Paradox Valley

by Gerri Hill

  Corey pulled out her chair and sat down next to Dana. She rested her elbows on the table and tapped her fingers together nervously.

  “First of all…Jean…I’m not a stranded camper that they randomly rescued. I’m Captain Conaway, US Army. I was sent here to try to locate the helicopter and crew.” She glanced at Dana. “And also to find the location of a possible meteor that may have hit out here.”

  “A captain in the military?”

  Corey nodded.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Jean murmured. “And a meteor?”

  Corey nodded again. “It was assumed the meteor had hit something, perhaps, that had taken out the power grid.”

  “So what we thought was an earthquake was really a meteor?”

  “That’s the assumption.”

  “If you’re here, then someone knows we’re having trouble out here, right?” Jean asked.

  “Yes. Only no one knows what kind of trouble or what’s causing it.” Corey again looked at her, then over at Butch. “Something I didn’t share with you earlier was the possibility that it perhaps wasn’t a meteor.”

  “You already said that at first they thought it might be a hostile aircraft.”

  “At first, yes, but that was dismissed almost immediately.” Corey paused. “There is a possibility that what landed was a…well, a UFO.” She met Dana’s gaze head on. “A spaceship.”

  Dana would have thought she was joking if not for the seriousness of her expression. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that moment.

  “A spaceship?” Jean asked with a gasp. “Like in the movies?”

  “It was a possible theory that was largely dismissed by the upper brass,” Corey said. “The lieutenant who briefed me was the one who suggested we not totally disregard the possibility.”

  “What is it you’re trying to say?” Dana asked. “After what we’ve been through, don’t try to spare us now.” She pointed out the door. “We burned a body last night, for God’s sake.”

  “I don’t want to frighten anyone.”

  “Too late for that,” she shot back.

  Butch held his hand up. “First of all…are you serious? A UFO? Really?”

  “When it was first brought up, I dismissed it as well,” Corey said. “Frankly, I thought he was crazy. But his message to me was that we should not dismiss the possibility just because it seemed implausible. His words.”

  “And what makes it plausible for you now?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, really, but I wanted to be upfront with you all. The fact that something is killing the power grid, jacking with cell phones and batteries…and after seeing Hal,” Corey said, glancing at Jean. “I’m sorry, but you shoot somebody at point-blank range in the chest with a shotgun…well, there should be a hell of a lot of blood. There was nothing on him but powder burns.”

  Jean nodded. “It wasn’t Hal. Lucky knew it before I did. I thought at first, maybe he’d hit his head or something. Maybe that was why he seemed so confused, so disoriented. But his eyes…they were cold, lifeless. My Hal had twinkling blue eyes,” Jean said, her own welling up again with tears. “It was my Hal’s body…but that wasn’t my Hal.”

  Dana stared around the table, not really believing what she was hearing. Was Corey—Captain Conaway—really suggesting that a spaceship from some distant planet landed here and the occupants were…what? Killing people and taking over their bodies?

  “What do you think happened to my Hal?” Jean asked quietly, her tear-filled gaze on Corey. But she lowered her eyes quickly. “I probably don’t want to know, do I?”

  “Just because this happened to Hal doesn’t mean there’s a UFO out there,” Dana said. “There could be another explanation.”

  “You said last night that Carl Milstead was the one that came over to get Hal,” Butch said. “Do you know who else went with them?”

  “Because the Milstead place was empty,” Corey added.

  “I couldn’t guess where Rebecca would go off to, not without a car,” Jean said. “We were their closest neighbors.” She shoved her coffee cup aside and clasped her hands together, her fingers moving nervously. “Let’s see. There was Jim and Graham with him when he came up.” She looked over at Butch. “Do you know them? Graham Ellis and Jim Holman?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I know them.”

  “Hal said that they were meeting over at Dusty Truchard’s place. I believe Curtis was along too.”

  “Curtis Benson?” Butch asked.

