Tipping Point (38 page)

As she sat cross-legged on the bed, both ferrets wiggling in her arms, she heard the opening vocals of
Strange Animal
. Soon she was humming, and then she had both ferrets dancing in front of her face while she sang the chorus to them.

“You’re a strange animal, that’s what I know,” she sang. “You’re a strange animal, I’ve got to follow.” Neil walked in on her then, and chuckled at her foolishness.

He took Pickle from her and started doing the same thing, but Pickle was not impressed. He started wiggling his backside around to try to get out of Neil’s grasp. Neil relented and set him on the floor. Then he gave Mac a look that she instantly recognized. Her breath caught in her throat, and she set the struggling Squeaker down beside Pickle.

“Now that I have your attention, wife, I was wondering how you felt about us performing some of our marital duties.” She didn’t need a second invitation. Suddenly she was starving for him.

“Maybe there are some private games we can play, cowboy, but aren’t you supposed to be teaching Kirk and Leigh how to use the radio?”

“I asked the others to update them on our events last night, except for what happened with the couple from Ottawa, since we haven’t gotten to that story yet. I completely forgot about them, until Billy started talking about some Mike guy I’d never heard of. Anyway, let’s get busy here, honey. Before they come looking for us.”

“Ooohh, cowboy. You really know how to turn me on with that kind of dirty talk.”

“I’m more of an action kinda guy.” Once again Mackenzie found herself naked beneath him. The speed and strength he displayed had her arching toward him as he pressed himself into her. Her nails dug in as her excitement skyrocketed, which only seemed to urge him to move harder and faster. Within minutes she was flying, trembling, and trying not to scream. Her muscles gripped and clenched at him, triggering his orgasm.

They lay, clutching and panting, their skin slick, until Neil managed to draw enough strength together to roll off.

“I would really like to not have to get up right about now,” she said haltingly, her breath hitching.

“To quote Jagger, ‘You can’t always get what you want,’ and that’s definitely on the list of wants rather than needs. We’ll get up because we have to, since we already got what we needed.”

“Who says? I don’t think a really old rock star should be able to have a say in what I need or don’t need.”

“He doesn’t. I do.”

“Very funny. You don’t get to make that determination either, cowboy. I’m the brains in
that
outfit.”

“What outfit? Unless you’re starting a new trend, you’re not wearing an outfit. Granted, it would be a very fetching one if fashion dictated it.”

“Oh, please. Hardly fetching, unless you count fetching your cock, because it seems to do that pretty well. I’m a forty-year-old woman who’s had a kid, and spent a good portion of her adult life being sedentary. It’s only been the last year or two that I’ve managed to take fitness seriously. I’ve got the usual scars and marks of any woman with that sort of history.”

“Well, you’d be wrong on that front. Any guy who’s seen real naked women, rather than the airbrushed and plastic variety in Playboy, could tell you that you’re fucking hot naked.”

“So I’ve been told, but I’ve never really believed that. Or why would men still want the magazines? You can’t tell me it’s for the articles, though Penthouse Forum might do okay there. No matter how ridiculously fake those letters are.”

“Hey, we men will take what we can get. Just because they get confused about the value of real women, that doesn’t mean men do. A bird in hand and all that.”

“Isn’t that what Brits call a woman? A bird?”

“Yeah, I think so. Not sure whether it’s a compliment or an insult, but since it’s not a term we use here I won’t worry about it.”

Mac was already rolling her body sideways and up, forcing herself to get out of bed. Want and need were in definite conflict in her body. Time for a shower, too, though she’d need help if she was going to keep the bandage dry.

“Come on, cowboy. We need a shower. Or at least I need one, and you need to help me reach all the naughty places.”

“I’m your guy!”

“That you are. Husband.” Neil gave a slow smile and dragged himself from the bed.

“Alright. Let’s go shower. Probably not good to smell like sex while having our little end-of-the-world planning seminar.”

