She squeezed his hand in return, nearly sending him over the side of the Jeep.
“It's okay. We'll talk to Bill and things will get straightened out.” She tried to reassure him. “My dad’s the sheriff. We're not going to be arrested.” She gazed into his eyes.
“If you say so, anyway, I shouldn't have placed you in this situation.” He looked away and regretted getting her in any kind of trouble and he knew the last thing he needed was to draw attention to his situation. “I guess, I'm not thinking clearly.”
“What do you mean?” They sat in the back of the army Jeep whispering. After the men up front made a phone call they had ignored Elle and Kole.
“I'm a little slow on the uptake. I had a major concussion in an accident recently and my mind isn't as clear as it should be.” Or was it being near her that caused the confusion in his heart and thoughts? The woman was under his skin good and tight. He had been warned that he would be attracted to her essence, but hadn’t thought much about it until lately. “They say, in time, everything will come back to me.” Until Elle, he had thought he was back to normal. Then he touched her and everything changed.
“What happened to you?” Elle asked with honest emotion shining in her deep green eyes.
He watched her for a moment, recognizing the undeniable magnetism building between them, making him want to share things with her, be a part of her life. Somehow, he had to keep these kinds of thoughts out of his mind. He sighed. “Not long ago, I was in a crash. My experimental plane went down during a thunderstorm.” He glanced away, hating to lie to her. Even a half lie was wrong. The accident was his starship in an electromagnetic storm, but he couldn’t tell her that, yet. One day soon he would tell her the truth. He wondered how she would take the news that he was an alien and she was a Starseed.
“You have an experimental plane? Aren’t you the man of mystery?” Her eyes twinkled. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Maybe, you weren’t up to coming out here today.” She touched his shoulder and almost immediately he felt healing vibrations rushing and moving through his body, confirming what he already knew about her.
As he had suspected, she had the Star Child ability to soothe and heal. Unknown to her, she had inherited many things from her ancestors.
“We can head back to town after we get this settled,” she said with concern in her voice. “I’m sure everything will be okay as soon as I’m able to speak to Bill.” A frown shadowed her face and he knew she was worried about him. “Then we’ll head home.”
“No, that’s not necessary. Physically, I'm fine, and I want to go on the tour.” And the truth be told, he wanted to be with her as much as possible. “Except for the men up front, I’m enjoying your company tremendously,” he whispered in her ear. He cherished every minute he spent with this golden-haired goddess from planet Earth. From afar he had always felt drawn to the Starseed, but sitting here next to her was an entirely different matter. For a long moment he just looked at her and smiled, enjoying the moment. This is something rare.
Chapter Seven
From the edge of her vision, Elle watched Sara driving Kole’s Jeep down the long road to meet them. She was relieved to see her park and run across the strip of yard toward them.
“What happened?” Sara glanced between Elle and Kole. “I was so worried when those military guys came and told me they had you.”
“I take full responsibility,” Kole said. “We were walking down by the caves on government property and the military police picked us up.” He frowned. “I knew we shouldn't have gone past those No Trespassing signs.”
Elle had bent her head listening to Sara and Kole. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It’s not that big a deal. After I explained Bill was going to give us a private tour of the place, they brought us here.” Elle grinned at Sara. “We went through a huge hole in the fence. Like the one Herman told us he chased his dog through.”
“I knew Herman was telling us the truth,” Sara smiled with satisfaction. “Did you get close enough to see anything at the caves?”
“Yes and there was this low humming noise coming from one of the caves. It was glowing, but we weren’t able to get up to it. The Army showed up and hustled us out of there. They had guns.”
“Oh, I would’ve been so frightened.” Sara sat on the bench next to Elle. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, they wouldn't take no for an answer. They radioed the office and luckily Bill was around. He had them drop us off here to meet you.” Elle stood. “He’s waiting inside.” She glanced around. “Are we ready for the tour?”
