“Why aren’t we just taking the chopper to look for the pickup location?” Feral asked.
“Because we need to find it on foot to be sure we’re in the right place,” Scorn answered with a sarcastic tone. “Besides, we don’t want anyone to know they’ve been found until we fucking kill them all!”
Feral bobbed his head in a nod. “Cool,” he said, as he followed the men through the trees.
Some time later they came upon the lake they’d had to traverse when they’d originally been here. “We came from there,” Lethal said, pointing across the lake. “Anybody differ?” he asked.
“Nope. That’s where we were,” Scorn agreed.
Lethal pressed the button on his shoulder-cam to activate the radio and called in the helicopter. Ten minutes later they were aboard the chopper and flying low over the area so they could identify the parking lot they’d been in when they’d been directed toward the lake to carry out their assassination orders. “There! There’s an empty parking lot, sitting right there by the trees,” Steel said, pointing to it.
“Set us down there,” Lethal told Smitty. “We need to be sure that’s the location where the van dropped us off.”
They walked the perimeter of the parking lot near the tree line and decided that yes, this was the right place. Then they returned to the helicopter and looked at the map again. “Okay, so if we were here, and it took us a little over an hour to get here, we must have driven about…” Lethal paused, calculating in his head.
“Eighty miles, give or take, assuming they went the speed limit, and I’m sure they did because they didn’t want to be stopped with a team of assassins in the van,” Feral said.
“Alright, eighty mile circumference from this spot. We need to find a facility large enough to house all of us, medical facilities, training facilities, and fenced to keep us in, and everyone else out,” Valor said, handing his map to their pilot, Smitty, after having drawn his circle.
Smitty looked down at it. “Okay. We can start a grid pattern and see what we come up with. Ya’ll keep your eyes open.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
General Ferriday looked up from the phone he’d answered for the fifteenth time in the last hour, as a tap on his door drew his attention. “Come!” he said, waving at Acker.
Acker opened the glass door and entered the General’s office, and waited while the General finished his phone call.
“Yes. Yes, I’m aware,” he said into the phone. “I’ll have him return your call just as soon as he returns to the office. Yes, sir. Goodbye,” the General said, as he hung up the phone. “This damn phone has been ringing off the hook. I am not a patient secretary. We need to hire someone for this, or Roscoe needs to transfer the lines to his cell phone. In fact,” he said, picking up the office line and pressing a few buttons, “let’s transfer the damn thing to voice mail so we can visit in peace.”
“Morning,” Acker said, reaching out his hand to shake General Ferriday’s hand.
“How’s your girl this morning?” the General asked, looking over at Nina who sat on the small sofa in Roscoe’s office.
Acker looked over toward her and smiled. “She’s a little better today. I actually made her laugh a little this morning,” Acker answered. “Hope you don’t mind. She wanted to take a walk, and I saw Roscoe’s office was empty. Didn't think he’d mind if she sat in there for a bit while we talked.”
“Not at all. Let her know she can entertain herself on his computer if she likes. They all come with games or so I’m told. I’m happy to hear she’s laughing. Poor girl’s been through hell. All these people have been,” General Ferriday said.
“Yeah, they have,” Acker agreed. “Just a second,” he said, getting up and walking back over to Roscoe’s office. “General says that you can play the games on the computer if you want to.”
Nina looked up at Acker from whatever she’d been looking at on the monitor. “Okay,” she said.
Acker went back to the general’s office and sat down.
“So, she’s not afraid of the males out and about?” General Ferriday asked.
“She’s aware that they were drugged and not exactly in their right minds. She’s also aware that whatever the doctor she remembers did to them, changed them, so she’s finding it in herself to forgive them. It’s the men that owned her, the ones that bought and sold her that she has problems with. Those are the men who kept her in this situation, and they abused her just as badly if not worse than those she was supposed to be rewarding.”
The General shook his head, his face becoming strained. “This is some fucked up shit we have uncovered. Those responsible for this need to die. And I’m having a hard time determining if it would be better to expose them and allow the government and the public to deal with them, or to hand them over to the males and females they’ve used as laboratory experiments.”
“I say hand them over to their victims,” Acker said angrily.
“It’d be hard to do otherwise.”
“The reason we’re here is I have something to discuss with you,” Acker said, rolling his baseball cap nervously in his hands.
“Oh, yeah? You ready to start your missions again? We’ve been missing you, but managed okay without you.”
“I’m getting there, but actually, it’s something else.”
“Okay, then. Have a seat. What’s on your mind?”
“You know my girl can’t live in the hospital forever. And she’s not comfortable going into a barracks with multiple people, even if they are other women. She’s okay during the day, but she’s terrified to sleep at night. So, I was thinking, she’s probably not the only one. What do you think about building different housing.”
