Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8 (28 page)

“
Forrest?” Henry tilted his head in question. “What’s he want?”

Scott shrugged
. “Don’t know.” He picked up his things. “See you later.”

“
Scott, did Robbie ever show up this morning?” Henry asked.

Scott didn
’t need to answer. Robbie did. “Yes, Henry, I did.” He came from the stockroom, holding wires.

Henry turned from Scott who left and faced Robbie
. “Why are you here and not out working?”

“
Uh ...” Robbie looked up at the ceiling in a thinking mode, his middle finger pressed to his bottom lip. “Supplies maybe.”

“
You were late.”

“
So what? I’ll work late.”

“
You can’t be late, Robbie.”

“
I slept in, don’t start on me.”

Henry grunted
. “I don’t care. You can’t be sleeping late all the time. You have to learn to pull yourself from that bed.”

“
Normally I would, Henry.” Robbie gave a shitty grin as he walked to the door. “But why pull myself out of bed this morning when Ellen was still there.” He gave swift pat to Henry’s back as he walked out. “Bye.”

Henry spun fiercely to the just shut door
. “No. He didn’t ... shit.”

“
An-ray,” Forrest called out chipper, stepping from Henry’s office.

A squeak of Henry soles occurred when he spun back around to see Forrest
. “Hey, Forrest.” Henry took a second to let his heart stop racing at the vision of Robbie with Ellen.

“
An-ray, uh woo luck ta speck with you if uh cooed.”

“
Um sure, Forrest. What is it?” Henry placed his hands on his hips and looked down to the much smaller man.

“
Uh woos specking ta Trash un shay tod may dat you un El-loon half cod ef de wadding. Oui?”

“
Um ...” Henry quickly deciphered what Forrest had said. He really wanted to rush him along; he had to get his notes and head to Joe’s office. “Yeah.”

“
Uh um saw-ray, An-ray. Trash has tod may dat El-loon es don with you. Shay hes mud de sue-gestion dat ma-bay uh cooed stop en un hop El-loon. I luck El-loon and uh ned ta knew ef you wooed mund, An-ray, ef uh wooed tuck El-loon on a det.”

“
Uh, what was that, Forrest?”

“
Woo you mund ef uh tuck El-loon on a det?”

“
One more time.”

“
Tuck a on a det. A det. A det.” Forrest was a bit frustrated.

“
Um ... uh yeah, sure.” Henry nodded.

“
Tank you, An-ray.” Forrest blew out of his mouth and moved to the door. “An-ray, ef I mut? Ma-bay, de problem woos dat you dud net lis-soon e-niff.” He opened the door giving his final advice before he left. “De woo-mun, day ned ta bay heard.”

Henry scratched his head after the smiling Forrest left
. He was certain that whatever Forrest was saying was important. It probably was some worldly advice from a father figure, but Henry just didn’t have the time to take to make out his messages. So, shrugging, Henry hurried and gathered his stuff he needed for his meeting.

<><><><>

Joe rubbed that spot above his eyebrows so harshly that if Dean could see, he would know about the huge red spot the action was causing as Joe masochistically placed it upon himself. “It’s not that funny, Dean,” Joe told him.

“
Sorry.” Dean caught his breath. He stood side by side with Joe in the clinic lab. “Those are my choices? What about I finish these tests in this lab then I run to the mobile as planned?”

“
What about not,” Joe stated. “Dean.” Wanting to rub the irritation away some more, Joe stopped. “Andrea has a flu bug or something. She can’t wander two feet from the commode. Now, you wanted to be treated no differently than if you hadn’t lost your sight, and I’m not. If you could see, you wouldn’t be laughing.”

“
Yeah, Joe, but I can’t see. So explain to me why you can’t just have Jason work the clinic and you run Containment when Ellen’s done there.”

“
I can’t run Containment, Dean. After my meeting I have to run out to Metal. They’re shorthanded for the melting. I’ll be there until night.”

