Sweet Dreams (16 page)

Kirk could see the writer's face twist in curiosity. He wanted so badly to know the story of his bearded friend.

"So, uh...what were you doing out in the desert wandering around?" Kirk smirked.
He decided he would give him some-
thing.
Besides, he had been more than generous.

"Well, most of it would be pointless to tell you. However, to sum it up, I woke up here with a lump on the head and

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dragged from an important case in New York. Oh, and I've been gone for over a year now," Geoff's eyes lit up; he loved to hear new stories and this one was a good one. Detroit cop kidnapped and a year later, he escapes.

"Whoa...what did they want?"

"That's the weird part, they never asked for anything or even said why I they took me. It just about drove me crazy not knowing why I was there!" Kirk had a good idea of whom he was dealing with, but he needed more proof. He needed to find out what this WJA was and how far it went and then take them down.

"Hummm...you're a cop. Maybe it had something to do with one of the cases you were working on," Kirk looked over at Geoff in amazement; he didn't know how close he was to the truth. Kirk didn't show his shock on his face but instead gave Geoff a tired yawn and a half smile.

"I just want to get home and sleep in my own bed." The road got busier as they got closer to Dubai, and Kirk wondered what kind of city it was. He had never been outside of the States and he always figured that the Middle East was all run-down and had people living in huts packing machine guns. The town they had come from was exactly the image Kirk had in his mind.

Geoff could tell that his new friend did not want to talk about his ordeal anymore, so he left it alone. He had good people skills; it was the reason he had the job he had. You had to be able to wait for the story, and then know what stories were worth pursuing and what ones would end up in the trash. Besides, he knew that eventually he would get it all. The sun was on its way down as they came up on the city of Dubai. Kirk looked through the windshield in shock as he saw what looked like, Boston! The city had skyscrapers dotting the skyline; palm trees lined the streets, along with high dollar restaurants and casinos for every flavor of traveler. Cars bustled about in the streets; some had only one tire in the front with what looked like an amped-up covered motorbike. Most of the cars were tiny compared to the huge trucks and Hummers you would see in America.

"Well, here we are! Welcome to Dubai, the city of surprises," Geoff waved his hand at a beautiful skyscraper that jutted out of the earth, covered with glass that rounded as it went up to the sky. It looked like a sail on a ship that just caught its wind and sat out in the bay like a futuristic pirate ship.

"Impressive," Kirk looked down a street that took off to the right, at the end; he saw a lush green park filled with green trees and dog walkers. They turned onto what appeared to be a freeway and after a sign with the airplane symbol on it; Kirk knew they were getting close.

"I called my office while you were passed out, and they gave me permission to use the company jet. I need to get back to the States anyway and if you like you can join me. The passports and all the mumbo jumbo of getting a flight out of here, would take you weeks, if not longer." Geoff grinned, showing all of his white teeth.

"Well, I guess if you're going to fly out of here anyway, I'll be glad to join you." Kirk started to see that his new friend was a giving person. Shaking his head in amazement, he wondered if Geoff was his polar opposite. After parking the Jeep in the rental-parking garage, the

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two tired travelers made their way to a hangar in the back of the main airport. He could see the twin engines of a G5 Learjet through the open hangar door. It was a beautiful plane with white paint glinting in the evening light and the magazine logo on the side of the tail.

After they boarded the jet, Kirk soon passed out in one of the beds toward the back of the plane. Geoff smiled when he saw him already asleep, and he didn't blame him...it had been a long day for both of them. The plane pulled out of the hangar and waited in line to take off and soon Kirk would be back home in Detroit. Now he just had to explain to his boss why he was over a year late for work.

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Chapter Ten

snowflakes filling the sky. Mark woke up from his nightmare to find that it was not just a dream. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around his bedroom trying to remember what happened last night. Was the video real or a twisted part of his brain that wanted to make everything make more sense?

