American Mole
Hi. Welcome to my fourth novel, in progress. I invite you to come back often as I write this. Please feel free to email me and tell me what you think can improve it. Most of all, if you like it, consider posting a review of it for me.
Chapter
22
Inside and Counting
Inside and Counting
After a sleepless night where ghastly thoughts of Pius One's security operation ran continuously like short loop surveillance tape through his head, riding now in the cool early morning light on the blacktop road with Luke Three relaxed Amos's mind and cleared his thoughts. They drove northeast through recently plowed fields for about half a mile until they entered another woods, where the road, rather than going straight, meandered through a fairyland of Trillium. They crested a hill in the woods and descended gradually through first, a high fence that appeared to be electrified, and then about 100 yards further, another fence, also appearing to be electrified. A wall loomed in the distance, another quarter-mile off. The wall appeared to be about 20 feet high and built from fieldstone. The door was large enough to take an 18-wheeler, but small enough to be closed quickly if necessary. As they approached about 50 yards off, Luke pushed a button on his cart, and the door opened automatically. They breezed on through without stopping and the door closed behind them.
Once inside, Amos was surprised to see that the wall curved around on either side and eventually ended in a large pond or lake about a quarter-mile in the distance. In front of them was an assembly of well-designed buildings laid out in the pattern of a quaint small-town with paved streets between. It looked like one of those town centers created for gated communities and resort hotels that Amos had seen in brochures when he was in Chicago. At the end of all the smaller buildings was a large mansion facing the lake. This, obviously, was the Pius One's home. From the way the sun was shining off its pure white walls and gilded roof, it had been modeled after some of the palaces in Dubai. A bit out of place in Wisconsin, but impressive, like the Cathedral.
As they passed the doorway, Amos noticed a guard booth that no one was manning. He also noted numerous cameras pointed at the road and above the doorway into the inner compound. One of the first buildings they came to had three flags flying out front. There were several electric buggies and two fully equipped police Jeeps parked under the flags. The American flag, the Wisconsin flag, and a flag that appeared to be a flag of heraldry, but was the flag of the Vespers. It was white with blue stars and doves on it, in a nice angular pattern. The flag had appeared in every broadcast he’d made. This was the first time he had seen it in the cloth. The Jeeps had a similar logo on them. They parked in front of the flags, and Luke Three got out and motioned for Amos to follow. They entered the storefront of what appeared to be a post office. Once inside, there was a counter, a lot of pigeonholes behind the counter that were filled with mail, and a general appearance of a rural post office.
Luke Three explained. "I know what this looks like. When we first started building his inner compound with the pions bringing fieldstone and building the wall, one of the first buildings that Pius One bought from Erdmann's in Madison was this self-contained post office building. At the time, he had started getting a lot of mail, and thought he would need a post office just to handle it. When we found out that we didn't have enough mail to use the whole building, the One decided that he would turn it into the security station. Since then we've built on and this is our headquarters for security. You might say that this will be your realm." He smiled an impish smile.
"So, what is all this mail I see here? Looks like a post office to me." Amos knew he would have to ask questions if he was ever going to find out anything.
"Oh, we still get a lot of mail. There's three kinds. The first is fan mail for Pius One. We get tons of those--mostly from ladies--they range from teenyboppers to old women, all in love with him. Glad I don't have to sort through those. The second is from family of the pions. Rarely do we let any of them get it. It just sits around here until we throw it out. The third is mail from other orders and people like the Pope and the IRS. It is tough to sort through, but we have to keep on the up and up. Here, follow me and I will show you the rest of our operation." Once again, Luke Three politely motioned for him to follow.
They passed the counter into a hallway. To the right, Luke Three opened the door to a large room that was filled with monitors. There were two young men in the room watching the monitors and clicking mouses that enabled them to control the view. Luke Three interrupted their concentration. "Hey guys, I'd like to introduce you to our new Chief, Amos. Amos, this is Robert Four and Elias Three, part of our team that rotates from watching the monitors to patrolling the grounds, to guarding special events. Sometimes they even get to be the One's bodyguard on his forays to the outside world. Right?"
