The Koda Files Boxed Set - Books 1 & 2

by Ivan Bridgewater

  Lisa instantly started yelling, "Don't touch us! We're contaminated!"

  Bugs started talking to Lisa, and the door snapped closed, with me on the outside. I stood there for a second, then turned, and walked back to the kitchen.

  Tim, Harold, and Shooter, all sat there looking a little dazed. As I walked in, Tim asked, "What should we do, Mike?"

  "The hit's off till this is over," I answered, thinking about what was happening. "We're in lockdown till we figure this out!"

  "I was personally hoping to head for the hills!" stated Shooter in a matter of fact voice. I gave him the look, and that seemed to settle the matter. The truth was, I couldn't blame him for wanted to get the heck out of town. It didn't sound like that bad of an idea.

  Of course, I couldn't let this spread. For now, it was in the hands of the medical people. I just had to hope that they could contain whatever was happening. If this got to the outside, it would be a nightmare.

  Chapter 9

  Meeting Dona Carter

  For the next two hours, we sat there waiting. We had sobered by now, and I was starting to feel a little better. Tim eventually got up, and went out to the control room. After a short while, we all followed him. We were all sitting, talking, when Bugs stepped in. He looked at me and said, "We have an issue! Kathy says a woman named Dona is talking to her! Speaking directly to her mind!"

  "This is just too weird," observed Harold.

  "What does she want?" I asked.

  "Kathy says, she wants to talk to you," he responded.

  I sat there, totally confused at this point. "Kathy wants to talk to me? Or this woman, Dona, does?"

  "Both!" answered Bugs. "Kathy makes it sound rather urgent!"

  "Let's go talk to her," I agreed.

  I stepped into the medical center to find Koda still sleeping, and Lisa looking like a nervous wreck. Kathy seemed to have calmed down, but I suspected that the shot she had been given, was helping her cope.

  In a strained voice, Kathy said, "You're not going to believe this! There is some woman named Dona Carter calling to me by name! I can hear her as easy as I can hear you!"

  "What does she want?" I asked.

  "She wants to talk to us," said Kathy. "She explicitly wants to talk to you!"

  "She knows my name?" I asked.

  "She seems to know all about you," observed Kathy. "I get the feeling she knows you better than I do!"

  I tried to think of a woman named Dona Carter that I might have known long ago. I just couldn't figure out who the woman could be. Lisa quietly said, "She can read your mind Mike! She knows about you, because she can read your mind!"

  The entire concept was scary. Somebody was reaching into my head, and listening in on my thoughts. I didn't want to believe what she was saying. But I had seen enough to know she was telling the truth.

  "Tell her where we are," I said. "Tell her to come see us."

  "She already knows where we are," stated Kathy. "She just doesn't want us to shoot her when she shows up!"

  "Fine," I said. "How long before she shows up?"

  Kathy seemed to think for a few seconds. Then she said, "Five minutes tops!"

  "I'll be right back!" I noted. I walked out, headed for the front of the house. Tim, Harold, and Shooter all fell in behind me as I moved toward the main entrance door. We keyed it open, and stepped outside just in time to see a Sheriff's car pulling onto the private road that ran along the front of the house. It moved forward slowly as it approached.

  Harold and Shooter had disappeared into the shadows as we walked through the car parking area. By the time we were in full daylight, Tim was the only person still visible besides me.

  The car pulled into the drive, and slowly pulled up right in front of me. The door snapped open, and a tall female deputy climbed out. She stood up fully, and looked me up and down. She had those damned mirrored sunglasses on, so I couldn't really see her eyes.

  "My name is officer Dona Carter," she told us in a steady measured voice. "You and I need to talk!"

  "You poisoned at least one of my people!" I observed. "Why would I want to talk to you?"

  She looked at me for a moment. Then she said, "Your people haven't been poisoned! They’ve been exposed to an enzyme that will free them from a disease we call the Madness."

  I really tried to absorb the comment. It just wasn't registering. I slowly said, "They don't look very much like people being cured of anything to me. They look sick as shit!"

