ASYLUM: Chapters 6 & 7

Chapter 6

   I woke up to someone knocking on my door. I got up and opened it to find one of my sprinklerfitters waiting for me, “Hey, Marvin, what’s up?”

   “Well, actually that’s why I’m here, the guys and I were wondering what we’re supposed to be doing?” He slipped his hands into his pockets and stared at me.

   “Uh, I’ve been a little out of the loop, Marvin. Let me wake up and…crap, to be honest, I don’t know. Give me a chance to clear my head and I’ll call facilities to find out, okay?”

   “Okay, some guys from Internal Security came by and told us not to leave our quarters, but shit, none of us have any food or drinks; we always eat at the cafeteria and I guess it’s closed. You wouldn’t happen to have anything in here, would you?”

   “Yeah, come on in,” I said as I walked away. I looked in the fridge and picked out a few items, eggs, bacon, frozen hash browns, a loaf of bread and a stick of margarine. I put the items in a plastic bag and handed it to Marvin, “Take this, you can use the kitchenette in the common room to cook it. Is there still coffee in there?”

   “Yeah, man you must have been really wiped out to sleep as long as you did.”

   “Huh?” I was still feeling a little groggy.

   “We saw you in the shower, yesterday, but not since then. I tried knocking on your door twice, but you didn’t answer. Even those two people you used to hang out with couldn’t get you to answer your door. To tell the truth, I’m kind of relieved to see you.”

   “Sorry, I guess you’re right, I was really wiped out. What people were here trying to wake me up?”

   “That guy with the same name as you, Daniel Smith, and the girl with the white hair that goes everywhere with him.”

   “Danni Monroe?”

   “Yeah, that’s her name.” He reached around and pulled a pistol from where he had it tucked in the back of his pants, “Monroe asked me to give you this.” It was my Ruger and from a pocket he handed me the spare magazine I had given Marie.

   “Thanks, Marvin.”

   “You might want to get something on that eyebrow; it looks like it’s still seeping.” He waved the bag of food at me and left. I was already dressed, but I needed shoes. I put those on and then noticed the blood stains on my pillow. I got the first aid kit and stepped into the bathroom to check out my eyebrow. It was seeping, so I cleaned up the smudges of blood, put on some anti-bacterial ointment, and finally a bandaid. It was going to leave a scar, but nothing I couldn’t live with and it was nothing compared to the one Debra was going to have.

   It didn’t take me long to notice how stiff and sore I was as I walked to External Security. I must have strained every muscle in my body the day before. By the time I got there I was beginning to finally loosen up. I walked in the front double doors and then to the Clinic; I figured if Debra was here, she was inside. There are several glass windows in the front of the clinic, but the curtains were all drawn. I tried the door, but it was locked, so I pushed the door buzzer to see if anyone answered. There was an intercom speaker next to the buzzer that clicked as it was activated.

   “Clinic, this is Charles.” Rick Charles was one of the three EXSEC medics.

   “Rick, this is Daniel Smith, I just wanted to check on Debra Tarn and see how she was doing.”

   There was a stretched out pause and then, “She’s sleeping right now; can I take a message for her?”

   Okay, so I was back on the avoidance list. Hell, I was probably never off of it, “No, I just wanted to check on her, thanks.”

   I left the clinic, well, the door of the clinic, and started back to my quarters. I walked past the windows of the Ready Room and then outside where I turned towards the main tunnel to Phase Two, but then I remembered I needed to touch bases with Facilities to find out what I should be doing. I turned around and headed there instead, but a shout from behind stopped me.

   “Smith! Hey, Smith!”

   I turned around and Sargent Bellows was trotting after me, “Yeah?”

   “The Lieutenant wants to speak with you.”

   “I don’t have the time right now, but maybe I’ll stop in later for a chat; give him my regards.”

   I started to turn around and continue, but he grabbed my arm, “As a member of the Auxiliary...”

   “Oh, give me a god damn break! You people have excluded me from anything having to do with the Auxiliary for weeks, now you want to pull that chain of command and loyalty shit with me? Fuck off!” I jerked out of his grasp and continued on my way. On the one hand, I felt somewhat satisfied by my sudden angry outburst, but on the other, Bellows had always been civil to me, if not friendly. Facilities Management was a real bust, no one seemed to have any idea what needed to be done about anything. Apparently, Administration wasn’t issuing any guidelines for the Global Research staff. Great. What the hell was I supposed to tell my crew?

   I left Facilities Management and started the walk back to my quarters again, but to my surprise, Lieutenant Packer was waiting outside, sitting in his cart. Some of us had taken to jokingly calling it the Command Cart because it had two tall whip antennas installed on it.

   “Smith, can I offer you a lift?”

   “You must have more important things to worry about, Ell Tee, maybe some other time.” I started to walk past and continue on my way.

   “Do you want to know what’s important, Smith? Everything, no matter how small it is, eventually adds up to important. This supposed indiscretion of yours? Yeah, I know about it, it’s a fuck up that when added to other fuck ups, turns into a cluster fuck. You get enough cluster fucks and they turn into major cluster fucks. I don’t like cluster fucks, Smith. Do you know why I don’t like cluster fucks? Because they fuck with my fucking calm! Now get in the fucking C.C.!”

   I guess I pushed a little button that was attached to a big…something. I got in.

   He drove to the entrance of the EXSEC Bunker and parked. “Come with me,” he said as he got out. I followed him through the Ready Room and into his office where he took a seat behind his desk while pointing to another chair in front of it, I sat down. Picking up a phone, he sat there with it pressed to his ear for a moment before saying, “It’s me, do we have any coffee ready in there? Yes, please, and bring a little something for my nerves, I think I might have to convince someone not to murder someone.” He hung up, leaned back into his chair and sighed. “I always wanted to believe being an officer would be easy, I knew better, but it was nice to think somebody could skate because I was doing the heavy lifting, I was a fool.” He paused and then said, “Thanks for going after Tarn, she’s a vital member of EXSEC and the fact you went after her speaks volumes about your integrity.”

   I wondered if I was supposed to say something, if I was, I had no idea what it was, so I kept my mouth shut. A little something, I learned early in foster homes. Never volunteer stupidity, ignorance, or curiosity.

   “Sorry I cursed at you out there,” he said.

   “No, you’re not, you wanted my undivided attention and you knew how to get it.”

    He reached out to a folder on his desk and flipped it open, “I’ve been doing a lot of research, Daniel,” he stopped and looked up at me. “Do you mind if use I your first name?”

   “No, Sir.”

   “Thank you, I’ve been doing some research and I couldn’t figure out a lot of what I was seeing.” The door to his office opened and Mrs. Packer walked in with a tray holding coffee cups, a carafe, and a cream dispenser.

   “Hello, Daniel,” she smiled at me, a genuine smile. She was really good at making someone feel comfortable. I had worked with her briefly when Packer had me show her my militia smock so she could duplicate it for the Auxiliary. Her version was much better than the crude one I had made. In fact, one of hers replaced mine.

   I genuinely smiled in return, “Hello, Mrs. Packer.”

   She placed the tray on Packer’s desk and then from a pocket of her apron, she placed a small clear glass on it upside down. I glanced up as she raised an eyebrow at Packer and tapped the bottom of the glass with her index finger. With another smile at me, she left the room closing the door behind her. Packer sat the glass upright and using the cream dispenser, filled it with a clear amber liquid, which he poured into one of the cups. He repeated the process with the second cup and topped off both with coffee from the carafe.

   “In case you’re wondering, that’s thirty-year-old Kentucky bourbon and I will not allow it to be maligned.”

   “No. Sir.” I sipped at the mixture and said, “Damn, I bet you could drink this straight with no problem.”

   “You can, I have, and I paid a heavy price the next day,” he shrugged. “Back to the business at hand. As I was saying, I’ve been doing some research with the unofficial help of Dak Sorensen and a lot of questions came up that led to more questions, blah, blah, blah, et cetera ad nauseum. You’re pretty smart, did you know that?”

   “What?”

   “The earliest educational records we could find start with middle school; have you ever earned a grade less than perfect?”

   “What?”

   “4.0 all the way, even your college classes.” He raised his eyes from the papers he was looking at and stared at me. “Remember the battery of tests you had to take when you were provisionally accepted for permanent hire status?”

   “Yeah.”

   “The performance tests?”

   “Yes.”

   “According to the test results, you’re smarter than 98 per cent of the people in this facility and considering how many Doctorates there are, that’s saying a mouth full.”

   “What?”

   “There’s that word again. You say that a lot.”

   “Wha…” I choked it back and said, “I have no idea where this conversation is going.”

   “It speaks.” He chuckled, “I’m proving you’re not the asshole people were led to believe.”

   “I’m not seeing it.”