Both young men responded in unison, "Right!" And jumped up to shake Amos's hand. Amos was quite surprised with their friendliness and willingness to accept him as the new Chief. It seemed strange. He looked for signs of nervousness or tension but didn’t see any. Handshakes made and goodwill given, Luke Three summoned him further down the hall.
At the end of the hall they entered the open door of a large office. The walls were filled with plaques, citations, diplomas and other paraphernalia from a busy community-based life. It seemed really out of place for the Vespers where everything was so separated from the community. The man sitting behind the large desk filled with souvenirs in the overstuffed high backed leather swivel chair looked older than his thirty something years. His jet-black wavy hair was already streaked with gray like the tips of his handlebar mustache. His nose bore the marks of the large mirrored sunglasses he wore whenever he left the building. He was twisting the end of his mustache with his right thumb and forefinger watching his replacement come through the door. He was a much larger man than Amos, and looked physically fit except for a slight bulge that crept over his huge brass belt buckle. A sign on the desk displayed, “Chief Randall J. Hodges.”
The large man didn't rise to shake Amos's hand. Instead, he tilted his chair back and waved Luke Three off with a simple flick of his wrist. Amos heard the door click shut behind as the Chief Hodges tilted his hand downward in an indication for Amos to sit. Amos pulled a chair closer to the desk and sat down quietly in it. Hodges stared at the wall, squinting, as if composing in his mind what he was going to say. It was uncomfortable, but Amos waited. He felt like he wanted to squirm, say something, anything to break the silence. It wasn't the time to speak. Finally, the Chief did.
"I've been doing this for fifteen years. In the beginning it was just Jim Gorski and a couple of other guys. We were all vets with nothing to do and no jobs--homeless. Jim came back from the monastery with a gleam in his eye like he’d seen Jesus. There was a calm and glory about him that sucked us in to his wild ideas. Jim gave us purpose and a job. I've never been religious. Hell, I'm not even Catholic. But it was a camaraderie thing. Because I was a Green Beret and didn't buy into all the religious shit, Jim told me to pack a pistol and guard their stuff. There wasn't much, just the farm; a couple of cars, and the cash that he kept in the kitchen in tins because he didn't trust anybody or banks. I mostly kept hunters from trespassing and shooting the game we needed for food. I bunked separate in the barn because I wasn't a homo and didn't like what his transformed ass did with those other guys. Pretty much kept to myself.
"Well, that was a long time ago, and, as you can see, things have changed a lot. Time for me to leave. I've gathered up a nice nest egg and plan to head for Costa Rica or someplace like that. I've heard the senoritas down there don't mind a gringo with gray hair as long as he has plenty of pesos. I’ve buttered up the locals around here to make them think that Pius One and I are upstanding citizens. Well, except for a couple of divorcees that I've had the pleasure of, there isn't anything left around here for me after I leave this place. But you will have the benefit of the goodwill that I've created with the community. It hasn't been easy, believe me. I suppose you're wondering why he picked you?"
Amos wasn't expecting to respond to that point and he certainly wasn't sure why the Pius One had picked him. "He said something about my… 'Keeping my nose clean.'"
"Well, not exactly."
"What you mean?" Amos had no idea what Hodges was talking about.
"There is that little matter of the porno film with you in it that is on several porno sites. A little more boyish than you look now, but it's you on some mountain top with one of the sexiest bitches I've ever seen." A wry smile came across his face. Then, realizing that he was smiling, the Chief Hodges assumed a more somber pose.
"Well... I... remember now what happened but it wasn't like that..."
Hodges cut him off. "It doesn't matter what it was. The One has seen it and got a copy of it. It is his way of getting a hold on you. His way of getting you to be loyal to him--if you know what I mean? It isn't anything to me, just something young guys like you go through. But he's got it and you know he'll tell your folks and anyone else about it in order to keep you on the leash."
