by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Salud stood on the eighteenth tee at Augusta and blew out a breath. Lukas was in the final group and was four strokes ahead of his playing partner. The first round hadn’t started well and, after the first day, Lukas was seven strokes back. He could have been ten back but for her taking control on the sixteenth green. He had landed on the top of the green and was putting downhill toward a pin on the bottom back of the green. He knelt down behind it and she saw him put his putter in the center of his chest. He was going to putt straight at it. He said over his shoulder, “How do you see it?”
Salud knew Lukas had an amazing eye for the slope of the greens, but their speed had fooled him several times earlier. She said, “You’re reading this wrong.”
Lukas’ head came back and he actually turned around and looked at her, “What?”
Salud blew out a breath. This was the first time she had challenged him and he was surprised by what she said. “Lu, you’re going to have to turn around and putt the ball along the top of this green and let it feed down to the hole. If you go straight at it, the ball will end up in the pond.”
Lukas stared into her eyes and then looked at the putt again. He looked at her again, “Are you sure about this?”
“I am. If you go for it and miss, you’ll be in the pond.”
• • •
The Announcers listened to the exchange and the Pro smiled, “She’s right. I am really amazed she sees it.”
“Let’s listen and see if he does.”
• • •
Lukas stood up and walked to the top of the green and looked at his ball. He then walked to the end of the green and studied the slope as it fell from the top and moved toward the bottom of the green. He shook his head and went back to the ball, “We’ll do it your way.” He lined up the putt and stroked it smoothly along the top of the green. The ball rolled and suddenly picked up speed as it turned down the slope, barely missing going off the green into the fringe. It made a hard left turn at the bottom and slowed as it climbed the raised front edge. It dove to the left and hit the back of the cup. It fell in and the crowd went wild. Lukas was three over par and now it was cut to two. He looked at Salud and shook his head, “How did you see that?”
Salud took his putter, wiped it off, and put it in the bag. She put her finger on her lips as Lukas’ playing partner lined up a short putt from eight feet above the hole. He barely tapped the ball and it went over the edge of the hole, rolled down the slope over the fringe, and into the pond. He went from putting for a birdie to a double bogey five. Salud picked up her bag and said, “I watched other caddies on that green rolling balls at it. Everything from above the hole went into the water. The only way to get close was to come around the green and approach it from the side.”
Lukas put his arm on her shoulders and gave her a quick hug, “If you see anything else, tell me.”
“I know the places on the green where you should aim. The other caddies that have been here before discussed it at length during our walk around Monday.”
“Tell me at every hole.”
“I will.”
• • •
Now they were at the eighteenth hole and Lukas was going to win the tournament. He was four strokes up on the group in front of them and his playing partner had fallen to eight strokes back. Lukas pulled a three wood and ripped a drive down the fairway. It hit and took a hard left bounce toward the fairway sand trap. The crowd moaned and Lukas shrugged. Salud arrived with him at the trap and saw the ball was a fried egg. It was slightly buried in a depression with sand around it on all sides. Lukas looked at the green and said, “Seven Iron.”
Salud pulled it out and said, “Are you sure about this?”
Lukas nodded, “I can get it there.”
“Wouldn’t you be better served to layup and go for the bogey?”
Lukas shook his head, “Seven iron.” Salud handed it to him and Lukas lined up the shot. He took a massive swing and as the ball shot out of the trap, Lukas screamed and fell to the sand. Salud dropped her bag and ran over to him; he was writhing in pain and had his left hand on his right shoulder.
“WHAT’S WRONG!?”
“I’ve done something to my shoulder.” Salud looked in the trap and saw the seven iron was broken in half. Several officials came over and helped Lukas to his feet and walked him out of the trap. He immediately dropped to his knees and shook his head. An official came over and said, “Are you able to continue?”
Lukas grunted, “I don’t know.”
“You will be disqualified if you can’t.”
Lukas forced himself to his feet and his playing partner and caddie helped him walk up the fairway. Salud carried the two bags and when they arrived at the green, she saw Lukas’ ball was forty feet from the pin. The Official said to the golfer and Caddie, “You may not assist him in making the putt. Outside assistance is a two stoke penalty.”
The golfer said, “We’ll help him to his ball.”
“He will be penalized if you do.”
Lukas had fallen to the green and lay there with his eyes closed. The golfer and caddie looked at Salud, “What do you want us to do?”
Salud knelt down beside Lukas, “Can you get up?” Lukas tried, moaned, and shook his head. She looked at them, “Help me get him to his ball.” They lifted him as gently as possible and he screamed when he moved his right shoulder. They carried him across the green and he went to his knees beside his ball. The golfer and caddie stepped away and Salud knew if they helped him again, he would lose a total of four strokes and be tied for the lead. There was no way for him to take part in a playoff. The crowd had come running when the news went out that the leader was down with an injury. They packed the area around the green and Salud leaned down and said in his ear, “You’ve come too far to give up. I’m going to pull you up and put your putter in your hand. Are you hearing me!?” Lukas slightly nodded with his eyes closed. Salud looked at the official, “Is it a penalty if I help him up?”
