Warming The Cold One - 26. Plans Can Change and Grow

“Hello? Yes, this is Clay. I don’t understand. Let me open my email and see what you sent.” Clay sat down at an unassigned desk and opened his laptop. He opened his email and saw a lot of error emails. “Okay, I see the emails. It looks like conversion errors for the Apalachicola Pack.” Clay opened the email and quickly saw the issue. “Let me call Brandon and see if we can fix the problem.”

Clay opened the rest of the emails and verified his conclusion before he called the IT Director. “Hello, Brandon?”

The IT director was in the building operations center and sighed loudly when he heard who was on the phone. “What do you want Clay? We are kinda busy down here.”

“I just got a call from one of the network techs that the conversion program is spitting out errors. They forwarded some of the emails to me and I think I see the issue.”

Brandon sighed again very loudly. “What is that?”

Clay brushed off the dismissive tone. “The person who last modified it, didn’t check the clan from field and just programed it to assume that it would always be converting Celtic Clan logins. The current batch file is for the Apalachicola Pack who have Amazonian logins.”

“Just do them manually. How long could it take,” Brandon asked in a super condescending tone.

Clay smiled to himself before proudly saying, “nine-hundred and thirty-seven logins. At one login every two minutes, that would take me just over thirty-one hours. If the conversion program had worked, it would have taken about five minutes.”

Brandon’s smug smile left his face. All the people around him stopped when they saw the look on his face. “He is converting a mega pack.” Within seconds his attitude was back. “God damn it! I’ll get someone on it right now.” Brandon hung up and turned to one of the programmers on the other side of the room. “Can someone explain to me why you programmers are all idiots? Someone fix the conversion program to actually read what clan the login is from!”

A door bursts open on a posh villa patio. Tajsin continues to yell into the phone. “Why wasn’t this protected against? How is there even an option to get a report from KPMG?” Tajsin paces around the small hot tub area. “This makes my whole clan look like thieves and I can’t even pass it off on that idiot Tobias. You need to find a way to fix this.” Tajsin hangs up on the caller but continues to pace.

His uncle walks out the door behind him. He addresses his nephew very calmly. “I warned you. I begged you when Faolan first gave us word that he was located by Jake to clean up your act. Now you will end up in front of the council and there is nothing I can do to stop it.”

Tajsin wheeled around to face his uncle. “Don’t give me that guilt trip. You went behind my back and fixed all your accounts, so you come out of this without a scratch. You taught me everything I know about skimming money.”

Taj sighed. “Yes, I did. You just never learned when to give up and make things right. I didn’t just fix my accounts. I also gave back the money with interest. I never needed it to begin with.”

Tajsin raged. “You may have already had money, but none of us did. We needed it to keep up the allusions you put in place of massive wealth.”

Taj nodded. “I accept that I was a fool when it came to that. It took me a long time to understand that money isn’t what makes people happy. Money is what you use to make other people happy. I hoped that you would learn the same lesson but alas it is too late now.”

“Why did you even insist that I come here? You could have given me this I’m disappointed lecture over the phone.” It was then that Tajsin saw the guards inside the door behind his uncle. “I see. You afraid I was going to attack you and take the clan?”

Taj shook his head. He did the best to hide the hurt in his eyes when he spoke. “No. I sent for the guards so that they can detain you.”

The lead guard came out of the door and addressed Tajsin. “Tajsin Feman, I place you under arrest for high crimes again the Lycan Council. Please come with us peaceful and quietly.”

This sent Tajsin over the edge. “How dare you! My own flesh and blood. The man I idolized and was treated like a son by.” That was all he got out before a dart hit his arm and fell to the ground.

Taj started to weep, and he walked back inside. He spoke to one of the security liaisons. “Make sure he is safe, please. He is still considered the heir to the clan.”

Tala and Jay gathered up their notes and knocked on Lisbeth and Bjorn’s front door. Bjorn was surprised to see them. “What brings you two by so soon?”

“We have some news we needed to discuss with Lisbeth.” Tala and Jay walked back to the small office Lisbeth uses. “We bring word from the hinterlands!”

Lisbeth looked at Tala and laughed. “The hinterlands?”

“Okay,” Tala tried again. “We bring word from the borderlands.”

Lisbeth chuckled again. “Better, I guess. What is the word?”

“Our pack has grown,” Tala exclaimed.

“By how many,” Lisbeth queried.

