The Siege (17 page)

“That seems to be a very overdone subject,” Dave said, leaning in and grabbing himself a handful of shrimp.

“Why would you say that?” Amanda challenged him.

“I heard it in every history class.”

“Did your history instructors speak about burial practices during times of plague? Or…”

Mia stepped aside to give Amanda room, her arm waving back and forth as she went on to ask and answer twenty or so questions on bones and families.  Mia walked over to the couch and sat down.

Ted found her there and sat beside her.  “Your father just gave me this,” Ted said, handing a legal document to Mia.

Mia started to read it.  The legal gobbledygook was too much for her tired mind.

“It’s a permit to inter bones under our house.”

“How did he get that?”

“Says Gerald gave it to him.  Said he knew a guy…”

“How did Gerald find out about this?” Mia asked.

“Amanda called in a favor to get the equipment.”

“Gerald owed my mother a favor?”

“Evidently so,” Ted said.

Mia handed the paper back to Ted and sighed.  “I now can say it’s all finished, including the paperwork.”

“Mia, I’m sorry about freaking out before.”

“I understand, Teddy Bear.  I did a little freaking out myself.  It’s been a long day.”

“Did Burt ever get his battery installed?” Ted asked.

“Cid took care of it,” Mia said.

“Whew!  I was worried that we would have him and Dave under the same roof tonight.  You realize we have Murphy with us too.”

“I never thought about that.  He’ll need to recharge,” Mia said.  “I’m woefully outnumbered here.”

“You’ll get used to it.  In the meanwhile, we’ll make our bedroom off limits.”

“I don’t see Murphy visiting us there.”

“I wasn’t talking about Murphy.”

Mia looked over at Dave.  “He’s got to move on.”

“Really? I was just getting used to him.”

“It’s because you’re a very accepting sort.  I thought I could help him along, but all that sass is too much in my present condition.”

“Well, he’s supposed to be going home for Christmas.  We’ll have a break then.”

Charles walked over and sat down on the arm of the couch.  “What do the two of you think about Amanda and me taking on the boy?”

“I’m thinking that you need your head examined,” Mia answered.

“I think the kid would make an excellent intern archeologist,” Charles said.

“He hates ghosts, and you’d be taking him places that have more ghosts than people.  Plus, he’s a rude little bastard.”

“You think so?  I think that he and Amanda get along so well.”

“Amanda will ignore him, push him, torment him with her expectations, and… She’s perfect for him,” Mia realized.

“We’re going to reexamine the Everglades site this January.  I know this is short notice, but can we have him?”

“First, you have to talk to his mother.  Second, Burt will need to find someone else…”

“Burt will need what?”  Burt asked, approaching the sofa.

Charles explained the situation and pointed out that Dave could get college credit and a winter in the sun.

“Do you need another runner? Because I’d like that job,” Burt said.  “It’s fine with me.  Dave is no paranormal investigator.  His heart isn’t in it.  We’ll work on lighter fare until Mia gives birth and is able to join us again.”

Ted and Mia looked at Burt, and the more he talked sensibly, the more their mouths hung open.

“I was thinking of taking some time off to work on my graphic novel.  Ted, I’ll need your notes on the dark world.”

“Yes, sure.”

“Graphic novel, now that sounds intriguing,” Charles said.

Mia wiggled out from under the standing Charles and Burt, who were so engrossed in their conversation that they had trapped her on the sofa.  Ted hopped over the back of the couch.  They didn’t have to say anything to each other; they knew where they were going.  Mia grabbed her coat and put on her boots.  Ted shrugged on a sweatshirt.  They left via the back door.  Hand in hand, they walked over to the barn.  They heard the television on.  The familiar sounds of the
Antiques Roadshow
filled the building.

“Are you visiting your old stuff?” Mia asked as she made herself comfortable in the rocker next to the ghost.

Murphy looked at her and then at Ted who had commandeered the couch.

“You know my aunt Bertha’s got one of those.  I wonder if she knows how valuable it is?” he asked, not expecting anyone to answer.

“You could tell her,” Mia suggested.

“Or…  I could tell her that it’s a favorite of mine because it reminds me of her, and she would certainly give it to me.”

