Page 35 of Stone Blind

“She’s new,” the voice said. “She shut down The Collector as well. I think this Technician may be a problem. She’s a hound.”

“A woman,” Imperial stated. “Interesting. What do we know about her, her specialty, what is her thing?”

“We know nothing, which is what makes her a problem,” he said. “Before she took down The Collector, she put a bullet in Karlton & Ramon Santos.”

“Ramon was the one who wore the white leather loafers with no socks, right? He was a creep,” Imperial said. “Wait, they’ve been after him for years and this new Technician took him out?”

“Yes, and in one night, she took out three of your warehouses and cleared the store shelves, encouraging the community to raid your food stores,” the voice said. “Word has spread, and other communities are looking for your warehouses, wanting the playground equipment. I heard the one on Wabash, since it’s set up so well, will become a center for working mothers.”

“Glad to be of service to the lowlifes,” Imperial said. “What can we find out on the woman?’

“Lay low, Imperial; the last thing you need is for her to get you in the crosshairs. If she finds you, she finds us all,” the voice said, “so be smart and lay low.”

The call ended with Imperial in her feelings. Three warehouses in one night meant she was out of millions. Millions in tax free dollars taken from her by some woman she didn’t even know. She no longer lived in Wisconsin, but it was her territory.

“We’ve built something special here, and that woman Technician is not going to destroy it,” Imperial said, staring out the window. Too many sacrifices had been made. Too many challenges had been overcome. Too much money to be made to give it all up now. The female Technician was a slight problem. Besides, they’d gotten rid of one before; this one would be no different.

Chapter 12 - Course

Helen could feel him watching her while they sat at the kitchen table eating a meal that had grown cold while it waited for the lovers to sate their appetites for each other before satiating their desires for food. Her attention now focused on the design of the dining table in a rich wood intricately meshed with a deep blue resin.

“This table is amazing,” she commented, not looking up at him.

“Thank you,” he offered.

“You made this? Oh wow, such remarkable craftsmanship. The resin is a nice touch. It is almost trooper blue,” she added. “What kind of wood is it?”

“Sequoia Redwood,” Mustang replied, watching her facial expression at the usage of the coveted, protected wood. “No, don’t even. The tree had fallen and they were cutting it up to be hauled off. I happened to be in the area and got several chunks of the trunk. One I made into this table, and another piece was used to craft my coffee and end tables.”

She rose, wearing the tee he’d discarded in haste to have her that he’d worn under his Trooper shirt. He said nothing as she bounced to the living room to admire the pieces he’d mentioned. Try as he might to reconcile the reality of her being in his home, he had questions and unless they were answered with a bit of clarity, the possible response would keep him up at night.

“Helen,” he said softly, moving to the living room where she camped out on the couch, her legs folded into a lotus position asshe stared at the table. “I’m having difficulty wrapping my mind around you being in Oregon, in my home.”

“I had some free time, and I wanted to test out my tracking skills, so I thought I’d surprise you by using some of those free days with you, and here I am. I don’t know when I may have this much free time in the future so...this table is really cool. You have a shop nearby where you make furniture?”

“The shop is under the house, kind of like a basement,” he said, taking a seat on the floor to not appear as if he were lording himself and his alpha male power over the lady. “You mentioned tracking lessons with Mr. Yield... I mean, things were going badly with Apple?”

Helen ran her hand across the smooth wood, appreciating the care it took to shape and smooth the texture. The blue resin filled the cracks like foam, filling crevices in a broken structure. The natural raw edge of the tree had not been removed, which gave the piece character.

“Nine hours isn’t that far in relation to what was needed. It was par for the course,” she told him. “Apple’s role was only to assess me to determine my strengths.”

It was all rather fuzzy to Mustang. He needed more explanation, causing him to ask, “Why did he call in Yield?”

“A kid broke free from a Field of Flowers, and Pear brought the boy to Apple,” she told him. “Of course, Apple wanted to root out every Field and shoot up the place, but the kid needed care. Honestly, I didn’t think the boy would make it through the night, which is why I think he sent me with Yield to track down the warehouse, you know in case things went downhill with the boy, but I found all three warehouses in Milwaukee and shut them down.”

Mustang leaned forward. He heard everything she said, but he still could make the two ends meet in the middle. “You found the warehouse, not Yield?”

She smiled at him. “Men think and hunt like predators,” she said. “I think like a woman. Healthy kids need nutrition. The kids have to be healthy to be profitable. Therefore, I started from the perspective of a woman and how and where does the food come from to feed the kids? I went from there.”

She made eye contact with him as she spoke. “We found a bodega near the raided warehouse which stocked food the locals couldn’t or wouldn’t spend money on. High end fruits and veggies in glass jars with fancy labels that went through the pasteurization process. I went in the store, chatted up the girl behind the counter, and extracted the easy info from her wanting to brag. Her chatty nature gave us leads, and Yield and I found the warehouse.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. “The two of you took down a pedo ring?”

“No, I called in backup. Azrael rolled in cops and ambos with no lights. Yield and I popped smoke, threw in some tear gas, and watched the roaches scatter,” she said.

“Okay, that was one warehouse,” he stated, fully engaged in what she was saying.

“Well, the lady who answered the door at the first warehouse, I kind of shot her to get the addresses of the other two,” Helen said, still fixated on the coffee table. “She gave it up, then we reset twice and did it all over again, shutting down the Milwaukee Fields of Flowers.”

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