Songs From The Wood

"I can see one rifle, but two? Why were you carrying so much hardware?"

Sally explained how she had found the town and that she was going to go back to find answers when this all started. When she finished she looked at George and then Jade and said, "I already told them this."

George spoke up, "You used to work for the Smith Add Agency as a senior exec?"

"Yes."

He flipped through some papers, "It says you were fired for radical ideas?" He looked up, "Ideas like subliminal messages perhaps?"

Sally leaned forward, "I was not fired. I quit!" She looked at Jade, "I quit because my ideas were to tell the truth." She looked at George, "Believe it or not, but truth sells."

"Truth?" George laughed. "Johnson, you wouldn't know truth if it bit you in the ass."

"Hey, fuck you and the horse you rode in on," Sally replied hotly. She had not slept nor had anything to eat since the day before. Now she was being railroaded into talking the fall for people disappearing for days on end.

"Bitch!" George yelled as he launched himself over the table and knocked her off the chair. He punched her several times while she tried to cover her face and head. Finally, Sally felt him being pulled off her and looked up to see Jock and Jade holding him back.

Jock hustled George out of the room and said, "Don't come back!" He turned and looked at Jade, "I want him and the security element out of my country now!" Looking down at Sally he reached to her and said, "Are you okay?"

Taking his hand, she got up and wiped at her bloody nose, "Yes thank you."

As Jade left to see about George, Jock said, "Miss Johnson, you have a problem. There is an outlaw radio transmission with subliminals somewhere around here. While that is not your problem, the fact that you seem to be the only one not affected is. That coupled with your history working in a field that is notorious for its subliminal messages makes you my prime suspect."

Jade had come in as he spoke and said, "George and the team will be out of country within the hour."

Sally looked at Jock, "You have got to be joking." When he only stared at her in reply she said, "The reason I am not part is that I don't listen to the radio." She looked at Jade, "Tell him, I don't have power."

Jade nodded, "She is right, she has only a small solar cell panel that is hooked to a shortwave radio." She paused a moment, "However I also found a surprisingly large basement and bunker with several escape tunnels."

Jock listened to Jade before turning back to Sally, "So a radio and bunker?"

Sally nodded, "Of course, I need the radio incase anything happens. And the bunker," she made quotation marks with her fingers. "...is not a bunker, it is a panic room in case I am attacked."

"Who is going to attack you out in the middle of nowhere?"

"A bear for one... How big was it Jade?"

Jade looked uncomfortable as she answered, "Seven hundred and twenty some kilos." When Jock looked at her in surprise, "While I was talking to Miss Johnson this morning at her cabin I was attacked by a bear. Sally managed to kill it, before it could kill me."

Jock looked at Sally with something akin to respect, "This bear is at your cabin?"

"No, I dropped it off at Barney's taxidermy shop in town." She smiled and added, "The game warden had to be notified."

Jock shook his head as he sat down. Looking up at Sally he said, "To be on the safe side I need to take you into custody. If the attacks stop, then I know it is not you."

"Jock, I am convinced that Miss Johnson is not the culprit." Jade said. She paused and added, "Simply because she could have let the bear kill me and make her escape."

Sally shook her head, "I would rather be here in custody, the idea of a flush toilet, a long hot bath, and electricity is too good to pass up."

Jock looked at her, "What do you live in? A cave?"

Jade smiled, "Miss Johnson's cabin is primitive all she has is hand pump water, and an outhouse."

Jock looked from one to the other, "I want to see it for myself." He looked at Sally, "You will get your wish Miss Johnson, for now I insist that you be our guest." He walked to the door, opened it and said to the Mounty standing outside it, "Please escort Miss Johnson to a room and see that she is settled."

As Sally walked out she asked, "Any chance for something to eat?"

"See that she has room service also."

Sally went to her room without complaint. Not only was she going to have a good long hot bath, but it was at someone else's expense. She ordered some food and not waiting for it to show, started a bath. That was the only downside of her place; she didn't have a way to take long baths. She only got out when the food showed up.

