Veronica hugged an arm around him and brought him close. “Don’t blame yourself. None of what happened today is our fault.”
“What do we do next?” Beverly sat by the fireplace, poking the logs. “How can we find the Token?”
“Jessica.”
“I can’t believe it’s your college’s president. Are you certain?” Tripp grunted as he shifted in his seat. He was concealing his bruises under his clothing. We all hide wounds, but men like Tripp never get to heal.
“It was her.”
Evan stopped pacing long enough to make eye contact with me. “And you don’t think she saw you?”
“I’d say no. She was a little preoccupied.”
“But won’t they put it together? We flew away in a helicopter with Dirk and Clay,” Marcus said.
“We aren’t sure what they saw. She was deep in the cavern. She probably doesn’t even know who lived or died inside the mountain. Besides, it’s the only option I have,” I said, trying to put the pieces of a convoluted plan together.
“Then we have to lure her somewhere.” Tripp shook his empty bottle and set it on the end table next to him.
“How?” Veronica turned to look at me as soon as she asked it. “We’re using Rex as bait.”
“We know he’s their prime target,” Tripp suggested.
“I’ll email her in a couple of days, mention that I’m back in Boston and I’m ready to return to work. I need to meet her.” I walked toward the bay window and stared out at the snow-covered yard. The bright moonlight glinted off the crusted white ground. “She’ll make sure to return home, and while we’re out, you break into her house. If she has the Token, she’ll keep it close. There was a reason you were searching for it in Palm Springs, and she’ll understand that the artifacts she’d stored there have a value.”
Dirk cleared his throat, and I glanced up at my dad. “You have a better idea?” I asked.
“Even if she didn’t see you, why would she trust your story? She’s aware you’ve been trying to open the Bridge.”
“But she doesn’t know we succeeded. She’ll think I’ve given up. Who interrogated you in Palm Springs?” I asked Tripp.
He flinched at the question. “Some big guy. Didn’t ask much. Kept probing why we were there. What the relics meant to us. That kind of thing. Our story was planned out, and everyone must have stuck to it, because they only questioned us for a couple of hours. I assumed we’d be interrogated a second time, but when we got to the mountains, they threw us in a room and tossed red robes at us the next day.”
“And what was the story?” I pried.
Dirk answered it. “We had the tale planned out in case we were caught. It went like this. We heard someone mention visiting the Palm Springs house, and that it wasn’t guarded. We worked for Hunter Madison, and he was fascinated with all things extraterrestrial. We reiterated that the real interest was in another object. The moment we set foot in the room, Tripp pointed it out, and we understood. They didn’t think we were there for the seventh Token, just some crumbled bit of green gemstone they had showcased in the wooden display cases.”
“That could be worse,” Marcus said. “What if they’d tossed the Token and kept the gem instead?”
“They’ll keep them all. Collectors don’t discard items easily,” Tripp assured him. “She’ll have the Token. I’m positive.”
“I still think it’ll be too obvious.” Marcus grabbed his coffee cup, and I noticed he had to hold it with both hands to keep from shaking. He’d been through too much over a few days, and I hoped he’d eventually recover. I’d help him as much as I could. My own trauma was entombed inside me. I couldn’t let myself drown from the torment of the men I’d been forced to kill. Not yet.
“If I had any inkling who she was, I wouldn’t be coming to face her, would I?” I asked.
“Yeah, no one but you would be dumb enough to do that,” Marcus mumbled. But he smiled slightly at the insult, and that was a good sign.
“That’s right. It’s settled. We’re going to wait it out a couple of days, let her regroup, and then I’ll make contact. We’ll leave tomorrow and go home,” I said.
Home. Boston. Dad hadn’t been there for so many years, and bringing Bev and the kids past their hometown was going to be difficult. Bev watched me, and I shook my head, reading her mind. She nodded once, and returned to attending the fire.
We discussed more scenarios as the night went on, and eventually, there were only two of us in the living room. It was after three in the morning, but I was wired. I assumed I’d crash as soon as I hit the pillow, but there was far too much to discuss with my father.
“Dad, I need the truth. All of it. No more lies or skipping over details.” I had so many questions about attuning, and exactly what had happened across the Bridge.
“Okay, son.” He went to the kitchen and brought a couple opened beers back with him. “You’re going to need this.”
“Are you really my father? Dirk Walker?” The question made him chuckle, and I saw glimpses of the man from my childish memories.
“I am Dirk Walker. Your father.” He set a hand on mine. It was an intimate gesture, a father to son moment that I’d never experienced. It felt protective, but also vulnerable.
“Then why… what the hell is going on?” I asked, unable to articulate my feelings.
“Let me start from the beginning,” he said, turning to face me on the couch. The fire still burned, but it was nothing more than hot coals. The room was quiet, with the others retiring for the evening, and I felt a peaceful moment before he began speaking.
Sitting there with my father, ready to hear the truth from across the Bridge, it seemed like we were finally making up for lost time.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything before. I didn’t know what to expect over here. You have to understand, it was a shock returning home to find you all grown up, but not as much of a surprise as you might think,” he said. I didn’t ask him to elaborate, and he went on. “First of all, I want to apologize.”
