“Not as much as you’d think. Sure, since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve altered things at a far faster rate, but for millions of years before that, the changes were slower and less dramatic.” I saw a car approaching and followed along with the binoculars. It didn’t stop, just kept racing along to the outskirts of the city.
“If they look like us, could they already be here?” Evan asked.
I wondered how I hadn’t considered that before. “Maybe?”
“I don’t buy it. How could they be?” Veronica asked. “The Objects haven’t arrived yet.”
“What about the other mysterious beings who left us clues? The race across the Bridge? You said they speak the same language as the Unknowns,” Evan said.
“We think so.”
Evan puffed his cheeks and let the air out slowly. “This makes my brain hurt. I know people, and how to deal with them. I’d always thought this cult was no different than the rest of them. In my experience, these groups faithfully believe in what they preach—at least, the followers do. Oftentimes, the leaders live by a different set of rules until they either die or get arrested. Then the people around them have to pick up the remains of their forgotten identities. It’s deeply disturbing to see the followers try to start a new life for themselves. You don’t want to hear how most of them end up.”
“Dead?” Veronica asked.
“Lots of abuse, drugs… I’ve seen too much. When my wife joined them…” He grabbed the binoculars, covering his eyes with them.
“It must have been difficult.” Veronica gazed at me, and I gave her a small smile.
“Anyway, we have a job here. When is this ringer coming in?” Evan asked.
“Saul said they’d be here by seven.”
“Then we go tonight,” Evan said firmly.
Marcus had been quiet so far, and that could mean anything. He should have made it to their destination by now. According to the news, LA had been dealing with riots over the last day. What had started as a peaceful protest, demanding to know what the government’s plans were for the Objects, had morphed to the inevitable at some point during the night.
The looting spread, fires ignited along Hollywood Boulevard, reaching all the way to Beverly Hills. We’d watched the news feeds on it a couple of hours ago, unable to stop staring at the senseless destruction. There were times I thought maybe we’d gone as far as we could as a people. That maybe we deserved what was coming. But that wasn’t true, and I knew it.
“Look.” Veronica pointed at a black SUV approaching from the north. It slowed at the gates, and they spread apart, letting the vehicle inside. It drove up the long driveway and stopped at the entrance. A figure hopped out of the passenger seat, but they were blocked by the vehicle. The front door opened and closed, sealing them inside.
“Now we know someone’s home,” Evan said.
The driver of the SUV stayed put. “Can you see him through the binoculars?” I asked.
“Windows are too tinted. It’s a male. Big guy.” Evan kept staring through the lenses, and I silently wished Saul would hurry up.
____________
The rideshare dropped them off at the grocery store as instructed, and I waited until the car was gone before exiting our own. Evan and Veronica were back at the house, and I dashed across the parking lot. Bev saw me halfway down and met me in the middle, jumping into a hug.
She kissed my cheek and was already crying by the time we separated. Carson and Edith were with Saul, the big guy holding their hands. They looked younger and smaller than before, and I crouched, saying hello.
“Can we go home, Uncle Rex?” Carson asked timidly.
“Not yet. But soon,” I told him.
“Okay.”
Bev gathered her kids up, taking them to my car, and I stayed back with Saul. His beard had grown in, thick and white, but he looked ready to knock over the entire cultist organization. It must have been tough for him to be part of their group for years, then be on the outside. I recalled what Evan had said about the members’ faith, and hoped Saul was a rarity. He seemed as reliable as they came.
“You scope it out?” he asked gruffly.
“Yep. Couple of hours today. Was on lockdown, but someone arrived this afternoon. One person. Guy stationed in an SUV outside. We watched them until we departed an hour ago. No other movement.”
“Why did all three of them enter the place?” Saul asked me.
“Clay, Dirk, and Tripp, you mean?”
“Yeah. They should have left a watch. A contact,” Saul said. “They knew the drill.”
“Things in the field don’t always go to plan, do they?” I asked.
“No. You’re right. This FBI guy. Can we trust him?”
