Chapter 33

Adjustments

Damn this bed was comfortable, Vicky thought to herself. Much nicer then mine. Suddenly, Vicky fully awoke with a start. And all of the memories of the last three days came flooding back to her.

She hadn't drunk much last night. Dinner was awesome, and she had gotten a chance to meet a whole group of people. It was like going to a new precinct and meeting a whole group of people at roll call and then out for drinks later.

Evidently Candy was the barracks first sergeant here. Which was unusual. The only one younger her was Cindy, and she seemed to be a bubblehead at first. But when you found she was taking remote business courses at Cornell, and was writing a paper on management structures of the last hundred years, you found out that her bubble was camouflage.

Then there was Carol and Helen. Vicky nicknamed them Legal and Shrink. The sort of informal leaders you had that were more mentor then chain of command.

Abby was introduced as "doing medical screening" until Vicky discovered later that she was an ER MD from Cook County who was caught up just like she was.

All of the rest of the people were pretty much normal, at least in appearance. But the talent and brainpower were pretty evident and definitely above the rim from other places Vicky had been. Enough reflection already.

"I wonder where I can get a cup of coffee?" Vicky asked herself.

Putting on slippers and walking down the hall, she saw a man and woman coming out of a room ahead of her. "Good Morning Vicky" the brunette said.

"Hello. Is there any coffee around anywhere?" Vicky replied, totally forgetting the name of the woman.

"Downstairs. I think Helen is probably working on breakfast. Jimmy, go down and help out while I show Vicky where things are."

After Jimmy left, the brunette introduced herself. "I am Elizabeth, or Liz for short. We didn't have much time last evening to talk. Carol tells me you are Candy's latest catch?"

"I guess I am. What ever that means." Vicky replied a little defensively.

"It means that our little operations boss has found someone to bring into the boat here and that you will be pulling your weight while Carol get's you out of this insane house as soon as possible."

"Isn't she awfully young to be the operations person here?" Vicky asked.

"She is. She got that job by default. She did what no one else really wanted to do. And she does it with style and grace far older then her age." Elizabeth said.

"Really? I noticed that she seems to be the little organizer and no one really questions how or why."

"You ever hear the old saying that success is it's own explanation and failure needs a book to explain it? There aren't many explanations about what Candy does. She sees things, does things and it is usually something everyone smacks their forehead about later and asks why didn't I think of that".

"I know people like that. Sooner or later it get's addictive to ask them for advice."

"You got it. She is sweet, caring and so damn open without pretense that you get disarmed pretty quickly. Her only disadvantage is she is young and sometimes people don't listen to her as quickly as they should. Then they get put in the cooler."

"That's what I hear. Is it true, really?" Vicky replied.

"Really. She did it before and I have no doubt she would again. She takes things really seriously. And she is uncanny about knowing when things have to be done and how. She isn't the most diplomatic person here." Liz said with a laugh. "But that is youth for you. She is getting better. And she is a great student."

"Really? We have school here?"

"Sort of. Everyone here is taking one sort of extension course or another. David pays for all tuition out of operations expenses. We are careful to keep expenses down, but we are still able to keep up professionally. It is harder for some then others, but those who want to keep studying do so. Candy and Cindy are both taking courses at Cornell. We had to file an extension course exemption for them to be able to be remote but it was worth it. You could finish your law degree. Carol will coach you. I am coaching Cindy in marketing and Abby is coaching Candy in Medicine."

Clearly this was not what Vicky was thinking when she had called and dropped stuff off Sunday. She had packed her law books and other study things away and hadn't brought them over. "Shit. I wonder if I can get my stuff shipped here?" She thought aloud.

"Silly girl. You didn't prepare? Neither did I. That is why our husbands and David do pick up work. Your keys and stuff are in your room, right?" Liz asked

""Yes." Vicky replied sheepishly.

"Good. Then we make arrangements to have someone pick up the belongings you need and you set them up in your room. I bet all you thought about was that silly trunk in the store room."

