Warming The Cold One - 33. We Are Very Hungry People

Tala awoke to his phone ringing. He carefully got out of bed to ensure that Jay didn’t fall out and walked over to the small table. He saw it was Hawk calling so he quietly answered it. “Morning bro, what’s up?”

“Sorry to call you about this but there was an incident early this morning,” Hawk began. “Multiple teams broke into our offices and were snooping around. Security is working on trying to identify who they were and if anything was messed with.”

“Wow. Okay, that was faster than Clay thought they would move. Let me know if there is anything I need to do. I set my laptop to upload all the photos to the server we setup. There are some interesting things in there.” Tala walked over to his bag and grabbed some clothes out of it. “I got an interesting piece of information from Karla last night.”

“Really,” Hawk queried. “What was it?”

“Matthew is the nephew of one of the families that my mother grew up with back on the homestead,” Tala answered.

“That is interesting,” Hawk agreed. “Is that family unturned lycan?”

“Karla didn’t think it was the mother’s family. She has a hunch it was the father’s family. She has described then as allusive as far back as I can remember her talking about her time in school,” Tala mused. “You might want to talk to him and see how open he is to the idea he might be lycan. As well as he needs to call his aunt. She misses him and never got much of a chance to get to know him.”

“I’ll talk to him,” committed Hawk. “Before you leave for Florida, see if you can have Tucker call Bjorn. There are some things we will need to properly fill out the book of paperwork.”

“Book? How much is there,” Tala asked.

“Four inches of paperwork in a specific brand, style and color of pen. Haven’t people heard of digital records,” Hawk huffed into the phone.

Tala laughed. “I will have him call later today. Please keep me up to date on the incident as well.”

Karla had left Ann back at the motel to work with Savannah on the maps while she took a drive down a very familiar street. When she got to the gate, she pushed the buzzer. A few seconds later the gate clicked opened and she drove up to the front porch of a modest size home. She got out of the rental car and knocked on the front door. An older man opened the door and then slammed it shut as soon as he saw Karla.

“Daddy, please, we need to talk,” Karla yelled as she knocked on the door again.

The door opened again and an older woman stood there staring at Karla with disgust. “How dare you show your face here!”

“Mama, please, this is important,” Karla begged. “I would not have come if it wasn’t.”

“Is he beating you? You know I told you he wasn’t a good man,” Karla’s mother lectured.

“No, he is not beating me. He got into trouble but that isn’t why I’m here.” Karla took a breath and continued. “Oliver saw Alexander and he knows everything.”

The woman started to close the door and then stopped. She opened the door all the way again and stared at Karla. “What is it he knows?”

Karla looked her right in the eye and spoke very flatly. “He knows what you never told even me. He knows about Lucas, he knows all about the family history, and he has become a very strong leader.”

“How dare you,” the woman exclaimed.

Karla let a bit of frustration enter her voice. “No, how dare you! You lied to me about what was really going on. You should have told me what was in store for my son. You should have told me our family history. You shouldn’t have pushed my brother away.” Karla broke down in sobs. “I missed out on even knowing Alexander was okay. I missed out on being a good aunt to my nephew.”

Fire burned in the eyes of Karla’s mother. “Get off my land!”

Karla looked past her at her father standing in the kitchen doorway. Her eyes pleaded with him to say something. He turned and went into the kitchen. Karla slumped a bit before turning her attention back to her mother. “If you want me to go, I’ll go. I just wanted you to know that the truth is coming out and I thought it would be best to tell you in person.”

“The truth is that you are just as naive as you always were.” She tutted as she smiled. “Now leave.”

“Fine, see you next week. I’ll be by personally to collect your HSOA dues. Cashier's checks only, but you already knew that.” Karla turned and headed to her rental car.

Her mother hollered from the porch. “Stop right there! Why are you threatening me about the HSOA dues?”

Karla grinned as she turned back around. “Didn’t you hear? I am the head of the land trust now. I just picked up all the paperwork from Savanna yesterday. She had great taste in BBQ, but I think the trust needs to be handled by family. Maybe I’ll hire Beth to be my assistant. Her nephew has some pull in the NGO he works at in Ohio.”

Karla’s mother started cursing under her breath. Seeing that Karla wasn’t upset anymore, she knew that she had lost this battle. “Don’t think that you’ve won.”

Karla chuckled to herself and then got in the car and drove away.

Dalton pulled the car up in front of the pack building. Tala and Jay put their bags in the trunk and went back to shake Tucker’s hand. “Thank you for hosting us. As soon as I know more about the paperwork, I will give you a call,” Tala said.

