Found - Chapter 88

   Things settled down into a rhythm for 10 or 12 days, and Panic and Merry both seemed to enjoy it. With all the constant off and on pressure cooking that came and went, the respite was welcome. Their days fell into a routine that wasn't. They erratically took hikes when they felt like it. The next few days after any hike, they stayed around camp. They interspersed walking in and around town and boredom shopping "their" stores, with blocks of time lazing around the camp. Sometimes they hit breakfast, lunch or dinner with everyone around the fire and other times Merry or Panic or both cooked at the cabin. Twice they drove out to eat and window shop to different locations they had never used before. Dots on a digital map they decided to go and see. Any lovemaking they did during this time was about as predictable as their schedule, which was not at all. Short or long, intense or almost benign. Nothing was planned, and things happened or didn't happen almost of their own accord.

   Stuck momentarily for some novelty, they ended up fooling around to AM radio. Merry giggled and laughed when it happened with a late night talk radio station that was in and out but audible. They made little jokes and comments that were silly, loosely based on the talking topics. One time the radio got bumped in a busy section of the dial, and in the course of tuning back to what they had been listening to, a classical station with only mild periodical crackles came in. They tried with varying degrees of success to fool around to that on at first an extended joke, then it became a protracted idle distraction to locate periods in the music and to try to pick up some rhythm or action that seemed to go with the music. Smoking hand-rolled cigarettes off and on throughout this project probably accounted for half of it's popularity with both of them, beyond the obvious.

   They both giggled and it turned into a fun game, to attempt to have what they were doing… somehow, and in some fashion… resemble or relate to the music. They had been going slow to some light, airy, pretty music… when a brief and sudden bombast broke in. They both looked at each other confused, then laughed. Merry grabbed either side of his head suddenly and pronounced it "turbulence" music, demonstrating.

   Then Panic made her quit and go back to slow, because the music had gone back. Panic moved his index finger to a sad violin line, then started doing the obvious with it all over her. Until it suddenly disappeared, so he had to quit as well.

   "I was getting used to my naughty violin…"

   Something fairly heavy but with a plodding speed finally came on. Merry slowly locked eyes with him, and he knew already that in this situation, Merry preferred to drop her face. She liked it when he dropped his in response to it. It was both of them being completely different in makeup, but sharing this one, common shared bond.

   "This isn't gong to make the dance charts? But… that bass is about right…"

   Thrusts occurred in time to the rhythm kept by the big low notes. Big, slow action. But with a predictable "stutter", a doubled beat. It made for the tiny, pace quickening moment. Other than the insistent, plodding bass line. The doubled note produced a tiny two note staccato "riff". Once Merry initiated dropping faces, she had her signature tiny curl of a smirk on the one side. The almost scary empty gaze. The look that when she popped up in the mirror with some boyfriend shaving, appearing over his shoulder… she wasn't up to anything more than losing her presence of mind and admiring their physique idly. Enough side tracked that she forgot and slipped and dropped her face momentarily.

   Every boyfriend she had ever claimed temporarily in the past? If she didn't wear one of her drama masks, men disappeared on her like ghosts. She couldn't help but feel like a little bit of a monster. She had never met a man before in her life that could drop his face exactly like she could. A person who can't drop their emotions and let it show on their face could never understand the profound importance of the two of them enjoying this novelty.

   She had initially worried nervously, that he was making fun of her by claiming to like it. Just like her scarred, deep voice. Still, she had to admit the deep voice on the pretty girl in college story had been given quickly, easily, he didn't seem to be making it up at all. Even a really smart and fast liar, has to show little hitches in their explanation. Pauses where they instantaneously "shape" the story as best they want.

   Panic had a habit of "gushing" a long and detailed story out. Mildly pressured speech was the clinical term for it, and he knew it and thought it was funny. Merry felt there was no chance any of it was a shaped lie or even so much as half truth. The pressured speech pattern gave no hint of stops and starts however small, that were the liar's hallmark. He gushed in the same slightly pressured manner explaining how he liked when she dropped her face. Merry now once again either feigned or felt needing reassurance he wasn't actually making mild fun of her, seeming to like any fault.

   In afterglow of the accidental classical number on the tiny, cheap nine volt battery powered AM radio, she prodded with her face dropped. Did he really like these things, or was he not merely in ultra sweetie pie mode.

   "Okay honey. Another story?"

   "Sure. What's one more."

   "Well? My stories are widely held to be long and boring."

