01.25.06
“You have got to call it off,” said Bailey, voice cracking like a pubescent boy’s. “They could take my badge for this. I could go jail.” Bailey suddenly realized how much trouble he was in. He had put his fair number of people behind bars, and it wasn’t likely he would find any friends there. Embittered, furious enemies, sure, but no friends.
“What would you have me do?” asked Cider. “Undo years of planning? Throw out everything we have worked for?” Cider sat at his desk, eyeing Bailey carefully. He was right to have such a low opinion of the fool. He had blundered off and made a wreck of things, being caught by that little prick Mitchell. No he wanted to forget about the park, forget about Jesusland, the park designed to save thousands of souls a day. “I think I should have been more selective in who I let into the Promised Ones,” Cider said at last. “I should have had an I.Q. test, perhaps. Separated the wheat from the chafe.” Bailey bristled at this.
“Like your plans have been any better,” he said at length. “All they have accomplished is to get our meeting room covered with garbage, and stuck in our own parking lot for hours.”
Cider stood angrily. “Our plans were working,” he shouted. His eyes pressed out of his head, and veins stood out on his wrinkled neck. “They were not perfect, but at least he never caught anyone on video breaking the law. No, now we have to finish this,” he said, calming down, focusing his eyes on a spot on the wall. “We have to finish this for good. Call a meeting, and stop worrying. After this weekend, your problems are all over.”
Chuck woke up Thursday with a knot of nervousness doing battle with a knot of excitement in the pit of his stomach. Today Emma would be coming by after dropping Jordan off at school. It was amazing for him to think about how recently he had been dating cold, cruel Melissa. Although he didn’t really consider his spending time with Emma dating, things were defiantly moving in that direction. He took a long, hot shower, trying to wash the frustration of the last few days off of his skin, out of his head. As he dressed he realized that he had no idea what he and Emma were going to do. He had made no plans, and didn’t really know what there was to do in the city. He hustled into his jacket, and went out to find Robert. As he threw open the door, he was surprised to find Mr. Tekeuchi on his porch, knuckles about to rap on his door. “Excuse me Chuck, I am sorry to bother you,” he said in his almost perfect English.
“Hey, no problem, what can I do for you?”
“We have been talking, and some of us would like to stay on for a week or so. We are having a good time here, so we were going to use up some vacation time here.” Chuck’s brow furrowed. He had been holding off until the Japanese had left before starting anything with the Promised Ones. They were not really part of this; he didn’t want anybody caught in the crossfire, as it were.
“If money is a problem, we can pay more,” said Mr. Takeuchi.
“No, no, that’s fine. You paid for a month each, you can all stay as much as one month,” the words spilled out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. Since when had he worried about fairness, since when did he turn down money? Oh well, what was said was said.
“Then what is the problem? You looked annoyed at my request.”
“No, not annoyed. Sorry, Mr. Takeuchi. Not annoyed at all. It’s just that we have been having some problems recently, and things are going to get a little bit ugly pretty soon.
This time Mr. Takeuchi furrowed his brow. “What do you mean ugly?”
“Violent, possibly.” Chuck spent a few minutes explaining the situation to Mr. Takeuchi, who raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“I had no idea Canadian business could be so cutthroat,” he said.
“It usually isn’t,” replied Chuck. “These guys are a special case. Unique.”
“Most extraordinary. I will tell my colleagues about this situation. Perhaps we can be of assistance.”
“Well, we don’t really want to put anyone in harm’s way,” said Chuck.
The smile that Takeuchi flashed at Chuck was as far removed from humor as a smile can be. Chuck got the feeling that he was talking to a predator, more than an actuary. He felt deeply unsettled, looking at this hitherto mild mannered actuary. “You might be surprised how well we are able to take care of ourselves. Besides, we get little enough vacation as it is, we will not let anyone ruin the time we have.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Very.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what, you can stay here for the full month. Tomorrow night I’m going to call a meeting to explain everything to everybody. I am getting a plan together that I hope will get rid of the Promised Ones for once and for all. You and your people are now cordially invited to join us, to see where you can help out.”
“That is very good. My thanks to you.”
“No problem,” Chuck quickly shook the extended hand of Takeuchi, and hurried off to find Robert.
Chuck hammered on Robert’s door, hoping to find him still at home. Luckily, he was. Robert came to the door, dabs of shaving cream tucked behind each ear.
“You just can’t make it through a day without me, can you Chuck?” He stepped aside to let Chuck in.
“Sorry, Robert. Just a quick question for you; what do you do for fun in this city?”
“Ah, of course, your date with the divine Ms. Mathers. Don’t look so surprised, I know everything that happens in this park. Don’t you know that by now?”
“What, did you get a mole too?”
“I just keep my ear to the ground, that’s all. You intend to spend the day wit her?” Chuck nodded his head. “Well, this might come as a shock to you, but St. Catharines is not the most exciting of cities. There isn’t really all that much to do. You could drive over to Niagara Falls.”
Chuck shook his head. “Too honeymooner-ish.”
“True, you don’t want to set high expectations on the first date. What about Hamilton?”
“Too industrial.”
“Niagara-on-the-lake?”
“Too touristy.”
“Toronto?”
“Too far.”
Robert snapped his fingers, excitement shining in his eyes. “I’ve got it. What if I told you you could visit Toronto without leaving St. Catharines?”
“I would say that you have obviously gone mad.”
“While possibly true, it has no bearing on my idea. He grabbed a pencil and piece of paper from his table. “No listen up, these directions are sort of complex. And possibly illegal. But, faint heart ne’er won fair lady, right?”
Chuck looked at him blankly. “Possibly not, Robert, possibly not.”