"Well, yea." Vicky replied. The silly trunk was an upright two thousand pound safe with all Vicky's service and private collection of weapons inside as well as over a two thousand rounds of ammunition in six calibers. Everything was locked in place for military transport so nothing had shifted. But that was the only thing that Vicky had thought about when she made the decision to move.

"Ok." Liz continued. "Now, today you write a list of boxes and things you need and we send David, or someone else to go get them and bring them here. Didn't you read your questionnaire?"

"Candy said something about me being an ostrich about that." Vicky replied with a laugh.

"That's our girl. Honest to a fault." Liz said as she led the way downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Vicky was struck full power by the smell of Colombian roast coffee. She practically was salivating while walking to the pot. "Please tell me you have extra cups?" She said as she reached for the cabinet.

"Top shelf, right hand side, there is one with your name on it." An older blonde woman replied. "It's Vicky right?"

"Yes. Does everyone know I was going to be staying?"

"Almost. I am Helen. I guess I am the den mother for this zoo. Cream is in the fridge second shelf."

Walking over with her filled cup to where Helen was cooking something that smelled of onions, tomatoes and something else she couldn't place, Vicky asked, "Gosh, that smells good. Who ordered the cup?"

"We figured you would like it. While you have the cabinet open, can you pass me the paprika please, dear? George and a few others like a taste of zing in the eggs." Helen said, pointing toward a box on the shelf.

Coming up behind her, Liz poked Vicky on the elbow without the coffee and said "Helen is our resident seer. She gets off on figuring out everyone in advance. She will put you on her couch later."

"Behave scamp. And get out some plates. This woman is probably hungry. Sorry we don't' have a gym yet, but we are going to set up some stuff on Sunday." Helen continued.

"Ok. That is spooky. How did you know?"

"I think Cindy hacked into the police department and pulled down your records." Liz said with a whisper.

"No she didn't. She simply pulled down everything she could find about our officer of the year including a article she had in the police paper two years ago." Helen continued, spooning some of her concoction onto a plate. "Here eat this and tell me what you think."

The flavor exploded in Vicky's mouth, followed a few moments later by an exquisite sensation of both heat and sweetness. The salivary glands were triggered and Vicky almost found herself swallowing in gulps to keep from drooling. "What the heck is that and can I have some more?"

"It is a little of this and a little of that. I guess I have to write the recipe down. Carla will kill me if I don't. I usually serve it over sourdough bread. But we have to make do. I will order that when I do groceries in a while. By the way, you need to write down what you like to eat. And sign up for kitchen rotation." Helen said

"Wow. Is this the norm for mornings?" Vicky asked, savoring the flavors in her mouth.

"Sort of. I usually get up early and do breakfast. We rotate dinners. Lunch is often catch as catch can. Usually leftovers from the previous night or what ever anyone orders in or brings." Helen said.

"Watch yourself. We are always looking for a Sous-chef. " Elizabeth.

"I guess that's me. I am pretty good with a chopping knife. Or slicing. But I don't do the stove well."

"Sounds like Candy." Helen said with a smile.

Vicky blanched at that statement, thinking of the stories of Candy with a knife. Helen noticed the expression and said, "Take over here Liz. I think Vicky and I need to talk."

"You taking her to your couch?" Liz asked.

"Now Liz, I never use a couch. Vicky why don't we sit down over there."

Smiling, Vicky moved to the chair indicated and sat down. With her coffee and a plate of the delicious looking mess she was trying to decipher.

"So, Is this my shrink session?" She asked between gulps.

"Sort of. Do you need much shrinking? Or just some history and perspective?" Helen asked.

"Perspective would be good." Vicky replied.

"Ok. So our question is how do we adjust a hardened investigator to be a backup operations manager while we get her out of here?" Helen asked.

"What adjustment do I need?" Vicky asked.

"Why don't you tell me? No. I promise no tricks. I have a few ideas and I will tell you. But if you let the shrink union know I am telling you without long sessions on the couch, I will deny it." Helen said with a laugh.

