Chapter 20

Friday

In the morning, we talked about it. Janie was sure Mom wouldn’t be freaked out, and was pretty sure that Mom had warned Dad years ago. She promised to talk to our two sisters-in-law, and then to our brothers to make sure they knew that she instigated it.

Mabel, usually the less talkative of my two housekeepers, gave me an affectionate kiss on the cheek when she brought breakfast to the table. “You lead a strange life, but you make everyone around you happy,” she said emotionally, glancing at Janie so that I knew what she meant. I wondered if she had known about the plot beforehand or if it was just Janie’s happy glow this morning that gave it away. Juwanna also grinned at me knowingly. I decided that, if they weren’t upset about it, I didn’t care how they knew. I just hoped my family would be as accepting.

The phone began ringing just before 6:00. The wounded warrior dog handlers were calling to let me know when they expected to arrive. Each of them told me that the base commander at NAS Meridian would provide them with transportation to my place. They were as curious about why he had offered as I was. I had no idea who the base commander was, and as far as I knew, I’d never met the man--or woman.

The wounded warriors each expected to arrive at the naval air station after 3:00 with the last one expected to arrive around six this evening. They would be transported here together. The two peace officers who were flying in would arrive between 5:00 and 7:00 tonight. One of the men driving expected to be here around noon. Another would arrive near dinnertime. The final one would be here mid-morning tomorrow.

It seemed that Carl and Connor Phelps were in cahoots. They arrived right after breakfast, and both had huge grins on their face. “Jim, you know the farms that you can’t get certified as organic for three years?” Carl asked.

“Yeah,” I replied cautiously.

“If you cleared as much from the second land sale as you say, you should easily have enough to build even more greenhouses. Build them on the non-organic farms and grow strawberries hydroponically. By growing them hydroponically, you can’t advertise them as organic, so it doesn’t matter if the farm can be certified or not. This way, all that land can be planted as soon as the greenhouses are finished. If you set it up right, you’ll be able to pick strawberries year-round,” he explained excitedly.

“I like it,” I commented. “Any chance you have a ballpark figure of what that will cost?” I asked Connor. Connor and Carl both grinned at each other, and then at me. Connor had an estimate that was much closer than a ballpark figure. Evidently, Carl’s boss made a passing comment that it was too bad I couldn’t grow strawberries year-round, too.

Carl had done some research and contacted two farmers Kroger bought strawberries from year-round. They both used a hydroponic setup similar to each other and sent Carl the plans. Carl faxed them to Connor, along with what the farmers had paid for both setups. In addition, Carl had numbers from the two farmers showing what their annual income and expenses were.

As with most farmers, the mortgage and other loan payments for equipment and seed, as well as other farming related expenses, took a large chunk of their income each year. I wouldn’t have the expense of a loan and interest payment.

“Tomatoes first,” I insisted. “After that, split your crews between installing more windmills and greenhouses for the strawberries. Then, build the houses, the firing range, the storm shelters, and anything else I think of.”

Connor also warned that it wouldn’t be cheap to repair the gang house, but would still be only a fraction of the price of building a new house, so I added repairing that house to his list. Maybe they could do the inside work when it was raining. I also explained that I wanted the Hanley house remodeled so the outside looked like a completely different house. Eventually, I wanted some sort of lockable steel door at both ends of every tunnel where it entered a building.

The New York Auction House called to see what I needed. When I mentioned the Hanley name, they were very interested. Evidently, he had purchased several million dollars’ worth of artifacts from them, and that was only nine items. That I had and wanted to sell dozens of items he had owned had them promising someone would be here tomorrow afternoon.

With time to kill, I drove to where I estimated the foundations were for the four tunnels that had ended at the ruins of old buildings. The two from my house ended at what looked to have been an old barn, and a well house. The stone from the outer walls of the ruins was barely visible at ground level, and only in a few spots. The well had obviously been filled in long ago. The barn looked like the barn’s cellar had also been filled in, although I would have to dig down if I wanted to be certain. The tunnel to the north from the gang house went to what had probably been a barn. Once again, it looked to have been completely filled in, and the walls were only visible at ground level in a couple of places. I realized that the stone from above ground had probably been reused at some point.

