Options Are Good (10 page)

Everyone was quiet the next morning at breakfast. But Desiree’s enthusiasm quickly had the others smiling and talking about the upcoming Christmas play that her and Junior’s high school was putting on in December. She was the leading lady and was excited about it.

Ana-Bella left the breakfast cleanup to the others and silently helped Bandy get his gear down to his truck. Bandy had already said his good-byes to the others right after breakfast. He just couldn’t think of anything to say to Ana-Bella as he opened the driver’s side door to get behind the wheel.

But Ana-Bella touched his shoulder, and broke her silence. She went into his arms when he opened them and they shared a hard hug. “You be careful, Bandy Hawkins. Now that I’ve found you, I want you around a long time.”

“I feel the same way, Ana-Bella. And I intend to be around a long time. You just be very careful about things. You and Desiree are going to be Colin’s primary targets, if… when he realizes that Angus has turned fully against him.”

“You can bet I will,” Ana-Bella replied. She stepped back and let Bandy get into the truck. She continued to stand in the chilly air her arms crossed in front of her chest, and watched the truck until it disappeared around the last turn of the driveway.

CHAPTER FIVE

A little over a week later Ana-Bella picked up a load nearly identical to the one she had for Angus. This one was for the Sheridan Ranch. She couldn’t stay, even for dinner, and Bandy watched rather forlornly as Ana-Bella pulled out of the loading area and headed down the street.

It was the same two weeks later, for the second Longhammer load.

Bandy and Ana-Bella talked regularly by phone as the weeks passed. And Bob and Angus kept Bandy updated on how the construction and other things they were doing according to the plan were going.

For the first time since he had become a prepper, Bandy got off his budget. Well. He didn’t get off of it. He just did a major rewrite. He went on a buying jag, pulling money from almost every other line item, including the relationship one, to get many of the things that had been on the longer term list. By the time he was done, he had less available cash than at any time since he’d built the house.

Right at the start of one of the regular Skype sessions with Angus, Bandy noted that he looked a bit better than he had the previous weeks. “Angus, you look awfully chipper this evening.”

A smile appeared on Angus’ face. “I think the problem may be taken care of already, Hawkins. Colin was arrested this morning. Julie-Ann, Sheriff Broadhearst, picked him up herself about four this morning.”

“And Sheriff Broadhearst understands the situation fully?” Bandy asked, getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Angus Longhammer was holding something back.

“Oh, yes! June and I had a long talk with her over Christmas, at one of the local events. Junior was keeping an eye on where Colin was so he wasn’t and isn’t aware of that meeting.”

“I see,” Bandy said quietly. After a pause, he expressed his feeling. “Mr. Longhammer, I feel there is something you aren’t telling me.”

“Oh. Well… Sort of, I guess. It isn’t really important now that Colin is in jail.”

“What is it?” Bandy asked, almost urgently.

“Well, Colin expects me to bail him out after the initial hearing. I simply won’t and he can rot in jail for a few years.”

Liking things less and less, Bandy then asked Angus, “What are the charges going to be?”

“Assault with a motor vehicle, which will be changed to assault with intent to kill,” Angus sounded almost joyful. “It is a clear cut case. He hit a pedestrian in town, and took off.”

This time it wasn’t his stomach that was affected. Bandy got a sudden chill down his spine. “Angus, is there going to be an insurance claim?”

“Oh, yeah! The guy said he was going to sue for ten million bucks. He’ll get it, too. It was very blatant. Colin didn’t even try to stop. Aimed right for the guy. And, quite to everyone’s surprise, Colin had very good insurance that will pay, off, too.”

“Mr. Longhammer, was the man hurt seriously?”

“No. Fortunately. He almost got out of the way. A fender caught him and banged up him up pretty good, and he hit a fire hydrant when he went down. Busted some ribs. But he’ll be all right. Just a lot of pain for a while. He’ll get that ten million for sure, and Colin will be in jail for a long time.”

Bandy said. “Mr. Longhammer, you had better talk to Sheriff Broadhearst. Bail Colin out.”

Angus was nearly shouting. “What? Are you nuts! This gets him out of the way and solves all my problems!”

“And if the accident was a setup to collect insurance money? The so called victim decides maybe Colin wasn’t really aiming at him. That just maybe it was only a simple accident? Colin’s insurance pays off, they split the money, and go about their merry way. And if you refuse to bail him out, he will come gunning for your family when the charges are dropped and he gets out.”

“You can’t know that!” Angus replied, his voice much lower now. And a bit unsteady. “That… That… That just can’t be…”

“Has Junior seen a picture of the guy? In the paper or on TV, perhaps?”

“Um… No. He’s on a camping trip. He might have heard something on the radio, but I seriously doubt he’s seen any newspapers or TV about the accident.”

“I’d check with him. Just to see if he might have seen the guy, or perhaps Boots might have mentioned something.”

“Yes. Yes, of course. He should be home in less than an hour. I will Skype you back when I know for sure.”

Bandy nodded, shut off the laptop camera and closed the Skype session. This was not turning out to be a good day. China was making noises again about the US debt and talking about calling some of it, for partial or complete ownership in huge tracts of land in the US, as well as ownership of several vital commercial infrastructure businesses.

What Bandy didn’t notice was the announcement that nine of the fastest, most capable super-computers in the world were to be networked together, for the first time in history.

It was to be a real benchmark day. Even Communist China was adding her super computer to the multiple path link system required to provide adequate speed for the computers to talk to one another at full capacity.