“Scoundrel!” Mia scolded.  “Have you no scruples?  You’re just the type to bury your best friend in the basement and sell tickets.”

Murphy guffawed.

“You should have been there, dude.  I said some pretty things, and we all threw dirt clods.”

“He means they filled in your grave.  I guess you’ve finally moved back into your place,” Mia observed.

“Breakfast is a catch-can situation.  Cid makes us sit down to dinner, but lunch is optional,” Ted said.  “Ooh, look at that old picture.  I swear its Glenda Dupree…”

“No, I think, yes, it’s Bev.  I told you she had work done,” Mia lied.

“Bad Mia,” Murphy admonished.

“My father is going to take Dave off our hands,” Mia announced.

Murphy got up and turned off the television.  He used his remote and turned on the stereo and selected some fast-paced music.  He moved around the room and kicked up his heels.

“I do believe the man is dancing a jig, Minnie Mouse.  I’m going to join him,” Ted said.  “You better stay put and not shake up the little one.”

Mia did as she was told and sat there and clapped her hands to the music, laughing as her husband and best friend celebrated Dave’s early retirement.

Chapter Thirteen

Tom took a detour on his way to his normal patrol route.  He pulled onto 109, heading towards the area of the cell tower.  Earlier in the day, he had called the company that operated the mega tower to see if they had been doing maintenance recently.  The pleasant young woman who answered the phone transferred him to the right department.  He found out that, indeed, the company had routine maintenance scheduled for this week, but the snow had put their crews behind.  Tom questioned the supervisor to see if he had any go-getters that would have tried to work on the structure in the snow.  He received a negative answer.  Tom informed him that perhaps he should get someone out there soon, because there had been a report of people at the tower.

He pulled the sedan over, parallel to the tower, and turned off his lights.  There was a crescent moon out and a clear sky full of stars.  He could make out the tower easily by the blinking lights.  The unlit lower parts of the tower stood out black against the midnight blue, night sky.  Tom thought he saw some extra shadows moving up the structure.  He feared it was drunk teenagers daring each other to climb.  He called in his position before he got out and pulled on the waders he had brought just in case.  The swamp water wasn’t going to deter him this time.

He eased down the embankment and started the long slog to the tower.  It was a hundred yards from the road.  It did have a nice, dry service road that could be accessed from the north end of the property, but that would take too much time to get to.  Rural routes didn’t have many connecting roads.  Large areas of farm and wasteland took up most of the acreage of the northern edge of the state.  The tower stood between two counties, and the entrance to the tower was in the adjacent county.  If Tom found a problem, he would have dispatch contact the other county’s sherriff’s department.

The temperature had dropped enough to form a thin layer of ice.  Tom’s boots crunched through the ice with no problem, but it killed any element of surprise.  As the water got deeper, he had to use his thighs and then his abdomen to break the ice.  The human body wasn’t shaped to act as an icebreaker, and Tom suspected he would be bruised in the morning.  To his joy, he found solid ground, and as he walked out of the water, his waders became stiff in the cold night air.

He heard movement above him.  He took out his flashlight and trained it on the spot the noise came from.  “Stop right there.  Climb back down the tower,” he ordered.

“Is that chap talking to us?” inquired an accented voice.

“Yes, I’m talking to you on the tower.  Come down now!” Tom ordered.

“Blimey, the little bugger can see us,” another voice said in alarm.

“Get down here now!”

“The level of authority in his voice indicates the lad thinks he’s in charge,” the deeper-voiced speaker of the two commented.

Tom tapped the radio on his shoulder.  “Dispatch, alert Stevenson County that we have trespassers on the AT&T cell tower, over.”

“Did you say
on
the tower, deputy? over.”

“Yes.  Two, possibly three individuals, over.”

Tom knew better than to climb the tower.  Alone he was vulnerable.  He decided to make himself comfortable on the ground where he could keep track of the climbers.  To Tom’s amusement, the two never stopped talking.

“I do believe the filth has us pinned.”

“Well, yes and no,” his cohort replied.  “He’s hoping to bring us in alive, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.”

