Quaranteam - North West Ch. 06

You laughed and nodded. "Got your creative juices flowing, huh?"

"Got all my juices flowing, baby," she grinned at me. "What about you? I've got Ivy, and Danielle wants me to design something for her now, too. What's got you drawing again?"

I smiled a little and shrugged. "Just figured out my muse," I said.

"And what's that?" she asked. "Come on, don't be shy."

I turned my sketchbook around so that Erica could see the portrait I had been sketching of her. She looked at it and blushed, biting her lower lip.

"Just the most beautiful thing in the world," I told her.

"You know," Erica said. "It kinda looks like you're drawing me naked."

"That's cause I'm drawing you from the shoulders up," I said.

"Yeah, but would you?" she asked.

"Would I what? Draw you naked?"

"Or Ivy?"

"Are you asking me to draw you like one of my French girls?" I asked.

Erica barked out a laugh at the reference and threw her pencil at me. "Yes, maybe I am," she said. "Now give me back my pencil."

"You threw it at me," I said, fetching it off the ground. "Come and get it."

We ended up in each other's arms and making out, me halfway to taking her back into the RV for round two, when someone rang the door bell.

"Who is it?" I shouted over the wall.

"It's me," Vanessa called and ducked through the blanket door without waiting for a response. "Sorry, but we've got a problem," she said. "I think I'm going to need you down at the road again."

"Fuck," I said. "Is it Kara?"

"It's a lot more than that bitch," Vanessa said.

I changed and this time Vanessa drove us both down in her company-branded pickup truck. Erica, having already staked her claim on me in front of Kara in her eyes, decided to hang back and let Ivy finish what I'd started. I was sure sending me away with that picture in my mind was done on purpose.

As we were nearing the bottom of the driveway, I could hear the noise of the protest through the closed windows and over the engine of the truck. "Fuck me," I said.

"Yeah," Vanessa nodded.

The end of the driveway was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder, blocking traffic. They were three rows deep and singing a protest chant. Every single one of them was dressed in bright colours, showing their allegiance to the Band and proudly shouting for all they were worth.

Opposing them, about ten feet up the drive, was a slim, single row of burly construction workers just watching the protest happen.

"Those guys really can't let themselves get baited," I said. "If something happens, it doesn't matter who said what or what can hold up in court. There'll be big, scary motherfuckers showing up wanting to do some damage and I don't think your boys are ready for that."

"I know, I already told them," Vanessa said. "But I'll tell them again. You'd be surprised how much threatening someone's big, fat bonus checks can keep them calm and focused."

We got out of the truck and I walked down to the line of workers, rubbing at the stubble on my chin as I considered the protestors. There were easily fifty of them blocking the driveway, and there was already a backup of two flatbed trucks on the highway, plus a half dozen cars that looked more like they just wanted to get by rather than come in. Another thirty or so protestors were strung out on either side of the highway in both directions, holding up signs and doing the organizational things to keep the protestors going.

"Pretty good turnout," I said offhandedly. "A lot bigger than last time."

"When was the last time?" Vanessa asked.

"Five years ago," I said. "Kara tried to sue for an injunction on my father's Will, and about a dozen protestors showed up to the courthouse the day she got shot down."

"Any chance they'll get tired and go home?" Vanessa asked.

I scanned the crowd and the vehicles parked up and down the highway. I already knew there were about thirty military-age males in the protest, and I could see people opening the backs of vans where I spotted supply caches of water and food. I could also see the determination on the faces of the crowd, and hear the declarations of a couple of different women holding loudspeakers. The rhetoric, and emotions, were ramped up more than usual. The anti-government hate was high, and now that they knew they weren't fighting Me but rather the Government it seemed to steel their resolve.

"Not a shot," I said. I stepped forward and the shouting got louder. Likely every single person in that crowd knew who I was, while I had no idea who most of them were. But with every step I took, they shouted louder. Finally, halfway between the lines, they seemed to be at a fever pitch and I just stopped and waited. They kept going for a good five minutes before Kara pushed her way through and walked up to me, masked behind those bandanas again.

