“I still can’t do it. If a customer comes in, I’ll need it to print out a receipt.”
“Okay,” Walter breathed. He pulled out his wallet. Looking inside he saw that he had eighty-five dollars. “What if I up that amount to fifty dollars. That’s probably for about fifteen minutes of use. If a customer happens to come in while I’m using the printer give me a ring and I’ll rush it right back.”
The clerk scratched at the back of his head and looked around nervously. “You’re in room sixteen, right?”
“Yes. And I paid with a credit card, so you have another avenue of recourse should something happen to your printer.”
The clerk gazed out the window as if to see if a customer was approaching, or perhaps his boss who would fire him on the spot for such a deed. He sighed. “Okay,” he finally said. “Just a few minutes, though.”
“Thank you,” Walter said.
“Sure,” the man replied. He stepped over to the printer and began to disconnect it. A couple of minutes later the man placed the printer on the counter.
Walter handed him the money. The man wadded it up and stuffed it into his front pocket.
“You came in with the woman and young man, right?”
“Yes,” Walter answered. He thought the question odd. On a hunch, he offered the man a handshake. The man seemed hesitant as if pondering Walter’s motive.
Finally, he reached out and shook Walter’s hand.
“Thanks again,” Walter said. A deluge of thoughts accosted him, and he inadvertently scrunched up his face.
“You welcome. You okay?”
Walter withdrew his hand. “Yeah, sure. Just a little indigestion.” He smiled. “Thanks again,” he said, and scooped up the printer. He carried the printer into the room and set it on the bed.
“Good,” Stone said. “Now I can show you my list of bounties.”
“We have a problem,” Walter said.
CHAPTER 19
“So, what’s the problem?” Stone asked as he plugged the printer into an outlet then sat on the bed next to it.
“We’re going to be attacked tonight.”
“What?!” Candace blurted out. “How do you know that?”
“I …” he began, then noticed what was happening with Stone. Candace, too, was momentarily distracted.
Stone had placed his left index finger next to the port of the printer. As he did the tip of the finger began to reshape, metamorphosing into an exact fit for the port. He plugged his finger into the slot.
“That’s incredible!” Walter exclaimed. He felt the last objections to Stone’s claim of being an alien slipping away. If he wasn’t an alien than his artificial arm sure was.
“Eh, what about the attack?” Candace asked, bringing Walter’s attention back to her.
“I felt it,” he said.
“Felt it? What does that mean?”
Walter settled heavily into the armchair next to the bed. “I’ve got quite a story to tell. One that you may find weird or a little shocking.”
“After what I’ve been through in the last few hours, I don’t think so.”
Walter smiled. “Okay, we’ll see.”
While he began to talk, pictures, names, and brief biographies began to print out only a few feet from him. Stone looked up from his printing to listen in on the speech Walter was giving.
Walter only went over the pertinent information. He spoke of the accident in his Camaro following the breakup with his girlfriend which Candace already knew about. He proposed that the accident had somehow stimulated something in his brain. He went on to tell her about the first time he had experienced the ‘gift’ and how he had used it on numerous occasions.
Stone spoke up as the last sheet of paper rolled out of the printer, “I guess we need a plan.” He said this as if he thoroughly believed everything Walter had said.
Walter met Candace’s eyes. She looked disturbed, maybe angry. “Are you okay?”
Candace shook her head. “Right now, I’m having trouble digesting this new information.”
“I’m sorry,” Walter said. He wasn’t sure what else to say.
“I thought I handled this alien thing very well. No offense, Stone.”
“None taken,” he answered.
“But,” she continued, “now we’re talking, what, clairvoyance? ESP? Do you have other powers that I don’t know about?”
“No, that’s it.” He took a deep breath before speaking again. “I’m truly sorry for springing this on you, but I was afraid to tell you earlier. Afraid of what you might think of me.”
“And you decided to reveal yourself now.”
“Yes. I had no choice. I had to reveal the danger we are facing.”
Candace acted as though she were about to speak but didn’t. She slowly pushed herself to her feet and ambled over to the door where she propped herself against it, her arms folded.
“This motel clerk,” Stone began, “does he know that you are aware of the planned attack?”
“I doubt it.” He looked over at Candace. He wanted to say something to try to make her understand but couldn’t think of anything.
Candace caught his eye and sighed. “Sorry,” she said. “I guess I overreacted. It’s been a long couple of days. I only wish you would have trusted me with your secret.”
“You’re right. I should have.”
“On my planet,” Stone began, “psychic ability is an accepted talent.”
“Too bad we’re not on your planet,” Walter said sarcastically.
“Okay,” Candace began, “assuming this psychic insight is true, what do we do about this attack?”
“I don’t know. All I sensed was that they were planning an attack on us. I guess the clerk must have phoned in our whereabouts. They must have connected you and I. It wasn’t a secret that we were seeing each other. And, also, like an idiot, I used my credit card. I just didn’t think anyone would be tracking me.”
