Chapter Seventeen
Diesel was tired all the way to his marrow when he stepped inside his home Friday afternoon. The last time he’d been here, he’d kissed a sleep-rumpled Juliana goodbye and headed to work after the most amazing time off he’d ever spent. He was madly in love with an earthling. He couldn’t wait to see Juliana again, hold her in his arms, and especially kiss her silly.
Walking through his home to head upstairs, he saw his open home office door and paused. He always kept it closed. Now, it was ajar. He’d popped it open briefly when showing Juliana his home, but remembered distinctly closing the door until the latch clicked. There was no use tempting fate by allowing her close to his alien artifact-laden hidden room.
Had Juliana gone into his office? A panicked feeling dove deeply into his belly at the idea she’d found his hidden space, though he knew it was highly unlikely. He walked slowly to the door and looked in. The room appeared to be fine. Maxwell’s picture was perfectly straight and nothing seemed out of place. He pushed out a sigh of relief and closed the door, ensuring it latched this time.
Diesel went upstairs to clean up, intending to head straight to Juliana’s place in Doraydo. He needed to see her, needed to hug her tight, kiss her gently and hold her in his embrace until she understood what being madly in love meant to him.
She was very important to his future happiness. He might have to accept some rather large sacrifices in order to make her his bride, but he was ready to do it. He would hand over his career on Earth and go back to Alpha-Prime so they could be together forever, if that was his only option. He just hoped she was open-minded about space travel.
An hour later he was standing in front of Juliana’s door with flowers. He knocked hard, wanting to get her attention. Her front door popped wide open of its own volition. A thin line of panic streaked down his spine. “Juliana!” he called through the widening space. “Your door is open.” No response.
Diesel stepped across the threshold, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway to her bedroom. Her bed was made. The light was still on in the bathroom and girly stuff was scattered on the counter as if she’d gotten ready and left in a big hurry. He shut the light off and exited her bathroom. He stared at her undisturbed bed, feeling like something was off, but unable to see what. He left her bedroom, walking down the hallway until he stood behind the sofa. He wondered if she’d be upset if he waited for her.
Looking down, he noticed a stack of papers on the table. He read the title, You’ve Got Aliens, and smiled at the cleverness. He scanned down to read the first line and his entire body froze. Aliens do exist right in plain sight at the Big Bang Truck Stop in Alienn, Arkansas on Route 88 and I can prove it! Diesel picked the article up and read the entire thing.
It was clear from the article that not only had she found his secret office, she’d taken some of his personal pictures from there before leaving, including one that looked like a half octopus-half man alien that she’d personally witnessed.
Her tone throughout the entire story was hostile, angry and mean. The article was meant to enflame and incite anyone reading it. The Finder’s book people would probably love it.
She even mentioned the Defender with a warning to watch out, as it made memories seem like dreams, which was a big problem because how did she know the name of something that was supposed to have completely erased her mind for a defined time period? She had a few memories, but she’d written about things she could have only heard while she was unconscious. So she remembered everything and realized it wasn’t a dream.
If this article was published in a Finder’s special edition book, folks from all over the country would come to discover if aliens from Alpha-Prime had been fooling humans for decades. Diesel was in big trouble if this was the article she’d written for publication.
He took minor solace in the fact Finder’s wouldn’t simply take her word for it on a story this big. They’d send someone to verify her wild, crazy claims, which weren’t wild or crazy, but quite factual.
If the Finder’s representative garnered even a hint of truth in what she’d written, the publication would likely go with it. And if she gave them some pictures from his secret office, he was screwed.
Diesel might get a one-way trip back to Alpha-Prime, if he got lucky. If his luck had run out, he could also get a one-way trip to Galactic Gulag XkR-9, one of the worst gulags in the Andromeda Galaxy.
Diesel grabbed the copy of her article, planning to use it for reference as he raced home to do damage control and prepare for whatever Finder’s fact-checker showed up to verify or debunk Juliana’s claims.
Beneath the surface of his worry about possible discovery, he was quite heartbroken over what he considered Juliana’s unexpected betrayal.
Why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she told him about her memories of the Defender? How could she remember being shot with Cam’s foolproof memory erasing weapon in the first place? Had this alien article been her intent all along? Had the bank robber notes only been a clever ruse to throw him off guard?
He read the part about being shot with an invisible ray gun that made her black out for a short time and upon waking her memories were gone, but over time they’d all come back.
Diesel had never had a chance to look up the circumstances during testing as to the understandable reason it had not worked as expected on one of the test subjects. And he didn’t have time to look it up when he pulled into the truck stop parking lot either.
