Although normally he would have called Kara and discussed what he’d seen with her, he held off, waited instead for Michael to be available. Somehow knowing that Kara was running around with Mr. Muy Caliente had put a damper on Lance’s desire to share confidences with her. He’d tried calling Paul, since the wedding was over and done with and Persephone and Paul should have been more or less available, but he’d only gotten voicemail. The information he wanted to divulge wasn’t the sort he felt comfortable leaving on a cell phone’s voicemail system, so he hung up. The Olivers would be back in Sedona Monday evening. Things could wait until then.
So he’d come over to Michael’s once the shaman had finished his medicine wheel talk or whatever the hell he had going on today. Lance couldn’t really keep track, and it didn’t matter much one way or another.
They made their way outside. The sky was heavy with clouds again, shifting light and shadow. No rain yet, though, so they sat out in the yard and listened to the creek burble on a few yards away. At least the cloud cover brought the temperature down enough that it was more or less comfortable to sit outdoors, and the cottonwood and sycamore trees that ringed the patio helped by providing shade.
“Have you spoken with Kara?”
“No.”
Michael shot a curious dark look at him. “Why not?”
“Didn’t feel like it.”
Silence for a moment, as Michael regarded him carefully before taking a large swallow of tea. “Usually you would share these things with her.”
“Yeah, well, she’s not sharing a lot with the rest of us right now.”
A lifted eyebrow. “How so?”
“Guess she’s met someone.” Lance shrugged, and then hoped it didn’t look too calculatedly casual. “At least, that’s what I heard.”
“Ah,” said Michael, which could have meant anything at all. He drank some more iced tea and then gazed upward, apparently contemplating the shifting clouds as they turned the sky alternating dark and bright, dappling the ground with unexpected patches of sun and shadow. “It bothers you.”
“This isn’t junior high. I couldn’t care less what she does with her private life…unless it compromises our work.”
Another one of those heavy pauses. Michael had always been good at that, at using silence as a tool more eloquent than any words. If he thought you were holding something back, he’d just wait. And wait. And wait.
Well, two could play that game. Lance drank his own tea and stared off toward the creek, which he could hear but couldn’t quite see, except for the occasional shimmer through the branches of the trees that stood between Michael’s property and the water.
A smile then, but one that seemed almost inwardly directed, as if Michael was smiling at himself for having his own strategies thrown back in his face. “So you say. But you should talk to her.”
“I will.” Eventually. “I figured since Paul and Persephone are going to be back tomorrow anyway, it could wait. Like I told you, I didn’t get a sense that anything requiring immediate action was going on.”
“And what ‘action’ do you think we should take?”
Good question. “I guess that’s for all of us to figure out. Persephone was pretty effective the last go-’round, but I have no idea whether that trick is going to work again or not. I suppose that’s up to her.”
“She’ll do what she has to, just as we all will.”
That sounded vaguely ominous. “You know something I don’t?”
Michael looked unconcerned as he drained the last of his iced tea. “No. But I know her. And you.”
That makes one of us. Lance didn’t like feeling so unsettled, so uncertain. He’d thought he knew where things stood, how to handle Kara. But she’d upset part of the equation, and in doing so had forced him to re-examine parts of his life he’d taken for granted. Damn it, things were complicated enough already. Now he was going to have to factor in a possible addition to Kara’s world, and he found he didn’t care for it much.
I don’t know who the hell you are, mystery man, Lance thought, but you’re already causing way too much trouble.
* * *
Grayson went out, saying he wanted to go for a ride, clear his head. Kara hadn’t much liked the idea, but she also couldn’t think of a way to articulate her concern that didn’t sound like some over-protective mother hen. Yes, Grayson shouldn’t be riding without a license, but they’d gone all the way to Jerome and back without incident. The only difference this time was that she wouldn’t be riding along.
So instead she’d settled for writing her cell number down on a scrap of paper and slipping it into the pocket of his jacket. “If anything happens — if you get pulled over for some reason — you call me. I know the local cops. I can probably get it to go away. But don’t admit to not having a license, whatever you do. Okay?”
“Okay,” he replied, and for the first time since leaving Janelle’s office he looked amused, as if her fretting was something that didn’t merit much concern. Then he added, “You shouldn’t worry so much,” before disappearing into the garage.
A minute later she heard the Indian start up with a low rumble that seemed to shake the house. She couldn’t hear the garage door opening over the sound of the motorcycle, but since she’d left the spare remote on the work table, she assumed he must have found it and taken it with him.
It felt weird to be all alone in the house. Okay, mostly alone; Gort looked up at her and gave a faint whine, as if he could tell something was troubling her but couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“I’m okay, Gort,” she said, and bent down to ruffle the dog’s ears. How could she explain to Gort why it seemed so strange to be by herself when she’d spent most of the past year living that way? Four days spent with Grayson didn’t seem to be enough to balance out five years of not having a man in her life.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to admit how much he’d come to mean to her in such a short amount of time. The sex had been great, obviously, but she thought it was more than that.
Unless it was simply because she needed it to be more than that.
