“Quite the needle in a haystack,” I said, getting up to make myself a coffee. I asked if anyone else wanted anything, and after a pause, the dean asked for a splash of Scotch. I wasn’t going to judge the guy for taking a pinch at eight thirty in the morning as he told us a story; I expected it wasn’t going to end well for anyone involved.
He continued as the single-serve machine whirred and poured. I passed him the Scotch, and he swirled the brown liquid on the bottom of his tumbler and watched it as he spoke. “I tried to find the upper corner – the top floor and far left room. It took me hours to get there, and when I did, I searched that first room. People were milling about: some in the halls, some fearful of leaving the room for fear of retribution from an alien host we hadn’t seen yet.
“Some people thought it was a crazy government experiment, and others thought they were just dreaming. I called for Marcie. When I entered a room of the unconscious people, I searched through the piles of them, hoping to see her lovely face. I never did find her. She didn’t make it. They killed her.” His eyes moved once again to Mae’s face, hard lines etched on his forehead. “I found her name on my vessel list after it was over. If only I could have made it to her, I could have protected her.”
“Or died yourself,” Mary said softly – perhaps to make him feel better, but it didn’t work.
“I would have rather died trying to save her than lived and not been there,” he replied.
I wondered how this traumatized man had ended up running the camp there, but in the end, everyone was traumatized by the same event. Almost every single person in the world had been through similar situations and had lost someone close to them. My mother, cousins, old co-workers, friends, and countless others. We were all bonded in our loss.
“I’m really sorry, Skip,” Mary said. “Losing a spouse is one of the hardest things anyone will ever endure. Dean and I have been through it too.”
He frowned. “Weren’t you guys married to some of them?” He nodded his chin at Mae. “I’m not sure it counts.”
“Now wait a damn minute,” Mary started. I set my hand on her shoulder and could feel how tense she was.
“Skip, I think we can agree to disagree, but this isn’t conducive to what we’re doing here. Now can we see the video surveillance, and then talk to those two that seem to be causing all the stir from inside your gates?” I added emphasis to the word “your,” so he knew I tossed a little blame at him. He might have been through a hard time, but he was still being a jerk, and had likely been one long before the Kraski had lowered to our world.
With a swift motion, he slid the Scotch down his throat, quietly setting the glass on a wooden coaster on the desk. “Of course. President Dalhousie says you’re members of our new Earth Defense, and she evidently trusts you, so why don’t you follow me?”
We left the office and were soon walking through a long hall with a freshly polished floor. I noticed someone who looked just like Vanessa sweeping the corners of a room as we passed. We continued on, and there were plenty more hybrids with familiar faces doing different tasks; some were unfamiliar outside of the news feeds. There were six different “models” of them. Janine had been one of them, Bob another. Then, of course, our friendly neighborhood saboteur, Vanessa. Ray’s girlfriend Kate was the other model, and I had met her once at my wedding so many years ago. After that, we had an Asian man and an Indian woman, whom Magnus had described as matching the two he and Natalia had known overseas.
Mae smiled at some of them, and a few waved to her like they were old acquaintances. I was sure most wondered what one of their own was doing with the visiting strangers, but many recognized her as their savior. A lot of them knew it was with her help that they were alive. Others blamed her for their imprisonment and wished they had burned in the sun like planned. Those were the ones we were after.
“Mae,” someone called as we passed a gymnasium. There was a group inside playing a strange-looking game, with four small nets and a silver disk. It looked fun, and maybe a little dangerous. The man was sweating profusely but had a wide smile across his face. “Hey, Mae. I’m not sure if you remember me, but my name’s Richard. We met…well, right after we arrived. I was from vessel seven. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you again. And to you guys too.”
He extended his hand, and I shook it despite the sweat dripping from him.
“Of course I remember you, Richard. How are things going here?” Mae asked.
The game had paused, but when they saw Richard was tied up, someone sitting on the sidelines jumped in and the game started up again. I looked at Skip, and he clearly wasn’t enjoying the delay. Mary, noticing this, smiled at me and took the dean aside, speaking softly to him and taking him away from us. Richard guided Mae and me into the gym, and we sat down on one of those wooden benches I hadn’t sat on since my days of riding the pine on my varsity basketball team.
“This is a nice place to live. We work a bit each day, but I mean, it’s no slave labor.” He paused, looking embarrassed at his choice of words. “I just want you to know that most of us are so grateful for your part here. We were real slaves before this. Genetically created to invade a planet and act like humans. The Kraski never cared about us. There are a few who drank the Kool-Aid, if you will, but they’re few and far between. They also seem to know to keep it to themselves, because I guarantee you, if I heard someone plotting against Earth, I’d string them up and call the dean over there to send his guards. This is our home now.”
It was nice to hear this from one of them, but it didn’t mean he was being one hundred percent honest with us. Even if he was, it didn’t mean there weren’t more of them against us than he knew about.
“Do you know Leslie and Terrance?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, I know of them, but not close to them or anything. I think I saw Terrance walking around last night. He looks like me, but I’m sure it was him. We all have our own way of things, slight differences in hair, clothing, walk. Why, do you want to talk to them about something?”
