The Night The Dreams Died
Dead And Furious
Chapter 10
X
Kyle Valenti lay sprawled across a leather easy chair, one leg over the arm of the chair, watching football on TV with his father, Sheriff Jim Valenti, when the phone rang.
“Awwww… geez,” Jim groaned. “One of these days I’m gonna get the number of every salesperson who calls me when I’m busy, and I’m gonna call them back every day for a week while they’re watching a game or having their dinner! See how they like it!” Jim set the bowl of popcorn he and Kyle were sharing down on Kyle’s lap and walked into the dining room to get the phone. Several minutes later, he returned.
“Who was that on the phone, Dad?”
Kyle continued watching the game as he popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth, but after some moments had passed, he noticed that his Dad had not answered, and he looked up from the TV. Jim was sitting down with his head in his hands… and it looked like… but that couldn’t be.
“Dad? Are you okay?”
Kyle muted the TV and extricated himself from his chair. “What’s wrong, Dad?”
Jim shook his head and looked up, clearly making a forced effort to appear calm and in control. But his eyes were red, and Kyle knew that something had to be very, very wrong for it to have affected his father this deeply.
“That was the Sheriff from Copper City, Bob Horton, on the phone,” Jim said. “He got a report that a car went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass earlier today. Horton and a couple of his deputies checked it out, and some climbers climbed down to the wreck. There wasn’t much left… Fire was real hot they said… pretty much burned everything up. No bodies left. It was a straight down drop from the top… ‘bout 700 feet accordin’ to the Sheriff.”
“Do they have any idea who it was, Dad?”
Jim nodded and swallowed hard. “They found the bumper with the license plate still on it… about a hundred feet from the burned out car… It was Amy’s.”
Kyle opened his mouth, but at first nothing came out. Then he put his hand on his father’s shoulder…
“Dad, I’m… I’m sorry. I… Is there anything I can do?”
Jim shook his head and wiped the corners of his reddened eyes.
“No, son. What’s already done… can’t be changed. I’ll have to tell Maria…” As soon as he had said it, Jim realized his mistake. Maria wasn’t around anymore to tell. She was presumed dead since being shot at graduation five and a half months before, but Jim had entertained some hope that Liz’s visions and premonitions might be right and Maria and the others might actually, somehow, turn up alive. He had looked forward to giving that news to Amy. Now there was no Amy to give it to.
“I’ve got to tell the folks that knew her,” Jim said. “We should have a memorial or somethin’. Sheriff Horton said there’s no body to bury.” Jim closed his eyes and breathed in deeply again to maintain his composure. Then he picked up his hat and put it on his head.
“Where you goin’, Dad?”
“Over to see Reverend Garrett… see what can be done about a memorial for Amy. Then I’m gonna check on Liz Parker. And I reckon I’ll have to call Bryan Hollings, the Editor over at the News Journal and let him know… for the paper. Maybe Hansen can do that for me.” Jim paused for a moment. “No… No, I ought to do it myself. It’s Amy.”
Jim closed the door behind him, and Kyle swallowed something that felt like a lump in his throat then sat back down slowly in his chair. But the game didn’t seem to matter anymore.
**********
Jim climbed the steps beside the CrashDown and knocked on Jeff and Nancy’s door. Then he waited. For several moments, he watched the birds fly back and forth between the trees and the telephone lines across the street then fly off again to some points unknown. As he watched, he became aware of a muffled sound, like someone crying, coming from inside the apartment. He knocked on the door again.
“Jeff? Are you in there? Is everything alright?”
The door opened.
“Sheriff! Thank God! We’ve already called Doc Jennings. I was going to call you next.”
“What’s wrong, Jeff,” Jim asked, noticing that Nancy appeared distraught and had been crying.
“It’s Liz. She’s unconscious… in the study… Come on.”
Jim went in quickly. “Did something happen to her?”
“We don’t know,” Jeff said. “She and Alex were up here together, and they both seem to have just collapsed or passed out or something. We can’t wake them up.”
“Did you check your stove, Jeff? You could have a gas leak.”
“It’s electric,” Jeff said.
As they entered the study, Jim saw Alex sitting on a sofa. He appeared to be asleep. Liz was leaning on his arm, and she, too, had every appearance of being merely asleep. Jim leaned over the motionless forms of the two teens and checked their eyes, lifting each one’s eyelids and shining his light into them.
“They’re alive, Jeff. Their pupils react to light.” He pressed his fingers to each one’s neck in turn. “Good heartbeats. They almost seem to just be sleeping, Jeff.”
“I know, but we can’t wake them up, Jim. We thought that, too, but… they won’t wake up.”
Nancy began to cry again softly.
“We’ll figure out what’s wrong, Nancy,” Jim said, turning to reassure her. “Whatever it is.”
“Thanks, Jim.”
“You say Doc Jennings is on the way?”
Jeff nodded.
“Good. If Doc can’t wake them up, we may have to take them to the hospital for some tests.”
“Not Roswell General.” Jeff shook his head emphatically.
“Why not, Jeff? It’s a good hospital.”
“I know it’s supposed to be, Jim, but… it’s just that when Liz was in there before… after the shooting… well, I really think she would have died if we hadn’t got her out when we did. I know they saved her life right after the shooting, but then, about a month after the shooting, she took a sudden unexplained turn for the worse, and she wasn’t improving after that… Just the opposite.”
“You think someone was doing something to her, Jeff?”
Jeff shrugged. “I don’t want to think it, Jim, but I don’t know what else to think. When I took her out of Roswell General and hired Vera to be her personal nurse and just had Doc Jennings check up on her regularly, she stabilized again then began to improve.”
Jim seemed concerned. “If they can’t be awakened, they’ll have to be taken somewhere, Jeff. I don’t think there’s any place else qualified closer than a hundred miles.”
“If she has to go there… will you keep an eye on her, Sheriff?”
“You know I will, Jeff.”
“Okay… but if I see her condition getting any worse… I’m pulling her out of there just like
before.”
Jim nodded and turned around, as Doc Jennings came into the room with Nancy. Jeff pointed at the sofa, and Doctor Jennings pulled out a small light and his stethoscope and proceeded to do what Jim had done… with the same results.
“They seem healthy enough,” Doctor Jennings said. “Doesn’t seem to be any reason why they should both be unconscious. You checked for gas leaks?”
Jeff nodded. “No gas… just electric.”
“How about in the restaurant downstairs? You could have gas leaking up through the floors into the apartment.”
Jeff shook his head.
“Grills can produce carbon monoxide,” Doctor Jennings said, looking at the cuticles on Liz and Alex’s hands. “Hmm. They don’t have signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, though. The cuticles aren’t rosy. Could they have eaten or drank something that was toxic, or… Jeff, I hate to ask this, but… could Liz have been taking drugs?”
Jeff bristled visibly. “No!”
“Well, it’s just that kids sometimes do something crazy when they’re together that they wouldn’t do by themselves,” Doctor Jennings said. “I didn’t think Liz would be doing anything, either, but… well, kids, you know?”
“My kid,” Jeff said. “No! Liz was not taking drugs, Doctor. I’m sure Alex wasn’t either.”
“Was she on any medication that I didn’t give her, Jeff? Something she got from another doctor maybe?”
Jeff shook his head.
Doctor Jennings noticed the two orbs where they had fallen down between Alex and Liz. He picked them up and looked at them briefly, running his fingertips over the unusual symbols on each one.
“Indian souvenirs,” he said, handing them to Jim. “One of them must have been over to the reservation and visited the souvenir shop.” Jim nodded and took the orbs.
“Well, Sheriff… I can’t find anything physically wrong with Liz… or the Whitman boy either. I don’t rightly know what else to do ‘cept to take them for some tests to see if they have anything in their systems that might have poisoned them. I’ll have to get permission from the Whitman boy’s parents… and your permission, of course, too, Jeff… for Liz. Have the Whitman’s been notified?”
“We… we didn’t think about it,” Jeff said. “I’ll do it right now.” Jeff left the room and returned after several minutes.
“They’re going to meet us at the hospital.”
“Okay,” Doctor Jennings said. “Can I use your phone, Jeff? I’ll call for an ambulance.”
Jeff handed the phone to Doctor Jennings. “Jim, am I doing the right thing?”
“What else can you do, Jeff? If something’s wrong with Liz, we need to know what… and it’s better we find out sooner than later… when it could be too late.”
Jeff nodded. “I know Jim… I just can’t shake this feeling that this is more than it appears to be and I may be doing the wrong thing. But like you said, it’s the only choice we can make. Their lives could depend on it.”
Jim swallowed and looked at Jeff hesitantly. “Jeff… there’s another reason I came over here. I really hate to add anything to your problems right now… but Sheriff Horton, over in Copper City, called me on the phone about two hours ago to tell me that they were working an accident… a car went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. Horton and a couple of his deputies checked it out, and it was Amy’s car. There were no survivors.”
“Oh No!” Nancy Parker gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. “Your Amy, Sheriff?”
Jim hesitated momentarily, caught by surprise by Nancy’s spontaneous remark, and Nancy realized what she had said.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Jim, I didn’t mean that… well… It’s just that I know you two were pretty close.”
“It’s alright,” Jim said, nodding thoughtfully. “I know what you meant. Yeah… my Amy.”
Jim rubbed the corner of his eye with the knuckle of his index finger and sniffed. “I think I must be catching something. Anyway, Jeff, I talked to Reverend Garrett, and there’s going to be a small memorial tomorrow at 3 PM. I’ll understand, of course, if you and Nancy can’t come.”
“We’ll be there, Jim,” Jeff said. “Unless something happens to Liz at the hospital or she needs us… I think we can take an hour or so away to go to the memorial. Will it be at the church?”
“No. It’s going to be at Amy’s house. She has a beautiful backyard garden with hanging arbors. It’s big enough to accommodate everyone. And Amy would appreciate the fact that everyone will be there to see and admire her gardens, I think. She worked hard on them. It seems only right. It’ll feel like Amy’s spirit is there.”
“What’s going to become of her house, Jim?”
“I don’t know yet. We’re looking into that.”
“Well, we’ll be there, Jim, barring any problems with Liz, of course. You can count on us.”
“Thanks, Jeff,” Jim said. “I know Amy would be pleased to know you and Nancy were there.”
**********
-The Next Day-
Jim sat down next to Jeff and Nancy Parker. Amy had arranged her gardens with natural-looking rock benches to sit on all around the outside edges of an open space surrounding a central flowering kiosk with a small clear pool fed by water falling over a layered stack of rocks. The garden had a naturally canopied but breezy, airy feeling, like a small glade and stream in the woods, while at the same time being a wonderland of greenery and flowers of every imaginable type. Jim always thought that if he looked hard enough, he’d probably find a little fairy or two somewhere among the flowers.
“Glad you could make it, Jeff… Hi, Nancy… How’s Liz?”
“Same,” Nancy said. “No change.”
“Yeah, I checked on her earlier this morning,” Jim said. “The doctors said that her signs were all good. There’s that at least.”
Nancy smiled, but it was a smile tempered by sadness.
The Reverend Garrett cleared his throat and looked around the gardens. For such short notice, it appeared that quite a large number of people had shown up. He saw Jim and Kyle Valenti seated with Jeff and Nancy Parker. He saw Brody Davis, who owned the UFO museum, and his daughter. He saw Bryan Hollings, editor of the Roswell Daily Journal. He saw Alex’s parents and his grandparents. A little further back, he saw what appeared to be the entire former football team from Roswell High. Kyle smiled as he saw that his teammates had all shown up. He guessed that he shouldn’t be surprised really. At Roswell High, Amy’s feisty attitude and willingness to help out in almost any cause had gained her a lot of respect and more than a few friends. Looking across the kiosk, Reverend Garrett thought he saw more than a few teachers and students from Roswell High. He saw people he knew well and people who had not graced his church in many a year… some perhaps never.
“My brothers and sisters,” Reverend Garrett began… “We have come today to honor the cherished memory of one who has meant a lot to all of us, Amelia Marie DeLuca… Amy, as we all knew her. As we sit here in her gardens and feel the breeze on our faces… hear the singing of the birds… and smell the eternal summery fragrance of the flowers that she loved and cared for… we cannot help but feel that Amy is here with us even as we speak…”
Jim noticed several gasps from the other side of the kiosk.
“Truly,” Reverend Garrett continued, “Amy’s indomitable spirit is here in the garden that she loved, and she is doubtless smiling as she sees all the people who loved her… and all the friends who have come here to remember her today.”
There were several more gasps. Jim tried to glance back inconspicuously, but he didn’t want to spoil the solemn atmosphere of the occasion.
“Every person here today has something to remember Amy for… her selflessness… her willingness to jump in and help out whenever she was needed… especially those less fortunate… her indomitable spirit… her wit and seemingly boundless energy… her smiling… her… uh… smiling…”
Reverend Garrett glanced up then stood there, his mouth open. Jim and Kyle both turned around. Most of the others present already had.
“Amy?”
Amy was standing behind them, arms crossed, but what was on her face did not look like a smile.
“What’s this, Jim?”
“My God, Amy! You’re alive!”
“I’m gone for a day, Jim, and you have my funeral?” Amy whacked Jim on the arm, and he started to laugh.
“Oh, and now it’s funny, too? I’ve been walking for two days in the hot sun with no car to get back from that base out there in the desert. Nobody came by on that God-forsaken desert road to even offer me a ride! Nobody came to get me or even look for me! I’m hot! I’m bothered! I’m thirsty! I’m filthy with desert dust! My skin feels like that road out there looks! My hair will probably never be clean again! And you’re laughing? Well, I don’t see anything funny!”
“Not funny, Amy,” Jim said, shaking his head. “Relief! I thought you were dead. Sheriff Horton, over in Copper City, said that your car went off the upper pass on Bald Mountain and burned up. He said there were no survivors. We thought…” Jim reached out and pulled Amy into his arms. “We thought you were dead, Amy,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I’m sorry, Jim,” Amy said. “I’m just frustrated. I almost got killed getting onto that base, I got lectured by a pompous general and had guns pointed at me. My car was shot up… WITH ME IN IT! Then I had to walk back to town. And on top of everything, I didn’t find Maria.”
Jim held Amy closer and kissed her on the forehead. “We’ll find Maria, Amy… together.”
Amy nodded.
“You know, Amy, all these people came to see you… Well, to remember you, but… Anyway, it seems a shame to waste a good occasion like this, a nice summer day… with a preacher present and all…”
Amy pulled back and looked at Jim with a look of incredulity.
“Will you marry me, Amy?”
“You’re out of your mind, Jim! Look at me! I’m dustier than the desert right now! I’m hot! I’m sweaty! I’m in a bad mood! And you want to… You want to… you… you want to… what?”
“Marry me, Amy.”
Amy just stood there, her mouth open. Then she shook her dusty clothes and wiped her arms. Desert dust fell off of both. Amy looked at Reverend Garrett. “Well, what are you standing there for? The man could change his mind! Marry us!”
There was a huge roar of laughter and applause from all over the garden.
“Jim, if we do this… we can have a proper wedding later… with Maria, right?”
Jim smiled and nodded.
“Well, come on,” Amy said to Reverend Garrett. “Let’s do this! It’s about time that something good happened to me today!”
Reverend Garrett nodded, still not quite over the shock of everything that was happening.
“Dearly beloved… we are gathered here today to remember… uh… to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”
“I do,” Amy said.
“I haven’t got to that part yet,” Reverend Garrett said under his breath.
“I do, too,” Jim said, pulling Amy to him and kissing her.
Reverend Garrett looked at them and tossed his ceremony book aside.
“Then if anyone knows any reason why this man and this woman should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace… I pronounce you man and wife… You may kiss the bride.”
Jim pulled back and looked at Amy, smiled, and wiped some dust off his lips.
“I told you I was dusty,” Amy said, smiling. Jim just grinned… then he kissed her again.
tbc
Coming Next: Amy and Jim work together to try to find out what happened to Maria and the others, and Judge Lewis takes advantage of Liz and Alex’s condition.
The Night The Dreams Died (CC,M/L,TEEN) -Complete-
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The Night The Dream Died - PG-13 M/L, M/M, A/I
The Night The Dreams Died
Rahn
Chapter 12
XII
It was an almost imperceptible noise, but the soldier standing guard in the highly secret, well-protected underground passageway under area 51 was no ordinary soldier. He was part of an elite unit… a highly trained, highly motivated product of the most rigid army training, in superior physical condition, with trained, keenly-honed sensory abilities. This was a man who would notice something that any ordinary soldier or other person would likely never be aware of until it was too late.
The sound had been as quiet and as innocuous as a leaf falling on the ground, but Major Manuel Ruiz whirled around, his weapon at ready. He never had time to pull the trigger. His mouth opened in a silent scream, as the thirty-something-foot-long anaconda uncoiled its entire length with all the speed of a bullet, throwing loop after loop of its huge muscular body around its victim.
Ruiz tried briefly to call for help, but no sound would come from his lungs, which were already being pressed mercilessly, preventing any air from entering. He struggled, but the snake merely coiled more tightly around his chest and stomach. He tried to keep air in his lungs… to keep his chest from being crushed… but each time he breathed out even a puff of air, the anaconda tightened its hold a little more. He heard one rib crack… then another… Then everything faded into darkness.
**********
Major Manuel Ruiz put his helmet on and brushed his uniform off, making sure that everything was in peak military form. He pressed the edges of his shirt back into his pants tightly, smoothing the last trace of a wrinkle out with his hand. Then he picked up his rifle and walked down the hall purposefully. At the end of the hall, he looked briefly one way and then the other. Then he turned and walked down the hall to the left, nodding as he passed another guard. The guard nodded back. Ruiz walked further down the hall then turned right into another hall, nodding to another guard. This guard didn’t nod back…
“Who’s guarding your post, Ruiz? You’re out of your area.”
“I was relieved by another unit, sir.”
“Then why are you going this way? The relief post is the other direction… but you know that,” the guard said, eyeing Ruiz suspiciously.
“Yes, sir. I was merely… Here! Here are my orders, sir.” Ruiz took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York, who reached out and took it, momentarily leaving himself vulnerable. Ruiz brought the butt of his rifle up sharply, catching the surprised guard under the chin and knocking him unconscious. Then he quickly switched clothes with the unconscious man, handcuffed his hands behind his back with his own handcuffs, and tied his feet with his belt.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York straightened his uniform and placed his helmet on his head. Then he walked down the hall to the end and turned left into yet another hall. This hall was extremely long but essentially unguarded. Saying that it was unguarded might actually be inaccurate, though. The only reason there were no guards posted in this hall was that, in the past, several had been killed when they tripped the lasers that protected the half-mile-long passageway… and it seemed almost superfluous, besides dangerous, to post guards here among the active lasers. When official personnel visited the area, as they did regularly, the lasers were turned off for them. The guards did not have that option available to them.
Lieutenant Colonel York studied the passageway for several moments, searching with eyes that seemed to have an eagle-like intensity. Then he stepped into the hall and began to walk down it, swiftly and confidently walking first along the left side then along the right side… occasionally stepping high or leaping over unseen beams. He reached the end of the hall after about ten minutes and looked at the steel door in front of him. York placed one hand over the lock on the steel door and watched the lock slowly melt then drip to the ground, forming a small lake of molten ore at his feet. Then the door swung open.
It was dark inside the room, but York had no trouble seeing the two men inside. One sat in the corner, his head resting on his arms, which were rested on his knees. The other sat leaning against a wall, his legs stretched out. Both appeared to have been sleeping… or perhaps trying to sleep… and both appeared to be emotionally drained, malnourished, and in a severe state of mental and physical fatigue and stress from recent injuries.
The young man in the corner looked up at the guard for a moment then laid his head wearily back on his arms.
“Psst.”
The young man looked up again. York held his hand in front of him, and his hand began to glow, casting light on his face. Then, as the two young men watched, Lieutenant Colonel York’s face began to change.
The young man in the corner gasped. “Rahn!”
The man in the doorway placed a finger over his lips.
“Rahn… What are you doing coming back here? You’ll get caught!”
“No, Zan. I will be careful.”
“Why didn’t you go back home,” the second man in the room asked in a whispered voice.
“I couldn’t… I owe you, Rath… I owe both of you my life. You helped me to escape… after sixty years…” Rahn lowered his head, as he remembered his many torturous years in captivity. “I owe you my life… both of you. I cannot abandon you now. You would not have been caught again if you had not been protecting me… helping me to escape, too.”
“Can you get us out of here?” Michael asked.
“It will not be without danger.”
“Danger I can handle,” Michael said. “It’s better than what happens in here. I don’t know how you survived sixty years in here, Rahn. I’d be dead now if Zan… if Max… hadn’t been here to heal all my wounds… after each session with Doctor Vulture and Agent Stoneheart.”
“Those are strange names for humans,” Rahn said stoically.
“They’re not names, Rahn,” Michael said… “They’re… descriptions. Show us how to get out of here!”
“Follow me… Do exactly what I do. We will have to avoid the lasers in the long hall. At the end, we will go left… then I will lead you.”
“How did you get past the guards,” Michael asked. “Won’t they be looking for us?”
“Yes.”
“Did they see you?”
“Yes.”
“Then how…”
“I became a large serpent… an anaconda, I think you call it, to protect myself from the first one.”
“Did you… kill him?”
Rahn was silent for several moments, as he led them further down the hall, zigzagging just as he had on the way here.
“Did you know, Rath, that a serpent like the anaconda can go for many months without eating after it has ingested a large meal?”
“You… you ate him?”
Rahn smiled slightly. “No. I had to change back to a human form to remove his clothes so that I could take them to put on the next guard. Perhaps it will confuse our pursuers and slow them down somewhat… though it will not slow them down for long, I am certain. I merely restrained him… as I did the other guard. The first guard will have some broken ribs… but he will live. The other one may have a broken jaw. However, it would have been better for you if I had eaten them. As it is, they will be found, and they will talk… and because of that, the others will be hunting for us. It is inevitable.”
“Could you have eaten them?” Michael asked with a certain curious fascination.
“Certainly,” Rahn replied. “But then I would have had to hide somewhere for several months until they were digested before I could change back from a serpent into a human again.”
“Sorry I asked,” Michael said. “Max, we need to find Maria and Isabel. We don’t know how badly Isabel was wounded.”
Max turned to Rahn… “Did you hear anything about the army looking for Maria or Isabel? Do you know whether they escaped or not?”
Rahn shook his head. “I’ve been watching. They have not shown up in town or in any of the places where they might be expected to be if they had escaped from the base. But they also do not appear to have been found by the army.”
“I felt that that was the case,” Max said. “Agent Stoneheart kept telling me the gruesome details of how they were recaptured and he dissected them… but that only made me more certain that they hadn’t been found, because he would not have been able to resist showing me what he had done… if he had anything to show me. He never had anything… It was just talk. Also, I’ve had strange feelings… I don’t know how to describe them… like I was needed and had to help in some way. Sometimes… I felt like someone was… this sounds crazy, I know, but… tapping into me somehow and using my power. You lived on Antar, Rahn. Is that possible… to tap into another person’s power?”
Rahn was silent for several moments, then he nodded slowly.
“It’s possible, Zan. It’s not likely… but it’s possible. Your Grandfather once healed a man… through a ‘source.’”
“What’s a source?”
“A person who is capable of making a connection with another person in some way and sharing their power with them in order to do something that must be done… when the other person is not present or able to help. There were probably no more than five known successful sources on Antar, Zan. There certainly cannot be any on Earth.”
“How does one get to be a ‘source?’”
Rahn shrugged. “That is not known. Perhaps they have inherited the talent… or perhaps it came to them spontaneously…”
“Spontaneously… due to need…?”
“Need… Intense psychological desire… overwhelming empathy… or love…”
“Max, do you think Isabel is tapping into your healing power to heal herself,” Michael asked.
“I don’t know. Somebody is using me, though… I feel it.”
“They cannot,” Rahn said… “unless you allow it.”
“I feel like I’m needed,” Max said. “How could I not allow it?”
“Still,” Rahn said, “it is unlikely that Isabel would be able to use your power to heal herself. If she is hurt badly enough to have a need that desperate, I doubt that she would be able to call on your power… even if she were a source. And if she is not hurt so badly… it is unlikely that she would be able to make a connection… because the need required would not be there. It would almost have to be another person… one who has the need but who is not desperately injured themselves and can summon the energy needed to make the connection.”
“Maybe it’s all just my imagination,” Max said. “I’ve been poked and prodded and cut so much lately that… I’m not sure what is real and what is not any more, Rahn.”
“I understand,” Rahn said quietly. “I was there.”
Max looked at Rahn and nodded. “Sixty years… How, Rahn? How did you keep your sanity?”
“I didn’t,” Rahn said smiling.
Max and Michael both looked at Rahn questioningly.
“I set my mind free… several times… so that it could roam far away from here. One might say that I went… insane at those times. But it was to protect myself.”
“The insanity defense,” Michael said with a weary smile.
Rahn nodded. “Yes… yes, you might call it that… The insanity defense. That would be an accurate description.”
**********
Somewhere inside area 51, in an unfinished army tunnel several hundred feet below the mountain, Isabel had begun to shake again. Maria wrapped her tightly in the tattered piece of a blanket she had found and held her to try to stop the shaking, but it wasn’t helping much.
“I’m… slipping…” Isabel mumbled softly. “I… can’t hold on, M’ria.”
“You’ve got to, Iz… We need you.” Maria looked at the blanket. The bleeding had started again. Isabel’s back was drenched. Maria unwrapped the blanket and removed the band she had put around Isabel to keep pressure on the bullet wound. The wound had grown larger… it was infected now… and it was bleeding profusely.
“Let me go, Ma… M’ria. I’m dying anyway. I’m jus’ hold’n you ba’. Get yourself ‘way f’m here.” Isabel’s voice trailed off. Then she took a ragged breath and closed her eyes. Maria waited for her to open them again… And she waited…
“Iz? IZ!” Maria placed her hand under Isabel’s nose. She was not breathing. Quickly, Maria started to give CPR, the way she had once been taught in a Health and Safety class she had taken… but after several minutes had passed, there was still no response.
“Dammit, Isabel,” Maria said, swallowing the salty tears that filled her eyes and ran down onto her lips and into the corners of her mouth, “You are not leaving us! Not now! Not after all we’ve been through together here. Max! I need you! Oh God, I need you, Max! Help me! Please!”
Maria pressed her hands over the wound, and her hands glowed softly. She jerked them back…
“On top of everything else… this damned place has made me radioactive, too. I’m probably killing Isabel every time I touch her.”
Maria pressed her hands to the wound again. “Come on Isabel… This helped before! You’ve got to come back!”
Maria’s hands glowed again, a bit brighter this time, as the stream of blood slowed to a trickle… then stopped altogether.
“I’m sorry,” Maria said, taking her hands off of Isabel and collapsing onto the ground. “I let you bleed to death, Isabel. I guess there’s no more blood for you to bleed. You needed me, and I couldn’t help you.” Maria put her face into her hands, laid her head on her knees, and began to sob.
“I’m so sorry, Iz. I really tried. I hope you know that. I know we weren’t such good friends in high school, but… I guess adversity really does bring people together. After what we both went through, you and me, Iz, I feel like I’ve lost a sister… No, more than a sister. I hope you know that, Iz! If I ever get out of here, I’m never going to forget you… What we went through together in there… how we helped each other… how we cried with each other… how we comforted each other. You’re part of me now, Iz. You’re in my heart forever. I won’t forget that. Not ever! I wish I could have helped you when it mattered.”
“You must have done something right,” a soft voice said. A hand reached under Maria’s chin and lifted her face up, and Maria stared into Isabel’s eyes. She was smiling.
“I don’t know what you’ve got, girlfriend, but whatever you did, you should bottle it and sell it. Ever since I got shot back there when we were escaping, every time you touched my wounds they felt a little better for a while. It just wasn’t enough. But this time… I don’t think even Max couldn’t have done much better. I don’t know how you did that, Maria, I don’t… but you did it… somehow.”
Maria looked at Isabel’s back. The wound was almost gone. It had stopped bleeding. And there was no longer any sign of infection. Isabel’s fever was gone… so were the chills and the shaking. But most importantly, she was alive.
“I didn’t do that, Iz. I couldn’t. I think these tunnels have made me radioactive. My hands glowed every time I touched you. Maybe the radiation is what healed you.”
“Isabel looked at Maria’s hands and held them in hers. “They don’t look radioactive to me, Maria. You have a healing power. You did that. You… not radiation.”
Maria looked at her hands and at Isabel. She hadn’t seen Isabel looking like this since before Isabel was shot when they were escaping. Isabel had barely spoken after she was shot… until now. There was no denying that Isabel was a new person… almost her old self again. If she wasn’t completely healed, she was well on her way to being. And she was clearly out of any immediate danger. But that might still all be for nothing if they couldn’t find a way out of these tunnels… without being discovered in the process. Maria knew that if they were caught and returned to the place where they had been held before, neither of them would stand a very good chance of surviving what would be waiting for them.
**********
Back in town, most people were going about their daily lives, unaware that a life and death struggle was playing out at that very moment for three unfortunate human-alien hybrids, one alien shape-shifter, and one human girl only a few scant miles away. Nor did they know that at Roswell General Hospital, a teenage boy and girl lay unconscious, sucked into the same drama that threatened the lives of the alien hybrids. Like any other day, doctors walked the halls, checking on their patients, nurses went about their rounds, patients came and went, an orderly walked down the hall and stopped at the door of one of the rooms…
The orderly looked around then let himself into the room and looked at the patient, briefly checking her chart. “Elizabeth Parker.” She appeared to be sleeping, but she had been hooked up to an IV for hydration and to keep her electrolytes in balance. Except for that, there really did not appear to be anything wrong with her. She appeared healthy. She was paralyzed below the waist, but that wasn’t obvious as she lay sleeping on the hospital bed.
The orderly looked around then closed the door behind him. Then he took out a hypodermic needle that had already been filled and walked over to the IV line. He took one last look at the angelic face sleeping on the hospital bed and prepared to plunge the contents of the hypodermic into the IV line. Then something strong gripped his arm like a vise. Surprised, the orderly swung around to face Sheriff Jim Valenti.
“Where did you come from? I… I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I know. What’s that you’ve got there? I didn’t see any injections prescribed on Miss Parkers chart. What’s in it?”
The orderly shook his head. “It’s just vitamins. She needs vitamins.”
“We all need vitamins, son,” Jim said. “I’ll tell you what. You take this dose, and I’ll have the nurse find some more for Miss Parker.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Oh, sure you can. Here. Give me the needle. I know how to give these things.”
The orderly made a feeble attempt to escape, but Jim had him firmly by the wrist of the hand that was holding the hypodermic. Jim took the hypodermic from the orderly’s hand and looked at it.
“Vitamins, huh?”
The orderly nodded.
“Roll up your sleeve.”
“No!”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Nothing. I’m not afraid.”
“Good. Roll up your sleeve.”
The orderly twisted quickly and pulled loose from Jim, who did not attempt to catch him as he fled through the door and ran head on into Deputy Hansen. Hansen spun the orderly around, pushed him against the door, and handcuffed him.
“Good work, Hansen,” Jim said. He held the hypodermic up. “I’m going to have this checked out. If it’s anything but vitamins, this guy’s in a world of hurt. Take him down and book him… on suspicion of attempted murder… resisting arrest… and… we’ll see if there’s anything else.”
“Yes, sir.”
Deputy Hansen led the orderly out of the room, leaving Jim alone in the room with Liz. Jim looked at Liz and, feeling that it might be a little cool in the room, pulled the cover sheet up over her, then he turned to leave.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Jim turned around and looked at Liz. “Did you…?”
Liz opened her eyes and smiled.
“You’re awake! Liz, you don’t know how relieved I am… or how happy your parents are going to be. Where were you? What happened to you?”
“I don’t think you’ll believe me, Sheriff.”
“Try me.”
“Okay… Alex and I were on Antar. The orbs did something that sent us there… well, our DNA code, not our bodies. Then it recreated our bodies there and put our consciousnesses into them. Do you believe me so far?”
“No.”
Liz’s smile faded.
“Yes, I believe you, Liz. I really do. It sounds incredible, but so has a lot of what I’ve seen.”
Liz smiled again. “Sheriff, have you checked on Alex? You need to check on Alex. He should be awake, too.”
“I checked on him twenty minutes ago. He was fine then. I’ll check on him again when I leave you to see if he’s awake now, too.”
“He is.”
“Traveled together, did you?”
“Yeah. It was a two for one travel opportunity, Sheriff. You know how it is, when you have to just drop everything and fly.”
“Yeah… but I’ve never been to another planet, Liz. That’s kind of extreme. By the way, I have your orbs. I’ll bring them back to you when you’re out of here. Doc found them down between you and Alex and picked them up. He thought they were Indian souvenirs, and I took them to keep them safe for you till you were back.”
“Thanks, Sheriff… again. I don’t know why some woman hasn’t come along and put a rope around you, Sheriff.”
“Well, you were away, Liz, and I didn’t know if you were coming back, so I had to marry someone else.”
Liz smiled. “Yeah, right.”
“Oh, you don’t believe me? What? You think nobody would marry me?”
“No, no, I didn’t mean that… I mean who wouldn’t… well, not me, of course, I’m in love with Max, but… you know what I mean… Sheriff, what did you mean you had to marry someone else?”
“Amy and I tied the knot while you were away, Liz. I guess she threw that rope you were talking about around me.”
“Are you kidding me, Sheriff? You really…! Omigod! Congratulations! That’s so great! How did it happen? When did it happen?”
Jim laughed. “All in good time, Liz. There’ll be time to tell you everything. We’re going to have a more… formal… wedding, anyway, at some later date… when Maria can be there.”
Liz smiled again. “Thanks, Sheriff.”
“For what?”
“For believing that Maria’s alive. You need to check on Alex. Please make sure Alex is okay.”
“I’m going, I’m going!” Jim smiled. “Welcome back, Liz. I’ll call your folks right away… see about getting you out of here… but they’ll be here in about an hour anyway. They’re here every day during all the visiting hours… and any other time I can sneak them in. I’m going! I’ll check on Alex.”
Jim left and went to Alex’s room. Opening the door, he found Alex sitting up in his bed.
“I hear you and Liz took a vacation on Antar, Alex. Next time leave a note and tell us where you went or leave a forwarding address, how about it? Maybe an e-mail address… on Earthlink or something!”
“Liz told you, huh? What else did Liz tell you?”
“Just that. Is there anything else she should have told me?”
“No. But if she starts talking about me wearing women’s undies and stuff… don’t believe a word of it, Sheriff.”
Jim smiled. “I wasn’t aware that they had spring break on Antar, Alex. You should have told me.”
Alex grinned sheepishly. “Sheriff, just between you and me, that girl may look deceivingly innocent, but take my word for it, she can be a spring break all by herself.”
Jim nodded. “She got you back with one of your own jokes, huh? It must have been good. I wish I’d been there to see it.”
“I’m glad you weren’t. Sheriff, when can Liz and I get out of here? The nurse says I have to stay until the doctor checks us out, but there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Well, you could try telling them that a pair of alien orbs recreated your body on another planet with your DNA and put you into it, that you celebrated spring break there, and that you returned… I haven’t heard that part of the story yet. Just explain it to them.”
“I see your point, Sheriff. They’d lock me up. Alright. I’ll wait until the doctor checks me out. That WILL be today, right?”
“I’ll see what I can do… after I let your parents know you’re back among us. Did you bring me a T-shirt, Alex?”
“A wha… from Antar? You know what, Sheriff, we did buy some clothes while we were there, and we wound up leaving them. We left so suddenly we forgot them.”
“Yeah, those cheap flights are like that. You have to grab the seats when they’re available or you lose ‘em.”
Alex nodded. “I’m glad you understand.”
“Well, I’m really happy… and relieved… that you and Liz decided to come back home, Alex. I’ve got some work I’ve got to take care of, so I’ll talk to you more later… maybe you can tell me more about that Antarian spring break stuff.”
Alex grinned. “Catch you later, Sheriff.”
Sheriff Valenti left Alex’s room and walked down the hall to the lobby. As he walked out the front door of the hospital, he saw that something was going on. Deputy Hansen was crouched behind his squad car with his gun drawn. The orderly was lying on the ground behind him, by all appearances, quite dead. Everywhere, people were crouched down behind cars or had run behind other cover. But nothing was happening. It was almost like a painting… no sound, no motion, nothing. Jim looked around quickly then rushed to the side of his deputy.
“What happened?”
“Somebody shot at us as I was bringing him out, Sheriff. One shot… to the head… sharp shooter. I’m okay, but the orderly’s dead.”
Jim looked at the body lying behind them. “How convenient… for someone. Hansen, what is it about that little girl in there that scares the bejeebers out of the U.S. Army and the FBI? Huh? That’s what I want to know! What is it that makes these people unable or unwilling to rest until she’s dead? She’s just a young girl! A teenager! A sweet, innocent little girl who just graduated from high school. She’s not a terrorist! She’s not the head of a crime cartel or Ma Barker! She’s not a drug runner or a foreign agent trying to destabilize our country! She’s never hurt anyone… She wouldn’t hurt a fly! And she’s in a wheelchair! Tell me, Hansen, what is it that these assholes think is so dangerous about this little girl that they won’t rest until she’s dead… that they’re willing to kill me or you to get us out of the way… or this orderly, to keep him from talking! Can you please tell me that!”
Hansen shook his head. “I don’t know, sir. But if I had to bet, I’d say you’re going to find out.”
“You’d win that bet, Hansen! I’m going to be all over somebody until I’ve got some answers! And you can fv@k!n quote me on that.”
tbc
Coming up: What the Army knows.
Rahn
Chapter 12
XII
It was an almost imperceptible noise, but the soldier standing guard in the highly secret, well-protected underground passageway under area 51 was no ordinary soldier. He was part of an elite unit… a highly trained, highly motivated product of the most rigid army training, in superior physical condition, with trained, keenly-honed sensory abilities. This was a man who would notice something that any ordinary soldier or other person would likely never be aware of until it was too late.
The sound had been as quiet and as innocuous as a leaf falling on the ground, but Major Manuel Ruiz whirled around, his weapon at ready. He never had time to pull the trigger. His mouth opened in a silent scream, as the thirty-something-foot-long anaconda uncoiled its entire length with all the speed of a bullet, throwing loop after loop of its huge muscular body around its victim.
Ruiz tried briefly to call for help, but no sound would come from his lungs, which were already being pressed mercilessly, preventing any air from entering. He struggled, but the snake merely coiled more tightly around his chest and stomach. He tried to keep air in his lungs… to keep his chest from being crushed… but each time he breathed out even a puff of air, the anaconda tightened its hold a little more. He heard one rib crack… then another… Then everything faded into darkness.
**********
Major Manuel Ruiz put his helmet on and brushed his uniform off, making sure that everything was in peak military form. He pressed the edges of his shirt back into his pants tightly, smoothing the last trace of a wrinkle out with his hand. Then he picked up his rifle and walked down the hall purposefully. At the end of the hall, he looked briefly one way and then the other. Then he turned and walked down the hall to the left, nodding as he passed another guard. The guard nodded back. Ruiz walked further down the hall then turned right into another hall, nodding to another guard. This guard didn’t nod back…
“Who’s guarding your post, Ruiz? You’re out of your area.”
“I was relieved by another unit, sir.”
“Then why are you going this way? The relief post is the other direction… but you know that,” the guard said, eyeing Ruiz suspiciously.
“Yes, sir. I was merely… Here! Here are my orders, sir.” Ruiz took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York, who reached out and took it, momentarily leaving himself vulnerable. Ruiz brought the butt of his rifle up sharply, catching the surprised guard under the chin and knocking him unconscious. Then he quickly switched clothes with the unconscious man, handcuffed his hands behind his back with his own handcuffs, and tied his feet with his belt.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York straightened his uniform and placed his helmet on his head. Then he walked down the hall to the end and turned left into yet another hall. This hall was extremely long but essentially unguarded. Saying that it was unguarded might actually be inaccurate, though. The only reason there were no guards posted in this hall was that, in the past, several had been killed when they tripped the lasers that protected the half-mile-long passageway… and it seemed almost superfluous, besides dangerous, to post guards here among the active lasers. When official personnel visited the area, as they did regularly, the lasers were turned off for them. The guards did not have that option available to them.
Lieutenant Colonel York studied the passageway for several moments, searching with eyes that seemed to have an eagle-like intensity. Then he stepped into the hall and began to walk down it, swiftly and confidently walking first along the left side then along the right side… occasionally stepping high or leaping over unseen beams. He reached the end of the hall after about ten minutes and looked at the steel door in front of him. York placed one hand over the lock on the steel door and watched the lock slowly melt then drip to the ground, forming a small lake of molten ore at his feet. Then the door swung open.
It was dark inside the room, but York had no trouble seeing the two men inside. One sat in the corner, his head resting on his arms, which were rested on his knees. The other sat leaning against a wall, his legs stretched out. Both appeared to have been sleeping… or perhaps trying to sleep… and both appeared to be emotionally drained, malnourished, and in a severe state of mental and physical fatigue and stress from recent injuries.
The young man in the corner looked up at the guard for a moment then laid his head wearily back on his arms.
“Psst.”
The young man looked up again. York held his hand in front of him, and his hand began to glow, casting light on his face. Then, as the two young men watched, Lieutenant Colonel York’s face began to change.
The young man in the corner gasped. “Rahn!”
The man in the doorway placed a finger over his lips.
“Rahn… What are you doing coming back here? You’ll get caught!”
“No, Zan. I will be careful.”
“Why didn’t you go back home,” the second man in the room asked in a whispered voice.
“I couldn’t… I owe you, Rath… I owe both of you my life. You helped me to escape… after sixty years…” Rahn lowered his head, as he remembered his many torturous years in captivity. “I owe you my life… both of you. I cannot abandon you now. You would not have been caught again if you had not been protecting me… helping me to escape, too.”
“Can you get us out of here?” Michael asked.
“It will not be without danger.”
“Danger I can handle,” Michael said. “It’s better than what happens in here. I don’t know how you survived sixty years in here, Rahn. I’d be dead now if Zan… if Max… hadn’t been here to heal all my wounds… after each session with Doctor Vulture and Agent Stoneheart.”
“Those are strange names for humans,” Rahn said stoically.
“They’re not names, Rahn,” Michael said… “They’re… descriptions. Show us how to get out of here!”
“Follow me… Do exactly what I do. We will have to avoid the lasers in the long hall. At the end, we will go left… then I will lead you.”
“How did you get past the guards,” Michael asked. “Won’t they be looking for us?”
“Yes.”
“Did they see you?”
“Yes.”
“Then how…”
“I became a large serpent… an anaconda, I think you call it, to protect myself from the first one.”
“Did you… kill him?”
Rahn was silent for several moments, as he led them further down the hall, zigzagging just as he had on the way here.
“Did you know, Rath, that a serpent like the anaconda can go for many months without eating after it has ingested a large meal?”
“You… you ate him?”
Rahn smiled slightly. “No. I had to change back to a human form to remove his clothes so that I could take them to put on the next guard. Perhaps it will confuse our pursuers and slow them down somewhat… though it will not slow them down for long, I am certain. I merely restrained him… as I did the other guard. The first guard will have some broken ribs… but he will live. The other one may have a broken jaw. However, it would have been better for you if I had eaten them. As it is, they will be found, and they will talk… and because of that, the others will be hunting for us. It is inevitable.”
“Could you have eaten them?” Michael asked with a certain curious fascination.
“Certainly,” Rahn replied. “But then I would have had to hide somewhere for several months until they were digested before I could change back from a serpent into a human again.”
“Sorry I asked,” Michael said. “Max, we need to find Maria and Isabel. We don’t know how badly Isabel was wounded.”
Max turned to Rahn… “Did you hear anything about the army looking for Maria or Isabel? Do you know whether they escaped or not?”
Rahn shook his head. “I’ve been watching. They have not shown up in town or in any of the places where they might be expected to be if they had escaped from the base. But they also do not appear to have been found by the army.”
“I felt that that was the case,” Max said. “Agent Stoneheart kept telling me the gruesome details of how they were recaptured and he dissected them… but that only made me more certain that they hadn’t been found, because he would not have been able to resist showing me what he had done… if he had anything to show me. He never had anything… It was just talk. Also, I’ve had strange feelings… I don’t know how to describe them… like I was needed and had to help in some way. Sometimes… I felt like someone was… this sounds crazy, I know, but… tapping into me somehow and using my power. You lived on Antar, Rahn. Is that possible… to tap into another person’s power?”
Rahn was silent for several moments, then he nodded slowly.
“It’s possible, Zan. It’s not likely… but it’s possible. Your Grandfather once healed a man… through a ‘source.’”
“What’s a source?”
“A person who is capable of making a connection with another person in some way and sharing their power with them in order to do something that must be done… when the other person is not present or able to help. There were probably no more than five known successful sources on Antar, Zan. There certainly cannot be any on Earth.”
“How does one get to be a ‘source?’”
Rahn shrugged. “That is not known. Perhaps they have inherited the talent… or perhaps it came to them spontaneously…”
“Spontaneously… due to need…?”
“Need… Intense psychological desire… overwhelming empathy… or love…”
“Max, do you think Isabel is tapping into your healing power to heal herself,” Michael asked.
“I don’t know. Somebody is using me, though… I feel it.”
“They cannot,” Rahn said… “unless you allow it.”
“I feel like I’m needed,” Max said. “How could I not allow it?”
“Still,” Rahn said, “it is unlikely that Isabel would be able to use your power to heal herself. If she is hurt badly enough to have a need that desperate, I doubt that she would be able to call on your power… even if she were a source. And if she is not hurt so badly… it is unlikely that she would be able to make a connection… because the need required would not be there. It would almost have to be another person… one who has the need but who is not desperately injured themselves and can summon the energy needed to make the connection.”
“Maybe it’s all just my imagination,” Max said. “I’ve been poked and prodded and cut so much lately that… I’m not sure what is real and what is not any more, Rahn.”
“I understand,” Rahn said quietly. “I was there.”
