The Ties That Bind (20 page)

"Now, imagine a world where that mental capacity has increased again. What will our descendants be able to do? Will we figure out clean energy sources like fusion? Will we figure out how to colonize other planets? Will we develop ways of terraforming those planets? Faster than light space travel, increasing the lifespan of humans, nano-technology built at the atomic level. The possibilities are endless.”

"Wow," she said looking a bit bewildered.

"Yeah, wow. Of course, the tricky part is to make sure I am able to procreate, and my offspring don't go the way of the Neanderthals.”

"I am surprised you haven't started trying to have kids already," she said.

"Well, it's tricky. There are a lot of changes other than the mental ones, and they make things a bit harder. I will let the girls explain that to you in a little bit. The important part, for the moment, is that this needs to stay an absolute secret. Already way too many people know about it, and we need to try and keep that circle from getting any bigger, if we can.”

"I can see that," she said.

"I always knew you were a smart girl," I said. "Now there are some additional things. While spreading my genetics is difficult, I am able to pass on
some
of my nature to other people in an easier way. We have learned that if I can mix my blood with that of a normal person, they undergo a change that gives them some of my abilities. Most importantly the ability to repair defects in the body.”

"I'm not defective," Sarah said defensively.

"I know." I said holding up my hands in surrender. "Honestly, that isn't what I was trying to say. I just meant that we have the ability to let you hear again. I thought that's something I should mention. Honestly, if I could get away with going through a hospital helping everyone in the building, I would. But, for the moment that isn't practical.”

She thought for a long moment before replying, "I'm sorry. I know you would never mean to say something like that. But no, I don't think I want you to change me in any way.”

I was honestly very surprised.

"Can I ask why not?" I said.

"First, because I'm not broken," she replied. "It took me a long time to accept that. Just because I am different than other people, I am not less important than people who can hear. I am who I am. I like who I am. I don't want to go changing that.”

"I can see that, but ..." I started.

Sarah cut me off mid-sentence, "And there is another reason. If I miraculously had the ability to hear again, don't you think someone would notice. There is no way we could keep something like that secret.”

I smiled at her and said, "Well that is an important consideration, but if that's the only reason stopping me from helping you, then I don't care. Sure I have reasons I want this to remain secret, but not at the expense of my friends.”

"It's not the only reason," she said shaking her head no.

"Ok, well I think we can let it drop for now. But if you ever change your mind please tell me. I count you as one of my friends, your happiness is important to me.”

"Thanks," she said smiling.

"Well, I'm going to call and ask Mary Ann to give me a ride up to work. If we are going to take off for a week, I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row before we leave. It also gives you guys time to answer any other questions for Sarah, without me hanging around making her nervous.”

By the time Mary Ann swung by to pick me up, they were already starting to get pretty deep into it. There really wasn't much for me to do at the office, but I wanted to make myself scarce for a few hours. The larger contract was still in process, the original test order was well on its way to completion. Ronald's test run was still a little while off. His was still the project I was most excited about, but he barely had his first prototype done and he had some kinks to work out. Marcus said his theory was solid and should work, but cautioned me there would be a bunch of revisions necessary before we could move to stage two.

When I got home, Sarah was gone, and it was just the girls and Mom. Zoe started in on me as soon as I was in the door.

"I think it's cool she knows," she said. "I like her.”

"Stop!" I said hold up my hand.

"What?" she said.

"I know where you're headed and you can stop the train right there. One, you're already trying to add Emily, we don't need another girl in the wings. And two, she's not available. She has a thing going with Quam, and I am not about to steal another guy's girl.”

"But …" Tami started.

"No," I said again forestalling her. "I want to make this as clear as I possibly can. Don't even think about it. Do you understand?"

They all nodded their agreement. I glared for a moment longer. They seemed to ignore my wishes every time they thought they knew better than me, and I wanted to make sure this wasn't one of those times. Vicki and Tami went home and we ate a fairly quiet dinner. Just as we were cleaning up, the phone rang.

I was a little surprised to find Marcus on the other end. He didn't normally call me at night.

"Cas, you need to come down to the warehouse. We had a break-in.”

"What?" I said.

I couldn't imagine why someone would break into the warehouse. We had used it for production of the prototype, but it wasn't being used for the production line, so it didn't have a bunch of supplies or anything. We had slowly been moving over to the warehouse and converting it into an open plan office, so Ted could get some of his space back for his business 

"Someone broke in. They tried to get into the patent safe, but Ronald came back to the office to pick up some files he wanted to look over. He saw a light in the window, and called the police. He stayed pretty far back waiting for the police, so wasn't able to get a good look when the guy took off.”