After eating and bathing she lay down to sleep, but sleep would not come. Sally kept replying what Jock had said. Someone had found a way to use subliminal messages to control other people. It was the holy grail of advertising. The one major flaw she could think of was why someone didn't just track the signal. It would be easy to do, just set up mobile receivers and triangulate the signal strength. Once that was done they would have the transmitter and person.

The longer she lay in bed thinking Sally came up with more questions, "Did the messages work with recordings or only live? What about where everyone went. Why couldn't someone follow the town's people and see where they went? How did the messages work, imbedded inside a song or a second signal? What was everyone doing during the lost time and how was it blocked out of their memories? Finally, how do you hide the changes is physical condition from someone? She finally fell asleep with questions still spinning in her mind.

Sally didn't know what woke her, but she awoke with a start. Sitting up quickly she saw Jade sitting across from her and Jock standing off to one side. "Ever hear of knocking," she asked peevishly.

Instead of answering Jock said, "Agent Smith has convinced me to let you go." He looked at Jade and added, "However the condition is that she will be your watch dog, that is to say she will be beside you day and night until this issue is resolved." With that said, he turned around and left.

Sally looked at Jade, "What the hell does that mean?"

Jade looked towards the door and then at her, "It means what it means." She lifted a finger to her lips and then continued the movement as if she were brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "Get dressed Miss Johnson. I will be waiting outside for you." She stood and left the room.

Sally looked at Jade's retreating back and wondered what was going on. Confused she got dressed and walked to the door. Opening it, she followed Jade down to her truck and got into the passenger seat. Once they were on the road she said, "Okay, what is going on here?"

Jade glanced at her before returning her attention to the road. "I have been assigned to keep an eye on you Miss Johnson." She again made the shushing motion with her finger before continuing, "You will be under constant surveillance until you are proven guilty or not."

Sally sat and stewed as Jade drove. She was getting madder by the moment. The idea that they would keep her under house arrest and from Jade's actions, record her every word made her mad. When Jade stopped Sally got out and slammed the truck door. As she stomped towards the front door she heard Jade say, "Sally stop..."

When Sally stopped and turned to face her Jade said, "Why don't you show me around properly?"

Sally rolled her eyes and walked back to Jade. Pointing she said, "Outhouse, smoke house, cabin...There!"

Jade took her arm in hers and lead her away from the house. Once they were at the tree line she said, "Look Sally, just because you have your panties in a wad don't take it out on me. This was not my idea. It was Jock's way of getting us both out of his way." Seeing her attempts at calming Sally was not working she added, "Hey, it's me, the woman who saved you and you saved from that damn bear." In a pleading voice she added, "Please trust me for once."

Sally looked towards her cabin and said softly, "I do..." She looked back at Jade, "So now what?"

Jade looked at the cabin, "I do a sweep for bugs and then we talk." She looked at Sally, "It's not that I don't trust anyone...Oh wait...I really don't trust anyone." She suddenly smiled, "Unless they save my life."

Sally smiled in return as her anger evaporated. She followed Jade back to the house and watched in growing admiration as the NSA agent went through the cabin looking for bugs. She soon got bored watching Jade work and instead started a fire as she was dying for a cup of coffee. By the time she had the beans ground, and the coffee percolating, Jade had disappeared down into the basement.

Sally had just poured herself a cup of coffee when Jade reappeared. She watched surprised as the other woman took the listening bugs and tossed them into the fire. It was then that Jade took the cup of coffee out of Sally's hand and took a long sip.

Jade handed Sally the mug back and said, "I think I got all of them in the house. I still have the outside to do."

Sally nodded, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Two things, first get me a cup of that coffee, and secondly cover me." She bit her lip and looked away, "I don't want another surprise visit."

Sally was surprised at seeing a hard core federal agent look uneasy. "Take anything in your coffee?" she asked to cover Jade's sign of weakness.

"Black is fine."

Sally went into the kitchen and got another mug and poured Jade a cup of coffee. Picking up the Winchester she checked the clip and followed the woman outside. Leaving her cup on the porch she followed Jade around while halfway watching the woods. Frankly she was not worried, that bear attack only happened because she surprised the bear.

