Lucifer’s Semi-Final Conclave -- Part 28
Bethesda, MD
Christy eventually had a good day off. After her meeting, Her ‘dad’ ie “old goat” had walked her from the picnic table to the corridor as they had left the meeting, Christy, you now have a big problem explaining why you made the call to Lew. ‘Random’ does not compute in this business, you know. You will face inquisition and wrath tomorrow… But.. you have always been a decent actress… Here’s your chance to go for the academy awards… Christy smiled broadly as “old goat” patted her shoulder and said… good luck.
She was temporarily free from being followed and bugged now, since the suits are busy guarding her car at Firestone. She laughed out loud as she proceeded to do what most red blooded females do with free time off work and find themselves uptown. -- Why, they go shopping, of course. She started by heading to her favorite lingerie shop….
------------------------------------------------------
At Home
Phil, Buffy and Danielle were seated at the counter, sipping the last of the morning’s coffee, and just waiting. Ken had gone to work earlier, saying, tonight should finish up on hussy… Phil had the burner phone sitting on the counter, and looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. He had replied to Christy yesterday evening, and there was less than two hours to go.. Until 12:30 ET.. They were talking over their adventures yesterday as Clive had given them the ’trace tour’ after they had finished with the hussy cleaning and Bree had put away her Buffy chain for the day.
On the way to the Wilks. Clive had stopped only a few hundred yards up from Ken and Buffy’s ’spread, and pointed to the opposite side of the road. Here’s a pretty good site, he said --- let’s take a short walk. It looked identical to the rest of the landscape for a couple hundred feet or so, but as they walked on, the land started a slight, gentle slope down. Another 500 feet terminated in an abrupt drop of 10 feet, and a really nice view. The drop off continued descending into a wide green valley with scattered cottonwood trees and a small stream at the bottom, one of the many tributaries which eventually formed the Virgin river… Across the valley, perhaps 10 miles away, the distant mountains rose. Danielle and Phil both liked it… so on their return to the SUV, they noted the numbers on the survey stakes.
After another mile or so, the Wilks home place came into view down a gentle slope into a large valley, which ended on the near side at the bank of the Virgin river, perhaps another mile away. Phil and Bree were in awe of the vista. The 80 year old home of western cedar was surrounded on three sides by a wide porch. It was not especially large, but the view of the overall ranch headquarters was impressive. There was a much older home place beside the now main house, built of adobe and cedar, and constructed by Justin’s grandfather in the mid 1800‘s. The two home places were surrounded with a split rail fence, and two large cottonwood trees stood in the common front yard of the two houses. There were many scattered other buildings, some obviously used in time past for hired ranch hands. There was of course, several corrals of split cedar, as well as a large barn for horses. Sandy Lane terminated near the two trees.
As the SUV arrived, Clive took his fatigue hat off, folded it and stuffed it in his cutoffs. They proceeded toward the two trees. Between them and the homes, there was a short, wrought metal fence encircling the cemetery which held three large double grave stones and one single one. The two doubles to the right as they entered were Justin’s forebears. They marked the remains of Justin’s parents and grand parents, each buried side by side, as indicated on the markers. Adjacent to Justin’s Parents, a third double stone was pre-engraved with the names and birth dates of Justin and Bertha Wilks, but the stone marked empty ground for now. A single Stone Displayed the data for their son, Clay, Clives buddy. It bore also, a US Flag and a prominent ranger tab. Clays forbear’s stones each bore flags recording their army services. Justin and his father’s stones displayed US flags and WW2, WW1, but Justins great grand father’s stone proudly showed the Rebel flag of the Confederacy, along with the Texas Lone Star....
As the group stood in silence, Justin and Bertha Wilks waved from the porch, and then proceeded to join them….
