| General Fiction posted March 11, 2025 | Chapters: |
...41 42 -43- 
|
Julia, Marie, and Johnny are confronted in the park
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 43
by Jim Wile
| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 42: Marie and Cedric exult over the fact that an article in The Times reported that Dipraxa is no longer available. This indicates that Fran and Brian’s mission to sabotage it was successful. Cedric says he can quit two of his jobs and begin practicing again since his mother is now back at work.
Marie calls Julia with the news and learns that the family is being threatened and that Brian is to stop the phase-2 trials of Glyptophan, or else face uncertain consequences. Julia is very distraught and says they will be hiring bodyguards. Marie promises to come down and stay with the family. The chapter ends as Marie tells Julia she loves her—a first in their relationship.
Chapter 43
Marie
I arrived at Julia’s house in an Uber after flying down three days later. The timing of our summer break couldn’t have worked out any better. We had our last concert yesterday, and today, here I am.
Julia and Brian greeted me at the door, and Brian brought my bags to my room. Johnny was napping right then, and I would see him later.
“Mother, why don’t you come into the family room and meet our new bodyguards? Brian and I held our final interviews yesterday and made our decisions last night. All three are here now going over details, and we’re getting to know each other.”
Brian led the way into the family room where three men were seated on the couch. “Marie, this is Woody Sandbulte, Nick Burwell, and Harvey Briggs. They’ll be working with us for the foreseeable future. Guys, this is Julia’s mom, Marie Schmidt.”
They stood to greet me. The one named Woody was huge and squeezed my hand a bit too firmly in his big paw. Nick was not quite as large and had a much gentler touch and a friendly smile, while Harvey was tall and rangy and athletic-looking. They all appeared to be in their 40s.
“Mother, Harvey was just explaining that they will work in three eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, so that one of them will be with us at all times.”
“And how long will this go on?”
“No one really knows. I guess until we’re convinced there’s no longer any danger.”
“And I presume you have all been vetted or bonded or whatever you security guys must go through to be on a security team?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Nick. “We’re all employees of Annandale Security, who’s done rigorous background checks on all of us. Harvey and I are ex-cops, and Woody is ex-military. We all have experience in cases of harassment like this, and, as I was explaining to Brian and Julia, we’ll spend the day today assessing the house for possible breaches, determining effective escape routes, scouring for any surveillance devices, which Brian has informed me probably exist, etc. Later, one of us will drive Brian to the airport since he’s planning to be gone for the next week.”
I felt somewhat better about things, but it’s just so unfair and aggravating that there’s even a need for this.
In a few minutes, I heard the baby cry out. “Julia, let me go see to him by myself. Let’s see if he remembers me.”
I made my way to his room and opened the door slightly. I peeked in at him, and he was standing in his crib. “Hi, Johnny. Remember me?”
His little face lit up. “Gamma, Gamma.”
“Hi, Sweetie. How’s my favorite grandson?” I went in and lifted him out of his crib and gave him a big squeeze. I could tell his diaper was wet, so I changed him before bringing him out to join the others. He was a little shy when he spotted the three big men and ran to Julia.
Brian seemed to be winding things up with them at this introductory meeting and went with them on a tour of the house and yard.
“How are you handling all this, Julia?”
“I’m still worried, but I do feel better having the bodyguards now. They won’t be living here with us, but someone will be with us every hour of the day. It’s just so frustrating it has to be this way.”
Over the next few days, things had settled into a routine. We only had occasional interactions with the bodyguards. Brian left the day I arrived and is making his various stops around the country to recruit more test subjects.
Julia feels safer in the house and has been reluctant to go outside much. Although the car had stopped parking across the street from her house recently, she was still fearful they were being watched somehow. We were going a bit stir crazy, though, with all the time indoors and felt we needed to get out. The guard named Woody was on duty today when we decided to take Johnny to the park and do some grocery shopping afterward.
Woody offered to drive Julia’s SUV while we sat in the back with Johnny. When we got to the park, and removed Johnny from his car seat, he was off and running toward the playground. Julia was close behind, and Woody and I brought up the rear. By the time we got there, Julia had already placed Johnny in a baby swing and began pushing him. Woody and I sat on a nearby bench, watching them. I felt safe enough. Woody had on an untucked short-sleeved shirt, and I could see the bulge of a gun perched in a hip holster beneath his shirt.
“Have you ever had to use what you’re packing there, Woody, while on the job?”
“Oh, yeah. But mainly for deterrence. I’ve seldom had to fire it or even draw it. I mostly make its presence known. We strive to keep things from escalating to where we have to draw it and use it.”
“I’ve never been one for guns.”
“They get a bad rap, but they’re very useful as a deterrent.”
“I guess I can see that. I confess I do feel safer knowing you have one.”
