Kiss My Apocalips
The story of Jacob Jones and the end of the world
CHAPTER TEN -- Word of Honor
The rain was at a lull in the mid-afternoon gloom, and while our "copycat" biometric indications showed no immediate threat, I coordinated with Juanita and Dmitri, and things switched around considerably for an hour or so. Dmitri himself joined Juanita and "guard-dog" Sally in the barn's upper floor for a bit of intense prisoner interrogation, which I hoped would not include some of the "enhanced" techniques I'd heard about in the CIA. Sofia and Wanda moved to the south bunker and waited there, while Doriana and I trudged to the lodge for a hot shower and change of clothes. Mrs. G fussed over little Rocko for a few minutes. The pooch really loved that lady, but there wasn't a lot she could do, under the circumstances; and he curled up and went to sleep on a blanket in a warm corner of the kitchen as she began preparing the evening meal.
Leisurely showers with Doriana rank high on my "best things to do" list, but we felt rushed. We also felt guilty that our actions had caused a confrontation that might otherwise have been avoided; and while I had long since verbalized my forgiveness to my shower mate, she kept asking for it, over and over. Finally, when she started in on the topic of "that poor man might still be alive if ..." I tried to insert a liberal dose of logic; telling her that he and his ilk were here to kill us. Period. His actions bespoke the truth of that supposition. And we could only imagine what Hyphen had in store for Sadie. Something a bit more emphatic than just a quick death, we could be sure. That seemed to placate her, but I felt compelled to hold her in my arms for many minutes as the warm water sluiced over us.
We dressed in dry clothes and put the filthy duds in one of the washers in the basement, asking Mrs. G if she could switch them to the dryer after dinner sometime. She questioned us about the puppy adventure, but we cut things short in an effort to get back to our posts. Hannah was right. It DID seem like a long walk, especially when the rain picked up again. But eventually, we were back at our station in the south bunker. Sofia and Wanda greeted me with kisses, but they really wanted to provide comfort to Doriana, and I allowed the three of them to huddle by themselves for twenty minutes, chatting and hugging. I heard a few tears being shed, as well, but I didn't intervene. When Mrs. G sent them a text message that dinner was nearing completion, they left in their golfcart, and we were back to our normal wartime footing.
The tablets issued a "ding," alerting us to an incoming message, and we all had to acknowledge that we'd tune in for another SITREP conference at five o'clock, in thirty minutes. The tablet that we kept ever-present with the troop locations hadn't shown any other movement of forces, but I did notice one peculiar thing about how they seemed to interact with each other. I'd bring it up to the group when we had our video meeting. Doriana and I made sure everything in our area was prepared for action, then we cozied up in front of the tablet as it counted down below the one-minute mark.
"Many tings change," Dmitri informed us. "Jacob's prisoners, dey give us much information. Also, dey say dey wants to defect and fight with us."
"The problem," Juanita interrupted, "is as old as military history itself. How much credence do we give deserters? How much faith and trust do we put into the hands of people who are proven traitors to the other side?"
"Where are they now?" I asked.
"We have them here," Juanita said. "They're handcuffed and waiting in a room down the hall where they can't hear what we're saying."
"Sadie," I continued, "were you there for this interrogation?" She nodded. "What was your impression of these ladies?"
Our scientific member of the family smiled. "I liked them. Especially the smaller one, Linda. I thought she was sweet. But I'm not an expert on military intelligence."
"Juanita," I told her firmly. "Please go get our two prisoners. I want to see them. I want to ask them one question. I want them, and everyone, to hear what I have to say."
She was obviously studying my image in the video display very closely for a very long ten seconds. Finally, she nodded, got up and left the scene.
"What you doin', Jacob?" Dmitri asked sternly. "You hire me to run military operation. You don't trust my opinion on dis?"
"I trust you implicitly, Dmitri; and I value your opinions very highly. But that doesn't mean I can't make my own decisions. Juanita mentioned military history. Generals have had to answer to their civilian presidents for all of OUR history, and they often have to alter plans and develop new strategies because of their orders. I could ask the other members of my group for their concurrence, if you'd like to take a vote."
