The Emerald Virus (42 page)

    
“I’ll still be able to work with you on some behind the scenes stuff if need
be, but to tell you the truth it would be safer if I didn’t have anything to do
with you from this point forward.”

    
Sam asked, “When do you want to leave?”

    
“Sometime next week I think. I hope the snow will hold out for that long, but
if it doesn’t I’ll get through somehow.”

    
With that said Danny left the RV to go and find Shelly.

    
An hour later a knock on the door to Sam’s RV woke her up. She had fallen
asleep sitting up her couch. Apparently the men thought she was better off
sleeping sitting up since they were gone.

    
She opened the door to see Danny and Shelly standing outside. She motioned them
in and told them to make themselves at home while she went to brush her teeth.

    
When she returned she apologized to Shelly who laughed and said she would have
done the same thing. While she was gone Danny had made a fresh pot of coffee
and was drinking a cup. She didn’t know how he or Noah ever slept with the
amount of caffeine they maintained in their systems.

    
Danny said, “Sam, I’ve told Shelly everything, and I think we’ve discussed the
risk thoroughly, and she wants to participate. I wanted her to come and visit
you and listen to your perspective, and I wanted to do it late at night because
we can’t be seen with you any longer. I’ll do my best to distant myself from
Ted Green and Noah as well, as will Shelly.”

    
Sam looked first at Danny and then turned to Shelly and said, “Shelly, as I
told Danny we won’t ever be able to thank you enough for taking this risk. I
don’t want you to feel any pressure to go with Danny. You aren’t in the
military, you didn’t sign a contract with us and you don’t have to risk your
life for a group of people you hardly know. Many of whom would not risk their
life for you.”

    
“Danny and I talked about that a little bit. I can’t tell you what makes people
like Danny do the things that he does. In fact, I can’t even tell you what
motivates me. But I do know that I’ve always relied on my intuition and I’m
doing that now. I know that if we don’t solve the problem now, we’ll end up
fighting these men later and probably when they’ve had time to better arm
themselves, and to find leaders with military experience who will make the
fight much tougher.

    
“So all I’m doing right now is what I think is the right thing to do, which is
all I know how to do. If you have any better ideas or a different perspective,
or even another person who might be better than me at this please say so.”

    
Shelly looked to Sam as if she was dead serious. Sam realized that this wasn’t
something she was looking forward to like some adventure. She realized how
serious this was and while she was willing to do it, she wasn’t rushing head
long into it on a whim.

    
“I wish I had a better way, but the only option I can think of is to do nothing
and hope we catch and turn the insider. The men have convinced me that is
probably not going to happen, so I’ve agreed with this plan. As for finding a
better person, you’re welcome to make any nominations, but from everything I’ve
heard, I don’t think we’ll find anyone with your skill level.”

    
Shelly gave an ironic smile and said, “No, I don’t think you will. I’ve always
known I was unusual for a woman and I chose a different path than most. My
father and my older brother were both military men and I thought I owed it to
them to do my time also. I found out I liked being able to compete with men and
I thought I’d spend a career in the Marine Corps.

    
“But I realized over time that they were simply never going to make the one
change I wanted them to. They let me lead men, and train with them, and compete
with them, but when it came to war they sent my men without me. I was naïve
enough to believe that if I proved myself to the Marine Corps, they would let
me fight as a Marine.

    
“I don’t blame the Corps for that; I knew the rules going in. And I don’t
regret the seven years I spent in uniform; I think I needed them to make myself
whole. And they did prepare me in case I ever needed to infiltrate a group of
bad boys in the middle of a Montana winter after the world had died. Good
thing, huh?”

    
Sam liked this woman who was attractive and confident, and maintained her
humor, and knew the difference between right and wrong and didn’t question her
intuition. That was a lot to accomplish in twenty nine years of life.     

    
Sam said, “I wish it didn’t have to happen this way, but if I can feel good
about anything, it’s that you and Danny are probably the best two people we
could hope to find for this mission. I can’t imagine finding anyone more
qualified than either of you.”

    
Shelly said, “Okay, let’s consider the decision made and talk about what I need
to do. First of all Danny has said I need to dress and act like a floozy.

    
“To tell you the truth, I don’t have much experience with that. I know what
I’ve seen in movies and on TV, but it will be a real act for me. I hope I can
pull it off.”

    
Sam said, “I’m no better than you are in that area. Danny, have you noticed any
of the women that might help us?”

    
“You don’t actually think I’m going to answer that do you?”

    
When they stopped laughing Danny said, “I don’t think we can chance that. If
the insider is a woman she is more likely than not to be that kind of a woman.
I don’t want to do an injustice to the floozies of the world, but I think that
would be too much of a risk to take. We’ll just have to practice amongst
ourselves until it’s time to go.”

    
Shelly asked, “Sam would you come with me to town. I’ll have to find a store
and purchase some different clothes. I don’t have any really tight jeans or
slacks, or any short skirts, or even any low cut blouses.”

    
I’d be happy to come with you. Together we’ll figure out everything you need.”

    
Danny smiled and said, “Shelly, if you’re going to model the clothes I’d better
come along to give you a male perspective.”

    
The two women laughed and Shelly said, “Danny, there’s not a chance I’m
modeling those clothes for you any sooner than I have to. Sam and I will take
care of getting everything I need. And I’m sure Sam will help me figure out how
to act.

    
“Sam, I’m not at all sure how much skin I need to show to play this part. I’d
like to err on the side of caution, but I still want to play the role properly.”