Max looked at Rahn and nodded. “Sixty years… How, Rahn? How did you keep your sanity?”
“I didn’t,” Rahn said smiling.
Max and Michael both looked at Rahn questioningly.
“I set my mind free… several times… so that it could roam far away from here. One might say that I went… insane at those times. But it was to protect myself.”
“The insanity defense,” Michael said with a weary smile.
Rahn nodded. “Yes… yes, you might call it that… The insanity defense. That would be an accurate description.”
**********
Somewhere inside area 51, in an unfinished army tunnel several hundred feet below the mountain, Isabel had begun to shake again. Maria wrapped her tightly in the tattered piece of a blanket she had found and held her to try to stop the shaking, but it wasn’t helping much.
“I’m… slipping…” Isabel mumbled softly. “I… can’t hold on, M’ria.”
“You’ve got to, Iz… We need you.” Maria looked at the blanket. The bleeding had started again. Isabel’s back was drenched. Maria unwrapped the blanket and removed the band she had put around Isabel to keep pressure on the bullet wound. The wound had grown larger… it was infected now… and it was bleeding profusely.
“Let me go, Ma… M’ria. I’m dying anyway. I’m jus’ hold’n you ba’. Get yourself ‘way f’m here.” Isabel’s voice trailed off. Then she took a ragged breath and closed her eyes. Maria waited for her to open them again… And she waited…
“Iz? IZ!” Maria placed her hand under Isabel’s nose. She was not breathing. Quickly, Maria started to give CPR, the way she had once been taught in a Health and Safety class she had taken… but after several minutes had passed, there was still no response.
“Dammit, Isabel,” Maria said, swallowing the salty tears that filled her eyes and ran down onto her lips and into the corners of her mouth, “You are not leaving us! Not now! Not after all we’ve been through together here. Max! I need you! Oh God, I need you, Max! Help me! Please!”
Maria pressed her hands over the wound, and her hands glowed softly. She jerked them back…
“On top of everything else… this damned place has made me radioactive, too. I’m probably killing Isabel every time I touch her.”
Maria pressed her hands to the wound again. “Come on Isabel… This helped before! You’ve got to come back!”
Maria’s hands glowed again, a bit brighter this time, as the stream of blood slowed to a trickle… then stopped altogether.
“I’m sorry,” Maria said, taking her hands off of Isabel and collapsing onto the ground. “I let you bleed to death, Isabel. I guess there’s no more blood for you to bleed. You needed me, and I couldn’t help you.” Maria put her face into her hands, laid her head on her knees, and began to sob.
“I’m so sorry, Iz. I really tried. I hope you know that. I know we weren’t such good friends in high school, but… I guess adversity really does bring people together. After what we both went through, you and me, Iz, I feel like I’ve lost a sister… No, more than a sister. I hope you know that, Iz! If I ever get out of here, I’m never going to forget you… What we went through together in there… how we helped each other… how we cried with each other… how we comforted each other. You’re part of me now, Iz. You’re in my heart forever. I won’t forget that. Not ever! I wish I could have helped you when it mattered.”
“You must have done something right,” a soft voice said. A hand reached under Maria’s chin and lifted her face up, and Maria stared into Isabel’s eyes. She was smiling.
“I don’t know what you’ve got, girlfriend, but whatever you did, you should bottle it and sell it. Ever since I got shot back there when we were escaping, every time you touched my wounds they felt a little better for a while. It just wasn’t enough. But this time… I don’t think even Max couldn’t have done much better. I don’t know how you did that, Maria, I don’t… but you did it… somehow.”
Maria looked at Isabel’s back. The wound was almost gone. It had stopped bleeding. And there was no longer any sign of infection. Isabel’s fever was gone… so were the chills and the shaking. But most importantly, she was alive.
“I didn’t do that, Iz. I couldn’t. I think these tunnels have made me radioactive. My hands glowed every time I touched you. Maybe the radiation is what healed you.”
“Isabel looked at Maria’s hands and held them in hers. “They don’t look radioactive to me, Maria. You have a healing power. You did that. You… not radiation.”
Maria looked at her hands and at Isabel. She hadn’t seen Isabel looking like this since before Isabel was shot when they were escaping. Isabel had barely spoken after she was shot… until now. There was no denying that Isabel was a new person… almost her old self again. If she wasn’t completely healed, she was well on her way to being. And she was clearly out of any immediate danger. But that might still all be for nothing if they couldn’t find a way out of these tunnels… without being discovered in the process. Maria knew that if they were caught and returned to the place where they had been held before, neither of them would stand a very good chance of surviving what would be waiting for them.
**********
Back in town, most people were going about their daily lives, unaware that a life and death struggle was playing out at that very moment for three unfortunate human-alien hybrids, one alien shape-shifter, and one human girl only a few scant miles away. Nor did they know that at Roswell General Hospital, a teenage boy and girl lay unconscious, sucked into the same drama that threatened the lives of the alien hybrids. Like any other day, doctors walked the halls, checking on their patients, nurses went about their rounds, patients came and went, an orderly walked down the hall and stopped at the door of one of the rooms…
The orderly looked around then let himself into the room and looked at the patient, briefly checking her chart. “Elizabeth Parker.” She appeared to be sleeping, but she had been hooked up to an IV for hydration and to keep her electrolytes in balance. Except for that, there really did not appear to be anything wrong with her. She appeared healthy. She was paralyzed below the waist, but that wasn’t obvious as she lay sleeping on the hospital bed.
The orderly looked around then closed the door behind him. Then he took out a hypodermic needle that had already been filled and walked over to the IV line. He took one last look at the angelic face sleeping on the hospital bed and prepared to plunge the contents of the hypodermic into the IV line. Then something strong gripped his arm like a vise. Surprised, the orderly swung around to face Sheriff Jim Valenti.
“Where did you come from? I… I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I know. What’s that you’ve got there? I didn’t see any injections prescribed on Miss Parkers chart. What’s in it?”
The orderly shook his head. “It’s just vitamins. She needs vitamins.”
“We all need vitamins, son,” Jim said. “I’ll tell you what. You take this dose, and I’ll have the nurse find some more for Miss Parker.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Oh, sure you can. Here. Give me the needle. I know how to give these things.”
The orderly made a feeble attempt to escape, but Jim had him firmly by the wrist of the hand that was holding the hypodermic. Jim took the hypodermic from the orderly’s hand and looked at it.
“Vitamins, huh?”
The orderly nodded.
“Roll up your sleeve.”
“No!”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Nothing. I’m not afraid.”
“Good. Roll up your sleeve.”
The orderly twisted quickly and pulled loose from Jim, who did not attempt to catch him as he fled through the door and ran head on into Deputy Hansen. Hansen spun the orderly around, pushed him against the door, and handcuffed him.
“Good work, Hansen,” Jim said. He held the hypodermic up. “I’m going to have this checked out. If it’s anything but vitamins, this guy’s in a world of hurt. Take him down and book him… on suspicion of attempted murder… resisting arrest… and… we’ll see if there’s anything else.”
“Yes, sir.”
Deputy Hansen led the orderly out of the room, leaving Jim alone in the room with Liz. Jim looked at Liz and, feeling that it might be a little cool in the room, pulled the cover sheet up over her, then he turned to leave.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Jim turned around and looked at Liz. “Did you…?”
Liz opened her eyes and smiled.
“You’re awake! Liz, you don’t know how relieved I am… or how happy your parents are going to be. Where were you? What happened to you?”
“I don’t think you’ll believe me, Sheriff.”
“Try me.”
“Okay… Alex and I were on Antar. The orbs did something that sent us there… well, our DNA code, not our bodies. Then it recreated our bodies there and put our consciousnesses into them. Do you believe me so far?”
“No.”
Liz’s smile faded.
“Yes, I believe you, Liz. I really do. It sounds incredible, but so has a lot of what I’ve seen.”
Liz smiled again. “Sheriff, have you checked on Alex? You need to check on Alex. He should be awake, too.”
“I checked on him twenty minutes ago. He was fine then. I’ll check on him again when I leave you to see if he’s awake now, too.”
“He is.”
“Traveled together, did you?”
“Yeah. It was a two for one travel opportunity, Sheriff. You know how it is, when you have to just drop everything and fly.”
“Yeah… but I’ve never been to another planet, Liz. That’s kind of extreme. By the way, I have your orbs. I’ll bring them back to you when you’re out of here. Doc found them down between you and Alex and picked them up. He thought they were Indian souvenirs, and I took them to keep them safe for you till you were back.”
“Thanks, Sheriff… again. I don’t know why some woman hasn’t come along and put a rope around you, Sheriff.”
“Well, you were away, Liz, and I didn’t know if you were coming back, so I had to marry someone else.”
Liz smiled. “Yeah, right.”
“Oh, you don’t believe me? What? You think nobody would marry me?”
“No, no, I didn’t mean that… I mean who wouldn’t… well, not me, of course, I’m in love with Max, but… you know what I mean… Sheriff, what did you mean you had to marry someone else?”
“Amy and I tied the knot while you were away, Liz. I guess she threw that rope you were talking about around me.”
“Are you kidding me, Sheriff? You really…! Omigod! Congratulations! That’s so great! How did it happen? When did it happen?”
Jim laughed. “All in good time, Liz. There’ll be time to tell you everything. We’re going to have a more… formal… wedding, anyway, at some later date… when Maria can be there.”
Liz smiled again. “Thanks, Sheriff.”
“For what?”
“For believing that Maria’s alive. You need to check on Alex. Please make sure Alex is okay.”
“I’m going, I’m going!” Jim smiled. “Welcome back, Liz. I’ll call your folks right away… see about getting you out of here… but they’ll be here in about an hour anyway. They’re here every day during all the visiting hours… and any other time I can sneak them in. I’m going! I’ll check on Alex.”
Jim left and went to Alex’s room. Opening the door, he found Alex sitting up in his bed.
“I hear you and Liz took a vacation on Antar, Alex. Next time leave a note and tell us where you went or leave a forwarding address, how about it? Maybe an e-mail address… on Earthlink or something!”
“Liz told you, huh? What else did Liz tell you?”
“Just that. Is there anything else she should have told me?”
“No. But if she starts talking about me wearing women’s undies and stuff… don’t believe a word of it, Sheriff.”
Jim smiled. “I wasn’t aware that they had spring break on Antar, Alex. You should have told me.”
Alex grinned sheepishly. “Sheriff, just between you and me, that girl may look deceivingly innocent, but take my word for it, she can be a spring break all by herself.”
Jim nodded. “She got you back with one of your own jokes, huh? It must have been good. I wish I’d been there to see it.”
“I’m glad you weren’t. Sheriff, when can Liz and I get out of here? The nurse says I have to stay until the doctor checks us out, but there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Well, you could try telling them that a pair of alien orbs recreated your body on another planet with your DNA and put you into it, that you celebrated spring break there, and that you returned… I haven’t heard that part of the story yet. Just explain it to them.”
“I see your point, Sheriff. They’d lock me up. Alright. I’ll wait until the doctor checks me out. That WILL be today, right?”
“I’ll see what I can do… after I let your parents know you’re back among us. Did you bring me a T-shirt, Alex?”
“A wha… from Antar? You know what, Sheriff, we did buy some clothes while we were there, and we wound up leaving them. We left so suddenly we forgot them.”
“Yeah, those cheap flights are like that. You have to grab the seats when they’re available or you lose ‘em.”
Alex nodded. “I’m glad you understand.”
“Well, I’m really happy… and relieved… that you and Liz decided to come back home, Alex. I’ve got some work I’ve got to take care of, so I’ll talk to you more later… maybe you can tell me more about that Antarian spring break stuff.”
Alex grinned. “Catch you later, Sheriff.”
Sheriff Valenti left Alex’s room and walked down the hall to the lobby. As he walked out the front door of the hospital, he saw that something was going on. Deputy Hansen was crouched behind his squad car with his gun drawn. The orderly was lying on the ground behind him, by all appearances, quite dead. Everywhere, people were crouched down behind cars or had run behind other cover. But nothing was happening. It was almost like a painting… no sound, no motion, nothing. Jim looked around quickly then rushed to the side of his deputy.
“What happened?”
“Somebody shot at us as I was bringing him out, Sheriff. One shot… to the head… sharp shooter. I’m okay, but the orderly’s dead.”
Jim looked at the body lying behind them. “How convenient… for someone. Hansen, what is it about that little girl in there that scares the bejeebers out of the U.S. Army and the FBI? Huh? That’s what I want to know! What is it that makes these people unable or unwilling to rest until she’s dead? She’s just a young girl! A teenager! A sweet, innocent little girl who just graduated from high school. She’s not a terrorist! She’s not the head of a crime cartel or Ma Barker! She’s not a drug runner or a foreign agent trying to destabilize our country! She’s never hurt anyone… She wouldn’t hurt a fly! And she’s in a wheelchair! Tell me, Hansen, what is it that these assholes think is so dangerous about this little girl that they won’t rest until she’s dead… that they’re willing to kill me or you to get us out of the way… or this orderly, to keep him from talking! Can you please tell me that!”
Hansen shook his head. “I don’t know, sir. But if I had to bet, I’d say you’re going to find out.”
“You’d win that bet, Hansen! I’m going to be all over somebody until I’ve got some answers! And you can fv@k!n quote me on that.”
tbc
Coming up: What the Army knows.
Last edited by Island Breeze on Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
The Book
Chapter 13
XIII
The sergeant standing guard at the guardhouse peered into the vehicle, appearing to size up the man and woman inside. It was the official vehicle of the Roswell Sheriff’s Department, but it might as well have been a carload of tourists from Kansas wearing Hawaiian shirts and cameras around their necks, a lost group of revelers on their way to party in Vegas, or a carload of bearded Saudi’s with bulging robes for all the sergeant seemed to care.
“Sorry, sir. No one is allowed on the base without proper authorization.”
“I understand that, son,” Jim said softly, “But I’m the sheriff, and I have official business with General Hawthorn.”
“General Hawthorn isn’t on the base right now, sir. He’s away.”
“Then I’ll see General Hawkins… Please.”
“Sorry, sir. Regulations…”
“I know all about regulations, son,” Jim said. “I’ve written my share of them. Why don’t you call the General on that phone over there and tell him I’m on the way in. Get his permission if you need it.”
“Sorry, sir. The General doesn’t like to be bothered unless it’s an emergency or unless it’s someone he’s expecting.”
Jim looked at Amy and sighed.
“You could do what I did,” Amy whispered.
“What’s that?”
“Floor it and leave the guard in the dust.”
“Oh! Right! Judge Lewis would love that! We both get shot!”
Amy nodded. “Yeah… they did shoot my car to pieces.”
“We’ll think of another way,” Jim said. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat… or a sergeant.”
Jim looked at the sergeant, sizing him up in turn, then he turned to Amy and said, just loudly enough for the sergeant to hear,
“We could go above the General, I guess… inform Washington about the alien…”
Amy put her finger over her lips. “Shhh. Lower your voice, Jim. The guard may hear you.”
“What was that?” the guard asked, leaning into the driver’s side window.
“Nothing,” Jim said.
“You said something about the alien.”
“You must have heard wrong,” Jim said. “I said the, uh, the daily run…”
“Yeah… of the local newspaper…” Amy added. “That’s what he said.”
“No he didn’t,” the sergeant said with conviction. “He said something about ‘the alien.’ What do you know about the alien?”
“Sergeant,” Jim said, his eyes seeming to flash with anger, “There are no real aliens!” Jim looked around, as though making sure they were alone and no one else was listening. Then in a lowered voice, he said, “You’re asking me about classified information, sergeant… information that was intended for the General. I don’t think your asking about it will go over well with the General. I can’t tell you anything else, and I strongly recommend that you forget that this conversation ever took place!”
The sergeant swallowed, momentarily unsure how to proceed, then he looked Jim and Amy over again.
“I’ll let General Hawkins know you’re on your way in, Sheriff. A small contingent of army vehicles will meet you on the way and escort you to the General. You are to stay with the convoy. Do not attempt to leave it or you will be shot. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly, sergeant.” Jim gave the sergeant a quick salute then slowly drove off down the road leading to the base. Once they were out of sight of the guard, Amy leaned over and kissed Jim.
“What was that stuff about an alien, Jim?”
Jim grinned. “This is Roswell… There’s always an alien, Amy.”
Amy smiled. “You were brilliant, Jim! We work great together!”
“Yeah… I was, wasn’t I?” Jim grinned and looked at Amy. “You were pretty brilliant yourself. How’d you get to be so sneaky?”
“Never mind,” Amy said with a smile. “Just don’t forget it.”
**********
As fate would have it, General Hawkins was on the phone in his office at that very moment with the budget makers in Washington.
“General, it’s not just you. All the budgets are being scrutinized,” the voice on the other end said, only half apologetically. “Congress and the Senate approved a higher budget than last year, but they aren’t going to increase it as much as most of you would like. You have many unusual expenses.”
“This is area 51, Senator. We’re going to have unusual expenses. It’s expected.”
“I know that, General, but you are still answerable for what you spend. For example, what’s this item called “ADL Disaster Preparedness Plan?”
“That, Senator, is not negotiable. I assure you it’s absolutely essential for the protection of this base and our ongoing operations.”
“What is ADL? Some kind of terrorism?”
“That’s… a pretty good description of it, Senator. Yeah.”
“Well… the President has approved a fair amount of special funds for that… Maybe we can get it for you. Six million dollars isn’t so very much in the total budget, but it’s a lot for a single item such as this.”
“Necessary, Senator. Believe me. That woman…”
“What?”
“That, uh, MOMENT… when we receive the funding… we will be able to protect ourselves and this base from any future unexpected incursions that might destabilize our existence here.”
“Yes, well, just try to keep an eye on things from the viewpoint of the budget makers up here, General. You’re not exempted from budgetary constraints just because you’re in Roswell.”
“Understood, Senator. I’ll keep my eye on it.”
The phone line disconnected, and the General hung up. Then he smiled. “I’ll keep my eye on it. Six million dollars should be enough. See if you can get back on this base now, Miss Amy DeLuca!”
The General sat down and lit a cigar then leaned back in his chair. As he began to puff, there was a knock on his door.
“Enter. It’s open.”
“Sir,” a young corporal said, “The informants are here… about the, uh… you know…”
“Send them in, Owens.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Corporal motioned, and Jim and Amy walked in. General Hawkins looked up and inhaled his cigar then began to cough violently. Finally, he managed to spit the cigar out onto his desk, then he struggled to get it onto an ashtray, but not before it had made a burn mark on the top of his highly polished desk.
“Those things are bad for your health,” Jim said. “Are you okay? You appear ill.”
General Hawkins’ face had become several shades lighter than usual, and at first, he did appear to be ill. Then his face began to turn red, and he looked like he might have a stroke.
“I don’t think cigars agree with you,” Jim said.
“Sheriff, I’m not going to die from smoking cigars,” General Hawkins managed to say. “This woman will give me a coronary before that ever happens.”
“Amy?”
General Hawkins wrinkled his nose and made an obvious effort to calm himself, probably realizing the truth in what he had said to Jim.
“You told my men that you had information, Sheriff… about the alien. What information do you have?”
Jim shook his head… “I’m sorry, General. Somebody must have misunderstood. I’m looking for information, not giving it.”
General Hawkins glared at Jim with a look of disbelief. “Sheriff, I’m not the information bureau. I don’t have any information to give you on any subject. If you have no information to give me, then this meeting is over. I’ll have my men escort you back off the base… and her.” He motioned toward Amy.
“I want to know why the Army is interested in that little girl,” Jim said, getting right down to brass nails… “What do you want from Liz Parker?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sheriff. The Army has no interest in any citizens here whatsoever. Is this girl someone to you, Sheriff?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, because we don’t have any interest in her, as you suggest. I don’t even know who she is.”
“You’re not a very convincing liar,” Amy said, picking up a file folder from the General’s desk before he could stop her. The label on the lip said “Parker, E.” This was no guarantee that this particular file was about Liz, of course, but the General’s reaction left little doubt. He almost leapt over his desk to get the file back before she could open it.
“That is a private, confidential file, Miss DeLuca!”
“It’s Mrs. Valenti now.”
The General appeared to be genuinely surprised, but only momentarily. Then he continued…
“If you had opened that file, Miss DeLuca… Valenti… whatever… I would have had to shoot you. And that is not a cliché, Mrs. Valenti. That is a fact!”
Amy swallowed slightly. Somehow, she sensed that the General was not bluffing this time. He was deadly earnest. That file was for his eyes and his eyes only. The General sat back down and opened a drawer with files in it under his desk. Then he placed the Parker, E. file into the drawer with other files. Having done this, he pressed a button on his intercom and called the corporal back in.
“Corporal, escort the Sheriff… and his wife… off the base. If they try to lose the escort or try to return… shoot them. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” The corporal turned to Jim. “Let’s go.”
“Sorry, Jim,” Amy said after they were off the base. “I didn’t mean to get us kicked out. Now we don’t have anything.”
“We have plenty,” Jim said. “We know he’s got a file on Liz, and we know it’s highly classified. That in itself speaks volumes. And you didn’t get us kicked out, Amy. General Hawkins would have kicked us out anyway. He was prepared to do that as soon as he found out we had no information for him.”
Amy smiled. “Yeah, but I had hoped to learn more from him.”
“We’ll just have to take what we can get,” Jim said. Then he grinned. “Besides, I didn’t come away with nothing, Amy. The General left his passwords filled in on his computer screen. It timed out and went dark while we were standing there talking to him, but I memorized it as soon as we went in.”
Amy smiled. “You can hack into his computer!”
“Mmm hmmm, well, maybe. I’ll have to get past the system… and maybe a firewall or two. I may need some help for that. But once I’m in, I’ve got the passwords.”
“Passwords? Plural?”
“Yeah… Looks like he’s double password protected.”
“What are they?”
“Blow1em-up. And 54321Zero.”
Amy looked at Jim and shook her head. “Why does that not surprise me, Jim?”
Jim pulled the SUV up to the front of the Sheriff’s Department and went inside quickly with Amy. He powered up the computer and sat down in front of it.
“Where do I start?”
Two hours later, Jim stopped typing and looked at the screen. He read. Then he read some more. Then he whistled softly.
“What? What did you find,” Amy asked, running back to his side.
“The Army’s been doing research on Liz’s DNA, her medical background, and… her genealogy. They’ve traced her genealogy back more than… ten thousand years? I don’t think that’s even possible.”
Amy looked at the notes. “It looks like a lot of it is pieced together from conjecture. There’s no solid data to go on. Why would they go to all this trouble? What’s back there in Liz’s past that the Army is worried about… ten thousand years ago? Talk about statute of limitations that never run out! That poor girl! Scroll down, Jim. I want to read the rest…”
**********
Back on the base, three people were making their way through the dark tunnels under the mountain.
“I didn’t know the Army had all these unfinished tunnels,” Michael said. “I thought when we got out of the compound, we’d be out in the open somewhere on the base.”
“We could have done that,” Rahn agreed. “But the soldiers would have spotted us above ground. These unfinished tunnels go on for miles and miles in all directions. The mountain is riveted with them.”
“I can see that,” Michael said. “Where do they go?”
“Some of them go around in circles… some go to the other side of the mountain… some go nowhere, they merely end at what you call a death end.”
“Dead end,” Max corrected.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“It kind of means the same,” Michael said, “but we’re used to the term ‘dead end.’ What you said sounds more like what it really could be, and we’d rather not think about it that way.”
Rahn nodded. “Well, if we choose the right tunnels, we can dig through a layer of soft dirt about eighteen feet and be inside a natural cavern. The cavern will take us off of the base, and we should be able to come out after the sun goes down without being seen.”
“How did you find this out,” Michael asked. “Won’t the Army be expecting us to try that if it’s the only way out?”
“They don’t know about it,” Rahn said. “I obtained a map of the tunnels by shape-shifting to look like someone who would not be noticed on the base. I compared the map of the tunnels –the finished ones and the unfinished ones- to a geological map from your library. The tunnels mostly go in circles or to death… dead ends… or to other installations on the base. A few of the unfinished tunnels appear to be uncharted. If my calculations are correct, though, there is one place… only one… where we can break through into the cavern. We will have to dig through about eighteen feet of dirt, but it is not hard or very stony.”
“We can do that,” Michael said. “But what about Maria and Isabel? We don’t know where they are?”
“And what will they have done to Liz,” Max wondered aloud sadly. “I heard Liz survived but is in a coma. I need to be there to protect her… if they haven’t killed her already. She’s vulnerable.”
“She’s alive,” Rahn said. “And she is no longer asleep. She is awake.”
Max looked at Rahn and broke into a wide grin. “She’s awake? I knew I felt something! I knew it!”
“She cannot move her legs, Zan. She must move in what you call a wheelchair.”
Max grimaced, then he nodded. “We can deal with that. I can heal her… maybe… probably… but even if I can’t, we can deal with that. She’s alive, Rahn! You know what that means? She’s alive!”
“Yes… and that may cause concern to the Army, Zan. She will be in great danger.”
“I know. But why? What the hell does the Army care about Liz? I understand why they want to kill us. We’re just aliens to them… but why Liz? She’s an all-American girl… about as innocent and harmless as it’s possible to be. It’s all because of me, Rahn. Her life is in danger because of me… because she loves me. That’s not fair.”
“Maybe there is another reason, Zan.”
There was silence for several long moments, then Max asked… “What reason, Rahn? What do you know that I don’t?”
“I told you I was on the base looking for the map of the tunnels… I also saw some other things. I was especially interested in a file I saw that spoke of the book.”
“What book?”
Rahn sighed. “Unfortunately, Zan, you would not know. You never received it. You only received the Destiny Book.”
“You mean there was a second book?”
Rahn nodded.
“The ship that crashed in the 1940’s carried the Destiny Book and a companion book, titled, Planet Under Siege: An Alternate Destiny. The warders managed to save the Destiny Book, but the Book Of Alternate Destinies, as it was known, could not be found in the crash in time, and the Army found it later in the crash debris. In it are actual pictures of you, Zan, and of you, Rath, and of Vilandra and Ava… from Antar… and the prediction that despite the efforts of the Antarian scientists, you might not end up following the destinies that you were programmed to follow.
This prediction was based partly on the ‘vision’ of an ancient hermit from a distant planet called Jeroglasst. Because of his visions, our scientists decided to do a linear life projection… that’s a sort of scientific aging of DNA to determine expected progression patterns… and some of the tests suggested an outcome that agreed with what the ancient seer had predicted. Because of this, the scientists thought it prudent to include the predictions in writing for you to read when you came out of your pods… but they were not convinced of their certainty to the extent that they were ready to present them as fact. Rather, they included them as hypothesis and theory in the second book.
The U.S. Army succeeded in translating the book over the years since the crash, but the translation is flawed. The translators assumed that ‘Planet Under Siege’ meant Earth… and that ‘An Alternate Destiny’ was what the Antarians intended for Earth. So you see, basing their translation on this preconceived notion, the army has determined that all of Kivar’s atrocities on Antar are… our plan for conquering the Earth.
But there is something else. The ancient seer saw a new queen in the flowing of the river of time, a queen who would be born on Earth of Earth parents but whose lineage would be discovered to go back to Antar thousands of years before. This new queen would die and be ‘reawakened’ by the new king Zan, after which some of her Antarian powers would be reawakened, and one day she would wipe away the final vestiges of the previous realm and help bring about a new presence on the planet. It meant an end to Kivar’s lingering influence after his bloody rule… and a new peace on Antar under your rule, Zan, but… the Army believes that it means the end of human rule on Earth.
The predictions of the seer were emphatic in their assertion that this new queen’s abilities… and her influence on you, Zan, would be singularly important… and that without her, you would not fulfill your destiny to return as king, and the hope to take back the planet would fail…”
Rahn looked at Max as though to emphasize what he had to say next… “The Army’s translation, Zan, notes that Liz Parker is the key to conquering the Earth.”
tbc
Coming next: Judge Lewis returns with treachery. Yeah, I know! I’ve said that the last two chapters! I guess I can’t see into the River of Time as well as the Drax-ta-Kiya of Jeroglasst can. I can’t pin down the time so precisely. But the judge hasn’t been sitting by idly. He’s been waiting for his chance. And the Army needs him to facilitate this particular operation for them. It’s fortunate indeed that Liz and Alex have returned to their bodies, but the danger, especially to Liz, is still incalculable. The Army and the FBI have every intention of wiping out or neutralizing the threat to our world… that basically means Liz, Max, and Michael, and to be safe, Isabel and Tess (who is not with them yet in this story). The Special Unit agents of the Army and FBI can be ruthless and efficient… and they cry no tears.
The Book
Chapter 13
XIII
The sergeant standing guard at the guardhouse peered into the vehicle, appearing to size up the man and woman inside. It was the official vehicle of the Roswell Sheriff’s Department, but it might as well have been a carload of tourists from Kansas wearing Hawaiian shirts and cameras around their necks, a lost group of revelers on their way to party in Vegas, or a carload of bearded Saudi’s with bulging robes for all the sergeant seemed to care.
“Sorry, sir. No one is allowed on the base without proper authorization.”
“I understand that, son,” Jim said softly, “But I’m the sheriff, and I have official business with General Hawthorn.”
“General Hawthorn isn’t on the base right now, sir. He’s away.”
“Then I’ll see General Hawkins… Please.”
“Sorry, sir. Regulations…”
“I know all about regulations, son,” Jim said. “I’ve written my share of them. Why don’t you call the General on that phone over there and tell him I’m on the way in. Get his permission if you need it.”
“Sorry, sir. The General doesn’t like to be bothered unless it’s an emergency or unless it’s someone he’s expecting.”
Jim looked at Amy and sighed.
“You could do what I did,” Amy whispered.
“What’s that?”
“Floor it and leave the guard in the dust.”
“Oh! Right! Judge Lewis would love that! We both get shot!”
Amy nodded. “Yeah… they did shoot my car to pieces.”
“We’ll think of another way,” Jim said. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat… or a sergeant.”
Jim looked at the sergeant, sizing him up in turn, then he turned to Amy and said, just loudly enough for the sergeant to hear,
“We could go above the General, I guess… inform Washington about the alien…”
Amy put her finger over her lips. “Shhh. Lower your voice, Jim. The guard may hear you.”
“What was that?” the guard asked, leaning into the driver’s side window.
“Nothing,” Jim said.
“You said something about the alien.”
“You must have heard wrong,” Jim said. “I said the, uh, the daily run…”
“Yeah… of the local newspaper…” Amy added. “That’s what he said.”
“No he didn’t,” the sergeant said with conviction. “He said something about ‘the alien.’ What do you know about the alien?”
“Sergeant,” Jim said, his eyes seeming to flash with anger, “There are no real aliens!” Jim looked around, as though making sure they were alone and no one else was listening. Then in a lowered voice, he said, “You’re asking me about classified information, sergeant… information that was intended for the General. I don’t think your asking about it will go over well with the General. I can’t tell you anything else, and I strongly recommend that you forget that this conversation ever took place!”
The sergeant swallowed, momentarily unsure how to proceed, then he looked Jim and Amy over again.
“I’ll let General Hawkins know you’re on your way in, Sheriff. A small contingent of army vehicles will meet you on the way and escort you to the General. You are to stay with the convoy. Do not attempt to leave it or you will be shot. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly, sergeant.” Jim gave the sergeant a quick salute then slowly drove off down the road leading to the base. Once they were out of sight of the guard, Amy leaned over and kissed Jim.
“What was that stuff about an alien, Jim?”
Jim grinned. “This is Roswell… There’s always an alien, Amy.”
Amy smiled. “You were brilliant, Jim! We work great together!”
“Yeah… I was, wasn’t I?” Jim grinned and looked at Amy. “You were pretty brilliant yourself. How’d you get to be so sneaky?”
“Never mind,” Amy said with a smile. “Just don’t forget it.”
**********
As fate would have it, General Hawkins was on the phone in his office at that very moment with the budget makers in Washington.
“General, it’s not just you. All the budgets are being scrutinized,” the voice on the other end said, only half apologetically. “Congress and the Senate approved a higher budget than last year, but they aren’t going to increase it as much as most of you would like. You have many unusual expenses.”
“This is area 51, Senator. We’re going to have unusual expenses. It’s expected.”
“I know that, General, but you are still answerable for what you spend. For example, what’s this item called “ADL Disaster Preparedness Plan?”
“That, Senator, is not negotiable. I assure you it’s absolutely essential for the protection of this base and our ongoing operations.”
“What is ADL? Some kind of terrorism?”
“That’s… a pretty good description of it, Senator. Yeah.”
“Well… the President has approved a fair amount of special funds for that… Maybe we can get it for you. Six million dollars isn’t so very much in the total budget, but it’s a lot for a single item such as this.”
“Necessary, Senator. Believe me. That woman…”
“What?”
“That, uh, MOMENT… when we receive the funding… we will be able to protect ourselves and this base from any future unexpected incursions that might destabilize our existence here.”
“Yes, well, just try to keep an eye on things from the viewpoint of the budget makers up here, General. You’re not exempted from budgetary constraints just because you’re in Roswell.”
“Understood, Senator. I’ll keep my eye on it.”
The phone line disconnected, and the General hung up. Then he smiled. “I’ll keep my eye on it. Six million dollars should be enough. See if you can get back on this base now, Miss Amy DeLuca!”
The General sat down and lit a cigar then leaned back in his chair. As he began to puff, there was a knock on his door.
“Enter. It’s open.”
“Sir,” a young corporal said, “The informants are here… about the, uh… you know…”
“Send them in, Owens.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Corporal motioned, and Jim and Amy walked in. General Hawkins looked up and inhaled his cigar then began to cough violently. Finally, he managed to spit the cigar out onto his desk, then he struggled to get it onto an ashtray, but not before it had made a burn mark on the top of his highly polished desk.
“Those things are bad for your health,” Jim said. “Are you okay? You appear ill.”
General Hawkins’ face had become several shades lighter than usual, and at first, he did appear to be ill. Then his face began to turn red, and he looked like he might have a stroke.
“I don’t think cigars agree with you,” Jim said.
“Sheriff, I’m not going to die from smoking cigars,” General Hawkins managed to say. “This woman will give me a coronary before that ever happens.”
“Amy?”
General Hawkins wrinkled his nose and made an obvious effort to calm himself, probably realizing the truth in what he had said to Jim.
“You told my men that you had information, Sheriff… about the alien. What information do you have?”
Jim shook his head… “I’m sorry, General. Somebody must have misunderstood. I’m looking for information, not giving it.”
General Hawkins glared at Jim with a look of disbelief. “Sheriff, I’m not the information bureau. I don’t have any information to give you on any subject. If you have no information to give me, then this meeting is over. I’ll have my men escort you back off the base… and her.” He motioned toward Amy.
“I want to know why the Army is interested in that little girl,” Jim said, getting right down to brass nails… “What do you want from Liz Parker?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sheriff. The Army has no interest in any citizens here whatsoever. Is this girl someone to you, Sheriff?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, because we don’t have any interest in her, as you suggest. I don’t even know who she is.”
“You’re not a very convincing liar,” Amy said, picking up a file folder from the General’s desk before he could stop her. The label on the lip said “Parker, E.” This was no guarantee that this particular file was about Liz, of course, but the General’s reaction left little doubt. He almost leapt over his desk to get the file back before she could open it.
“That is a private, confidential file, Miss DeLuca!”
“It’s Mrs. Valenti now.”
The General appeared to be genuinely surprised, but only momentarily. Then he continued…
“If you had opened that file, Miss DeLuca… Valenti… whatever… I would have had to shoot you. And that is not a cliché, Mrs. Valenti. That is a fact!”
Amy swallowed slightly. Somehow, she sensed that the General was not bluffing this time. He was deadly earnest. That file was for his eyes and his eyes only. The General sat back down and opened a drawer with files in it under his desk. Then he placed the Parker, E. file into the drawer with other files. Having done this, he pressed a button on his intercom and called the corporal back in.
“Corporal, escort the Sheriff… and his wife… off the base. If they try to lose the escort or try to return… shoot them. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” The corporal turned to Jim. “Let’s go.”
“Sorry, Jim,” Amy said after they were off the base. “I didn’t mean to get us kicked out. Now we don’t have anything.”
“We have plenty,” Jim said. “We know he’s got a file on Liz, and we know it’s highly classified. That in itself speaks volumes. And you didn’t get us kicked out, Amy. General Hawkins would have kicked us out anyway. He was prepared to do that as soon as he found out we had no information for him.”
Amy smiled. “Yeah, but I had hoped to learn more from him.”
“We’ll just have to take what we can get,” Jim said. Then he grinned. “Besides, I didn’t come away with nothing, Amy. The General left his passwords filled in on his computer screen. It timed out and went dark while we were standing there talking to him, but I memorized it as soon as we went in.”
Amy smiled. “You can hack into his computer!”
“Mmm hmmm, well, maybe. I’ll have to get past the system… and maybe a firewall or two. I may need some help for that. But once I’m in, I’ve got the passwords.”
“Passwords? Plural?”
“Yeah… Looks like he’s double password protected.”
“What are they?”
“Blow1em-up. And 54321Zero.”
Amy looked at Jim and shook her head. “Why does that not surprise me, Jim?”
Jim pulled the SUV up to the front of the Sheriff’s Department and went inside quickly with Amy. He powered up the computer and sat down in front of it.
“Where do I start?”
Two hours later, Jim stopped typing and looked at the screen. He read. Then he read some more. Then he whistled softly.
“What? What did you find,” Amy asked, running back to his side.
“The Army’s been doing research on Liz’s DNA, her medical background, and… her genealogy. They’ve traced her genealogy back more than… ten thousand years? I don’t think that’s even possible.”
Amy looked at the notes. “It looks like a lot of it is pieced together from conjecture. There’s no solid data to go on. Why would they go to all this trouble? What’s back there in Liz’s past that the Army is worried about… ten thousand years ago? Talk about statute of limitations that never run out! That poor girl! Scroll down, Jim. I want to read the rest…”
**********
Back on the base, three people were making their way through the dark tunnels under the mountain.
“I didn’t know the Army had all these unfinished tunnels,” Michael said. “I thought when we got out of the compound, we’d be out in the open somewhere on the base.”
“We could have done that,” Rahn agreed. “But the soldiers would have spotted us above ground. These unfinished tunnels go on for miles and miles in all directions. The mountain is riveted with them.”
“I can see that,” Michael said. “Where do they go?”
“Some of them go around in circles… some go to the other side of the mountain… some go nowhere, they merely end at what you call a death end.”
“Dead end,” Max corrected.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“It kind of means the same,” Michael said, “but we’re used to the term ‘dead end.’ What you said sounds more like what it really could be, and we’d rather not think about it that way.”
Rahn nodded. “Well, if we choose the right tunnels, we can dig through a layer of soft dirt about eighteen feet and be inside a natural cavern. The cavern will take us off of the base, and we should be able to come out after the sun goes down without being seen.”
“How did you find this out,” Michael asked. “Won’t the Army be expecting us to try that if it’s the only way out?”
“They don’t know about it,” Rahn said. “I obtained a map of the tunnels by shape-shifting to look like someone who would not be noticed on the base. I compared the map of the tunnels –the finished ones and the unfinished ones- to a geological map from your library. The tunnels mostly go in circles or to death… dead ends… or to other installations on the base. A few of the unfinished tunnels appear to be uncharted. If my calculations are correct, though, there is one place… only one… where we can break through into the cavern. We will have to dig through about eighteen feet of dirt, but it is not hard or very stony.”
“We can do that,” Michael said. “But what about Maria and Isabel? We don’t know where they are?”
“And what will they have done to Liz,” Max wondered aloud sadly. “I heard Liz survived but is in a coma. I need to be there to protect her… if they haven’t killed her already. She’s vulnerable.”
“She’s alive,” Rahn said. “And she is no longer asleep. She is awake.”
Max looked at Rahn and broke into a wide grin. “She’s awake? I knew I felt something! I knew it!”
“She cannot move her legs, Zan. She must move in what you call a wheelchair.”
Max grimaced, then he nodded. “We can deal with that. I can heal her… maybe… probably… but even if I can’t, we can deal with that. She’s alive, Rahn! You know what that means? She’s alive!”
“Yes… and that may cause concern to the Army, Zan. She will be in great danger.”
“I know. But why? What the hell does the Army care about Liz? I understand why they want to kill us. We’re just aliens to them… but why Liz? She’s an all-American girl… about as innocent and harmless as it’s possible to be. It’s all because of me, Rahn. Her life is in danger because of me… because she loves me. That’s not fair.”
“Maybe there is another reason, Zan.”
There was silence for several long moments, then Max asked… “What reason, Rahn? What do you know that I don’t?”
“I told you I was on the base looking for the map of the tunnels… I also saw some other things. I was especially interested in a file I saw that spoke of the book.”
“What book?”
Rahn sighed. “Unfortunately, Zan, you would not know. You never received it. You only received the Destiny Book.”
“You mean there was a second book?”
Rahn nodded.
“The ship that crashed in the 1940’s carried the Destiny Book and a companion book, titled, Planet Under Siege: An Alternate Destiny. The warders managed to save the Destiny Book, but the Book Of Alternate Destinies, as it was known, could not be found in the crash in time, and the Army found it later in the crash debris. In it are actual pictures of you, Zan, and of you, Rath, and of Vilandra and Ava… from Antar… and the prediction that despite the efforts of the Antarian scientists, you might not end up following the destinies that you were programmed to follow.
This prediction was based partly on the ‘vision’ of an ancient hermit from a distant planet called Jeroglasst. Because of his visions, our scientists decided to do a linear life projection… that’s a sort of scientific aging of DNA to determine expected progression patterns… and some of the tests suggested an outcome that agreed with what the ancient seer had predicted. Because of this, the scientists thought it prudent to include the predictions in writing for you to read when you came out of your pods… but they were not convinced of their certainty to the extent that they were ready to present them as fact. Rather, they included them as hypothesis and theory in the second book.
The U.S. Army succeeded in translating the book over the years since the crash, but the translation is flawed. The translators assumed that ‘Planet Under Siege’ meant Earth… and that ‘An Alternate Destiny’ was what the Antarians intended for Earth. So you see, basing their translation on this preconceived notion, the army has determined that all of Kivar’s atrocities on Antar are… our plan for conquering the Earth.
But there is something else. The ancient seer saw a new queen in the flowing of the river of time, a queen who would be born on Earth of Earth parents but whose lineage would be discovered to go back to Antar thousands of years before. This new queen would die and be ‘reawakened’ by the new king Zan, after which some of her Antarian powers would be reawakened, and one day she would wipe away the final vestiges of the previous realm and help bring about a new presence on the planet. It meant an end to Kivar’s lingering influence after his bloody rule… and a new peace on Antar under your rule, Zan, but… the Army believes that it means the end of human rule on Earth.
The predictions of the seer were emphatic in their assertion that this new queen’s abilities… and her influence on you, Zan, would be singularly important… and that without her, you would not fulfill your destiny to return as king, and the hope to take back the planet would fail…”
Rahn looked at Max as though to emphasize what he had to say next… “The Army’s translation, Zan, notes that Liz Parker is the key to conquering the Earth.”
tbc
Coming next: Judge Lewis returns with treachery. Yeah, I know! I’ve said that the last two chapters! I guess I can’t see into the River of Time as well as the Drax-ta-Kiya of Jeroglasst can. I can’t pin down the time so precisely. But the judge hasn’t been sitting by idly. He’s been waiting for his chance. And the Army needs him to facilitate this particular operation for them. It’s fortunate indeed that Liz and Alex have returned to their bodies, but the danger, especially to Liz, is still incalculable. The Army and the FBI have every intention of wiping out or neutralizing the threat to our world… that basically means Liz, Max, and Michael, and to be safe, Isabel and Tess (who is not with them yet in this story). The Special Unit agents of the Army and FBI can be ruthless and efficient… and they cry no tears.
Last edited by Island Breeze on Wed Dec 03, 2003 5:09 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
Out Of The Frying Pan…
Chapter 14
XIV
Judge Lewis locked the door to his office, checked the locks on his window, and drew the shades, then he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk to go through some papers. He wasn’t accustomed to taking such draconian measures, but the last thing he wanted was to be surprised again by the Special Unit “creeps” in his own office. This way he could at least expect some measure of peace and comfort in knowing that he was safe from unwanted intrusions.
In the past week or so, a lot of paperwork had piled up on the judge’s desk. He had had more pressing matters on his mind. But now he had time to clear up some of the backlog. Quickly reviewing a couple of liens and a divorce decree, Judge Lewis turned around and opened his file cabinet. He dropped the papers into a file labeled, “completed business” then turned around to his desk again. It wasn’t there. Judge Lewis paled, as his eyes rose slowly, following the black pants legs then the black suit coats, up to the stern, rock-hard faces looking down at him in his chair.
“How… how the… how the hell did you get in here? My door was locked. My window’s locked.”
The agents didn’t answer. Judge Lewis glanced at the door and windows. They were still locked. The shades were still pulled. He tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. They had moved his desk, and they were standing right in front of him… all without him even being aware that they were there. The thought crossed Judge Lewis’ mind that they must have already been in his office before he locked it up, hiding somewhere… but he couldn’t imagine where anyone, much less three of them, could have hidden without him seeing them. It scared him. Seriously.
“Horace, haven’t we been paying you enough? What can we do to get your attention?” one of the agents finally said in a voice that sounded more like a threat than a question.
“I’m… I’m fine… I mean… you’ve paid me plenty…”
“Well, see, Judge, that’s what we were thinking, too, but we don’t seem to be getting anything back from you.”
“I’ve tried. Believe me, guys, I’ve tried to get rid of the girl for you. Sheriff Valenti is always in the way. You know I’m no fan of Jim Valenti… and what you do with the Parker girl… Hey, that’s your business. She’s only trouble for me… and for this town.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Judge,” the second agent said, “because you have another chance coming up… Oh yeah, I’m supposed to tell you, it’s your last one.”
Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat muscles would not cooperate. Other muscles seemed more obliging, however…
“Do I hear water running?” the first agent asked.
The third agent nodded toward Judge Lewis and stepped back a couple of steps. The first agent looked at the floor around Judge Lewis and wrinkled his nose but said nothing.
