The Messenger

by Eugene Wilson

  David’s first impulse is denial. “Pardon me for asking Mr. Tanner, but what makes you think that I’ve found anything?” Mildly dismayed, David is expecting help from Nathan, who is still enjoying his second cold drink.

  “You don’t need to be coy with me. You and your friend here weren’t the only ones who have explored those old mining tunnels.”

  Despite Harold’s gruff voice, David is becoming intrigued. Before he can say another word, Nathan cuts in. “Mr. Tanner, Shanté told David that he is in trouble. Why is this?”

  Briefly, Harold scratches his chin. Within himself, Nathan’s bald head, as opposed to David’s Afro, amuses him. “Your friend here is in trouble because he took some information to that no-good Anthony Weiss about whatever you had found. I received word of this through Dotty as well. News spreads fast in these parts.”

  “You must have known Mrs. Richardson for some time,” Nathan states.

  “Since 1948.”

  “Then,” David continues, “may I assume that you went searching through those same tunnels, Mr. Tanner?” He finally realized that Harold was onto something.

  “You can. This happened twenty years ago around the time of the U.S. Supreme Court Brown ruling, probably before either of you were born. Anthony approached both of us both with some absurd story—

  “I’m sorry to cut across you, Mr. Tanner,” David interrupts, “but you mentioned us. Who else was involved with you?”

  “An old friend of mine, Roland Myers.”

  Although shocked, Nathan and David discern indications of remorse in Harold. With regard to the discovery, Nathan nods to David in the affirmative.

  Suddenly, two Crescent City police cruisers, with red lights flashing, pull up in front of the Tanners’ house.

  “Excuse me a minute folks,” Harold tells them. He stands up and walks toward the front gate. Nathan and David look at each other. After several minutes, the police officers drive off. Harold returns. “I apologize for that,” he tells them before sitting back down.

  “Mr. Tanner,” David begins after feeling relieved, “we discovered the skeletal remains of three individuals.”

  “Three individuals? Are you pulling my leg young man?”

  David becomes respectfully adamant. “No sir. After barely surviving a tunnel ceiling collapse, Nathan, his brother Tyrone and I discovered the skeletal remains of three people.”

  “The first skeleton was stuck halfway into a hole in a tunnel wall,” Nathan interrupts. Harold immediately buries his face in his hands.

  “Sir,” David asks with immediate concern, “are you okay?”

  “Lee, what’s wrong?” His wife asks after rushing outside.

  “Honey,” he tells her, “it’s okay.”

  “Lee, it’s not okay. You can’t keep blaming yourself!”

  “Betty! I’m okay. Please go back inside. I have to tell these young boys something important.” Betty walks back inside and sits by the window. David feels a sense of guilt. “Mr. Tanner, I didn’t mean to—”

  “Don’t worry yourself,” Harold interrupts him.

  Nathan dares to inquire further of the macabre situation. “Mr. Tanner, were one of those skeletal remains Mr. Myers?”

  “Yes.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” Nathan continues, “how did he die?”

  “Roland crawled through a hole in the wall and became stuck. I tried to get him out. That’s when an earthquake occurred. News reports said that the earthquake was felt as far south as Los Angeles.”

  “That explains the first skeleton that we saw,’ David concludes

  “For some reason, Roland began screaming and then, he stopped. I knew he was dead. I also knew that if I had stayed, I would have died too. I couldn’t do anything for him. So I ran. Other than my wife and Anthony, I never told anyone else what happened.”

  “What were you and Mr. Myers searching for?” Nathan asks.

  Harold looks at Nathan with increased curiosity. “Supposedly, we were to find hard evidence of an alien sighting that occurred shortly before the beginning of the American civil war.”

  “And so,” David continues, “Anthony sent Mr. Myers and you to find whatever evidence that both of you could discover?”

  “Anthony guaranteed that we would find an alien artifact that would make us all rich. He even gave us a thousand dollars each as an advanced payment. We were so stupid to believe him at the time.”

