Again the interviews with the first applicants went smoothly. But the women waiting in the line knew that there were only so many ways to say, "I would very much like to work with you and I know that we could be a good team." Something more memorable would be needed so that Will would chose them over all of the other applicants. They decided to use non-verbal communications.
At first, it was just a case of plastering themselves to Will's chest, putting their mouth next to Will's ear, solely so that they could be heard of course, and offering tactile messages of encouragement for him to pick them. Some might refer to that form of communication as whispering while accidentally nibbling on the ear.
Then one woman gave Will a peck on the lips to go along with the ear nibble. The next three women in line pecked as well. The fourth went for the tonsils. That created a big stir in the line. If the women were in a submarine, the captain would be calling out Battle Stations! Battle Stations!
Wolf, who was hovering above the line taking pictures, mind-messaged TG. The girl that is sixth from the front – she's taking her top off. We gotta wrap this up.
TG saw that he wouldn't be able to extract Will from his current embrace without causing somebody bodily harm when the vacuum seal plastering the current applicant to Will's pores was broken. He stood patiently, tapping the job applicant on her shoulder, and saying, "Time is up, time is up."
The seventh girl in line has her top off AND she's stepping out of her shoes. She has her hands at her belt. I'm hitting the circuit breaker, TG.
When the bar went black, TG poured cold beer down the back of the current applicant and yanked Will out of her embrace. Will was standing on a wet floor, a confused look on his face. TG pushed him through the fire exit door, messaging him Go invisible Will; go invisible; invisible; invisible. On the fourth repeat, Will remembered what the word invisible meant.
# # # # # # # #
"I didn't know what to do, Izzy. It all happened so fast, and they were all around me, and I got distracted."
"Not much you could have done," Izzy said reassuringly. "What happened next?"
"I couldn't see, but TG said that some of the girls were undressing, so he grabbed me and we escaped. Wolf had been watching the crowd and happened to take some pictures. He told me I should keep these for my scrapbook for when I'm old. These are the notes that the girls gave to TG."
Izzy browsed through the pictures. "Lots of girls," she said. "Guess they can't resist a man who looks like Tarzan. I know that I can't. Let's put this picture on the fridge." In doing so, she closed her hand around the scraps of paper with women's names and phone numbers and pocketed them.
"But Izzy. That picture shows girls without their tops."
Dried ketchup spatter will take care of that. "I know, but this picture will help to remind me what a hunk you are and how lucky I am that you aren't a womanizer. Imagine. All those women lining up so that they could kiss you."
Then Izzy gave Will her A#1 kiss and he matched her letter for letter, and number for number. For those readers who need to know the answers to tabloid questions – yes, Izzy kisses with her mouth open. So does Will.
Later that night, Izzy mind-messaged both TG and Wolf to say, Thanks, guys.
# # # # # # # #
Wolf's prediction that he knew what would not be happening on Mac's wedding night was 100% accurate. Sex was not happening. Sven complained of course, but Mac told him that she couldn't do anything about her monthly cycles. That excuse got a little old after two weeks and Sven started pressuring her. Mac kept saying No. Sven told his buddies that he was going to rearrange her face soon.
The confrontation came soon after that. Sven insisted. Mac said No. Sven informed Mac that she was his wife and she couldn't say No. Mac said that she could. The reader should understand that this exchange of positions on the place of women in the bedroom took place at high volume and with a lot of extra words thrown in that the reader will have to imagine.
Sven finally tired of their intellectual discussion of the relative merits of each spouse's position towards finalizing their marriage vows. He hauled off and struck her in the face with a closed fist. Mac staggered back and only the bureau stopped her from falling.
Actually, if Sven could have replayed that blow in slow motion, he would have seen Mac's head already turning and her body already staggering backwards when Sven's fist connected. His blow glanced off her cheek and caused a gushing nosebleed that Mac allowed to bleed profusely.
