by Ken Warner
“Oh, do you know where he went?”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” she said. “I didn’t know he was planning to leave. Woke up one morning, and his trailer was gone. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
“Now what,” Sydney asked, heading back to the car with Brian.
They sat down in the car but didn’t bother starting it or even closing the doors. Brian pulled out his phone.
“I’m going to call the office,” he told her. He tapped a contact on the display. “Hey, Andre—I need you to run a cell phone number for me.” Brian gave him San Juan’s number, then waited for a moment. “Oh, today? Okay… great. Alright… Yeah, run the GPS and let me know. Thanks.”
He closed the phone.
“The number we’ve got is still active. He’s used it today—in the last hour, in fact.”
“Which means he’s just ignoring us?”
“So it would seem. Andre’s going to pull his GPS data, so we should be able to determine his new location. This might take a few minutes; why don’t we head back to town and stop somewhere for some coffee.”
They found a little café and headed inside. As the barista handed them their orders, Brian’s phone rang.
“Hey, what’ve you got? Perfect… yes, text me the coordinates, please.”
“Got him?” asked Sydney.
“Sure do. There’s an address nearby that’s seen significant activity from that phone number.”
They went outside and got back in the car.
“We’re heading east on 160 this time,” Brian told her.
They drove for ten minutes, and he had her turn north onto a little dirt road. Within minutes, they arrived at another mobile home community.
“This is it—the trailer there on the right.”
Sydney pulled over, and they got out of the car.
There was a white RV trailer on the lot, and separate from that, a black pickup truck. They went up to the trailer, and Sydney knocked on the door. There was no answer, and she couldn’t hear anything inside. She knocked again.
“Mr. San Juan,” she called out, “my name is Sydney. Martha McClure asked me to find you. Do you have a moment? I just have a few questions for you?”
She turned to Brian; he shrugged.
Sydney tried the door—it was unlocked. She pulled it open a few inches and called out through the opening. “Hello? Mr. San Juan?”
She opened the door a little wider and peered inside.
“There’s nobody here,” she said to Brian.
Sydney moved into the trailer, Brian close behind.
“The place looks lived in,” she observed. The bed at the rear end of the space had been left unmade, and there were a few dirty dishes in the sink.
She moved toward the table at the front end when they heard an engine starting outside. They ran out the door in time to see the black pickup truck taking off down the road.
“Let’s go!” said Brian.
They got back into the rental car. Sydney started it and took off after the pickup truck. When they reached Route 160, the truck turned west, fishtailing around the corner. Sydney was right behind him, but the pickup started pulling away.
“He’s headed into Kayenta,” said Brian.
As they approached the town, San Juan blew through a red light. Sydney stopped first, checked both ways, then followed.
“In the movies, nobody ever stops for a red light,” Brian chided her, grinning.
“Hey, you wanna drive?” she shouted.
“No, no—you’re doing fine. But you might want to speed up—we’re losing him.”
“Jeeze, back seat driver much?”
The pickup reached the main road and turned right. This was a four-lane road, and San Juan was weaving in and out of traffic to lose them.
“Shit!” Sydney yelled when a garbage truck cut in front of her.
She managed to get around the garbage truck on the right, but then Brian yelled, “He turned!”
Sydney looked back and saw that the pickup had taken off down a side road.
“Dammit!”
She turned into the next parking lot and headed back the other way.
“Here,” said Brian. “Turn right.”
Sydney took the corner at speed, tires screeching.
“There he is!”
San Juan was far ahead of them, turning left. Sydney gunned it. They reached the road where he’d turned, and she followed.
But this was a dead end.
“Crap! Where the hell did he go?”
They got out of the car and looked around.
“Over here,” she said.
There was a narrow alley between two buildings. When they reached it and rounded the corner to check it out, they saw the pickup truck—and a man standing behind it, pointing a shotgun at them.
Sydney and Brian froze, putting their hands above their heads.
“What the hell do you want?” the man asked.
“Martha sent us,” said Sydney.
“Yeah?” he asked. “Martha’s dead. She contact you from beyond the grave?”
“No—I was with her when she died! Her dying request was literally to find you!”
A shadow of indecision crossed the man’s features.
“Martha came to me in the middle of the night,” Sydney told him. “She told me she was afraid someone was trying to kill her. She gave me a bunch of files and asked me to look into the abductions. I was going to let her know we were taking it on, but the man in black got to her.”
“Man in black…” he muttered, staring hard at Sydney as if he were trying to figure something out. “You’re the woman from the TV,” he said finally. “You were involved with the invasion.”
“Yes, that’s right, we both were,” she replied, indicating Brian.
“Y’all work for the government?”
“No, sir,” said Brian. “Not in any capacity.”
“You’re not with the man in black?”
“With him? Ah, no. He hunted me down in Puerto Rico and blew up my house, so no—we’re not with the man in black.”
Slowly, San Juan lowered his gun.
“Alright then,” he said. “What is it you want?”
They decided to go to the café Sydney and Brian had visited earlier to talk.
“How did you meet Martha?” Sydney asked once they’d sat down.