“
What about Dan?” Dean asked.

“
Dan is working Perimeter Nine for Huey who broke his ankle.”

“
Robbie.”

Joe grunted
. “Robbie is in Mechanics today, all day. He got a late start and he has to fill in for Dan tonight on Perimeter Seven because Dan is filling in for Huey today.”

“
Why not just leave Ellen in Containment all day then? And I’ll go up to the mobile lab and work with Johnny up there.”

“Dean! Johnny is up there now running experimental batches. Didn’t we decide he’d do that in the morning, and you and Ellen would do the Agent Seventeen testing afternoon and evenings so no one else knows? How do you propose we keep up the Agent Seventeen facade if you go up there and work with Johnny on it? Though I trust my grandson explicitly, he is his father’s son and I can’t trust what will escape his mouth when a female questions him, trust me. He tells me that Denise is constantly asking him if they are close to curing it. It’s getting on his nerves just like you’re getting on mine now! Now your ass either works this clinic or you’re Ellen’s relief at Containment. Which will it be?”

“
Forrest. Why can’t Forrest ...”

“
Dean!”

“
All right, all right.” Dean held up his hands. “Containment. I’ll work Containment for the next couple days.”

Joe let out a long audible breath
. “Good.” He turned his views from Dean and to the door. “Thank ... Hey! Hey you!”

Dean jumped from Joe
’s yell. “What, what did I do?”

“
Hold up Missy! Stop!”

“
Joe?” Dean asked with such a hesitation. “Why are you calling me Missy?”

“
Not you. Sorry, Dean.” Joe walked away from the counter and he held out his finger to the door, curling it in a call to Ellen. “Now, come here.”

Ellen whined
, “Aw, Joe, I’m busy, I have to get back over to Containment.”

“
Not so fast.”

Dean snickered at Ellen
’s stomp as she entered the lab. “Hi, El.”

“
Hi, Dean.” She walked in. “Can I kiss you yet?”

“
Nope. Cowboy law. I don’t want to get killed.”

“
Aw,” she whined again. “It’s a Slagel thing, this cowboy law. It’s not real.”

Joe cleared his throat
. “I beg to differ. Clint would beg to differ ... the Duke would beg to differ with ...”

“
Oh, Joe, the Duke is dead and we should assume so is Clint. I have to get back to Containment. The animals are left unattended.” She turned to leave. “Bye, Dean.”

“
Not so fast,” Joe called out.

Dean was curious
. “El? What did you do?”

“
Nothing,” she answered. “Joe, I have to go.”

“
Ellen,” Joe spoke firmly. “I know, no wait, the whole goddamn town knows you and Henry broke up last night, but do you think it helped matters by getting drunk ...” He saw Ellen open her mouth and he held his hand up. “Don’t deny it. Josephine told me.”

“
Oh Josephine could barely stand last night. She was offering herself to Forrest.”

“
Still,” Joe continued. “Do you think ...”

“
Joe, my head hurts.”

“
Ellen it’s bad enough you got drunk beyond walking straight, but do you mind telling me why in God’s name I had to walk into my son’s bedroom and see you in bed with Robbie?”

A thump
, a rattle, and a bang.

Ellen hurried to Dean
’s aid. “See, Joe, you knocked a blind man off his balance. Here, Dean.” She helped him to his feet. “How did you fall?”

“
Frank!” Dean yelled.

Ellen looked at Joe then back to Dean
. She spoke to him like he was three, “Sweetheart, Frank isn’t here. Did you think he pushed you?”

“
No.” Dean felt out for the stool. “He keeps moving my things on me. I always have that stool at the end of the counter.”

Ellen giggled
. “Sorry.” She bent down and picked up the stool. “Here.” She led his hand to it. “Joe, for your information, I didn’t have sex with Robbie last night.” She looked at Dean. “I didn’t have sex with Robbie, Dean, honest. I wanted to sleep at your house and ... never mind, long story. I told you most of it. I just slept in the same bed as Robbie. He was so sound asleep, he didn’t even know I was there.”