Jade searched the wood pile, porch, truck, smoke house, and had just finished the outhouse when she saw Sally standing with the rifle to her shoulder and sighting out into the woods. She felt a shot of fear fill her and whispered, "Oh god not again..."

"No, it's not a bear. Look." Sally lowered the rifle and handed it to Jade. She pointed towards the north and said, "You see them?"

Looking through the scope Jade scanned the woods. Moving the rifle left and right she still could not see what Sally was watching. "No, what is it I am looking for," She finally asked. As if to answer her own question she saw an Elk come out and graze at the grass at the edge of the woods. The buck was followed by three females who grazed near him. "They're beautiful..."

Sally smiled, "Yea they used to come about every day or so." She looked at Jade, "As long as they are around I always know nothing else is close to spook them."

Lowering the rifle Jade looked at them a long time, in all her years in the NSA, nothing had prepared her for what she had seen in the last two days. She finally handed Sally the rifle back and said, "I hope you don't mind, but I dropped the bugs in the outhouse pit." She took a sip of her coffee and looked at the outhouse, "You might want to think about cleaning it sometime. That place is worse than every gas station restroom I have been in."

Sally laughed, "I keep it like that for visitors. Once they see it, they don't stay long."

Jade shook her head, "How do you stand the smell?"

"Simple, I don't use it." Sally replied as she headed back into the cabin. She looked at Jade a long moment not speaking and then finally said, "Yea, I can trust you." Refreshing their coffee cups, she walked back to the bedroom. She opened the closet and pushed the clothes off to one side. Pointing down towards the bottom of the side wall she said, "Oh look a knot in the wood." She pressed it with the toe of her boot and a hidden door opened.

Sally pushed the door open and stepped through. Unlike the rest of the cabin, this part had electricity and lights came on to display a spiral staircase leading down. Wiggling her eyebrows, she said, "I wonder where this goes." Once Jade had stepped through she closed the door with a click and started down. Unlike her basement, which was just below ground level, the spiral staircase led them down two stories before ending in a living room. She walked through the room and pointed to an open hall way to the left, "Kitchen..." She walked over to a door and opened it to display a bathroom with a shower. She gestured to a far door and said, "Bedroom back there."

Jade looked around stunned. Nothing had prepared her for the opulence of the living area. Other than the lack of a television or computer, it looked as elegant as anything in the white house. Not only was it beautiful but when they searched no one had even guessed this area existed. The cost alone of excavating this deep had to be tremendous. "How?" she stumbled over the idea, "How do you have power?"

Sally looked at Jade and smiled, "The whole roof is a solar panel. The small one is just for looks and feeds the shortwave radio and truck battery. Everything else feeds down here."

"How can you afford this place? It must have cost a fortune to build."

Sally sipped her coffee as she walked over to an end table. She picked up a little tractor and said, "My last name wasn't always Johnson." She tossed the green toy tractor to Jade and added, "Here is a hint for you; my great grandfather's name first name was John."

Jade staggered back, "You're Sally Buck?" Sally Buck was a reclusive like Howard Hughes and living in the Hollywood hills. She held just under half of the stock in one of the largest tractor and farm implement business in the world and was listed in the top five richest women in the United States. Had they known who she really was, they would have set up an appointment to talk with her out here.

Looking at the tractor in her hand, Jade realized she had truly stepped in it this time. The woman before her, their prime suspect could lift a phone and call with anyone in Washington up to and including the president. Jock would freak when he found out. She looked up at Sally, "I'm so sorry Miss Buck, we didn't know. If there is anything I can do to make up for the inconvenience, you suffered..."

Sally walked over and took the tractor, "Jade."

"Yes Miss Buck?"

Sally sighed; this happened every time people found out who she really was. "Jade...It's me...Sally." Everyone either toadied up to her or acted like she was a god. She turned away and replaced the tractor. In a soft voice she said half to herself, "I thought you were different."

With those five words said, Jade suddenly understood Sally and why the woman had come up here with a different name and started over. Instead of a rugged individualist she saw a lonely woman who was simply trying to escape her name. "I'm sorry Sally," she said going over and resting her hand on the woman's shoulder.

Sally turned and smiled slightly. "Thank you Jade." She looked at her coffee cup and said, "Refill time..."