--------------------------------
Bethesda, Md
Christine Bales was thoroughly enjoying her day free of continual monitoring by the club. She had spent 30 minutes shopping in her favorite lingerie shop, and talking with her buddy, Pam. Pam let her out the back door and she visited awhile at the mission, swapping talk and helping them a bit preparing for lunch. She had double checked the security of Jennifer’s burner phone, just in case it had become unplugged or accidentaly dislodged in the storeroom. She had no fear for it’s safety here, though. At 11:30, she left, drove through Chik Fila, and then to her apartment. She ate her lunch, and stuffed her burner phone into her shorts. Finally, she set again her ’intrusion’ alarm, which consisted of a single strand of her blonde hair judiciously placed between the metal plates of the lower door hinge, which clamped it firmly in place when the door was shut. It was easy to check on before she entered -- if you had good eyes and knew about it… And she always checked…
She drove a few blocks up the street, and parked, watching her clock. At precisely 12:30, She called Phil…
-----------------------------------------------
Rocksense East..
#2 sat with a few men discussing their second inquisition tomorrow concerning the call Christy had made to #6. One man was his new #4, the Personnel director which had replaced the recently ‘retired’ #4. The others consisted of their body language expert, a shrink, two lawyers, and #10, who was in charge of security, and thus also of the ‘suits’
Assigned to monitor Christy 24/7. The two suits would also be present.
Wow, 9 men ganging up to intimidate one poor lady… They, however, better watch out or they could end up greatly out maneuvered, embarrassed, and a few of them angry as hell… Because, Christine Bales was intent on trying for an Academy Award….
-----------------------------------------------
At Home
The three were watching the time, having now switched to hot tea, and were looking at each other anxiously as it was now 9:29... At 9:31, the burner phone on the counter lit up… Phil’s glance at it’s display showed ‘Christy’ because Phil had assigned the number to it’s phonebook when he had received her first call. Phil pressed speakerphone… After their pleasantries, Christy began, and in a few minutes, had outlined the poo events of the last couple of days at Rocksense. When pressed for specific details, Christy went as far as she was able to without detailing ’the rest of the story’ and certainly nothing about her main job as undercover agent, which neither of them knew about, nor suspected.
She ended with a bright spot though. She said, I’ve got several weeks of vacation accumulated, and Jennifer and I had thought about a road trip to Las Vegas maybe next week… That is, if we are welcome… she teased… Danielle shouted… you dunce, of course you are welcome… get your butts out here.. As Bree started dancing with Buffy, Phil said … Yes. Please… There have been enormous strides in improving our situation here… can’t wait to share it with you…. We have an even larger Study group as well… they are all like family… You and mom will fall in love with the whole scene here….
Christy replied -- Well, guys, I’ll let you know when plans are finalized… they may even be finalized as soon as Saturday’s scheduled call between Jennifer and Danielle… Bye..
==================================================
Bethesda, Md
After the call, Christy went shopping for another hour or so, then went back to Firestone where she chuckles at the two suits eating Big Macs and waiting, still parked in the same place, wiyh one door open. She continued around to the side and parked in the same spot the car had been left, went in the side entrance, and walked up to enquire about her car‘s progress. About 5 minutes, lady, and they will drive it around, want to settle up now?
Christy presented her card, and just signed the receipt when her car arrived up front.. The suits were still munching lunch as she walked out and quickly drove away. She smiled as she passed, because in his hurry to follow, he had obviously spilled hes drink, as he had raised up and frantically swept at his seat with one hand, while holding half a sandwich in the other. She entered traffic quickly, and through the rear view, she observed her now standard brown sedan following, 6 cars behind. At the first intersection, she made a right, went to the next intersection, made another right, drove to the next street which
of course was the street she had started from. She stopped for a left in mid intersection with her left blinker on waiting for traffic to clear. She continued waiting until the light turned red, and turned. The brown sedan was caught in the light, as she drove to her apartment, laughing all the way.… What a green couple of kids, she thought.
