Chapter 9: Security and Connections

Dave, Pam, and Alice looked through the one-way glass at the classroom with an array of children in it. Bobby and John, the older children he’d had with each woman, were in the class and were surprisingly behaving well.

There were three ‘teachers’ or ‘facilitators’ in the room: Samantha Stone – one of the twins, Taylor Volker, and Athena Willis. Each was working with a small group of children looking at computer screens and-or workbooks. The group they could see right in front of the one-way glass was Athena’s and they were working on some basic arithmetic skills, including some simple fractions. With the touch of a button they could listen to the room, hearing best what was closest to the one-way glass.

Athena was drawing out of the group of six children how to process larger and more complex problems. Each child was participating. She wasn’t calling on them for rote answers; she wanted them to understand the concept of breaking a problem down into component parts, solving each part, and then reassembling them to find the answer. She even explained that principle to the children. Each child seemed to quickly understand the idea and then wanted to apply it to some of the problems on the computer screen.

Alice commented, “I talked to Samantha last Wednesday. This whole schooling idea is going much better than we expected – like BIG TIME. The kids are testing out two or three GRADES above their peers in the public-school system. The counselor and principal at South Side School that is overseeing our home schooling are really impressed, especially since only Sam has teaching credentials. The other women are officially rated as teacher’s aides.”

Dave said, “Well, Athena and Taylor sure took to the idea of teaching well.”

“Maddy comes in and swaps off with some of them. She has the credentials, too. Juan Carlos comes in to teach them Spanish, too. Cricket has come in to talk to them about creative writing skills and taught them about a computer as a word processor. Gail came in before that and gave an introduction to computers to everyone, as well. We have lots of resources.”

“How is Maddy doing?” Dave asked.

Pam responded, “She’s usually with the younger children by choice.

Dave asked, “So, if the kids are ahead of their peers in the public-school system, what do they do? We’re not concerned about what grade each child is in, but they are skipping grades nonetheless.”

Pam speculated, “Well, if they ever want to switchover to the regular system, they’ll be well ahead of their class based on age. Maybe they’ll be like Nikky and Cricket and finish college at age eighteen.”

Dave chuckled, “They just won’t be as virginal and as naïve at that age as those two were.”

Alice laughed, “They’ve made up for lost time.”

The parents walked away from the viewing window. Almost all of the parents watched for a while during each week; the activity became the responsible thing to do. Dave made a note to volunteer as one of the teachers, although he wasn’t sure what features of state-of-the-art batteries would appeal to kids six to nine-year old. He could talk to them about the power system and electricity.

Dale, Dev, Owen, and Deke from the Worthington Clan sat as a panel in front of the general meeting for the Circle. The subject was security. Each of the men had a role in defining, setting up, and operating the security for the Circle property and the homes on it, including Owen Bennett’s that had two recent but unsuccessful attempts at entry.

Dale projected a large map of the Circle property and the adjacent land onto a projection screen at the front of the core living room. He pointed at the screen image, “We and the board have decided to staff an around the clock guard house at the main gate from Christian Grey Drive. As of yesterday, the perimeter of the property now has an electronic fence viewed by about forty-eight high-resolution cameras that also trigger alerts when human activity is detected. The cameras automatically zoom in on that activity for the guard. Everything is recorded on some mammoth hard drive.

“The guard can call the police, watch and monitor the situation. If he takes no action the police are automatically called by way of an outside monitoring alarm company. A non-response from the guard will also trigger all hell breaking loose. Security lights will come on, several sirens and klaxons will sound, and about ten Circle members will be notified instantly of the situation.”

Cricket asked, “What about false alarms?”

Deke responded, “We need to see how frequently they occur. We expect some, but the guards we’ll have on duty will be able to handle most of the situations.”

Ty asked, “The intruder or intruders at Owen’s house seemed to exit by way of the main gate and Christian Grey Drive. Did anything get done about that?”

“Well, the guard house will be one deterrent to that path. We have other cameras that function similar to our perimeter installed along this end of the street. If our visitor is brash enough to rattle a door knob again he’ll be tracked from house to exit and a little beyond.”

Donna Klaubert asked, “What about a higher level of protection? I guess I mean weapons?”

Dale spoke reluctantly, “About twenty to thirty of you, to the best of my knowledge, have weapons in your homes. I’m more worried about one of us shooting another than fending off a threat. If things escalate, such as with Owen’s intruder, we may take more aggressive action, but I urge each of you to NOT bring your guns or rifles to the party. I should mention that our gate guard appears unarmed, but has fire power within reach. Owen’s new bodyguards are armed and highly trained.

Ann asked, “Do any of us know why somebody is focused on Owen?”

Owen stood to address the group. “Let me try to answer that. First off, the basic answer is no. I know of no specific threat against me. Mark Worthington tells me that all somebody has to hear is that I have billions in networth and suddenly everyone thinks I have millions lying around my home in loose change. I hope you all know that’s not the case. I grew up and still live relatively modestly. I do have a few expensive toys such as the jet and some art, but otherwise I live like the rest of you.

“I have been interviewed by the police and asked about my enemies and such. I can’t think of any specific individual or group that is incensed about me in any way. Heck, I go out of my way to be generous and to be a nice guy.

“My hope is that our visitor is just some misguided person that thought they could do a ‘snatch and grab’ on some bauble in my home, pawn it, and make a few bucks. Only time will tell. I think the increase in protection and security coverage will do the trick.”

The meeting disbanded after the information sharing session. There was a hum of conversation about what else could be done, but no great ideas surfaced worth pursuing at that point.

Dave got home early on the following Thursday so that he could observe his children in the Circle’s Home-Schooling Center. He’d spent an hour taking time to focus on each child that rated as ‘officially’ his plus some of the others with uncertain paternity where he might be a likely culprit. That meant he watched over a dozen kids age six months to age seven.