  "I want to show you something," she said. "Just give me a moment!" She looked up like she heard a dog whistle. She stood poised for a moment, and then she seemed to focus back on me. After a second more, she said, "You need a demonstration."

  The door to the house burst open, and Kathy came out with Bugs in tow. He was going on about her breaking quarantine, and she was totally ignoring him. As soon as she saw the deputy, she yelled, "Quit calling me like that! Stay out of my head!"

  The deputy smiled slightly, and said, "I have something to show you that will make it up to you!" She pulled a small pen knife out of her pocket. I watched her closely, wondering what she was going to do with the small two inch blade.

  I soon found out. As Kathy and Bugs stepped close, Dona took the small blade, and made a three inch cut on her arm. It was rather deep, and started to bleed heavily at once. We all gasped in unison, and Bugs moved to intervene. Dona told us, "Just stand back!"

  As we watched, the wound slowly closed, and sealed on it's own! We were all totally speechless. Dona smiled at the look on our faces, and asked, "Are you a little more willing to talk now?"

  "Let’s just say you have my interest," I acknowledged.

  "I want to know how you did that!" noted Bugs in a loud voice.

  Dona was cleaning up the blood left on her arm with a towel she pulled from the vehicle. She finished, and tossed the towel back into the patrol car. As she turned back to us, she looked at me, and said, "I'd like to speak to you privately if I could, please!"

  Both Tim and Kathy reacted poorly to that suggestion. I could tell they didn't want to leave me alone with the woman officer. I instructed them to go on inside, and they slowly moved away, leaving me to talk in privacy with the deputy.

  As the door closed behind them, the deputy focused on me, and said, "I want you to keep an open mind! I have something to tell you, and you're not going to like it! Please just be patient!" I nodded a tacit agreement to her request, and she went on, saying, "What you call a poison is really a cleaner. When it's done cleaning your body, you are a telepath. You can heal your own wounds, and teleport through space using the power of your mind. You can't do these things now because you have a disease we call the Madness."

  "The woman, Kathy, is now almost cleared of the Madness," she continued. "I am here now, because Kathy and Lisa need my help to adjust. I’m also here because my friends and I need your help! We have been looking for you. You are the great warrior it was foretold would rise to subjugate and defeat the beast we call the Darkness! We beg your assistance!"

  I raised my hands, stopping her before she could continue further. I got her to stop, and said, "You can't be serious!"

  She pulled down her mirrored glasses slightly, and said, "Fine! I can see you need some proof!" Almost instantly she disappeared, and reappeared, a hundred yards away. I stood there dumbfounded. She waved slightly to make sure I was focused on her. Then she reversed that process, and reappeared standing right in front of me. I almost fell over.

  "It's called teleportation," she observed. "You can have that power if you’ll help us!"

  I stepped back, and slid my left hand back onto the pistol I carry in a hide holster in the small of my back. "Just stay away from me!" I warned. "I don't know what you are, but I don't make deals with the devil!"

  The woman laughed, and said, "A year ago I was just like you! Now I'm free of the Madness, and I see what it's done to us here on Earth. It's like Rabies, Mike! It's why people commit horrible crimes and act like they're out
of their minds. It's just a disease!"

  What she was saying was starting to sink in, but I just couldn't take her seriously. I started remembering the mind reading trick Kathy had showed me earlier. Abruptly, the deputy said, "It's not a trick Mike! Kathy can hear your thoughts, and read your mind’s memories! Every person freed of the Madness can!"

  I thought of a clown's bright, colorful, face. Dona smiled, and said, "No! I'm not clowning around!"

  I felt lightheaded, and tried to not get sick. The pains started, and I fumbled for my pills. The officer reached right into my shirt, and snatched the tiny bottle out of it. Her deft fingers popped the container open, and handed me one of the little pills inside it. I took it, and waited for the pain to subside.

  The officer dropped the bottle back into my shirt pocket and stepped back. She had a pained look on her face. She quietly said, "We can help you! Please let us help you!"