“Judge,” the second agent said, picking up the conversation, “The Parker girl and that boy that’s with her are going to be leaving the hospital today.”
“Well, I’ll stop them,” Judge Lewis replied. “I’ll keep them there. You can have your guy at the hospital do whatever he’s going to do… I don’t want to know anything. Just make sure it looks… natural… that I’m not implicated.”
“Now Judge, what makes you think anything is going to happen to them? We didn’t say that.”
“I… I didn’t mean that anything bad was going to… I just meant… I just… I meant that I trust you. I’ll do whatever you want to keep them there.”
The agent shook his head. “Too late for that. Our guy at Roswell General was… let’s say, compromised.”
“Deceased,” the first agent added.
Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat was still too dry. All the moisture seemed to have already gone elsewhere, following the path of gravity.
“No, Judge, we don’t want you to keep them there. We have another plan for you. Don’t screw it up.”
**********
After successfully hacking into General Hawkins’ computer and reading the notes he had on Liz, Jim Valenti rushed back from his office to the hospital. He wanted to be there when Liz and Alex were released, and he already knew that was going to be after the doctor saw them at 6 PM. It was 5:45 now. Jim parked his official vehicle outside the entrance and met Deputy Hansen, then he and Amy went inside with Hansen, walking quickly down the hall to Liz’s room. The doctor was just finishing his checkup, and Jeff and Nancy Parker were with them.
“You look… perfectly healthy, Liz. I don’t know why you and Alex were in a coma.”
“I told you, Doc, we were just asleep. We were studying for midterm exams… well, Alex was. I was helping him study for his exams… and we… I guess we just went to sleep. We were very tired. You know how we teenagers push our limits, Doc. I guess that’s what we did. We just exhausted ourselves and went to sleep.”
“Well, Liz, I’ve never seen anyone just go to sleep and nobody be able to wake them up for three days before. But all my tests have found nothing that would explain it, so I have to put down that you passed out due to… sleep deprivation. I’m not sure I believe that, but it’s the only answer I have for now. We’ve tested both of you exhaustively, and…”
“And we’re both fine, right?”
The doctor shrugged. “It looks like it. I’m releasing you both. I checked Alex out right before I checked you.”
Liz smiled.
“Hello, Jeff… Nancy,” Jim said. “I guess you get to take Liz home now.”
Jeff smiled. “Yeah. I’ll feel a lot better when she’s back home, Jim. Hi, Amy.”
Amy smiled at Jeff and took Nancy’s hand. “Hi, Jeff.”
“I know. I will, too,” Jim said. “The Whitman’s are with Alex. Hansen and I are going to accompany you home. I’ll escort you, and Hansen will escort the Whitman’s. I figure an official presence may help to discourage any… problems along the way… not that there should be any, but just to be safe.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.” Jeff patted Jim on the arm.
“You ready to go, Liz,” Jeff asked. Liz nodded.
A nurse walked into the room pushing a wheelchair. “I’ll take you out to the car, honey.”
Jeff picked Liz up and put her into the chair, and the nurse pushed it out into the hall and then down toward the lobby. As they passed Alex’s room, they heard him complaining.
“I’m fine. I don’t need to sit in a wheelchair.”
“I know,” the nurse said, “but it’s hospital policy. We wouldn’t want you to go to sleep again and fall over and hit your head before you got outside the hospital.”
“Is that medical sarcasm,” Alex asked.
The nurse smiled.
“Come on, Alex,” Liz said. “Sit in the chair. Let’s get out of here.”
Alex grinned and nodded slowly. “Alright… if it’ll get me out of here any sooner, I’ll sit in your chair and let you push me.”
Alex’s nurse pushed him out into the hall beside Liz.
Alex looked at Liz and grinned. “You want to race?”
“Young man!” his nurse said sternly. The nurse pushing Liz’s chair tightened her grip on Liz’s chair intuitively, just in case Liz decided to accept Alex’s challenge.
“Just a little wheelchair drag race down to the lobby?” Alex asked the nurse, winking at Liz.
The nurse raised her eyebrows and gave him a mortified look. Liz giggled.
“I’d win,” Liz said quietly, with a smile. “I’ve had more practice.”
“Young lady!” Alex’s nurse said, with a bit of exasperation. “Please do not encourage him.”
Liz winked back at Alex and sighed dramatically. “I’ll be so glad to get back home. This place is no fun at all.”
“None at all,” Alex agreed.
The nurses pushed the two chairs out of the hospital and left them momentarily with Jim, Amy, and Hansen, while they waited for Jeff and Nancy and the Whitman’s to bring their cars around.
Jim smiled at Alex and Liz. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Jeff pulled up with Nancy, and the Whitman’s pulled up right behind them. Jeff got out and opened the door then picked Liz up to put her in, but before he could, somebody shut the door.
“Sorry, can’t let you do that,” a voice said.
Jeff looked up to see Judge Lewis standing there. Jim grabbed Judge Lewis brusquely by both arms and forcibly moved him aside. Already angry with Judge Lewis for so rudely closing the car door as he was putting Liz in, Jeff glared at the judge.
“Judge! What the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m putting Liz in the car! Open that door back!”
“No you’re not,” Judge Lewis said. “I’ve got a court order… Read it yourself.”
Jeff placed Liz back into her chair and swiped the paper out of Judge Lewis’s hand. His face turned red, then pale, then red again.
“You’re crazy,” Jeff said. “You’re a lunatic! You think I’m going to allow you to do this?”
Jim took the paper and read it.
“Horace, you have no authority. I’m the sheriff here. You’re a judge. You’re not the sheriff… you’re not a deputy… you’re a judge. You’re out of your jurisdiction here.
“Well, see, that’s why I brought these guys with me,” Judge Lewis said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, six burly state troopers stepped up, and two of them took hold of the two wheelchairs.
“Dad?” Liz said, her voice shaking slightly with genuine fear. “Sheriff? …What’s going on?”
Alex was already out of his chair, but one of the troopers shoved him back into it. “Sit down, son. Don’t try that again.”
“Try what?” Alex asked. “I just stood up!”
“Well, stay sitting down.”
“Horace, I’m still the law here,” Jim said sternly. “Unless you can show me something that says I’ve been removed from that job, I cannot let you do this.” Jim took Liz’s chair back from the state trooper forcibly.
“I thought you’d say that, Jim. I couldn’t get the council to go along with removing you again… after the last time. Don’t think I didn’t try. But I got the next best thing… an order placing these two children’s welfare in the hands of the state court. It’s out of your jurisdiction, Jim. The order states that they are to be delivered to the mental health facility in Long Junction… today.”
“That’s 300 miles from here,” Hansen said.
Judge Lewis nodded. “Jim, you are hereby barred from having any further contact with either Miss Elizabeth Parker or Mr. Alex Whitman.”
“I’m staying with my daughter,” Jeff said.
“Me, too,” Nancy nodded in agreement.
“Sorry,” Judge Lewis said, shaking his head. “The order bars you or the Whitman’s from having any further contact with your children pending further review and/or until they’ve been rehabilitated.”
“REHABILITATED?” Amy said loudly, her voice mirroring her feelings. “What do they have to be rehabilitated from? Judge, you need to be rehabilitated, not these kids! They haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve got a feeling you couldn’t say as much for yourself.”
“Chronic drug use,” Judge Lewis replied.
“Oh, you can’t make that stick,” Jeff said, incredulous, tearing the order up and throwing it on the ground. “Nobody will back up that cockamamie accusation!”
“They already have,” Judge Lewis said. “We have at least a dozen witnesses who have either bought drugs from them or sold drugs to them. And we have their hospital record… unexplained comatose…”
“Not unexplained,” Jeff said. “They were tired. That was the diagnosis.”
Judge Lewis snorted. “Tired? And they slept for three days? What kind of diagnosis is that?”
“It’s the official diagnosis,” Amy said. “Read it yourself, you sleezebag.”
“Who says these two ever sold or bought drugs,” Jim asked.
“Witnesses,” Judge Lewis replied smugly.
“Where did you find these witnesses?”
“That’s not your concern, Jim. I found them. That’s all you need to know.”
“Judge, if there’s a hell, you’re going to rot in it,” Amy said. “You know these two never bought or sold drugs. Any witnesses you have, you had to have paid them.”
“You’ve got a sharp tongue, Ms. DeLuca. But I’m in a forgiving mood today. Be thankful.”
“Horace,” Jim said, “even if it were true that they were involved with drugs –and it’s not!- you would have no reason to become involved unless they came before you in your court. You’re a judge. Arresting them would be my job, not yours.”
“Would you arrest them, Jim?”
“Hell no!”
“Well.”
“Why are you involved in this, Judge, that’s what I want to know. Why are you going to all this trouble?”
“For the benefit of our town’s peace and honor, Jim. I have a responsibility to this town. I’m on the City Council. I’m a decent, law-abiding citizen, Sheriff! I want our town to be clean and free of this kind of thing.”
“Don’t make me gag,” Amy said. “You’re a crooked, conniving, thief… and that may very well not be all.”
“You’re pushing my good will, Ms. DeLuca!” Judge Lewis said, scowling at Amy. “I’d be more careful if I were you!”
“Judge, do you have an order to send me to jail?”
“No.”
“Then suck it in! You can’t touch me! Jim is the sheriff here. You’d need an order from the state court to do anything to me, and you don’t have it!”
“That may have merely been an oversight, Ms. DeLuca,” Judge Lewis said, his frustration with Amy mounting and his face reddening visibly.
“I’m sure it was,” Amy said. “But until you’ve got a court order, you’ll keep your distance!”
“And if I get a court order?”
“Just try laying your hands on me.”
Judge Lewis swallowed. Something about Amy intimidated him, but he didn’t know why.
Judge Lewis motioned to the state troopers. “Put them in the van. Take them to Crestview.”
The troopers took the handles of the chairs, but Jim placed himself in front of them.
“Sorry, gentlemen… I can’t let you do that.”
“Jim, if you stand in the way of a legal state court order, you can be removed from office… no matter what the Council votes. It would be my duty to file charges and have you removed.”
Jim’s face turned uncharacteristically red, as he realized that he was over a barrel. If he stood his ground now, Judge Lewis would have him removed from his job for cause… and he would not be in a position to help Liz or Alex at all. And as much as it hurt Jim, he knew that the odds were against him here, even if he and Hansen were to shoot it out with these guys. They were seriously outnumbered. Besides, this fight was with Judge Lewis. Jim wasn’t sure who these troopers were… they were probably merely doing their job. Then again… that might be the angle he needed to stall this…
“Judge,” Jim said, “as the sheriff of Roswell, it is my sworn duty to defend all the citizens of this town. I don’t know these men that you brought here. I would like to see some credentials, and then I will need to make some calls to verify who they are before I can allow them to take any citizen of this town out of Roswell.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Jim! They’re state troopers! Look at them! They’re wearing trooper uniforms!”
“Anyone can get a trooper uniform if they’ve got connections, Judge… maybe even if they don’t. I am sworn by law to protect our citizens.”
“He’s right,” one of the troopers said. “He has that right.”
“Well then show him your ID!” Judge Lewis said. The troopers all took their ID’s out and showed them to Jim.
“Okay,” Jim said. “I hope you guys will understand if I make some phone calls.”
The troopers looked at each other and nodded. Judge Lewis huffed. “How long is this going to take, Jim?”
“A few days… maybe a week.”
“No, no! You’ll do it right now!”
“I have to be in my office to make official calls,” Jim said.
“He’s right,” the first trooper said.
“Well, then… go with him!” Judge Lewis growled… “so you can take custody as soon as he gets his verification.”
“We’ll have to go with you,” the first trooper said to Jim. Jim nodded, then he looked at Liz and Alex apologetically. The look on his face told Liz all she needed to know. Jim was out on a limb. He was holding the match till it burned down to his fingertips… but in the end, the flame was going to go out.
tbc
Coming next: Jim and Amy try to save Liz and Alex; and Max, Michael, and Rahn find the place where they can dig their way out of the tunnels.
Out Of The Frying Pan…
Chapter 14
XIV
Judge Lewis locked the door to his office, checked the locks on his window, and drew the shades, then he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk to go through some papers. He wasn’t accustomed to taking such draconian measures, but the last thing he wanted was to be surprised again by the Special Unit “creeps” in his own office. This way he could at least expect some measure of peace and comfort in knowing that he was safe from unwanted intrusions.
In the past week or so, a lot of paperwork had piled up on the judge’s desk. He had had more pressing matters on his mind. But now he had time to clear up some of the backlog. Quickly reviewing a couple of liens and a divorce decree, Judge Lewis turned around and opened his file cabinet. He dropped the papers into a file labeled, “completed business” then turned around to his desk again. It wasn’t there. Judge Lewis paled, as his eyes rose slowly, following the black pants legs then the black suit coats, up to the stern, rock-hard faces looking down at him in his chair.
“How… how the… how the hell did you get in here? My door was locked. My window’s locked.”
The agents didn’t answer. Judge Lewis glanced at the door and windows. They were still locked. The shades were still pulled. He tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. They had moved his desk, and they were standing right in front of him… all without him even being aware that they were there. The thought crossed Judge Lewis’ mind that they must have already been in his office before he locked it up, hiding somewhere… but he couldn’t imagine where anyone, much less three of them, could have hidden without him seeing them. It scared him. Seriously.
“Horace, haven’t we been paying you enough? What can we do to get your attention?” one of the agents finally said in a voice that sounded more like a threat than a question.
“I’m… I’m fine… I mean… you’ve paid me plenty…”
“Well, see, Judge, that’s what we were thinking, too, but we don’t seem to be getting anything back from you.”
“I’ve tried. Believe me, guys, I’ve tried to get rid of the girl for you. Sheriff Valenti is always in the way. You know I’m no fan of Jim Valenti… and what you do with the Parker girl… Hey, that’s your business. She’s only trouble for me… and for this town.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Judge,” the second agent said, “because you have another chance coming up… Oh yeah, I’m supposed to tell you, it’s your last one.”
Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat muscles would not cooperate. Other muscles seemed more obliging, however…
“Do I hear water running?” the first agent asked.
The third agent nodded toward Judge Lewis and stepped back a couple of steps. The first agent looked at the floor around Judge Lewis and wrinkled his nose but said nothing.
“Judge,” the second agent said, picking up the conversation, “The Parker girl and that boy that’s with her are going to be leaving the hospital today.”
“Well, I’ll stop them,” Judge Lewis replied. “I’ll keep them there. You can have your guy at the hospital do whatever he’s going to do… I don’t want to know anything. Just make sure it looks… natural… that I’m not implicated.”
“Now Judge, what makes you think anything is going to happen to them? We didn’t say that.”
“I… I didn’t mean that anything bad was going to… I just meant… I just… I meant that I trust you. I’ll do whatever you want to keep them there.”
The agent shook his head. “Too late for that. Our guy at Roswell General was… let’s say, compromised.”
“Deceased,” the first agent added.
Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat was still too dry. All the moisture seemed to have already gone elsewhere, following the path of gravity.
“No, Judge, we don’t want you to keep them there. We have another plan for you. Don’t screw it up.”
**********
After successfully hacking into General Hawkins’ computer and reading the notes he had on Liz, Jim Valenti rushed back from his office to the hospital. He wanted to be there when Liz and Alex were released, and he already knew that was going to be after the doctor saw them at 6 PM. It was 5:45 now. Jim parked his official vehicle outside the entrance and met Deputy Hansen, then he and Amy went inside with Hansen, walking quickly down the hall to Liz’s room. The doctor was just finishing his checkup, and Jeff and Nancy Parker were with them.
“You look… perfectly healthy, Liz. I don’t know why you and Alex were in a coma.”
“I told you, Doc, we were just asleep. We were studying for midterm exams… well, Alex was. I was helping him study for his exams… and we… I guess we just went to sleep. We were very tired. You know how we teenagers push our limits, Doc. I guess that’s what we did. We just exhausted ourselves and went to sleep.”
“Well, Liz, I’ve never seen anyone just go to sleep and nobody be able to wake them up for three days before. But all my tests have found nothing that would explain it, so I have to put down that you passed out due to… sleep deprivation. I’m not sure I believe that, but it’s the only answer I have for now. We’ve tested both of you exhaustively, and…”
“And we’re both fine, right?”
The doctor shrugged. “It looks like it. I’m releasing you both. I checked Alex out right before I checked you.”
Liz smiled.
“Hello, Jeff… Nancy,” Jim said. “I guess you get to take Liz home now.”
Jeff smiled. “Yeah. I’ll feel a lot better when she’s back home, Jim. Hi, Amy.”
Amy smiled at Jeff and took Nancy’s hand. “Hi, Jeff.”
“I know. I will, too,” Jim said. “The Whitman’s are with Alex. Hansen and I are going to accompany you home. I’ll escort you, and Hansen will escort the Whitman’s. I figure an official presence may help to discourage any… problems along the way… not that there should be any, but just to be safe.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.” Jeff patted Jim on the arm.
“You ready to go, Liz,” Jeff asked. Liz nodded.
A nurse walked into the room pushing a wheelchair. “I’ll take you out to the car, honey.”
Jeff picked Liz up and put her into the chair, and the nurse pushed it out into the hall and then down toward the lobby. As they passed Alex’s room, they heard him complaining.
“I’m fine. I don’t need to sit in a wheelchair.”
“I know,” the nurse said, “but it’s hospital policy. We wouldn’t want you to go to sleep again and fall over and hit your head before you got outside the hospital.”
“Is that medical sarcasm,” Alex asked.
The nurse smiled.
“Come on, Alex,” Liz said. “Sit in the chair. Let’s get out of here.”
Alex grinned and nodded slowly. “Alright… if it’ll get me out of here any sooner, I’ll sit in your chair and let you push me.”
Alex’s nurse pushed him out into the hall beside Liz.
Alex looked at Liz and grinned. “You want to race?”
“Young man!” his nurse said sternly. The nurse pushing Liz’s chair tightened her grip on Liz’s chair intuitively, just in case Liz decided to accept Alex’s challenge.
“Just a little wheelchair drag race down to the lobby?” Alex asked the nurse, winking at Liz.
The nurse raised her eyebrows and gave him a mortified look. Liz giggled.
“I’d win,” Liz said quietly, with a smile. “I’ve had more practice.”
“Young lady!” Alex’s nurse said, with a bit of exasperation. “Please do not encourage him.”
Liz winked back at Alex and sighed dramatically. “I’ll be so glad to get back home. This place is no fun at all.”
“None at all,” Alex agreed.
The nurses pushed the two chairs out of the hospital and left them momentarily with Jim, Amy, and Hansen, while they waited for Jeff and Nancy and the Whitman’s to bring their cars around.
Jim smiled at Alex and Liz. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Jeff pulled up with Nancy, and the Whitman’s pulled up right behind them. Jeff got out and opened the door then picked Liz up to put her in, but before he could, somebody shut the door.
“Sorry, can’t let you do that,” a voice said.
Jeff looked up to see Judge Lewis standing there. Jim grabbed Judge Lewis brusquely by both arms and forcibly moved him aside. Already angry with Judge Lewis for so rudely closing the car door as he was putting Liz in, Jeff glared at the judge.
“Judge! What the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m putting Liz in the car! Open that door back!”
“No you’re not,” Judge Lewis said. “I’ve got a court order… Read it yourself.”
Jeff placed Liz back into her chair and swiped the paper out of Judge Lewis’s hand. His face turned red, then pale, then red again.
“You’re crazy,” Jeff said. “You’re a lunatic! You think I’m going to allow you to do this?”
Jim took the paper and read it.
“Horace, you have no authority. I’m the sheriff here. You’re a judge. You’re not the sheriff… you’re not a deputy… you’re a judge. You’re out of your jurisdiction here.
“Well, see, that’s why I brought these guys with me,” Judge Lewis said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, six burly state troopers stepped up, and two of them took hold of the two wheelchairs.
“Dad?” Liz said, her voice shaking slightly with genuine fear. “Sheriff? …What’s going on?”
Alex was already out of his chair, but one of the troopers shoved him back into it. “Sit down, son. Don’t try that again.”
“Try what?” Alex asked. “I just stood up!”
“Well, stay sitting down.”
“Horace, I’m still the law here,” Jim said sternly. “Unless you can show me something that says I’ve been removed from that job, I cannot let you do this.” Jim took Liz’s chair back from the state trooper forcibly.
“I thought you’d say that, Jim. I couldn’t get the council to go along with removing you again… after the last time. Don’t think I didn’t try. But I got the next best thing… an order placing these two children’s welfare in the hands of the state court. It’s out of your jurisdiction, Jim. The order states that they are to be delivered to the mental health facility in Long Junction… today.”
“That’s 300 miles from here,” Hansen said.
Judge Lewis nodded. “Jim, you are hereby barred from having any further contact with either Miss Elizabeth Parker or Mr. Alex Whitman.”
“I’m staying with my daughter,” Jeff said.
“Me, too,” Nancy nodded in agreement.
“Sorry,” Judge Lewis said, shaking his head. “The order bars you or the Whitman’s from having any further contact with your children pending further review and/or until they’ve been rehabilitated.”
“REHABILITATED?” Amy said loudly, her voice mirroring her feelings. “What do they have to be rehabilitated from? Judge, you need to be rehabilitated, not these kids! They haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve got a feeling you couldn’t say as much for yourself.”
“Chronic drug use,” Judge Lewis replied.
“Oh, you can’t make that stick,” Jeff said, incredulous, tearing the order up and throwing it on the ground. “Nobody will back up that cockamamie accusation!”
“They already have,” Judge Lewis said. “We have at least a dozen witnesses who have either bought drugs from them or sold drugs to them. And we have their hospital record… unexplained comatose…”
“Not unexplained,” Jeff said. “They were tired. That was the diagnosis.”
Judge Lewis snorted. “Tired? And they slept for three days? What kind of diagnosis is that?”
“It’s the official diagnosis,” Amy said. “Read it yourself, you sleezebag.”
“Who says these two ever sold or bought drugs,” Jim asked.
“Witnesses,” Judge Lewis replied smugly.
“Where did you find these witnesses?”
“That’s not your concern, Jim. I found them. That’s all you need to know.”
“Judge, if there’s a hell, you’re going to rot in it,” Amy said. “You know these two never bought or sold drugs. Any witnesses you have, you had to have paid them.”
“You’ve got a sharp tongue, Ms. DeLuca. But I’m in a forgiving mood today. Be thankful.”
“Horace,” Jim said, “even if it were true that they were involved with drugs –and it’s not!- you would have no reason to become involved unless they came before you in your court. You’re a judge. Arresting them would be my job, not yours.”
“Would you arrest them, Jim?”
“Hell no!”
“Well.”
“Why are you involved in this, Judge, that’s what I want to know. Why are you going to all this trouble?”
“For the benefit of our town’s peace and honor, Jim. I have a responsibility to this town. I’m on the City Council. I’m a decent, law-abiding citizen, Sheriff! I want our town to be clean and free of this kind of thing.”
“Don’t make me gag,” Amy said. “You’re a crooked, conniving, thief… and that may very well not be all.”
“You’re pushing my good will, Ms. DeLuca!” Judge Lewis said, scowling at Amy. “I’d be more careful if I were you!”
“Judge, do you have an order to send me to jail?”
“No.”
“Then suck it in! You can’t touch me! Jim is the sheriff here. You’d need an order from the state court to do anything to me, and you don’t have it!”
“That may have merely been an oversight, Ms. DeLuca,” Judge Lewis said, his frustration with Amy mounting and his face reddening visibly.
“I’m sure it was,” Amy said. “But until you’ve got a court order, you’ll keep your distance!”
“And if I get a court order?”
“Just try laying your hands on me.”
Judge Lewis swallowed. Something about Amy intimidated him, but he didn’t know why.
Judge Lewis motioned to the state troopers. “Put them in the van. Take them to Crestview.”
The troopers took the handles of the chairs, but Jim placed himself in front of them.
“Sorry, gentlemen… I can’t let you do that.”
“Jim, if you stand in the way of a legal state court order, you can be removed from office… no matter what the Council votes. It would be my duty to file charges and have you removed.”
Jim’s face turned uncharacteristically red, as he realized that he was over a barrel. If he stood his ground now, Judge Lewis would have him removed from his job for cause… and he would not be in a position to help Liz or Alex at all. And as much as it hurt Jim, he knew that the odds were against him here, even if he and Hansen were to shoot it out with these guys. They were seriously outnumbered. Besides, this fight was with Judge Lewis. Jim wasn’t sure who these troopers were… they were probably merely doing their job. Then again… that might be the angle he needed to stall this…
“Judge,” Jim said, “as the sheriff of Roswell, it is my sworn duty to defend all the citizens of this town. I don’t know these men that you brought here. I would like to see some credentials, and then I will need to make some calls to verify who they are before I can allow them to take any citizen of this town out of Roswell.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Jim! They’re state troopers! Look at them! They’re wearing trooper uniforms!”
“Anyone can get a trooper uniform if they’ve got connections, Judge… maybe even if they don’t. I am sworn by law to protect our citizens.”
“He’s right,” one of the troopers said. “He has that right.”
“Well then show him your ID!” Judge Lewis said. The troopers all took their ID’s out and showed them to Jim.
“Okay,” Jim said. “I hope you guys will understand if I make some phone calls.”
The troopers looked at each other and nodded. Judge Lewis huffed. “How long is this going to take, Jim?”
“A few days… maybe a week.”
“No, no! You’ll do it right now!”
“I have to be in my office to make official calls,” Jim said.
“He’s right,” the first trooper said.
“Well, then… go with him!” Judge Lewis growled… “so you can take custody as soon as he gets his verification.”
“We’ll have to go with you,” the first trooper said to Jim. Jim nodded, then he looked at Liz and Alex apologetically. The look on his face told Liz all she needed to know. Jim was out on a limb. He was holding the match till it burned down to his fingertips… but in the end, the flame was going to go out.
tbc
Coming next: Jim and Amy try to save Liz and Alex; and Max, Michael, and Rahn find the place where they can dig their way out of the tunnels.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
The Tunnel Of The Bats
Chapter 15
XV
Maria looked down the dark corridor of the unfinished tunnel in both directions…
“What do you think, Isabel? Don’t you have some kind of gut feeling… some kind of alien psychic thing or something… about which way we should go here?”
Isabel shook her head wearily. “No,” she said after a few moments reflection and without any pretensions. “I just don’t know.”
Maria sighed with genuine frustration. “Okay, then, let’s go… right… no, left! We go left.”
Isabel nodded. “Left is good.” She reached down and picked up a small object from the ground. It was a pop top from a soda can or perhaps a beer can.
“Somebody was here,” Isabel said. “Looks like it was a long time ago, though. It’s rusty… or maybe just coated with… something. It’s changed color.” She dropped the pop top back onto the ground and kicked it with her foot, scuffing the dirt with her shoe.
The two girls turned into the bisecting tunnel and followed the left route. It seemed that the corridors had become increasingly damp and dusty since Maria and Isabel had left the larger, developed parts and entered the unfinished tunnels. The developed tunnels were huge corridors. Trucks, even tanks, could drive through some of them, and there were rooms off to the sides… but these tunnels were a far cry from those. Some of these were barely big enough to stand up in… and they were damp and dingy. Maria wondered who had gone through this mountain digging all these tunnels and why they never finished them all.
After an hour of walking in the new tunnel –sometimes crawling, in places where the ceiling was too low- the girls stopped to rest. Maria sat down on the ground then noticed something in the dirt beside her.
“Another pop top.”
She handed it to Isabel, and Isabel looked at it, then she looked at the ground beside it. There was an unmistakable scuff mark on the ground. She buried her face wearily in her hands.
“We’ve been walking in a circle, Maria. This is the same pop top I kicked over an hour ago.”
Maria swallowed silently, as she looked at the scuff mark on the ground and the pop top in Isabel’s hand. She knew Isabel was right. For a moment, Maria almost felt a pang of desperation, but she quickly shut it out, replacing it with a plan that came as fast as the feeling of desperation had fled.
“Okay, then, this time we go the other way… and we mark our trail. If we start seeing any of our marks again, we backtrack and find another route… any other route.”
Isabel nodded.
Unknown to Maria or Isabel, about two miles away, in a larger but equally unfinished tunnel, Max, Michael, and Rahn were also searching for a way out. The one difference was that, with Rahn’s help, they had an idea where they were going and how to get there.
Max sat down on a rock in the tunnel, as they stopped momentarily to assess their position. He looked at Rahn hesitantly, as though he wanted to ask something but was afraid.
“Rahn… do you have any feeling about Maria or Isabel? I mean… Do you think they’re, you know, both alive? I think Isabel may have been hurt when they were escaping. She seemed to falter for a moment. I keep seeing it over and over in my mind. I can’t stop thinking about it… but I can’t let it keep us from finding a way out of here. I can’t help any of us if I can’t get us out of here or if we’re caught again.”
Rahn shook his head slowly. “I don’t have that power, Zan. I can’t tell if they’re alive or not. But I thought you could.”
“Well… I can… sometimes,” Max admitted. “I can feel Isabel sometimes, but I stopped feeling her at all for a long time. I didn’t want to say anything, because I was afraid that… that she had died. But I felt her again a little while ago.”
“Is she alright,” Michael asked, showing immediate concern. “Is Maria alright?”
“I don’t know,” Max said, nervously tossing a small rock into the middle of the tunnel. “Not for sure anyway. Isabel seems stronger now. Her aura was giving off a very weak feeling before… then I couldn’t detect it at all… for a long time… but now it seems to be back and stronger than before.”
Michael smiled. “And Maria?”
“I can’t really feel Maria the same way, Michael.”
Michael’s smile slowly faded again.
“But I can sense something in Isabel that suggests she’s not alone or desperate or frightened the way she might be if something had happened to Maria. I can’t say for sure, Michael, but I believe Maria’s okay… at this moment.”
Michael nodded, taking note of the words: ‘at this moment.’ Michael understood all too well that in a second and without any warning everything could change for any or all of them.
Rahn stopped suddenly and put his hand up, cautioning Max and Michael to be quiet. He listened. Then he turned back to Max and Michael.
“Did you hear something, Rahn?” Michael asked.
“I thought I did. But now I don’t hear it.”
“Could you tell what it was?”
“Soldiers.”
“How can you tell,” Max asked.
“The sound their feet make… but… I don’t hear it now. Maybe they’re outside the tunnels.”
Max nodded. “Well, we need to be moving anyway. We have to find the place where we can dig out of here.”
“Right,” Michael agreed. “Let’s get the hell out of this place… the sooner the better.”
As Michael stood up, the eerie silence in the tunnel was suddenly shattered by the sound of a rifle being fired nearby. In the confines of the tunnel, the single shot sounded almost like an atomic explosion, and it echoed repeatedly from every direction… Max and Michael both dropped to the ground and rolled against the walls. When they looked up, Rahn was gone.
“Did you see where that came from,” Max asked Michael quietly.
Michael shook his head. “I think it came from down that way. Keep your head down, Max. Somebody out there wants to blow it off.”
“Where’d you get that idea,” Max asked, crawling over to Michael on his stomach, keeping his head low.
“Just a hunch.”
“Where’d Rahn go?”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t know. I dropped to the ground and rolled. When I looked up, he was gone.”
“Yeah, same here.”
Max looked up suddenly, as a bat flew low over his head then ploughed into the dirt like a crashing fighter plane. As they watched, the bat began to grow and change form.
“Rahn!” Max and Michael both whispered at the same time. “Where were you?”
“I went to see who was shooting at us,” Rahn said simply.
“Did you see?” Michael asked.
“Yes. There is one soldier behind that bend over there. Behind him there are four more. Much further down the tunnel, not very close yet, there are at least two dozen soldiers… coming this way.”
“Crap!” Michael said. “We need to get out of here before the others get here, but with this guy holding us down, we’d have to crawl away on our bellies or get our heads blown off.”
“I think I can distract them,” Rahn said, closing his eyes and concentrating. As he did, Max and Michael head noises, sounds of running and a few curses. Max looked at Rahn quizzically.
“They were attacked by a large number of bats,” Rahn said simply.
“You can call bats?”
“No. I made them think they saw them. It is a kind of mind warp. But it works just as well sometimes. Let’s go… while they’re occupied.”
Max and Michael jumped to their feet and ran with Rahn, leaving the soldiers who had been pursuing them ducking and running back the way they had come, swatting and cursing at a thick swarm of imaginary bats. After about thirty minutes, Max, Michael, and Rahn slowed their pace somewhat.
“Do you think they’re still following us,” Max asked.
Michael nodded. “I’m sure of it. They’ll follow our footprints now that they’ve seen us. We’ll have to work fast.”
“Which way?” Max asked Rahn. Rahn pointed down the corridor to the right.
Michael nodded. “Okay, then let’s make footprints down the left tunnel a ways and come back and wipe our footprints away in the right tunnel as we go down it.”
“Won’t they know what we did and come back and go down this tunnel when the footprints run out suddenly in the other one,” Max asked.
“Not necessarily,” Michael replied with a grin. “Watch and learn, Max.”
After the three had walked about a hundred feet down the left tunnel, Michael took his hand and wiped some of the footprints away, making it obvious that they were wiped away.
“They’ll think we’re erasing our tracks, so when they don’t see them anymore, they’ll keep going this way.”
“Okay,” Max nodded. “And what happens after they’ve gone a ways further and still see no more tracks?”
Michael thought about this a moment. “Rahn, could you turn into a bat again?”
Rahn shrugged. “Sure. Why?”
“Fly down the tunnel about two hundred feet then leave some more footprints so they’ll find them and think we’re still headed that way. Then fly back. It’ll look like we erased our tracks for a while, but then they’ll pick them up again. Maybe that’ll confuse them for a while.”
Rahn began to shrink… then black, leathery wings sprouted from his sides. He leapt into the air before his legs had completely shrunk to bat-sized, changing the rest of the way into a bat in mid air, then he flew off down the tunnel. A couple of minutes later, he came flying back again. This time, instead of making a head over heals landing in the dirt, he perched upside down on the tunnel ceiling then morphed back into a man… hanging from the ceiling with bat feet.”
“Lovely,” Michael said. “Don’t you think you’d better change those?” He pointed at Rahn’s huge, bat-like feet.
“Help me down first,” Rahn said. Michael and Max helped Rahn flip over onto his feet. By the time his feet touched the ground, they looked completely “human” again… shoes and all.
“I found out bat’s can’t land on the ground without humiliating themselves,” Rahn said.
Michael nodded. “Yeah, you looked ever so much better hanging there from the ceiling with big bat feet.”
“A lot less painful,” Rahn replied. “Let’s go.”
On this last part, at least, Michael and Max were in total agreement. All three headed off down the right hand tunnel, carefully removing their footprints behind them with power from their hands until they were far enough in so that the footprints wouldn’t be readily seen. Then they hurried in the direction that Rahn had indicated. Several times, Rahn told them which way to turn into a new tunnel, and each time, Michael took a moment to make it appear that they had gone down the other tunnel… or left footprints in both tunnels.
Then Rahn stopped.
“Are we there?” Max asked hesitantly.
“We’re here,” Rahn confirmed. “We need to dig eighteen feet through this wall right here. Can you do that?”
Michael smiled and held up his hand. A blast from his palm removed about two feet of dirt and debris from the wall. Max went next, blasting another two feet into the soft dirt of the tunnel wall.
“Any questions,” Michael asked, looking at Rahn smugly. Rahn shook his head. “Just hurry. My bats will not fool the soldiers for very long. I just hope it will be for long enough.”
Michael blasted another four feet out of the tunnel wall, and Max, not to be outdone, blasted four feet of dirt out after him.
“We should be almost through,” Max said. “You want to give it a double whammy, Michael… both of us together? Punch it out?”
Michael grinned. But before they could blast the final six feet of wall out, they heard noises coming their direction in the tunnel behind them. Rahn shoved Max and Michael down to the ground.
“They’re coming. The soldiers…”
“Damn,” Max said. “We were almost through. Can you make them get attacked by bats again, Rahn?”
Rahn shook his head. “It is unlikely to be effective again. Stay down. I will see what I can do.”
“Try the big anaconda thing again or something,” Michael said. “Scare the hell out of them.”
Rahn leapt into the air and changed into a bat then flew off down the tunnel in the direction of the noises they had heard. Max and Michael both stayed on the ground, keeping their heads low, remembering what had happened before. And they waited. For a long time, they heard nothing.
“Shouldn’t we check and see if Rahn is okay,” Max asked.
“Give him a little while more,” Michael said. “He may be having to digest his… prey.”
Max grimaced. “You think?”
Michael shrugged. They lay there a while longer, and as the time passed, both Max and Michael began to succumb to the effects brought on by insufficient sleep and days of walking and crawling in the tunnels. Neither Max nor Michael was willing to let himself go to sleep right now, even for a few minutes, but both found themselves resting their heads on their arms… and fighting to stay awake… as they waited for Rahn to return.
Neither Max nor Michael was aware of having dozed off, but the next thing they were aware of was the sound of footsteps beside them. Both of them jerked their heads up suddenly to discover someone standing over them… and it wasn’t Rahn.
“Well, isn’t this cute! Here Isabel and I are busting our butts trying to find a way out of this place… and getting shot… and we find you guys all cuddled up together taking a cozy nap. I might have known!”
Michael’s mouth dropped open. “Maria? Maria!” Michael leapt to his feet, no longer feeling tired. “Isabel! Are you okay?”
Max was already checking Isabel’s wound. He pressed his hand to the partially healed wound on her back, and his hand glowed momentarily.
“That feels better,” Isabel said. “But I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for someone else who healed me most of the way already.”
“Someone else healed you?” Max asked.
“Maria,” Isabel said with a nod toward Maria. “I still don’t know how.”
“My Maria? This Maria?” Michael stammered in amazement. “How?” he asked, looking at Maria.
“I don’t know, either,” Maria said. “Every time I touched her wound, it just seemed to get better… and my hands glowed. I thought it was radiation poisoning from the tunnels, but Isabel told me that your hand glows like that when you heal someone, too, Max.”
Max nodded. “I felt someone sourcing my power. Were you calling on my power to heal, Maria?”
“Actually, I was cursing you for not being there to heal Isabel yourself,” Maria said matter-of-factly… “especially when I thought she was going to die.”
“Interesting,” Max mumbled, raising his eyebrows. “I’ll have to remember that method. I guess the emotional stress you were under channeled you to me when you thought of me… I’m glad it worked.”
“No more glad than I am,” Isabel said. “Have you guys found a way out of here?”
“Yeah. We’re waiting for Rahn to return. Where is Rahn?” Max asked, looking at Michael. “He should have been back by now.”
“He went to see how close the soldiers are,” Isabel said. “We saw him in the tunnel, and he told us where to find you.”
“Well, at least he didn’t eat you,” Max said.
Isabel looked at Max and raised her eyebrows.
“Never mind,” Max said. “He can turn into a huge anaconda. You had to be there, I guess.”
Isabel nodded.
As they spoke, a bat flew over their heads and changed into a cat in mid-air. The cat fell to the ground on its feet and morphed back into a man.
“Interesting landing method,” Michael said.
“Cats land on their feet,” Rahn replied… “but it’s still not a perfect solution.”
“Try a bird,” Max said.
“What?”
“A bird. Try changing from a bat into a… a sea gull or something when you land. Sea gulls can land without injuring themselves.”
Rahn nodded. “A sea gull… A sea gull! Yeah. That could work!”
“Hey, that’s what I’m here for,” Max said. “Any time you need morphing advice…”
“Psh,” Maria waved her hand at him. “How about getting us out of here!”
“I can do that, too!” Max said. “Michael? You want to give me a hand?”
Max and Michael both raised their hands, and a blast of power went out from each of them, demolishing what was left of the wall. As the dust cleared, everyone stared through the hole at the other side.
“There it is,” Max said, breaking the awed silence. “Freedom.”
tbc
Coming: Alex and Liz struggle with their situation and discover why Judge Lewis and certain elements in the army really wanted them sent to Crestview. Jim Valenti searches for a way to help Liz and Alex without conspicuously ignoring a state court order. And Max, Michael, Rahn, Maria, and Isabel find themselves in a new place with new concerns and mysteries… and some old ones.
The Tunnel Of The Bats
Chapter 15
XV
Maria looked down the dark corridor of the unfinished tunnel in both directions…
“What do you think, Isabel? Don’t you have some kind of gut feeling… some kind of alien psychic thing or something… about which way we should go here?”
Isabel shook her head wearily. “No,” she said after a few moments reflection and without any pretensions. “I just don’t know.”
Maria sighed with genuine frustration. “Okay, then, let’s go… right… no, left! We go left.”
Isabel nodded. “Left is good.” She reached down and picked up a small object from the ground. It was a pop top from a soda can or perhaps a beer can.
“Somebody was here,” Isabel said. “Looks like it was a long time ago, though. It’s rusty… or maybe just coated with… something. It’s changed color.” She dropped the pop top back onto the ground and kicked it with her foot, scuffing the dirt with her shoe.
The two girls turned into the bisecting tunnel and followed the left route. It seemed that the corridors had become increasingly damp and dusty since Maria and Isabel had left the larger, developed parts and entered the unfinished tunnels. The developed tunnels were huge corridors. Trucks, even tanks, could drive through some of them, and there were rooms off to the sides… but these tunnels were a far cry from those. Some of these were barely big enough to stand up in… and they were damp and dingy. Maria wondered who had gone through this mountain digging all these tunnels and why they never finished them all.
After an hour of walking in the new tunnel –sometimes crawling, in places where the ceiling was too low- the girls stopped to rest. Maria sat down on the ground then noticed something in the dirt beside her.
“Another pop top.”
She handed it to Isabel, and Isabel looked at it, then she looked at the ground beside it. There was an unmistakable scuff mark on the ground. She buried her face wearily in her hands.
“We’ve been walking in a circle, Maria. This is the same pop top I kicked over an hour ago.”
Maria swallowed silently, as she looked at the scuff mark on the ground and the pop top in Isabel’s hand. She knew Isabel was right. For a moment, Maria almost felt a pang of desperation, but she quickly shut it out, replacing it with a plan that came as fast as the feeling of desperation had fled.
“Okay, then, this time we go the other way… and we mark our trail. If we start seeing any of our marks again, we backtrack and find another route… any other route.”
Isabel nodded.
Unknown to Maria or Isabel, about two miles away, in a larger but equally unfinished tunnel, Max, Michael, and Rahn were also searching for a way out. The one difference was that, with Rahn’s help, they had an idea where they were going and how to get there.
Max sat down on a rock in the tunnel, as they stopped momentarily to assess their position. He looked at Rahn hesitantly, as though he wanted to ask something but was afraid.
“Rahn… do you have any feeling about Maria or Isabel? I mean… Do you think they’re, you know, both alive? I think Isabel may have been hurt when they were escaping. She seemed to falter for a moment. I keep seeing it over and over in my mind. I can’t stop thinking about it… but I can’t let it keep us from finding a way out of here. I can’t help any of us if I can’t get us out of here or if we’re caught again.”
Rahn shook his head slowly. “I don’t have that power, Zan. I can’t tell if they’re alive or not. But I thought you could.”
“Well… I can… sometimes,” Max admitted. “I can feel Isabel sometimes, but I stopped feeling her at all for a long time. I didn’t want to say anything, because I was afraid that… that she had died. But I felt her again a little while ago.”
“Is she alright,” Michael asked, showing immediate concern. “Is Maria alright?”
“I don’t know,” Max said, nervously tossing a small rock into the middle of the tunnel. “Not for sure anyway. Isabel seems stronger now. Her aura was giving off a very weak feeling before… then I couldn’t detect it at all… for a long time… but now it seems to be back and stronger than before.”
Michael smiled. “And Maria?”
“I can’t really feel Maria the same way, Michael.”
Michael’s smile slowly faded again.
“But I can sense something in Isabel that suggests she’s not alone or desperate or frightened the way she might be if something had happened to Maria. I can’t say for sure, Michael, but I believe Maria’s okay… at this moment.”
Michael nodded, taking note of the words: ‘at this moment.’ Michael understood all too well that in a second and without any warning everything could change for any or all of them.
Rahn stopped suddenly and put his hand up, cautioning Max and Michael to be quiet. He listened. Then he turned back to Max and Michael.
“Did you hear something, Rahn?” Michael asked.
“I thought I did. But now I don’t hear it.”
“Could you tell what it was?”
“Soldiers.”
“How can you tell,” Max asked.
“The sound their feet make… but… I don’t hear it now. Maybe they’re outside the tunnels.”
Max nodded. “Well, we need to be moving anyway. We have to find the place where we can dig out of here.”
“Right,” Michael agreed. “Let’s get the hell out of this place… the sooner the better.”
As Michael stood up, the eerie silence in the tunnel was suddenly shattered by the sound of a rifle being fired nearby. In the confines of the tunnel, the single shot sounded almost like an atomic explosion, and it echoed repeatedly from every direction… Max and Michael both dropped to the ground and rolled against the walls. When they looked up, Rahn was gone.
“Did you see where that came from,” Max asked Michael quietly.
Michael shook his head. “I think it came from down that way. Keep your head down, Max. Somebody out there wants to blow it off.”
“Where’d you get that idea,” Max asked, crawling over to Michael on his stomach, keeping his head low.
“Just a hunch.”
“Where’d Rahn go?”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t know. I dropped to the ground and rolled. When I looked up, he was gone.”
“Yeah, same here.”
Max looked up suddenly, as a bat flew low over his head then ploughed into the dirt like a crashing fighter plane. As they watched, the bat began to grow and change form.
“Rahn!” Max and Michael both whispered at the same time. “Where were you?”
“I went to see who was shooting at us,” Rahn said simply.
“Did you see?” Michael asked.
“Yes. There is one soldier behind that bend over there. Behind him there are four more. Much further down the tunnel, not very close yet, there are at least two dozen soldiers… coming this way.”
“Crap!” Michael said. “We need to get out of here before the others get here, but with this guy holding us down, we’d have to crawl away on our bellies or get our heads blown off.”