An hour later, Chuck found himself overlooking the entire Niagara region. Holding Emma in his arms under a dazzlingly bright sky, with unseasonably warm weather, he stood on the roof of Brock University’s library, the highest spot around for hundreds of kilometers. The university was built on top of the Niagara Peninsula, and the library was a full ten stories tall. There wasn’t a comparable view anywhere. Robert’s directions, although complex, taking them through back hallways, up service elevators, and along hat was possibly a large ventilation shaft, were perfect.
“Look, you can see all the way over to Toronto,” Chuck said. “There’s the CN Tower, and the Skydome.”
“This is just amazing, Chuck. Thank-you for bringing me here, for showing me this. Sorry for being so bitchy before.” Earlier Emma had been vocal about her impressions about a date that took her through a utility room
“No problem. I understood your point, if we hadn’t found this view, it would have made for one of the worst dates ever. Do you want to get some lunch?”
“Sure, that sounds great.” She took one last look around soaking in the view. “We’ll have to come up here again when everything is covered with snow. It will be so beautiful.” Chuck’s ears prickled with the thought of future plans with Emma, with a future with Emma. It sounded good. It sounded like something worth fighting for, something he never had before.
“What are you thinking about?” Emma asked, turning up her face to look at him closely.
“This weekend. Saturday. I think things will all come to a head then, and I’m not sure what will happen. You are going to go somewhere else with Jordan, right?”
“No, we will be there. They are not going to chase us off that easily.”
“But Jordan could get hurt.”
“I don’t really see it coming to that. If I think it’s getting dangerous, we will take off, but we will be there to face them. I want them to look my son in the face and tell him what they are doing. I want them to try to throw my son out of his house.”
“Just be careful,” Chuck said, kissing her gentle.
“You know it,” she replied. “Should we go get some lunch?”
“Yes, we should. There’s just one thing I want to do while we are here.”
They set off down the labyrinthine path that took them away from the roof and back to reality. Chuck and Emma made there way to the bottom of the building, the basement that housed the arts departments at the university. Brock was known for its’ business and sports programmes; those were housed in new, modern, clean building. The arts department was housed grudgingly in a dark, cold basement in the oldest building on campus. Down here the walls were brightly coloured, murals old and new vying for the eye’s attention. Students wearing costumes, with multicoloured hair and tattoos mixed in an endless circle of creativity. After inquiring a few times, Chuck was able to track down Animal. He was in a heated debate with another student.
“Obviously you missed the point if the film entirely,” he was shouting, face red and blotchy.
“What point?” asked the other student. Chuck noted he was wearing a boy scout’s hat, expanded with elastics to fit his adult head. “It was a slasher flick, through and through. He killed some people, and then one girl got away in a truck. That’s it.”
“Were you even watching the same movie? Did you look at the screen at all?” Chuck timidly approached, not really wanting to break interrupt the argument. Animal caught his approach out of the corner of his eye. “This isn’t over, Goddard-boy” he said to his sparring partner. “Chuck, what brings you to the pit?” he asked. The other student drifted away, Boy Scout cap bobbing along through the highway.
“Hey Animal, sorry to interrupt.”
“No problem. That idiot wouldn’t know a good film if he fell over it. Hi, I’m Animal,” he said, extending his hand to Emma.
“Emma,” she replied. “Where did you get a name like Animal?”
“First year residence. We all had nick names by about the first weekend. Animal was mine, for better or worse. It has stuck with me two years. So, Chuck, what can I do for you?”
“I need a pretty big favour,” said Chuck.
“Name it.”
“How many of those speakers can you get your hands on? I need to make a pretty big noise.”
Will sat around in his office, spinning around and around in his chair. There was work he should be doing, but he just didn’t feel up to it. He was tired of sitting behind his desk, he was tired of filing paperwork. The last few weeks, fighting it up in St. Catharines had been more fun than he had had in years. Not since the days he was on the tour had he had so much fun. He reached out and picked up the phone, dialing the number of his mole. Malcolm picked up on the third ring.
“Any news?”
“Not much, sir. We have been called to a meeting tomorrow night.”
“You guys sure have a lot of meetings.”
“I know,” replied Malcolm petulantly. “I wanted to go to a movie tomorrow.”
“Well, with any luck, that will be the last meeting you have to go to. Keep me informed.” Will made a sudden decision. “Call me on my cell phone if you have any news.” He hung up and hurriedly left his office, walking down the hall to Sam’s office. The secretary made a brief attempt to stop him, but it was well understood that you did not get between Will and the place Will wanted to go, not for very long. Will threw open the doors to Sam’s office, and marched in. Sam set down his phone receiver.
“Will, excellent timing, I need to discuss the Jennings case with you.”
“No, not now. I have to leave.”
“Excuse me?” asked Sam. No was not a word he heard very often, and he didn’t like the sound of it.
“I have to leave, right now,” said Will. “I won’t be in tomorrow either. Or most of next week, possibly. I have to go out of town for awhile, I’m not sure when I’ll be back. “
Sam considered this for a moment. “Do you think this is some sort of drop in centre, you can just come and go as you please?”
“I can’t really explain right now, it’s the Mitchell inheritance case.” Sam looked at him blankly. “The trailer park. There is an unexpected wrinkle I have to help smooth out.”
“Will you be billing these hours?” asked Sam. Will hadn’t intended to at all.
“Of course,” he lied.
Sam waved him away. “Then go, smooth the wrinkle. Call Monday if you won’t be in.” Will was already out the door, running to his car. He stopped of briefly at home to pick up some clothes, and got himself to St. Catharines as quickly as possible.
