Bob, the Invisible Dragon Page 15

  # # # # # # # #

  "These are good," Double-Tom said. "What are they?"

  "A combination of chocolate and peanuts. They're an experiment. I'm trying different recipes and asking for reactions. The guards liked the chocolate and peanut butter tart things best."

  "Those were good. But they were too big for me. You should make the tart shells smaller so that you could eat the chocolate/peanut butter tart all at once or in two bites. The chocolate and caramel combination was good too. I didn't like the chocolate and marshmallow. Stuck to my teeth too much. The chocolate covered mint is for sissies."

  "OK. Good to know."

  "Did you give any more thought to my offer?"

  "I told you already. I have no problems with supply."

  "You didn't say why."

  "My assistant has contacts with an organization down in the U.S. They supply nieces to her; she delivers them to me. I'm nowhere to be found in the arrangement. I want to keep it that way. Makes me untouchable."

  "Is her contact a guy in Seattle working for Safe Haven Ranches?"

  "Might be. I don't ask where she finds the nieces."

  (Stu didn't know anything about this Safe Haven Ranches group, but he did realize that the lead was worth pursuing. Stu hadn't been too involved in the Mutant Teenage Torpedo operation. Safe Haven was the group that ordered the dog collars from North Korea. Apparently Safe Haven was where electronic dog collars went so that they could be put around human necks. Other Wilizy members listening to the conversation recognized the name.)

  "I've sold some girls to their buyer. He knows me, but I don't have much access to white, blue-eyed blonde girls. He pays the most for blondes, but he won't let any suppliers hurt them. They can be as young as 6 years old. I can sell him other girls at a lower commission but they have to be at least 10. For them, their guy doesn't care what condition they're in when they arrive."

  "You focus on brunettes then?"

  "Yeah, of course. There's way more of them. Plus there are no restrictions on what happens during the kidnapping and delivery. It's easy to make good money if you're careful. A young girl disappears near a river and everybody assumes that it was an accident."

  "Like at Clearwater with your wife?"

  "Yeah. You got me on that. But she wasn't for Safe Haven. I killed her because she was cheating on me. I would never have made any money off her because she was way too old. But I tell you, there were no witnesses! I'm not dumb."

  "Where'd you put her body?"

  "Deep cave in closer to Clearwater and by the river. After I stuffed her out of sight, I let the canoe drift back down the river. Her lover is in the cave too. Very tall, skinny guy. I don't know why she was interested in him."

  "Women are hard to understand sometimes. You happen to know the name of the man you killed?"

  "Yeah. I followed him around for several days before I ambushed them. Sam Buck."

  "That explains it."

  "Explains what?"

  "Why Doc became involved and is going to be checking your heart right after your trial."

  "Why?"

  "I only told you how he's known in legal circles. As Doc. That's not his real name. His first name is Bill. Last name is Buck."

  "I really am fried!"

  "Perhaps not."

  "You're taking my case?"

  "Only if you tell me everything you know. No more secrets. I'll be grasping at straws to get you out of this."

  "Agreed."

  "This Safe Haven group. Could they help you out up here? What do you know about them?"

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 24

  It was the third week of April – a couple of days after D-T had told Mr. Stu everything he knew about the Safe Haven group. The prison officers must have been off their feed this night because Mr. Stu had brought a full plate of chocolate goodies back to his cell and had decided to share.

  "This is amazing," D-T said, holding up a long bar with chocolate on the outside and peanuts, caramel and fudge inside.

  "I found that recipe on the Internet. A very old example of a chocolate bar. I'm thinking of calling it Oh Henrik.

  "Why the strange name?"

  "Its original name might still be taken. I'm going to change the recipe some too. Perhaps throw in some marshmallows."

  "Not marshmallows. They're too hard; plus they don't have any taste. What about putting in Rice Crispies like you did with the bar I just ate?"

  "Might work. Try these little discs."