“Sure, let's do this.” Kole held his digital camera and followed the girls through the door.
“There you are.” Bill came out of his office to meet them. “Sorry about the commotion out on the range.”
“It’s okay. It was my fault,” Elle said. “When I was a kid, before this was government land, I could run all over the place exploring. I guess I got caught up in that while I was showing Kole around. I . . . I didn’t think anyone would mind.” Her voice was shakier than she would have liked. “I never should have made Kole cross through the fence.”
“Even though, the scientists who work here are mostly civilian, the military is strict about who comes on their property.” He gave them the once-over and grinned. “You don’t look like criminals to me and after all you’re the sheriff’s daughter, so let's do the tour. We’ll start here at the main lab.” He ushered them into a sterile environment filled with people monitoring many different kinds of computers, numbers scrolling across the screens. He waved a hand at Kole.
“We have no secrets so you can take as many pictures as you want.” He laughed. “This is where we track space debris.” They went from one large room to another filled with larger computer equipment and people keeping a watchful eye over who knew what.
“What are you looking for with this stuff?” Elle wondered if they had evidence of the UFOs that had been seen in the area.
“We monitor the cosmos twenty-four-seven.” He pointed to several computer screens covered with scrolling numbers and symbols.
“Make any contact?” Elle was serious, but knew if he had, he wouldn't tell her anything.
Bill laughed. “I keep hoping, but not yet. Most of the time we listen to static.”
Elle sensed someone was watching them. She turned to see Benny, the fellow who had frightened Herman at the restaurant a few days earlier. Benny glared in their direction. When he noticed she had seen him, he smiled and walked their way putting on a new face for them. She noticed red mud stuck to his shoes. It seemed out of place in the clean facility. He must have been hiking out in the valley or inside the caves.
“Bill, we’re having trouble with dish thirty-seven. It’s not moving as smoothly as it should,” Benny said. “I need to take Lee and drive out there to check it out.”
Elle watched the interchange sensing that Benny had something to hide. Feelings of deceit colored his muddy aura as he talked with Bill. She knew he wasn’t telling Bill the truth, but it wasn’t any of her business.
“Okay, take the cargo van in the bay.” Bill handed him a set of keys. “Call in to let me know what you find.”
“All right, I’ll be in touch.” Benny took the keys and glanced at the group and smiled. “You all have a good tour,” he said.
He was being polite and quite the gentleman, but Elle saw the smile slide from his face as he walked away. She shivered. He gave her the creeps. There was an odd combination of sadness and greed attached to the man’s aura. “Why thank you, we will.” Elle shook off the bad feeling about the man and turned her attention back to Bill. “You must get bored this far out of town by yourselves.”
“Oh, we keep entertained.” He laughed. “We have a great recreation room for when we’re off duty. And if we have enough time, since it only takes an hour to drive there we go into town. Come through this door and I'll show the recreation area to you.”
Elle was surprised to see a larg
e fireplace covering one end of the room, a pool table and a plasma screen TV on the other wall. All plush and comfortable with earth tone colors and overstuffed furniture, it reminded her of some of the upscale bars at the local ski resorts. Elle's cell phone rang. She glanced at the incoming number. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”
She walked across the room a short distance away from them and answered. “Dad, what's up?”
“Are you at the High Mountain Array and is Kole with you?” Odd, he knew Kole was with her.
“Yes, we’re here. Do you want to speak to him?” Anxiety spurted through her as her eyes sought Kole, wondering what her dad wanted with him.
“Yes. Put him on.” He spoke with cool authority. She recognized his cop speak so knew it was important. She motioned for Kole to come to her side and handed him the phone. “It’s my dad. He wants to speak to you.”
“Hello, Sheriff Thomas,” Kole answered with a slight tinge of concern in his voice.
“Kole, there's been another incident at the Sandborn Ranch. He’s found a bunch of his animals dead.” He hesitated for a heartbeat. “Please don’t say anything to Elle about these poor critters. I know you’re working out there, but I could sure use your help.”
