Behind The Curve-The Farm | Book 3 | The Farm Craven Boyd (the reading list book .txt) 📖

staff didn’t have enough people to guard everyone inside from escaping, and deal with the mob outside. I’m sure there were a lot of folks hurt on both sides of the wire, but we didn’t kill anyone there.” Yet Rob added mentally.

“And do you have any idea how the mob formed up?” Gorman asked.

“I heard it was something to do with suckbook or some other social media stuff. I think it’s on my tweeter thing,” Rob said, pulling his phone out and trying to hand it to the agent.

He chuckled and put his hands up, so Rob put his phone back in his pocket.

“Bailey, you were there the longest. What was your take on the center?”

“Jail. Not like you see on TV, but you weren’t free to leave. You had assigned rooms. Families were split apart, living in separate locations. When they had a problem person there, the guards would offer me extra clothing, better bedding or better food to ‘bump into’ the problem child they couldn’t deal with openly.”

“That’s how I met her,” Angelica told the agents. “She was sent to bust me up.”

“Instead, I got my ass monkey stomped,” Bailey said, “I tried one more time before I learned my lesson. She visited me in the hospital, and after that, I threw in with her. She told me that if I came after her one more time, she’d make me her bitch. Well, I’m her bitch by choice, and her friend, because she’s got a kind heart and I’m trying to be a better person than I used to be. I want to learn from my past mistakes.”

“And what was the reason you were there at the detention center?” Agent Gorman asked.

“I was at a protest that turned into a riot. I was scooped up with a dozen others. A couple of them were sent near Fort Smith.”

“Let’s go back over the hospital staffing,” Agent Korey said. “Angelica, you said that one of the nurses there was basically conscripted using…” he flipped through his notes, “Children’s Services?”

Angelica sighed, and they went through the same details again. Rob knew the agents weren’t there to arrest them, but their interrogation techniques didn’t differ. He wondered what their end game was, since they were going against the orders they’d been given. Or so they said.

Goldie knew the way to win the agents over, and it involved more than giving them the truth. While the agents were busy, Luis and Harry had snuck into the underground freezer and pulled out three chickens and a rack of ribs. She could hear most of the conversation they were having, because Angelica had kept her radio on and was broadcasting. The entire group listened in while the last hour of the market was wrapping up.

The food had all been sold, bartered, or given away. Even the massive amount of salad greens and spinach had gone. That usually sold out by the end of the day, but the end of the day came early as the vendors ran out of supplies to sell. The folks who had set up tables there to barter goods for goods weren’t happy, because many of them were still wanting to wheel and deal, but with no customers left, they too packed up.

“I didn’t think I’d enjoy seeing the day end early,” Andrea told Curt, heading to their egg stand.

“Me either. It’s what, three in the afternoon? We might get done early today.” Curt gave her a playful push with his hip.

“You two, not in public. We still have virgin eyes here,” Kerry called from the front, waiting for the rest of the vendors to pack up and vacate the area.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be kept PG-13 inside these two fences,” Andrea told her. “For now, anyways.”

“Virgin eyes?” Dante called. “I bet—”

His breath left him in an ‘ooof’ sound as Leah elbowed him in the stomach.

“We almost done and wrapped up here?” Anna called. Steven had his arms over her shoulders, holding her loosely.

“I think so,” Kerry called. “Just one more.”

“Hey, Steven,” Goldie’s voice came over the radio, “can you fire up that big grill for me? And ask if Kerry and Jeff want to stay over for supper.”

“Sure thing,” Steven said to her, then turned to Anna. “You want to ask Kerry and I’ll go fire up the big grill?”

“Sure thing,” Anna turned and kissed him on the cheek, then skipped over to Kerry.

Steven got on one of the UTVs and fired it up. Curt and Andrea flagged him down before he could take off and climbed on. “We’ll help,” Curt called.

“They got the rest?” Steven asked.

“We’re good,” Dante said. “As long as Leah didn’t bust my ribs.”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s a sissy,” Leah called over the radio.

They all chuckled and headed to the workshop. Using the ball on the back of the UTV, they hitched the small trailer up and pulled it from beside the building to in front of the overhead doors. After unhitching it, Steven got two bags of charcoal from the pallet just inside the door, then hesitated.

“Steven for Goldie, what are we throwing on the grill?”

“A side of ribs and three chickens. Luis is helping me make the egg noodles and pasta salad. We’re teaching the FBI boys and Bailey how we cook in the south. Oh, and can somebody get me a jar of Dewey’s special vintage?”

“Um, with federales here?” Luis asked, obviously not near her anymore.

“Si,” Goldie said with a cackle.

“Rob, your mother will be the death of me,” Luis called.

“Jeff and Kerry said yes, I’m going to have them pull their vehicles inside the gates,” Leah said. “Everybody meeting at the big house, or should we grab some picnic tables?”

“Let’s eat outside while we still can,” Goldie said.

They all split up and started going to work. Steven pulled the trailer out in front of the workshop with one of the UTVs, while Anna went about raiding the beer fridge. She grabbed two cases and dumped them into a big