  Jean nodded. “Hal left here on Daisy, our horse.” A quick smile lit her face. “Poor Daisy. She hadn’t been ridden in more years than I can count.” Her smile faded just as quickly. “When Hal came up yesterday, he was walking. When I asked about Daisy, at first he didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he said he left her over at the barn.”

  “We didn’t see a horse there, Miss Jean. I put ours out in your corral there. Was empty,” Butch said.

  “Whatever happened to Hal, I don’t suppose Daisy fared much better.”

  Dana looked at Corey. “What are we going to do now? We’re going to head back to Paradox, right? We’re going to go get help, right?”

  Corey shook her head. “My mission is to locate the helicopter. If the squad on foot finds it first, I’m to concentrate on where the…the meteor went down.”

  Dana bit her lip. She didn’t want to go on. She didn’t want to find the helicopter and whatever else might be out there. She wanted to get the hell out of here. Even going back to Seattle and facing Kendra was more appealing than this. Of course, until they had power back, that was out of the question.

  “Might be better to have three horses,” Butch said. “Riding double like you are, we’re limited on the supplies we can carry.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Corey asked.

  “There were two horses at the Milstead’s place. I say we go back there and commandeer one,” he said. “With the captain’s order, of course.”

  Dana stared at him. “You really want to keep going?”

  “Do we have a choice?”

  “Yes! We can head back home and check on our parents. We can—”

  “And do what?” he asked. “Wait? We don’t even know what the hell we’re waiting on.”

  “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Corey said to her. “I’m sure you can find your way back to Paradox. I tried to get you to stay there when—”

  “Stop it,” Dana said, holding up her hand. “I know you told me to stay. You don’t have to go over it again.”

  “I want to go with you all,” Jean said, her voice quiet.

  Corey shook her head. “Miss Jean, no offense, but Butch tells me it’s rough terrain out there. We’ll most likely have to camp out a couple of nights, maybe more. It might be too much for you.”

  “I can’t stay here,” Jean said. “I may be seventy-five years old, but I can still ride a horse. I won’t slow you down.”

  Dana wondered if Jean didn’t want to be here because she would be alone, without Hal, or if she was simply afraid to be alone because of what Corey had just said. She wondered at her own reason for wanting to leave. Yes, she was concerned about her parents, but was that why she was ready to bolt back home? Or was it because she was afraid of the unknown? Afraid of what might really be out there? Regardless, she realized she felt safer with Corey than without. Despite her outburst that she wanted to leave, that she didn’t want to continue on, she knew they were better off with Corey. Miss Jean must have felt it too.

  “We can’t leave her here,” Dana said.

  Tears welled up in Jean’s eyes again. “I’m scared to stay here alone. Let me go with you, Captain. Please.”

  Dana saw Corey’s expression soften and she nodded. “Okay, you come with us. I imagine it’s a good idea to have Lucky with us anyway. He seems to have a sixth sense.”

  The relief on Jean’s face was visible and Dana felt it too. Yes, she was scared. They all were, even Corey. Yet Corey had maintained her resolve
to find the helicopter as she was ordered to do. Dana had no doubt that if Butch decided he didn’t want to continue, if he wanted to abort this mission and head back home, that Corey would go on without them. There was something, something deep inside—deep in her soul, perhaps?—that wouldn’t allow that to happen. They would stick together. All of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Jean let Dana tend to the breakfast dishes as she escaped to her bedroom. She knew she’d lied to the captain. She hadn’t been on a horse in more than thirty years. What business did she have getting on one now?

  But she couldn’t stay here. Not after…well, after what had happened with Hal. She opened her closet door and leaned against the jamb, her eyes closed as she pictured Hal’s handsome face, his twinkling eyes. He was a gentle, kind man…and she’d killed him. Whatever in the world would she tell their boys? How could she tell them that the awful sour smell of his breath reminded her of the dead raccoon that had gotten trapped under their porch that one summer? How could she explain that she’d grabbed the shotgun at the last second, fearing for her life as Hal’s hands had wrapped around her neck? How could she tell them that she’d pulled the gun between them, not caring if she shot Hal or herself at that moment? How could she tell them that she had been so afraid of him that she lost control of her bladder?

