The Iron Quill

  I reached up and kissed his mouth in the kind of stress-free encounter I’d missed over the past few weeks. It felt like it was just the two of us, walking on a perfect day with no worries, even if only for a moment.

  About a quarter of a mile further, the narrow driveway opened up to a small clearing. At the far end, at what seemed like the edge of the mountain, was a tiny, dilapidated log cabin. An old, lonely Jeep Cherokee Classic sat in the yard to the left, covered in leaves.

  “Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath. “We’ll see.”

  He unwrapped his arms from around me and took the lead up the creaky porch steps.

  “Stand behind me,” he said.

  Before I could question why, the front door cracked open and the barrel of a shotgun crept out. A steady hand pointed it right in Wes’ face.

  “What do you want?” a voice called from behind the door.

  Wes shifted me further behind him and I buried my forehead in his back not wanting to cause us to move an inch. “I’m looking for Dr. Evan Carter.”

  “What for?”

  Wes’ voice was calm and steady. “I’d like to talk to him. It’s Weston. Weston Wilson.”

  “You’re a fool for coming here,” the voice replied.

  Apparently, Wes recognized it. He spoke directly to him. “Dr. Carter, I just need a few minutes of your time. Please.”

  The door creaked open, and Dr. Carter’s voice rose in irritation. “I risked everything for you and you walk up here like you’re out for a Sunday stroll?”

  At that point I felt Wes put his hands up in submission. “I’m not out for a stroll. I’m here to answer questions I know you have. I brought a friend. We’re not here to cause you trouble. Now please point that thing somewhere else.”

  It was quiet for a minute and then I heard Dr. Carter ask if we were alone.

  “No, I have two guards waiting for me at the end of your drive. After what happened in Virginia, people are understandably on edge about my safety. But I told them to stay put and wait for us. I just want to talk to you alone.”

  Another minute of silence followed. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Can you point the gun somewhere else?”

  “Fine, now who is your friend?”

  With that question, Wes turned himself enough to take hold of my elbow and he guided me into view, still standing between us. “This is Sophie.”

  I raised my head and shook the bangs out of my face, completely nervous as to what I might feel at the sight of him and vice versa. As soon as I saw him, my breath caught. Wes was right. This was the same man. A crooked nose and different hair, but I recognized those eyes from the photo. At least that’s the way I think I recognized him. It wasn’t like I was having memories of 1916. I believed it was from the pictures of Dr. Thomas when he was younger, and seeing him now was beyond strange.

  I was processing all of my thoughts about him and his young, thin appearance when it dawned on me that he hadn’t blinked one time. He just stood staring at me and then shook his head quickly like he had a headache.

  “What’s wrong?” Wes asked.

  “Nothing,” he said not looking back at me. “I just thought I recognized her from somewhere, but I don’t.”

  “You might,” Wes responded quickly.

  “What?” Dr. Carter asked confused.

  “May we come in?” Wes asked without answering. “It’s important.”

  After a moment of deliberation, he let us in.

  Once inside, Dr. Carter locked the door behind us and led us into a kitchen/living room combo. There was a navy blue and maroon tweed sofa and two mismatched recliners with knitted throws draped over their backs. To the right was a cast-iron woodstove and the kitchen was off to the left. I didn’t see a dishwasher, or microwave. Only a small sink, refrigerator, and counters with open shelves beneath them.

  It was cozy, but instantly I thought again about why he was staying here. There was no TV or any obvious sign of entertainment. This was a place to get away and clear your mind. Or hide.

  Wes and I sat next to each other on the sofa and Dr. Carter sat in the chair closest to me. He looked tired and frustrated. Wes picked up on the same thing I did. I couldn’t tell if it was part of Wes’ ability to sense the mood of others or if it was the constant circular motion of Dr. Carter’s ankle as it rested on the knee of his other leg.

  Either way, Wes took charge. “Are you all right, Dr. Carter?”

