The Ruins: A Taskforce Story

by Brad Taylor

  If he’d said, “You mind if we sit here until she shows?” or “Is it okay if I let our female friends sit until she arrives?” or anything at all like that, I would have let them sit, but I was on edge about what I was going to tell Jennifer, fearing I was going to be rejected, and his attitude pushed me just far enough. He picked a bad time to brace me.

  I said, “No. It’s not okay. Sorry.”

  He said, “You didn’t understand me.” He leaned in and I could smell the beer. “We’re sitting here, right now.”

  The girls gathered around, about to take a seat, and I said, “Anyone takes a stool, and they’re going swimming.”

  They hesitated. The Hulk did not. He sat down with a smirk on his face, which spiked a rage I’ve had trouble controlling. It should be easy, but it’s not. Ever since I lost my family, I just want to break things and am always looking for a reason to do so. It’s a trip wire that goes from zero to a hundred in an instant.

  I reached across the table and grabbed his man-bun, slamming his face into the wood of the table. He bounced upright shouting, his nose sprouting a stream of red, but I was already out of my seat. I grabbed his wrist, locked it up behind his back, then bum-rushed him to the railing, flipping him over it to the dock below. He hit on his shoulder hard and rolled upright. I launched over the railing and snatched him by the top of his shirt and his shorts, hoisting him to his feet.

  He shouted, “No, no!” and I launched him into the water, his flip-flops spinning away. I heard, “Pike! What the hell are you doing?”

  I turned around and saw the girls and the original man-bun, all staring in shock at my actions. Then I saw Jennifer at the railing, looking at me like I was the devil.

  Jesus Christ.

  I said, “I . . . I . . . He . . .”

  She was wearing her white graduation dress and looking like an angel. Next to her was Skeeter, and I knew I was in trouble. Jennifer shook her head and started walking away. Skeeter gave me a death glare. I started sprinting back up the zigzag of the dock shouting, “Wait! It’s not what it looks like!”

  I reached the top and met a bouncer who politely said I had to leave. I nodded, pushing through the crowd to find Jennifer, sure that I’d just destroyed the trust that I’d worked so long to earn.

  I caught up to her in the gravel parking lot outside the restaurant, grabbing her hand. She jerked it away and said, “You can’t come to my graduation, but you can get in a bar fight. Leave me alone.”

  I said, “I didn’t come to your graduation because I was working on your graduation present.”

  She stopped, and Skeeter said, “What? You want to beat her?”

  The words were much more harsh than she knew, because Jennifer’s ex-husband had, in fact, beaten her, and that was the last thing I wanted her to feel.

  I withdrew, shrinking into myself. Jennifer saw it, knowing that Skeeter had no idea of the barb she’d thrown.

  Jennifer took a breath and said, “Okay, Pike, what is it?”

  Skeeter looked askance at me, like she wanted to kick me in the balls. I held up my hands and said, “Okay, okay, it’s right in the parking lot. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  We went up the row until we reached an old Jeep CJ-7, jacked up with huge mudder tires and a full roll cage. I pointed at it and said, “That!”

  Skeeter burst out laughing, and Jennifer said, “You got me a Jeep? Seriously?”

  I realized I hadn’t planned this correctly. I pointed at the door and said, “No, not the Jeep. That’s just the company vehicle. The door!”

  She looked at the emblem I’d created and said, “Grolier Recovery Services? What’s that?”

  “Our company. Named after what your uncle was using to find the temple. The Grolier Codex.”

  She looked at me slack-jawed and said, “What?”

  Chapter 4

  Skeeter pulled out of the parking lot, turning left on Church Street, and Jennifer saw Pike’s new/old jeep making the left onto Mill Street. Skeeter said, “That asshole couldn’t even wait on us? Seriously, what do you see in him?”

  Jennifer’s head was still spinning from what Pike had told her. “He said it’s just across Coleman. It’s not like we could get lost.”

  He really set up a company? In honor of my uncle? And he wants me as a partner?

