Different Circles

Jake grabbed his red robe from a hook on the doorway. He had not been in the habit of wearing a robe inside the house until Meghan had moved in last week and the possibility of encountering her in the halls or the kitchen in the middle of the night became a thing. He pulled it closed and then tied it securely. By this point, Laura had shut the window and latched it. She pulled on her own robe—hers was white and fuzzy and well broken in—and they went to the bedroom door.

Meghan was in the main hallway. She was wearing a long t-shirt with Cal Poly’s logo on it. It was obvious that she had no bra on beneath. Her hair was mussed and tangled and her eyes were sleepy. Her legs were bare and quite attractive, but Jake only glanced at them for a moment.

“What’s going on, Jake?” she asked. “Why is the intercom going off like that?”

“It’s the proximity alarm,” he told her. “Something just triggered it.”

“Like someone trying to break in?” she asked, alarm appearing on her face as well.

“I don’t know,” Jake said. “I’m going to check the monitors now. Is your window closed?”

“No,” she said. “I love to listen to the ocean when I’m sleeping.”

“Go close it,” he told her. “And latch it.”

“Do you really think that...”

“Just go do it, Meghan,” he told her. “We assume the worst until we know what’s going on.”

Meghan had been briefed on what the worst was: that some fanatical fan, or Intemperance hater, or just plain lunatic was trying to get to the Kingsleys to do violence. The house had been designed and constructed with this scenario in mind. Once all the doors and windows were latched and secured, it would take even a persistent intruder the better part of thirty minutes to gain entry; and that was only if the intruder was equipped with an axe, a sledgehammer, or cutting tools.

Meghan trotted back down the hall toward the guest bedroom that had been turned over to her. Jake and Laura opened the door to the office and stepped inside. The monitors were all operating in night vision mode. On one of them—the one that showed the view of the access road as it approached the gate to the property—was something that did not belong. It was a VW microbus straight out of the 1960s. It was moving slowly forward, its headlights out. Two vague human silhouettes could be seen in the driver and front passenger seats. The view was good enough that Jake could plainly see the front license plate number. That was good. The system continuously recorded all the video taken in a twelve-hour loop.

“Who is it?” Laura asked.

“No idea,” Jake said, watching. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that VW around town though. It’s red and has a bunch of bumper stickers on the back.”

“Yeah,” Laura said, nodding. “I’ve seen it too. Some hippie looking couple drives around in it.”

“They’re locals then,” Jake said.

“Maybe they just got lost?” Laura suggested. “Made a wrong turn onto our road?”

Jake shook his head. “People who make wrong turns onto the road don’t creep along with their headlights out,” he said. “They’re here for some purpose.”

“Should we call the sheriff’s department?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “Let’s see what they do.”

“Maybe they just want to buy some pot from us,” Laura suggested.

Jake chuckled a bit and continued to look at the monitors. He checked all the others and saw that there was nothing unusual going on. At least this was not an organized, multi-factional attack on the compound. He looked back at the approach view. The microbus slowly passed the hidden camera station and continued on. The camera automatically panned to follow it. Sure enough, the entire back of the bus was plastered with bumper stickers, most of which were of the radical environmental variety.

The phone rang on the desk. Jake looked at the caller ID and saw it was Elsa’s number. She had her own bank of monitors in her quarters and was undoubtedly watching the same thing that Jake was. He picked up the phone.

“Hey, Elsa,” he greeted.

“Are you watching this, Jake?” she asked.

“I am,” he confirmed. “Not sure what to make of it yet.”

“I have seen that vehicle around town on many occasions,” Elsa said. “Their bumper stickers suggest they are members of the environmentalist movement as well as the animal rights movement.”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “Laura and I have both seen it as well. A hippie looking couple in their late forties, early fifties.”

“That is correct,” she said. “Have you contacted the sheriff’s department yet?”

“Not yet,” Jake said. “I want to see what they do.”

“I suppose that is appropriate,” Elsa said doubtfully.

“Are you locked down over there?” Jake asked her.

“Indeed I am,” she said.

“That’s good,” he said. “Stay on the line with me. I’ll put you on speaker.”

“Very good,” she said.

He pushed the button for speakerphone and then hung up the handset. On the monitor, the vehicle finally came to a halt. It was just a few feet before the point where the gate camera would have picked them up and triggered the security lights. Interesting.

“They have some insider information,” Jake said.