Amie hoped the fisherman had not seen too much of her, especially with her eyes now exposed. As she hurriedly paddled back to the house dock, a little “th, th” sound was emanating from her mouth, the sound of an alien going into panic mode. All she could think about was how furious Nick would be with her for losing the glasses, and she did not possess another pair. She hoped the early morning fisherman had not seen enough of her strange eyes and face to arouse his curiosity.
Nick began his workday and went straight to his office to drop off his briefcase. He was immediately greeted by some of the lower-level staff, who knew that he had been away but had no idea about the recent investigation. Several stopped by and asked him how his vacation went. Nick cheerily told them it was great, but provided few details. He noticed that Shelley was nowhere to be seen and, upon asking for her, was told that she had been assigned to a different office for a month. Nick was surprised to hear this, and imagined that her temporary transfer might have something to do with him.
Nick entered the break room and poured a cup of coffee in his Area 51 mug, the one with a picture of a cartoon alien on it. Somehow this cup, which had once struck him as amusing, no longer did so.
Then Nick traveled the long corridor to Bob’s office. The door was open, and he walked in. “Hey, Nick,” the boss said, looking up but not offering his usual welcoming smile. “Shut the door will you, we need to go over some things.”
Nick complied and sat down, a worried frown beginning to cross his face. Bob seemed definitely ill at ease.
“Wow, I’m glad that is over,” his boss said, obviously referring to yesterday’s grilling at NSA.
“Me too, I wish you had been there when they sent in the second team, though.”
“It got worse, huh?”
“Sure did. I could have used some support. They were really brutal. I didn’t expect anything like that.”
“Hey, I guess you survived, I mean I haven’t heard anything yet. You didn’t confess to anything, did you?” Although Bob tried for a little chuckle, Nick could see that his boss was definitely worried.
“Bob, I didn’t have anything to do with helping Amie.”
“Oh, I know. I know. I have faith in you. Listen, I called you in because I’m sure glad to see you back and I want you to get started right away working on writing up all the final reports on the project.”
So that was that. Nick was totally occupied for the next few days, writing up the top-secret compilation regarding the final work of the X-56 team. Every now and then, Bob checked in to see how Nick was progressing. Nothing more was said about the interrogations.
On Friday afternoon, at about 4pm when everyone was planning their weekends and winding down on their work, a federal agent entered Nick’s office wanting to have a “brief word with him” in the secure conference area. The agent wasted little time, setting up his laptop to show Nick the video captured by the cameras in the break room at his hangar at Area 51. They reviewed the number of times Nick had shared lunch with Amie. The agent paused the video each time Nick had been touched by Amie. When the agent zoomed in on the camera angle of his face, Nick appeared to zone out briefly each time. Next there was a discussion about Amie pilfering his sandwich and later pulling it out from under the table.
“What’s going on here?” the agent wanted to know.
“I remember that day. Amie was playing around.”
“Are you sure, Nick? Looks like she put you under some kind of spell or something.”
“She was fooling around with me. Hiding my food. So what?”
The agent then moved on to the video recording of Amie giving Nick her medallion. “Care to explain, Nick. Why would she give you her necklace? Those aliens have always worn those things. The necklace must have some special meaning for them.”
“Amie wanted to thank me for being kind to her. No one else would sit with her or take the time to talk with her. It was a generous gesture. She knew I was soon retiring and she said she would miss me. I don’t think there is anything special about the necklaces.”
“So where is that medallion now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? All that special meaning it has for those aliens and you don’t know where you put it? I find that hard to believe.”
“I don’t wear necklaces. That kind of jewelry seems like something only women wear. Believe me, it didn’t have any special power. I didn’t want it, but I didn’t want to hurt Amie’s feelings. I think I might have left it in my hotel room for the maid.”
The agent persisted, not buying Nick’s cavalier excuses, and reminding him that there was still time. If the alien being had cast some sort of spell on him, forcing him to do her bidding, it would be understood. All would be forgiven, he reiterated.
Nick was tempted. He could end it all. Just tell them where Amie was hidden and get back to his work writing final reports. Or would it be that easy for him? And then what would happen to Amie? Nick looked at the agent, shook his head, and said nothing.
Amie returned to her house and partially fell in the water trying to get out of the wobbly little boat. Dripping wet and slipping on the muddy riverbank, she struggled to haul the kayak up on shore to the exact spot where she had found it. She wasn’t physically strong and she realized that it took a lot more strength to get the boat out of the water than it had taken to slide it in. As soon as she got it secured, she ran for the rear slider door of her home, her breathing labored, and her energy level dropping to its lowest point. Amie knew that she needed to calm herself and restore her equilibrium.
She spent the rest of the day meditating in her bedroom, her wet clothes stripped off hastily and left in a soggy pile at the foot of her bed. She chastised herself for being so reckless. Did she even know how to swim? In her world, no one swam in water. She could have fallen out of that kayak, and then what? The river was full of alligators, too. Why hadn’t she given any thought to that? By the end of the day she had calmed down and, feeling much better, she assured herself that she had experienced her one and only kayak adventure. “I should listen more to what Nick says,” she mused. “I have to be more careful.”