“I think I can distract them,” Rahn said, closing his eyes and concentrating. As he did, Max and Michael head noises, sounds of running and a few curses. Max looked at Rahn quizzically.
“They were attacked by a large number of bats,” Rahn said simply.
“You can call bats?”
“No. I made them think they saw them. It is a kind of mind warp. But it works just as well sometimes. Let’s go… while they’re occupied.”
Max and Michael jumped to their feet and ran with Rahn, leaving the soldiers who had been pursuing them ducking and running back the way they had come, swatting and cursing at a thick swarm of imaginary bats. After about thirty minutes, Max, Michael, and Rahn slowed their pace somewhat.
“Do you think they’re still following us,” Max asked.
Michael nodded. “I’m sure of it. They’ll follow our footprints now that they’ve seen us. We’ll have to work fast.”
“Which way?” Max asked Rahn. Rahn pointed down the corridor to the right.
Michael nodded. “Okay, then let’s make footprints down the left tunnel a ways and come back and wipe our footprints away in the right tunnel as we go down it.”
“Won’t they know what we did and come back and go down this tunnel when the footprints run out suddenly in the other one,” Max asked.
“Not necessarily,” Michael replied with a grin. “Watch and learn, Max.”
After the three had walked about a hundred feet down the left tunnel, Michael took his hand and wiped some of the footprints away, making it obvious that they were wiped away.
“They’ll think we’re erasing our tracks, so when they don’t see them anymore, they’ll keep going this way.”
“Okay,” Max nodded. “And what happens after they’ve gone a ways further and still see no more tracks?”
Michael thought about this a moment. “Rahn, could you turn into a bat again?”
Rahn shrugged. “Sure. Why?”
“Fly down the tunnel about two hundred feet then leave some more footprints so they’ll find them and think we’re still headed that way. Then fly back. It’ll look like we erased our tracks for a while, but then they’ll pick them up again. Maybe that’ll confuse them for a while.”
Rahn began to shrink… then black, leathery wings sprouted from his sides. He leapt into the air before his legs had completely shrunk to bat-sized, changing the rest of the way into a bat in mid air, then he flew off down the tunnel. A couple of minutes later, he came flying back again. This time, instead of making a head over heals landing in the dirt, he perched upside down on the tunnel ceiling then morphed back into a man… hanging from the ceiling with bat feet.”
“Lovely,” Michael said. “Don’t you think you’d better change those?” He pointed at Rahn’s huge, bat-like feet.
“Help me down first,” Rahn said. Michael and Max helped Rahn flip over onto his feet. By the time his feet touched the ground, they looked completely “human” again… shoes and all.
“I found out bat’s can’t land on the ground without humiliating themselves,” Rahn said.
Michael nodded. “Yeah, you looked ever so much better hanging there from the ceiling with big bat feet.”
“A lot less painful,” Rahn replied. “Let’s go.”
On this last part, at least, Michael and Max were in total agreement. All three headed off down the right hand tunnel, carefully removing their footprints behind them with power from their hands until they were far enough in so that the footprints wouldn’t be readily seen. Then they hurried in the direction that Rahn had indicated. Several times, Rahn told them which way to turn into a new tunnel, and each time, Michael took a moment to make it appear that they had gone down the other tunnel… or left footprints in both tunnels.
Then Rahn stopped.
“Are we there?” Max asked hesitantly.
“We’re here,” Rahn confirmed. “We need to dig eighteen feet through this wall right here. Can you do that?”
Michael smiled and held up his hand. A blast from his palm removed about two feet of dirt and debris from the wall. Max went next, blasting another two feet into the soft dirt of the tunnel wall.
“Any questions,” Michael asked, looking at Rahn smugly. Rahn shook his head. “Just hurry. My bats will not fool the soldiers for very long. I just hope it will be for long enough.”
Michael blasted another four feet out of the tunnel wall, and Max, not to be outdone, blasted four feet of dirt out after him.
“We should be almost through,” Max said. “You want to give it a double whammy, Michael… both of us together? Punch it out?”
Michael grinned. But before they could blast the final six feet of wall out, they heard noises coming their direction in the tunnel behind them. Rahn shoved Max and Michael down to the ground.
“They’re coming. The soldiers…”
“Damn,” Max said. “We were almost through. Can you make them get attacked by bats again, Rahn?”
Rahn shook his head. “It is unlikely to be effective again. Stay down. I will see what I can do.”
“Try the big anaconda thing again or something,” Michael said. “Scare the hell out of them.”
Rahn leapt into the air and changed into a bat then flew off down the tunnel in the direction of the noises they had heard. Max and Michael both stayed on the ground, keeping their heads low, remembering what had happened before. And they waited. For a long time, they heard nothing.
“Shouldn’t we check and see if Rahn is okay,” Max asked.
“Give him a little while more,” Michael said. “He may be having to digest his… prey.”
Max grimaced. “You think?”
Michael shrugged. They lay there a while longer, and as the time passed, both Max and Michael began to succumb to the effects brought on by insufficient sleep and days of walking and crawling in the tunnels. Neither Max nor Michael was willing to let himself go to sleep right now, even for a few minutes, but both found themselves resting their heads on their arms… and fighting to stay awake… as they waited for Rahn to return.
Neither Max nor Michael was aware of having dozed off, but the next thing they were aware of was the sound of footsteps beside them. Both of them jerked their heads up suddenly to discover someone standing over them… and it wasn’t Rahn.
“Well, isn’t this cute! Here Isabel and I are busting our butts trying to find a way out of this place… and getting shot… and we find you guys all cuddled up together taking a cozy nap. I might have known!”
Michael’s mouth dropped open. “Maria? Maria!” Michael leapt to his feet, no longer feeling tired. “Isabel! Are you okay?”
Max was already checking Isabel’s wound. He pressed his hand to the partially healed wound on her back, and his hand glowed momentarily.
“That feels better,” Isabel said. “But I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for someone else who healed me most of the way already.”
“Someone else healed you?” Max asked.
“Maria,” Isabel said with a nod toward Maria. “I still don’t know how.”
“My Maria? This Maria?” Michael stammered in amazement. “How?” he asked, looking at Maria.
“I don’t know, either,” Maria said. “Every time I touched her wound, it just seemed to get better… and my hands glowed. I thought it was radiation poisoning from the tunnels, but Isabel told me that your hand glows like that when you heal someone, too, Max.”
Max nodded. “I felt someone sourcing my power. Were you calling on my power to heal, Maria?”
“Actually, I was cursing you for not being there to heal Isabel yourself,” Maria said matter-of-factly… “especially when I thought she was going to die.”
“Interesting,” Max mumbled, raising his eyebrows. “I’ll have to remember that method. I guess the emotional stress you were under channeled you to me when you thought of me… I’m glad it worked.”
“No more glad than I am,” Isabel said. “Have you guys found a way out of here?”
“Yeah. We’re waiting for Rahn to return. Where is Rahn?” Max asked, looking at Michael. “He should have been back by now.”
“He went to see how close the soldiers are,” Isabel said. “We saw him in the tunnel, and he told us where to find you.”
“Well, at least he didn’t eat you,” Max said.
Isabel looked at Max and raised her eyebrows.
“Never mind,” Max said. “He can turn into a huge anaconda. You had to be there, I guess.”
Isabel nodded.
As they spoke, a bat flew over their heads and changed into a cat in mid-air. The cat fell to the ground on its feet and morphed back into a man.
“Interesting landing method,” Michael said.
“Cats land on their feet,” Rahn replied… “but it’s still not a perfect solution.”
“Try a bird,” Max said.
“What?”
“A bird. Try changing from a bat into a… a sea gull or something when you land. Sea gulls can land without injuring themselves.”
Rahn nodded. “A sea gull… A sea gull! Yeah. That could work!”
“Hey, that’s what I’m here for,” Max said. “Any time you need morphing advice…”
“Psh,” Maria waved her hand at him. “How about getting us out of here!”
“I can do that, too!” Max said. “Michael? You want to give me a hand?”
Max and Michael both raised their hands, and a blast of power went out from each of them, demolishing what was left of the wall. As the dust cleared, everyone stared through the hole at the other side.
“There it is,” Max said, breaking the awed silence. “Freedom.”
tbc
Coming: Alex and Liz struggle with their situation and discover why Judge Lewis and certain elements in the army really wanted them sent to Crestview. Jim Valenti searches for a way to help Liz and Alex without conspicuously ignoring a state court order. And Max, Michael, Rahn, Maria, and Isabel find themselves in a new place with new concerns and mysteries… and some old ones.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
New Surroundings
Chapter 16
XVI
“Alex!” Liz cried plaintively, her voice breaking and her emotion obvious as the door to her room in the Crestview Mental Health facility was closed, separating her from her only comfort. She was alone.
“Don’t worry, Liz… I’ll be here…” Alex’s voice trailed off, as Liz’s door was closed, locking her in her room. Liz sat in her chair for several minutes, asking herself if this was the way it was all going to end for her… locked in an insane asylum… perhaps murdered… after everything they had been through… and bringing Alex down with her. No, she couldn’t let that happen. Not to Alex. He didn’t deserve this. Liz moved herself from her wheelchair onto the edge of the small, white bed and looked around at the room. It was stark, no windows, devoid of any color, devoid of any joy, miserable… just like her. She put her face in her hands and began to cry, but after a moment, she raised her head again, steeled her resolve, and dried the tears.
“I am not letting them get the best of me. They can shoot me, condemn me to life in a wheelchair, lock me up in some God-forsaken hole with only bare walls to look at… but they can’t take my mind and soul… they can’t take who I am. I still control that!” She looked around the small room again and swallowed… “If someone wasn’t insane already, this place would send them there pretty quick!”
Liz breathed a deep breath and resolved to keep her sanity no matter what. “I’ll have to find ways to entertain myself… escape in my mind. But maybe that’s what insanity is… escaping in one’s mind. No… it’s only insanity if one forgets how to get back to reality. I still have to use my mind to keep my sanity.”
In another room, equally stark and joyless, on the next floor up, Alex looked at the white, bare walls that surrounded him. Even the clothes he and Liz had been given to wear were white. Everything was so… sanitized. Alex hated it! He wished he had his guitar… or a book. Any book! Heck, even his old Biology textbook from Roswell High would be welcome right now. At least it would be something to keep him company. One can escape into the pages of a book… But there was no book… only the white walls, the small white bed, the white, loose-fitting clothes…
“I’ll never be able to wear white again,” Alex moaned to himself. “…assuming I ever get out of here.” He sat down on his small bed and thought. “I have to help Liz… but how? Who’s going to help me? I have to get out of here.” Alex stood up and walked around the small, stark room, looking at the walls of his prison as though perhaps he might find a hidden door just waiting to be opened by a magic touch. But there was none to be found. “They can’t leave me in this room alone forever. Someone has to bring me meals… I hope. At least the food should have some color! No… It’ll probably be milk and cottage cheese!” Alex shook his head and groaned.
Meanwhile, in the Sheriff’s Office in Roswell, Sheriff Jim Valenti sat at a table with Deputy Detective Dave Cotter.
“I brought you here because I need a special kind of person, Dave. This is a very sensitive assignment. I’ve spent some time reviewing your personnel files, your original application, your references, your psychological reports, everything about you, even when you were a kid, and the bottom line is, I think you’re the person I can trust for this job.”
Dave shrugged. “I’m here for you, Sheriff… all the men are. None of us would intentionally let you down.”
“I know,” Jim said with a nod. “But this assignment is particularly sensitive. It’s going to require an unusual degree of level-headedness, stability, psychological stamina, and well… loyalty.”
“Like I said,” Dave insisted, “any of the guys…”
“Any of the guys would be willing,” Jim nodded. “But you have what it takes. Do you want to accept the assignment? I’m sorry I can’t tell you what it is before you’ve accepted it. It’s a security thing. I can tell you, though, that it will mean you going undercover for several days… maybe weeks… maybe longer… And during that time, life may not be easy for you.”
“I’m sworn to loyalty, Sheriff… sworn to uphold the law. I didn’t apply to be a deputy or a detective to get out of the hard work.”
Jim nodded. “That’s why I chose you.” Jim plopped a file down on the table and opened it.
“Some of the things you’re going to see in this file, Dave, are privileged information… very sensitive information. It goes to the highest levels of the security of our nation. Even the state police are not aware of this information.”
“How did you get it, sir?”
“Through… sources… I can’t reveal at the moment. But trust me when I say that only a few army generals and some special forces operatives are aware of the information in this folder. It is not public knowledge, and it must stay that way.”
Dave Cotter nodded. “You know you can count on me, sir.”
“Yes, I do,” Jim agreed. “That’s why you’re here at this table now. Dave, how do you feel about extraterrestrial life?”
“You mean like ET, sir? Aliens from other planets?”
“Yyyeah… sort of.”
Dave shrugged. “I’ve never seen any.” He smiled. “But if I can be totally honest, sir, I think this universe is too big and too complicated to assume that we’re the only life in it.”
“That’s a sensible answer,” Jim nodded. “You see, Dave, I have a little more information than you do… and I have seen them… some of them.”
Dave looked up. The surprise in his eyes was obvious. Jim looked at Dave’s face for several long moments, attempting to gauge his reaction. Would Dave’s face reveal disbelief, distrust, doubt? All Jim could see was surprise.
“You see, Dave, some of these ‘aliens’ look just like us, and they’re here… in Roswell.”
Dave smiled for a moment. “Okay, you… you’re not pulling my leg, right, sir?”
Jim shook his head. “You remember what happened at graduation, Dave?”
Dave nodded, and his smile disappeared. “A real tragedy. Those kids were just starting their lives. They didn’t deserve to die like that. They had every right to live their lives out seeking the all-American dream…”
“Or the all-alien dream,” Jim interjected. “Why do you think special forces operatives from the Army shot them, Dave?”
“Well, sir, the official report said that the agents had been drinking heavily and thought they were on a mission back in Viet Nam.”
“Viet Nam was a long time ago, Dave. Didn’t you ever wonder about that?”
Dave nodded slowly. “Yes, sir. I have to admit… I have wondered a lot how this could have ever happened… and why the Army kept everything so secret afterwards… and why the men were only court-martialed and the public was never allowed access to them or to their trial. But you can’t ask the Army what they don’t want to tell you… and I guess it’s none of my business.”
“Well, I’m making it your business, Dave. Those men were never court-martialed. And there are no bodies in those kids’ graves.”
“I heard rumors of that, sir… but some of the men said the bodies were there. You moved us all further away when the coffins were opened. I thought I saw bodies, too. I didn’t think it was any of my business if you didn’t want to tell us what you found.”
“I’m making it your business now. The graves weren’t empty… but what was in the coffins were high-tech, very realistic, how can I say this… mannequins… fakes.”
“Where were the real bodies?”
“That was the mystery, Dave… that, and the other big question…”
“Why,” Dave said for him.
“Bingo!” Jim nodded. “Exactly. Why. Why remove the real bodies and replace them with fakes? And the answer that I found was that they may not be dead after all.”
“But… didn’t you see them… the bodies… after they were shot?”
“I did. And except for the Parker girl, they were all dead. I assumed that the Army took the bodies to dissect them… study them.”
“Okay… but why… what do they care about a few high school kids?”
“That would be a very puzzling question, Dave, except for one little piece of information that I had that most others didn’t. Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin… were not from around here.”
“Yes, sir, I know. They were found in the desert and adopted when they were little. No one knew where they came from. But even if they were Mexican children, we don’t dissect Mexicans… that I know of… We give them drivers licenses, maybe… We don’t dissect them.”
“Mexicans, no. aliens… yes… I gather,” Jim said.
Dave looked at Jim for a moment. “You’re not referring to, like, Mexican aliens, are you, sir?”
Jim shook his head.
“I didn’t think so.” Dave Cotter was quiet for several moments. “That’s a lot to think about, sir.”
“Yes it is,” Jim agreed. “Do you want out?”
“No sir! No sir, I didn’t mean that. I committed to this. I’ll go through with it, whatever it is. It’s just… wow!”
“Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to put it,” Jim said. “You’re in this too far to back out now, anyway, Dave.”
“I know. I’m in, sir.”
“Okay.”
“Was the other girl who was killed… uh, Maria DeLuca… one of them, too…” Dave asked, then his eyes flitted toward Jim as a sudden realization hit him. “She’s… she’s your stepdaughter.”
Jim nodded. “Yes, she is. And no, Maria’s not one of them. She’s from this planet. So is Liz Parker, the girl who survived.”
“What would the Army want with them then?”
“They’re… the girlfriends.”
“Aliens have those?” Dave asked, surprised. Then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, I just, I can’t get ET out of my mind… or ALF.”
Jim grinned. “Well, you will. You watch the wrong TV, Dave. Think Starman or The Visitor.” He shook his head and smiled… “ALF! Michael would love that!”
Dave shrugged slightly. “Should I watch those shows, sir?”
“No need, Dave. I’m having you committed to Crestview.”
“That’s a little radical, isn’t it, sir? I never really believed ALF was real.”
Jim smiled. “Did I say he wasn’t real?”
“No, sir.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re going to meet the real thing… I hope. But first you’re going to do me… and them… a big favor.”
“You want me to spring the Parker girl from Crestview?” Dave Cotter asked.
“Not spring her… not yet anyway,” Jim replied. “Just protect her… and her friend, Alex Whitman. I need someone on the inside there… someone no one there will recognize. You’ve never been on TV or associated with any high-profile cases. I’m hoping no one there will know who you are and you’ll be able to keep an eye on Liz… and Alex… for me… protect them if need be.”
“What do they need to be protected from?”
“The Army has a special unit… the ones who shot the kids the first time. The FBI has a unit, too, and they may be working together. These guys want to finish what they started. They’ve made several attempts already on Liz Parker’s life. Hansen and I have protected her so far, but now that the powers that be have succeeded in separating her from my protection and my jurisdiction, I think you can see the danger she’s in.”
Dave nodded.
“Be careful, Dave. A young orderly at General tried to inject a poison into Liz while she was there. I stopped him. Hansen was taking him in for questioning… but he wound up dead before he could talk. These guys don’t take prisoners and they don’t hesitate to kill, Dave. Your assignment will be dangerous.”
“Duly noted, sir.”
**********
Several hundred feet beneath a mountain on the far side of the army base, five individuals stepped through the hole made by Max and Michael and emerged from the confines of a series of small tunnels dug by the army throughout the mountain into a much larger natural cave. Max and Michael looked around at their new surroundings, and Michael instinctively placed an arm around Maria. Maria smiled and leaned against him. Isabel smiled at Maria, feeling the same relief Maria was feeling, even if Maria had the benefit of a more personal and physical source of comfort at this moment.
It appeared that they were standing on a ledge overlooking a very large… and very deep… cavern. They would have to follow the ledge to wherever it went. Max looked at Rahn, and Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, turning into a bat and disappearing quickly into the darkness. Moments later, he returned, changing into a sea gull as he flew back across the chasm.
Landing gently on the ledge at Michael and Max’s feet, Rahn smiled. “That worked pretty well.”
“You’ve got that bat thing down to an art,” Michael said, reaching over to pull a white feather off of Rahn’s arm. “But you may need to practice changing back from a sea gull a few times.”
“Ow!” Rahn yelped, as Michael pulled the feather off. “That’s not a real feather! It’s part of me. Next time just tell me and I’ll change it back.” Rahn held his arm up, and Michael saw that a piece of skin was missing. Max put his hand over it, and it quickly returned to whatever normal is for a shape-shifter.
“Sorry, Rahn,” Michael said, “I didn’t realize…”
Rahn smiled. “No sweat. But I should tell you, the cells in my body are rearrangeable. They flow to wherever they’re needed and can get to the fastest whenever I change. That feather was made up of cells from my arm, but you could just as well have been tugging on one of my ears… or the family jewels.”
Maria snorted, and Michael turned red.
“Rahn!” Isabel said with a grin, “where in the world did you pick up such stuff?”
“Isn’t that the proper term here?”
“Well, I think we all understood it, Rahn,” Max said with a smile. “It’s just not something we’d expect an alien… one who wasn’t born here… to say.”
“Well, I did live on the base, with the army, for nearly sixty years. I learned a lot of your terminology there.”
“Say no more,” Max said, nodding. “Got that, Michael?”
Michael nodded. “Yeah, I got it. …Let’s get going. We need to find our way out of here.”
“We should go this way,” Rahn said, pointing to the left. It leads deeper into the cave initially, but it takes us away from the army base.”
“Then that’s the way we want to go,” Max said. The five began to make their way along the edge of the high ledge. It was perhaps three feet wide, wide enough that they didn’t need to hug the wall to keep from falling off… but narrow enough to be very disconcerting. Maria held tightly to Michael’s arm, and Isabel found herself, in spite of her normally independent demeanor, holding onto her brother, Max. If the truth had been known, though, both Max and Michael were happy to have the girls holding onto them. It made them feel a bit more secure themselves as they looked down into the deep crevasse. None of them, after all, had Rahn’s ability to simply turn into a bat and fly away if they accidentally fell off the ledge.
The group hadn’t gone more than two hundred feet when the first soldier appeared through the hole Max and Michael had made. He quickly began calling to the others, and within seconds, more soldiers were piling through the hole into the cavern like rats, one over the other, all with guns pointed in the direction of the five escaping friends. Max and Michael hurried the group along the ledge, just far enough ahead of the soldiers that the soldiers could not see them in the darkness to get off a good shot. But it seemed that the soldiers were gaining on them. Michael glanced back. They were. In fact, the soldiers had covered twice as much ground as the five had in the same amount of time.
Michael turned to Max… “Max, maybe we should blast the ledge behind us. It would keep the soldiers from catching us.”
“We may have to,” Max said, “but not yet. There’s too much risk. We could start a slide or collapse the entire ledge under us… then, too, we’d be burning our bridges as they say. There would be no way back.”
“We’re not going back,” Michael said emphatically.
“Max swallowed. “I know. We don’t intend to… but I’m trying to keep options open… We may wind up having to blast it though, so be ready.”
Michael nodded. The five friends rushed on along the ledge, picking up their pace, but after a couple of minutes, it became obvious that they were not winning this race. Michael looked back and raised his hand, and as he did, a long section of the ledge behind them crumbled and fell into the chasm below. They watched as the section of ledge dropped… down… down… down… disappearing from sight into the darkness below. It seemed to take forever. A few seconds later, they heard a distant echoing crash, as the ledge impacted the ground somewhere far below.
Max looked at Michael. “I was going to say let’s blast it, Michael, but I hadn’t given the order yet.”
“I didn’t do it,” Michael said, looking as surprised as Max at the turn of events. Both of them turned to look at Rahn. “I didn’t make it fall.”
“Well, if Rahn didn’t… and we didn’t…” Max shook his head, then he looked across the chasm at the soldiers gathering on the other side. Whoever –or whatever– had collapsed the ledge, it had had the desired effect. There was no longer any way that the soldiers could get across to them… and there was also no longer any way that they could go back.
**********
Judge Lewis wagged his finger menacingly at Jim…
“Be careful, Jim. I don’t know what you’re up to… but I know you. You don’t just sit back and give up… That’s what you’d like me to think you’re doing. But you’ve got something up your sleeve. Well, whatever it is, forget it. It won’t work.”
“I know Judge. That’s what I’m doing… staying out of it. I’m following your orders.”
“Yeah, well… make sure you keep your hissing cat away from me, too.”
“Hissing cat?”
That little snippet you married, Jim. You warn her what she’s up against opposing me! She gets all high and mighty with me again, and I’m liable to cut her off at the knees. She’s setting herself up for tragedy if she wants a cat and dog fight.
Jim nodded thoughtfully. “The weenie dog and the tiger… You could be right. It could be tragic.” Then he smiled. “But she’d still be hungry, Horace.”
tbc
Coming up: Alex faces a challenge he never expected as he tries to save Liz; and Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, searching for a way out of the cave, begin to think that they may have unseen company.
New Surroundings
Chapter 16
XVI
“Alex!” Liz cried plaintively, her voice breaking and her emotion obvious as the door to her room in the Crestview Mental Health facility was closed, separating her from her only comfort. She was alone.
“Don’t worry, Liz… I’ll be here…” Alex’s voice trailed off, as Liz’s door was closed, locking her in her room. Liz sat in her chair for several minutes, asking herself if this was the way it was all going to end for her… locked in an insane asylum… perhaps murdered… after everything they had been through… and bringing Alex down with her. No, she couldn’t let that happen. Not to Alex. He didn’t deserve this. Liz moved herself from her wheelchair onto the edge of the small, white bed and looked around at the room. It was stark, no windows, devoid of any color, devoid of any joy, miserable… just like her. She put her face in her hands and began to cry, but after a moment, she raised her head again, steeled her resolve, and dried the tears.
“I am not letting them get the best of me. They can shoot me, condemn me to life in a wheelchair, lock me up in some God-forsaken hole with only bare walls to look at… but they can’t take my mind and soul… they can’t take who I am. I still control that!” She looked around the small room again and swallowed… “If someone wasn’t insane already, this place would send them there pretty quick!”
Liz breathed a deep breath and resolved to keep her sanity no matter what. “I’ll have to find ways to entertain myself… escape in my mind. But maybe that’s what insanity is… escaping in one’s mind. No… it’s only insanity if one forgets how to get back to reality. I still have to use my mind to keep my sanity.”
In another room, equally stark and joyless, on the next floor up, Alex looked at the white, bare walls that surrounded him. Even the clothes he and Liz had been given to wear were white. Everything was so… sanitized. Alex hated it! He wished he had his guitar… or a book. Any book! Heck, even his old Biology textbook from Roswell High would be welcome right now. At least it would be something to keep him company. One can escape into the pages of a book… But there was no book… only the white walls, the small white bed, the white, loose-fitting clothes…
“I’ll never be able to wear white again,” Alex moaned to himself. “…assuming I ever get out of here.” He sat down on his small bed and thought. “I have to help Liz… but how? Who’s going to help me? I have to get out of here.” Alex stood up and walked around the small, stark room, looking at the walls of his prison as though perhaps he might find a hidden door just waiting to be opened by a magic touch. But there was none to be found. “They can’t leave me in this room alone forever. Someone has to bring me meals… I hope. At least the food should have some color! No… It’ll probably be milk and cottage cheese!” Alex shook his head and groaned.
Meanwhile, in the Sheriff’s Office in Roswell, Sheriff Jim Valenti sat at a table with Deputy Detective Dave Cotter.
“I brought you here because I need a special kind of person, Dave. This is a very sensitive assignment. I’ve spent some time reviewing your personnel files, your original application, your references, your psychological reports, everything about you, even when you were a kid, and the bottom line is, I think you’re the person I can trust for this job.”
Dave shrugged. “I’m here for you, Sheriff… all the men are. None of us would intentionally let you down.”
“I know,” Jim said with a nod. “But this assignment is particularly sensitive. It’s going to require an unusual degree of level-headedness, stability, psychological stamina, and well… loyalty.”
“Like I said,” Dave insisted, “any of the guys…”
“Any of the guys would be willing,” Jim nodded. “But you have what it takes. Do you want to accept the assignment? I’m sorry I can’t tell you what it is before you’ve accepted it. It’s a security thing. I can tell you, though, that it will mean you going undercover for several days… maybe weeks… maybe longer… And during that time, life may not be easy for you.”
“I’m sworn to loyalty, Sheriff… sworn to uphold the law. I didn’t apply to be a deputy or a detective to get out of the hard work.”
Jim nodded. “That’s why I chose you.” Jim plopped a file down on the table and opened it.
“Some of the things you’re going to see in this file, Dave, are privileged information… very sensitive information. It goes to the highest levels of the security of our nation. Even the state police are not aware of this information.”
“How did you get it, sir?”
“Through… sources… I can’t reveal at the moment. But trust me when I say that only a few army generals and some special forces operatives are aware of the information in this folder. It is not public knowledge, and it must stay that way.”
Dave Cotter nodded. “You know you can count on me, sir.”
“Yes, I do,” Jim agreed. “That’s why you’re here at this table now. Dave, how do you feel about extraterrestrial life?”
“You mean like ET, sir? Aliens from other planets?”
“Yyyeah… sort of.”
Dave shrugged. “I’ve never seen any.” He smiled. “But if I can be totally honest, sir, I think this universe is too big and too complicated to assume that we’re the only life in it.”
“That’s a sensible answer,” Jim nodded. “You see, Dave, I have a little more information than you do… and I have seen them… some of them.”
Dave looked up. The surprise in his eyes was obvious. Jim looked at Dave’s face for several long moments, attempting to gauge his reaction. Would Dave’s face reveal disbelief, distrust, doubt? All Jim could see was surprise.
“You see, Dave, some of these ‘aliens’ look just like us, and they’re here… in Roswell.”
Dave smiled for a moment. “Okay, you… you’re not pulling my leg, right, sir?”
Jim shook his head. “You remember what happened at graduation, Dave?”
Dave nodded, and his smile disappeared. “A real tragedy. Those kids were just starting their lives. They didn’t deserve to die like that. They had every right to live their lives out seeking the all-American dream…”
“Or the all-alien dream,” Jim interjected. “Why do you think special forces operatives from the Army shot them, Dave?”
“Well, sir, the official report said that the agents had been drinking heavily and thought they were on a mission back in Viet Nam.”
“Viet Nam was a long time ago, Dave. Didn’t you ever wonder about that?”
Dave nodded slowly. “Yes, sir. I have to admit… I have wondered a lot how this could have ever happened… and why the Army kept everything so secret afterwards… and why the men were only court-martialed and the public was never allowed access to them or to their trial. But you can’t ask the Army what they don’t want to tell you… and I guess it’s none of my business.”
“Well, I’m making it your business, Dave. Those men were never court-martialed. And there are no bodies in those kids’ graves.”
“I heard rumors of that, sir… but some of the men said the bodies were there. You moved us all further away when the coffins were opened. I thought I saw bodies, too. I didn’t think it was any of my business if you didn’t want to tell us what you found.”
“I’m making it your business now. The graves weren’t empty… but what was in the coffins were high-tech, very realistic, how can I say this… mannequins… fakes.”
“Where were the real bodies?”
“That was the mystery, Dave… that, and the other big question…”
“Why,” Dave said for him.
“Bingo!” Jim nodded. “Exactly. Why. Why remove the real bodies and replace them with fakes? And the answer that I found was that they may not be dead after all.”
“But… didn’t you see them… the bodies… after they were shot?”
“I did. And except for the Parker girl, they were all dead. I assumed that the Army took the bodies to dissect them… study them.”
“Okay… but why… what do they care about a few high school kids?”
“That would be a very puzzling question, Dave, except for one little piece of information that I had that most others didn’t. Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin… were not from around here.”
“Yes, sir, I know. They were found in the desert and adopted when they were little. No one knew where they came from. But even if they were Mexican children, we don’t dissect Mexicans… that I know of… We give them drivers licenses, maybe… We don’t dissect them.”
“Mexicans, no. aliens… yes… I gather,” Jim said.
Dave looked at Jim for a moment. “You’re not referring to, like, Mexican aliens, are you, sir?”
Jim shook his head.
“I didn’t think so.” Dave Cotter was quiet for several moments. “That’s a lot to think about, sir.”
“Yes it is,” Jim agreed. “Do you want out?”
“No sir! No sir, I didn’t mean that. I committed to this. I’ll go through with it, whatever it is. It’s just… wow!”
“Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to put it,” Jim said. “You’re in this too far to back out now, anyway, Dave.”
“I know. I’m in, sir.”
“Okay.”
“Was the other girl who was killed… uh, Maria DeLuca… one of them, too…” Dave asked, then his eyes flitted toward Jim as a sudden realization hit him. “She’s… she’s your stepdaughter.”
Jim nodded. “Yes, she is. And no, Maria’s not one of them. She’s from this planet. So is Liz Parker, the girl who survived.”
“What would the Army want with them then?”
“They’re… the girlfriends.”
“Aliens have those?” Dave asked, surprised. Then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, I just, I can’t get ET out of my mind… or ALF.”
Jim grinned. “Well, you will. You watch the wrong TV, Dave. Think Starman or The Visitor.” He shook his head and smiled… “ALF! Michael would love that!”
Dave shrugged slightly. “Should I watch those shows, sir?”
“No need, Dave. I’m having you committed to Crestview.”
“That’s a little radical, isn’t it, sir? I never really believed ALF was real.”
Jim smiled. “Did I say he wasn’t real?”
“No, sir.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re going to meet the real thing… I hope. But first you’re going to do me… and them… a big favor.”
“You want me to spring the Parker girl from Crestview?” Dave Cotter asked.
“Not spring her… not yet anyway,” Jim replied. “Just protect her… and her friend, Alex Whitman. I need someone on the inside there… someone no one there will recognize. You’ve never been on TV or associated with any high-profile cases. I’m hoping no one there will know who you are and you’ll be able to keep an eye on Liz… and Alex… for me… protect them if need be.”
“What do they need to be protected from?”
“The Army has a special unit… the ones who shot the kids the first time. The FBI has a unit, too, and they may be working together. These guys want to finish what they started. They’ve made several attempts already on Liz Parker’s life. Hansen and I have protected her so far, but now that the powers that be have succeeded in separating her from my protection and my jurisdiction, I think you can see the danger she’s in.”
Dave nodded.
“Be careful, Dave. A young orderly at General tried to inject a poison into Liz while she was there. I stopped him. Hansen was taking him in for questioning… but he wound up dead before he could talk. These guys don’t take prisoners and they don’t hesitate to kill, Dave. Your assignment will be dangerous.”
“Duly noted, sir.”
**********
Several hundred feet beneath a mountain on the far side of the army base, five individuals stepped through the hole made by Max and Michael and emerged from the confines of a series of small tunnels dug by the army throughout the mountain into a much larger natural cave. Max and Michael looked around at their new surroundings, and Michael instinctively placed an arm around Maria. Maria smiled and leaned against him. Isabel smiled at Maria, feeling the same relief Maria was feeling, even if Maria had the benefit of a more personal and physical source of comfort at this moment.
It appeared that they were standing on a ledge overlooking a very large… and very deep… cavern. They would have to follow the ledge to wherever it went. Max looked at Rahn, and Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, turning into a bat and disappearing quickly into the darkness. Moments later, he returned, changing into a sea gull as he flew back across the chasm.
Landing gently on the ledge at Michael and Max’s feet, Rahn smiled. “That worked pretty well.”
“You’ve got that bat thing down to an art,” Michael said, reaching over to pull a white feather off of Rahn’s arm. “But you may need to practice changing back from a sea gull a few times.”
“Ow!” Rahn yelped, as Michael pulled the feather off. “That’s not a real feather! It’s part of me. Next time just tell me and I’ll change it back.” Rahn held his arm up, and Michael saw that a piece of skin was missing. Max put his hand over it, and it quickly returned to whatever normal is for a shape-shifter.
“Sorry, Rahn,” Michael said, “I didn’t realize…”
Rahn smiled. “No sweat. But I should tell you, the cells in my body are rearrangeable. They flow to wherever they’re needed and can get to the fastest whenever I change. That feather was made up of cells from my arm, but you could just as well have been tugging on one of my ears… or the family jewels.”
Maria snorted, and Michael turned red.
“Rahn!” Isabel said with a grin, “where in the world did you pick up such stuff?”
“Isn’t that the proper term here?”
“Well, I think we all understood it, Rahn,” Max said with a smile. “It’s just not something we’d expect an alien… one who wasn’t born here… to say.”
“Well, I did live on the base, with the army, for nearly sixty years. I learned a lot of your terminology there.”
“Say no more,” Max said, nodding. “Got that, Michael?”
Michael nodded. “Yeah, I got it. …Let’s get going. We need to find our way out of here.”
“We should go this way,” Rahn said, pointing to the left. It leads deeper into the cave initially, but it takes us away from the army base.”
“Then that’s the way we want to go,” Max said. The five began to make their way along the edge of the high ledge. It was perhaps three feet wide, wide enough that they didn’t need to hug the wall to keep from falling off… but narrow enough to be very disconcerting. Maria held tightly to Michael’s arm, and Isabel found herself, in spite of her normally independent demeanor, holding onto her brother, Max. If the truth had been known, though, both Max and Michael were happy to have the girls holding onto them. It made them feel a bit more secure themselves as they looked down into the deep crevasse. None of them, after all, had Rahn’s ability to simply turn into a bat and fly away if they accidentally fell off the ledge.
The group hadn’t gone more than two hundred feet when the first soldier appeared through the hole Max and Michael had made. He quickly began calling to the others, and within seconds, more soldiers were piling through the hole into the cavern like rats, one over the other, all with guns pointed in the direction of the five escaping friends. Max and Michael hurried the group along the ledge, just far enough ahead of the soldiers that the soldiers could not see them in the darkness to get off a good shot. But it seemed that the soldiers were gaining on them. Michael glanced back. They were. In fact, the soldiers had covered twice as much ground as the five had in the same amount of time.
Michael turned to Max… “Max, maybe we should blast the ledge behind us. It would keep the soldiers from catching us.”
“We may have to,” Max said, “but not yet. There’s too much risk. We could start a slide or collapse the entire ledge under us… then, too, we’d be burning our bridges as they say. There would be no way back.”
“We’re not going back,” Michael said emphatically.
“Max swallowed. “I know. We don’t intend to… but I’m trying to keep options open… We may wind up having to blast it though, so be ready.”
Michael nodded. The five friends rushed on along the ledge, picking up their pace, but after a couple of minutes, it became obvious that they were not winning this race. Michael looked back and raised his hand, and as he did, a long section of the ledge behind them crumbled and fell into the chasm below. They watched as the section of ledge dropped… down… down… down… disappearing from sight into the darkness below. It seemed to take forever. A few seconds later, they heard a distant echoing crash, as the ledge impacted the ground somewhere far below.
Max looked at Michael. “I was going to say let’s blast it, Michael, but I hadn’t given the order yet.”
“I didn’t do it,” Michael said, looking as surprised as Max at the turn of events. Both of them turned to look at Rahn. “I didn’t make it fall.”
“Well, if Rahn didn’t… and we didn’t…” Max shook his head, then he looked across the chasm at the soldiers gathering on the other side. Whoever –or whatever– had collapsed the ledge, it had had the desired effect. There was no longer any way that the soldiers could get across to them… and there was also no longer any way that they could go back.
**********
Judge Lewis wagged his finger menacingly at Jim…
“Be careful, Jim. I don’t know what you’re up to… but I know you. You don’t just sit back and give up… That’s what you’d like me to think you’re doing. But you’ve got something up your sleeve. Well, whatever it is, forget it. It won’t work.”
“I know Judge. That’s what I’m doing… staying out of it. I’m following your orders.”
“Yeah, well… make sure you keep your hissing cat away from me, too.”
“Hissing cat?”
That little snippet you married, Jim. You warn her what she’s up against opposing me! She gets all high and mighty with me again, and I’m liable to cut her off at the knees. She’s setting herself up for tragedy if she wants a cat and dog fight.
Jim nodded thoughtfully. “The weenie dog and the tiger… You could be right. It could be tragic.” Then he smiled. “But she’d still be hungry, Horace.”
tbc
Coming up: Alex faces a challenge he never expected as he tries to save Liz; and Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, searching for a way out of the cave, begin to think that they may have unseen company.
Last edited by Island Breeze on Fri Jan 02, 2004 1:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
The Silencer
Chapter 17
XVII
The days had passed slowly, agonizingly, for Alex, like thick molasses that just won’t pour from the bottle, since he arrived at the Crestview Mental Facility. He hated just about everything about the place. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an understatement. He hated EVERYTHING about the place. He hated the lack of color, he hated the food, he hated being locked in this small room… The white-suited orderly who brought his meals reminded him of a ghoul with his sickly looking, abnormally pale face and hands. And this was the second orderly he had had in the past nine days since he and Liz had arrived. There was nothing one could do but pass the time with mental exercises. Alex composed songs in his mind. If he couldn’t be free, he would at least let his mind soar free!
Now, as the tune of another imagined song ran through his mind, a slight noise drew Alex’s attention, and he looked up to see the door to his room open. The young, pale-looking orderly entered with a rolling cart. Dinner. The food was covered with banquet-style, spherical metallic lids, each layered with white enamel on the outside; and the cart was covered with a white cloth that reached the floor, hiding any suggestion of color that might lie beneath. Alex stared at the white-clad orderly, the white cart, and the white-enameled lids… and he wondered again where they found orderlies with such pale faces and hands. Then he realized that their faces and hands were probably powdered to make them appear whiter than they were.
“Is someone around here colorphobic? What’s with all the frikkin’ white? What? You can’t have a silver lid or… or a brown cart?”
The orderly shook his head, without a trace of a smile. “White is soothing, Mr. Whitman. It’s neutral. It is more conducive to relaxation… and proper behavior.”
“I assume by ‘proper behavior’ you mean ‘catatonic stupor,’ because if I don’t see something with color in it soon that’s what I’m going to be in!”
“The white will calm you in time, Mister Whitman. You will see.”
“It’ll turn me into a frikkin’ vegetable, you mean.”
Alex lifted the white enamel lid. Beneath it was a white plate, and on the plate were three cloves of cauliflower, a boiled egg, a small bowl of some kind of mush that may have been watery grits, a piece of white bread… with the crust removed… and milk… in a white paper cup. He stared in disbelief for several long moments, then he picked up the boiled egg. This was something new at least. The small end of the shell appeared to have been broken already, and a section about as big around as a pencil eraser was missing from the shell. Alex broke the rest of the shell and peeled it off then broke the egg in half. The yolk was gone.
“You sucked the yolk out of my egg?! I don’t believe it!”
“It wasn’t white,” the orderly said unapologetically.
“It wasn’t white,” Alex repeated sarcastically. “Of course it wasn’t white, you ninny! Egg yolks are supposed to be yellow!”
“Yellow induces anger, Mr. Whitman… and confusion.”
“I’m getting plenty angry NOT seeing it,” Alex said plainly. “I want some real food! Today! If I’m going to be stuck in this place, at least you could feed me some real food. A cheeseburger with biggie fries and a chocolate shake would be a good start. Or… or even regular food. Who runs this place anyway? Attila the Hun? If you wanted to torture me, you could just stick bamboo strips under my fingernails!”
Alex thought for a second and decided maybe he shouldn’t give them any ideas.
“I will be back to take your tray when you’re finished,” the orderly said with no sign of emotion. “Just leave it on the cart.”
“What? You’re leaving your cart here? You’re not afraid I’ll lift the cloth and see… COLOR?” Alex asked with a flair of sarcasm. The orderly shook his head slowly, and Alex could have sworn he saw just a trace of a smile. He lifted the cover. “Of course. It’s all white underneath. What was I thinking?”
“Just leave the tray on the cart when you’re finished eating, Mr. Whitman. I’ll take it away.”
“Leave the frikkin’ white tray on the frikkin’ white cart with the frikkin white sheet that the frikkin’ white-suited orderly brought in with the frikkin’ white food…” Alex mumbled, more to himself than to the surly orderly. “Go on! Get out! At least let me eat without looking at you while I eat. I’m having color deprivation… something… here!”
“It’s for the greater good, Mr. Whitman,” the orderly said, stepping out of the room and closing the door with more haste than usual just as a yolkless boiled egg impacted the inside of the door.
**********
Forty-five minutes later, the orderly returned. He opened the door cautiously but found Alex sound asleep on his bed.
“See Mr. Whitman? You’re calmer already,” he said quietly.
The orderly smiled slightly and wheeled the cart out of the room then locked the door behind him. From there, he walked down to the service elevator, then to the kitchen, where he parked the cart. He returned fifteen minutes later and picked up the cart again. It had been restocked, and the empties and dirty dishes had been replaced. The orderly took the service elevator down to the second floor and walked to one of the rooms. He opened the door with his special key and pushed the cart in.
“Mister Lester. How are we today?”
“I feel fine, William,” the other man replied. “I feel just fine.”
“You are doing very well, Mr. Lester. The treatments have been good for you.”
“Yes. I’m feeling fine, William.”
“Well, I brought you your med’s. Here you go.” The other man placed the four small pills in his mouth.”
“You’re a real success, Mister Lester. Keep up your treatments and you may be able to leave here one day soon.”
The other man smiled. “Yes. I feel fine, William.”
The orderly locked the door back and walked down the hall to the next room, letting himself in again with his key.
“It’s dinner time, Miss Parker.”
“I’m not really hungry,” a girl’s voice said. “I don’t think I could eat.”
“That’s a negative attitude, Miss Parker. If you want to ever get out of here, you have to eat your food.”
“Leave it,” Liz replied. “I’ll see if I want any of it later.”
“I’ll be back in about an hour, Miss Parker. Just leave the plate and cup on the cart… You can roll that wheelchair over here by yourself right?”
Liz didn’t answer. The orderly closed the door behind him and locked it. For several minutes, Liz stared blankly at the wall, her mind miles away from her suffocating present existence. But after several minutes, she decided to at least look at the food. Wheeling her chair over to the cart, she removed the lid from the plate. There were two slivers of white cheese, something that appeared to be scrambled eggs, with the yellow removed, a cup of milk, something bleached white that looked vaguely like artificial crab meat… but that was only a guess. Liz sighed and replaced the lid without taking anything.
“Pretty disgusting isn’t it?”
Liz raised her head and looked around. There was no one there.
“They’ve done it,” she said to herself quietly. “They’ve made me start hearing voices… in only nine days.”
“I could go for a cheeseburger myself,” the voice said.
This time, Liz lifted the cover from the side of the cart. Nestled comfortably on the support bars beneath the cart was Alex.
“Omigod, Alex! What… How…? Alex? Tell me you’re real!”
Alex painstakingly extracted himself from the support frame beneath the cart and stretched his legs out.
“I’m real, Liz.”
Alex bent down to kiss Liz on the cheek and Liz threw her arms around Alex’s neck so tight he was afraid he would be pulled down on top of her in her wheelchair.
“I’m happy to see you, too, Liz, but you better let me go. I don’t want to fall on you.”
“The least of my worries,” Liz said, letting Alex go.
“Yeah! The food around here is definitely problema numero uno,” Alex said with a grin. Liz smiled.
“Well, it’s all we’ve got, Alex. Like it or not, it’ll have to keep us alive.”
