“So if anyone wants to hide from me, they just go underground?”
“Basically, yes.”
“Does Alberton know that?”
“I don’t think so, how could he?”
“Maybe he’s figured it out.”
“He was only out of touch for twenty-two minutes.”
“What’s down there?”
“Lots of files, a few meeting rooms and a bunker.”
“Did he bring something up?”
“No.”
“Then he returned to his office and hasn’t been back underground since?”
“Right.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t know, then.”
Sally agreed with me, but it was a weakness and I desperately needed to keep it a secret.
“Sally, how are they expecting to arrest me?”
Sally paused for moment. “They plan to threaten you with Pippa.”
“How do they do that?” My voice louder.
“Alberton is going to tell you that Pippa will be arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive if you don’t cooperate.”
“How the fuck did she do that?” I was mad.
“She travelled with you to St. Barts, she didn’t have authorization. There’s a warrant for your arrest, technically you’re a fugitive.”
My body shivered and I spilt my coffee on the carpet. “Fuck!” This was all back-firing and I’d only just begun. My plan to win over the Americans by helping them with terrorists and serial killers and child rapists wasn’t working. They were supposed to respect me because I solved their most difficult problems. I thought I’d become some sort of National Hero, revered by everyone. I’d repeat the same actions across the civilized world and then eventually the whole world would adore me, as I slowly eliminated evil. I’d end the conflict in Iraq and Syria, the Arab/Israeli issue. I’d end human slavery and drug trafficking. Murderers would be caught quickly, and eventually crime wouldn’t pay.
Then I’d tell the world the real reason I was here and they would believe me. The need for massive amounts of police and the world’s vast military would become redundant and the money saved would fund the building of spacecraft and we’d colonize a new planet and the people of earth would have a future. It was a utopic dream and I’d tripped at the first huddle.
Chapter 34
RODANTHE
I missed the meeting with the FBI, what was the point, they had a different agenda. I had Sally send an email to Georgina Lambert detailing the whereabouts of the seven serial killers, with a list of each of their victims. In a second email I listed all the children and women held against their will for sex, with addresses and the names of the perpetrators. That should keep her busy for a while. I repeated the exercise for the British but prefaced the email with a note to the effect that I was disappointed the meeting had been cancelled. For a while I considered similar actions with other countries but I chose to wait and see the reaction in America and the UK.
I was going to keep out of sight for a while, at least from the Superpowers of the world. Work in the background and watch. I scared people and truly I didn’t want that. Maybe my plan could be put back on the rails. I hoped so, because I couldn’t think of a better approach. At least there was time. Seventy year was long time but the task ahead was colossal.
Pippa was another problem, I wanted to see her. She hadn’t been panicked by my abilities and she discounted the notion that I was a weapon of a foreign power. I played with the idea of telling her everything. Having another human to discuss this craziness was appealing and she’d seen enough that she might believe the story. I had Sally, but her perspective was all wrong. She didn’t care about individual lives, she relished action that resulted in death. Two hundred and forty million years observing the development of a planet. Three million years watching the coming and going of one generation after another. Humanity was evil in her eyes. Leaders decimated enormous swaths of society in the name of progress. It was all bullshit. Just in recent times, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, even those we now consider civilized, not so long ago, conquered by eliminating anybody in their way. Ask the native people of colonized countries. Sally watched all this, how could I expect her to view the world any differently. Genocide was a way of life and it continued today. She didn’t feel the warmth of family, the tenderness of love. Someone died, someone was born, just change the face and give them a new name.
It was time to sow the seeds and watch the flowers grow. Same goal different approach and I wanted to share it with someone. Pippa.
Sally told me to check my mail. I found an envelope addressed to a Steven Brace, but with my address. Inside was a cash card issued by Wells Fargo Bank.
“What’s this?”
“The guy died about a week ago, he was hiking in Anza Borrego Park, in Southern California. He fell down a ravine, no one has found him yet, he’ll probably never be found, he was way off the main trail. He left a bunch of money, but he doesn’t have any children and was a bit of a recluse. I changed his address on file to here and had the bank re-issue a new debit card. There’s forty-seven thousand in his checking account.”
“That’s stealing.”
“Oh Joey, give it up. That money will end up with the government eventually, who cares?”
“Don’t I have to call and activate the card from his phone number?”
“Done that.”
I shook my head but secretly I was pleased, the whole episode with the cash in St. Barts was a nightmare.
I rented a cottage on the beach in Rodanthe, the Outer Banks, beginning on Saturday for a week. It was out of season and the house was small and innocuous. The owner was an old lady in her seventies who informed me that she lived in Durham because of her arthritis and didn’t get to the cottage that often, so I’d have to cope with issues alone, which suited my needs. I used Steven Braces’ name and told her that I wanted to pay cash and she wasn’t fazed. Renters in March were hard to come by, I was a blessing. She told me to give the money to a Mrs. Greelitch, who’d meet me at the cottage on Saturday with the keys. The marketing pictures portrayed a home festooned with knickknacks and ornaments that gave it an intimate, cozy atmosphere. The weather projection for the area was unpleasant at best, but I wasn’t going there to sunbath. I’d rent a car to look normal, but my plan was to ask Pippa to join me. I’d bounce her down there and if she needed to be back in Virginia I’d bounce her back, whenever she wanted. My only concern, assuming she agreed to come, was her son, I’d have to figure that out later. I wondered how Sally felt about babysitting?
About half an hour after I was due at the FBI office in DC, Sally picked up an email, purportedly from Pippa’s computer. It was cordial and short, simply asking why I hadn’t appeared at the meeting. I ignored it.
The sun had agreed to bless the Bay area that morning and the temperature had risen to the mid-sixties, Fahrenheit. I pulled on my helmet and went for a ride. First I stopped at my bank and went inside to withdraw one thousand in cash. I couldn’t use Steven Braces’ money, the card had a three-hundred-dollar limit and I didn’t have any ID for the guy.
I retraced the route down Highway twenty-five to the spot where I’d picked up the container that had radically altered my life, just eight days ago. The road was empty and I soon became lost in the twisty turns and striking vistas. I stopped at the point where I’d parked my motorcycle to find the container and stared up at the hill wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t come here that day. Maybe I was just one of many potential saviors and Ka-el would have moved on to the next in line. Maybe there were others before me. I didn’t ask Sally; I guess I didn’t want to find out that there wasn’t anything particularly special about Dave Murphy. I stopped for lunch in Paso Robles and walked around the square. Maggie and Adam were coming over that evening so I restricted my meal to a couple of Carnitas Tacos at one of the great Mexican restaurants in that wonderful little town.