Given the history Vicky had with shrinks, she knew that this was abnormal. "I think I am pretty well adjusted in some respects." Vicky said. "I get hit with zingers once in a while. Candy's formula for two by four therapy was pretty effective last week. Realizing that she would have termed my commanding officer with no qualms was a little unsettling. Having the production experience and knowing what is in store for the women I am supposed to work with is unsettling. For me to be committing murder is very unsettling. And yet waking up here and talking with all of you is almost like a looking glass experience."

"So you feel like Alice in wonderland?" Helen asked. "Good. We don't want anyone to be too comfortable here."

"Really?" Vicky said, while getting another forkful. "Gee this is good."

"Thank you. Yes, we do deliberately end the lives of people here. We do several hundred a week. If David's plans work out, it will soon be several thousand a week. If you were too comfortable with this, you couldn't help us when we are fishing and pulling out of the net every single person we can. You saw yesterday how we work." Helen said.

"Yes. I was surprised. Thinking about it, we are throwing away potential revenue with every exclusion we do, aren't we?" Vicky continued.

"Yes. And we will do that every chance we get. Anyone too comfortable with being here would not be the ones we want to fish out. Do you know why we fished you out?" Helen asked.

"I heard Candy's story about it. It was surprising as hell." Vicky replied.

"After Sue called us and told us she was sending you over, Nancy and I looked at your paper and did the quick research. We were shocked. We didn't know how to talk with you. I felt that you would probably run over anyone else here except Margaret, and she is not known for patience. Candy was available and I felt she would probably not do any real harm in an interview. She is pretty confident and stable."

"Stable? How about Granite? I have had DI's, police inspectors and whole hosts of other people brief me and that young woman is in a class by herself. She would have made a hell of a cop." Vicky said. "And at nineteen? That woman will be president if she can get out of here."

"Probably not. Maybe a CEO somewhere. But she is too blunt for politics. But I agree. Her natural instincts at measuring people are better then almost everyone else here. I put her on par with Margaret, who fished her out initially. She usually sees things that I don't see at first." Helen replied.

"So back to the subject. Why Me?" Vicky asked.

"Police make decisions quickly under stress. Given the right guidelines and situations, they are better under stress then almost any other profession. We don't' get firefighters here. We don't get active military here. It was pure screw up of magnificent order that you got here instead of being shipped out. That was what Carol said. We are recruiting for operational leadership. You are a candidate. And if we can get you fished out entirely then that is in line with David's and Carol's mission, which is to exclude anyone we can."

"That is nuts." Vicky said.

"Actually the expression is nutty as a squirrel turd. But that is how we are. David has always wanted everyone to have humane treatment. Margaret was excluded, but I was selected. So Margaret badgered David into getting me assigned here." Helen said.

"Really?" Vicky asked.

"Really. I didn't want to be treated like some piece of meat. I saw a woman I knew spitted live and it was a very traumatic experience to me." Helen continued.

Vicky had never seen that, but had heard about it. She would have eaten her gun before she would succumb to that. "And?"

"I asked Margaret if I would be treated better here. David had been doing pet food for years here and had we thought he treated women differently. We didn't know how because we never asked."

"Ostrich?" Vicky asked with a smile.

"You have it. Margaret came here one day and revamped some of the assembly line. David either was so happy she was involved or just simply accepted good advice or both, but we had some changes made."

"I see. So how did Candy fit into this?"

"You know about Carol?" Helen asked.

"Yes. She said something about puking the first time she saw a termination. I told her I peed myself. She said she puked, Nancy passed out and Elizabeth went into shock."

"And Candy asked if she could help." Helen continued. "That is pretty much it. Margaret's first day here, she decided to be a throat cutter. She had spent time with the women in the front, and had talked them through medical and stripping and then was first off the turnstile. Tim was the main executioner then, and all terms were done by hand. Margaret changed that, by doing the terms herself. Carol, Liz, Candy, and Nancy were in the last group of the day, and came off the turnstile first. They watched Margaret kill three women that were behind them, and then David asked if they wanted to talk with him here."

