by Jay Mackey
“Wow!” said Oval. “Can I see that?” He held out his hand.
Marge said, “Sure. Be my guest.” She handed him the pamphlet.
Oval asked her, “So have you seen aliens?”
Clyde answered, “All the time.”
Marge frowned at Clyde and said, “Well, you, maybe. For me, it was just the one time.”
Penny reached over and grabbed the pamphlet from Oval’s hand. “The True Believers. It sounds like some kind of religious cult.”
“Yeah, we get that,” said Clyde. “But back when we started this thing, right after the first time I was taken, twenty-five years ago . . .”
“Twenty-three,” said Marge.
“. . . twenty-three years ago,” continued Clyde, “it was clear that what we believed in was that extraterrestrials were all around us, and were taking humans and experimenting on us.”
“No kidding?” said Oval. “Did that happen to you?”
“All the time,” said Clyde.
“So when was the last time?” asked Oval, leaning forward onto the desk, enthralled.
“Oh, what was it, about five or six months ago,” said Clyde, like it was no big deal.
“And what did they do to you?” asked Oval.
CJ could see that Marge had heard all this before. She rolled her eyes and straightened some papers on the desk behind Clyde’s.
Clyde answered, waving his hands, “They poke you and prod you, and take your DNA. Jesus, kid, you’d think you’d know all this. It’s well-documented fact. Read a little.”
Marge turned and admonished him. “Clyde, be nice.”
“Well, if they’re really friends of Jack’s, you’d think they’d know some of this,” he said, motioning to the three kids.
Marge said, “I don’t know. Jack has his own ideas.” She turned to CJ and said, “Speaking of Jack, you said he was in trouble. What kind of trouble?”
Trying not to get into too many details, CJ told them about sitting with Jack in a coffee shop the day before, and the men who tried to get him into a van. “We’re pretty sure he got away,” he said. “But we’re worried about him.”
“It’s probably that damned DoD,” said Clyde, turning to Marge. “Jack’s always complaining about them.”
“DoD?” said Penny.
“Yeah, the Department of Defense,” said Clyde. “DoD.”
“Like the Army and Navy?” asked Oval. “That Department of Defense?”
Clyde said, “It used to be the Air Force that was in charge of all this, with their Project Bluebook and all that. They’d do whatever they could to hide the fact that we were being visited by aliens all the time. Then they closed down and turned it all over to NASA.”
“You mean like the space agency, the National whatever Space Agency? Like the astronauts?”
“Just like that,” said Clyde.
Marge said, “It’s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and that’s the one.”
“No way,” said Oval.
Clyde said, “So now the DoD has their own outfit, secret, no one knows about it, looking into all things alien. Hell, they have their own squads of goons now, lots of them the same guys who were in the Air Force. Even Congress doesn’t know about them.”
CJ said, “So you think it was the DoD that tried to pick Jack up yesterday?”
“The DoD was no friend of Jack’s, I’ll tell you that,” said Clyde.
“Would they hurt him?” asked Penny.
“Honey, they’ll do whatever they want,” said Clyde. “I heard they had a run-in with that guy from up in the Dakotas, Miller was it? He plum disappeared.”
Marge frowned at him. “Don’t be exaggerating, Clyde. You’ll scare these kids. Besides, what I heard was that Miller ran off with his wife’s sister.”
“That’s not how I heard it,” said Clyde, shaking his head.
“I think you should talk to Jack,” said Marge, turning back to CJ. “Let’s try to call him. Clyde, call Jack and see how he’s doing.”
Clyde pulled an old flip phone out of his pocket. When he saw the kids staring, he held it up and said, “Those smart phones you all carry around is all bugged, you know. They can listen in on everything you say.”
Marge rolled her eyes as Clyde made the call. There was no answer, so Clyde left a message: “Jack, this is Clyde Poston. There’s some kids here looking for you. Give me a call back. You have the number. Thanks.”