He got out of his truck and realized it was too late to do anything except deflect and react. An older man in jeans and an untucked orange, button-up shirt was getting out of a car, notepad in hand. That in and of itself wouldn’t have been alarming except for the bumper sticker by his license plate that read: If it’s not in a Finder’s, it’s not a Keeper.
Diesel marched over to the man and asked him directly, “Are you from Finder’s?”
The man was older, hair graying at his temples, but still nice-looking. Diesel’s despondence over Juliana’s betrayal didn’t preclude him from being jealous of this man she’d sold her story to.
“How do you know that?” he asked, sounding suspicious.
Diesel pointed to the back of his car. “I saw your bumper sticker.”
The man brightened. “Oh! Well, then. Yes, I do work for Finder’s. My name is Pete Harriman. Call me Pete.”
“Okay. What are you doing here, Pete?” Diesel asked, “Are you in search of a big story about aliens?” He laughed as if it was a huge joke to look for aliens in a place called Alienn.
The man pretended to be amused, but Diesel could tell he was caught by surprise by Diesel bringing up the aliens angle first. Good. That was his intention.
“Sort of, but not exactly. Do you know anything about the rumors here in town?”
“Rumors? What rumors are you talking about?”
“I heard about an incident, I guess you’d call it, involving a dangerous creature roaming the streets of Alienn, causing all sorts of mayhem.”
“Oh, you mean our local Bigfoot story, the supposedly true legend of the Fouke Monster?” Diesel laughed again. “That was just a story way back before my time. They say it’s true, but that was a long time ago. I think there is a movie about it, though. You might want to check that out.”
“No. Not that one,” Pete said. “I heard that there was a malevolent beast roaming around town that had to be subdued with what I understand ended up being experimental tactical means.”
“Experimental tactical means? Like a test solution? I’ve never heard anything like that.” From any human anyway. As far as Diesel knew, Harriman had not heard it from Juliana, either. She hadn’t put anything like that in her article.
The article he’d read from first page to last, standing alone in her empty apartment as his heart sank to his knees. She’d only mentioned the part about a beast roaming around, what they’d called the Boogieman Affair, not the special means they’d used to subdue the creature. How did Pete know about it?
“Well, yes. Say, do you work here?”
Diesel nodded. “I’m the manager of this truck stop.”
“Wonderful,” the man said. “Could I interview you? I’d like to do some follow-up questions on an article someone turned in to me today.”
“Sure,” Diesel said. “Come on inside to my office and we’ll chat.” He pulled his communicator off his belt and texted Cam:
Bring your Defender and come to my office.
I’ve got someone you need to zap, pronto.
Cam responded in seconds.
Who are you and what have you done with my brother?
Diesel rolled his eyes, stopping in mid-roll. Space potatoes! He didn’t need to start that bad habit again. He closed his eyes briefly, opened them and responded with:
Just get to my office! Be the solution not the problem.
Diesel led Pete into the convenience store, walking right past Alice at the front counter. She waved, looking a bit nervous, and started to say something. He held up his hand, pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Pete, and said, “Later, okay? I have a meeting.”
Alice nodded, but didn’t look happy.
Welcome to my world, he thought bitterly. Diesel didn’t expect he’d ever be happy again.
Cam was waiting at his office door with a large Defender hooked on his belt.
Diesel said, “This is our security manager, Cam.”
Before he could finish the introduction, Pete stuck his hand out. “Pete Harriman. Call me Pete. Great to meet you, Cam. Interesting place you all have here.”
“Thanks, Pete,” Cam said. He casually put his hand on his Defender out of Pete’s view. Diesel opened the office door, ushering both men inside and gesturing for Pete to sit on the chair across from his desk. It would be easier when Cam fired the Defender and Pete passed out. They wouldn’t have to pull his dead weight off the office floor.
Diesel sat behind his desk and Cam positioned himself at the door, just behind Pete and out of his view. Pete seated himself across from Diesel and said, “I sent someone here a while back to possibly get the scoop on a rumor I’d heard about a creature roaming the streets of Alienn.”
“Oh? Where did you hear that story?” Diesel leaned forward, elbows on his desk, hands folded together, trying to look casual.
Pete crossed one ankle over his knee and craned his neck sideways to look at Cam before turning back to Diesel. “Actually, I was in a bar in Doraydo about a month ago. This old guy came stumbling in. He was already pretty well oiled, if you know what I mean.”
“You mean he was already drunk?” Cam asked, always wanting complete clarity.
Pete nodded. “Yep. So this old guy plops himself down at the only seat available at the bar. It just happened to be next to me. Anyway, he orders his first drink and once he downed it and asked for a second, he suddenly said he knew a bunch of secrets about the town of Alienn and did I want to pay him scads of cash for the lowdown for an insider’s view of the goings on there.”