    
Sam said, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out. We should make the trip
to town soon though. You’ll have to start playing the part for the insider as
well. Fortunately you don’t have to overdo that role while you’re here.”

Thursday
Morning: West Yellowstone, Montana

    
After the meeting the next morning Sam asked Ben if he would go with them to
town. She loved the smile on his face when he realized that he was included in
whatever Sam had in mind. They took one of the snowplows and Sam asked Ben to
drive.

    
Sam said, “Ben, I hope I’m not keeping you from anything important. I’m sure
Noah would come if you can’t.”

    
Ben surprised Sam by saying, “Hold it Sam, you’ve invited me on an outing with
two of the best looking women in camp and I’m holding you to it.”

    
Sam laughed and looked at Shelly as she said, “You know when I met him he was
actually a shy young man.”

    
Shelly said, “I would guess he’s been spending too much time with Danny.”

    
Ben responded, “I’m just trying to learn how to sound more confident, and I’m
really comfortable with you Sam. And I kind of figured Shelly must be like you
for her to be with you.”

    
Both women laughed and Sam said, “Actually I think you’re doing okay Ben. It’s
certainly okay to compliment people, especially women. Just don’t go crazy with
it; I surely do not want you to become one of those slick young men who spends
all of his time trying to hustle the girls.”

    
Ben responded, “I don’t think you have to worry about that. I’d just like to
get to the point where I can talk to girls at all. Right now they just make me
nervous.”

    
Shelly laughed and said, “Ben, from listening to my brother I’m not sure how
you can change that, but you’ll get to the point where you can talk, and the
more you practice the easier it becomes, I think. You see, I was never very
good at talking to boys.”

    
“You’re kidding me! Why would someone like you have trouble talking to anyone?

    
“We’ll, remember you’re meeting me now, not when I worried about things like
that. At sixteen I was as nervous as you are. And most girls feel the same way.
Even the ones that are outspoken and seem confident are hiding some
nervousness. Most kids get over that by practicing talking to members of the
opposite sex. But it isn’t real easy for most of them. At least it wasn’t for
me.”

    
Sam said, “Ben, it was the same thing for me. Life got easier with time. In
fact that’s still true. I think as long as you focus on learning from others
things keep getting easier.”

    
Shelly added, “I agree, and if life isn’t getting easier for you, you’re
probably doing something wrong. Most likely you’re listening to the wrong
people or following the wrong examples. Unless you’re still really young when
you realize things are going wrong, only you can come to the correct conclusion
and make the needed changes. If you don’t you are probably in for a tough
life.”

    
“I’ve always thought that was one of the hardest lessons about life. You can
make a couple of poor judgments as a young person and end up with some bad
habits that will take you down the wrong path over and over again.

    
“On the positive side, if you recognize your errors and honestly work to
correct them, you’ll be able to do so.”

 
   Now it was Sam’s turn to add, “I think what makes it difficult for some
young folks is that they’ve listened to someone else tell them what to do their
entire lives. When it comes time to make their own decisions they aren’t
prepared to do that. And they have the added burden of believing that this
stuff is easy and they should be rewarded immediately. It takes years of work
to make real change, and there isn’t anything about life that’s easy.”

    
Shelly said, “I think the sooner you learn that life is hard and it takes hard
work to lead a nice life, the better off you are.”

    
Ben finally said, “And all of this because I was feeling good about being with
you two.”

    
Sam laughed and said, “You’re right, you really didn’t say anything that should
have led to that much lecturing by the two of us. I just worry about you is
all.”

    
Shelly smiled and Ben said, “I know you do Sam, I don’t think you need to, but
I’m okay with it.”

    
Sam realized that Ben had not asked why they were going to town and she
realized she needed to tell him what they were up to, and why. She didn’t want
Danny to leave as if on a fling of some sort without Ben knowing the truth.
There were a couple of people in the group she would bet her life on, and Ben
and Noah were two of them.

    
She spent the next fifteen minutes telling Ben everything she knew about the
Turner Saloon and the insider. Ben surprised her by saying that Noah had taken
him into his confidence last night and told him he wanted his help in trying to
ferret out the insider.

    
Sam remembered that she had skipped breakfast with the men this morning, and
that Noah had told her at the meeting he wanted to talk with her about Ben. She
was so anxious to get started this morning she had forgotten to talk with Noah.
Well, at least now she knew what he wanted to talk about.

     
At first she was a bit miffed that Noah had done this without first discussing
the decision with her. And then immediately she realized Noah had done so
because he felt like she did about trusting Ben. And Noah wasn’t the kind of
man to ask permission for doing what he considered the right thing. Especially
since he knew Sam would agree with him on that.

    
And then she realized that she had just done the same thing. She knew Noah
would agree with her when she decided to tell Ben, so she didn’t worry about
talking to Noah first.

    
And all of a sudden she felt kind of warm. It was nice to know that she and
Noah were so in sync that they didn’t have to worry about the other one
questioning their judgment.

    
The trip was uneventful. They found a clothing store that catered to young
women who liked to display their bodies to the public, and Shelly tried on
quite a few pieces before they made their final choices. Ben was as quiet as a
mouse during most of this, although he voiced his approval or disapproval
occasionally.

    
But he did what they hoped he would, which was to point out those things now in
style with the young people. Sam knew that kids his age dressed differently,
and that some women tried to stay young by dressing the same way. She thought
this approach would work well for Shelly.