"Good, that was smart. He doesn't need to risk getting hurt. I'm on my way out there, now.”

I hung up and had Zoe drive me over to the warehouse office space. She had a million questions after hearing my side of the conversation, but until we got to the offices and I could talk to Marcus and the cops, there wasn't anything I could tell her.

Arriving at the offices, I found Marcus and Ronald talking to a uniformed police officer. Thankfully, it wasn't my 'good friend' Jawarski, although it did feel like she was somehow involved in nearly every run-in I had with the police.

I stood silently, and let Ronald finish giving his statement; after which the officer folded up his notepad, nodded to me, and left.

"So, what happened?" I asked.

"I had to come back and get some figures on the filter stress tests we have been doing. We have been trying to determine a schedule of parts wear so we could put together a replacement schedule. Anyway," he said waving himself back on topic with one hand, "when I pulled up, I could see a light from the window in the file room. It wasn't an overhead light, 'cause it was moving around or whatever. I figured it had to be a flashlight.”

"At first I thought maybe I should go in and see what was going on, but then it occurred to me that anyone who was in the office with just a flashlight was probably not there for any good reason. It wasn't like there was a power outage. The light over the outside door was on, so I knew that the building still had power.”

"I drove away, found a pay phone, and called 911 to report a possible break-in," he continued. "I then called Marcus to tell him what was happening. He told me to stay put, but I came back to the offices to try and keep an eye on the place until the cops got here. When I got back, the light was gone, and I didn't see anyone hanging around. About ten minutes later, a patrol car showed up. I let the officer into the building, but he didn't find anything. I guess whoever broke in had good timing.”

"Or a police scanner," I said.

"I didn't think of that. So about the time the officer finished walking through the building Marcus showed up. He checked out the file room and noticed the safe where we keep the pending patent documents had been messed with. It looked like someone had tried to cut it open.”

They led me back to the file room and sure enough, there was a burned line cut about halfway down the safe. Someone was trying to burn their way into it with a torch. The safe itself was really pretty basic and I hadn't even though we needed it at first, but Ted had insisted.

"Why wasn't the alarm we put in triggered?" I asked.

"It wasn't on when we got here. Ted is calling Mapes to see if we can figure out what's going on.”

As if on cue, the phone rang. Marcus picked it up. His end of the conversation was extremely terse, mostly 'Ok,' or 'Yeah.' After a few minutes, he hung up and turned back to us.

"That was Ted. He couldn't get hold of Mapes, and called the alarm company call-center directly. Apparently the code was deactivated using Mapes' alarm code," he told us.

"Wait," I said. "I thought we had all agreed we were not going to issue him a code?”

"Mapes wasn’t issued a code," Marcus said, "but the center was double checked.  Mapes had a code with them, and that was the code that was used. Ted's at a loss to explain it, and he's trying to get to the bottom of it.  He has talked to Jonathan, and we are going to get that private eye you're using, to look into Mapes background. See if we can figure out what's going on.”

I frowned and said, "I hope he finds something fast. This thing with Mapes feels weird to me.”

"Yeah," Marcus said. "I know."

After having stuff happen on what seemed like a daily basis, the following several weeks were filled with the agony of waiting. We had to wait to see what, if anything, was going to happen to Steven Mertz. While I had gotten the impression from officer Jawarski that the situation was getting taken care of, it was impossible for us to know with any certainty; but going back to her again for more information, was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Carter Talmon was looking into both Mapes, and Tami's family's church group, but he had been very clear that it would take time to get any solid information about either. He didn't need me bugging him every day for updates, and Jonathan assured me multiple times that he was very capable and we would know something as soon as he did.

The contract for the full order of SWEEP drones seemed to be languishing. Ron had been increasingly hard to get a hold of, and the guys Jonathan brought in to work on the contract all said this kind of slow down didn't match with their previous experiences.

All we could do was wait.

After two weeks of trying to pay attention in school, my nerves were totally shot. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I called Carter as soon as I got home from school on Friday.

"Yeah," he said when he answered my call.

"Mr. Talmon, This is Caspian Grey," I said, not sure how many clients he had at a time.

"Yeah," he said again. You had to appreciate a guy who remained consistent.

"You were looking into a couple of cases for me," I supplied, hoping he would offer up information.

"Yeah," he said. This guy really puts new meaning into the word monosyllabic.

"I was hoping for some updates.”

"Not over the phone. I'll bring what I have to you," he said and hung up.