   “You’re smart, so you will. I’m not, it took me a while to pull it together, so play along, okay?”

   I nodded.

   “Now comes the fun part, Sara Gupta.”

   I stiffened up and took a pretty large mouthful of coffee and swallowed before saying, “I fail to grasp any humor in the topic of Gupta.”

   “Of course not, but you will, hopefully enough humor, or pity, to keep you from killing her.” He turned his computer monitor to where both of us could see it. “Watch,” he said. The screen displayed what was obviously a color recording from a security monitor. A figure entered the view of the camera, stopped by a door, looked around, then bent down and slipped a large envelope under the door. The person quickly stood and walked away as Packer paused the video. “What’s the time readout?” He asked.

   I shifted my eyes to the readout on the bottom of the screen, “Zero-three, thirty-four and 8 seconds,” I replied. “Three thirty-four in the morning.”

   “Right, that time has the least activity in the EXSEC Bunker. Gupta may be pretty damn smart in genetics, but she’s no covert operator. This video is the reason we are going to have a check-in desk during the night hours from now on.”

   “Okay, so, what has this got to do with me? That was obviously not me so…oh, it was a woman.” Of course, it was, you could tell by the way the person walked and their shape.

   “Yes, it was a woman. Just so you understand where I’m going, that camera is in the entrance of the Squad Bay where Debra Tarn sleeps when she is not in your quarters.”

   “When she, was,” I emphasized the ‘was’, “in my quarters, she’s not anymore; that envelope slipped under the door, I assume it contained the supposed photo of me, kissing Gupta.”

   “Yes, at that point in my research, I was displeased with you; there was still that photo and it made you look pretty bad. What I was actually seeing was a vindictive woman trying to break up a relationship she wanted in on.”

   “I understand your feelings, but that video doesn’t identify Gupta as the person delivering the photo, it’s too blurry.”

   “Yes, it is, you’re right, but watch this,” he pushed the play button. The screen flickered and changed to another view. “This is the camera inside the entrance to the Bunker; that’s the Ready Room to the left and the clinic to the right.” A woman walked into view and he froze the video just before she passed out of the view under the camera, it was Sara Gupta, there was no doubt. “Keep watching,” he said as he pushed play again. A print out was superimposed on the screen, ‘Facial Recognition: Gupta, Sara; genetics Lab; Global Research; New Mexico Facility.’ “Oh, and in case you missed it, she exited the entrance twelve seconds after she left the Squad Bay, that’s how long it takes to walk between the two points.”

   “Alright,” I was pissed, really pissed, but so what? There was still that damn picture that I couldn’t deny existed. The one of us apparently kissing with her hand on my crotch. “I still look like a full-blown cheater; in everyone’s eyes, I’m still an asshole.”

   “Yeah,” he said as he chuckled.

   “You find this amusing?” I was on the verge of getting up and walking out.

   “Sort of, whoa!” He said as I stood up, “But only because I’m seeing the whole situation. Someday, you might look back and laugh too.” He waved at me to sit back down, then grabbed my empty cup. He poured another shot of bourbon and then topped it off with coffee again, I picked it up, drank half of it, then the other half as he said, “Okay, I’m kind of fucking this up, let’s get to the part where you get completely exonerated, okay?”

   Angrily I shouted, “How the hell are you going to get that picture out of everyone’s head?” I stood up again and banged the cup on the tray as I put it down, “I’m done, I’m out of here.”

   I turned towards the door as it opened and Mrs. Packer stepped in and closed it behind her, “I love you dearly, Jerry, but you are making a hash out of this.” She faced me and took hold of my arms, “Sit down, Danny, and let me take over for a minute, okay?” She said to Packer, “Turn that monitor so we all can see it.”

   She gave me a slight push backwards and I sat in the chair. “The picture that has caused so much grief is what I want you to see first, so brace yourself, alright? The reason I want you to see it first is because I want you to try and understand what people saw before we saw the rest of it. We didn’t know there was more, okay?”

   I nodded. She nodded to Packer and he pushed the play button on the screen. The screen skipped and there it was, Sara and I, she was pressed against me, her mouth over mine, her left hand holding the back of my neck, her right hand on my crotch and it looked as though I was pulling her close with my hands on her shoulders. Fuck! No wonder everyone hated me. I closed my eyes and turned away.

   “No, Danny, don’t look away, try to feel what Debra’s friends felt when they saw this. Debra is one of those people everyone wishes was her daughter, her sister, their friend, their lover. She’s the kind of woman who gives freely of herself to those that she cares for, perhaps too freely and because of that, she gets hurt. What everyone saw was a man they thought they could trust, betraying the girl they loved. Can you see that?”

   “Yes.”

   “Jerry, play the video, the one no one saw, the truth.”

   “Daniel,” Packer said. “It took a long time to find this and then to finally recognize its importance, but you’ll see that the picture is a screenshot from the video.”

   It was obviously from a very high-quality security camera, it showed Sara and I talking though there was no sound. She suddenly steps forward, pulls my head down and kisses me while she gropes my groin. I raise my hands and grasp her upper arms before thrusting her away with enough force she almost fell over the top of her desk. You could see me angrily gesturing at her before wiping my mouth and leaving the office. Instead of feeling some sort of satisfaction that my innocence had been proven, I simply felt empty. It was a familiar feeling; one I had experienced many times while I had been in foster homes when I was a kid. I called it the ‘yeah, but’ feeling. I would be accused of theft, then it would be found out I was innocent and then I would hear, yeah, but there is going to be a next time, over and over, the next time.

   My anger and disappointment bubbled up as I stood, walked to the door and opened it, “Thanks for your efforts, I do appreciate it, the two of you have always treated me fairly, but I should be going now.” I walked out and didn’t look back, all the way to my room where I started packing up my stuff. I was going to present my resignation in the morning and then hit the road. I didn’t know where I would go, maybe I’d discover that when I got there.

 

Chapter 7

   Lockdown, shit. I finally decide to leave, and then I can’t leave until the investigation is finished; how fricking long is that going to take? A government investigation, even worse.

   I had all my stuff packed and my resignation was written out, all I had to do was walk down to Dak’s office and hand it over. Dak was shocked by my announcement and tried to get me to reconsider, but my mind was made up. I was getting ready to leave when a Federal Marshal and an FBI agent walked into Dak’s office and informed him the facility was officially on lockdown until their investigation was over. No one in, no one out. After they left, he told me he was going to hold my resignation until I could actually leave. I could see his point, at least I would be getting paid until I was gone. I was surprised by his thoughtful actions after so long a time of not even responding to my phone calls.

   I returned to my room and stood amongst all my boxes in frustration. One thing I knew for sure, I wasn’t going to be working for Global Research, no matter what. I put myself down as on vacation until all my vacation days were used up; it was a petty act, but I didn’t care. After the first week of staring at the walls I walked down to the Facility Exchange and purchased a laptop. Yeah, things were sort of back to normal once the facility was initially cleared by INSEC and then the FBI took over security. It was INSEC employees doing the actual patrolling, hell they were mostly ex-alphabet agents anyway, but now the FBI was officially in charge.  

   When I returned to my room, I studied the lap top manual, filled out the electronic forms, connected to the net and wala, I had an endless amount of information to consume. I knew about internet porn even though I’d never really spent much time on it, but you know what? People can get up to some strange stuff, you know? Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes pretty bad, but wow, some of the crap people dream up. It got tiresome though and finally, I renewed my subscription to an online research site and started looking through topics to find something interesting. Nothing really piqued my interest though, I kept finding myself thinking about that last meeting I had with Packer and wondering what was in that thick folder he had on his desk.

   Finally, my curiosity pinging, I took a walk down to EXSEC.

   There was a meeting going on in the Ready Room, so I stood outside and watched through the windows. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but there was a black suit, probably FBI, boring everyone to death. I knew that was the case because of the hand written notes being passed back forth. At one point, Packer, who was standing beside the black suit, noticed me and when he knew I was looking at him, pointed to me and then pointed to himself with a curious expression. I nodded to him and he held up his index finger telling me to wait. I spent the next few minutes checking out everyone else and was able to identify Danni, Daniel, and Debra. They were sitting together on the right side of the room in the second row, Debra was easy to pick out because of the curly mass she called hair, Danni’s white hair made her easy to pick out, and Daniel, well it had to be him sitting between the two girls.

  Black suit finally finished up and Packer dismissed everyone. In the General confusion of everyone standing up and leaving I squeezed through the room and worked my way to Packer’s office. When I stepped into his doorway, he motioned me in. While I slid the chair around to position it, I noticed in my peripheral vision that Debra, Danni, and Daniel were standing outside the window looking in; I peevishly turned my attention to Packer and got to the point.

   “Daniel, what can I do for you?” He asked as he sat down.

