Angry Gary and Angry Larry the Leopard Slugs
Revelations
The clamor of moving bodies and furniture being hauled into the house rapidly faded as the men filed out of the house, the man following.
“Thanks guys, I appreciate it,” the man said to them.
“No problem, hope you can get the place cleaned up quick. That’s some bullshit what they did to you,” the tallest of the men said as turned back to the man.
“It’s going to take a while, and a dumpster it would seem, but I’ll get it done. Thanks again,” he said as he held out his hand.
Shaking hands the delivery man said, “Yep, have a good day,” and walked to the delivery truck, climbed inside and started the engine. It rumbled to life and shook the ground then the air brakes released with a hiss and the truck drove down the road. The man watched them leave then turned and went back in the house.
Larry could see glimpses of him moving around the house through the windows as he began shifting things around the rooms. He was beginning to try to clean the house and regular grumbling emanated through the windows. Larry climbed down from his perch on a small rock near his nook and went back inside, he didn’t need to watch him clean.
His pda drew his attention again and he quickly found himself on the Bolleak-AI site, tapping through the menus looking for any new options. He had not had a chance to run the search and the thought suddenly re-entered his mind. He entered “Pince” into the search and waited, staring at the screen which sat unmoving and glowing.
“Shit, that’s right, it takes a while,” he said to himself.
He stared at the screen for awhile longer than sighed and turned to the wall of fungus. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the large cavity eaten from the fungus then slowly moved to the side of it and took a bite. He chewed the fungus as he turned back to the pda which now sat blinking again across the nook. He looked down at the screen to see it full of file names, all of them having Pince’s name within.
Larry’s eyes widened as he scanned through the massive list. Many of the file names were just random looking numbers and letters but at the bottom were the legibly named files. As he read through them he was amazed to see dates of twenty and more years old in the filenames and he was suddenly drawn to one in particular.
“OSI_inv_20020223” caught his eye, the OSI stood out bright and he opened the file which popped up an email between Pince and Bollinger.
“Randy. Talk to your people and get them to pull the dogs off. We don’t need OSI snooping right now. E.”
Larry read it multiple times despite it’s short length, he felt like he was missing something. “Bollinger was not a senator at that time so that meant he had contacts in the government before being elected,” he thought as he stared at the email. He blinked a few times before pushing the pda aside then sat staring at the wall lost in thought. He could feel the answer was close but just couldn’t quite grasp it yet. There had to be something else about the man that would have lead to such a response. What had he done in OSI beyond that investigation?
He sat lost in his mind for a while before he found himself feeling the slight rumble of an approaching car. He slugged out of his nook to see Vivian’s car park and she quickly exiting, closing the door behind her forcefully. She strode to the front door and knocked loudly as it swung open.
The man walked through the house and as he saw her said, “oh hey, what’s up? Come by to see the new furniture?”
Larry heard Vivian say crossly, “don’t you answer phones? I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon.” She then stepped in the house and he lost the conversation. His curiosity piqued he decided to go for a listen. The closest place he could quickly get would be a wood post sticking up from the ground, the remnants of an old gate, and he slugged straight for it. He could hear her voice as he got closer to the post and he gradually began to climb the base. He could catch a word here and there as she seemed to be reprimanding him.
“Careful. No one. Trust.” He climbed as he tried to listen and as he neared the top of the post they walked to the living room and the man said, “I’ve got chairs now,” as he motioned for Vivian to sit.
Larry crested the edge of the post and sat atop it, the shade of the large tree covering him. He could see in the front window and could just hear their conversation through the screen.
“So what’s going on, you’re pretty tense,” the man said as she sat on one of his newly acquired chairs.
“I’ve been trying to call you because I spoke with a friend I have at the CIA,” she replied.
“You have a friend at the CIA?” he asked quickly.
