Billy had not given him his mission yet, just to gather the information, but Donnie could already feel the time was coming when action would be necessary. He looked forward to it. He stared at the girl’s face on the screen. Would she be first in Billy’s plan or would it be one of the others. Donnie was sure he would know soon.
Chapter 2
The sun had set by the time Donnie returned to the cemetery. His mother usually questioned him about where he was going. He always said the same thing.
“Just gonna hang with a friend.”
He would be out the door before she could ask who.
For many, a cemetery is no place to be after dark, but Donnie loved the solitude. It allowed him to hear his brother, and his brother to hear him. They were never interrupted in the cemetery at night.
“Hi, Billy.”
Donnie stood looking down at the rose his mother had left. The petals were bathed in the waning moonlight but he stared at it without seeing, his mind listening intently for his brother’s voice.
“Billy, I need to know what the next step in our plan is. I’ve got the files complete and update them regularly, just as you asked, but I’m sure there’s more I could be doing.”
Donnie started nodding his head up and down.
“Okay.”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a pencil along with some scrap paper, and began to draw. In the low moonlight, his picture was poorly drawn, hardly recognizable but he felt he knew what Billy was saying.
“I understand, Billy. I’ll begin immediately.”
He finished the drawing and looked back from the paper towards his brother’s name on the stone.
“No, I won’t tell mom. It’s just between us.”
He tucked the pencil back in his jeans and folded the sheet of paper up, sliding it into a shirt pocket.
His face turned sad. It always did when the time came to leave his brother.
“I gotta go, Billy. I’ll be back in a few days. Miss you.”
Donnie turned and walked slowly, head down, back to his car. He always looked forward to visiting his brother and sharing with him, but each visit tore at him, overwhelming him with sadness. It never got easier.
He started his car and turned it towards the exit.
****
“Where have you been?”
“I told you, Momma. You know you don’t have to worry about me.”
She was sitting in her chair watching ‘America’s Funniest Videos’. She had probably seen the same episode a dozen times but she stilled laughed at the same clips. Donnie kissed her on the top of her head but she was not appeased.
“You’re either off running around or hiding in the basement. I don’t know the name of any of your friends, we never talk about your outings and you never keep your mother company anymore.”
“Oh come on, Momma. I’m 22. I’ve got things to do, people to see, worlds to conquer.”
She refused to smile at his joke.
“I never see any friends come over, the phone doesn’t ring. Whose worlds are you conquering?”
Donnie laughed and started for the stairs to the basement.
“Where you goin’?”
“Downstairs. I’ve got something I need to do before going to bed.”
His mother made a pouty face and turned towards the TV. Donnie smiled to himself. She couldn’t stay mad at him and he knew it. He hurried down the stairs, excited by the new task.
With his computer open, he made a new file. He typed the name ‘Containment’ on the description line and opened it so the required material could be entered as each measurement was taken.
Donnie needed to get the drawing Billy had given him onto the computer while it was still fresh in his mind. The drawing done at the cemetery would help but he knew it was only a rough approximation.
Taking a tape measure, he stretched it the length on the basement. The measurement went into the file. Next, he stretched it crossways in the room. That measurement was entered. He multiplied the numbers together and got the available square footage in the room. He subtracted the space he needed for his desk and divided the result by 4, which gave him the size of each cell.
He smiled to himself. 4 foot by 8 foot would be the size of each one, more than enough for them to lie down. It was easy for him to envision the layout and he spent the next hour making a materials list for the project. It had to be done right and it had to be strong. Billy was counting on him.
****
The next morning, Donnie was up early getting ready for work. He had a part time job with SUMMIT CONSTRUCTION. He couldn’t work full time because he needed to be around for his mother but the extra money helped to supplement her disability check. Mostly, he was a gopher for the regular guys and the work was spotty, but he was looking forward to going this morning.
“Bye, Momma. I’ll see you later.” He kissed her forehead as he always did and rushed out the back door.
“Wait! When you comin’ home?”
He didn’t hear her; he was already at the garage getting into the van.
Donnie arrived at the job site about twenty minutes later. SUMMIT was building a condominium complex in the northeast suburb of Windcrest. He found his boss, Gary Maddox, in the construction site trailer.
“Morning, Gary.”
“Hi, Donnie. You ready to get to work?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Okay, I need you running wheelbarrows of gravel to Smitty and Dixon. They’re prepping the sidewalk from Building One to the parking lot.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Donnie left the trailer and went to find the wheelbarrow. He knew he was in for a long day, hauling gravel was hard work, but lunchtime would give him an opportunity to focus on his real mission for the day.
****
After a long hot morning, Donnie took lunch with the rest of the guys but he didn’t eat with them. Smitty saw him leaving.
“Where you goin’?”
“Gotta run an errand.”
“Better be back in an hour.”
“I will.”
Donnie got in his van and drove around the block, parking just out of sight of the construction office trailer. Leaving the van running for the air conditioning, Donnie waited for his boss to leave. Gary Maddox took lunch downtown with his girlfriend and Donnie was going to use the time his boss was gone to sneak into the site office. Gary kept a .38 caliber revolver, which he called the ‘Texas Deal Maker’, in an unlocked desk drawer.
Donnie had seen the gun dozens of times, every time Gary told his favorite story. He would pull the gun out of the drawer, show it to the latest visitor and then tell the same story.
“Some guy who worked for me said I cheated him out of a day’s pay. Of course, he was wrong but he refused to leave the job site. I got this gun and went out to talk with him.
I said, ‘This is called the Texas Deal Maker’ and I’m going to use it to make you a deal. You leave now and I won’t use it. He didn’t move so I asked him if he was married and he said “yeah, so what?” So I said, if you don’t leave now, I’m gonna have to change the name of this gun to ‘Texas Widowmaker’. He left.”
At that point, Gary would laugh like it was the first time he’d told the story.
Donnie thought it was funny the first couple times but the story had lost its charm. None the less, he knew it meant that many people knew where that gun was and that worked to his advantage.
A few minutes after he parked, Donnie watched the grey Dodge truck owned by his boss leave the construction site. He shut the van off and climbed out. Checking his watch, he stepped through a gap in the fence and came around from behind the trailer. Making sure no one had wandered near, he slipped into the office.