As Sally turned to go back upstairs Jade thought fast, "Wait..." She bit her lip and then added, "I didn't remove all the bugs."

Sally turned back, "I figured that out already." She laughed at Jade expression, "You were supposed to win my confidence so I would tell you everything I know about what's going on. Right?" When Jade dumbly nodded she shook her head, "You folks need to take classes about industrial espionage or working for an advertising agency." She paused and added, "Anyways, want some coffee?"

Jade followed Sally up the stairs and let the woman pour her some more of the near boiling coffee. Looking at her cup she blew on it and took a small sip. "Now what," She asked looking at Sally.

"That's up to you." Sally watched as Jade set her cup down and walked out the front door. Sitting down on the couch she sighed and looked into the fire. She really did think Jade was different then everyone else. She was still staring into the fire when the front door opened. Turning around she saw it was Jade carrying a duffle bag. She watched as the other woman set it down and then walked back to the bedroom, kitchen, and back into the living room.

Jade walked to the mantel and picked up the last bug. She walked over to Sally and handed them to her not speaking. As Sally looked at the pile of miniature transmitters in her cupped hands Jade said, "That's all of them."

Sally looked up at Jade and winked. Standing she carried the transmitters over to her shortwave radio. As she set them down she said, "I have a message for the NSA and CSE agents listening. I am about to make a call and I want you to listen in." She sat down and pushed the transmit button on the microphone. "KBS331 calling KCJ1472... Are you there, John?" When there was no answer she called again and finally a third time. When after three calls he did not answer she looked at Jade and rolled her eyes. Finally, she called one last time adding, "If you don't answer you silly bass, you can kiss your rear goodbye."

"I hear you Sally... No need to get your panties in a wad. Over..."

"You have no idea... I need you to start earning that fat retainer I pay you. Over..."

"What's up? Over..."

"For the record and benefit of the bugs I have here by the radio. Will you please state your name and then who I am? Over..."

"Are you out of your mind? This is an open frequency Sally..."

"Do it!"

"My name is John Chapman attorney at law. I am speaking to Sally Buck of Buck tractors and farm implements. Over..."

Sally looked at the bugs and said, "You hear that you silly bastards... you picked on the wrong woman to harass." Pushing the mic button she said, "John, in the last 30 hours I have had my truck bugged, chased, shot at by a United States sniper team. Detained illegally by the NSA and CSE, and now find my cabin has more bugs then a tic hound." She looked up at Jade as she continued, "There has only been one Agent of the NSA who has been any help and kind. Her name is Jade Smith. Over..."

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"I want you to call the prime minister and the sec of state and let them know that I am pissed. I want Jock Anderson of the CSE and David Jones of the NSA off my ass. For that matter since Agent Jones also attacked me I want to make sure he knows that I will have his balls on a platter. Over..."

"Do you realize what you just said on an open radio?"

Sally heard the sounds of trucks driving up outside, "Get on it John... They are here to shut me up."

"Freeze!"

Sally looked over and saw David standing at the door with his pistol drawn. "Whose ass did you lick to get into the NSA?" She leaned back. "You know, somehow I expected you would be the first one here." Smiling she locked the mic in the transmit position and said, "John, I want you to meet Agent David Jones of the NSA."

David walked over to her, "Now I have you bitch." Then using his pistol, he hit her and knocked her out of the chair.

Sally spit out blood from her broken lip and looked up at him. "I was going to just have you fired... but now I am going to personally kill you." She wiped at her bloody lip and looked at her hand. "You had better kill me now; you will never make it off my property alive." She glanced at Jade who was looking at the pair of them horrified.

"My pleasure." David replied cocking the pistol.

"Hold it!" Jock's voice said from the doorway. He walked over, turned off the radio and looked at Sally, "You are under arrest."

Sally shook her head, "Like hell, in about fifteen minutes you will be kissing my ass and begging me not to press charges."

"Do you really expect us to believe what someone on a radio says Miss Johnson?"

In a soft voice Jade said, "She's telling the truth."

Sally slowly started to get up when David knocked her back down. "Did I say you could get up bitch?" He looked at the others, "I say kill her now and be done with it."