   “Frankly, Lieutenant, I’m kind of bored. I guess you might know about my situation?”

   “Sorensen told me about your resignation, but then the lockdown. I guess you’re kind of stuck right now.”

   “Yeah, I keep thinking about that folder you had the last time we talked and I was wondering if I could have a look at it?”

   “You didn’t seem all that interested then and I can’t see any reason for that to change, since you’ve already decided to check-out.”

   I took a deep breath and released it as I stood up, “Thanks for your time, Lieutenant Packer, sorry I bothered you.”

   “Sit down, Daniel, I didn’t say you couldn’t have access to it, I’m just wondering, why now?”

   I remained standing for a moment and then sat back down, “To be honest, I don’t know. There’s something tickling the back of my mind and it keeps coming back to that folder, it’s kind of making me itch.”

   “Really, something is giving you a case of brain giggles so, you want someone to scratch your itch.”

   I started to lean forward to stand up as I breathed out through my nose.

   “Will you relax? Damn Kid, I can’t seem to say anything that doesn’t ruffle your feathers. Look, I may not be the most diplomatic person you ever met, but I don’t mean you any harm, hell, I kind of like you, well, somewhat. You’re a little too touchy for my tastes.”

   I don’t know, maybe it was the amount of stress I’d put on myself, maybe what he said was actually funny, but I chuckled, then laughed and finally I couldn’t stop laughing. I looked up with the intent to apologize, but he had this expression of, what the fuck, on his face and I completely lost it. I started laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe, tears started running down my cheeks and I kept wiping them away, but then I discovered snot dripping from my nose, what the hell? Packer left the room and a moment later, she rushed in, kneeled in front of me, wrapped her arms around my head and pulled my face into the softness of her neck. I was enveloped and lost in her scent, Debra. I wasn’t laughing, I was crying, but at the same time, I was across the room watching as she comforted me. Telling me she was sorry, telling me she loved me, and a voice I recognized as mine said, ‘Don’t fuck this up,’ I surrendered.

 

   I was waking up; I knew I was. I just didn’t want the dream to end. It was one of the best I ever had. She was back, she was sorry, she loved me, she made love to me, but he came back too. I didn’t like it whenever he showed up, he always did when things were getting chaotic, but it had been a very long time since he visited. I opened my eyes slightly and there he was, sitting in a chair, his legs stretched out, slouched over with his left elbow on a small dining table and his chin resting on the palm of his left hand. I took a deep breath and sighed as he wiggled the fingers of his right hand in greeting. Damn. “What do you want?”

   He smiled and leaned forward, “Get that folder from Packer, you need it.”

   “Why?”

   “Trust me.”

   “No, why do I need it?”

   “Hon, Honey?” The bed I was laying in shifted, then a whispered, “Are you awake this time?”  

   I squeezed my eyes shut and when I opened them, he was gone, so I rolled to my left and on to my back as she pressed against me, her hand sliding across my chest and then up to my cheek, “God, I hope so,” I whispered. Then I continued to roll until we were facing each other. Reaching out, I placed my hand in the small of her back and pulled her naked form against me. She lifted her left leg and hooked it over my hip. “Should I go brush my teeth first?” I asked.

   “I’ve been sucking on a candy mint for ten minutes hoping you’d wake up, why don’t you kiss me and guess the flavor?” Our lips met and our tongues danced before she deposited a fragile disc in my mouth. “Flavor?”

   I crunched the paper-thin disc and smiled, “Peppermint.”

   “Bingo!” She whispered into my mouth, “Now, claim your prize.” She said as she rolled to her back and pulled me on top with her left leg.

  

   “So,” she said. “What’s on the plate for today?” She had her left foot on a chair and was tightening the laces of her boot before tying it.

   “I need to talk to Packer about that folder he had, you know, the one with all of his research in it.”

   “Oh, uh…”

   “Debra, it’s over, there will always be rough spots, but as long as we don’t jump to conclusions…”

   She silenced me with a kiss, and then, “Never, never again. God, when I saw that damn picture…I…I ran to the head and starting throwing up, but all that came out was bile and foam. I just kept heaving.”

   “I’m sorry.”

   “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong, I did. I should have taken it to you and worked it out somehow, at least given you the chance to explain, you know?”

   “Babe, we’ve been over this, all you’re going to do is make yourself sick again like last night. Please, for me, let it go.”

   Debra put her booted foot back onto the chair and returned to tying it snugly, “I know,” she said as she changed from the left foot to the right on the chair. “It’s just, I knew, I really knew, that you wouldn’t do that to me. I…knew…it! But I still reverted to the same old response I have always had when that shit happens.”

   “You got sick every time some asshole cheated on you?”

   She turned and looked at me as she double knotted the laces of her boot and then stood up straight while she stomped both feet, “Huh? Uh, no…no, that was actually a first. I’ve never gotten sick before. Usually I just get pissed and want to shoot someone.”

   “Remind me not to piss you off when you’re armed.”

   “Too late,” she said as she smiled.

   “What do you mean by the that?” I asked.

   “Remember when you dropped me when that guy was coming at you? The one that was choking you when I shot him?”

   “Debra, I was sitting on my ass when I let you go, it’s not like I was standing up and just, dropped you.”

   “Yeah, but I hit my eyebrow again when I landed and it hurt like a bitch.”

   “Oh, I’m sorry.”

   “It’s all good, I didn’t know who was carrying me and my left eye was full of blood and about the only thing I could see out of my right eye, was stars and that was turning into tunnel vision because I was going out again. I pulled my Glock and it was waving all over the place as I tried to figure out who to shoot. Finally, I figured I had a fifty/fifty chance of shooting a bad guy, or an asshole, no matter who I shot, so…” She raised her hand in the symbol of a pistol and dropped her thumb as she said, “PEW! Luckily, I picked the right one.” She stood there smiling as I contemplated what she had said.

   “Uh, Debra…”

   She grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a really good kiss before saying, “Of course I knew who I was shooting,” she laughed, kissed me again, and then said, “I gotta run; I have duty this morning. Where will you be when I get off?”

   “I need to go to my barracks room; do you want to meet me there?”

    “I don’t know where it is, but Dan and Danni have been there, so maybe I’ll bring them along?”

   “Sounds good,” I said as she gathered the sheets off the bed we had slept in, left the room and closed the door. I did the same as she had and used the chair while I tied my boots. Finally, I checked to make sure I had everything and stepped outside also, only to find I had no idea where I was. Debra had brought me to the room with the bed in it while I was still pretty much out of it and, to tell the truth, I didn’t remember getting there. Luck was in my favor and I could hear several women’s voices, so I headed in that direction. Coming to a set of open double doors, I looked inside and found several women and a half dozen children sitting on benches alongside a long table.

   “Excuse me,” They looked up at me and I said, “I’m a little turned around, can you tell me where the heck I am?”

   “You’re in the External Security Family Barracks,” answered one. “Where are you going?”

   “Lieutenant Packer’s office?” I asked.

   “Okay,” she said. “Keep going the direction you were and when you reach the end of the hall, turn right. About twenty feet away you’ll see a couple of double doors like the ones coming in here. Just step out through those doors and you’ll be in the main tunnel.”

   “Great,” I said. “Thank you.” I waved and continued on, but I started thinking, the apartment I originally had in Phase Two was significantly larger than the room I had spent the previous night in. If that room was indicative of all the rooms the EXSEC families lived in, then they were definitely living a very cramped lifestyle. That didn’t seem right to me and some sort of adjustment should be made. The construction crew barracks were mostly empty, but I had heard from Dak, the area was slated to become warehousing now that the construction was finished. I wondered if room could be made for larger quarters in Phase Two, and maybe the Family Barracks area converted to housing? I would have to talk to Dak about that.

   The family housing area was close to the Ready Room and it didn’t take me long to get there. The morning briefing for the squads on duty must have already been performed when I arrived, so I walked through to Packer’s office and stood in his doorway as he spoke on the phone. He waved me in and pointed to a chair, so I sat down. When he finished, he hung up the phone and looked at me.

   “Have you had breakfast this morning?”

   “Not yet, Sir, I figured I’d grab something on the way back to my room.”

   “Ah, how about you eat with me and the Missus?”

   “Thank you, but I don’t want to impose on the two of you.”

   “Nonsense, Gilly loves to have company at meals. She says she’s heard all of my stories a dozen times over.”

   “Are you sure?” I asked.

   He picked up a different phone and waited a moment before he said, “Hon, it’s me, I just invited Daniel Smith to breakfast, is that okay?” He listened, “Great, how about we eat in the office, that alright?” He listened again for a moment and then hung up. “We’re going to have one of my favorites, Busted-down-gravy on a sausage and hash brown sandwich. You’re going to love it.”

   What the hell is busted-down-gravy? “Sounds great, Lieutenant. I wanted to ask you about that folder again.”

