Alien Caller (48 page)

Then someone,
somewhere in a fit of genius, must have come up with a plan.

The first he
knew of it was when one morning while out walking, he watched his
posse of agents suddenly vanish, leaving him alone for the first
time in weeks. That was a first; they never left him completely
alone. Not when there were curious Feds around who he had to be
protected from. He knew from the way they held their ear pieces
closely, and then whispered frantically among themselves, that
whatever it was they were being told, it was important. But
typically they told him nothing, He realized it was even more
important from the speed with which they left, and the number of
helicopters he watched flying overhead that morning. None of them
he noticed, came to see him.

About six hours
later, just as he was thinking about afternoon tea on his rebuilt
deck, they returned, along with several of the lead agents of the
agencies, and a string of scientists. Between them they were
carrying a number of large containers which he guessed he’d never
see into, but by the looks of things, neither would the Feds. They
were being kept at arms length by the others, literally. At least a
couple of the lead agents decided to fill him in.

It seemed the
trackers had finally managed to find something. On a cliff edge
five or so valleys over, they’d managed to find a camp site, and a
lot more blood. But that wasn’t as important as what they’d found
at the bottom of the cliff. Pieces of Dimock. Not big pieces,
mainly charred skin and a little bone. But it was enough to tell
them the madman had gone over the cliff. Whether by accident or
suicide, they would never know, but for them it was irrelevant.
What mattered was that they had enough to confirm Dimock was dead.
He’d gone off a cliff, and his body had been washed away from the
rocks below.

David quickly
guessed that the Leinians had fabricated some pieces of flesh, and
arranged a nice little scenario for them to swallow, but he wasn’t
about to tell them that. Instead he played the over the top
paranoid he was expected to be, questioning them at great length
about the possibility Dimock had planted the evidence to fake his
own death, or else survived the fall. Whereupon the scientists told
him if he had faked it, he’d sacrificed some of his ribs, hip and
skull to do it, and nothing could survive the fall. He was
dead.

The ruse worked
even more quickly than anyone could have dreamed. Within three days
the last of the agents had left, and life in the valley returned to
its peaceful ways. David was told in no uncertain terms by the
Police and Feds, that he’d better never cross them as they packed
up. They still desperately wanted to speak with him, but had been
reined in at the highest level. They were surely also scared by
then, having had over two dozen lead agents kidnapped or publicly
embarrassed in only a couple of months. They knew who had done it
and could probably even guess why, but they couldn’t prove it.

The Army
informed him they wanted the remains of his gas, and seized it
before he could even argue. They also went through his remaining
arsenal and grabbed the rocket launcher, mortar, antitank guns plus
any number of armour piercing rounds for the machine guns. It was
only fair he supposed as they’d paid for a lot of them. The CIA and
DOD took it in turns to warn him repeatedly about the extensive
penalties for ever telling anyone anything about Dimock. By which
they really meant the Feds.

They also
restricted his movements for the next few years to the nearest
towns only. Unofficially of course. The slightest whiff of so much
as a parking ticket and they were certain the Feds would take him
into custody, find some hidden cell and interrogate him till the
cows came home. Only the nearest sheriff’s department could be
trusted not to tell the Feds if he transgressed. Mainly because
they were so frightened of the other agencies they’d rather let
David rob a bank than dare arrest him.

But all of them
left.

For the first
couple of days it was like a dream, as the tension slowly drained
from him. There was nobody to ask him questions, nobody watching
him, nobody to lie to. It was just peace. The bulk of the
structural repairs to his home had been finished a week before as
he'd paid for speed, and he decided to finish most of the plaster
and paint himself, which got the last of the workmen out of his
house a day later and left him with plenty of work to keep him
busy. Besides, it would stop the agencies from bugging his home,
which he was certain they would try again. The army still wanted to
know how he’d gotten his arsenal and the Feds wanted to learn
anything they could about Dimock. Thus David found himself having
to remove a plethora of devices from his home and truck, which
would probably have caused a few red faces.