“He’s a high school friend that we kept in touch over the years. Anyway I asked him what he knew about Pince and the Backwater scandal from back then. He was a bit apprehensive with talking about it but he told me that Pince has been given immunity by the highest levels of government. Backwater is a well known front for human trafficking but with his protections he is able to do whatever he wants.”
“I could have told you that,” the man responded with a frown.
“Yes but that means that you were pulled from that investigation at the direction of the white house. That means that they know Pince is a human trafficker and is selling people into the organ trades. This is huge!” Vivian exclaimed.
The man sat and stared at her for a while as he sat lost in his thoughts. His memories of the investigation were slightly muddy still and he knew there was more going on than he could remember. Slowly he asked, “so what, the white house told them to raid my house?”
Vivian chuckled then said, “no, I don’t think so. I get the feeling that Pince is just free to do what he wants and since his name is so prevelant in the leak and you are a seeming person of interest for the leak he could.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. I feel like there is something more to this. I still don’t know why they would think that I had anything to do with that list going public. The first I heard of it was on the news,” he replied.
“I’m not sure why you’re implicated in this but it looks like it is likely sanctioned by the government, specially considering the number of elected officials names that are on it. It’s literally a whose who of the elite and they are all connected to Pince,” she said.
The man stood up and began to pace back and forth across the room. He didn’t say anything as he paced he just scrunched his face and furrowed his brow as his mind plowed over the details. He stopped pacing and stood next to the chair, looked at Vivian and said, “how do we blow this up? Who has any power that isn’t involved in this that could actually make a change? Who would have the ability to arrest most of the legislative branch?”
Vivian stared back at him in silence as her mind suddenly went blank. She couldn’t find the words to respond and found her mouth opening to speak but nothing came out.
“This is not just here, it’s world wide. The CCP are directly linked but so is the UAE, South Africa, and a number of other countries. This is a very large network that has been operating in the dark for a very ling time,” the man said, his brow still furrowed.
Vivian sat in rapt silence listening to the sudden knowledge pouring from him. He was obviously keeping something about his past from her and she began to think she understood. “You were investigating more than just Pince weren’t you?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“Of course. Human trafficking has been a problem worldwide for as long as humans have been alive. One of my tasks was to determine who was doing so which was not very easy in the middle of a war. A lot of people were taken in the many years that we had been there and Pince’s militias were a big part of that,” the man said.
The pair sat in silence and thought before she looked up at him and said, “I’m still not sure exactly why they thought you leaked the list. I’m going to talk with someone and see if they can trace back why. There has to be something about the original post that would have lead them here.”
“I still don’t know so if you find out I would love to know,” he said.
Vivian stood up and looked at him quickly asking, “where’s the phone?”
The man walked to the other room and came back with it, handing it to her as she stood.
“I’m going to make sure this thing is setup on the wifi so I can get in touch with you,” she said as she punched at the screen with her fingers. She handed the phone to him saying, “here, now I can call you”.
He took the phone from her, looked down at the screen then shoved it in his pocket. “Thanks,” he mumbled.
She cocked her head at his tone but let it go as she said, “I’m going to let you get back to cleaning but I had to talk about that. I’ll call you tomorrow once I find out anything about why you were targeted. Answer the damn phone,” she said as she turned and walked out of the room, soon exiting the front door. The man watched her walk out of the and said, “bye”.
Vivian got in her car and quickly drove off down the road. Larry sat watching her leave then turned and watched the man flop onto the chair. He figured that was all the excitement for the day and climbed down from the post, heading for the decomposing log for a snack before going back to his nook.
Tendra heard the truck rumble off and made her way to Gary’s hole, giving a slight call as she entered. Gary was alert and moving around his hole with the lichen still covering him. “You’re looking a lot better,” she said as she got inside.
“Much better now. Thanks to you,” he said to her.
“I’m just glad to see you are doing better. Here, let’s get the lichen off you,” she said as she reached up and bit the lichen, dragging it from over the top of Gary’s body.