Jay piped up with the numbers. “Tala welcomed twelve new families for a total of forty-six new members. We also have accepted the assistance from a large swath of packs. There are about fifty wolves that have been sent to help us. About thirty of them alone are laborers.”

Lisbeth stopped smiling. “Wait. How many did you say?”

Tala smiled. “We haven’t even processed the lone wolves yet.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this!” Lisbeth turned to Bjorn. “Did you know how many people were out there?”

Bjorn looked like the cat that ate the canary. “I was the one that decided not to tell you. You needed time to rest.”

Lisbeth turned her fury back toward Tala and Jay. Jay quickly put his hands up. “We had no idea until we got out there. I swear!”

Tala picked up where he left off not acknowledging that there was an interruption. “Part of the assistance we got is some capital funds and building materials. Can you organize what buildings need the least amount work to get done first and then prioritize the multi-family homes?”

Lisbeth caught a we need to get to business vibe from Tala. “It will take some time to get organized but I can get that done. Do you have a list of the things we have and the people?”

Tala handed Lisbeth one of the business cards. “Meet your new assistant construction foreman, Don Storm. He runs a large building firm in Pennsylvania. His wife Carrie is their office manager, and his son Seth has experience running specialty crews. Give them a call and they have it all worked out already. Carrie has even volunteered to help you manage the plans.”

Lisbeth smiled again. “This sounds like it can work. Do you mind if I throw in a few of the small houses as well? It sounds like some of the families have kids.”

Jay and Tala both looked at each other and then nodded. “That is a great idea. With the way Don has things organized, they can knock out a small house in a matter of a week.” Tala looked at Jay. Jay knew immediately what Tala was thinking. “There is another thing too.”

Lisbeth looked worried. “This doesn’t sound like it is something I am going to like.”

“I didn’t like it either,” Tala replied. “I have to make a call to the former alpha of Tess Peck and her children. Her husband was killed trying to get away from there.”

Bjorn took the information in for a second. “Do you think they will send his body?”

“I hope so,” Tala responded. “Even if they don’t, we are going to honor him at the Full Moon Ceremony. It’s the least we can do.

Bjorn nodded. “Let me know if you need any help. I can call on the Circle, if need be, to clear any obstacles.”

Tala sighed. “I will. For now, I think it best for Jay and I to head home and get this over with.” Her turned to Lisbeth. “I tasked Aaron and Edward with getting the festivities set up since I knew you would be remarkably busy with the changes to the schedules. They will call you to see what you already had in place and go from there.”

Bjorn and Lisbeth saw their alpha pair off and they got in the jeep to head toward home. They got inside the house and turned the alarm off. Jay went upstairs to finish unpacking their luggage and Tala headed for the office. He opened a copy of the phone book Toby had given him. He found the number he needed and picked up the phone.

“Hello, is this the office of the alpha? Great. My name is Tala and I needed to get a message to him or her. We need to request the body of Tess Peck’s husband be sent to the Cathlamet Pack for a funeral ceremony. Yes, she and her family have requested to join our pack and that application has been granted already. Thank you, I will await the call.”

An older wolf stands in line at the spontaneous food truck setup. The community he saw forming made him happy. Everyone was taking care of everyone else. He had watched from a far as Tala and his leadership group has talked with the families and the volunteers. Tala was in his element there. So calm and attentive to the needs of his pack. He wondered when the group looked at his area of refugees, if they would welcome him, turn him away, or worse. He had done a lot of really bad things to the entirety of the community but more over he had done very bad things against Tala’s family and clan.

“How is it going Keon?” Keon looked over to see Clay walking towards him. “Everything is looking like it might just come together all right for you.”

Keon laughed. “I got it easy up here. You did all the hard work when you had to add the backbone fibre channel. Any word on when the move in date is?”

Clay checked the notes app on his tablet. “They may start moving early next week even though Tala won’t make it there for a least two weeks if not three. I got the errors figured out on the logins so that will make things easier.”

Keon looked worried. “That is not a lot of time to get all of this done. I got the racks installed. Do you know when they are going to get the cable punchers in?”

Clay gave a cheeky smile. “I’m your cable puncher and I had planned on doing it this evening if all the runs were done.”

Keon shook his head. “Yes, they are all have keystones in the wall and the lines are combed and bundled. They are also color coded.”

Clay clapped Keon on the shoulder. “I know I was doing the right thing having you hired to run the 21st floor.”

