The Victor Project (15 page)

CHAPTER 9

     Even though it had rained the entire day on Sunday during his trip,  the greater part of Monday turned out to be a pleasant sunny day.  It had only been in the last thirty minutes that the sky had started to darken.  The all day trips were tough, but it was nice to stay in a hotel in the city instead of the confines of the government mid-post.  Sleeping in a motel also fulfilled another task that the CVD assigned to Travelers, along with eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Tonight he would go one step further and have a couple drinks in the lounge.

     The morning had zoomed by along with lunch and all the tasks on the list.  He snuck in a good deed around ten thirty when he helped an elderly woman find her missing dog, Bridget.  Luckily Bridget had only been lured around the corner by another passing dog.  Upon retrieval of the mutt, the woman for some reason asked what Rick did for a living.  It was the first time that he could ever recall one of the Zonies asking him that.  Without the benefit of rehearsal, he replied that he was a Professor, which he had wanted to be for a long time when he was younger.  It sounded pretty nice as it rolled of his tongue.

     The final item on today’s list was to bowl a few games at an establishment called Art’s Alley.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had tossed a bowling ball, probably the last time that his back had ached.  The item had certainly never appeared on any of the lists before.  Rick attributed it to another enhancement of the Traveler program that had been so highly touted.

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     While in her car, Val tried to remember the last time she faked sick at work.  This was definitely the first time this year.  She remembered missing a couple of work-days the year before due to a cold virus, but the exact date she couldn’t pinpoint.  The department only gave closer scrutiny if you made it a habit of not showing up for work, so far she hadn’t given them a reason to fret.  With the weather turning for the worse, no one should get the idea that she was going home to sunbathe.

     Luckily she had a good idea of the location of the bowling alley that appeared on Rick’s list.  The name that was on the list was Art’s Alley.  If the letters spelling Art’s Alley were displayed on the front of the building in a gaudy hue of orange, then it was a place that she had bowled at before.  The best that she could recall, it had a fairly decent clientele.  The lists that the department created were always accurate in the most  ardent detail, down to the time spent with each item.  Val hoped Rick was the kind of person that kept to the schedule.  In ten more minutes she would know for sure.

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     Frank had been following Rick for the entire day and seemly all over the city.  Val had yet to appear.  It was already coming up on four o’clock.  If he would have been as smart of a detective as he thought he was, he would have just followed Val from her apartment or from work.  He couldn’t afford to skip an item on Rick’s list for fear of missing out on their encounter and he couldn’t skip ahead to the next location on the list and wait, for it was possible that she could intercept him between tasks.  All in all it made the day of following Rick around pretty boring.  The next item on the list was a bowling alley, which didn’t seem like a good place for them to rendezvous, if they were going to rendezvous.

     Over a donut and a cold cup of coffee the thought had struck him that it was quite possible that Rick didn’t even know Val had a plan to find him.  Along that same reasoning, he knew it was possible that she wasn’t even going to meet him at all.  She possibly had been following Rick just as he had, which would leave the motive for the whole fiasco wide open.  But on Saturday she had appeared to be too sneaky for someone that wasn’t up to something like a secret rendezvous.

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     The cabby had no problems finding the bowling alley.  Something about the man led Rick to believe he frequented the place.  The parking lot was already close to full and it wouldn’t be considered a small lot by any terms.  From the front of the building, he could hear the rumbling sounds of the balls followed by the subsequent smashing of pins.  Someone who had never bowled before would be terrified to enter the place, he told himself.  Inside, the sound of the balls and pins was equaled by the obnoxious yelling of the patrons.

     There colorful clothing signaled that the evening bowling teams were already hard at it and no doubt hard at a few drinks.  The list didn’t say anything about a lane being reserved, but if it wasn’t printed on the paper, it wasn’t needed.  Six lanes on the far end stood empty, waiting silently for some amateur to make a mockery of the sport.  The aroma of food coming from the bar didn’t smell half bad, but then again he was well beyond the point of starving, so a peanut butter sandwich would have smelled delectable.  The chicken sandwich that he selected for lunch had been unfit for consumption and a great percentage of it landed in the bottom of the diner trash can.

     Frank had just finished backing his car into a slot when a vehicle with a dark-haired woman behind the wheel entered the parking lot.  Frank slipped down into the seat and kept his eye on the car as it circled passed him and around toward the back of the building.  As she slowly drove by her eyes glanced over toward his car, scanning for an empty space.  The glance confirmed that the woman was Val DeDory.  All the day’s work had finally paid off. 

     Until now he hadn’t thought about Art having a back door entrance to his establishment.  Frank had just assumed that everyone would come to the front of the building, which he now had a clear view of.  Back entrance or no back entrance, all he could do was sit in his car and wait, he couldn’t afford to be seen by either of them.  At least the wait offered an opportunity to plan what his next move would be.  That plan wouldn’t involve tailing anyone, he was through following people for the day and for a few days to come.  The tension of the last few hours had given him a headache along with a significant drain of energy.

     The noise from the bowling balls and pins was a good substitute for the cup of coffee she had been dying for since she left her apartment.  One thing was for sure, the deafening sound of the sport would render any planted listening devices useless.  Even so, she didn’t feel comfortable presenting her recruiting pitch in front of a lot of people, just in case the debate got out of hand.

     On the very last lane, Val could see Rick in a lone seat removing his shoes.  She thought for a moment of grabbing a pair of bowling shoes for herself, but a better idea quickly came to mind.  Showing up with a couple of drinks in her hand seemed more appropriate.  Rick noticed her approach about six lanes early. 

