The Greens of Jericho

************

"Dessert. Strawberry shortcake. The post-apocalyptic variety," Heather replied.

Jake handed over the phone and said, "Your turn. Then Eric needs to talk to us." He looked at the bottle Hawkins held. His eyes widened, and his mouth started to water, "Any more where that came from?" 

Chavez snorted when he saw the expression on Jake's face, "Don't worry. There's one for you."

Hawkins gave Jake a wry smile as he took the phone, raised the beer in a mock salute and headed toward the bedroom that the couple had just left.

************

"Dee?" Hawkins spoke into the phone as he sat down on the bed.

"Rob? How are you?"

"Good. You and the kids?"

"We're all fine. There's a lot of excitement here tonight. Gail can't stop gushing. She's very happy. Heather asked her to help plan the wedding, and she's really excited about that."

"Good. I'm glad she's happy."

"Jake and Heather, how are they?"

"Acting like they're on their honeymoon," he chortled.

"Remember when we were like that, Rob?" Darcy asked wistfully.

"Yeah. Those were good times."

"You're right, but I like the way things are now even better."

"Me, too, Dee."

************

Heather turned toward Jake and Chavez, "Speaking of strawberries, I better go slice them so they can sit in the fridge for a few hours before we eat."

Chavez caught hold of Heather's arm as she walked by him, "Hey, wait a minute! Don't I get to say congratulations?"

Heather turned to Chavez and gave him a bright smile. "Sure."

No sooner did Heather get the words out when she was enveloped in a tight hug. Chavez gave Jake a smug look over her shoulder before he pulled himself away from her, his arms still around her waist. "Congratulations Heather," he said before bringing her in for another hug.

"Hey, that's my girl! Let go of her!" Jake said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Chavez pulled away from Heather and said with a smile on his face, "Are you sure you know what you're getting into, honey?"

Heather raised an eyebrow at Chavez, stepped out of his embrace and walked over to Jake. She wrapped her arms around him, beaming up at him before turning her smile to Chavez and saying, "I sure do." She looked back up at Jake only to be greeted by a warm kiss.

"Okay, okay. I get it. You two love each other . . . you just could have said it!"

Jake broke the kiss and smirked at Chavez, "Why say it when you can show it?" before turning and giving Heather another quick kiss.

When the kiss ended, Chavez walked up to Jake and Heather, "You are one lucky man. Congratulations, Jake," he said sincerely as he held out his hand.

As they shook hands, Jake replied earnestly, "I know."

"Heather, all kidding aside, you got yourself a good man there."

The couple exchanged a surprised look at the unexpected compliment. Heather gave Chavez a kiss on the cheek and stepped back into the circle of her fiancé's arms. Jake nodded his thanks while Heather said, "Thanks, Joe. Your good wishes mean a lot."

"To us both. Thanks," Jake finished for Heather.

Chavez looked at the happy couple before him and felt a sudden yearning to have someone special, someone who would share his life. After so many years of sacrificing his personal life for his work, he couldn't help but wonder if it was too late.

Hawkins shifted his position on the bed while Dee continued, "Tomorrow, Sam and I are going to spend some time with Gail. We're going for a walk and then back to her house for lunch. She's becoming a good friend."

"That's good, Dee."

"And Stanley invited us out to his house so Sam could see how the farm works."

"You going to milk a cow, Dee?"

Darcy couldn't help but laugh. "Really funny, Rob. Tell you what: I'll milk a cow the day you go on a turkey shoot." She smiled to herself as she pictured the corners of her husband's mouth turning up slightly when she heard the amused chuckle on the other end of the phone. It made her heart jump just a little.

 "Who would have ever thought . . . our city boy on a farm. I hope he likes it better than camping."

"You should have heard Stanley talk about the farm. You could really tell he likes what he does. He actually made milking a cow sound fun. Sam's very excited. He can't wait to go!"

 Hawkins wished he could be there, especially if Sam was as excited as Darcy said he was. He could imagine the awe in his son's face when he sat on a tractor and couldn't help but picture the look on Sam's face when he fed chickens and milked a cow for the first time. All he had done, he had done for his family, to keep them safe, to give his children a future. He wasn't sorry for that, but there were times, like now, where he couldn't help but have some regrets. "Dee, I wish I could be there."