"Oh, shoot...Maria!" Jumping to his feet, he put on a robe that hung on the back of a chair as he opened the door. The apartment was clean and smelled of pine trees even though they stood in the middle of a smoggy polluted city.

"Morning, Sunshine!" Maria smiled from the kitchen where she was cracking open an egg and dropping it into a skillet. "Don't worry. I was a good girl I slept on the couch. You were pretty upset last night, are you feeling better this morning?"

"Uh...yeah, I just had so much built up from everything...and...Wait! The video!" Mark scrambled to the DVD

player and saw that it was still in the DVD player, which meant that it was real and now he had the proof he needed.

"You sure you're okay?" Maria did not look convinced.

"Yeah, I just...well, you wouldn't believe me anyway,"

Mark looked down at the disc he held in his hand and remembered how he told Maria everything he was feeling but left out the parts of the story that made him look crazy.

"Mark, I'm your friend, if you tell me something, I have no reason to mistrust you," She came from around the kitchen counter and sat on the edge of the couch. "What's on that CD, hon?" Mark sat down on the couch, looked up at her, and started to tell her the story about the first note, then the second note and the CD.

She softly placed her hand on his arm as she listened to his story, her eyes did not betray what she thought, and Mark hoped she would not laugh and take him down to the sanitarium. She looked at the note he handed her and ran her finger over the raised lettering on the logo. After he told her everything, he let out a sigh of relief and looked at her for a response.

"Wow. So, the whole thing was a planned attack and not an accidental explosion. You should tell the police or the FBI or somebody,"

"I would, but we don't even know what or who this WJA is! They could have made up the whole thing, created this video although it looks real enough, but I need more proof first. And the only lead I have is this Pat Rotter guy." Maria

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looked at him with her big brown eyes...then her face lit up as if a light bulb just went on.

"I am great at finding stuff on the web, Google and all; I was a bit of a techie nerd in college," She laughed. "I got into trouble my sophomore year for hacking into the CDC website!" Mark's eyes widened and he smiled.

"You nerd, And I thought you were a good girl, and this whole time you had a priceless hidden talent." Mark laughed and pushed her off the arm of the couch. He was amazed how much better he felt by letting out all his emotions. She just had a way of making him feel not so broken.

"You better be nice to me, or I'll burn your eggs!" She teased.

Mark waved his hand in the air, signaling that he was not listening. Getting up, he pushed the CD into the player again to see if he could find out anything more about this mystery kid. He wanted to study the video again and see if he could see any distinguishing marks or maybe an address written in neon!

The screen started to play, and then, all at once, it went black...with the words "Top Secret" scrolling across the TV

over and over again.

"What!?" Mark tried taking it out and reinserting the DVD into the player. This time he saw a timer in the lower left-hand corner counting down from ten...nine...eight...

Mark hit the eject button.

Nothing!

"Come on! Eject!"

Six...five...

Grabbing the DVD player, he pulled it out from the enter-tainment center, ripping all the cords from the wall. He ran to the bathroom, tossed the player into the tub, and ran out, slamming the door behind him.

He waited...

He heard a sizzling sound and Maria looked at him as if he was insane. Time to go honey, the nice men in white coats will take good care of you.

"What?" Mark tried to look innocent;
I guess it is not
normal to run from the bathroom with a DVD player like a
freak
. Then smoke came up from under the door of the bathroom setting off the smoke detectors throughout the apartment.

"Aw, man..." Mark opened the door to the bathroom to find his DVD player melted and disfigured in the tub. "See, Maria...and you thought I was crazy, now I don't have any proof!"

Maria looked into the tub and coughed, waving her arms around, trying to get the smoke to leave her alone. "I still think you should call the police...just tell them the truth."

Mark opened up all the windows, letting out the thick dark smoke and covered his nose with his hand. The ringing of the smoke alarms stopped, and Maria went back to her cooking so they would not add burnt eggs to the list of burning things.

