Traveler

by David Yates

  Manny liked Sam. In fact, all of them (in Braden's absence) had talked about what a good influence she had been in Braden's life. She had a vivacious, bubbly personality and a great sense of humor. She balanced out Braden in some intangible way that they could not quite pinpoint. And he was obviously crazy about her. When he wasn't around her, he was usually talking about her.

  Right now, the two lovebirds were sitting on the back steps of the cabin, so close that they could have been Siamese twins. His right arm and her left arm were linked, and their fingers were clasped together. She rested her head on his right shoulder. They had been seeing more and more of each other ever since the incident at the supermarket. They had run into Clay once about 9 or 10 days ago. This had been at the Cineplex 6. They had just been leaving the snack bar with popcorn and sodas in hand when Clay had walked in the front door. He was still wearing a cast from his hand to his elbow. Braden and Clay had spied each other at about the same time. They had glared at each other (Clay's glare full of testosterone and false bravado, Braden's one of calm detachment) until Sam tugged at Braden's arm and pulled him away toward the theater. It must have been Clay's lucky day.

  Sam and Braden excused themselves from the little barbecue party, saying that they were going for a walk. Manny nodded amiably and watched as the two young lovers walked hand-in-hand into the surrounding trees. After they had disappeared, Manny said (not for the first time), “I'm glad those two found each other."

  Archer and Hollingsworth nodded their assent.

  "Sam, there's something I have to tell you about me."

  They walked along a deer path through the trees. The stars shone sparingly through the leaf ceiling overhead. Sam looked at him expectantly. “I'd wondered when you were going to get around to it,” she said.

  He glanced at her sharply, and then continued. “I don't really know where to begin."

  "At the beginning is always a good place,” she said with a crooked smile.

  And so he told her everything; from his abduction as a child all the way through to the death of Gwen Wiley and Joe Bemis. He told her of his firearms and martial-arts training, of his traveling abilities, of his love for “Mom” and “Pop". He hadn't originally intended to tell her all of it; he had only wanted to tell her enough so that she would hopefully understand if someday he was forced to leave without notice. But when he started telling, it simply poured out of him like poison.

  The telling took some time. By the time he was finished, an hour and a half had passed by. He felt husked out, but oddly clean. He felt as if a stone had been rolled off of his heart. He looked at her anxiously. “So, what do you think?"

  She looked into his eyes. “I don't know what to think. I mean, it's a terrible thing to have happen to a child. I believe you, but... can you really teleport? Please don't get mad; it's just that...well, I..."

  Braden stopped her with a kiss. “I'm not mad. I know it's hard to believe, but I'll show you.” He looked around and saw small clearing in the trees about fifteen feet away. “Okay, watch."

  Before her astonished eyes, he was disappearing from in front of her. He just began to fade out of existence. She could see the trees and shrubs behind him right through his body, and then he was gone. The entire process took about five seconds.

  She gasped. She glanced around quickly and saw him standing in the clearing. His smile was barely visible in the gloom.

  She walked slowly to him. “How did you do that?” she whispered.

  Through his smile, he said, “I told you, I can just do it. I can't explain how I can, but Mom told me it was because I could tap into the power reserves that all of us have in our minds. If I want to go somewhere I just...go."

  They were silent while she absorbed everything he had told her and what she had just witnessed. Finally, the insecure-lover part of him spoke up. “Are you okay?"

  "Yeeess...” she said dubiously.

  This, of course, did nothing to alleviate the anxiety in the insecure lover. “Sam, do you love me?"

  "Yes.” Immediate. Definite. No hesitation. Full eye contact.

  "I love you, too,” he said. He took her in his arms and held her. “I expect that it will take some time for this to..."

  "No, that's not it,” she interrupted. They stepped slightly apart, and she looked into his eyes.

  "It's not that I didn't believe you when you told me. Well, maybe I didn't, completely, but... okay, it's like you hear about vampires all your life, but you don't really believe in them until one appears right in front of you with his fangs hanging down to his nipples. You know?"