Keon’s face twisted. “Run the floor? I thought you were just going to have me build it out for now.”

Clay looked Keon in the eye. “You did so well that the management group decided to choose you for this floor.” Clay pulled envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Keon. “In there is your new badge showing you are the Lead IT Engineer for the 21st floor. All you have to do is go to one of the security stations and turn in the old badge and they will activate the new one. I’ll email you the schedule link, so you know when the leadership meetings are.”

Keon’s eyes watered. “Thank you so much.”

Clay smiled. “It wasn’t just me. You can thank Hawk and Avery as well. Almost everyone that was surveyed, gave you a 10 out of 10. Now get going to security and I’ll start sorting out the bundles.”

The next morning Tala and Jay arrive at the encampment and meet up with Sean and Edward. Tala looked around. “I expected to see Aaron out this morning too.”

“He is running a bit late today,” Edward replied. “Do you want to get started or wait for him?”

“Let’s get started,” chimed in Jay. “We have over two hundred screenings we need to get done. Have all the high risk go toward Tala.”

Sean and Edward both looked at each other. “Are you sure about that?”

Tala laughed. “I am an ancient spirit lycan. I can hold my own against all of them. Just make sure the lines funnel in a way that we can all help each other or get a second opinion. We can split off another line when Aaron gets here.”

Three hours later and the lines were starting to get really short. Most of the refugees were accepted on a temporary basis. The older wolf got lucky that his line was going to one of the security agents.

Edward flipped to a clean form on his clipboard. “What is your name?”

“My name is Frank. Frank O’Henry,” answered the older wolf.

“What is the reason you wish to join our pack,” Edward asked next.

“I am seeking protection. The last pack I was in had me fearing for my life.” While not a total lie, it wasn’t the whole truth either. They had good reason to threaten him. “I just want to finish my life in peace.”

“I see.” Edward noted down. “I can offer you a temporary home until a full check can be made. Do you have a copy of your ID# for your paperwork?”

The older wolf was impressed internally. He did think they would be smart enough to check those. “I don’t know where I lost it at.”

“That’s fine, we can help you look it up later.” Edward signed and handed the wolf a form. “Hold on to this for now. We are working on getting more civilized accommodations as soon as possible.”

The wolf thanked Edward and went back to where his tent was. He knew he had gotten lucky, but it wouldn’t last very long. Once all the lines had been taken care of, the four wolves started heading back to their jeeps. He hid his face while the groups went by his tent just to make sure no one spotted him.

Brayan walked off the elevator on the 21st floor to scout things out. He heard a lot of weird yelling on the north side of the floor and went to see what was going on.

“Fourteen!”

“C Seven.”

“Fifteen!”

“D Nine.”

“Sixteen!”

“A Eight.”

Keon noticed Brayan walking toward them. He called out to Clay. “Civ on the floor. Hold off testing for a second.” He turned to the visitor. “Can I help you?”

“My name is Brayan Escobar. I am the rep for the Apalachicola Pack, and I was just checking things out. I didn’t mean to get in your way.” Brayan turned to leave.

“Wait. My name is Keon.” He put out his hand to shake Brayan’s. “I am the Lead IT Engineer for this floor. We were just mapping the network connections. If I am not mistaken, your pack is the entire reason I get to run this floor.”

“Well, it looks wonderful so far.” Brayan looks around. “Do you know what side my office is on by chance? It’s okay if you don’t.”

“Give me a second.” Keon picked up his radio. “Clay, Brayan is here looking at things and wants to know where his office is at. Do you have a copy of the map?”

A few seconds later, Clay is heard on the radio. “I don’t but I thought it was on the south wall. He can check with Avery, and she can get him the exact room number.”

“Thanks.” Keon turned to Brayan. “The south wall was finished first thing this morning and I know there is a lot of furniture being brought up. I would say schedule a time later with Avery so they can make a path for you.”

Brayan smiled. “Sounds good. Thank you again for all your hard work.”

Lisbeth knocked on Tala and Jay’s front door. Jay opened it a bit surprised. “Lisbeth? What are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d switch it up a bit as you always come to my house.” Jay showed her in and led her to the living room. “I still can’t get over how good everything turned out in here.”

Tala came into the living room from the kitchen. “Good to see as always Lisbeth. What do we owe the pleasure?”

“I spent most of the day with Carrie. I thought I was a stickler for keeping things organized.” All three laughed a bit. “It looks like the crews that Don formed are already going to start finishing the bank of small houses by the library tomorrow morning. I have reassigned the crew that Toby loaned us to make sure the pyre is built correctly.”