 "I know Rob, and you will be. I haven't said this to you yet, but I now understand why you do what you do. I know now that it wasn't only your sense of duty to our country. You knew things that we wouldn't have thought possible and didn't trust anyone but yourself to keep us safe, to give our children a future. When I realized that, it made me love you all the more."

Hawkins cleared his throat and blinked a couple of times before telling his wife, "It means a lot that you understand. I love you, too."

"Come home soon."

"As soon as I can."

"I'm going to visit with Mimi while Stanley shows Sam around. They invited us to their wedding. I'm looking forward to going. It's the day after the spring concert."

"Sounds good. The plan is to be back in Jericho the day before."

************

Heather looked between her friend and the man she was going to marry, "All right, boys, I'm off to the kitchen. Try not to miss me too much."

"You know I will, but go ahead anyways," Jake replied bringing Heather in for a quick kiss before letting her go.

"Oh, I think we can manage," Chavez said. He clapped Jake on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's sit down. I'll tell you about my first day at Ravenwood while Heather gets her work done. And if you're lucky, later I'll take you down and show you my new set of wheels."

Heather rolled her eyes at Chavez and shook her head before walking into the kitchen to slice the strawberries and sprinkle sugar on them for the dessert she had planned.

************

"Rob, Allison isn't here right now and I just checked on Sam a few minutes ago. He must have been tired. He's curled up on the bed fast asleep. Do you want me to get him up so you can say hi?"

"No, let him sleep. I miss you, Dee."

"And I miss you, Rob. I'm going into the dining room now."

************

A few minutes later, when Heather had finished preparing the strawberries, she opened the refrigerator and took out two bottles of Coors. She placed one on the counter and carried the other one out to the table where the men were talking. She set it in front of Jake and then leaned down and kissed him softly. "Will you scoot the chair out a little bit? I'm going to need just a little more room."

"Sure thing," Jake replied.

Heather sat on his lap, put her head on his shoulder and sighed in contentment when he started rubbing small circles on her back. After a moment, realizing that he couldn't reach his beer, she leaned over for the bottle and handed it to him.

"Sorry, hon."

"No problem. Thanks Babe," he murmured against her lips before capturing them in a quick kiss.

A moment later, Heather watched as Jake closed his eyes and savored his first sip of beer in ten months. He opened his eyes to see her beaming at him, "That good, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Mind if I have a taste?" she asked in a sultry voice.

"Help yourself," Jake said huskily. The second her lips touched his they were both lost in their own world.

Too soon, the sound of Chavez loudly tapping his foot intruded on their private moment. "You know you'd get a better taste if you took a swig from the bottle," he grumbled loudly.

Heather ended the kiss and leaned against Jake so that she was half-facing Chavez.

"Hmm, let me test that theory," Heather said. She took the bottle from Jake's hand, took a drink and then put it on the table. She smiled sweetly at Chavez and said in the same sultry tone she used when she asked Jake for a taste, "You're wrong. Tastes better the other way."

Chavez rolled his eyes and got up from the table. "I've had enough. I'm going to get another beer. Heather, I was going to ask you if you wanted one, but seeing as you don't like to drink out of bottles -"

Heather interrupted, "I took one already and it's sitting on the counter. I have something special planned for mine, so leave it alone."

Chavez raised his eyebrow in question.

Heather smiled before telling him, "It's a surprise, and don't touch that bottle!"

Chavez snorted and shook his head, "Warm beer, huh? Now what kind of a surprise can you make with warm beer?"

"You'll see and stop fishing," Heather chided before Chavez turned and walked into the kitchen. She giggled and turned to Jake. "I hope I didn't embarrass you too much."

Jake chuckled and tightened his arm around Heather. "That's impossible, and I enjoyed watching you get the better of Chavez."

"Yeah it was kind of fun, wasn't it?"

"Sure was," Jake said as he raised his hand to her neck and gently brought her head down for another kiss.

"Alright, enough already!" Chavez bellowed.

Jake and Heather broke their kiss and looked at Chavez. He was standing next to the table holding two bottles of Coors, his face slightly red. The couple looked at each other and started laughing. "This time you did it," Heather said between giggles.

"Did what?" Chavez asked.

Heather looked up at Chavez, "Private joke." Her eyes narrowed when she saw the two beers he was holding. "You didn't take the one on the counter did you?"

"No. I took one out of the fridge for you," Chavez smirked before placing one of the bottles on the table just out of Heather's reach. "There are just two conditions. You sit in that chair," Chavez pointed to the one next to Jake, "and no more public displays of affection."

