Rick Carter's First Big Adventure (Pete's Barbecue Book 1) (14 page)

      Pete chuckled more heartily this time from deep in his round gut.  “You may be independent but you always a kid to ole Pete.”  He looked at Rick again.  “Pete he 90 years old.  What you tink of dat Rick Carter taxi man?”

      Rick stopped chewing, realizing that he had aaparently just heard something wrong.  “I’m sorry, what was that?”

      “Oh, nuthin’,” Mel said.  “Pete’s just bragging on himself again.  You know there are older people at the Company, Pete.  You remember Nell?”

      Pete rocked a little as he relished putting his younger pupil on the spot.  “But, ole Pete he different, yeah?”

      “Yeah, you can’t fly as good as she can.”  Mel pointed out.  He raised a barbecue-stained hand at Rick to help make his point.  “This guy has never stopped reminding me how good he is.  I’ve had to put with this for almost thirty years.  You think driving a cab is bad, try dealin’ with Mr. Humility over here.”

     Rick wasn’t sure what he should say so he took another bit of chicken instead.  He thought this sounded too much like a family squabble and as a general rule, he stayed away from family problems.

      Pete leaned forward slightly and propped himself up on his elbows, staring at his pupil with glorious intent.  “Dats why ole Pete he knows you up to no good, cause you fly over here.  Who you tink taught you dat trick?  Now, Mr. Independent, how come dat is?  What you come all dis way for to get from ole Uncle Pete?” 

     Mel looked slightly embarrassed and a little uncomfortable which Rick found very amusing.   For a moment, a brief moment, he thought Mel might be at a loss for words.  But, that was wishful thinking. “We…I have a problem.”

     Pete quickly sat back again making the old picnic table squeak in protest, a triumphant smile on his face.  “Mmm, imagine dat.  Mr. Independent.  Ole Pete he never see dat one comin’.”

      Mel stopped and looked at his old master.  He was silent, quiet, a perturbed look was crossing his thin face.  “You know I hate comin’ here to ask favors.”

      Pete chuckled again, very accustomed to the bizarre sound of his bellowing.  “Says de man who keep Pete up all hours of de night chasin’ down Ghengis Khan and fixin’ South America, and gettin’ Henry VIII out of Italy alive.  All dees tings de just come from ole Pete knowin’ Melvin Thibadeaux, yeah?”

      The look remained on Mel’s face.  “I didn’t mean that.  I don’t like you, you know that?  You’re an old pain in the ass.”

      Pete laughed outright.  “Dat alright, but you like Uncle Pete’s barbecue don’t you?”

      Rick mumbled through a stuffed mouth something unintelligible while his head bobbed to the affirmative, bending over closer to the table to catch the falling bits. 

     Mel sighed deeply and looked down at his plate.  He was collecting his thoughts, regrouping.  Rick was even more amused by this.  Mel had met his match and then some in Pete Reyes.

      Pete looked at him carefully, understanding the thoughts racing in his apprentice’s mind.  He had known him too long and he knew when the jabbing had to stop.  “It alright, Mel.  Just come out wid it.  You’ll feel better when you do.”

      Mel raised his head and tightened his lips.  “We need to see Roger, Pete.”

       Pete stopped.  He stared at his adopted nephew.   A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed between them. “Now, bra, you know nobody sees Roger but Management.”

     “You did.”  Mel crossed his fingers.

    It was Pete’s turn to take a deep breath.  “Dat was a long time ago, and Pete had de blessing.  Management dey not gonna let you walk in dere.  Besides, you don’t even got de coordinates.  Nobody does.” 

      Mel didn’t budge.  “But, I know how to get the coordinates.”

      
Pete drew back in concern.  “Oh, now it come out does it?  See here, ole Pete hears de sound in the winds.  Mel, he tinks he has his catch does he?”

         Mel pressed on.  “You’re the only one with the equipment that can do it, Pete.  You know you can.  We have to see Roger.  This time, it’s critical.”

      “It’s always critical wid you Mel.  Nuthin’ you do is simple.”  Pete looked at him sternly. “An you don’t want de Company to know nuthin.’  Dats why you use commercial, yes?  You don’t want ole Tabert and Ball knowing?”

