Cul-De-Sac, page 10
Once the door was closed, behind him, Jake spoke.
“Some of the residents need things like that for various reasons. We have a cow coming next week, so that should be a lot of meat. For Mr. Prentis’s new back yard sacrificial altar? That will be a fun project. Our neighbor across the way just wants to see if some sheep are available for the summer solstice. The meat won’t be useable, but if you know anyone who wants the skin or hair? The fleece? I need to call that in... Actually, I should run over to the Guard Shack and put the order for everything in myself. I need to make sure it’s available, on time.”
He rolled his eyes and pretended to sniff under his arm.
“I’m showering first. Is Laura coming home for dinner? I can be back in a bit to make something.”
That got a nod.
“She called and yes, she’ll be back any time now. I’ll make sure she waits for you. How are you doing? You showed up and then I was gone for days, right on top of it. Work, but probably not the best parenting ever. Then, I wasn’t really a great dad the first time. Again, work. This isn’t a new problem.”
There was a hint of guilt in the words. Jake let him off the hook.
“So far, so good? I have nightmares and flashbacks, but I’m just going to, for a while. Maybe forever. I’m trying to stay busy and not get in the way, so far. I don’t know if I’m really staying on here or not yet. Um, security clearance stuff? So, I don’t have a key to this place. That’s about it. Oh... I’m taking lots of mini courses? Calley set a goal of five per day. I think she’s trying to keep me busy.”
That got a considering look.
“We need to check on the status of some things, then. Probably see about having you talk to someone, too. That part... It’s hard, since what you described isn’t normal. If we send you to a regular psychologist, they’ll probably think you’re delusional. That’s not a thing you want to be accused of, if you’re around a murder investigation.” The man went blank then, not showing anything for a moment.
Then he took a very deep breath and let it out, before going on.
“Except that we have every reason to think that what happened was an assassination and happened almost exactly as you said it did. At the same time, I don’t want to leave you hanging here, sinking, when we can throw you a freaking rope without it being a real problem. For now, you can talk to me, or Laura? Ken, too, being our block guard. Especially if you notice anything strange, here?”
This time, recalling what Laura had hinted at, Jacob simply lied.
“This is a boring and normal place. The biggest thing to happen so far is a thief climbing over the wall yesterday, and Mrs. Ink having some in-laws coming for a visit. I was working on her lawn and pressured washed her driveway and walk, earlier. I need to do this place, too. That, the pressure washing, it really makes a difference. That won’t happen for a bit, though, since I’m on brush clearing on the outer perimeter, starting tomorrow.”
The man didn’t say anything, so Jacob ran up the stairs, showered and changed, and was back down about fifteen minutes later. Then, he jogged to the Guard Shack, to use their computer, which had Mick giving him a funny look, as he did that.
So, he explained, as he typed, double checking the orders, from the book.
“Animals for various residents. Baron Locust is getting a regular series of goats coming in. We need some chickens and a cow and... Three sheep, which, yes, we can get before the summer solstice. Nice. Do you need anything? The cow and probably the chickens are still up for grabs.” He’d mentioned eating goat before, earlier.
The large, muscular, man just nodded.
“Put me down for some of the beef? We should hold a barbeque, soon. Get some of the people from the base in for it.”
“Um... Let me collect up the forms tomorrow? Then we can probably tell when we’ll have a lot of meat available. I don’t really know how to do that kind of cooking, but you can help me with it? We’ll need sides and stuff, too.”
There was a long look, which was sort of bland, and then a cough.
“Look at the timing for us. I’ll run the idea past the others, once you have that.”
Standing, making sure the order went through and was confirmed, Jacob waved and left again. Then, carrying his notebook and pen, jogged back to the house. Wondering if he’d be around for the barbeque, if they had one at all.
He wasn’t certain of that, on any level. The best-case scenario had him going off to a foster home. The worst... Well, that probably involved a bullet to the back of the head when he wasn’t looking.
Chapter seven
The next day went a bit differently, since he got up early, not able to sleep, and instead of cleaning the house, which looked spotless still, he headed out at six in the morning, wearing the same outfit he always did for work. His gray shirt with his oldest pair of jeans and his only pair of sneakers, which used to be gray, but now were permanently green in several places. Stained by the life blood of a million blades of grass. His sworn enemy.
The first three hours were spent in the Guard Shack, just doing workbooks and testing on them. It was easy enough that he ended up doing fifteen of them, in that time frame. It was so bad that poor Martha had him move behind the counter with her, so she could do her job, while watching to make certain he wasn’t cheating.
Which he was, if only in a way. Testing right after reading the book meant that he had all the answers in his head each time. The longest portion was recalling the addresses and phone numbers he needed, and the catch phrase for the booklet at hand. At nine, when Calley took over, Martha ready to leave for the day, he stood up.
“I’ll be out back? Well, I’m starting on the, um... That way... side?” He pointed, Martha looking in the right direction.
She waved.