“We could build either apartment building types of housing, or single home housing, or both for that matter. Anyone who has an issue being surrounded by multiple people can live in them. If you prefer the barracks atmosphere, they’re there for you. We could even offer single home housing to some of the men who are still working rescue if they wanted to bring their families here. Especially if they plan to stay here.”
“And are you planning to stay here?” General Ferriday asked.
Acker pursed his lips. “I’m thinking of it. Can’t see my way to leaving right now, or any time soon.”
“Planning to move yourself and your girl there into one of the single homes, or the apartments?”
“It crossed my mind, but I don’t even know if she’d be interested in more than her own place right now,” Acker answered.
General Ferriday sat back in his chair. “It’s not a bad idea. The barracks were a quick way to provide shelter to the people who volunteered to help me with these missions. But now that we’ve begun to grow and some of them obviously will have different needs, including needing a private place to feel safe, maybe we should consider it.”
“I think more than you realize would take you up on the offer to have a private place to themselves. Some of the males are actually sleeping outside to get away from everyone else.”
“Seriously?” General Ferriday asked, sitting up to question Acker. “Why have I not heard about this?”
“They keep it to themselves I guess.”
General Ferriday nodded to himself thoughtfully. “If we brought in modular units, we could build some private residences, quickly.”
“Even duplexes would work, each side a private home,” Acker suggested.
“Yes! And we could speak to the manufacturer, see how quickly we could get them in here and assembled.”
“Let the males know they’re building their own private apartments and I bet they’d jump on board. It may eventually leave your barracks empty, but they could be repurposed into other facilities,” Acker said.
There was a tap on the door and the door opened. “Anybody know why there’s a woman sitting at my desk, working on my computer?” Roscoe asked with his eyebrows raised and a confused smile on his face.
General Ferriday and Acker looked over into Roscoe�
�s office to find Nina working away on Roscoe’s computer. She was so involved in what she was doing, she didn’t even realize that she was being observed.
“That’s my girl. I left her sitting on your sofa so we could talk in private,” Acker said, motioning toward the General.
“I invited her to play the games on your system if she wanted to,” General Ferriday explained.
“I just thought I’d ask before I went in and asked if I could help her with anything,” Roscoe said, following Acker out of the General’s office and toward his own. “I was kind of hoping somebody hired me a secretary,” he joked.
“Sweetheart?” Acker said, getting Nina’s attention. She’d not told him her name, so he called her Sweetheart when he wanted her attention.
Nina looked up at him and realized three men were standing in front of the desk she was sitting at.
“Hello, dear,” General Ferriday said.
Nina smiled hesitantly at him.
“Why don’t you join us in my office? This is Roscoe’s office,” he explained. “He does all the books for Alliance Ranch, and takes care of the finances and logistics. He’s most likely to be the face of Alliance and handle all public relations for us when we inevitably go wide with this situation.”
Roscoe noticed the girl looked nervous suddenly. She’d been in bad shape when she’d arrived here and had just started venturing out. He didn’t want to add to her stresses in any way. Roscoe smiled at her. “You’re welcome to come to my office anytime you want to. My computer is always available to you. It’s just I have to get back to the reconciliations. Been fighting with them since yesterday, but when I’m done, if you’d like to play the games or work on the computer in a quiet space, feel free to come back.”
Nina rose to her feet and smiled at Roscoe while not quite meeting his gaze. She nodded and quickly moved to stand beside Acker.
“We’re pretty much done anyway,” Acker said. “You want to go for a walk? Maybe we could get some food and have a picnic?” he asked Nina.
“Yes, please,” she said quietly, still casting her own gaze toward the floor.
“I’m going to speak to Roscoe and we’ll start making the calls today, Acker. Thanks for the suggestion,” General Ferriday said, waving toward Acker as he and the woman moved toward the door of Roscoe’s office.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for listening. I’ll be back to active duty in a few days,” he said.
“Great news. We’ll be ready when you are,” General Ferriday said.
Roscoe sat down at his deck and started clicking on the different screens he’d left opened on his desktop. “You’re going to talk to me about what?” he asked, as he clicked.
“These people need private residences, whether they’re apartments, or duplexes or single homes, they need space to themselves. They’re on top of each other with nothing to call their own in these barracks.”
“You’re right,” Roscoe said distractedly, a puzzled expression on his face as he continued to pay attention to his computer. “What do you want me do?” he asked.
“I want to start building some of each. Bring in modular homes that can be built quickly, bring in modular duplex homes, and look into building some apartment buildings. We can expand for acres and acres, as much as necessary,” General Ferriday said.
“I can do that,” Roscoe said absentmindedly.
“Is there a problem with your computer?” the General finally asked, when he realized he only had half of Roscoe’s attention.
Roscoe look up at General Ferriday. “She finished it,” he said, with a shocked look on his face.
“Finished what?” the General asked.
“I had three bank accounts opened here, trying to reconcile each. I’ve been fighting with them since yesterday. I’ve been so damned angry at not being able to make them balance, I considered throwing the damn computer through the window. And she balanced them. All three of them.”
