David Golemon - Legacy

“Are you going to keep me in the dark forever, Daddy?”

Rawlins looked down at his eldest daughter and smiled. “Just the usual incompetence with employees. You know the drill. They just can’t see the things I do.” Rawlins leaned over the back of the couch. “God’s will can be an angry and ugly thing.”

“I love your euphemisms for murder, Daddy, I always have.”

“I will assume you mean that in the most respectful way, daughter.” Rawlins straightened and walked back to his desk, tossing the phone into its cradle.

Laurel Rawlins stood and walked to her father’s desk, perching on the edge. Her shapely right leg swung back and forth as she tilted her head low so that her father could see her eyes.

“I told you, you need more dependable people on your payroll. Now, give me your wish list and I’ll get things done. I have the people, and I have the contacts. You said it yourself. Mr. McCabe will have his hands full in the coming days and weeks and can’t be every place he needs to be. And we don’t need the Mechanic getting himself killed before his usefulness is at an end, do we?”

Rawlins looked up at his older daughter. Her blue eyes were as blue as his own. Unlike his younger daughter, Laurel was all him. She was a woman who even as a child knew what made her world go around and that was the money her father could provide her. She had so much of it that her nighttime activities were a mere hobby to her. That fact alone should have concerned him, but he knew she had to have excitement in her life.

“I do things for the love of my God, daughter, but never for myself. Of course, the money is always nice, but it never seems to be enough.”

“The money is good. And I have no doubt that you do what you do for the love of God,” Laurel said, reaching out and touching his cheek. “And I do what I do for the love of you.” She smiled broadly and batted her eyes. “And the money too, of course.”

“I suspect that is not all you do it for. I believe I should be worried about your wicked ways, Laurel-for instance, your little affair with Mr. McCabe.”

The young woman slid off the desk, hopping gently to the carpeted floor and straightening her skirt. “Believe me, Daddy, when I say that my relationship with our former Army friend had its little perks. I’ve met people who will be a benefit to us, even if our dear Mr. McCabe has to, well, even if he suddenly has to leave our employ.”

“For now, I need him like no other. He devised a brilliant plan that will shift blame away from our actions to where it belongs. It’s ingenious really. And he chose the perfect man in the Mechanic, a man who will set us on the road to everlasting glory.”

Laurel raised her eyebrows, knowing that her father was as crazy as they come, but she still loved him in her own special way. She returned to his desk and became serious.

“Now, if I heard you right, you spoke of a Niles Compton?”

“Yes.”

“And he’ll be in Houston this afternoon?”

Rawlins saw the gleam in his daughter’s eyes as she demurely took a notepad from his desk and wrote down the pertinent information.

“Yes, the Johnson Space Center.”

“Now,” she said, lowering the writing pad, “I take it you want him to cease his activities, whatever they are?”

Rawlins looked through the large window. His eyes fell on the smoggy afternoon outside his offices.

“Fine, if you want to know about the ugly side of God’s work, I may have something even more thrilling for you when you finish with this. If what is happening is truly going to happen, we will not only be out many valuable patents on the technology in the mines, but the world could turn against the word of God for those damnable petrified bodies. The nonbelievers of the world are going to try to make my people, and others of our kind, turn from their faith. If it comes to that, we may have to commit ourselves to the salvation of our very souls, and that of the people who allow us into their homes three times a week.”

“Sounds like we may be busy then,” she said, moving her head to get her long blond hair behind her shoulders. She tore the page from the pad and tossed it onto the desk. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch.”

“Not to ruin your good mood, my dear, but the Mechanic is coming in from Ecuador immediately and I will have him meet you in Houston. Use him. I do not want you directly involved if the Mechanic finds an opening against this Dr. Compton.”

“Oh, I have many uses for our Arab friend. Using him to kill is just one of them,” she said, shooting her father a demure look.

Rawlins watched his daughter leave the office. He knew Laurel was not a follower of his word, but there was a quid pro quo. She allowed him his own small peccadilloes as far as his religion went. As long as the money supply was up to a minimum level, Laurel was his forever. He smiled as he figured that it was probably time she earned her keep. He looked at his watch and frowned.

“All right, Mr. McCabe, where are you?”

Ryan had come around nicely. They made their way through the thick stand of trees as Jason asked Will Mendenhall one more time if his nose looked as bad as it felt. Collins raised his hand when he saw Everett suddenly stop and hold up five fingers, then clench his fist. He lowered his hand slowly with the palm facing down, telling through his fingers to stop, get down, and be quiet. Collins eased his way forward.

They had heard helicopters fly very low over the sparsely forested part of the foothills, and each time they had to scramble for cover, barely staying out of view of people who were obviously McCabe’s men searching for them. For the most part they had been lucky. The bulk of the search was being conducted around the falls and the lake they had been near more than two hours before.

Everett turned around and knelt beside Jack. “Looks like a cop up ahead on that small road-looks local to me. He’s parked next to a ’66 Chevy Impala with a male driver and a woman passenger. Looks like they’re changing a flat. The cop is just standing there, jawing.”

“This may be our chance to bum a ride.”

“That’s what I was figuring,” Everett confirmed, and looked back at the scene just below on the roadway.

Jack turned and held up a hand to Ryan and Mendenhall, indicating for them to stay put. As he watched, Will reached out and patted Ryan on the shoulder. He silently shook his head and made a face indicating that the nose looked real bad, causing the small Navy man extreme consternation.

“Okay, looks like we may be in business here, Jack. The cops are leaving.”

“Okay, stay in the tree line. I’ll see if we can get a ride.”

“Well, they look to be pointed in the right direction,” Carl said as he moved aside to let Jack by. “Watch your ass.”

“Yeah, my judgment hasn’t been real good today, so maybe you better watch it for me,” Collins said, easing out of the trees.

“Hola,” Jack called out. He raised his right hand and crossed the broken macadam of the old roadway.

The man was just lowering the large car from its jack. He paused and stood. He pulled the woman behind him as he looked at the bedraggled man crossing the road.

“Hola,” the old man answered, as his eyes searched the area around Collins to see if he was alone.

“ Habla ingles?” Collins asked, smiling the best nonthreatening smile he could muster.

“Si,” the man said. “Little… bit,” he said, holding up his index finger and thumb about an inch apart.

“Uh, I and some friends seem to be in a fix. Our car broke down a few miles back, and we need a ride into the next town.”

The middle-aged man watched as Jack approached the car, hands held slightly out in front of him. He seemed to relax a bit as he stepped away from the car.