Andy was kind of out of his
mind with ideas, like carrying around a bomb about to explode as his head ached
all the time. Jane had found him
charming and pleasant and Andy was truly tempted to turn around and knock on
her front door, even at three o'clock in the morning.
He knew Jane was a long shot as
her striking good looks dazzled everybody at the company meeting and especially
during the after meeting cocktails as several men watched her finish her fourth
tall glass of red wine just over an hour ago.
The five star Hotel only served the best wines and at twenty seven
dollars a glass Andy was picking up Jane's bar bill.
Every quarter the "Cary
Group" had their customary business meeting but Andy could tell Mr. Cary
was wondering if the group would accept him as their new Vice President of
Operations.
Andy was charged with
anticipation as Mr. Cary informed him that his promotion to the executive group
as Vice President of Operations would be announced at the quarterly meeting and
Andy should plan to give a little speech in front of three hundred and four
people, it kept him on the edge of his chair all night.
Andy could feel the camera
focus on him during the speech while being transmitted live across the world to
all the branches of the "Cary Group" as everybody in the live
audience was surly wondering why in the hell would they promote the sixty year
old Andy Ledger to the executive group in Richmond Virginia.
During Andy's speech he assured
his fellow associates that the "Cary Group" would make a dramatic
return to profitability as the newly created software already in the testing
phase would make the Department of Defense plead for more and more.
Now standing alone, after his
promotion announcement, after the quarterly meeting, after the speech, after the
cocktails and after offering to give Jane Henning's a ride home, with his mind
full he just stood by his Mercedes alone and looked at Jane's front door and
wondered if he should just knock and try his luck.
He was kind of a ordinary guy,
but she was kind of extraordinarily drunk and the potential of making love to
her thirty something body was that light bulb in his head that would never go
dark, she was something as he noticed the Cary Group customer service manager
Jane Henning's had turned off her interior lights and would be going to bed
tonight without him.
Andy drove in the direction of
his own home but his mind was captivated by his promotion, his big raise in
income and Jane Henning's laying in her bed.
He really didn't know why Mr. Cary promoted him over three other people
but the deal was done, Andy was the boss and his salary was larger than the
President of the United States, it had been a decent day.
Andy slowed down and took his
freeway exit but didn't make the right turn to go home, he made a left and then
left again, and started North bound, he was going to knock on the door.
He couldn't park right in front
of her house because another car took the parking spot he had just left less
than an hour ago. Andy looked at the
clock in his car and wondered what in the hell he was doing, it was past four
o'clock in the morning now, at least it was Saturday.
Andy hadn't noticed the tall
bushes in and around Jane Henning's home before as his new parking space gave
him a new vantage point. From his point
of view now still sitting in his car Jane's front porch was shrouded by
plantings and the little porch light still left her front porch shadowy which
was making Andy a little uncomfortable about knocking on her door, it might
scare her to death but then he saw the sliver of light come on between the
closed blinds.
To save time Andy created a
shortcut to Jane's front door and walked across the small but well kept front
yard. He was nervous but more confident
as the interior light was on so Jane was at least up and running around.
Andy also hadn't noticed the
wheelchair ramp to the far right of the front door before as it was dark and
almost hidden by bushes and big chrysanthemums that were in full bloom.
Andy was in the night shadows
of a sizeable maple tree when suddenly Jane's front door opened and flooded the
front porch with her interior lights.
Not really knowing why Andy kind of slumped down making himself barely
visible and then he noticed that he was holding his breath and was down on one
knee like a thief in the night.
He felt like a Dummy but he
stayed down as he watched a man walk out Jane's front door wearing a cowboy hat
and turning to grab her ass while kissing her.
Andy couldn't see the man's face because of the cowboy hat while Andy thought
he heard a distant thump of thunder and at every step he tried to get smaller
and smaller.
Andy was a little frightened as
the man with the cowboy hat walked toward the street using Jane's sidewalk as
Andy moved up to the side of the house and noticed he was holding his breath
again.
He was still crouching almost
touching the side of Jane's house when he became conscious of the man with the
cowboy hat opening and closing his automobile door. He continued to move away from the street
increasing the distance between him and the cowboy and was passing under one of
Jane's window when he noticed he was at least breathing again.
He was conscious over every
sound and could hear his own breathing, the cowboy starting his car and even
Jane closing and locking her front door. When he moved again the sounds of the
crunching leaves under his black leather shoes sounded like firecrackers.