Heather took a moment to consider her options before saying, "Okay, I'll sit in that chair, but as far as the other condition, no guarantees from me."

"I'll take my chances," Chavez muttered, rolling his eyes.

************

"Dee, before you go back in . . ."

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"Love you, too," Hawkins told his wife.

Hawkins walked back into the dining area in time to see Heather pick up a bottle of beer and drag a chair as close as she could to Jake.

"You said I had to sit in the chair," she reminded Chavez. "You didn't say I couldn't move the chair."

Hawkins shook his head and chuckled to himself as he imagined what he missed while he was in the bedroom talking with Darcy.

"That is not -" Chavez began to say before being interrupted by Hawkins.

"I'm at the table now, Dee. I'm going to turn on the speaker phone and put the phone down."

"Okay, Rob."

As soon as the phone was on the table there was a cacophony of congratulations, but the loudest was Stanley's.

"Jake, Heather?"

"Yeah, Stanley?" Jake replied.

"Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Heather and Jake said in unison.

"Honey?" Gail said when the voices quieted down.

"Yeah, Mom?" Jake replied.

"Not you Jake. Heather."

Jake turned to Heather and smirked before whispering to her, "Looks, like I've been replaced."

"You know that isn't true," Heather whispered back before saying into the phone, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you, I'm looking forward to a long girls-only chat as soon as you get back. I have a few tips to pass on."

Jake groaned, and Heather put her hand on his arm, squeezing it affectionately as she replied, "Thanks, Mom. I'll be looking forward to it."

Hawkins chuckled when he heard Chavez say under his breath, "I'd like to be a fly on the wall when that happens."

Eric spoke up next. "I hate to break up this conversation, but I have some news I'd like to relay, and then Stanley wants to say something." The serious tone of his voice effectively quieted and caught the attention of everyone on both ends of the phone line.

After a brief pause, Jake spoke up. "Go ahead Eric."

"We have a problem. Without consulting anyone, Gray agreed on the incentives that the town would receive from RJ Land in return for getting farmers to sign up for services."

Eric still couldn't believe that Gray would go along with RJ Land's idea of services. The company did weave a good story - equipment rental, management, consultant and labor services and discounted seeds and livestock - all offered at what they called very generous credit terms. Terms that could mean the loss of their farms if they couldn't pay for what he was sure was ‘over priced' services out of the sale of their livestock or crops. Sure, the company had guaranteed they would purchased any approved products, but at what price?

Heather furrowed her brow. "But isn't it a good thing for the town to be on the receiving end of some incentives? I mean, I remember when I was there that there were so many things that we could use. Now it'll finally happen."

Eric drew in a sharp breath as he replayed his conversation with Gray in his mind. "I had hoped it would. And, I'm sure the winter parkas and long underwear  he agreed to are going to go a long way in helping the town this coming winter . . . in six months," he said sarcastically. "And the list only gets worse ... syringes but no needles for the med center, toys for the children, books - romance novels, for everyone who has time for a little escapist reading - for the library."

"How much food and fuel will the town get?" Jake interrupted.

"Any mechanical parts, building materials?" Heather asked.

"That's just it!" Eric replied through clenched teeth.

Gail reached over and patted her son on the hand. "Eric, calm down. Getting angry again isn't going to change anything."

After taking a breath Eric continued, "No, not any of those things. His excuse was he did the best he could with the list he got. He blamed it on the farmers who didn't sign up for services. Said we would have everything we needed if a hundred percent of the farmers signed up for services. He said he had no room for negotiation."

"Yeah, us farmers who aren't town citizens and aren't eligible for incentives," Stanley chimed in.

"Are you saying that Gray thinks that winter parkas and long underwear are going to get Jericho through another winter like the last one?" Jake asked incredulously.

"Like I said, he told me that it was the best he could do. Wait, it gets worse. Darcy, why don't tell them what you heard O'Leary saying to one of the other agents in the office?"

"Oh, okay. I was sitting at my desk eating my lunch when Jim O'Leary stopped one of the other agents. I heard them talk about the rewards the company had to pay out to the mayor for agreeing to those useless incentives. He told the other guy, they saved a ton of money and that the kickbacks were a standard practice that worked ninety percent of the time."