After the school hours ended and the kids were released to recess until their parents claimed them, Dave went out to the patio intending to get an early start on tending bar – one of the service jobs he did that he always enjoyed.

As he reached the patio, he surveyed the Circle members and pledges around the pool. One person caught his eye – Kellie Sawyer. She was at one of the high-top tables with a laptop computer open in front of her with her eyes locked on whatever she was reading.

Kellie was topless, in keeping with all of the other women on the patio. He felt a brief surge of arousal at seeing her nearly naked body. She was a beautiful woman. He felt glad that Jim had seen she deserved more of a career than working in an adult club that usually catered to men.

Dave walked over, “Hi Kellie. How’s school?”

Kellie sat erect and smiled at him. “Hi. I think I have my head above water by a millimeter. Some of my classes have weekly quizzes and I’ve aced every one of them so far. I can’t tell you how great Heather, Nikky, and Cricket have been in helping me with different approaches to studying depending on the material. Without that I’d be trying to sledge hammer the knowledge into my brain. As it is, I still worry about my grades, but I am putting in the time.”

Dave teased, “What was that line, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”

“Very poetic,” she laughed.

“I volunteer my own time to help and tutor, although I’ve been far enough away from a lot of the engineering stuff that I may be dealing with old concepts and approaches to the material.”

Kellie said, “Most of my stuff is pretty basic.” After a pause she asked, “I would like to talk to you later, after dinner, please. Right now, I have to finish reading a chapter and doing some review questions in my Modern Algebra class. I hated algebra in high school, but this is kind of fun.”

“I’ll be at the bar. If you want save me a seat at dinner.” As Dave left her to attend to the bar, he watched her upper body shimmy in a sexy but natural way. He felt that surge below his belt again.

Dave had his back to the bar for a minute as he opened some more bottles of wine. When he turned back Barbara was there smiling at him. The pretty anthropologist said, “I must apologize again. I misread you and everything about the Circle. My superficial observations and suppositions really missed the mark. That gave me a wake-up call about many other things in my life.”

Dave laughed, “No apology needed. Is your research complete?”

“Oh, good grief, no. I’ve barely started. This may take years.”

“Last I saw you were very immersed in the local culture.”

Barbara laughed, “You mean I was making love with some of the men and really getting off on it.”

Dave chuckled, “I think that was the conclusion I drew.”

Barbara said, “I’d like to be with you later?” The statement was posed as a question.

Dave said, “I told Kellie I’d spend some time with her, but you can join us or I’ll have to give you a rain check. I am not brushing off your request. I wasn’t sure Kellie’s request meant sex; she may have just wanted to talk.”

“Thank you. I’ll ask Kellie if I can horn in.”

Dave served her a glass of wine and watched as she waltzed across the patio to where Kellie was still reading. As they talked, he saw Kellie fold up her laptop and put it into her shoulder bag on the ground.

Dave hailed Cookie who was waitressing that day and had her take a glass of wine over to Kellie with his compliments. When Kellie got the glass and looked over, he waved.

When Dave finished closing up part of the bar and sat down for dinner, he joined Kellie and Barbara, along with Ben, Amy, Nora, and Lars at one of the large tables. Due to the expectation of showers the meal was being served indoors.

Dave asked Barbara, “So, I take it by your earlier comments that you still think the Circle is worthy of a doctoral dissertation?”

Barbara nodded, “Oh, yes. My thesis advisor, Marie Thereaux, thinks this is a wonderful topic. I don’t know how she did it, but she suggested that I apply for a grant from the Bennett Foundation to help me complete the study. I can even use the funds for living expenses.”

Dave slowly asked in a measured tone, “By any chance, were any of the men you’ve made love with since I saw you last happen to be named Owen?”

Barbara looked surprised, “Yes. Why?”

“And did the suggestion from Professor Thereaux happen to come after that coupling?”

“Errr, yes, the next afternoon. Are they connected?”

“You tell me,” Dave said. “Owen is Owen Bennett. He happens to head the Bennett Foundation.” He turned to Kellie, “Tell Barbara about your scholarship?”

Kellie could already see what had happened and was laughing. She was catching on to the way some of the people in the Circle worked. “I met Owen and ... well, he’s funding my whole college education – tuition, books, expenses, and a generous living stipend.”

Barbara looked shocked, “He does this routinely?”

“There’s no quid pro quo,” Dave told her. “He liked you, figured out with a few questions that you were a struggling grad student, and set about remedying the situation. He considers it something nice to do for someone.”

“My grant is for a hundred thousand dollars – double what I asked for. That was a huge surprise.”

Dave chuckled, “You don’t even show up in the round off error when he does his accounting. You know he built our airport and keeps his corporate jet there?”

“Airport? Jet?”

“I’ll show you after dinner.”

Kellie said, “I’d like to see that, too. Barbara talked about the three of us being together, and I guess I’m cool with that.”

Dave said, “I thought you wanted to talk?”

Kellie blushed, “Actually, I wanted you to give me The Experience. I’ve read about it and talked to a dozen different women, and ... I’m feeling left out.”

Dave said, “I don’t want you to even think that it’s an exchange of some kind for your treatment or scholarship.”

“Oh, no. I’m well past that. I guess I got over my aversion to men, too; although I haven’t done anything about it except to choose you as my introductory foray back into having a sexual social life. Besides, I want to build a long-term relationship with you.”

“I’m honored. And you’re all right having Barbara with us?”

“I am. This isn’t my first rodeo, you know. I’ve even had a threesome with another woman, although my ex was all over her so I didn’t get much of a chance.”