“That’s west. Face the street out front, and that’s roughly north. So, left hand west, right hand east, and south to your back. You need to know that, in case you have to give anyone instructions. Get a radio and take water with you. It’s going to be in the high eighties today. If you need a break, take it. Check in every two hours, even if nothing is happening.”
That was good advice. Especially if they needed to keep tabs on him. Sunblock would be needed, too.
“I’ll do that. Thanks.”
Waving, trying to be polite, he moved to the garage first. They had water bottles. Big ones in fact, on a rack along the back wall. Meant for the guards on duty, probably, but some of them had dust on them, so he took one, signing out that he was getting it, since you did that there with everything.
Instead of using the trailer, he took a gas can, extra plastic blades and a weed-wacker, as well as the brush hog. That had two wheels and looked pointed, with a long metal blade on the front, so it could take out the shins and toes of the careless without any real effort. His enemies as well, no doubt. Hopefully, that was only going to be various plants, that day. He had gloves, sunblock and his water, in a sling bag that was only checked out. The weed-wacker was settled on the top of the brush hog, and his left hand was full, with a small gas can. That had oil mixed in, which both machines used that way. The mowers didn’t, which was something to keep in mind.
Laden as he was, Julio, the man in the front of the place, waved at him, smiling as if he might be doing something funny.
“Running away finally?”
Jake nodded.
“Poorly, as you can see. I’m working the strip around the wall on the sides and back. I was told to get a radio and check in every two hours. Do I call that in, or come in physically?”
The man, who was older, looking about thirty, but lean and vaguely southern looking, as in his ancestors might have been from South America, didn’t answer for a bit, getting the radio first and then typing for a moment, before handing it over.
“Calling in is fine. Just say Jake, checking in. There will be a confirmation. If there isn’t, try it again and if that doesn’t work, come in physically. Regardless, I want eyes on you every second call. You have a watch?”
He didn’t, and started to explain, only to have one brought out before he could. It was like a stopwatch, being kind of big, and blue, but told the time. It was nine-fifteen already. The man passed that over, then typed on the computer again.
“Turn that and the radio in when you’re done for the day. Be in by dark. An hour before that. If you can’t for some reason, call that in.”
“Understood.” That made him feel official, but probably look ridiculous. The other man was hard and so clearly military, not private security, that him wearing the black uniform seemed like a joke.
Then, he was probably also some kind of super soldier.
Regardless, Jake just got a nod, with no hint of a smile, and carried everything over to the starting point. It was a lot of work and every twenty feet he had to stop, to move all the gear, so it stayed near him. It was an isolated location, even by the road, but he wasn’t losing anything, if he could help it.
Still, even if the brush hog got a lot of the work, and his hands and forearms were cramping at eleven, he called in. Early, by a few minutes.
“Jake, checking in.”
There was a long pause and he nearly did it again, when Ken spoke.
“Check in confirmed. Anything to report?”
He paused and thought. There wasn’t anything, but he didn’t want to sound like a little kid, playing. At the same time, he didn’t know the real lingo they used for reporting in.
“All clear. Work is progressing on schedule.”
“Noted and logged. Out.”
He nearly said out, but didn’t, not knowing if that was right. He’d been told to stay off the radio, as much as possible. Everyone did, but it spoke on occasion. Stopping for a moment, to let the equipment rest, which meant refilling the gas tanks on both things, again, he did that for himself, from the heavy green plastic bottle.
The water was a bit funny tasting. Then it was, there in Terrace Springs. It had been in jail as well. This was different, being more mineral flavored. He ignored that, since it was just the tap water there, not poison.
By one he was all the way around the back wall, on the south side. The whole thing would need to be touched up, and branches cleared away along with a lot of grass being cut, but on the first pass he was just building space to work in. It was happening faster than he’d thought it would, thanks to having good equipment.
Walking it all back in, wearing the gloves, he went to the front guard hut. Julio was still there and smiled at him.
“Right on time. Are you calling it a day?”
Shaking his head, knowing that he didn’t have anything else to do for the moment, he smiled.
“I still need to hit the far, um, the...” He turned away from the wall, and held out his right hand, pointing in the right direction. “The east side. I just wanted to go over everything first, the gear, since I’ve been running it for hours, nearly straight.”
The red and white person gate lifted.
“See you in a bit then. Keep the radio, for now. Same check in, once you head out, even if the shift changes.”
That wasn’t important, since he went in, sharpened the brush hog blade, using a wet stone and a manual guide tool, and replaced the now worn plastic blades on the weed-wacker. At the same time, he scrubbed at both machines, to get rid of any clogging grass and dust, then headed out again. He was done by three, with the actual physical labor and had cleaned everything and returned it to its place by three-forty-five.
Ken waved at him, holding a stack of papers.
“Your forms, from yesterday? Everyone picked them up for you, as we did our patrols. There’s not that much needed yet. A few put in orders for later in the year. A lot of people are willing to share the meat, if it’s edible, which is a good use of resources. You know what to do with the ones that can’t be eaten?”
He nodded, having had a lesson on that.