  Skeeter said, “Honey, I know you’re worried about finding a job—believe me, I’ve been there—but this is just crazy. With that guy? I’m telling you, it’s some sort of drug front.”

  Pike made the light across Coleman Boulevard, leaving them on the far side. Jennifer turned to Skeeter and said, “Pike’s not into drugs, trust me. I’ve seen what he does to drug dealers.”

  Skeeter said, “Maybe he’s not into those drug dealers. You ever think of that? Maybe he’s an enforcer.”

  Jennifer laughed and Skeeter said, “I don’t see what’s so funny. Why’d he answer his phone and then all the sudden decide he needed to race out of here to beat us to his new ‘office’? Huh? Why’s that?”

  Jennifer had no answer to that. Pike had, in fact, been putting on the apologetic act pretty well, explaining what he’d been working on, and then his phone had rung. He’d answered it, turned away, and started hissing into the phone. All she’d heard was, “I told you to come tomorrow . . .” He’d hung up and then raced out, telling them he’d see them at the address.

  The light went green and they drove through the intersection, hitting an office complex on the far side, right up against Shem Creek. She saw Pike’s Jeep and then saw him waving his arms in the air in front of someone. When she pulled into the parking lot, Skeeter said, “Wow. Who’s that?”

  Jennifer saw a tall man, full of ropy muscles and long black hair, dressed like a beach bum. Should have known.

  Jennifer parked and said, “That’s Knuckles. He’s a friend of Pike’s.”

  “Knuckles? That’s his name?”

  “That’s the name I know.”

  Skeeter opened the door and said, “He’s a hottie. Maybe Pike’s not all bad.”

  Jennifer said, “Don’t you go doing anything here.”

  Skeeter started walking ahead of Jennifer, saying over her shoulder, “You worry about the drug dealer. I’ll take care of myself.”

  Didn’t take long to forget about my welfare.

  Jennifer caught up to Skeeter and said, “Hey, Knuckles, what are you doing here?”

  Knuckles embraced her, giving her a peck on the cheek and causing Skeeter’s eyebrows to rise. He said, “Just delivering the commo gear.”

  Pike slapped his arm and he scowled, saying, “What is your deal, man? You beg Kurt to let you sign for it, and I take the time out of my busy schedule to bring it down to you, and you act like I’m an asshole for coming today.”

  Jennifer said, “What commo gear?”

  Knuckles went from her to Pike, and he started laughing. Jennifer said, “What?”

  Knuckles said, “You didn’t tell her. Tell me that’s not true.”

  His face stoic, Pike said, “Now is not the time. You can get the hell out of here. Take the Jeep. Go do whatever it is you do, man whore.”

  Skeeter interrupted, saying, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

  Knuckles took one look at her and turned on the charm, saying, “No, we haven’t. These two seem to have some packing to do, and I’m not from here. You want to show me around?”

  Jennifer said, “Packing? What’s he talking about?”

  Knuckles heard her words, looked at Pike, and said, “Man alive, you are in trouble.”

  Skeeter surreptitiously passed her car keys to Jennifer and said, “I’d love to show you around, but I don’t have a car. I came with Jennifer.”

  Knuckles snatched the Jeep keys out of Pike’s hand and said, “We can take the company vehicle. It’s a tax write-off.”r />
  Skeeter turned to Jennifer, “accidentally” brushing up against Knuckles, saying, “Is that okay with you? I mean, we were supposed to celebrate, but you can meet us somewhere, since it looks like you’re going to be busy.”

  Jennifer shook her head, thinking, Those two are made for each other. She said, “Go ahead. Apparently there’s a lot I don’t know about my graduation present.”

  Knuckles put his arm out and said, “Lead the way.”

  They walked off and Pike shouted, “Don’t wreck my Jeep!”

  Knuckles simply raised his hand, and in short order, they were out of the parking lot. Pike turned back to Jennifer looking a little apprehensive.

  Jennifer folded her arms across her chest and said, “Okay, what’s going on?”