Eric interrupted, anger lacing his voice. "He sacrificed the town's needs for his own! Now he's driving a new SUV with an unlimited gas supply and all the fuel and food he needs to get through next winter!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Jake asked, disgust tingeing his voice. He turned and gave a slight smile to the woman next to him, grateful for the comforting hand she had just placed on his arm.

"To top it all off, RJ Land is twisting his arm to sign up for management services for the salt mine. He wants me to act as his lawyer. Says he doesn't trust them. I told him to go to hell and stormed out of his office."

Hawkins spoke up. "The way I see it, there's not much we can do about the incentives Gray agreed to for the town."

"I agree, but are you so sure you shouldn't help Gray? Do you think the town will be better off if RJ Land controlled the mine? Because, you know as well as me, that's what will happen," Jake added. The way he saw it, Eric didn't have a choice, and the nods he received from both Heather and Hawkins confirmed that they agreed with him.

There was a pause on the phone before Eric said, "Oh hell, I have to help him, don't I?"

"I think you do, but you can ask for something in return," Jake replied. "Tell him he can keep the car but you want the fuel and the food that he's getting. We can allocate some of the fuel to the med center with the remainder going to the ration bank along with the food."

"The last thing I want to do is help that man, but I suppose you're right, Jake. I think I'm also going to tell him that I'm setting up a committee of town citizens and farmers to look into granting the farmers more rights to town resources. Not much of a chance that Gray will refuse any conditions we place on receiving my help, so I might as well strike while the iron is hot," Eric said.

"Sounds like a plan. Everyone agree?" Jake said.

A round of yeses was heard on both sides of the phone line.

"Has anyone thought about the possibility of the new government declaring eminent domain over the salt mine?" Darcy asked before continuing, "It's such a valuable commodity nowadays and it could go a long way in helping the reconstruction effort. I think it's a real possibility."

There was a pause in the conversation as Darcy's words sunk in. Jake watched as a troubled look crossed Heather's face before she said, "Well, I have. And I'm pretty sure the government doesn't know the mine exists."

Hawkins raised an eyebrow, "Meaning?"

Heather wrung her hands together as she began to explain, "My first assignment when I started my job was to look into the government database that had just been recovered and make a list of all natural resource mines and wells in the west. Naturally, I included the salt mine on the list. But I went home that night and thought about the document that I had passed on to Jake and got a very bad feeling."

Heather paused and took a breath. Jake, sensing her discomfort, reached over and brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss before bringing it to rest on his thigh. She gave him a wan smile as his thumb began drawing comforting circles on the top of her hand. "I really don't know what got into me," she said, continuing her explanation, "but the next day at work, I went into the network and deleted the file on the salt mine and opened my file from the day before and deleted it from my list."

"What about backups?" Chavez asked.

"The files aren't on the backups. They only recovered the files to the network a few days before I created my list, and they did their initial backup the night after I deleted the information. Once the backup finished the tapes they used to recover the original files were destroyed for security reasons. I found this out two days later when I was asked to file the network recovery schedule in the archives. I was so relieved when I realized there was no way for them to trace what I had done." Heather looked nervously around the table, trying to gauge the reaction to what she had just said before she finished, "I wasn't sure then if I made the right decision, but after hearing what I did tonight, now I am."

"Impressive," Hawkins said.

"I second that," Chavez said.

Jake leaned over and whispered in Heather's ear, "Good work, Babe."

Heather beamed at him, before turning her smile to Hawkins and Chavez. "Thank you."

"Thanks for taking the risk, Heather. You did the town a big favor. Jake, give her a big kiss for me," Eric said.

"Gladly," Jake said before leaning over and kissing Heather.

"Awww.....don't encourage them...they can't keep their hands off each other," Chavez said, making a face.

The round of laughter around Darcy's table was drowned out by a hoot from Stanley. "Way to go buddy!" followed by an "Ow!" when Mimi kicked him under the table.

Darcy began, still chuckling softly, "Well, that explains what I heard the other day. I was sitting at my desk and heard Mr. O'Leary telling another agent something about the salt mine not appearing on any government list he's checked, and he said he'd checked them all. They walked away, and I couldn't hear anything else."

"Sounds like O'Leary is planning to take advantage of that fact. Eric, you're going to have to keep a closer eye on him," Hawkins said.

"I'll do my best," replied Eric.

"And I'll do some snooping at work, see if I can dig up anything," Darcy said.

"Dee, you be careful," Hawkins cautioned his wife.

"I will Rob," Darcy assured him.

"Stanley, you had something you wanted to say?" Chavez asked.