The tunnel south from the Hanley house ended at the ruins of what had been a large house. Trees, weeds, brush, and vines covered the site. The trees were big enough that the house had burned down at least thirty years ago. The foundation was visible through the undergrowth in a couple of places, as were a few charred timbers. I decided not to get any closer when I felt the danger from and then saw a cottonmouth snake slither deeper into the growth as I approached. I felt no need to test my newly accepted luck.

When I got home, the number of vehicles at the house and the noise coming from the patio told me that lunch was being served. A green Chevy pickup that I didn’t recognize, one with a white camper shell drove up and stopped next to my pickup. The German shepherd watching me intently from the passenger seat told me this was one of the dog handlers.

“You must be Brent,” I greeted as I approached the driver’s side of the truck. Having spoken with several handlers in the past, I stayed back a foot from the truck and didn’t reach out towards it. The dog had to get to know me better, first.

“I see that you know a bit about dogs,” Brent replied, grinning. “You must be Jim,” he added. With the dog watching us intently, Brent got out of the car and shook my hand. A barely noticeable hand command had the dog eagerly bounding from the car, and he immediately began checking me out. I had also noted that Brent walked with a distinct limp.

“I’ll give everyone a more detailed explanation this evening, but I own several large farms along this road,” I began the explanation. I explained about hearing the scream and finding the girls, and the subsequent raid. “The places are rife with tunnels. I’ve found tunnels from every house I’ve searched so far and can’t guarantee that I’ve found them all. My gut tells me that I’m going to need dogs to help patrol the property, and to find caches of drugs, weapons, explosives, and who knows what else.

“Aside from what we’ve already found, I have no evidence that leads me to that conclusion,” I admitted. “Only my instinct tells me to be ready, and I’ve learned to listen to it. So far, it hasn’t let me down.”

After letting his dog, Ace, run and water a few trees, we walked around the outside of the house to the patio where lunch was well underway. “How much does the leg limit you?” I asked.

“I can walk on it all day, and can even jog slowly. I’ll never catch a fleeing suspect, though,” he added good-naturedly. “Uneven terrain slows me down a bit, and hiking through uneven terrain wears me out quickly.”

“Do you ride a horse?” I asked.

“I have, but it’s been years,” he replied.

“I can assign you a horse or get an ATV if it will help. Aside from the gentle slope up from the creek, and the rocky area where our equipment buildings are and where most of the employees live, most everything else is nearly level. Give it a few days if you want before you decide,” I offered.

“So, I have a job?” he asked eagerly. I nodded. “Is there any place in town where I can rent an apartment? I need a place for my wife and son,” he said, barely able to curb his enthusiasm.

“Actually, everyone who works here full-time lives here. Several extended families have moved into the big homes on the properties I’ve bought. I’ve got room for a bunch of people in my house right now and you can probably use the manufactured home one of the other families has vacated for your family. I intend to pay any moving costs, so don’t make your wife do more work than necessary. The movers can pack things for her.

“Once the construction of several greenhouses is finished, I plan to build houses on the rocky property for everyone to live in. Oh, and we’ll be growing and raising much of our own food,” I added. He was on the phone to his wife almost as soon as I stopped talking.

“Wow,” he gasped when he saw the crowd. I was a bit surprised at the number of people, too, until I saw Connor and realized that the extra men must be part of his construction crew.

I explained to Brent about everyone who was working showing up for lunch on workdays, and about the construction we had planned. I noticed that Ace was behaving himself and was meeting everyone, giving them a cursory sniff or two to familiarize himself with them.

“He’ll be fine,” Brent assured me when he saw me looking at Ace. “He takes his cue from me. If I’m nervous or upset, he becomes more guarded. Otherwise, he just gets to know people,” he explained.