Of course, they
didn’t know that when he’d first moved in he’d set up a drop box at
the local post office with among other things, a complete set of
counter surveillance equipment, borrowed from the CIA. They
wouldn’t be happy when they found out either. They’d be even less
happy if they ever found out what he had stored in his lock up in
Helena. Or even that he had a lock up.

Finishing the
plaster and paint in a matter of days after they’d gone, he soon
returned to his normal routines, working out, swimming, driving
through the glorious countryside, fishing and generally enjoying
himself as best he could, while waiting for the very last of the
agents to leave the region. But all the time he was really only
waiting for one thing.

Then, very late
one evening, just after he’d turned out the lights and crawled into
bed, he was startled by a voice he’d been aching to hear.

“Am I
disturbing you?”

“Never.” He
quickly got up and welcomed Cyrea back into his life. It had been
far too long and for no good reason.

Chapter
Nineteen

“David!” Cyrea
came rushing in clearly excited about something and he rose to
greet her happily. It had been a long day without her, and while it
was peaceful, it was always so much better when she returned.

“I’ve got
something to show you. You’re going to love it.” In her hand she
was waving a dvd wildly, and he guessed she’d really got something
urgent to show him. She was so excited by whatever it was that she
didn’t even kiss him. Instead she pushed the disc into the machine,
grabbed the remote and then pushed him back into the couch and sat
down beside him.

“This was
caught completely by accident as they wandered into one of our
sentinel areas. Either they weren’t looking, or else they wanted to
get caught.” She fast forwarded the video for about thirty seconds,
and then hit play. Instantly they were looking at an image of a
couple in a sleeping bag far below, making love in the early
morning light. The sun was rising, its morning rays catching the
blonde’s hair and making it shine brighter than the sun. The
remains of a fire smouldered beside them.

“I don’t get
it. Kids have sex in the woods all the time. It sort of goes with
the great outdoors. What’s the big deal?” Though of course mostly
they didn't expect to be seen. This lack of privacy the Leinians
seemed to accept as natural still rankled with him. Though at least
they normally stayed out of the home. Except in his case.

“That’s what we
thought too. A couple of kids out camping, enjoying the woods. And
as you can see, we were completely right, but in more ways than we
could have guessed.” The camera starting zooming in on the couple,
and David remembered Cyrea mentioning that the tree mounted cameras
could spot a grasshopper on the ground fifty feet below. Two kids
in a bag were no contest.

But as the
image became larger and larger he could see nothing odd. Just the
woman’s blonde hair shining brightly while the bag moved
rhythmically. They certainly were enjoying themselves though, with
the bag looking as though it might explode with some of the
contortions it was making.

The couple’s
moment came, it was the soft screams that told them that more than
anything else, followed by the deep breathing and silence as they
slowly recovered. Then the man put his arms around the woman’s head
and kissed her soundly as she collapsed on top of him. He put his
furry arms around her.

David saw the
arms, the line of dark hair running down them, and he realized the
truth. The man was a Leinian, and the woman from the way her blonde
hair fell past her tanned bare neck, was human.

“We’re not the
only ones, and you’re off the hook!” He shouted it at Cyrea as soon
as he realised. They were no longer the only mixed couple. Not even
the only mixed couple who had been caught on film. Which in turn
meant that Cyrea’s time as a screen sex goddess was over. Unable to
contain himself he picked her up in his arms and kissed her
thoroughly.

She nodded back
at him, trying not to laugh with happiness. “It gets better.
Believe me it gets better.” He stared at her wondering how it could
possibly improve.

“Once the
perverts back at the base had realised what was happening, they
sent out a swarm of flying cameras to watch them, all in the name
of security of course. But even they got more than they bargained
for. Boy did these two oblige. They spent the entire day naked,
swimming, playing sex games and making love out in the open,
completely unaware of the peeping Toms. As we speak, they’re
probably still at it, and nobody’s told them that they’re on film.
Nobody will. They’ll just keep filming until there’s no film
left.”

