by Chris Lowry
She cut the call and tossed the phone back into Rob's lap.
“Buckle up,” said Jodi. “You're going to Space Camp.”
39
The rest area had a large brown sign next to the restroom that listed off the park rules.
No loitering.
No overnight camping.
No fires.
A hundred yards behind the sign on a small ridge a blaze flickered through the trees.
Rob stood as close to a small pyre as he could get. Sam's body was in the pyre as flames licked around her corpse.
Jodi reached out and took Rob's hand in hers as he started at the fire.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered.
“It's okay, sugar,” he said softly.
He wasn't sure what aliens believed.
Maybe they had a version of the afterlife or reincarnation.
He hoped so.
He said a silent prayer to the cosmos that wherever she ended up, Sam was at peace.
40
Jodi pulled into a closed gas station and parked by one of the two pumps.
She climbed out of the car, pulled out the edge of her shirt and started wiping down the steering wheel and door.
“Wipe down your side,” she instructed. “Use your shirt.”
“Now we're felons,” Rob smirked.
“Since Arizona, I think.”
She finished her side and assisted him with his, then bumped the doors closed with her hips.
She fished a piece of paper out of her pocket and held it to him.
“Read while we walk.”
She led him down the road as he scanned a police wanted poster with the word
MURDER under his picture.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“A friend slipped it to me before the meeting.”
“But I didn't kill a cop,” he stuttered.
She took the paper from him, balled it up and tossed it to the side of the road.
“Add littering to our list,” she said.
A siren bleeped behind them.
“I knew it,” Rob sighed.
“Just relax,” she said. “Be cool.”
Jodi turned around, jogged to the paper and picked it up.
She stuck it in her pocket and waved to the police officer.
He pulled alongside them and rolled down the window.
He had on a name tag that read Puckett.
“Nice job,” said Puckett.
“Thanks,” said Jodi.
“Ya'll broke down somewhere? I didn't see any cars on the side of the road,” he had an Alabama twang thick enough to sit on.
“Ya'll need any help?”
“We're just headed to the Camp,” said Jodi.
“That's clear on the other side of town,” Puckett drawled. “That's too long to walk.”
“We'll be fine,” Jodi answered.
“Come on in, I'll give ya'll a lift.”
Jodi glanced over her shoulder at Rob.
“Feeling lucky?”
He shrugged and whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“I don't like this.”
“Why not,” Jodi smiled.
She wished she had on a V neck like the one Sam wore.
Maybe it would distract him.
She and Rob climbed into the back seat.
41
Puckett turned around and smiled at them as they settled in.
He quirked up one eyebrow.
“Do I know you? You look familiar.”
Rob paled.
“You alright?”
Jodi leaned up and got into Puckett's personal space.
People tended to get uncomfortable when you violated their bubble and the police officer was no exception.
He drew back and turned his attention on her.
“He's been in a few movies. You may have seen him there,” she said.
“You're a movie star? No way. I love movies. What you been in?”
“Did you see Death Biker Zombies?”
Puckett scowled at her.
“I ain't never heard of that.”
“How about Iron Posies?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I think my wife rented that.”
“He was in it.”
“Huh,” Puckett nodded. “What ya'll going to do at the Camp?”
“Research,” she said. “He's got a role coming up.”
“He don't talk much, huh?”
Jodi winked at the officer.
“He's getting into character.”
He laughed with her.
“Tough quiet guy? I like those.”
42
The patrol car turned off the main road onto a small asphalt road that led to the back entrance to the Camp.
A small guard shack stood off to one side of the electronic gate.
Puckett pulled up to the shack and disgorged Rob and Jodi.
“Thank you, Officer,” said Jodi.
“It was my pleasure,” said Puckett. “Break a leg!”
“Thanks,” said Rob.
“Did I say it right?” Puckett asked Jodi.
“You did just fine,” she gave him a thumbs up.
