"Here we are, Señor, Señora," Javier said, after turning down a dirt road. He stopped sharply in front of a tall open gate and a light breeze blew the dust they'd kicked up past the front of the vehicle.
Unlike his own yard, Partes Viejas was surrounded by a fifteen-foot fence made of tin roofing and topped with barbed wire.
"Thank you, Javier," AJ said, handing the boy a ten-dollar bill.
The scream of a metal grinder filled the air as the little Toyota pickup pulled away. AJ felt Jayne shift closer to him. "Feels ominous," she said as he started forward.
"Forward is the only way through," AJ said, taking the first step into the yard. "Man, this place is huge."
He scanned the yard. To the right was a metal building where the sounds of hammering and grinding were the loudest. Straight ahead was an open building with tall shelving. He identified stacks of parts, large and small, obviously extracted from all manner of devices. What caught AJ's eye, however, were the acres and acres of semi-organized junk stretching out to their left.
"Do you see it?" Jayne asked.
AJ shook his head and continued forward to the building where the noises were coming from. Before they reached the open doorway, a man wearing coveralls appeared in the opening, sweat drenching his face. As the breeze met him, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his brow, and turned to face AJ and Jayne.
"Hello," AJ said, walking toward him.
"Are you lost?" the man asked in Spanish.
"No," AJ answered, doing his best to repeat Beverly's Spanish translation. "I work for a collector. The person I represent is looking for a spaceship. There's a rumor you have one in the yard."
The man shook his head. "You should go."
"You don't have it? Would you mind if we looked around?" AJ said.
"Please, you must leave," the man said.
Behind him, a second man appeared wearing light brown jeans and a worn denim shirt. "Who is it, Filipe?"
"Collector," AJ said. "Looking for a piece you have in your yard."
"Back to work, Filipe." The man flashed bright white teeth when he grinned.
"Careful, AJ," Beverly said, hovering next to him. "The metal particulates in the air are blocking my new Korgul detector."
"Mind if we walk your yard?" AJ asked. He decided to stop using the word spaceship.
The man shrugged. "It is no matter to me, but if you tell me what you are looking for, I could direct you. You must be tired after that long drive from the US."
AJ frowned. Yes, they looked American enough, but the man seemed certain of his information.
"We're looking for unusual items. The person I represent is interested in classic vehicles, metal sculptures, really anything interesting."
"We have some of everything," the man answered and looked directly at AJ, locking eyes with him. "At the end of this aisle, there is even a spaceship."
AJ tried to cover his involuntary gasp with a cough. "A spaceship? Do you mean a sculpture?"
"No. It is a test aircraft our government discarded some years ago." His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
"Sounds interesting," AJ agreed. "Thank you. We'll check it out."
"See that you do," the man said and walked back into the shop, lifting a cellphone to his ear.
Jayne's hand found AJ's as the two walked casually beside piles of old freezers, washing machines and other junk. "Was it just me or did you get a bad vibe from that guy?" she asked. "Maybe we should leave. What if they're on to us already? Did you see the way he was looking at you?"
"I did," AJ said. "We can't just walk away, though."
"I don't know if I'm up for this."
AJ gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You're doing fine. Just a walk through a junkyard. I like to look at old items and try to imagine where they came from. Like that old Camaro’s front end. Don't you wonder who bought it new? It's an early 1970. Whoever bought it would have been proud. How'd it end up in the middle of Mexico?"
"How can you identify a car from just the front end?"
"Camaros aren't hard. Some of the Oldsmobiles can be trickier."
"There it is!" Jayne released AJ's arm and pointed. "It's smaller than I thought it would be. And it says NASA."
AJ pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, sending it immediately via text to Darnell. "That was added later," AJ said. "The logo isn't right but it’s not a bad job."
"How do you know that?" Jayne asked as AJ's phone buzzed with a response from Darnell.
DARNELL: That is not an original NASA logo.
AJ showed the message to Jayne. "Darnell's more of a space geek than I am, but being in aerospace, you pay attention," AJ answered. "Beverly, can you provide data on this ship?"
