Behind The Curve-The Farm | Book 3 | The Farm

by Craven III, Boyd

  “Don’t worry,” Dante told her. “We’re both wearing plate under our coats. We figured with the breakout yesterday, it’d safer than sorry.”

  “Do you think they’re coming for us?” Bailey asked Angel.

  “I don’t think so,” Angelica told her. “They usually try some sneaky shit. This is definitely weird but…”

  “Why are you all so comfortable with guns?” Bailey asked suddenly.

  Angelica was watching the gate through a spotting scope from the second story perch under a window. Rob had theorized it had been the spot where Dewey had hunted when he was younger. The deer liked being near the barn and the grain silos.

  “Just grew up with them I guess,” Angela told her without looking up. “You?”

  “Guns were always something criminals and cops had,” Bailey said with a shrug. “Most often, you couldn’t tell the two groups apart.”

  “Cops are like people in general, some are good, and some aren’t worth the oxygen they steal from the rest of us. Probably in the same proportions as the populations, don’t you think, huh?”

  Angelica was looking through the spotting scope as both agents were instructed to go to the medical center, watching both sets of gates opening and closing. She could hear the radio chatter, but was also considering what Bailey was going to say next.

  “Why did you apologize to me in the hospital wing?” Bailey asked, knowing she’d asked this in days past.

  “Seemed the right thing to do,” Angelica said, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and lifting Rob’s rifle, a replacement Anna had built for him. “I done lost my head a bit, and if I couldn’t forgive you, how could I ever forgive myself?”

  “Forgive yourself for what?” Bailey asked.

  “Letting the crazy out to play, letting you see my ugly side.”

  Bailey chuckled. “I thought I had an ugly side, and I wore it all the time back then.”

  “And somehow a profound change came upon thee,” Angel whispered, seeing both agents getting out of the vehicle and walking slowly to the medical center, looking all around, their eyes wide and unbelieving.

  “No, I met somebody who actually gave a shit. For the first time in my life, I found somebody I respected, somebody I could look up to, even if she’s short as shit.”

  Angelica snickered, almost losing the sight picture, then made sure the earwig was pressed in tightly and keyed up her radio. “Overwatch here. Appears agents were only occupants in the vehicle. Orders?”

  “Hold position,” Rob’s voice said, though she could hear the agents greeting them inside.

  “So, we wait?” Bailey asked.

  “I have to, I’m not supposed to be here,” Angelica told her.

  “Neither am I.”

  “Agents, how can we help you?” Curt asked.

  “Are you Dr. Weaver?” Agent Korey asked.

  “No, I’m Curt Mallory, husband of Andrea Mallory. This is Doctor Leah and Dante Weaver, our friends and associates Steven and Anna Castiglione, Luis, and Rob.”

  “Quite the welcoming committee. I see you’ve seen some trouble,” Agent Gorman said, looking at all the hardware the folks were wearing, even the doctors.

  “So far our track record is spotless,” Anna said, “and we’ve learned early on not to trust the feds. After what’s happened, I’m surprised y'all’d have the fucking balls to show up here.”

  “Easy now, hun,” Steven said softly.

  “Excuse me, exactly what are you talking about?” Agent Gorman asked her.

  “My wife was kidnapped by DHS agents a week ago and was held at the Kelso Detention Center,” Rob said shortly.

  “You say that as a past tense,” Agent Korey said. “So, she escaped with the others?”

  “That’s all I’m saying. Now why are you here? Last time I talked to the feds I told them that any further hostilities against us or our families would result in hunting permits being issued. I’m guessing you didn’t get that memo?”

  “The story of you tarring and feathering a team? I heard about it. Didn’t really believe it,” Agent Gorman said, laughing. When nobody else even so much as cracked a smile, his laughter cut off abruptly.

  “You all are being serious?” Korey asked.

  “Why are you here?” Rob repeated, crossing his arms. “I won’t ask a third time.”