  “He could have searched for this supposed artifact himself. I mean, he is an archaeologist!” Nathan asserts.

  “He did help for a while, but then he left us there,” Harold answers. “Rumors about an alien ship crashing on Shumen Mountain have been circulating around these parts for over a century. But no one has ever found any hard evidence of this, that is, until you went to Anthony.”

  “Other than Mr. Myers remains,” Nathan relates, “we found two other skeletal remains on the other side of that wall.”

  “Adding to what you have just told us,” David tells him, “we have been able to positively identify only one of the other two individuals.”

  “Who was he?”

  “Mr. Turner, he was an extraterrestrial being by the name of Daljik Ra’as,” Nathan interrupts.

  Harold gasps. “An extraterrestrial? You actually found the remains of an extraterrestrial being from another planet? How do you know this?”

  “It’s a long story,” David begins. “The skeletal structure was different from that of a human skeleton.”

  “Also,” Nathan adds, “my brother and I found two alien devices near the skeleton of that extraterrestrial. In time, one of those devices helped us to identify his remains.”

  Harold develops a look of shock and disbelief. “Then, both of you are serious!”

  “Yes sir, we are dead serious,” David replies. “Initially, I went to see Arlene Vaughan, an associate history professor at UCA to obtain further historical information regarding the crash.”

  “Good God! Why would you go to see that scheming, conniving and gold-digging woman?” Harold objects. “She’s just as bad as her lying and womanizing playboy husband.”

  “I had no idea,” David admits, “that she was Anthony’s ex-wife.”

  “Well,” Harold cuts in, “for whatever good it did, they remarried three years ago.”

  “Later, I visited Anthony to obtain his help in deciphering an unknown language.”

  “Then all these rumors are true,” Harold states.

  “Yes sir, they are. We now have the alien devices in our possession.”

  “David, does Anthony know of these devices?”

  “I am certain that he does now.”

  “Then both of you are in serious danger.”

  “How?” Nathan asks becoming more fearful.

  “All of you have found what Anthony and a few other people have been searching for.”

  “I’m confused,” David admits.

  “About what?”

  “Mr. Tanner, you indicated that we found something that Anthony was searching for. Yet, he showed me those same alien writing—”

  “Alien writing? What alien writing?”

  “He showed me an old book called Mysterious Discoveries.”

  “I don’t believe this!” Harold cuts in. “Anthony showed you that same book!”

  “You know about this book, Mr. Tanner?” David asks, surprised.

  “Yes, I do. There’s some old hearsay about a miner who reportedly indicated that somewhere around the late 1870s, a rancher named Samuel Cubins showed his son a device that was supposedly taken from the alien wreckage.”

  “Lee, that miner was Ben, my great-grandfather,” Betty tells him.

  Noticing Betty’s southern accent, David recalls something. “Mrs. Tanner, was your great-grandfather Benjamin Travis Geere?”

  “Well, I do declare! How on earth would you know that?”

  “Betty Geere is my wife’s maiden name,” Harold tells David.

  “Mr. and Mrs.
Tanner, I read another book similar to the one Anthony showed me. Back in August of 1948, a research historian by the name of Howard J. Michaels published a book entitled The Hidden Truth.”

  “The Hidden Truth? This is absolutely astonishing,” Betty tells him. “I read that same book over twenty-two years ago when I was teaching high school down in Oakland.”

  David is amazed. “As Mr. Michaels indicated, your great-grandfather took part in burying the actual wreckage. Anthony showed me several pages of alien writing that an American archaeologist and his British colleague had deciphered sometime in early 1914.”

  “Now, you see the danger you’re in,” Harold warns. For a few seconds, there is an ominous silence.

  Suddenly, Nathan becomes frightened. “David!”

  “Nathan! No! It’s not gonna happen like that!”