"I told you this would happen," Kara said over the shouting and chanting. "You didn't think I could do it, but look at us. Look at us, Harrison! We will not let this happen to our land."

"Kara," I said loudly. "How do you think this ends?"

"Only one way," Kara shouted. "The Feds surrender to our rightful claim, and stop their colonization efforts, and we take back what's ours."

"This is dangerous, Kara," I said, gesturing at the crowd.

"What?" she shouted back.

"I said this is dangerous, Kara," I shouted. "Every person here is in danger."

"Are you threatening us?" Kara shouted, playing it up for the crowd behind her. "Going to kill us, like your family has done for generations?"

"Jesus fuck," I said, shaking my head. "Kara, this doesn't end the way you think it does. I'm going to pray for you, honest to God."

Kara just held up her middle finger at me, pointed her other at Vanessa behind me, and turned and walked away to the cheers of her people. I shrugged and went back to Vanessa.

"Yeah, they aren't leaving," I said.

"I already called my Dad," Vanessa said. "He's coming down and will want to meet with you."

"Sure," I nodded. "If they let him through."

About thirty minutes later the protesters were still going strong, and another three flatbeds with either supplies or heavy machinery were backed up on the highway, along with dozens of cars. Vanessa was doing as much as she could to keep her workers at least a dozen yards away from the crowd of protestors - the last thing she wanted was for them to need to get quarantined waiting on a half dozen new tests. Or worse, actually catch something.

I did my best to help her juggle phones, calling various General Foremen to get incoming trucks rerouted to staging areas and to keep those that were stuck in the traffic in their cabs or else they couldn't enter the site. Eventually she got a call, spoke quickly and then hung up.

"Harri, this might be a big ask, but could you do me a favour?" she asked.

"The government paid me a lot of money for my land and doing favours," I said. "But you've gone out of your way plenty for me and Leo and the girls. Favours come free to you, Vee."

She rolled her eyes. "Who told you my brothers call me that?"

"No one, just felt natural," I chuckled. "I call Erica 'E' sometimes, and I'm sure I'll end up calling Ivy 'Ive' at some point."

"Alright, well, 'H,'" she said. "My dad is parked down at the edge of the property on the highway and doesn't want to get too close to the traffic. Could you hike out to him and bring him back?"

"Sure," I said. I looked up at the sun and then out at the woods. "Um, from here... it's probably faster if I grab an ATV. Would he be squeamish about riding double with me?"

Vanessa snorted. "He probably wouldn't be, but he's also got a gut the size of your ATVs so it would be a tight fit."

"Alright, guess we're hiking. I can rough it and reach him in about twenty minutes," I said. "I'll take a smoother way back for him, so we'll get here in under an hour."

"Got it, I'll let him know you're on your way. Thanks," she said, patting my arm. "Try to take it easy on him, he growls like a bear but he's still my Dad."

"Hey, he's the big man in charge. Gotta keep him happy or else I'll find myself with the worst workers for my house, right?"

"Very true," she laughed.

I started hiking back up the driveway a little ways, and then diverted into the woods, hoping that the protestors would miss that I was skirting away from them. I was very glad I had changed from my lounging around clothes - rough jeans and my hiking boots were a lot sturdier in the rocky bush than athletic shorts and sandals. The raucousness of the protestors was quickly muffled by the forest to a dull roar, and it felt good to get away from them.

It was weird. After spending months in isolation with Leo and Erica, we'd been getting used to so many people around again with the workers and adding Ivy and Danielle to our weird little family dynamic. But a crowd like that, all packed together?

That was exactly what the quarantine orders were warning against.

"Harrison!"

My name cut through the muffle of the trees and shrubs, and I turned and saw Kara quickly jogging through the woods to catch up with me.

"Kara, what the fuck are you doing? You're trespassing," I said.

"So throw me off your land," Kara said, coming to a stop about ten feet from me and putting her hands on her hips. "Oh wait, that's right, it's not your land anymore."

I rolled my eyes. "You can take off the bandanas if you want. We're fine this far apart."