“
Sex or no sex,” Joe said, “it’s the same thing.”

Ellen laughed at him
. “Oh I beg to differ, Joe. Really I do. Has it been that long for you?” She snickered and nudged Dean. “Anyhow, why are you preaching morals to me?”

“
This has nothing to do with morals, Ellen. This has everything to do with my goofy-ass son. He woke up in bed with you this morning and you know as well as I do, there is nothing he loves more than to get people started. I have spoken my peace.” Joe stepped back. “Since you were in such a hurry to leave, I’ll walk your ass to Containment so you can prepare a day for Dean in there.” He heard Ellen snicker. “Yeah you heard me, Dean in Containment.”

“
But, Joe, he’s blind. How will he control them?” Ellen tried not to laugh.

“
Get your new buddy to help. Let’s go.” He reached out and snatched her by her arm. “Say goodbye to Dean.”

“
Bye, Dean.” Ellen tried to kiss him but Joe pulled her back. “Hey!”

“
Cowboy law.”

<><><><>

Joe remembered well in the old world how, whenever he used to enter a store, a slight buzzing would occur to let the clerk know someone had entered. It was a great idea, Joe thought. He didn’t know they had one in Beginnings, but found out his office did when he opened the door and heard the moan.

Alarm system or stupidity
? Knowing that deep voice well, Joe shut the door and opened it, again another moan. “Frank?” Joe walked into his office. “What is wrong with you?”

“
You keep hitting me with that door.” Frank stood to the side of the open drawer of the file cabinet. “Here I am, putting away your stupid reports, and you hit me with the door.”

“
I wouldn’t hit you with the door if you would stand in front of the file cabinet.” Joe walked behind his desk. “Sorry I was late.”

“
That’s OK.” Frank shut the top drawer. “Henry isn’t here yet. So, where were you?”

“
Fighting with Ellen. Arguing. Seems from what I heard, she was quite wasted last night. Then I tried to tell her she can’t live with me. Nothing against Ellen, Frank, but I don’t want her with me. Christ, she has your house and Dean’s. Lord knows I don’t want to open Robbie’s bedroom door again and see her in his bed.”

“
What!”

“
Now don’t get yourself all worked up. She was in his bed and ... and ... you’d better have a talk with that brother of yours, taking advantage of her in that state.”

“
Oh, I’ll talk to Robbie all right, after I beat his fuckin ass.” Frank pounded his fist once into the side of the filing cabinet, adding yet another Frank-dent.

“
Yeah it’s a real shame. I go walking in there. Imagine my shock.”

“
Fuck. I should have known. I know what she gets like when she gets drunk. I should have just slept with her like she asked me to.”

“
Frank.”

“
What?”

Joe motioned his head to his office door that had just opened and Henry entered
.

“
Hey.” Frank cleared his throat, placed the stack of reports he held on top of the file cabinet, and closed the drawer. “Let’s uh, start this meeting.”

Henry watched Frank walk away from that cabinet and to a chair by his father
’s desk. “She asked you to sleep with her?”

“
Did I say that?” Frank looked at his father. “I didn’t say that, did I?”

Henry sat down
. “Yeah, you did. What made you turn her down, Frank?”

“
Well, you know, she was drunk, she was on the rebound.” Frank looked at Henry. “What the hell happened to your arm? You have a huge welt.”

Henry rolled his eyes
. “Steve, your guard, flicked a cigarette off the tower and burned me.”

“
He’s an asshole,” Frank commented. “Anyhow, as I was saying before Henry rudely interrupted, Danny is working on this tracking system. He said it will take a week or two to get it up and running once he gets out of Containment and gets his supplies. Now I have a security plan. In fact, I’d like to put it into motion as soon as possible. It goes along with our new First Defense System.”