Ecuperating - Chapter 15

They convinced me!

“As time went on the children of the members were in school in the surrounding towns. Sault St. Marie, Newberry, Manistique, Munising, St. Ignace, Marquette, Escanaba and all points in between. It is said that the members themselves ran for and got on the boards of education, the county boards, the city commissions and the like. It is said they were the power base.”

One thing we know for sure: Their kids excelled at all sorts of competition in all of the schools. If there was a track record, it was held by a child of one of the members. If there was a basketball record, it was held by one of those kids. They held the top spots on the debate teams and often took state honors as well. They had the reputation of being tough but fair. The same could be said of their families, and of the lodge itself.

“They also had another reputation. They were more than just tough competitors. They made sure everyone else was too. There are a lot of stories about them floating around out there.

“There was one about a car dealer who screwed one of them on a car deal. He burnt out. Another about a real estate deal that went bad. The guy suddenly left town and never came back. There was the grocer that kept overpricing his goods. He was robbed several times before he quit. And a funny thinga member of that lodge took over each of those businesses.

“As far as numbers are concerned, it is said that the members of the lodge number in the thousands today. And it is growing rapidly.

“The worst rumor was the one about the state cop in 1965. It seems he falsely arrested a son of one of the member’s. When they brought the case to court it was thrown out.

The cop claimed a high priced lawyer got the kid off. He wouldn’t let go of it. All of his buddies begged him to leave it alone. He claimed he had been visited by members of the lodge several times asking him to lay off the kid. The cop wouldn’t do it. He kept after the kid for six months. One day in the middle of August the cop and his vehicle both disappeared. He was never found. The word is he and his vehicle are buried in the Seney Swamp somewhere.

“The State police investigated, of course. They were invited to the inner workings of Lodge 16. They were shown what went on there. It is said the training grounds there are superior to those of the State Police academy. It is also said that to this day, the state sends many of its people there for training. It is also said that the FBI and CIA also have a connection to the lodge, sending its people there for certain training.

“The word on the streetany streetDon’t fuck with Lodge 16. And we don’t. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. Our advice to you iskeep your hands off these boys.

“And that’s what I have for you about Lodge 16, Jayne.” Fred said worriedly. “I don’t want you getting into trouble with them. They’re bad news. And they don’t come any tougher.”

“What is their purpose? Do you know? Do they have a political agenda? Or are they just a local bunch? The more you tell me about them, the more questions pop up.” Jayne asked.

“There’s one more thing,” Fred said. “They own Personal Securities, Incorporated.”

“Shees!” Jane was surprised.

“That’s the biggest security company in the world!”

“I know,” Fred said knowingly.

“Which is another reason to not fuck with them. They’ll know who you are before you do.” “Thanks for your information, Fred. And I owe you another one!”

“Forget it. If these guys are interested in you, I don’t want to be within ten miles of you. I could get caught in the fallout!”

“That bad, huh?” Jayne asked. “Worse.” Fred hung up. Jayne called McNabb and gave him the information she had gotten from Fred in Newberry.

“Holy shit!” he said.

“I haven’t called anyone yet, but thanks for the heads up. I’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect when I get around to calling people on this. I think I might be sending someone out there to check the place out though. Is that all right?”

“Sure,” Jayne agreed. “Just be careful. These guys are good, from the sound of it.”

“I’ve got just the man for the job. My nephew is pretty good too. I’m sure he can handle it. I’ll be in touch if I find out anything.”

It was cold…even for Upper Michigan in February. A light snow was falling gently, making traveling miserable. Every time a truck passed him the snow swirled around his truck and made a complete whiteout for several seconds. He checked the temperature on the dash. 20 below out there, He thought with a grimace. Too damn cold to be traipsing around the north woods. He checked his mileage. Almost there. Let’s see. 1.4 miles east of Seney. Less than a half mile now.

He slowed, preparing to pull over to the side of the highway. There wasn’t much of a shoulder here. He was barely able to get the pickup off the main highway as he pulled off as far as possible. The snow bank rubbed the right side of the truck. He stopped and shut off the engine. This is it, he thought. Look at that damn snow! I knew it! I knew it! I won’t be able to use the snowmobile! Too brushy and too deep! Too much fluff! Damn it!

He was going to have to hoof it on snowshoes. Two miles north in this shit! I’ll never make it by dark! By 6:30 it’ll be too dark to see anything! He debated waiting until morning to go in. Nope… Boss will kill me if I don’t get in tonight.

He took out his cell phone and called the office.