  “Don’t fool yourself! Anthony Weiss has ties to some members of the Los Angeles Mafia. He is vicious and he will stop at nothing to obtain what you have found, even if it means your life.”

  “Apparently,” Betty interrupts, “Arlene informed her husband of what you told her. Mr. Williams, you are being set up for something terrible.” Seeing the fear in David’s face, Nathan quickly puts his hand on David’s shoulder. Several aspects of this situation trouble David. He has shown Anthony the alien writing. He is angry because Anthony and Arlene are using an attractive and seductive young Latino woman to seduce Tyrone into giving up information about the devices. Tyrone, he realizes, has become someone’s unwitting pawn in a deadly game of chess.

  David feels the time has finally come for him to make some strategic counter moves.

  “I can tell what you are thinking, David,” Harold responds. “First, you talk to Arlene. Then you show Anthony the alien writings. You’ve proven to them both that you three have hard evidence of the alien sighting. This could potentially become world-breaking news.”

  “Still, how can he carry out any threat without me calling the police on him?”

  “Anthony is a snake. He made tons of cash by using his archaeological activities as a front for antiquities trafficking and drug smuggling.”

  “Antiquities trafficking? Cocaine smuggling?” Nathan interrupts.

  “Yes. After realizing the huge amounts of money that could be made, Anthony used his expedition team to secretly smuggle large amounts of cocaine across the Mexican border.”

  “I’m finding all of this hard to believe,” David states.

  “Believe it. Pam Baums, his third mistress, made plenty money off him by giving him sex in exchange for money.”

  “I’m sure Arlene had something to say about that,” David remarks.

  “I agree,” Harold continues. “Arlene nearly put Pam in the morgue. I found it amazing that Arlene didn’t take a gun and kill that idiot. Working from sites out of Mexico, Anthony worked with his covert operatives to unearth valuable Mayan artifacts and steal them out of the country.”

  “We had no idea of any of this,” Nathan remarks

  “A few people knew about Weiss’ illegal activities,” Harold admits. “After stealing the artifacts, he would sale them to unsuspecting dealers, collectors and museums, all for a very high price.”

  “Weren’t foreign or U.S. custom agents aware of his drug activities?”

  Harold laughs. “David, Colombian cartels like the Medellín Cartel makes hundreds of millions of dollars by shipping tons of cocaine right up under the noses of U.S. custom and federal agents.”

  “I don’t get it,” Nathan interrupts, “three years ago, President Nixon declared a war on drugs to stop illegal drugs from entering the country.”

  Harold breaks out in a harder laugh. “Is that a fact? Any of you boys ever heard of Alfred McKoy?”

  “No,” Nathan answers. “Who is he?”

  “Two years ago, McKoy published The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, which gives proof of CIA direct involvement in the Southeast Asian opium and heroin trade. Nixon’s drug war is a sham.”

  “Wow,” David replies. “I would have never thought that.”

  “I’m surprised that he would talk to you considering you’re black.”

  “Mr. Tanner, if Anthony has an issue with my skin color, that’s his problem. God created humans of many colors, not just one.”

  “Well, amen to that. Still, we have to be realistic. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered six years ago. Of course, all of you already know that Marcus Chenault killed King’s mother back in June.”

  “Harold,” Betty interrupts, “tell them about that man who killed Bobby Kennedy that same year down in Los Angeles. What was his name?”

  “Betty,” Harold agrees, “is referring to that Jordanian guy, Sirhan Sirhan.”

  “Yes, Walter Cronkite gave the ABC Special News Report that same evening,” Nathan states.

  “On November 22, 1963,” Harold continues, “Betty and I were in that same crowd of people who saw President Kennedy get shot. It was the most horrific thing we had ever seen.”

  “You mean…you were there?” Nathan interrupts.

  “Yes! People were screaming and running everywhere. After seeing her husband killed, Jackie became so terrified, she actually climbed onto the back of the car to get away. Despite any claims of justice, freedom and equality, this country has a long way to go.”

