Coalescence (Camden Investigations Book 1) Page 19

  For the moment, Dan would continue walking his measured pace. He would pretend to be a sightseer. He only hoped to God that when his daughters did make their discovery he could reach them in time to thwart their pursuers.

  JACK WATCHED the teams traipsing along from his concealed vantage point. He forced himself to contain his excitement. But he could feel a grin coming on like an itch as he peered through his binoculars. He envisioned swooping in as if a vulture once he received the signal. Will had stupidly asked what that signal was. “The hoopla,” he had told Will. “They are just a bunch of inexperienced kids pretending to be investigators. Trust me, once they find their grail they’re going to whoop and holler. And then,” Jack caressed his 9mm Beretta, “we’re going to put a quick end to that party.”

  “AIN’T THIS the grandest party you’ve ever been to?” Kassidy inquired. Her snide remark earned Mitchell’s stare.

  Iris grunted. She wasn’t going to disagree with Kassidy’s summation. Her legs felt like rubber. They had searched in vain for only mere hours despite Rusty’s assistance. How would her legs react to daylong hikes?

  At that instant, she thought she observed the ground rising toward her. It was the same ruddy clay soil she had seen before. It appeared as if her world had turned upside down. It couldn’t be, but it was. The soil was not that of Chaco or anywhere else on this Earth for that matter. This soil belonged to the devastated, gutted home world of the Greys. The last thing she remembered was a huge wall behind her transforming from rock to a giant plasma screen.

  BILL SIPPED from his bottle. He had always felt the entire weight of the Hopi Nation was on his shoulders. He took another sip. Now it felt that way more than ever. His fingers kneaded Tawa behind the ears. The collie’s reaction was always the same to this gesture of affection. Her mouth opened wide, mimicking the grin of a human. But comfort from drink and a pet was not going to shift the boulders off his shoulders. Not this time.

  A young man had gone missing. Bill was certain Rusty had not been abducted or even harmed. He surmised Rusty had gone willingly with the two men that had visited the nation a short time ago. They needed a guide. Rusty would serve as well as could be expected from a youngster. The boy had hiked in the canyons on numerous weekends for the past decade.

  Bill rose from his chair. He would survey Rusty’s quarters. It wouldn’t be a complete invasion. Rusty did odd jobs for Bill. He was sort of an employee, maybe even a son.

  The message he had hoped to find was as clear as a note. A printout from a website sat on top of the boy’s desk. It was the crop circle. The figure appeared to represent Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. The medical profession used this same symbol, the caduceus, as a means to convey an image of healing. But Bill saw a lot more behind the symbolism.

  Where the serpent was involved, things were never clear. Bill believed serpents or reptiles had once lived below ground. Perhaps they knew of natural power sources connected to the Earth’s core. It was quite possible that what the investigators were seeking did still exist. But how could this be? Bill wondered. The ancient power sources that most likely gave sustenance to the ancient pueblo people surely must have withered. It was why the people of Anasazi, as Mitchell had referred to them, might have not only abandoned Chaco but the entire Earth a millennium ago. Could it be the reptile beings that originally held this knowledge still existed?

  Bill shook his head and dropped the picture back onto the desk. This can’t be. The notion shook the very foundation of his belief system. He believed any ancient peoples had either left or had been wiped out of existence in previous end times. But if the ancient ones still existed among them, maybe another cleansing would be coming soon. Bill had received no signal from the Kachina of this fifth end time. It’s why he refused to help Mitchell and Evan. Old beliefs. Could it be possible old beliefs weren’t entirely correct?

  Bill would be guilty of allowing his people, and those all over the Earth, to come into harm if he didn’t reexamine his beliefs due to arrogance. What might a youngster like Rusty have gleaned from the crop circle symbolism? Would the genetic testing thought to have ended thousands of years ago resume? Worse still, maybe that testing, or at least the desire to continue it, never quite ended. The great light from the sky the visitors had referred to could be another means to change the human species. Bill hadn’t any way to discern if this was a gift from the Great Spirit or veiled present from the Skeleton Man. The more he thought, the more he believed the investigators to be correct. It was better to err on the side of caution. His ancestors never recommended interference in any matters involving the Star People. But what if some of these Star People now resided on this planet? What if their agenda had changed drastically? What if they no longer had the best interests of humanity at heart and had become infected by cold, detached ambition?