  “Listen son, you can’t—” Agent Gorman started to say, but Rob moved quickly, grabbing the man up by his custom-tailored suit coat. The other agent went for his gun, but Curt put him in a chicken wing as soon as his back was turned.

  Agents of the FBI were excellently trained, most with advanced degrees. To put it simply, they were the best of the best. The agent Rob had grabbed tried chops, kicks. Rob grunted it off and shoved the agent so hard, everybody paused at the sound of him hitting the wall.

  “Overwatch to Big Daddy, I heard most of that. Need backup?”

  “No,” Rob said, seeing the other agent getting up slowly. “Go ahead and let them go for now. They go for their guns, go ahead and shoot them.”

  “You fucking attacked me,” Gorman shouted, rubbing his head.

  Parker was sputtering and coughing.

  “You ignored me when I said I was only going to ask you twice,” Rob told them, “and out here in the sticks, your supposed power means Jack Shit, and Jack left town. I was merely going to show you the door when you attacked me. You better start talking, or I’m going to start thinking you’re with the men who kidnapped my wife.”

  Korey looked at Gorman frantically, trying to cough out something.

  “We’re here to ask for the doctors’ help,” Gorman said, straightening his coat and standing up. “And if your wife was kidnapped, why hasn’t there been a report? The FBI handles those cases all the time.”

  “Because your boys were involved in it, or another sister agency. They wanted me to play ball with them, and tried to recruit me,” Rob said flatly.

  Dante had been quiet until this point, and of the original group, he was usually the one closer to violence than any of the others, but he’d watched as Rob had handled the situation. The agent was right, at this point they could probably arrest both Curt and Rob for what had just happened, but it’d be so ugly it’d make history. He didn’t want that for any of them.

  “Listen Agents Korey and Gorman, we’re all on edge here and we’ve seen everything from local law enforcement, state police and federal agents all abuse their power, or break the laws themselves to get whatever it is they want from us. We don’t want to continue the hostilities if you’re truly just looking for our help, but don’t think for one fucking second that you’re going to walk into our compound and start pushing us the around. My big friend is right, it won’t be pretty. Now, I’m Doctor Dante Weaver. What the fuck do you want to ask of us doctors? This is the last time we’re going to ask you, THE VERY LAST TIME.”

  Korey was brushing his coat off and staring at Curt with an angry glare. “All medical professionals have been requested to report to the nearest processing facility to assist in the immunization efforts of—”

  “I’m retired,” Andrea told him.

  “Ditto,” Leah shot back.

  “As it happens, I’m retired as well, but I’m keeping my license current, for a little bit.”

  “Besides,” Curt broke in, “we’ve already heard this bit, and after agents of the government kidnapped one of ours and put them in a detainment facility like you’re describing, I’m willing to bet nobody here willingly wants to go back to them.”

  “I do,” Rob said quietly, “so I can find the son of bitches who kidnapped my wife, drugged her and knocked her out.”

  The agents looked at each other. “Then I suppose I have no other choice.” Agent Parker reached slowly for an inner pocket, making everyone tense up. With two fingers he pulled out an envelope.

  “Under the orders of the governor, and the Emergency Powers the president signed, you’re being pressed into service.”

  “Unless you
’re prepared to kill to enforce those orders, I wouldn’t recommend you pressing your luck,” Leah advised.

  “You know we’re going to be losing lives because of you three dragging your feet, right?” Agent Gorman asked.

  “It doesn’t take emergency room doctors and a cardiologist to give vaccines. Hell, any pharmacist, or pharmacy tech can do it. With a minimum of training, you could teach anybody how to do that,” Andrea told them. “But I’m guessing your stated purpose for pulling us out of here really isn’t to help administer and oversee vaccinations. What is it?”

  “That’s all we’ve been told,” Agent Parker replied.

  “Somebody is lying to you if you really believe that. Besides, I was on medical leave of absence and wasn’t cleared to go back fully. That’s why I quit and retired. I’m too busted up,” Andrea told them.