“If he calls us back, we’ll have him call you,” said Marge. “I’m sure he’s all right. Don’t worry too much about him. He’s a tough old coot. Does he have your number?”
CJ nodded and they said their goodbyes. Once in the car and on their way, Penny said, “Do you believe any of that?”
“Not much,” said CJ. “But remember, Ms. Parsons at the library said Jack didn’t believe in these guys, either. He was just using them for cover.”
“Cover for what?” asked Penny.
“Don’t know,” said CJ. “It’s one of the reasons we have to find him.”
“Do you really think it was the DoD yesterday?” she asked. “They tried to take you, too, you know.”
“It seems like if they wanted me, they could grab me any time,” said CJ.
“Maybe they don’t know who you are,” she said. “Maybe you were just someone who happened to be with Jack when they decided to grab him.”
“So Jack’s bad news, then.”
“Yeah. No kidding. Stay away from him. I keep saying that. You keep ignoring me.”
“I’m not ignoring you,” said CJ. “I’m, just . . .” He felt himself getting emotional. Angry, frustrated. He struggled to say what he was feeling. What came out was, “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“What?” said Penny. “What don’t I know?”
At a red light, CJ turned toward Penny. “It’s easy for you,” he said. “You have a mother and father, a brother. A FAMILY.”
Tugging at her seat belt, Penny turned to face CJ, leaning toward him. “So what do a bunch of flying saucer nut jobs have to do with family, huh? Tell me that.”
“They’ll help me find Jack,” said CJ, straining against his seat belt so he was practically nose to nose with Penny.
“Jack is crazier than those weirdos we just saw. He stands you up, nearly gets you kidnapped, and what does he have to do with family?”
“He knows stuff!”
“You are so full of shit.”
34
Las Vegas, April 2018
“Hey, guys, the light is green,” Oval said from the backseat.
“What does Jack know?” said Penny. CJ stomped on the gas just as a car behind them honked.
Trying to calm down, CJ said, “I don’t know. He seemed like he knew Noga. And maybe Nini.”
Penny, who hadn’t calmed down, said, “I know Noga and Nini. Lots of people know them. So what?”
“No, he knew them BEFORE.”
“Yeah, I think he did say something like that,” said Oval. “Maybe he can help.”
Penny turned to the back. “You shut up,” she said. “You’ve already got a broken ankle. You looking for something more?”
Oval looked unsure about how to answer that. He kept quiet as Penny turned back to CJ. But she, too, kept her mouth shut.
CJ seethed as he drove on.
After a long period of silence, it was Oval who spoke. “So where we going?”
CJ answered, “I’m taking you both back to Penny’s. Then I’ll go find Jack by myself.”
“Great,” said Penny. “You can chase after that crazy old man and get yourself kidnapped or killed, or fly off in a flying saucer, for all I care.”
Waiting a minute before he spoke, Oval said, “What are you going to do? Drive around all day looking for some old guy getting shoved into a van? I mean, where do you expect to find him, anyway?”
CJ looked over at Penny, who was staring straight ahead, her eyes squinted, her lips pursed. After stopping at another light, he looke
d back at Oval. “What do you think I should do?”
Oval sat up straight. “Let’s go have some fun,” he said. “You can’t reach Jack anyway.” He pushed Penny in the shoulder. “There must be something fun to do in this town, isn’t there?”
Penny turned slowly. Not smiling, she said, “Fine. Let’s go pretend we like each other.”
“Where to?” said Oval, upbeat as always, ignoring Penny’s mood.
“To the Strip,” she said. “Take a left at the next light.” To Oval, she said, “How mobile are you?”
“You’d be surprised. Even on crutches, I can probably motor faster than you. I got good last year when I broke my foot. Remember, CJ? In the last meet of the year, too.”
CJ answered, “Yeah, I remember.”
“That hurt,” said Oval. “This ankle thing is nothing compared to that.”