  Bill concluded the focus of the Star People may very well have returned to a great subterranean power grid, unlikely as it seemed. Were the serpents still resisting the punishment metered upon them from the gray skinned Star People? This great, long war was the reason why Bill always believed humans shouldn’t interfere. But even if the reptiles still merited punishment, could he actually stand by and watch all of Earth’s people face a major reengineering that would effectively wipe out humanity via genetic change instead of simple death?

  Death could be honored. It would be better if all died trying to stop the change Mitchell and Evan had feared. But in the meantime, it would also be wrong to leave a young man like Rusty all alone in the canyons. The desert was a dangerous place in itself. Men who burned down labs would surely make it all that more treacherous.

  Bill snapped his fingers and Tawa yipped. “How would you like to go for a ride, girl?”

  MITCHELL RUBBED his hand along Iris’s back. “Want to tell me what really happened out there?” he whispered in her ear.

  She pawed at the blanket draped about her shoulders. “It’s not going to help anybody. Just let it lie.” The bland but solid walls of the camper comforted her. Out in the open sky, one hour earlier, she was out of her mind.

  “You obviously saw something; it caused you to fall to your knees.”

  “I was experiencing heat exhaustion.”

  “Do you recall what you did next?” Mitchell’s voice rose. “You clasped your hands together as if in prayer. Is that normal behavior in a dessert?”

  “I really don’t recall that.” Iris shook her head. She really didn’t. But she did recall Chaco transforming as if it were the Greys home world. Fearing her subconscious was somehow coming to the forefront of her consciousness, she really didn’t want to share this revelation with Mitch. What if the same thing were to happen to him? He was inexperienced in any way, shape, or form to deal with supernatural mind alterations. That she was sure. Ultimately, she couldn’t spook the team. It would only make a stressful situation worse. Remnants of the time shift she experienced in the earlier investigations lingered in her memory. What if it occurred on a major scale? Mitch’s next question only fueled her anger.

  “Can you at least tell me if you saw something that would aid in our search?”

  Iris pursed her lips. Her eyes were dark as coal. “Speaking of prayer, is that your only salvation? Because I’m sure you already know how it plays out.”

  Mitchell shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I guess it is the end all—at the moment. I want to save people, Iris. If I have to die—”

  Iris balled a fistful of blanket in her hand. “I want to save people. I also want an option . . .”

  Iris turned, feeling that someone was watching from behind. For a moment, she thought it was her Dad. But it wasn’t. She wondered how long Kassidy had been standing behind them. She was going to say she “wanted another option that didn’t involve Mitchell’s demise.” But she didn’t and they had been whispering. She could only hope Kassidy hadn’t heard anything more than a couple arguing after a tiring, long day.

  “I was just wondering
if you guys wanted your share. Gavin’s made us dinner: rice and kidney beans.” Kassidy rolled her eyes. “Yum. Yum.”

  “I’ll have mine after a shower. I believe I’m next.” Mitchell kissed Iris on the top of her head before he left.

  Kassidy slid into Mitchell’s seat. “I think I know what you meant.”

  “Meant about what?” Iris asked.

  “Remember, when we were at the store. I don’t know the details. I promise I wasn’t eavesdropping. But what you said about Mitchell, that you already had him wrapped around your finger, almost implying that was a past action. That this expedition we’re on might go only one way for some us . . . I just think that’s shit.” Kassidy focused her gaze on the camper’s ceiling. “I can only imagine how pissed you are.”

  “How could you conclude this from a stupid joke? I just think it’s your nerves, Kass.”

  “The Camden girls aren’t the only ones with psychic sense. I think you know something from your visits with Galloway. And I want you to know that as an investigator, I’m pretty pissed you’re keeping your team in the dark.”

  “I . . . shit . . . okay, you’re partially right. I might have seen some things when I visited Galloway . . .” Iris swallowed. She had just admitted more than she cared to.