  “You’re—”

  “The doctor that was almost killed in the riots near West Memphis,” Curt interrupted, “where some stupid son of a bitch threw a cinder block through her windshield and the crowd tried to lynch her. To top off the multitude of broken bones she’s recovering from, she’s got PTSD and is pregnant. As her husband, I feel pretty safe in telling you guys to just fuck off.”

  “Pretty much exactly that,” Dante said, grinning at Curt.

  Bailey heard it all through the radio the group had let her use. She gasped so loud, she drew Angelica’s attention. She was glad she didn’t have the throat mic on like the others.

  “What?” Angelica asked her.

  “When this is done… we need to talk. About Andrea’s incident,” Bailey said softly.

  Thirty-One

  Curt quickly scanned through the document and then handed it to Steven. The others were arguing with the agents, their threats not even subtle. Steven looked at Curt and shrugged.

  “Who signed that?” Rob asked suddenly.

  “The Lt. Governor,” Curt said, “and some FEMA dude I’ve never heard of.”

  “Then it isn’t a valid order,” Rob said, turning back to both agents.

  “What do you mean?” Agent Korey asked.

  Rob ignored Angelica hissing in his ear. “Because Governor Tom Christian is still the governor of Arkansas, as far as I know, making the order of the Lt. Governor invalid.”

  “Governor Christian was killed in a gunfight with federal agents a while ago,” Agent Gorman said.

  “That ruckus at the Kelso Detention facility yesterday?” Rob said to the agents. “Governor Tom Christian made his escape from federal custody, and is securing his family before getting in contact with the president. The news of his death is highly over played. The same type of group who snatched my wife tried to snatch him. Some of them died, and he was drugged and detained with other political prisoners. How many escaped from that camp by the way?”

  Gorman’s snarl wasn’t quite silent, but he didn’t speak.

  “I’m guessing that the governor won’t be a big fan of this plan you’ve been pushing,” Andrea told the agents, realizing who the Tom was, who had joined them at dinner the night before. “And seriously… Give us a legitimate reason why we should help you, and maybe we all can come to a compromise?”

  “Medical care is becoming critical right now,” Agent Korey said. “We don’t have enough doctors to handle those who got sick. People are just disappearing.”

  “Maybe you should check some of the detainment camps in this FEMA district, like Kelso,” Rob said soberly, the anger gone from his voice.

  “You keep mentioning Kelso, but we don’t know anything about it other than what’s on the news.”

  Rob held up a hand to stop everyone from talking, and pushed his hand to his earwig. “In Building Six at the Kelso detainment facility, the kids and families of medical professionals were kept separate. No-one had a choice whether or not they wanted to be there. There’s an overstaffed hospital there with very few patients. Maybe you boys should think about reallocating your resources a bit.”

  “How do you know these things? Were you there?” Agent Korey demanded.

  “No,” Bailey said pushing open the door, “I was. I escaped yesterday when the riot got out of control, and made my way to my friend’s farm here. They do have medical professionals in those camps; they have doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists, and all others you could think of. That’s just that one camp. Like I said, I know, I was there.” She pointed at her stitches.

  Gorman let out a big breath. “Is this your wife?” he asked, looking skeptically at Bailey.

  “No, this is Bailey White, a friend of my wife’s,” Rob answered truthfully.

  “We still need the help, we still have our orders,” Korey said, “but my head is spinning from all of this… Everything I’ve read on Kelso said it was a vaccination facility.”

  “Folks weren’t getting vaccinated there. They were put to work. You work a full shift, you get three meals a day, a shitty mattress in a dorm room you share with a bunch of others, and the choices in fashion were just fantastic for us ladies.”

  “We can’t even open an investigation without proof. If true, you’re a criminal who was a part of the riot and escaped, at worst, you’re making up some wild story. Why? I have no idea.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Bailey said and went outside, where she took off at a dead run for the house.

  “Is Bailey ok?” Goldie asked over the radio.

  “She’s coming in the house to get something,” Rob replied on the radio for Luis’s benefit.

  “Her outfit from the camp,” Angel answered into their earwigs.