Kole’s gaze returned to Elle, his expression serious. “I’ve taken all the photos I need from here and I’d be happy to tag along.”
“That’s good, I’d like to get your perspective on it and have you snap some pictures of the crime scene. I’m a few miles away. I’ll pick you up out front of the Array in about five minutes.”
Elle watched Kole’s expressive face change and almost grow somber as he listened to her father.
“I'll be watching for you.” He closed the phone and handed it back to Elle.
“What's going on?” She was wary of his answer, expecting the worst.
“Something has happened at the Sandborn Ranch. Your dad wants me to ride out there with him and take some pictures. Will you ladies be okay driving my Jeep back to town?”
“Sure, but what did he say?” Elle’s imagination was stuck in high gear working overtime. Damn. Why couldn’t she summon visions when she wanted them?
“Not much, I'm sure he'll tell you about it later. He said he’s only five minutes away so I'll wait out front for him.” He sighed and leaned toward Elle. He was so close she could see the places along his chin where his beard stubble was coming in. She breathed and drank him in, enjoying the closeness. “I was looking forward to eating that picnic lunch with you,” he whispered and handed her his keys and turned toward Bill.
Elle blinked, having no intention of permitting herself to fall under his spell, again. The man took her mind places she couldn’t anticipate. When she was with him, all she wanted to do was throw him down and make mad passionate love with him. Somehow she had to get a grip. Now was not the time to be distracted by romantic notions, but Kole was oh-so charming when he wanted to be.
“Bill, thank you for showing me around, but I have to go work on another job,” Kole said, then added, “I’ll send you copies of the pictures soon as I get them processed.”
“Great, I look forward to it. It’s too bad you won't get to go out to see the array of antennas up close with us.” He picked up his clipboard and glanced toward the girls. “Do you still want to see them?”
“Yes, please, as long as we’re here, I’d love to see them up close.” Elle thought maybe for future reference she might need to know where things were situated on this military installation. “We'll see you later, Kole.” She struggled to maintain an even tone with him. The man oozed sex appeal by the bucket.
“Bill, it was great meeting you.” Kole shook his hand and glanced at Elle. “Just leave my Jeep at the diner. I'll catch up with you back in town.” His piercing gaze gave her heart another tumble. He was hard to resist.
“Okay then, here we go.” Bill nodded toward Kole and led Sara through a side door.
Elle stole one more secretive glance at Kole and couldn’t hold back a smile. He looked as good going as he did coming. She fought the dynamic vitality he exuded, knowing without a doubt, no matter how much she tried not to, she’d miss him until the next time they were together.
* * *
Kole sat in the passenger seat of the patrol car. Being used to teleporting himself from place to place on Mars, he found it a kick riding in the primitive form of transportation. He stared out the window at the countryside as he listened to his driver.
Sheriff Thomas turned down the Sandborn Ranch road. “Thanks for coming along on this one. I could use the eyes of somebody with a fresh perspective about this mystery.”
“Glad to be here. What do they think caused the deaths?” Kole had his own suspicions about what happened to those animals.
“Don't know. That's the million-dollar question.” He shook his head and took a right turn. “Sandborn checked his six horses and burro yesterday afternoon and they were good.” He sighed. “Today the burro is fine, but it looks like the horses dropped dead for no reason.” He pulled the patrol car to the side of the road and stopped. “That's Jim Sandborn down in the field over by the fence.” He shut off the engine and turned to Kole. “Here we go.”
The rancher rushed across the field toward them. “Sheriff, it's happening, again. Only this time they're going after the horses instead of the cows.” He kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot, almost falling.
Kole knew exactly what they were talking about. The aliens often called the Grays had been taking cattle and causing destruction in this area for eons.
