by Stan Schatt
Ricky sat as far away from Larson as possible and glared at him. When Larson didn’t respond, he turned his attention to Cassandra and leered at her. She didn’t seem to notice or care. Hawk’s eyes were riveted on Cassandra, but Jack trusted his friend to keep quiet. Still, he knew Hawk realized he would probably never have another chance to talk with a real extraterrestrial.
Jack had questions of his own that Cassandra never had answered. She seemed to talk around some subjects without ever addressing them directly. He wondered whether it was part of the way she thought, the way her culture handled direct questions, or simply a way for her to avoid answering questions. He remembered his time in Japan when he had been part of a team questioning a Japanese terrorist and how frustrating it had been because the Japanese language and culture made it almost impossible to ask the suspect direct questions or for him to make any definitive admissions. Maybe she deserves a pass, he thought.
Cassandra seemed fixated on her mission. Still, he wondered what she meant by her remark that death was just another state. Could the dead on her world communicate with the living? She seemed totally indifferent to whether someone lived or died. If asked, he knew that Cassandra would have killed the SWAT team members without any feelings of remorse. She was a cold-blooded killer. Was she any different from the cold-blooded reptiles called the Draconians? Would her people kill humans without any second thoughts if they wanted to take over the Earth?
Jack pondered those questions as well as others as they sped toward Dulce. After many hours of traveling, the van pulled up to a dusty bar and grill in a sleepy border town. Jack heard the music playing before he entered and realized it was a cowboy bar. Bound to be lots of rednecks, he thought. Best to get in and out quickly before there’s any trouble. He looked over at Ricky and prayed his friend wouldn’t start something.
They sat at a large table a few feet away from the bar. The ex-SEALS wolfed down hamburgers and drank beer while Cassandra and Hawk settled for cheese pizza and salads. Jack could feel unfriendly eyes on them. When Ricky turned and glared at several men who sat on stools at the bar, Jack recognized that look. Ricky was challenging them; they’d either rise to the challenge or back down. Either way Ricky would enjoy himself.
Cassandra excused herself and headed to the restroom. For a moment, Jack found himself wondering just how close to human she was when it came to her bodily functions, but he dismissed that idea and felt ashamed of himself. He noticed that the men at the bar had turned away so that they now faced the bar; they talked quietly while Ricky looked triumphant. A couple of them rose, said something to the bartender, and headed in the direction of the restrooms.
Jack realized after several minutes that Cassandra still hadn’t returned and decided he better make sure she was okay. The men sitting at the bar stared at him as he passed, but they didn’t say anything. Few men challenged him, especially when he wore his SEAL T-shirt that accentuated the size of his biceps.
Jack turned a corner and saw something that made his blood run cold. Two men lay flat on their backs, apparently unconscious, while Cassandra stood nearby staring at them.
“What happened?” Jack demanded.
“They were waiting for me when I came out, and they said they wanted sex. When I said no, one put his hands on me.”
Cassandra shrugged to indicate the logical consequences of what followed.
“Are they alive?”
Cassandra shook her head. “I just reacted. I didn’t have time to think. I’m sorry.”
Jack figured that the men’s restroom at that place probably received far more business than the women’s, so he dragged the bodies through the door marked WOMEN and balanced the men on commodes before closing the doors. That should buy us some time, he thought. He then put his hand on Cassandra’s arm and led her back to the table. “Quick. Let’s get out of here,” he whispered.
“What happened?” Ricky said, his mouth still half full.
“Two guys attacked Cassandra and she offed them.”
“I didn’t hear any shots. What kind of weapon did she...? Oh, I get it,” Ricky said and smirked. He moved his hands in a way that suggested a ninja using Kung Fu.
Milburn stared at the young woman. “These rednecks are liable to lock all of us up and throw away the key.”
Jack reached for his wallet and put three twenty dollar bills on the table. “Let’s move now,” he said as he turned toward the door. The others followed him and piled back into the van. Larson gunned the engine and headed toward the highway.
“How much time before they find out?” Larson asked without turning his attention from the road.
“We probably have a couple of hours at best if we’re lucky,” Jack said.
“From now on, let’s stick to take-out places,” Larson said.
Chapter 18
“HOW LONG BEFORE we reach the New Mexico border?” Milburn asked as he turned his head to look behind them. The group had been traveling an hour, but they couldn’t help glancing frequently at their side mirrors.
Jack studied the map in his lap. “It looks like around an hour more.”
“Damn!” Larson cursed as he looked into his rearview mirror and saw the red flashing lights of a highway patrol car.
“He’ll be radioing in that he’s located us,” Milburn said.
Cassandra reached into her bag and began turning the dial of a device that looked like a hair curler. She aimed it at the approaching car and turned to Jack. “He won’t be able to communicate now. I’ve jammed all frequencies. He’ll probably think he’s in a dead zone.”
“He can’t use his cell phone?” Ricky said.
“Look behind you,” Cassandra ordered. The men turned their heads and saw the car fading in the distance.
“Why’d he stop?” Milburn said.