        “That was the idea.”  Mel readily admitted. 

      “Why?”  Pete quickly asked, his eyes flashing.

     Mel fidgeted a little.  “Something’s coming, Pete.  I’ve been tracking it off the record for a long time.  It’s big.”  He tried to emphasis his point.

     “You didn’t answer Pete’s question.  Why?”  Pete tapped the table in front of him lightly.

     “There’s a different kind of problem with this one, Pete.  Extra baggage that the Company needs to stay out of.”  Mel’s voice was slightly lower as if he were afraid of being overheard.

      “Pete’s listenin’.”  The old Chamorro responded.

       “It’s about me and Roger, Pete.  I think this problem has something to do with all that.”  Mel explained.  “And now it involves Rick too.”

       Pete looked at Rick, who had stopped voraciously chewing when he realized his name had been suddenly dropped into the middle of the conversation.  “Rick he always been involved in it, even when he don’t know it.”  Pete sighed again and leaned back, crossing his arms over his stomach yet again.  “So, it come to dat, has it?  All dat stuff comin’ back to get us again.”

     Rick seemed interested, even concerned now.  “What stuff?  What am I involved in?”

     Mel looked at his friend contemplating.  “I’ll explain later.  I told you some of it on the plane, but I guess maybe you’ll listen this time?”

      Pete thought for a moment, mulling some unseen memory with the possibilities of reality that only an experienced and seasoned fixer could see.   “What you tink it is?  Big tear?”

      “Bigger than last time.”  Mel Quickly explained. 

       Pete rocked again but this time, he didn’t seem so amused.  “Where’s de start?  How far you tracked it?”  He sounded far more serious now, business taking over the pleasure of letting his star pupil have the ribbing of his life.

       “I can’t find the origin.  It’s muddled, and the streams are all bunched and chaotic.  That’s why I, I mean we, wanted to see Roger.  I wanted to see what he knew, what he could tell us.”

       “You need a tracker.”  Pete pointed out.

        Rick was still stuck on a previous point and not moving forward with the conversation.  “Seriously how am I involved in this?”

       “Rick, I’ll explain again later.”  Mel said with a harder emphasis this time and turned to Pete. “I was hoping Roger would do the trick.  I can’t use Company trackers, and nobody can find The Tracker anyway.  We stand a better chance to get in to see Roger than finding him.”

       “Tormodis, he know where de Tracker is.”  Pete pointed out.

       Mel looked at him dejectedly.  “Really?  You want to get him involved in this?”

         Pete was silent again, thinking over so many scenarios in his mind and pondering outcomes.  “So, you want ole Uncle Pete to find Roger’s place and what?  ‘Cause I know der more to it den dat.”

       “Well, yeah.  There is.”  Mel reservedly admitted.

       “Here it comes.”  Pete rolled his eyes slightly and steadied himself for Mel’s next verbal punch.

       “We’ve got to break him out, too.”  Mel knew the kind of critical response he was about to get from his old mentor for even suggesting such an action. 

        “Break who out?”  Rick lowered his half-eaten chicken breast. 

         Mel glanced over at Rick and pretended not to notice the question.  “Before you start, Pete, I already know all the arguments.  You’ve told me a thousand times how bad it would be.  But, we have to get him out of there, out of the shield they have him under in that place and free from all that pyscho crap they pipe into his brain.”

         “You remember the last time he was out?  You remember what dat do to him?  That pyscho crap is de only ting what keep his brain from frying completely.  You take him outta dare and who knows what might happen.”  Pete pointed out with an urgent harshness.

         Mel rubbed his forehead and lowered his eyes. “I remember.  I know what might happen, Pete.  But, like it or not Rog is the only Seer we have and he’s worthless to us while he’s in there…and besides, I can’t be in there anyway.  You know that. ” Mel took a deep breath.

      Pete paused for a moment, his full dark eyes bristling with energy.  “Dis better be good, Mel, not just some kinda hunch.  You got some confirmations, some reality bleeds, some message traffic on de boards?  ‘Cause if you wrong, what you talkin’ ‘bout could get us censored, even one a dem little padded rooms all our own.  And what about Rick, here?  He know what you getting him into?”