  Braden grinned. “Are you saying I'm a vampire?"

  Her eyes became smoky and she said in a sultry voice, “Well, you can bite my neck anytime, Count Dracula."

  So he did.

  A short time later, Braden said, “We'd better head back. We've been gone for almost two hours."

  She agreed, and they began to head back. But before they had taken half a dozen steps, Braden froze.

  "What...” Sam started, but Braden shushed her and dragged her down to a squatting position. He pointed ahead of them, back toward the cabin, and whispered, “There."

  She followed the direction of his finger with her eyes and saw a figure hunched over and moving toward the cabin. She could only see a dim silhouette, but the figure was definitely holding something long. Like maybe a rifle.

  Braden looked around quickly. He saw a thick stand of shrubbery to their left. “Quick, crawl under here and stay there. Don't move and don't make a sound until I come back for you. Go."

  She went. If she had been a character in a movie or a book, she would have undoubtedly gabbed on and on ("Please don't leave me here!” or “What are you going to do?” or “You're going to get yourself killed!"), but she went immediately and without comment out of her love for him and out of respect of him. When she was safely secreted away, Braden turned and began tracking the unknown person, following his back trail.

  Braden tracked the man back to the edge of the trees at the back of the cabin. Once there, the man met up with a second person. They hunkered there at the treeline, watching the cabin about 100 yards distant. Beyond them, Braden could see Archer and Hollingsworth still seated in the back yard. Of Manny there was no sign. Braden was close enough to hear the low conversation of the two men.

  Second man: “Did you make contact?"

  First man: “Yeah. I gave them our coordinates. Silas said the team would be here in two hours."

  Second: “Two hours? Why so long?"

  First: A shrug. “He said the closest team he has is in Denver. It'll take ‘em awhile to get here."

  There was a momentary silence.

  Second: “What about North Star? They been notified?"

  First: “Yeah, Silas said he would do it as soon as he activated the Denver team. In fact, he said he wanted to give the good news to Anson personally. I heard Anson was tres pissed about Miller. I heard they were best friends."

  The second man was responding, but Braden was already on the move. He had heard enough. He came up behind the first man. He grabbed the man's chin with his left hand and put his right hand firmly on the back of the man's head. He twisted sharply, breaking the man's neck. He did this so quickly that the second man was still talking to his dead comrade when Braden hit him in the Adam's apple sharply with the blade of his left hand. The man's throat collapsed, then the rest of his body followed suit. He lay there gasping and dying.

  Braden hurried back through the trees to Sam. He found her waiting patiently (or perhaps not so patiently) where he had left her. They rushed back to the cabin. As they passed the spot where the two men lay, Braden paused long enough to check for pulses. He found none.

  Archer and Hollingsworth were still sitting by the fire when Sam and Braden ran up to the cabin. Braden said, “We have to pack up and get out."

  The two men sat up. “What are you talkin’ about, kid?” Hollingsworth asked.

  "We found two men in t
he trees back there.” He pointed to the approximate position where the two men lay dead. “I took care of them, but I overheard them say that there is a team on its way here now to kill us. A team sent by them.” They all knew who them was. Braden looked around. “Where's Manny?"

  "Where else? He's in the house, playing with his computers,” Archer replied.

  "All right,” Braden said, “I'll go fill him in. You guys grab everything you need and throw it in the chopper. Then come to Manny's office. I'm sure he's gonna need help packing up some of his electronics."

  Archer and Hollingsworth were both on their feet now. Archer asked, “Do you know how much time we have?"

  Braden shook his head. “Less than two hours, for sure. Travel time from Denver to here by air."

  Hollingsworth looked up at the sky. “Then we may not have as much time as we think. They should have a good tailwind tonight. Let's get movin', Charlie."