He shivered as the lichen drug across the tops of the now mostly healed wounds and he gave out a slight wincing sound. His body was still coated in blob of the aloe that glistened slightly. He looked at Tendra then his body and asked, “what do I do about this stuff?”
“Go rub against the wall and it should come off easily. Don’t rub too hard or you might open a wound, but it should come off,” she offered.
Gary stared at her as he weighed the possibility of hurting himself or getting the goop off and he gave in. He rubbed his body against the wall of his hole and gradually the aloe peeled away.
“Not perfect but you’ll be able to finish the last bits. How’s your foot doing? Still swollen?” she asked as she looked down at his fattened foot.
“”It’s still swollen in one spot which makes it hard to move but I can manage,” he said as he wriggled the swollen part of his foot.
“Well, if you feel up to it we should go out and find something to eat, I’m sure you’re pretty tired of fungus all the time by now,” she said as she turned to the entrance.
Gary tested his foot and pressed against the swollen spot, wincing at the pain. He looked back at her with doubt in his eyes and she said, “come on, it’ll be good for you to get out of your hole for a bit. We don’t have to go far.”
He stared at her for a moment then glanced around the hole before saying, “you’re right, I do want something else to eat,” then followed her out of the hole.
Decisions
The man sat in the chair and felt the weight of the memories flooding back through him. Something in the conversation had triggered them to surface and he suddenly felt the surge of energy as he began to remember more. He put his head in his hand and shook it slightly in a vain attempt at clearing them from his mind. He lifted his head and looked at the mess of a room around him, the pile of garbage stacked in the corner opposite the new furniture that was just brought in. His gaze landed on the pile in the corner and his head sunk as he realized he needed to start clearing it out.
Walking to the front door he propped it open at the base with a hunk of wood then went to the kitchen and opened the back door. He stepped out then came back in with a rolled up piece of plastic. He walked out the front door and flaked the plastic out on the ground and placed rocks on the corners to keep it from blowing away.
Larry was working his way back to his nook when he saw the man come out of the house with the plastic. He watched as he kept moving as the man flung the roll out in front of him as he held the end, the plastic unrolling in the air and falling to the ground. Larry felt the rush of air as the plastic hit the ground only a foot behind him. His body shook at the sudden burst of air and he felt an extreme urge to flee.
The man grabbed the end of the plastic and opened it up and flung it out into the air letting it settle on the ground. Larry saw the big black sheet fill the sky above him then it quickly fell and enveloped him in darkness. He felt the press of the plastic against the grasses around him and he pushed on forward, determined not to stop and to make it out from under the plastic. He felt the plastic shake as the man dropped rocks on the corners to lock it in place then heard him walk back to the house.
Larry found his eyes adjusting quickly and he had only bumped into one rock in the dark. He could see the light shining in from under the edge of the plastic and he knew he was close which made him push himself as fast as he could go. As he reached the light and the edge of the plastic he paused and took a break to rest his now sore foot.
“I’ve been doing a lot of slugging for my life recently,” he thought as he tried to recover. Soon he heard the sound of the man walking out of the house and the plastic suddenly surged and shook all along the edge. Larry moved away from the plastic and as he did he could see the man tossing piles of garbage from the house onto the plastic. He turned and went back into the house for more at which Larry turned and slugged straight for his nook. He had no desire to be near the pile when all the insects and animals come out with it.
The man piled arm load after arm load from the house onto the plastic and had a large mound built before stopping for the night. He kicked a few things onto the plastic that had rolled off then went inside and closed the front door. He grabbed one of the new chairs and wedged it against the door as a meager form of lock. He went to his bedroom and tipped the old torn to shreds mattress on its edge and set it against the wall. He shoved the new mattress in and let it fall with a flop. He kicked off his shoes and found one of his blankets in a corner which he threw over himself as he fell on the mattress.