"I will ALWAYS back any decision from Jacob," Wanda interjected. "All in favor?"
There was a loud chorus of "Ayes" from the various participants of the video conference, with Hannah's voice ringing the loudest.
"Don't argue with the president," Juanita said sternly, sitting back down. The two women from our skirmish down the hill were standing behind her, their hands behind their backs. I assume they were still handcuffed.
"I not argue with YOU, Juanita," Dmitri groused. "I keep havin' argument wit Jacob all de time! Including dis one!"
"Francine," I said, "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself properly earlier. I'm Jacob Jones."
"Hero of the Apocalypse," she said, nodding.
"Um ... no," I said. "Anyway, Juanita once explained that several of your contingent, out in the desert, had sort of 'paired up,' romantically. She also gave us the impression that there were two women that had become involved with each other. From your actions earlier today, I am assuming you are those women. Not that it's any of my business, but may I ask if that's correct?"
The two handcuffed women looked at each other, and the taller, elder of them faced the monitor again. "Yes. I love her unconditionally. She is my ... everything!"
"It was rather obvious from your actions," I responded. "And now: I am given to understand that you wish to change sides in this little altercation and fight for us. Is that also correct?"
"Yes," she answered immediately, but offered nothing else. I believe I saw it in her eyes. She knew that there was an argument about this among us, questioning whether or not they could be trusted. She also believed that anything else she said could be misconstrued and used against her cause. This was one sharp lady.
"You know what I'm going to ask you do, don't you Francine?"
She gawked openly at what was undoubtedly my image on a screen in front of her. Of course, in video calls, images rarely lined up with the camera lens, and she was staring at a spot slightly to the left. "Are you for real?" she asked incredulously. "Is that REALLY what you're going to base your decision on?"
"Do it!" I ordered. "Not just to me, but to everybody here! Do it now!"There was a very long pause. It didn't look as if anybody was breathing.
Francine stood as straight as possible under the circumstances. "I give everyone here my word of honor that I will serve and fight only on your behalf. I will give my life, if necessary, to protect you."
"Please remove her handcuffs, Juanita," I said. "She's one of us now. How about you, Linda? Do you also give us your word of honor?"
"Um ... yes," she said softly.
Again, there was a long silence. "Uh ... Jacob ...." Professor Gonzales began.
"I have to agree with Francine, Jacob," Juanita told me. "Are you for real?"
"Jacob," Dmitri urged. "She a deserter from her last command! You just take her word?"
"Her word of honor, Dmitri," I argued. "Granted, I don't rightly know the value of that; but I have to ask. What is the value of YOUR word? What is the value of your honor?" He gawked openly at the camera. "I am inclined to give both of those attributes the highest priority when dealing with a man or a woman in uniform, unless proven otherwise. Am I wrong? So far, everything this woman has said and done leads me to believe her."
"Long, loud silence," muttered Wanda after several seconds of no comments. "My big oaf wins again with his faith in others."
Juanita was unlocking the handcuffs. I don't think she intended to be heard by the rest of us, but the microphone picked it up. "I always liked you, Francine. Please, please, please don't let us down."
As soon as the cuffs were dispensed with, the two women flung themselves into each other's arms, and clung to one another almost desperately.
"Get a room!" Wanda groused. Finally, there were some laughs and the mood of distrust abated, at least somewhat.
"Please get some chairs and join the meeting, ladies," I told them. "Dmitri, before we get on with our SITREP, may I ask a question about something I've observed from the bio-scan Sadie developed for us?"
The Russian was clearly ill-at-ease with how this entire meeting was going. "Uh ... What you want to know?"
"Can you put the scan of their main base up on the monitor, Sadie?" I asked. It took about five seconds, but the display filled their portion of the screen. "Look at the person up at the top, about one o'clock. Sorry, I don't have any way to point it out to the group from here."
A cursor circled one yellow dot. "This one?"
"No. The one next to it. To the left."
"This one?"
"Yes. Can you zoom in any further?"
"No. That maximum magnification."