  Archer and Hollingsworth ran inside the cabin. Braden turned to Sam, and saw utter despair written all over her face. Tears had just escaped from her eyes and started to track down her cheeks.

  "Sam, I...” But Braden's voice locked up and he couldn't finish.

  She put her hand to the side of his face. “I know you have to go, I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it."

  They looked into each other's eyes, and then exchanged a long, soft kiss.

  "I can stay with you for awhile longer,” she said. “At least I can help you pack up."

  Braden nodded, realizing fully that it was only delaying the inevitable but unable to deny her this last thing and oh, was this what heartbreak felt like? It was an actual, physical pain in his chest. His heart had been broken when Mom and Pop had died but this was different, this seemed crueler, this was something more...fundamental. He knew she would be safer if she wasn't with them, but this knowledge didn't heal his aching heart.

  They hurried into the cabin, hand-in-hand, to begin packing.

  They had just about everything on the chopper. Manny was aboard, his wheelchair stowed away in the cargo area. They couldn't pack all of Manny's electronic equipment; there simply wasn't enough room. But Manny assured them that he had gotten everything that was absolutely needed. Most of it was on external hard drives, so that he could just hook up to any computer and basically pick up where he left off. He had pointed out that he could replace anything he needed later.

  Hollingsworth was in the pilot's seat; the engine was already running and he was conducting a quick pre-flight check of the aircraft. Archer had gone back inside to get the last two boxes of Manny's gear. All of their personal belongings, at least all that they were going to take, were already aboard.

  Archer came back out carrying the two boxes. There was no more room in the small cargo hold, so they had to put them on the floor in the passenger area. Archer climbed aboard. They were ready to go.

  Braden stood by the chopper, looking back at the cabin. Sam stood there, arms wrapped around her midsection, tears streaming down her face. They gazed at each other for one more time. Braden raised a hand to her, and although he couldn't hear her over the sound of the chopper's engine, he saw her mouth the words, “I love you.” He mouthed the same back to her, then turned and climbed aboard, sliding the door closed.

  Hollingsworth cranked up the engine in preparation for takeoff. As the whine of the engine increased, Braden took one final look at Sam. She was sprinting across the grass toward the chopper, waving her arms frantically in the air. Braden immediately slid the door open and jumped down. He ran to her.

  They embraced fiercely, and she yelled over the sound of the engine, “I'm going with you!"

  Braden shook his head. “You can't! It's too dangerous for you to be with us!"

  But she was shaking her head, too. “No, it's too dangerous for me not to be with you! If they have been spying on us, then they already know about me!"

  For all his intelligence, this had never occurred to Braden. As he mulled this over, she added, “Besides, I don't have anything here! My mother's gone, my stepfather doesn't care about me, and I'm not looking forward to an exciting and rewarding career renting movies!"

  Braden smiled at this, but was still unsure. She yelled, “Come on, we don't have time to argue!” and ran for the chopper. Braden ran after her. She climbed in and sat down, looking straight ahead, a matter-of-fact look on her face. It was a look that said my mind is made up, and no one is going to change it. Braden stood at the door of the chopper, and she turned her head and gave him a look that was part happy and part defiant. Go ahead, Mister. Try and move me. He grinned at her, and that's when the world lit up like daytime.

  Braden looked upward toward the source of the blinding light. It was another helicopter, shining its spotlight down on them. They hadn't been able to hear it approaching over the sound of their own engine. As Braden looked up, someone on the other chopper opened fire. Bullets chewed up the dirt and grass several feet to the left of their homemade helipad.

  For Sam's part, she would think later that she had been oddly detached from the entire incident, as if she was sitting in the chopper and watching a particularly good movie going on outside. She suddenly saw Braden lit up as if it were high noon. She could clearly see his features as he lifted his face to the sky. Then she saw the grass...well, jumping a few feet behind Braden. She didn't immediately recognize this for what it was: gunfire. What she did see, though, was amazing. In one second, Braden's hands were empty; in the next he had a gun in each hand and was firing into the air. My God, I didn't even see his hands move. She wasn't thinking about the greasy-fast speed of his draw (at least, not at that time); in her current detached state, she thought of it more in terms of a very good motion-picture special effect.