Tucker nodded. “I should be thanking you for all you are doing for us. I never dreamed this day would or could come.”

Tala and Jay got in the back seat of the car and Dalton pulled out onto the road. “I’m really sorry for my attitude. I’m very protective of my pack. Every time anyone gets close to us, we get taken advantage of.”

“You can stop apologizing, Dalton. We totally understand,” Jay replied. “We just hope you understand that this clan does not and will never treat you or your pack like that.”

“I know,” Dalton sighed. “It is just so much, so fast.”

Tala looked over at Jay with a question in her eye. Jay thought for a second and then nodded. He turned his attention back to Dalton in the front seat. “Do you want to know a secret?”

“You know who Tucker has chosen don’t you,” Dalton asked.

“We do,” Tala replied. “But before you guess, you’re wrong. It’s not who you think and not for the reason you think.”

“Of course it’s going to be Jamie,” Dalton stated. “it’s always Jamie and then I have to bail him out.”

Tala shook his head. “Nope, it is not Jamie. You know that we already told Jamie it wasn’t him at dinner. Remember we said we wouldn’t lie about stuff?”

“Who else is there? I mean there isn’t anybody I would trust to do that job.” Dalton huffed and continued. “Who is going to defend us against the entirety of the council that we are real wolves and deserve to be treated that way.”

“Tucker trusts his choice,” Tala fired back. “I also trust his choice because I know they will do exactly what needs to be done to defend red wolves as real wolves. They will fight for their pack, and they will make their alpha very proud of them.”

Dalton started getting frustrated. “There is no one in our pack that can do that. They are all afraid of what the council will do to us. No is going to fight back.”

Jay looked over at Tala. “Maybe Dalton is right. How can we trust them? Should we talk to Tucker while the pilots are doing preflight?”

“Can’t,” Tala replied flatly. “I already filed the paperwork with Bjorn this morning. We’ll have to ride it out until all the other paperwork is done. I still think there is a bit of hope. When we get to the airport, I’ll call the new rep and see what their game plan will be once they get to go up to Ohio.”

Jay thought for a second. “That could work. Then Dalton can hear for himself what the plans are.”

Dalton beamed. “I hope they are ready for the grilling of a lifetime.”

Lisbeth was looking over the site maps when her phone rang. “Good morning, this is Lisbeth.”

A hearty voiced gentleman was heard on the line. “Hello, I’m calling from the scouting and advance team for Dangerpath and Ernieville. We were looking over your application and we needed some more information.”

“I have a few minutes to spare before my next planning meeting, what can I answer for you,” Lisbeth asked.

“You see, we are confused on why you need us in such a low population area.” The man cleared his throat a bit. “I mean, how profitable could we be in that area?”

Lisbeth was slightly taken aback. “I see, I can understand your concern. We have proposals out to a few different companies and yours was at the top of our list for being very well known and having good quality house brands and a dependable value. However, if you feel that a solid community of three to four hundred people plus more from the surrounding areas, with no other options then to drive to Kelso or Astoria for a large size grocery, isn’t enough, we can always go with someone else.”

“That is not what our population numbers show,” the man sputters. “He use highly qualified teams to prepare viability reports and frankly your numbers don’t add up.”

“Hmmm, okay, I can see the problem. Your teams are idiots.” Lisbeth hated to tell this guy off, but she couldn’t help herself. “If you are too dense to jump on a good thing being handed to you, then I guess I’ll have to withdraw my proposal and double-down with Floormart.”

“Ha, name dropping isn’t going to cover up the facts of your lies,” the man accused. “Now tell me the real population numbers so I can close out this case.”

Lisbeth was mad now, but she made sure to sounds as sweet as sugar and then edging toward pissed off. “I did, sir. As the lead of the land management and development group here, I don’t have time to lead people on. Are you interested in a 35,000 square foot building customized to your needs with zero rent for one year or not?”

It was his turn to be taken aback. “That’s a very large store.”

“We are very hungry people,” quipped Lisbeth. “The only catch is we want a very large on-site live butcher which I know we would not get in a Floormart nor Arrow.”

“I’ll have to check with the rest of the planning department, building something that large takes time and I don’t know if there will be funding for it.” He wrote a few notes on the file. “Things like that take time and we have to find crews and all. I’m sure your boss will understand that.”