  Waving his hand dramatically, Dr. Carter sighed. “Well, let’s see, I served in the military for twelve years, gave them my all, and because they suspected me of sabotaging their capture of you, which I did, they discharged me, and then tried to kill me.”

  Wes scooted closer to the edge of the couch and perked up. “Tried to kill you?”

  “In so many words, yes.”

  “Because you resigned?” Wes asked.

  “I didn’t resign. They forced me to. And then, let’s just say I’m smart enough to know when I’m being set up for an accidental death.”

  Wes thought for a minute and then huffed. “Well, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me.”

  “I guess not,” Dr. Carter responded. “So Mr. Wilson, why don’t you explain to me why you are so important that they would be willing to kill for you?”

  “I don’t think it’s about me. It probably has more to do with keeping their operation a secret.”

  Dr. Carter nodded slightly. “Don’t suppose I’d argue with you on that.”

  Wes smiled, then took on a more serious expression and cleared his throat. “The thing is Dr. Carter, they think I have the secret to unleashing the success of their experiments, but what they don’t know is that I am the secret.”

  My head jerked toward Wes and my eyes widened. I wasn’t so sure it was such a good idea to just come right out with it. I was hoping he would earn some trust first. Wes patted my knee as a calming measure, and then took out the envelope with the pictures in it.

  “I’m not following,” Dr. Carter murmured.

  From there Wes went into the same story he’d told my mom and Tom about the boy who was saved in 1916, but he didn’t show him the pictures and it took me a minute to figure out why. Because the picture was of Wes and a young Dr. Thomas. Wes hadn’t dropped that bomb on him yet, so he just kept telling the story. Dr. Carter stared at Wes the entire time he spoke.

  “I’ll be damned,” he said when Wes was finished explaining the success of Dr. Thomas’ transfusion. “You’re not kidding are you? That’s why I couldn’t put the needle in you?” He dropped his head as if trying to remember it all.

  “No, I’m not kidding you. You’re familiar with Dr. Thomas’ research aren’t you?” Wes asked.

  “I am. Of course. But I had no idea his early experiments worked.” He looked baffled.

  “Have you seen pictures of Dr. Thomas?”

  “Um, well yes. I’ve studied his work.”

  “How old was he in the pictures?” Wes asked back.

  “I have no idea. I think they were from the 1950s. He was in a feature on hemophilia.”

  “So he would’ve been older?”

  As if a light bulb in another part of his brain went off, he ignored Wes’ question and asked another, looking directly at me. “Wait a minute, how many people know about this?”

  Wes’ voice interrupted Dr. Carter’s trance-like stare, “No one else until recently, but there’s more.”

  One of Dr. Carter’s eyebrows rose in anticipation.

  Wes arranged his thoughts for just a moment and then continued. “I’m the only one who ages slowly and lived this long, but by some miracle, both Dr. Thomas and Amelia have returned.” He paused. “Reincarnated.”

  A soft cough escaped Dr. Carter. “Reincarnated?”

  “Yes.”

  “So where are they?” Dr. Carter asked, skeptically.

  I felt myself lean into Wes to offer support and also brace myself for what was comin
g next. I remembered how Wes first told me about the past, and my first thoughts had been that he was insane, but he has a way when he talks. There is an inclination to believe him.

  “Well?” Dr. Carter prompted.

  With a little bit of hesitation, Wes put one photo face down on the coffee table and slid it over to him. “This is a picture of me in 1916 beside Amelia and Dr. Thomas. It was taken right after the transfusion.”

  Dr. Carter stared at the backside of the picture for a minute and then reached over to pick it up. My nerves were in knots as he turned it over. As soon as he saw it, his eyes narrowed and then he dropped it onto the table and flung himself backwards into his chair.

  His head was shaking back and forth, fighting the belief of what he saw.

  “What kind of joke is this?”