  “Mr. Turner,” David responds, “I am painfully aware of that fact.”

  “Then be aware of this fact. Anthony has rich and powerful criminal associates who have no qualms about making you or your friends vanish. No offense, but you took an awful risk going to him.”

  Nathan cuts in. “Man, this just isn’t right.”

  “I know it’s not right,” Harold agrees, “but Anthony has very little, if any respect for minorities, black people especially. The fact that all of you found something that could potentially become the greatest discovery of the century angers him that much more.”

  “Mr. Turner,” David continues, “what are you trying to tell us?”

  “Mr. Williams,” Harold answers, “I’m saying that once Anthony gets possession of those devices, you and your friends will be dead history. All of you are now in a very precarious situation.”

  “You mean other than Weiss?” Nathan concludes.

  “Yes.” Harold pauses before making an even more ominous statement. “If U.S. military officials or NSA officials ever become aware of your activities, there’ll be no place on Earth that you’ll be able to hide. You might as well go and live on another planet.”

  Suddenly, feelings of fear and dread envelop Nathan and David. “No offense taken, Mr. Tanner. Thank you and your wife for the lemonade.” David tells him before standing up.

  He and Nathan run toward the car.

  “I should have known better,” David yells while in the car. “Nathan! We gotta find Tyrone! Fast! He’s going to get us killed!”

  “Not on your life,” Nathan avows, “Let’s go!”

  3CLASH

  Anonwood, California

  The Blue Rose Café

  Friday, 2 August 1974 (1:10 PM)

  “Definitely, three other guys and I have already formed our own local soul group called the Night Walkers,” Tyrone tells her. Verónica laughs at Tyrone’s playful antics. They both begin to draw the same cherry-flavored drink up through separate straws while looking into each other’s eyes. Their quick stop at the Blue Rose Café had turned into a longer stay. As he is enamored with Verónica, Tyrone also finds her intelligent, witty and gorgeous. Her numerous questions about the alien communication device no longer bother him.

  No one, he concludes, is going to come between him and his woman. After finishing the drink, Verónica purses her lips and brings them close to Tyrone’s lips. She brushes her lips softly against his causing a passionate arousal in him. “Woman, you’re going to get me into serious trouble,” Tyrone whispers softly.

  “Aw-w… you’re just saying that,” she whispers seductively before finally pressing her lips harder against his.<
br />
  Despite the stare of other patrons, Verónica and Tyrone become locked in a passionate kiss and in their own little romantic world. Both stop in mid-kiss as the sound of screeching tires breaks their concentration on each other.

  Both lovers look up to see two teenagers getting out of a dark blue, 1969 Dodge Challenger. David reaches them first with an angry frown on his face. Nathan approaches two seconds later. David gives Verónica a menacing look. “Tyrone! Your friend is scaring the heck out of me.” She states leaning back in her chair.

  “You better be scared, you dirty little street ho! You’ll going to have a whole lot to be afraid of before this is all over!”

  “Oh hell no you didn’t! Tyrone yells.

  “Oh yes he did,” Nathan thinks to himself, becoming anxious.

  Tyrone immediately jumps up from the table. “Who are you calling a dirty street ho? You Faggot! You better not be threatening my woman!”

  Despite his acute awareness of the facts, Nathan feels that David has approached the situation in the wrong way. It was, however, too late.

  David is determined to end it right here and now. “Tyrone! Back…off!” He screams with his right hand out. “Don’t make this any worse than what it already is! I ain’t a faggot and this lying woman is just a two-bit street ho with a mile-long police record! Weiss is using her.” Verónica falls back in shock while looking at Tyrone.

  “Tyrone,” Nathan interrupts, “he’s right, but—”

  Tyrone cuts his brother off and stands up. His face is a few inches from David’s face. “Tell me that again so I can knock the pure crap outta you!”

  Some of the patrons quickly stand out of their chairs and move away. One of the clerks hurriedly picks up the phone and calls the police.