It was obvious to Amos that Chief Hodges didn't know that he didn't have any family left except his uncle and grandmother. He knew Grandma Forsythe wouldn't care and there was no way in hell that the One would know about his Uncle Jim. He feigned fear by tensing his muscles in his neck to get a little red in the face. In his best pleading voice he blurted out, "Okay… okay, what does he want me to do?"
"Nothing, except take over my job as chief. I've been watching you myself. That video doesn't mean anything to me except that you're not a homo and I wish that it was me instead of you with that wild chick. You've been straight with everybody here so I have no reason to believe that you wouldn't carry on your security role above board and honestly. The only thing about it is that all that shit that Pius One does you will have to turn your back to and ignore. And then there'll be that role you play as his eyes and ears in his chicken hawk thing. It's disgusting, believe me I know, but as long as he's got the goods on you, you'll have to play along. Maybe, just maybe, after a few years, he'll let you off easy... like me."
Trying not to be too eager to accept his fate, Amos cringed, "Well, I guess you've got me over a barrel. I wasn't digging being a monk very much and was looking for a way out. This may be it." He put on a pathetic, accept his fate, look. The Chief smiled slightly. He wasn’t buying it. He could read people.
"Okay, I've got two weeks left before I head out. I want you by my side the whole time so that you can see how I operate around here. We'll be going into town where I will introduce you to my friends. I think they'll like a clean-cut guy like you. Anyway, we got you a uniform (he pointed to a new uniform hanging from a coat rack in the corner of the room). You can change in the restroom just across the hall and we'll get started."
Amos never went back to his cell by the Cathedral. There was nothing there he needed anyway. The uniform fit well except the pants were long until he stuffed them in his boots--much more confining than the sandals he was used to. He liked what he saw in the mirror and imagined his hair grown out and a mustache he was planning to grow. He didn't spend much time in front of the mirror and soon returned to the Chief's office. Outside, Hodges told him to drive as they took one of the police equipped Jeeps and toured the campus.
The Vespers was much larger than Amos had imagined and covered several square miles. Surrounded by high security fences, Chief Randy Hodges explained that controlling the deer population was a constant problem and they were trying to figure out a way that the deer could go through the fences and not let the public in or the pions out. "You already know about the dog problem." He laughed. He showed Amos many camera installations designed so that no one could enter the Vespers campus without being detected and recorded one way or another. He explained that they had gone to HD cameras a couple of years back and that the images were so sharp that, “We can spot a flea on the back of a coyote while he was running full tilt.” It also helped to know the color of the eyes of the perps. A perpetrator was any outsider (paparazzi) who tried to penetrate their security system or any pion who decided to take leave without permission. "Believe me, there are plenty of them. These young guys come here all starry eyed and stupid, take their vows, and then try to sneak out for a night on the town or just plain escape. We catch ‘em all. Mostly inside the grounds. Occasionally we pick ‘em up on the road to town. The worst cases we have to go after with bloodhounds in the woods. I hate that. We never involve the local police."
Amos's new home had a firehouse atmosphere. For now, he had a private room with bath in a house next to the station. There was a large recreation room with television and games next to the kitchen where everyone took turns cooking. There was a well-equipped exercise room and everyone was encouraged to control their weight and keep in good shape. After a great meal cooked by Ralph and a couple of glasses of wine, followed by a movie--the first one he'd seen since coming to the Vespers--Amos was ready for bed.
He had settled into a great dream with some girl in Navy Whites trying to get him to go flying with her by taking off her clothes when suddenly he heard a raspy, buzzing sound and his room was lit up by the eerie red glow of a panel of LEDs flashing on and off. He was pulling on his pants when the intercom told him "One was on the run." When he got to the reception desk, three of the guys were already there. Ralph said, "Come'n Chief, follow me." Amos followed him out of the door.
