Alien Among Us (TJ Steele Book 1)

by L. Edwin Brown

  I reached into my front pocket and pulled out my mag light and turned it on. I shined it down the steps and saw it was clear. I flipped on the light switch at the top of the stairs and started down. I wasn’t sure what I would find once I reached the bottom.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I could see the basement, wasn’t as large as the entire house. It only covered the area, under the living, dining room, and kitchen. There was a fairly new looking furnace and a large hot-water heater, sitting near the stairs. Along the back wall were wooden shelves, with a mixture of old paint cans and glass jars.

  I headed back up the stairs, watching that I didn’t bump my head, on the slopped ceiling that ran above the stairs. At the top of the stairs, I looked around the corner and into the living room. Marylou was still sitting and waiting on me. She motioned for me to come to her. She whispered in my ear, she had heard someone coughing, down the hallway.

  I told her stay in the living room and I stepped through the smaller arched opening, into the hallway. On my left was a wood door partially open. I put my hand on the door and pushed it the rest of the way open.

  Using my mag light, I aimed it into the room, I could see it was the bathroom. I flipped on the light and to my right was a large porcelain pedestal sink. Next to the sink was the toilet. Across the back of the bathroom was a large porcelain shower area with a strange chrome metal apparatus, used to move paralyzed individuals around. There was a plastic chair with casters on the bottom, sitting against the wall.

  I backed out of the bathroom and moved down the hall another six feet or so. I was now standing in front of another closed six panel wood door, on the right side of the hall. I elevated the hand gun and held it out in front of me. I turned the door knob and pushed the door open slowly.

  A gravelly old voice said. Is that you Sonny. I pushed the door the rest of the way open and saw an elderly man in a medical style bed, on the far side of the room. His bed had him raised a little and he could see me. I quickly lower my gun down to my side.

  Get me a drink of water Raymond, he said to me. I could see he had little to no mobility, from his chest down. He was no threat to me, so I backed out of the room, pulling the door closed behind me.

  I looked at Marylou, once I was back in the hall. I then started moving further down the hall. At the end there were two wooden doors, one on each side of the hall. I saw, both doors had brass deadbolt locks on them. I moved to the door on the right first and slipped the same key that allowed me to enter the house, into the deadbolt lock. The key fit, but wouldn’t turn.

  I fumbled for the next key, trying to hang onto the gun, flashlight, and keys at the same time. I finally slipped the flashlight into my front pants pocket and unlocked the door with my left hand. With the keyring still in the lock, I turned the door handle and pushed it open.

  The room was dark, so I pulled out the flashlight again and shined it on the wall, next to the door, where I found a light switch. I turned on the light and was surprised by the contents of the room. In the corner, straight across from the door, was a long desk with a laptop computer, a digital camera, and a high-end color printer. There was a twin bed and dresser at the other end of the room, with a flat screen television on top of the dresser.

  What had shocked me, was what was hanging on the walls. Almost every available inch of wall space was covered with neatly arranged, nude photos, of both young boys and girls at some level of torture. There were hundreds of photos, some were old style Polaroid, and some were newer digital, printed on the color computer printer.

  I stepped further into the room, moving down towards the bed, where there was another door. I opened the door and saw it was a closet. Next to the dresser was a bookshelf with hundreds of X-rated adult DVD movies.

  Next to the closet door were several Polaroid photos of Douglas junior and senior standing on each side of a young naked boy, hanging from the block and tackle ropes, in the center of the barn?

  Junior looked to be about fifteen or sixteen in the photos. It was as if they were showing off their prized catch. I couldn’t tell from the photo, whether the young boy, was alive or not.

  I left the bedroom and crossed the hall to the last door. If Abagail and Caroline weren’t in this room, I was going to have to go back out to the barn and work over Douglas, until he told me where they were. I used the same key that opened the door behind me and unlocked the last door.

  I wasted no time in pushing open this door and feeling for a light switch. The room came alive with bright overhead fluorescence lights. The room was full of wooden shelving handmade from two by twelves boards, nicely nailed and screwed together.