“Maybe not,” Alex said, reaching back under the cart and pulling out a couple of hamburgers, some yellow cheese, a couple of soft drinks, and a candy bar.
“They eat real food in the kitchen,” Alex said with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. “They just don’t give it to us crazy people.”
Liz looked at him then at the cheeseburgers. “How did you get those?”
“The same way I got out of my room. I hid under the cart. When it got to the kitchen, I slipped out and looked for some real food then climbed back under the cart. I was hoping they’d get to your room eventually.”
“But… didn’t they notice you weren’t in your room? How did you…?”
Alex grinned and took two round lids from the lower service tray beneath the crossbars of the cart and placed them on the bed. Then he arranged the cover over them and placed the pillow so that, all in all, it did appear that someone was asleep in the bed under the cover.
Liz shook her head. “I don’t know how you got away with it, Alex, but…”
Alex handed Liz one of the cheeseburgers he had made and a cold canned soda. She smiled and took a bite then took a sip of her drink. Then she closed her eyes for a moment.
“You’re an angel, Alex! This is just what I needed. YOU’RE just what I needed! Omigod! You’re the best! I just love you! You couldn’t know.”
“Well, you could be a little more sure about it,” Alex said with a grin.
Liz smiled. “Alex, bend over.” Liz put one arm around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“Woah! Wow!” Alex gasped, finding his breath again as Liz let him go. “If Max really is still alive, Liz, he’s going to kill me now.”
“He’ll have to go through me first,” Liz said emphatically. “Don’t worry, Alex. Max would understand. And if he didn’t understand… he’d get over it. He’ll understand, though. He’d probably kiss you himself for me.”
“He better not!”
Liz laughed. “Alex, Max will always be my one great love… but you deserved that.”
“If I’d known, Liz… I’d have bought you a cheeseburger franchise a long time ago…”
Liz grinned.
Alex broke the candy bar in half and handed Liz half as he took a bite of the other half.
“You’re unbelievable, Alex. I never know what to expect from you. But I’m SO happy to see you, you just can’t imagine!”
“No more than I am to see you, Liz, believe me.”
“How are you going to get back to your room without being discovered, Alex?”
“My room? I’m not. I’m getting YOU out of here first chance I get. We’ll go somewhere… I don’t know… Change our names or whatever… Try to find Max.” Alex stopped and swallowed then added softly, “…and Isabel. If she’s still alive, too.”
“I think she is,” Liz said. “I can feel her. I don’t know how.” Alex seemed to take on a new glow, and a smile came over his face.
“Alex… getting out of here isn’t going to be so easy. They’ll realize you’re not in your room soon…”
“I know… but maybe not till they bring breakfast in the morning. If we escape tonight…”
Liz looked at Alex, and she knew that what he was saying was dangerous to the degree of being illogical. But after nine days here…
Liz nodded… then smiled. “I’m with you, Alex… all the way. Whatever happens.”
As they spoke, Alex heard the sound of a key being placed in the lock on Liz’s door.
“It’s the orderly,” Liz whispered with a gasp. “He’s back early. Hide, Alex! In the bathroom. Quick!”
Alex didn’t argue. Even though the bathrooms were barely as big as a small broom closet, there was no other place where one could hide. He closed the door of the small room just as the orderly opened Liz’s door. The orderly looked at Liz and at the uneaten food on the tray. Liz carefully hid the soda can behind her back in her wheelchair, leaning back against it to keep it out of sight.
“You’ll never get out of here, Miss Parker, if you don’t eat and get well. Why don’t you follow the rules? It would be so much easier for you.”
I don’t enjoy gagging,” Liz said defiantly.
“Suit yourself.” The orderly took the cart and pushed it out into the hall then locked Liz’s door back.
“You can come out… He’s gone,” Liz whispered. Carefully, Alex opened the door and looked around. Then he stepped out. He had been standing on the toilet bowl.
“That’s one more thing I hate about this place, Liz… the frikkin’ bathroom! It’s so small that you have to be a contortionist to close the door when you’re on the throne.”
Liz giggled. “I don’t think they expect you to close the door when you’re in it, Alex. You’re supposed to leave the door open so your legs can have somewhere to go. The door’s just for when you’re not in there.”
“Oh.”
Liz giggled again. “You shut the door? Where did you put your legs?”
Alex turned slightly red. “Let’s just say there are footprints all the way to the top of my bathroom door.”
Liz put her hand over her mouth to try to stifle the laugh, but it came out anyway.
“Well, I didn’t know you were expected to leave the door open. I like privacy.”
“Well, me, too, Alex. But there are no windows in our rooms… and the door to the room is locked. There’s nobody to see. The orderly only comes at meal times…”
“Now somebody tells me.”
“Alex… how are we going to escape? We’re locked in.”
“I’ll think of something,” Alex said with certainty. “Trust me.”
Liz nodded. Suddenly, there was the sound of a key in Liz’s door again. Liz looked at Alex with panic in her eyes. “Why’s he coming back again? Do you think he knows you’re here, Alex?”
Alex started to run for the bathroom but there was no time. He dove behind the bed and stretched himself out as flat as he could on the floor. Liz stared at her door. It opened, and a man stepped in. But it was not the orderly. This man was not powdered down. He was wearing a white jacket, but under it, he had on something else… military fatigues. Liz gasped. The man looked Liz straight in the eyes for a second, then he reached into his inside pocket and took out a gun and a silencer, which he carefully screwed onto the barrel of the gun.
“Are you… are you… going to shoot me… in cold blood?” Liz managed to ask in a hoarse whisper.
The man pointed the weapon at Liz’s heart, and Alex leapt out from behind the bed. Surprised, the man turned the gun on Alex. Alex slowly moved to the other side of the room in an attempt to draw his aim away from Liz, then he stood there… waiting. The man with the gun stood there, too… staring at Alex… then at Liz… looking deeply into their eyes, as though searching for something. Alex felt a chill run up his spine. He didn’t move for what seemed like the longest time. Then the tension was interrupted by a momentary crackle and a new voice…
“What’s going on, Dan? Have you taken care of it?”
The man stood transfixed, still staring into Alex and Liz’s eyes, without answering.
“Dan? Come back! Answer! What’s happening in there? Acknowledge.”
The man with the gun slowly pulled the walkie talkie on his lapel over to his lips.
“I’m in. Subject is posed. There are two subjects now.”
“Then neutralize them both… and get out.”
“Acknowledged.” The man looked at Alex and Liz again.
“Dan? Dan… Klein?” Alex asked cautiously.
The man refocused all his attention on Alex. “How do you know me?”
Alex was momentarily at a loss for words. The man would never believe him. It would almost be suicide just to try to explain.
“Dan!” the voice came over the walkie talkie again. “Finish the job or I’ll send someone else in to finish it… someone who will! Now!”
Dan lifted the gun, looked into Alex’s eyes again, and aimed at Alex’s heart. There was a soft whoosh, as the bullet flew through the silencer. Then he aimed at Liz’s heart. There was another soft whoosh, and the man turned and left quickly.
**********
A hundred miles away, Max, making his way through the cave with Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, grabbed Michael’s shoulder hard, and his face paled visibly.
“What is it, Max?”
“Liz,” Max said softly. “Something happened.”
“Is she hurt?”
“I can’t tell… I’m not sure. I felt her fear. It was there all of a sudden… strong! Then it… it was just… gone. Nothing.”
Michael looked at Max, and for a moment he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Maybe she’s not afraid any more,” Maria offered.
“That’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” Max replied.
Michael swallowed. “She may be okay, Max. I mean, you know, you said you weren’t sure of anything, right?”
Max nodded, but he was clearly not convinced… and he remained pale.
“Michael… if something happened to Liz… I don’t think I want to go on.”
“That’s your heart talking, Max. Listen to your head. Well, listen to your heart, too… but not when it tells you to give up!”
Max nodded. “I know, Michael. I know. But all this struggle that we’ve been through… I did it all… to be with Liz. There’s nothing for me out there without her.”
Isabel put her hand on Max’s face to soothe him. “Don’t assume the worst, Max. Liz is strong. She’s a survivor.”
Michael swallowed again. He understood Max’s feelings and the depth of his concern all too well. He knew how he had felt when Maria wasn’t with them. But now he had her back. He hoped and prayed that Max would be as fortunate. Michael decided to try to change the subject.
“We dumped the soldiers, Max. We should be able to travel safely now.”
“We had some help, Michael. Somebody blasted that ledge between us.”
“Maybe it just fell, Max. I mean, it’s possible… isn’t it?”
“I guess… but it’s not likely.”
Michael looked around in the darkness of the cave. “Well, I don’t see anyone in here but us… now that the soldiers are gone.”
Max shrugged. “Yeah, me either. Let’s move on.”
Max looked around in the dark one more time. “Michael?”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t the ledge broken off all the way up to that outcrop over there?”
Michael looked at the ledge behind them. “I thought it was. I must have been mistaken. You must have been, too.”
“Yeah… yeah, we must have been. I would swear that that part of the ledge fell down when the rest of it went… but it’s still there.”
“Well, the soldiers aren’t,” Michael said. “That’s the important thing.”
Max nodded.
“You want me to go back and check the rest of the ledge out, Max?”
“No. No, forget it, Michael. We were wrong about this section being out. That’s all.”
“I could go back and check it,” Rahn said.
Max looked at Rahn for a moment then nodded. Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, changing into a bat again. Then he disappeared into the dark in the direction they had come from. After a short time, he returned, landing at Michael’s feet as a sea gull.
“What did you see,” Michael asked.
“The ledge is still there,” Rahn said. “All of it.”
“What do you mean it’s still there?” Michael sounded alarmed. “What about the soldiers?”
“They’re all standing back at the place where we saw the ledge fall. It… it appears that they believe the ledge is gone and have stopped there.”
“The ledge IS gone!” Isabel said emphatically. “I saw it fall, you saw it fall… We all saw it fall! We heard it fall, too. It’s gone!”
“No… it’s not,” Rahn said. “It’s still there. But the soldiers don’t appear to be able to see it now. They believe that it fell.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Max said. “I want to put as much distance between us and that ledge and those soldiers as possible… as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll second that,” Michael agreed. “Whatever’s going on, we don’t need to stand here wondering about it. Let’s find the way out of here.”
Maria and Isabel both nodded they’re wholehearted agreement.
As the group walked on, they found themselves walking downhill more and more as the ledge began to descend toward the floor of the cavern. By the time they had walked another mile, they were no longer on a ledge at all but on the floor of a larger cavern room. Around them in every direction there was an abundance of huge stalagmites reaching up from the floor of the cavern and stalactites hanging from the high, cathedral-like ceiling. Maria and Isabel looked around the room in awe. Max and Michael touched the tall stalagmites, many of which were twice as tall as they were. Even Rahn appeared to be impressed.
“This place would be a bat’s dream,” Rahn said. “I wonder why there are no bats here?”
“Maybe it’s too far in,” Michael offered with a shrug.
“I don’t think so,” Rahn said. “Bats go pretty far up into caves. But you could be right.”
“Hey guys,” Maria yelled. “I think I found another passage. Maybe it’ll get us out.”
Max, Michael, Isabel, and Rahn walked swiftly over to the area where Maria was standing. Indeed, there was a large passageway behind several large stalagmites that had hidden it from view.
“Way to go, Maria,” Max said. “Okay, this is the way we go then.”
Everyone took another look around the large cathedral-like room then turned back to follow Max into the new passageway. Only now, there was no passageway there. Max pressed his hands to the wall of the cavern. It was solid.
“It was right here wasn’t it, Michael?”
“No, I think it was right about here, Max,” Michael said, running his hands over the wall several feet further to the right. Neither one could find any opening. The wall was solid rock.
“There was a passage there before,” Isabel said. “I’m not going crazy! I saw it.”
“We all saw it,” Max said. “Okay, there are other passageways. We’ll just take a different one. They’re not as big, but any one could be the one that leads us out of here. Come on.”
Max led the group into a second, slightly smaller, but still comfortably large passageway. This one went down for the first couple of thousand feet then began to go up again. But it was easy to walk in. Eventually, the group came to a fork in the way.
“Which way, Michael?” Max asked. “Any feeling about it? Anyone?”
Michael shrugged. “This one looks as good as any, Michael said, pointing to the left passageway, but as the group started to go down it, they found it suddenly blocked by huge boulders.
Max sat down on the path. “Michael, do you get the impression that something… or someone… is making us go the way it wants us to go?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… first the ledge. That kept the soldiers from following us… and us from going back. Then we start to take a large passageway and suddenly it isn’t there any more. We’re forced to take a different one. Now we choose this passage at a fork, only it’s blocked when we get inside. I didn’t see these boulders before.”
“So… you’re saying maybe we’re supposed to take the other route, Max?”
“I’m saying maybe we’re being forced into the other one,” Max corrected.
“So would that be a good thing or a bad thing,” Maria asked cautiously.
“That’s something we’ll undoubtedly find out,” Max replied. “I don’t know if we’re being guided to freedom or herded to destruction. I like to know things beforehand so I can be prepared. I don’t like following ghosts.”
Maria shivered slightly. “Ghosts?”
“Or whatever is leading us in here, Maria. I’m not saying it’s really ghosts. There are other possible explanations.”
“Like?”
Max shrugged. “I’ll think of some… I’m sure.”
Max stood up and dusted himself off. “Okay, since it looks like we’re going to be taking the other fork, let’s get on our way.” The others nodded in agreement.
**********
In the Sheriff’s office in Roswell, Jim Valenti was trying to handle the barrage of questions that he was getting every day now from Jeff and Nancy Parker and from the Whitman’s. Banned from seeing their children, they had fallen back on the one person whom they knew might be willing to help. Jim was doing all he could, but the sad fact was that he had little to go on himself. He, too, had been banned from having contact with either Liz or Alex.
“Jim, there must be something you can do,” Mr. Whitman said. “I can’t even drive my car out of Roswell without being stopped by the state police and quizzed about where I’m going and what my intentions are.”
Jim closed his eyes and pressed his lips together in frustration. “I know. Judge Lewis is playing all his cards to keep Alex and Liz out of our reach.”
“Why?” Mrs. Whitman wanted to know. “What did Alex ever do to him?”
Jim remembered that Alex had busted Judge Lewis’ jaw, but he also knew that that was not the reason for the judge’s behavior.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “The judge is acting on behalf of someone else. I can’t tell you much more than that.”
“Has anyone tried contacting the governor?” Mr. Whitman asked. “I’ll take it all the way to Washington if I have to! Somebody’s got to care about what’s happening to our children.”
“I think somebody does,” Jim said. “But I think it’s in the wrong way. Guys, look, I’m really doing all I can here. I know you want more information. So do I. It’s hard to come by. I’ve told you what I can. Trust me when I say that I haven’t given up. I have… things going that I can’t talk about. Judge Lewis would block me if he knew.”
“Who gave Judge Lewis so much power,” Jeff asked. “He’s just a nothing two-bit little judge!”
Jim raised his eyebrows. “A nothing little judge with some big influence behind him. Influence that reaches up to the state police and beyond… all the way to Washington. Judge Lewis is a pawn. We all know that. By himself, you’re right… He would be virtually powerless. But he has other powers behind him… big ones. That’s the sad truth of the matter, Jeff. At the moment, we can’t touch him. Believe me, I’d like to. Amy’s just waiting for the word to tear him apart herself.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, if anyone could do it, Jim, she could! I say let her have him.”
“There’s nothing I would like better, Nancy… but we have to obey the law here… or at least appear to. I’m afraid that wouldn’t solve anything.”
“It would make us feel a lot better,” Jeff said. Mrs. Whitman nodded, and Mr. Whitman slapped Jeff on the arm with an “Attaboy, Jeff! Tell him!”
Jim smiled slightly. “As tempting as it is, it’ll have to wait for the right time… and now’s not it. But the time will come. If there’s any justice in the world… it will come.”
**********
At the Crestview Mental Health Facility, a young man was running down the hall as fast as he could go. It was the orderly. He rushed to Liz’s room and opened her door with his key, panicking as he turned the key in the lock. As the door swung open, the orderly stared at what he saw…
“Oh my God! Oh my God!”
“Oh great, it’s the ghoul. I guess you came to finish the job or lock me back up, huh?”
The orderly looked at Alex and Liz for several moments.
“Are you both okay? How? I heard shots!”
“Oh, yeah, your bed’s got holes in it,” Alex said.
The orderly stammered and seemed at a loss for words. “I’m… I’m so relieved that you’re both alive.”
“Sure you are,” Alex said, the sarcasm obvious in his voice.
“No, Alex,” Liz stopped him. “I think he’s telling the truth. He looks very shaken.”
“Yeah, his job almost went out the window! Oh wait, there aren’t any windows.”
The orderly wiped the white powder off of his face and hands and opened his white coat. Underneath, he had on a deputy’s shirt… and a deputy’s badge… from Roswell.
“I thought you looked familiar,” Liz said.
“For a ghoul you mean?” the deputy asked with a slight smile. “Deputy Dave Cotter, Roswell Sheriff’s Department.”
“What are you doing here,” Alex asked.
“Jim sent me. He got me this job… through several roundabout connections. Sorry I had to be a jerk. I had to act the part… or be discovered.”
“Where were you when we were being shot?” Alex asked accusingly.
“I got hit on the head and tied up. In the five days I’ve been here, they’ve sent three people to silence you, Alex, and to kill Liz.”
“Silence me?”
“Kill you,” Liz said. Deputy Cotter nodded.
“What happened to the first two,” Alex asked.
“I caught the first one and had security turn him over to the local police, but the army sprung him within an hour. I was watching for the second one, and when he realized he was compromised, he terminated the mission. This was the third attempt since you’ve been here. And that leads me to a very baffling question, Miss Parker. What exactly happened in here? I expected to find you two dead by the time I got the ropes off of me and got up here, especially after hearing the shots.”
“You heard a gun with a silencer?” Alex asked.
Deputy Cotter nodded. “I know the sound… even from a distance. How did you escape?”
“He pointed the gun at Alex’s chest,” Liz said, “and I freaked. I thought he was going to kill Alex.” But he moved it to the side and shot the bed instead. When I realized he wasn’t going to shoot Alex I was relieved. After that, he pointed the gun at me but then moved it to the side and shot the bed again.”
“Strange,” Deputy Cotter said. “He could have killed you both. He didn’t. Why?”
“So you did save us… twice already,” Alex said. “I guess I should thank you. Why did Dan bother to shoot the bed?”
Deputy Cotter raised his eyebrows. “Well, I suspect that was so whoever was listening would think that the job had been done, Alex. Somebody else was there to follow up if he failed. That’s the way they work. A bullet entering the bed would sound pretty much like a bullet entering you. The person listening would know if he’d shot it into the air or into the wall. He didn’t kill you because he didn’t want to. But he made them think he did. I don’t know why.”
“Maybe he found his heart,” Alex said. Liz squeezed Alex’s hand and nodded.
Deputy Cotter shook his head. “I thought those guys pretty much all had those removed surgically or something so they wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Dan may be a little different,” Alex said. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”
“He’s dangerous. Don’t forget it. He spared you this time. But he’s a trained killer. Don’t forget that.”
Alex swallowed and nodded.
“Well, we have an opportunity here… and a problem,” Deputy Cotter said. “You two are dead… officially. I can have your bodies taken out of here in body bags and delivered to Roswell.”
“What’s the problem, then?” Alex asked enthusiastically. “I’d spend a few hours… heck, I’d spend a WEEK in a body bag any time to get out of this place!”
“You’re going to have to disappear for awhile Alex… you, too, Liz. You’ll both be dead. You can’t be seen.”
“For how long?” Liz asked.
“Just till Sheriff Valenti figures out how to fix everything. Sorry… I don’t know how long that might take… It could take a very long time. I hope not… but you should be aware of that possibility.”
Alex and Liz both nodded.
“Your parents will have to think you’re dead.”
Liz looked up at Deputy Cotter and her mouth dropped open. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head. “I can’t do that to them! I can’t!”
“Would you rather really be dead and they really had to bury you, Liz? Because that’s the other option. If we don’t make this work, they’re going to finish the job. Then your parents will have to bury you for real. If your parents know you’re not dead, they won’t seem grieved enough, even if they try very hard. Those guys will know, believe me!”
Liz buried her face in her hands and cried. She knew that Deputy Cotter was right… and it was almost more than she could bear.
**********
“Move it! Out of the way!” a local deputy shouted at the growing crowd, as two body bags were carried out of the Crestview Mental Facility the next day and placed into a waiting Hearst. Deputy Cotter, officially there now on behalf of the Roswell Sheriff’s Department to escort the bodies home, stood beside the local deputy. The managing CEO of the asylum stood beside him, still in shock over the unexpected deaths of two of the clients in his asylum,” especially two who were so young. Like everyone else, he was unaware of the full details of what had taken place.
“I don’t understand. They were in perfect health. They were young… What happened?”
“I think white killed them,” Deputy Cotter said somberly.
The CEO looked at Deputy Cotter for a moment. “Lack of color doesn’t kill, Deputy.”
“It seems a strange way to run a mental health facility,” Deputy Cotter said plainly. “A bit unusual if you ask me.”
“The two Roswell youths were in here for drug abuse that had damaged their brains. Their brains had suffered a sensory overload. The treatment we were giving them was appropriate. It’s called sensory readjustment. The theory is that by depriving them of sensory experiences, especially color, they will become more docile… calmer… their brains will be allowed to rest… and when color is added back later, it will give them what they thought only drugs could give them. They will appreciate reality… without drugs.”
Deputy Cotter nodded. “I still say it’s a sucky treatment. But I’m not a psychiatrist. What would I know?”
“No, you’re not,” the CEO agreed.
The two body bags were laid in the back of the Hearst, and a paramedic closed the doors. Deputy Cotter got back into his patrol car and turned on the lights, then he pulled in front of the Hearst to escort it back to Roswell.
“Are those lights really necessary?” the CEO shouted at Deputy Cotter as he turned to pull out of the drive.
Cotter rolled down his window. “Why? Too much color? I don’t think it’s going to hurt them now, do you, Mr. Herrington?”
tbc
Coming up: The saddest homecoming. Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn find an ally… and a way out.
The Silencer
Chapter 17
XVII
The days had passed slowly, agonizingly, for Alex, like thick molasses that just won’t pour from the bottle, since he arrived at the Crestview Mental Facility. He hated just about everything about the place. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an understatement. He hated EVERYTHING about the place. He hated the lack of color, he hated the food, he hated being locked in this small room… The white-suited orderly who brought his meals reminded him of a ghoul with his sickly looking, abnormally pale face and hands. And this was the second orderly he had had in the past nine days since he and Liz had arrived. There was nothing one could do but pass the time with mental exercises. Alex composed songs in his mind. If he couldn’t be free, he would at least let his mind soar free!
Now, as the tune of another imagined song ran through his mind, a slight noise drew Alex’s attention, and he looked up to see the door to his room open. The young, pale-looking orderly entered with a rolling cart. Dinner. The food was covered with banquet-style, spherical metallic lids, each layered with white enamel on the outside; and the cart was covered with a white cloth that reached the floor, hiding any suggestion of color that might lie beneath. Alex stared at the white-clad orderly, the white cart, and the white-enameled lids… and he wondered again where they found orderlies with such pale faces and hands. Then he realized that their faces and hands were probably powdered to make them appear whiter than they were.
“Is someone around here colorphobic? What’s with all the frikkin’ white? What? You can’t have a silver lid or… or a brown cart?”
The orderly shook his head, without a trace of a smile. “White is soothing, Mr. Whitman. It’s neutral. It is more conducive to relaxation… and proper behavior.”
“I assume by ‘proper behavior’ you mean ‘catatonic stupor,’ because if I don’t see something with color in it soon that’s what I’m going to be in!”
“The white will calm you in time, Mister Whitman. You will see.”
“It’ll turn me into a frikkin’ vegetable, you mean.”
Alex lifted the white enamel lid. Beneath it was a white plate, and on the plate were three cloves of cauliflower, a boiled egg, a small bowl of some kind of mush that may have been watery grits, a piece of white bread… with the crust removed… and milk… in a white paper cup. He stared in disbelief for several long moments, then he picked up the boiled egg. This was something new at least. The small end of the shell appeared to have been broken already, and a section about as big around as a pencil eraser was missing from the shell. Alex broke the rest of the shell and peeled it off then broke the egg in half. The yolk was gone.
“You sucked the yolk out of my egg?! I don’t believe it!”
“It wasn’t white,” the orderly said unapologetically.
“It wasn’t white,” Alex repeated sarcastically. “Of course it wasn’t white, you ninny! Egg yolks are supposed to be yellow!”
“Yellow induces anger, Mr. Whitman… and confusion.”
“I’m getting plenty angry NOT seeing it,” Alex said plainly. “I want some real food! Today! If I’m going to be stuck in this place, at least you could feed me some real food. A cheeseburger with biggie fries and a chocolate shake would be a good start. Or… or even regular food. Who runs this place anyway? Attila the Hun? If you wanted to torture me, you could just stick bamboo strips under my fingernails!”
Alex thought for a second and decided maybe he shouldn’t give them any ideas.
“I will be back to take your tray when you’re finished,” the orderly said with no sign of emotion. “Just leave it on the cart.”
“What? You’re leaving your cart here? You’re not afraid I’ll lift the cloth and see… COLOR?” Alex asked with a flair of sarcasm. The orderly shook his head slowly, and Alex could have sworn he saw just a trace of a smile. He lifted the cover. “Of course. It’s all white underneath. What was I thinking?”
“Just leave the tray on the cart when you’re finished eating, Mr. Whitman. I’ll take it away.”
“Leave the frikkin’ white tray on the frikkin’ white cart with the frikkin white sheet that the frikkin’ white-suited orderly brought in with the frikkin’ white food…” Alex mumbled, more to himself than to the surly orderly. “Go on! Get out! At least let me eat without looking at you while I eat. I’m having color deprivation… something… here!”
“It’s for the greater good, Mr. Whitman,” the orderly said, stepping out of the room and closing the door with more haste than usual just as a yolkless boiled egg impacted the inside of the door.
**********
Forty-five minutes later, the orderly returned. He opened the door cautiously but found Alex sound asleep on his bed.
“See Mr. Whitman? You’re calmer already,” he said quietly.
The orderly smiled slightly and wheeled the cart out of the room then locked the door behind him. From there, he walked down to the service elevator, then to the kitchen, where he parked the cart. He returned fifteen minutes later and picked up the cart again. It had been restocked, and the empties and dirty dishes had been replaced. The orderly took the service elevator down to the second floor and walked to one of the rooms. He opened the door with his special key and pushed the cart in.
“Mister Lester. How are we today?”
“I feel fine, William,” the other man replied. “I feel just fine.”
“You are doing very well, Mr. Lester. The treatments have been good for you.”
“Yes. I’m feeling fine, William.”
“Well, I brought you your med’s. Here you go.” The other man placed the four small pills in his mouth.”
“You’re a real success, Mister Lester. Keep up your treatments and you may be able to leave here one day soon.”
The other man smiled. “Yes. I feel fine, William.”
The orderly locked the door back and walked down the hall to the next room, letting himself in again with his key.
“It’s dinner time, Miss Parker.”
“I’m not really hungry,” a girl’s voice said. “I don’t think I could eat.”
“That’s a negative attitude, Miss Parker. If you want to ever get out of here, you have to eat your food.”
“Leave it,” Liz replied. “I’ll see if I want any of it later.”
“I’ll be back in about an hour, Miss Parker. Just leave the plate and cup on the cart… You can roll that wheelchair over here by yourself right?”
Liz didn’t answer. The orderly closed the door behind him and locked it. For several minutes, Liz stared blankly at the wall, her mind miles away from her suffocating present existence. But after several minutes, she decided to at least look at the food. Wheeling her chair over to the cart, she removed the lid from the plate. There were two slivers of white cheese, something that appeared to be scrambled eggs, with the yellow removed, a cup of milk, something bleached white that looked vaguely like artificial crab meat… but that was only a guess. Liz sighed and replaced the lid without taking anything.
“Pretty disgusting isn’t it?”
Liz raised her head and looked around. There was no one there.
“They’ve done it,” she said to herself quietly. “They’ve made me start hearing voices… in only nine days.”
“I could go for a cheeseburger myself,” the voice said.
This time, Liz lifted the cover from the side of the cart. Nestled comfortably on the support bars beneath the cart was Alex.
“Omigod, Alex! What… How…? Alex? Tell me you’re real!”
Alex painstakingly extracted himself from the support frame beneath the cart and stretched his legs out.
“I’m real, Liz.”
Alex bent down to kiss Liz on the cheek and Liz threw her arms around Alex’s neck so tight he was afraid he would be pulled down on top of her in her wheelchair.
“I’m happy to see you, too, Liz, but you better let me go. I don’t want to fall on you.”
“The least of my worries,” Liz said, letting Alex go.
“Yeah! The food around here is definitely problema numero uno,” Alex said with a grin. Liz smiled.
“Well, it’s all we’ve got, Alex. Like it or not, it’ll have to keep us alive.”
“Maybe not,” Alex said, reaching back under the cart and pulling out a couple of hamburgers, some yellow cheese, a couple of soft drinks, and a candy bar.
“They eat real food in the kitchen,” Alex said with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. “They just don’t give it to us crazy people.”
Liz looked at him then at the cheeseburgers. “How did you get those?”
“The same way I got out of my room. I hid under the cart. When it got to the kitchen, I slipped out and looked for some real food then climbed back under the cart. I was hoping they’d get to your room eventually.”
“But… didn’t they notice you weren’t in your room? How did you…?”
Alex grinned and took two round lids from the lower service tray beneath the crossbars of the cart and placed them on the bed. Then he arranged the cover over them and placed the pillow so that, all in all, it did appear that someone was asleep in the bed under the cover.
Liz shook her head. “I don’t know how you got away with it, Alex, but…”
Alex handed Liz one of the cheeseburgers he had made and a cold canned soda. She smiled and took a bite then took a sip of her drink. Then she closed her eyes for a moment.
“You’re an angel, Alex! This is just what I needed. YOU’RE just what I needed! Omigod! You’re the best! I just love you! You couldn’t know.”
“Well, you could be a little more sure about it,” Alex said with a grin.
Liz smiled. “Alex, bend over.” Liz put one arm around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“Woah! Wow!” Alex gasped, finding his breath again as Liz let him go. “If Max really is still alive, Liz, he’s going to kill me now.”
“He’ll have to go through me first,” Liz said emphatically. “Don’t worry, Alex. Max would understand. And if he didn’t understand… he’d get over it. He’ll understand, though. He’d probably kiss you himself for me.”
“He better not!”
Liz laughed. “Alex, Max will always be my one great love… but you deserved that.”
“If I’d known, Liz… I’d have bought you a cheeseburger franchise a long time ago…”
Liz grinned.
Alex broke the candy bar in half and handed Liz half as he took a bite of the other half.
“You’re unbelievable, Alex. I never know what to expect from you. But I’m SO happy to see you, you just can’t imagine!”
“No more than I am to see you, Liz, believe me.”
“How are you going to get back to your room without being discovered, Alex?”
“My room? I’m not. I’m getting YOU out of here first chance I get. We’ll go somewhere… I don’t know… Change our names or whatever… Try to find Max.” Alex stopped and swallowed then added softly, “…and Isabel. If she’s still alive, too.”
“I think she is,” Liz said. “I can feel her. I don’t know how.” Alex seemed to take on a new glow, and a smile came over his face.
“Alex… getting out of here isn’t going to be so easy. They’ll realize you’re not in your room soon…”
“I know… but maybe not till they bring breakfast in the morning. If we escape tonight…”
Liz looked at Alex, and she knew that what he was saying was dangerous to the degree of being illogical. But after nine days here…
Liz nodded… then smiled. “I’m with you, Alex… all the way. Whatever happens.”
As they spoke, Alex heard the sound of a key being placed in the lock on Liz’s door.
“It’s the orderly,” Liz whispered with a gasp. “He’s back early. Hide, Alex! In the bathroom. Quick!”
Alex didn’t argue. Even though the bathrooms were barely as big as a small broom closet, there was no other place where one could hide. He closed the door of the small room just as the orderly opened Liz’s door. The orderly looked at Liz and at the uneaten food on the tray. Liz carefully hid the soda can behind her back in her wheelchair, leaning back against it to keep it out of sight.
“You’ll never get out of here, Miss Parker, if you don’t eat and get well. Why don’t you follow the rules? It would be so much easier for you.”
I don’t enjoy gagging,” Liz said defiantly.
“Suit yourself.” The orderly took the cart and pushed it out into the hall then locked Liz’s door back.
“You can come out… He’s gone,” Liz whispered. Carefully, Alex opened the door and looked around. Then he stepped out. He had been standing on the toilet bowl.
“That’s one more thing I hate about this place, Liz… the frikkin’ bathroom! It’s so small that you have to be a contortionist to close the door when you’re on the throne.”
Liz giggled. “I don’t think they expect you to close the door when you’re in it, Alex. You’re supposed to leave the door open so your legs can have somewhere to go. The door’s just for when you’re not in there.”
“Oh.”
Liz giggled again. “You shut the door? Where did you put your legs?”
Alex turned slightly red. “Let’s just say there are footprints all the way to the top of my bathroom door.”
Liz put her hand over her mouth to try to stifle the laugh, but it came out anyway.
“Well, I didn’t know you were expected to leave the door open. I like privacy.”
“Well, me, too, Alex. But there are no windows in our rooms… and the door to the room is locked. There’s nobody to see. The orderly only comes at meal times…”
“Now somebody tells me.”
“Alex… how are we going to escape? We’re locked in.”
“I’ll think of something,” Alex said with certainty. “Trust me.”
Liz nodded. Suddenly, there was the sound of a key in Liz’s door again. Liz looked at Alex with panic in her eyes. “Why’s he coming back again? Do you think he knows you’re here, Alex?”
Alex started to run for the bathroom but there was no time. He dove behind the bed and stretched himself out as flat as he could on the floor. Liz stared at her door. It opened, and a man stepped in. But it was not the orderly. This man was not powdered down. He was wearing a white jacket, but under it, he had on something else… military fatigues. Liz gasped. The man looked Liz straight in the eyes for a second, then he reached into his inside pocket and took out a gun and a silencer, which he carefully screwed onto the barrel of the gun.
“Are you… are you… going to shoot me… in cold blood?” Liz managed to ask in a hoarse whisper.
The man pointed the weapon at Liz’s heart, and Alex leapt out from behind the bed. Surprised, the man turned the gun on Alex. Alex slowly moved to the other side of the room in an attempt to draw his aim away from Liz, then he stood there… waiting. The man with the gun stood there, too… staring at Alex… then at Liz… looking deeply into their eyes, as though searching for something. Alex felt a chill run up his spine. He didn’t move for what seemed like the longest time. Then the tension was interrupted by a momentary crackle and a new voice…
“What’s going on, Dan? Have you taken care of it?”
The man stood transfixed, still staring into Alex and Liz’s eyes, without answering.
“Dan? Come back! Answer! What’s happening in there? Acknowledge.”
The man with the gun slowly pulled the walkie talkie on his lapel over to his lips.
“I’m in. Subject is posed. There are two subjects now.”
“Then neutralize them both… and get out.”
“Acknowledged.” The man looked at Alex and Liz again.
“Dan? Dan… Klein?” Alex asked cautiously.
The man refocused all his attention on Alex. “How do you know me?”
Alex was momentarily at a loss for words. The man would never believe him. It would almost be suicide just to try to explain.
“Dan!” the voice came over the walkie talkie again. “Finish the job or I’ll send someone else in to finish it… someone who will! Now!”
Dan lifted the gun, looked into Alex’s eyes again, and aimed at Alex’s heart. There was a soft whoosh, as the bullet flew through the silencer. Then he aimed at Liz’s heart. There was another soft whoosh, and the man turned and left quickly.
**********
A hundred miles away, Max, making his way through the cave with Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, grabbed Michael’s shoulder hard, and his face paled visibly.
“What is it, Max?”
“Liz,” Max said softly. “Something happened.”
“Is she hurt?”
“I can’t tell… I’m not sure. I felt her fear. It was there all of a sudden… strong! Then it… it was just… gone. Nothing.”
Michael looked at Max, and for a moment he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Maybe she’s not afraid any more,” Maria offered.
“That’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” Max replied.
Michael swallowed. “She may be okay, Max. I mean, you know, you said you weren’t sure of anything, right?”
Max nodded, but he was clearly not convinced… and he remained pale.
“Michael… if something happened to Liz… I don’t think I want to go on.”
“That’s your heart talking, Max. Listen to your head. Well, listen to your heart, too… but not when it tells you to give up!”
Max nodded. “I know, Michael. I know. But all this struggle that we’ve been through… I did it all… to be with Liz. There’s nothing for me out there without her.”
Isabel put her hand on Max’s face to soothe him. “Don’t assume the worst, Max. Liz is strong. She’s a survivor.”
Michael swallowed again. He understood Max’s feelings and the depth of his concern all too well. He knew how he had felt when Maria wasn’t with them. But now he had her back. He hoped and prayed that Max would be as fortunate. Michael decided to try to change the subject.
“We dumped the soldiers, Max. We should be able to travel safely now.”
“We had some help, Michael. Somebody blasted that ledge between us.”
“Maybe it just fell, Max. I mean, it’s possible… isn’t it?”
“I guess… but it’s not likely.”
Michael looked around in the darkness of the cave. “Well, I don’t see anyone in here but us… now that the soldiers are gone.”
Max shrugged. “Yeah, me either. Let’s move on.”
Max looked around in the dark one more time. “Michael?”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t the ledge broken off all the way up to that outcrop over there?”
Michael looked at the ledge behind them. “I thought it was. I must have been mistaken. You must have been, too.”
“Yeah… yeah, we must have been. I would swear that that part of the ledge fell down when the rest of it went… but it’s still there.”
“Well, the soldiers aren’t,” Michael said. “That’s the important thing.”
Max nodded.
“You want me to go back and check the rest of the ledge out, Max?”
“No. No, forget it, Michael. We were wrong about this section being out. That’s all.”
“I could go back and check it,” Rahn said.
Max looked at Rahn for a moment then nodded. Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, changing into a bat again. Then he disappeared into the dark in the direction they had come from. After a short time, he returned, landing at Michael’s feet as a sea gull.
“What did you see,” Michael asked.
“The ledge is still there,” Rahn said. “All of it.”
“What do you mean it’s still there?” Michael sounded alarmed. “What about the soldiers?”
“They’re all standing back at the place where we saw the ledge fall. It… it appears that they believe the ledge is gone and have stopped there.”
“The ledge IS gone!” Isabel said emphatically. “I saw it fall, you saw it fall… We all saw it fall! We heard it fall, too. It’s gone!”
“No… it’s not,” Rahn said. “It’s still there. But the soldiers don’t appear to be able to see it now. They believe that it fell.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Max said. “I want to put as much distance between us and that ledge and those soldiers as possible… as quickly as possible.”
“I’ll second that,” Michael agreed. “Whatever’s going on, we don’t need to stand here wondering about it. Let’s find the way out of here.”
Maria and Isabel both nodded they’re wholehearted agreement.
As the group walked on, they found themselves walking downhill more and more as the ledge began to descend toward the floor of the cavern. By the time they had walked another mile, they were no longer on a ledge at all but on the floor of a larger cavern room. Around them in every direction there was an abundance of huge stalagmites reaching up from the floor of the cavern and stalactites hanging from the high, cathedral-like ceiling. Maria and Isabel looked around the room in awe. Max and Michael touched the tall stalagmites, many of which were twice as tall as they were. Even Rahn appeared to be impressed.
“This place would be a bat’s dream,” Rahn said. “I wonder why there are no bats here?”
“Maybe it’s too far in,” Michael offered with a shrug.
“I don’t think so,” Rahn said. “Bats go pretty far up into caves. But you could be right.”
“Hey guys,” Maria yelled. “I think I found another passage. Maybe it’ll get us out.”
Max, Michael, Isabel, and Rahn walked swiftly over to the area where Maria was standing. Indeed, there was a large passageway behind several large stalagmites that had hidden it from view.
“Way to go, Maria,” Max said. “Okay, this is the way we go then.”
Everyone took another look around the large cathedral-like room then turned back to follow Max into the new passageway. Only now, there was no passageway there. Max pressed his hands to the wall of the cavern. It was solid.
“It was right here wasn’t it, Michael?”
“No, I think it was right about here, Max,” Michael said, running his hands over the wall several feet further to the right. Neither one could find any opening. The wall was solid rock.
“There was a passage there before,” Isabel said. “I’m not going crazy! I saw it.”
“We all saw it,” Max said. “Okay, there are other passageways. We’ll just take a different one. They’re not as big, but any one could be the one that leads us out of here. Come on.”
Max led the group into a second, slightly smaller, but still comfortably large passageway. This one went down for the first couple of thousand feet then began to go up again. But it was easy to walk in. Eventually, the group came to a fork in the way.
“Which way, Michael?” Max asked. “Any feeling about it? Anyone?”
Michael shrugged. “This one looks as good as any, Michael said, pointing to the left passageway, but as the group started to go down it, they found it suddenly blocked by huge boulders.
Max sat down on the path. “Michael, do you get the impression that something… or someone… is making us go the way it wants us to go?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… first the ledge. That kept the soldiers from following us… and us from going back. Then we start to take a large passageway and suddenly it isn’t there any more. We’re forced to take a different one. Now we choose this passage at a fork, only it’s blocked when we get inside. I didn’t see these boulders before.”
“So… you’re saying maybe we’re supposed to take the other route, Max?”
“I’m saying maybe we’re being forced into the other one,” Max corrected.
“So would that be a good thing or a bad thing,” Maria asked cautiously.
“That’s something we’ll undoubtedly find out,” Max replied. “I don’t know if we’re being guided to freedom or herded to destruction. I like to know things beforehand so I can be prepared. I don’t like following ghosts.”
Maria shivered slightly. “Ghosts?”
“Or whatever is leading us in here, Maria. I’m not saying it’s really ghosts. There are other possible explanations.”
“Like?”
Max shrugged. “I’ll think of some… I’m sure.”
Max stood up and dusted himself off. “Okay, since it looks like we’re going to be taking the other fork, let’s get on our way.” The others nodded in agreement.
**********
In the Sheriff’s office in Roswell, Jim Valenti was trying to handle the barrage of questions that he was getting every day now from Jeff and Nancy Parker and from the Whitman’s. Banned from seeing their children, they had fallen back on the one person whom they knew might be willing to help. Jim was doing all he could, but the sad fact was that he had little to go on himself. He, too, had been banned from having contact with either Liz or Alex.
“Jim, there must be something you can do,” Mr. Whitman said. “I can’t even drive my car out of Roswell without being stopped by the state police and quizzed about where I’m going and what my intentions are.”
Jim closed his eyes and pressed his lips together in frustration. “I know. Judge Lewis is playing all his cards to keep Alex and Liz out of our reach.”
“Why?” Mrs. Whitman wanted to know. “What did Alex ever do to him?”
Jim remembered that Alex had busted Judge Lewis’ jaw, but he also knew that that was not the reason for the judge’s behavior.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “The judge is acting on behalf of someone else. I can’t tell you much more than that.”
“Has anyone tried contacting the governor?” Mr. Whitman asked. “I’ll take it all the way to Washington if I have to! Somebody’s got to care about what’s happening to our children.”
“I think somebody does,” Jim said. “But I think it’s in the wrong way. Guys, look, I’m really doing all I can here. I know you want more information. So do I. It’s hard to come by. I’ve told you what I can. Trust me when I say that I haven’t given up. I have… things going that I can’t talk about. Judge Lewis would block me if he knew.”
“Who gave Judge Lewis so much power,” Jeff asked. “He’s just a nothing two-bit little judge!”
Jim raised his eyebrows. “A nothing little judge with some big influence behind him. Influence that reaches up to the state police and beyond… all the way to Washington. Judge Lewis is a pawn. We all know that. By himself, you’re right… He would be virtually powerless. But he has other powers behind him… big ones. That’s the sad truth of the matter, Jeff. At the moment, we can’t touch him. Believe me, I’d like to. Amy’s just waiting for the word to tear him apart herself.”
Nancy smiled. “Well, if anyone could do it, Jim, she could! I say let her have him.”
“There’s nothing I would like better, Nancy… but we have to obey the law here… or at least appear to. I’m afraid that wouldn’t solve anything.”
“It would make us feel a lot better,” Jeff said. Mrs. Whitman nodded, and Mr. Whitman slapped Jeff on the arm with an “Attaboy, Jeff! Tell him!”
Jim smiled slightly. “As tempting as it is, it’ll have to wait for the right time… and now’s not it. But the time will come. If there’s any justice in the world… it will come.”
**********
At the Crestview Mental Health Facility, a young man was running down the hall as fast as he could go. It was the orderly. He rushed to Liz’s room and opened her door with his key, panicking as he turned the key in the lock. As the door swung open, the orderly stared at what he saw…
“Oh my God! Oh my God!”
“Oh great, it’s the ghoul. I guess you came to finish the job or lock me back up, huh?”
The orderly looked at Alex and Liz for several moments.
“Are you both okay? How? I heard shots!”
“Oh, yeah, your bed’s got holes in it,” Alex said.
The orderly stammered and seemed at a loss for words. “I’m… I’m so relieved that you’re both alive.”
“Sure you are,” Alex said, the sarcasm obvious in his voice.
“No, Alex,” Liz stopped him. “I think he’s telling the truth. He looks very shaken.”
“Yeah, his job almost went out the window! Oh wait, there aren’t any windows.”
The orderly wiped the white powder off of his face and hands and opened his white coat. Underneath, he had on a deputy’s shirt… and a deputy’s badge… from Roswell.
“I thought you looked familiar,” Liz said.
“For a ghoul you mean?” the deputy asked with a slight smile. “Deputy Dave Cotter, Roswell Sheriff’s Department.”
“What are you doing here,” Alex asked.
“Jim sent me. He got me this job… through several roundabout connections. Sorry I had to be a jerk. I had to act the part… or be discovered.”