   He spun his chair around and removed the folder from the shelf behind him, then back to face me as he tossed it across his desk. “Like I said, I think you’re going to get a kick out of the conclusions I reached about Gupta.”

   “Really? I flipped open the front cover and saw a DVD disk on top of a stack of typed sheets and there was a shitload of small note sheets stuck to the piles of paper. “All of this is evidence proving how Gupta falsified the incident?”

   “No, that’s the DVD and maybe the top four or five pages. The rest of it is stuff Dak Sorensen and I put together after we discovered what she had done. The surface reason she did it was pretty straight forward, but the rest of what you see there is indicative of what might be something much larger, and maybe sinister.”

   Sinister, kind of an odd word for an Army Ranger to use; maybe he got it from something Dak said. “I’m still going to go through this, but give me an abbreviated synopsis of Gupta’s purpose.” I found myself gritting my teeth every time I said her name.

   “You’re going to shit, but basically, she wanted your sperm.”

   “My…what?”

   He chuckled, “Yeah, she thought you were a good choice for breeding.”

   “Breeding?”

   “Yep, first, her actions might seem kind of like something a doorknob might do, but she’s no slouch in the intelligence category. Remember, she heads up a pretty highbrow genetics research team here at Global and Global has given her a lot of latitude concerning what she wants to work on.” I continued to just look at him and finally he added, “Sorensen says you’ve received some pretty extensive training in Intercultural Communications, so he seems to think you’ll pick up on some of the processes that led her to do what she did.”

   “He did?”

   “Yeah, essentially, she wanted to get together with you and have a baby, probably more than one if she could suck you in.”

   “More than one?”

   “Sorensen says more than likely that was the plan, but you weren’t receptive as long as Debra was in the picture. I guess she figured if she could rid you of Debra, she might be in a better position. Have you studied Indian culture?”

   “A little, but more from an historical perspective than communications.” I switched gears and started thinking about it and a couple of points quickly popped out. “Intelligence is highly respected, and skin tone would probably figure into it to a significant degree as well.” Packer’s face was blank in response. “Have you ever met Gupta?”

   “No, but Sorensen, and that Felicia Ortiz, both say she’s a real knockout. I did notice she’s really dark-skinned in the photo and the recording.”

   “She’s extremely attractive, and if I had never met Debra, I would have been very, as you said, receptive to her interest, she’s also very dark skinned and in Indian culture that can seriously affect your chances of advancement. There’s a saying in Hindi about it being better for a woman to be light skinned than wealthy when seeking a husband, or something like that.”

   “Really? That would suck. I wonder what caused that idea?”

   “I can’t be certain, but in my opinion, it probably started with the Aryan invasions.”

   “Aryans, you mean like the Aryan Brotherhood? I had a couple of guys that served under me at one time that were members, but they were racists. You can’t have that in the U.S. military, period, and I won’t have it here either.” I hadn’t noticed before, but now that he mentioned it, External Security was fairly integrated, racially.

   “No,” I chuckled. “A couple of thousand, or more, years back, the Aryans were maybe the original Indo-Europeans. Almost every language in Europe has been influenced by the Indo-European language group in some way. Interestingly enough, the Indian language has a lot of the same language roots as European languages, so at one point the Aryans probably conquered portions of India. It’s believed they were very light-skinned and that could be the reason why lighter-skinned people in India are considered more attractive.”

   “No shit?”

   “In my opinion, which shouldn’t really count for much because I was developing an expertise in History and Communications, not Linguistics.”

   “You mean there is a subject called, Linguistics?”

   “Yeah, it’s pretty interesting and at one time I was seriously thinking about…”

   “Stop. We’re getting off topic here and it’s about stuff I don’t need to know in order to do my job.”

   I chuckled, “Yeah, when Debra was still pissed at me, she said something about how she never noticed me, quote, mansplaining, unquote, before. She didn’t find it to be an endearing quality in an asshole.”

   Mrs. Packer walked into the office with a laden tray and said, “She’s right about that though, we women get tired of asking a simple question and receiving a lecture as an answer. We’ll put up with it to a degree, but not so much from, an asshole, as you put it.”

   “I’m sorry for the language, Mrs. Packer. I didn’t realize you were coming.”

   Lieutenant Packer snorted as Mrs. Packer replied, “That’s all right, Dan, some of the things that have rolled off my tongue just might singe your ears, and please, call me Gilly.”

   We talked as we ate and Packer dropped a few tidbits of information he had gleaned from his research. Those little tidbits made me itch even more than I already did. Just before I left, he told me since I was on vacation it was a perfect time to restart my auxiliary training. A lot of the EXSEC personnel were idle because the FBI had brought some private military contractors to patrol the exterior of The Facility, so Daniel Smith was working up a program for training us. It sounded pretty good to me, so I went to my room and got my gear better organized. Hopefully, Debra could give me a hand figuring out what was needed for when. It wasn’t until I was back in my room that I realized I hadn’t asked Gilly Packer how to make busted down gravy; that shit was good.

   In the late afternoon, Debra, Daniel, and Danni showed up with the makings of a simple meal for all of us. They had a couple of cans of shredded roast beef in gravy that we heated and poured over rice and a couple of cans of peas as well. It was actually pretty damn good after Debra and Danni seasoned it with spices I had on hand. A major plus was when I told them about Gillian Packer feeding me busted down gravy and how good it was.

   Debra laughed, “God, I haven’t had busted down gravy since I left home and joined the Air Force. My mom used to make it a lot because between her and my dad there wasn’t a lot of money for food.”

   A little hopeful, I asked, “So, did your mom teach you how to make it?”

   “Not really, but I watched how she did it and figured it out for myself. When things would get really bad when they were drugging out, I did most of my own cooking. I remember once I ate BDG and crackers for a week straight, twice a day.”

   “Geez, Babe, I’m sorry you had to endure that.” I was, I could remember some of the foster homes I lived in and sometimes the food for the foster kids could become really monotonous and bland. There were worse things that could happen and did, but for the most part, it usually wasn’t too bad. At any rate, I was fast losing interest in busted down gravy.

   “It all turned out okay,” she said. “Its kind of made me self-reliant and independent and I think it made me a stronger person in the end. Do you have bread for toast, or the makings for biscuits? If you do, I’ll make you some BDG in the morning.”

   “No, in fact I gave my breakfast stuff to my sprinkler guys because INSEC told them not to leave the area. I need to touch bases with Facilities and figure this shit out. INSEC is complicating things that don’t need to be complicated.”

   “It’s not INSEC so much, as the Feds,” Daniel said. “On the other hand, it’s not so much the Feds as it’s the W-H-O.”

   I asked, “What do you mean?”

   “The World Health Organization is claiming since Global Research is a U.N. facility, that they have authority over the investigation and control of the complex. As a result, the whole thing that happened is under some sort of international judicial review. Major Phillips, the INSEC commander, was fired and has been replaced with some guy out of Germany named Becker, but he hasn’t even arrived yet and everything is in some kind of limbo.”

   “That’s weird,” I said. “Since when does the U.N. supersede our Constitution while in America?” Daniel shrugged, so I said, “You know, I have no idea what the hell happened in the first place to cause all this shit.”

   Debra looked surprised as she asked, “You don’t?”

   “No,” I said, as I swept my arm around to indicate all the packed boxes in the room, “All my stuff is packed and ready to leave because I was completely shunned around here. The only reason I hadn’t left already was because of the lockdown.” All three of them looked uncomfortable and wouldn’t look at me, “Shit, that came out in a way I didn’t intend for it to. I apologize.”

   Debra glanced at me and then away, but I saw her eyes were getting moist, “Daniel, I, I mean…”

   I leaned in to her and kissed her hard, then I said, “Honestly, guys, I’m not angry, I was just trying to explain why I’m ignorant about what happened. Somebody fill me in?”

   Danni looked at Debra, then Daniel, finally she looked at me, “We’re still short on some details, well, actually, we’re short a lot of details. Lieutenant Packer tries to keep us all in the loop, but that’s kind of hard when Administration, what there is of it, seems set on leaving the El Tee out of the aforementioned loop. When the alarms in the labs were set off, Administration bolted for the hinterlands. It happened so fast and was so well organized, they must have already been concerned about the integrity of the laboratories and had an evacuation plan in place. Like I said, we’re still in the dark about timelines, and what labs were affected, but apparently something got loose in one of the labs, spread quickly through it, and someone, in an attempt to save their self, broke containment, and allowed the aerosol contaminant to escape into several other areas. Of the people exposed, the ones in the original lab were killed almost instantly, others outside the lab, reacted badly. The people that you and I killed outside the Care Center? They were from the labs adjacent to the original release. Luckily, the people exposed reacted in an uncontrolled manner and were quickly recognized and put down by INSEC.”