“So we’re not
number one any more?”

“Not even
close. Not after these two did it once lying on a muddy river bank,
once standing against a tree, twice while swimming, twice in the
sleeping bag, and once lying on a big flat high rock. And the
woman, well she dominated their unions. And they were inventive
too, trying every position I’ve ever heard of, and a few I haven’t.
Some of those we’re going to be trying tonight by the way.” From
the looks of things he guessed, ‘tonight’ might not be very far
away, Cyrea was truly happy.

“I look forward
to it.” Which was only the truth. Then he noticed something else on
the screen that bothered him; the woman’s hair. It was pure blonde,
and in the sun’s rays it turned into a golden halo. But Heather he
remembered, had been a dusky blonde, her hair streaked with other
shades.

“Can we see
their faces.” Cyrea happily obliged, fast forwarding the video
until they saw the two of them getting up out of the bag.
Immediately he saw her he knew the truth.

“That’s not
Heather.” It wasn’t. The woman in the photo was younger, perhaps
twenty at most, tall and thin, with a tan that spoke of years on
beaches, and blonde hair running all the way to her waist. She
looked like a surfer.

“I know.” Cyrea
was positively glowing with happiness. “That’s not Dafi either.” If
anything her grin broadened, and she looked as though she was going
to break into song at any moment. David too started smiling, as he
realized what it meant. There might actually be three couples,
though if Dafi and Heather had finally gotten down to business,
they were keeping it very quiet. But then they would after seeing
what had happened to him and Cyrea.

“We don’t know
who the woman is, but the man is Ayer, one of our technicians.
Barely twenty of your years, he was supposed to be out on a private
camping trip through the ranges. Instead he doesn’t seem to have
made the hills at all in a week, and tomorrow morning he’ll be
overdue. Which will be a great excuse to visit and get the story.”
He looked at her and she beamed back at him, telling him what she
meant without words.

“I take it
we’ve got the job.” It wasn’t really a question when he was sure of
the answer, but then he didn’t actually mind too much. It was just
a little embarrassing.

“We leave
straight after breakfast.” He suddenly understood the rest of her
reason for celebrating. She was going to get to meet another
Leinian in the same boat as her, and a human woman who was also
soon to be sailing with them on the choppy seas of public
voyeurism.

It had been
hard for Cyrea he knew. Not just because of the publicity, but
because of the questions. For him there had been no questions. Very
few humans knew about their relationship, and of those who did he
barely saw them anyway. And when he did few said anything. The most
he’d had was the odd off colour joke from a few of the men. Jokes
he was sure that they’d never let their wives hear.

Cyrea though
had to return each day into her world where she was constantly
being either questioned or else simply made to doubt her decisions.
She hadn’t left him, she couldn’t and he knew that even if she
could have, she would have refused point blank. As much as he loved
her she loved him, and that was an odd thing for a hardened agent
to understand. But that didn’t mean she didn’t suffer at her
people’s well-meaning questions.

“It’ll be a
nice day for a drive in the country.” He kissed her firmly.

“Or a flight
over it.”

“In a bubble
jet?” Grief he wanted to fly in one of their gliders. But he
wouldn’t dare ask for a flight from Lar. He was still unpopular
with the officer. Caught somewhere between being either a paranoid
nutter with murderous tendencies, or a guilt ridden hysteric with
no understanding of Leinian society, technology or rules. Neither
seemed a favourable option. And neither would motivate them when it
came to him asking for favours. So he’d decided to keep his head
down ever since Dimock, and let the worry about him fade. Helping
wherever he could, following their rules, and trying to be, or at
least to look like a model citizen. Trying to make a better
impression. But still he desperately wanted to fly in one of their
flying bubbles.