  One wall had shelving from the floor to the ceiling and ran the full width of the room. The shelves were filled with shoes of all types and sizes, both male and female. It was like a huge trophy case. The shoes were neatly arranged side by side. Under each pair of shoes, there were dates written with a black marker, on the edge of the wooden shelves.

  The rest of the shelves in the room were filled with boys and girls clothing, neatly folded, and stacked on the shelf. I placed my hand on the end of the shelving that contained the shoes. Once again the screaming voices, of young people, were going off in my head. The faces of many young boys and girls were flashing, before my eyes. Pain was reaching every molecule of my body. I couldn’t push away from the shelving. I felt someone tugging on the back of my black Carhartt shirt, pulling from the room.

  In the hallway, I turned to see Marylou, standing with tears in her eyes. She said she heard me crying and when she came down the hall. I was leaning against the shelf, making strange noises.

  I put my arms around her and said this place was full of sadness and pain. While we were standing in the hall we heard a noise coming from above our heads. It sounded as if someone was walking. I put my finger up to my lips, wanting Marylou to be quiet.

  We moved back down the hallway towards the living room. I remembered the slopped ceiling, above my head, as I went up and down the basement steps. When Marylou and I reached the bathroom, I looked behind the door and saw another wood door. I had not noticed this door, when I first checked out the bathroom. It also had a brass deadbolt lock.

  I stepped all the way into the bathroom, followed by Marylou. We closed the bathroom door, so we could get to the other wooden door. I found the proper key that fit the lock and unlocked the deadbolt. When I pulled the door open, there was a flat area with steps, off to the right side.

  I stepped through the door and Marylou followed. I motioned for her to stay, while I went up the steps. There was a forty watt lightbulb at the top of the stairs. With my pistol in my right hand, down at my side, I moved slowly one step at a time, upward.

  When I was high enough to look over the flat flooring in the attic, I peeked to my right first. I saw a couch, chair, small, refrigerator, microwave, and television at that end of the attic. I turned and peeked to my left and saw a young girl, with a small child, sitting on the side of a bed, clutching each other. They were scared and weeping. I moved up two more steps, so they could see more of me. I’m not here to hurt you, I said to them. The young girl began to cry harder and pulled the small child into her arms, while she slid down to the foot of the bed.

  Marylou heard me talking and came up the steps, moving past me, until she was standing on the attic floor. I concealed the gun in my waist band and moved on up to the top of the stairs, having to duck a little, to avoid the steep slopping roofline.

  Marylou walked over to the young woman, sat down on the bed next to her. She told her it was okay, she and I were here to get her out of this house. She wouldn’t move away from the end of the bed. I walked over and asked if she was Abagail. She shook her head yes. I said her grandmother sent me to get her. She stared up at me and suddenly released the tight hold on her daughter. Grandma Lorain, she asked? Yes sweetheart, your grandmother Lorain, I replied. I knew now, was not the time to tell her, about her grandmother, I just wanted to get her and the two year old ou
t of this house.

  Little Caroline slid off the bed and moved over next to me, looking up at my face. I picked her up and she hugged me around my neck. She was not afraid and knew I was there, to save them and not to do them harm. Abagail and Marylou stood and the four of us headed down the steps to the bathroom. Marylou pushed the attic stairs door closed and opened the bathroom door. We moved through the living room and out the front door.

  I wished now, I had brought my cell phone, instead of leaving it in the rented SUV. I looked over at Douglas’s big pickup truck and at the keys in my hand. I saw a Dodge key on the keyring and we headed towards the truck. I opened the driver side rear door of the extended cab, and sat Caroline on the rear seat. She slid over to the middle and I helped Abagail in next.

  Marylou ran around to the other side and opened the rear door on the passenger side, and climbed up on the seat, next to Caroline. I closed the rear door and climbed into the driver’s seat. I started the truck and turned around in the graveled driveway. I pulled up by the first gate and jumped out pulling the gate back until it was completely open.