“We send the bodies, any parts we aren’t going to use directly, to be cremated. I have the number for that. Animals or humans. Probably the remains as well, the bones, and all that, if people aren’t going to eat them. I need to make a list of everything. Can I work at the table here?” He was, after all, locked out of the house for the day.
The dark-skinned man simply waved at it. A move that was kind of commanding.
“Do that. Then lessons and testing, until you need to go home. We were taking it easy on you, but Calley mentioned that you did sixteen of them this morning. That means we’ve been too soft on you. Plus, we need you in here, tomorrow, at nine. You have a meeting, so dress up a bit. General Hogarth. He’s not local and he didn’t tell anyone here what the plan is. He asked for a secured room.” The man seemed suspicious then.
As if it might be something Jacob, the teenager, knew about. For his part he didn’t even guess.
“Ah. I don’t know the name. He’s probably kicking me out.”
That got a snort. A derisive one.
“Not likely. If that was happening, you’d just get a phone call and we’d be packing your stuff for you. Probably showing up with most of the force here, too.” There was a shrug then. “A kid who took down a partly invisible, very highly trained and genetically modified super soldier isn’t someone we’d take chances with.”
The man was, thankfully, playing. Not that it wouldn’t happen that way, to some level, when he was asked to leave. Getting an escort out kind of made sense. That way he couldn’t break things or leave listening devices as easily. Packing up for him would make it harder for him to smuggle the pictures out as well.
As if those wouldn’t be on the thumb drive wrapped in a condom, in his behind by then. Except that he didn’t even have a cell phone, much less secret devices like that. A thing that they probably knew. After all, there were no real electronics at the house. Unless they were hidden in the walls. So, any signals going out would be really easy to track, if they happened. Probably at least.
Jacob didn’t actually know how that worked.
They didn’t discuss things, about the meeting or what it might mean. Instead, between fielding calls and dispatching some of the guards to check on things, Calley helped him type up the list of what was needed, had him make the order for animals which they put in the system that day, even if some of them wouldn’t be needed for half a year, and put together a list of when they were going to have edible meat coming in, to be shared out.
Interestingly, they weren’t going to have a lot left over, it seemed. Only a third of the people wanted their lawns mowed, but over half wanted in on free food. Even if they were a bit different in a lot of ways... Clearly, they were kind of the same as everyone else, in others.
The day shift got off at five, but Jacob stayed, doing tests until seven. He would have kept going, even if he was bored, since sitting at home, trying to have yet another conversation with Jim and Laura was just too much at the moment. Still, he went home while it was still light out, having done thirty-four of the little tests that day.
That meant, on the walk home, going over all the numbers he’d memorized and the names for various functions. Some of them had overlapped. Seven of them just had him calling the office there, to speak to whoever was on desk duty, for instance. Others required real memorization but a ten-digit number wasn’t too hard to put into his memory, if he tried for a few minutes. Going over them would be important, however.
Otherwise, he would forget them, inside a month.
Everyone else was home before him. Even the ladies from across the street were in. The girl waved at him, and crossed the street, smiling. She was in a skirt, but it was a light, summery thing, to match the heat of the early evening. A black and red floral pattern with bits of green. It was hideous, but she actually still managed to be pretty enough.
Her voice was cheery, too.
“Hello! We haven’t properly met, yet. I’m Clara Applegate. Your neighbor?” The words were off and sounded both old and not, at the same time. Proper, but strange, like she might be out of step with time or reality in some way.
Smiling, he waved, even if she were only five feet away from him.
“Jacob Hines. Pleased to meet you.” He was, at that point, at a loss for words. Which was going to leave him seeming smooth with the ladies, he didn’t doubt.
Then, he wasn’t picking her up, so it probably didn’t matter at all.
She had things to say, at least, so that worked for him.
“Mother mentioned that we should have you over soon, for a visit? Would this next Monday work for you?”
The trick there was, of course, that he didn’t know at all.
Saying that was probably not allowed, however.
“That... Should be fine? I mean, I have to ask, first. My grandparents might not want to expose you all to me like that. Not without warning you, first.”
She started to seem upset, then stopped, seeming oddly serious.
“Due to your ability to woo us, perhaps?”
Jake winked.
“Which, now don’t get me wrong, I have no such abilities at all, but no one here knows that yet. Not for certain. Well, you do, but... I’m trusting you to keep that secret for me? I don’t want everyone to know how lame I am. Not for certain.” Though a lot of them were probably picking that up already, just from looking at his face.
Clara smiled then, and laughed, gently.
“I don’t know, that sounds like exactly what a real cad might say, to get me to let down my guard, don’t you think?”
“I know, right? See how obvious I am already?”
A pale hand came out, to touch his arm, the left one. As she did that, her fingers on the scar there, she looked up and to the left, behind him. Then, slowly, one finger on the burned patch, she nodded.
“I see. Why mother wishes your company... You’re most charming! Monday, at seven? We won’t keep you late. Well, unless you want to be kept? Then we might manage better than a few hours.”
Jacob wasn’t the worldliest person, but that wasn’t the most subtle flirting, so he worked out what she was saying. Which was almost certainly out of place. Not just because he was too young for the girl in front of him.