The sound of the phone jolted him awake and the vibration shook his leg as it rang in his pocket that he was laying on. He rolled over and slapped at his pocket with is hand, still feeling half asleep. He fished it out of his pocket and held it up to see Vivian calling. “Who else would it be?” he thought as he accepted the call with a, “yeah?” into it as he put it to his ear.
“Did I wake you?” she asked.
“Uhh, yeah. It’s okay, what’s up?” he said blearily into the phone.
“Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I talked with a programmer and part time white hat about your problem and he said he would try to find out anything he could. If anyone can I presume it would be him,” she said.
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” he said slowly then asked, “I was wondering if I could call one of my buddies from OSI? I’ve got some questions about some memories that popped up that I need to clarify.”
“Are you sure you can trust him?” she asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t really know. It’s OSI so who knows,” he replied.
“The less ways that you can make for them to keep tabs on you the better,” she said.
“I know. This IS my career field,” he scoffed.
“I’m sorry, I forget,” she apologized then asked, “wait ‘is your career field’?”
“That’s what I need to talk with Franklin for. It’s been a while but we go back a ways so I hope he’ll tell me the truth,” he said.
“That doesn’t make sense exactly but if you think you can trust him then go ahead,” she said.
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll have to find his number in the piles around here, hopefully,” he said as he looked around the room at the debris scattered everywhere.
“If you can’t let me know and I’ll see if someone I know can get it for you,” she said then continued, “I’ll let you know if I hear anything m=from the programmer too.”
“Thanks,” he said quickly.
“We’ll talk later,” she said and abruptly hung up.
He dropped the phone on the bed and sitting up looked around him at the piles. He was trying to remember where he had the number written and stood up and walk over to the nearest pile and gave it a solid push with the top of his foot in annoyance. The pile tipped over and spilled around and laying partially exposed in the pile was his commendation letter for meritorious service. He sloughed things off of it and picked it up holding in front of his eyes. Suddenly the memories of the awards ceremony flooded his mind and he stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed letter in his lap.
He sat lost in his thoughts and he mindlessly fidgeted with the letter in it’s cover. His head popped back to and he looked down at the letter and he flipped it the cover over to reveal a list of names and numbers of his friends at OSI. His eyes shot upwards and as he stared at the ceiling said a gentle “thank you” before returning them to the list.
He stood up, grabbed the phone from the bed, and took the letter with him out to the kitchen where he set it on the counter. He set the phone next to it and stared at them both for a long while trying to will himself to make the phone call. He felt extremely nervous for some reason and knew he just needed to get it over with. Turning the screen on he opened the phone and punched in the number then sat and stared at the phone. He stared at it until the screen went black and he had to turn it on again, this time steeling himself with a deep breath before hitting call.
He held the phone to his ear and listened to it ring. After the fourth ring the line picked up and a,” hello?” came through. His voice caught in his throat a moment before he cleared his throat and said, “Farnklin?”.
“Yes. Who is this?” came the reply.
“This is NEED NAME FOR MAN!!! from back at OSI,” the man said lightly.
There was a pause on the other end then excitedly, “hey! Wow, it’s been a while. How are you?”
The man sighed in relief and answered, “okay. It’s been an interesting past couple weeks.”
“What are you up to these days?” Franklin asked.
“Well, that’s what I’m calling you about. Where are you?” he asked suddenly.
“What? I’m in my office. Why?” he responded confused.
“I’d rather meet up if possible to talk. Plus it’s been a while,” he said.
“Where are you? We could get lunch somewhere,” Franklin offered.
“I’m down in Lakeside, about an hour away from the city,” he answered. “Where would you want to meet?” he asked.
“Blank’s Diner on main street, it’s an old train car, you can’t miss it. I’ll have a table at noon?” Franklin asked.
“Sure, I’ll meet you there,” he said then, “good to talk to you again.”
“You too, I’ll see you at noon,” Franklin said then hung up the phone.