She did so, pulling them down to hang around her neck. Kara was still as beautiful as the day we'd broken up, though she'd grown up a lot. Where I was such a mix that it was hard to tell I had any Native American in my bloodstream, she had that classic warm skin tone and thick black hair. She'd been taking care of herself well, fit and a little thinner than Erica was, but with a similar strong jawline to my girlfriend. Her lips were as full as I remembered though, and I could almost feel her kissing me again like all those years ago behind the corner of the biology classroom in high school, or laying out in the back of my old beater pickup under the stars.

"What's going on, Harri?" she asked me. "I thought we'd at least hit a status quo or something."

"Oh, the one where you file a lawsuit against me every couple of years, and the judge shuts you down, but I keep having to rack up legal fees?"

"No," she said. "Well, sort of. I thought we were keeping things above board. No games, no gimmicks. Not gettinghistorical."

I grimaced. "Well, we did," I said.

"So what the fuck?" she said, throwing her arms wide. "What the fuck is all of this?"

"Kara, think about it for one fucking second without your prejudice. Imagine I'm not just doing this as a 'Fuck You' from my family tree to the Band," I said. "A week ago I wouldn't have thought any of this would be happening. A week ago I was happily living my life and would have stayed that way straight through the end of the world if I had to. Do you seriously think I've done this on some whim?"

"Why, then? What are they doing? What are they offering you?" she demanded.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said. "And even if you did, I think you're too far into this already to walk it back with your people."

"Try me," she said. "If you ever cared about me-"

"Stop," I interrupted her. "You've used that line twice on me before, Kara. You used it when you broke up with me, and you used it again right after my father died. That line didn't work when I was at some of the lowest points in my life - do you seriously think I'll respond well to that here?"

She grimaced, and I saw the realization in her eyes that I was right. That shehad used that line before, and it had been pretty fucked up for her to do that. "I'm sorry," she said, and only partially through gritted teeth. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Thank you," I said. My heart was pounding in my chest and I felt like I was in combat, just having this verbal sparring contest with her. I fucking hated her, but I also still knew she was the first girl I'd ever loved. The one that had broken my heart. The one that 'got away.'

"Just explain it to me," Kara said, trying to be more even about it. "Please."

I took a moment to breathe deeply. I wasn't barred from telling her anything. I'd tried to warn her when she'd shown up at the driveway before, but the thought of all those protestors at risk for the virus pushed me over the edge of trying to warn her again. "Kara, the government gave me the choice of accepting a huge payout for the land, or them kicking me out and taking it by eminent domain. Either way, they were going to take it and take it fast. I could either ride it, or die fighting it."

"So what are they doing with it?" she asked.

"Building homes," I said. "A whole gated community, it sounds like. Part of my payout was housing for myself, Leo and Valerie."

"What the fuck? Why do they want a gated community way out here?" she asked.

"Worst-case scenario shit," I said.

"You mean the pandemic?" she asked. "Are you for fucking serious?"

"Serious enough that my house got bulldozed a couple days ago," I said. "Gone. Like it was never even there."

"This can't be real," Kara said. "This is absurd."

"I told you that you wouldn't believe me," I said.

"Well, if you were too much of a pussy to stop them, we will," Kara said, steeling herself again. "We'll have the local news down here by tomorrow, and if the Feds show up we'll have national news coverage by the end of the week."

I had to try one more time. "Kara, this doesn't end the way you want it to. You're a dreamer, and I loved that about you when we were teens, but you know the real world doesn't just work like that."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "Where are you going right now?"

"What does that matter?" I asked.

"Because I just followed you out into the woods after your little construction girlfriend was talking to you," she said.

"She's not my girlfriend," I rolled my eyes.

"Tell her that. She's flirting with you hard enough," Kara said. "I can see her doing it."

"Even if she was, what does that have to do with you?" I asked.

I knew I'd landed a blow because she got angry again. "Nothing," she said. "But I still want to know what you're doing."

"I don't have to tell you that, Kara," I said. "I don't answer to you, I don't owe you anything, and I don't worship the ground you walk on. All I've got to say now is that you should go send all those people home, and hope that you haven't organized some super-spreader event here. For all the shit you've given me and my family, I don't want to see them all dead. I don't want to seeyou dead."

Kara raised her bandanas again. "We're fighting the good fight. We're on the right side of this, Harrison. You're not." She turned and started walking back towards the road.

