by S. S. Segran
The Sentry was heartened by the teenager’s offer. “I’m fine, Jag. But thank you.”
A few hours on, open range began giving way to farmland. They were outside the town of Salina when they noticed pillars of smoke rising to the sky, as if many acres of crops were on fire. Jag hastily woke his friends who began murmuring when they caught sight of the smoke.
“Are the farmers burning their fields?” Tegan asked.
“I think so,” Aari said, trying to get a better view. “They do that with spoiled crops.”
“But the crops look okay from here . . . ”
They spotted a few black vans on certain properties and television trucks parked on the shoulder of the highway. “This is unreal,” Mariah whispered. “Are those government vehicles?”
“Seems like it.” Marshall looked at the GPS. “We’ll be at your grandfather’s farm shortly, Jag.”
He turned left, heading north to Concordia. Jag wound down the window to check the temperature outside but quickly put it back up. “Oh yeah, hot and humid. We’re definitely in Kansas.”
“Wanna take a dip in there?” Marshall laughed as he pointed at a water tank that sat atop a tower with ‘Concordia Panthers’ painted on it.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t mind that.”
On either side of the country road were more acres of farmland, along with barns and farm houses. At some of the properties, horses and cattle glanced up to watch the minivan drive past. Mariah had her face against a window, whimpering quietly every time they passed a horse.
“You like horses, Mariah?” Marshall asked.
She faced him, eyes sparkling. “I love them. They give you unconditional affection, and riding one is almost like flying. It’s amazing.”
Jag was calling Tristan to let him know that they’d arrived when they finally turned onto a wide gravel path that led to a classic, wooden two-story home with a dark, pointed roof. A truck was parked off to the side and a barn sat stoutly some distance away.
“This is a really nice place,” Marshall said as they got out of the vehicle.
Kody put on his ball cap as he contorted his face. “Yeah, except for the heat.”
The front door of the house opened and a yellow Labrador retriever bounded toward them, ears flapping, barking loudly.
“Lady!” Jag dropped down, waving the dog over. “Lady! C’mere, pup!”
The Labrador ran into his open arms and snuffled his face, whining joyfully, her tail wagging. Marshall leaned down to pat Lady’s head. The dog licked his fingers before turning her attention to the teenagers who were swarming her.
Marshall caught movement by the open door of the house and looked up. An older man was making his way out. He wore simple blue jeans, boots and a red checkered shirt.
Jag saw the newcomer as well and ran toward him. “Gramps!”
The man gathered Jag into a tight hug. As the others made their way over to them with Marshall at the rear, the two parted so the man could embrace the other teens. “Aari! Tegan! Kody! Mariah! Look at you all!” He then fixed his gaze on the Sentry. “Don’t believe I’ve met you before.”
“Uh, this is Marshall,” Jag said, glancing at the others. “He’s a friend we met on the trip. Found out we were heading the same way, so we’re all going together.”
Marshall stuck out his hand. “Pleasure meeting you, sir.”
“Call me Hugo, son.” Hugo shook the Sentry’s hand firmly. They locked eyes for a moment, and Marshall knew he’d just received a subtle warning: I don’t know who you are, but if the kids trust you, so do I. Don’t screw it up.
Marshall gave a short nod and dropped his hand back to his side. He followed the others into the house with Lady trotting in after them, her tail wagging nonstop.
“Tristan gave me a call and told me you were on your way,” Hugo said, leading the way into the dining room. A rustic pine table that sat eight was placed at the center. “Here, have a seat. Have you had dinner?”
“Not yet,” Jag said.
“Good.” Hugo went to the adjoining kitchen and came back with bowls of beef stew. They thanked him as he took his seat at the end of the table beside Jag, facing Marshall who sat at the opposite end. There was one empty seat at the table, and Marshall could only assume Jag’s grandmother would have been sitting there if she weren’t in a hospital.
As they took their first bites, Jag asked, “How are you, Gramps?”
Hugo reached out and patted Jag’s shoulder. “I was doing well until all of this happened. I’m glad you’re here, though. The last time your grandmother and I saw you was at Christmas.”
“You know I love being here. How, uh . . . How’s Gran doing?”
“She was in pretty bad shape, but thank goodness the paramedics arrived as quickly as they did. When the next town over got hit, she got really worried. And then when our crops got destroyed . . . it was just too much to take. She’s in intensive care. They’re giving her clot-busting medicine but are considering surgery once she stabilizes.” Hugo took a spoonful of the stew. “I haven’t left her side, but when I found out you were coming, I headed back. Good thing I did, too. The authorities were here for hours this morning.”
“We saw them on our way over,” Aari said. “What are they doing?”
“Asking questions,” Hugo answered. “This is mind-boggling even to them. No one’s ever seen this kind of thing before. Everyone was here, from the CDC to the USDA, and even the FBI.”
“FBI?” Kody stammered, nearly spilling his stew. “I can understand why the others would be here, but why the FBI?”
“They have to look at it from all angles,” Aari replied. “Including the possibility of this being a terror attack.”
At that, Marshall and the five swapped secretive looks.