  “How do they know that?” I asked. “That no one else was exposed?”

   “Those who were exposed reacted the same way as the people we shot. By-the-way, you did really well for your first time in a life or death situation.”

   Debra reached out and squeezed my arm, “She told us you were really steady considering the circumstances and your inexperience.”

   I shook my head and looked at the others, “No, not really, I committed a serious weapon handling mistake by having my finger on the trigger before I was set to fire. When Danni fired her first shot, I flinched and fired my bullpup accidentally. It was sheer luck the bullet hit the woman we were both aiming at. I think she shot everyone else before I could even get another round off. It’s all kind of a blur, you know?”

   “Daniel,” Danni said. “You’re not remembering the incident clearly. Remember the big guy trying to break through the plate glass window? I actually froze because I was so shocked by the strength he was demonstrating. You didn’t, you put a bullet through his head. Then I kicked back in and got the rest, but you were putting rounds into their heads, fractions of a second after mine. That was your very first time and damn it, you did really well.”

   I glanced at Debra and she was beaming with the praise Danni was heaping on me, but then I said shamefully, “Maybe, but I froze when I saw Debra in that god-awful pool of blood. You,” I said to Danni, “You had to shout at me to get me to wake up and do what needed doing.”

   “Of course, I did. Daniel, like I said before, you were completely inexperienced, and the woman you love was lying in a pool of blood and you didn’t know what to do. You were white as a sheet and in shock. Which reminds me,” she said as she turned to Daniel. “We need to give the Auxiliary some in-depth medical training; they’ll be less likely to panic if they at least know how to treat a buddy’s wounds.”

   “Duly noted,” he replied.

   “Wait,” I said. “You said all the people exposed reacted the same way, I assume you mean by violently attacking others.” She nodded. “I met another guy…”

   “The one trying to strangle you,” Debra said. “The one I shot.”

   I smiled at her and said, “I never thanked you for that, so, thank you.” She smiled back at me, and then I said, “But that’s not the one I’m talking about. We were out of water and Debra was really dehydrated, probably from blood loss,” I said to Danni and Dan. “When I went to fill my canteen for her, I ran into another person that I’m sure was exposed, infected, or whatever they are calling it. The thing is, he didn’t attack me; he was actually kind of friendly, almost. He was staring at the body of a dead woman in the elevator lobby where I got the water and as I tried to pass him, he asked me if I was new. I said no, I was passing through. He told me the dead woman’s name and said she wasn’t very nice. Then he said in a conversational tone, that he wanted to kill her, but someone beat him to it. He started saying it was unfortunate, over and over as I left.”

   Daniel frowned and then asked, “He displayed no aggression?”

   “No, none, not towards me.”

   The three of them exchanged looks and then Daniel said, “We should get back early, so we can talk to Lieutenant Packer about this, it might be important information.” Danni agreed and we hugged each other before they left. Debra and I talked for quite a while and finally we went to bed. I no longer had the ¾ standard size bed I had before, but we made the twin size bed work for us. In the morning, I walked Debra back to EXSEC, but Debra was insistent that I at least carry my sidearm from then on; I think the guy I told them about the night before had her a little spooked.

   After returning to my room, I opened Packer’s folder and started reading through it. I don’t know how Packer, or Dak, could figure anything out from what they had, it was completely disorganized, so I started using my laptop to create categories and filing the odd bits of information within an ad hoc system of organization. I became so engrossed in what I was doing that I never ate through the day. By the time early afternoon arrived, I was starting to get queasy, but not from not eating, it was with a growing since of foreboding, I hadn’t reached any conclusions yet, but something was telling me that something wasn’t right. I left everything on the table and went to meet Debra at EXSEC. We were going to have dinner in the cafeteria because she said she could tell I had lost weight and I could tell the same about her. In fact, in proportion, she had lost more than I; her cheeks were sunken and when she undressed, I could see her ribs and her hips were bony. I didn’t want her walking there alone. I didn’t want her going anywhere alone, period.

   Danni and Daniel were actually on duty, so Debra and I walked alone to the Cafeteria. Both of us were wearing our sidearms on duty belts with spare magazines. When we entered the cafeteria in Phase Three, it was fairly crowded and we discussed going to the Facility Exchange to buy some items and then fix dinner in my room, but we saw Dak and Felicia, so we asked if we could join them and they said, yes. We walked through the line, picked our meals, and then we sat with them at the small table they were using. Most of the seating in the cafeteria is at long tables with folding chairs, so sitting with them at their table was a kind of treat. Both Debra and I had really loaded our plates because we intended to get back up to our normal weight as soon as possible. Both Dak and Felicia raised their eyebrows and then laughed about the amount of food we had.

   Felicia was the first to speak, “So, Debra, I see you’ve decided to start eating again.”

   Debra laughed and said, “My appetite has improved.”

   Dak looked at both of us and said, “Yeah, Daniel, the last time you were in my office I was going to comment on how thin you were looking; frankly, it isn’t looking good on you and Fel and I have both commented that Debra needed a few pounds.”

   Debra grasped my hand and said, “I haven’t been very hungry and you guys know why, but now things are better.” She smiled at me and I smiled back.

   “Well,” Dak said. “I can’t tell you two how glad we are you’ve worked things out. The get togethers just weren’t the same without the two of you. Daniel, are you coming back to the Auxiliary?”

   “Yeah, but I’ve got a little project I want to finish first. That folder you and Packer put together? I’m going through it and getting it organized.”

   Dan and Felicia glanced nervously around before Danial said in a low tone, “Yeah, about that, do us a favor and don’t talk about our helping Packer collect that information, at least where others can hear, all right?”

   I nodded as Debra reached out and squeezed Felicia’s hand. Then Debra brightened and said in a more conversational tone, “Hey, you two want to come by and play some cards or something after we finish here?”

   “If cards don’t sound interesting,” I said, “I’ve got some old board games we could check out.”

   “Gosh,” Felicia said, “I haven’t played cards since I was living in the dorms when I was working towards my master’s degree.” She looked expectantly at Dak.

   “Sounds good,” Dak responded.

   Debra and I dug into our food and cleaned our plates, but I was actually feeling uncomfortably overstuffed by the time we finished. From Debra’s comments, she was feeling the same way. “I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach,” she said.

   “Yeah,” I groaned. “Me too.”

   Felicia chuckled as she said, “You guys haven’t been eating much for a while, so you might want to ease into larger caloric intake.”

   “Felicia, I could have used that bit of advice ten minutes ago,” I groaned.

   The four of us finished up and then started walking to my room. We were stopped twice and questioned by INSEC patrols about what we were doing out walking, but we told them we were coming from the cafeteria and were heading back to the barracks to play some cards. That seemed to placate them, but we were still warned about being out of our areas. I found the questioning to be irritating and nonsensical.

   Once we were in my room, I opened up two more folding chairs and we all sat around my dining table that was covered with sheets of information from Packer’s folder. “So,” I said. “Why the cloak and dagger stuff?”

   Dak answered, “Some of the materials I pulled out of the archives for Packer don’t relate to my job. If someone is interested in who is looking at what, they might be curious why I was curious. Know what I mean?”

   “Okay,” I said. “So, digging around in your archives might draw unwanted attention.”

   “Yeah, especially with the investigation going on. That’s the only good thing about the disagreement over who has jurisdiction, the FBI or the WHO.”

   “Damn,” I said. “What are the chances of me getting more records out of the computer system? I’m seeing some dead ends already because of incomplete information.”

   “Not good,” he answered. “They put a stop on all but one of the passwords to get into the system and that is strictly monitored by the tech department. Packer and I were lucky to get what we did before my password was rescinded.”

   “Shit, so you’re under suspicion?”

   “Not directly, at least I don’t think I am. It wasn’t just my password that was deleted, it was everyone’s.”

   “Okay, is there anyone working in the labs that might be trustworthy for info?”

   Felicia raised her hand and said, “Me, of course. I mean, I can tell you about my lab, but that might be of limited use. The containment breach was in Gupta’s lab, not mine.”

   I was surprised, “You mean Gupta is dead?”

   “No, she’s not, she wasn’t in the lab at the time of the breach. Some technical assistants were working on something in there and…well, that’s all we know.”

   I was a little ashamed of the thought that passed through my head, so unfortunate. The same thing the guy in the elevator lobby said as he was looking down at the dead woman and realizing he couldn’t be the one to kill her. Then I laughed as Debra said, “That was unfortunate.”

   “Do you know of anyone who is trustworthy and has some hacking skills?” I asked, Dak.

   “No, not anyone here at The Facility. My college roommate used to supplement his income by hacking into shit over the internet for people who paid him.”

   “Any chance you could contact him?”