“Where were you when we were being shot?” Alex asked accusingly.
“I got hit on the head and tied up. In the five days I’ve been here, they’ve sent three people to silence you, Alex, and to kill Liz.”
“Silence me?”
“Kill you,” Liz said. Deputy Cotter nodded.
“What happened to the first two,” Alex asked.
“I caught the first one and had security turn him over to the local police, but the army sprung him within an hour. I was watching for the second one, and when he realized he was compromised, he terminated the mission. This was the third attempt since you’ve been here. And that leads me to a very baffling question, Miss Parker. What exactly happened in here? I expected to find you two dead by the time I got the ropes off of me and got up here, especially after hearing the shots.”
“You heard a gun with a silencer?” Alex asked.
Deputy Cotter nodded. “I know the sound… even from a distance. How did you escape?”
“He pointed the gun at Alex’s chest,” Liz said, “and I freaked. I thought he was going to kill Alex.” But he moved it to the side and shot the bed instead. When I realized he wasn’t going to shoot Alex I was relieved. After that, he pointed the gun at me but then moved it to the side and shot the bed again.”
“Strange,” Deputy Cotter said. “He could have killed you both. He didn’t. Why?”
“So you did save us… twice already,” Alex said. “I guess I should thank you. Why did Dan bother to shoot the bed?”
Deputy Cotter raised his eyebrows. “Well, I suspect that was so whoever was listening would think that the job had been done, Alex. Somebody else was there to follow up if he failed. That’s the way they work. A bullet entering the bed would sound pretty much like a bullet entering you. The person listening would know if he’d shot it into the air or into the wall. He didn’t kill you because he didn’t want to. But he made them think he did. I don’t know why.”
“Maybe he found his heart,” Alex said. Liz squeezed Alex’s hand and nodded.
Deputy Cotter shook his head. “I thought those guys pretty much all had those removed surgically or something so they wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Dan may be a little different,” Alex said. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”
“He’s dangerous. Don’t forget it. He spared you this time. But he’s a trained killer. Don’t forget that.”
Alex swallowed and nodded.
“Well, we have an opportunity here… and a problem,” Deputy Cotter said. “You two are dead… officially. I can have your bodies taken out of here in body bags and delivered to Roswell.”
“What’s the problem, then?” Alex asked enthusiastically. “I’d spend a few hours… heck, I’d spend a WEEK in a body bag any time to get out of this place!”
“You’re going to have to disappear for awhile Alex… you, too, Liz. You’ll both be dead. You can’t be seen.”
“For how long?” Liz asked.
“Just till Sheriff Valenti figures out how to fix everything. Sorry… I don’t know how long that might take… It could take a very long time. I hope not… but you should be aware of that possibility.”
Alex and Liz both nodded.
“Your parents will have to think you’re dead.”
Liz looked up at Deputy Cotter and her mouth dropped open. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head. “I can’t do that to them! I can’t!”
“Would you rather really be dead and they really had to bury you, Liz? Because that’s the other option. If we don’t make this work, they’re going to finish the job. Then your parents will have to bury you for real. If your parents know you’re not dead, they won’t seem grieved enough, even if they try very hard. Those guys will know, believe me!”
Liz buried her face in her hands and cried. She knew that Deputy Cotter was right… and it was almost more than she could bear.
**********
“Move it! Out of the way!” a local deputy shouted at the growing crowd, as two body bags were carried out of the Crestview Mental Facility the next day and placed into a waiting Hearst. Deputy Cotter, officially there now on behalf of the Roswell Sheriff’s Department to escort the bodies home, stood beside the local deputy. The managing CEO of the asylum stood beside him, still in shock over the unexpected deaths of two of the clients in his asylum,” especially two who were so young. Like everyone else, he was unaware of the full details of what had taken place.
“I don’t understand. They were in perfect health. They were young… What happened?”
“I think white killed them,” Deputy Cotter said somberly.
The CEO looked at Deputy Cotter for a moment. “Lack of color doesn’t kill, Deputy.”
“It seems a strange way to run a mental health facility,” Deputy Cotter said plainly. “A bit unusual if you ask me.”
“The two Roswell youths were in here for drug abuse that had damaged their brains. Their brains had suffered a sensory overload. The treatment we were giving them was appropriate. It’s called sensory readjustment. The theory is that by depriving them of sensory experiences, especially color, they will become more docile… calmer… their brains will be allowed to rest… and when color is added back later, it will give them what they thought only drugs could give them. They will appreciate reality… without drugs.”
Deputy Cotter nodded. “I still say it’s a sucky treatment. But I’m not a psychiatrist. What would I know?”
“No, you’re not,” the CEO agreed.
The two body bags were laid in the back of the Hearst, and a paramedic closed the doors. Deputy Cotter got back into his patrol car and turned on the lights, then he pulled in front of the Hearst to escort it back to Roswell.
“Are those lights really necessary?” the CEO shouted at Deputy Cotter as he turned to pull out of the drive.
Cotter rolled down his window. “Why? Too much color? I don’t think it’s going to hurt them now, do you, Mr. Herrington?”
tbc
Coming up: The saddest homecoming. Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn find an ally… and a way out.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
The Ways To Be Free
Chapter 18
XVIII
“Noooooo! No! I won’t believe it! Don’t tell me that! Nooooo…” Nancy’s voice trailed off into heartbreaking sobs. Jeff buried his face in his hands, the tears running copiously through his fingers. Mr. And Mrs. Whitman sat pale and speechless, looking as though they had just lost their only reason to live.
Jim tried feebly to swallow a huge lump that had formed in his throat. His own eyes were red and sore, and Amy, sitting beside him, held his hand for emotional support. Amy had been impossible to deceive. Jim had tried to convince her that Liz and Alex had been killed. Deputy Cotter had even backed him up, but somehow Amy had seen through the deception. Despite this fact, Amy sat here now, knowing the full truth, yet crying very real tears in torrents. Having to see the reactions of the Parkers and the Whitman’s and deceive them this way was tearing her apart inside. She remembered all too well how she had felt when she had been told that Maria was dead after graduation, and she didn’t want anyone else to ever have to go through what she had gone through again. But these were extraordinary circumstances. As Jim had aptly told her, once he had realized that he was not going to be able to convince her of their deaths, if this didn’t work, the likely result would be that this scene would play out again one day very soon… and this time, it would be for real… Liz and Alex would not be coming back. It was a hard pill for Amy to swallow, but she could see that Jim was suffering too.
“How could this happen,” Mr. Whitman asked, his voice breaking. “How, Sheriff?”
Jim shook his head. “I don’t have a good answer for that, Mr. Whitman. Hell, there is no good answer! I wish I had an answer… I really do.”
“But you’re the law here, Jim,” Mrs. Whitman said, wiping her eyes and nose with a handkerchief. “You’re supposed to protect us… you’re supposed to protect these kids. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen here.”
“No… they’re not,” Jim agreed quietly.
“Well, in all fairness to Jim,” Jeff Parker said, “he wasn’t the sheriff when the graduation thing happened… and all of this seems to have come from that. Somebody in City Hall removed Jim from office right before graduation. I say we need to take care of the matter, starting with Judge Lewis.”
“Don’t take the law into your own hands, Jeff,” Jim warned. “Leave it to me and my deputies. We will take care of it. I promise you.”
“It’s a little late for that now, isn’t it, Sheriff,” Mrs. Whitman asked sadly. “Can you bring Alex back?”
Jim cringed. With all his heart, he wanted to say yes, but this was not the time, no matter how much it hurt.
“Cynthia,” Amy said gently, sitting down beside Mrs. Whitman and taking her hand in her own, “I know how it looks right now… but things will all work out. I’ve been there myself. We survive. Life goes on.”
“What kind of life Amy? How did you go on after Maria died? I don’t think I can do it. Alex was… was everything to me.”
Tears began to run down Mrs. Whitman’s cheeks, and Amy found her own tears starting up again.
“Jim, I can’t do this,” Amy said, standing up and leaving the room, the tears flowing unchecked now down her face.
“This has been hard on Amy, too,” Jim said softly. “It’s opening up old wounds for her… bringing back her memories of Maria.”
Mrs. Whitman nodded. “I’m… I’m sorry, Jim. I don’t mean to hurt Amy… or you. You’ve put your own life on the line for Alex and the others over and again since graduation… Don’t think we don’t all know that. I just don’t understand why this is happening. It doesn’t feel real. It’s like we’re living in some kind of… Dodge City… Hell… here.”
Jim cringed again. “I know nothing could ever make things seem okay right now, Gloria… but Amy was right. Life does go on. Trust us. You’ll see.”
**********
Outside the Sheriff’s office, Amy was leaning against the wall, shaking, the tears still running down her face, when she noticed Judge Lewis watching from the corner.
“What are you looking at? You not satisfied with what you’ve done? Do you have to see the destruction you’ve caused, too?”
“Things happen, Ms. DeLuca. Don’t blame me. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe if they hadn’t been dealing drugs and had to be put away for their own good…”
Amy’s hands and whole body tightened, but somehow she managed to find enough control to not take Judge Lewis apart piece by piece where he stood. Closing her eyes, she swallowed and breathed deeply, using every method at her disposal to calm herself… which under the circumstances, was a miraculous feat.
“Judge, be thankful I’m too distressed right now to do what I’d like to do.”
“Is that some kind of veiled threat, Ms. DeLuca? Oh, excuse me… Mrs. Valenti! Because if it is, you need to know who you’re dealing with. Don’t bring problems on yourself. I’m still the big dog in this town… in a manner of speaking. That’s a warning you should heed. Maybe that worthless husband of yours doesn’t care enough about you to warn you… but I will. Don’t mess with me.”
Amy gritted her teeth tightly to keep from screaming. She felt like she would burst if she didn’t let something out, but she didn’t want to do anything that might compromise Jim’s plans to help Liz and Alex. She needed to remain in control… for now.
Amy turned and ran back into the sheriff’s office, shaking, and Jim knew with one look that something was wrong…
“What happened, Amy?”
Amy shook her head, but her lips quivered. “Judge Lewis… He’s watching what’s going on in here.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
Amy pursed her lips tightly together and bit her tongue. “Nothing really, Jim. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Why would the judge be watching the goings on in your office, Sheriff?” Mr. Whitman asked.
“He probably enjoys seeing other people suffering,” Jeff Parker answered for Jim. “He put Liz and Alex in that place where they could get shot. He’s to blame for their deaths. We all should keep that in mind.”
“Now, Jeff, I know how you feel and what you’re thinking, but it wouldn’t do Liz or Alex any good for the two of you to get yourselves arrested… or worse… going after the judge. Let me handle the things that are my jurisdiction. That’s what I’m paid to do. I’ll have Judge Lewis investigated… I’ll go all the way to Washington if I have to… but don’t take matters into your own hands or do anything that might get you arrested yourself. That’s what he would like you to do. Judge Lewis is a bully… but he’s a bully who knows how to use the laws to his own advantage.”
Jeff nodded.
**********
Deep inside the earth, Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn had no way of knowing it, but they had already left the army base behind some time ago. They were technically free now. All together, they had walked a total of fourteen miles through the various corridors and rooms of the cavern. But still, they had not found an exit.
Max sat down on a large rock inside another large, cathedral-like room, which they had just entered.
“Take a minute, guys. Let’s make some plans here… We need some light. It seems to be getting darker and darker in here… I think the natural phosphorescence in the walls must be diminishing the further we go.”
“Maybe we’re just getting further from the base and that warm, friendly radiation glow in the soil,” Michael said with a smirk.
Max smiled. “Could be. Isabel… could you find me some small stones?”
“What are you going to do with them, Max?”
Max held up a partially hollow section of stalagmite that he had picked up off the floor of the cavern a few minutes before.
“I’m going to make a lantern. Michael and I will heat the rocks till they glow then I’ll put them in this stalagmite chunk… or stalactite, whichever one it was.”
Michael smiled. “I’m glad you said you were going to put them in there, Max, ‘cause those suckers are gonna be really hot after we heat them up!”
Max stopped and thought for a moment. “Give me your shirt.”
“My shirt? Why does it have to be my shirt?”
“Just do it, Michael. Come on.”
Michael grudgingly removed his shirt, lifting it over the top of his head. Maria tried to hide her smile, as she watched Michael’s pecs and biceps flex and his chest expand and contract in the lantern light with every movement.
“What ya got in mind, Max?” Michael asked, handing Max the shirt.
Max reached his hand into a small stream running along behind them and scooped up some mud and sand, which he rubbed copiously all over the shirt.
“I want you to know that was a good shirt, Max. I can never wear it again now.”
“You won’t want to, Michael.” Max ripped the shirt into several strips then tied one mud-caked strip into a sling, which he set their makeshift “lantern” into. Next he put an extra-thick layer of wet mud and sand on the second strip then laid the rocks on it.
“Fire away, Michael.”
“It’s gonna burn that cloth up, Max.”
“Maybe. We won’t know until we try.” Max held his hand up and blasted the small stones with energy from his hand, and Michael followed suit, blasting them with energy from his own hand until they glowed brightly in the darkness of the cavern. The mud and sand fused and hardened in the heat, turning into something like glassy brick. It was impossible to know for sure if the strip of shirt inside was still there or if it had been incinerated by the heat, leaving only a flat heat-hardened pole. Max raked the stones off the pole into the makeshift lantern, then he picked the lantern up by the sling.
“We have light, Michael.”
Michael nodded his head. “Yeah… yeah, I guess we do. You owe me a shirt, Max.”
Max grinned then turned to Rahn. “Rahn… you saw the geological maps that showed this cavern system. Do you remember where it comes out?”
“It didn’t show any exits,” Rahn said. “But that’s not unusual. They don’t always show them. There must be exits. We just have to find them. I could fly ahead and search while everyone else rests. I can cover more territory and maybe save everyone some walking.”
Max nodded. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea… you can go whenever you’re ready.”
Rahn shape-shifted into a sea gull then into a bat as he disappeared into the darkness beyond.
“How far do you think we’ve walked, Michael?”
“I don’t know, Max… I’d say at least eight or nine miles… maybe more. Do you think we’re still under the base?”
“I doubt it… Maybe… but I doubt it.”
“I doubt it, too.
“Hey, Max, look at this,” Isabel said, reaching up a couple of feet over her head to get something that had been placed on top of a broken off stalagmite. “It looks like a book or something. What do you think?”
Isabel handed the object to Max, and he turned it over then opened it. The cover appeared to be some kind of thin leather. The pages were… well, he wasn’t sure what they were, but they were definitely unusual… and so was the writing.
“I’ve seen this writing,” Michael said.
“Where?”
“I don’t know… in my mind… and in the Destiny Book! This is the same kind of writing… only different.”
“Different how?”
“Just… different… not the same… not even the same letters… but similar. Probably the same language… or maybe a different language but from the same culture.”
“Or… maybe from the same planet?” Max asked.
Michael nodded.
“If it’s Antarian, maybe Rahn can tell us what it says when he comes back.”
Max thumbed through the pages again. There were no pictures, just the strange writing… and the writing was much smaller than the writing in the Destiny Book. The pages felt waxy. Max closed the book.
“Let’s move on. We’ve rested long enough. Rahn can find us on the way.”
Michael, Maria, and Isabel followed Max into the corridor that Rahn had flown into only a few minutes before, but this time they found their path suddenly barred, not by boulders or a solid wall or a broken ledge… but by a very large gray wolf… an animal not native to this area. Coyotes were well-known here, but finding either one deep inside a cave would have to be considered odd in any case.
The wolf stood silently, defiantly, in the corridor, facing Max, staring into his eyes intently with that icy, menacing stare that only a wolf has. Max froze, and the others stopped where they stood behind him. For a moment, nothing happened. Then without a sound, the wolf leapt, its mouth open and its teeth bared, but instead of going for Max’s throat as expected, it grabbed the book.
The moment the wolf leapt at Max, Michael went into protective mode, raising his hand toward the attacking animal. A flash of power from Michael’s hand dropped the huge animal to the ground on its side, and the book fell from its mouth.
Still shaken, Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel approached the fallen animal cautiously, but before they could determine if it was dead or alive, it began to shimmer, then change, finally settling into the form of a young woman with blonde hair. Max knelt beside the girl and turned her face toward him. Her eyes were fixed in a blank stare, but she was still breathing… barely. Max placed his hand over the wound on her side and held it there for several moments, as a greenish glow appeared over the wound. After a short time, the girl closed her eyes… then she opened them again and looked at Max…
“You weren’t supposed to see me. It ruins everything.”
“What does it ruin,” Max asked. “Why shouldn’t I see you?”
“I… I can’t tell you.”
“You’re a shape-shifter,” Max said, half as a question, half as a statement.
The girl shook her head slowly.
“We saw you change from a wolf into what you are now,” Maria said. “You have to be a shape-shifter.”
“No… not a shape-shifter,” the girl insisted. “Don’t ask me any more. Please. I can’t…”
You gave up the chance to keep secrets,” Max said, “…when you attacked us. Now it’s our turn to get some answers. First of all, why are you following us? Who are you? What do you want with us… and this book?”
“It’s mine,” the girl said. “and I didn’t attack you. I saved you. Who do you think made those soldiers think the ledge had broken off so they wouldn’t follow you? Who do you think has been guiding you so you wouldn’t wind up so deep in the earth that you would never find your way out? If you had taken the largest corridor at the first junction you would be somewhere near the center of the earth right now, I think. I don’t think it ever comes back up.”
“Why would you help us,” Max asked. “We don’t even know you. And what are you doing way down here inside a cave by yourself?”
The girl looked to one side for a moment but then seemed to have questions of her own for Max.
“He hit me with some kind of blast,” she said, pointing toward Michael. “What is he? How did he do that?”
“Tell me how you can make yourself look like a wolf and maybe I’ll tell you about Michael.”
The girl appeared reticent, but curiosity seemed to overcome her better judgment…
“I’m not a shape-shifter; I just create visions. You merely thought you saw a wolf. I was never anything but me.”
“That would explain the stone wall where a corridor had just been and the falling ledge that never fell,” Michael said.
Max nodded. “So you create visions… in our minds.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“You need help.”
“But you don’t know us. How did you know we were the good guys?”
“Are you?”
“Okay… Do you make a habit of helping bad guys?”
The girl shrugged. “I can see things in your mind. I knew you needed help.”
“You can read our minds?” Maria asked, alarmed. “Oh, that’s great! Now I’m going to have to watch what I’m thinking.” Maria turned slightly red as she glanced quickly at Michael standing beside her with his shirt off, his well-toned muscles glistening in the low light.
The girl seemed to smile slightly. “I can’t exactly read your minds… I just feel… feelings. I know if your intentions are good or bad… and what you’re feeling.”
“Then why did you hide from us?”
“Do you reveal yourself to everybody who has good intentions? …Does your mother know what you are?”
Max recoiled sharply at this last comment. “I thought you said you couldn’t read minds.”
“I can’t… but I’m pretty good at piecing clues together. I know you’re not who you appear to be. You have things to hide. I can feel that.”
“Alright. So I have things to hide. And so do you. Where are you from?”
The girl looked around the cavern and shrugged, motioning all around.
“You weren’t born here… in this cave.”
“I may have been… I don’t know.”
“Okay, let’s try it a different way,” Max said. “People on earth don’t read minds. Excuse me, I mean they don’t feel other people’s feelings… not the way you do… or create visions in other people’s minds. I don’t know anyone who can appear to be a wolf, either.”
“Not even your friend who flew out of here with the little bat wings?”
“You saw him?”
“Of course. I’ve been watching you.”
“Okay… he’s… different.”
“Well, I know that. What is he? A shape-shifter?”
“I thought you were good at piecing the clues together.”
“So he’s a shape-shifter. What’s your friend… Michael? And what are you?”
“That’s a lot of questions. Like you said, I have things I prefer to keep private.”
“Fair enough, but you promised to tell me what Michael is if I told you about me.”
Max looked at Michael. Both of them felt uneasy about giving away information that they had always kept so closely guarded. They had always known that their lives depended on it.
“You know,” the girl said, “if I hadn’t helped you, you’d be toast right now. You owe me that.”
“Well, we don’t really know that we’d be toast right now as you say. We’d have found our way out eventually… and escaped from the soldiers, too.”
“Maybe.”
“Okay, I guess we do owe you… and you do seem to have it all figured out anyway. I’m sure you know that Michael and I aren’t from around here.”
“Well I know that. You’re from another planet.”
“Why’d you even bother to ask?”
The girl shrugged. “I feel things. It’s not the same as knowing… exactly.”
“You’re not surprised by what we are,” Max asked.
“No. I know I’m different, too. I always knew that I wasn’t from here. I just don’t know where I’m from.”
“You don’t know where your people came from?” Isabel asked.
The girl shook her head. “Do you know? Where you’re from, I mean?”
“Well… yeah… maybe… kind of…” Max stammered.
“So we’re not so different after all, the girl said with a knowing smile.”
“I guess not. What’s your name? You have one, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It’s A’in ji-Lii. I usually spell it ‘A-n-g-i-e L-e-e,’ though.”
As they spoke, Rahn suddenly returned, landing near Max and the girl, who was by now sitting up again. Rahn walked around on the ground for a few moments acting like a very misplaced and lost sea gull, then he hopped on top of Max’s head and stood there shifting from one foot to the other nervously.
Max rolled his eyes upward… “Alright, you’ve got my attention, Rahn.”
“That’s Max’s pet,” Michael said with a snicker. “It thinks he’s its daddy.”
“It’s going to be our next meal if it poops while it’s up there,” Max said sullenly. “Rahn, get down here! She knows already.”
Rahn hopped off onto the ground and shifted back into his human form. “Well, I didn’t know if you wanted me to change in front of her.”
“What’s the matter, Rahn,” Michael asked, grinning, “You shy about changing in front of girls?”
“Shy?” Rahn asked, appearing confused.
“Never mind him,” Max said. “He’s just making a joke. Rahn, check this out.” Max handed Rahn the book. Immediately, Angie Lee leapt for it, but Max blocked her.
“You can’t! You can’t read that… It’s mine!”
“What’s in this book that’s so important?” Max asked. “Does it have to do with us? Is this something else from our planet that we were supposed to get but never knew about?”
“It’s nothing. It’s not important to you.”
Rahn looked at the pages and raised his eyebrows, in a perfect imitation of a human reaction.
“What does it say,” Max asked.
“Well… do you really want to know?”
“Yes!”
Rahn began to read…
“Jeyyal pressed his lips to Mi’chya’s waiting mouth, as she panted with anticipation. To Mi’chya, Jeyyal’s body felt like a warm spring day after a long winter as it rubbed against her nipples, which like three perfect red roses rising from the cool white snow, awakened to soak up the warmth of the sun. It had been too long. Mi’chya moaned as Jeyyal kissed her neck then her shoulders, working his way slowly, passionately…”
“What is this?” Max asked, interrupting Rahn in mid-sentence… “some kind of alien porn?”
“I think it’s what you would call here… a romance novel,” Rahn said, silently reading the rest of the passage to himself before closing the book up and handing it to Angie Lee.
“A romance novel!?” Max repeated, turning to Angie Lee in disbelief. “That’s what you’ve been protecting? A romance novel!”
“Three?” Michael muttered, more to himself than to anyone else in particular, his eyes still fixed on the book in Angie Lee’s hand. “How does that work?”
“It’s all I have from my world,” Angie Lee said, her face reddening noticeably, even in the glow of the lantern. “My father disappeared when I was six. I only have Grandfather now… and nothing from my world but this book… and one other one.”
“Another romance novel?”
“No. Something I can’t read. It’s a different writing… but it’s from my world, too.”
“Then you do know where you’re from,” Michael said.
Angie Lee shook her head. “I remember so little. I can read this… but I don’t even know where it comes from, only that it’s another world… somewhere.”
“What about your grandfather?” Maria asked. “You said you have a grandfather. Can’t he tell you where you’re from?”
“He’s not my real grandfather. I just call him that. He’s more like… my protector. He took care of me after my father died… and he sent me to school… and college.”
“You went to college?” Isabel asked, surprised.
Angie Lee nodded. “I started this year. Grandfather is paying for it… with his own money… and… special grants.”
“I didn’t know they had grants for aliens,” Michael said. “They never told me this. What are you doing in this cave?”
“I grew up here. When I’m home from college, I often come here. This is where my father lived with me… before he died.”
“In a cave?”
Angie Lee nodded.
“Where’s your protector? Does he live in this cave, too,” Maria asked.
Angie Lee started to answer Maria’s question, but a shadow suddenly appeared on the wall in the light of the lantern. Everyone seemed to notice it at the same time and turned to look at the wall. The shadow, which appeared to be human for the most part, grew quickly larger and larger until it stood over twelve feet high… and on it’s head, there was a horn.
“Grandfather is here,” Angie Lee said. “He’s looking for me.”
“A’in ji Lii ! Hayu? Ha’and’ah !”
Everyone turned around quickly to look at the source of the voice. It wasn’t a monster after all. It was merely an old man… an Indian by the looks of him. He had a headband and a single feather –the “horn” they had thought they saw in the huge reflection he had cast in the lantern’s light- Now he stood in the corridor, holding his own lantern in one hand and a spear in the other. The spear was pointed at Max, who was the person closest to Angie Lee.
“Shiitsooyee! Dohohda!” Angie Lee replied to the old man. “Do’o ansi.”
(Grandfather, no! I’m okay.)
“Nnee… Magaa’nnee! Hat’ugha?”
(People… White people! Why?)
“They needed my help, Grandfather. The soldiers were chasing them.”
The old Indian looked fearful. “You will bring the soldiers to us, A’in ji Lii.”
“No, Grandfather. I made sure of that.”
“You are too naïve, little one.”
“We will be safe on the reservation, Grandfather. The soldiers won’t bother us there.”
“Hmmm. You have much to learn of history, little yellow coyote. Let’s go now… before they know where you went. Why do you insist on coming to this cave, A’in ji Lii? It is cursed by the ancestors.”
“Yes… Because of my father… I know. But that’s just a superstition, Grandfather.”
“No, child! It is not. You have much to learn.
“You allowed my father to stay… when I was a child. My father… his spirit… is here… in this cave. I come here to remember. Don’t you like to be near your ancestors, Grandfather?”
“Ni’i nahi’imaa at’e, ya naheeka’ee at’e, A’in ji Lii.”
“What did he say,” Max asked.
“He said, ‘Earth is our mother, sky is our father.’”
“These people with you cannot stay on the Reservation, A’in ji Lii… the warning of the elders… The ancestors’ vengeance will be upon anyone who allows nasedo to stay.”
“Nasedo?” Michael repeated questioningly.
“Nasedo is the Mesaliko word for ‘visitor,’” Angie Lee replied.
“Your grandfather is Mesaliko… Apache? He… you… live on the Mesaliko Reservation?”
The girl nodded.
“That’s where River Dog lives,” Michael said.
“You know River Dog?” Angie Lee asked, surprised.
Max nodded. “Yeah, he helped us out once.”
“River Dog is Grandfather’s brother.”
“River Dog has a brother?” Max asked, surprised.
Angie Lee laughed. “Actually, he has four brothers… and three sisters.”
“Did you know that, Michael?” Max asked.
“What?”
“That River dog had four brothers and three sisters.”
“Oh… No, I still haven’t gotten over that alien nipple thing.”
Maria whacked Michael lightly on the back of the head.
“Hey!” Michael said to Angie Lee, paying no attention to the whack he had just received, “If your grandfather is River Dog’s brother, that makes you, like, family or something, I guess. River Dog helped save my life once.”
“And now I have helped save it,” Angie Lee said, smiling. “I guess it runs in our family.”
“I’ve always wondered something,” Isabel said. “How are the Mesalikos related to the Mescalero Apaches?”
Angie lowered her voice, not wishing to offend her “grandfather” by being too loose with information about his people.
“In eastern New Mexico, there were the Chiricahua Apaches and the Mescalero Apaches. East of the Rio Grande was home to the Mescaleros; west of the river was home to the Chiricahua. But the two groups were very closely related. The Chiricahuas were the tribe that Geronimo belonged to. Because of his raids, all of the Chiricahuas were taken away and relocated in Florida, then in Oklahoma. The Mescaleros, though, were placed on a reservation here. When the relocations started, a few of the Chiricahuas escaped and came here, asking for help from their brothers, the Mescalero Apaches. They hid by living together with the Mescaleros and so avoided being sent to the east with the rest of the Chiricahuas, but they distinguished themselves from their brothers by calling themselves Mesalikos instead of Mescaleros. The names were similar, and apparently, the white man never noticed.”
“Oh! I always wondered,” Isabel said. “You never really see anything about the Mesalikos, but there’s a lot about the Mescaleros and the Chiricahuas.”
“That’s why,” Angie Lee said. “The Mesalikos were part of the Chiricahua band, but they joined secretly with the Mescaleros. They weren’t even known to exist until after the relocations had stopped.”
“So your grandfather and River Dog would be, like, Mesaliko Mescalero Chiricahua Apache,” Michael said.
“Don’t tell THEM that,” Angie Lee said with a smile. “They’re Mesaliko Apache. The word ‘Apache,’ by the way, just means ‘people’ in the ‘Apache’ language, so they’re ‘Mesaliko’ people. You see, when the Spaniards asked them what they were, they said, ‘We’re people.’ Like duh! Then the Spaniards went around asking all the Indians they found, ‘are you apachii?’ and if they understood the word, they said, ‘Of course. What else would we be?’ So everyone who understood that language or a close dialect of it became Apaches, but there are all these different bands, like the Chiricahuas and the Mescaleros and the Mesalikos.”
“Got ya,” Michael nodded. “You know a lot about Indians.”
“Grandfather taught me,” Angie Lee said. “I just wish I knew anything at all about my own people.”
Michael nodded understandingly. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve been known to say that myself a few times, I think.”
“We’re almost to the exit,” Angie Lee said, as they walked along, following the old Indian. “It’s just a few more minutes.”
“Where does it come out,” Isabel asked, straining to see up ahead of the old man who was guiding them.
“On the Mesaliko Reservation. It’s not far from our house. But it will probably be best if you can find some place else to go as soon as possible. Grandfather will believe that he’s being cursed by the ancestors if you stay very long.”
“We don’t intend to stay,” Max said. “Maybe one day… two at the most. We have to make some plans. We have things to do. I have people I want to see… need to see… again.”
“A girlfriend?” Angie Lee asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah. I guess you could say that.”
“Future wife,” Rahn said for him.
Max shifted nervously on his feet. “Well, we don’t know that… I mean… it’s just that… well, I haven’t asked yet. I don’t know if she’ll want me… forever… you know. It wouldn’t be easy being married to… you know, one of us… well, me.”
“No, really?” Angie Lee asked with a tone of sarcasm in her voice. “Is she pretty?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have a boyfriend, Angie Lee,” Isabel asked.
The girl smiled. “No. Well, there’s this boy at college who’s helping me translate the other book I have… with the computers they have there. He’s real nice. His name is Alex Whitman.”
Isabel suddenly lost her footing, stumbled, and would have fallen had it not been for the quick reflexes of Michael, who grabbed her.
“Are you okay,” Angie Lee asked, coming back to help.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine! I’m okay. I just… Alex Whitman? Is he your… boyfriend?”
Angie Lee started to laugh then shook her head. “No. Alex is a very nice boy… a little shy maybe… but like Max said, people like us… like me… need someone different. I like Alex, but he’s just a friend.”
“Good,” Isabel said.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just said, ‘Oh.’”
“Ah.” Angie Lee sighed. “I don’t guess I’ll ever find anyone from my world. I don’t even know where my world is.”
“What about this other book,” Max asked, “…the one Alex was helping you translate. Have you translated any of it yet?”
“Alex put the symbols into the computer and wrote a program that would search for grammatical clues and similarities… based on usage and all. We didn’t get the results back before break started, so none of it is translated yet.”
“Can I see the book?” Max asked. “Do you have it here… at the house or somewhere?”
“You’re just really interested in my books, aren’t you,” Angie Lee asked with a grin. “Didn’t you get enough after the other one?”
“Look!” Maria yelled out suddenly. “There’s the exit right up there! We’re really going to get out of here! Woo hoo!”
“Of course we are,” Michael said confidently. “Would I ever have let you down?”
Maria shook her head and kissed Michael on the cheek. “It wasn’t so bad in there… once we found you, Michael.”
Angie Lee smiled at Maria but said nothing. As they walked out of the cave, the old Indian said something to Angie Lee in Mesaliko. Angie Lee nodded.
“Guys, Grandfather would like for you to wait here until he prepares for you at the house. I think he wants to do a charm or something to keep the ancestors from seeing you while you’re there.”
“Alright,” Max said. “We’ll wait here.”
Angie Lee and her “Grandfather” walked along the path toward a group of small houses that could be seen in the near distance.
“What do you think, Max?” Michael asked. “Do you believe her… I mean, everything she said?”
“Yeah,” Max said after a few moments reflection. “I do… to a point. I think she has a few secrets she hasn’t told us. But more importantly, I think ‘Grandfather’ has some secrets of his own… I think he knows more than he has ever told Angie Lee… maybe a lot more.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell her about her world and her people if he knew, Max?”
“That’s a good question,” Max replied. “That’s a very good question.”
**********
In Roswell, Judge Lewis had just sat down at his desk and begun to shuffle through some old papers when his door opened and three men let themselves in.
“You not locking your door now, Judge?”
“Would it keep you guys out?”
The agents just smiled.
“I didn’t think so.”
“Well, Judge, this is just a social visit,” the first agent said, stuffing a wad of hundred dollar bills into the inside pocket of Judge Lewis’ coat and patting him on the chest. “Let’s just say it’s for a job well done.”
“Yeah… okay… thanks. Are you finished?”
“For now,” The first agent said, nodding. “If we need you again, we can call on you, right? By the way, how did that… ‘reference’ I gave you work out? I take it you went to see him… or did you just stick a cork in it? I see the floor’s still dry.”
“I’m a nervous man, and you guys give me the heeby-jeebys. I can’t help it.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have got involved with us then, Judge. When you jump in water over your head and you can’t swim, you risk ‘drowning,’ you know what I mean?” The other two agents chuckled.
“Laugh all you want. It’s fixed now. He gave me some pills… and stuff. You don’t see me ‘drowning’ now do you? You’ll just have to find someone else to be the butt of your jokes.”
“Well, I guess I can call the wharf and tell them I won’t be needing to charter that boat next time I come here then.” There was more chuckling. “Take care, Judge. Keep the plug in. It’s a ‘good’ thing, believe me.”
Judge Lewis scowled, but as soon as they left, he remembered the money that had been put in his pocket and sat down to count it. Soon, he was smiling again. He put the money away and sat down, but instead of being able to get back to his work, he found himself tapping his fingers on the desktop.
“Something’s not right. I don’t know what it is, but something’s not right.” He closed his drawer and leaned back, folding his hands in front of himself and moving his thumbs around each other idly. “I’ve got to watch Jim closely. He’s hiding something… and I need to find out what it is.”
tbc
Coming up: Jim Valenti finds a place to hide Liz and Alex temporarily… and Judge Lewis realizes what it is that’s bothering him.
Disclaimer: The information about the Mesalikos being Chiricahuas who went to live among the Mescaleros was made up (by me) for this story. The Mesalikos may be a real tribe, but as far as I can determine, they only exist in the Roswell stories, and the name was probably meant to sound like Mescaleros, which are a real band of the Apaches in that area. The part about how the Spaniards asked everyone if they were apachii or not then called them all Apaches is supposition. It could have happened that way. The word “apachii” does mean “people.” So does “nnee.” I’m not sure what the difference is. I’m not Apache. (Oh, wait a minute! I am, aren’t I? I’m “people,” that is!) LOL. In any case, the rest of the information about Chiricahuas and Mescaleros is historically accurate and factual to the best of my knowledge, and the conversation is a close approximation of the Apache spoken by the Chiricahuas and Mescaleros in that part of New Mexico (as butchered by me! :lol). Wouldn’t want the ancestors to haunt me for factual misrepresentation! Some of my ancestors are Cherokee.
The Ways To Be Free
Chapter 18
XVIII
“Noooooo! No! I won’t believe it! Don’t tell me that! Nooooo…” Nancy’s voice trailed off into heartbreaking sobs. Jeff buried his face in his hands, the tears running copiously through his fingers. Mr. And Mrs. Whitman sat pale and speechless, looking as though they had just lost their only reason to live.
Jim tried feebly to swallow a huge lump that had formed in his throat. His own eyes were red and sore, and Amy, sitting beside him, held his hand for emotional support. Amy had been impossible to deceive. Jim had tried to convince her that Liz and Alex had been killed. Deputy Cotter had even backed him up, but somehow Amy had seen through the deception. Despite this fact, Amy sat here now, knowing the full truth, yet crying very real tears in torrents. Having to see the reactions of the Parkers and the Whitman’s and deceive them this way was tearing her apart inside. She remembered all too well how she had felt when she had been told that Maria was dead after graduation, and she didn’t want anyone else to ever have to go through what she had gone through again. But these were extraordinary circumstances. As Jim had aptly told her, once he had realized that he was not going to be able to convince her of their deaths, if this didn’t work, the likely result would be that this scene would play out again one day very soon… and this time, it would be for real… Liz and Alex would not be coming back. It was a hard pill for Amy to swallow, but she could see that Jim was suffering too.
“How could this happen,” Mr. Whitman asked, his voice breaking. “How, Sheriff?”
Jim shook his head. “I don’t have a good answer for that, Mr. Whitman. Hell, there is no good answer! I wish I had an answer… I really do.”
“But you’re the law here, Jim,” Mrs. Whitman said, wiping her eyes and nose with a handkerchief. “You’re supposed to protect us… you’re supposed to protect these kids. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen here.”
“No… they’re not,” Jim agreed quietly.
“Well, in all fairness to Jim,” Jeff Parker said, “he wasn’t the sheriff when the graduation thing happened… and all of this seems to have come from that. Somebody in City Hall removed Jim from office right before graduation. I say we need to take care of the matter, starting with Judge Lewis.”
“Don’t take the law into your own hands, Jeff,” Jim warned. “Leave it to me and my deputies. We will take care of it. I promise you.”
“It’s a little late for that now, isn’t it, Sheriff,” Mrs. Whitman asked sadly. “Can you bring Alex back?”
Jim cringed. With all his heart, he wanted to say yes, but this was not the time, no matter how much it hurt.
“Cynthia,” Amy said gently, sitting down beside Mrs. Whitman and taking her hand in her own, “I know how it looks right now… but things will all work out. I’ve been there myself. We survive. Life goes on.”
“What kind of life Amy? How did you go on after Maria died? I don’t think I can do it. Alex was… was everything to me.”
Tears began to run down Mrs. Whitman’s cheeks, and Amy found her own tears starting up again.
“Jim, I can’t do this,” Amy said, standing up and leaving the room, the tears flowing unchecked now down her face.
“This has been hard on Amy, too,” Jim said softly. “It’s opening up old wounds for her… bringing back her memories of Maria.”
Mrs. Whitman nodded. “I’m… I’m sorry, Jim. I don’t mean to hurt Amy… or you. You’ve put your own life on the line for Alex and the others over and again since graduation… Don’t think we don’t all know that. I just don’t understand why this is happening. It doesn’t feel real. It’s like we’re living in some kind of… Dodge City… Hell… here.”
Jim cringed again. “I know nothing could ever make things seem okay right now, Gloria… but Amy was right. Life does go on. Trust us. You’ll see.”
**********
Outside the Sheriff’s office, Amy was leaning against the wall, shaking, the tears still running down her face, when she noticed Judge Lewis watching from the corner.
“What are you looking at? You not satisfied with what you’ve done? Do you have to see the destruction you’ve caused, too?”
“Things happen, Ms. DeLuca. Don’t blame me. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe if they hadn’t been dealing drugs and had to be put away for their own good…”
Amy’s hands and whole body tightened, but somehow she managed to find enough control to not take Judge Lewis apart piece by piece where he stood. Closing her eyes, she swallowed and breathed deeply, using every method at her disposal to calm herself… which under the circumstances, was a miraculous feat.
“Judge, be thankful I’m too distressed right now to do what I’d like to do.”
“Is that some kind of veiled threat, Ms. DeLuca? Oh, excuse me… Mrs. Valenti! Because if it is, you need to know who you’re dealing with. Don’t bring problems on yourself. I’m still the big dog in this town… in a manner of speaking. That’s a warning you should heed. Maybe that worthless husband of yours doesn’t care enough about you to warn you… but I will. Don’t mess with me.”
Amy gritted her teeth tightly to keep from screaming. She felt like she would burst if she didn’t let something out, but she didn’t want to do anything that might compromise Jim’s plans to help Liz and Alex. She needed to remain in control… for now.
Amy turned and ran back into the sheriff’s office, shaking, and Jim knew with one look that something was wrong…
“What happened, Amy?”
Amy shook her head, but her lips quivered. “Judge Lewis… He’s watching what’s going on in here.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
Amy pursed her lips tightly together and bit her tongue. “Nothing really, Jim. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Why would the judge be watching the goings on in your office, Sheriff?” Mr. Whitman asked.
“He probably enjoys seeing other people suffering,” Jeff Parker answered for Jim. “He put Liz and Alex in that place where they could get shot. He’s to blame for their deaths. We all should keep that in mind.”
“Now, Jeff, I know how you feel and what you’re thinking, but it wouldn’t do Liz or Alex any good for the two of you to get yourselves arrested… or worse… going after the judge. Let me handle the things that are my jurisdiction. That’s what I’m paid to do. I’ll have Judge Lewis investigated… I’ll go all the way to Washington if I have to… but don’t take matters into your own hands or do anything that might get you arrested yourself. That’s what he would like you to do. Judge Lewis is a bully… but he’s a bully who knows how to use the laws to his own advantage.”
Jeff nodded.
**********
Deep inside the earth, Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn had no way of knowing it, but they had already left the army base behind some time ago. They were technically free now. All together, they had walked a total of fourteen miles through the various corridors and rooms of the cavern. But still, they had not found an exit.
Max sat down on a large rock inside another large, cathedral-like room, which they had just entered.
“Take a minute, guys. Let’s make some plans here… We need some light. It seems to be getting darker and darker in here… I think the natural phosphorescence in the walls must be diminishing the further we go.”
“Maybe we’re just getting further from the base and that warm, friendly radiation glow in the soil,” Michael said with a smirk.
Max smiled. “Could be. Isabel… could you find me some small stones?”
“What are you going to do with them, Max?”
Max held up a partially hollow section of stalagmite that he had picked up off the floor of the cavern a few minutes before.
“I’m going to make a lantern. Michael and I will heat the rocks till they glow then I’ll put them in this stalagmite chunk… or stalactite, whichever one it was.”
Michael smiled. “I’m glad you said you were going to put them in there, Max, ‘cause those suckers are gonna be really hot after we heat them up!”
Max stopped and thought for a moment. “Give me your shirt.”
“My shirt? Why does it have to be my shirt?”
“Just do it, Michael. Come on.”
Michael grudgingly removed his shirt, lifting it over the top of his head. Maria tried to hide her smile, as she watched Michael’s pecs and biceps flex and his chest expand and contract in the lantern light with every movement.
“What ya got in mind, Max?” Michael asked, handing Max the shirt.
Max reached his hand into a small stream running along behind them and scooped up some mud and sand, which he rubbed copiously all over the shirt.
“I want you to know that was a good shirt, Max. I can never wear it again now.”
“You won’t want to, Michael.” Max ripped the shirt into several strips then tied one mud-caked strip into a sling, which he set their makeshift “lantern” into. Next he put an extra-thick layer of wet mud and sand on the second strip then laid the rocks on it.
“Fire away, Michael.”
“It’s gonna burn that cloth up, Max.”
“Maybe. We won’t know until we try.” Max held his hand up and blasted the small stones with energy from his hand, and Michael followed suit, blasting them with energy from his own hand until they glowed brightly in the darkness of the cavern. The mud and sand fused and hardened in the heat, turning into something like glassy brick. It was impossible to know for sure if the strip of shirt inside was still there or if it had been incinerated by the heat, leaving only a flat heat-hardened pole. Max raked the stones off the pole into the makeshift lantern, then he picked the lantern up by the sling.
“We have light, Michael.”
Michael nodded his head. “Yeah… yeah, I guess we do. You owe me a shirt, Max.”
Max grinned then turned to Rahn. “Rahn… you saw the geological maps that showed this cavern system. Do you remember where it comes out?”
“It didn’t show any exits,” Rahn said. “But that’s not unusual. They don’t always show them. There must be exits. We just have to find them. I could fly ahead and search while everyone else rests. I can cover more territory and maybe save everyone some walking.”
Max nodded. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea… you can go whenever you’re ready.”
Rahn shape-shifted into a sea gull then into a bat as he disappeared into the darkness beyond.
“How far do you think we’ve walked, Michael?”
“I don’t know, Max… I’d say at least eight or nine miles… maybe more. Do you think we’re still under the base?”
“I doubt it… Maybe… but I doubt it.”
“I doubt it, too.
“Hey, Max, look at this,” Isabel said, reaching up a couple of feet over her head to get something that had been placed on top of a broken off stalagmite. “It looks like a book or something. What do you think?”
Isabel handed the object to Max, and he turned it over then opened it. The cover appeared to be some kind of thin leather. The pages were… well, he wasn’t sure what they were, but they were definitely unusual… and so was the writing.
“I’ve seen this writing,” Michael said.
“Where?”
“I don’t know… in my mind… and in the Destiny Book! This is the same kind of writing… only different.”
“Different how?”
“Just… different… not the same… not even the same letters… but similar. Probably the same language… or maybe a different language but from the same culture.”
“Or… maybe from the same planet?” Max asked.
Michael nodded.
“If it’s Antarian, maybe Rahn can tell us what it says when he comes back.”
Max thumbed through the pages again. There were no pictures, just the strange writing… and the writing was much smaller than the writing in the Destiny Book. The pages felt waxy. Max closed the book.
“Let’s move on. We’ve rested long enough. Rahn can find us on the way.”
