, but no reason to bring that up right now.

  “So, tell me more about what you are doing. I have to tell you, between you calling me from Las Vegas, D.C. And now here in Miami it seems like you’re into a lot. I thought you were leaving to settle down?”

  Lance grabbed another beer and a Sprite next to it for Patricia. She
wasn’t a big drinker. He handed her the Sprite and he popped the top on his own beer, “No, where did you get that idea?”

  She looked at the can of Sprite and back to Lance. He looked down at back at her, “Perhaps a glass, and a little ice?” She smiled at him.

  “Sorry!” Lance reached for a glass and turned to the refrigerator to fill it with ice. “Basically it is just us guys here right now, I’ve slipped into complete bachelor habits.” He handed the glass with a napkin and a straw to her.

  Patricia was trying to process his question about why she thought he would settle down. She had watched Lance spiral into a depression after his daughter disappeared. Having opened that can of worms, she now had to admit that she had assumed he was checking out of life, in a way. Lance was waiting for her to answer, not making it easy on her at all. “Lance, we have worked together for a long time. I watched as you withdrew more and more into yourself that last year after your daughter left. I guess I just figured that you wanted to go off and be by yourself once you quit.”

  Lance took a sip of his beer and thought about what she said. “That is a fair assessment, if you didn’t know the rest of the story. I guess I had withdrawn into myself after Bethany Anne left.”

  “What is the rest of the story?”

  Lance set his beer down, “before I answer that, let me ask you a quick question Patricia. What is it you fought for when you were part of the military? Was it the flag? Was it Congress? Was it the country? Was it the rest of us near you?”

  Patrician took a couple of the chips and nibbled on them to give herself time to consider his question. “I actually entered the service, because I needed a job and a way to get an education. I would have to admit that it wasn’t for the ideals that so many people espouse. At the end, I was there because of those who were around me, you and the others. Of course, I needed the job, but it really wasn’t for the ideals, and certainly not Congress!” Patricia laughed at that.

  This was just about what Lance had expected. While they had telling conversations over the years, Lance knew she didn’t have a super strong nationalistic focus. Patricia was more of a “live and let live” sort of person. How could he get her involved and prove to Bethany Anne she was a legitimate prospect for the team?

  He tried another approach hoping to find a reason which would prove to Bethany Anne what his gut was telling him was true. “Patricia, who is it that you love? Who is it that you would be willing to fight and die for? Friends, family, loved ones, maybe the dog down the street?” Lance smiled when mentioning that option. Patricia did have a soft heart for animals.

  She poured the Sprite into the glass he provided. Taking a sip of her Sprite, Patricia had to answer the question, but she wasn’t willing to tell him the truth. “I have one or two people that I would be willing to fight and die for, or at least die beside. However, I don’t have any family left so that isn’t going to work. Why do you ask?”

  Lance sighed, one part agitated and two parts frustrated at the moment. “Because what I’m involved in is literally life-and-death for not only our nation but possibly the world. For you to be a part of this with me, it provides you access to secrets that would be harmful.”

  Patricia bristled, “Lance! You know I have top security clearances. Why would you think I couldn’t be trusted with anything less on the outside?”

  He turned the beer in his hand in circles, trying to figure the best way to say this. “Patricia, I am not worried about you sharing secrets with others. I am worried about you having secrets that would cause others to want to harm you to find out.”

  That surprised her. She hadn’t expected that she might be in danger if she worked outside of the military. “Why would I be in harm’s way?”

  “I would like to say that I’m involved in a dog-eat-dog corporate world; however, the truth is the other team doesn’t mind getting their hands bloodied in this competition. I am not willing to get you involved if you don’t understand the danger.”

  “How are you going to tell me what the danger is, without letting me know more than I should know?”