  Double-Tom tipped the plate so that the discs all fell into his hand. He tossed them one at a time into his mouth. Chewed and considered. "They're good. Crunchy shell with chocolate inside. I like the different colours on the shells. Orange, yellow, green, blue, and red. You could eat them in a different order each time and always have a different taste. I like that. I think I'd eat the red ones last. They're the best. What are you calling these?"

  "I'm thinking of calling them Dumbies."

  "Why that name?"

  "I dunno. Just seemed appropriate."

  # # # # # # # #

  "Did that Safe Haven information help you at all?"

  "Not yet, but I'm going to be checking them out further. I do have an alibi for you, though."

  "Good. Are you going to have that last chocolate bar?"

  "No. Go ahead."

  Once again, Double-Tom sampled the bar. Stu had to turn away. D-T had the disgusting habit of keeping all of the food he was munching at the front of his mouth and chewing with his mouth open. "It's good. Mushy. What's its name?"

  "I'm thinking of calling it a Venus Bar. You want to learn about your alibi or not?"

  D-T sucked the chocolate off his fingers and motioned for Mr. Stu to continue.

  We could have gotten a confession out of him two months ago by tying him up and holding a chocolate bar under his nose. "On the day that your wife was murdered, you were in an intensive counselling program. In fact, you were in that program the whole week."

  "Do I have a witness?"

  "Yes."

  "Believable?"

  "Definitely. High-ranking official of a major prison. This is a man who likes to give back to the community. He counsels former prisoners and helps them combat the evils of alcohol. Small group sessions, usually. By the way, you're a recovering alcoholic."

  "What prison does my alibi work at?"

  "This one."

  D-T looked blank.

  That's why we thought of calling the chocolate discs Dumbies. Mr. Stu gestured at his cell.

  "This warden?"

  "Yup."

  "Why'd he do that?"

  "He was a willing volunteer."

  D-T understood sarcasm. "What do you have on him?"

  "Let's just say that you, I, and he are in the same club."

  D-T looked blank.

  "Perverts Anonymous."

  "Oh."

  # # # # # # # #

  "Is your end of the bargain set? Will you have a niece for me?"

  "I know who I'll give you. I'll have to find her first. But that shouldn't be too hard."

  "Details?"

  "Tall, skinny, about fourteen years old I think. I lose track."

  "Does she have a name?"

  "Used to be Frances, but she goes by the name Dreamer now."

  "Isn't that your daughter?"

  "I let her believe that, but no. She's the daughter of my dead wife and her dead lover." D-T was enjoying himself enormously. He was going to get revenge on his wife, on her lover, on Wanda for getting in his way, and on Dreamer for being so uncooperative.

  "How are you going to keep her quiet after you ambush her?"

  "Klonk her on the head with a rock."

  "I prefer nieces that aren't brain-damaged. I'll give you a better way."

  "Whatever."

  "This is amazing. Double-Tom, are you actually going to kidnap a fourteen year old girl and give her to me, a known pervert, so that I can do whatever I want to do
with her."

  "Yup. No thanks are necessary. I'm happy to help out a friend. We're friends, right?"

  "Perverts anonymous forever," Stu said.

  # # # # # # # #

  Lucas was back in Candi's apartment between shifts at the school. Again, he was perched on a kitchen chair, his feet were on another chair, and he was trying to concentrate on his game while they waited for school to end. Concentrating was proving to be difficult. Candi was trying on different outfits. She'd come up to him, tap him on his knee, and show him what she was wearing. Or not wearing as was becoming the case. Lucas would say something like "Looks nice" and go back to his game.

  Lucas was finding it difficult to understand Candi. She had whined and complained about her high heating bills, but today, she was walking around in her apartment with barely anything on. Emphasis on the word barely. Then, because she was cold, she turned up the heat. Why? Why didn't she just put on a sweater and sweat pants? One time she came out of her bedroom, completely starkers, and took the long route in front of his chair to reach the kitchen. There, she drank a glass of water and returned to her bedroom, again by the long route in front of him. Why didn't she drink from the tap in the bathroom? She wouldn't have had to walk so far. Lucas decided that he wasn't going to come back to Candi's apartment again. Instead, he'd go into the woods, relax in his sling, and play his game without constantly being interrupted.

