by Michael Todd
“Aw.” Katie stepped over to wrap her arms around him. “You are one of a kind, and I love you so much!”
“Love you too.” He laughed, a little less tense now. “I didn’t say that to get your attention, though. I said it so you understand that a strong door would be great, but what’s even better than that is having the courage to stand up and take whatever they throw at me. I’m not afraid of them. In fact, I’d love to have the chance to put my sword through one of their bellies. They killed my father, who was part of a team. One day I’ll have my revenge, but for now I just want to get as many weapons made as possible.”
“And you will.” Katie stepped back, her eyes flashing. “You will.”
When they were done touring the building and making sure that they took note of everything they had to fix to make it safer, Korbin went back to his office, Damian went to lie down, and Katie headed up to see what Jeremy and Eric were doing. She walked into the living room and grinned at them both.
“Hey there, smiley!” Eric laughed. “What’s up?”
“Nothin’ much,” she replied. “What are you guys doing?”
“We are going to Area 51,” Jeremy told her excitedly. “We figured, we’ve never been there and we are so close, so why not?”
“Wow,” Katie exclaimed, shaking her head. “That was not the answer I expected.”
“You wanna come?” Eric asked, closing his backpack.
“Uhhh, no, thanks.” She smiled. “I was actually wondering if you could drop me off at Bootlegger on your way out.”
“More Italian food?” Eric shook his head. “I heard that monster last time.”
Katie laughed. “The key is portion control. And this time I’m going to have some drinks, so I don’t want to drive.”
“Yeah, sure, come on. Let’s get going.” Eric waved her toward the door.
“Yay!” Katie skipped behind them.
During the whole ride to Bootlegger Jeremy talked about Area 51, and though things like that would normally interest Katie, she was focused on something a little bit shinier. Her car was ready, and she was ready for it—and had been for quite some time.
She just wanted to pick it up and hit the road for a little while with the top down.
“All right,” Eric declared, “here we are!”
Eric pulled into the parking lot of Bootlegger Italian Bistro and Katie climbed out of the car. She walked up to Jeremy’s window and leaned against it, looking at his excited face. She chuckled a bit and tapped the side of the truck.
“Well, you boys have a good time. Don’t get abducted or arrested please.”
Jeremy laughed. “No alien in their right mind would want to abduct demon-ridden humans.”
“Hey, they might not know!” Katie replied. “You might spread your demons, and accidently start an intergalactic war.”
“We will do our best to avoid that.” Eric waved. “Have fun with your food.”
“I always do,” she told him, stepping back.
She waved as they drove out of the parking lot and disappeared down the street, then pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit the Uber app to schedule a pickup. She leaned against the light post, eager to go pick up her car.
I can’t believe we are going on Uber again, Pandora griped. That shit is a bait-and-switch, like last time when there was that hot guy who only wanted other hot guys.
Aw. Katie laughed. Maybe we’ll get lucky this time.
Yeah, right. She scoffed.
“So,” Jeremy asked, looking out the window as they sped toward the diner near Area 51. “What do you think about all of this? I mean the demon-hunting.”
“I love it,” Eric told him. “Though I have to be honest: my attachment to Korbin is not quite as deep as the others’. I think I will work with Korbin’s group for a couple of years, then maybe transfer to another team because…well, deserts aren’t really my thing. Don’t get me wrong… There is definitely a beautiful quality about the desert, but I’d prefer the trees of the upper Northwest, like Seattle.”
“Nice area,” Jeremy agreed. “I’ve never been, but I’ve heard it’s gorgeous.”
“I mean, I’m happy enough here,” Eric continued. “I’m not unhappy, that’s for sure. I don’t want to leave Katie for a little while, since she helped get me infected.”
“Your infection is the reason? Or is it that hot body?” Jeremy teased.
Eric looked at Jeremy. He was sitting there laughing, pretty proud of himself for that comment. What he didn’t realize, though, was that Eric didn’t find it even remotely funny. Eric shook his head and looked back at the road.
“So, do you think that there are actually aliens connected with Area 51?” Eric asked, changing the subject.
“Nah.” Jeremy shrugged. “It’s fun to think about, but I think it’s just a super-secretive Air Force base that handles new technologies and stuff.”
Eric sighed. “I agree. I think it’s just secret weapons and such.”
“I do think it’s shitty, how they treated those people that owned Groom Lake Mines,” Jeremy said. “They came in, offered them an absurdly low number more than once, then just seized the lands. There was no time given for them to vacate, either. They appropriated their personal property, then tried to say the place was only worth three hundred thousand when the appraiser estimated closer to a hundred million.”
“I know, but it was a matter of national security,” Eric replied. “We have to keep that base secure. It rather sucks that now technology is so good that you can see Groom Lake from the mine, even though it’s pretty far away.”
“Yeah, but what about the price?” Jeremy repeated. “They said it was worth three hundred thousand, but first offered the family $1.2 million. After the family had it appraised for $44 million, the Air Force offered $5 million. Of course they refused.”
“Yeah, but part of that $44 million was distress over burial grounds and equipment,” Eric shot back.