"Yeah, I want to give you an update on the farm next to me."

"Go ahead."

"I've been trying to keep my eye on it. Since the last time we talked, I've seen two supply trucks go in and out. The trucks were too big to go through the gate at the end of the driveway so they had to unload them on the street and cart them up it in a few SUV's. I watched for a few minutes and noticed that all the men were wearing black shirts with a patch on them. I saw the same patch on those guys who stole gas from me before the Tacoma Bridge incident. You know the red patch with the black bird holding a sword?"

Heather drew in a sharp breath and dug her fingers into Jake's thigh. He turned to look at her and saw that she had become pale. She felt his eyes on her, turned to him and mouthed, "I'm okay. Later." Jake nodded; he suspected he knew the cause for her reaction and understood that now was not the time to discuss it. He reassuringly squeezed her hand before turning his attention back to the conversation.

"Ravenwood," Chavez uttered.

"We need more info about what they're doing at the farm," Hawkins said.

"What can I do?" Stanley asked.

"Nothing for now," Chavez said. "Just keep an eye on things like you've been doing."

"Don't get too close," Hawkins warned.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't," Mimi contributed.

"We'll check things out when we're home in a few weeks," Jake said.

"They were in New Bern, I saw them -" Heather said before being interrupted by Chavez.

"Who?"

"Ravenwood, I saw them...those black shirts, in New Bern . . .," Heather trailed off, as memories of what happened to her flashed through her mind. She had never thought she would think it, but just this once she was glad she wasn't home in Jericho.

"Heather, are you okay?" Eric interrupted, concerned for his friend.

Jake answered for her, his tone clipped. "She's fine." Trying to draw the attention away from Heather he continued. "They're after something. Chavez, what are the chances you can find out what's going on?"

"I think I have a good shot at it, but it may take awhile," Chavez replied. Gauging Heather's reaction and Jake's quick response in coming to her defense, he realized that that she had more than a passing acquaintance with Ravenwood. He remembered that she had told him that something happened to her in New Bern and now he was almost sure it had something to do with them. He'd have to have a talk with Jake when Heather wasn't around.

"You have a Ravenwood connection?" Eric asked, stirring Chavez from his thoughts.

"Yeah, yesterday I started working for them. We thought it would be an opportunity to gain more intel. Now I can see I made the right decision," Chavez replied.

"Rob?"

"Yes, Dee?"

"There's something going on with the books at work. When they installed the new accounting software, I think they forgot to assign permissions to the files. I accidentally opened a file that made no sense to me. The numbers don't look like anything I'm used to seeing. They must have fixed the permissions that night. I couldn't see the file the next day when I turned on my computer."

"Sounds suspicious. Would have been nice to know what's in that file."

"Rob, I wasn't sure but I thought it might be important. I printed it out before I left for the day. It's hidden in the house. I was never good at accounting so I can't make heads or tails out of it. What should I do with it?"

"I'm an accountant. I can take a look at it," Mimi chimed in.

"Only if you promise to be careful. I don't want anything happening to my bride," Stanley said.

"Oh, I promise. Nothing is going to make me miss my own wedding."

"You better keep that promise!" Stanley said.

"Darcy, how about if you bring the print out with you on Tuesday when you bring Sam over? We can look it over while the boys play. It might help if you also bring a printout of the books that you do have access to." Mimi said.

"I think I can manage that. Thanks."

"We covered a lot of ground tonight," Chavez said before asking, "Does anyone have anything else?"

"Jake? Heather?" Gail said.

"Yes?" Jake said speaking for both himself and Heather.

"I'm so happy for you. Come home safe."

"That's the plan, Mom." Jake said before adding, "You take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, and I look forward to seeing you two."

"And we look forward to coming home," Heather said.

There was a short pause before Darcy spoke up. "We're fine here."

"Here, too," Hawkins said. "Our next call can be Thursday at seven o'clock. Does that work for everyone?"

"We're okay with that here," said Darcy.

"Mimi, will that give you enough time to look at the books?" Jake asked.

"It should," Mimi replied.

"You want us to come Thursday?" Stanley asked.

Jake looked between Chavez and Hawkins -both understood the unspoken question and nodded their agreement.

"Yeah, you're part of the team now."

"We'll be there then."

"Good," Jake replied.

"Dee, we're hanging up now. We'll talk to you in a few days. Take care."

"You too, Rob. Good bye."