“If we can’t, we’re already screwed. He knows almost everything.”
“Fine. Your choice to tell him. Let’s get your sister to the safehouse and do this thing,” Saul said.
The drive was quick, and in twenty minutes, we were inside, showing the kids to their bunk beds. The house was private, with a tall white fence and a small swimming pool. Carson and Edith seemed happy to be there, and I talked to Bev outside while her children investigated the yard.
“I’m sorry about this,” I said again.
“Bring Dad back to us. We’ve had enough loss.”
I turned to her. “It might be too late.”
“Then find out for sure. I can’t go on not knowing again.”
“I promise,” I said, meaning it.
“We just got here. Do you have to leave so quickly?” She peered into the house, where Veronica and Evan were going over the pictures we’d snapped earlier. A barrage of weapons was spread out on the kitchen table.
“Time is of the essence.” I tapped the watch on my wrist, taking a second to glance at it. Who was the Dirk Walker that had returned to us? He seemed different from the memories of a five-year-old me. Seeing Beverly reminded me of our mother, and I told her so.
“Don’t make me cry.” She wiped at her eyes as the kids crouched near the pool, Carson splashing Edith.
Saul opened the patio doors, sticking his head out. “Rex. We’re leaving.”
I hugged Bev again, hoping it wasn’t our last.
With a wave to the kids, we were off.
2
The exterior lights were on, and the back gate was still closed. The SUV was gone.
“Maybe they went out,” Evan suggested.
“You should have stayed here. Watched them.” Saul gritted his teeth in the passenger seat beside me. He’d bought the beat-up cube van from a hippie near the entrance to Coachella Valley. The old guy had been eager to part with the rusted vehicle for a couple thousand dollars. It smelled like sweat and weed inside. “There are five external cameras, but we’re not giving them a lot of time to react. If they nabbed our friends, there’s no sense in pussyfooting around this.”
“The driveway is two hundred yards. Once we’re through the gate, we’ll aim straight for the door. Ram it in and enter the house. We don’t have the exact layout, but one of these houses from the same builder is for sale in this neighborhood. I checked online and pulled the floor plan from another place. Looks almost identical.” Evan flipped on the tablet and set it on the console.
“You don’t need that,” Saul told him.
“Why?”
“I’ve been here. Many times.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that earlier?” I tried to get a read on Saul, but his face was a blank canvas.
“There was a room on the top floor that displayed a few artifacts. I didn’t think much of it before.”
“What is this place?” Veronica asked.
Saul shrugged. “They’re scattered around the country. Some big corporation funds most of them. Actually, multiple corporations do, so they aren’t trackable. I doubt many have ever gone looking. From what I heard, they keep things tight on the tax front, so nobody comes sniffing around.” He peered at Evan. “And if someone does, they’re usually dissuade
d by their bosses. I’m surprised to see the FBI here, to be honest.”
“I’m not scared off so easily,” Evan said, “but I have been told to stop working on this case. I’ve worked on the Believers, trying to crack through their secrets while doing my assigned tasks over the last decade. I hadn’t gotten very far until I learned about Richard Klein and tracked Rex down.”
“I, for one, am glad you did. Evan saved my life in Seattle.”
“Good.” Saul looked through a scope at the house. “We’re going to bust open the fence. Rex, drive for the doors. I’ll use the ram. We think there are at least two people inside, and I guess there’ll be two more on top of that. If Dirk and Clay are there, I’d expect a few extra, but I suspect they’ve moved them.”
Evan clutched his gun behind me. “To Denver?”
“Right. Their plan was to gather on each continent at the time of the Objects’ arrival. They’re banding together two weeks sooner than I expected, but they probably don’t want to be bogged down by upcoming travel bans. Even if the Vice President is with them, he won’t be able to stop the flight restrictions when the rest of the world is enforcing them,” Saul said with confidence.
“The Token might be here, though.” I looked at the house, which was devoid of any light through the windows.
“And our friends could be dead. My only hope is they’re still trying to extract information from them.” Saul grimaced, lowering the scope.
