Chapter 3

 

The call from Von had been a surprise. What the gruff former squad machine gunner had to say to him was even more of a surprise.

Troy had picked the park across the street from his downtown office. The day was sunny but cool, one of the best things about early autumn in the Pacific northwest. Pounding out one last text message to his boss, he’d found a bench facing toward the interior of the park.

The fountain was one that consisted of sculptures with water jets shooting up from ground level nozzles embedded in a broad brick expanse. Amazingly, despite the temperature, kids were still bravely running through the arcs of water, laughing and screaming as the frigid display soaked them.

A long, jacked up pick-up with a battered contractor’s rack in the bed pulled to the curb just down the street. Emblazoned on the passenger side door was a decal.

 

Ellison Companies

 

“Well, shit,” Troy mumbled, smiling to himself, slipping his phone into his pocket.

Discharged at roughly the same time — Von had served several tours in Iraq, while Troy had spent most of his combat duty in AfPak — the two of them had gradually lost contact. They’d been fast friends in boot, and had managed to get assigned R&R at the same time more than once, even though they were based in different theaters.

He watched the man move up the brick sidewalk toward him. He was wearing a red ballcap, with Ellison Co on it, a weathered, tan Carheart jacket hanging from his broad shoulders. Von was slenderer than he’d been in the service, which made his great height even more dramatic. His face was dominated by a brown beard flecked with gray at the chin, his eyes scanning the park to his left as he walked.

“You forget how to eat once they kicked your ass out of the service?” Troy extended a hand and Von took it, shaking it hard. “You gunners never were too smart.”

Von grinned, his eyes glinting. “How you been, sarge?”

“Sit down, asshole.” Troy scooted over on the bench. “Gonna frighten the kids with this big tall scarecrow motherfucker standing there on the sidewalk.”

Folding his lanky frame over, Von took the offered seat. “Nice place here, I gotta admit. Little busy for my tastes, but not bad.”

“My how things haven’t changed. Still the hayseed. Where’d you end up, anyway?”

“White Valley.”

Troy scratched his chin. “You’ll need to clue me in on where the fuck that is.”

Von tipped his head toward the east. “Other side of the Cascades. Little out of the way place — but to men like us? It’s paradise, sergeant.”

“Oh? I’m not really a fan of small towns, but I can’t say I’ve ever lived in one.”

“You keeping busy?” Von’s dark eyes scanned him up and down. “Engineering treating you well, looks like.”

“You drive six hours to shoot the shit on jobs? We have LinkedIn for that, you know.”

Von chuckled, looking down. “I actually have a couple vendors in Portland I need to meet with today. Thought I’d jump across the river and pay a visit while I was around. I’ll get right to it though, since I know you’re a busy man. I’d like to have you come out and visit us sometime. Meet the wife, show you around.”

“You fooled some woman into marrying your ass?”

Von held up a hand, a gold band catching the sun’s rays. “Five years.”

“Jesus, poor girl.”

Von laughed. “I can’t argue with that.” His expression sobered somewhat. “I mean it though. I think you should come see our sleepy little town sometime. Might find something — or a lot of things — you like there.”

“Cow tipping ain’t my thing, Von.”

“Oh, we spend most of our time having fun with much more interesting creatures.”

“Such as?” Troy glanced at his friend, Von staring off across the expanse of the park, his gaze a thousand miles away.

“Such as women.”

Interesting.

He knew Von was cut from the same cloth he was; they’d swapped plenty of stories in boot. You could tell who was into what pretty quickly when forced to spend every waking hour with the same people for six weeks.

“I’m listening.”

“What if I told you that we have a… unique way of life there? One where the, uh, balance of power isn’t so balanced. Traditional roles — and then some. It’s all accepted, whatever it is — within reason — and protected.”

“Stepford Wives shit, is it?” Troy smiled. It wouldn’t surprise him, really, considering the things Von had told him in the service. The man was fairly hardcore, probably even more than he was.

“I wouldn’t say it goes quite that far… but it’s not exactly politically correct, that’s for sure.”

Troy didn’t say anything, instead, listening to the laughing kids, the sounds of the hum as the pumps below the street level expelled the water into arcing jets that seemed to dance in the air before returning to Earth. “You know, I think it might be time for a road trip after all. Sightseeing is good for the health, isn’t it?”

Von leaned back, resting an elbow on the side rail of the bench. “You could bring Lacey too. She’d… yeah, she’d fit in. Very well.”

“We still talking metaphorically here?” Troy narrowed his eyes, fixing Von with his gaze. “Not sure she’s ready for that.”

“Then just you. All you need to do is see what it’s about. Think about it.” Von stood up, offering his hand, a white card caught between two fingers. “You call me when you’re ready. In the meantime, have a look at the site on that card. Will be interesting reading, I promise.”

Troy took the card, shaking his head. “I knew I should’ve sent your call to voicemail.”

Von grinned, his white teeth showing prominent canines, his eyes glinting in the bright sunshine. “Taking my call might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you, sergeant.”