  I grabbed the tranquilizer rifle and my night vision binoculars, I had left by the gate. I tossed them on the front passenger seat. I drove forward until the front bumper was against the partially open second gate. I used the truck, to push it open the rest of the way.

  I drove the big diesel pickup, to the top of the hill, and across the highway, into the motel’s parking lot. I pulled up behind my rented SUV and jumped out, after grabbing the tranquilizer rifle and night vision binoculars, off the front seat.

  I opened the back hatch of the rented SUV and placed the rifle in the case and tossed binoculars in. I pulled the hand gun from my waist band and slipped it into the leather pouch. I stepped around to the driver’s side and reached through the door, picking up my cell phone off the console. I locked the SUV and walked back to the pickup truck.

  Once I was back in the pickup, I pulled out onto state highway 340 heading east, towards Grand Junction. I dialed 911 on my cell phone and a female voice asked. “What is you emergency.” I told her to connect me with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department. She responded, she can help me with my emergency. I told her again I wanted to speak to someone in the sheriff’s department.

  The 911 dispatchers continued to give me static, until Marylou yanked the phone from my hand, and yelled at the female 911 operator. My name is Marylou Watson, from Council Bluffs, Iowa. I was kidnapped last Friday night, from behind Calhoun’s Diner. Now stop giving us your bullshit and connect us with the sheriff’s department.

  Marylou then handed my cell phone back to me and I held it up to my ear. There was nothing, but silence for almost a minute. Finally another female voice came on and said. “Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Harcort speaking.”

  Hi, my name is Theodore James Steele and I’m on east bound Broadway on my way to your office with three kidnapped females.

  Do you have a Marylou Watson, in the vehicle with you, the deputy asked? Yes I do. I also have the off springs of Christine Anderson, a female that was abducted August of 1995, from the old Greyhound Station in Palisade.

  I took the three females, from the Douglas Brighton farm in Fruita. The house is located below the Brighton Truck Service Center on highway 340. I would suggest you dispatch both, law enforcement and medical personnel, to the house. Tell your people they will find Douglas Brighton, in the barn. I don’t think he’ll be a threat.

  Deputy Harcort asked, what kind of vehicle I was driving. I told her it was large black Dodge Pickup with extended cab and dual rear wheels. I said, I was just entering the western city limits of Redlands.

  Deputy Harcort, said one of their deputy’s will soon be behind me and another will pick me up at Redlands Parkway. They will escort you and your passenger’s straight here to the county offices.

  I looked ahead of me and a sheriff’s car was pulling out onto the highway, in front of me. I checked my rearview mirrors and saw another cruiser, behind me now, with its lights flashing. The sheriff cruiser in front of me turned on his flashing lights.

  I followed the cruiser in front, across the Colorado River on Broadway and then turned right on Rice Street, straight ahead into the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, parking lot. We stopped in front of a four story brick building and deputy sheriffs were moving towards us, from all directions.

  I stayed in the truck until one of the officers, opened my door. Several deputies’ opened the rear doors, scaring Abagail and Caroline. I quickly slipped off the front seat and moved back to the rear door. I took Abagail’s hand, telling her it was okay. Caroline was standing on the rear seat and jumped into my arms, grabbing me and burying her face in the side of my neck and shoulder.

  Another deputy was helping Marylou out, on the other side of the truck. With Caroline in my arms and Abagail holding on to me, we followed the deputy’s into the building. We were met by Deputy Sheriff, Brenda Harcort, who was standing, by the front door, holding it open. She had us follow her into a waiting room that had several leather sofas and a couple chairs.

  I sat down on one of the sofas, with Caroline on my lap. Abagail sat next to me, as close as she could get, without climbing on top of me. Marylou sat in one of the chairs smiling at us.

  A deputy came into the room, with four bottles of water, and handed one to each of us. I sat mind down, next to me, on the sofa and helped Caroline with hers. She held the bottle with both hands, drinking a little at a time. I reached over and took Abagail’s water from her hand and loosened the cap and then handed it back to her.

