Hank paused to give the Wilizy a chance to reflect.
# # # # # # # #
"Are you the technician who saw Izzy's cartoon of Zzyk and distributed it?"
"No such technician existed and no cartoon was distributed. Only an insane DPS officer would do such a thing. I was being prepared to help in Will's capture long before Izzy drew that cartoon. Only when it became possible that Izzy might escape from the childcare center was I given my instructions and told to watch her mother being tortured. I was carrying the bomb and had the open microphone at that point. They just had to exchange my fake brain-band for an exploding brain-band and I'd be ready for you to rescue me. Since the project that I was responsible for was designing and manufacturing that exploding brain-band, I had been given the generous offer to field test my own creation."
"We were expected to discover the threats?"
"No. I was instructed to show them to you so that you'd be more likely to think of me as a sympathizer."
"And the brain-band explosive?"
"To be used in case I found myself in a position to kill someone important. They didn't expect that you'd require its removal so early. I had been given the code word to disarm it, otherwise the brain-band would have exploded when I attacked the screws with my knife."
"And now you have no way of killing anyone important?"
"I didn't say that. But you are safe from me for the moment."
# # # # # # # #
"What do you want from us?" Hank asked.
"Reunite me with my daughter so that we can live with the Wilizy. I will fight with you against the evil people in Alberta and in The Citadel for as long as my daughter is alive and safe. If she is killed after we are reunited, you may use me as a disposable weapon."
"We have plenty of weapons and we have no intention of fighting the people of The Citadel."
"You should hope that you won't have to. Our leaders claim that our fortress is impregnable and cannot be destroyed. Plus we have been told that our military is now testing offensive weapons that cannot be blocked. Our military will not be content much longer to hide in Alaska."
"They'll invade Alberta?"
"I do not know. They do not share their plans with ordinary geniuses. But I do know that Zzyk and my people are very close. One of our top scientists has been working with Zzyk for decades. It is more likely that they will join forces with Zzyk to defeat you. At that point, you will have to fight them."
"You say you're a genius?"
"Everyone in any position of authority in The Citadel is a genius. I am not a technician. I am a computer scientist. I am the most knowledgeable person in the IOF on computer-related operations. I have worked directly under Zzyk and know a little bit of his plans, although I must confess that what little scraps that I have managed to overhear may prove to be planted information. I do have intensive knowledge of their entire computer network. As soon as Zzyk learns that I have escaped from him and joined the Wilizy, he will give my underling responsibility for blocking my access. I have been forced to train my replacement, but I fear that I have been a terrible teacher. For a short time at least, they will not be able to keep me out of their computer networks. During that period, I can destroy their computer network completely, or if you like, I can use it for your secret surveillance."
"That's it? Some rinky-dinky computer stuff is all you can offer?"
"You are joking, I think. I must tell you that I have no sense of humour. It was not a requirement in the genetic make up of the breeding pool. I used to have emotions. I used to love. I used to laugh. Now,the only emotions left to me are hatred towards the person responsible for my wife's execution and desperation to keep my daughter from becoming one of them."
"I apologize for trying to joke. News of The Citadel is a little difficult for us to grasp. I did not mean to offend. Do you have anything else to say that will influence our decision to accept or reject your offer?"
"I can tell you how Zzyk is going to find your geographic location. I can also tell you how Will and Izzy will be killed if Zzyk's plan works. I can also tell you what gift Zzyk will give the citizens of Alberta in the very near future."
"And from us, you want what?"
"Your word that you will do your utmost to rescue both me and my daughter."
"Only our word?"
"It is the most valuable thing that the Wilizy has, is it not?"
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 13
Friday, June 25 – gun cleaning night at the compound. This evening, in addition to guns, gun oil, brushes and swabs, the table held a bowl of raspberries that Yolanda was sharing with Hank.
"Do you have enough raspberries for the birthday parties?" Hank was trying to determine how many he could eat. They were his favorite dessert and he could polish off the whole bowl by himself. Yolanda didn't like the seeds, so she ate sparingly.
"Barely. Do you have any idea what kind of birthday parties Will had in the past? Cake? Gifts?" Yolanda was in charge of setting up family celebrations. Will was turning 16 on June 30.
"No idea. I doubt he had any parties. You could ask."
"Ruin the surprise."
"Are we celebrating Wolf's and Wizard's birthday at the same time as Will's?"
"Their 17th and 14th. Of course. Too many parties; not enough ice cream otherwise."
"Did you arrange for all of our Ws to be born close together?"
"Yup. Part of the master plan."
"Thought so."
"Do you have any idea why Izzy is so secretive about her birthday?"
"No. But I do know that she's older than Will. She was teasing him that he was finally catching up to her. Perhaps Doc will know."
"I asked him but he can't remember. Don't get gun oil on the raspberries. I might want a few."
"Woman should count herself lucky man doesn't just pour them down his throat."
"You'd do that if I weren't here, wouldn't you?"
"Yup. All the boys would too if it they had a bowl to themselves and you weren't watching. So would Yollie."
