“Are you still in the States? Are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you after that storm.”
“We are all fine, but we decided to cancel the tour in light of everything.”
“Oh, thank God. I do not want you to be down there right now. The things they’re saying on the news—,”
“It’s not as bad as the news is making it out to be…at least where I am.”
“You seem sad.”
“I thought Talon would be here and she’s not.” After a look of confusion on Axella’s face, Levi filled her in.
“Oh my. Maybe she just needed to get away,” Axella offered with a shrug.
“That’s what I think. So, anyways, I’m here to visit you instead.”
His mother beamed. “I know your upset, dear, but you and Talon have your whole lives. I would say sit down for a coffee and bagel or something but you can’t eat in that thing, right?”
“No, Mom…but I am going to disconnect for a second and run to the bathroom. Be right back.” Levi took the helmet off and hopped off the mat. As soon as his feet left the mimetic material the Extension on Ohmani would stand like a lifeless version of himself. He went to the bathroom and reconnected.
After visiting with his mother Levi took his Extension to fall asleep in his old high school bedroom instead of disconnecting. Axella had kept everything the same, down to his wave-patterned bedspread and the shelves of trophies on the wall. He knew clinging to the simple life of his teenage years was classic regression, but it was only for a night. One night to pretend there weren’t millions suffering on his home planet. Once night to pretend he was eighteen again with no worries except that the simple, beautiful love he shared with Talon was too good to be true.
Levi awoke to an invisible hand gently rocking his shoulders. He took the helmet off and saw Sherman and Peanut standing in front of him on the mat.
“Have a nice night?”
“I had a nice visit with my mother,” he said positively.
“And Talon?”
Levi saw Fletch try to sneak in a don’t-ask-him-about-that gesture.
“She went to Dedrake.”
“When we get to Albuquerque you could just go on straight to Dedrake,” Sherman suggested.
Either way, Levi would have to stop in Ohmani – it was the mandatory port of customs between this solar system and Dedrake’s Kasha System. “I might,” he admitted.
They took turns driving another ten hours and ended up getting a hotel somewhere in Oklahoma between the border and Tulsa. Peanut and Sherman’s stomachs seemed to be having a grumbling battle and they found themselves in a country diner for a late dinner.
“Everything is fried here,” Peanut pointed out quite accurately.
Levi laughed.
“That’s right, and if you don’t like it you can go back to where you came from,” a large woman said from a bar seat. It was far enough away that several heads shot up at the other booths.
Peanut ignored her, but Sherman puffed up with protective anger. “We’d love to get out of here, lady, but for right now, we’d like to enjoy our fried food without some racist putting in her two cents. Actually,” he added, “it ain’t worth that.”
Everyone was surprised at Sherman’s aggressive rebuttal. He was loyal to a fault, and as their lives had become more stressful over the last couple of days, it was getting harder for him to stay civil and calm.
The man that sat next to her stood up and postured at them. “What did you say to my wife?”
Uh oh. Levi had to diffuse the situation and fast. “Sherman, stop it,” he whispered, “We can’t afford to get put in jail with no IDs.” His words seemed to make the tour manager reassess his instigation.
“Sorry, but we’re just trying to mind our own business,” Sherman said to the husband.
“Mind your own business?” He sat back down in his chair and readjusted his cowboy hat. “Seems to me if your little alien friends minded their own business our country wouldn’t be ruined like it is.”
“And godless!” his wife added with a snarl.
The waitress came over with a receipt in a silent plea for them to leave. She had written the words, ‘God loves you’ on it, followed by a heart and a smiley face. “Sorry, ya’ll, it’s just super tense ‘round ‘ere. Not everybody feels that way.”
“Forget about it,” Sherman said handing her a twenty dollar bill.
“Well, that was interesting,” Fletch said as they pulled out onto the highway.
“I hate xenophobes. They need to go educate themselves,” Sherman spat.
“The waitress was nice,” Fletch shrugged.
“Do you all have cowboys on Dedrake?” Sherman asked.
“We have many types of people,” Peanut said thoughtfully. “No cowboy hats. The Hamza lands are cold. There are many areas that have just family opats. Our planet is much bigger than yours.”
“How much bigger?”
“It’s twice as big as Earth,” Fletch explained.
“So wouldn’t there be more gravity there?”
“Barely. You know Marion came from a planet with high gravity…that’s why he’s so bouncy.”
“That totally makes sense. He’s like a monkey on a pogo stick,” Levi laughed.
Everyone’s chortling was silenced by the whine of a police car that pulled up behind them. Its lights flashed obnoxiously into their eyes.
“Are you serious?” Sherman yelled. He pulled the car over to the shoulder, swearing under his breath.
“We have to stay calm and get the hell out of this town,” Levi warned. He was afraid Sherman’s inner pitbull was about to go full lockjaw. “Do not instigate.”
“Do you know why I stopped you?” the policeman shined a light into the car and made rounds into all of their eyes.
“No, officer,” Sherman replied between gritted teeth.
“We received some calls that you were involved in a public disturbance at Rudy’s Diner.”