She wished she could stop trying to analyze everything. But, as Kiki had pointed out on more than one occasion, Kara had never been all that good about living in the moment. How could she, when she’d spent so much of her life having to look out for other people?
There was also that nagging sense of guilt trailing after her, shading everything she did with Grayson, as if she were betraying Lance by being intimate with someone else. Even more stupid, since she was pretty sure Lance didn’t give a rat’s ass who she was sleeping with. For all she knew, he’d be relieved to find out about Grayson. If she was hooked up with someone else, then she wouldn’t be mooning after Lance, and he wouldn’t have to worry about any more awkward pauses or uncomfortable glances.
That song, “Torn Between Two Lovers,” had always annoyed the hell out of her. Certainly she’d never expected to be in that position herself.
You’re not in that position, she told herself, as she went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. ’Cause Lance sure as hell isn’t a lover. He’s a — I don’t know what. The guy you’ve wasted too much mental energy on already. Don’t screw up this thing with Grayson just because some part of your brain won’t give up on Lance.
That all sounded very sensible. And all right, maybe it was crazy to be falling for someone she’d only met days ago, and even crazier to be risking her heart when she knew absolutely nothing about him. Forget the lost test pilot idea — he could have a wife and three kids down in Phoenix or Tucson.
Somehow she didn’t think so, though. She did not get that vibe off him at all. And as tanned as his hands were, you’d think there’d be at least a faint line where a wedding ring used to be.
Her cell phone rang, and despite herself, her heart started thudding. Don’t let that be Grayson, pulled over somewhere…
It was not. She recognized the number immediately as Kiki’s, and picked
up. “Hey, Keeks, I — ”
“Oh, my God!”
Kara had to hold the phone away from her ear before replying, “Um…Kiki?”
“It’s all over the place! Why didn’t you tell me what happened? It’s already gone viral!”
“What’s gone viral?”
“The video of your UFO tour! I can’t believe you guys got buzzed by a UFO and you didn’t tell me!”
Oh, hell. Still keeping the phone a safe distance from her ear, Kara replied, “I figured I’d tell you about it when you got back. Waiting wasn’t going to change what happened, was it? Anyway, where the heck did the video come from?”
“Well…I guess not.” A pause, and then Kiki continued, “And the video was uploaded to YouTube about an hour ago. Jeff has all these alerts set, so of course when one of them went off we stopped the routine we were running and checked it out. It’s not great quality — off someone’s cell phone, obviously, but still.”
Privately, Kara was a little impressed than one of her tour group had maintained enough presence of mind to keep the cell phone camera going during a close encounter, but she wasn’t about to tell Kiki that. “Do you know who uploaded it?”
“Well, the YouTube username was sundevil588, so we guessed it was someone from ASU. Jeff looked into it. Turns out the guy’s name is Travis Dooley. He’s a junior at the college.”
Travis. Kara remembered him. Smart-ass. It figured he’d be the one holding his iPhone high even while getting strafed by a UFO. She wondered why he’d waited so long to upload the video. Fear? He didn’t seem the type to get frightened by much, but maybe he’d just needed a while to work up the nerve to do it. Even a non-believer might worry a little bit about the kind of shitstorm such footage would invoke.
“It’s amazing!” Kiki exclaimed. “The way you just stood there, staring up at it? Even Jeff was impressed. I mean, I think he was.”
“It’s not like I planned it that way. I just…couldn’t move.”
“You mean they had you pinned in place by their ray or something?”
“Or something. I don’t know exactly what happened. But if Lance hadn’t pushed me out of the way — ”
“Yeah, that was amazing, too! The way he just tackled you! Guess you two had your own close encounter, didn’t you?”
Kara couldn’t even laugh. The memory was still too raw. And she wasn’t about to admit to her sister how she’d continued to feel the weight of Lance on top of her long after they’d both gotten to their feet.
“Yeah, if you say so.”
Whatever Kiki’s faults, no one could accuse her of being unperceptive. She must have caught the edge to Kara’s voice, because she said quickly, “I’m just glad you guys are all okay.”
“Yeah, we’re fine. I’m not doing any more tours, though, until we can all get together and discuss the situation. You’re sure you don’t want to come back with Paul and Persephone tomorrow?”
A pause, during which Kara heard something muffled that might have been a comment from Jeff in the background. Kiki said, “Well, maybe we’ll come back on Wednesday instead of Thursday. But I can come back sooner if you really need me.”
Meaning she really didn’t want to hurry back to Sedona, for whatever reason, but would do so out of duty if necessary. Kara didn’t quite sigh, but she found herself letting out a breath before replying, “No, I’m fine. It’s been really quiet around here since then, actually, so there’s no point in cutting your trip short.”
“If you’re sure — ”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, well, I’ve got to go, but you should really check out the video. It’s epic!”
I bet it is. “I’ll take a look. You take care of yourself, Kiki.”
“Looks like you’re the one who should be taking care of yourself!”
Kara managed a laugh, then said her goodbyes and ended the call.
At first she had no real intention of looking at the video — why would she want to relive such a terrifying event? — but curiosity got the better of her. If nothing else, it would be interesting to see how many views the video had gotten.