Michael, Maria, and Isabel followed Max into the corridor that Rahn had flown into only a few minutes before, but this time they found their path suddenly barred, not by boulders or a solid wall or a broken ledge… but by a very large gray wolf… an animal not native to this area. Coyotes were well-known here, but finding either one deep inside a cave would have to be considered odd in any case.
The wolf stood silently, defiantly, in the corridor, facing Max, staring into his eyes intently with that icy, menacing stare that only a wolf has. Max froze, and the others stopped where they stood behind him. For a moment, nothing happened. Then without a sound, the wolf leapt, its mouth open and its teeth bared, but instead of going for Max’s throat as expected, it grabbed the book.
The moment the wolf leapt at Max, Michael went into protective mode, raising his hand toward the attacking animal. A flash of power from Michael’s hand dropped the huge animal to the ground on its side, and the book fell from its mouth.
Still shaken, Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel approached the fallen animal cautiously, but before they could determine if it was dead or alive, it began to shimmer, then change, finally settling into the form of a young woman with blonde hair. Max knelt beside the girl and turned her face toward him. Her eyes were fixed in a blank stare, but she was still breathing… barely. Max placed his hand over the wound on her side and held it there for several moments, as a greenish glow appeared over the wound. After a short time, the girl closed her eyes… then she opened them again and looked at Max…
“You weren’t supposed to see me. It ruins everything.”
“What does it ruin,” Max asked. “Why shouldn’t I see you?”
“I… I can’t tell you.”
“You’re a shape-shifter,” Max said, half as a question, half as a statement.
The girl shook her head slowly.
“We saw you change from a wolf into what you are now,” Maria said. “You have to be a shape-shifter.”
“No… not a shape-shifter,” the girl insisted. “Don’t ask me any more. Please. I can’t…”
You gave up the chance to keep secrets,” Max said, “…when you attacked us. Now it’s our turn to get some answers. First of all, why are you following us? Who are you? What do you want with us… and this book?”
“It’s mine,” the girl said. “and I didn’t attack you. I saved you. Who do you think made those soldiers think the ledge had broken off so they wouldn’t follow you? Who do you think has been guiding you so you wouldn’t wind up so deep in the earth that you would never find your way out? If you had taken the largest corridor at the first junction you would be somewhere near the center of the earth right now, I think. I don’t think it ever comes back up.”
“Why would you help us,” Max asked. “We don’t even know you. And what are you doing way down here inside a cave by yourself?”
The girl looked to one side for a moment but then seemed to have questions of her own for Max.
“He hit me with some kind of blast,” she said, pointing toward Michael. “What is he? How did he do that?”
“Tell me how you can make yourself look like a wolf and maybe I’ll tell you about Michael.”
The girl appeared reticent, but curiosity seemed to overcome her better judgment…
“I’m not a shape-shifter; I just create visions. You merely thought you saw a wolf. I was never anything but me.”
“That would explain the stone wall where a corridor had just been and the falling ledge that never fell,” Michael said.
Max nodded. “So you create visions… in our minds.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“You need help.”
“But you don’t know us. How did you know we were the good guys?”
“Are you?”
“Okay… Do you make a habit of helping bad guys?”
The girl shrugged. “I can see things in your mind. I knew you needed help.”
“You can read our minds?” Maria asked, alarmed. “Oh, that’s great! Now I’m going to have to watch what I’m thinking.” Maria turned slightly red as she glanced quickly at Michael standing beside her with his shirt off, his well-toned muscles glistening in the low light.
The girl seemed to smile slightly. “I can’t exactly read your minds… I just feel… feelings. I know if your intentions are good or bad… and what you’re feeling.”
“Then why did you hide from us?”
“Do you reveal yourself to everybody who has good intentions? …Does your mother know what you are?”
Max recoiled sharply at this last comment. “I thought you said you couldn’t read minds.”
“I can’t… but I’m pretty good at piecing clues together. I know you’re not who you appear to be. You have things to hide. I can feel that.”
“Alright. So I have things to hide. And so do you. Where are you from?”
The girl looked around the cavern and shrugged, motioning all around.
“You weren’t born here… in this cave.”
“I may have been… I don’t know.”
“Okay, let’s try it a different way,” Max said. “People on earth don’t read minds. Excuse me, I mean they don’t feel other people’s feelings… not the way you do… or create visions in other people’s minds. I don’t know anyone who can appear to be a wolf, either.”
“Not even your friend who flew out of here with the little bat wings?”
“You saw him?”
“Of course. I’ve been watching you.”
“Okay… he’s… different.”
“Well, I know that. What is he? A shape-shifter?”
“I thought you were good at piecing the clues together.”
“So he’s a shape-shifter. What’s your friend… Michael? And what are you?”
“That’s a lot of questions. Like you said, I have things I prefer to keep private.”
“Fair enough, but you promised to tell me what Michael is if I told you about me.”
Max looked at Michael. Both of them felt uneasy about giving away information that they had always kept so closely guarded. They had always known that their lives depended on it.
“You know,” the girl said, “if I hadn’t helped you, you’d be toast right now. You owe me that.”
“Well, we don’t really know that we’d be toast right now as you say. We’d have found our way out eventually… and escaped from the soldiers, too.”
“Maybe.”
“Okay, I guess we do owe you… and you do seem to have it all figured out anyway. I’m sure you know that Michael and I aren’t from around here.”
“Well I know that. You’re from another planet.”
“Why’d you even bother to ask?”
The girl shrugged. “I feel things. It’s not the same as knowing… exactly.”
“You’re not surprised by what we are,” Max asked.
“No. I know I’m different, too. I always knew that I wasn’t from here. I just don’t know where I’m from.”
“You don’t know where your people came from?” Isabel asked.
The girl shook her head. “Do you know? Where you’re from, I mean?”
“Well… yeah… maybe… kind of…” Max stammered.
“So we’re not so different after all, the girl said with a knowing smile.”
“I guess not. What’s your name? You have one, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It’s A’in ji-Lii. I usually spell it ‘A-n-g-i-e L-e-e,’ though.”
As they spoke, Rahn suddenly returned, landing near Max and the girl, who was by now sitting up again. Rahn walked around on the ground for a few moments acting like a very misplaced and lost sea gull, then he hopped on top of Max’s head and stood there shifting from one foot to the other nervously.
Max rolled his eyes upward… “Alright, you’ve got my attention, Rahn.”
“That’s Max’s pet,” Michael said with a snicker. “It thinks he’s its daddy.”
“It’s going to be our next meal if it poops while it’s up there,” Max said sullenly. “Rahn, get down here! She knows already.”
Rahn hopped off onto the ground and shifted back into his human form. “Well, I didn’t know if you wanted me to change in front of her.”
“What’s the matter, Rahn,” Michael asked, grinning, “You shy about changing in front of girls?”
“Shy?” Rahn asked, appearing confused.
“Never mind him,” Max said. “He’s just making a joke. Rahn, check this out.” Max handed Rahn the book. Immediately, Angie Lee leapt for it, but Max blocked her.
“You can’t! You can’t read that… It’s mine!”
“What’s in this book that’s so important?” Max asked. “Does it have to do with us? Is this something else from our planet that we were supposed to get but never knew about?”
“It’s nothing. It’s not important to you.”
Rahn looked at the pages and raised his eyebrows, in a perfect imitation of a human reaction.
“What does it say,” Max asked.
“Well… do you really want to know?”
“Yes!”
Rahn began to read…
“Jeyyal pressed his lips to Mi’chya’s waiting mouth, as she panted with anticipation. To Mi’chya, Jeyyal’s body felt like a warm spring day after a long winter as it rubbed against her nipples, which like three perfect red roses rising from the cool white snow, awakened to soak up the warmth of the sun. It had been too long. Mi’chya moaned as Jeyyal kissed her neck then her shoulders, working his way slowly, passionately…”
“What is this?” Max asked, interrupting Rahn in mid-sentence… “some kind of alien porn?”
“I think it’s what you would call here… a romance novel,” Rahn said, silently reading the rest of the passage to himself before closing the book up and handing it to Angie Lee.
“A romance novel!?” Max repeated, turning to Angie Lee in disbelief. “That’s what you’ve been protecting? A romance novel!”
“Three?” Michael muttered, more to himself than to anyone else in particular, his eyes still fixed on the book in Angie Lee’s hand. “How does that work?”
“It’s all I have from my world,” Angie Lee said, her face reddening noticeably, even in the glow of the lantern. “My father disappeared when I was six. I only have Grandfather now… and nothing from my world but this book… and one other one.”
“Another romance novel?”
“No. Something I can’t read. It’s a different writing… but it’s from my world, too.”
“Then you do know where you’re from,” Michael said.
Angie Lee shook her head. “I remember so little. I can read this… but I don’t even know where it comes from, only that it’s another world… somewhere.”
“What about your grandfather?” Maria asked. “You said you have a grandfather. Can’t he tell you where you’re from?”
“He’s not my real grandfather. I just call him that. He’s more like… my protector. He took care of me after my father died… and he sent me to school… and college.”
“You went to college?” Isabel asked, surprised.
Angie Lee nodded. “I started this year. Grandfather is paying for it… with his own money… and… special grants.”
“I didn’t know they had grants for aliens,” Michael said. “They never told me this. What are you doing in this cave?”
“I grew up here. When I’m home from college, I often come here. This is where my father lived with me… before he died.”
“In a cave?”
Angie Lee nodded.
“Where’s your protector? Does he live in this cave, too,” Maria asked.
Angie Lee started to answer Maria’s question, but a shadow suddenly appeared on the wall in the light of the lantern. Everyone seemed to notice it at the same time and turned to look at the wall. The shadow, which appeared to be human for the most part, grew quickly larger and larger until it stood over twelve feet high… and on it’s head, there was a horn.
“Grandfather is here,” Angie Lee said. “He’s looking for me.”
“A’in ji Lii ! Hayu? Ha’and’ah !”
Everyone turned around quickly to look at the source of the voice. It wasn’t a monster after all. It was merely an old man… an Indian by the looks of him. He had a headband and a single feather –the “horn” they had thought they saw in the huge reflection he had cast in the lantern’s light- Now he stood in the corridor, holding his own lantern in one hand and a spear in the other. The spear was pointed at Max, who was the person closest to Angie Lee.
“Shiitsooyee! Dohohda!” Angie Lee replied to the old man. “Do’o ansi.”
(Grandfather, no! I’m okay.)
“Nnee… Magaa’nnee! Hat’ugha?”
(People… White people! Why?)
“They needed my help, Grandfather. The soldiers were chasing them.”
The old Indian looked fearful. “You will bring the soldiers to us, A’in ji Lii.”
“No, Grandfather. I made sure of that.”
“You are too naïve, little one.”
“We will be safe on the reservation, Grandfather. The soldiers won’t bother us there.”
“Hmmm. You have much to learn of history, little yellow coyote. Let’s go now… before they know where you went. Why do you insist on coming to this cave, A’in ji Lii? It is cursed by the ancestors.”
“Yes… Because of my father… I know. But that’s just a superstition, Grandfather.”
“No, child! It is not. You have much to learn.
“You allowed my father to stay… when I was a child. My father… his spirit… is here… in this cave. I come here to remember. Don’t you like to be near your ancestors, Grandfather?”
“Ni’i nahi’imaa at’e, ya naheeka’ee at’e, A’in ji Lii.”
“What did he say,” Max asked.
“He said, ‘Earth is our mother, sky is our father.’”
“These people with you cannot stay on the Reservation, A’in ji Lii… the warning of the elders… The ancestors’ vengeance will be upon anyone who allows nasedo to stay.”
“Nasedo?” Michael repeated questioningly.
“Nasedo is the Mesaliko word for ‘visitor,’” Angie Lee replied.
“Your grandfather is Mesaliko… Apache? He… you… live on the Mesaliko Reservation?”
The girl nodded.
“That’s where River Dog lives,” Michael said.
“You know River Dog?” Angie Lee asked, surprised.
Max nodded. “Yeah, he helped us out once.”
“River Dog is Grandfather’s brother.”
“River Dog has a brother?” Max asked, surprised.
Angie Lee laughed. “Actually, he has four brothers… and three sisters.”
“Did you know that, Michael?” Max asked.
“What?”
“That River dog had four brothers and three sisters.”
“Oh… No, I still haven’t gotten over that alien nipple thing.”
Maria whacked Michael lightly on the back of the head.
“Hey!” Michael said to Angie Lee, paying no attention to the whack he had just received, “If your grandfather is River Dog’s brother, that makes you, like, family or something, I guess. River Dog helped save my life once.”
“And now I have helped save it,” Angie Lee said, smiling. “I guess it runs in our family.”
“I’ve always wondered something,” Isabel said. “How are the Mesalikos related to the Mescalero Apaches?”
Angie lowered her voice, not wishing to offend her “grandfather” by being too loose with information about his people.
“In eastern New Mexico, there were the Chiricahua Apaches and the Mescalero Apaches. East of the Rio Grande was home to the Mescaleros; west of the river was home to the Chiricahua. But the two groups were very closely related. The Chiricahuas were the tribe that Geronimo belonged to. Because of his raids, all of the Chiricahuas were taken away and relocated in Florida, then in Oklahoma. The Mescaleros, though, were placed on a reservation here. When the relocations started, a few of the Chiricahuas escaped and came here, asking for help from their brothers, the Mescalero Apaches. They hid by living together with the Mescaleros and so avoided being sent to the east with the rest of the Chiricahuas, but they distinguished themselves from their brothers by calling themselves Mesalikos instead of Mescaleros. The names were similar, and apparently, the white man never noticed.”
“Oh! I always wondered,” Isabel said. “You never really see anything about the Mesalikos, but there’s a lot about the Mescaleros and the Chiricahuas.”
“That’s why,” Angie Lee said. “The Mesalikos were part of the Chiricahua band, but they joined secretly with the Mescaleros. They weren’t even known to exist until after the relocations had stopped.”
“So your grandfather and River Dog would be, like, Mesaliko Mescalero Chiricahua Apache,” Michael said.
“Don’t tell THEM that,” Angie Lee said with a smile. “They’re Mesaliko Apache. The word ‘Apache,’ by the way, just means ‘people’ in the ‘Apache’ language, so they’re ‘Mesaliko’ people. You see, when the Spaniards asked them what they were, they said, ‘We’re people.’ Like duh! Then the Spaniards went around asking all the Indians they found, ‘are you apachii?’ and if they understood the word, they said, ‘Of course. What else would we be?’ So everyone who understood that language or a close dialect of it became Apaches, but there are all these different bands, like the Chiricahuas and the Mescaleros and the Mesalikos.”
“Got ya,” Michael nodded. “You know a lot about Indians.”
“Grandfather taught me,” Angie Lee said. “I just wish I knew anything at all about my own people.”
Michael nodded understandingly. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve been known to say that myself a few times, I think.”
“We’re almost to the exit,” Angie Lee said, as they walked along, following the old Indian. “It’s just a few more minutes.”
“Where does it come out,” Isabel asked, straining to see up ahead of the old man who was guiding them.
“On the Mesaliko Reservation. It’s not far from our house. But it will probably be best if you can find some place else to go as soon as possible. Grandfather will believe that he’s being cursed by the ancestors if you stay very long.”
“We don’t intend to stay,” Max said. “Maybe one day… two at the most. We have to make some plans. We have things to do. I have people I want to see… need to see… again.”
“A girlfriend?” Angie Lee asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah. I guess you could say that.”
“Future wife,” Rahn said for him.
Max shifted nervously on his feet. “Well, we don’t know that… I mean… it’s just that… well, I haven’t asked yet. I don’t know if she’ll want me… forever… you know. It wouldn’t be easy being married to… you know, one of us… well, me.”
“No, really?” Angie Lee asked with a tone of sarcasm in her voice. “Is she pretty?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have a boyfriend, Angie Lee,” Isabel asked.
The girl smiled. “No. Well, there’s this boy at college who’s helping me translate the other book I have… with the computers they have there. He’s real nice. His name is Alex Whitman.”
Isabel suddenly lost her footing, stumbled, and would have fallen had it not been for the quick reflexes of Michael, who grabbed her.
“Are you okay,” Angie Lee asked, coming back to help.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine! I’m okay. I just… Alex Whitman? Is he your… boyfriend?”
Angie Lee started to laugh then shook her head. “No. Alex is a very nice boy… a little shy maybe… but like Max said, people like us… like me… need someone different. I like Alex, but he’s just a friend.”
“Good,” Isabel said.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just said, ‘Oh.’”
“Ah.” Angie Lee sighed. “I don’t guess I’ll ever find anyone from my world. I don’t even know where my world is.”
“What about this other book,” Max asked, “…the one Alex was helping you translate. Have you translated any of it yet?”
“Alex put the symbols into the computer and wrote a program that would search for grammatical clues and similarities… based on usage and all. We didn’t get the results back before break started, so none of it is translated yet.”
“Can I see the book?” Max asked. “Do you have it here… at the house or somewhere?”
“You’re just really interested in my books, aren’t you,” Angie Lee asked with a grin. “Didn’t you get enough after the other one?”
“Look!” Maria yelled out suddenly. “There’s the exit right up there! We’re really going to get out of here! Woo hoo!”
“Of course we are,” Michael said confidently. “Would I ever have let you down?”
Maria shook her head and kissed Michael on the cheek. “It wasn’t so bad in there… once we found you, Michael.”
Angie Lee smiled at Maria but said nothing. As they walked out of the cave, the old Indian said something to Angie Lee in Mesaliko. Angie Lee nodded.
“Guys, Grandfather would like for you to wait here until he prepares for you at the house. I think he wants to do a charm or something to keep the ancestors from seeing you while you’re there.”
“Alright,” Max said. “We’ll wait here.”
Angie Lee and her “Grandfather” walked along the path toward a group of small houses that could be seen in the near distance.
“What do you think, Max?” Michael asked. “Do you believe her… I mean, everything she said?”
“Yeah,” Max said after a few moments reflection. “I do… to a point. I think she has a few secrets she hasn’t told us. But more importantly, I think ‘Grandfather’ has some secrets of his own… I think he knows more than he has ever told Angie Lee… maybe a lot more.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell her about her world and her people if he knew, Max?”
“That’s a good question,” Max replied. “That’s a very good question.”
**********
In Roswell, Judge Lewis had just sat down at his desk and begun to shuffle through some old papers when his door opened and three men let themselves in.
“You not locking your door now, Judge?”
“Would it keep you guys out?”
The agents just smiled.
“I didn’t think so.”
“Well, Judge, this is just a social visit,” the first agent said, stuffing a wad of hundred dollar bills into the inside pocket of Judge Lewis’ coat and patting him on the chest. “Let’s just say it’s for a job well done.”
“Yeah… okay… thanks. Are you finished?”
“For now,” The first agent said, nodding. “If we need you again, we can call on you, right? By the way, how did that… ‘reference’ I gave you work out? I take it you went to see him… or did you just stick a cork in it? I see the floor’s still dry.”
“I’m a nervous man, and you guys give me the heeby-jeebys. I can’t help it.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have got involved with us then, Judge. When you jump in water over your head and you can’t swim, you risk ‘drowning,’ you know what I mean?” The other two agents chuckled.
“Laugh all you want. It’s fixed now. He gave me some pills… and stuff. You don’t see me ‘drowning’ now do you? You’ll just have to find someone else to be the butt of your jokes.”
“Well, I guess I can call the wharf and tell them I won’t be needing to charter that boat next time I come here then.” There was more chuckling. “Take care, Judge. Keep the plug in. It’s a ‘good’ thing, believe me.”
Judge Lewis scowled, but as soon as they left, he remembered the money that had been put in his pocket and sat down to count it. Soon, he was smiling again. He put the money away and sat down, but instead of being able to get back to his work, he found himself tapping his fingers on the desktop.
“Something’s not right. I don’t know what it is, but something’s not right.” He closed his drawer and leaned back, folding his hands in front of himself and moving his thumbs around each other idly. “I’ve got to watch Jim closely. He’s hiding something… and I need to find out what it is.”
tbc
Coming up: Jim Valenti finds a place to hide Liz and Alex temporarily… and Judge Lewis realizes what it is that’s bothering him.
Disclaimer: The information about the Mesalikos being Chiricahuas who went to live among the Mescaleros was made up (by me) for this story. The Mesalikos may be a real tribe, but as far as I can determine, they only exist in the Roswell stories, and the name was probably meant to sound like Mescaleros, which are a real band of the Apaches in that area. The part about how the Spaniards asked everyone if they were apachii or not then called them all Apaches is supposition. It could have happened that way. The word “apachii” does mean “people.” So does “nnee.” I’m not sure what the difference is. I’m not Apache. (Oh, wait a minute! I am, aren’t I? I’m “people,” that is!) LOL. In any case, the rest of the information about Chiricahuas and Mescaleros is historically accurate and factual to the best of my knowledge, and the conversation is a close approximation of the Apache spoken by the Chiricahuas and Mescaleros in that part of New Mexico (as butchered by me! :lol). Wouldn’t want the ancestors to haunt me for factual misrepresentation! Some of my ancestors are Cherokee.
Last edited by Island Breeze on Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:50 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
Apache Summer
Chapter 19
XIX
“How much is the tab,” Sheriff Jim Valenti asked, taking the four bags from the girl’s hand. He nodded to Deputy Dave Cotter. Cotter nodded back and took the four bags then left, heading for the stairs.
“I think it was $17.98.”
Jim smiled at the young lady from the CrashDown and reached into his pocket.
“Oh! Don’t worry about it, Sheriff. Mr. Parker said it was on the house.”
Jim slowly retracted his hand from his pocket. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what he said, sir. It’s on the house. He said to tell you it’s the least he could do… and… that he owed you.”
Jim Valenti nodded. “Well, tell Jeff I’m grateful to him, Sherrie. And… tell him we’re working on things here… I hope I’ll be able to… well… um… Just tell him thanks.”
The girl smiled. “I’ll tell him for you, Sheriff.”
Jim held out a five-dollar bill.
“What’s that for?”
“For your trouble. You had to bring this all the way over here.”
“Oh! Don’t worry, Sheriff. If I wasn’t here I’d just be waitin’ on customers at the CrashDown right now. Which reminds me… I’d better get back. Lisa’s waiting the place all alone at the moment.”
Jim tucked the five-dollar bill into the little pocket in the girl’s alien motif apron. “No argument, ya here? I’m the sheriff, and that’s an order.”
The girl smiled then turned to leave. “Yes, sir! Thank you, Sheriff.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Amy, who had just arrived, held the door for her.
“Thank you, Mrs. V.”
“Mrs. V?”
“Oh, I’m sorry! I mean, Mrs. Valenti. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It’s just what some of the girls call you… no disrespect intended.”
“None taken,” Amy said. “I guess it’s better than ‘Mrs. Sheriff.’ I’ve heard that one, too.”
The girl laughed. Amy closed the door behind her and walked over to Jim then sat down on his lap.
“You still putting money in girls’ waistbands, Jim?” she asked, mussing Jim’s hair a bit and giving him a stern look.
“Yeah… but these days they’re all dressed in waitress uniforms.”
Amy grinned. “Kinky! But that’s okay. I can iron the little kinks out,” she said teasingly, giving Jim a kiss before getting back up.
Amy motioned toward the door that the waitress had gone out. “Was that for…?”
Jim nodded.
“Good.”
“What you got on your mind, Amy?”
Amy opened her mouth for a moment as though to protest. “Why would you think I had something on my mind, Jim?”
“Because I know you. I can see the little gears turning in your head.”
“You can? I’ll have to get that hole plugged up.”
“Don’t bother. I think it’s… endearing.”
“And besides… I can’t hide my intentions from you, right?” Amy said with a chuckle. “Well, you’re right, Jim. I guess I do have something on my mind.”
“Maria?”
Amy looked at Jim for a moment. “Is the hole that big?”
Jim shrugged. “I know what you need in life, Amy… and where your heart is. You’ve been worrying about others for a while. It’s natural that you’d start thinking about Maria again now.”
Amy nodded. “I want to get back on the base, Jim. I know in my heart that they know something about what happened to Maria… and maybe… she might even be…”
“Alive,” Jim said for her. “I know. I don’t want you getting your hopes up, Amy, then getting hurt again… but I really can’t help but agree that there’s reason enough to… well… check things out. The army certainly hasn’t been very forthcoming and honest with us about things.”
“No, they haven’t. When can we go, Jim?”
Jim sucked some air through his teeth. “Let me make some plans, Amy. Soon. I promise you.”
“I’ll have to get used to this planning thing, Jim. My usual practice has just been to barge ahead and impale anyone standing in my way on my horns…”
“I noticed,” Jim said, smiling.
“Don’t knock it, Jim. There’s a lot of shredded red capes out there.”
“I know. And former would-be toreadors, too,” Jim said, nodding appreciatively.
**********
Deputy Dave Cotter knocked softly on the door of the third floor gym. Then he counted to ten and knocked again… two raps… then four… then three. A moment later, the door opened.
“Delivery service,” Cotter said with a smile.
Alex took the bags from the deputy’s hands. “Come in, Deputy.”
Dave Cotter walked into the gym, and Alex closed and locked the door behind him.
“The sheriff thought you might be hungry.”
Alex nodded, pulling the food from the bags. “Hungry doesn’t begin to describe it! I’m starved!” Alex handed a large cheeseburger and fries to Liz and set another one on his leg for himself. Then he opened another bag.
“Strawberry shakes! Strawberry!”
“You like strawberry,” Deputy Cotter asked.
“I love it! And it’s red! Everything’s so wonderfully… colorful!”
“Sorry about that,” Deputy Cotter said. “That wasn’t my idea, you know… the all-white food and everything.”
Alex nodded, already chewing a bite of his cheeseburger. “I know. You had to bring us that stuff. We understand. You couldn’t blow your cover.”
“What’s in the other bags,” Alex asked, opening one of the other two bags.
“Salads!” Liz exclaimed, as Alex removed two containers of lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, radishes, and other salad makings. Liz took the containers and began making two salads, taking care to place a liberal amount of little red tomatoes, radishes, and yellow cheese on the top of Alex’s.
Alex opened the fourth bag and removed two bottles of Snapples.
“The sheriff thought of everything, didn’t he? Tell him thanks.”
“I’ll tell him,” Deputy Cotter said.
“He ordered this from the CrashDown, didn’t he,” Liz said. “I know my Dad’s cheeseburgers. He made these. I wish he could know how much I’m enjoying this meal.” Tears welled up in Liz’s eyes. “God, if Dad knew that Jim was buying food from the CrashDown… to feed me…”
“Well, your Dad said it was on the house this time,” Deputy Cotter said.
Liz wiped her eyes with a paper napkin. “I owe Jim so much already… I don’t think I can ever pay him back…”
Deputy Cotter smiled. “I think he feels that it’s worth it.”
**********
Outside the sheriff’s office, another person watched as the girl in the CrashDown outfit came out and walked back toward the restaurant. On the face of it, it seemed innocent enough. Jim Valenti was known to like a CrashDown coffee every now and then… probably to wash the taste of his own coffee down with. But he usually went to get it himself. Maybe he was tied up today and just ordered in. But Judge Lewis’ suspicion meter was clanging loudly in his head. He decided to follow the girl back to the CrashDown.
Lisa turned to look as the other waitress walked in. “Sherrie! I’m glad you’re back! The place is getting kinda busy. Grab a pad, okay?”
“I’m on it.” Sherrie picked up her order pad and walked over to her usual station to take an order. Judge Lewis walked in behind her.
“Would you like a seat, sir?” Lisa asked.
“Huh? No… well, uh… yeah, I guess I would.”
“Okay.” Lisa looked around. “How about right over there. We’re starting to fill up. You got here just in time.”
Judge Lewis frowned, ignoring Lisa’s good-natured pleasantries. He made his way to the booth that Lisa had shown him and sat down. A couple of minutes later, Lisa returned with her order pad.
“Sorry you had to wait. What can I get you?”
“Well… I don’t usually come in here. What do you have?”
“Oh, didn’t I give you a menu?”
“No. Never mind. I’m not hungry. Just bring me a large coffee… and three donuts… the kind with the jelly… You have those, don’t you?”
Lisa nodded.
“Make it four donuts… no, five. Make it five.”
“Five donuts… and a large coffee. Cream and sugar in your coffee or do you prefer to sweeten it yourself?”
“Just black. I’m on a diet.”
Lisa smiled. “Black it is. I’ll be right back.”
A couple of minutes passed again and Lisa returned with a large coffee and five jelly donuts on a platter.
“Will that be all, sir? Can I get you anything else?”
“Not right now. Check back with me in a few minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Lisa started to walk away, Judge Lewis stopped her. “Oh, by the way…”
“Yes?”
“I noticed the other waitress over there coming back from somewhere. Do you make deliveries?”
“Well, not officially… but yeah. If someone requests it, we sometimes do.”
“Can I ask you who she was delivering to?”
“The sheriff. He called in an order about an hour ago. Sherrie took it to him.”
“Is that normal? Doesn’t the sheriff usually come in to get his own coffee?”
“Yeah. I guess he wanted to eat in his office today.”
“Eat? He got something besides coffee?”
“Yeah.” Lisa laughed. “Sheriffs eat too, I guess.”
Judge Lewis smiled condescendingly. “What did he want?”
“Nothing special… just a couple of cheeseburgers, a couple of large fries, a couple of strawberry shakes, some salad items, and some drinks, I think… Snapples, yeah, that’s it.”
“That’s a lot for one man to eat isn’t it?”
Lisa glanced at the five large jelly donuts on Judge Lewis’ platter and his ample belly and suppressed a smile. “Well, his wife was there. I guess she had to eat, too.”
Judge Lewis rubbed his chin with his left hand, as he stuffed another jelly donut into his mouth with his right hand and took a large bite. “Yeah. That could be it, I guess. She eats pretty hearty, doesn’t she… for a little thing like that, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen some girls who can eat more. Besides, I know Amy. She’s a mover. She never stops going. I guess she burns it all off. She needs the energy just to keep going.”
Judge Lewis nodded. “Yeah… yeah… maybe. Okay, thanks. I was just wondering.”
Lisa turned and walked back to the kitchen.
“What was he asking about,” Sherrie asked.
“Nothing. He just wanted to know if you were making a delivery and who it was for. Then he asked what they ordered. Did you see his plate, Sherrie? Five! Count ‘em, FIVE large Jelly Martians! But he wanted his coffee black… ‘cause he’s on a diet.”
Sherrie snorted. “That’s Judge Lewis, you know.”
Lisa glanced out the door of the kitchen. “Oh, that’s the Judge? I’ve heard about him.”
Sherrie nodded. “The rumor is he’s taking kickbacks from the coyotes.”
“Well, he does seem to have a lot of cash and stuff… you know, bling-bling,” Lisa said. “What’s a coyote?”
Sherrie snorted again. “You throw around terms like ‘bling-bling,’ and you don’t know what a ‘coyote’ is?
“Yeah, well, I know it’s an animal… like a wolf.”
“Oh, Lisa! How long have you lived in New Mexico? Coyotes are smugglers who smuggle illegal aliens in from Mexico.” Sherrie lowered her voice. “The rumor is the judge takes kickbacks to look the other way and sometimes even fixes the coyotes up with transportation and a hiding place for their… special cargo. My Dad said Judge Lewis was being investigated by the Feds last year but then someone really high up squashed the investigation.”
“Your Dad was a detective… with the state police, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. He’s retired now, but he still has friends there… and connections. He says the Judge must be into the mob or something now, because he’s got a lot of power behind him… enough to squash a federal investigation.”
“Wow. That’s pretty scary. You think he had some reason for asking all those questions about the sheriff?”
Sherrie thought for a moment. “Probably not… Probably just being nosy… People like that make it their business to know everybody else’s business. The less we tell him the better, I think… even if it seems innocent.”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad you told me all this. I didn’t know. I probably shouldn’t have even told him who I was delivering to.”
Sherrie shrugged. “I can’t see how it can hurt. But don’t tell him anything else. Make up something if you have to. I don’t like him. He’s not a nice person. The less he knows the better.”
Lisa nodded her agreement.
One hour, two more coffees, and four more jelly donuts later, Judge Lewis was still sitting in his booth, occasionally tapping his fingers noisily on the table, obviously heavily absorbed in thought… or perhaps scheming, Lisa thought. Given what she now knew about the judge, she felt more and more bothered about the questions he had asked her earlier as each minute went by.
“Sherrie, can you watch my station for me for a little while? I think the worst of the rush is over now.”
“Yeah, I guess so, why?”
Lisa took off her apron and headed for the back door. “I’m going to make sure I didn’t make a big mistake earlier. I’ll be back shortly.”
Sherrie nodded.
Jim Valenti looked up from his desk, as someone walked in the front door, causing the little bell to ding.
“Lisa! What can I do for you?”
“I’m not sure, Sheriff. Maybe I’m just worrying too much, but Judge Lewis came into the CrashDown about an hour ago.”
Jim smiled. “Well, I can understand your concern, Lisa, but there’s not really anything I can do. He’s got as much right as anyone else to go to a public place to eat.”
Lisa smiled, too, understanding Jim’s intentional pun.
“It’s not just because he’s in the CrashDown, Sheriff. He was asking a lot of questions… about you.”
Jim leaned forward in his chair, and his voice took on a more serious tone.
“What did he want to know?”
“What Sherrie brought to you and why you wanted so much food. I told him maybe it was for your wife, too.”
“Good,” Jim said, nodding. “You’re right. Amy was here. So was Deputy Cotter.”
“Well, at first I didn’t think so much of it, but then Sherrie told me who the judge was and a lot of things about him, and I got to thinking maybe I had made a mistake telling him anything. I thought you should know about it.”
Jim nodded. “I really appreciate that, Lisa. You don’t know how much! Believe me! But don’t worry yourself any more about it, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong. Probably the judge was just being nosy. He has a reputation for that. I imagine it was nothing. I really, really appreciate your letting me know, though.”
Lisa smiled. “I just wanted to be sure… you know… that if I shouldn’t have told him something you’d be warned about it… I guess it’s silly.”
Jim shook his head. “It’s not silly, Lisa. With Judge Lewis… it’s just precaution. I’m grateful! Really! Now go on back to work and don’t worry any more. Put it all out of your mind. You did your duty. I’ll keep my eyes open. Maybe you even gave me a heads up on something I wouldn’t have known about.”
Lisa smiled and left for the CrashDown. As soon as she was gone, Jim picked up his hat and headed for the third floor gym. He started to knock but then just yelled…
“Alex, let me in. It’s the sheriff.”
“What’s the code, Sheriff?”
“Come on, Alex. There’s no time for that now. We’ve got to move a little faster than I had planned to get you guys out of here.”
Alex opened the door. “Did someone find out we’re here?”
Jim shook his head. “Not yet. But Judge Lewis is in the CrashDown right now trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. He’s a no-good polecat, but he’s a smart one… smart at figuring things out. It won’t take him forever to put two and two together, and then he’ll be over here with a search warrant before we know what hit us.”
Alex swallowed and looked at Liz. Then he nodded. “Let’s go, then, Sheriff. Get Liz out of here. We’re not going to be sent back to that place again.”
“Or worse,” Jim said under his breath. “Come on.”
Jim pushed Liz’s wheelchair into the hall and into the elevator and pressed the down button.
“Where are we going, Sheriff?” Alex asked.
“Can’t tell you yet,” Jim said. “It’s for your own safety. Trust me.”
Alex nodded. “I’ve trusted you so far, Sheriff. I’ll trust you all the way, I guess. Lead on.”
Jim stopped Deputy Cotter in the first floor hallway and filled him in quickly.
“Check outside the door for me, Dave. Make sure it’s clear.”
Cotter looked outside casually then closed the door back. “It’s clear, Sheriff.”
“Okay.” Jim took a deep breath then he reached down and picked Liz up out of her chair.
“Close the chair up, Dave. I’ll put Liz in the SUV. You put the chair in the back. Alex, you just get yourself in… as quickly as possible without being seen.”
Alex nodded without saying anything. Jim opened the door and walked quickly to the SUV carrying Liz. He laid her gently on the middle seat right behind the front seats, and Alex hopped in beside her. Dave Cotter threw the chair in the back then jumped into the front seat beside Jim.
“Who’s going to watch the station,” Cotter asked.
“Hansen just came on duty. He already knows.”
Jim pulled away from the station and passed the CrashDown just as Judge Lewis was coming out. Judge Lewis watched the SUV go by but only saw Jim and Dave in the front seats. Alex was staying down, as he had been told to do, and Liz was lying on the seat. Judge Lewis scowled and looked at the street then back at the SUV.
“What ya runnin’ from, Jim? I know a decoy when I see one. You want me to think you’re up to something so I’ll chase after you and… and what? What are you hiding, Jim? Something in that sheriff’s building, isn’t it? Something that eats cheeseburgers and drinks strawberry milkshakes and Snapples, I’d bet.” Judge Lewis stopped suddenly and looked as though a light had suddenly come on in his head.
“You son of a…! I knew it! Those body bags… the cheeseburgers… They’re still alive! You’ve been hiding those kids in the station. Now I know what’s been bothering me so much. You! You should have been over there at my office days ago trying to blame me for their deaths. You should have been pounding on my desk… telling me how it should have been me that was shot… but you weren’t. No… you looked grieved alright. You even cried tears. But you screwed up, Jim. You didn’t come after me. That was your one mistake.”
Judge Lewis ran –as fast as his bloated body could run with 9 large jelly donuts and 3 large coffees sloshing around inside him- to his car. But he didn’t chase after Jim. He was convinced that Jim was trying to decoy him away from the sheriff’s office. Within the hour, Judge Lewis had his search warrant, and ten minutes later, he walked in the front door and ceremoniously plopped it down on the desk in front of Hansen, with a dozen state police behind him.
“What’s this, Judge?” Hansen asked.
“This, Mr. Hansen, is what’s going to free me of Sheriff Jim Valenti forever. It’s a search warrant, and I’m searching this building.”
“You could have just asked, Hansen said. I’d have arranged a tour. We have a special rate for a dozen or more. You just qualify.”
Judge Lewis’ mouth dropped open.
“I think he meant with us, your honor,” the state trooper beside him said.
“Of course he meant with you! What else would he mean?” Judge Lewis glared at the trooper.
“Joke all you want, Hansen, but joking won’t save Jim’s sorry ass now. This place is locked down. A rat couldn’t get out of here right now without me knowing it! What Jim is hiding in here will soon be known to the world, and his involvement in the sordid kidnapping of those poor children will put him in prison for the rest of his sorry life!”
**********
Jim pulled through the gate and drove down the small dirt road past the orchards and small canals, finally stopping in front of a simple-looking, inconspicuous house. He had arrived at his destination. Turning the vehicle off, he looked back at his passengers.
“Stay down for a few more minutes. Then it should be alright to get up.”
Jim got out of the SUV, and an old man with long white hair walked out of the house to meet him.
Jim nodded to the old man. “Thank you for agreeing to do this for me.”
The old man nodded back. “It is only for you that I would do this, Jim. You saved my life once. I owe you for that. But now we are even.”
“Now we are even,” Jim agreed.
“I will keep my shades down… and they must always stay out of sight… until they are safe again and can leave. Those who live here take very seriously the curse of the ancestors, Sheriff.”
“I know, River Dog. I know they do. And for that reason I am all the more grateful for your help.”
“Mmm… as well you should be… and I am grateful for yours… so they may stay. I have purified the air with peyote and other herbs of my people. It will prevent the ancestors from looking inside my house… for a while. But the other Mesaliko apachii who live on this reservation would not be pleased with my decision, so the boy and the girl must always stay out of sight while they are here.”
“I’ll make sure that they know,” Jim said.
“Then it is agreed,” River Dog said, reaching out his hand and taking Jim’s in a firm handshake that took in his entire hand up to his wrist.
“It is agreed,” Jim replied.
Deputy Cotter took the wheelchair out of the SUV and carried it into the house, and Jim carried Liz inside and set her in the chair.
“You’ll be safe here, Liz. River Dog will take good care of you. He’s a stern man, and he can be intimidating, but he’s fair and honest and good… and he will keep his word. I’ll check back on you from time to time to see if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Sheriff.”
“Yeah! That goes for me, too,” Alex said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, don’t say anything, Alex. Just take good care of Liz for me.”
Alex smiled. “I’ll do that. I promise.”
“I know you will,” Jim nodded. He shut the door behind him and walked quickly back to the SUV. Deputy Cotter was already in his seat. Jim started the vehicle, took one last look at the house, and drove away.
**********
“Call ahead next time, Judge,” Hansen yelled after Judge Lewis, as Judge Lewis left the sheriff’s station in frustration with the twelve state troopers behind him. “I’ll arrange a better tour next time. We can have some donuts on hand… and Jim’s famous coffee.”
“If I wanted to get poisoned, I’d just drink arsenic,” Judge Lewis yelled back with a tone of arrogance that belied his frustration.
“Judge, you’re going to have to write a report on this search,” the highest-ranking trooper, standing next to him, said.
“I’m not writing any report; you’re writing a report,” Judge Lewis corrected. “And be sure I look good in it. We found evidence that those children had been there.”
“What evidence? Wrappings off of some cheeseburgers and a couple of soda bottles? Like the deputy said, probably just the Sheriff and his wife were up there eating after he exercised in the gym. That’s not evidence.”
Judge Lewis winced. “Jim may think he’s beat me… but you mark my word… he’s only begun to see what I’m capable of.”
**********
As the night fell and the crickets began to chirp outside, Liz rolled her wheelchair over beside the window.
“You can’t open the shades, Liz,” Alex reminded her. “The taboo, you know.”
“I know.” Liz sighed, then she lifted the bottom of the shade just a bit and looked out at the stars. They were twinkling so brightly in the sky. Liz sniffed and her eyes teared up.
“What’s the matter, Liz,” Alex asked.
Liz shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking… the stars are so beautiful tonight. I wonder if Max can see them wherever he is.”
Alex put his arm around Liz and kissed her on the forehead. “He could be watching those same stars as we speak, Liz. We’ll find him some day. We will. You just have to have faith.”
Liz nodded and smiled.
Three houses and about a stone’s throw away, another figure sat looking under the shades at the stars from his bedroom in another house.
“You looking for your planet, Max?”
Max smiled and turned around. “No, Angie Lee… I’m just looking at the stars. They’re bright tonight.”
“That’s a good omen,” Angie Lee said. “It means you’re close to the one you love.”
Max looked down, and a tear dropped onto his hand. “In my heart… I’ve never stopped being. I guess that’s why the stars are shining so brightly, huh? You think Liz could be watching these same stars tonight… wherever she is?”
Angie Lee nodded. “I’d bet on it… and probably wondering if you’re watching them, too. The myths of our people –these people- say that if you reach up and take one of the stars from the sky to give to your love, you will be with her soon.”
Max smiled. “Then I’ll surely have to find a way to get one, won’t I?”
Angie Lee nodded and smiled. “Good night, Max. Good night, Rahn.” Then she closed the door and went to check on Maria and Isabel, leaving Max alone with his thoughts.
tbc
Coming Up: Judge Lewis’ claims that Alex and Liz are still alive cause a stir, with two sides having different feelings about the matter… and very different ideas about what to do about it.
Apache Summer
Chapter 19
XIX
“How much is the tab,” Sheriff Jim Valenti asked, taking the four bags from the girl’s hand. He nodded to Deputy Dave Cotter. Cotter nodded back and took the four bags then left, heading for the stairs.
“I think it was $17.98.”
Jim smiled at the young lady from the CrashDown and reached into his pocket.
“Oh! Don’t worry about it, Sheriff. Mr. Parker said it was on the house.”
Jim slowly retracted his hand from his pocket. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what he said, sir. It’s on the house. He said to tell you it’s the least he could do… and… that he owed you.”
Jim Valenti nodded. “Well, tell Jeff I’m grateful to him, Sherrie. And… tell him we’re working on things here… I hope I’ll be able to… well… um… Just tell him thanks.”
The girl smiled. “I’ll tell him for you, Sheriff.”
Jim held out a five-dollar bill.
“What’s that for?”
“For your trouble. You had to bring this all the way over here.”
“Oh! Don’t worry, Sheriff. If I wasn’t here I’d just be waitin’ on customers at the CrashDown right now. Which reminds me… I’d better get back. Lisa’s waiting the place all alone at the moment.”
Jim tucked the five-dollar bill into the little pocket in the girl’s alien motif apron. “No argument, ya here? I’m the sheriff, and that’s an order.”
The girl smiled then turned to leave. “Yes, sir! Thank you, Sheriff.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Amy, who had just arrived, held the door for her.
“Thank you, Mrs. V.”
“Mrs. V?”
“Oh, I’m sorry! I mean, Mrs. Valenti. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It’s just what some of the girls call you… no disrespect intended.”
“None taken,” Amy said. “I guess it’s better than ‘Mrs. Sheriff.’ I’ve heard that one, too.”
The girl laughed. Amy closed the door behind her and walked over to Jim then sat down on his lap.
“You still putting money in girls’ waistbands, Jim?” she asked, mussing Jim’s hair a bit and giving him a stern look.
“Yeah… but these days they’re all dressed in waitress uniforms.”
Amy grinned. “Kinky! But that’s okay. I can iron the little kinks out,” she said teasingly, giving Jim a kiss before getting back up.
Amy motioned toward the door that the waitress had gone out. “Was that for…?”
Jim nodded.
“Good.”
“What you got on your mind, Amy?”
Amy opened her mouth for a moment as though to protest. “Why would you think I had something on my mind, Jim?”
“Because I know you. I can see the little gears turning in your head.”
“You can? I’ll have to get that hole plugged up.”
“Don’t bother. I think it’s… endearing.”
“And besides… I can’t hide my intentions from you, right?” Amy said with a chuckle. “Well, you’re right, Jim. I guess I do have something on my mind.”
“Maria?”
Amy looked at Jim for a moment. “Is the hole that big?”
Jim shrugged. “I know what you need in life, Amy… and where your heart is. You’ve been worrying about others for a while. It’s natural that you’d start thinking about Maria again now.”