          Mel seemed even more coy then before. “Not exactly.”

          Rick began to realize that he was on the outside of something looking in that was about to get more serious and was about to drag him along for the ride.  He felt increasingly worried about the learning curve he was about to be introduced to.  “Look, Rick is going to hop the next flight back to Tampa if somebody doesn’t start explaining things real quickly,” He said.

        “You got to do better den “not exactly.”” Pete grunted.  He stared at his former protégé for some moments.

        Mel started apprehensively.  “I don’t have message traffic, Pete.  And I don’t have any hard bleeds right now.  But, there’s been signs, Pete, good solid signs, the kind you taught me how to read.  Rick here is part of that.  Tell him Rick.”  Mel looked at his friend expecting help.

        Rick’s face was twisted into a mass of growing frustration. “Look, all I know is Mel showed up a few
days after I started working for this Company place and he falls out of the sky, and then my car started changing colors.  Next thing ole nut ball here decides to come running out to Guam.  And I can’t find my watch.”  He finished, his eyes narrowed at Mel.   

        Pete looked over at Mel again.  “You haven’t told him de rest have you?  Have you explained everyting to him?  What happened last time?”

          Mel took a deep breath.  “Not everything, no.  We’ve kind of been in a hurry, Pete.  I tried to tell him some things on the plane, but apparently he can tune people out real well.”

        “He need to know if he about to get in dis ting big.  And dat’s what you sayin’.  You wantin’ to get in it way big.”  Pete squared his eyes at Mel.

       The irritation was growing in Rick’s tone.  “Hey, I’m right here guys,”  He said flatly.

      Pete continued.  “You figure on bustin’ out Rog and you wantin’ ole Pete to help you do it.  Rick, he gonna be a part of dat, too.  The Company don’t suffer rogues Mel.  You know dat better dan anyone. ” Pete was emphatic on the last few words.

       Mel pulled himself up and tried to approach it again from a different angle.  “Look, Pete.  It’s not all that.  It’s just a simple in and out.  By the time they know what we’re up to we’ll be gone.  And besides, when has going rogue ever bothered you?  Who do you think I learned it from?”

       “It could be a bad ting if your wrong, Mel, is all I’m sayin’.”  Pete pointed out.

      “Bad for who, Pete?  Because it’s going to be bad for everyone if I’m right, and we don’t do anything.”  Mel countered.

       “You just better be right.  ‘Cause, Roger and Rick dey gonna be de one’s dat suffer if you not.  An’ you gonna be fired.”  Pete said.

      “Is this Pete Reyes I’m hearing or some retired old wash out?”  Mel’s voice suddenly intensified as he began to fire at his mentor from a different direction.  “You pulled some of the biggest stunts in Company history AND got away with it.  Since when are you afraid of anything they have to throw at you?”

      Rick decided to speak up again.  “Okay, I’m a little fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing.” 

      Pete stopped for a moment and looked down at his table.  “Rick, you new to all dis.  You don’t know how confusing the Company can be or what goes on dare.  Roger is de only Seer de Company has right now.  Dey not gonna want to give him up for some rogue hunch.  Dey gonna come after us, send agents after us.” 

      “Not necessarily.”  Mel interrupted.  “That’s why I came here to you first, Pete.  We can pull this off, just like a classic snatch and grab.”

        Pete laughed loudly this time, breaking the tension of the moment with his rolling boisterous sound.  “So, you want all de Honey Pot, yeah?” 

      Mel grinned slightly.  “That’s the idea.”

      “You want Pete to port you in and out.  “Cause he don’t get tracked. Dey won’t have any coordinates to lock onto.”  Pete began filling in the details for him.

        Mel lightened up as he realized Pete was coming around.  “You know, if I’m right, this whole thing is going to take every field agent off the reservation anyway.  We’re going to be hip deep in reality wash before you know it.  But, at least, we’ll have a shot at fixing it before it gets out of hand, unlike last time.”

     Pete didn’t respond.  He was looking solemnly at Mel like he wanted to take him aside and explain what kind of dangerous game he was playing with everyone and everything.