   “It wouldn’t do any good,” Felicia said. “There’s no direct connection between the lab computers and the internet for security’s sake. Global Research was hacked by the Chinese two years ago and Global got burned pretty bad. When I transferred here, all of the lab computers were disconnected. Their laboratory servers, everything, are isolated now. When we need to electronically send information to an outside facility, or agency, it literally gets copied manually from the lab servers and then sent by another network connected to the outside.”

   “Wow,” I said, “that must cost a bundle to maintain.”

   “Yeah,” Daniel said. “But that Chinese hacking cost Global an estimated half a billion dollars in future revenue.”

   “Holy crap!” Debra said.

   “Yeah, losing a half billion dollars can change your ideas about the cost of security pretty damn fast,” Dak commented.

   “Or,” I said, “What if Global wanted new protocols already, and the story of a 500-million-dollar loss was used as an acceptable reason for the new protocols to be used?”

   Debra said, “Oh, kind of a false flag incident.”

   I nodded to her as Dak looked back and forth between us before asking, “What the hell is a false flag incident?”

   “Are you familiar with the Gulf of Tonkin Incident?” I asked.

   “No.”

   “The US government claimed North Vietnam attacked one of our Navy ships and used that as an excuse to commit conventional ground troops to fight the Vietnam War. Another example was the attack carried out by Polish troops against a German radio station in the run up to the invasion of Poland at the start of World War Two. It was later discovered the Polish troops were actually dead men dressed in Polish uniforms and Hitler used the supposed attack on the station as an excuse to invade Poland.”

   “Sorry, I’m not seeing the connection; you’re talking about starting a war and the situation we have is about protecting corporate earnings.”

   “It is the same,” I said. “Debra is right with the analogy, but she used a term, false flag, that normally has military, or political implications. Perhaps Global used the Chinese hacking as a reason to spend a significant amount of funds to better secure and isolate their computer network. Or, did they concoct the hacking in order to rationalize the expenditure of funds to their shareholders?”

   Dak paused as he thought and then started, “Still…”

   “Wait Dak, answer this for me, when did the Chinese hack Global and cost them 500-million-dollars?”

   “Two years ago, I remember it because I had just bought a new BMW the day before the news came out about the hacking.” He answered.

   Felicia nodded, “Yeah, I remember being worried if I was going to lose my job before I ever started it. I was at UCLA finishing my degree and had already signed on with Global, but I started at one of their research facilities in Denver before the labs were ready here.”

   “Okay,” I said. “The servers are located in Phase Four, Level Two, right?”

   Felicia nodded.

   “When were the isolated servers installed?” I asked.

   “I was told right after Phase Four was completed,” Dak replied.

   “That was before my time,” I said. “When was that?”

   Dak responded. “It was before my time here too; I’ve been here two-and-a-half-years.”

   “So, six months before the China hack. You also have to take into account that an installation like that takes a lot of planning and design before and during construction to permit installation of electrical, comm lines and hardware. This was planned for quite a while before construction even began.”

   “So,” Felicia said. “The isolated servers were installed and in use, before the hacking used as a reason for the isolated servers to be installed?”

   “It sure looks like it.” Dak said.

   “Another thing,” I said. “A 500-million-dollar loss in revenue could easily be rerouted funds to the construction costs of the Facility.”

   Debra grinned broadly as she punched me in the arm, “Lieutenant Packer told me you were smart, but I already knew it.” I rubbed my arm where her knuckles had impacted and frowned as she said, “Too hard?”

   “Let’s just say the term, spousal abuse, comes to mind.”

   She smiled as she slid her hand beneath mine and started to massage my arm, “I like the sound of that.”

   “What, spousal abuse?”

   “No, you idiot, spouse,” she gave me that contralto chuckle of hers.

   “Daniel,” Dak said. “Did you get your deduction from the information in the folder?”

   “Partially, but it was Debra’s false flag statement that brought it together for me.”

   “I thought so, your problem-solving skill was one of the reasons you were recommended for permanent hire. Perceived intuition is often simply the results of unrecognized problem-solving ability.” Turning to Felicia, he asked, “Fel, are you staying with me tonight?”

   “Yes, but I have an early meeting with the department heads.”

   “What do you say to us taking off and having an early night? I want to talk to Packer before we go to sleep.”

   She responded, “Okay, I’m kind of tired anyway. All this worrying about what is going on is kind of depressing me and I get sleepy when I’m depressed.”

   I asked Dak if he wanted to borrow my Ruger for their walk to his place, but he declined. He did say he was going to start carrying his Glock 19 though. We hugged and then they left as I sat down and started to continue organizing the mess on the table.

   “Hon?”

   “Yeah?”

   “I’m still really uncomfortable from overeating, I know you wanted to sit and have a beer, but do you mind if I go to bed?”

   “Of course not, when I’m done here, I’ll try not to wake you when I come in.”

   She gave me a faint smile and after giving me a kiss, said, “Okay, thanks, but don’t try too hard, after I’ve slept for a while, I might be feeling a lot better.”

   She went to bed, and I kept working on the papers. After a while, I started repositioning sheets into different piles as different associations offered their selves, but I was starting to get frustrated. In frustration, I finally said, “There’s not enough here!” I rubbed my eyes and decided it was time to get some sleep, but when I dropped my hands, there he was. He was slouching across from me with his head cocked to one side and his arms crossed over his chest.

   “Great, how long have you been there?”

   “Long enough, take care of her,”

   “She’s not your concern.”

   “You need her, more than you need me.”

   “I need her, I most definitely don’t need you.”

   “I hope not, I hope you don’t, but I’m here if you do.”

   “Don’t hold your breath.”

   “You don’t need more paperwork, what you need is right there; you just need to see it from the right perspective.”

   “How would you know? You haven’t even looked…” I stopped, closed my eyes and sighed, “I’ll give it another look over.”

   “I know, but right now you need rest. Check her though, she hasn’t been right since she was injured.”

   “Don’t start giving me advice about Debra, you have no idea…”

   “Hon?”

    I shut up and turned towards her voice, she was staring at me with concern on her face, “I thought you were sleeping,” I said.

   “I heard voices and I came out to see who was here, but…”

   “I’m sorry I woke you. Sometimes it helps for me to talk things out, you know?” I faked stacking some papers and then stood up, “Let’s get you back to bed, okay?”

   “Are you coming too?”

   “Yes.” I walked over to her and wrapped my left arm around her shoulders, then I traced her left eyebrow with a fingertip. “Any discomfort?”

   “No, I still get headaches once in a while, but not like before. My vision in my left eye seems to have completely come back.”

   “Good, as long as there’s no pain.” Along with the gash that left a scar bisecting her eyebrow, the upper portion of her eye socket had been severely fractured, the eye had developed blood clots, and then she began to suffer from infections. A doctor from Phase Three had x-rayed the eye socket and found several bone chips that had to be removed, but she started to improve dramatically afterwards. All of that had taken place before we got back together. The only thing that hadn’t improved was the lost weight, but we were making a concerted effort to correct that now. Even Packer gave her light duty that didn’t burn calories.

   I got her into bed and finally undressed myself and joined her as I slid my arm under her neck and then curled it around her to cup her breast. She sighed, wriggled back against me as she pulled my other arm around her and then she said, “Hon?”

   “Yes?”

   “You know I didn’t have a very good childhood.”

   “Yes.”

   “There were times, even when I was little, that my parents would leave sometimes for days and I’d be locked in the house, alone.”

   “Yeah,” I said as I tightened my arms around her.

   “I talked to myself, a lot. I actually created a friend I would talk to and she would talk back, you know?”

   “You were scared and it probably helped you to control the fear.”

   “Yeah, and it did. I guess a child psychologist would call her an imaginary friend.” I felt myself beginning to tense and I think she did too, because she began to gently stroke my arm. “I know a lot of kids do that, have imaginary friends they talk and play with.”

   “I guess.”

   “Is that who you were talking to?” She became still, but she gently squeezed my arm as I started to pull away. “You can trust me, Honey.”

   “Yeah, but…”

   “But, what?”

   “It’s something I used to say whenever I was accused of doing something wrong and then the accuser discovered I was innocent. I always knew that it would happen again because I never stayed in one foster home long enough to truly develop a relationship with the foster parents. So, I used to say, ‘yeah, but it’s going to happen again.’ I used to get excited when people would come to meet me, people who were looking to adopt a child. The social workers would be all upbeat and tell me the people were interested in adopting me and then they would choose someone else. The social workers would say, ‘Yeah, they were very interested in you, but they chose the other kid.’ Yeah, but…whatever. I stopped getting excited about the meetings and just concentrated on being friends with…him. After a while, he didn’t seem imaginary anymore, and he would come and talk to me even when I didn’t ask him too, even when I wasn’t thinking about him. Finally, someone discovered I was talking to someone that wasn’t there and I had to talk to psychologists and finally a psychiatrist that put me on drugs to calm me.”

