Ripley, WV
There were many hand paintings ranging from abstract to realism, so many in fact they filled the entire front sun room of the single-story frame house.
Louise’s house.
She put out that she handled the trip just fine, but Cal knew better. Each bump, each stop, she bit her bottom lip, closing her eyes as if trying to hide the pain.
She was in pain and had no medication to help it.
Helen went to get something while Cal settled her into the house.
“Where will you feel most comfortable?” Cal asked. “Can I help you to bed?”
“No.” Louise smiled with a gentleness. “Help me into the easy chair by the window. Always was my favorite place to sit.”
It was a small front room or living room with a couch, television, and a beat-up tan reclining chair. He walked her to it, swiveled the chair to face the window and Louise plopped in it. She reached for the handle but struggled to even move it.
“Relax,” Cal told her, then gently reclined the chair.
“There’s a blue afghan on the sofa, can you get that for me.”
“Sure.” Cal took a few steps back and grabbed the folded blanket that was over the back of the couch. He brought it to Louise, flapped it out, and covered her.
“Ah.” She pressed her lips together and forced a smile. “This is nice.”
“Can I get you anything?” Cal asked.
“No, I’m good. This is nice. This is so much better.” Her head turned to the knock at the door.
Cal peeked out the window and saw it was Helen. He hollered out a, “Come in.”
A few seconds later, Helen entered the living room. “I got you a lollipop,” she said, holding up a tiny narrow packet.
“A what?” Cal asked.
“They call them lollipops.” She opened the package, pulling out a cotton swab looking item with a tiny vial attached to the end. “It’s fentanyl. Put this in your mouth like a lollipop.” She gave it to Louise. “It will take away the pain.”
“Where did you get that?” Cal asked.
“I went to the clinic. Those are used in the field for injured soldiers. That should help her rest while we go to our meeting.
Cal nodded and looked at Louise. He placed his hand over hers. “Hey, I’ll be right back. Okay?”
“You do what you need to do,” Louise told him. “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
Cal smiled at her, leaned down and placed his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be right back. Enjoy your lollipop.”
He stepped away, taking another look before leaving the living room. A part of him felt guilty for leaving her, but she seemed fine and at peace being in her own home.
Cal’s meeting wouldn’t take long, at least that was what Helen said. Louise’s medication would kick in soon. Cal was certain she’d pass out and he would return before she even woke enough to realize what had happened.
He wasn’t what Cal expected to see. On the way to meet him, Helen said he was a military man who was protecting the president at the onset of the war. Cal expected someone staunch and fully decorated. Instead he saw a man in blue jeans and T-shirt who balked when Cal called him captain.
“Troy,” he corrected. “Please. Not that I don’t serve my country, it’s just not safe to be in uniform right now. Please, have a seat.”
Cal pulled out a chair at the two-seater table in the empty café closed to the public. No sooner did he sit down, Troy tossed a passport on the table. It had seen better days and Cal looked curiously at it.
“Open it,” Troy said.
Cal flipped it open, it was his. “How…”
“It was in a bag on the boat. Helen brought that to Steve, we’ve been waiting for you to get well. See, we can get an American to act as if they are from another country, but this… this proves you are.”
“What do you need from me? I’m not soldier.”
“What do you… did you do for a living back home?”
“Basically projects, buildings, concrete.”
“Construction?”
“I was a project manager.”
Troy nodded. “Can you pull off saying you’re an architect?”
Cal laughed. “Why would I say that?”
“Because we need someone they are going to trust and right now, our other inside person says they are looking for someone to design and build, change a small town in Ohio into pretty much a fortified internment camp.”
Cal lifted his hand and let it drop to the table. “I don’t understand what you need.”
“There is a small town south of Cleveland. Right now, they have about eight thousand detainees there. We want to liberate that camp. In order to do so, we need someone on the inside who can help us do that.”
“You already have someone on the inside,” Cal said.
“Not trusted. He’s American. You are not. They are having job recruitments just outside of there. You go under the guise you want to go back home and that you’ll help out where needed. You have the passport to prove you aren’t from here. You have no obligations to this country.”
Cal sat back with an exhale. “How am I supposed to communicate with you?”
“Our person on the inside will be in touch. There are more details. He has a military direct phone, he sends us messages. I’m not going to say more until you give your agreement.”
“Why, Captain, would I want to help?”
Troy hesitated before answering. “Everything that happens here affects your country. It already has. The UK is in chaos, it’s a matter of time before World War Three breaks out and we don’t want that. We get this country back, we take it back, we may avoid global catastrophe.”
“How do you know my country is in chaos?”
“We were in communication before our outpost was hit. Will you do it? Will you help us?”
Cal looked down to his folded hands and raised his eyes. “Can I have tonight to think about it? I need to check with a friend who is ill.”
Troy nodded. “Yes. I’ll be here until tomorrow. Helen can take you back now.”
Cal stood and extended his hand to Troy. “I’ll let you know my decision shortly, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
Cal stepped back, paused, reached down, and grabbed his passport. He placed it in his pocket and turned to leave. What was being asked of him wasn’t some minor thing. It was a big undertaking, serious spy stuff and wasn’t a one shot, one day deal.
It was dangerous.
He had Louise to think about and that was priority. Not that Cal didn’t want to help, but if he was going to be honest, he wasn’t sure he wanted to put his life on a line for a country he wasn’t that vested in.
Helen drove Cal back to Louise’s little house. Turning the bend, he caught a glimpse of her in the window.
“They really need you,” Helen said as she stopped the truck. “We need you.”
“I understand that,” Cal replied. “Is it going to make a difference? You said there are hundreds of thousand Chinese soldiers. Can we defeat them?”
“There are still two hundred million Americans. Yes, we can.”
“I will think about it.” Cal opened the door and stepped out. He walked to the house imagining what Louise would say. She’d be for it. If she were well enough, she would take up arms and fight. That was who she was. Fiery and full of life.
He knocked once on the main door to announce his arrival and stepped in. “Louise,” he called out, walking in.
After closing the door, he took in the silence.
“Hey,” he said walking into the living room. “I met with them. They want me to go in there and try to get information. I know what you’ll say, but I hate to leave you.” He stepped to the chair. “Look they had my passport and…” He paused. “Shit. You’re sleeping.”