Burnt Bridges and Loose Ends, Chapter 24, "Signs and Wonders"

There is no more dreadful feeling than knowing you could have done something to prevent an accident if only you had thought quicker or acted faster to change the course of some tragic fate. Sometimes, with thoughtful preparation, foresight will intervene to save the day ... but sometimes you don't see it coming until it's on top of you. It's too late then to do anything about it and you have to roll with fate ... but maybe luck will roll with you. Many times, however, you know the shit storm is coming, you see it coming, and you know why it's coming ... then fate arrives to enact its vengeance.

Signs and wonders.

Baker saw it coming, and he failed to warn and protect Todd Jensen in time. He should have thought quicker and acted faster. For that misstep he will forever be sorry and mournful. But Thomas Baker's own fate, all nine lives of it, is yet to be determined ...

(Author's Note:?This Thomas Baker novel is largely based on true events. Some chapters are preordained with creative license in order to move the story along. This follows his?'Sunset Playland',?'Sweet Land of Liberty',?'Something for Nothing', and?'Exodus Afghanistan: A Personal Story'?which is still an unresolved situation and an ongoing concern. All of these can be seen on this Linkedin web page, posted chapter by chapter in the "Featured" and "Activity" sections. Some names and places have been changed for privacy, personal protection, and national security)

Hennessy returned home to Denver to spend the holiday with his wife, Pat, and their son and granddaughter. The mysterious George 'Deep Throat' returned to his home for the Fourth weekend as well, wherever it is he calls home. No one knows for sure, or if he even has a family. Hennessy says, "He probably hangs upside down in a cave somewhere. We should start calling him Batman."

It's Fourth of July morning in Logan as Baker is writing this. It's hot, humid, not even a breeze. There's an unsettling stillness over the town. It's quiet after the annual city-sponsored fireworks show over at Willow Park last night ... which was oddly followed by one of the most violent and spectacular thunder and lightning storms Baker has ever seen. A poetic justice and comparison perhaps, and a convincing case for Mother Nature over mankind. Then it rained cats & dogs. Mother Nature had presented the better show ... although the fireworks were pretty good. Most everyone loves fireworks. Especially, Baker's idiot neighbor ...

... who, upon returning home after the fireworks show last night with his family, no sooner exited their SUV, at midnight (the rain had stopped) and began their own fireworks show in their backyard. Not the pleasing visual display of colors and patriotic enthusiasm that most fireworks offer, but with a consecutive series of what sound like military-type concussion bombs that are probably illegal, rattle windows, and freak-out the neighborhood cats and dogs ... not to mention and piss off all the neighbors far and wide. I mean, it was like Iwo Jima over there.

And, here in Utah, they do this exact same thing all over again on the 24th of July calling it "Pioneer Day" celebrating the arrival of the Mormon settlers and church leader Brigham Young in 1847. We get a double dose of fireworks and concussion bombs, and all the "Whoopees!" and "Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' abouts!", as if they didn't get enough loud noise and pyrotechnics on the fourth. What's next ... napalm? Why can't they just enjoy and celebrate their Pioneer Day with fudge and ice cream, and prayer? ... and then maybe a little square dancing ...

The sad part is that Baker's noisy neighbor, or any of his kids, probably couldn't tell you who the first president of the United States was, or could even find Utah on a map.

But I digress ... America has more problems on this Independence Day than my noisy, rude neighbor. But he does epitomize many of them ...

... and it does seem, overall anymore, that our government ill-represents the America we've fantasized it to be. Hoped it to be. Especially, on this 4th of July holiday. Something's way out of whack. And if my pesky neighbor is any example of "We the People" ... Norman Rockwell and George Washington are rolling over in their graves.

But I digress again ...

The moisture in the air this morning has created a hazy, gauzy, effect diffusing the sun's light into an almost sepia province. A translucent aura that produces a frame of mind that transitions between reality and fantasy. Baker remembers the light was like this in England when he worked there years ago. Something to do with atmospheric conditions relative to the ozone layer, the ocean, and climate. But today, there is something unsettling about this unusual atmospheric effect in northern Utah. Most unsettling, however, to Baker, is the thought that Ilene may be in the same kind of danger as Todd Jensen. She knows too much ... as do Pat Hennessy, Val Grantham, Abbas, and the handful of other people who know about the Corfu incident and all that followed.

Baker and Ilene are sitting at their kitchen table having breakfast discussing last night's pyrotechnics and their 'explosiphile' neighbor. They can laugh about it now, but not really, because the law in Utah permits fireworks for several days before and after the Fourth ... and the Twenty-fourth.

