D Carpenter - Infertile Grounds

Pell had everything under control now. They didn’t need him anymore. After all, this was their job, not his. But he wanted to be involved. He had built TeaNet from the ground up and it had provided him with incredible professional experience and challenges, but it was no match for this sort of thing. The past few days had been the most exciting of his life. He felt alive, reborn – as if he had molted – shedding the aches, pains and drudgery of middle-age back on the banks of the St. Croix River.

He thought fleetingly about trying to reach Karen but if things kept up at this pace, he’d be home on time and he could explain it all to her then. He had been toying with the idea of making a change anyway and this conversation could open the discussion. Karen wouldn’t like it. She liked stability, security but she also enjoyed the nice things in life that came with being married to a successful entrepreneur – the country club membership, the social events, the convertible sports car.

When his accountant told him three years ago that he was a millionaire, they had celebrated, Karen more than he. Becoming a millionaire was a milestone. He had purposefully not told her about the meetings he’d had over the past few weeks. He was being courted for a buyout. They were offering eight million in cash and eight more in their company stock, which was abysmally low but would undoubtedly go up.

It was tempting. But he didn’t want to get Karen over-excited. He liked burgers on the grill and beer in a can, she liked designer handbags, sporty cars and cocktails at the most expensive restaurants with her girlfriends. He didn’t begrudge his wife her shopping and lifestyle habits, after all she was a good wife and he loved her deeply. But he would prefer to think about how to invest the money and what he really wanted to do next before talking to Karen about it.

Pell said, “We’re all set. They’re bringing in twenty men to comb the entire area. They’re also sending in a chopper to get us back down to Bangor, and we’re going to hop a plane to Boston. We’ll be there around four this afternoon.”

Chris nodded. “How’re you doing? You look better.”

“Good. This has really got me fired up. I’m starting to think David Rose really was telling the truth, and each little bit of evidence that we have been able to put together is confirming it. This could be huge.” He slapped Chris’ shoulder. “Let’s talk a little more about your Africa theory.”

Camilla and Sarah sat on the terrace in the garden. Albert had prepared an amazing breakfast that they should have been savoring but neither of them was particularly hungry. Sarah’s smartphone sat in the middle of the wrought iron table, and both of them kept glancing at it. Sarah had a real bad feeling about this. Seth was almost six hours late with his call. It wasn’t like him.

They had been silent for most of the meal until Camilla said, “Why hasn’t he called yet?”

Sarah pushed the eggs Benedict to one side of her plate and put her knife and fork down. “I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is that the phones are out up there, there’s no signal or something. That wouldn’t be uncommon at all. I mean that’s the whole reason we chose that location. It’s in the middle of nowhere, no-one around for miles and limited network coverage.”

“Something went wrong, and I bet it’s all related to David Rose,” Camilla said.

Sarah was about to try to put some sort of a positive spin on it when the phone emitted a shrill chirp. Both women jumped.

“This must be him,” Sarah said as she picked up.

“Seth, is that you? Thank goodness, where have you been?” A smile spread across her face. She had been thinking the worst. At least he was alive. Across the table Camilla nodded – her face essentially emotionless except for a deep crease in her usually smooth brow.

“We ran into some problems.”

“What happened?” Sarah asked.

Camilla walked around the table, leaned down, and listened to the conversation from right next to Sarah’s head.

“Alby Fournier showed up at the lodge.”

“Alby Fournier?” Sarah muttered, running the name over in her mind. She had heard it in the past, but couldn’t associate a face with it.

“He was a guide down at the Wild Bear. It’s a long story. What’s important is we got everything out. We’re heading west right now. I’m calling you from Burlington, Vermont.”

The two women exchanged concerned glances. He was holding something back.

“What about Bert?”

“Taken care of as planned,” Seth said.

“Is everyone else okay?” Sarah asked.

Seth paused. “Curtis and Wendel are dead.”

“Dead! What happened?”

“Alby shot them. He turned up all crazy saying he knew what we were doing and talking about the bible and God and stuff. He shot Wendel and Curtis before we could get to him. ”

“And just how did this Alby character know what was going on?” Sarah demanded. Her voice was low.

“I’ve no idea. I’m not sure if he actually did know anything. He was going on about apparitions and god talking to him. He’s always been a bit crazy. I think he might have just flipped and come down shooting up the place on some fantasy crusade. It all happened so fast. I’m just happy we got out of there with what we did. If it weren’t for Alby, it would have been a textbook operation.”

“Well, it wasn’t textbook, was it? How long before you get to the new operation center?”

“Tomorrow night. We’re going straight through as much as possible. We’ll need to take a few breaks. When will you be there?”

“I’ll be waiting for you. Are you telling us everything? I need to know the truth here. Does anyone else know about this? Did anything else happen up there that you’re keeping from me?”

“No that’s it. I’ve told you everything. Is Camilla on the phone?”

“She’s listening right next to me.”

“Trust me, both of you; it could have been much worse. It could very easily have been all of us that got it back there. Then where would you be? Things are going to work out. I’ve got all of the data, and Mark has all of the stuff from the lab and lodge in the van. He’ll be there in three days.”

Sarah was furious and wanted to lash out at him but she needed him – especially now that Curtis and Wendel were both dead. Three men dead in four days – an ominous sign. At this rate they wouldn’t make it through the week.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Sarah said as she hung up the phone.

Camilla walked back to her seat. She sat silently, tapping her fork against her empty plate for a minute before slamming her hands on the table, rattling the settings. Sarah said, “This doesn’t change anything. You heard him. They got what they were supposed to and are on their way. We’re just two men short now.”

“Two? And David makes three.” Camilla said. “This is a major problem.”

“Not really. Now that we’re out of Maine we don’t need as many people.”

“That may be, but what am I going to tell Phillip? It’s bad news at the worst possible time.”

Sarah nodded her head. There was no disputing that fact. He would not take the news well.

“Do we even have to tell him?” Sarah asked. “What good would it do?”

Camilla leaned back in her chair and stared at the deep blue sky. Her full lips moved gently as she muttered something to herself.

“Things have got to start going better,” Camilla said as she rose and walked toward the house, leaving Sarah standing there alone cursing Seth under her breath. How could he have screwed up like this?