“So are you up for the old people’s giant Ferris wheel, or do you want real roller coasters and shit?”
“Real roller coasters and shit. Real roller coasters and shit,” Oval chanted.
Even Penny had to smile at that.
The three had just finished a ride on Insanity, a spinning ride from the top of the Stratosphere, a casino complex about halfway between downtown and the heart of the Strip, when CJ’s phone rang.
“It’s Jack,” he said, looking at the caller ID. Then, feeling a little guilty for his earlier stance on chasing after “the crazy old man,” he put the call on speaker so Penny and Oval could weigh in.
“Are you okay?” he said, forgoing any normal greeting.
“Yeah, yeah,” answered Jack.
Penny leaned over CJ’s phone and said, “Why haven’t you returned our calls, huh? Been zipping around in your flying saucer?”
After a slight pause, Jack said, “I heard that you met our True Believer friends.”
“Those guys are cracked,” said Penny.
“I don’t know how you found them,” said Jack. “I certainly didn’t send you to see them.”
A group of people—tourists, based on the ugly shorts and cameras they sported—pushed CJ as they charged toward the line for the coaster. He struggled to get back to where Penny and Oval moved, out of the stream of coaster riders.
“Who were those guys yesterday?” asked CJ, loudly because of the noise of the crowd, again holding the phone up so Penny and Oval could hear. “Were they from the DoD? What was that all about?”
“Well, yes, I assume that’s something else you picked up from the True Believers,” said Jack. “As a matter of fact, I’ve just spent a rather unpleasant afternoon with my friends from the Department of Defense.”
“Why?” asked Penny. “I saw you get away from them.”
“I did. Thanks to that remarkable bit of driving by your friend. How is he, by the way?”
“He’s got a broken ankle,” said CJ.
“I’m fine,” added Oval.
“Ah, Mr. Oval, is it? Thank you for what you did. It was either very brave, or very stupid, I’m not sure which,” said Jack.
“Sounds like stupid,” said Oval, “If you spent the afternoon with those jerks anyway.”
“Maybe, but you helped your friends stay out of the clutches of my buddies. I wasn’t quite so lucky. It seems they have ways of finding me, no matter what. Fortunately, it was without any of you.”
Oval asked, “So are the Defense dudes going to come and pick us up, too? Or, at least, are they coming for CJ?”
“No, not right now,” replied Jack. “I was able to persuade them that you were not involved in any way, that you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
CJ felt himself growing very tired of this. He couldn’t see where his involvement with Jack was going to take him. He said, “Okay. So as long as you’re all right, we’re kind of busy right now . . .”
Both Penny and Oval looked surprised—was CJ really going to give Jack the kiss-off, after all the arguments?
Jack could sense what was coming too. “Wait a minute, kid,” he said. “Let me tell you why I called.”
Penny jumped in. “Just you wait a minute, chief,” she said. “CJ is searching for information about his grandmother. How you got involved, I don’t know. But as far as I can tell, you don’t even know who CJ’s grandmother is.”
“Hold on, Penny,” said Jack quickly. “I know things about CJ’s grandparents that you are not going to believe.”
“I’ll bet that’s true,” said Oval. “At least, the not believing part.”
“CJ,” said Jack. “Listen to me now. You may be in danger.”
“Yeah, thanks to you,” answered CJ.
Jack’s voice sounded more urgent, more insistent. “This is important. You know that man at the library, the one I pointed out? One of the first times we met. I said he was following you?”
“I remember,” said CJ. “What about him?”
Oval said to Penny, “I told you that dude was bad.”
“Well, he may be dangerous,” said Jack. “In fact, that’s why the DoD wanted to talk to us. Because he was seen more than once near where we were meeting.”
“Who is he?” asked CJ.
“I don’t know,” answered Jack. “They wouldn’t tell me.”
