“Did you want it do that?” she asked.
“I think so,” he said. “I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. Let’s just say I don’t want to meet with my big boss right now.”
He wiped some sweat off his brow with a bandanna. He pointed to the second bike. “Do you want to come with me? I’m going to try to bike down to Tierra del Fuego.”
“The one in Argentina?”
“The end of the earth. It’s pretty much a straight shot, but you have to take a ferry around the Darien Gap in Panama.”
“What are you going to do there?”
“Take a ship down to Antarctica. Let’s just say there’s a classified, independent research station there that is doing some studies that might shed some light on our current situation. They found an artifact that might have a connection to our current situation.”
Denise had a vision of this artifact, a frozen flying saucer containing well-preserved aliens buried beneath the Antarctic ice. Then again, she might be thinking back to the plot of a half-dozen episodes of forgotten TV shows. For a moment, she was tempted to ride along with Hikaru and uncover the truth. The truth was down there, so to speak.
But as she looked in the fire, a log broke apart and emitted a burst of sparks. A spark landed on her wrist and she swiped it away. She thought of her brother, he needed her. Needed her now. The truth could wait.
“I think I better go back and save Denny.”
“I knew you’d say that,” he said. “I respect you for that.”
“Ummm... I respect you too.”
He stamped out the fire with his feet, without burning himself. “I’ll keep in touch while I’m on the run.”
“I’d like that.”
Without another word, he got on the bike and rode off into the darkness.
She stared at the smoldering ashes and wiped away a tear. Moments later she heard “I love you, Denise Song” echo off the mountaintops. And then there was laughter.
“I love you, Hikaru Yu,” she said to the damp coals of the fire. She was about to add the word, “kinda,” but she realized that there was nothing “kinda” about it. It was the real thing.
Would she ever see him again?
She sat there for a few hours staring at the embers and experienced the information from the interface in her head, experienced it as if they were her own memories. Denny had been telling the truth. She typed the info from her brain into her laptop and actually arranged all her notes into the tic-tac-toe board, like a PowerPoint presentation. It was amazing, she could click on a square and get the information, even access the videos.
This would be gold if she could introduce this in court.
And then she realized even with the most relaxed rules of evidence, the PowerPoint of her vision would not be admissible without Hikaru to authenticate it. Without Hikaru, the truth was stuck in there.
Chapter 56
Thursday, August 13
It was after midnight when she got back in the Kia and took the road out from the cabin. She pulled over to allow some heavy military vehicles to pass. The aspen trees along the road shook from the vibrations. A branch fell down on the Kia. That sure was a lot of firepower to retrieve one unarmed man for a peaceful meeting with his boss.
She prayed that Hikaru was long gone in the darkness. Would they really terminate him with extreme prejudice? She didn’t know what that meant, didn’t want to know.
As she drove deeper and deeper into the heart of the desert night, she confirmed everyone’s appearance in court for the next hearing—talking to Dew, Rayne by phone and text. She hoped Rayne would get a message to Rita who was probably asleep. Once she hit Cruces, she thought about visiting her mother again, but the exit to the hospital was closed. That couldn’t be a good sign. As she hit Interstate 10, she drove at the speed of light back to Lordsburg. If there were drones overhead, she must have outrun them.
It was dawn when she arrived at the Last Palm. There was a text from Hikaru at the Rio Grande, probably Juarez. He was under a sign that said “Bienvenido a Mexico.”
* * *
Denise awoke midday on Thursday. Unfortunately, the PowerPoint now seemed locked in her computer. ACCESS DENIED came up over and over again. Had she lost control of her own memories without Hikaru?
She hoped Hikaru was alright. She noticed a text from an unknown number showing some pics of somewhere on the Mexican Riviera. The sunrise illuminated a shadow of a bike and rider against the asphalt road. He couldn’t have biked that far. Had he hitched a ride once he’d crossed the border?
SOUTH BOUND! MEET ME IN ARGENTINA! I WILL TEXT YOU FROM MY NEXT DESTINATION.
Then again, he did have access to a high-speed helicopter. Maybe he could send it to pick her up.
Still, Tierra del Fuego would be a trek, even by helicopter. Taking a boat from there to Antarctica would be no picnic either. And then getting to the frozen artifact whatever it was sounded epic. She was glad he was safe wherever he was, and she hoped that she’d be able to see him again.
Chapter 57
Friday, August 14
At eight in the morning on Friday, Shakespeare street was still empty. Denise checked her phone. Hikaru had sent a selfie of him on his bike posing next to a “canal lock” on the Panama Canal. How did he get there? Denise guessed that he must have access to a helicopter, supersonic jets and maybe even a flying saucer. Good for him.
Here in court, some workmen were laying tiles on the courthouse roof. Another worker hung precariously over an open skylight. That was new. A worker dropped a tile that nearly hit Denise as she entered.
“Watch out!” someone yelled, then swore in some foreign tongue. Denise noticed some creepy looking figure in a black hoodie and sunglasses standing in the shadows of an alley, watching her enter the courtroom. She couldn’t tell if he was human or an alien under all that covering.