"The body is twenty meters long with a five-meter diameter flattened oval. Mass is twenty-five tons. The operational status is unknown," she said, hovering in front of them, holding a clipboard. "The aft fins are decorative to match expected, human design criteria."
"You fly through space in that?" AJ asked. "How do you not go nuts?"
"There is much you do not know about interstellar space travel," Beverly said. "The ship is quite sufficient for a crew of even a dozen human-sized passengers."
AJ climbed onto the pile of junk and knocked on the ship's hull. "Some kind of metal. I was expecting ceramic for atmospheric entry," he said, clambering onto the skin of the vessel and sliding forward. "Not even a single window or port. I can't believe nobody's seen this before."
"How do you get in?" Jayne asked.
"It is currently unpowered and secured by Korgul technology," Beverly said, hovering near AJ. "We will need time to bypass the locking mechanisms and build an interface."
AJ looked across at a group of five men who were walking their way. "How much time?"
"AJ?" Jayne's voice rose as her eyes fell on the men.
"Uh, yeah, that doesn't look good." He slid down and jumped on an old nose cone he hadn't seen before, then landed on the ground.
At the front of the group was a man in light brown pants and a denim shirt. "Is the leader carrying a gun?" Jayne asked, moving slowly to where AJ stood.
"Yeah, looks like trouble," AJ said, pulling his own weapon from his waistline. "If this goes south, keep your head down and try to make it back to Darnell."
"See anything you like?" the man called when he was twenty feet away. His words were incongruous with the gun in his hand and the various tools his men were brandishing as weapons.
"Makin' me a bit nervous with that gun, Mr. …" AJ called back, allowing his hand to slide out from behind his thigh, bringing his own gun into view. "Doesn't seem like a good way to make a sale."
"We know who you are," the man said. "We've been tracking you since Tucson."
"That's far enough," AJ said, bringing his weapon up to a forty-five-degree angle but not quite pointing it at the man.
"More men are on their way," the man said, switching to English. "This isn't your fight, human. Put down your weapon and we'll go easy on you. We'll extract those bleeding-heart Beltigersk and give you a rider of your own. In a few years, we'll move on and you'll get your body back. All in, you're ahead of the game. You’ll live longer than you would have without our intervention, Albert Jenkins and Amanda Jayne, and we keep mining Earth for materials you don't even know exist."
"Why is it guys like you always diatribe?" AJ asked. "I mean, I've read a lot of books and it's always the same. How would you know a long-winded tirade was your next step? You're not even from around here and I seriously doubt you read."
"I've been sitting in this shit hole for twenty years, waiting for some action," the man said. "Let's just say this is my moment of glory."
"Shit hole? From what I've seen, this is a nice town." AJ smiled disarmingly.
"I was talking about your planet." A gust of wind stirred a dust devil behind the dangerous-looking group. Taking little notice, the leader continued staring at AJ. "What's it gonna be? Hard or easy? You know, even if y
ou shoot this host, I'll just grab another."
"Surprise, assclown." AJ raised his weapon and fired three times in rapid succession. The group was only twenty feet from AJ and he hit the man dead center of his chest. His companions paused for a moment as the man shuddered, falling to the ground and jiggling in response to the shock rounds. Their hesitance was short-lived, however and as a unit they howled, charging with their makeshift weapons.
"Jayne, get out of here!" AJ yelled, firing at one attacker and then another before either could reach him. Raising his left hand, AJ blocked a swing, catching a heavy wrench on his forearm. He screamed in pain as a bone broke. Somehow, he remained cognizant enough to put two rounds into the attacker's mid-section. Pain exploded as a blow struck the back of his head and his vision blurred and then turned to black as he fell to his knees.
"Hold on, AJ," Beverly said. "I'm trying to help."
"Jayne!" AJ cried out as his vision dimmed and he saw reinforcements converge on the fight that had ended almost as quickly as it had started.
"AJ, wake up," Jayne whispered.