“Personally, I think it’s the government being fucking greedy,” Jeremy declared. “They didn’t give a rat’s ass about those people. They wanted to give them pennies on the dollar for that land and all their equipment, and when they said no, that’s not fair, they snatched it right out from under their noses. That’s greed, man.”
“Maybe they were greedy, or maybe it wasn’t as black and white as it seems.” Eric shrugged. “I don’t know…it all seems a little crazy to me that the family, knowing the government would seize the land and they wouldn’t get anything, didn’t take the offer.”
“Would you take an offer for forty million less than something was worth?” Jeremy asked.
“I don’t know,” Eric replied. “Guess I would have to talk to my family; make it a joint decision.”
“Did you have anyone back at home when you decided to join?” Jeremy asked.
“Nah, man. I mean, I knew not to do that,” Eric said. “I wanted to join, but I knew I couldn’t have any loose ends. I made sure to stay as far away from relationships as I could. I had some one-night stands in there, but no one I even took a number from. How about you?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I had a pretty solid relationship with someone, and I was even looking at rings when I got my demon. She was the first person I thought about when it happened, you know? I was heartbroken, I won’t lie. I had the rest of my life with her planned out. She was my best friend, even if it does sound hokey.”
“Nah.” Eric shook his head. “Not hokey, truthful. I like that. Do you ever check up on her?”
“Honestly, yeah.” He shrugged. “I have, a couple of times. I try not to do it all the time, though.”
“How is she doing?” Eric asked.
“She seems like she has gotten past the rough part; the initial shock and mourning,” Jeremy replied. “I mean, at least the FBI claimed I was killed—which gave her some closure, you know? It didn’t leave her wondering if I was still out there. It doesn’t look like she’s hooked up with anyone else so far, either.
”
“God, I would hope not! It hasn’t been that long,” Eric said.
Jeremy shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought she would either, but then again, I never thought I would have a demon inside me. Things definitely have a way of changing up on you when you least expect them to. It’s a struggle for me, for sure…no bullshit. But I know that my girl is still out there living her life—being beautiful, being strong—and that makes a hell of a lot of difference to me, you know? It makes me want to work harder to protect her, even if I’ll never get to see her again. I love her.”
“Good for you,” Eric exclaimed, watching the desert as they sped past. “Love is what keeps it all together in the end.”
Chapter Ten
“Oh my God, I know,” the Uber driver said. “Boys are so gross. So why am I taking you to the Ferrari dealership?”
“My car just came in!” Katie exclaimed in excitement.
“Oh my GAAHHHD,” she replied. “You bought a Ferrari?”
Katie snickered. “I sure did.”
“What in the world do you do for a living?” the driver asked.
“Um, I’m in universal securities,” Katie said, unsure if that even made sense.
“I don’t know what that is, but crap! I’m in the wrong business,” the driver replied with a snort. “Okay, here we are! Congrats on the new car! That is so exciting!”
“Thank you,” Katie said, running a debit card and tipping her. “I’ll keep your card, though, just in case I don’t feel like driving.”
“Do it!” the driver said enthusiastically.
Katie got out of the car and waved at the Uber driver as she drove away. Katie hadn’t actually thought about the fact that she missed having women in her life until that moment. She really did, though. She missed having girlfriends; people who understood life as a woman.
Hey, you have me. Pandora snapped.
Right, and you are inside me, Katie shot back. And you aren’t really up to speed with this century and the shit that we go through.
You’re right. Pandora sighed. And I don’t like humans anyways. By the way, that girl is false advertising. She was wearing ripped black clothes, black lipstick, and she had bright green hair and dark eye makeup. She seemed like the kind of girl I would seriously have something in common with. I mean, she looked like one of Satan’s followers…
Pandora grunted. And then BOOM! She fucking talks.
Katie laughed. What was wrong with the way she talked?
She was just so damn human, Pandora grumped. She gave a shit about what people thought of her, and she gushed over a goddamn puppy for like ten minutes. Seriously, I would have bitten the head off her puppy and not felt the least remorse.
You scare me sometimes, Katie said as she walked into the dealership.
“Elizabeth,” Brian said, smiling across the room. “It’s the big day!”
And this fucking guy… Pandora scoffed.
Be nice. He still has the keys to the car, Katie said, smiling back and waving.
“So, are you ready to see your new beauty?” Brian asked.
“More than ready,” Katie replied.
“Well, let’s go then.”
Katie followed Brian out to the back lot and stopped, her mouth falling open. There it was…freshly painted, spotless, and with a pretty red bow across the windshield. Katie smiled and ran to Brian, giving him a huge hug.
“OH.” He laughed. “Elizabeth, thank you so much for coming out here to pick your car up. Do you want me to get your phone synced in or anything?”
Katie shook her head vehemently. “I just want to get in and drive!”
Brian smiled. “OK, but please call me if there are any issues or you have questions at all.”
“I will,” Katie said, taking the keys from him and winking. “Thank you so much.”
“It was my pleasure.” Brian waved her to the car. “Now go! It’s all yours!”
Katie giggled and skipped over to the car, pulling open the door and taking in a huge whiff of the new-car smell.