“We were harassed and left, officer.” Levi said before Sherman could ruin their chances of a peaceful interaction. “We are just grabbing our things from the hotel and leaving town.”
“Where are you going?”
“We’re on our way to Albuquerque Spaceport.”
“Hmm. Well, we take disrupting peace and order very seriously here, gentleman. Especially with everything that is going on. I’m glad you decided to keep on moving. I’ll just run your IDs and you can go on your way.”
Shit. “I have mine, officer, but they had their IDs stolen during the storm. We’re on our way to the Ohmani embassy to get new ones issued.”
“Hold on one minute,” the police officer directed, walking back to his car.
“I can’t believe this!” Sherman shouted. “This is the biggest backwater hayseed-infested place I’ve ever been.”
“I think he’ll let us go,” Fletch said optimistically.
They heard a car door slam and as they looked behind them two other police cars were pulling over.
“That’s not a good sign,” Levi admitted.
“I’m sorry gentleman, but under the circumstances we’re going to hold you for failure to identify.”
“What?!” Sherman bellowed.
“We’re going to hold you while we run your information for criminal records and outstanding warrants. Since you have no ID’s, we’ve got to do it back at the station. You all can slowly get out of the car keeping your hands where we can see them.” The other police officers had walked up to assist in the arresting process.
“Sherman,” Levi said in a parental tone, “they can’t hold us for longer than twenty-four hours. Just try to keep your inner New-Jersian at bay, please.”
Sherman opened the car door and flew his hands into the air so fast, the officers all flinched and reached for their guns in reaction. “Oh, calm down. Which car am I getting into?”
At the station they were processed for booking and Sherman, Fletch, and Peanut were taken out to look up their I
Ds. Luckily everything was completely digitized. The police could look up any solar system residents and Peanut was required to have a digital passport in order to travel into the United States.
“They couldn’t believe I had only been to Dedrake for a week out of my life,” Fletch said after his turn was up.
“Crushing labels,” Levi winked.
“How long we stay here?” Peanut said.
“Probably twenty-four hours.”
“Why?”
“Because we pissed off their little town and now they’re going to punish us.”
A cop came around the corner smacking gum. “This is Oklahoma. You’ll be here for seventy-two hours.”
“Seventy-two hours?!” Sherman roared! “How is that legal!?”
The cop simply smiled and left them to ruminate on the unfairness, smacking his gum along the way.
Levi sunk into the grimy wall. As much as the situation sucked, all Levi could think about was how being stuck in a cell meant no communication with Talon for three more days. He didn’t care about their situation, he cared about her. This isn’t how he imagined being engaged would feel.
13 THE STORY’S IN THE INK
“What the hell are you doing here!?” Aberdeen yelled when she opened her front door to see Talon.
After flights had been reopened on Dedrake, Talon and Bockie hopped the first ship back through the wormhole. For the first hour after setting foot in Ohmani, she tried desperately to get ahold of Levi. She tried his phone, and then Fletch’s, only to hear an automated message saying both lines were no longer associated with a hand-held device. The news tortured her in the background, made worse by the fact it was in hologram. Like a tormenting merry-go-round, she read disaster after catastrophe on the moving news ticker above it all.
Although most major electrical grids and satellites were intact, other countries did not fare so well…especially those close to the poles. Many unprotected personal electronics had short-circuited or suffered permanent damage and the skyway that hundreds of thousands of people relied on for their daily commutes was temporarily closed. Accidents were rampant as people who relied on self-automated cars had to learn how to drive…apparently it wasn’t like riding a bike.
The stock market wasn’t fairing too well, reflecting broad economic uncertainty. Crime in general during the black-out had been tremendous for those countries that did not have a strong military. Fires had been rampant, some due to the storm, some due to arson, and Talon became sick to her stomach to hear of all the innocent people who had perished from burns or asphyxiation. A couple hours of black-out and the world seemed to have suffered greatly. It would take years to repair, some important person was saying. Only after she called the Steller Grand in New York City did she begin to relax.
“Yes, he checked out a few days ago,” the front desk manager had explained. “Your fiancé left a message for you. One second.” Talon heard papers rustling over the phone and as he searched for the message he illuminated, “During the storm, he left his room against the government ordinance and, while unoccupied, his personal effects were stolen.”
Instead of being horrified, Talon couldn’t help but crack a smile. She imagined Fletch coaxing everyone away to watch the aurora lights. Both best friends were too trusting for their own good.
“Uh, here we go. He says he is cancelling his tour.” A heaviness left Talon’s body at the news. “We are driving to the Ohmani embassy in Albuquerque and may have to wait another few days for the reissue of our passports that were stolen. I should be home in about a week if things go as planned. I will call as soon as I can. Love you…Eagle? See you soon,” he read to her.
Talon was further comforted when Axella told her about Levi’s Extension visit. It seemed the two of them had just missed each other, but she took consolation in the fact they both independently reached out. With her mind at ease, Talon could concentrate on the job at hand – she needed to see a girl about a dead terrorist’s tattoo, among other things. Since her involvement in the case had technically been prohibited, Talon thought going to Aberdeen’s house was a better idea than cornering her in the department building.
