Trinity (2 page)

“Watch your back, Slade. I’ll make you wish you were back on the inside. You’ll wish the Aryan Brotherhood used you the way you use my baby sister.”

Kate made a disgusted noise.

Val, knowing some Aryan brothers quite well, could not fathom a reality where that statement would be true. “At least I never raped her,” he said. Val caught the way TJ turned to Rich and recognized he’d spilled some secrets. Kate took TJ’s moment of surprise to pull away and move back to Val’s side.

“I told you to keep your mouth shut, Val,” Kate said to him, her voice quiet.

Val did a lot of fighting before prison, even more on the inside, and he blocked Rich’s punch with ease. Rich was fast for a big guy, but if you knew what to look for, the windup signs were clear. Val was faster, and in the opening he’d created deflecting the punch, he cracked his fist into Rich’s chin. He bit back a wince, keeping his face wooden. Those knuckles would be swollen tomorrow.

“Get out of here, Rich,” Val said. “Maria wants you home in one piece.”

Rich raised the gun and Val knew he’d taken it too far this time. He wasn’t sure what he’d taken too far, but their encounters in the past involved more chest puffing and macho bravado, more pool cues over the head, less gun-in-face.

Behind him, Kate froze and stopped talking.

“You’re going to die, Slade.” A statement of fact, pure and simple. Rich tended to get what he wanted, and it made Val a little nervous to hear this, particularly staring down that long black tube. He disengaged the safety on the gun. “Right here, tonight.”

Before Val could move or open his mouth, it was over.

Instead of a thundering boom, a sterile click sounded in the night. Val almost didn’t hear it over the hum. His knees threatened to buckle, and he brought his hand to his temple. He was rather pleased he hadn’t soiled himself.

Rich cursed, and in checking to make sure the weapon was loaded, (it was—Val could see the red of the shells exactly where they were supposed to be, through the tangible viscosity of the hum) Val had time to yank the Mossberg out of Rich’s hands.
Breaking parole!
A faraway voice shrieked in his brain. “Get out, Rich.” Val said, holding the gun at his side, pointed at the dirt.

“I don’t know why you do this to me,” Rich said to Kate, his face bright red. “He’s trash, Kate, can’t you see?”

“Get out of my sight,” Kate said. Rich reached for Kate, one parting hurrah, and Val shifted his grip on the Mossberg, landing the stock on Rich’s shoulder. He relished the meaty thump it made, and the
oof
of Rich’s exhale. Kate pulled out of his grasp. Rich stumbled and caught himself on the truck’s bumper.

“You’re done, Rich.” His voice sounded as if it came from a million miles away. “TJ, get him the fuck out of here.”

Val didn’t let TJ do much more than open his chubby mouth before he brandished the shotgun at him like a club. “Go, before someone gets hurt.”

“I am hurt, you fucker,” Rich said.

“It’s only going to get worse.”

“Remember that,” Rich said; the malice in his tone tempered by his leaning on TJ’s shoulder.

“Out! Away! Go!” Val shouted.

“Doesn’t your own blood mean more to you than this?” Rich asked Kate, casting a meaty hand at Val.

She looked up at him, her face white, bangs in her eyes. “Get out of my sight,”

Instead of looking at Kate, Rich fixed his piggy little hate-filled eyes on Val. “Watch it, friend.”

Val gave a mock salute, biting down a torrent of wounded sentimental bullshit brought on by the use of the word
friend
as Rich and TJ backed away. He didn’t want to be Rich’s friend ever again. Rich got in the jeep, TJ scurrying to follow, and left in an elaborate show of flying dirt and revving engine, taking the floodlights with him.

Devoid of adrenaline, Val felt weak. He sagged against the front bumper of the truck and let the Mossberg drop the few inches to the ground. His fingers found his temples and massaged them, hoping the hum might stop. He spat into the dirt, unable to rid himself of bad tastes.

“You sure you don’t hear a hum?”

“How can you even ask that? Were you paying attention back there?”

“Extremely close attention. He’s your brother.”

“How are you so calm about this? He tried to shoot you. He did shoot you!”

“Only one of us needs to be in a panic at a time, I think. Since I was the one staring down the barrel of the gun you’d think it would be me, but—”

She slapped him, clacking his teeth together. “Shut up, Val.” Kate shook her head, her arms wrapped around her chest.