AJ groaned as he started to regain consciousness. "My arm," he complained, reaching for and finding the makeshift splint tied tightly in place over his injury.
"Shh," Jayne cautioned.
AJ blinked against the pain. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around the small room.
"Still at the junkyard," she said. "They weren't expecting the Korgul extraction bullets. They're pretty worked up about it. Apparently, they can't get back into their hosts."
Beverly appeared, standing in front of the two. "Was that not your requirement, Dr. Jayne? That we build a weapon to remove Korgul from their hosts without killing either Korgul or host?"
"I'd have been okay with half that," AJ grunted in pain. "Did you get word to Darnell?"
"He has been informed. The gathering outside is considerable, however," Beverly said. "I estimate at least twenty personnel, all infected with Korgul."
"At least you agree it's an infection," Jayne said, wryly.
"The Korgul do not ask permission to control their hosts," Beverly said. "The more we are in contact with them, the more despicable their actions appear."
"Are you still pissed at me, BB?" AJ asked.
"Pissed? No. Not …" Beverly said. "I am not sure, Albert Jenkins. It is upsetting that we were captured so easily. I feel you might have anticipated this."
"No, before that. You've been really quiet lately. No fun outfits or anything," he said. "Kind of feel like you're mad."
Before Beverly could answer, Jayne cut in. "This is the conversation you want to have? You're worried she's mad at you? What about getting out of here?"
"Would you believe she was right? That I always thought things would go this way?" AJ asked.
"You what? Why would we come then?" Jayne asked.
"I am not mad, AJ," Beverly said. "I am afraid of you. I feel that if I say or do the wrong thing you will ask me to leave as Dr. Jayne has Jack."
"Hold on a sec, Doc." AJ nodded. "I need to deal with this. BB, you're a funny, quirky little alien who has her priorities lined up straight. In the beginning, we had a bit of a struggle with what was acceptable behavior, but I thought we were past that."
"But …" Beverly started, but he cut her off.
"No buts. As a species, we value honesty. What Jack's been doing is anything but. Plus, he wraps his crap up in an I'm smarter than you sandwich and asks us to eat it. Figure it out. According to your scale, you're twice as smart as I am. The differences in behavior can't be that hard to see," AJ said.
"We need to talk about right time, right place, AJ," Jayne said. "We have pressing matters at hand."
"Are you going to cut your hair or something?" AJ asked, completely off subject. Her hair had grown and the new black hair was now longer than her old grey hair.
Jayne looked at him, exasperated. "Seriously, we need to get out of here. Stop talking about my hair!"
"Thank you, AJ," Beverly said, her outfit changing to wide black and white stripes with a ball and chain connected to her leg.
"That's rich, BB," he laughed, turning back to the doc. "I'm serious, Jayne. The whole black-on-gray thing is kind of weird."
"Are you concussed? Is that why you're acting like this?" she asked, kneeling in front of him and staring into his eyes.
"Show her Darnell's position, BB," AJ said.
Beverly switched her clothing to a green Vietnam era camouflage uniform. A table rose up from the floor and on the top surface, two gray speakers sat on opposite edges of a map. Pulling the butt of a cigar from her mouth, she rested her hand on the side of the table as she blew smoke out over the map. "So, our current location is here, in the junkyard," she said, lowering her voice but in such a way that it was obvious she was a woman attempting to sound like a man. "The locals have called for reinforcements, but our scout team has located an air asset up at the airfield and is in the process of procurement."
Jayne looked from Beverly to AJ with raised eyebrows. "What the hell is going on here?"
AJ just grinned. "Please continue, Captain," he said, acknowledging the brass on her uniform.
"You're as crazy as she is," Jayne said, exasperated.
Beverly winked and continued. "Currently, the scout team is eighteen clicks out and on the move." A luminescent green line appeared on the map, tracing a path from the airport to the junkyard. The line was filled in about halfway, led by an X that was slowly moving toward them.