  Pike turned and pointed behind him. She saw a porch running the length of an office building, a small sign saying GROLIER RECOVERY SERVICES out front.

  He said, “This is the office. Where we’ll plan our trips for the company. My idea is to use your anthropology degree and my knowledge of government stuff to facilitate archeological work around the world, for universities, individuals, the State Department, whoever.”

  She said nothing, the information overwhelming. He continued, “We already have our first trip. We’re going to go down and find that temple your uncle died trying to locate. I’ve already started the legwork with Guatemala. I found one of the guides that your uncle used, and I talked to—”

  She cut him off, saying, “Wait, wait . . . you’ve already started working on a trip? For my uncle’s temple?”

  He said, “Well, yes. You told me a year ago that you wanted to find it. I haven’t forgotten that, and it’ll get the company off of the ground. Put us on the map.”

  “Is that what Knuckles meant about packing?”

  Pike shuffled his feet and said, “Yeah. We fly tomorrow.”

  She glowered at him and said, “Are you serious? You’re just going to spring this on me?”

  Pike changed the subject, saying, “Let’s go look at the office. I have a room for both of us.”

  She followed him to the door, torn, the thought of the trip making her skittish, but the opportunity enticing. The last time she had been in Guatemala, she’d been kidnapped and almost gang-raped by the same drug cartel that had murdered her uncle. Saying it was a formative event was an understatement.

  Stripped to her underwear, surrounded by savages, catatonic with fear, she had given up. Resigned to her fate, praying for the miracle of only one man assaulting her at a time, Pike had appeared. And he had extracted a biblical vengeance, slaughtered her captors in a cyclone of violence. That event still caused her to snap awake in a cold sweat, and she didn’t know if she had it in her to go back to where it had happened.

  She decided to focus on the mechanics of the plan. There was no way she could be prepared to fly to some rain forest safari in Guatemala by tomorrow. She had no equipment for the task. No proper clothing, footwear, or anything. On top of that, she certainly didn’t have any money to pay her way—and she knew Pike couldn’t afford it.

  She said, “Pike, I don’t have any gear for a trip like that.” He swung open the office open and she saw a hardwood floor devoid of furniture but stacked with box after box from Amazon, Cabela’s, the North Face, and other outdoor stores.

  He said, “I know, so I got us both what we’d need.”

  Her mouth fell open. She entered and picked up a shoebox of Salomon hikers, seeing they were her size. She said, “How did you afford all of this? Did you open up a bunch of new credit cards?”

  Cryptically, he said, “I have a sponsor. An anonymous sponsor, so don’t ask.”

  She raised an eyebrow and said, “You want me as a partner for this insanity, but you can’t tell me who’s footing the bill? What kind of partnership is that?”

  “I’ll tell you after we find the temple, but otherwise, it’s a secret.”

  She grinned, then remembered where they were going. Pike saw her face fall and asked, “What?”

  “Pike, I don’t think I can go back there after what happened. I want to find that temple, but I don’t think I have it in me to go to Guatemala.”

  Pike smiled at her, infused with a confidence she didn’t feel. He said, “Come on, we’re not taking on a drug cartel or chasing terrorists this time. We’re just walking in the woods. There aren’t any bad men where we’re going.”

  Chapter 5

  Santa Elena, Guatemala

  Leopold de Gaulle saw the chanting crowds on the road to his makeshift headquarters and said, “Christ, all we did was move some trailers up here and put up some fencing. We haven’t even done anything yet. These peasants are just protesting at the sight of our name. For all they know, we’re here to build wells.”

  His driver said, “Yes, sir. It is unsettling.”

  Leopold barked a laugh and said, “Unsettling. A perfectly sublime way to put it.”

  The protestors saw his expensive Land Rover turn on the gravel road leading to the chain-linked entrance and began to close in on them, waving signs and chanting.