Even worse, inside the courthouse all the bathrooms except one were “under construction.” What the hell was going on here?
Denise hurried inside the courtroom, empty except for Dew, Rayne, and Rita. Above, the new skylight opening was covered by a mildewed tarp and was directly over the witness chair. A drip of water came down right on the seat.
“I hope I don’t have to sit there,” Dew said. She was actually dressed like the lawyer she had once hoped to become—black power-suit and turquoise top. She could pass for a shorter version of Hurricane Luna. Rita wore a turquoise blazer, breaking away from her usual red. Rayne also went with turquoise. The three of them looked like a woman’s basketball team traveling in style—Rayne the center, Rita the power forward and Dew as the scrappy little point guard.
More tiles fell off the roof and Denise heard more swearing in that foreign language. Russian? Louder this time.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rita said. “Who are these guys up there?”
No one seemed to know. Caliban the bailiff entered. “Has anyone seen Madam Dark?”
Before they could answer, a new jail guard brought Denny in and seated him at counsel table. His orange outfit had not been washed and smelled of mildew and bologna. There was another drip onto the witness chair. The bailiff hurried over and wiped it off the chair. A stain remained.
“That’s gross,” Denny said. “I sure wouldn’t want to be sitting there.”
“Don’t worry,” Denise said to Denny. “You’re not going to testify today, so you’re safe.”
Jane Dark barely fit through the narrow doors. She pointed down at her belly. “Hopefully not today.”
Without a sound, the judge materialized on the bench, sans robe. “It’s official! I got the probation and parole job from the governor!” she said to the bailiff. She looked different, her piercings were gone, her tattoos covered by scarves and band-aids. “Head of the whole department with a cabinet level salary. And a car! I get sworn in
on Monday!”
The judge covered her mouth as she realized that everyone in the courtroom was listening. She straightened up and did her best to adopt a judicial demeanor for her final day on the bench. “We will finish the case this morning. Does the defense wish to make an opening statement?”
“Yes, your honor,” Denise said. “My client was clearly impaired when he allegedly committed these actions. He was affected by an unidentified flying object which caused him to be unable to form the specific intent required to be culpable for his actions. I would like to bring in the testimony of Dew Cruz, Rayne Herring and Rita Herring who can testify from personal experience about how these objects—these unidentified flying objects—can affect people.”
The judge rolled her eyes. “Does counsel want to call any witnesses in the dangerousness hearing to prove this ummm… hypothesis?”
“Yes, your honor, I will call Rayne Herring, Rita Herring and Dew Cruz.”
“I will renew my objection,” Jane Dark said.
“What are they going to testify to?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, these witnesses will testify as to how their personal experience with similar objects, drones, can cause otherwise peaceful people to become violent and not be responsible for their own actions.”
“I’ll allow it,” the judge said. “This is going to be my last day as a judge, so I might as well go out with a bang.”
Denise didn’t like the sound of that, but she had a chance now. She called Dew first. Dew went up and immediately recoiled when a drip from the skylight fell on her blazer.
Back in their mock trial days, Dew had been the lawyer and Denise played the witness. It felt refreshing to turn the tables, and Denise felt good to be the one in charge. Was Dew actually looking at her with respect? After a few preliminaries, Denise turned to the money question.
“Did you have any recollection of a similar incident involving a drone?” Denise asked her. “An incident which showed how an unidentified object could affect someone’s behavior?”
Unfortunately, if Denise had become a better lawyer, Dew was a lousy witness.
“At first, I didn’t have any recollection of any incident,” Dew said, looking downward. “But then I got hypnotized and it all came back.”
Jane Dark objected immediately.
“Move to strike all testimony of this witness regarding any other incident,” she said. “Do I need to go through Rule 11-403 on how this testimony was a waste of time due to her lack of personal knowledge or expertise under Rule 702.”
The judge didn’t look up. “I will strike her testimony. Next witness, counsel?”
“Strike one,” Denny said, shaking his head.
Another drop from above hit Dew right on the forehead. She looked immensely relieved that she wouldn’t have to testify any further and could get the hell off the stand. “Sorry, Denise,” Dew said.
Denise hoped that she would have better luck with Rayne, who could talk about how she was directly affected by the drones which caused her to become violent.
Rayne went up to the stand. She too felt a drip, but Rayne was tough and didn’t flinch. Denise went through the preliminary questions with her, and they were really flowing, as if the two were making music together. Rita was actually nodding along to the beat of her mother’s testimony.
Denise stopped for a dramatic pause. Time to get to the climax. “Isn’t it true that you were directly affected by a drone, or some other object floating above you.”
Jane Dark didn’t bother to rise. “Move to strike this witness’s testimony as not being relevant and a waste of time under Rule 403.”
If they’d been playing music, someone had scratched the turntable.
Before Denise could say anything on behalf of the defense, the Judge lifted her hand. “I will strike her testimony.”