Tom heard an odd creaking.  He trained his light on the tower and thought he saw the upper half shudder.  Was it a trick of his eyes?  A groaning of steel under stress confirmed that he hadn’t imagined it.  Tom took off running as the tower broke in half.  He only had his flashlight and his remembered theorems from geometry to go by.  He managed to be missed by mere inches as the tower folded downwards like a switchblade knife.  He’d almost reached the swamp before the momentum of the swinging top half knocked the remaining half off of its supports.  Luck was with him, and the crushing steel missed him completely. However, he found himself pinned inside one of the large microwave dishes.

~

Burt checked his phone and was surprised to see it had no bars.  He walked over to Cid and asked, “Is your cell working?”

Cid pulled out his phone and shook his head.  He walked into the kitchen and picked up the landline.  The steady hum indicated that all phone service was not out.  “Landline is functioning.”

“I’m sure this is just a momentary blip.  But it does bring up the question, how much of our stuff is dependent on bars?”

Cid tried not to show his amusement over Burt’s lack of technical knowledge.  He couldn’t stop his voice from having a condescending tone when he explained, “We don’t have cable here, so most of our internet is dependent on the transmissions from the cell tower over on 109.  We do have dialup ability.  As long as the landline isn’t compromised, we have internet.  Our individual earcoms are on the PEEPS network
as are our walkie-talkies and in-house Bluetooth.”

“Good, it looks as if you’ve thought it out.”

“Actually, Ted gets the credit.  He was working on a way to hijack a satellite, but Mia put the kibosh on that one.  She insists that her baby-daddy not be a con.  He argued the point, but she gave him that look.”

“I know that look,” Burt said. “I’ve received that plenty of times.”

“I think all of us at one time or another have,” Cid said sympathetically.

“Well, I guess I’m off.  It will be good to get a good night’s sleep in my own bed.  Thank Mia and Ted for their hospitality.”

Cid walked with him to his car.  He made sure it started before he retreated to the barn.  The television was on the history channel.  Murphy tapped his axe every time he disagreed with the narrator.  Mia had fallen asleep in the rocking chair.  Someone, he assumed it was Ted, had covered her up with one of the old blankets they normally used as a dustcover for the bots.

Murphy turned around and put his finger to his lips, indicating the snoring woman beside him.

“Don’t worry, she’s out for the count,” he assured the ghost.  “Seen Ted?”

Murphy pointed to the opposite end of the barn.

Cid wanted to protest that no one had been in the office when he passed by, but if Murphy said Ted was in there.  Ted was in there.

Cid walked into the dark hallway and was assaulted by the overhead lights turning on.  He opened the dark office and braced for the second light assault.  Ted was sitting still, staring at the computer.

“Wi-Fi’s out,” Cid told him.

“I know, I just connected the small computer to dial-up.  I was sitting here thinking through a problem when the lights went out.”

“Must be some problem.  The motion sensor is set for fifteen minutes in here.”

“Mia hates the motion sensors.”

“So do I,” Cid confessed.

“Et tu, Brute?”

“In the common rooms like the kitchen, I can see it.  But, dude, the bathroom?  I won’t even go into the subject of having a sleepover guest.”

“You’ve had a sleepover?  You and Marta?” Ted questioned.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Well…”

“It could happen,” Cid said.

“Thought so.”

Cid raised his hand to emphasize the witty comment that didn’t manifest.  He lowered it and instead asked, “So what are you doing sitting here in the dark?”

“I was rethinking my satellite hack.  I think I need more power.”

“Mia said no.”

“Mia’s not the boss.”

“You could have fooled me.”

Ted looked over at him and then back at the computer where Jake had been keeping score on personal digs.

“Very funny, Jake.  Without dialup, you’d be grounded right now,” Ted reminded him.

The computer monitor went suddenly blank.

“He’s playing hardball,” Ted said.  “Well, I can play that game too.”  He reached under the table and pulled the phone cord out of the computer.

There was a whirl of an engine, and Curly rolled through the open door and over to the phone cord.  Within a few minutes, the machine had formed a functioning hand and reinstalled the phone plug.

Ted then turned off the PEEPs Wi-Fi.