“I don’t like your brother,” Val said, his hand at his chin, biting back a smile.

“I know.” She paused. “I don’t like him either. It’s why I left. I don’t see why you couldn’t meet me in Santa Fe. Why we had to come back here.”

“We’ll go to Santa Fe. I need to see my mother for a few days. We’ll go, give it time.”

“I’ve given it time!”

“Just…easy.” Unsure of what to say to her, he stared at the sky.

She didn’t have to come and meet him here. She could’ve stayed in Santa Fe. Eventually he would have made his way up there.

Val pulled a beer from the six pack and studied it for a moment.

“Drinkwater’s a fucking putz,” Val finally said, opening the beer, taking a swig and swishing it around in his mouth.

She shrugged. “He’s got his moments.”

Val closed his eyes and felt the warm dark of the night pressing all around him. The temperature was dropping; it was comfortable outside now. If they stayed out here too much longer, it would start to get cold.

“Val,” she said, her words a breathy whisper in the dark.

He opened his eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

He knew that. She didn’t even need to say it. This all went along with his earlier, mopey feeling—it wasn’t supposed to be like this. He was out of jail. His lady should have leapt on him; they should be living it up right now. Instead Rich forced him to fellate a shotgun and now all he could think about was the fact that this fucking hum in his head wouldn’t leave him the hell alone.

In a palpable gust of self-pity, Val said, “What do you want with a child molester, anyway?” and took a long swallow of beer.

“That’s not fair—”

“I pled guilty. You were there.”

“Come on, Val. You know you never molested anyone.”

“That’s not what the state of New Mexico says. Not what your foster mother says, and certainly not what most of my
pals
on cell block four thought.”

“Fuck them then,” Kate said.

Val abstained from a sarcastic remark, though there were plenty to choose from. He could feel her gaze on him, but he chose to keep his eyes on the darkness beyond the soft light of the window.

“You’re out. You’re here. Come on.”

He knew if he looked at her he’d cave. She put her hot hand on his shoulder, he could feel the warmth through the thin button-down shirt he wore, and for a moment he wanted to cry. Again.

“Look,” she said, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her. “We both know you never raped me.”

He shrugged, tried to turn away.

“Come on, Val, say it.”

“You want me to say I know I never raped you?” he asked.

The corner of her mouth twitched, almost a smile and he knew he was done.

“I guess that’s kind of stupid, isn’t it?” she asked, the twitch growing into a smile, the smile that would chip away at Val’s carefully constructed façade of stern surliness. She arched her eyebrows and he noticed they were the slightest bit red and puffy; she’d waxed them today, just for him.

The silence swelled between them. Val had heard of comfortable silences, but he’d never experienced one. He inhaled with the full intention of speaking this time, or maybe bursting into song, anything to fill the night. He wanted to affirm that being here with her was worth sucking off a shotgun, worth setting her family against her…but she took the initiative and placed her lips against his, closing her brown eyes. He watched her for a moment before closing his own eyes. For the first time, here on the warm hood of the F-100, here with her, he felt like he was home. Reaching out, finally permitting himself to bury his fingers in her hair, he felt at peace.

Except for that damned hum firing behind his eyes, and wondering why Rich’s Mossberg failed at such an opportune time.

2

Felix parked his Monte Carlo around back of his apartment complex. After the day he’d had, he was ready for a beer. How easy to slip into the human way of doing things. His body was tired, the aching muscles registered as a dim unpleasantness. He would rest, feet up, watching television. He walked up the outside steps, feeling the peeling flecks of paint on the sun-warmed railing, ready to take all of this out of his head for a night. Be a human. The wooden porch creaked in all the right places—

His door was ajar.

Felix distinctly remembered locking it before leaving to pick Val up that afternoon. Remembered it because he dropped his keys.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol...but not a pistol. It was gray, smooth and looked like plastic. He held it like a gun, his finger on a button instead of a trigger.

He kicked the door in with one booted foot, denting the cheap wood. He made a pass of the room with the pistol, and saw nothing in the dim light. Maybe Travis was in, looking at the sink. It had been dripping for months. Perhaps when Travis left, he forgot to latch the door?