     “One of those for me?” he asked.

     “Of course,” she said.  “You’re not going to ask how I found you?”

     “That’s the easy question.  How about why?” Rick asked.

     “Well it’s not like I can just meet you any time I like,” she said.

     “No, but you can call me,” he said.

     “You want me to leave?” she asked.

     “No, not if you keep bringing me drinks,” he joked.

     “You’re as charming as a K8 Audit,” she said.

     “You going to bowl a game?” Rick asked.

     “No, I look pretty ridiculous when I bowl.  I’ll get my laughs watching you,” she said.

     “Oh you will eh?  I could just maybe teach you a few things about bowling,” he said.

     “I’m all eyes,” she said.

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     Frank checked his watch once again.  The two of them had been inside for over an hour and ten minutes.  One hour was all that the list had allotted.  Frank recalled that one of Rick’s comments on his review was punctuality and timely completion of tasks assigned, which is why he began to keep a sharper eye on the door.  At the seventy-one minute mark, the two appeared from the front doors of the building. 

     They were walking closely to one another, but not holding hands.  They were enjoying each other’s company, there was no doubt about that.  As they rounded the end of the building, Frank checked the second-hand on his watch.  Another sixty seconds and her vehicle would be passing by to exit the parking lot.  His original plan was to call it quits for the day and think of anther way to gain more information.  There wasn’t really much else he could do from the driver’s seat of his car and the longer he tailed the two of them, the higher the probability that he would be spotted.  But after seeing them walk out together, his curiosity and desire had quickly rekindled.  Sixty seconds was now all he had to create another plan.

     Keeping his head below the windows of the car, Frank listened for a vehicle to pass.  His heart began to race and the temperature inside the vehicle seemed to have risen twenty degrees since he saw them exit the bowling alley.  As he waited, he began to envision the two of them walking up to his car and catching him ducked down in the seat.  The thought only made his palms perspire more.  As the noise of Val’s car passed, Frank peeked above the steering wheel to see her tail lights moving away.  During those sixty seconds, his nerves had made a decision, the decision to call it a day.

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     Val thought it would be best to wait until they arrived at her apartment to begin the quest to convert Rick.  It was no doubt a subject that needed to be eased into, not thrown on the table casually.  The trouble was she couldn’t think of any topic to use as a segue.  Grabbing a couple of beers from the refrigerator was the best she could do.

     “Have you thought any more about our conversation last week?” she asked handing Rick a bottle.

     “Which part?” replied Rick.

     “The part about people being free, living outside the zones,” she said.

     “Yea, actually I thought about it a lot.  I even asked Frank a few questions,” he continued.

     The simple thought of Rick discussing their conversation or even mentioning her name to Frank almost stopped her dead in her tracks.

     “Our boss Frank?” Val said loudly.

     “Yes our boss Frank.  Does that bother you?” he asked.

     “Well yes.  I’m not sure I want Frank to know my thoughts on the subject.  He’s a company-man you know,” she said.

     “I didn’t mention your name.  I didn’t even mention our conversation.  I just casually grazed him with a few questions,” said Rick.

     “So what did Frank have to say?” asked Val.

     “He pretty much defended the government’s view on it,” said Rick.

     “And how did he do that?” asked Val.

     “He said that if they let people leave the zones freely, they would still have to close them for the people that wanted the protection that they offered, protection that they were used to.  But then one day another virus would strike and the freed population would storm the zone gates, begging once again to be protected.  To protect the population that chose to live in the zones, a lot would die outside the gates, maybe even shot.  It would get just as ugly as it had in the past and the government would again be the bad guy.  He said either way the government receives criticism for the zones, but at least this way everyone gets to live,” said Rick.

     “He’s wrong.  I don’t think people would come back to the zones for protection.  I think they would ask to be treated in the same manner as the zones in that they would receive inoculations and instruction to prevent it, but they would value their freedom,” she said.

     “Then why are these zones working on the other continents?” asked Rick.

     “Because humans are the same everywhere.  They, just like the U.S., have been complacently deceived into believing it is dangerous out there.  Our government set an example that everyone identified with and inevitably had to follow.  That doesn’t make it right,” she said.

     “I just wish the government would take a pole or something.  I would like to know what everyone thought,” said Rick.

     “Then why haven’t they?” asked Val.

     “I don’t know,” answered Rick.

     “Because they are scared that a great percentage would vote to be free.  Wouldn’t that throw a big wrench into this convenient little solution that our government has come up with?  They are scared that they wouldn’t know what to do with everyone running free out there.  Frank said it right, the government would look bad.  And that’s what they are scared of.  You can’t get votes from people that hate you,” she said.

     “This point is actually mute.  We can’t really do anything about it any way,” said Rick.

      “Rick, there was another reason that I met you at the bowling alley today.  A reason that is difficult to explain,” she said.

     “So it wasn’t my good looks after all,” joked Rick.

     “You have to be serious for a moment.  I’m a member of a group, a group that believes the masses shouldn’t be locked up in zones.  I’m not sure what the government is calling us, but we go by the People’s Revolution for Freedom.  We’re not some radical faction that goes around killing people.  We don’t have some madman as our leader.  Our belief is based on the fact that the government doesn’t know what the hell they are doing to fight virus and disease.  We believe that everyone should live free, out there, and let Mother Nature run its course,” she said.