Outside, they took one of the Jeeps. Ralph drove them about 2 miles to a far corner of the Vespers. He then gave Amos some infrared headgear and that gave him fairly good vision even in the dark of a moonless night. Amos didn't tell Ralph that he'd used this gear before, but must've impressed him with his facility with the device. In a heartbeat they were off into the brush with Ralph pointing the way. Amos couldn't hear them, but he knew there were others coming from other directions. There was no shouting or dogs howling, just the sound of them stepping on leaves and branches that cracked as they moved through the undergrowth. After about five minutes, Amos could see the outline of a body in the distance, about 100 yards off, under some brush. They approached carefully and the body didn't move. When they got very close, it still didn't move. Just as Amos was about to pounce, it took off, crashing wildly through the brush in the dark. Ralph and Amos followed, walking. Although the young man was trying hard to get away, he couldn't see well and kept getting hung up in the brush. Finally, exhausted and bleeding from cuts, he allowed them to walk up to him and take him by the hand. He had lost his sandals, and in addition to being exhausted, he was pretty scratched up. The others appeared out of the brush and they led him back to the Jeep. The Chief Hodges arrived and started asking questions.
"What's your name, son?"
"Abner Six"
"How long have you been at the Vespers?"
"I don't know. Two weeks, I think."
"This is the second time you've run. Didn't three nights ago teach you?"
"Yeah, it taught me that I should get out of this place."
"Well, we are going to have to lock you up for the night and in the morning you will get your wish."
They walked silently after that. There was nothing more to say. Abner Six was placed in Ralph and Amos's Jeep and they drove them back to the station. In the back, there was a jail with five cells. They asked Abner Six to strip, and after a thorough search for any contraband, treated his cuts. Making sure there was nothing in the cell that the kid could commit suicide with, they turned in for the night. Amos wasn't sure what time to get up, but he was wide-awake at 5 a.m. anyway. He got up and got dressed and wandered around the game room until the others started getting up around 7. Amos enjoyed making breakfast for the guys and they were through with that by 8 a.m. He made sure that the inmate had something to eat. They allowed Abner Six to have a shower and put some bandages on his worse cuts, and then gave him some clothes to wear. By 9 a.m. they were back in the Jeep and driving into Auburndale. They bought him a bus ticket for Milwaukee and gave him $50 cash. They waited around until the bus came at 10:45 a.m. and watched him get on and leave.
"He won't be back, and he won't say anything either." Frank sounded quite sure of himself. After all, Amos figured he had seen it many times before.
They were back at the station just in time for lunch. After that, Chief Randy took Amos down to the gravel pit they used for gun training. Amos made sure that he was a little clumsy and a little off with his shots. He knew that it was going to be hard for him to cover up the fact that he was hard-core military. He was just have to fake it and try not to be as good as he could so that he would fit in and not questioned.
Remarking about his ability, the Chief Hodges said: "Amos, I picked you because I thought you would be able to step in my shoes. But your performance here today is a bit disappointing. Your bio says that you've been hunting up in Minnesota since you were a kid? You sure don't show it." The Chief got a disgusted look on his face, shaking his head.
"We always used rifles or shotguns. My father said that handguns were good for nothing except killing people. Guess I'll have to get used to using one."
"Well I've got something you can try." Hodges walked back to the Jeep and emerged with a 22 automatic rifle. "We use this for varmints around here. Can you show me how you can use it."
Amos took the rifle from the Chief Randy and hefted it, sizing it up. It was a Stevens with a Bushnell scope. He heard crows cawing about 200 yards to his right. Swinging the rifle around smoothly so as not to startle the Chief, he quickly centered the scope on a crow at the top of a tree. He squeezed off a shot. Before the sound of the bullet reached the tree, he caught a second crow raising its wings to fly and squeezed off a second shot. Both crows dropped to the ground. He smiled shyly and looked at the chief.
"My God, son. I've never seen shooting like that! I guess I'm going to have to revise what I said earlier. I expect you'll be very good with a handgun shortly."