Chapter 21
The late afternoon discussion he had held with the federal agent unnerved Nick. Although he felt the videos proved little, it was a red flag for Nick because he knew they would continue looking back at old video footage and would try to dig deeper and deeper until they could hopefully find real evidence of his complicity in Amie’s escape. He wondered how far the feds would go to find something on him, or how long they would persist in their efforts.
That night Nick made a decision to involve his son, Tom. In the belief that “they” were monitoring his emails, phone calls, and possibly following him, he decided to handwrite a letter to his son that he would mail in the morning. He went into his home office, withdrew several sheets of blank paper, a pen, and then drafted the letter.
Dear Tom:
This letter is not to be read in public or out loud for that matter. Verbally share it with Laura and my friends Doug and Terri only if you decide to follow my instructions within.
I need your help. There is a task that needs to be done. I had planned to do it myself, but now I cannot because the government is watching me and listening to my phone calls and will prevent me from carrying it out. I know this probably sounds crazy, but you have to trust me, it isn’t. This is why I am writing to you. Please don’t call me and try to discuss this letter when you receive it. We can’t talk about this over the phone. When you have finished reading this letter, commit what you can to memory, but please burn it immediately thereafter.
When you get to Florida, there is a sealed box of confidential information to be given to you at Doug’s house. The contents of this box will explain the mystery of this letter and you will need to share it with Doug and Terri.
You will learn the identity of a person unfairly wanted by the government. The person you will learn about from the box lives a
t Doug’s rental property in Ft. Pierce, and this person is unknown to him. If you decide to accept the task, and I will understand if you do not, you must take that person, using Doug’s boat, to the Bahamas. Therefore, you must persuade Doug to help you accomplish this difficult mission.
Bahamian customs and immigration will not permit this person to enter. Therefore, this person must be allowed to go ashore on their own. Once you have done this, the task is completed and you and Doug should return home.
You and Doug are at some risk in doing this. If the government catches you transporting this person, they will apprehend the person and possibly yourselves. If you decide, after seeing the contents of the box, not to go further with the task, call me and simply say, “Dad, I can’t do it.” I will understand. You will not have failed me, I will just have to find another way.
The task must be done as soon as possible after you arrive in Florida. I’ve enclosed a check for $1,000 to cover your expenses and Doug’s expenses, if you both agree to help. If you don’t, cash the check and have fun in Florida.
Love,
Dad
Nick placed the letter in an envelope together with the car title, key to his home, the check, and a recent photo of himself standing beside his son. On the back of the photo he wrote “To Sky Woman, From the Great Turtle”. The next morning, Nick went to the post office and sent it to Tom as “signed on delivery.”
After stocking his condo with some groceries and doing some laundry, Nick sat in a favorite old chair in his living room and brooded. He alternated between ruminating about his career, the probable ongoing investigation, and worrying about what Amie might be up to.
After taking several short, non-productive naps, he wandered aimlessly around the house, sometimes looking at old achievement awards in the home office and reminiscing about the project they were tied to, sometimes staring at a picture of his late wife and himself on a vacation they had taken to his parent’s birthplace in Italy. He failed to find pleasure in most everything, clicking on the TV to watch an old movie on TCM and then clicking it off a short while later, only to click it back on a few minutes after that and channel surf.
Nick was always a problem solver, the middle child in a family of sisters. He was an overachiever and this trait served him well in his career, as he was regarded as someone management could consistently rely on to fix problems. “If there was ever a problem that needed fixing,” Nick thought, it was the one before him right now. “It’s fourth down, and I’m on the ten yard line,” Nick mused, “I need to make a touchdown, not a three-point kick.”
That evening, Nick called his son. After several rings, Laura answered and Nick brightened up. He loved Laura, and was glad she was part of his family. He hoped that someday she would make him a grandfather, but he knew that they were having trouble in that area. He wished he had been closer to his son, but since Tom had finished college he had lived in various parts of the world.
Tom was called to the phone, after Nick had a brief interlude with Laura. Tom sounded a bit concerned, as if his father’s last phone call was still weighing on his mind.
“Hi Dad, what’s up? Is everything all right? Where are you calling from anyway?”
Answering these questions, Nick purposely spoke a little louder than usual. He wanted to make sure that if someone were listening, either from a bugging device in his home or by monitoring the call, they would understand his message. “I’m back home in Maryland. All is well.”
“Did you return to work this week, Dad?”
“Yes. I’ll be winding things up here. Counting the days to retirement.”
“Good, you deserve to start enjoying yourself.”
“Yeah. Is everything going okay for you right now? What’s happening on the job front? Any luck?” This wasn’t why Nick called, but he didn’t want to launch into his request right away.