Hugo smiled at Aari. “Sharp as ever, you are.”
Aari turned a little red and continued eating. “This is really good, Mr. Sanchez.”
“It’s nothing fancy, but I’m happy you’re enjoying it.”
Jag stirred his meal. “Would we be able to go see Gran after dinner?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“If you don’t mind, Mr. Sanchez, would it be alright if we took a look at your crops while you’re away with Jag?” Aari asked.
“Sure. Don’t know what you can find, though. Authorities scanned dozens of acres but found nothing.”
Mariah stared out of the window. “It’s strange. The crops look just fine.”
Hugo nodded earnestly. “That’s what I told Julia, too, when she came rushing in. But when you see it close up, it crushes you. The stalks are there, alright. But it’s as if someone has cut away every single wheat head. They’re all gone.” He lowered his gaze.
“Is there really no trace of anything?” Aari prodded. “No sign of what caused this?”
“None.”
“Did you see anyone come by? Or hear anything funny?”
Hugo seemed mildly tickled by Aari’s investigative queries. “I haven’t. And no one else has, it seems. I checked my crops the evening before we lost them and they were fine. That seems to be the pattern. But if you want to hang around here, be my guest.” Hugo wiped his mouth with a napkin. “So how was California?”
“The . . . beaches were nice,” Tegan said, trading furtive looks with the others.
They finished the meal quickly after that. Aari and Mariah jumped up to gather the plates despite Hugo’s protests, then went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.
Jag ran to get the keys to Hugo’s truck. Hugo looked at Marshall and smiled slightly. There was something about the man that was both inscrutable and comforting. “Guess we’re off to the hospital.”
Marshall returned the smile. “Thank you so much for dinner.”
“It’s nothing, really.” Hugo stood up and joined Jag, who was waiting impatiently at the door. “We’ll be back in a couple hours. If you’re going to go outside, there are some flashlights in the closet to the left of the kitchen.”
Marshall slowly pushed his chair back and looked them all in the eyes. “Let’s see if we can find out what we’re dealing with here.”
PART THREE
38
“One. Simple. Task. That’s it. That’s all the job required.”
The temperature in the conference room had plummeted the moment Tony stepped in. He observed the three men standing before him with icy disgust. He’d handpicked them himself for his unit, having seen them perform excellently many times in the past.
And yet, they’d been outsmarted by a couple of teenagers.
None of the three men would look him directly in the eye. Hajjar stood off to the side, thick arms folded over his equally thick chest, a bandage wrapped around his head and another around a hand. He appeared somber.
Tony hefted a four-foot length of steel pipe he’d picked up in the underground construction zone and arched his eyebrow at the red-haired Australian. “Liam.”
The Australian briefly met Tony’s gaze in acknowledgement. “Sir.”
“You told me the girls escaped you once. You recaptured them, tied them up, and locked them in again. And you had an extra pair of eyes and hands to help guard the door. Right?” Tony spun the pipe like a staff, not expecting an answer. “Tell me, how in hell did they manage to hoodwink you to escape the second time around?”
“They obviously had help, sir,” the Australian said. “The first time they got out, someone hit me in the back of my head with a microwave oven.”
“And did you find out who it was?”
“No, sir.”
“Of course you didn’t.” Tony worked the pipe around his palm and over his knuckles. “This is incompetence. Stupidity. Ineffectiveness. Do I need to go on?”
The Australian shook his head.
“What am I going to do?” Tony’s words dripped acid. “Losing the girls, colossal damages . . . I have to report all of this to the boss. I left you in charge, Liam, but I will be taking the flak for your ineptitude. I despise having my leadership and my judgment questioned by the boss. I‘ve worked too hard for that.”
The Australian stared over Tony’s head at the wall behind him.
Tony shoved his free hand into the pocket of his skinny jeans. “And then, for reasons I will never comprehend, fortune brought all five of them right into your hands. And what do you do? You lose them, again! How? You were armed and had three other men with you!”
“There was a man with them,” the Australian responded weakly. “He wasn’t much of a problem, but weird things happened.”
“Yeah, I heard,” Tony snapped. “Trucks disappearing and all that crap. What were you guys smoking?”
“I was with them,” Hajjar interjected calmly. “I saw it, and I was completely sober.”
Tony spun the pipe around his hand again. Ohh, the partially-blind guy thinks he can nullify this situation. “And I’m supposed to tell the boss . . . what? That you got distracted by your hallucinations, thereby allowing the five to escape? Who knows where they are by now!”
He jabbed one end of the pipe under the Australian’s jaw. The man froze, eyes darting from the pipe to Tony.
“Careful, Cross,” Hajjar sneered. “Keep that little demon inside you on a tight leash.”
Tony turned to him sharply. Hajjar smiled. “I’m the head of security here, Tony. I don’t have to stand here and watch your BS. Take it somewhere else, if you must entertain your sadistic urges.”
Tony clucked his tongue and took a deep breath. “I’ve had it under control for four years now, Elias,” he said, “but I do have to dispense some sort of consequence for this unacceptable failure.” He looked back at the Australian, prodding the pipe against the man’s throat. To his credit, the man didn’t budge.