Nope.

A rhythmic
drip, drip, drip
, still played from the kitchenette.

The apartment felt empty in the afternoon heat, still and quiet, but Felix stood a moment longer, scanning the furnished room, noting the couch, the chair, the TV, everything in perfect order, just as he’d left it. Okay then.

He slipped the pistol back into his jacket pocket.

Okay.

He closed the door behind him and made a move for the fridge, going for one of those beers, when he heard his name. Not in English, not in Tylwyth.

He turned on his heel, looking for whoever spoke.

A little gray form sat in a chair.

It made a sound, his name, a name centuries older than the body he inhabited.

He reached for his gun. Found his arm frozen. Found everything frozen except his voice. When this was all over this wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

“What are you doing here?” Felix didn’t speak in English either.

You got him out
, said the little shadow.
Now leave him be.

Felix made a snorting sound, as close as he could come to a laugh with his face frozen. “Why do you think we’d go after him? We’ve had him locked up for half a decade.”

We brought one of the Lharomuph with us.

Oh, shit.
He started planning, reaching; trying to figure what they could do against that evil. “Here?”

It’s going to be watching him. Unless you call your…things…off.

“You brought it to Earth? Who knows what it’ll do. Jesus, man.” Jesus, Felix noted, was a human expression. The gray being smiled at him; its black eyes glittered in the afternoon light.

I know exactly what it will do. It will do as it’s told. It will watch him. Kill any of you to protect him.

“It doesn’t know anything about this planet. It doesn’t know what’s a threat. It’ll kill anything that gets near him.” Felix swallowed, one of the few things he could still do. He’d known they would be all over this, but he thought he had more time. Val hadn’t been out for three hours yet, and here was this freak, sitting in his living room like it owned the place.

Be reasonable.
The little creature’s voice was a soothing monotone.

“None of this concerns you.” Felix tried to move, to adjust his screaming muscles.

Vivisecting innocent beings? He is—

“You’ve done your share of experimentation,” Felix said. He would give anything to scratch his forehead.

Science and warfare are two different breeds.

“Are they?”

The little gray face peered up at him. It didn’t answer.

Worry started to take him. He should have checked in as soon as he saw the door ajar. But he was thinking like a human, from too much time here. He thought someone was after his TV, or looking for cash. He didn’t think the
Sangaumans
, particularly not one of their medical officers, could find him in this apartment. He was never here. And that was his mistake. Now he was captured and helpless. Unacceptable.

“Are you going to kill me?” It was better than the alternative.

The gray shape shook its head, light from the curtained windows catching on big, black almond eyes.

“Are you going to take me?”

It shook its head again. It stood up, its full height just under four feet.
No
. It walked closer to him, and he could see the texture of its smooth, rubbery skin.
I’m warning you. Leave him be, and everything will be fine.

He would have shaken his head, but he couldn’t move. “You know that isn’t my order to give.”

You’ve moved up since I saw you last. I think you’re capable of a lot more than you let on.

“Haven’t moved up that much, buddy.”

The little gray mouth twitched into a smug smile.
Maybe
. It walked around behind him and he couldn’t move his neck to look at it. Its footsteps were soft. He strained to hear them.
You leave me no choice, then?

“You’ll compromise us all.”

I’m bonding it to him at dusk unless you tell me otherwise.

“That thing will kill anyone who gets near him.”

Anyone of yours.

“It’ll be on their news.”

It shrugged its shoulders and Felix wanted nothing more than to choke it. He even went so far as to try and move his arms, but the air bound them like steel.

“You’re going to regret this,” Felix said, well aware of how foolish he sounded.

Someone is. I’m not sure if it will be me or not.

The door clicked behind him and Felix remained immobile. Was the little shit just leaving him like this? Was it walking around outside? Where people could see it?

His muscles relaxed like a loosening bowel, and he dropped halfway to the floor before recovering his balance. He ran to the door and threw it open; the little alien was already gone. There wasn’t anyone in the parking lot that would have seen him. Did he plan this, or did he take a chance? Of course he planned it. You couldn’t be here, in this strange land, without planning. You’d wind up captured.

He shook out his arms, muscles cramping from the strain of being immobilized. Sitting on the couch, Felix pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Goodbye, quiet night at home.