   "Go on… what's this story called, then."

   "Uhm. It's my… uh, graduate thesis… on… hot chicks with one lazy eye."

   "This? Sounds very made up, mister…"

   "It's not. I swear…"

   Merry left her face off, and simply slowly slid around, slithering into her signature position. Wrapped around the top of him with her chin resting on laced fingers across his chest. Smirking with her intense gaze. She whispered in his ear…

   "It better not be."

   "Well? Anyways. All the years in college? A thing kept happening. I mean, like, three or four times. A chick I just noticed was extra… cute? I'm thinking how pretty her eyes are, how different her eyes seem. Now, this isn't girls I ever scored with, but, god how I wanted to. Anyways… several times, this keeps happening."

   "What…"

   "Okay, the one girl. We end up down alone on the river. Someone built a rough… pier? Like kids built a cabin, all whatever pieces they can get screwed and nailed together. It's little, it leans, it looks like hell… but it's there, out in the middle of nowhere on the river, if you know where to look for it."

   "Ooh. So, you got this really cute girl, alone you and her, out on this… pier, all alone. But, you started the story out? With how you didn't fuck any of these girls. How did you manage to fuck this one up?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "She agreed to be alone with you, at this pier. You both knew where it was, right?"

   "Yeah. The secret pier. I know how it sounds? But… there was a lot of secret shit on a college campus, if you know where to look and someone shows you."

   Chin bobbing her head up and down slightly as it lifted in time with her words off of her hands as her lower jaw worked…

   "Okay. Name me one more secret thing, then."

   "Uh… there's a hidden, secret big cement park bench? Totally hidden behind the trees to the second main entrance of this one old building. You can hear people going in and out to class? And you're hidden. You can sit there and eat, drink beer, smoke cigarettes, make out with your girl… anything."

   "Who showed you that?"

   "Uh. Some girl on the grass cutting crew I dated for a couple months. Apparently, the grounds crew knew all these secret out in the open locations."

   "Okay. Meanwhile… back at the pier? Honestly, how did you fuck this one up…"

   "So… hold on… you're saying, that the pier is… an obvious hint then, right?"

   "Duh."

   "Okay, that's what I thought. I never knew. Actually? The pier itself has a fairly low, but… steady output of… success."

   "Oh. You really must've been doing something wrong."

   "Well? Here's how I fucked it up this time. I always thought this girl had the prettiest eyes. How can it hurt to tell the girl with the pretty eyes, that you love the look of her eyes. How it's somehow different, and you like it. Should be the perfect compliment? And, it's true."

   "She had a lazy eye…"

   "Yes. Once she stopped me? And said it? She pointed to it. All of a sudden I stopped, and looked, and noticed it for the first time. Now, this would just be an anecdote, but… this has happened to me several times over the years now. You want another weird one, so you know I'm telling the truth?"

   "Okay…"

   "You know a leg brace? I had a girlfriend in college once, that was just coming back from an injury and had a knee brace. Anytime I heard that Velcro ripping off, I knew I was just about to get some. Any even marginally hot chick that has a brace now? I giggle to myself, I get a little bit of jollies out of it."

   "Okay. I see how this went. It's like a goddamned short story. You compliment her on how pretty and different you find her eyes, and she thinks you're making fun of her lazy eye you never noticed. And? It happened other times."

   Merry mused with her chin planted on her laced fingers, all nestled in.

   "Mind if I make an observation?"

   "Sure."

   "How is it, in all these stories. You somehow manage to always be trying to go the extra mile, and it somehow backfires on you?"

   "Yeah…"

   "It's uncanny."

   "I know."

   "Can I try to be funny about it?"

   "Oh. Go on, enjoy yourself."

   "You somehow want a pretty girl. Tall and athletic. With a lazy eye. A knee brace would turn you on more. Deep, sexy chainsaw voice."

   "Uh… yeah, now that you mention it? It would. But… don't miss the moral of the story, honey."

   "What's that?"

   "Once again? I somehow find these little flaws to be key ingredients in girls I notice."

   Speedy called Panic while they were eating cheap Mexican food at an out of the way, scaled down, mom and pop version of a Mexican restaurant that seemed to keep it's cost and complexity down, while upping the portions to make up for it. Panic and Merry were choosing items at random, and grabbing blindly at sauces and having fun… when the call came in.

   Panic glanced at his phone while munching some kind of soft wrapped thing he had taken apart and doctored up with sauce and sour cream and re-wrapped it. He shrugged and wiped his hands off for a bit, before he texted Speedy back that he was eating and would call back shortly unless it was important.