They watched Puckett pull away with a wide smile on his face. Rob ran the back of his hand across his forehead and released a breath.
“That was close.”
Jodi slapped him on the back.
“You worry too much. That's what gives away the bad guys. Act like you belong and people will believe you belong.”
“Say that to me after this trip,” he said.
“We're here,” she said. “We should be safe.”
A Guard stepped out of the guard shack.
He was a private contractor hired to cover the overnight shift at the back entrance to what the public thought was a summer camp for kids.
“We were sent word to expect you,” he said and pointed through the gate. “He'll take you to Command.”
The wire mesh fence slowly rolled back.
Rob and Jodi walked through to a waiting Jeep manned with a husky giant driver.
His name was Reg, a corn fed boy from Nebraska.
“No more SNAFU's,” said Jodi.
She flashed a big smile that he didn't return as they climbed into the Jeep and Reg took off.
43
Reg gripped the wheel with both hands.
This was an older model Jeep Wrangler painted NASA white normally reserved for Camp use.
NASA recycled their Jeeps through the children's program at the insistence of a government waste oversight committee.
Reg didn't care.
It reminded him of his Dad's Jeep back home in Nebraska, the one his Dad taught him to drive on.
It gave him a sense of familiarity which made him talkative.
“You're a little late, aren't you?”
“What do you mean?” Jodi asked.
“The rest of the team left for Canaveral two days ago. Are you training for the next mission?”
Jodi pulled her gun from the holster and rested it on her lap.
Rob leaned forward from the back seat.
“Situation normal,” he shouted over the wind.
“Who is in command of this Base?” Jodi asked.
Reg shrugged.
“We were brought in yesterday,” he said. “I just report to my Sgt.”
“Pull over,” she said.
“What?”
Jodi raised her pistol and pointed it at him.
“Pull behind those trees.”
“That's a restricted area. I could get in trouble.”
“You could get dead,” she said and pushed the pistol closer to his head.
Reg cranked the wheel and pulled off the road.
She made him stop behind a copse of trees.
“Do you know what we're looking for?” asked Rob.
She shook her head, then nodded as they heard the roar of a diesel engine chugging up the road they were just on.
A Troop
Transport rolled past with a squad of black clad Commandos in the back.
“A set up,” Rob sighed. “We should have anticipated this.”
Jodi turned around in the seat.
“If you're the only one who can negotiate the treaty, why didn't the Gray's take you to the Moon themselves?”
Reg screwed up his face in confusion but kept quiet as he listened.
“You're asking me that now?”
“Did you see the back of that truck? That's twice I've fought them for you. I brought you to DC. I brought you to Georgia. We're running all over the country being chased by an army and aliens and when we get to where we're supposed to be, the people waiting on you are gone.”
Rob leaned back in the seat.
“Damn.”
“Damn right,” she growled. “You were a decoy. You're not the only expert on ET's.”
“ET's?” asked Reg.
“It's a set up. We've been a set up all along.”
Rob shook his head no.
“They wouldn't do that to me,” he said quietly. “She wouldn't do that to me.”
“Maybe she didn't know.”
“ET's,” said Reg.
“Extra Terrestrials,” said Jodi. “Moon Men.”
“Like those?” he pointed.
She followed his finger.
Nordes hovered out of the woods on an intercept course for the Jeep.
Jodi launched herself and tackled Reg out of the Jeep as laser bolts sliced into his seat.
She propped up on her elbows and searched for her gun.
“Crow!” she screamed.
Rob kneeled down beside her and handed her the pistol.
“Be cool,” he said in a low calm voice. “I'll distract them. Move over there.”
He pointed to the far side of the road. Reg whimpered under her.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
Rob ran a finger down her cheek.
“Run fast. Stay low.”
He bolted from behind the flaming wreckage of the Jeep.
Jodi pitched Reg up and propelled him across the road.
“Run!” she shouted.
She tried to keep an eye on Rob and Reg at the same time.