  # # # # # # # #

  Dreamer and Wizard were telling each other about the projects that each was managing. She had complained about the room being stuffy and had suggested that they go for a walk in the forest. So, that's what they were doing. Hand in hand, but natural like. No Monty-the-Python in view.

  "The engineers are still working on the designs for their prototypes," Wizard was saying. "It's proving more difficult than they thought to insert the power unit into place. The power unit will work fine for the small models because the diamond will be small too. But the big diamond is causing problems when we try to manufacture the big power units. We'll probably reserve the power unit with the big diamond for Wilizy use only and that will give our transports a competitive advantage over anything other companies or countries can put into operation. Even though we'll use invisible overnight express pallets to carry most of our freight, we still need to have a visible number of large diamond models that will explain how we can obtain supplies from Asia so quickly."

  "Are the Calgary airport buildings coming along?"

  "Yeah. Wanda is on time with the lumber. Her new sawmill is working well. Alberta needs to have more men trained in construction. I mentioned this to Rick and he's going to look into it. He's thinking of adding another kind of school to go along with our medical research school. That school is in Edmonton, so he's probably going to put this one in Calgary."

  Dreamer stopped, put her arm around Wizard's waist, and positioned Wizard's arm similarly before continuing to walk arm in arm. "Will that drive up land prices in Calgary?"

  "Yes. We'll purchase a Wilizy office building before that happens. I've looked through one that is completely empty and undamaged. Do you have building plans for the chocolate manufacturing plant ready to go?"

  "Everything is on order with Wanda," Dreamer said. "Once they finish delivering to the Calgary airport, they'll shift the lumber shipments to Medicine Hat. Construction men in Calgary will move to Medicine Hat after they finish in Calgary."

  "Where in Medicine Hat are you building?"

  "Big parcel of land right next to the airport. For the same reason that you're in the Calgary airport. Easy to ship supplies into the plant and finished products out." Dreamer started looking around her at the scenery. "How did your Saskatchewan peanut negotiations go?"

  "Done. One of the reasons I asked you to set up in Medicine Hat was so that we'd be close to the Saskatchewan peanuts. Our deal with Saskatchewan will be different from what we have with Alberta. We'll receive fees for the use of our seeds, but no other cash income. Instead, in the first few years Saskatchewan will give us an unlimited number of peanuts for use in your chocolate businesses in Medicine Hat. We'll pay them the going rate for their stock. Later, when they've planted peanuts over most of the province, we'll take only what we need and they can export the rest. We have first call on their harvests. Jock put me in touch with all the key people. They were anxious to plant something other than wheat in their fields. Saskatchewan is going to talk with Alberta about setting the same export price for both provinces' peanuts so that buyers can't work one set of farmers against another."

  "Who gets access to the Saskatchewan peanut shells that are left over from the processing?"

  "We do and we'll sell them back to the farmers at a percentage cost of what their peanut price is. The percentage will stay the same so our revenue will keep pace with the costs of their peanuts. We don't have to keep renegotiating when their price rises."

  "Smart." Dreamer stopped walking in the middle of a sunbeam shining through some trees. She turned and faced Wizard. "This is a nice spot," she said. Then she stepped close to him, put a hand behind his neck to bring his lips to hers, and with her other hand she grabbed Wizard's left wrist and planted his left hand square on top of what Lucas would refer to as one of her soft body parts.

  At first, Wizard struggled to extricate himself from what was another version of the female death grip. This time, they weren't holding hands. At least Wizard wasn't. Dreamer's death grip on his left hand meant that his left elbow was locked tight to his body and his left wrist was bent almost backwards by the manner that she was using to keep his hand in place. Wizard gave up his struggle as the kiss became more intense. So what if his wrist never worked properly again? This was his first ever boob grab, although he hadn't actually thought of doing that. Nor had he thought of talking with Dreamer about their relationship like Granny had suggested.

  They came up for air, and Wizard used that opportunity to pull his hand free and try to stretch out his wrist without her seeing.