Yolanda couldn't dispute that. It was only a matter of time before Winnie would join the evil raspberry gulping forces. Yolanda had tried it once when she was alone and had choked and dropped the whole bowl into the underbrush. "Yollie did a nice job on the surveillance report," she said to change the subject.
"She did, didn't she? Do you and Granny agree with Yollie now?"
"The little details that she picked up supported her arguments."
"So she's not infatuated with him after all?"
"I didn't say that. Raspberry-chugging man is not wise in the way of women. Must listen and learn."
"She is infatuated?"
"Duh."
# # # # # # # #
"Were the Wilizy directors all in favour of accepting John under tight conditions?" Yolanda had missed the meeting in order to care for Winnie who had been laid low with another headache. She had sent her vote in with Hank.
"Yah. I told Izzy that the vote was unanimous and she and Will are going to meet with him from a distance next week. He's not to have any technology other than the pinky ring we're going to give him and it's been stripped nearly bare. For the time being, he doesn't leave the village. In the meantime, Will and Izzy are going to investigate that Red Deer area village and see if they can determine why the DPS were there. That will give us a chance to pretend ignorance and see if he coughs up the right information. They'll pressure him to reveal what else he's been holding back too."
"We rescue him and his daughter, but we don't trust him?" Yolanda wanted confirmation.
"No trust whatsoever. Not now at least."
"Good."
# # # # # # # #
"Did any of the youngsters get nightmares from the surprise operation?"
"Nothing apparent. They were all scared though. Wizard turned white when he heard the news. The four horsemen of doom looked like someone had shot their horses. All five of those boys have se
cret crushes on Izzy, you know."
"So do I."
Yolanda snatched the half empty bowl of raspberries and put it on the floor by her feet. "Man will find it difficult to eat more raspberries so long as he has big fat foot inside tiny cramped mouth."
"Did Winnie handle it OK?"
"She surprised me. Of all our children, Winnie is the closest to Izzy and she never missed a beat when Granny said that Izzy was missing. She was a little slow to start on her scans but then she handled the night like it was just another test run."
"Did you check with Granny about the marshmallow puzzle?"
"She can't explain it. Marshmallows aren't a big issue now – I'm concerned about Winnie's headaches. She has complained twice that the boys are giving them to her. The first time, the boys said that they had been trying to get her to play her hide and find game with them. That was it. No teasing. After the second headache, I talked to each of them separately. They all swore up and down that they were only playing amongst themselves. She was flying around in large circles above them, but they weren't bothering her. They weren't lying, Hank."
"Says the mom truth-o-meter?"
"She who dishes out desserts always receives the full truth."
"Winnie wouldn't lie."
"Nor would she fake headaches."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Of course. She just says she gets the headaches from the boys."
"Are you going to involve Doc?"
"Not yet. I'm going to lie down with her next time she has one and try to soothe her. The headaches are pretty painful, I think."
"As painful as raspberry withdrawal, oh wise mother of my children?"
"Foot now removed. Wise mother going to bed. Don't eat all the raspberries at once when I'm gone."
"Of course not. I might choke and drop the whole bowl into the underbrush."
"You saw me?"
"Man sees everything. Knows when to keep big mouth shut. Most of the time."
# # # # # # # #
The following Monday found Will and Izzy circling invisibly over a farm a couple of kilometers east of Coronation, Alberta. Coronation was the small farming community where a DPS platoon from Red Deer had spent an afternoon with the town's citizens in their community hall the previous week. Izzy had selected this particular farm to watch because it was situated all by itself well outside of town and therefore not under the possible scrutiny of neighbours. The farmer's wife had three high school girls spending the summer with her as field hands. The four of them were pitchforking hay up onto a horse drawn wagon as Izzy watched from her sling. Nobody else was in sight.
Izzy wanted first to determine if the four women had been watching the WZBN broadcasts and what they thought about them. As part of that conversation, she'd slip in some questions about what the DPS platoon had been doing in town. It was possible that these women had not been taken to the community hall, but they'd have heard about it.
Izzy stepped out of her sling behind the barn and straightened her clothes. She was wearing her Wilizy colours – an emerald green top with white shorts. She figured that if she were recognized, that would mean that the women had seen the network shows and she was hoping for a friendly greeting. Will was circling high overhead, watching all the approaches to this small plot of parched hay-strewn farmland.
If recognition was the dessert that Izzy wanted, she received all she could handle plus some extra helpings as well. She was half way across the hay field – the women were leaning on their pitchforks and watching her approach. Then the responded with withering and unbridled recognition.
"It's that Wilizy Bitch," the matron muttered. All four women hoisted their pitchforks to shoulder levels and, as in the days of yore when knights would make fierce charges with their swords extended, so too did these four women charge at Izzy. No horses were in sight, except the two tied up to the wagon. Certainly no swords. Just four very deadly pitchforks and four lusty lungs shrieking at the top of their lungs, "Kill the Wilizy bitch!"