The soldier from Nebraska was running hard, arms pinwheeling as he sucked wind.
Rob zigged and zagged as lasers slammed into the ground sending up puffs of smoke and explosions of rock and dirt.
He plowed into the lead Norde and ripped the rifle from his hands.
He blasted two of them on the run, and ducked behind a tree as the other two drew a bead on him.
“What's he doing?” Reg watched breathlessly beside her.
They heard the chug of the transport returning.
“Reinforcements,” she grunted. “Give me your weapon.”
“We weren't issued field pieces,” Reg said.
“Damn.”
She checked her clip and pockets for ammo.
“Damn it,” she growled again.
Rob ran leaned around a tree and blasted the last two Nordes.
He sprinted toward Jodi and scooped up their fallen rifles.
“Company,” she nodded toward the truck as he slid beside her. “Those pop guns gonna last more than a minute?”
He winked.
“We can manage.”
He sighted along the barrel of the rifle and shot a laser into the front of the truck.
The engine exploded.
The back end bucked up and tossed Commandos out across the road and woods.
Jodi raised her pistol and aimed at the men as they staggered up.
“Save your bullets,” said Rob.
He picked off one Commando, then a second.
“Those are humans?” Jodi said.
“I'm in the zone,” he picked off two more.
The Commandos recovered quickly and put the flaming truck between them and Rob's firing position as they regrouped.
“We have to get out of here.”
Jodi grabbed Reg and shook him.
“Which way is the fastest way out.
He pointed.
She grabbed Rob by the waist and steered.
“Let's go.”
She pulled him back as he covered their retreat, the barrel of the blaster roaming the landscape.
“Hold on,” he pulled free.
He jogged to the edge of the road.
“Hey fellas,” he screamed. “I'm out of bullets.”
He dropped both rifles and sprinted past Reg.
“Duck and cover,” he called to Reg.
The Commandos peeked out and started moving across the road.
Rob sprinted through the trees with Jodi by his side.
His lips moved while he counted.
He grabbed Jodi and spun her around a tree, then used his body to cover her.
The rifles exploded near a group of advancing Commandos.
Jodi looked up at his flushed face, the eyes bright, like he's a different person.
She kissed him quickly.
“I like you like this,” she breathed heavily.
“I'm not always like this,” he said.
He took her hand and led her through the trees.
“I didn't mean it like that,” she tried to correct him.
“Help!” They heard Reg screaming.
“I should have shot him too,” said Rob.
Jodi moved past him to take the lead.
“He wasn't shooting at you. Maybe you couldn't.”
She led them through the forest to the fence line. She tossed her jacket over the top and they both scrambled over to the other side.
44
Rob and Jodi dropped the ground and slide down into a narrow ditch.
They clawed their way to the top of the rise where it met asphalt.
“Think that cop will come back?” Rob asked hopefully.
A motorcycle rounded the curve up the road and roared toward them.
“We don't need him.”
She stepped out in the road and waved both arms above her head.
The rider slowed down.
As he pulled to a stop even with her, she pointed her pistol at him.
“Bike, please,” she said.
The biker held up both hands and climbed off the bike.
Jodi straddled the monster and nodded to Rob while she kept the gun on the poor victim.
“You're almost too good at grand theft,” said Rob.
“We'll bring it back,” she called to the biker.
She kicked it into gear.
The engine screamed a throaty growl as they tore off down the road.
45
The large motorcycle was parked behind a tree in a small roadside barbecue joint set off from the highway.
There were a couple of wooden picnic tables scattered around the two small buildings on the edge of a gravel parking lot.
The smaller rear building belched meat flavored smoke from the narrow chimney that coated the air in a delicious smell.
Rob sat across from Jodi with a large Styrofoam cup of iced tea.
His plate was empty except for smears of sauce.
Jodi finished up the last bite of brisket and wiped her mouth with one of the paper towels from a roll at the table.