Warming The Cold One - 19. And the build goes on

Rolf stepped out on to the 17th floor of the council building and was amazed at all the progress that had been made in such a short period of time. He walked over toward where Hawk kept his office but was stopped by a nice young female wolf at the desk. “Good afternoon Master Rolf. How can we help you today?”

Rolf smiled at her. “Good afternoon yourself. I was just going to have a chat with Hawk and see how things were going.”

“Let me buzz you in then.” She pressed a button and the gate next to the desk opened. “We altered the hallway that was there before, and the secure hallway back is now behind me.”

Rolf looked at the door he was used to using before and saw that there was a different door with a very secure looking lock. “So you did.” He walked over to the door behind her and found it locked.

“Please badge on the reader to the right of the door.” The young wolf scolded him.

Rolf scanned his badge and a second later it blinked green, blue, green. He opened the door and then turned to the wolf behind him. “What is green, blue, green? I’ve never seen anything but solid green.”

She smiled again. “We have the latest readers now. Most of the other clans already had them I guess but I don’t think I need to tell you how slowly things seem to make it to the Celtic clan lately.” She saw Rolf nod slowly and get a dejected look. “Anyway, that is the pattern for access granted with a tracking beacon. It is the standard pattern for when you have access to areas outside your clan. I for example would get a green, green pattern when I badge the door here.”

“So I’m being tracked now?” Rolf was faking being mad but couldn’t hold it for very long. He smiled at her. “I would track me, so I can’t blame you. Thank you for letting me know.” He turned and walked through the door and let it close behind him. As he walked back, he kept staring at all the completed pack suites that looked ready to be moved in to as soon as the pack switched over.

Hawk saw Rolf coming down the hall. He stood up and met him at his office door. “Looks really good doesn’t it?”

“Good? This looks amazing!” Rolf is just beaming as he keeps looking around. “How many suites did you end up being able to place?”

Hawk smiled as well. “We are able to get about 20 here plus the reception area. We are planning some more compact designs for the suites and a much smaller reception area for the 21st floor so I don’t know how that is going to affect occupancy yet.”

Rolf thinks for a moment. “So that is at least 40 packs and that doesn’t include if you end up getting the space on the 18th floor. How quickly do you think these will fill up?”

“Knowing the effect my brother is having, I wonder if we won’t be needing a lot more space then we thought.” Hawk waved Rolf in. “I’m sorry, I should have offered you a seat earlier. What do I owe your visit to?”

Rolf followed Hawk into the office and sat down. “I just wanted to check up on you. With Bjorn back in Washington right now, I wanted to make sure you weren’t getting hammer with extra work.”

“Thank you, Rolf. I admit I was worried too but so far it has been quiet.” Hawk’s phone rang at that moment. He stared at it for a second and shook his head. “Hello? Yes, this is he. No, Bjorn is not in the office right now. You’d have to ask him why the budgeting department is having issues with his requests. I’ll call him and see what his plans are. Please don’t take that tone with me sir. I’m hanging up now if you can’t keep it civil. Goodbye.”

Rolf waited a few seconds for Hawk to calm down again. “More troubles in paradise?”

Hawk looked angry still. “You have no idea. If you’ll excuse me, I have to make a very unwelcomed call to Bjorn and see if he can fly back here and get this taken care of.”

Rolf nodded. “I’ll go down to my office and see what I can find out so he and I can have a unified front when he gets back.” Rolf stood up. “Call my office if you need anything.”

Hawk sighed. “Thank you for everything you have done for us so far Rolf. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without your support.” He got up and closed the door after Rolf left. Then he plopped down in his chair and picked up his phone. He was not happy to be calling Bjorn while he was back home dealing relaxing with his wife and settling into their new home.

Edward was sitting in his truck finishing up the lunch his wife had made him. He had just put the cooler behind his seat when his phone rang in the center console. He didn’t recognize the number, so he answered it carefully. “Hello? Oh hello Mrs. Chase. Sorry, I meant Lisbeth. My momma did teach me a lot of manners, but I should have remembered that. Yes, I can head over soon. I was just finishing up my lunch and was going to just drive around and get a feel for the area some more. I’ll see you in about half an hour then.” Edward quickly saved the phone number Lisbeth called him on with a note to always call her Lisbeth.

Lisbeth put her phone down and pulled up the plans for the security building. She had a rough layout but needed to know how much space different things were going to be to make sure she had accounted for expansion room. She knew they were going to need to have some break out room and a space for wolves to crash if they were on long shifts. She put them aside and also pulled out the plans for the library. She knew that she wanted Edward’s input on the sub-basement levels. That was where the panic room and backup operations center was going to be located.

Bjorn was just about to start playing a game of solitaire and had just shuffled the deck when his cell phone rang. He saw it was Hawk calling and picked it up. “So what is on fire? You have to be kidding me. They are insisting I fly back for that? No, I understand that you are having to play messenger. I’ll let Lisbeth and Tala know before I head over to the jet. No, I don’t blame you for being angry. Okay, see you in a few hours.”