  "Nobody can help," I said. "Too many years of hard living! The doctors say it's just a matter of time!"

  "They're wrong!" The woman said sternly. "I'm telling you, a great destiny awaits you! You can defend the lives of trillions of living beings all across the Milky Way Galaxy!"

  "Look," I said. "I just can't believe what you're saying! It's just too much to take in!"

  Looking at me closely, she said, "You're planning a hit on Mr. Robert Hetrus. You almost pulled it off the other day, but one of his security people made you, blowing your cover. The tall man in Grey was my target that day. He is the bad guy here, or at least one of them. He is a telepath! That's how he knew who you were. If you're not careful, you'll get your whole team slaughtered."

  That was it for me. I bent at the waist, and got sick. Dona stepped back away from me, and waited patiently for me to recover my self-control. In a very quiet voice, Dona said, "We need each other!"

  I have many faults. One of them is a stubborn streak. I don't like to join a team. I prefer to create a team, and use the team to perform a task I approve of. I learned long ago, that trusting others to regulate who was on the receiving end of such termination, could be problematic. I had no reason to trust these people.

  Now, at this point, I was starting to believe she could read my mind. I couldn't figure out all the angles, but it seemed obvious she wasn't faking all this. I began to wonder if I had been drugged already. It might explain what I was seeing.

  As fast as the thought crossed my mind. Dona said, "You aren't drugged! I want you do to this voluntarily! It's important you do this of your own free will!"

  "Do what of my own free will?" I demanded.

  "You need to be exposed to the enzyme," she said. "You need to be free of the Madness if you're going to help us!"

  "You mean you want me to go through what Kath and Lisa are going through?" I growled. "You don't ask much, do you?"

  The woman’s patience was stretched. I could see it in her face. She stepped a little closer, and said, "I know things about you that would make you cringe. Things you block from your own memories, because they're so horrible. Do you remember the little boy that got caught in the napalm cloud? His burned, twisted body lying there on the ground!"

  As she spoke her voice began to soften slightly. She stopped, and then said, "I'm sorry! I can see I'm not handling this well!" She just stood there looking at me intently for half a minute. Her head tilted to one side, and she said, "You have the mind of a Guardian! At least the mentality of one. I've never seen it so intense in an unaltered human!" She seemed to become more focused as she stood there. Her voice became more urgent.

  "I'm going to leave you alone," she said. "I won't interfere with your plans for Mr. Hetrus, but his people will slaughter yours if you try!"

  "You're a cop, and your fine with me killing Hetrus?" I asked.

  "I’d rather you didn't," she corrected. "But I can see he's as dirty as they get. He's in cahoots with the greys. They are under the control of a great evil, we call the Darkness."

  "So, he's a really bad guy?" I questioned. "Because of the Madness!"

  "That's about the size of it," observed Dona. "If you were all free of the Madness, you would all be able to see the truth in another person’s mind. A man like Hetrus would never exist, because the first time he lied, or committed a crime, everyone would know. He would never even think of such a thing, because everyone would know his intent."

  "Of course, it works both ways," continued Dona. "You can't be robbed, because you can read the bad person's mind!"

  I needed to walk away and think. I closed my eyes, and heard Dona say, "I'll come back tomorrow, and we can talk again, if that's alright with you."

  "That's fine," I said. As I opened my eyes, the deputy was already sitting back down in her cruiser.

  She laid her hat in the seat next to her, and said, "Kathy can call us if she needs us! We'll be listening!" She started the car's engine, backed around, and seconds later, she was gone out of sight.

  It was just too much to take in. I stood there for about a minute after she pulled out. The door to the house opened, and Tim stepped out. I looked over at him, and realized I was in shock. As he started toward me, I finally snapped free, and returned to my normal reality.

  Or at least, as normal as it ever would be again.

  Chapter 10

  Joining the Chosen

  Tim followed me back into the house. He peppered me with questions as I walked along. I simply didn't have the answers, so I was just walking along silently, till we reached the command center, and I saw Kathy standing in the hallway door that led to the medical bay.