I didn't know whether I was annoyed at the way this guy acted, or if I absolutely loved it; but it's one or the other. I went into the living room and sat down to wait. He didn't say he was headed right over, but that was my impression.

Thankfully, ten minutes later the doorbell rang. I found Carter Talmon standing on the other side of the door. I ushered him into the kitchen so we could sit at the table to talk.

"Which case do you want to talk about first, the dirty security guy, or the creepy church people?" he said with no preamble.

"Let's go with the creepy church people first," I replied using his name for them.

I had decided. I loved this guy's act. I didn't know if it was a put up job, or if this is how he really was, but sometimes you gotta love a character.

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a series of five pictures and set them in front of me. Each included the same older man but different girls. I say girls because they were all Tina's age or younger. In one he was holding hands with the girl. The others were much more disturbing. There was nothing overtly obscene, but each picture he was being way more affectionate than was appropriate for an adult and a child.

"This is Joseph Taylor," Carter said pointing at the older man. "Each of the girls are his current 'brides' from the previous year.”

"These seem pretty damning. How come the cops can't get this kind of surveillance on him?”

"Because he keeps himself pretty well hidden. I had to sneak well onto their property to take these shots. I can't turn them over to the police, because I was trespassing when I took them. In reality, they are also evidence of me committing a crime. The stronger evidence is the audio recordings.”

"Audio recordings?”

"Yeah. I tapped his phone. That's illegal, which again is why it can't actually be used against him. I have one where he talks about his plans for his 'old brides' to make way for the new ones.”

I felt a tightening in my stomach, "What plans?”

"It seems every year he marries off his previous years brides to people in the church, supporters and what not, so he can bring in the new girls. These aren't legal marriages, mind you. Besides the girls not being old enough, most of these guys already have a wife or three.”

He passed several audio cassettes over to me.

"I also was able to get some of his banking information.”

"That can't possibly be legal," I said.

"I told you that what I was going to get wasn't going to be admissible in court. What did you think that meant?”

"There's a difference between non-admissible and straight out illegal," I said.

"I guess, but if you want a smoking gun this is how you have to do it. You are planning on blackmailing these people with this information, which is also against the law.”

"Not for money or anything," I said, defending my plan.

"No, but to force him to pack up and leave, or at least change the way they operate. Blackmail is blackmail. Not that I am against your plan. These guys are seriously disturbed.”

"Yeah," I said noncommittally. I was trying to do good, but to have the facts of where this was headed put so bluntly made me slightly uneasy. Not that I was giving up on my plan.

"So," I continued, "What did you get with the banking information.”

"Payments from the men who are getting these girls from Taylor," he said looking disgusted. "He's straight up
selling
these girls to them.”

"Jesus Christ! I can't believe this kind of shit is happening so blatantly," I said. I was truly shocked by what I was hearing.

"You should see some of the stuff that happens down on the border. Slavery is still alive and well in this country. It's just easier for Taylor and his group. These girls are as brainwashed as their parents. From the conversations I have heard, they are all looking forward to their new place in the church. Apparently having been one of Taylor's wives is a huge honor for these wackos.”

"I wish there was something we could do for them, too. It seems cold hearted to get Tami and Judy out, but leave these other girls to the mercy of depraved men.”

"I am not sure there is anything you
can
do. You would get a lot of push back from the girls. If I had to guess, if they were to be taken away from that 'church', they would find a way to escape and come back to the flock. You have no idea how lucky you are that your friends managed
not
to become brainwashed.”

"Yeah, I guess," I said still feeling the guilt. "Ok, what about Mapes?”

"This Mapes character is as crafty about what he's doing as these church people are blatant. Except for the alarm code thing, he has really covered his tracks. His IDs are all fake. Every address I can find for him leads to random businesses. I can't find any banking or financial information on him. Except for his dealings with you, this guy may not have even existed. Everything about him points to his being a professional. Where did you get him from?”

"He was a second hand reference from our military contact. I have trouble believing Ron was involved; but then, it wasn't really his reference, either. He got the name from someone else in his office.”

Carter finished jotting down notes and said, "That gives me another angle to look at, but I wouldn't hold onto a lot of hope. This guy knew what he was doing. Tracking him down might not be an option. You guys need to be on the lookout, though. This wasn't a 'one off' thing. This kind of guy works for someone.”

"So this isn't over," I said, more as a statement then a question.

"Not by a long shot," he replied.

I stood and walked Carter to the door, thanking him for his information. The girls had headed out to do some stuff together, which meant Tami was going to be occupied for a few hours. I knew that Judy went with Tina most afternoons, so she was also out of her house.