  She wiped the tears from her eyes. Would they even care? Hal Jr., would be the only one, she guessed. Peter and Johnny…why, she wasn’t even sure how to get ahold of them. She had an address for Peter. Who knew where Johnny was? Hal Jr., kept in touch with them some, she knew that.

  Well, when this was all over with, she’d deal with it then. She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself. There would be plenty of time for that later. For all she knew, she might end up in jail. Would anyone believe that she’d shot Hal in self-defense? Surely they would. If these three did, two of them total strangers to her, surely her neighbors would.

  Of course, who knew where her neighbors were? Carl Milstead had been with Hal. Now they say Rebecca wasn’t at home either. The captain and Butch were on their way over to borrow their horses. Steal was more like it, she thought, but what choice did they have?

  With a heavy heart she went into her closet, trying to find something suitable to wear. She was never one to wear jeans or even pants, for that matter. She preferred her loose-fitting cotton dresses. In the winter, when doing chores outside, she’d put on insulated coveralls over her old pair of wool pants. She turned her gaze to Hal’s side of the closet, seeing his neatly hung jeans and work pants. They would be too big for her, of course. And too long. But she’d have to make do with them.

  She decided that jeans would be more suitable so she pulled one pair off the hanger. Hal’s jeans. And he would never wear them again. Profound sadness overtook her, and she thought her heart might break right then and there.

  She’d met Hal when she was fourteen, married only two weeks after her seventeenth birthday. Neither of them finished high school. Hal’s daddy had just died…kicked in the head by a mule. Hal was the youngest of four and the only one still at home. They’d married and moved here to the farm, taking over right where his daddy had left off. Hal’s momma, Doreen, was never the same after that. She wasted away to nothing, dying in her sleep one night at the young age of forty-eight, leaving her and Hal with the farm. Hal Jr., was already born then and Jean had been pregnant with Peter. They’d made a good enough living out here, and they’d turned the old farmhouse into their own home, upgrading and remodeling it whenever there was enough money left over. It hardly looked like the same old house they’d first moved into.

  She wondered what would happen to it now. Even if she could bear to stay here by herself, she’d never be able to keep it up. She could manage her vegetable garden and tend to the chickens. But when it came time to harvest those chickens…well, that was Hal’s job. Same with the few pigs they kept some years. She could slop them up and fatten them, but Hal took care of supplying the pork chops and roasts.

  She wiped her cheeks as her tears fell again, and she sat down heavily on the bed, still clutching Hal’s jeans to her chest. How long she sat there, she didn’t know. She heard movement behind her, and she turned, finding Dana standing in the doorway and watching her with sympathetic eyes.

  “I guess it hasn’t set in yet, huh?” Dana asked gently.

  Jean shook her head. “No. I have to remind myself that he won’t be coming back.”

  “Do you want to talk?”

  “Oh, I was just reminiscing,” she said. “And wondering how I’m going to make it here on the farm without him.” She tried to smile. “Feeling sorry for myself is more like it.”

  Dana came fully into the room and sat down beside her, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “You seem like a strong, capable woman to me, Miss Jean. I imagine you’ll be just fine.”

  Jean nodded. “I suppose. I don’t want to end up like Hal’s momma. When his daddy died, I think his momma didn’t want to go on without him. She stopped eating. Stopped living. She willed herself to die, I think. I don’t want that to be me.”

  “I saw pictures in the living room by the TV. You have children? Grandkids?”

  “Three boys. Two of them left here and never came back. Hal Jr., lives up in Grand Junction. His kids are grown now, but they don’t come around. We don’t see him much either…a few times a year.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “They never took to the farming life. It’s not for everyone.”