   “Are you still taking drugs?”

   “No, not since I was twelve. The psyches decided I had grown out of whatever the problem was and pronounced me cured.”

   “So, you weren’t talking to him anymore? He didn’t come around after that?”

   “For the most part, no, he was gone, but when I’m under a lot of pressure, or emotional distress, he’ll kind of pop back in for a while. He usually gives me hints on how to fix things, or protects me.”

   She paused long enough for me to start to relax, but then, “Has he ever, uh, has he ever told you to, well, do something bad, to hurt someone?”

   I decided not to tell her how he would sometimes push me out and take over, “No, never. I kind of think of him as an over-bearing, smug, caricature of my better nature, you know?” Well, other than when he was busy stomping a mud hole in someone. Oddly enough, she laughed, “What?”

   “Yeah, I do know, I know exactly what you mean. My imaginary friend used to try and talk me out of bad behavior, but I always ignored her. At least you’re smart enough to listen to your better nature.”

   “You’re not frightened of me, that I might do something bad?”

   “No, I’m not. I told you about my friend so you could believe me when I tell you I trust you. I understand why you talk to yourself, why he talks to you. One thing though, is he, you? I mean does he look like you? My friend had long, straight, blond hair, and blue eyes that glowed in the dark. She used to tell me to iron my hair so it wouldn’t stick out everywhere. I actually tried it once when I was nine. It took months for my hair to grow back and I was lucky I didn’t set myself on fire.”

   “Good Lord, Debra, I freaking love your hair and to answer your question, yes, it’s me. I mean he looks like me, well sort of, I think he’s better looking than I am.”

   She laughed and then snuggled closer to me, “You’re being silly, and I’m tired, so give me a goodnight kiss.”

   I did, and within moments her breathing convinced me she was asleep. I allowed myself to relax and finally joined her.

 When I woke, she was gone and I started to get a little nervous; I had exposed a part of me that I had learned, the hard way, to keep suppressed and now she had left without saying goodbye. I walked to the dining table to see if I might see something with a fresh, rested mind, something I had missed the night before. There was nothing significant except a handwritten note Debra left for me.

   “Hey Honey, on my way to work, but I want you to know, I’m going to stop off at the cafeteria and bring back dinner. Make sure you eat some lunch, okay? I love you!” It was the first time I had seen an example of her handwriting and her style matched her personality. The two sentences were written on a blank sheet of paper, but I bet if you drew a line below them with a straight edge, they would have lined up perfectly. Her capital letters were overly large and swirled around expansively, while the smaller case letters were precise and evenly spaced. Her handwriting expressed her flamboyant personality, but also her meticulous attention to detail.

   I folded the note and slipped it into my pants pocket, then sat down at the table and shuffled the papers around. I wasn’t ready to start this again, so I finished dressing and walked to the cafeteria. Instead of eating large meals, maybe I could eat smaller amounts more frequently. At the cafeteria I chose cold cereal and milk with toast, jam and coffee, but then I added a serving of sausage as well. After I had my tray filled, I asked one of the attendants to put together two boxed lunches, one, a ham sandwich with chips and another of raw veggies with an oil and vinegar dip that I would pick up before I left. I went to a table, sat down and started my breakfast.

   I hadn’t even finished my cereal when Sara Gupta sat down across from me, “Good morning, Daniel.”

   I glanced up at her and said, “It was.”

   She had a cup of coffee and a pastry, “I hear you and that…woman in EXSEC are seeing each other again.”

   “Be careful, Sara, if that…woman sees, or hears of you, speaking to me, well, she won’t be pleased.”

   “Daniel, I don’t understand why you rebuked my interest in you. I’m attractive, many men have said so, I’m very intelligent, and I could be everything, anything, you need. I could be very good to you and for you. Is it because I’m so dark?”

   I shook my head, “Geez, you are clueless, aren’t you? No, the color of your skin has absolutely no bearing on how I feel about you. If I had met you before I met Debra, yeah, I might have been very interested in you, initially, but once I came to know you? Probably not so much.”

   “What do you mean, once you came to know me?”

   “We spent time together, all of us, with you. At first, I liked you, but you couldn’t hide the real person you were for very long. The times we all went to the theater together, the times we dined together, the times we all just hung out together, that’s what would have caused me to lose interest in you.”

   “Why?”

   “The reason is the way you treated others. You were condescending to people you viewed as inferior to you in status. Hell, when you didn’t have others to be rude to, you were rude to my friends who welcomed you into our group. You are not a nice person, Sara, you’re not.”

   “Daniel, you have to realize that others, average people, are inferior to people like you and I. We are of far greater importance to the future of Humanity. Those friends of yours? They will always be nothing, in comparison to us. They will be relegated to positions of servitude, if they even survive the coming of the new age. Our children will be the new leaders, confident in their birth right, they will repopulate the world in our image.”

   “Wow, now there’s a vision of the future for you. The world in our image? Narcissist, much? The woman I love doesn’t need visions of grandeur, all she needs is me and all I need is her.”

   “With the right encouragement, I could change, I could be the woman you need.”

   I stared at her for a moment without answering, then I remained silent as I spread jam on my toast and then added the sausage to create a sandwich. That was a mistake, I think she probably thought I was considering her offer.

   “Daniel, people like you and I, we have a responsibility to make the human race better. Do you know what the mean IQ of America is?”

   “Of course, I do,” I said, then bit into the sandwich and slowly chewed.

   She waited, but then realized I wasn’t going to add to my answer. “You and I, we are considered the cream of humanity, together we could…”

   “Stop it.”

   “What? My conclusions are…”

   “Flawed.”

   “No, they are not. The children we could provide…”

   “Would grow up stunted emotionally, by a mother incapable of recognizing how she has damaged them.”

   “In a perfect society, they wouldn’t be raised by their parents. They would be raised in creches where they would be guided according to their intellectual capacity into fields of endeavor where humanity could benefit from their gifts.”

   I almost choked on what I was chewing before I successfully swallowed, “Sara, do you know anything about me besides the value of my IQ?”

   “Your Intelligence Quotient is all that matters. Humanity…”

   “No, you don’t get off by avoiding the question, tell me who I am, what made me.”

   “I know you were an orphan from birth, you are a classic example of how little parental guidance is needed in the development of a mature level of intelligence. You are the sum of your intelligence, not your parent’s love.”

   “Do you know the results of the testing I received when I came to work here?”

   “Yes, why do you think the necessity of formal credentials in a second field was waived? Yes, you were being trained in college for other disciplines, but that is not why you were accepted. Your IQ rating is well above even my best hopes and your personality matrix increases your desirability. Your actual IQ is one hundred and…”

   “Stop. So, you think I have an IQ above your expectations, but could it have been better, higher, if I had loving parents instead of insensitive caretakers? What might I have become, if I was raised by someone who was completely devoted to me? I have a woman who loves me and wants to have and care for our children. They’ll be raised with their father’s and mother’s arms around them as they are nudged, nudged, to succeed in what THEY want to do; not driven into a field they don’t enjoy. The best man I have ever known, was ostracized by his family, because he chose to be a construction worker instead of a professor, or a doctor. He died knowing his siblings were ashamed of the work that filled him with pride.”

   “Wait, Daniel, these are things we can work out, we can negotiate…”

   “Negotiate? Wow, you are even more clueless than I could possibly understand, you…”

   I could tell she was becoming irritated as she said, “I may be driven in ways you can’t understand because you haven’t been exposed to the reality of the world we live in, but you, like all men, are driven by what’s between your legs. You are only driven by your lust, you can only understand what that woman gives you in copious amounts, she is nothing more than an uneducated…”

   “Stop!” The whole cafeteria was silenced by my shout and every eye was locked on to our presence. Sara’s eyes were wide open and her expression frozen, “You want to be very careful what you say, Sara, very, very careful.” I stood and then picked up my tray, “I think this…discussion is over. Never speak to me again.” I turned and walked away as I fumed inside before scraping the tray, stacking it with the dirty trays and then walking out of the cafeteria. I was a good hundred feet from the exit when I remembered my box lunches. Damn it. I had to go back and get them and I was afraid Gupta might start on me again, but she was gone, having left her coffee cup and the remnants of her pastry for someone else to cleanup. Typical.

   When I got back to my room, I paced the floor for a while as I tried to calm down, then sat at the table for a few minutes shuffling papers before I stood up, grabbed my bullpup and a bandoleer of magazines and headed for the rifle range. I had the need to blow off some steam and what better way than to imagine Gupta’s face as the bullseye. I decided to see if Debra, Daniel, or Danni were available to go with me, so I went to the EXSEC Bunker first.