“Well,” the General said delightedly. “Did she now?”
“Yeah, she did. How long was she in here?” Roscoe asked.
“Couldn’t have been more than about fifteen minutes.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Smart woman,” the General said.
“Very smart,” Roscoe agreed as he watched Acker accept a bag with food in it from the cook and take the woman by the hand as he led her out of the building for their picnic.
General Ferriday turned to see what Roscoe was looking at and smiled as he watched them go as well. “You should thank her,” he suggested.
“I’ll do better than that,” Roscoe said.
“How’s that?” General Ferriday asked.
“I need an assistant. I’m going to offer her a job,” Roscoe said.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Law sat at the head of a rectangular table organizing his thoughts and working on the laptop General Ferriday had given him. Seated on each side of the table were six males. Each male had been elected by those now calling Alliance home, to represent their best interests as laws and government as it would apply to Alliance were implemented.
Law took a moment to listen to the conversations around the table as they all settled in and prepared for their first official meeting. He allowed his gaze to settle on each male. Each of them were strong, smart, and anxious to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They all had different strengths and different talents they could contribute to the board and to the community. Some of them were a little less than warm and friendly, but considering what they’d all come from they were all lucky they weren’t serial killers — Law included. And they’d all been nominated and voted into their positions. They each wanted to help turn Alliance into a place they and everyone like them could call home, or at the very least make sure it didn’t become something the likes of which they’d just survived.
“Welcome,” he said, interrupting their conversations. “Thank you for accepting your nomination and allowing your name to remain on the ballots for consideration as a board member, and congratulations on winning the vote. We’ll meet each week to discuss anything that has come up, go over any complaints or special requests that may be pending, and keep each other updated on anything we may have individually been made aware of. If for any reason a more frequent or special meeting is required, we’ll do that, too.
Since not everyone is familiar with each other, if you don’t mind, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves. I’m Law. As you know I was nominated by Lethal and his squad; however, I put my name in for voting just as each of you did,” he said, glancing at the male to his right.
“I’m Rise,” the blonde haired, green eyed male said, looking around the table and unabashedly staring each of his fellow board members in the eye. He seemed suspicious of everyone, but content to sit back and wait to see what happened. He watched each male at the table and their mannerisms like a hawk.
“I’m Stone,” the next male said. His head was shaved almost bald except for the flat top on top of his head. His eyes were a gun metal grey, and he carried himself with a no bullshit attitude. He was completely secure with himself and his ability. He, too, looked around the room at everyone present.
“I’m Roar,” the next male said, sitting relaxedly back in his chair while looking around at everyone else. His hair was a deep, dark brown, almost a mahogany color with dark red undertones showing in the thick, wavy locks he let fall carelessly wherever they wanted. His eyes were the same color, and the vibe he threw off was that he wished someone would just try to fuck with him.
“I’m Ice,” the next said. His hair was so light it was almost colorless. Law couldn’t decide if it was blonde or grey. When he turned his eyes on Law, it was all Law could do not to flinch. Ice’s eyes were so light blue they were almost clear, and it made Law want to blink his own eyes repeatedly out of recognition of the sensitivity to light that Ice must feel. He was quiet and withdrawn with an assuredness about him that made most other males uneasy.
“I’m Worth,” the next male said. He smiled at all of them brightly and was clearly happy to be a part of the board. His light brown hair and soft brown eyes sparkled as he smiled at them. The male was just happy to be alive. “I’m proud to be here with you,” he said.
“I’m Crave,” the last male said, not caring to look at anyone. His knee bounced rapidly beneath the table but it wasn’t due to nerves. It was because he was never still. He was always planning what he’d do next, where he was going when he left wherever he was. He was never satisfied with anything, hence the name he’d chosen. Crave was a redhead — deep bronze almost, and his eyes were light brown with flecks of gold in them that were framed with lashes the same color as his hair. He had a pale complexion with a smattering of freckles across his arms.
All of the males making up the governing board of Alliance Ranch were big, muscular males. They’d survived the same things that Lethal and his squad had, and now they just wanted peace. Or vengeance. Or both.
“Welcome,” Law said. “Now, let’s get down to business.”
Chapter 24
“I’ve made a list of items that I feel should be addressed initially. First among them is security. We need a security force to patrol not only our community, but the entire perimeter of the ranch. We need to have each security officer equipped with communication, radios preferably, so that they can be in contact at all times. Any opinions?”
“Agreed,” Stone said. “Additionally, this was first a family ranch as I understand it. The perimeter could very easily be just barbed wire. Easy for anyone to infiltrate. We should look into putting a more substantial barrier around the property. At the very least around the community itself.”
“Good point. We’ll add that to our list,” Law said.
“I think Brutal would be perfect for a security supervisor,” Roar said.
“Has he expressed an interest?” Law asked.
Beginnings Page 20