“No, you are the only one allowed to do so as his caddie.”
Salud looked at Lukas sitting back on his heels next to the ball. She shook her head, took his putter out of the bag, and put the putter’s head behind the ball. She lined it up as close as she could to the line that she had seen being used by the caddies on Monday. She took Lukas right hand and put it just above the putter head and said, “Come on, Lukas. Give it a push!”
Lukas took a deep breath, flinched, opened his eyes and stared at the ball on the green in front of him. He sighed and moved the head slightly back and pushed it forward. The putter fell out of his hands and he collapsed to the green. Salud knew he would not be able to rise again. She shook her head and suddenly heard the multitude around the green, who had been silent as they witnessed what was taking place, explode into a roar. She looked at the hole and didn’t see Lukas’ ball. Everything suddenly became too confusing to understand. She stayed beside Lukas as a stretcher was rolled through the crowd and Lukas was lifted on it. The Announcer arrived and grabbed Salud’s shoulder as she stood to go to the ambulance. “Wait, Miss Vazquez. We need you to stay and receive his award and trophy.”
“I’m going with him!”
The announcer looked her in the eyes and then slowly nodded. She looked at the stretcher making its way through the crowd and she went on her tiptoes and whispered in the announcer’s ear. His eyes went wide and he looked at her, “Are you sure?”
“That’s what he said he was going to do if he won.”
The announcer nodded as Salud turned and ran through the crowd toward the ambulance. She climbed in the back and official ran up and said, “Miss Vazquez, you left your bag.”
She shook her head, “Keep it.” The rear door was closed and the official shook his head. This simple walking bag with fourteen clubs was going to be extremely valuable. He turned and carried the bag to the clubhouse.
• • •
Salud sat in the am
bulance and a man in a green jacket sitting across from her said, “I’ve given him a shot of morphine. We’ll get him to the hospital and take a look at what he’s done to his shoulder.”
“He swung hard enough to snap his club in the trap.”
The doctor nodded, “I suspect he tore something. We’ll know as soon as we get some x-rays.
The ambulance had the radio on and she heard the announcer speaking, “…is the first time in the history of this tournament that we’ve not had the winner present at the presentation. However, we will get the awards to him as quickly as possible and we’ll update everyone on what his medical status is as soon as we find out. I spoke with Lukas’ caddie briefly before they left and she asked that I make sure a request he wants done takes place. She told me that if he won this prestigious tournament, that he wanted half of his winnings to be donated to the PGA Caddie fund to help train future caddies and support those that come on hard times. I have told the officials here at Augusta and they have agreed to make the donation and match it with an equal amount. Let us all pray that his injury is not something that will prevent him from playing soon.”
The caddies heard the announcer in their locker room and a number of them started shaking their heads. The old caddie that had helped Salud on Monday looked around and said, “I believe all of you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
The tall caddie shook his head, “But they made it here without paying the price.”
“Well, you and everyone else made his caddie suffer enough to pay their admission. The fact that he made that donation should tell you that he and she are better people than all of you.”
The tall caddie took a deep breath and after a moment nodded, “Yes, they are. I’ll tell them when they play again.”
The old caddie shook his head, “His golf career is over; I’ve seen shoulder injuries like that. He won’t be back for a very long time, if ever. You should have told them while you had the chance.”
• • •
The ambulance arrived at the emergency room entrance and Salud stepped out of the rear door to find Joey standing there with a man dressed in a grey suit. Joey hugged Salud and said, “We’ll be taking Lukas with us.”
“What…why…what’s going on?”
“Dr. Blanchard is one of the foremost orthopedic surgeons in the country. We’ll be flying him to his office where he’ll examine Lukas.”
The press arrived right behind the ambulance and saw Lukas put in a private ambulance and taken away from the hospital. They were told what was going on and they jumped in their vehicles and took off after the ambulance. The ambulance arrived at the airport and rolled out to a private jet where Lukas was moved on board. The jet taxied out and took off to the east.
The reporters were furious. They didn’t have a chance to speak with Lukas or his caddie. They began calling in their reports and had to be satisfied with being at the site where Lukas was flown out.
One of the men in the crowd of reporters watched the private jet take off and watched it until it disappeared. He turned, walked through the crowd of journalists, and opened the passenger door on the blue car. “Well, it looks like we missed our opportunity.”
“Who could have known he would be injured?”
Jinks looked at Stoney, “That seems to be just a tad too convenient.”
Stoney looked at the Colonel, “You think he made us?”
“If he did, he didn’t show any stress or other behaviors indicating he knew we were there. But this sudden exit makes me wonder.”
“The woman that lived next door didn’t say he owned the corvette.”
“She probably didn’t know. We lost our chance at confirming it when the owner that took his application died three months ago of a heart attack. His partner never met or saw the owner of the Vette. It could have been his or someone else’s.”