Carl came over, excited about something. “My boss’s boss is coming down to meet you Monday,” he exclaimed. “He’s really excited if he leaves his Cincinnati office. This is a big enough deal that they even offered me a promotion. I turned it down, though. I made almost as much money as my boss this year and last, and will make more than him next year with a lot less headaches. I get a small commission based on the quantity and quality of the produce I buy. You produced a lot, and the quality was first rate. Next year, your sales should more than triple,” he gloated excitedly.

Connor also came over to say hi. He had called Ryan, my old contractor in Hiaville, to see if they were looking for work again. They were, and Ryan and his crew would be here Sunday. Connor also put an ad in the Meridian paper and the Jackson paper looking for help. He was sure he’d be inundated with applications.

“When they call, you should warn them that there will be drug dogs patrolling the property. That’s not why I will have them here, but it might help weed out anyone who might have that sort of problems,” I warned.

“Are they for the tunnels?” Connor asked.

“Probably, although they’re mainly here because my instinct told me I would need them. It didn’t tell me why.”

“Oh, yeah, I overheard one of the agents that was here talking about your instincts. She seemed impressed by them.”

“Agents?” Brent asked. I explained about the four female agents left here to watch these two properties, and the four additional agents watching the Hanley property. As soon as I introduced him to Sylvia and the FBI agent, they were busy swapping war stories.

I drifted into the house and went online, adding to my personal order for body armor. Unsure just how many handlers I would end up with, or their sizes, I ordered forty extra sets to go with the original twenty I had ordered. I also ordered a variety of sizes of armor designed for K-9 units.

Then I remembered the housing issue and went out to find the people involved. After I had spoken with everyone involved, I had fifteen units available for the new people to use. I also realized that we’d need even more places soon, but most of the new help should have somewhere nearby to stay until we got more housing built.

After lunch, Ramón directed me to two of our workers who didn’t have much to do today. Shawn and Ed both agreed to drive to the Meridian airport to pick up the two men. Shawn would pick up Leon at 5:00; Ed would pick up Phil at 7:00 this evening.

After that, I used my study to review my growing TTD list. As of now, everything that could be done, was done or had been started. I was surprised when Mom came in. “You two finally did it, huh?” she asked, although her voice indicated more humor than concern.

“I was surprised that she felt that way about me. I tried to keep my feelings in check before I left for college. Despite that, she was really turning up the heat right before I left. I still thought she was just teasing me, but worried what would happen when I came home at Christmas or over the summer. That’s why I spent so little time at home during school breaks,” I admitted.

“I had a feeling that was why you didn’t come home much,” she sighed. “Now what?” she asked, her voice again telling me she was enjoying this.

“That’s up to Janie and the girls,” I answered. “I love her too much to ever push her. If she wants to stay, she just has to convince the others,” I said, groaning mentally as I briefly pictured Janie with her head between the other girls’ legs convincing them.

“And if it was a one-time thing?” Mom asked, concern evident in her voice now.

“Then I give her a hug and kiss and hold off on the tears until she can’t see them,” I replied emotionally.

“I doubt that she’ll leave anytime soon. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know if this is temporary or permanent,” Mom said thoughtfully.

“Permanent?” I gasped. “I figured she’d want to get married and have kids,” I said.

“Not that I’m suggesting anything, but, if you two did have a child, the odds are slim that there would be any problems. I’ve done a lot of research and talked to a couple of geneticists in the last few years. Besides, there are always sperm and egg donors,” she reminded me. “You could probably convince Jan to donate an egg,” she commented, making me wonder if she knew everything about the earlier relationship between the two.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it. Before then, we have to deal with the rest of the family,” I said.

“I warned your Dad years ago. I even told him why I thought you didn’t come home much during college. He was upset at first, because he could see how much it hurt Janie when you didn’t come home. He asked me if I thought moving here would cause you two to end up together and I agreed that it probably would. Still, he agreed to move.