by Chris Lowry
“We don't have a choice, General. Their message specifically requested Mr. Crow.
“If they want him so damn much, why don’t they just take him up there themselves?”
The men looked at Rob and waited for him to answer.
“Mr. Crow, I think that’s a legitimate question,” said the President in a calm voice.
Rob paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.
“It doesn’t work like that. We have to prove to them we want peace. We have to make the effort.”
“We want to make the effort, Mr. Crow,” said the President. “But if they can make it easier for us, why don’t they?”
Sam slipped off the couch and moved to stand beside Rob.
“Why is it you want it easy? This is galactic peace you know, fate of the world, future of all mankind, that sort of thing. You can’t expect any respect if you want them to do all of the work. Just believe him when he says, trust him.”
She sat back down on the sofa.
The men in the room stared at her for a moment, except Harris.
“Why should we believe this kook?” he sputtered. “How can we believe him?”
“I believe him,” Jodi called out.
She stood up and marched beside Rob.
“I'm Special Agent Jodi Johnson,” she said. “I would show you my badge but it was lost in the trip. You can check my credentials with GDET. I was a witness to this man's abduction on our way here.”
“You watched them take him?” smirked Harris.
“Not just watched,” said Jodi. “They took me too.”
The President laughed and shook his head.
“Agent Johnson,” he said. “You were sent to pick up Mr. Crow and escort him to this meeting.”
It wasn't a statement. Jodi nodded.
“Yes Mr. President.”
“In your opinion, can he be trusted?”
“Yes, I think so.”
The Secretary shook his head.
“We need more than that, Mr. President.
Our whole world is at stake.”
“I trust him,” Jodi said confidently.
The President watched her for a moment, his eyes roving over Rob, and the two women he arrived with who had his back.
The world was at stake, and the aliens they were supposed to negotiate with had handpicked the man to represent the world in a peace treaty.
He wondered what that meant.
He wondered what skill this one young man possessed to shoulder such a responsibility.
If it went wrong, if this man failed, he would go down in history as the man who destroyed the world.
Except there would be no one left to write that history.
The President knew that men weren't born great, but were sometimes forced to greatness by circumstance.
An alien race was headed straight for earth and their only request so far had to meet with Rob Crow at the negotiating table.
When he thought about it, there was really no choice at all.
“I'm satisfied,” said the President as he glanced around at each man at the table.
He finished up with Rob.
“Mr. Crow, we're presenting you with a monumental task. Will you accept?”
“I have a choice?”
“Of course you have a choice.”
“And if I say no?” asked Rob.
“We'll lock you up until the treaty is negotiated or the war is over.”
The President leaned across the table.
“Mr. Crow, it's very important your heart is in this. We need the best possible terms-”
“This is not a surrender,” growled the General.
“While maintaining our current status,” finished the President.
“I didn't ask for this,” said Rob.
“But will you do it?”
Rob nodded. The men nodded with him.
The President glanced at Jodi.
“Agent Johnson? Will you continue in your capacity with Mr. Crow?”
“Sir?”
“The resistance we mentioned earlier,” said the Secretary. “It may still exist.”
“That's an understatement,” Rob added.
“We have reason to believe certain parties don't want this peace process to continue.”
“Traitors,” the General spat.
“Stay with him as a bodyguard, advisor, friend,” continued the Secretary.
“We all understand how important an ally can be,” said the President as he stood.
He crossed over and shook Rob's hand.
“Mr. Crow, best of luck.”
They all stood as the President left the room. Harris hurried out after him.
34
Baker waited between Riggs and Freddy as Harris exited the door.
The jumped to attention as he stormed past.
“Shoot him when he walks out of the door,” he ordered.
He kept walking with Baker and Freddy.
Riggs dropped back and leaned against the wall with a good sightline on the door.
35
Sam threw her arm across Rob's shoulder and brought him in for a wet kiss on the cheek.
“You're the luckiest man alive,” she squeaked.