   Then about thirty seconds went by, and Panic had to re-wipe and get swallowed again when the text buzzed in. He got mildly concerned when another text buzzed in because he hadn't gotten back quick enough. Merry raised her eyebrows and Panic shrugged with more emphasis.

   "Honey? You can hear what my phone is doing. He never does that."

   "So? Answer it, call him, whatever."

   "I don't want you thinking I'm being rude… we're eating."

   "Me and Mike have two rings. You only see me ignore Uncle Mikey's normal ring for a little bit sometimes. There's another ring, that I won't wait."

   "Yeah… me and Speedy? We don't have a system. We just wing it."

   "Well… that sounds like something."

   "I know."

   "So… why aren't you texting him…"

   "Couple reasons. One, is he's in DC. It's not like I can be there for any kind of emergency. Plus? I just know it's going to be something, and… it's gonna rush this lunch-dinner thing we got going."

   "It's probably something about your case. Mikey would be buzzing my phone if it was my thing. You know something just happened."

   "After a call and two quick texts? It'd be rude not to call him back."

   He touched "Speed" on his list and it didn't seem to barely ring once before he was connected.

   Speedy was upbeat, he could hear it in his voice.

   "We might have something…"

   "What might we have."

   "Mike's on a call. Someone called in on one of our posters."

   "Down south."

   "Oh yeah. He called the guy back, and… he's still on the phone, 15 minutes later."

   "How quick is anything going to happen?"

   "I don't know anything specific, until Mike gets off the phone."

   "Should I be ready to get down there?"

   "I have no idea how fast anything like that would happen. It's not like there's a team standing by or anything."

   "So, I can take my time getting down there?"

   "I honestly have no idea if we have hours or days. I'll call you back with anything I know, and… I'll get a timetable as soon as I can."

   "Anything I can do right now?"

   "No. I just figured you'd wanna know."

   "Okay. Thanks…"

   He hung up and grinned.

   "Someone called Mike's tip line back finally. Mike's been talking a while now… this might be it."

   "Should we turn this into takeout?"

   "No. I'm gonna sit here and kinda stare at the phone, though…"

   "It's fine… you know? I'd never guess you were excited or anything."

   He was "drumming" with his silverware on the place-mat. Containing his emotional level would be impossible and they both knew it.

   Now it was Merry's turn to have her phone go off.

   "That's Mike… I wonder why he's calling me…"

   Then Panic's text went off. He waited for Merry's phone call to be done.

   Merry shrugged.

   "You first, dear. It's your thing…"

   "Speedy says it sounds like a decent sighting. They're gonna go down and see about it in two or three days. I don't have to rush. Your turn…"

   "Mike wants me, to go down with you."

   "Something with your case…?"

   "He said for one thing? IA doesn't want me up here alone. As we all know, I'm like a little kid when you're not home, I guess. Mike said this gives him an excuse to have me with him. So… unless you mind having me…"

   "I don't know. You're a girl and all, and… this is kinda a boy thing…"

   "Well aren't you a smart ass today."

   "I couldn't resist…"

   "I see. Well? You thinking… picking the guy up?"

   He shook his head.

   "I'm not in charge, but… I doubt it. The old plan? Was to try to get an ID… get a location off of that… then? Try tracking their movements."

   "If nothing's on standby… I'm gonna guess a couple days."

   While they ate and played guessing games about the new developments, Panic took more calls. JG and Senior both took turns calling. Both were like Speedy's call in context. Heads up the game was afoot, everything was up in the air for a response and a timetable. Then, city IA called him.

   Merry grinned through that conversation.

   "No. I already got a call. She's gonna go with me. No, I'm with you, I'd rather keep an eye on her myself. What? No. I highly doubt there's going to be anything like that. Check with Mike, naturally, but… I really don't think… what? No, that's another case. I'm not allowed to talk about it. The Senior Agent on that would chew my ass out. Not to mention, I have no idea who Mike's telling about it yet. Huh? All right… I just feel bad I'm not sharing with you about it, but, that's not my call. All right? I just didn't want you to think I was being a dick about it."

   "Well?"

   "Okay. Change of plans. Turns out girls are allowed on the boy's road trip. You gonna sleep in my sleeping bag, or… should we all just play rock scissors paper every night, to see which one of us gets you, try to keep it fun."

   Merry just deadpanned him.