  Braden, on the other hand, did recognize the gunfire for what it was. He cleared leather in an instant and fired upward, targeting the flashes that were coming from the open back door of the airborne chopper. He fired six rounds, and a body tumbled out of the dark sky. The would-be assassin thumped to the ground in front of their chopper and actually bounced back up a couple of feet before finally coming to rest. As the chopper veered off to come around and make a second pass, Braden fired at its rotor assembly. Immediately, black smoke began pouring from the base of the rotor and the chopper listed hard to port. It dived and crashed to the ground about sixty yards away. A huge red-orange ball of flame lofted into the air at the point of impact.

  Braden spun in a crouch, guns up, looking back toward the cabin. There was no apparent movement in that area; and still, Braden fired a single shot. There was a pause, Braden remaining in his crouched position, and then he fired another single shot. This time, Sam saw a piece of tree next to the front porch detach itself and fall to the ground. He's got eyes like a hawk, too, she thought. He picked that guy off with a pistol, in darkness, at a distance of...it must be two hundred yards if it's an inch

  Braden remained in a crouch for a few moments, scanning, moving his head left, then right. When he was reasonably satisfied, he rose and ran to the chopper. He jumped in, but left the door open. He reloaded quickly.

  Archer patted Hollingsworth on the shoulder and pointed upward. Hollingsworth nodded, and the chopper lifted off. As they slowly gained altitude and turned east, Braden was still conning the ground. He raised one of the guns and fired another single shot downward out of the open chopper door. It was Archer and Manny who saw the figure topple to the ground at the rear of the Suburban. They both gaped at Braden, who looked down at his shoes self-consciously.

  Hollingsworth caught Manny's eye and tapped his ear. Manny grabbed the headset and put it on. Hollingsworth said, “Where to?"

  Manny thought quickly and said, “Pierre."

  "What's in Pierre?” Hollingsworth asked.

  "It's not so much what's in Pierre as what's not in Pierre. Them. But we'll be able to find what we need there. We shouldn't be there long."

  "What do we need?” Hollingsworth asked.

  Manny repli
ed, “An RV."

  When they arrived in Pierre, South Dakota, it was almost 3 am. They took a cab to a nearby motel and got two rooms, each with two double beds. They were able to grab a few hours sleep, and in the morning, Hollingsworth and Archer went shopping. Manny had told them what to look for.

  They returned about four hours later. Archer was driving another SUV, this one a dark blue TrailBlazer. He was followed by Hollingsworth, who was guiding the biggest motor home that Manny had ever seen. There was a largish white box trailer hitched to the motor home.

  As Hollingsworth climbed down out of the RV and sauntered over, Manny wheeled out of the motel room. Braden and Sam followed behind. Manny asked, “What's with the trailer?"

  Hollingsworth grinned. “Come and take a look."

  They went around to the back of the trailer, the five of them. Hollingsworth keyed the padlock and opened the door. Inside, strapped securely to the floor and walls, were two dirt bikes and an ATV. “I thought there may come a time when we might need them,” Hollingsworth explained.

  "Good idea,” remarked Braden, his arm around Sam. He gestured with his head toward the RV. “Let's take a look inside."

  The RV was equipped with a lift for Manny's chair. Once they were all inside, Manny said, “Yeah, I think this will work. I can set up my work area over here. Might be a little cramped, but it'll do. I'll need a satellite dish, though."

  "Already taken care of,” said Hollingsworth. He patted the door of a storage space. “It's in here."

  There was an unspoken mutual agreement that Sam and Braden would occupy the master bedroom. There was more than enough sleeping space for the five of them.

  Following their initial inspection of the RV, Hollingsworth said, “So, what now?"