Helen said nothing more.She exited the home down the stairs to the basement and her car.It took two loads to bring her planned stay into the home.It only took one to get the fuck out of that weird ass house.
In her Ford Explorer, she fired it up.The side door on the garage was operated internally by a motion detector and raised.Helen placed the SUV in four-wheel drive and eased out of the driveway.She made it as far as Minneapolis when her Technician phone rang.
“Go for Cranberry,” she said, knowing who it was.
“You're on the move,” the voice said.
“I'm headed home.”
“Any reason why because you didn't clear it with me?”the voice said.
“It feels bad,” Helen said.“The white landscape outside the house, the boiled eggs for breakfast, the white people inside the house, all of it feels bad.That momma being locked in her head when she was President of the Women's Auxiliary, Sour Grapes overlooking the obvious and doing stupid shit.It's fucking with my calm, and I don't want any part of it.”
“And your training?”
“Boss, if she can teach students virtually about boring ass anthropology and how the Incas took a shit and used it to fertilize maize, then she can set up a video chat to show me how to read and run code,” Helen said.“Hell, give me two books and a couple of days, and I can figure it out by myself.Did you know I read one of those textbooks Lemon wrote and then I made a love potion?”
“You made a what?”
“Yeah, it worked too.That sexy man married me,” Helen said.“Well, not just because of the love potion, but because, heck I'm awesome.That's what he told me.No, it was amazing.He said I am an amazing woman.Lemon thought I was weird and nasty when she caught me in her lab with my pants down, but that's another story.”
The voice asked, “Cranberry, you're upset and off kilter.Should you be driving?”
“I needed to get out of there, Boss.He feels wrong,” Helen said, knowing Azrael knew the man was there.“She still doesn't know how he tracked her or if he was tracking me.He asked my name, and I told him Shenita.He was trying to read me.I didn't like it, so I left.If it means I will not be a technician, so be it.I did what was asked, but if my spirit says it's not right, then it's wrong.I trust my gut.My gut says he's bad.”
“Okay,” the voice said.
“Okay what?I'm off the team?”
“Okay, I trust your gut,” Azrael replied.“Catch your breath.Are you stopping at Apple's for the night?”
“No, I want to go home.I want to be in my bed, eating my food, and snuggling with my guy,” she said.“If I keep a steady pace, I can be home by dinner.”
“Let's circle back when you get your bearings, crafted a few items, and sorted out the stew in your gut,” the voice said.
“Roger that.Cranberry out,” Helen said, terminating the call.
Donovan Turnbull was playing a dangerous game.Helen didn't know which was more toxic, the home, the situation with Bella, or the man.Either way, it felt like a bunch of ick.Her training in cyber would get done from her home.