Lisbeth saw red and all pleasantries left her voice. “I am the damn boss so don’t you dare try to pull the I’m the man crap. I have a building for somebody to move into with a size of 35,000 square feet already built. I sent in forms asking for your company to open a location in it. You either will or you won’t, but you cannot do is treat me or anyone else like we are stupid.”

“How dare you! You do not get to tell me anything about how I do my job. I demand to speak to your boss right now,” the man demanded.

“Again, you didn’t listen to a word I said. I am the manager,” Lisbeth said with venom in her voice.

“I have had enough of this crap. Because you are obviously nothing but a hormonal and frigid bitch, I will not be moving your request forward. Report that to your boss!” He slammed the phone down.

Lisbeth stared at the phone in her hand and shook her head. She hung the receiver up and decided to do a quick web search. She found the career site for that company and saw they had a large number of openings and a phone number to do pre-interviews. She quickly dialed the number and was surprised to hear someone answer instead of an automated system.

A very nice young lady said, “thank you for calling Dangerpath and Ernieville. How may I direct your call?”

“Good morning,” Lisbeth replied. “I was talking with someone just now in the advance team and he said he was going to transfer me to his boss, but I got disconnected. It was super important, but I didn’t get a phone number or extension. Is there anyway you can help me?”

“I think so, do you know who you were talking to originally,” she asked.

“Oh, where did that note go?” Lisbeth made the noise of digging on her desk. “Shoot, I can’t find it. He was a blustery man; thought he knew it all.”

The young lady’s voice changed. “Oh. Yes, I know him well. He doesn’t transfer calls very well. Here is his boss’s direct number. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“That should be it. You have been a great help and you have a great day.” Lisbeth hung up the phone and smiled to herself. She then dialed the number, and it rang about three or four times.

A sweet-sounding older gentleman answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Good morning, my name is Lisbeth Chase. I just got off the phone with a very unpleasant jerk from your advance team.” Lisbeth poured on the sugar a bit. “He asked a few questions and then demanded to talk to my boss, however I don’t think he understood that I am the head of the development company.”

The man sighed. “I think I know who you mean. He just left my office and told me to shred an application without further scouting.” The man could be heard flipping through some papers. “Ah, yes. I see he wrote some very confusing notes. Is it true that you said we would need to build a massive store for a small community and pay a year of rent ahead of time?”

Lisbeth sighed. “No. I told him we have a newly build 35,000 square foot building that we were offering to custom at no cost and a year of free rent in exchange for a large live butcher section. I also told him about the strategic advantage since there are no other large groceries in the area. We must drive to either Kelso or Astoria. My development area homes about 400 people and is still growing, but the surrounding area of about a thousand people would interested as well.”

“Okay, anything else,” the man asked.

“He was very hostile from the start,” Lisbeth continued. “I did tell him we could easily go with other companies we have reached out to but getting a live butcher is a challenge. We have begun talks with Floormart and Arrow for locations as well but I was very clear we wanted your company because everyone knows them and trusts them. At no time did he show me any sort of respect and just assumed I was a know nothing assistant or something.”

The man sighed. “I am sorry about all of this. Let me make a few notes here and let me know if anything is incorrect. You have the land, building, parking, ability to customize and finish, and I assume people who want to work. All I have to do is run a well-stocked store with a large live butcher department and I get free rent for one year?”

Lisbeth smiled. “Close, you missed that it has an almost captive audience.”

The man laughed. “Sorry, I forgot about the free customers with little to no advertising. Do I dare ask what his reasoning was he said this wasn’t a dream come true?”

“I have a guess,” Lisbeth mused. “He looked at a satellite picture from who knows when of the area instead of looking at building records and county information. This planned community is only a few months old.”

The man sighed. “That’s the only research I even see in this file. I am so sorry about this. If I commit to pushing this application on to the planning team, are you willing to talk with them still?”

Lisbeth relaxed. “As long as that guy isn’t involved, we would be thrilled to continue to work with your company. As I said, we want your company in our community.”

You could hear the relief in the man voice. “I assure you; he will not be anywhere near this file ever again. You should be hearing from someone in planning soon. Please try to have a great rest of your day.”

“I will, thank you for your time.” Lisbeth hung up the phone and was glad the feeling to punch someone had passed.

“What kind of idiots do you have working with you? I swear you must have set off every alarm in the place.” The voice on the phone seethed with anger.

“It is 100% going to plan,” reassured the technician. “I’ll be able to read the reports and those reports will tell us where to actually strike to get our hands on the data.”

“You are only going to get one chance to fix this to my liking. I’m not happy with the progress and I want that data in my hands within a week. Don’t make me call again!” The line disconnected.