Baker says, "I wonder if he's taught his kids to light farts, like in 'Dumb and Dumber' ... that seems to be the intellectual level over there."

Ilene answers, after almost doing a spit take with her orange juice, "Oh, Tom ... that's gross. Leave him alone. Poor thing. I really do think there's something very wrong with him. He works hard at the family's hardware store, he loves his kids as much as we love ours, he's just challenged."

Baker replies, in a smart-alecky tone ... "Yeah, we call it 'a few bricks short of a load', among other things, like 'only has one oar in the water' ... 'A few fries short of a happy meal' ... 'Dumber than paint' ... 'Receiver's off the hook' ... 'Eats soup with a fork' ..."

Ilene laughs, "Okay, okay ... I get it ... 'The cheese slid off his cracker' ... 'Has the IQ of a deck chair' ... 'Batteries not included' ... 'Hasn't seen the ball since kickoff."

They both laugh ...

Just then Baker's phone rings. It's Hennessy ..."Tommy, I'm in Kentucky at Raytheon with Sam Williams. Crazy about Todd Jensen, huh? Tragic. I'm sitting in Justin Malquest's office right now with my gun to his kneecap. I want you to hear this ..."

Baker shouts, "Oh, shit, Ray! Don't! ... is Sam with you? Put him on ..."

Before Hennessy can reply, he turns on his speaker phone. Sam Williams can be heard pleading with Hennessy to put the gun down ... and there's a whimpering and crying in the background. It's Malquest, the compromised head scientist at Raytheon.

Ilene asks Baker, "Tom ... what is it? What's going on? ..."

Baker answers her, "It's okay ... just listen ..."

Baker turns on his speakerphone ... he's now in line with Hennessy's thinking and knows Malquest can hear him. Baker knows his partner well ..."Well, Ray, Jesus, don't kill the son of a bitch before he tells us what we want to know about this Ben Hooper and their AI nuke weaponization plans and whatever the hell else no good evil shit they're up to ... and for God's sake don't kill the asshole if he's innocent. But then again, how would you know? ... Maybe it's best to just kill him now and get the inevitable over with."

Sam Williams is getting their drift now, and says, "Damn, Ray, do what you gotta do, man, but leave me out of this. I got my pension to think about. How about we just blow off his kneecap and let it go at that? Don't kill him."

Malquest is sweating, crying ... pleading for his life, "Honest, it's all Hooper, I don't even know if that's his real name, or who he even represents. I think CIA or maybe FBI, I don't know, could be anyone, even a foreign player. Or something else beyond that. He came to me with a crazy idea, and a proposition I couldn't refuse. I was threatened. My family."

Hennessy pretends to ignore Malquest's report, and responds to Sam Williams' request, "Oh, Sammy, I'm going to blow his kneecap off whether I kill him or not. Just on principle. Just for Todd Jensen."

Then, Hennessy jamming his gun into Malquest's forehead says, "Threatened? They threatened you? What about poor Todd Jensen and his family? Hey ... this is threatened, motherfucker, right here and now. Tell me why I shouldn't pull the goddamn trigger?"

Things are very tense ... Baker and Williams, and Ilene, are holding their breath.

Malquest then says, "Okay, I'll tell you all I know. Looks like either you'll kill me or they will. You gotta protect me. Okay? These guys are serious. Look what they did to Jensen. I had nothing to do with that. Todd was a friend, a colleague, a brilliant guy ... I liked him ..."

Hennessy removed the barrel of his Glock from Malquest's head ... and pointed it back at his kneecap saying, "Okay. Talk."

At this point Baker and Williams, and Ilene, are just listening on their respective ends of the conversation ...

Malquest: "Okay. This is going to sound crazy, but I swear, it's true ... and it's all I know about it. There are others you'll need to speak with. I can tell you who some of them may be. This whole thing is compartmentalized so no one person knows the overall plan ... just one, and I don't know who that is ..."

On Ilene and Baker's end of the conversation, sitting at their breakfast table in Logan, Utah the morning after the Fourth of July, all speakerphones on, what sounds like fireworks can be heard in the background.

Hennessy, on his end, says, "What the hell is that?"

Baker and Ilene just roll their eyes as Baker thinks to himself ... 'An olive short of a martini' ... Ilene is thinking ...'In a battle of wits, unarmed' ...

Signs and wonders.

John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762