"Maybe you're right, I'll call Detective Owens, see what he thinks. I just don't think he wants to see me after putting me off about the first note," Mark had hounded Detective Owens showing him the note and insisting he look into it, but after a few months, he got the cold shoulder.

"Well, this is note number two, and you have the video...err had, anyway, you'll have to wait till Monday,"

Maria said. "It is Christmas, you know."

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"Oh, it is, isn't it?" Mark remembered that it was Christmas Eve yesterday...so, naturally, it would be Christmas today.

"So what do you want to do today?" Mark asked. "That is, if you don't have any other plans." Maria faked a shocked look as she finished the eggs.

"No plans, I was actually hoping that this...uh...well, not this...but that...you know what I mean. I wanted to spend Christmas with you!" She grinned and looked down like a puppy that could not take another rejection.

Mark enjoyed her discomfort and teased her by pretending to think about it. "Well...I guess, since you are here, we could do Christmas." Maria looked hurt.

"Stop teasing me! Tell you what, you eat breakfast with me, and later I'll help you hunt down this Pat guy."

Mark put out his hand to her, and offered it to seal the deal with a shake.

"Deal!"

________________________________________

KIRK FELT A HAND on his arm, and he jumped to his feet, grabbing for the neck of the man standing over him. Geoff gasped for air as he grabbed at Kirk's hands that were squeezing his throat in a death grip. Kirk glared at Geoff as he held him up against the wall of the plane. Letting him down and releasing his grip, he looked at Geoff, and his eyes softened.

"Sorry. I thought you were..." Kirk sat down in a nearby chair and rubbed his eyes. He was dreaming about the metal and the ninja's.

Geoff sat down across from him and touched his neck where a bruise had started to form. "No worries, I'm just glad you let me go before you killed me. Remind me never to mess with you!" His good nature prevailed and it seemed like nothing could get this guy down.

"I just had a rough year, didn't think I would ever get out of that place. You wouldn't believe it if I told you," Kirk stretched and looked out the window at the snow covered ground below them. "Where are we?"

"Just about an hour from Detroit, you've been passed out for over seventeen hours, by the way, Merry Christmas!"

"You're kiddin', right?" Kirk shook his head, trying to clear his jumbled-up thoughts. "Well, Merry Christmas to you too. Sorry it had to be with me, I never was much into the holidays."

"I thought as much, I love them, so festive and fun. People get in the giving mood, and then you've got to love Santa!"

Kirk grunted in disbelief, he hated Santa, the dumb elves and most of all the arrogant red nosed whatever his name was reindeer.

"Well, you can have it all to yourself; I think it's just a way for the stores to get more money out of you, and then make you feel guilty if you don't participate."

Geoff laughed, and then patted Kirk on the back. "Hey, you hungry? I can get us some dinner if you like,"

"Great. I am starved."

________________________________________

GEOFF WENT BACK TO where the food was stored; he opened up the mini fridge, pulling out two sandwiches. Looking around for some napkins, he felt his cell phone vibrate and

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rumble in his pocket.

Looking at the number, he answered in a hushed tone so no one would hear him.

"Yes, I'm on my way back now,"

"Sure, I'll keep you posted." Hanging up the cell, he gathered up the sandwiches, grabbed two Cokes, and headed into the main area.

"How does roast beef sound?"

Kirk nodded that it would be fine and took the sandwich from Geoff's outstretched hand. "So, what exactly do you do for this World Magazine?" Kirk opened the Coke and took a sip.

"Well, I get assignments to go investigate a story, take pictures and interview people, and then send the info back to our main office where they compile it and print it...that is, if it's any good." Kirk looked satisfied with this answer, finished his hoagie roll, and looked out the window.

Geoff knew Kirk did not want to divulge any more information than he had to about his kidnapping. He didn't want to push him to much, and he believed with time he would open up and then he might have the story he so desperately wanted. Geoff shifted in his seat, trying to get Kirk's attention; his eyes were bright with anticipation.