Diesel and Cam shared a look. “And did you pay him scads of cash?” Diesel asked. He and his brother both knew a guy in Alienn who always wanted someone to pay him scads of cash for something. It was one of Aunt Dixie’s friends from the old folks’ home. Norman was as unique a person as their aunt, only he was usually inebriated by noon every day.
“Nah. Told him I didn’t have any money.” Pete shrugged. “But then he started telling his crazy story anyway.”
“If you thought it was crazy, why did you listen?” Cam asked.
“Well, he was sitting right next to me at the bar. The place was packed and there wasn’t any other place to go.”
Cam’s face was a mask of fury when he asked, “So this old guy was spouting this story to an entire crowd?”
Pete shook his head. “No one else was listening to him. Or they couldn’t hear him. Either way, after the first story, he started yelling that he needed scads of cash so he could pay for more drinks. The bartender hauled him out after his second shot of whiskey because he could only pay for one. Later, I got to thinking. What if the old guy was talking about something that really happened but it was covered up?”
“The old man said it was covered up?” Cam’s frown grew more pronounced and his hand twitched on the handle grip of his Defender.
“Not exactly. He said something like, ‘When the Defender didn’t work, they all talked about using a bomb,’ but then the old guy said that the powers in charge decided against it because their bomb wasn’t guaranteed to work and also harder to cover up and explain. That really got my attention, know what I mean?”
Cam’s lips mashed together for a moment. “What did this guy look like? He sounds like maybe he escaped from his caregivers, know what I mean?”
Pete looked down at his notebook and shoved it into his inner jacket pocket. “To tell you the truth, I thought the same thing at first. The old guy was probably crazy or off his meds. So that’s why I handed it off to someone else to investigate. In case it was all bogus. I didn’t want to waste my valuable time, know what I mean?”
“Got it, but who was it that you turned it over to?” Diesel asked as if he didn’t care one way or the other.
He shrugged. “Some young thing I felt sorry for. I used to be one of her instructors when she went to college in Doraydo. We ran into each other, got to talking and she said she was looking for some quick cash to take a trip and research her orphan past or some such foolishness. Anyway, I told her if she found any scrap of information or even any innuendo regarding aliens in this town that I’d pay her big bucks for an article in the next Finder’s book.”
Diesel pushed out a quiet breath. “So that’s why you’re here in Alienn? Checking up on her work?”
Pete nodded. “Sort of.”
“Sort of? What does that mean?” Diesel asked. Cam had soundlessly moved closer behind Pete. He pulled his Defender off his belt and lifted the weapon, aiming at Pete’s back.
Pete said, “Well, the story she turned in wasn’t about aliens, it was about bank robbers from over eighty years ago. Like that would sell anything in a Finder’s book.” He shook his head like he pitied her.
Diesel kept his composure, even though he was stunned. Juliana hadn’t turned in an article about aliens. She hadn’t told the secrets she knew. She’d written the article, but hadn’t turned it in. He looked at Cam, who seemed calm. A warm spot started growing from Diesel’s heart outward to his chest. Juliana hadn’t betrayed him or Alienn. She’d done so at her own expense.
Pete said, “So I came here myself to check it out in case she missed something about the alien story I really wanted.”
Cam put his Defender back on his belt and quietly resumed his position by the door. The brothers shared an amused look.
Diesel asked, “What was wrong with the bank robber article she turned in?”
Pete shrugged. “There wasn’t anything wrong with it, exactly. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good enough writer and all, but the subject matter for the next special edition Finder’s book is supposed to be unusual findings in unusual places, know what I mean?” His exasperated expression said it all.
“Bank robbers didn’t qualify, huh?”
“I guess it will do if there’s nothing else, but I really had my heart set on aliens, know what I mean?” Pete flashed a grin. “Don’t suppose the two of you could help me out with that creepy alien story? I could pay you the big bucks instead.”
Cam shook his head. “Sorry. I heard it was a wounded dog and the whole alien story was made up from the beginning.”
Diesel nodded. “Yep. That’s what I heard, too. Sorry we can’t help you.”
Pete, who’d been congenial the entire time since they’d met, got a very sudden, evil glint in his eye. “You two wouldn’t be keeping anything from me, now would you?”
Cam huffed, but remained silent.
Diesel said, “What could we be keeping from you?”
Pete reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a picture, flipping it face-up onto Diesel’s desk.
“If aliens don’t roam around here in plain sight causing mischief, what is this half octopus half man looking creature doing in your private employee’s only parking lot?”