"No Shit?" Vicky asked. "I bet that was a shock."

"Yes. Kind of like Candy did you yesterday. Only they weren't shocked and you were. I wonder why?" Helen mused.

"She said that it gave me conviction when talking with clients that the experience had no pain." Vicky replied with a rueful smile. "I guess she was right there. Except for the bruises when they let me down."

"That's our girl. So do you have conviction?" Helen asked.

"Oh yea. One moment I was upright and walking and the next I was hanging upside down." Vicky said. "In my case, I came around. I guess others don't"

"You have a grasp. Kim is the clipper engineer. She developed the mechanization platform. We did that by hand earlier."

"I heard. Candy told me she cut throats for over six hundred women."

"Probably. Knowing her she probably remembered every one of them. She and Margaret pioneered the quiet talk while you bleed out. Calm, supportative and gentle. Almost hypnotic. I made up my mind I would have one of them do me when my time comes." Helen said.

Shivering, Vicky thought on this. "You would want that?"

"Let me ask you something. All of us are on borrowed time. Who do you want to kill you? Some selfish oaf who is in a hurry to get to lunch, or someone who treats you with dignity and respect?" Helen asked.

"Do I get a third choice?" Vicky asked.

"No, you do not get to avoid it entirely." Helen said, with a laugh. "Not yet anyway. And we all have thought that."

"I will tell you I am worried about one thing, though" Helen continued.

"What is that?" Vicky asked.

"Candy is nineteen years old. She has done a lot of good for us here and we all trust her. I guess I wonder what would happen with her outside of here. We are her support structure. Do you know how she came to be here?" Helen asked.

"No." Vicky replied. "That didn't come up. I assumed she was selected early."

"No. Her mother and the mother of a friend of hers were selected. She substituted for her mother. Her friend substituted for her mother. Her friend was pregnant with a boy and was kicked out of the process. Candy was supposed to be meat on a stick, but was sent here by accident."

"No shit?" Vicky said, suddenly feeling a little sick.

"Yep. If luck of the draw had been elsewhere, Candy would have been eaten already. And she knows it." Helen said. "So far, she has been a housekeeper, she has been our security guard, she has been a floor walker, and she balances off Margaret like a see saw. She thinks about everyone and everything. She even looks into the temps in holding and makes sure they are comfortable. What worries me is that she is also disconnected in some ways. She honestly could kill me kindly and make sure it was painless, but not cry the whole time. I don't know when she would. Everyone here knows she is the real executioner and enforcer. What I don't know is how she would make it on the outside now."

"Do you think she would be dangerous?" Vicky asked.

"I don't' know if dangerous would be the word. Can she kill? Hell yes. She studied Grey's anatomy for days to make sure she can slice organs, veins and arteries with speed and without hitting nerves. Would she kill? Forgone conclusion. What would make her kill is the question. I think she has just the right touch of sociopathic judgment to do what needs to be done without consulting with society first." Helen said with a grimace.

"Are you saying she should never leave here? Vicky asked.

"I am saying that if she did, I would want to keep an eye on her. And not crowd her too much" Helen said.

"Well, what should I look for if she did?" Vicky asked, while sipping her coffee.

"I don't' know that you would ever find anything to look for." Helen said with a smile. "She is smart enough to hide the bodies."

"Sound like a politician to me." Vicky said.

"There is that. Only I can guarantee that Candy's problems won't come back alive to haunt her." Helen said with a laugh.

At this point, the subject of their conversation wandered into the room from upstairs and waved. "Just a second," Candy said as she grabbed a cup and poured some juice. "Helen, what's for breakfast?"

"Onion, sausage, peppers diced and paprika and some salsa. Set over toast. We need some sourdough bread. Put it on the list."

"Mm. Sounds great. Vicky, do you want me to add anything for you to the grocery list?"

"No. Thanks. I'm good."

"Ok. I have to check in David's office for production and I will join you." Candy said as she wandered down the hall with her juice. "Be right back."