Amy nodded. “I want to get back on the base, Jim. I know in my heart that they know something about what happened to Maria… and maybe… she might even be…”
“Alive,” Jim said for her. “I know. I don’t want you getting your hopes up, Amy, then getting hurt again… but I really can’t help but agree that there’s reason enough to… well… check things out. The army certainly hasn’t been very forthcoming and honest with us about things.”
“No, they haven’t. When can we go, Jim?”
Jim sucked some air through his teeth. “Let me make some plans, Amy. Soon. I promise you.”
“I’ll have to get used to this planning thing, Jim. My usual practice has just been to barge ahead and impale anyone standing in my way on my horns…”
“I noticed,” Jim said, smiling.
“Don’t knock it, Jim. There’s a lot of shredded red capes out there.”
“I know. And former would-be toreadors, too,” Jim said, nodding appreciatively.
**********
Deputy Dave Cotter knocked softly on the door of the third floor gym. Then he counted to ten and knocked again… two raps… then four… then three. A moment later, the door opened.
“Delivery service,” Cotter said with a smile.
Alex took the bags from the deputy’s hands. “Come in, Deputy.”
Dave Cotter walked into the gym, and Alex closed and locked the door behind him.
“The sheriff thought you might be hungry.”
Alex nodded, pulling the food from the bags. “Hungry doesn’t begin to describe it! I’m starved!” Alex handed a large cheeseburger and fries to Liz and set another one on his leg for himself. Then he opened another bag.
“Strawberry shakes! Strawberry!”
“You like strawberry,” Deputy Cotter asked.
“I love it! And it’s red! Everything’s so wonderfully… colorful!”
“Sorry about that,” Deputy Cotter said. “That wasn’t my idea, you know… the all-white food and everything.”
Alex nodded, already chewing a bite of his cheeseburger. “I know. You had to bring us that stuff. We understand. You couldn’t blow your cover.”
“What’s in the other bags,” Alex asked, opening one of the other two bags.
“Salads!” Liz exclaimed, as Alex removed two containers of lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, radishes, and other salad makings. Liz took the containers and began making two salads, taking care to place a liberal amount of little red tomatoes, radishes, and yellow cheese on the top of Alex’s.
Alex opened the fourth bag and removed two bottles of Snapples.
“The sheriff thought of everything, didn’t he? Tell him thanks.”
“I’ll tell him,” Deputy Cotter said.
“He ordered this from the CrashDown, didn’t he,” Liz said. “I know my Dad’s cheeseburgers. He made these. I wish he could know how much I’m enjoying this meal.” Tears welled up in Liz’s eyes. “God, if Dad knew that Jim was buying food from the CrashDown… to feed me…”
“Well, your Dad said it was on the house this time,” Deputy Cotter said.
Liz wiped her eyes with a paper napkin. “I owe Jim so much already… I don’t think I can ever pay him back…”
Deputy Cotter smiled. “I think he feels that it’s worth it.”
**********
Outside the sheriff’s office, another person watched as the girl in the CrashDown outfit came out and walked back toward the restaurant. On the face of it, it seemed innocent enough. Jim Valenti was known to like a CrashDown coffee every now and then… probably to wash the taste of his own coffee down with. But he usually went to get it himself. Maybe he was tied up today and just ordered in. But Judge Lewis’ suspicion meter was clanging loudly in his head. He decided to follow the girl back to the CrashDown.
Lisa turned to look as the other waitress walked in. “Sherrie! I’m glad you’re back! The place is getting kinda busy. Grab a pad, okay?”
“I’m on it.” Sherrie picked up her order pad and walked over to her usual station to take an order. Judge Lewis walked in behind her.
“Would you like a seat, sir?” Lisa asked.
“Huh? No… well, uh… yeah, I guess I would.”
“Okay.” Lisa looked around. “How about right over there. We’re starting to fill up. You got here just in time.”
Judge Lewis frowned, ignoring Lisa’s good-natured pleasantries. He made his way to the booth that Lisa had shown him and sat down. A couple of minutes later, Lisa returned with her order pad.
“Sorry you had to wait. What can I get you?”
“Well… I don’t usually come in here. What do you have?”
“Oh, didn’t I give you a menu?”
“No. Never mind. I’m not hungry. Just bring me a large coffee… and three donuts… the kind with the jelly… You have those, don’t you?”
Lisa nodded.
“Make it four donuts… no, five. Make it five.”
“Five donuts… and a large coffee. Cream and sugar in your coffee or do you prefer to sweeten it yourself?”
“Just black. I’m on a diet.”
Lisa smiled. “Black it is. I’ll be right back.”
A couple of minutes passed again and Lisa returned with a large coffee and five jelly donuts on a platter.
“Will that be all, sir? Can I get you anything else?”
“Not right now. Check back with me in a few minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Lisa started to walk away, Judge Lewis stopped her. “Oh, by the way…”
“Yes?”
“I noticed the other waitress over there coming back from somewhere. Do you make deliveries?”
“Well, not officially… but yeah. If someone requests it, we sometimes do.”
“Can I ask you who she was delivering to?”
“The sheriff. He called in an order about an hour ago. Sherrie took it to him.”
“Is that normal? Doesn’t the sheriff usually come in to get his own coffee?”
“Yeah. I guess he wanted to eat in his office today.”
“Eat? He got something besides coffee?”
“Yeah.” Lisa laughed. “Sheriffs eat too, I guess.”
Judge Lewis smiled condescendingly. “What did he want?”
“Nothing special… just a couple of cheeseburgers, a couple of large fries, a couple of strawberry shakes, some salad items, and some drinks, I think… Snapples, yeah, that’s it.”
“That’s a lot for one man to eat isn’t it?”
Lisa glanced at the five large jelly donuts on Judge Lewis’ platter and his ample belly and suppressed a smile. “Well, his wife was there. I guess she had to eat, too.”
Judge Lewis rubbed his chin with his left hand, as he stuffed another jelly donut into his mouth with his right hand and took a large bite. “Yeah. That could be it, I guess. She eats pretty hearty, doesn’t she… for a little thing like that, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen some girls who can eat more. Besides, I know Amy. She’s a mover. She never stops going. I guess she burns it all off. She needs the energy just to keep going.”
Judge Lewis nodded. “Yeah… yeah… maybe. Okay, thanks. I was just wondering.”
Lisa turned and walked back to the kitchen.
“What was he asking about,” Sherrie asked.
“Nothing. He just wanted to know if you were making a delivery and who it was for. Then he asked what they ordered. Did you see his plate, Sherrie? Five! Count ‘em, FIVE large Jelly Martians! But he wanted his coffee black… ‘cause he’s on a diet.”
Sherrie snorted. “That’s Judge Lewis, you know.”
Lisa glanced out the door of the kitchen. “Oh, that’s the Judge? I’ve heard about him.”
Sherrie nodded. “The rumor is he’s taking kickbacks from the coyotes.”
“Well, he does seem to have a lot of cash and stuff… you know, bling-bling,” Lisa said. “What’s a coyote?”
Sherrie snorted again. “You throw around terms like ‘bling-bling,’ and you don’t know what a ‘coyote’ is?
“Yeah, well, I know it’s an animal… like a wolf.”
“Oh, Lisa! How long have you lived in New Mexico? Coyotes are smugglers who smuggle illegal aliens in from Mexico.” Sherrie lowered her voice. “The rumor is the judge takes kickbacks to look the other way and sometimes even fixes the coyotes up with transportation and a hiding place for their… special cargo. My Dad said Judge Lewis was being investigated by the Feds last year but then someone really high up squashed the investigation.”
“Your Dad was a detective… with the state police, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. He’s retired now, but he still has friends there… and connections. He says the Judge must be into the mob or something now, because he’s got a lot of power behind him… enough to squash a federal investigation.”
“Wow. That’s pretty scary. You think he had some reason for asking all those questions about the sheriff?”
Sherrie thought for a moment. “Probably not… Probably just being nosy… People like that make it their business to know everybody else’s business. The less we tell him the better, I think… even if it seems innocent.”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad you told me all this. I didn’t know. I probably shouldn’t have even told him who I was delivering to.”
Sherrie shrugged. “I can’t see how it can hurt. But don’t tell him anything else. Make up something if you have to. I don’t like him. He’s not a nice person. The less he knows the better.”
Lisa nodded her agreement.
One hour, two more coffees, and four more jelly donuts later, Judge Lewis was still sitting in his booth, occasionally tapping his fingers noisily on the table, obviously heavily absorbed in thought… or perhaps scheming, Lisa thought. Given what she now knew about the judge, she felt more and more bothered about the questions he had asked her earlier as each minute went by.
“Sherrie, can you watch my station for me for a little while? I think the worst of the rush is over now.”
“Yeah, I guess so, why?”
Lisa took off her apron and headed for the back door. “I’m going to make sure I didn’t make a big mistake earlier. I’ll be back shortly.”
Sherrie nodded.
Jim Valenti looked up from his desk, as someone walked in the front door, causing the little bell to ding.
“Lisa! What can I do for you?”
“I’m not sure, Sheriff. Maybe I’m just worrying too much, but Judge Lewis came into the CrashDown about an hour ago.”
Jim smiled. “Well, I can understand your concern, Lisa, but there’s not really anything I can do. He’s got as much right as anyone else to go to a public place to eat.”
Lisa smiled, too, understanding Jim’s intentional pun.
“It’s not just because he’s in the CrashDown, Sheriff. He was asking a lot of questions… about you.”
Jim leaned forward in his chair, and his voice took on a more serious tone.
“What did he want to know?”
“What Sherrie brought to you and why you wanted so much food. I told him maybe it was for your wife, too.”
“Good,” Jim said, nodding. “You’re right. Amy was here. So was Deputy Cotter.”
“Well, at first I didn’t think so much of it, but then Sherrie told me who the judge was and a lot of things about him, and I got to thinking maybe I had made a mistake telling him anything. I thought you should know about it.”
Jim nodded. “I really appreciate that, Lisa. You don’t know how much! Believe me! But don’t worry yourself any more about it, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong. Probably the judge was just being nosy. He has a reputation for that. I imagine it was nothing. I really, really appreciate your letting me know, though.”
Lisa smiled. “I just wanted to be sure… you know… that if I shouldn’t have told him something you’d be warned about it… I guess it’s silly.”
Jim shook his head. “It’s not silly, Lisa. With Judge Lewis… it’s just precaution. I’m grateful! Really! Now go on back to work and don’t worry any more. Put it all out of your mind. You did your duty. I’ll keep my eyes open. Maybe you even gave me a heads up on something I wouldn’t have known about.”
Lisa smiled and left for the CrashDown. As soon as she was gone, Jim picked up his hat and headed for the third floor gym. He started to knock but then just yelled…
“Alex, let me in. It’s the sheriff.”
“What’s the code, Sheriff?”
“Come on, Alex. There’s no time for that now. We’ve got to move a little faster than I had planned to get you guys out of here.”
Alex opened the door. “Did someone find out we’re here?”
Jim shook his head. “Not yet. But Judge Lewis is in the CrashDown right now trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. He’s a no-good polecat, but he’s a smart one… smart at figuring things out. It won’t take him forever to put two and two together, and then he’ll be over here with a search warrant before we know what hit us.”
Alex swallowed and looked at Liz. Then he nodded. “Let’s go, then, Sheriff. Get Liz out of here. We’re not going to be sent back to that place again.”
“Or worse,” Jim said under his breath. “Come on.”
Jim pushed Liz’s wheelchair into the hall and into the elevator and pressed the down button.
“Where are we going, Sheriff?” Alex asked.
“Can’t tell you yet,” Jim said. “It’s for your own safety. Trust me.”
Alex nodded. “I’ve trusted you so far, Sheriff. I’ll trust you all the way, I guess. Lead on.”
Jim stopped Deputy Cotter in the first floor hallway and filled him in quickly.
“Check outside the door for me, Dave. Make sure it’s clear.”
Cotter looked outside casually then closed the door back. “It’s clear, Sheriff.”
“Okay.” Jim took a deep breath then he reached down and picked Liz up out of her chair.
“Close the chair up, Dave. I’ll put Liz in the SUV. You put the chair in the back. Alex, you just get yourself in… as quickly as possible without being seen.”
Alex nodded without saying anything. Jim opened the door and walked quickly to the SUV carrying Liz. He laid her gently on the middle seat right behind the front seats, and Alex hopped in beside her. Dave Cotter threw the chair in the back then jumped into the front seat beside Jim.
“Who’s going to watch the station,” Cotter asked.
“Hansen just came on duty. He already knows.”
Jim pulled away from the station and passed the CrashDown just as Judge Lewis was coming out. Judge Lewis watched the SUV go by but only saw Jim and Dave in the front seats. Alex was staying down, as he had been told to do, and Liz was lying on the seat. Judge Lewis scowled and looked at the street then back at the SUV.
“What ya runnin’ from, Jim? I know a decoy when I see one. You want me to think you’re up to something so I’ll chase after you and… and what? What are you hiding, Jim? Something in that sheriff’s building, isn’t it? Something that eats cheeseburgers and drinks strawberry milkshakes and Snapples, I’d bet.” Judge Lewis stopped suddenly and looked as though a light had suddenly come on in his head.
“You son of a…! I knew it! Those body bags… the cheeseburgers… They’re still alive! You’ve been hiding those kids in the station. Now I know what’s been bothering me so much. You! You should have been over there at my office days ago trying to blame me for their deaths. You should have been pounding on my desk… telling me how it should have been me that was shot… but you weren’t. No… you looked grieved alright. You even cried tears. But you screwed up, Jim. You didn’t come after me. That was your one mistake.”
Judge Lewis ran –as fast as his bloated body could run with 9 large jelly donuts and 3 large coffees sloshing around inside him- to his car. But he didn’t chase after Jim. He was convinced that Jim was trying to decoy him away from the sheriff’s office. Within the hour, Judge Lewis had his search warrant, and ten minutes later, he walked in the front door and ceremoniously plopped it down on the desk in front of Hansen, with a dozen state police behind him.
“What’s this, Judge?” Hansen asked.
“This, Mr. Hansen, is what’s going to free me of Sheriff Jim Valenti forever. It’s a search warrant, and I’m searching this building.”
“You could have just asked, Hansen said. I’d have arranged a tour. We have a special rate for a dozen or more. You just qualify.”
Judge Lewis’ mouth dropped open.
“I think he meant with us, your honor,” the state trooper beside him said.
“Of course he meant with you! What else would he mean?” Judge Lewis glared at the trooper.
“Joke all you want, Hansen, but joking won’t save Jim’s sorry ass now. This place is locked down. A rat couldn’t get out of here right now without me knowing it! What Jim is hiding in here will soon be known to the world, and his involvement in the sordid kidnapping of those poor children will put him in prison for the rest of his sorry life!”
**********
Jim pulled through the gate and drove down the small dirt road past the orchards and small canals, finally stopping in front of a simple-looking, inconspicuous house. He had arrived at his destination. Turning the vehicle off, he looked back at his passengers.
“Stay down for a few more minutes. Then it should be alright to get up.”
Jim got out of the SUV, and an old man with long white hair walked out of the house to meet him.
Jim nodded to the old man. “Thank you for agreeing to do this for me.”
The old man nodded back. “It is only for you that I would do this, Jim. You saved my life once. I owe you for that. But now we are even.”
“Now we are even,” Jim agreed.
“I will keep my shades down… and they must always stay out of sight… until they are safe again and can leave. Those who live here take very seriously the curse of the ancestors, Sheriff.”
“I know, River Dog. I know they do. And for that reason I am all the more grateful for your help.”
“Mmm… as well you should be… and I am grateful for yours… so they may stay. I have purified the air with peyote and other herbs of my people. It will prevent the ancestors from looking inside my house… for a while. But the other Mesaliko apachii who live on this reservation would not be pleased with my decision, so the boy and the girl must always stay out of sight while they are here.”
“I’ll make sure that they know,” Jim said.
“Then it is agreed,” River Dog said, reaching out his hand and taking Jim’s in a firm handshake that took in his entire hand up to his wrist.
“It is agreed,” Jim replied.
Deputy Cotter took the wheelchair out of the SUV and carried it into the house, and Jim carried Liz inside and set her in the chair.
“You’ll be safe here, Liz. River Dog will take good care of you. He’s a stern man, and he can be intimidating, but he’s fair and honest and good… and he will keep his word. I’ll check back on you from time to time to see if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Sheriff.”
“Yeah! That goes for me, too,” Alex said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, don’t say anything, Alex. Just take good care of Liz for me.”
Alex smiled. “I’ll do that. I promise.”
“I know you will,” Jim nodded. He shut the door behind him and walked quickly back to the SUV. Deputy Cotter was already in his seat. Jim started the vehicle, took one last look at the house, and drove away.
**********
“Call ahead next time, Judge,” Hansen yelled after Judge Lewis, as Judge Lewis left the sheriff’s station in frustration with the twelve state troopers behind him. “I’ll arrange a better tour next time. We can have some donuts on hand… and Jim’s famous coffee.”
“If I wanted to get poisoned, I’d just drink arsenic,” Judge Lewis yelled back with a tone of arrogance that belied his frustration.
“Judge, you’re going to have to write a report on this search,” the highest-ranking trooper, standing next to him, said.
“I’m not writing any report; you’re writing a report,” Judge Lewis corrected. “And be sure I look good in it. We found evidence that those children had been there.”
“What evidence? Wrappings off of some cheeseburgers and a couple of soda bottles? Like the deputy said, probably just the Sheriff and his wife were up there eating after he exercised in the gym. That’s not evidence.”
Judge Lewis winced. “Jim may think he’s beat me… but you mark my word… he’s only begun to see what I’m capable of.”
**********
As the night fell and the crickets began to chirp outside, Liz rolled her wheelchair over beside the window.
“You can’t open the shades, Liz,” Alex reminded her. “The taboo, you know.”
“I know.” Liz sighed, then she lifted the bottom of the shade just a bit and looked out at the stars. They were twinkling so brightly in the sky. Liz sniffed and her eyes teared up.
“What’s the matter, Liz,” Alex asked.
Liz shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking… the stars are so beautiful tonight. I wonder if Max can see them wherever he is.”
Alex put his arm around Liz and kissed her on the forehead. “He could be watching those same stars as we speak, Liz. We’ll find him some day. We will. You just have to have faith.”
Liz nodded and smiled.
Three houses and about a stone’s throw away, another figure sat looking under the shades at the stars from his bedroom in another house.
“You looking for your planet, Max?”
Max smiled and turned around. “No, Angie Lee… I’m just looking at the stars. They’re bright tonight.”
“That’s a good omen,” Angie Lee said. “It means you’re close to the one you love.”
Max looked down, and a tear dropped onto his hand. “In my heart… I’ve never stopped being. I guess that’s why the stars are shining so brightly, huh? You think Liz could be watching these same stars tonight… wherever she is?”
Angie Lee nodded. “I’d bet on it… and probably wondering if you’re watching them, too. The myths of our people –these people- say that if you reach up and take one of the stars from the sky to give to your love, you will be with her soon.”
Max smiled. “Then I’ll surely have to find a way to get one, won’t I?”
Angie Lee nodded and smiled. “Good night, Max. Good night, Rahn.” Then she closed the door and went to check on Maria and Isabel, leaving Max alone with his thoughts.
tbc
Coming Up: Judge Lewis’ claims that Alex and Liz are still alive cause a stir, with two sides having different feelings about the matter… and very different ideas about what to do about it.
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Island Breeze
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The Night The Dreams Died
The Night The Dreams Died
Ghosts & Other Strange Visions
Chapter 20
XX
“What are you saying, Judge… that the sheriff somehow brought those two kids back from the grave? They’re dead! Judge, you’ve been a great help to us so far. Don’t ruin your credibility now!”
“No, Colonel! They’re not dead.”
“Judge… whatever you may believe notwithstanding, those kids are dead! We… I mean… somebody… took care of that. And that somebody… well, let’s just say that that somebody has unimpeachable credibility. We’ve verified the information, so unless that sheriff of yours can bring dead people back to life, you’re just wasting my time right now.”
“Suit yourself, Colonel. But it seems to me they were supposed to be ‘dead’ once before and your information turned out to be wrong… or did somebody bring them back to life then, too?”
There was a long silence before the colonel spoke again.
“The details couldn’t be verified with sufficient certainty that time. There was mass confusion because of the circumstances… the graduation. This time one of our own people… uh… verified the information for us. They’re dead.”
There was a pause, then the colonel added, “Not that we had anything to do with that unfortunate incident, of course… or the unfortunate incident at the center either.”
“Uh huh. Well, tell that to Congress, Colonel, when you or that general of yours get called in to explain… whatever you may have to explain.”
Again there was a long silence.
“Judge, what makes you so sure they’re not dead? Have you seen them?”
“No, of course not. The sheriff has them hidden away somewhere.”
“Then how do you know they’re alive… if you haven’t seen them…? Has anyone else seen them… anyone who would back you up?”
“Just the sheriff… and maybe his deputy… and his wife.”
“In other words… no one who would back you up. It would just be your word against theirs.”
This time, it was Judge Lewis who was silent.
“I ask you again… what makes you think they’re alive, Judge?”
Judge Lewis groaned. “It’s a feeling… no, no… more than a feeling! I know Jim Valenti. It’s hard to explain.”
“Hard to explain… and you want me to take your… hard to explain ‘feeling’ over the word of one of our best men. Is that what you’re saying? Are you saying that one of our best men lied?”
“No… no, of course not, Colonel.”
“Then what are you saying, Judge?”
“I don’t know… Hell! Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe they tricked him…”
“We don’t make mistakes like that, Judge… and we aren’t so easily tricked as you might be. Look, Judge, when you have something real to go on, give me a call. Until then, don’t waste our time. The only reason I’m letting you off easy this time is because of the value of your assistance to us in the past. But if your conscience is bothering you or those kids’ ghosts are haunting you in your sleep, don’t expect us to come running! Call an exorcist… or a priest if you know one… or try Ghostbusters.com. You do know how to use a computer don’t you? I’m sure you’ll find someone there who believes you and will be more than happy to waste their time hunting your ghosts down… for a price. Good night, Judge.”
The line went dead, and Judge Lewis exhaled a deep breath of air along with several curses he had been holding in. “Fool! You don’t know Jim Valenti. You don’t know these kids. They’ll have your ass on a spit, and don’t say I didn’t try to warn you. Damn moron!”
**********
Miles from either Judge Lewis’ office or the army base, an old Indian with long white hair sat on a chair in front of his simple house on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, his back against the house and his chair leaning back on its two back legs, whittling on a long hollow reed of some kind. He looked up as someone approached. Then he looked back down at his whittling.
“Brother,” the newcomer said, addressing the old Indian in the chair. “Are you hiding something from the ancestors again? Your curtains are drawn.”
“It is cooler with the curtains drawn,” River Dog answered without looking up. “These are hot days, Gray Hawk.”
“Mmm.” The other Indian mumbled. “Yes, the days can be very hot.”
River Dog ran his knife over the reed in his hand again and made another notch in something that appeared to be shaping up to be a flute of sorts.
“I see your house suffers from the heat, too, these days, Gray Hawk,” he said nonchalantly.
“It is as you say, brother. It is cooler in the house with the curtains drawn.”
River Dog nodded. “So nasedo would have nothing to do with it?”
“I would not wish to risk the wrath of the ancestors, River Dog… A’in Ji Lii is not nasedo. Would you risk the ancestors’ wrath?”
“No, I would not,” River Dog replied calmly. “The ancestors know that I heed their warnings.”
River Dog might have had his fingers crossed when he said this… if he had been accustomed to that gesture. But he satisfied his conscience by telling himself that the “guests” in his house were not nasedo -not visitors- at least not of the “stranger” kind… not anymore. He knew them now. Gray Hawk, in turn, excused his own ignoring of the ancestors’ warning by telling himself that his houseguests were friends of his protégée, A’in ji Lii, and therefore not “visitors” of the “stranger” type either. However, neither River Dog nor Gray Hawk felt sufficiently comfortable with their conviction to mention their “guests” to the other.
River Dog had long ago accepted the presence of A’in ji Lii in Gray Hawk’s house, as had many, if not most, of the other Mesaliko on the reservation… after a time. But no one knew how the ancestors would feel about her being there, so Gray Hawk hedged his bets by occasionally blowing dried peyote and other herbs into the air in his house in order to keep any ancestors who might just “happen to look in” feeling good… and maybe blur their sight a bit… just enough so that they would not notice that his ward had light skin… or that she had green eyes… or that she had yellow hair. It was amazing what a little bit of dried cactus button, ground into a fine powder, could do. With enough peyote in the air, Gray Hawk could probably have housed all the soldiers in the army without the ancestors seeing them… if that were something that he was inclined to do… but he was not. Gray Hawk, like his brother, River Dog, knew that the ancestors’ warnings were always given for a reason. Gray Hawk and River Dog might hedge on their definition of a “visitor” if it seemed convenient and suited their purposes to do so, but neither brother would intentionally put himself or his tribe at risk.
**********
As River Dog and Gray Hawk were speaking in front of River Dog’s house, a mere three houses away, inside Gray Hawk’s house, Max was pacing the floor restlessly. He would sit down… then he would stand up again and look out beneath the curtains. Then he would resume his pacing.
“I can’t stay here like this, Michael. I need to get out. There are things I need to do.”
Michael looked up at Max. “Well, we aren’t locked in, Max. But do you really want to cause Gray Hawk problems by being seen coming and going from his house… you know… given the taboo and all? He was pretty nice to let us stay here.”
“We promised Angie Lee’s grandfather we wouldn’t leave the house,” Isabel said, agreeing with Michael.
“I didn’t promise not to leave,” Max replied. “I merely promised to keep out of sight so that others wouldn’t see us here. Anyway, we also promised him that we wouldn’t stay very long.”
“That’s true,” Isabel said. “But… where will we go, Max?”
Max shook his head. “If we go back home… and are seen… the army will be after us by nightfall, and we will have put our families in mortal danger.”
“We can’t do that,” Isabel agreed.
“No, we can’t,” Max said. “But we have to go somewhere. I need to find Liz, and I can’t do it if I’m stuck inside this house.”
“I want Mom to know I’m okay,” Maria said. “I can’t imagine what she must’ve gone through. She must think that I’m… dead.”
Max looked at Maria, and his look softened a bit. “We’re all dead, Maria. I’m sure of it. The army made sure of that. We were never supposed to return. You… you actually were dead when they brought you to the lab, Maria… at least by human standards. Both of you were… and Michael nearly was…”
Max took a deep breath and sat down then looked at Michael, Maria, and Isabel. “They didn’t know I could still heal you. They were probably going to dissect us all in the lab. If they had known I would recover and heal the three of you, they would have put more guards on the door.”
“I wondered why there was only one guard when we tried to escape the first time,” Isabel said. “…and he looked like he was seeing a ghost when we walked out.”
“Four ghosts,” Max corrected. “That guy just stood there gawking; he was a pushover. If there hadn’t been a bunch of fresh guards coming on duty right at that moment, we might have escaped the first time and not had to go through… any of… what we did.”
Max looked away. It was hard for him to reflect on what they had been through, and it was especially hard for him to think about Maria and Isabel going through it. But he knew they had. He had been able to hear their screams. Max and Michael had been kept drugged and thoroughly restrained to prevent them from using their powers when any of the “lab attendants” were in the set of rooms that the four occupied. If either one could have moved, he would have vaporized their torturers on the spot.
There were four rooms in the underground “suite.” One of them was set up as a lab, and it was kept locked up except when in use. The other three rooms were basically adjoining storage rooms, with one bathroom between them. There were no beds. There were no covers. There was only the hard floor to sit or sleep on, and it was usually cold, being far under ground as it was. Every day was a struggle just to survive there. And Max knew that they had not yet even begun to experience the worst of what had been planned for them. No! Getting caught again was not an option. But if they left Gray Hawk’s house too soon, without knowing where they would go, getting caught was all too real a possibility, and this frustrated Max. The need to be searching for Liz was overpowering his senses… but he didn’t want to risk Maria or Isabel’s lives… or Michael’s either for that matter… because of a rash decision on his part to satisfy his own needs.
“Rahn…” Max said hesitantly, standing back up and starting to pace again… “Who would notice if a bat flew out of here at night… or maybe a small bird in the daytime… something that’s common here? You could go anywhere and search for Liz… and bring information back…”
“Yes, I can do that,” Rahn said, happy to be able to help. “What would you like me to do, Zan?”
“Find out about our parents… find out if they’re all alright… and find Liz… or find out where she is. Then… return here and tell us. Can you do that?”
“Of course. It is a simple request. Should I go now?”
Max nodded. “Now… or as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’m always ready,” Rahn said, beginning to change his form even as he spoke. Max cracked the front door just a bit and peeked outside to see if all was clear, then he turned to look for Rahn. As he did, something small and fast ran past him and out the door.
“Beep Beep!”
Max watched, with his mouth open, as the brownish bird with a long tail ran down the dirt road a short distance then launched itself, somewhat clumsily, into the air. Then he turned and looked at Isabel and Maria, who was hiding her face in her hands and trying very hard to stifle a laugh. Isabel had her hand over Maria’s head, pointing.
“It was Maria.”
Max nodded and mumbled, “Children.”
**********
Jeff Parker opened the window at the back of the CrashDown Café’s kitchen and wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he –and the spatula in his hand- cooled down.
“It’s hot in here.”
It’s hot outside,” Nancy said, just walking in to check on him. “You should let one of the girls do the cooking for a while, Jeff. Take a break. Go upstairs and relax in the air conditioning for a few minutes… or an hour.”
“Can’t do that, Nancy. I need them on the floor out there. Besides, who can cook hamburgers better than me, huh?”
“You really need to hire another cook,” Nancy said. “You haven’t let anybody else cook since… since the Guerin boy…”
A flutter of wings attracted Nancy’s attention as she spoke, and she turned around to look. A brownish bird with a long tail had perched itself in the open window.
“You’re looking in the wrong place if you’re looking for a place to get cool,” Jeff joked.
The bird just stood there.
“Oh, well, suit yourself.” Jeff handed Nancy a piece of bread, and she tossed a piece to the bird, which dutifully ate it off of the windowsill.
“Well, Michael Guerin was alright as a cook,” Jeff, said. “He could get it right… not always the first time, mind you… but I never saw anybody do a recook faster than he could. I wish I still had him here now. Maybe that sounds strange.”
Nancy shook her head. “It’s not strange… We both miss them, Jeff… all of them. It’s the memories…”
Jeff nodded, and his eyes teared up a bit.
“I guess that’s it. They were Liz’s friends. I still don’t want to believe that Liz isn’t… coming back. It’s just not right, Nancy. After all she went through. She was finally getting better. She was getting well… against all the odds… until Judge Lewis had her locked up in that damned… insane asylum.”
As Jeff mentioned the name, “Judge Lewis,” he brought the spatula down hard, like an ax, on the counter, startling the bird in the window and causing it to jump.
“Sorry if I scared you, little guy,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t going to chop you up… That was for someone else I was thinking about… in the snake family. But you should know all about that. Your kind kills rattlesnakes, don’t they? Maybe I could borrow you for a day. If I showed you a big, fat, ass-ugly rattlesnake, would you smack it against a rock for me?”
Nancy ignored Jeff’s self-humoring “chat” with the bird and continued her conversation. “Do you think they’ll ever catch the person who killed Liz and Alex in that place, Jeff?”
Jeff stopped and looked at Nancy sadly. He didn’t have to answer. Nancy wasn’t really expecting him to.
“I still don’t understand any of this, Jeff,” Nancy said. “Roswell used to be a peaceful place. After the shooting at graduation, this town just went to Hell. I don’t understand it. What does Judge Lewis want out of this? He had to know Liz wasn’t dealing drugs. Neither was that boy, Alex Whitman. Even I could see the judge was lying through his teeth. But why? Why did he hate Liz? Liz never hurt anybody.”
Jeff leaned on the counter with both hands and hung his head for a moment, then without warning, he grabbed the butcher knife beside him and threw it at the wall in frustration. The knife stuck in the wall, cleanly severing the cord that had held the window up… and the window fell with a thud… on top of the bird.
Nancy gasped.
The roadrunner’s wing could be seen crushed beneath the window, as the bird itself dangled just off the ledge outside. Jeff stepped toward the window to raise it, but before he could, the bird’s right wing, which was trapped under the window, began to change. The feathers were disappearing, turning into something that looked like… skin. Slowly, the whole trapped wing began to look more like an arm and a hand. They were too small for a human… but downright large –not to mention odd- for a roadrunner. The arm, or the hand on the end of it, pushed the window back up a bit, enough for the bird to get free and its wing to quickly return to normal. But as the bird leapt and spread its wings, hoping that it would still be able to fly, something jerked it brusquely back into the room… then the window was slammed shut.
tbc
Coming Up: Time to talk.
Ghosts & Other Strange Visions
Chapter 20
XX
“What are you saying, Judge… that the sheriff somehow brought those two kids back from the grave? They’re dead! Judge, you’ve been a great help to us so far. Don’t ruin your credibility now!”
“No, Colonel! They’re not dead.”
“Judge… whatever you may believe notwithstanding, those kids are dead! We… I mean… somebody… took care of that. And that somebody… well, let’s just say that that somebody has unimpeachable credibility. We’ve verified the information, so unless that sheriff of yours can bring dead people back to life, you’re just wasting my time right now.”
“Suit yourself, Colonel. But it seems to me they were supposed to be ‘dead’ once before and your information turned out to be wrong… or did somebody bring them back to life then, too?”
There was a long silence before the colonel spoke again.
“The details couldn’t be verified with sufficient certainty that time. There was mass confusion because of the circumstances… the graduation. This time one of our own people… uh… verified the information for us. They’re dead.”
There was a pause, then the colonel added, “Not that we had anything to do with that unfortunate incident, of course… or the unfortunate incident at the center either.”
“Uh huh. Well, tell that to Congress, Colonel, when you or that general of yours get called in to explain… whatever you may have to explain.”
Again there was a long silence.
“Judge, what makes you so sure they’re not dead? Have you seen them?”
“No, of course not. The sheriff has them hidden away somewhere.”
“Then how do you know they’re alive… if you haven’t seen them…? Has anyone else seen them… anyone who would back you up?”
“Just the sheriff… and maybe his deputy… and his wife.”
“In other words… no one who would back you up. It would just be your word against theirs.”
This time, it was Judge Lewis who was silent.
“I ask you again… what makes you think they’re alive, Judge?”
Judge Lewis groaned. “It’s a feeling… no, no… more than a feeling! I know Jim Valenti. It’s hard to explain.”
“Hard to explain… and you want me to take your… hard to explain ‘feeling’ over the word of one of our best men. Is that what you’re saying? Are you saying that one of our best men lied?”
“No… no, of course not, Colonel.”
“Then what are you saying, Judge?”
“I don’t know… Hell! Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe they tricked him…”
“We don’t make mistakes like that, Judge… and we aren’t so easily tricked as you might be. Look, Judge, when you have something real to go on, give me a call. Until then, don’t waste our time. The only reason I’m letting you off easy this time is because of the value of your assistance to us in the past. But if your conscience is bothering you or those kids’ ghosts are haunting you in your sleep, don’t expect us to come running! Call an exorcist… or a priest if you know one… or try Ghostbusters.com. You do know how to use a computer don’t you? I’m sure you’ll find someone there who believes you and will be more than happy to waste their time hunting your ghosts down… for a price. Good night, Judge.”
The line went dead, and Judge Lewis exhaled a deep breath of air along with several curses he had been holding in. “Fool! You don’t know Jim Valenti. You don’t know these kids. They’ll have your ass on a spit, and don’t say I didn’t try to warn you. Damn moron!”
**********
Miles from either Judge Lewis’ office or the army base, an old Indian with long white hair sat on a chair in front of his simple house on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, his back against the house and his chair leaning back on its two back legs, whittling on a long hollow reed of some kind. He looked up as someone approached. Then he looked back down at his whittling.
“Brother,” the newcomer said, addressing the old Indian in the chair. “Are you hiding something from the ancestors again? Your curtains are drawn.”
“It is cooler with the curtains drawn,” River Dog answered without looking up. “These are hot days, Gray Hawk.”
“Mmm.” The other Indian mumbled. “Yes, the days can be very hot.”
River Dog ran his knife over the reed in his hand again and made another notch in something that appeared to be shaping up to be a flute of sorts.
“I see your house suffers from the heat, too, these days, Gray Hawk,” he said nonchalantly.
“It is as you say, brother. It is cooler in the house with the curtains drawn.”
River Dog nodded. “So nasedo would have nothing to do with it?”
“I would not wish to risk the wrath of the ancestors, River Dog… A’in Ji Lii is not nasedo. Would you risk the ancestors’ wrath?”
“No, I would not,” River Dog replied calmly. “The ancestors know that I heed their warnings.”
River Dog might have had his fingers crossed when he said this… if he had been accustomed to that gesture. But he satisfied his conscience by telling himself that the “guests” in his house were not nasedo -not visitors- at least not of the “stranger” kind… not anymore. He knew them now. Gray Hawk, in turn, excused his own ignoring of the ancestors’ warning by telling himself that his houseguests were friends of his protégée, A’in ji Lii, and therefore not “visitors” of the “stranger” type either. However, neither River Dog nor Gray Hawk felt sufficiently comfortable with their conviction to mention their “guests” to the other.
River Dog had long ago accepted the presence of A’in ji Lii in Gray Hawk’s house, as had many, if not most, of the other Mesaliko on the reservation… after a time. But no one knew how the ancestors would feel about her being there, so Gray Hawk hedged his bets by occasionally blowing dried peyote and other herbs into the air in his house in order to keep any ancestors who might just “happen to look in” feeling good… and maybe blur their sight a bit… just enough so that they would not notice that his ward had light skin… or that she had green eyes… or that she had yellow hair. It was amazing what a little bit of dried cactus button, ground into a fine powder, could do. With enough peyote in the air, Gray Hawk could probably have housed all the soldiers in the army without the ancestors seeing them… if that were something that he was inclined to do… but he was not. Gray Hawk, like his brother, River Dog, knew that the ancestors’ warnings were always given for a reason. Gray Hawk and River Dog might hedge on their definition of a “visitor” if it seemed convenient and suited their purposes to do so, but neither brother would intentionally put himself or his tribe at risk.
**********
As River Dog and Gray Hawk were speaking in front of River Dog’s house, a mere three houses away, inside Gray Hawk’s house, Max was pacing the floor restlessly. He would sit down… then he would stand up again and look out beneath the curtains. Then he would resume his pacing.
“I can’t stay here like this, Michael. I need to get out. There are things I need to do.”
Michael looked up at Max. “Well, we aren’t locked in, Max. But do you really want to cause Gray Hawk problems by being seen coming and going from his house… you know… given the taboo and all? He was pretty nice to let us stay here.”
“We promised Angie Lee’s grandfather we wouldn’t leave the house,” Isabel said, agreeing with Michael.
“I didn’t promise not to leave,” Max replied. “I merely promised to keep out of sight so that others wouldn’t see us here. Anyway, we also promised him that we wouldn’t stay very long.”
“That’s true,” Isabel said. “But… where will we go, Max?”
Max shook his head. “If we go back home… and are seen… the army will be after us by nightfall, and we will have put our families in mortal danger.”
“We can’t do that,” Isabel agreed.
“No, we can’t,” Max said. “But we have to go somewhere. I need to find Liz, and I can’t do it if I’m stuck inside this house.”
“I want Mom to know I’m okay,” Maria said. “I can’t imagine what she must’ve gone through. She must think that I’m… dead.”
Max looked at Maria, and his look softened a bit. “We’re all dead, Maria. I’m sure of it. The army made sure of that. We were never supposed to return. You… you actually were dead when they brought you to the lab, Maria… at least by human standards. Both of you were… and Michael nearly was…”
Max took a deep breath and sat down then looked at Michael, Maria, and Isabel. “They didn’t know I could still heal you. They were probably going to dissect us all in the lab. If they had known I would recover and heal the three of you, they would have put more guards on the door.”
“I wondered why there was only one guard when we tried to escape the first time,” Isabel said. “…and he looked like he was seeing a ghost when we walked out.”
“Four ghosts,” Max corrected. “That guy just stood there gawking; he was a pushover. If there hadn’t been a bunch of fresh guards coming on duty right at that moment, we might have escaped the first time and not had to go through… any of… what we did.”
Max looked away. It was hard for him to reflect on what they had been through, and it was especially hard for him to think about Maria and Isabel going through it. But he knew they had. He had been able to hear their screams. Max and Michael had been kept drugged and thoroughly restrained to prevent them from using their powers when any of the “lab attendants” were in the set of rooms that the four occupied. If either one could have moved, he would have vaporized their torturers on the spot.
There were four rooms in the underground “suite.” One of them was set up as a lab, and it was kept locked up except when in use. The other three rooms were basically adjoining storage rooms, with one bathroom between them. There were no beds. There were no covers. There was only the hard floor to sit or sleep on, and it was usually cold, being far under ground as it was. Every day was a struggle just to survive there. And Max knew that they had not yet even begun to experience the worst of what had been planned for them. No! Getting caught again was not an option. But if they left Gray Hawk’s house too soon, without knowing where they would go, getting caught was all too real a possibility, and this frustrated Max. The need to be searching for Liz was overpowering his senses… but he didn’t want to risk Maria or Isabel’s lives… or Michael’s either for that matter… because of a rash decision on his part to satisfy his own needs.
“Rahn…” Max said hesitantly, standing back up and starting to pace again… “Who would notice if a bat flew out of here at night… or maybe a small bird in the daytime… something that’s common here? You could go anywhere and search for Liz… and bring information back…”
“Yes, I can do that,” Rahn said, happy to be able to help. “What would you like me to do, Zan?”
“Find out about our parents… find out if they’re all alright… and find Liz… or find out where she is. Then… return here and tell us. Can you do that?”
“Of course. It is a simple request. Should I go now?”
Max nodded. “Now… or as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’m always ready,” Rahn said, beginning to change his form even as he spoke. Max cracked the front door just a bit and peeked outside to see if all was clear, then he turned to look for Rahn. As he did, something small and fast ran past him and out the door.
“Beep Beep!”
Max watched, with his mouth open, as the brownish bird with a long tail ran down the dirt road a short distance then launched itself, somewhat clumsily, into the air. Then he turned and looked at Isabel and Maria, who was hiding her face in her hands and trying very hard to stifle a laugh. Isabel had her hand over Maria’s head, pointing.
“It was Maria.”
Max nodded and mumbled, “Children.”
**********
Jeff Parker opened the window at the back of the CrashDown Café’s kitchen and wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he –and the spatula in his hand- cooled down.
“It’s hot in here.”
It’s hot outside,” Nancy said, just walking in to check on him. “You should let one of the girls do the cooking for a while, Jeff. Take a break. Go upstairs and relax in the air conditioning for a few minutes… or an hour.”
“Can’t do that, Nancy. I need them on the floor out there. Besides, who can cook hamburgers better than me, huh?”
“You really need to hire another cook,” Nancy said. “You haven’t let anybody else cook since… since the Guerin boy…”
A flutter of wings attracted Nancy’s attention as she spoke, and she turned around to look. A brownish bird with a long tail had perched itself in the open window.
“You’re looking in the wrong place if you’re looking for a place to get cool,” Jeff joked.
The bird just stood there.
“Oh, well, suit yourself.” Jeff handed Nancy a piece of bread, and she tossed a piece to the bird, which dutifully ate it off of the windowsill.
“Well, Michael Guerin was alright as a cook,” Jeff, said. “He could get it right… not always the first time, mind you… but I never saw anybody do a recook faster than he could. I wish I still had him here now. Maybe that sounds strange.”
Nancy shook her head. “It’s not strange… We both miss them, Jeff… all of them. It’s the memories…”
Jeff nodded, and his eyes teared up a bit.
“I guess that’s it. They were Liz’s friends. I still don’t want to believe that Liz isn’t… coming back. It’s just not right, Nancy. After all she went through. She was finally getting better. She was getting well… against all the odds… until Judge Lewis had her locked up in that damned… insane asylum.”
As Jeff mentioned the name, “Judge Lewis,” he brought the spatula down hard, like an ax, on the counter, startling the bird in the window and causing it to jump.
“Sorry if I scared you, little guy,” Jeff said. “I wasn’t going to chop you up… That was for someone else I was thinking about… in the snake family. But you should know all about that. Your kind kills rattlesnakes, don’t they? Maybe I could borrow you for a day. If I showed you a big, fat, ass-ugly rattlesnake, would you smack it against a rock for me?”
Nancy ignored Jeff’s self-humoring “chat” with the bird and continued her conversation. “Do you think they’ll ever catch the person who killed Liz and Alex in that place, Jeff?”
Jeff stopped and looked at Nancy sadly. He didn’t have to answer. Nancy wasn’t really expecting him to.
“I still don’t understand any of this, Jeff,” Nancy said. “Roswell used to be a peaceful place. After the shooting at graduation, this town just went to Hell. I don’t understand it. What does Judge Lewis want out of this? He had to know Liz wasn’t dealing drugs. Neither was that boy, Alex Whitman. Even I could see the judge was lying through his teeth. But why? Why did he hate Liz? Liz never hurt anybody.”
Jeff leaned on the counter with both hands and hung his head for a moment, then without warning, he grabbed the butcher knife beside him and threw it at the wall in frustration. The knife stuck in the wall, cleanly severing the cord that had held the window up… and the window fell with a thud… on top of the bird.
Nancy gasped.
The roadrunner’s wing could be seen crushed beneath the window, as the bird itself dangled just off the ledge outside. Jeff stepped toward the window to raise it, but before he could, the bird’s right wing, which was trapped under the window, began to change. The feathers were disappearing, turning into something that looked like… skin. Slowly, the whole trapped wing began to look more like an arm and a hand. They were too small for a human… but downright large –not to mention odd- for a roadrunner. The arm, or the hand on the end of it, pushed the window back up a bit, enough for the bird to get free and its wing to quickly return to normal. But as the bird leapt and spread its wings, hoping that it would still be able to fly, something jerked it brusquely back into the room… then the window was slammed shut.
tbc
Coming Up: Time to talk.