“All his electrical systems are out,” Cassandra said calmly and turned her attention to another device she’d taken from her bag. She ignored the looks from all the men.
Larson kept glancing into his rearview mirror. Finally he shook his head. He muttered to himself for several minutes before turning to Cassandra. “How come our electrical system didn’t get fried?”
“It’s directional,” Cassandra said in an even tone. Jack wondered whether she really understood human body language.
“Guys, I haven’t been completely straight with you. Cassandra does work for another government, but it’s not Israel.”
“Hell, we’re not morons,” Milburn said.
“No shit, Sherlock. I think Jack’s honey isn’t a real Earth girl,” Ricky said.
“Is she one of those Dorks?” Larson said. His entire body tightened. Jack recognized the fight or flight response because he’d seen all his men enough when they were under duress.
“She’s not a reptile, and she bleeds just like us. Her planet’s an enemy of the Draconians.”
“I’m from Androvia,” Cassandra said as if that answered all their questions.
“How the hell do we know we can trust her?” Ricky said.
Jack understood him enough to know his male pride still hurt from having a female of whatever species handle him so effortlessly. “She’s a combination scientist and warrior. She really does have the technology to give us cards that will get us through the Draconian checkpoint.”
“I can think of at least one way that you can prove you’re almost human,” Ricky said.
Cassandra looked at him and then made a self-defense like motion with her hands. He jerked his legs and head away from her. His seatbelt and shoulder strap kept the rest of him immobile.
“She also has weapons we need. I’ll vouch for her,” Jack said.
“How do we know you’re not lying now?” Larson said.
“What would be the point? Either you trust me enough now that you know she’s an alien on our side or you don’t. We need all of us to be successful. Every one of you is critical to our mission.
Ricky looked at Jack and then nodded. “Whatever she is, I�
��d rather have her on our side than against us.”
Larson took a deep breath and let it slowly while staring at the road passed before him. He gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I knew she wasn’t human. If you do that crinkling thing you do with your eyes when you stare at her and then tell me she’s okay, I’m still in.”
“Me too,” Milburn said.
Jack looked at Hawk, and his friend smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. So, he squinted at Cassandra for a couple of minutes without speaking. The van was very quiet. Cassandra continued to work with the strange device in her lap. Jack marveled at how calm she remained.
“She’s okay,” he finally announced. Larson loosened his grip on the steering wheel and let another breath out slowly. Milburn laughed nervously while Ricky smiled.
“How long is that patrol car going to be out of service?” Larson asked. He spoke directly to Cassandra now and not through Jack.
“I think most of the car’s electrical circuits are burned beyond repair.”
“So we’ll be in New Mexico and long gone before anyone finds him,” Larson concluded.
“As long as we don’t run into another hotshot cop who wants to stop us for speeding,” Jack said. Larson looked sheepish and the car slowed. Jack read the speedometer and saw they were cruising now at 80 mph.
Chapter 19
JACK BREATHED a sigh of relief as the van crossed the New Mexico border and headed toward Dulce. “Welcome to New Mexico, home of rocks, sand, and alien reptiles who want to kill us!”
“All I see is desert. What’s your planet like?” Hawk asked.
Jack saw his team turn toward Cassandra. He’d been wondering the same thing himself.
“It’s not desert like this,” she said.
“It’s like trying to drag something out of a spy,” Larson spat. “Come on, tell us what it’s like.”
Once again Jack wondered whether Cassandra was being deliberately evasive or she really didn’t understand people. She was answering briefly but not volunteering anything.
“Tell us what you think we would notice about the place,” Jack said.
“It’s a much larger planet, and it’s at the very edge of what your scientists call the Goldilocks zone that supports life. You would probably find it colder and much dimmer. The gravity is heavier there, so you might have trouble running or jumping. Over the centuries we’ve moved under domes or underground. Since our world is much older than yours, we really don’t have mountains anymore. They’re more like what you would call hills. We have water, of course, but no animals.”
“No animals?” Milburn interrupted.
“No, they died out centuries ago.”
“No birds?”
“No. On the positive side, we don’t have insects either because they can’t handle the cold.”
“So why do the Draconians want your planet? What do you have of value?” Jack asked. The question had bothered him from the moment she said she wanted to be allies.
“They would like to get their hands on our technology. They have acquired most of their science through conquest since they are incapable of developing their own. We’re the only civilization left anywhere near them with enough technology to arm Draco’s enemies sufficiently to keep them from forcing everyone to bow before them.”
“Do all the women look like you?” Ricky asked and licked his lips. Jack had seen the act enough that he’d grown very tired of it, but no one was perfect.
“Do all your men look alike?” Cassandra replied.
“Okay, good point,” Ricky said. “How’d you get here? Where’s your spaceship?”
“Spaceship? Very few worlds have spaceships.”
“How did you get here from your planet?”
“I can’t explain the technology, but it’s almost instantaneous. It does require a lot of power at both ends, though.”
“No way,” Larson said.