  "That was nice," Dreamer said. "I'm glad you did that. I was sort of hoping you would. From now on, you don't have to be so shy about touching me there. But we have to be careful that others don't see us."

  Wizard recognized that this was a good opportunity to escape from a difficult situation. "Uh... Winnie and her wolves like to fly around invisibly in their slings in this part of the woods. Perhaps we should go back?"

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 25

  Two days after their return from Vancouver, Doc told Granny that the Ibuprofen pills were working. He actually had some function back in his fingers. Not for anything delicate like surgery, but enough to use a fork and knife. He had a heart-to-heart talk with Winnie and she left feeling very happy and proud. She also left with the agreement that she could come and talk with Doc about anything she wanted to know about medicine, and she could use his body for experiments with her acupuncture needles too.

  Winnie did continue those experiments for a while, and she did talk medicine with Doc from time to time. But mostly, when she visited, she just liked to watch him whittle, a big smile on his face. He gave her one of his best knives and she would sit beside Doc and whittle too. He showed her some of the artwork that he had put back into the woods, and she started to do that herself. Hikers exploring the forests around the Wilizy compound in the 2140's found a well-preserved wooden crane that experts authenticated as a Winnie piece of art. That discovery sparked Winnie-ists to pour into the woods and they found five more whittled animals. The crane is currently on display in the Surrey Art Museum. The five other pieces were registered as early Winnie and these are held privately.

  Winnie ended up using Doc's knife for whittling way more often than she read the arthritis book. The doctor had been right about that book. Very challenging. But Winnie did browse through it. She found the $20 bills concealed within its pages and the note from the doctor that he hoped these would be useful if she ever needed medicine again. The book went into t
he back of Winnie's closet where it remained untouched for a number of years.

  Winnie gave the old $20 bills to Wizard, who put them safely away in case somebody in the family had to buy something in the past. By this time, the time-travel trip to 2013 was common knowledge within the family and Melissa insisted that a search be made to ensure that there had been no negative aftereffects from their visit. She became even more insistent about a thorough search when TG reported that the Vancouver Sun had printed a front-page article titled Genius Wolf? the next day. The lengthy article included a long distance, grainy picture of a black wolf with a little aboriginal girl sitting on a blanket beside her. That article mysteriously disappeared from the Sun's article database two days after it had been published when a power surge destroyed a number of their computer files.

  The arthritis doctor, identified as Ethan Robertson from the name inside the book, had a successful medical career over the next thirty years and established a solid reputation for treating people crippled by the disease. A portion of his treatment time was reserved for people who were unable to pay for help. This was necessary after the B.C. health care system collapsed under its debts and good health care in the province became available only to the very rich. TG found no evidence that Robertson's decision to provide free medical help was caused specifically by Winnie's visit, although she may have influenced it.

  Constable Vitali was Constable Tiani Vitali. She left the Vancouver police force before the troubles, moved back to the interior, and took up a posting with the RCMP where she worked daily with the native tribes. She was honest, fair, and impartial in her dealings. In time, she was promoted to head a small detachment and, from there, she went on to lead larger detachments. Sexual harassment as well as bigotry were heavily discouraged under Vitali's watch. The closest she ever got to the Wilizy was in 2064 when she headed up the detachment in the city where Hank had been born. However he had moved out of that community many years before she got there. TG's judgment was that Constable Vitali was going to leave the Vancouver force anyway and Winnie's presence did not affect that decision. Tiani Vitali was killed as part of the biker wars. She died trying to protect a rookie partner.

  Smitty did influence events in Vancouver in a big way. He was on the front lines of the force when the police confronted a crowd of peaceful protestors just before the riots of '34. Smitty's decision to suddenly lead his squad into an unprovoked pepper-spraying charge at the sign-carrying natives marching down the center of Robson Street became the instigating event for the citywide riots that followed. The police force at that time did not regard that action as reprehensible and gave him an award for bravery. That award outraged other groups prompting the riots that marked the beginning of Vancouver's slide into chaos.