At her door, she checked her alarm, and entered. She fired up her stereo, poured a glass of wine, stripped and headed for the shower, even washing her hair this trip. as she relaxed in the warm spray for a while. It’s early yet, she thought as she blow dried her hair, leaving it slightly damp. She installed a few rollers, and placed her plastic bonnet over them. Grabbing her robe, she took her glass of wine to the couch and waited for the afternoon national news shows to begin at 4. She liked them for their first 5 minutes, of lead stories and used her remote to cycle through them rapidly, to discover the script for tomorrow they will all use to prepare the sheep. It was neat to listen to reactions at work… It helped her judge her co-workers.
A bit after four, she started some laundry, and policed up her apartment a bit. She then cuddled on her couch with a book and a fresh half-glass of wine. 3 hours later found her placing a Boston Market in the oven, putting the laundry in the dryer… She carefully considered her approach to tomorrow’s inquest, and by 8:30, she went to bed to dream about it….
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
At home:
Ken rolled in from work at the usual time… He had brought a cardboard box with the test set innside, akong with several specialized tools and a can of “quick start”. He also had 10 gallons of fresh diesel in two old 5 gallon oil cans. Buffy had prepared a huge pot of vegetable -beef soup/stew from the leftovers from yesterdays roast and an assortment of fresh and canned veggies. She made a fresh pan of biscuits, while Bree assembled side salads. After they were done, Ken and Phil went to hopefully finish hussy. Bree and Buffy were sitting at the counter drinking green tea, and discussing Buffy’s progress on her online schoolmarm course. At about 8:45, they heard it… hussy started singing her song… a cough or two was followed by few puffs of black smoke, and then-- the gentle and regular tapping of a healthy and restored diesel engine.
Bree and Buffy ran to the porch just in time to see the guys high five. By nine, Ken had cleaned and reloaded the tools in his work truck and Phil had closed the camper, and put away the light bar… They came in, washed up, and claimed a cup of tea, and sat at the counter with the girls.
Ken said that he would get up a few minutes early, crank it and give the engine and underneath a good inspection for any leaks… If there are none, you can drive it to Henderson to get a chassis lube, new tires all around, and the AC charged. When you are done with that, stop by the shop and I will give it another leak check, and you can top off the diesel tanks, and we are done…
With that, they all left for bed.. When Ohil and Danielle had entered their room, Danielle hugged Phil, and said.. You can shower first, then I will… BUT--remember to save me my right sleeve and half your robe…
------------------------------------------------------------------
Bethesda, MD
Christy woke an hour earlier than normal. It could have been because she went to bed earlier last night, but it wasn’t… She awoke thinking about her acting role during the coming inquisition this morning. She had thought long and hard about it. She began with her hair, because it wa the easiest. She had never put any dyes on chemicals on it, and it showed the benefits. She was a natural medium blonde, not bright, not dishwater.. It was naturally wavy, but not what you would call curly. It was simple to manage, and the natural lay was to cup her face in an attractive manner.. Only seldom did she use face makeup, not only did she not need it, but she did not want to attract any guys… She just was not interested. After her divorce, she had re-evaluated. Her career would simply not allow her time to please a man and her career too. Inside, though, she yearned for a connection like Phil and Danielle had, and someday, I will have it--she promised herself. Snapping back to reality, she placed a light touch of pale eye shadow that accentuated well her green eyes… then she said… just a touch underneath for todays use--- she then went to her closet and got her small pepper spray canister she took on hiking trips for use on possible unruly animals, and dropped it into her purse. She grabbed a clean washcloth, soaked and wrung it well, went into her kitchen and sprinkled it well with baking soda. After shaking the excess off, she then folded it into quarters, and placing it into a baggie, dropped it into her purse. She then finished dressing, poured a cup of coffee, and sat at her table to think over her performance today, coffee and time can work wonders… in 30 minutes, the butterflies had vanished from her stomach, and her previous apprehension had turned to anger. She was now ready to kick their butts…. With extreme malice aforethought…
----------------------------------------------------------------
.
To be continued:
The previous Part 27 is here:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=115884