  “What do you mean by visited? Shit, is that what happened out there today? Did you go somewhere?”

  “Look.” Iris clasped her hands together. “All I can say is that what I saw is subject to interpretation.”

  “Hm. But what about Mitchell; what might he have seen?”

  “Kass, we’re all on the same side here. You know I didn’t want to get involved in this, but now I am. I’m doing everything in my power to keep us all safe.”

  “So screw it if you’re not going to elaborate. I know Mitchell’s in danger. I pretty much think we all are.” Kassidy rose from her seat and placed a hand on her hip. “Ah, is this about Ron? Do you actually think keeping quiet keeps things from happening?”

  Iris reached out and grabbed Kassidy’s hand. “We’ve got to be a team out there tomorrow. It’s going to be a full day. We need to have each other’s backs.”

  “From what? More aliens?”

  “More likely the snakes and spiders Rusty keeps warning us about.” At least that wasn’t a total fib. The reptilians probably shared similar chromosomes with snakes.

  Kassidy gripped her friend’s hand tighter. “You know I’m your bud, always. But as an investigator, I can’t just ignore information that might help us do the very thing you want—keep us all alive!” At that second, Iris wished Kassidy had drowned her senses in vodka. It wasn’t a healthy option, but it was less fraying on her nerves.

  Kassidy’s elevated pitch attracted Rachel’s attention. “I think you guys should get some food in you.” She placed a plate in front of Iris.

  “Thanks, Rache. Despite our limited culinary options, I’m going to enjoy this rice.” She took Rachel’s hand into hers.

  Rachel looked at their joined hands and scowled. “Shit. What’s going on, Iris? Are we all going to get killed out there tomorrow?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  DAN CURSED his disguise. It seemed he had been wearing one his entire adult life. The one that shielded him from his family; it was attached, a part of his endoskeleton. It was a chip, embedded in the flesh of brain. But the stupid brimmed-hat and padded jacket, they were extraneous and the subject of his current focus. The idiocy of wearing a padded jacket in response to the new day’s sweltering heat; the thought that a brim of a hat might shadow his identity, his purpose; it was ludicrous. He should toss them on the roadside right now. But the damage might have already been done. If he were hunting living aliens, the Organization might have equipped him with some cloaking tech. Dan could only hope Jack and Will were too focused on their prize to pay attention to a straggler. Dan Camden had jumped the fence and he knew the penalties for treason. He wondered if Jack and Will were also jumping the fence.

  The thought that he was journeying back to his family on an all but a deserted road in the middle of what he would label “nowhere” managed to lighten his step a bit. He imagined the smiles on Iris and DJ. After he came clean and their anger cooled he would make up for lost time.

  He feared Jack and Will had gotten the jump on him. Surprisingly, he managed to doze off into deep slumber a few times during the night. Possibly he was dreaming of winning back the hearts of his daughters. Nonetheless, he could only attribute Organization training to such a feat; the ability to sleep when your very own family may be knocking at death’s door. He quickened his stride; a hawk or something that produced hissing sounds flew high above ahead to his right. It seemed to be circling. That was odd. His mind raced and he imagined the worst. What if something had already happened? What if he had again abandoned his family in a time of need? It would be one of the countless times in the past few decades. He abandoned his jacket around him and began running.

  When his lungs had filled with enough dust to produce a spastic coughing fit, he stopped. He crouched forward, hands on knees, praying the spell would end so he could resume. He could still hear the bird in the air, its cry echoing amidst the whistling wind. When his focus sharpened he saw Jack and Will’s car. It was oddly parked. Out on the road, diagonally positioned it screamed trouble. He hacked out a few more coughs. Way to go. I’ve obviously signaled my arrival.