“Maybe they didn’t,” Stone said. He paused and for several seconds he looked as though he were in a trance. Walter was about to say something when Stone began again. “I’ve been sensing a subtle nudge on my arm. I wasn’t sure what it was. I thought my computer arm was merely picking up interferences from any number of possible electronic devices, because there was no obvious attempt to intrude. But now, having just eliminated all known interferences as possible culprits, I came up with the probability of my arm being traced at roughly eighty percent.”
“That’s eh … pretty high odds,” Walter said. “You’ve convinced me that you’re the one to blame.”
“Can you block this trace they’re doing on you?” Candace asked.
“I can with the right stuff. But it wouldn’t be timely. The best I can do for now is to cut it off.”
“Cut off your arm?!” Walter asked, trying to sound alarmed, but knowing what Stone meant.
“No. I mean cut the power to it. Take it offline.”
Walter laughed. “I know what you meant.”
“What would that do to your arm?” Candace asked.
“No computer function, of course. And a lot of the strength in my arm would be gone. I could perform normal tasks, however.”
“Would it hurt you in any other way?” Candace asked.
“No. I can shut it down now if you’d like.”
“No,” Candace said. “Let it be for now.” She turned to Walter. “Walter, you said that you sensed that they were planning to attack, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“So, why are they planning? Why didn’t they attack us as soon as they knew of our whereabouts? Why not attack right now?”
“I don’t know,” Walter admitted.
“Maybe they don’t want to draw any more attention to themselves. Maybe their bungled assassination attempt on me is beginning to raise questions among the real FBI members as to what went on. I’m sure someone in their organization came up with a good fabrication for all the shooting and explosion that happened yesterday, but perhaps it wasn’t good enou
gh.”
“What are you saying?” Walter asked.
“I think they’ll stay put until tonight. What better time to attack then when we’re fast asleep? A few shots with a silencer and then they quietly get rid of the bodies and clean up the mess. The agency will assume that you and I ran away together to escape prosecution for what they think I did. The same with Stone. He is facing a murder rap. He would have a good reason to disappear.” She paused trying to read their faces. “As long as they think we’re unaware of their spying we have the time to make our own plans.”
“About they,” Walter began, then looked to Stone. “Who are they? Could these rogue FBI agents be aliens like you?”
Without answering, Stone stepped over to Walter and spread out a handful of printed pictures on the bed in front of him. Candace moved away from the door where she was propped to look at the pictures. “I believe that the people in these photographs are the ‘they’ you are talking about,” Stone started, “but probably not all of them.”
“The mayor,” Candace said as soon as she saw the first picture. “It seems we were investigating the right one. Does that mean that the mayor is the leader of some alien invasion?”
“No,” Stone answered. “Their numbers can’t be that great. I don’t think they intend to take over the world. I think they just want a piece of it.”
“And what is the mayor wanted for on your planet?” Candace asked.
“Some serious violations against the government, as well as crimes against individuals. Most notably Including murder.”
“This one,” Walter cut in, pointing to one of the pictures, “I’ve met him. At the restaurant. He’s a rookie cop.”
“It seems that the aliens have infiltrated the local police as well as the FBI,” Candace said.
“There’s more,” Walter said. “When I shook hands with him, I saw mental pictures. As I have before. Pictures of a certain place. And in the past when these mental pictures centered on a certain thing, person, place, or whatever, they turned out to be significant.”
“What place?” Stone asked. “Is it a place you recognized?”
“It looked familiar. I thought I had seen it in Nexus state park, so I made a trip there. Two actually.”
“Why two?” Candace asked.
“On the first trip to the park, I found what I was looking for. It was a tree sitting on a patch of ground, just like the one I had seen in my mind. The problem was I couldn’t get close enough to it to see what importance it held. It was about sixty feet up a steep incline from the trail I was on and the ground was completely enveloped by tightly woven kudzu and marshy ground. It was a trek I wasn’t willing to make, and probably couldn’t, so I had to find another way.”
“And did you?” Candace asked.
“I think so, but not then. I came back at another time and found a route that seemed to be easier. But it began to rain, and I turned around before I got to the tree.”
“What’s the connection between this place and the cop?” Stone asked.
“I’m not sure, but, like I said, in all these visions that I’ve had there have always been a special relationship between the person and the mental picture. In other words, this cop has been to this place before.”
For a few moments, no one spoke.
“I think I’d like to see this place,” Stone finally spoke.
“Me too,” Candace added. “But you know, Stone, that means we won’t be splitting up even though I’m feeling much better.”
“Perhaps not right away,” Stone said. “But you need to understand that as long as you hang around me, you’re putting yourself in potential danger.”
“We’re both professional law enforcement,” Candace said, then looked toward Walter.
“That’s right,” Walter agreed. “Danger is just part of our job.” He said this with a slight grin.
“Of course, this vision could have nothing to do with your mayor or the others,” Stone said.
“That’s true,” Walter agreed. “But it means something. How soon do you want to leave?”