Aberdeen yanked Talon into her foyer and raced around the adjacent living room, closing curtains and switching off the lights. “This could seriously be taken the wrong way, Talon. Coming to my house? What were you thinking? And where have you been?”
“I was demoted because of you.”
“You were demoted because of yourself. And if this house call is you wanting to talk about the moon assignment, you might be more than demoted. Rules and orders exist for a reason,” she snapped.
“You know as well as I do this isn’t just a moon problem. You saw the video.”
Aberdeen sighed and Talon could see her mind was reeling. She was having an internal debate, but about what, Talon did not know.
“I’m not supposed to be a state investigator, and I’m sure as hell not supposed to sit behind a desk. You and I both know something big is going down.”
“Haven’t you ever heard of working your way up the chain? We can handle this.”
Talon couldn’t be completely forthright, but she did say, “I’m personally vested.”
“I told you that can get you killed. It will definitely get you fired.”
“You put in your report that I wasn’t honest or whatever, right?”
“I put in my report that you withheld vital information, which, by the way, is illegal for citizens of the law. As well as torturing people for information.”
“Fine. How is it going? The investigation?”
Aberdeen seemed offended. “Why would I tell you anything, Talon? Are you out of your mind?”
Talon took no offense. “Because I have something.” Aberdeen’s interest was perked. “Unless you don’t need it.” Her ex-partner didn’t want to need it, but Talon could see desperation in her eyes.
“If you’re blackmailing me—”
“Making a trade,” Talon interrupted. “Look, I need you, and you need me.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I have some questions.” When Aberdeen didn’t refuse, Talon took her silence as submission. “I know you were black op. I know you were in charge of Senator Nervista’s neural extraction.”
“And how do you know that? Break into the Agency’s system? Are you a hacker now too?”
“I went and talked to Senator Nervista—”
“Damnit, Talon, are you begging to get fired! How did—”
“You work for the black floor don’t you? Why this whole charade of you pretending to be a state investigator?”
Aberdeen sighed and fell back onto her living room couch. “I’m following orders, Talon.”
“You’re a hypocrite, you know that? You made me feel so guilty for not telling you about the sniper lady and you were keeping secrets from me the entire time.”
“Eon told me you thought the mystery woman was me.” Aberdeen actually laughed and said, “I thought you were good up until I heard that.”
Talon narrowed her eyes. “At least I had a reason for not trusting you.”
Aberdeen suddenly became serious. “And I have a very good reason for not trusting you.”
“Really? And what could that be?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
Aberdeen stood and started walking the length of the room. When she reached the wall she pivoted on her heel and walked back. She repeated the pacing another few times when she finally stopped, took a deep breath, and without making eye contact, began to speak.
“It all started when we received intel that Senator Nervista was laundering money to the Sinupecs, but when we served the warrant, all his computers were clean. With no evidence, we were strapped. Then an envelope was sent to the agency. It had no return address on it and was clean of fingerprints. It included transaction statements with a computer’s IP address…a computer that was under Nervista’s name, b
ut that we had not found. It was the evidence we needed to push for Amendment fourteen.”
“An extraction.”
“Yes, someone could have forged those statements and so we needed the computer in our possession. I was assigned to perform the extraction.”
“You are the legend?” Talon remembered Juv’s praise. The woman standing in front of Talon was the agent who ignited so many whispers and myths around the program.
Aberdeen winced and shook her head. “I’m not, trust me. I’ve never told anyone this before, but I received a note to my personal mailbox…to this house!” Aberdeen writhed in discomfort.
“From whom?”
“At first I thought it was a joke. The whole thing was blank. At first I thought it was useless, a mistake. But it’s not…you just have to know how to read it.”
Talon’s eyes went wide.
“That’s right. I saw the footage you captured. I think it’s the same woman. Honestly, this whole time I thought it was you.”
“What?!” Talon was completely flabbergasted. “You mean I thought the woman was you and you thought the person who sent you the note was me? Why? And how did you read the note?” Her head was spinning.
“I had to turn on the tetrachromatic vision in the contacts.” Aberdeen scoffed in disbelief. “I thought that was the lead you were going to give me.”
Talon rummaged through her satchel. She had thrown it in there and hadn’t given it a second thought. “No, I thought she dropped it on purpose to fool me into abandoning the chase, which I did. Ah,” she snatched it out, “Activate tetrachromatic optics.”
Everything in Aberdeen’s living room, which had been dulled by the late hour, became a brightened array of colors. The drab grey blinds were now a brilliant blue. The cream sofa across from her was a warm, rosy pink. Talon looked down at the paper, and for the first time, there were words. The letters were so light green she could barely make them out.
“What does it say? Talon!” Aberdeen pressed with impatience.
“It says, ‘go down the valley.’” Talon was entirely underwhelmed. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what did yours say? What does this note you received have to do with me?”
An Eagle's Revenge (Across the Infinite Void Book 2) Page 16