Mae looked ready to say something, but I tapped her with my hand, without Richard being able to see. “Nothing important. We’ll find them later. Thanks for stopping and chatting, Richard.” I held out my hand to shake it again. The goodbye shake.
He smiled widely, and said he looked forward to talking again sometime. Mae gave him a quick hug. It held for just longer than seemed normal, and I turned away, trying not to watch. Mary was in the hall, still with the dean, who was waving his arms around and smiling.
“…and my tennis game sure has improved. There you guys are. Care to come and do what you’re here for?” His good mood dissipated as Mae and I approached them. Mary gave me a cute look and crossed her eyes when Skip was turned around.
We followed him outside and into the fresh air once again. The sun was now over the buildings, casting its warm glow on our faces as we walked down the cobblestone pathway to a small brick building with a plaque saying Alumni on it. Two guards stood on either side of the door, beads of sweat dripping down their faces in the morning heat. I wouldn’t have wanted the afternoon shift if it was that warm already. I gave them a quick nod as we passed by them and through the thick dark wooden doors. There was something I just loved about the turn-of-the-century architecture in this part of the country. It was also nice to be back in the state of New York, even though I’d just left upstate a couple of days ago. It felt like home.
“We have our guard station here, and our camera surveillance. The actual security office was across campus and consisted of a fourteen-inch television and a grilled cheese maker.” Skip led the way through a foyer with a twenty-foot ceiling, and into a room on the left side. Another guard was stationed there.
“Where’s Clendening?” Skip asked the woman.
She shrugged. “Didn’t show up, so they called me in. Rayez thought he might have come down with something. I guess he was talking about feeling a bug coming on at the end of his shift.”
&
nbsp; The room beyond was dimly lit and had about a dozen flat screens mounted on the far wall. Inside were a few desks; computer fans whirred in the otherwise silent space. Three white-shirted people sat at desks, each with large headphones on. One of them turned to us, and he had a shocked look when his eyes stopped on Mae. It probably felt like he was showing the hybrids behind the Wizard of Oz’s curtain.
The dean tossed him a thumbs-up, letting him know it was okay. I’d judged the man a little harshly, and maybe he wasn’t quite as bad as he’d initially let on. He did have a big responsibility here.
“Good morning,” he called to them, just loud enough for the other two to hear him, and they also turned around. “Louise, can you bring up the Level Seven file for our guests, please?”
She gave him a look, as if to make sure he wasn’t asking her to show the strangers in the room a classified piece of information. I noticed Skip nod lightly to her, and she brought it up, taking her headphones off. Three of the screens flashed to different scenes. The top left was playing, and we could hear some grainy sound. It was taken with night vision, and there were two people in the shot. One looked like Janine and Mae; the other looked like Richard, the Asian man we’d talked to in the gym. Leslie and Terrance, no doubt.
“Is it going to work?” a female voice asked.
“It has to. Everything is a go. We don’t have much time. He’s going to tell our contacts the details tomorrow.” Terrance rested his hands on her shoulders in an intimate gesture.
“Did you…” She paused, looking down at the ground. “Get the outpost location?”
In the green light of the night vision, I could see his posture straighten, and I swore he was smiling. “No, but I know where to get it now. The plan stays the same, just a small detour. This is an all or nothing play.”
“I’m for the cause the whole way,” Leslie said with conviction. “The Bhlat…” The rest was indiscernible.
They spoke for a few more minutes in hushed tones so we couldn’t make out what they said, and then quickly went their separate ways.
The video feed went dead.
“And you didn’t think to instantly contain them?” Mae yelled at the dean, who shrank back at the sudden outburst.
“That’s enough, hybrid! You don’t think I’d thought of that? We have more at stake here than the dreams of two aliens. They are stuck here! Do you understand that? They have no way to communicate with the outside world. We’ve been tracking them and keeping an eye on anyone they talk with.” He was inches away from Mae’s face, and I jumped between them, setting my hands on Skip’s chest.
“You’re done, Skip,” I said, holding him back as he pushed at me. “Listen, where are they now? People are dying out there, and we have every reason to believe those two, maybe more, are behind it. There must be a reason for it. It’s almost as if…” I stopped, my mind reeling for a second. “I think they’re trying to distract us from something.”
“Distract us from what? They’re stuck here behind gates and guards,” Skip said, stepping back away from me and Mae.
“Louise, can you show us where they are now?” Mary asked, in a calmer voice than the rest of us had been speaking in.
“Sure thing,” she said, moving her mouse around and clicking some keys. The top left screen showed us a video of the two of them working in a garden. “See, they’re right where they’re supposed to be, on garden duty. Did you see the size of those tomatoes they have out there? Best I’ve ever tasted.”
Skip rushed over and tapped the screen. “Garden duty doesn’t start for another hour. Zoom out!”
She hit a bunch of keys, but nothing happened.
“Goddamn it.” Skip ran his hands through his hair. “Switch to the next camera. We have one from the other end of the garden, don’t we?”
She did so and turned the camera to the end where we’d just seen the two hybrids working. There was no one there.
“Switch back,” he said.
The camera showed the two of them watering the plants.
“They’ve hacked in. We need to find them now.” This from Mary.