  “Oh!” Luis said over the base radio. “Excuse me.”

  Like that, he was gone too, hustling towards his cabin once leaving the main structure.

  “What is going on?” Korey asked.

  “You wanted proof?” Anna asked, having been silent a while. “You’re about to get it.”

  They waited. Bailey made it back first, tossing her outfit at the agents. Korey grabbed it out of the air, letting the pants hit the ground. He looked at the smock, then looked inside where the tag was.

  “Kelso Detainment Facility. Bailey White. So that means you were there, and you escaped, breaking numerous laws,” Korey said crossly.

  “Here,” Luis said coming back in, panting hard.

  Rob took the smock and then tossed it to Gorman. He looked at the tag on the inside of the top and read it aloud. “Kelso Detainment Facility. Tom Christian.”

  As he said that, Korey’s eyes got wide.

  “You weren’t lying to us to get out of coming,” Korey said, his voice quavering.

  “No, we weren’t. And my wife was kidnapped by you folks. We really don’t know who we can listen to. We have trust issues when it comes to you boys and girls,” Rob said softly.

  “He’s really not dead,” Gorman said, equally flummoxed. “He’s been alive all this time?”

  “I’m sure y'all have his DNA on file somewhere. Your fancy labs can test his clothing and match it up. I’m sure the doctors might know of a way to fake this whole thing, but why? It’s too far out there, and all we want to do as a group here, is live our lives. We want to be left alone.” Steven had had enough.

  “It could have easily been done,” Korey said, “but I see no reason why you would do it. Why would they have faked his death though?”

  “To put a man in charge who was working on the bigger picture. Their vision of the future,” Anna replied.

  “Whose bigger picture? And you mean the Lt. Governor who’s acting governor, until elections can be held safely?”

  “My guess,” Dante said, “he’s just a small cog in the bigger machine. Group question: do you think these boys would like to see a copy of the plan?”

  It was unanimous. Leah went into the small room in the back that hid the staircase going to the basement. Behind a picture was a rather simple wall safe, more of a deterrent than hard security. In it, they kept a copy of the orders of redistribution that Agent Sullivan had been carrying.
She closed everything up, then walked out and held out the stapled sheaf of papers between the two agents.

  Gorman took the garments from Korey and set them on a stainless-steel examination table, and then took the stack of papers and started reading. Korey started reading over his shoulder. After a moment, they both stood up, looking at the group again, the blood having drained from their faces.

  “How did you get this, and can this be verified?” Korey asked, his voice small and quiet for once.

  “It came from Homeland Agent Sullivan, the man who tangled with a bull the night our farm was raided by the feds. We held onto a copy. You can have that one, we have more, as do our lawyers. If anything happens to us, our lawyers have instructions to make a very big, very public spectacle. We’re not sure if the president even knows about this,” Leah told them.

  “It should be easy for you boys to verify, you’re the FBI,” Anna said.

  “If this…” Gorman’s words trailed off and he looked up at Rob. “I understand now.”

  Rob nodded, then patted the smaller man on the shoulder.

  “Now what?” Curt asked.

  “You need to tell her,” Angelica told Bailey, who was done sobbing.

  “I will. I just… I didn’t know.”

  “You didn’t do it,” Angelica told her.

  “I was there in the crowd when it happened,” Bailey said. “I was cheering them on, not knowing all the details.”

  “If you want my advice, you tell her. She’s a reasonable woman.”

  “I’m scared,” Bailey said simply.

  “You’re scared?” Angelica said with a snicker, earning herself a middle finger from Bailey.

  “I finally feel like I fit in somewhere, even if I’m the odd woman out in more ways than one. I…”

  “I’ll go with you,” Angelica offered.

  “Ok.” Bailey stood up.

  They had been talking in the spare bedroom that Bailey had spent the night in. As they left, they heard a thumping sound and an excited bark from the other room. Angelica walked to Harry’s door first, and pushed it open. The little guy was jumping up and down on his bed, the Xbox controller in his hands. Raider danced in circles in front of him, barking in excitement.