“If he’s not human, he’s certainly not keeping a low profile.”
Jinks shrugged, “That does make me wonder if he’s the one we’re looking for. But think about it, a complete unknown shows up and wins at Augusta. That is enough to make him different from most humans.”
“Boss, we scanned him several times. He’s human.”
Jinks shook his head, “That scares me more than you know.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if the one’s watching our planet are able to change their bodies to ours, what does that say about their level of technology?”
Stoney drove away from the curb at the airport and after ten minutes of silence he shook his head, “Jinks, now I’m starting to worry.”
“Get in line, Stoney. The positrons at that house in Boston was enough to scare the bejesus out of me.”
“I’m going to hate myself for asking; why?”
“I questioned Dr. Carter for a long time. Positrons are created from the largest explosions in the universe. If someone can create and harness them…”
Stoney blew out a breath, “They probably possess a weapon powerful enough to do massive damage to a planet.”
Jinks nodded, “Something like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Positrons are the electrons that are in the outer shell of antimatter. A pound of antimatter would shatter this planet.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Well, at least the General sent the report up the ladder. The Joint Chiefs are looking into it now.”
“What can they do?”
Jinks shook his head, “Worry like us and scramble around chasing ghosts.”
Stoney made the turn out of the airport, “We need to stay busy or this is going to run me batty.”
“I need to go and speak to that pregnant woman personally.”
Stoney nodded, “She didn’t tell us everything.”
Jinks shook his head, “You are the best Lie-Detector in existence.”
“She told us the truth.”
Jinks smiled, “But not the whole truth.”
“Something like that.”
“By the way. They’ve announced that Lukas Axel will never play golf again. The press reports he’s gone into isolation to deal with his sorrow.” Jinks raised an eyebrow and Stoney smiled, “What did you say about convenience?”
Jinks shook his head, “I was going to take them in for questioning. I think I’m going to pay a visit to that caddie of his.”
“Why?”
“She knows something and getting to him won’t be easy now. I have a feeling that she will help me put things together.” Jinks thought about the tall blonde gofer he had watched for two days and, though he didn’t want to, he liked him. The feelings he had for his caddie were real and he didn’t appear to have an oversized ego. There was something…He shook his head and was glad he didn’t arrest him. There was something playing around the edges of his consciousness that he couldn’t quite grasp. He had a feeling that he was supposed to be here to see him. He shook his head and wondered what was going on.
Chapter Thirteen
Salud sat in the back of the jet and listened to the drone of its engines. She held Lukas’ hand and saw Joey come out of the cockpit, “I think we’re clear.”
She said, “Clear of what?” just as Lukas sat up on the stretcher and pressed his wrist unit, “Do you see anything?”
“No, it doesn’t appear they had time to get a flight up before we took off.”
Salud’s head went back as Lukas stood up off the stretcher and raised his arms above his head. “WHAT IN NINE HELLS IS GOING ON?”
Lukas went to a knee beside her, “I couldn’t tell you. Your reactions had to be real.”
Salud’s eyes narrowed and she slapped Lukas hard on his right cheek, “You’ve scared me out of my mind!”
Lukas rubbed his cheek as Joey shrugged, “It was critically important that you acted that way.”
“What’s going on?”
“On the third day of the tournament, ten Defens
e Intelligent Officers arrived and have been following you and Lukas around the course.”
Salud stared at Joey and then looked at Lukas who nodded and said, “They have been taking measures of me trying to determine if I’m human. My wrist unit picked up their scans and notified Joey that my golfing career was coming to a sudden end. You should have been suspicious when Joey was at the emergency room.”
Salud looked at Joey and then nodded, “There was no way for you to have been there before we arrived without your knowing about it in advance.” Joey nodded. Salud looked at Lukas, “What’s made them suspicious of you?”
Lukas shrugged, “It has to be Kathy. She probably recognized me on TV and told those that were questioning her that I was now a golfer and that their suspicions were false.”
Salud started shaking her head, “This is not good. They’ll know you owned the Vette.”
Lukas smiled, “Not really.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Because that parking space was not assigned to my apartment. I moved the car there while the owners were snow birding in Miami.”
Joey nodded, “And I’ve purchased a new Corvette in Lukas’ name and had the transfer of title back dated to a month before he rented the apartment.”
Lukas looked at Salud, “They found my Corvette parked at Joey’s West Palm office and it has made them question whether or not I’m the one they’re looking for.”
Salud stared at them and then looked at Lukas, “Who rented the apartment that was assigned that space?”
Joey smiled, “Actually, no one. That will make them wonder if someone that lived somewhere else, illegally parked it there.”
“I think the two of you are stretching things here. They will find a loose end you didn’t tie down and the jig will be up.”
Lukas sighed, “This whole house of cards could fall but, for the moment, they’re just not certain if I’m a viable candidate. They are torn between the owner of the suspicious Vette being on board when it left the planet or still here. They want to believe he left but they’re too paranoid to not make sure.”