*     *     *

“Okay boys and girls, here’s what we’re doing so far. Annette will be compiling a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for us to read and adhere to. Not just for the animals, but for our own health as well. Without ready access to medical help, there are a lot of things that could prove dangerous for us, so when she has it ready we need to pay close attention. Things that were silly before will be things we need to take seriously. Let’s not create problems where we use up our supply of meds.”

She let that sink in for a minute, before continuing.

“Kirk and Leigh, we’d like some help from you if you’re willing. For now we just need to get the enclosures finished to make things healthy for the animals. Particularly the ferrets. We’ve got fifty if you don’t count Pickle and Squeaker, and they won’t be housed with the other ones. Fifty in a small area means hygiene and health issues. Not to mention fighting. How are they getting along there?” Kelly shrugged and answered.

“Nothing we didn’t expect. We’ve divided the run. The back door opens into the large part, and the gate opens to the other. We’ve got the twenty eight from Ottawa on one side, and mine on the other side, with the ten from Sault Ste. Marie here in the house.” Mackenzie thought about it.

“Well we knew our current set-up wouldn’t really work long-term, so we’ll sort out plans for that in a little bit. Are you up for some more work you two?” She had directed the question at Leigh and Kirk.

“We’ve been given a great place to live, all the food we can eat, and safety in numbers. Meanwhile people out there are probably already starving. We’d be idiots not to help.” Leigh nodded along before adding her two cents.

“Even if I were a completely selfish jerk, which I’m occasionally known to be, it’s only to our benefit to make sure things work out. We wouldn’t have a clue how to survive without your help, so tell us what you need done.” Mac smiled at her.

“Alright, I need to prioritize the security perimeter. I’ve got a whole bunch of sensors we can put up still. I made sure I got tons of them.”

Kirk and Leigh agreed to expand the chicken pen all the way to the garden, while Neil took on the new ferret enclosure. Kelly piped up to let him know he needed to keep it away from the other pen.

“We don’t know anything about the medical history of those ferrets, and they could have infectious diseases. I don’t want to risk the other ones.” Neil told her he’d make sure of it.

Kelly and Annette would be doing examinations of the ferrets, in addition to handling their everyday care, so everyone would be really busy throughout the day.

“Billy, why don’t you come with me to do the sensors? Cam can go with Neil. It gives us all some time to get to know one another better, since we haven’t had much chance to do that.” With that, everyone moved off to get things done.

The current sensors were wireless, which Mac didn’t trust, so she and Billy grabbed a couple of spools of wire, lockable corrugated conduit, and Cat5e cable.

A direct line with Neil’s cabin would mean she could set up sensors around their place as well, and connect the servers. Kirk and Leigh would have access to everything on Mac’s server, like the hundreds of books stored on it, and both properties could be monitored for security breaches.

She still hadn’t seen the cabin yet. It was always everyone else who had gone over there while she did other things, so she asked Billy what it was like.

“It’s a nice place, though small like dad was saying. Kirk and Leigh might want to remove the wall between the bedrooms so they have more space to get around. It would be really nice for them that way. Dad wouldn’t mind. As far as we’re concerned this is where we live now, not there. You just kind of made everybody feel at home, even though you don’t have the big house up yet.” Mac looked at him in surprise.

“Really? I would have thought you’d be irritated with the lack of privacy. I worry about Leigh and Kirk being by themselves like that, though. Anything could happen. I hope there are weapons over there, aside from their bows.” Billy nodded vigorously.

“Oh yeah. Dad left them a rifle and a shotgun, and gave them some instructions. Those bows are really cool, though.”

“They really are. We all took archery lessons together a couple of years ago, and ended up buying our own equipment. We figured silent-but-deadly was a good way to go, just in case. They’re not so good in really close quarters, but they certainly do the job from a distance. We’ve all got compound bows, except for Leigh. She liked the idea of the longbow. Probably a video game thing, but it still works.”

“You think I could get one of you to teach me?”

“Sure. Your dad taught you to use a gun, so he’s not going to have an issue with you learning archery. The silence is a big advantage. Gunshots might draw people here, which we don’t want.