When Sven cocked his arm for a second blow, Mac stepped inside of it and pressed her fist against Sven's throat so tightly that he felt a little pain. Well actually, it wasn't her fist that broke the skin over Sven's throat. It was the point of the knife in her fist that had that pleasure.
"Hit me again and die," she said coldly.
Sven tried to do a stare-down. After all, he was much bigger than her, more muscular, stronger and yadda, yadda, yadda. He was a man. A true man. A Special Forces sergeant, trained to kill. She was only a woman. A woman who was raising her arm bit by bit. Small, unused synapses inside Sven's I am a man! brain registered the fact that Mac's fist was connected to her arm, and glory be, when the arm lifted, so did the knife in Mac's fist. Sven stepped back just a little to relieve the pressure of the knife on his throat, but Mac stepped forward the same amount, applying just the right amount of pressure. It was like a slow waltz where a true man could lead his date around the room, slide his hand down to her butt and she wouldn't dare to object. Only in this waltz, Mac was leading and Sven was the one dancing backwards. At least, he didn't have to do it in high heels. And that butt grabbing? Sven was air grabbing and Mac was now rapidly pushing Sven out of the bedroom at the point of her knife.
Sven retreated to the living room. Bedding and a pillow soon followed.
"I'll be coming up some time."
"Pea Sticker and I will be ready," and Mac showed him the long narrow blade whose tip had broken the skin over Sven's throat. "Attack me again and Pea Sticker will take your eyes."
"You're my wife. You agreed to marry me. You have to have sex with me."
"You should have read the law like I did. I'm allowed to say No. Any woman is. If you try to rape me, even though we're married, you'll be trying to rape an underage minor. Hello, military tribunal. Goodbye, Sven."
Sven was digesting the news. That digestion process consisted of standing at the base of the steps while closing and unclosing his fists.
"Sven, I don't think this marriage is going to work," Mac called down the stairs. "We're not right for each other. I want a divorce."
"Never."
# # # # # # # #
One of Mac's reasons for marrying Sven can now be revealed to the reader. Sven wasn't the only person on the base who had connections inside Saskatchewan's Special Forces. When Sven started to pile on the pressure to marry him, Mac had left her desk a number of times that week to meet with different people. Since Mac didn't warrant a salute, she shook a lot of hands. Tiny things, like little bugs, can easily be transferred from one palm to another during a handshake.
Mac had decided long before she locked Sven into the wedding that she'd make Sven into a walking transmitter. In fact, she chose to give in to his pressure solely so that she'd have easy access to his clothes. Her Special Forces friends had provided her with lots of bugs. Different shapes; different sizes; different material. Once her marriage gave her easy access to Sven's closet, her bugs recorded everything that Sven did and everything he said.
Every uniform shirt that Sven owned now had a bug sewn under his Master Sergeant chevrons on his sleeve. For his civvy clothes, Mac was relying on a bug under Sven's favorite belt buckle. He never went anywhere after hours without it. In addition, she had placed video-recording bugs throughout the house, and especially in the bedroom. Data from the bugs were sent wirelessly to a big data storage server in a nearby tree.
His assault on her and that gushing nose bleed? For the benefit of the bug. Mac's warning
about rape? For the benefit of the bug. The reader knows that Sven had incriminating evidence on the general. Mac now had the same sort of lever on Sven. Only Sven didn't know that yet.
Two nights after Mac had made the living room into Sven's bedroom, Sven left the house silently. When the bug inside Sven's favorite belt buckle began to relay what Sven was intending to do to her, Mac took action of her own. While Sven and his buddies were putting on their stealth clothes, Mac was writing a letter.
While each of the SODs was opening lockers full of arms and equipment, Mac was tracking the second hand on her watch. She made a phone call at precisely the top of the hour and let it ring eight times. Precisely five minutes later, she phoned the same number again and hung up after three rings.