A new feeling washed over Andy,
some impending danger that he could not explain as his focus intensified on
everything but nothing at the same time. Andy heard the thunder of another spring storm
which suggested the weather man had been right at last.
Saturday and Sunday thunder storms and lot's
of lightning was the reason Mr. Cary had canceled the Sunday golf game as the
curtains closed on the quarterly meeting just a few hours ago.
Andy heard something more,
maybe from the backyard?
Andy stood up
and walked slowly to Jane's backyard six foot wooden fence and looked over the
top and saw her standing there totally nude holding a single high-heeled red
shoe in one hand and maybe another full glass of wine in the other.
He pulled up his coat collar as
little drops of rain water started to fall as his sexual anticipation grew as
her nude body was young, lean and perfect as she tossed her high heel shoe
across the patio and looked directly at Andy.
Time stopped, his brain went
rat-a-tat trying to figure out what to say or do as Jane was looking straight
at him, but her stillness was reassuring, she had not seen him she had simply
looked in his direction.
Andy was lost in time, he had
been watching Jane for a long time, walking inside her walled backyard nude and
pouring a few more glasses of wine as Andy's sexual tension increased more and
more.
He felt like he just arrived
but the sun was bringing morning light to the mountains in the East as Andy had
been watching the nude Jane enjoy the rain like a child dancing in the rain.
His own stillness and the breaking sun light created morning shadows as Andy
heard Jane's cell phone ringing and her picking up and placing the call on
speaker.
He heard a nearby tree branch
crackle and break which made Andy jump which made him hit the wooden fence face
first, and a lot of noise resulted as he fell against the water soaked fence.
It was a fucking dear, Andy saw
the white tip of a tale heading away from Jane's front yard at a full mad dash
as Andy had most likely scared the deer as much as the deer scared Andy.
He was hunkered down but then jumped
up as Jane was running toward the noise which means she would discover the new
Vice President of Operations of the "Cary Group", still in half
darkness, with his manicured nails, expensive aftershave, and his penetrating
blue eyes watching her nude chest and remind her of the man called a college
football player that had raped her during her college years.
Andy ran as fast as he could,
opened his car door and fumbled for his car keys he had left in his briefcase
under his Hustler magazine tucked inside at the last minute.
Jane would never know that Andy
had placed his car keys inside his briefcase along with three rolls of duct
tape, two sets of silver police handcuffs and a brand new pretty unregistered
nine millimeter pistol along with three loaded clips.
Jane had found nothing at the
fence but the foreshadowing thought of her own rape kept her up at night and
her drinking kept her in some kind of balance, at least she thought.
Jane knew the Cowboy was a
dodgy kind of character but she needed the money and he glided right in and
glided right out as he paid her three hundred bucks for her occasional groans
that telegraphed to her date he was doing a good job.
Jane would go down in the
basement now, taking the padding off her piano and maybe play for a while,
music was her personal diary and the drugs she would take would keep her awake
all weekend and her secret life would remain hers for another day.
The cowboy had confessed after
they had sex that he was married and the money he paid was worth it even though
it was his car payment for the old firebird that was about to be repossessed.
When Andy got home the sun was
out and some of the clouds had cleared away as he parked his car inside his
garage and out of habit he looked out his rearview mirror, making sure his car
was all the way inside the garage before he shut the door.
He was at home now and soaking
wet, muddy shoes and torn pants, a closed briefcase but he did notice a nice
old red firebird parked across the street.
Andy had always wanted one in High School but never had the cash, but
maybe he would buy one now, just to play with, take to car shows on
weekends. A vice president can do
anything the wants.
..
Mr. Cary had his meeting at the
Pentagon, and it went well, well kind of.
The Cary Group created specialized software and worked with computer
manufacturers to create global security programs for customers such as the
Pentagon, N.S.A., C.I.A. and other big league players. If anything went
"bump in the night" the United States would know about it just about
in real time, at least that was the Cary Group promise.
Over thirty years ago Roger
Cary started the Cary Group when he had left the C.I.A. as an intelligence
operative. Roger never did the spook
stuff like behind the iron curtain days and he never wished to tie a Russian
spy up in a dark cold basement.
Roger Cary had graduated from
M.I.T. as a computer scientist and the C.I.A. offered him his first and last
job. If anything Roger Cary was a intelligence
sleuth, an insider looking outside at the world of trouble and planning how to
stop them, that always included killing them.