“If you’re into the hunting thing, they’re great for that, too. None of us hunt, though I know how on an intellectual level. Not just the killing part, but everything that’s done after. I just have a hard time with the killing. That’s why I didn’t get any goats that were meant for meat. Eggs and dairy are enough for me. I have a thing about animals.”

“My dad and I never hunted together, though he used to go with my grandma up in the mountains. He just didn’t really want to hang out with any of the hunting types around here, so the closest he came to them was selling them their knives.”

“There
is
a bit of redneck machismo in the ones around here, isn’t there? I’ve known a few in my time. Guys that like to brag about killing over their limit and then leaving the animals to rot. Now people will be hunting at all times of the year, which is going to cause problems.

“Yet another good reason for us to get these sensors operational. We’re far enough out that most people won’t be able to walk here for hunting, but we might get the odd one. I still have to go over the land registry maps with your dad to see who might be around here, and who might be a problem neighbour.”

It took a couple of hours to cover the area, setting up each motion detector. She screwed them to trees, but buried the wire inside the bark and in a trench inside the conduit. The longer it took, the more agitated she became.

She went back to the house for her bow, and to change into swimwear, so she could shoot the wires across the river, and then run the perimeter over there. It would have been easier if they had a bridge built, but she’d get to that later.

Having looked at the maps that showed Neil’s property, Mac knew there was no way she could cover the whole perimeter with sensors. The best she could do was protect fairly well outside the buildings so Kirk and Leigh would have plenty of warning.

She’d need Neil’s help with his power supply. She wasn’t familiar with his setup the way he was, so it would be better if they went together. She didn’t have any sensors left on her, either.

Mac wasn’t at all surprised to see the changes when they got back. Neil and Cam had the new ferret enclosure well on its way, with a new concrete pad and a surrounding fence almost doubling their current space. The dirt would be put back on top when the concrete was dry.

The surgery area was well underway, with the pad poured and waiting for the shed to be put on top. She left Billy with Cameron to finish things up, and asked Neil to accompany her to his cabin.

They stopped at the house to grab more sensors, and four of the night-vision cameras. When she’d asked, Neil had told her he had a PC tower at the cabin that he wasn’t using for anything yet, so she figured she’d strip it bare and set it up for cabin security. Neil said he had a monitor for the tower, as well as a keyboard and mouse, so Mac wouldn’t need to bring those items.

They loaded the wire and conduit spools in the back of Neil’s truck, and by the time they were done struggling with them Mac was extremely grateful the damn things weren’t full anymore. They filled the truck bed, standing up side by side, and obscured the view through the rear window of the cab.

Despite her earlier shower and the brief swim, Mac was sticky with sweat and grime, and couldn’t wait to get the job done so she could get home and clean up. Then she needed sleep. She only hoped she could stay coherent long enough to set up the server. It could take a long time to load software, never mind the actual setting up of the sensors and cameras.

She suggested that Neil install the cameras while she took care of loading the computer, one on each corner of the house to cover every wall, and most of the yard, too. She could only hope Neil wasn’t as tired as she was. She stared at him for a minute.

“What?”

“Just wondering if I should be asking you to go up a ladder right now. You’ve got to be pretty tired.”

“I slept more recently than you did, honey.”

“Maybe, but you didn’t get as much sleep either, and it couldn’t have been all that great since we were in the car.”

“I’m fine. I drank another cup of coffee while you were getting stuff from storage. The one in the console is for you. I forgot to give it to you.”

“Thank the tiny baby Jeebus!” Neil laughed as she snatched it up and started gulping.

“I’m guessing that means you need the boost right now?”

“God, yes. I’m heading perilously close to crashing, and I need at least
some
wits about me to set up this system.”

“There’s tons of coffee in storage at the cabin. I made sure I stocked up. Why don’t I put on a pot before I do the cameras. We can drink enough caffeine to keep us up ‘til dawn.”

“Deal.”

“So what did happen with those people from Ottawa? Did Cameron tell you anything? I completely forgot about it when I was talking to Billy and we were working on the sensors.”