“Yeah, right,” he didn't sound convinced.
“They picked you,” she said in wonder.
“Seven billion people on this planet and they picked you.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
Jodi glared at them, a frown crinkling the skin between her eyebrows.
The kiss went on for a few moments as the Commissioner and Admiral walked up and joined her.
The Admiral glanced at his watch.
Sam finally pulled away with a delicious smile that Rob matched.
“Wow,” he breathed.
“Wow is right, Sugar.”
The Commissioner cleared his throat.
“I wanted to give you an itinerary,” he said.
“We're preparing the new space shuttle and a lunar module. They'll drop you on the Moon. You missed NASA's training schedule, so I hope you're in good shape. We don't have much time to get you ready.”
The Admiral nudged the Commissioner.
“Better shape that you.”
“God I hope so.”
“He can make it,” said Jodi.
Rob nodded.
The Admiral held out a hand and shook Rob's vigorously.
“When I was a seaman in the Pacific, I saw uncounted UFO's. I often wondered who they were, what they wanted. I agree with your young friend, you're the luckiest man in the world.”
The two men left the room.
Rob glanced over the itinerary and passed it to Jodi.
“We're staying at a Hilton,” he said.
“Beats the dives you pick.”
“I just thought, you know, hero of the world would get swankier digs.”
“I've seen your apartment,” smirked Jodi. “This is swankier digs.”
“We have time for food,” said Rob. “My first meeting is at twelve.”
“I know a place,” said Sam.
She hooked her arm through Rob's and started to lead him away.
“How could you know a place?” asked Jodi.
“You could stay here,” Sam suggested.
Rob snagged Jodi by the sleeve and pulled her along with them.
“My bodyguard? No way she's staying here.”
36
Riggs leaned against the wall, a hand under his jacket as he stared at the door.
Rob pushed through with Sam and Jodi on his arms.
Riggs drew his pistol and aimed.
Sam noticed him, stepped in front of Rob as the pistol fired.
Two bullets ripped into her stomach.
Jodi shoved Rob down to the carpeted floor and drew her gun.
She sent shots blasting down the hallway after Riggs as he retreated and disappeared into the elevator.
Jodi ran her hand over Rob while keeping watch on the bullet dented elev
ator doors.
“Are you alright?”
He pushed her away and crawled over to Sam.
She lay face down on the floor and whimpered.
He rolled her over.
“Sam,” he gasped.
He cradled her in his arms as blood and gore pumped out of the holes in her stomach.
Her complexion was gray and waxen.
“Hurts, Sugar,” she groaned.
“I'll get help,” said Jodi.
She sprinted up the corridor to the elevator and pressed the button.
“Hang on,” said Rob. “We're getting an ambulance.”
Sam's skin slowly shifted under him from the pink hue of human to the dusky gray of an alien.
Her features reformed into the bulbous head and oversized black eyes.
“Sorry sugar. Not strong enough to hold it.”
“You're- You're one of them.”
She smiled an alien smile.
“I picked you. The very first time. I knew you were special. All you have to do is get to the moon. We’ll take care of the rest.”
She reached up and ran one of her three fingers down the side of his face. Her hand fell away as she closed her eyes and let out a death rattle.
Jodi ran up from the elevator with the General and two soldiers responding to the gunfire.
“Oh God,” she gasped.
“She-” Rob started to say.
“What in God's name is that thing doing in here?” the General shouted.
“We were attacked,” said Jodi. “She saved his life.”
“Is it dead?” the General asked as he eyed the corpse.
Rob clutched the dead body close to his chest.
“We can analyze the structure for weakness,” the General almost giggled. “Take it to a lab.”
“That's not going to happen,” growled Rob.
The Soldiers grabbed his arms and pried him off of Sam's body.
One of them flipped Rob over and slammed him into the wall.
Rob grabs the soldier's thumb and twists it around, using the thin joint as leverage to spin the man around and shove his wrist up between his shoulder blades until something snapped.