"Fuck me," I sighed, shaking my head. That woman could still push my buttons almost fifteen years later.

I pressed through the forest, making for the edge of the property and then diverting towards the road. When I reached it, I found a white and brown heavy pickup identical to Vanessa's idling on the gravel shoulder. The big guy in the driver's seat rolled down his window a crack. "What's up?"

"I'm Harrison Black," I said.

Another guy got out of the passenger seat and came around, slapping the hood. "Head on back to the motel," he said to the man in the truck. "I'll catch a ride back with my daughter."

The guy in the truck nodded and waited for us both to back away before pulling a U-Turn and taking off down the highway.

"So, you're the land guy, eh?" the man said, turning and offering me his hand. He was exactly as Vanessa had described - portly to the point of obese, with a gruff exterior that spoke of years handling his business in a rough industry and getting shit done.

"I am," I said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "Your daughter has been fantastic to work with. Helpful and on task, and she keeps her guys in line."

"I have no doubt," he said. "She grew up bossing her older brothers around and got the best of her mother and I. I'm Brent Peters, by the way. I'm sure we'll be speaking every once in a while through this project."

"Good to meet you, sir," I said. "And I'm sure we will."

I led Brent into the brush and got us through the roughest part until I could get us to one of the more used trails. It got a lot easier for him there, and once he had a chance to catch his breath he seemed to actually enjoy the chance to stretch his legs. He didn't know, or at least wasn't forthcoming, with any more information than Vanessa had been able to give about what was going on, but he did enjoy hearing about the sordid history of the land, my family and the Band.

It took a little longer than I'd thought it would to get back to the driveway, Brent needing a couple of breaks, but we made it eventually. Vanessa grinned when she saw her father in a way that made me think she was going to run to him and hug him, but she never made the move. I had to assume that was a hard-trained response from her years working with the man - hugging your pops on a job site would probably lead to taking a lot of shit from your coworkers.

Brent quickly got updated on the last hour of developments from Vanessa, and I saw his managerial side take over. Soon the line of construction workers were twenty yards back from the protestors, and he was stride-waddling forward with a medical mask stretched over his face. Kara met him halfway, and whatever they said seemed to go about as well as the talks I'd had with her myself. Again, she ended it by showing off for the protestors by giving him the double-birds.

"Well, that went well," Brent sighed as he came back. "You were right, Harrison. They're stuck in. Wouldn't even help us get those trucks room to move or get out of the way of traffic."

"She feels like she's got leverage," I guessed. "And they haven't had that on us for years now."

"Well, I've officially done what I can," Brent said. "Time to do what every good GM does when shit like this happens." He took out his phone and started walking up the driveway away from Vanessa and I.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Call the client and tell them to un-fuck the situation," Vanessa smirked.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was a long fucking day. There was no good way to get the workers on site off of it, and no good way to get new ones on, so Leo and I ended up walking several groups through the trails to get to the road in places out of sight of the protestors. And since the big crew vans were parked on site, Brent ended up getting access to school buses to come and pick up his guys. The second to last bus dropped off a dozen men who would take over watching the driveway and the protestors overnight - we'd already seen them breaking out tents and lanterns to hold their vigil - and the last bus out had Brent and Vanessa on board.

"Client will be by in the morning," Brent said, and winked at me. "Don't you worry, bucko. You hold down the homefront tonight, and the cavalry will be here in no time."

"You got it," I said. "But whoever is coming, I suggest you make sure they know to take this seriously. The Band is riled up, and now they smell blood in the water. This isn't going away easily."

"I'll pass that on to the Lieutenant Colonel," Brent nodded. He shook my hand again and stepped onto the bus.

"See you tomorrow, H," Vanessa grinned at me.

"Not if I see you first, Vee," I chuckled. She stepped up into the bus and I heard her voice raise immediately. "Alright, you Gorillas. Grab your fuckin' seats and stay there. I swear to Christ if one of you pisses me off, I'll confiscate your fuckin' dinner, got it?"

I laughed, and could see the construction workers grinning in their seats as the bus did a three-point turn and pulled away.