"I hate morning people." Vicky said. "Is she always like this?"

"You have been fully indoctrinated by our Candy. Morning, noon and night, yes, she is always like this. We kidded her about being production manager and damned if she didn't start to do the job. And better then we wanted. Next thing we knew she was the manager. And doing a hell of a job."

"So we don't give her anything if we don't' want her to do it" Vicky said.

"Or if we don't want it done by some one including yourself. It backfired on me once. I told her we needed something done and the next thing I knew, I was doing it and reporting to her my progress."

"How did that happen?" Vicky said with a laugh.

"I convinced myself it needed doing. Explained to her what it was. Then she said "Well, who can do it better then you?" Next thing I knew I was doing it and giving her updates."

"And she is nineteen?" Vicky asked with a smile.

"She is ever so damn reasonable with that happy smile. She starts out by asking you what has to happen, and you start talking and then next thing you know you have an execution plan, resource plan and are working on it and are busy and happy. Until you think about it. Then you realized you were swindled by yourself." Helen said.

"Politician. I told you." Vicky said.

Coming back into the break room, Candy was carrying her portable. "Helen, can I talk with you. You too Vicky, I think this is important."

"Captain Christiansen wants to review our holding arrangements, and is looking for a guarantee that Vicky can be available for court appearances. But we have her held here on our hook. I am going to ask Carol draft a response, but should I warn David that he should contact the MAB about this?" Candy asked.

"How about you have Carol dig into it, let David know you are asking her dig into it, and then just let Carol and David worry." Helen said.

"Ok. I just don't want to have anyone causing problems with my operations people. I'll be right back. I am going for food." Candy said as she walked to get a plate.

"That was for me, wasn't it?" Vicky said as Candy moved away.

"My, you are a smart one. Yes, I think it was. She wouldn't have asked me for advice. She would have let me know it was going on, but nothing but an advisory. You on the other hand she wanted to have informed and also to know she was supporting you."

"I got that. How did that kid get so smart so young?" Vicky asked.

"I like to think we had some impact. But to be honest, that is how she has been all along. Ask Kim about her later. Or Cindy. Both of them were on bubbles that she didn't want to have broken. So she worked behind the scenes to make them more important and to keep them around. If it wasn't a life or death matter all the time, it would be fun to watch." Helen said.

"So what do I do?" Vicky asked.

"She will tell you. Chip in and help. Don't be a drag. And take one day at a time. We all say live in the moment."

Just then David came into the break room from where he had been sleeping in his office. Margaret followed shortly. Conversation was on a lighter turn then through breakfast. Gradually, more and more people came into the room, and Vicky was treated to seeing the run of people from upstairs and from the back of the building gradually increase until it was standing room only.

"We need a bigger break room if we are going to have this crowd every day." Helen said.

"How many are we?" Vicky asked.

"Well, David wants to have up to forty collars available. I expect that sixteen at H&S and eight here would be enough. That makes twenty-four. So the rest are cushion. Add to that the 24 or so guys in butchery and you have a pretty big crowd."

"So we need fifty people to butcher two thousand a week?" Vicky asked.

"Yes. Pretty inefficient, isn't it? Makes you think this whole Population Control issue is a farce. Which is what Carol has said from the beginning."

"I am no econ major, but that seems pretty inefficient." Vicky said.

"It is. But you have to realize what is the real goal here." Helen said.

"Ok. I bite. What is it?" Vicky asked.

"We'll talk about that later. We are about to get our discussion from on high, I think" Helen said.

Vicky laughed at that. It sounded like a typical roll call message to her.

"Ok. People, if I could have your attention" David said. "I don't' normally do this sort of BS statement, but we do have a bit of information to distribute."

Vicky noticed that everyone was listening up. The men in their plastic uniforms and the goats as well.

"Ok. Yesterday we had our first day at H&S. Marty says we processed a hundred plus and that we were able to emulate what we do here now. I don't expect cheers. But we helped over a hundred women there without causing more stress then was necessary."