This was not the greeting that Izzy had expected, so she may be excused for her short lapse into indecision. She had all the weaponry she needed to laser the women well before they reached her, but those would be fatal wounds and those wounds would receive a lot of attention. She couldn't fly away – she was in a wide-open field and these women would certainly talk about the Wilizy bitch suddenly disappearing. Izzy did the prudent thing. She turned and ran towards the closest place of refuge which was the barn.
Melissa of the Wilizy, the princess companion to Zorro, did not have a stylish pair of hiking boots in her closet to wear to this social occasion. Instead she had chosen moccasins, which did have the white and emerald green colours embroidered in beads on their tops. But they were missing one critical component – shoelaces or the Velcro equivalent.
Izzy outran her moccasins in her first two steps. Galvanized by the pain of running barefooted through a field of needle-like shorn stalks, Izzy fell onto her face almost immediately. Behind her, four very lusty, strong, and lethally armed women were closing the gap.
Running again, Izzy mind-yelled to Will. Stay invisible. Trip them. Kick away their pitchforks when they fall. I'll be in the barn.
Will managed the tripping part quickly and easily. He didn't have to worry about their pitchforks. The women made no attempt to pick up their weapons after falling, but continued their homicidal assault, arms outstretched to their limit, fingers clenching and unclenching around what soon would be the Wilizy bitch's neck.
They're mad, Izzy. Stark raving mad.
That certainly seemed to be the case given their bugged out eyes. Shrieking words had been replaced by a murderous howl.
I found a pitchfork, Izzy announced.
That won't stop them and you can't kill them, Izzy. These women aren't sane. Will materialized in front of Izzy at that point and scanned the barn's interior. "Stand behind me. I'll slow them down."
Will grasped an eight-foot long rusty bar of iron that had been propped up against a dilapidated wagon with a deck of crumbling plywood supported by four large iron wheels. For a second, he eyed the wheels, but they were solidly attached to the wagon. He hoisted the iron bar horizontally in his hands, flexed his biceps, and prepared to bar the barn's entrance for as long as he could. For a self-described plodding thinker, Will was decisive when it came to protecting Izzy.
"I can't stop them all – the opening to the barn is too wide. I'll try to let only one get by at a time. Use your martial arts. Flip them into the air if you can. Knock them unconscious or at least wind them."
Izzy did just as Will had instructed. Will would let the shrieking women elude him one at a time and Izzy would grab the hands poised to throttle her, fall back onto the barn floor and use her two feet to catapult the woman to the other end of the barn where she'd land with a thud. After repeating the same throw with the next three, she'd position herself behind Will again and await the next rush. Four times, the women attacked and four times Izzy hoisted them one at a time into the air to fall with a thud and a groan. There was no planning to their attack. It was a mindless charge that served no benefit other than raising dust from the barn's floor. Now hoarse from their shrieks, the women were reduced to grunts as they attacked and grunts as they thudded to the ground.
Izzy looked at her attackers as she positioned herself behind Will for the fifth attack. The farmer's wife and her three farm hands were slowly prying themselves off the rough timbers of the barn's floor, their eyes still crazy, mouths opening and closing soundlessly, hands clasped around their heads now.
"Close your eyes," Izzy shouted. Her words had no effect. The women were exhausted and bloody but still, one shuffled forward. "Close your eyes," she repeated. The other three were on their feet now and staggering towards Izzy, hands outstretched for that elusive Wilizy bitch throat.
"Will, tell them to close their eyes with me on 3. 1 ... 2 ... 3!"
"Close your eyes!!"
The matron did and
received immediate relief. "Girls, close your eyes," she barked. "The pain will stop."
And it did.
# # # # # # # #
Will and Izzy helped the four women into the kitchen, Izzy grabbing four gray well-worn flannel shirts from the sagging clothesline on the way in. She helped the women collapse into kitchen chairs and bound the shirts around their eyes. Then she and Will went from one to the other administering first-aid, offering water, and wiping off sweat and blood.
When all were calm, Izzy began a conversation, first introducing herself as Melissa and her protector as Will. When she found out what the DPS platoon had done in general, she asked some specific questions. What equipment did they use? Did they bring props? How many soldiers were there? How long did they keep the citizens in the hall? Did they show more than one picture of her on the projector? What did the soldiers say about the Wilizy? Did they touch anybody's brain-bands? Did they take them off?
Clear now on what had happened, Izzy described what the women had tried to do to her in the barn – they had no memory of it whatsoever. She also explained that they had acted so crazily because the DPS had repeatedly showed them a picture of her in the Wilizy green and white clothes. That image was accompanied by massive bolts of pain. To make the pain stop, the people had to yell Kill the Wilizy bitch while throttling stuffed animals. She told them that the DPS had conditioned the people of Coronation to become mindless murderers any time they saw Izzy in that particular green and white apparel.
Izzy also learned that the community generally liked the shows and would watch them every evening if they weren't being pain zapped every time a Melissa Moment came on. "I'm going to cancel all the Melissa Moments where I'm reading in those green and whites," Izzy said. "Give me a week to do that. If you wish to watch shows in the meantime, just close your eyes during those readings. Tell everyone in Coronation."
Assassination Day Page 11
