"From his official work records, I found no reference to him working anywhere before he was given charge of the station in the interior of B.C. It's possible that this was his first job. The RCMP were under siege and needed to fill positions. His work records reveal that his superiors were concerned about the lack of arrests coming out of his detachment. However nothing was officially said to him. It was at about that time that I met him and I never personally saw any reasons to doubt his capability. I found Franklin to be a supportive commanding officer. He took some ideas that I had proposed and made them into formal operations. That wouldn't have happened without his approval."
"I had little to do with Franklin after the Aboriginal Nation was established in 2066. I'd see him from time to time when I had meetings in Surrey. He was friendly to me and I was to him. I followed his career with a certain degree of interest as he became more important. I see on his official job records that he has been sitting on a number of very important committees."
"From what we've learned about Franklin's recent behaviour, and from what Yolanda shared with me recently about her own opinions of Franklin, we must conclude that this job record does not reflect who the man truly was. It's possible that the real Franklin can be revealed if we pursue an intensive inquiry into his job history. He has apparently lived a lie for several decades at least. Somewhere in that past, he would have slipped and somebody might have noticed it. Or someone might have said something about it to a close friend. Perhaps they might even have mentioned it to a husband."
Yolanda's lips tightened at that point, but nobody other than Hank noticed. Yolanda kept staring into the spot where Winnie had been cuddling with Patella and said nothing.
"I can help you with that inquiry," Mac said. "I have established contact with all of the senior military brass, and they know that I am representing the Wilizy and that we are to receive their full cooperation. They all know my voice now. I expect I can access any military document that I want. If it's necessary to go outside the military, that should be possible too. If I work the computer angle, perhaps others could pursue personal inquiries with friends, acquaintances, neighbours, etc."
"What's your take on the military's reaction to this?" Hank asked Mac.
"They're throwing everything they have at this. Full bird colonels don't receive orders to visit bank managers unless somebody has lifted the cover over the panic button and is getting ready to push it. They rightfully should be responding this way. If the Wilizy is taken out of the picture, and if the Alaska threat proves real, B.C. could be facing simultaneous and coordinated attacks from the east and from the north. In a worst case scenario, Will could be compelled to join the other side and then B.C. would likely pull back and try to hold onto just the lower mainland."
"You have this directly?" Hank asked.
"Of course not. They won't admit this to anyone outside their war team. But everyone in this ship knows what's going to happen to B.C. if Will and Izzy are sold to their enemies."
# # # # # # # #
Franklin Franklin's manifesto continued.
In time, I was promoted to the head of the station. My comfortable life was disrupted when a young savage approached me and asked to join the RCMP. I was not in a position to reject him. Adding savages to the force had long been a goal for the force; plus biker gangs were killing our members and it was becoming hard to staff outlying stations. If anyone on the force heard that I had turned him down, my actions would have attracted unhealthy attention.
My dismay in receiving his application stemmed from an opportunity to extend my missionary work that my God had placed before me that month. He had brought to me a new associate who had pointed out that the Alberta government and I had similar interests – to preach to the heathen savages and show them the errors of their way. The head of that government, Zzyk, had heard of my preaching and had sent that associate to ask for my help. He had even sent a personal note to solicit my assistance.
I was flattered of course. But I couldn't see how a simple missionary like I could help this powerful man. I was given details of their master plan. First, remove all of the RCMP from the interior of the province; then, invade that area with full military force, re-educating any who opposed them; stop when they reached the Okanagan and consolidate power. My attraction to this plan was that since the savages formed the largest portion of the population that would stand in their way, they would be the ones who would be re-educated. Zzyk had overwhelming force, and at that time, the savages only had bows and arrows. Collecting them into groups for re-educating would be easy. I did advise him that the male savages seemed to be particularly opposed to my preaching, but Zzyk reassured me through his lieutenant that he had ways of dealing with that. It was at that time, I was told of Zzyk's brain-bands and I realized how powerful these tools would be for missionary work such as my own. In recognition of our silent help, my brother and I would be given positions of power in the new territory that would be formed and we could continue our missionary work without fear of interference.
I also saw the potential of being able to use the brain-bands for collecting wives, keeping them docile, and replenishing my family, so naturally I had agreed to Zzyk's proposal. I felt a little guilty about taking his money for my services in his cause, but my brother pointed out that even missionaries are allowed a small amount of compensation to cover expenses. So, it came to pass that I began supplying the bikers with the information they needed about the whereabouts and the schedules of police constables in the area. I also met regularly with his lieutenant who was in charge of all of the biker gangs and, at that point, I realized that they were part of Zzyk's military forces. Again, I was impressed.
In order to prevent any chance of my government superiors learning of my efforts to seed the ground for the re-education of the savages, I would have to accept this young savage whose name was Hank. However I couldn't have him wandering into the detachment at all hours. I was still dedicating a lot of my time towards re-educating some of his sisters – my intent to start my own family still high in my mind. So I offered him an opportunity to work undercover and that meant that he could only come to the office secretly and on a schedule that I dictated.