  A tall skinny man, not in a deputy’s uniform, came into the room and told Marylou, he had contacted her parents and they are on their way, to Grand Junction. She thanked the gentleman and he left the room.

  I was somewhat concerned that no one was asking, how I acquired these three females. Then Officer Harcort, said. You don’t remember me do you. I looked at her and said. I saw you back in 2011, when Lorain Anderson and I came here together. Deputy Harcort nodded her head in recognition of my statement.

  Once again Abagail looked at me, when I mentioned Lorain’s name. Can you speak to me Abagail, I asked? She shook her head, yes. I asked if her mother had told her about her grandmother. She said yes. My mother told me all about the world and what it was like. She told me about her mother and father and how they were the best parents ever.

  I asked the deputy’s if they would leave us alone for a minute. I said I need to tell both Abagail and Caroline some things. All the officers left the room. I asked Abagail what happened to her mother. Mr. Brighton hurt her, she responded sadly.

  Do you know where she’s at now. Abagail nodded her and said she was buried in the front yard. At this point I didn’t feel there was any advantage to asking, how her mother’s death happened.

  I told Abagail how her grandmother and I grew up on an Air Force Base in California. When we were ten years old, we were separated, when Lorain moved away and I went away to school. I said we reconnected thirty nine years later, in Florida and fell in love all over again.

  When Abagail asked, when could she see her grandmother? I had to tell her, she had died. It was as if the loss of her mother, had hit her all over again. I put my arm around her and said, I would always be here for her.

  I told her I have a large home, and would be by her side, until she wanted to move on. Abagail’s only known the Brighton’s home and has never been off the property. She laid her head against my shoulder and remained quiet.

  Deputy Harcort came into the room, with a towel and large damp washcloth. She knelt down in front of Marylou, who had fallen asleep, in the chair. She took the wash cloth and washed Marylou’s feet. I hadn’t realized, with everything that had gone on tonight, Marylou was barefoot. Her shoes were now part of the Brighton’s collection. The deputy slipped a pair of warm wool socks, onto her feet, and Marylou looked over at me and smiled.

  A few minutes later, another deputy, brought several pi
llows and blankets, into the room. I had Abagail lay down on one of the sofas with Caroline and I covered them up. Marylou lay on the other sofa and I slipped a pillow under her head and covered her with a blanket. I turned off the overhead lights and took a seat in a leather chair and propped my feet up, on the coffee table, with my head back.

  I was just about to go to sleep, when I felt someone tugging on my arm. I looked down and it was Caroline, trying to crawl up on my lap. She somehow was finding comfort in me. Most adults, also feel comfort when around me, but they just handle it different, than this small child. I was like her big teddy bear to her.

  She lay up on my chest with her head under my chin and her arms and legs dangling over my body. I put my arms around her and held her, while she drifted off to sleep.

  At eight thirty, the next morning, Sheriff Michael Miller came into the lounge and tapped me on the shoulder. We need to talk, he said. Deputy Harcort was standing with him and I lifted Caroline up and handed her to the deputy. My shirt and pants were wet. I told Deputy Harcort, Caroline needed changed and some dry clothes.

  Abagail woke up and said she would take Caroline. I walked out of the room with the sheriff and he and I went straight to his office. There was a conference table in his office, with several men in suites sitting there. The sheriff introduced one, as FBI Special Agent Edward Thomas, and the other as a U.S. Marshal, Spencer Hart.

  I quickly scanned their subconscious minds and knew they had a million questions. I must have looked like hell to these guys. I’ve had less than four hours sleep, since Saturday night and my clothes were wet.

  Another deputy came into the office, with a tray of coffee and cups. Once we all had a cup of coffee in front of us, the sheriff said he had been out, at the Brighton’s house. He said they have remove Douglas Brighton Senior and placed him in the hospital. Sonny was also in the hospital, handcuff to his bed, the sheriff said.