It was not until the next morning, on the way to work, that Bandy found out the bad news. Angus sounded totally dejected when he called Bandy’s cell phone. “You were right. Junior didn’t know anything, but Julie-Anne called me and said there was something going on with the case. She wouldn’t tell me what, but she arrested the guy that was hit just a short time after you and I Skyped last night.”

Bandy heard Angus sigh. “The Sheriff almost came unglued when I told her I was going to post bail for both of them.”

“I’m not surprised,” Bandy said.

Angus sighed again, “Well, she calmed down a bit, when I explained a bit more of your plan.”

Bandy winced. He had hoped that Angus would not mention him other than in passing. Now Sheriff Broadhearst would be keeping him under a close eye anytime he was in the area, Bandy had not a doubt.

“What did Colin have to say when you bailed him out?” Bandy asked Angus.

“He didn’t even seem angry to have spent the night in the county lockup. He slapped me on the back, laughed, and one of his guys drove up and picked him up. I don’t know where the other guy went.”

“Okay. That is good,” Bandy said with a sigh of relief. “As soon as you can, let him know you have nearly completed the shelter. And show him what we have discussed, but not the additional features that were added.”

“I hate doing this!” Angus said his anger and disgust evident in his voice. “My family is in jeopardy, and I have to play buddy-buddy with this sleaze bag.”

“I know, Angus. But if we get lucky we could get him out of your hair sooner, rather than later.”

“I hope so. This little episode sure didn’t do it, and I thought it was in the bag.”

“You’ve just increased the trust. That will make things easier. When the time comes.”

“I just hope the time comes soon. So does Bob. This China thing has us both on edge. We might be getting ready just in time for something big to happen. I don’t want that weasel Colin anywhere near my family if we were to have to deal with something from the Chinese.”

“I feel the same way,” Bandy said his words heartfelt.

Angus could tell he meant it and relaxed slightly. Bandy had proven himself right on with everything he’d set up in the plan. So far. Angus just hoped the rest of the plan would work. Because Bandy had not said exactly how Colin would be taken out of the picture. Just that he would sometime before a crisis, or just afterwards.

It was another several weeks before anything else happened. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran were all accused of cyber warfare by many of the western aligned countries. They were even accusing each other. It seemed everyone was beginning to have trouble with the internet, as well as satellite and other communications systems.

To top it off, the electrical grids all over the world were having problems. The only thing that seemed to be working well was the new Super Computer Network. The developers were asked to see if the powerful system could analyze the problems and come up with a solution. It had already solved a couple of tricky mathematical and scientific dilemmas and seeming conundrums. And the human genome was almost fully documented. Even aircraft scheduling and routing had been improved by the Super Computers’ amazing powers.

Bandy got his first introduction to the Super Computer Network while reading one of the Science and Technology magazines he read from time to time. “It certainly sounds good,” he found himself muttering. But there was just a little tingle of doubt in his mind. It would be some time before he realized just how prophetic that tingle would turn out to be.

But for the moment, with things slowing in the economy, mostly due to China’s efforts to manipulate the US stock and bond markets, Bandy asked for and received, again reluctantly, time off to go to Oklahoma. He would be taking the entire weekend before Memorial Day holiday, all the way through the following weekend.

There were a few last little details of the plan that he wanted to pass on to the two families, and incorporate into the two shelter systems and their backups. And Ana-Bella was going to be home that week, too. The oil drilling business was very slow, just like the rest of the economy, though more so through the efforts of radical environmentalists getting court ordered shut downs of several drilling operations than the economy.

Ana-Bella came down the Wednesday before the Holiday weekend and stayed in Bandy’s spare bedroom. Bandy familiarized her with his place, including all the disaster preps he’d made. And then, on Friday after Bandy got off from working yet another fill in shift, she helped him lock down and secure the place.

It was something he usually did anyway, but Bandy was especially careful this time to make sure everything would be just like it was when he left, when he returned. There was just a feeling in him that it was very important.

After only a slight hesitation, Bandy had Ana-Bella help him hook up the large three axle trailer to the truck. It was his pre-packed bugout trailer, for use when he might have to leave the home for a while due to some disaster that precluded him being able to shelter at home.

There was a slight smile on Ana-Bella’s face when she asked Bandy, after he’d gone through the workings of the trailer and why he had it, “You don’t consider me and my family to be a disaster you might have to get away from, do you?”

Bandy looked chagrinned and was about to disconnect the trailer when Ana-Bella touched his arm and laughed. “I was joking, Bandy! I know you are just on edge for some reason. I’ve been feeling the same way with everything going on around the world. Dad and Angus have both been doing some wheeling and dealing, even more than usual, due to it all.”

Bandy was curious to know what wheeling and dealing the two men had done, but it was time to leave, and with Ana-Bella in her own vehicle, and Bandy following in the truck with the trailer, the questions would have to wait.

Bandy didn’t even try to not stay at the Sheridan Ranch. He already had learned that lesson. Besides, it made it easier for him to do what he needed to do.

Bob more or less grabbed him after Ana-Bella and Bandy parked at the house, to give him the grand tour of what had been done to the place, “according to the plan,” as Bob put it.

“This has cost me a small fortune,” Bob said at one point. “But I’ve made some really good deals lately, and pretty much paid for it out of pocket. And it has all been worth it.”

Bob stopped just before they left the expansive shelter for the employees. “I haven’t been this worried since my days in the service, when I was privy to what the Soviets were doing back in the middle of the Cold War. That was scary. This thing with China is terrifying. I am so glad that Ana-Bella found you. You may just have saved all of our lives.”

Bandy, embarrassed at the raw emotion in Bob’s face and words tried to dismiss the worries, but Bob was not having it. Instead, he began to walk with Bandy through the short tunnel that connected the employee shelter with the family shelter.