To give him his due, the savage did well. Our arrest records went up and the head office complimented me on our success. Up to then, I hadn't been recording the arrests of my potential wives because missionary work should not be the concern of government. My brother had lost interest and was passing his time inside a bottle, so my station had little in the way of arrests to report. When my new recruit showed up for our weekly meeting with a young savage girl at his side, I was taken aback. But he explained that she had been helping him with his undercover work, but in ways that he couldn't disclose. I recognized immediately how she was obtaining the information, of course. She was young for a working girl, but her youth would be an additional attraction in itself.
I looked at her closely while Hank laid out his proposal. She was equally interested in me. I say this not to be a braggart, but it was true. The girl, name of Yollie, watched me intently every minute that she was in my office. She couldn't take her eyes off me. Not just then, but every time she came into the detachment. Of course, I became interested in her in return. Over the weeks, I realized that she could be my first wife if I could separate her from her pimp. Her big brown eyes followed me everywhere – how could I say No to such an invitation?
My opportunity to propose to the savage who would become my first wife came soon afterwards. Yollie and Hank had reported to me after an operation and afterward, I told Hank to check the mechanical status of all of our copters. I had already noted that Yollie had a certain fastidious nature. Since this was a task that would require Hank to get greasy, she might be reluctant to join him. My insight was proven correct and we sat alone in my office for a couple of minutes, her big brown eyes following me everywhere, inviting me to act.
Since she had sent the invitation, I could hardly say, No. I
offered to give her a tour of the building. She pretended to be reluctant about this, but she followed me down to the cell block. As I had copied from my father, I extended both hands in a husbandly greeting. I had hardly fondled her breasts for more than a second or two before she reacted. I was somewhat surprised by her quick acceptance; most of the women to whom I offered husbandly hands were resistant. But Yollie was a working girl and so she was refreshingly different. She came into an embrace with me and put one of her hands on me in a responding wifely manner.
Then she started squeezing her hand and I found it particularly uncomfortable. "Too tight," I said.
"It's going to get tighter until you take your hands off me," she replied.
I did as she wanted, not sure how I had displeased her. Then I looked down into her big brown eyes, and she was staring up at me and her look passed right through me and I knew her for what she was. She had the eyes of the devil himself.
I tried to pull back but she held me in place while she whispered. "Hank has big plans, but he needs your help to achieve them. I know you for what you are, but I will keep your secret from him so that he can achieve his life's goal. In return you will support him in his efforts. If you ever try to touch me again, or if you stand in his way, I will take these from you." She squeezed very hard and I felt the devil's touch go through my body. "After I have finished with them, I will tell Hank what you tried to do and he will beat what remains of you to death." Then she left.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 28
Tuesday, March 6, day 4 of Will and Izzy's disappearance.
Granny's evening call to Lucas revealed that the ship was still in one piece and the boys were behaving themselves. In the morning, Lucas had run war games by forming two groups that tried to outsmart each other. One group would invent a way to attack the Wilizy/Asia and the other group had to come up with a way to defend it. This afternoon, one group would pretend to attack a North Korean ship and the other group would try to prevent them.
Granny made the mistake of asking Lucas how the meals were going and learned that they were having peanut butter and jam sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When encouraged to have his crew eat some broccoli spears that were in the cooler, Lucas revealed that those had been lost overboard when they had played a new game – Storm the Wilizy. Granny expressed some concern about vegetables falling onto the earth below them, but Lucas reassured her that any such fall out would have been in tiny pieces. Broccoli spears didn't stand up to battle situations very well but they hadn't had any wooden ones.
# # # # # # # #
At their evening meeting, TG and Yollie's news was not encouraging. TG had a look at the security on Franklin's building and assured the task force that it was top grade both electronically as well as through the building's security personnel. He did note, however, that while the security would probably prevent guests from sneaking into the building, Franklin could leave the building any time and meet them elsewhere. The White Rock location was extremely close to an unguarded border with Washington whose armed forces were decidedly weak.
Yollie had met all day with staff from the military complex, again to try and get a sense of the man. This time she talked to his superiors, both current and previous. She didn't learn a single thing that they didn't know already. Franklin kept to himself and shared nothing about himself with anyone. She recommended that this line of inquiry be closed and that both she and TG provide help elsewhere.
Wolf and Wizard recommended that they also be reassigned. They had gone as far as they could go with their searches through FF's financial records and bank account.
Mac had asked Doc to make one more attempt on Franklin's health records but focusing on public health clinics instead. To give him instant credibility with the doctors, a high ranking officer accompanied him. Nothing turned up. Doc recommended that this line of inquiry be closed. Granny meanwhile was at the compound in case Winnie needed her.