  He pulled the brim down a bit to shield the sun’s rays. Yes. It was their car. Dan stopped reprimanding himself for announcing his welcome. His true folly would be to believe they had actually squandered time when they could be in pursuit of his daughters. As long as something extraordinary didn’t stop them, Dan believed men like Jack and Will would never fall off schedule when it came to acquisitions. But what about this acquisition was so special? He had gleaned that the teams were having quite a debate about an artifact. It had fallen from the sky. It supposedly had a purpose. But Dan had never found out what exactly. He never imagined a war brewed between Greys and Reptilians. He only imagined ill-fated scout ships occasionally crashed and their technology became human property. He never knew the technology was being willingly given in exchange for silence. He didn’t know he was ambling along, all alone in a desert, in stupid attire no less, to possibly prevent or allow an unparalleled invasion. The onslaught wouldn’t be about ships and weapons. It would all come down to light. Pumping humans and their genetic coding with glorious, unceasing rays of light was all it would take. Light changed DNA. Dan really never pondered the wonders of the cosmos. He just did his job. He acquired things. He helped reverse engineer them when he was able. He believed the people at the top would make sure things were handled properly. And they would—to their benefit. Instead of reverse engineering gizmos, they would reverse engineer DNA.

  Steeped in this ignorance, the sight of a hand dangling from the rear driver’s door caused him to gasp. He crept toward the vehicle, baby steps, maintaining minimal noise levels as if that would help conceal his presence. Again, the bird screeched from above, and his heart leapt straight to it.

  He eased the door fully open and peered into the car. It was Will. He was stone dead. A bullet had gone straight through his skull at the temples. A lot of blood had spilled onto the seats but now the flow had ebbed to a trickle. Will’s open eyes stared up at him. They seemed to warn him. Dan caught his breath again. He shifted his gaze left and right. Then he pivoted and scanned the land around him. Nothing but brush, sand, and rock—not a telltale sign of Jack. Why had they fought? An argument had to be the motivation. Why else would Jack kill over an artifact? They had all acquired many over the years. No big excitement; well, except for maybe your first two acquisitions. All the green horns partied long into the night on those occasions. Dan was among them, the pangs of guilt stabbing him. Truth was, at that time, he felt more emotion about a piece of unidentified equipment than for his flesh and blood wife and newly born daughter. He shook his head. What a mess. He wasn’t referring to the ruined uphols
tery.

  His daydream had cost him. While he perused Will’s body for further answers, someone had surreptitiously popped out of the trunk.

  JACK SMILED as he opened the trunk from within. He recalled the saleswoman noting the safety device upon purchase. “No one will ever lock you in your trunk,” she had said it so cheerfully. As if people did things like this to each other all the time. Nonetheless, he couldn’t agree more. It was a great feature.

  Jack had killed Will in the early chill of dawn. The darkness was a whole world away now. The sun brought urgency to his mission. If he didn’t have to eradicate Dan at this moment he would have pointed his hands at the sun and tried to grasp it. For Jack, it would always be about acquisition, even when that acquisition would become less tangible and more ethereal.

  Baby steps brought him around the vehicle. Dan was just standing there, scratching his chin.

  What a disappointment you are, Jack thought about Dan. You not only let your family down, you toiled as a midlevel field agent. No ambition to rise higher. No intuitive to inquire about the bigger pictures. Trust me there were many. Many opportunities your loyalty caused you to miss out on. But I teetered precariously in the middle of all it. I never let myself get bogged down with family. Never let myself become the automaton the Organization heads thought I was. For that, I am now rewarded. For spending an awful day and half in the baking sun of a desert and stuffed in a trunk for an hour breathing the foul air of a corpse, I have earned it.

  Jack let his fury boil and channeled it into his right hand. Balled in his fist was the butt of his gun. It came down squarely and effectively on the back of Dan Camden’s head. Dan fell on top of Will. Jack watched blood trickle down the fallen man’s neck. Maybe you two will coalesce. Guess you deserve each other. He started the car and parked it off road a half mile away near some brush. It really didn’t hide the car. But Jack thought nobody else would see it. This wasn’t tourist season. He could only envision the investigators must be at the site now, searching for a means to try and stop his future. He let the thought burn into his mind. There, it singed his consciousness so exhaustion could not take over. He needed his anger now more than ever. He would stop at nothing to make sure the investigators were stopped. Ultimately, he would take their prize, destroy the enemy’s power source and wait out his few pitiful hours of existence as an ordinary human. Maybe later he would clean up the mess that was Will and Dan.