  I looked at her and said, "Dona told us you can call her if you need her!" All I could think, was that we were so screwed. This was like those movies where some monster from space takes over your body, and makes you eat tree bark! I could already distinctly taste the tree bark!"

  Kathy didn't actually cry, but she had large tears building in her eyes. I wanted to comfort her, but I sure didn't want to catch whatever she had. Her face twisted more and more as she stood there. It dawned on me she knew what I was thinking.

  Then it dawned on me that I was acting like a real coward. For a moment, I was angry with myself. Then I stepped closer to Kathy, and wrapped her in my arms. She squirmed, and gasped out, "What are you doing? You'll catch whatever this is!"

  "Better to stand with you, than without you," I observed. "You folks are all the family I have! Whatever happens to you, happens to me!"

  Tim stepped over to us, and kissed Kathy on the cheek. Her eyes widened, and he said, "I always wanted to do that!"

  Shooter and Harold each shook her hand, though at the last moment, Harold bent down, kissing the top of Kathy's head. She grinned, but there were still tears in her eyes.

  "So what do we do now?" asked Harold.

  "Sit around, and become aliens from the planet Blatzo," I replied. I grinned slightly as I realized how my comment sounded. Then I said, "Dona told us this is a cure for the Madness that we all suffer from! I hope that's the truth!"

  Kathy had a very odd expression on her face as she stood there looking at me. She seemed to be looking right through me. She stepped a little closer, and suddenly said, "All those years you protected me! I never realized how many times you saved me! I see it all now Mike! I know all about you, and love you all the more for it!"

  Shooter promptly said, "I've changed my mind! I don't want to see into Mike's mind! It's scary enough just looking at him."

  I already suspected I was in for a lot of changes. Standing there looking at Kathy, it suddenly dawned on me that I was about to get to know Kathy far better than I ever had before. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, Kathy looked right at me and smiled. I'm pretty sure I blushed. I don't believe I've been really embarrassed since I was sixteen, and made out with the stripper that lived next door.

  Boy was she shocked when she found out I wasn't twenty!

  Bugs had been watching all this happen. I could tell something was bothering him. I finally asked, "What's the probl
em?"

  "I want to join you," he said. "But somebody needs to stay outside the contagion, and see what's happening!" I could see the frustration in his face.

  I finally said, "Please wait! If it turns out we're being set up, I may need to have somebody stop these people! I'm half tempted to send you home for your own safety!"

  "I’d prefer to stay," asserted Bugs. "Kathy just stood here, telling us everything the cop was saying to you. If she told us the truth, I want in on this! I just need to know if this is all true. If it is, my god! I want in on it badly! I want to be a telepath! I'd give everything I have for that one ability!"

  The thought crossed my mind, that I was about to lose my individuality. Kathy stepped closer, and said, "It's a good thing Mike. I never dreamed the world could be such a wonderful place! It doesn't destroy you! It makes you stronger! The world gets clearer to me with each passing hour. It's as if I've been sick, for years, and I'm finally feeling better!"

  "No more lies! No more bullshit! A lot of people, are in a lot of trouble!" observed Shooter.

  "So, what do we do now?" I asked.

  "Just go on as normal," instructed Bugs. "It sounds like the changes will run their course in about five days to a week. It will help me if you note any changes you feel. Write down how you feel, and any real changes that occur."

  It suddenly dawned on me that Koda was still strapped to the gurney in the medical bay. I stepped past Kathy, and went back into the examination room Koda was sitting in. She was awake, but groggy. Lisa was wiping her forehead with a damp towel. As I stepped in, Lisa said, "I'm starting to feel a little better! It helps knowing I'm not going crazy!"

  From the gurney, Koda mumbled, "Can I get up from here?"

  "If you promise not to attack anyone else!" I said.

  "You mean like when you hugged Kathy?" asked Lisa. Something in her voice, told me I was in trouble.

  "Uh, I don't know what you mean," I responded with great hesitation.