   "No."

   "I could probably get you bunked up with Senior… that might be fun for…"

   "No."

   "Well, I guess if you promise not to hog the covers, I could let you stay with me…"

   Merry waited a little bit after they went back to eating…

   "Do I hog the covers at all…?"

   Panic chuckled.

   "No. You usually lay right on me. You don't really roll around much. It's not like you roll up in the covers all night."

   Merry kept smiling at him.

   "What?"

   "Actually, the first week or two? You seem like you used to toss and turn a lot, before I started laying right on you like I do…"

   "Is it bad?"

   Merry smiled more.

   "Not anymore. You were like a washing machine on gentle cycle the first week though."

   "Sorry. I don't know what I do when I'm asleep."

   "It's fine. The way we lay? You quit doing it. I'm amazed you let me lounge on you like I do. You sure you don't mind it?"

   "Not at all. I guess when we're done here, what? We go and pack for a little road trip."

   "How much should we take?"

   "We just need to be there. Cellphones and laptops for us. Couple day's clothes. Stuff for a bath and sleeping. I usually do one big duffel bag."

   "Well. I get one too, then. Double sleeping bag?"

   "Yeah. Some pillows. The foam pad."

   When they were later on packed, they looked at each other. Merry said it first.

   "Drive down tonight? Or wait for morning…"

   "We could be there by midnight, it's early yet."

   "Where do we stay?"

   "Heck, I'd say Speedy's motel, if they have a room open."

   Merry texted Mike, and he beeped her back.

   "Mike's gonna see about booking us a room there."

   "We can get our own room…"

   "Yeah. But if Mikey gets you a room there? We don't have to check in. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be invisible."

   Ten minutes later, Merry glanced at her phone and confirmed it.

   "Speedy's already staying there with Uncle Sam. Mike can add a room easy. It's done."

   They went over everything, then went to the main camp and said their goodbyes and left. Rob and Skykid promised to keep an eye on Bitty Kitty. They had already been staying at the camp long enough that the cat would wander up to the main camp on it's own. With them gone, it would probably schedule breakfast, lunch amd dinner visits.

   They each took several two hour driving shifts and ended up near the destination motel early. They had a quick breakfast at a diner the next exit up the highway and backtracked to the motel for first light. They texted Speedy and Mike and got into their room and even managed to grab a couple hours before their phones started going off.

   Merry stayed with Panic and Mike came out with a small armada of vans. New but not brand new, they were the extended cargo models and lacked windows in the back of any kind. Each one had three light framed cots stacked up in front of the curtained off entrance to the front driver and passenger compartment. Light framed workbenches and shelves lined the long sides of both back ends, and met up to the edge of the cot's frame. They had large magnetic signs that turned them into electrical lighting contractors. Any of them would arouse as little suspicion as any other work vehicle, and even in a pack would look benign enough.

   Mike visited with Merry and Panic and filled them in.

   "Okay. Our tip line went off, and it's the only one. I spent time on the phone with him, and I'm sure it's our boy."

   "We're gonna tag him?"

   Mike smiled.

   "JG is the AV guy. He went and got the boys at the tech lab in on it. They went and pulled a tail light from the model in the cell phone pix we got from the trooper's phone that called in."

   "The lab guys, have an extra tail light now?"

   "Yep. JG and the lab guys? Wired a GPS tracker into the tail light, and put it back together. Late at night? We're gonna have a tech swap it out on the target vehicle. Once we're there and get that far? We're gonna set up the other vehicles we find on the property, the same way. Should take a couple days, should go slow and easy."

   "Then?"

   "Then what. We'll have a little fleet of tagged vehicles. We have chase vehicles. Hopefully, we get them all tagged before they leave for the winter. Watching those vehicles? Might lead to a few more locations. We don't know, but… once we have enough tags going… anywhere they stop for too long? We know it's high risk for a location. Then… they eventually move, hopefully… into one of our traps."

   "Traps plural?"

   "University, and the South Side. If they move steadily north, we have more time to set up the South Side. That's the bigger zone. JGs already on the horn and getting a small team of techs to hit the University tracks and get it wired up. Another small team is headed for the South Side. When the University's done? They'll join up with the South Side crew and keep going."

   "This is all planned?"

   "Yes and no. Remember all the meetings?"