Vicky looked around and saw everyone was paying attention. This is exactly like roll call, but with no jokes, she thought to herself.

"I want to welcome several new people to our group. Carla, Casey, Betty, Karen and Vicky. Those of you, who work in back office, please introduce yourselves to them and remember to not hurt them while we work with them. " David said. After the laughter died down, David continued.

"We opened yesterday at H&S using our new process line. Susan Stienhauer was there for the entire day and remarked that it was the best most trouble free day they had in history at that location. Those of you, especially Kim, are to be commended on that. I like to think that we did things right for those clients we serviced."

There was a moment of silence at that statement. Vicky thought through what David was saying and realized that everyone was thinking the same thing. People died. We killed them. We did it nicely but we did it.

"Today we are going to fine tune the process. And we need to also staff up. I want to say that everyone here can provide a candidate for us. If you see someone that you think would bring value to our clients, and value to us as a service business, and who would work well with what we have to do, send a message. I will insist on reviewing any candidate at any time in our process line prior to termination. Marty I realize that leaves your guys kind of out of it but that is the way it goes." David finished.

Marty almost choked on his coffee while David was saying that. What surprised Vicky was that everyone actually laughed at it.

David continued, "I have collars to fill. I also have exemptions to write. If you interviewers see anything that lets us make a case to exempt or exclude any selectee, let us know. If there is anything that comes up in health screening that could exempt a selectee, let me or someone else in operations know. I want you all to know again, that I will work on anyone's behalf to get her out of the stream."

Vicky looked around and was surprised. Everyone seemed to smile and nod his or her head in agreement with what David was saying.

"Candy, what was production here yesterday, and what should we look at for today?" David said.

Looking at Candy, Vicky was suddenly struck with pity for the girl. She had to make production announcements about murder. God. That sucks, Vicky thought to herself.

"Here we did a hundred and forty five." Candy said. "And we did intakes on fifty for later this week. We have thirty specials for today, with sixteen for the Sybian, and eleven for the chopper. We have three for the gallows. For some reason we don't have a lot of tub action. David that may be because of the price differential. We probably should revisit that." Candy said.

"If the damn tub was not so hard to deal with between terminations, we could drop the price. But cleaning shit out between uses is a pain. Kim is there any way to engineer a solution? Faster drains? Quicker detox?" David asked.

"That is an engineering problem. I would have to reach outside to get an answer." Kim replied.

"Do it. I want to get clean up time down to ten minutes. That has to include, drain, clean and refill. We have what, twenty minutes outside for process and removal?" David asked.

"I don't know. We never really timed it." Candy said.

"Ok. Get a few free upgrades into it and let's see." David said. "I want to accommodate people for the special of their choice if it is on our menu. I don't' want to go farther into violence then short drop hanging, but I do want to equalize the costs of the Chopper, the gallows, the tub and the Sybian."

"Today?" Candy asked.

"Sure. Today and Thursday and Saturday. That way Kim can see what we need. Kim, I need you to pay attention to this so we can get prices equalized."

"Right boss." Kim replied

"We have sixty for interviews and questionnaires today, and I expect we will have a few spectators for our services, if we have releases. Otherwise we just have to work from our Video files." Candy continued.

"Any other new business?" David asked.

"We have over two hundred e-mail requests on the Forum and message board. And a lot of clients are looking into the chats and batting around questions. I think we need to have moderators on both day and night." Candy said.

"I agree. That is a manpower problem. Another reason to get more people in collars."

Forums? Chat sessions? Vicky was thinking to herself that she really had been an ostrich about this. I guess I should look at the web site quick.

As David was walking by to the office, Helen introduced Vicky. "David, this is Candy's latest catch. Vicky, this is David Findley, the owner and manger of this zoo."

"Vicky, welcome to our band of ruffians. If Candy is speaking up for you, then you have passed any test I can imagine. Helen, is she a short term or long term?" David asked.

"I expect short term if Carol has her way. But she is stable enough to have long term." Helen replied.

"Good. Is she going to be able to work at H&S?"