“Did Edward and Aaron get the rest of the arrangements made,” asked Jay.

“Every last one of them,” replied Lisbeth. “I didn’t have to do a thing.”

Tala smiled. “Sounds like you might get some time to relax and let someone else handle things for your big moment.”

Lisbeth frowned. “That’s exactly what Bjorn said! Did he call you or something?”

Jay laughed loudly. “No, we just know how you are. Speaking of Bjorn, where is he at?”

“He is on the phone with a few people from Toby’s office in Ohio. They had a few questions on this and that. I didn’t want to sit around and listen to it,” Lisbeth bemoaned.

Jay laughed. “I can understand that. I hated having to listen to stuff when I was working in Toby’s office. Not I can’t really get away from it. There is always something that needs a meeting or a conference call. Maybe when we finally get more packs, it won’t all have to be us doing the work.”

“Well, back to the tasks at hand,” Tala tried to get the conversation back on track. “Were you going to try for the condominium buildings or were you going to try for the townhouses? Any layout changes?”

“I had decided to do basic low-rise apartments near where the big box store was going to be sited. I’m thinking about adding in a couple of duplex townhouses on one side instead. Then I’m going to change from a three-floor hotel to a five-floor hotel. I am going to have the condo plans moved to the other side of the town and have some row houses be put behind the hotel now.” Lisbeth thought for a second to make sure she didn’t forget anything.

“No, I don’t actually like that.” Tala surprised Lisbeth. She looked at him sideways. “It sounds like you are trying to cram everyone super close together. Space it out more. I want to see more green spaces and parks and less gridded city.”

Jay catching on to what Tala was thinking. “I think I know what you mean. We have a lot of space to spread out.” He could see the questions in Lisbeth’s mind. “Yes, we will need to extend the utilities out more, but we have the crews to do it right now.”

“That might make it harder to get a big box to want to be here if people are too far away. Plus, customers like to be near places,” Lisbeth retorted.

“You don’t have to worry about the big box being happy,” Tala chided. “The closest thing for both the major packs in this area is in Kelso. We might even be able to get both an Arrow and a Floormart if we plan it right. See if we can get a Dangerpath as well.”

Lisbeth shook her head slowly. “You don’t want much do you? I’m going to have to look at how to update the maps and see what we need to do to extend the utilities out a bit farther. It was a good thing we oversized everything to be expansion tolerant.” Lisbeth headed for the door. “Maybe I can annoy Bjorn with my phone calls now.”

Tala’s phone rang as Lisbeth was leaving. “Hello?”

“Is this Tala,” asked the voice.

“Yes, I am Tala. May I ask who is calling?” Tala had a weird feeling.

“My name is Alejandro Barber. I am the alpha of the pack outside Birmingham, AL. I hear you left a message for me.” There was a pause. “That you wanted the body of Tess Peck’s husband.”

Tala calmed a little bit. “Thank you for calling me back Alpha Barber.”

“You listen here you little turd. You don’t get to call my pack and ask for anything. Who do you think you are,” Alejandro demanded.

Tala’s calm turned to a cool rage in a split second. “I am the head of the American Clan. That is who I am, Alpha Barber. I was trying to follow the proper custom of honoring the dead. However, I didn’t know that I had to deal with asshole alphas every step of the way.” Tala took a breath and tried to keep his anger low. “Now, may I send my plane down to recover his body or not?”

“Boy, don’t you know when a question is rhetorical? Why would I give you the body of that piece of trash?” The venomous words oozed through the phone.

“Oh, I knew but chose to answer you anyway. But it’s okay. I will just make Tess and her family believe that we got the body and honor him at tomorrow's full moon ceremony anyway.” Tala’s voice sounded sickly sweet. He slipped in a bit of his ancient voice as he finished the call. “I’ll let you GO now though. I have a feeling that you need to clean your chair up from the urine stains.” Tala heard whimpers on the other end of the phone as he hung up.

Jay looked at Tala with a mix of concerns and amusement. “That was a bit mean don’t you think.”

Tala shook his head. “The prick had it coming. Calling me Boy.”

The look on Jay’s face changed. “He called you Boy? He’s lucky you didn’t fly down there and beat him within an inch of his life. I know I would have.”

“We’ll just burn an empty box tomorrow night,” Tala sighed.