“For what?”
“Leaving you. No child deserves that kind of torment. It’s one thing that I wasn’t at home very often during your and Bev’s early years, but it’s another that I disappeared without word. I—”
“You couldn’t know. You had bigger concerns,” I told him, but even though as an adult I thought I understood why he’d used the Bridge, the kid within me was hurt.
“That’s irrelevant, Rex. I left my family behind. I can’t even begin to fathom how complicated your childhood was because of my actions. And here you are, over forty and still trailing after me. I’ve ruined your life. And Bev’s too.” Dirk stared at the embers in the fireplace.
“I chose to obsess over your mystery, Dad. And I did it because I thought you deserved to have your story told. I wanted to know what happened to you, for me, for Mom, and for Bev, but also for your memory. I was so sure you were dead all those years. Caught in a collapsing cave, capsized boat, armed robbery.”
“And you sacrificed your future for it. You should have settled down, found a great woman, and—”
“And what? Had a family so I could chase my dreams while leaving them at home?” I could tell my words stung, but Dirk just nodded like it made sense.
“It didn’t have to be that way.”
“But it would have been, because whether you can see it or not, Dad, I am you!” I shouted the last, and glanced at the corridor. When I spoke again, it was much quieter. “I am you.”
“That’s not true. You’re a much better man than I ever was. I can see it when those around you seek your guidance. Tripp and this Evan guy are wanting you to lead them. Veronica and Marcus too. You’re magnetic and intelligent.”
I laughed. “You’re not giving yourself enough credit, because that’s how I perceive you.”
He smiled, but his eyes were haunted. “Maybe years ago, Rex. But not anymore.”
“What happened over there?”
“It�
�s time I come clean, because what other choice do I have?”
“What’s so bad that you had to hide it from me?” I asked.
“I… I made mistakes,” he admitted.
“Tell me.”
Dirk drank from his beer and smacked his lips. “I met someone, Rex.”
I almost spit my beer out, and wiped my chin. “In Rimia? I thought you were alone there.”
“We came across the villagers early on. She was their leader. I didn’t intend to live with them, but it happened. We needed their help to survive. At least, at first.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Wait, you lived with an alien race?”
“They’re much more human than you’d think. Or, perhaps, we’re much more like them.”
“Who are they?”
“The Wanderers have lived there for centuries, it seems. The city near the Bridge was destroyed ages ago. There’s little evidence of who or what originally founded the colony. Everything was digital: no paper books, no artwork. With no means of powering the worn and damaged equipment, I couldn’t determine their origins. They were brilliant, judging by the city layout. It was functional, close to fresh water, hardy climate for growth and crops. They were advanced, perhaps farther along than modern man, but we found no signs of space travel. That could have been a main target of their attackers, or maybe they’d escaped and fled in their ships.”
“These Wanderers… what do they look like?” I asked.
“Much like us. Dark skin, ears slightly pointed, eyes large and tilted. Heads elongated an inch or so farther than ours. Strong, slender, and tough.”
“And who are they really?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. They don’t have the answers. The Wanderers were instructed to stay there, and the rules have been passed on for generations. It seems like they’ve lost themselves. The tribe is fewer than two hundred people in population, and dwindling with each decade. I wanted to help them discover their history, but Opor didn’t think it was important.” Dirk drank again, his posture and fidgeting telling me he was uncomfortable with the conversation.
“Who’s Opor?”
“Rex, I didn’t mean for it to happen. We were there for years, and I didn’t expect to come home at that point.”
“So you shacked up with her,” I said, getting it out in the open.
“We had a relationship,” he said.
“Had?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Do you actually believe there’s a second Bridge? Is this seventh Token a real thing?”
He nodded, finally making eye contact. “It’s real. The Wanderers were prohibited from the mountains where Clayton and I discovered it. That’s telling, but I can’t be sure why. Someone was trying to keep anyone from entering the Bridge to access the second one.”
“Maybe they’re the Unknowns,” I suggested.
“I thought that too.”
“I heard you talking to Clay. In the same language the Believers use for their Unknowns.”
Dirk pursed his lips, frowning slightly. “I’m beginning to think there’s much at play we don’t comprehend. Perhaps a civil war. Maybe a game.”
“A game?”
“Facts are what we’re taught to seek first. Then we connect them with speculation derived from clues or hints,” Dirk said.
“I get it. We know that an intelligent life form sent Tokens to Earth thousands, maybe millions of years ago,” I started.
“Correct. And that they were slowly uncovered by various cultures around the world, who treated them like signs from the heavens or stars. And to their credit, they were correct.” My dad lifted his thumb and index finger, counting our facts off.
“Why would they leave these Tokens and the Case if they didn’t want us to use them?” I asked.
“Exactly. Something changed between the time they dropped them on Earth and the moment I accessed the Bridge. And it has to do with the vacant city, and perhaps the Wanderers. The best clues lead me to one conclusion.”