“Isn’t that always the way? It’s hard to know how you really feel about something unless you’re confronted with the need for it directly. Then you may change your tune. And sometimes that awareness makes you capable of doing things you never dreamed you could do.”
We sat silently for a while, watching Julia push Johnny on the swing, when a sudden look of fear came over her, and a voice behind us said, “Are you the Kendrick family?”
Woody instantly arose and faced two men. “Who wants to know?”
“We have a message for you.”
I looked at Woody, who had lifted his shirt slightly so the men could see the gun on his hip. “I suggest you don’t come any closer, gentlemen. Let’s hear it, then you can turn around and walk away.”
They were younger men—perhaps in their 30s—extremely well built, wearing muscle shirts. They had close-cropped hair and several days growth of beard on their otherwise hairless faces. A number of tattoos ran up and down their arms.
“The message is that Brian Kendrick should stop all phase-2 testing of his new drug immediately.”
“Or what?”
“That’s for someone else to decide. We were instructed to say that failure to comply will be dealt with harshly.”
“Thank you. Now why don’t you turn around and go back the way you came?”
They left without another word. Julia had removed Johnny from the swing and came over to us. She was visibly shaking and holding tightly to Johnny, who was squirming in her arms.
“How did they know we were here?” asked Julia.
Woody said, “I don’t know yet. We didn’t find any surveillance devices in your house or cars at our initial inspection, but we’ll continue to look for them. They may somehow have recently attached a transponder to your car that allows them to track it, or they may have placed a hidden camera somewhere outside that alerted them to our movements. I’ll report this to the team, and we’ll figure out where they’re getting their information from.”
“Thank you for intervening like that, Woody,” said Julia. “Do you think you could take us straight home now? I think we’ll skip the trip to the grocery store. Maybe I can just call the order in and see if they’ll deliver it to the house.”
“Sure, Mrs. Kendrick. That’s probably a good idea until we figure out how they’re getting their location information.”
“Woody, you can just call me Julia.”
“Will do, Julia.”
As Julia picked Johnny up and we made ready to leave the playground, he began whimpering and struggling to get down. He clearly hadn’t had enough time to play. As we began heading back to the car, he began to really cry and flail. Julia held him tightly and tried talking to him gently, but he would have none of it.
I offered to take him because Julia was, herself, getting increasingly agitated. This had to be very stressful for her, especially with Brian gone now and three virtual strangers coming and going at all times. She handed the crying baby to me, and I soothed him as best I could, but it was a rotten way to end what we were hoping would be a fun outing.
Woody’s shift ended at 4:00 PM when Nick arrived to take over. Woody filled him in on everything that happened at the park, and they discussed ideas about locating a surveillance device in or around the home. Nick promised to work on it, and Woody left.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” said Nick. “Brian had informed us this might happen at some point, but it’s always a shock when it actually does. I’m going to go over your car thoroughly to see if I can find a transponder that would signal your location to a GPS satellite. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go do that now.”
When he had left, Julia said, “Mother, I’m going to put Johnny down for his nap now. All that crying and carrying on tired him right out. I’ll be back in a minute.”
When she returned, she sat at the kitchen table with me. I’d made us both some half-n-half iced tea (half sweet tea, half plain).
“You know, Julia, if this is too much for you down here, you and Johnny could come to New York and live with me for a while until it blows over. I’m sure Brian has to continue his work here, but you two are certainly welcome.”
“That’s so nice of you to offer, Mother, but there’s no telling how long this will go on. I feel like Brian, and Johnny, and I have to stick together. In fact, I’m going to call Brian now and tell him what happened.”
She went into her bedroom then for some privacy to make the call. When she came back out twenty minutes later, she looked relieved.
“What did he say about it?” I asked her.
“He says he’ll be returning home tomorrow from Oklahoma, following a meeting with the Cherokee Nation in the morning. He says he will postpone the other appointments he’s made with other groups until things have settled down here. I told him he didn’t have to do that, but he was adamant. I think he could tell I really wanted him to come home. This is such a goddamn shame, Mother. I’m sick of this! This should be a happy time for us because things are going so well, but look what it’s turned into. How much worse will it get before it gets better?”
“I wish I could tell you that these are just idle threats and this will all blow over soon. I just don’t know, though.”
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is a confidential informant (CI) for Fran and works in Big Pharma.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Leonard Merra: A vice president at the Big Pharma company where Dana works. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Rudy Spangler: A vice president at Gideon Pharmaceutical. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Peter Israel: The security chief at Gideon Pharmaceutical. He is in cahoots with Rudy Spangler to stop Glyptophan.
Woody Sandbulte: One of three bodyguards hired by the Kendricks for protection.
Nick Burwell: One of three bodyguards hired by the Kendricks for protection.
Harvey Briggs: One of three bodyguards hired by the Kendricks for protection.
Picture courtesy of Poe Assistant
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