  “I know. I was the same way. It makes me realize that I should visit my parents more often,” Dana said.

  “Where did you move off to again?”

  “I left for college—Boulder—then moved to Seattle,” Dana said. “I’ve made a life there, friends, a good job. I don’t get back here often enough.”

  “I guess you’re wishing you hadn’t picked this particular time to visit,” she said, offering Dana a small smile.

  “It’s certainly been an adventure.” Dana stood up. “And it looks like it’s only beginning.”

  With a sigh, Jean got to her feet too. “Do you believe what the captain says?”

  “You mean about the possibility of a UFO out here somewhere?” Dana shook her head. “I think I’m afraid to believe it. Because it’s…crazy.”

  Jean nodded. “I don’t want to believe it either. But my Hal…there’s something out here that shouldn’t be. Maybe the captain is right.”

  Dana looked at her quizzically. “Why do you call her ‘Captain’ and not Corey?”

  “Anybody who serves our country like she does deserves respect,” she said. “I’m sure she’s earned her title. If you look at her, really look at her, deep in her eyes…she has a tortured soul.”

  “You think so?”

  “Like she’s seen too many horrors of war, be my guess. But she seems competent. I suppose we must trust her.”

  Dana nodded. “Yes. I think I’m actually glad she’s here. She has taken charge, that’s for sure.” Dana took a deep breath. “So…you need help with anything?”

  “I’m trying to find some clothes to wear.” She smiled at Dana quickly. “Don’t tell the captain, but I haven’t been on a horse in many, many years. I’m having to resort to wearing Hal’s jeans. Do you think she’ll notice?”

  Dana smiled back at her. “I’d guess she probably already knows you haven’t been on a horse in years. I doubt that matters to her, anyway.”

  “Well, let me get these together, then I’ll bake that bread I’ve got rising. We’ll need to start on lunch. I reckon the captain will want to head out as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sutter stood with his back to the door, staring out his window. His blinds were nearly closed, keeping the midday sun from streaming inside, but he’d opened them a fraction, enough to let him know that there was life out there. He hadn’t been home in forty-eight hours. Hadn’t seen his wife. Hadn’t had a decent m
eal. All because some goddamn meteor had blipped on their radar screen for four lousy seconds.

  Sure, maybe he’d jumped the gun by sending out a Black Hawk. But what if it had been a hostile aircraft? Then Brinkley would be praising him for taking action so quickly. Instead, he was getting his ass chewed at nearly every meeting with him.

  He turned as his door burst open, finding Duncan rushing inside.

  “What the hell, Lieutenant?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but we’ve had contact from the squad,” he said excitedly. “Just a few minutes ago.”

  “Fill me in,” he said, motioning for Duncan to sit as he resumed his seat behind his desk.

  “It wasn’t much and the transmission was broken, but we were able to clean some of the static out.”

  “I don’t care about that, Duncan. What the hell did they say?”

  “Sergeant Wilcox communicated that they found the Black Hawk, sir.”

  “And the crew.”

  “No crew, sir.”

  “So they survived? They left on foot?” he asked hopefully.

  “It was badly damaged, sir. Charred from the fire. They were going to search the perimeter, hoping to find tracks.”

  Sutter ran his hand over his hair, back and forth. “But we have an exact location now?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s good news, Lieutenant.” He leaned back in his chair. “Good news. So the squad makes it but still no word from Conaway?”

  “No, sir. Nothing.”

  He shook his head. “I still don’t know why Brinkley wanted to send her in. Waste of time, if you ask me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He leaned forward again, wondering if Duncan could see the relief on his face. “Let me notify General Brinkley. At least there’s hope that the crew made it out alive.”

  Duncan hesitated. “There’s one other thing, sir.”

  “What is it?”

  “One of the supervisors at that saline plant out there lives in Paradox. Because the road was closed due to the rock slide, he stayed at the plant. But he’s been unable to contact his wife or his neighbors there in Paradox and apparently he got worried, sir.”