The soldier screamed.
Rob yanked his rifle free as the man fell.
He punched the butt of the rifle into the second soldier's face.
The General drew his sidearm and aimed at Rob.
Jodi knocked his arm aside.
Rob shoved the barrel of the rifle into the General's neck and pinned him against the wall.
“I said no,” Rob growled.
“We could study them. Think of what we could learn.”
Rob kept the barrel pressed against his neck.
“Pick her up,” he said to Jodi.
“This isn't right.”
“Pick her up, or stay here.”
“Rob,” said Jodi. “She lied to you. She's part of the invading force. We can't trust anything she's said to you. To us. What if you don't succeed? We'll need to know how to beat them.”
“Are you on his side?”
“I'm on your side,” she said. “But what if you're wrong.”
“I can be wrong, but he's not right,” Rob said in a low voice. “He's part of the government. The same government that's been trying to kill both of us.”
He glanced down at Sam's body.
“All of us. I'll take my chances. Pick her up.”
“I can't,” Jodi said sadly.
Rob backed off the General.
He kept the rifle aimed at him as he leaned down and scooped Sam's tiny body up into a fireman's carry.
“We're giving her a burial,” he stated.
He walked backwards toward the elevator.
One of the fallen soldiers grabbed his boot and tripped him.
As Rob stumbled, the barrel went wild.
The General fumbled for his pistol and aimed it at Rob.
Jodi pressed her gun against his temple.
“Don't,” she said. “Just don't.”
She reached out and plucked the pistol from his hands.
She shoved it in her waistband and backed away to join Rob.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
They slipped into the elevator and disappeared.
37
Rob hustled Jodi out of the side door that spilled into a narrow alley.
The streets on both ends were packed with a steady flow of pedestrians and traffic.
Rob leaned against the wall to catch his breath.
“Where are you going to take it?” asked Jodi.
“Working on that,” he huffed.
“We won't get far like this,” she said. “We need transportation.”
She jogged to the street and turned the corner.
A black sedan pulled into the alley from the opposite corner.
The engine races as the car roared up the alley.
Rob pushed off the wall and shuffled as fast as he could up the alley.
The sedan gained on him.
He made the opening and whipped around the corner just as the sedan caught up.
It slid out into traffic, directly into the path of a delivery truck.
Brakes squealed, and horns screamed as the truck swerved.
It plowed into the front end of the sedan.
Rob bumped into a construction worker.
“Hey buddy,” the glow-vest clad man scowled. “Watch it.
He noticed the gray alien body slung over Rob's shoulder and made a grab for it.
“What is that?
Rob backed away, but a crowd was gathering to watch the wreck.
They had their cell phones out and snapped away.
A teenager saw Rob and turned his phone toward him.
The boy clicked and clicked.
A red convertible slid to a stop beside Rob.
“Get in,” shouted Jodi.
Rob dumped the body in the back seat.
The construction worker grabbed him by the arm and spun him around.
“What the Hell is that thing?”
Rob punched him in the throat.
The man fell back gagging.
Sirens screamed as first responders did their job and responded.
“We have to move now,” said Jodi.
Rob tumbled into the passenger seat and she reversed away from the crowd.
38
Jodi slammed the pedal to the metal and raced away from the crash scene.
She deftly steered the car around traffic that was beginning to jam.
Cars honked at her, but she ignored them and the sirens that grew closer.
“Do you still have that cell phone?”
Rob fished the phone out of his pocket and passed it over to her.
“You're not supposed to talk and drive,” he advised.
“Let them catch me.”
She fumbled with the phone while she dialed.
“Sir, It's Agent Johnson. We were under attack,” she glanced over at Rob.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“No, he's not hurt,” she said. “But he refuses to surrender the body. She's his friend.”
She cranked the car around a corner and raced onto the Beltway.
“We're skipping the next meeting,” she shouted into the phone. “I'm going to get him to Georgia.”