“Nothing new I’m afraid. I think I will have to look for something else, a new career path. The teaching field, around here, isn’t looking promising right now.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that because I know you love teaching and you’re very good at it. But I have some good news to share with you. There’s a nice Honda Civic in the garage down at my house in Palm City with your name on it. It’s used, a 2004 model, but I just drove it across the country from Las Vegas, and it runs great.”
“You’re kidding! That’s awesome Dad! Thanks, so much. Laura and I can really use it. It’s been hard with just one car this past year.”
“I figured as much. I have an idea. Why don’t you and Laura fly down to West Palm and pick it up later next week.”
“Well, yes, we’re not doing much around here except collecting unemployment.” There was a pause while Tom thought this over. “Yes. We definitely could do that.”
“I already sent you a key to my house and the title in your name. The keys to the Civic are in the ignition. What day would you like to go? I’ll book the tickets for you both and you can pick them up at the airport.”
“Let me talk for a minute with Laura.” Nick waited while the couple discussed a time.
“OK, that sounds good to us. How about this coming Thursday? We’ve got nothing planned right now and it would be a good break for the both of us. Are you going to be there, too?”
“I don’t know yet. Unfortunately I’ve got a lot going on at work. I might not be able to get away. While you’re there, take a few days and stay at my house, look around the area, go to the beach.”
“Great idea, Dad. We could use a little vacation. It would cheer us up. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the car and the tickets to get it. Wow, this is awesome. Laura is very excited.”
Nick ended the call and booked the flights that evening. Then he went out to get something to eat because there was nothing that appealed to him at the moment in his pantry. He decided on Chinese take-out and, a while later, he was back at his house, eating chicken and broccoli, and pork fried rice washed down with a glass or two of chardonnay. The wine relaxed him a little, but then Nick started to worry.
Nick was very concerned about what could happen to his son if he chose to help him. Would they imprison him if he were caught? What about his friend Doug? The only redress Nick could conceive of might be the documents and pictures he prepared, which he would threaten to make public through the media. Perhaps this could be his bargaining chip. Of course, maybe the government could control the media. Then Nick, Tom, Laura and Terri might just conveniently disappear one day, another unsolved mystery for late night TV.
Nick realized that he was probably getting very melodramatic. He concluded that getting Amie off this Earth would best solve the problem. If she were gone, the government would back off and leave him and his family alone. There would be no purpose in prosecuting anyone. After all, what evidence could they possibly use? Amie would no longer exist.
On Monday morning Nick had no sooner downed his first cup of coffee from his alien cartoon work mug, than an FBI agent entered his office. The man showed his badge and politely suggested they move to the secure conference room, which the FBI man had already reserved.
The first question he asked Nick seemed rather odd. “Do you own a cat?”
This fellow announced that he had the results of the lab tests done on Nick’s Honda Civic. They had retrieved two types of hairs from the passenger seat of Nick’s vehicle, cat hair and wig hair. The wig hair was straight, long, and brunette and resembled the hairstyle of the suspect that had stood outside of the Excalibur Hotel.
“Well, I don’t have a cat. And I don’t wear a wig. It just goes to show you that when you buy a used car, they probably don’t clean it up too well from the previous owner.”
The agent acted like he did not appreciate Nick’s smart retort, and countered dryly, “Well, in fact, the interior of your car is remarkably clean, considering how you used it for days on a road trip. It reeked of cleaning products when the agents inspected it for samples.”
Nick had no respo
nse, only shrugging his shoulders.
The agent then wanted to know if Nick had picked anyone up on his cross-country trip. Nick said he did not, and reiterated that he could not account for the hairs.
After a few more back and forth questions the agent produced a video for Nick to view. The video was taken from a security camera at the jitney bus stop at Area 51, where he had hailed the bus for the quick ride to the Janet terminal. Nick was shown hopping on board while looking back over his shoulder, and then speaking to the bus driver. About a minute later a blonde woman rushed up to the bus and also boarded.
“You will notice that a woman wearing a blonde wig and looking very much like your assistant, Shelley, appears to follow you out of your hangar building. You even turn around and seem to notice her coming up to the stop, and she eventually boards the same bus you are riding. Yet you claim you never noticed her.”
“If you have any more videos, perhaps of all of the passengers sitting on that bus, you will observe I have my head buried in a book during the ride. It was a real thriller. I was so immersed in my reading that I never noticed anyone.” Nick could feel himself getting very concerned with these probing questions.
The agent persisted. “We interviewed the bus driver; showed him this video. He claims to remember what you said to him that day. It was a request for him to wait, as you saw someone else coming up to the stop.”
Nick let out a long sigh, hoping to show annoyance. “Maybe I did. I honestly don’t remember. My distance vision isn’t that good. I don’t think I had my contacts in. I probably saw someone coming up behind me from the hangar, so I requested that the bus driver wait before taking off. But this fellow passenger was probably just a blur to me. Whether the person looked like Shelley or not, I would not have even noticed. Like I told you, I don’t remember any of this at all.”
SKY WOMAN OF GROOM LAKE Page 16