“Let me guess.” It was oddly thrilling having this discussion with my father. We’d glossed over the fact he’d been living with an alien woman for God knows how long, but we’d circle back eventually. “Race A lived on Earth. They departed as the Believers say, with hopes of returning. We were derived from their DNA, and that explains why we look similar. Another race, let’s call them Race B, experienced a similar beginning, and were far ahead of us in the timeline. They came, hiding Tokens for us to unearth, expecting us to reach out to them eventually.
“Only when we finally found what they were, and you used the Bridge, Race B was already gone, destroyed by someone, maybe Race A. They ran, leaving another clue for us.”
“A second Bridge,” Dirk finished. “That’s the most plausible scenario. But the Wanderers throw a wrench into it.”
“Do they? They are Race A, Dad. The same language as the Unknowns, guarding the Bridge, preventing anyone from accessing the second. They have to be.”
“Maybe… But they’re innocent, Rex. You have to trust me on that. We can’t let any harm come to them.”
“Is that because you’re in love with one of them?” It was a strange thing to ask my father, but I didn’t think of him and my mother as a couple. I hardly recalled them together, and had been raised by my mother, who’d taken on the responsibility of two parents. It bothered me that while she was all alone, he was taking solace in someone else’s company.
“Even if they are on the wrong side, they don’t know that.”
I peered at him, sipping my beer. “Don’t punish the kids for the sins of their fathers?”
The comment stuck, and Dirk’s mouth hung open for a second. “That’s right.”
“Now that we’ve established those facts, tell me about the dreams,” I said.
“I was surprised that it worked. How did it feel?” he asked.
“Like I was you. It was… surreal.”
“There’s a lot more I need to tell you.” I watched him wrestle with his thoughts. “Rex, they have a ritual they partake in every few years. They drink a liquid, a hallucinogen, that allows them to mind meld with their ancestors.”
This was new. “How does it work?”
“It’s hard to explain. I didn’t experience it like they did. I was able to block it. I visited you instead, around your graduation.”
“I remember that,” I said.
“You do?”
“I thought I was crazy.”
“I linked to you somehow, and that’s how I could connect to you the other day. It’s a form of dream walking, but it’s very dangerous. I fear if your mind is susceptible to it, you can be taken over,” he said.
“By whom?”
He pointed to the ceiling. “One of them.”
“The Unknowns?”
“It’s only a theory.”
“You wouldn’t have said it for no reason. What happened?”
“Each of the Wanderers is visited by a unique source, who they claim are their ancestors. I think these beings are trying to latch on and control them.”
And I finally understood. “It’s attuning! The Unknowns want the Believers to open their minds and invite them in. They’ll take them over!” I stood quickly.
“That’s what I was beginning to think too.”
“How do you know they can do it?” I asked.
“Because Clayton has one living inside him.”
9
We decided to wait until morning to discuss this with the others, and it was the right verdict. I had a million questions bouncing around my mind, but I fell asleep within minutes. My body ached, my head throbbed, but when I woke up, the sun was high in the sky, and I felt a lot better.
“Good morning, Rex.” Veronica had a towel wrapped around her hair and a toothbrush in her mouth. “You have a decent sleep?”
For a second I thought my conversation with my dad might have been a dream. My sleep had been long and restful, and the best pa
rt, dreamless. “It was great. You?”
She shrugged, heading back to the bathroom. “Was okay.”
I followed her in and shut the door. “My dad told me something interesting. I wanted to talk to you before we discussed it as a group.”
She stopped brushing. “What?”
“You were right about your dad. Well, at least on the right track. He isn’t himself, because Dirk claims an entity has linked to his mind. He’s only partially in control,” I whispered.
“Oh my God, are you serious?”
“I’m just the messenger. But I have an idea.”
“This keeps getting stranger, doesn’t it?” She rubbed her hair with the towel, and let it fall over her ears.
“I have the reference book the Believers use for attuning. I think we can reverse engineer this. Push it out of him,” I said.
“What are we waiting for?”
“Your dad to regain consciousness, I guess. We’ll discuss it later, but we’re driving to Boston.”
“Rex, this is important. Can’t we wait a day?”
“I don’t think so, not with Jessica. The Objects are getting closer, and Dirk says the second Bridge is a solid three- or four-day hike from the first, which is far more in Earth time.”
“Fine, but we’re doing it tomorrow. Before we all separate and search for the Token.”
Despite my morning breath, I leaned in, kissing her on the lips. “I promise.”
After a quick shower, I found Marcus parked at the kitchen island. He looked more like himself after a good night’s rest, and I sat beside him with a cup of coffee.
“We ready to do this?” I asked, and he slid the laptop over.
“All prepped.”
I had to send Jessica an email and arrange a meet-up. I cracked my knuckles and glanced behind me to see Tripp hovering close by.
Hello Jessica,
I hope this finds you well. I’ve managed to get back to town this week and was wondering if you’d be willing to meet up to arrange my return to the classroom?
“You think she’s going to buy that?” Tripp was even closer, squinting as he read along out loud.
Lost Time (The Bridge Sequence Book Two) Page 19