She got out her laptop and surfed over to YouTube, then saved time by looking up sundevil588’s channel. The Sedona video was right at the top, but Kara wasn’t sure she believed the number she saw on the page. How could it have gotten almost half a million page views when it had only been up for a couple of hours?
Kiki was right — the video shook and wobbled, and the angle showed that it had been shot from someone down on the ground, holding their phone upward. The light from the UFO was so brilliant that it overtaxed the camera’s white filters, and therefore the image was that much more degraded. But even so you could see the glare outlining her body as she stared up at the huge alien ship, her hair blowing back in the wind it created. From this angle it did look as if she was trying to face the thing down single-handed, even though she knew that was definitely not what had happened. She watched, waiting for the moment when Lance tackled her and Michael stepped forward as the little group’s true defender.
That moment never came, though. The image jiggled a little, and then the YouTube viewer went blank and was replaced by the message, “This video has been removed by user.”
What the hell? Maybe Travis Dooley had decided the video was a little too hot.
No, that was too easy. Somebody had decided that video needed to be pulled…but she had a feeling that someone wasn’t Travis Dooley.
Either way, it was probably for the best. God knows she had enough crap to deal with already.
The doorbell rang, and Kara automatically shut her MacBook and then, almost without thinking, slid it into the drawer that held placemats and other assorted linens. She didn’t get many visitors, but maybe it was Michael dropping by to check on her, or maybe Felicia Martinez had invented an excuse to come over so she could get another peek at Grayson. She was going to be disappointed when she found out he’d gone off on an extended ride.
Kara pushed her hair back over her shoulders and went to answer the door, somewhat relieved that she’d put on a nice top to go with her jeans and had taken a little care with her makeup this morning, since she and Grayson were going to see Janelle Russo. Not that either Michael or Felicia really cared what she looked like, but she didn’t want to be viewed as a slob.
What greeted her when she opened the door, however, was neither Michael nor Felicia. Instead, two unsmiling men in black suits stared down at her.
“Kara Swenson?” the taller of the two asked.
Throat tight, she could only nod mutely. She knew it was pointless to deny her identity.
He didn’t exactly smile, but he seemed somehow pleased.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions…”
CHAPTER TEN
Men in black! Kara thought. I’ve got a couple of real live MIBs in my house!
She didn’t know whether she should be completely freaked out…or possibly more than a little excited. Sort of like UFOs, men in black were the kind of thing whose existence you doubted until you saw them in the flesh.
They certainly looked solid enough as they stood on the Navajo rug in her living room and regarded her with a notable lack of expression. Some people claimed the MIBs weren’t human at all, but some sort of extraterrestrial clean-up squad. These two looked like ordinary men, though.
Scratch that. They didn’t look like ordinary men. They looked like ordinary government agents.
They could have been anywhere between thirty-five and forty-five, both caucasian, one slightly darker-haired than the other. Their suits were identical, as were their dark ties and polished wingtips. She supposed they could have been alien-possessed humans, although she didn’t get that feeling from them. Then again, how would she know? Unlike Persephone, she wasn’t psychic.
The taller one asked, “You are Kara Swenson, owner of the UFO Depot?”
She thought she’d already verified that she was Kara Swenson, but what the hell. “Yes.”<
br />
“And where were you the night of Thursday, August tenth?”
Come on, boys, is that the best you’ve got? “Here in Sedona.”
Two sets of eyes, one brown, one blue, narrowed.
“I was leading a UFO tour in Boynton Canyon.”
“And how often do you lead these…tours?” asked the shorter of the two men.
Kara couldn’t help noticing that they hadn’t given her their names. Sure, they’d flashed a couple of badges at her, but the cases that held those badges were opened and shut so fast she didn’t have time to read the names on their I.D.s. “Depends. Sometimes just once a week. During the busy season, as many as three or four.”
“And do you believe in UFOs, Ms. Swenson?”
“Is that a trick question?”
Identical stony expressions were the only response.
“I believe there’s something out there, yes. Exactly what, I can’t say. I wouldn’t make a very good UFO tour guide if I didn’t believe in what I was selling, now, would I?”
The two men exchanged a brief glance. “Is it your assertion that you encountered a UFO on the night of August tenth?”
“I encountered something,” she said warily.
“Could you elaborate on that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know.”
She could tell they were less than thrilled with her responses, but she wasn’t an idiot. Confessing that yes, she’d seen a UFO would be all the excuse they needed to make sure she disappeared somewhere. She wouldn’t be the first…and she wouldn’t be the last. But if she muddied the waters enough, she just might be able to get out of this interview relatively unscathed.
“No, I don’t know,” she said. “There was a bright light in the sky, and a lot of wind, but so what? It could’ve been a helicopter. We’ve got tons of helicopters around Sedona. All the sightseeing, you know.”
“That a fact.”
“Yes.”
“So why would someone be buzzing your tour group with a helicopter?”
“How would I know?” She crossed her arms and hoped she had a convincing combination of exasperation and confusion mixed on her features. “I’m not the only UFO tour operator in Sedona, after all. It’s entirely possible that one of the other tour owners got a friend with a helicopter to come in and mess up my tour.”
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