   "There were a lot…"

   "This was one of those meetings. The surveillance equipment is all boxed up and labeled. There were other plans, but, this one? Fits. The vans, are the biggest I can hide in plain sight, and they don't attract too much attention. If you had your heart set on one of those… command center deals? Sorry for your luck. With these vans? I can distribute out or camp up somewhere. Basically? It's a series of generic observation and surveillance vans."

   "Assuming this works… where's the arrest take place?"

   "University or the South Side. Do you want my thoughts on what I have loosely planned?"

   "I'm curious."

   "All right, here we go. We get time to get the University and the South Side wired up, while we chase them up north. I'm guessing, they stop periodically and… hunt. Now. I know this sounds cruel, but…"

   "I already know the answer to this one, Mike. We just follow and wait, until they get a victim on surveillance. I know we're waiting on a snuff video."

   "We're human, Panic. Until we get that… snuff film, as you insist on calling it… I'm doing good, but not great. I can only get so many years each for proving they were in on it. I get the snuff film at the end of a trail of predicted locations? I can get life for all of them. Now… my rough plan? Is to get a… snuff film in at the University. It's the smallest out of our two hunting grounds. More cameras, closer together. Better footage. The South Side? If we already have our snuff film, we'll be looking to arrest them in the act. What do you think…"

   "You've done this before. You had meetings with guys that do this."

   "Senior and JG? Are way more used to this. Interstate homicide. Dragnets and surveillance. I figure I'm smart if I take their advice on it. You wondering what the command structure looks like?"

   "Not really, but you mention it…"

   "I put JG in charge of the tech. He's going to run the tech groups. Senior? He's used to a surveillance manhunt from a van already. I put him in charge of the vans. He runs his own van, and he picks the guy that runs each of the other vans. They report to him. The techs? Double as warm bodies after they're done installing. For observation, or… grouping up to take them out at the end, and it's not like JG doesn't need some command experience anyways. I can count on state police on standby at the South Side locations. They take time to come in, but, I can throw the net before it gets too big if I have to."

   "What if you don't get a snuff film at the University?"

   "Backup plan, is to get it at the South Side. South Side, is good for we think a couple every year at the end of the hunting season."

   "This is all GPS coordinated…"

   "Mainly? Yes. Once I have vehicles tagged and in motion? I can get cellphone lines isolated. Once I have those? We can record every call, every text, and a log of where they go online and what they do. Every van? Gets a chase car. We can plant the vans where we want them, and still have four men per van mobile in a car. Go get food, move to a new location for action, whatever."

   "How are we dividing up me and Merry?"

   "I get my own van and chase car. I want Merry with me. I want you with Merry. So, both of you are staying with me. We can take turns driving the chase car."

   "When do we leave?"

   "Maybe tomorrow night, maybe the next day or night. You guys mind riding with me?"

   Merry asked what she was to everyone else.

   "To everyone else? You're my star witness I keep stuck up my ass."

   "Junior is in Senior's van, right?"

   "Yeah. Why?"

   "Speedy."

   "Figured on him with them. I like not having to speak in code to Merry. You don't disrupt that. Speedy does."

   "What if anyone wants to organize different? It'll be obvious."

   "My overall excuse, is that I have to keep her close to me. She? Insists on having you near her. And that line of reasoning? Doesn't sound suspicious. Remember… I like having her around. To help me plan things or just go over them. I can't explain that, to anyone else except you. Remember IA? City and Federal IA are both in love with you. Those two ain't happy unless…"

   "She's with me."

   "If you promise you won't get mad? There's a funny joke about it. You always seemed like you have a sense of humor…"

   "This ought to be good. Go ahead."

   "Mongo like Merry. Mongo protect Merry. Mongo zug-zug Merry."

   Panic chuckled. Merry tried not to laugh and failed, blowing her cheeks out and lips tight, trying in vain to hold it in. She either lost the battle or gave up, and ended up on her back on the motel bed, kicking her legs and piston-ed her arms, pointing with her index finger at him as she guffawed out…

   "Cave man… Mongo… ah…"

   "Merry… Jesus…"

   Panic smiled.

   "It's okay. I've seen her do this a couple times."

   "Ha, they just got his name wrong. It's not Mongo. It's… Dinky."

   "Dinky?"

   Merry nodded and Panic sighed.

   "Apparently? A relationship isn't official, until the woman figures out some annoying nickname for the man. So? I'm Dinky."

   Mike smiled.

   "I promise, I won't say a word."

   "You don't have to… she does it."

   "Well? What's her name?"

   Panic observed with a dry note…

   "I'm working on that one…"

   "So, that's the command structure. What do you think?"