CHAPTER 20
Walter returned the printer to the motel clerk taking time to make small talk to allow Stone and Candace time to load up the car without the clerk noticing.
When Walter left the office, he headed straight for the car where Stone and Candace waited.
Stone took his arm offline just before they pulled out of the parking lot heading to the park.
Walter clutched the handle of the plastic flashlight as they strode through the park. He was glad he had remembered that he had stashed it in the glove compartment of his car. And happy that the batteries were still good (he had checked them before they had left the car). The last time he had used it was six months ago. It was during a winter storm that had temporarily knocked out his power. Luckily, he had only used the flashlight long enough to light a few candles, then it was back in the glove compartment. He brought it with him now figuring that there was a good chance that the evening shadows would be stretching across the park before they could get back to the car.
Only a few people were in the park. Walter wondered if any of them were alien. If so were they connected to the others? Had they been told to keep an eye out Candace, Stone, or himself? It didn’t seem so. No one paid them much attention.
Even so, he felt some comfort in knowing that his Glock was in a holster underneath his shirt. It made him feel even better knowing Candace was carrying her weapon. She was a far better shot than he was.
They turned off the dirt trail that meandered through the forest and headed into the brush. Ten minutes later they came across a large orange danger sign telling everyone to stay out. Stone and Candace easily scaled the fence. Walter needed a bit of help and was somewhat embarrassed by it. They continued through the higher reaches trundling through small areas of marshy ground and occasional thick underbrush. Overall, however, the trip wasn’t bad.
When they came upon a slight clearing at the top of the hill Walter paused a few moments to catch his breath. Stone and Candace stopped along with him though neither of them was winded. In that time Walter gazed about at the lower stretch of the park down below them. He spotted the area where he had stood only a day ago starring up at the oddly constructed tree. To his right nearly two hundred yards away he could descry the top of the sprawling two-story mansion that was the mayor’s. The back of the house was a little less than a hundred yards from the park marked by a high chain-link fence. Straight ahead he could see part of the target tree poking through the interstices of underbrush.
They continued the journey, and as they neared the tree, he felt somewhat disappointed because nothing immediately jumped out at him. Then when they were almost upon it, they all saw it.
The shelf of ground where the small tree stood was approximately twenty-five feet by twenty-five feet. Nearly fifteen feet to the backside of the tree was a wall of rock that rose straight up for nearly fifteen feet before leveling off. At the base of this wall is what caught their attention. Embedded in the rock was an iron grate approximately four feet square painted in mottled greens and browns, apparently meant to match its surroundings.
“What have we got here?” Candace said as they approached it.
Walter knelt beside the grate. “There’s a little airflow. Must be a cave beyond this grate. The park might have installed the bars to keep people out.”
Candace squatted beside Walter. She picked up a clump of dead weeds scattered to the right of the opening. “Looks like someone’s been busy clearing the opening.”
“Yeah, and I’d bet that it was that rookie cop I shook hands with.” That would explain the connection I felt between him and this tree.”
“Why would this sense of yours prompt you to come up here?”
“I don’t know,” he answered as he came to his feet. “What I do know for sure is that every time I received one of these visions of mine it has turned out to have some great meaning.”
Stone went to his k
nees and began looking through the iron grate.
“See anything?” Candace asked.
“Nothing significant. Just looks like a cave.”
“Well, I think we need to check it out,” Walter said.
“Yes,” Stone said. “I agree.”
“Maybe it’s a hideout,” Candace said. “For the aliens.”
“We don’t need hideouts,” Stone said. “We look just like you.”
“Sorry. Didn’t think about that.”
“I would say, though, that your thinking may not be too far off the mark. This may be a starting point, a connection between our worlds. Perhaps a sort of indoctrination center.”
“Then we definitely need to explore this place,” Candace said.
“Then you need to keep in mind,” Stone began, “that there may be quite a few people in there. And chances are they won’t welcome our visit. To say it mildly.”
“We’ll just have to be invisible,” Candace said. “Depend on a little stealth.”
“That may not be so easy,” Stone said. “Perhaps the two of you should stay put until I can check it out.”
“I don’t think so,” Walter said. He wanted to keep eye on Stone. He still had it in his mind that Stone needed to give account for the two murders he committed. If he were to go alone, he might not return.
“We should all go,” Candace said. “If there’s any danger we should face it together.”
“Okay,” Stone said. “If that’s what you want.”
“One problem,” Walter said. “These bars are set into the rock.”
“I should be able to take care of that,” Stone said. “But to do that I’ll have to re-energize my arm.”
“What are you going to do?” Walter asked. “Have you got a tiny little lazar in that arm?”
Stone grinned and shook his head. “No, I don’t. But, you know, that’s not a bad idea. I’ll talk to my prosthetic engineer when I get home and see what he thinks.”
“Which brings up a question I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you end up losing your arm? Did one of your bounties shoot it off or something?”
The Nexus Page 13