"They were never going to let us leave this place without a fight, Doc," AJ said. "I mean, sure, was I hoping I could just shoot 'em all in one go and be done with it? Yep. But what if we didn't get 'em all? We had to have a plan to stop the locals before they could report us to their bosses. I guess I was hoping there weren't twenty of them around here, though."
"Music?" Beverly asked.
AJ nodded and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries started playing through the virtual gray speakers on the table.
"Good to have you back, BB," AJ said. "Let's not fight anymore."
"I'm surrounded by crazy people," Jayne said, standing up. "What in the hell is an airplane going to do for us?"
AJ held his arm out to Jayne for help up. "I know it's been a while, but you do remember how Big D and I met, right? We were flying slicks out in the jungles."
"Slicks?"
"Huey's. Bell UH-1s," AJ said. "Won't be Big-D's first-time landing on twenty Cong. Although, in truth, he always had me on the door gun back then."
"Where the heck did he get a chopper?"
"There's an old Army gunship operator flying outta the local airport," AJ said. "Seamus actually found him. Apparently, he and Big-D hit it off, because the two of 'em are coming in hot."
A shout from the adjoining room warned that the Korgul drones had become aware of the approaching aircraft. The sound of rotors and machine-gun fire split the air as bullets tore through the top of the room.
"Get down!" AJ shouted, knocking Jayne to the ground. "BB, can't you show Darnell where we're at?"
"We are working together," she said. "I have alerted him to your location."
Small arms fire popped off from somewhere inside the building but was immediately answered by a second round of machine-gun fire. "Shit, they're burning through ammo," AJ said, jumping to his feet and kicking the door ineffectively. "BB, give me a boost here!" With adrenaline racing through his blood, AJ reared back and kicked again.
"What are you doing?" Jayne asked as the door splintered beneath his assault.
"Darnell's gonna run outta ammo. That gun burns seven hundred rounds a minute. It only holds five hundred rounds and that's if he got it all loaded into a belt. We gotta move," he urged.
Jayne nodded and the two ran from the room, finding themselves at the end of a warehouse where half a dozen men lay on the ground, many of them bleeding profusely.
"You won't get away with this," a man with light brown jeans growled, peering up from the cover he'd taken behin
d a row of wooden crates. In his hand was AJ's pistol, which he fired.
AJ felt as if thousands of tiny needles had just struck every inch of his body. He froze in place, falling uncontrollably onto his face.
"AJ, no!" Jayne cried. Her back arched and she registered the sound of a second shot. With a thud, she fell next to a twitching AJ, writhing toward unconsciousness.
Nineteen
At the Gate
Dust billowed from beneath the rotors as the ancient troop carrier swung into AJ's dimming view. The amplified sound of Wagner was only momentarily cut off as fire belched from the door-mounted M60. Still unable to move, he'd never seen such a welcome sight as Darnell jumped down from the hovering craft and raced toward him. Darnell swiveled as he ran toward AJ, popping off quick shots from his assault rifle.
"Grabbing Doc first," Darnell yelled over the cacophony caused by amplified music and the helicopter's powerful motor. Before he grabbed Jayne, Darnell spun down to one knee and fired two shots in quick succession, dropping an enemy AJ hadn’t seen.
AJ clawed at the warehouse floor as he fought against the sharp pain caused by the electric round. Tears clouded his eyes as he watched Darnell grab the back of Jayne's shirt and drag her toward the waiting transport. The scene transported him back in time to Vietnam and the many missions he and Darnell had executed to pick up and protect grateful troops.
"I got you, buddy," Darnell said, grabbing AJ, dragging him to relative safety.
The cool press of the helicopter's metal decking did little to ease the constant pain as AJ’s neurons reacted to the high voltage blocking normal signals to his brain. The helo lifted from the Mexican junkyard as AJ attempted and failed to talk. The bullet hadn’t run out of juice and was making voluntary movement all but impossible.
Darnell slipped on headphones and leaned back into the cockpit. "Little, you have any pliers on board?" he asked, addressing the pilot.
"Are they still alive? Maybe we better get over to the hospital. There's one thirty minutes out," Little answered. "Tools under the back bench, though."
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