Putting the information Carter had given me in my backpack and grabbing my bike, I headed for the Smith house. I couldn't get over the weird sense of déjà vu from my trip to Emily's house, just after New Years. I seemed to be making a habit out of coercing my girlfriend's, or at least potential girlfriend's, families. While in both Emily's case and Tami's case I felt justified in my actions, I still felt bad that this seemed to be my go-to move to get things to go my way.

Pulling up to their house, I pushed those thoughts aside. The house itself was so vanilla it was shocking. This would be one of those places that, if the story of what was happening ever got out, the neighbors would all talk about how nice and normal the family seemed.

I knocked on their front door and waited. I wasn't sure if they would recognize me or not. Between dating one of their daughters, and my sister being friends with their other daughter, I couldn't imagine I was an unknown quantity; though I hadn't ever really had a face to face contact with the Smiths.

The door opened showing a woman in her 40's who said, "Ohh … you. What do you want?”

I guess that answered my question.

"I need to speak to you and your husband," I said.

"We are preparing to go out for the evening, and have nothing to say to you," she said, practically snarling.

"You will want to hear what I have to say. Otherwise I can go visit your neighbors and share what I have to say with them, instead. Of course your preacher friend would not be happy with me, or you, if that happened.”

She glared at me a moment but stepped aside as I walked in. A tall, bean pole of a man stood just inside. It was unusual that her husband would let her do the talking in a situation like this, and I did a quick recalculation in my head of who was really in charge in this house.

I didn't know the layout of their house, but neither of Tami's parents seemed inclined to give me a tour. I could make out what looked like a living room just off the entry way. I walked past Mr. Smith and into that room.

Sitting down I motioned that the couple, who had followed me into the room, should take the love seat opposite the couch I sat on. More glaring ensued, but neither argued. Mrs. Smith motioned with her head for her husband to take a seat. She followed after him.

"I've discovered recently that in this kind of a situation, I am not one to beat around the bush. So I will just lay out what I have to say. I know what you are planning to have Judy marry, or at least how you see it, Mr. Taylor. I am not going to lecture you how amazingly repugnant this idea is. Not so much because I don't think you deserve to have someone tell you what pathetic human beings you are, but more because I don't think you would hear a word I have to say. Anyone willing to sell their daughter off to a serial child molester is so far gone, nothing I could say would make a difference.”

Mrs. Smith started to protest; but I ignored her, and rolled on, forcing her to quiet down.

"No, instead, I am going to rely on how much you two clearly love Mr. Taylor and this 'church' of yours. I am betting there is very little you wouldn't do, to keep it from falling to pieces.”

I pulled a small tape recorder out of my backpack, which I'd already pre-loaded with the tape Carter gave me. I pressed play and let a conversation I had cued up fill the quite room. Two men, both of whom must be known to the Smiths, were speaking about one of the previous years brides being auctioned off. I let the conversation go for just over a minute, so the couple understood how explicit the conversation was, before shutting it off.

"Besides this conversation I have bank records that confirm the exact nature of the conversation you just heard. I am betting your friends and neighbors, and those of the rest of your little church, know nothing about this little ritual you have going on. The cops might have a rough time getting something tangible on Taylor and the rest of your group, but how do you think the community would take this? How long would it be before you had a mob forming up on your doorstep?”

I sat and stared at the couple. Mr. Smith just looked at his feet. Mrs. Smith, however, continued to glare at me.

"What do you want?”

"I know Tami is off the table for your little ceremony, but Judy needs to be off the list, too. She isn't going to become one of Taylor's 'brides'. Neither girl should have to attend your church one moment longer, if they don't want to … and I guarantee they do not want to.”

Mrs. Smith's facade of anger started to crack, and I could see the edges of worry and panic slipping in.

"What are we supposed to do? It's already decided. We can't just tell Joseph she isn't available.”

"Well then, you two better think up something. If I hear one word of Judy being auctioned off to Taylor, or one complaint about their home life from either girl, everything I have will show up in every one of your neighbors' mailboxes, the next morning.”

"How do we know you won't just do that anyway?”

"Because you're a bright woman. You have to be considering your daughters. You know that this is my leverage. Without it, I lose my ability to protect them. So you keep your daughters free and clear of this, and I will refrain from riding your church out of town on a rail.”

She stared at me for a long moment and said, "Fine.”

"See, I knew you were smart," I said standing up. "Well, you two have a nice day, now.”

I excused myself, leaving the couple still sitting on the couch, looking like they had been hit by a freight train. Which I guess they kind of were. Not that I felt bad about that.