“It’s what we’re just starting to learn about in physics. Think of beaming from one place to another in Star Trek,” Hawk added.
“Are your bodies like ours?” Milburn said.
“Pretty much. We tend to be smaller than your people because we’re vegetarians. Jack will vouch that I’m pretty much like any Earth girl.”
“Yeah, except she can kill you with her bare hands,” Ricky added.
Larson drove slowly down Dulce’s dusty main street.
“My kind of town,” Ricky said as he laughed and pointed to all the pickup trucks with gun racks.
“Notice the stickers on their windshields,” Jack said.
“They probably only get you past the first security checkpoint at the main gate,” Milburn said.
“There’s a hidden entrance outside of this town,” Cassandra said. When Jack gave her a puzzled look, she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to him.
“These are GPS coordinates?”
“Yes, you should be able to type them into your navigation system.”
“Anything else we need to know?” Jack said as he handed the paper over to Larson.
“I think we should eat and relax. It would be better to enter at night because they patrol the area with aircraft,” Cassandra said.
Milburn’s eyes bore into Cassandra. He turned to the other members of the team. “She’s a keeper,” he said.
“You’ll all need warmer clothes.” Cassandra looked at the men and frowned. “The temperature will drop very quickly once the sun goes down even though the Draconians keep the lower levels they control much warmer.”
“They’re really coldblooded like alligators or snakes?” Ricky asked.
“Yes, and they enjoy killing, particularly anything warm blooded, and they’re very good at it.” Her matter-of-fact tone made what she said even more chilling.
“Maybe that’s why we all fear and hate reptiles. It seems to be bred into us,” Hawk mused. “The Bible story about Eve and the snake is interesting. I think it goes back to a very early time when the Draconians first came to Earth.”
Ricky crossed himself.
“Maybe we owe them one for Eve,” Larson said and smiled.
“You’re not afraid of snakes, are you?” Milburn said as he turned in Cassandra’s direction.
“No, just remember the story in your Bible. The snake lied to Eve. The Draconians lie without any remorse or hesitation. Don’t think twice about it when you have the chance to kill one because otherwise it might talk you out of it and then kill you.”
“You know an awful lot about them,” Ricky said.
“I’ve studied them for a very long time. They’ve killed many of my friends,” Cassandra said.
“Have you killed any?” Milburn said.
“I’ve killed them, but they’re not easy to kill.” Cassandra spoke softly.
The men grew silent, lost on their own thoughts. Jack thought of the many missions he’d gone on with his team. It was always the same just before they deployed. He glanced over at Hawk and saw that his friend stared straight ahead. Only when he looked at Hawk’s hands did he notice that his knuckles were white from gripping his seat belt so tightly. Jack realized he’d have to be careful where he put his friend once they were in the field. He couldn’t trust him on the perimeter or with one of the heavy weapons.
The afternoon went by quickly. They found a fast food drive through and ordered. Hawk and Cassandra struggled, but eventually they found something they could eat. Larson parked the van off the main road, and the SEAL team concentrated on checking their weapons and organizing the equipment they’d take with them. Cassandra went through the various items in her bag while Hawk looked over her shoulder. He then looked in his bag and studied the device he constructed with Cassandra’s help. As the sun began to set, the temperature began to drop sharply. The men had donned sweatshirts while Cassandra and Hawk put on jackets.
Larson looked at the GPS coordinates Cassandra had brought with her.
“You’re positive this is right?”
“Yes, it’
s off a dirt road. There are some large trees near the spot where you can park and not be seen from the air.”
Larson followed the directions given by the mechanical voice on his GPS system. Before long it directed him to turn down an unmarked dirt road that looked more like a path. Jack stuck his head out the window and studied the road as they drove slowly.
“There are some deep grooves. You can just see them because the last rain left some mud. It looks like some large trucks came this way not too long ago.”
“Why here and not the main gate?” Hawk asked.
Jack shrugged, so Hawk looked at Cassandra.
“If you go this way, you can drive down a ramp. I think they designed it to make it easier to offload heavy equipment from a truck directly to the magnetic train. Whatever they deliver here is probably too large to fit in an elevator.”
“Is the ramp guarded?” Milburn asked.
“Yes, by two guards. There’s a checkpoint much further down where they require the special passes,” Cassandra said.
“How do you know that?” Milburn said.
“It proves that my passes work, doesn’t it?” Cassandra stared back at Milburn until he turned away.
“She’s been here and gone down to the second level on a scouting mission,” Jack said.
“I can’t believe you’re really an alien,” Larson said. His voice reflected more excitement than fear.
“Anyone not born on this planet is an alien. I’m from a planet much like yours except we have been at war with the Draconians for over two hundred years. Jack can vouch that there’s no difference between me and a human female, at least nothing important.”
“I wish my chicas looked more like you,” Ricky said with a smirk.
Cassandra pulled a white U.S. Government contractor sticker from her bag and handed it to Larson. “Put this on your front windshield.”
“How did you get one?” Milburn said. He was studying Cassandra the way a group of eighth graders on a field trip to the zoo stare at snakes.