“What if they find out who they are?” Veronica asked.
“Then they’ll be brought to the Sovereign, for sure. Everyone knows the legend of Dirk Walker and Clayton Belvedere. If the Sovereign can use this to increase the bloodlust at the event in Denver, then he will.”
“Can we get this over with? All the talk about torture and bloodlust has me ready for action,” I joked. Nobody laughed.
“Okay. Rex, hit the gate square in the center. When we’re inside the house, we clear it. Understood? Evan and Veronica, check the kitchen and living room. Rex and I will go right. When we clear the first floor, head upstairs. It divides at the top, and we’ll duplicate the maneuver. Your side will be bedrooms. Ours has the office with the artifacts. If we encounter resistance, we shoot to kill.”
“Keep someone alive. We have to learn where the event is taking place,” I said, contradicting Saul.
“Fine. But be careful.”
“Is there a basement?” Evan asked. “The one online had a basement.”
Saul nodded. “That’ll be our last stop. I’ve seen it down there.” He looked away from us. “You don’t want to end up on the receiving end of that business.”
“We ready?” I asked, and they all buckled in.
We were perched on a hill a mile away, and I urged the clunky van forward, moving slowly at first, but gathering speed the closer we grew to the house. The engine chortled, the tires whining as I pushed it past fifty and aimed at the gate, careful not to topple over in the process. I held the wheel tightly as the van struck the metal. For a second, I imagined being halted by the barrier, but our plan worked. The lock snapped, and the black iron gate swung inward as we raced through it.
We made the distance to the house in another couple of seconds, and slammed on the brakes right up at the front steps. With efficiency, we rushed out, me leaving the vehicle running. Saul hefted the heavy metal battering ram like it weighed nothing, placing himself firmly at the entrance. He tapped it to the door lock and pulled back on the dual handles before smashing it forward. It cracked the frame, and he repeated the action, sending shards of metal to the ground. We’d breached their security.
As planned, Evan and Veronica dashed left. The lights from the kitchen were on, and they moved almost silently. My own gun sat tight in my grip as I followed Saul, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone inside. He stopped as the open foyer ended and led me to a laundry room at the rear of the house. It was empty. We continued on, walking through a wide hallway. There was a library, and a dim light glowing from a wall sconce across from the book-filled wall. Two leather chairs sat facing the wall, with a table between them. A glass of red wine stood out like a sore thumb. It was half empty, with lipstick on the brim.
I pointed at it, and Saul understood. Someone had been reading here. He backed up, returning to the hall, and crept quietly. The floorboards squeaked under his weight, and he shoved me aside as a bullet struck the ceiling. Another hit the wall directly beside me, and I ducked, trying to find the source. Saul pulled the trigger twice, and I heard a body slump to the floor.
When I arrived, he was bent over the woman, tossing her 9MM away. Judging by the blank look in her eyes, she was dead.
“Damn it. Now we can’t question her,” I muttered. She was around fifty, with dark brown hair, red-rimmed plastic glasses, and a politician’s pants suit on. “You know her?”
Saul nodded, but didn’t elaborate. “Come on. If anyone else is here, that woke them up.”
I returned to the library and jogged to the chairs. A leather-bound volume sat with a dog-eared page marking her spot. I tossed it by the house’s entrance as we headed for the stairs.
“You guys okay?” Veronica had beads of sweat on her forehead, but Evan seemed cool and comfortable. I suspected he’d experienced a few raids in his tenure with the agency.
“Better than the dead woman,” I told them.
We made quick work of the wide set of stairs that divided on a landing near the top of the first story. Once again, we separated. Saul stopped after the landing, listening. “I think I hear someone,” he whispered in my ear.
The light from the front foyer carried up the stairs, casting extended shadows from the spindles. I tried to stay ready, letting Saul take the lead. I heard the noise too. A door closed ahead. We walked by the first room, and Saul tested the handle. It was unlocked.