“Now, Jim, we don't know that for sure. Maybe they ate some kind of poisonous plant or something.” The sheriff put his hand on Sandborn’s shoulder and squeezed. “Let's not jump to any conclusions.”
“Not jump to conclusions.” Sandborn pulled away from the sheriff, putting one hand on his hip. “That’s all you’ve got to say after everything that's happened out this way?”
“Have you called the veterinarian?” With his patience wearing thin, Sheriff Thomas glared at him, his steely voice carrying across the field.
“Yeah, he should be here anytime. He's over at Wilson's place helping deliver a foal. Then he’ll come out here and give us his opinion. But I tell ya Henry, it’s aliens.”
“Let’s wait and see what the Doc has to say. Has anyone else been in this field besides you?” he asked, changing the subject.
“No, only me, when I went in and brought Bonnie out of there.” The little burro stood tied to the fence. Her big brown eyes were round with fear as she stood there gazing out at nothing. “I drove up to feed them.” His voice cracked with emotion. “And this is what I found.” He waved his hand toward the dead animals scattered through the weeds in the barren field and swallowed hard.
“That's good, Jim. I’m going to take a look and Kole, here, will snap some pictures.” He nodded toward Kole. “This is Kole, my photographer visiting from Denver.”
“I’d like to get copies of any pictures you take,” Sandborn said, to the Sheriff and shook Kole’s hand.
As Kole touched the man’s hand, his personal pain over losing his animals radiated into Kole, pulsating like an open wound up his arm. This man cared deeply for his animals. “Sure, as long as that’s okay with the Sheriff, I’ll make extra copies for you.”
“That’s fine with me. Jim, you stay over here by the fence with Bonnie and wait for the vet. He'll need to check her out. I'll let you know if I find anything.”
“I hope you can figure out what happened.” He squinted and kicked the red dirt. “I can’t afford to lose any more livestock.”
“I know, Jim. I know. Come on Kole, let's see what we're dealing with.”
The dried-out fall weeds brushed against Kole's denim jeans as he walked behind the Sheriff. A heavy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. “There aren't any footprints except Sandborns’ and ours,” he commented, all the time suspecting he already knew who killed the horses.
The Sheriff stopped and K
ole started snapping digital pictures. “It doesn't look like anyone or anything was near the animals,” the sheriff said and sighed in confusion, pushing his Stetson back on his head.
Kole pushed some more tall weeds out of the way to get a closer look at one of the horses. Damn, I was right. The Grays have been here. “Here, this looks like some kind of entry wound.” Knowing how the Grays worked, he pushed the horse’s mane out of the way. “It's some kind of small puncture wound.” The Grays weren’t supposed to be in this area. He’d report them to the Intergalactic Council, but that wouldn’t help these poor critters.
Sheriff Thomas bent down to get a closer look. “There's no
blood on the wound or on the ground, looks too small and clean for a bullet. We'll see what the vet says. Let's check the others, see if that mark is on them, too.”
Kole knew it would be a waste of time. He knew he’d find the same tiny bloodless mark on each animal, but he had to play along. It wasn’t like he could tell Elle’s dad he was an alien and the Grays did it. He moved to the next animal. “Yes, it’s here, in the same area.” The Grays had been reprimanded by the Intergalactic Council countless times, but there were always some rogue players who did what they wanted, when and where they wanted.
“Yep, same over here. That makes all six with the same wound. I wonder why they left the burro alive?” Sheriff Thomas frowned and looked up into the bright sunshine. “I hope Doc can give us some answers and shed some light on this situation. I sure don't want to tell Jim his animals have been shot.”
“I guess it would be better than telling him the aliens did it.” Kole was so deep under cover it was funny. “I don't understand why that's the conclusion everyone jumps to when something happens around here. Why are the citizens so afraid?”
“Son, things aren't always as they seem. It's different out here on the high plains. And I'll be the first to tell you. During my years as sheriff, I've seen some pretty strange things.”
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