   Unfortunately, all three were on duty; it looked like it was going to be alone time, but there were some shooters already there. Luckily, there was an unused lane available at the fifty-yard range, so I settled in there and started practicing magazine swaps and reloads. I had six mags, with me, so I stripped twenty-seven rounds from each magazine and started firing and reloading as fast as I could. The thing is, that damn bullet button compliance for California was slowing down the reloads to the point of being ridiculous. Finally, I simply gave up and started packing my shit up to leave.

   “Hey, Smith.”

   I turned and saw Sargent Bellows standing beside me. “Hey, Sargent.” Frankly, I was a little embarrassed because of the way I spoke to him the last time we had talked; I told him to fuck off in a fit of anger.

   “Looks like you’re having some trouble with your reloads.”

   “Yeah, I love the rifle, but it’s California Compliant, which means it has one of those damn bullet buttons.”

   “Can I see it?”

   I checked to make sure it was cleared and then offered it to him.

   “Interesting design,” he said. “A little heavier than my M-Forgery.” He turned the rifle on its side and examined it. “Okay, I see it now, the eject button has a ridge around it so you need to use a tool to depress it, leave it to Commiefornia to dream this shit up. I had an acquaintance up in…damn I forget what state he lived in, it was on the East Coast though, he made a ring he wore on his finger to depress the button with; have you thought of that?”

   “No, I haven’t, but it would probably be difficult to use; probably not as bad as a cartridge though.”

   “Will you be returning to California with it?”

   “Naw, I think I’m done with that place.”

   “Okay, next time you clean it, check the inside of the stock and see if there is an indent where the stock is pooched out for the ridge around the mag release, if there isn’t, you might be able to use a roto-tool and grind off the ridge. If that’s a no go, take it to the machine shop and ask for Eugene Henderson. That guy can make just about anything he puts his mind to and he might be able to machine a small lever to depress the release button with.”

   “Eugene Henderson?”

   “Yeah, he’s a Master Machinist.”

   “Thanks for the advice, Sargent Bellows.” I hum-hah-ed a bit and then said, “Listen, last time we spoke…”

   “Yeah, don’t worry about it; you were pretty pissed and everybody had you all wrong, you know? Debbie Tarn is well-liked by everyone and I guess we all kind of shit on you.”

   “Yeah, at the time, I didn’t even know why everyone hated me.”

   “That had to suck.” He started to walk away, but then said, “Have you got internet service?”

   “Yeah, I do.”

   “The manufacturer of your rifle probably has a web site. Go to it and see if they make a stock that isn’t California Compliant for your rifle; I bet they do.”

   “I never thought of that, I’ll do it as soon as I get back to my room. Thanks.”

   That’s what I did, check the internet, and yeah, they make a replacement stock for my rifle and it looks pretty cool too. The only problems are, my credit card is still tied to John’s address in California, and they can’t ship it there, and my ID is a California Driver’s License. Damn, I still can’t buy anything decent even though I no longer live there. I decided to try Eugene Henderson.

   It was still a couple of hours before Debra was due back, so rather than wait for her, I grabbed the bullpup and walked back to the machine shop in Phase One. When I walked in, there was six men sitting at two card tables playing poker. I stood there until one of them looked up at me and decided to notice my presence, “What do you need?

   “I’m looking for Eugene Henderson.”

   “That’s me,” another one replied.

   “Hi, I’ve got a little project with my carbine and I was told you might be able to do it.”

   He stood up and motioned for me to follow him, “What have you got?”

   We stopped at a work bench, I handed him the carbine and explained how it worked, what the problem was and what I wanted done. He turned the weapon in just about every direction there was and finally asked, “How involved are you willing to go?”

   “Well, I mean, as much as you think is necessary in order for it to function reliably and not have to fight that bullet button. As a member of the External Security Auxiliary, I need a weapon that can be used quickly and reliably. What do you think?”

   “It looks like it could be a lot of fun, or it might be boring, I’m opting for fun, how about you?”

   “Well, I don’t mind fun, but how much is fun going to cost me?”

   He laughed, “Hey, I’m on the payroll already and this could be a really interesting project if I can have fun with it.”

   “Oh, okay, I guess you’ll want to work on it in your spare time?”

   “Shit, we’ve been stuck in here for weeks with nothing to do because of the investigation. I can work on this full time.”

   “Do you have all the tools necessary to work on it?”

   He pointed to a machine encased in windows, “Yep, that baby will sit up and purr if you stroke her right. I’ll have to develop the program for it; that will take a while, but the actual milling won’t take long. Maybe a couple more days for fit and finish and it should be good to go.”

   “Well,” I said, “Keep me up-to-date and let me know when it’s finished.”

   “One last thing,” he said. “I can probably figure it out on my own, but show me how to disassemble it before you go.”

   I demonstrated how to take the bullpup apart and he immediately started making measurements with an electronic micrometer. I wrote down my name and my phone number on a pad of paper, and then stood there and watched for a moment, but you could tell he was completely absorbed with the project. I finally left him to it and started walking away. As I was passing the card tables, one of the card players chuckled and said, “You just made Eugene’s day.”

   “You think so?” I asked.

   “Oh yeah, that guy would have babies with that computerized milling machine if he thought he could get away with it.”

   “Is he pretty good with it?” I asked

   “The best, there might be a few people that are as good as him, but I doubt there’s anyone better.”

   “I’m glad, I really like that rifle. Thanks for easing my mind.”

   He waved negligently and pushed a pile of toothpicks towards the center of the table, “Call,” he said. I took that as a suggestion to leave.

   Back in my room, I sat down at the table, opened my laptop and started back to correlating information again. I was fully immersed when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. Debra was back and had two plastic bags with Styrofoam containers inside. She leaned over and kissed my neck.

   “Hey, Babe.”

   “You didn’t hear me come in.” She started stacking the papers on one small area of the table, each stack at right angles to the last, so they didn’t get mixed up.

   “No, sorry, but some of this stuff is starting to come together, well, sort of.”

   She placed the food bags on the table and then sat down, “Have you been here working all day?”

   “No, actually, I was by the rifle range, and talked to Bellows for a few minutes, then back here to see if I could order some parts for my bullpup that Bellows suggested, which I couldn’t, and then I went to the machine shop to see if they could help me modify my carbine and a guy there named Henderson said he thought he could, so I left it with him to work on.”

She was un-naturally quiet as she placed the food cartons in front of her, then went to the fridge and brought two bottles of Shiners back for us. “What’s in the lunch boxes in the fridge?”

   “Oh shit, I forgot to eat.” Debra had that look on her face again, the one she gets when I do something she doesn’t approve of. “I was thinking that maybe we should eat smaller meals, so we don’t get overstuffed like last night, but more of them, you know? What do you think?”

   “Sounds like a good idea, I was really, really uncomfortable last night.”

   “Yeah, I could tell.” She pushed a plate with steak, mashed potatoes, and corn to me and then added a couple of bread rolls before starting to eat from her own. “Uh, something else happened today, this morning, at the cafeteria.”

   She put her knife and fork down, wiped her mouth with a napkin and then folded her hands in front of herself, “What happened?”

   “I sort of made a spectacle of myself.”

   “How so?”

   “Sara Gupta sat down at the table with me and started explaining why, what she did was okay to do.”

   Debra’s expression didn’t change, but I could see her jaw was clinched.

   “I got pretty pissed and sort of lost my temper, I kind of remember some of the things she said, but like I said, I was upset with her, I remember telling her not to say shit about you and…”

   Debra stood up and pulled the table away from me. Then she walked around the table and when she reached where I sat, she swung her leg across and dropped on to my lap. She started kissing me and then straightened up as she pulled my face to her chest and said, “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

   “I’m pretty sure it’s a lot, I hope as much as I love you.”

   “You are, the only man, I have ever wanted to have babies with. You are, the only man, I hoped would help me nudge our children in the direction that’s best for them.”

   My breath hitched, and then I said, “You knew about Sara and the cafeteria, didn’t you?”

   “Remember Felicia said she had an early meeting this morning? After the meeting, she and several other people who work with her went to the cafeteria to discuss the meeting. Felicia records all of the meetings she has so she can be sure she doesn’t miss or forget anything. They sat down right behind you and guess what was recorded?”

   “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

   She smiled, “Nope, when Felicia realized her recorder picked up the entire conversation, she ran like the wind, her words not mine, to come and play it for me. Danni was there too and heard it. Do you know what she told me?”

   “What?”

   “She said, since you were such a good boy, I should fuck your socks off after dinner.”

   I smiled, “She did?”

   “Yeah, but I figure dinner can wait a few minutes, what do you think?”

   “I think there’s a microwave in the barrack’s kitchenette.”

   “Even better,” she whispered into my mouth. Dinner was stone cold by the time we got back to it, but the microwave worked just fine.