The second screen had started playing that same video from before, with the night vision. I looked at it and saw something move I hadn’t seen the first time. There was a third person there with them.
“Louise, can you zoom in on that second screen?” I asked.
Skip looked at me with annoyance. “Look here, Dean. We have more important things to do…”
“Just zoom in,” I cut him off. “There’s someone there with them.”
The screen zoomed. The picture, while in high definition, was in night vision, and they were some distance away. By the time she zoomed in enough to see them up close, the image was slightly pixelated. The third person was in the dark between and beyond them, but just as they went their own ways, the body turned. “Pause it!” I called. There was writing on the jacket.
“Security,” Skip muttered under his breath. “One of ours is in on it.”
Louise went forward frame by frame and stopped on one where we could see him closer.
“Boss, I know who that is,” she said. “It’s Clendening.”
That was the name of the guard the woman out front had said hadn’t shown up this morning.
“That bastard. Any sign of either Leslie or Terrance yet? You two get on the cameras and find me Clendening too!” he called to the other surveillance officers.
“Nothing on any of them, sir. It’s like they vanished,” Louise said.
Skip grabbed a landline from Louise’s desk. After a moment of rushed conversation, he had jotted down some notes on a pad of paper. “Send guards to Clendening’s room in the barracks. If he’s there, hold him until I get there.”
“Can we get this show on the road?” Mary asked, obviously anxious to track down the hybrids we were there to get before they could do any more harm.
It appeared they were getting messages out by the guard we’d just spotted meeting with them in the middle of the night. A couple of them with a network out there and a guard on their side, and they could make things happen, even from behind a fence with no phones or web access.
“Are any of you armed?” Skip asked matter-of-factly.
I shook my head. “Nope, we haven’t been given any firearms yet. I’m guessing the president thought you would be generous enough to set us up if we needed them, at least until we get to the base after this trip.”
He waved us forward. Soon we were through the foyer and into an adjacent room, which Skip had to use two keys to open. It was lined with locked gun racks. In moments, all of us were armed, Mary and I with Glocks, and Mae with a Beretta.
“I’d been holding on the hope they were just all talk, and thought if they were trying something, we could maybe identify any other hybrids in on it. With Clendening in on it, we have no choice. We’re going to take them down. If they had anything to do with those shootings out in the real world, they’ll quickly learn to regret their decision to act as hostile terrorists on our world.” The dean was working himself up, and I just hoped he would keep a level head once we found where they were hiding.
We left the building, and a group of four armed guards crossed the university grounds with us as we headed to the residence where the hybrids slept.
SEVEN
Dozens of the hybrids watched us as we made our way through the halls.
Skip told a couple of the guards to go to room thirty-seven and sent Mae alongside them to Leslie’s listed residence. We continued to Terrance’s room. When we arrived, a hybrid that looked just like Ray’s girlfriend Kate walked up to us, arms held up, letting us know she came in peace.
“There’s no one in there. He didn’t come back last night.” She kept her hands up as she spoke.
Skip turned the handle, finding it locked. He stepped back, and in a moment, he had kicked the area just under the handle, sending shards of wooden frame away as the latch broke and slid through the thin recessed hole. That suit h
ad some fire in his veins.
A guard entered with her gun pointed forward, and we followed into the cramped space when she said it was clear. I’d somehow expected the random mess of a madman, but what we found was an extremely clean, organized space. Their rooms were small, much like the one Mary and I had slept in the night before, and inside the bed was made as if by a hotel chambermaid. Some papers were set in straight lines on the small desk to the left of the door. Inside the closet everything hung nicely, but I noticed half of the clothes hangers on the bar hung empty. The drawers had few items in them, telling me this guy had packed what few belongings he could possibly have, and was gone.
Skip’s radio chimed, and we were told they’d found much the same at Leslie’s room.
Grabbing the papers from the desk, Mary made a move for the door. “Let’s go see what the guard’s room looked like.” She was off, Skip trailing her determined strides, even though he knew where the guard barracks were, not her. I could see her frustration. We were sent to do what initially seemed like a simple task but were being handed something much bigger. It was going to be a lot harder to track these two down out there than inside a fenced-off university campus.
The guard barracks were across the grounds, and we took four-seater golf-style carts to cross the area quickly. There were already guards stationed at Clendening’s door, and when we approached it, the room was open. A large man stood in the opening, and when he turned to face us, he was white as a ghost.
“Sorry, boss. He’s dead.” The man stepped out of the way, and Skip rushed past him in the small dorm-style room. The man we’d seen in the surveillance video was slumped on the single bed, throat slit. Blood covered everything and had dripped down into a sticky puddle on the ground beside him. It was a callous, brutal murder, and I knew in my gut it was Leslie and Terrance who had done it. I pictured them smooth-talking the man, getting his help to spread their words across the fence; then, when they got his keys to leave, they’d killed him. In my head, I saw Terrance holding him down, a look of terror on the man’s previously trusting face. Leslie showing a hint of remorse as she slid her knife across his throat, ending the one man who’d been willing to help their cause. It was sick, and I fought back the bile that was threatening to push out of my mouth.
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 27