“I found her,” Miguel said, “online. I was abducted, and you know, it freaked me out. At first, I thought I might have hallucinated the whole thing. But I kept having these nightmares about it, and I couldn’t sleep. It changed my life. I’ve never been one to worry about things, or have anxiety or anything like that… but this messed me up big time.
“I looked around on the internet,” Miguel continued, “and found I wasn’t alone. A ton of people have had experiences just like mine. And I found Martha in this forum for UFO people. She asked if she could come out and interview me. I said, sure, why not, you know?
“So, she flew out here, and I showed her where it happened. And she asked me a bunch of questions about my experience.”
“Do you remember what happened during your abduction?” Sydney asked.
“I do,” he said. “I mean, it’s fuzzy, like remembering a dream. That’s partly why I thought at first I might have imagined the whole thing.”
“Can you tell us about it?” asked Brian.
Miguel took a deep breath.
“Yeah, alright… I was driving up the road to my trailer one night. It was late; there was no one else around. Beautiful, clear night. But suddenly these clouds move in—dark clouds, like there’s a storm coming, right? But they moved in so fast. And in the middle of that were these lights… and then I can see there’s something up in them clouds—like a saucer—it was like that one that took out the cities, but smaller. Way smaller.
“Hell, when I saw that, I flew. Man, I must’ve been doing a hundred up 163. But that thing kept up, stayed right above me. And then my truck just dies… g
ood thing there were no other cars on the road—the power steering and power brakes went once the engine cut.
“Anyway, I managed to pull over. I got outta the truck and I ran, straight into the desert… like that was gonna do any good. That thing kept up with me in the truck; I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just scared, you know?
“And so, this beam of light shoots down, and suddenly I’m floating, right up to that flying saucer. It pulled me inside.”
“Did you see anyone?” asked Sydney.
“Not at first—I was in this room—it was dark. But then these two—I don’t know if they were girls or guys, not sure how you’re supposed to tell. But two of them aliens showed up, and one of them grabbed me. There was this buzzing noise, and then I felt weird… it was like being high and drunk at the same time. That’s when everything went fuzzy.
“And then I was… floating, I guess you could call it. I couldn’t walk, but they just kind of pushed me, and I glided into this other room. There were these… pods along one wall—reminded me of coffins, except they were standing up and more rounded. They pushed me into one of them. I was standing, but my feet didn’t seem to be touching the floor—felt like I was floating, still.
“I was there a while, can’t rightly tell you how long. But then the two aliens come back, and then I’m floating back to that first room, and the floor disappeared. Then there was this light all around me, and I’m going down to the ground.
“It was dark still. We must not have gone too far because I could see Monument Valley in the background.”
“Monument Valley?” asked Sydney.
“Yeah, it’s this land formation ’round here. All these buttes and mesas and what not.”
“Oh, yeah—I know what you’re talking about—like in those old John Wayne westerns, right?” asked Sydney.
“Exactly,” Miguel said with a nod.
“That’s somewhere near here, isn’t it?” asked Brian.
“Sure is,” Miguel confirmed. “Like I said, I knew then they hadn’t taken me very far. So, they brought me inside a hole in the side of this butte, and then there was like an elevator, and we’re going down into the ground.
“At the bottom there was this tunnel… we went down the tunnel a ways—mind you, I’m floating this whole time. I still can’t move my body. And then they bring me into this room with these metal walls. Looked pretty similar to the inside of the ship, to tell the truth.
“Somehow, they got my clothes off me, and I was lying there, naked, on this metal table.”
“They did a physical exam?”
“Yeah, guess you could call it that. I couldn’t tell what they were after, but yeah, it was like an exam.
“Anyway, that lasted a while, and then they managed to get my clothes back on me and brought me back up to their ship. Put me back in that pod thing again, and before I know it, they brought me back to my truck. Lay me down on the ground, and the ship zooms off, like a shooting star.
“I reckon I must’ve nodded off at some point, ’cuz then I woke up, lying by the side of the road, in broad daylight. It was only a little after dawn, so I don’t think anyone had driven by yet.
“And that was it. I got in my truck and drove home.”
“You recounted that whole story to Martha?” asked Brian.
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“I’m surprised Martha didn’t give me your file when I first met her,” said Sydney. “You’re the only person I’ve encountered so far who has any memory of leaving the ship and being taken underground. Everyone else blacked out when they first got to the ship and then woke up in the exam room.”
“Well, it’s like I said,” he told them. “The whole thing was fuzzy. Honestly thought a lot of it could’ve been a dream—and I said that to Martha.
“Not only that, but I spent a couple months exploring this whole area, trying to find the place they brought me. Couldn’t find jack squat. It was only after that when I finally talked to Martha, so I was kinda questioning the whole thing by then.”
“But you contacted her again, more recently?” asked Brian.
“Hell yeah, I did,” said Miguel. “See, couple months after I met Martha, I found them.”
“I’m sorry, found whom, exactly?” asked Sydney.
“Them aliens,” said Miguel. “I found the place they took me.”
“Are you kidding?!” asked Sydney. “Where is it?”