While Sven was outlining his plan to his buds, Mac was on the move but listening closely. Sven's strategy? He would incapacitate Mac wherever she happened to be. Perhaps a stun grenade into her bedroom? Perhaps tear gas? Then she'd disappear from the base. A slow death would follow. He'd dispose of her body by burying it under Saskatchewan grass in the middle of nowhere. Mac's plan was nothing so ambitious. She was climbing a neighbour's tree and retrieving the storage device that held all of Sven's comments and actions. She put that computer and her letter into a canvas bag.
While Sven was outlining a backup plan, Mac was again on the move. Sven's backup plan? She might have an accident. Perhaps the hot water tank in Sven's house might explode when she walked by. Meanwhile Mac was getting into a solar car. The key to the car was exactly where her bridesmaid had promised it would be.
While Sven was covertly breaking into Mac's bedroom, she was driving by the general's home. Solar cars have a great advantage over gas-fueled vehicles. They make no noise that might attract the attention of a nosy neighbour. Mac stopped in front of the general's house and walked onto the lawn under his bedroom window. She arrived at 8:30 just as she had promised her father with her phone calls. The window rose and the general leaned out. Mac tossed the canvas bag into his hands, snapped to attention, and saluted. He returned the salute. They both held their position; eyes locked together, neither willing to release. Then Mac spun on her heel and parade-marched off his lawn. The general watched her go and closed the window.
Later that night, Mac parked the solar car in a designated spot in Regina where her bridesmaid friend would know to look. She retrieved from storage the solar copter that she had purchased out of the tips she had received while waitressing in a busy Regina diner. Early the next morning, Mac flew west. Towards Surrey and the man who had married her mother's sister and who had promised Mac a job in his law office any time she wanted one. It was September 21, 2081.
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Chapter 32
The week of Monday, October 22 2083 started with Theo telling Izzy that someone named Flower Lover had put a message onto one of the boards. A computer message said that he was supposed to tell her if that ever happened. Izzy checked the board and found that Flower Lover had asked Chocolate Lover to meet in the usual place, Wednesday October 24 at noon. Izzy sent a message from Chocolate Lover to the same board: "What's better? White or dark chocolate? I'd say Yes to white." Then she met with Wolf, TG, Winnie, and Will.
Will returned to his workroom afterwards and resumed his work with the model airplanes that Wizard had ordered for him and had then stored in the prison. These were going to be his long-range drones if he could get them to work. However, he was finding it very difficult to attach the drone's payload so that it didn't fall off and so that it didn't cut down on the drone's range. Right now, he had five drones lined up on the grass, each with a payload. In theory, a person with one controller could handle these five drones. Emphasis on the words in theory.
Back at the compound, Wizard had dealt with the issue of people having to use their personal copters to do Wilizy business. For example, Momaka had been travelling from garden to garden in her own copter. Wiz had to visit suppliers on a regular basis, but had no visible means of getting there and back. So he had found a supplier and five emerald green and white solar powered business copters were now parked on the meadow next to the WZBN building. They had way more power than personal copters. Plus they had ample storage space and room for up to four people. Mathias was giving lessons on how to pilot the mid-sized copters to anyone who wanted to learn. Reese wanted to be a Wilizy pilot when he got taller. That's why he was watching the lesson through the tiny slits of Winnie's discarded titanium helmet.
To round out the rest of the family, Granny was babysitting Liset and Hank was showing Lucas how to hit the heavy boxing bag. Izzy, TG, and Yollie were moving Mathias' army figurines to and from various locations in Izzy's house that were labeled Battle Ground 1 through to Battle Ground 4. Theo was practicing piano while Yolanda was waiting her turn and encouraging him. Doc was enjoying the music and singing along when it was a tune that he knew, and Winnie was teaching Patella how to fly upside down. All in all, it was a typical day that any family might have, with the possible exception of the upside down flying wolf.
