MacArthur's Freehold

Chapter 27

Chapter 27 -- BVROGHVHSTRZEGBQVFZS

The Council meeting was over and Donald had returned. He had called to let them know he would be in around noon, so Jessica advised Mary that lunch would be a little later than usual. The meeting had been out in New Mexico, too far to driver, so he had one of the members from from a freehold in Kentucky stop at the Columbia airport and pick him up. The group gathered at the house in the late morning, chatting with Gordon and Mary as they waited. Mary and Dalton had worked for Gordon for many years and were more like family than employees, and they in turn played the part of loyal long-serving retainers. Although they had a couple of children, it was most likely that they would retire and live out their days on the estate. Jessica had often suspected that there was some personal bond, but had never asked her father about it. Gordon called when he landed at Columbia. It was a two hour drive, so Mary began preparations for lunch. It had been raining all morning, so Dalton was limited to indoor activities. He looked in a couple of times, evidently bored with nothing to do, and finally joined them.

Jessica was up and looking out a window as her father arrived, running to the door leading to the garage to meet him. He gave her a quick hug before taking his briefcase to his quarters. Dalton went out to get his luggage.

"Want to clean up a little before lunch" Jessica asked. She always felt the need for the entire morning ritual of shower, brushing her teeth and clean clothes after a long trip. Especially after a long air and road trip.

"You kidding" Donald said. "I haven't eaten since breakfast. Let's have lunch."

There was no business talk at lunch. Jessica did not know how much, if anything, Mary and Dalton knew about the family's hidden business. It was possible, she thought, that they knew nothing. Still, she could not see her grandfather and her father keeping them completely in the dark, given that the family might, indeed would, likely be exposed to danger. Perhaps there were plans to move them out of harm's way when that happened.

After lunch, they gave Donald a couple of hours to himself and, presumably to brief Gordon. After a while Jessica got a message advising of a meeting at four o'clock in the small house they had used previously. She and Carter drove over, Tommy and James were already there. Carter felt a tension as they waited, and Jessica picked it up, reaching over to squeeze his hand, something she had never done. He looked over, caught her gaze.

"Me too" was all she said.

Tommy, too, looked more serious than usual. James was still relatively unaware of the depth of the situation, but they had decided to bring him into the deep end at once. He would have to adapt quickly.

Donald arrived, and they sat down around the dining table.

"Well" he said. "You already know what the big picture is, in terms of what we're facing. The elections were even worse than we expected, not that it matters. The only possible positive outcome was to take over one house of the congress. That's been our only hope for the past several cycles, and even that wasn't worth much. Being able to block more laws wouldn't have done much to reverse the process. And now, with a president who isn't just an ignorant tool but is actively malicious, it looks like the confrontation isn't far off."

He looked around the table. James was the only one waiting for some sort of revelation. The others already knew.

"We were in unanimous agreement about the situation." he continued. "The only questions are about how to proceed. And since our actions will, for the most part, have to be reactions. Because we don't know which of the things we expect will happen - the when and the how of them - we have to wait for some things to happen.