CJ was torn, still anxious about what—if anything—Jack could tell him about Nini or Noga, and loyalty to Penny and Oval, who’d clearly had enough of Jack. Loyalty felt more right, so he said, “Okay, thanks for the warning. We’ll watch out for him, but we’ve got coasters to ride now.”
“You don’t understand, CJ,” said Jack. “There are things at play here that you wouldn’t believe, things I can’t talk about on the phone. I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to read more of my book, because then you’d know. We’ve got to meet. Look, just stay where you are. I’ll come and pick you up.”
“No, man,” said CJ, still not sure if this was the right thing to do. “We’re standing on the sidewalk here. And I think we’ll just be on our way. But thanks anyway for the tip.”
With a smile, Penny leaned across CJ and grabbed his phone. “Yeah, thanks for everything,” she said into the phone. “And goodbye.” She ended the call and smiled even wider.
“Okay,” she said. “Now what should we do?”
35
Las Vegas, April 2018
CJ, Penny, and Oval finished up their afternoon after their second run on the Big Apple coaster that wound around and through the New York skyline at the New York-New York Hotel. Oval decided that maybe standing in lines and thrill rides weren’t the best thing for his now throbbing ankle, so they headed for their car.
They were in the parking garage when Penny dropped the pack of gum she’d fished out of her purse. Stooping to pick it up, she spotted a figure just getting out of the elevator behind them.
“Uh-oh, guys,” she said, standing up and facing away from the man she’d seen. “Don’t look now, but I think that dude from the library is right behind us.”
Both CJ and Oval turned immediately to look.
The man, about ten paces behind them, had stopped and was looking right at them. He quickly took a step back toward the elevator, nearly knocking over a couple who’d emerged from the elevator with him, looking down at something in his hand, perhaps a cell phone. He wore white shirt and dark slacks, and was definitely the same man they’d seen earlier in the week at the library, the man that Jack had just warned them about.
“Go get the car,” said Oval. “I’ll knock the shit out of him with my crutches.”
“Don’t be stupid,” said CJ, who started walking toward the man.
“No,” said Penny, reaching out for CJ, but he was already too far away to reach.
But CJ kept walking. He approached the man, who looked to be at least forty with a slight paunch, wearing glasses. He didn’t look like someone CJ should be afraid of. As CJ got close, the man looked up from his phone. Seeing CJ, he first looked startled, then confused. He moved away from the elevator, attempting to dodge around CJ.
/> CJ thought about grabbing the man, but didn’t. He turned and spoke to the man’s back as he walked away. “Why are you following us?” he said, trying to hide his nervousness.
The man half-turned back to CJ. “What?” he said.
“You’ve been following us all week,” said CJ, feeling a little more confidence. “What do you want?”
Now the man looked incredulous, squinting and shaking his head. He looked over at the couple, who were now a half-dozen steps in front of him, and then back at CJ. He said, “Are you crazy, kid?” He walked quickly away, turning right, avoiding Penny and Oval, who were down the row to the left.
CJ hustled over to the other kids. “Come on, let’s get the car. Hurry,” he said, and took off at a lope toward where the car was parked.
Oval followed, and Penny had to run to keep up with him, as he indeed could move pretty fast for someone on crutches.
When they reached the car, CJ started it up and said, “Fast, get in. I want to follow that guy. He just got in a car down in the next row over.”
“You really are nuts,” said Penny, scrambling into the front seat. “This is dumb.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about this either, dude,” said Oval, struggling to get his crutches stowed and his door closed.
But CJ was determined. He backed the car out and then raced to the end of the row, looking for the other car.
Seeing a car turn up the exit ramp, Oval said, “See, there. That’s the same white car we’ve been seeing all week.”
As CJ followed the white car out of the garage, Penny said, “CJ, don’t do this. Jack said that guy was dangerous.”
“Since when do you listen to anything that Jack says?” asked CJ, scrambling for his wallet to pay the parking fee.
“Since when do you listen to anything that I say?” said Penny, folding her arms and sighing loudly.