He opened it, and I stepped inside, gun raised. It was an office, with stock art on the walls and a laminate wood desk with an open laptop. We continued to the next room, with me standing guard this time. Saul said they might do this, try to set a trap by closing the doors. As we cleared them, they could come from the other end of the hall and ambush us. Or hide in one of the rooms, never the first or second, lulling us into a sense of security. I wasn’t being pacified. In fact, my shaking hands meant I was experiencing the opposite sensation.
A house this size had too many closed-off areas, making our task more difficult. We arrived at a bonus room, with no door. A TV was mounted on the near wall, with a sterile and stiff-looking couch facing it. The entire home felt staged, unlived in.
It was tricky to see with the blinds all closed, but we didn’t want to risk flashlights. My eyes adjusted well enough as we went, and Saul stopped at the corner of the upstairs. He pointed at the door, and I understood. This was where Tripp had been when he’d spotted the Token. Excitement filled my fingertips. Maybe Tripp had managed to escape with it. Something could have happened to his phone.
Saul tested the handle, and a bullet whacked into the door. He kicked it open, ducking low as he fired into the room. A shadow dropped behind a chair and huddled against the hallway wall, waiting as Saul had predicted.
“Get the hell out here, Grayson!” Saul called.
“Saul? Is that you? I thought I heard gunfire downstairs? What’s happening?” The man’s voice cracked as he spoke.
“Grayson, I need your help. Stop hiding. There’s more of them across the house,” Saul told him.
For a split second, I thought Saul was going to take dead aim on me and pull the trigger. But the moment passed, and Grayson started walking out of the display room.
“Thank God it’s you. Two invasions this week? They didn’t leave enough of us behind to deal with this crap. Why does anyone want in here anyway?” he asked. Grayson had a medium build with thinning dark hair and wire-rimmed glasses. His eyes went wide as he spotted me aiming a gun at him.
“Put it down,” Saul told him.
“Saul. What are you doing?” Grayson was caught
between us, and both of our guns were aimed at him. If he tried to shoot his way out of this, he was a dead man.
“You don’t need to be hurt.”
“Sonja. Is she…?” He glanced at the floor.
“She’s fine. We have her tied up,” Saul said, and Grayson nodded, accepting this as truth. I suspected Sonja was the dead woman on the main floor. “Drop the gun.”
He didn’t obey. “They abandoned me here. I wanted to go, but they told me someone needed to stay behind.”
The gun fell to the hardwood, clattering loudly on the floor. Saul shoved his gun into the shoulder holster strapped to him and patted Grayson down. He pulled a pair of cuffs from his back pocket and roughly threw them onto the Believer.
“This side is clear,” Evan said as the pair of them approached.
“Grayson, listen closely.” Saul had the man’s shirt crumpled in his big hands. “Is there anyone else in the house?”
The man shook his head. “It was only Sonja and me. She wanted to stay. Had some reading to do.”
“Okay. The basement?”
“It’s empty now.”
Now. “What happened to them? The three men from this week?”
“They’re gone,” he whispered, and flinched like I was going to strike him.
Gone. The word held a finality to it, and I tried to cling to hope he didn’t mean dead. “Gone where?”
“They took them. To the mountains. For the attuning.”
Relief flooded into my tense nerves. They were still alive.
“Where’s the meeting?” Saul asked the man, motioning for the rest of us to lower our guns. We did so hesitantly. He was trying to make Grayson more comfortable.
“Saul, why are you doing this? Did they hurt you? Bribe you? Blackmail your family?” Grayson asked, as if betraying the Believers was the most insane thing he’d ever heard of.
“You could say that,” Saul mumbled. “Where is it?”
“You’ll let me live?”
“Of course. I would never hurt you,” Saul said with the compassion of a grandfather.
“Boulder. They’re staying in Boulder. There’s something on the desk in there,” Grayson said, and Saul returned to the room, coming back with a badge and lanyard. “Hardware tradeshow in Denver. They made these as an excuse. But they really denote rank, as we always planned. I can’t believe they didn’t let me go with them.”
Lost Time (The Bridge Sequence Book Two) Page 13