With all these dead ends, Hank and Yolanda's news would bring a spark of optimism. Yolanda and Winnie had been scheduled to start interviewing neighbours in Franklin's building. But, Hank had Mac re-arrange Yolanda's schedule so that Winnie could spend a day in the woods back at the compound. Instead, he and Yolanda had visited the town where Franklin had served in the RCMP. At Hank's request, Yolanda began the report of that visit.
"Both of us travelled to the town in our RCMP red serge uniform tops. Sadly, neither of us could fit into the trousers. The tops themselves were decidedly tight as well, but I was able to shift some buttons and, so long as we didn't inhale deeply, they would fit. We found no written RCMP records from that era in the current detachment's office. These along with the detachment building itself had been destroyed in the war with the bikers."
"Hank let it be known in the town that we were conducting a formal investigation into the conduct of the Franklin brothers when they had been posted there over twenty years ago. If any citizens had anything that they wanted to say, the RCMP would be in the school gym that afternoon. The principal of the school thought this sufficiently important that she let all classes out at noon so that students could go home and inform their families of the meeting. We had a large turnout of adults with many children from the school also present."
"The meeting with the community was productive. Older members of the community remembered the Franklin brothers as religious zealots, bigots, and men that abused their prisoners. The older one had assaulted some of the young aboriginal men, but when they fought back, he stopped. He took to drink and eventually left the detachment. The younger brother had sexually assaulted young women in the community while they were incarcerated for minor offenses. Fighting him off helped somewhat, but then they would be locked inside a tiny broom closet in the dark and without food or water and no washroom access except for a bucket. They were warned that they'd be kept in the closet until they agreed to have sex with him. Fortunately, their sentences were short and he had to release them. The aboriginal community had reacted to this treatment by establishing its own justice system and ensuring that no young people fell into the hands of the Franklins again. Your turn, Hank."
"We now have some productive leads to follow," Hank said. "First, we know that Franklin Franklin had a brother – name of Bertram Franklin. If we can find this man, he might have information that could lead us to Franklin himself. Second, we have determined that Franklin was a religious extremist, which suggests a church of some form. Probably not within the major religions. If we could find his church, we might find him. Third, we might look into the sexual assaults. From what the community reported, Franklin talked with each young girl that he assaulted about her becoming his wife and starting a family. He expected them to agree immediately but he wasn't reluctant to confine them in a horrible condition if they balked at what he called his proposal. I don't see an easy way to use this line of inquiry to find him, but perhaps others might."
"Fourth, Franklin was a bigot and considered aboriginals as inferior, uncivilized savages. He may have learned that from his church, but that's only speculation on my part. However it must have been hard for him to keep that part of his background hidden for decades. TG and Yollie mentioned that a staff person thought that Franklin considered himself superior to her. Was that woman aboriginal? Did he have contact with any other aboriginal women in the military government, and if so, what was their reaction? We may not get useful help, but at the very least, we should re-do some of the interviews."
At that point, the task force suggested lines of inquiry for all of Hank and Yolanda's findings. Mac organized the teams for the next day, and they all went their separate ways. Weighing on all of their minds was the slow nature of their investigations. Will and Izzy had disappeared on Saturday. Tomorrow would be Wednesday. If Franklin were selling the two of them, how long would it take him to assemble bidders?
Hank and Yolanda had more pressing matters to consider. They left immediately to sit with Winnie
who had not been well enough to attend the meeting.
# # # # # # # #
The reader will have noticed that Hank and Yolanda were now talking with each other. It's safe to conclude that they had tried to resolve their issues at some time during their visit to the Interior. It's clear that there was some urgency. Winnie's health was being affected by the anger that both Yolanda and Hank were trying to hide unsuccessfully from their mind-reading daughter. It's likely that they found Winnie in the woods and tried to soothe her with the sight of a more normal relationship between her parents.
As to what Yolanda and Hank said to each other about what had happened in that detachment office, I found no written records. Nor were there any references to that event within the family's oral history. Whatever Hank and Yolanda said to each other was never disclosed. However we may make some reasonable assumptions on what they said to each other in general.
In their first discussion Sunday night, Yolanda would have disclosed that Franklin had molested her and Yolanda had forced him into an agreement. In return for her remaining quiet, Franklin would give his support to Hank's ideas for fighting the biker gang and for any other ideas that Hank would have to pass through Franklin first. We may be sure that Yolanda told Hank that she had felt compelled to make this agreement, otherwise Franklin would find a way to stop everything that Hank wanted to do, and could in fact, find a way to have him dismissed from the force. Yolanda knew that her rejection of his advances would be disastrous for the two of them had she not acted in this way.
While admitting that she had kept this pact from her husband, Yolanda probably argued that she had to keep that secret for the twenty years that followed. She could not reveal what she had done because Franklin was still in a position to cause the Aboriginal Nation great harm. After all, he was the face of the B.C. government in all of its dealings with the Aboriginal Nation.