He smiled and set the phone on top of the letter then suddenly felt his stomach growl. He turned to the cabinets and opening them found only a single sleeve of saltines that had not been devoured by the rats. He opened the end of the sleeve and one by one ate the entire thing. Guzzling some water he tossed the empty sleeve on the pile on the floor and went back to hauling loads to the plastic in front of the house.
The car started with a puff of smoke and roar as the engine came to life. He spent some time letting it warm up and shoveling the piles from the front seat to the rear. “It’d been nice if they had searched the car, at least it might have been cleaner than this,” he thought as he tossed empty cans and food wrappers behind him. He grabbed one last handful and dropped it behind the passenger seat and then drove out of the yard.
After a stop for gas along the way he entered the city and as he got closer to main street and downtown the buildings got taller and the sound of his car echoed from their sides, the smoke still billowing filling intersections as he waited for the lights to change. He finally parked outside the old train car nestled amongst the tall buildings. He climbed the stairs and stepped inside, looking at all the tables and booths as he stood by the door. Halfway down the car a hand shot up and a wave at him which made him begin to walk forward. As he got near he could see Franklin for the first time in years.
Franklin stood up and the embraced in a big hug before parting and sitting at the table. “How the hell are you?” he asked.
“Okay. I’ve been living off my disability for a while. Been fairly easy,” the man replied.
Franklin raised an eyebrow then said, “sure. So what’s got you calling me out of the blue all these years later?”
“This has been a fucked couple of weeks. My house got raided because they thought I was the one who leaked the Bollinger names list. They hauled me in to the county jail and held me in a cell for a couple days. They kept screaming about computers and tablets and phones but I haven’t used any of that shit since serving. I think I know who is behind it but I’m not positive,” he said in a flurry.
Franklin listened to him speak then asked, “so what do you need?”
“I don’t know really. I guess I’m feeling like I should remember more about the time around the IED,” he said. “So much of the Pince investigation is just blurs. And now I feel like I’m being dragged back into this world.”
“What you mean?” Franklin asked with concern in his face.
The man was about to speak when the waitress came to the table and they quickly looked over the menu and ordered. She thanked them and walked back to the kitchen. Looking back at Franklin he said, “so I’m pretty sure Pince is the one, or at least his people are the ones who raided my house. Apparently his name is all over the Bollinger emails, and since I was on the investigation back then…” he trailed off.
“So you think Pince is after you thinking you leaked the list?” Franklin asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s all I have at the moment. All this going on has been bringing back a lot of memories in the field and I’m missing it. What better way to get back into it than investigating my own life and why and who has done this to me?” he said with a shrug.
Franklin stared at him for a long time then said, “again, what do you need?”
“I guess I need access to information more than anything. My security clearance was revoked after the IED so I have no way of finding anything out. OSI has some of the best servers around that I could maybe play with?” the man asked coyly.
“I thought you said you haven’t used a computer since the incident, things have changed a whole lot in the past six or seven years, I’m not sure you would get very far. The new databases are a lot different than they were,” Franklin said matter-of-factly.
“I’d just like the chance to try right now. Anything to find some answers cuz I’m running on memories right now and they are pretty fuzzy still,” the man replied.
“Let me think about it,” Franklin said as the waitress arrived with their food. She set their plates out then left. They both quickly ate their meals before resuming their conversation.
“I’d appreciate any help you can give me,” the man said as he pushed his plate aside.
“Well, it’s been good seeing you again. I’ll think about it and give you a call soon. I presume that number is your cell?” Franklin asked.
“Yeah, that’s the new one. They took my other one. This is only for VoiP on wifi so I’m a bit limited.” He replied.
Franklin looked up as the waitress brought the check and quickly handed her a card.
The man stopped for a moment than said, “I was going to pay for you.”
Franklin waved him off and stood saying, “I’ve got to get back to the office.”
The man stood up and they walked out the diner and down the stairs to the parking lot where with a quick good bye from each they parted. He climbed into his car and started it with a billow of smoke and roar of the engine then drove out of the city for home.
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