“Strike two,” said Denny.
“I’ve got to make a call,” the judge said. She started talking while still on the bench. Was she mumbling something about the color of her new state car—a choice between red or green? “If you’ll excuse me,” she said before she seemed to vanish off the bench.
“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” Denny said. “And there’s like only one in the building that still works.”
Everyone else in the courtroom looked at each other. As the court seemed to be in recess, they all rushed out in a race to the one public unisex bathroom in the building.
With an unexpected moment to spare alone in the courtroom as everyone seemed to be stuck in the bathroom line, Denise noticed a new pic of Hikaru on her phone. He was next to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Still on the bike, his arms were outstretched like the statue.
That was odd. Rio was a detour from a straight shot to Tierra del Fuego. Maybe one of the UFOs was flying him down south, although it was probably a helicopter. Next stop Argentina, or would he keep going down to Antarctica?
And then it hit her. Hikaru was probably not going to Antarctica after all. He had mentioned something about the “lock” on the final square being released after his death. Maybe this was Hikaru’s way of saying good-bye. Maybe he was going to jump off of the statue of Christ down into sea.
Missing him greatly, she decided to look at all the pics he had sent her that she had saved in her phone’s library. She frowned when she looked at her archives. Every single one of Hikaru’s photos had vanished. Worse, there was no record of them ever arriving. All her texts back to him had vanished as well, as if he didn’t exist.
Even the last pic of Hikaru under the Christ the Redeemer statue was gone, and for some reason that hurt her the worst as it might be the last image of him she’d ever see.
Had he sent them with his mind? Had he even sent them at all? Perhaps it was worse than that, the bad guys had caught up and deleted him and everything about him.
Maybe he was already gone… If you were going to jump off a cliff, Rio would be the perfect place to do it.
She tried to text him, tried to reach out with her mind, but it was like he no longer existed. She knew numbers could be unavailable, but could psychics?
The judge reappeared back on the bench, and everyone else hurried back from the bathroom line, most without accomplishing their objective. The door was still open as Rita bumbled in.
“Do you have any other witness testimony indicating that the court should not hold that Denny Song is dangerous and must remain in custody?”
Rita nodded at Denise. “We call Rita Herring to the stand,” Denise said.
More footsteps coming from above.
“Are gorillas working up there?” Rita said.
Rita walked to the stand filled with excitement, like a gymnast about to tumble.
“What do you want to talk about?” Rita asked, after the judge swore her in.
“Are you related to the Defendant in this case?”
“He’s my father, but I will tell the truth, no matter what.”
“When did you find out he’s your father?”
“Technically this week. But this might seem weird, but he’s reaching out to me with his mind now that we know about each other. While he’s a little paranoid, he seems like a decent man, a good man. I hope we can build a relationship in the future.”
“Do you feel that he’s dangerous?” Denise asked.
“No.”
“And why is that?”
“Objection, lack of personal knowledge!” Jane Dark objected.
“She does have personal knowledge your honor,” Denise responded.
“I’ll allow it but be brief.”
“Why do you think he’s not dangerous?”
“Well, I saw the video and it looks like he was affected by a drone when he shot at the cops, I mean allegedly shot at the cops. But then I found out that my own mother was affected in the same way by a d
rone and she became violent. So, I think my dad isn’t violent and should get out of jail, free.”
“I love you Rita,” Denny said out loud.
“I love you, dad,” Rita replied.
“Move to strike,” Jane Dark said. “Love is not relevant.”
“Agreed,” the judge said. “Both statements are stricken. There is no love in this courtroom. Please stick to the facts.”
Denise wanted to disagree but kept going. “And how did you find out that your father is not dangerous?” she asked.
“Well I’m kinda psychic,” Rita said. “I just know.”
Denise sat down. “Pass the witness.”
“You said you are some kind of psychic,” Jane Dark asked Rita on cross-examination.
“I guess so.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Can you prove it?”
Rita closed her eyes. “You are going to name your daughter Jean Dark. Jean Dark’s father is Judge Comanche, chief judge of the Second Judicial District Court.”
Jane Dark was stunned. But Rita wasn’t done...
“Jean will be very famous someday, the most famous lawyer in the world. And she and I will meet again. And she will be here when the aliens come back.”
Jane Dark was blindsided by that. She had a few more pages to go, but sat down, abruptly.
Denise asked one more question on redirect. “Based on your interaction with your father, do you think the drone affected him and made him dangerous?”
“I do. I believe my father is not a dangerous man and it caused him to go crazy.”
Jane Dark must have regained her mojo after sitting down. Maybe her daughter, the so-called greatest lawyer in the world, had told her mom not to give up. The lawyer looked down at her phone as if it was an instruction on what to do.
“Move to strike the entire testimony of this witness,” Jane Dark said.
Denise stood up. “Young Ms. Herring does have personal knowledge of Mr. Song, even if it’s not direct knowledge.”
The Shakespeare Incident Page 30