Bjorn put the cards back in the box and went to the other room where Lisbeth was. “I have some bad news. Hawk just called and they are having a fit that I wanted to spend time with my wife.”

Lisbeth frowned. “Is the place burning down?”

“I asked Hawk the same thing.” Bjorn sighed loudly. “I’ll have to fly back as soon as I tell Tala I’m leaving. Call me either on the plane’s satellite phone or my cell and let me know if you hear anything from Tala about Karla’s plans. I promise I’ll be here when the time comes.”

Lisbeth stood up and hugged her husband. “I know you will. Give them hell for interrupting you vacation.” She kissed him. “Now you just head to the plane and I’ll call Tala for you. That way he doesn’t try to go with you and tell them all off.”

Bjorn laughed. “I can see that happening. Thank you for being you. I couldn’t have a better wife.”

Lisbeth made a fake gagging sound before giggling. “Schmooze all you want. Just don’t cause me to go into a sugar coma.” She slaps his shoulder. “Now go!”

Tala was leading the way out of the diner when his cell rang. “Good afternoon Lisbeth. What’s going on? Calm down for a second. I understand your frustration, I really do. I’m not that hot headed! Okay, okay I am a bit of an overreacting person. I had to be. Tell you what, when we head back down that way we will swing by and discuss those plans with you. See you later Lisbeth.”

Jay gave him a look. “That didn’t sound so good.”

“They called and insisted that Bjorn fly back to Ohio because of issues in the budgeting department.” Tala had a look of disgust on his face. “I hate the way politics seems to suck the life out of people.”

Karla spoke up trying to change the subject a little bit. “What else did she want to talk about?”

Tala took a breath to calm himself. “I guess Bjorn and Lisbeth had the talk and she was wondering if we had come up with a timeline since Bjorn had said to her that he wanted to be here for her during the first week.”

Jay looked at the calendar app on his phone. “I would say either next week or we will want to wait until the next moon cycle. That gives everyone time before the full moon to recover.”

“Do you think she will be ready that fast and will Bjorn be able to get back?” Karla sounded concerned. “I know I can be ready next week, but I don’t want to rush her if she isn’t ready. On the other hand, the next few months are going to be crazy for all of us and I really want to get started looking over the old pack lands.”

“I guess we will just have to ask her when we meet with her later.” They all climbed into the jeep. Tala turned toward Hank and Karla in the back seat. “Shall we take the scenic route back?”

Hank pondered for a second. “How do we know what the scenic route is?”

Jay chimed in at that point. “Every route is the scenic route around here.”

Karla laughed out loud and quickly rebutted Jay. “How about the scenic route that isn’t also the bumpy road route?”

Jay pointed at Tala. “Tell him to have them pave the roads.”

Tala waved him off. “I don’t control what happens on my pack lands. You’d have to talk to Lisbeth about that. But I warn you, she might not be eager hear complaints about the roads.”

Hank shook his head and looked over at Karla. “I’ll take the bumpy road if I don’t have to talk to Lisbeth about what Tala wants done on his packs lands.”

At that, all four of them laughed as Jay started the jeep and head back south toward home.

Edward knocked on Lisbeth’s front door. He didn’t see Bjorn’s rental car and wondered where he went as Lisbeth opened the door. “Before you ask,” Lisbeth started, “it’s a long story but Bjorn got called back to Ohio to deal with stupid politics.”

“How did you know,” Edward started to say before he was interrupted.

“I saw you looking for his car. Now, come inside and let’s talk about some of the plans I have roughed up and where we need to refine them.” Lisbeth held the door open and closed it behind Edward before leading him over to the office. She pointed to a chair next to hers and Edward sat down. “Now, this is the security building plans so far. I have oversized it by about 30% to allow for some extra breakout rooms and to allow for space in case someone wants place to crash on a long rotation.”

Edward looked over the plans for the three-floor building and was extremely impressed. “I really like the way the public and secured areas are broken apart and this layout is perfect. The offices seem a little big, but I’m used to crammed desks and a two-foot aisle between them.”

Lisbeth looked pleased with herself. “I’m glad you like it. Now I want your input on the library building as well.”

Edward looked puzzled as Lisbeth rolled up the security building plans and pulled the library plans over. “Why ask me about the library?”

Lisbeth pointed to the page with the sub-basement. “Because that is where the emergency space is located.” She grabbed an unsharpened pencil as a pointer. “If you see here, I have the backup operations center there. I have the UPS closet next to that and then the space for the panic room.”

Edward looked over the plans a bit shocked. “I would have never thought of putting that under the library, but it makes sense. It’s a safe place for Tala, Jay and Sean’s family to be if we get attacked. I hope that never happens but I foresee it happening with all the craziness going on. What is this large room marked as server bank?”

Lisbeth read the plans for a second. “Um, let me think here.” She went over in her head the reason why Jay wanted that there. “Oh, that is where Jay said we should put one of the backup data centers for the pack records.”