   "You? Are the number one van. JG and Senior are the head of tech and other vans. I guess that makes them the number two van. The other vans report in to them."

   "Well, I'm gonna fill Merry in on the quick version of your case. She can't advise me very well, if she has no idea what's going on, you know."

   "Do you need me for that?"

   "No. You wanna go have fun with Speedy?"

   "Been a while. Yeah…"

   As with any member of a group who has been absent a while then suddenly showed up, there was the normal period of juvenile fun which quickly subsided. Speedy wanted to know how he got into the lead van. Senior apparently had been grousing about it. Senior was out for coffee and a quick bite, so, Panic explained.

   "IA is pitching a fit, they don't want Merry left alone. Mike had to promise to keep her with him. IA beat his ear off until he agreed to put me with her, in his van. IA doesn't wanna lose their prize."

   "JG? I don't know how your blue ribbons go in the Bureau. Do you get a stripe or something for getting command experience?"

   JG smiled broadly.

   "That's Mike. And yeah, it looks nice in your file. We call it quarterback time. You have to build some up, to move on. Doing field work? That's another one."

   Speedy and Panic had a habit of just sitting around, grinning. They were prone to just sit, look around themselves, and smile and nod.

   "This is what it's all about, Panic. Enjoy this."

   "I am. I still can't believe it's happening."

   "It is. I've been here before. This is your first time. First one? Always special."

   "My first time? I thought I just had one. Doesn't that one count?"

   Speedy laughed.

   "Yeah. It counts. It… you just… well? You weren't exactly up against a criminal mastermind, you know."

   "I know. Merry kept calling it… baby's first murder."

   "Aw, the family must be proud."

   "Yeah. All this time, they thought she was gonna just be an ordinary barfly? Turned out to take a stab at small town murder."

   "You like the feeling, right? Accomplishment…"

   "Oh yeah. I'm not… immune to accomplishment, you know. This reminds me of graduation."

   "Graduating high school?"

   "Nope. Hated that. Graduating college."

   "Oh, right. You liked that more, did you?"

   "Yes and no. I was worn out, from staying up too many nights. Like a candle burned at both ends, but… that last month or two? There's a point, where you sit down and realize… I'm just going through the motions now. If I get an A in every one of these last classes? Or if I get a D minus in every one of these last classes… doesn't really matter. All A's? I graduate with a 3.82… all D minus? I graduate with a 3.78… they both round out to an official 3.8… only other graduating seniors understand that smile and that tired look."

   "We're almost there."

   "Almost, huh? We could still lose."

   "Oh. You never know. But… once those GPS units move out? And we find our first smiley drowning behind them? We're home free."

   "I still worry. What if they skip the University this year?"

   "Then, we pick them up in the South Side. We already have a solid ID from George's description. If they move out? It's them. We're a step ahead of them. For once. We predict a few scenes? That's the home stretch."

   "Then? You… get to go on your safari."

   "Yes, I do. You?"

   "What. I was already doing it. I like pissing around the camp with Merry."

   "That's your safari, huh?"

   "Yeah. When this got sprung on us? I was in the middle of planning something…"

   "If I remember correctly? You were in the middle of a combination late lunch, early dinner."

   "At that exact moment? Yes. In general though… I was planning an oven."

   "I thought you already had an oven in your cabin…"

   "People are making primitive ovens on the internet. Cooking bread with them. It's a hobby. I wanted to make a pizza oven. Cook bread and pizza on a stone."

   Speedy smiled and shook his head.

   "That's your big plan, when this is all over?"

   "I guess. First order of business. Yeah. See… Merry knows I worked in a pizza shop for years. Everyone, mainly Skykid? Knows I make my own dough, from scratch, by eye. I was gonna make pizza night in the regular oven, but then? The stone oven caught my eye, thought that would be a lot cooler…"

   "Big project?"

   "Ah. Test run? Is the mud oven. You learn how to make something small in it. Control the temperature. How to smoke stuff instead of cooking if you want to. Then? You're ready to make use of the bigger one. Figured I'd do the little one? At our cabin. Get my thing down, then… make the bigger one up at the main camp."

   "How big?"

   "Not huge. Big enough for several pizzas at once. Some guy took a spit motor, and some bicycle gears and a bicycle chain… made a little rotating table. So the food can't burn. That's what I wanna add to the big one."

   Speedy nodded, and patted him on the shoulder.

   "I'll think of you? When I'm on my safari…"