“Like I said, I could see Monument Valley in the background. Knew the place had to be near that. Took months to find it, but figuring the configuration of the big mesas and how far away they looked, I could tell roughly the area where it had to be. It’s pretty much due east of the monuments, a few miles out.”
“Could you take us there?” asked Brian.
“Reckon I could,” said Miguel. “But it ain’t exactly easy to get to. Can’t drive there, that’s for sure—the place is nowhere near civilization. It’s a pretty long hike from the road, through the desert and what not. But yeah, I can take ya there.”
“And so, you called Martha again to tell her about this?” asked Sydney.
“Sure did. ’Course, she was very interested in that, said she wanted to come out again and have a look. But I could tell something was wrong. She didn’t say nothing, but man, she sounded terrible. Worried, like, and distracted. I asked her if she was alright, and she was a little vague; just said she was going through some things. So, I didn’t think too much of it. Said she’d call me back the next day to arrange a visit.
“But that was the last I heard from her. She never called back and stopped answering my calls.”
“That must be when the man in black caught up with her,” Sydney suggested.
“Must’ve been, ’cuz a couple days later, she showed up in this news story on the internet. Just said she’d died suddenly, didn’t go into how.”
“I was with her when she died,” Sydney told him. “The man in black had been following her, and he finally killed her. I guess he shows up when someone goes digging into things too much. Before she passed, she told me to ‘find him,’ and she said your name—‘San Juan.’ I thought she was telling me to find a man in San Juan…”
“That the reason you were in Puerto Rico?” Miguel asked with a grin.
“Yeah,” Sydney said with a sigh. “Of course, that turned out to be a dead-end, but then we finally found you in her files.”
“Well, that man in black turned up here, too,” Miguel told them. “Showed up at my trailer one time, in the dead of night, right after I found the aliens. There was a knock on my door, and I answered it, and he was just standing there. Black suit, sunglasses. All he said was, ‘Leave it be, or else.’ And just like that, he’s gone. Coulda swore he flew then, like Superman… but that’s crazy, right? Same time, I can’t say where he went. Just gone.”
“That’s why you didn’t take our calls,” said Brian.
“Damn right, it was,” Miguel confirmed. “Guy like that shows up in the middle of the night and makes a threat; I don’t need telling twice. I moved my trailer, and I haven’t gone back out to the alien place since. And I wasn’t too keen to go talkin’ to anyone else about what I saw, neither.”
“You’re willing to take us there, though?” asked Sydney.
“I mean, we ain’t gonna be knocking on their front door or anything, are we?” Sydney shook her head. “Then yeah, I’ll get ya most of the way out there, close enough to see where they are and all.”
“Can we go now?” asked Brian.
“Can’t say I’d recommend it,” said Miguel. “It’s about a two-hour hike, one way, and if we go now, we’re gonna be out in the desert during the hottest part of the day.
“No sir, I’d say it’d be best to set out first thing in the morning. We leave at dawn, I’ll get ya out there and back again before the whole place turns into a furnace.”
“Good thinking,” said Sydney.
“How about if you two meet me at my trailer at first light, and
we’ll head out there?”
“Works for me,” said Brian. Sydney nodded.
“Good deal,” said Miguel. “You’ll wanna wear some comfortable shoes, and make sure to bring a good bit o’ water. You’re gonna need it.”
They said farewell to Miguel, and Brian and Sydney headed back to the motel.
Sydney was thrilled—finally, they were getting somewhere. Now it made perfect sense why Martha had wanted them to find this man.
She was nervous and excited at the same time. This was a huge breakthrough, but she worried about getting caught. It took her longer than usual to fall asleep that night.
They met Miguel at his trailer early the next morning.
“We should probably take your car,” he told them. “We ain’t all gonna fit in my truck.”
Sydney drove, and Miguel navigated from the back seat.
They drove north on Route 163 for almost a half hour. The road led through the desert, and they didn’t see any towns or cities once they’d left Kayenta. Moments after crossing into Utah, Miguel told her to turn off the road toward Monument Valley park.
“We’re gonna have to pay the entry fee to the park to get where we’re doing,” he told them. “We’ll be crossing back into Arizona, but this here’s all Navajo Nation land, and there’s no other way to get where we’re going.”
There was no line at this hour. Sydney pulled up to the kiosk and paid the fee.
“Most folks take one of the tours they got here, but the road’s open to drive yourself,” said Miguel. “We’re gonna go up toward that hotel there and then turn left down that dirt road.”
There was a giant hotel a little beyond the kiosk, but no other buildings as far as the eye could see. Sydney turned onto the dirt road.
“That hotel’s got quite the view,” Brian commented. “Right at the top of that cliff, looking out over the monuments like that?”
“Sure does,” Miguel agreed.
For the next twenty minutes, they followed a winding dirt road, through the desert, and around the giant mesas and buttes of Monument Valley.
They came to a scenic overlook area, and Miguel told Sydney to park there.
“We’ll be on foot the rest of the way,” he told them.
“We’re way out in the desert here,” Brian observed. “Looks like there aren’t any homes or towns for dozens of miles around.”