Edward nodded his head. “That explains why the UPS space is so large. Last question, what is that room over there?”

Lisbeth looked where Edward had pointed. She smiled a devilish smile before answering. “That’s where I am putting the cache of weapons. They may bring claws, but I plan on having guns in that knife fight.”

Edward was just leaving when Jay pulled the jeep in to the driveway. “Hey Edward! Everything okay?”

Edward looked up at Jay as everyone was getting out of the jeep. “Yeah, Lisbeth wanted to go over the plans for the security building. You might want to ask her about some of the plans about the library. She looked a bit too eager.”

Jay started laughing. “I know what you are talking about. Who am I to tell her no when all she wants to do is protect her future pack mates?”

“So she is going to be turned?” Edward turned to Tala. “Is Bjorn going to do it or you?”

“I am going to turn her the same day I turn my mom here.” He patted his mother’s shoulder. “That is if we can time everything right.”

Edward nodded. “Sounds good. Well I need to get back to work and see how my guys are doing. See you all later.” Edward got in his truck as the other four headed to knock on the door.

Lisbeth opened the door as Tala lifted his hand to knock. “Perfect timing! Come in. Do you want some tea?” They all nodded yes. “Well help yourselves, I ain’t your maid,” Lisbeth joked.

They got their tea and sat down in the living room. Tala sipped his tea. “I always forget how good this tea is.”

“My secret family recipe.” Lisbeth faked being guarded. “Well, what kind of timeline are we talking about?”

Karla sipped her tea and set it on the side table next to her. “Jay did some calculating and the best time ends up either being next week or waiting at least a month. I know I don’t want to sit around for a month so I’m going to have my son do my turning next week.”

Lisbeth thought for a second. “I can understand that. I would not want to be sitting on my thumbs for a month either. A week is really cutting it close for me though.”

Tala decided to add another option. “If you are not ready, I can give Sean permission to do it in my absence. I know that in a month I’m going to be hard pressed to be able to get back here as I have put off going to other packs for business. I know it’s not the best option, but it is an option.”

Lisbeth looked hurt. “No, that won’t do. Sean is going to be super busy as well and I will make sure I am ready. I know Bjorn promised to be here for me but I have a whole network of support if he can’t.” She stood up and walked over to where Tala was sitting. She grabbed his hand and used her finger to make sure he was looking at her. “Call if women’s intuition but I know it is important for you to do the turning.”

Tala smiled. “I know very well that is especially important that I do it. Not only to you, but to me as well. I’ll do anything I must to make sure Bjorn is her for you as long as you need him to be.”

Hank turned to Lisbeth. “Since I know you are the master of all the buildings so far, what kind of rest areas have been built. I know we will need something super quiet and dark.”

Lisbeth went back to her chair to ponder. “I know that Toby and Ann had made sure to have some space put into the main pack house building but it’s only half done because of the stupid drain issue. How hard it to put the main drain stack together right side up?”

Jay sighed. “I’ll call Toby and see if he can loan us some space. I know he loves helping us, but I wish that we didn’t need it all the time.”

Tala kissed Jay of the cheek. “He’d be mad if we didn’t call him. I’m going to need his help anyway. As you have said before. I didn’t see this topic in the Lycan 101 book. By the way, when does my copy arrive?”

Jay laughed. “Sorry, been out of print for 1800 years.”

Tala smacked Jay’s arm. “Very funny.”

Jay pulled out his phone and dialed his father’s office. “Yes, is Toby available? When do you expect him back? Could you? The message is that Tala needs some guidance of turnings and if we can borrow some recovery space. Well, yes I can hold.”

Tala looked puzzled. “Who are you holding for?”

“I’m being transferred to Ann’s office.” Jay heard the line pick up. “Hello Ann. So Tala needs to see if there is a way to borrow two recovery rooms next week and he was hoping for some advice on making sure he did things right. His mother and Lisbeth. I know Karla said that she thought a bite might be a better idea for her. I’m sure you heard that Tala has ended up unlocking extra abilities and she thought having those might make her job in the old pack lands easier. Let me ask.” He turned to Lisbeth. “What’s you poison?”

Lisbeth laughed. “I’ll take the quick and easy slice and spat to go please.”

Jay turned back to the phone. “She wants a more traditional turning. Okay, I’ll call him later to for the advice. Thanks Ann.” He put his phone back in his pocket. “Ann has booked the rooms for next week. I guess Toby went up to Seattle for an appointment. Must mean he got the other information he was looking for.”

Lisbeth’s mood darkened. “What did Toby find? I smell trouble.”

“Calm down Lisbeth. Toby can handle himself. We will let you know when we can but right now, we have been sworn to secrecy. Nothing bad is going to happen right.” Tala tried to defuse the situation. “Right now, let’s focus on getting ourselves ready for next week.”

Lisbeth groaned and tried to calm down. “I know you’re right. Before you go, did you want to see the plans I was showing Edward?”

Hank perked up. “We would love to see them. I have a feeling Karla and I will see this as our home off the road.” Hank got up. “Lead the way!”