# # # # # # # #
At 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Izzy watched Rick step out of his copter and rock climb up to the cave he had used the other time that they had met like this. Will was a little concerned that the spiders wouldn't pick enough of Rick's face for Winnie to see if he was lying or not. They had run some tests, and so long as Rick didn't go deep into the depths of the cave, Winnie said she could see well enough to get a reading. Hank, TG, and Wolf were with them as well.
"Rick," Izzy said curtly when he called at 12:00.
"Izzy," Rick replied. "First, I want you to know that I had nothing to do with those sleeper attacks on you. I knew the sleepers existed, of course, but I thought Zzyk was reserving them for when we attacked B.C."
Truth, messaged Winnie.
"Are you still in Zzyk's bad books?"
"No. Quite the opposite. I'm basically running everything. Zzyk spends all of his time either in his living quarters or in his lab. He has become very secretive and even more violently aggressive than before. The beatings for wearing colours were direct orders. I could not disobey. I have instructed the DPS to do nothing about citizens who are hiding their colours under their clothes."
Truth, messaged Winnie.
"And those evil brain-bands?"
"Not so evil, as you well know. I expect you have Ivan to thank for that. The brain-bands aren't working very well especially the location function and the zapper function. I have not drawn that to Zzyk's attention."
Truth, messaged Winnie.
"Why are we meeting, Rick?"
"To confirm what we agreed before. You will not stop me from assuming control of the IOF. A change in command will have to be made soon. I took advantage of a lapse in Zzyk's security many years ago to place bugs in his lab. He spends almost all of his time watching old reruns, either of I love Lucy shows or Roadrunner cartoons. His fascination with Lucy is because of the red hair. The Roadrunner cartoons are more difficult to understand. After he watches the cartoons, he goes around the lab making sounds of explosions and adding the roadrunner's beep beep sounds. Then he chortles and rubs his hands."
Truth.
"He had directed two sleepers in B.C. to assassinate their entire senior military staff but forgot that he had done that. This wasn't a bad strategy if we were going into war with B.C., but we're not. He's the only one who could issue that type of command and he doesn't remember it. Nor does he care that he ordered the killings and the sleepers were caught."
Truth.
"He is totally obsessed with killing you, but there's a sexual component to it. He has a huge poster in his lab. I assume it's the picture that Tuttle was going to place on the front cover of his book. A naked woman's body with your face. For a while, he was staring at the tapes of the yoga exercises that you did in the childcare center, but those are no longer interesting to him. He's spending a lot of time in front of the giant poster now. Izzy, he's s
till dangerous – he can have me killed without warning – but he's lost his focus."
Truth.
"Still don't know why I'm listening to you, Rick."
"The Citadel will be attacking you in early December. They have plans to take over Alberta too. If not now, then later. Alberta has nothing that can withstand their weaponry. The battle plan that they have sent me has Albertan forces attacking you first. You will destroy us and I'm aware that you can do that. Then the Alaskans will take over the fight against what they hope is a weakened enemy. If you lose, they'll take over Alberta. Even if you force them to retreat, you can't defend an entire province. I have the manpower to do that, but not the weaponry. You have the weaponry, but not the manpower. There's an obvious solution that will be beneficial to both of us."
Truth.
"You may be underestimating our capacity, Rick."
"Izzy, they've studied the tapes of us attacking your compound. They say that they can demolish it."
Truth.
"Do you really like flowers, Rick?"
"I do. I stroll through your gardens at least once a week but my security guards object when I try to go daily. I couldn't watch your singing show; the guards said it was too risky. Being the boss of a huge province isn't what it's cut out to be, Izzy. I have to live inside a prison cell of my own making. I'll stay in Edmonton for a while, then grab my money and disappear while I'm still alive to enjoy it."
Izzy was waiting for Winnie who was hesitating.
Mostly true; he enjoys the power.
"Have you killed anyone recently?"
"I was partly responsible for Rolf's death, but otherwise no."
Truth.
"You'll provide us with Alaska's battle plans?"
"And more."
Truth.