The top was already down which was fine with her. She sat down in the driver’s seat and groaned, rolling her eyes.
This was her new baby; she didn’t have to share it with a single person. It was the first new car she had ever owned, and she had to admit she had splurged quite a bit, considering it was worth more than her mother’s house.
But she had the money and she had the stressful job and the boxed-in life, so it was a release—something they all needed from time to time. All she had to do at that point was figure out where to drive first.
Derek grabbed his file and headed down the stairs toward Korbin’s office.
He had been trying a new experiment where he put up a website with some information on it and waited for people to start commenting and talking, hoping he could get some clues on who was demonic and what people were saying about the most recent events.
It wasn’t something that cost a lot of money, but it did cost time. He wanted to make sure he and Korbin were on the same page before he moved forward with more sites.
When he got to the office the door was cracked, so he peeked his head in and saw that Korbin was on the phone. He looked up at Derek and waved him in, giving him the sign for one minute. Derek nodded and wandered around the office, looking at all the books on his bookshelf.
The man was definitely a collector, which was really nice to see. Those things tended to get lost in their world. After a few minutes, Korbin got off the phone and let out a long sigh.
“Sorry about that.” He stood up. “Please, have a seat.”
“The higher-ups giving you a hard time again?” Derek asked as he sat.
“No, not really. They just have to go over every minute detail, and it’s exhausting,” Korbin griped. “I wish they would just put it in a memo that I won’t read and go from there.”
Derek laughed. “That’s probably why they don’t.”
Korbin sat down behind his desk. “So how is the whole thing going? The webpage thing?”
“Well, it has borne a little fruit already,” Derek said, “but mostly it has produced a huge number of false positives. I fully expected that, but it is a little frustrating at times— I’m not going to lie. I want to scream at the computer at least ten times a day.”
“So what kind of false positives are you finding on there?” Korbin asked.
“It’s people who either live in another world, or they think the website is like a fantasy fiction kind of thing,” Derek explained. “For example, I had to delete like a hundred comments that had nothing to do with what we were looking for, but everything to do with Dungeons and Dragons. They get on a roll on there, and there is just no stopping them. If I don’t delete their comments anyone legit who comes to the site just will pass it over, thinking we are full of shit or made everything up. They won’t see their connection to it all.”
“Right,” Korbin agreed.
“Oh, and I had to delete a ton of comic-book characters like Spawn and Dead Pool,” Derek continued. “They were comic relief, and though I appreciated it, I am taking this very seriously. This is our future, you know? At this time and place we are facing something no one has ever seen in their lives. It is historical...and terrifying at the same time. I want people to start taking it seriously, or at least attempt to. I am just surprised that I didn’t get any Cards of Humanity fiends! Go figure. You attract one kind of nerd and repel another—just great.”
“You are moving forward though, right?” Korbin asked.
“An inch at a time.” Derek sighed. “Sometimes just a centimeter at a time, but forward is forward, I guess.”
“That is true, and we knew it wouldn’t work overnight,” Korbin assured him. “So, among all the bullshit, is there any useful new intel?”
“I mean, not really.” Derek shrugged. “It is all still pretty evenly distributed across the country, to be honest.”
“That’s okay,” Korbin replied. “It’s just the beginn
ing, and none of us expected this thing to be the save-all. You have to remember that all these things contribute to the bigger picture. A little intel from you, a little intel from the reporter, and we are putting pieces together before we know it. It takes time; that’s something I learned in the service. Everything takes time, especially when you need it right then and there. There’s no easy solution, unfortunately. Every once in a while you get a good tip and it’s magic, but most of the time it’s sifting through the shit before you find that one piece of gold.”
Derek raised an eyebrow. “I appreciate the pep talk.”
“Well, that’s what I’m here for—the professional pep talker.” Korbin laughed. “I should charge for it, but then all of you would be broke and complaining.”
“That is very true.”
“So, tell me what else you think you could do to push the site out of fantasy fiction and more into underground news?” Korbin asked.
“Put up stories or articles, maybe,” Derek suggested. “Something to drive people there and start them thinking about what they have seen or done, you know?”
“That’s interesting, but you don’t want it to take up all of your time,” Korbin warned. “You want to be able to put up the pertinent things and have it run itself, almost. You go in, check for intel, post something else, move on.”
“That’s true,” Derek agreed, making a note on his tablet.
“Also, you could add in some murder stats and connect them to additional databases to run some information,” Korbin offered. “You could get the statistics going—the pure data. People love numbers, whether they are lottery jackpots or murder rates. This will get them to start thinking, right?”
“That’s…a really interesting idea,” Derek mused, writing it down. “I’m not positive about how to connect those things, but I’m sure with a little bit of research I will have it down in no time.”
“See?” Korbin smiled. “You sit there day in and day out going over the numbers, but you start to lose focus when it is like that. Sometimes it takes stepping away from the screen and going over things with someone else—me, or any of the other people in this house. We are lucky enough to have a solid group of smart people. People who can think outside the box. They are strong-willed and strong-minded and educated and experienced, and you have them at your fingertips. All you gotta do is grab someone and say ‘Hey, give me five minutes.’”