He enjoyed his C.I.A. career
but working there was a little bit too political than anybody could
imagine. His reporting was changed and
presented to the authorities in charge of government security. His thoughts and opinions were often times
ignored but his techniques had made him famous inside the C.I.A. and he enjoyed
the highest security clearance that the United States had to offer.
The C.I.A. work at times was
unnerving so when Barack Obama was elected as president Roger Cary decided to
pack his bags and avoid all the muggings coming from the White House.
Roger Cary took with him,
inside his briefcase, his own personal retirement plan that was better than any
401K in the world. Roger Cary had
decided to leave the C.I.A. but the upper management inside the agency wanted
to give him a going away present.
Inside his own home. after
leaving the C.I.A., Roger walked down
the wooden stairs into his home basement and noticed that the contractors,
hired and paid for by the C.I.A., had installed the refrigerator sized tempered
steel safe into the concrete basement floor, following every little instruction
given by the C.I.A.
In a way it was unsettling
because his briefcase held C.I.A.'s "Tabby Weapons Cache" administratively
known as "TWC" around the office, mostly just called
"Tabby".
It was the most powerful computer software
ever created by man and used in secret around the world to find bank robbers, uncover
corrupt politicians, dig out Islamic radicals and even stopping commuter trains,
turning green lights red, remotely opening bank safes and a million other
things. Tabby had even halted the nuclear centrifuges in Iran a few years ago.
Roger Cary would receive ten
thousand dollars a month to maintain an authorized original copy of
"Tabby" so his secret life continued.
In his basement, sitting on the old wooden chair he inserted his card
into the slot on the face of the save, and the safe light turned green and the
steel door started to open automatically and in a few seconds locked into the
open position.
He crouched from his chair and
again inserted his C.I.A. coded card into the computer device inside the safe
and watched another little light turn green, as a full sized computer station automatically
lifted and locked into place, he was now connected to the main frame at the
C.I.A. Headquarters in Virginia.
As the computer work station
lifted up and out of the safe Roger Cary took the coded note from inside his
shirt pocket readying himself to access the C.I.A. computer infrastructure.
His typing on the computer
keyboard was barely audible even has his fingers floated across the keyboard
typing in his secret password, a twenty digit alpha numerical combination as the main computer still inside the safe
blinked to full life he typed in his username "Annie" and he was
connected.
His basement room sprang to
light as the system now took over its own environment including his home
security system. Some instinct told
Roger Cary to hold still and not to make any sudden moves, the system was
spooky and fun at the same time.
He opened his briefcase and took
out the thirteen thumb drives and starting inserting them into the drive one at
a time, each time requiring a different password neatly written on his little
piece of paper.
Roger Cary had a funny feeling
like he was in a getaway car after robbing a bank or being chased by the cops
after running a red light. He didn't
want the F.B.I. to break into his home in the middle of the night and toss him
into the trunk of a government black sedan, but he kept inserting the thumb drives, typing
in the next password for the next twenty minutes, maybe longer, he wasn't
really sure.
As instructed he pushed the red
button that would aim all the thumb drive software into the proper folders
already created on his remote government computer. He noticed the computer inside the safe
looked like he could have been mounted in a combat tank as he sat there and
watched the workstation being received back into the safe, the safe door
closing and locking, the red light went bright, he was done.
Roger Cary spoke out loud "Annie"
"what a code name" as he took the package out of his briefcase and
took out the ten thousand dollars in cash and counted it and in some dreamlike
state he counted the cash three times.
The drama of leaving the C.I.A.
had exhausted him and this special assignment deal with the C.I.A. and the sequence
of events were almost unbelievable.
The last thing in his
briefcase, the handgun that he was given by Thomas his so-called present day handler at the C.I.A. Roger didn't know the difference between
pistols but his first lesson was tomorrow at three thirty in the afternoon. The basement shooting range and his
instructor would teach him how to load, aim and shoot, Thomas had assured him.
Roger Cary wasn't looking
forward to the weapons training let alone learning how to hold it, present the
proper stance and bracing for recoil as he pulled the trigger at some paper
target down the range.
Thomas had told him "Dead
Men Don't Bleed Roger, and they sure don't talk."
Roger got up off his wooden
chair and got the idea that he was hungry.
He felt like he was standing on
a cliff's edge holding the Mauser semiautomatic pistol as he slowly walked up
the wooden stairs back to the main floor of his home.
It was the door bell that
surprised him, and then the loud knocking.
Trying to solve the puzzle
Roger Cary looked out the window and snapped back into reality as the Sheriff's
deputy knocked even louder.
..