  “Well, that is part of the problem isn’t it? I have to let you know enough that being a part of whatever I am a part of, is dangerous. You have some protection just being part of the group, however, if you leave the group with this knowledge the other team might come after you for information you don’t even have. We aren’t only going up against corporate interests, but potentially political and … other … interests. Any of them or all of them might come after you for completely different reasons believing you have the key piece of info they need.”

  Patricia’s sat back in her chair, playing with non-existent lint to give herself time to think this through. “Lance, what are you involved in?” She looked at him, with seriousness in her eyes. It wasn’t often that she dropped the facade of being a secretary, and spoke to him directly as a concerned friend.

  Lance wiped his face with his hand, looked back at Patricia and smiled, “Patricia, I am more alive today than I have been for the last ten years. I would love to have you as part of my team to move this forward. In fact, I will even admit I need you horribly. I am completely overwhelmed and the job isn’t going to get any smaller in the future.”

  Lance had no idea that he had just said the three words Patricia was waiting to hear, “I need you”.

  They continue talking for another half an hour. However, Patricia was already sold. She was just waiting to make sure that Lance felt he had pitched her well enough. She finally put up a hand to stop Lance from continuing, “What is the next step?”

  Lance stopped with his mouth open, closed it, and pulled out his phone. He started texting a message, looked up at Patricia and said, “I asked the CEO to interview you now.”

  “What? Just like that? She’s going to drop into to talk with your potentially new secretary?”

  Lance put away his phone, “Patricia, I am not hiring a new secretary. I am hiring my right hand man, or woman in this case, for my team. There won’t be another person I rely on more to help me accomplish everything I need to do. Therefore, you had better believe that the CEO is anxious to make sure you are the right hire.”

  Patricia just sat in her stool, a little taken aback. A woman who owned two expensive houses, one yacht somewhere near South America, and who knew what else was just going to drop whatever they were doing and come talk to her? She had always thought she wanted to feel important, now she wasn’t so sure it was a good feeling.

  There was a yippy-dog sound coming from Lance’s phone, he picked it up and looked at the text message he had received. “Well, it looks like the CEO is available, and will be here probably in the next five hours or so.” He looked over at Patricia, “Care to have dinner now?”

  Patricia closed the chip bag, “Oh sure, feed me cheap chips before you take me to a rich seafood place. You just want an inexpensive date, you cheap bastard!” They laughed. She handed him the chip bag, “Why do you have the CEO’s text sound set to a yippy-dog?”

  Setting down the bag, Lance looked down and started texting again, “Her executive assistant isn’t happy about something done to her involving a frozen drink. So, she is trying different ways to get back at the CEO. The CEO hasn’t heard it yet, so I’m leaving it on my phone to figure out a way to help the carefully laid revenge happen. There, I asked her to make sure she wouldn’t arrive before five hours. That should give you at least an hour to two hours to get your hunger back, depending on how far away you want to go.” He looked up at her, “So, how hungry are you, and how much of a view do you want?” He smiled.

  Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca USA

  Marcus Cambridge looked down at his phone, and stared at it in disbelief. He had just hung up from a conversation where he had been asked if he was available to meet in just a little over an hour, for a position. The man, a Mr. Frank Kurns, had explained that he had tried to get a hold of him earlier in the day; however, had been unable to reach him so had hopped on an airplane a
nd flown across the country from Miami. Just to see him.

  Marcus didn’t know what to do, or even what to feel. He had been without work for the last three months, ever since Space-X had fired him. Oh, sure, he had some friends back at NASA and Space-X that felt he could get hired if he would only stop talking about aliens, and UFOs. However, he was getting too old to not express his beliefs. It didn’t make any sense to him why everyone wanted to ignore the possibilities and not discuss them in public.

  Unfortunately, he was separated from his latest wife after the Space-X debacle. She hadn’t wanted to be with a man where she had to worry every day if he started talking about “aliens” again and get fired from yet another job.

  Furthermore, she had enjoyed the little dinners around Orange County until she realized people were whispering about him, and therefore her, behind her back. She could not stand the idea that she was the butt of jokes due to his comments.