“This is your mess,” Hajjar said indifferently. “Don’t leave me another pile to clean up here. I’ll be topside checking up on things.”
Tony waited until the giant had left the room before studying the three underlings. He was livid, yes; but even more so, he was disappointed. “The more I’m around all these ignoramuses,” he said to himself, though the others could still hear him, “the more I appreciate the boss’s plan for the future. A world without fools. I really can’t wait.”
The men remained still.
“You two, out.” Tony nodded to the men on either side of the Australian. “Liam and I need to have a little chat.”
The Australian stiffened, eyeing the pipe under his chin. Tony noticed and tossed the pipe to one of the men as they left the room.
The flame-haired man’s shoulders dropped in relief and he let out a small laugh. “I thought you were gonna hit me ’round the head with that.”
Tony turned so his back was to the Australian. “No,” he said, staring down at his penny loafers. “Of course not. That’s cheap.”
“Sir, I really don’t know what to say. I—”
“They were girls, teenagers. They were locked up in a room after being nabbed. You figured they’d be weak, knees knocking together and curled up in a corner. You figured they’d just sit and do as they’re told. Is that it, Liam?”
“Y-yes, sir. That was probably it.”
Tony leisurely turned around and stepped closer so he stood within six inches of the other man. “You most likely also thought, then, that since they looked like easy pickings, you could relax, drop your guard a little.”
The other man was ashen. “I—perhaps. I mean, quite likely.”
Tony placed his hands on the Australian’s shoulders, feeling him tense up again. “Do I pay you to slack off, Liam?”
“No, sir.”
“Every assignment we’ve taken on prior to this demanded a high level of commitment. Why would this be any different?”
“It . . . it wasn’t. It shouldn’t have been.”
“I’ve seen you, all of you, perform excellently before. This is why I depend on you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Will you be able to perform to my expectations again?”
“I can guarantee it, sir. This is one slip-up. We know our jobs and we do them well.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Tony removed his hands from the Australian’s shoulders. “You can go now. But before you leave, let me warn you that this is not over. If the boss demands a pound of my flesh over this fiasco, I will tear two out of you.”
39
Tegan walked with Mariah through the wheat field, shining her flashlight alternately at the ground and at the headless stalks. The sky overhead was speckled with bright stars and the moon cast an ethereal sheen on the six-hundred-acre farm. Every now and then an insect or some creature would emit a noise which kept the girls on their toes.
“This is depressing,” Tegan said, running her fingers over the stalks. “I feel so bad for Jag’s grandparents.”
Mariah knelt to take a look at the dust-covered soil. “Me too.”
Tegan looked around for Aari and Marshall and spotted their flashlight beams a couple of hundred feet away. Kody was on his own a little further down from them, using his night vision ability to scan the crops.
As they walked, a thought crossed Tegan’s mind. “Are there snakes out here?” she asked.
“I sure hope not,” Mariah mumbled.
“Let’s check with our resident know-it-all. Hey, Aari!”
“Yeah?” Aari yelled. “You found something?”
“No! Just wondering if there are any snakes in Kansas!”
“Um . . . Yeah! Lots! Mostly harmless, like gopher snakes, but some are pretty deadly!”
From somewhere in the depths of the field, they heard a scream from Kody. “There are snakes here?”
“Just be careful,” Marshall called.
“Gah!”
They continued on, hoping to find something that the investigators from the gove
rnment agencies might have missed. Tegan was skeptical of that objective. If the experts couldn’t find anything, what are the chances we will?
It was nearly an hour later when Kody suggested calling it quits. Tegan and the others readily agreed; they were still exhausted from the events of the past couple of days and, at this point, wanted nothing more than to put their feet up. They headed back to the house and fell onto the sofas in the living room just as the clock struck eleven.
Lady trotted in after them and lay down by Marshall’s feet. The Sentry reached down to pat her head warmly.
“Where’s the remote?” Aari asked. “I want to see what’s on the news.”
Tegan located the remote between the sofa cushions and turned the television on, flipping through different channels until she came across a cable news station. An interviewer faced two people who appeared to be government officials. Judging from the sunlight outside the TV studio’s wide windows, the panel was pre-recorded. Not surprisingly, the topic of discussion was the crop failures.
“We are still working on identifying the cause of the outbreak,” a woman who was identified on screen as a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson was saying. “We have gathered samples from a large number of affected areas across the country, but test results remain inconclusive.”
“So far we haven’t identified any specific chemical or biological contaminants in the samples,” the male official from the Environmental Protection Agency added.
“So is this a natural phenomenon, or is there something more insidious at play here?” the interviewer asked, laying down her papers.
“Our test results remain inconclusive for now,” the woman repeated. “What we do encourage, though, is that people in the affected areas remain vigilant, especially farmers.”
The camera focused on the interviewer. “What do you want them to be vigilant of? What should they be looking for?”
“We don’t feel that we should rule out anything at this point,” the EPA man said. “Any observations citizens make that seem out of the ordinary may provide important information.”