  Leopold said, “Where the hell are the cops? If they get in front of us, run ’em over.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The driver gunned the engine, jumping down the road before the crowds could block their way. They ran behind, shouting and throwing water bottles, the plastic bouncing off the armor of the Rover. The chain-link gate swung open, and De Gaulle Solutions security men came boiling out, swinging batons. The protestors retreated as the Land Rover entered the small compound.

  The driver parked, exited, and opened Leopold’s door, saying, “Sorry about that, sir.”

  Leopold pulled himself out and said, “Where the hell is Darius?”

  The driver pointed and Leopold saw a tall man wearing cargo pants and a hiking shirt approach.

  Leopold said, “Where are the police? They’re supposed to quell that sort of thing.”

  Darius said, “This isn’t like the mines down south. Santa Elena hasn’t had anything like these protests before. The police don’t have a response yet. They’ll learn.”

  “We don’t have time for them to learn. Those roaches will simply multiply.”

  “I can take care of it, like I did at the silver mine.”

  Leopold grimaced and said, “We can’t have that trouble again. Inside. Let’s talk inside.”

  Leopold strode to a forty-foot trailer parked next to multiple four-by-four vehicles with the De Gaulle logo. He opened the door and heard his secretary on the phone saying, “Yes, sir, yes, sir, he just walked in.” She put her hand over the phone and said, “It’s your father, sir.”

  Leopold squeezed his eyes shut, then said, “I’ll take it in my office.”

  She nodded and said, “Line two.”

  He flicked his head for Darius to follow, then went down a short hallway. He opened the door to his office, ushered in Darius, then pointed at a chair. Darius sat, and he went around to his desk, saying, “I don’t have time for a complete update. Did you close the leak?”

  Darius said, “Yes, we did last night.”

  “And the evidence?”

  “It’s gone.”

  “Good, good.” He sat down and lifted the handset to a phone on the desk, punching a button. “Father, hello, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  Leopold’s voice reflected surprised happiness, but what he felt was apprehension. His father had built De Gaulle Solutions from a one-truck supply company to a global leviathan through sheer force of will, treating both friends and enemies with the same Machiavellian outlook—along with his family. Leopold’s mother had committed suicide when he was fourteen, and Leopold had always suspected his father had been to blame.

  “I heard there was a problem with our new venture in the biosphere reserve.”

  How? What spi
es does he have down here?

  Leopold glanced at Darius, wondering. He said, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean some idiot tried to establish an exchange of benefits over email. Leaving proof of the action.” Leopold rolled his eyes. His father couldn’t even bring himself to say the word “bribe,” preferring to believe that what they were doing was simply a legal economic exchange for goods and services.

  Leopold said, “Father, that’s correct, but we’ve rectified the situation. We’ve counseled the man who did it, and erased the evidence. The exchange is still on track.”

  “Good. I don’t have to tell you what this means to the company. What it means to you. This is your test. I was tested at your age, and De Gaulle Solutions is the result. You will be the next phase of that. Precious metals are the historical analog. Rare-earth metals are the digital future.”

  Leopold had heard this speech a hundred times. Gold and silver were for the dustbin. Rare earth was the new precious metal.

  Rare-earth metals were not really rare, per se; they were just hard to extract and were becoming more and more important, as they were the elements that facilitated all modern technology, from batteries to cell phones to computers. Currently, China had a monopoly on the excavation of rare-earth metals and thus was a chokepoint for all things digital. Leopold’s father intended to break into that monopoly, but he needed somewhere to do it.

  There was a reason that the United States no longer mined its own rare-earth elements, and it was because doing so was a messy, toxic affair. China didn’t care about that, but the United States did, to the point that it became cost prohibitive to extract the elements cleanly. What De Gaulle Solutions needed was a country like China—one that didn’t care about the mess.

  Leopold said, “I understand, Father, and I’m working on it right now. Trust me, we will be good. We will have the permit to explore the biosphere soon, and from there it’ll be one more exchange to gain a concession for limited mining. Once we have our foot in the door, we can do whatever we like.”

  Leopold heard, “Don’t let me down.” Leopold started to reply, then realized his father had hung up.