  For the first time, I spoke up. “It’s not a joke, Dr. Carter. I didn’t believe it at first either, but it’s true. If you think hard enough, you’ll remember something. Little things that might not make sense without knowing what memories they are, but you’ll see. It’s true.”

  “I don’t believe you.” His voice was flat and he stood up and made a beeline for the back porch. Wes went to stand and I held him still. “Just leave him alone. He needs some time to think about it.”

  “How much time?”

  I weaved my arm through Wes’ to hold him close. “I don’t know. But he’ll be all right.”

  “I’m not sure, Sophie. Maybe this was a bad idea, coming here.”

  I shook my head. “No, you did the right thing. He needed to know. Why else is he back? Dr. Thomas would be livid if you didn’t let him know.”

  He sighed and took a few relieved but still worried breaths. I rubbed his back, hoping to calm him for once.

  “I’m glad you came,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  A whole hour went by and Dr. Carter stayed out there. It had actually begun to get dark and Wes was concerned about getting back to the airport. “I should check on him,” he offered.

  “No. Give him a little bit longer. He’ll come back when he’s ready to ask questions.” I had no idea if that was true or not. I just remembered how I felt when trying to reconcile the fact that Wes was a hundred years old. All I wanted to do was think about it alone, and after several hours, I remember being ready to talk to him.

  “I’ll give him another half-hour, and then we have to get going.”

  “Okay.” After another five minutes, I decided I was thirsty. “Do you think I can get myself a glass of water or something?”

  Wes laughed. “I guess. What’s he going to do? Come inside?”

  “Maybe I should get you one too, then,” I smiled.

  I found an unopened bottle of water in the fridge and drank almost half of it before Wes gulped down the rest. The waiting was getting old, and I was about to start the complaining when Wes put his index finger over his mouth.

  I looked around for Dr. Carter, but he wasn’t coming.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Shh.”

  He turned his ear toward the window.

  “A helicopter is coming.” He stood up. “They’ve found him. I’m not taking my chances with another one of those. We have to go, right now.”

  “What if he called them?” I started to panic.

  “No phones up here remember?”

  He hustled up to the door and banged his fist on it. Wes didn’t get worked up very often and seeing him like this was making me nervous.

  “Dr. Carter, we have to go now.”

  A second later Dr. Carter appeared, looking terrible, tired, and worn down.

  “Dr. Carter, I have very good hearing, and I can hear a helicopter coming. I don’t need to remind you what happened the last time I heard one of those. I’m not staying, and given what you’ve already told me, I wouldn’t recommend you staying either.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Suit yourself.” Wes went to turn away and then stopped and leaned toward Dr. Carter. “If you believe anything that I’ve told you, please keep it to yourself. All you’ve ever wanted was to cure people and this secret would do more harm than good.”

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the front door hastily.

  “Wait!” Dr. Carter called.

  We both turned. “If that helicopter is coming here, it can’t be good. I haven’t told anyone where I am.”

  “Looks like you have a choice to make then. Stay or come with us.”

  Dr. Carter took too long to decide for Wes’ liking, and he turned us back toward the door. I still couldn’t hear the helicopter, but I could sense it was coming closer as Wes was wasting no time.

  “Fine. I’ll come.”

  Wes squeezed my hand at the blissful sound of Dr. Carter’s words, but then quickly reached for the door.

  Dr. Carter pleaded, “Just let me get some things.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  “Okay, okay.” Like a maniac, he grabbed a duffle bag, threw some items in, including a journal, and hurried up behind us.

  As soon as we hit the gravel driveway, the darkness ahead of us consumed the path. “Do you have a flashlight?” I asked.

  “No. We can’t use one anyway. They’ll see it from the sky.”

  “Okay,” I said, feeling unsettled. We started walking, but it seemed like we were missing something else. “Wait!” I grabbed his arm. “Your picture.” His eyes widened. “You can’t leave it,” I said panicking.

  Wes only paused for a second before realizing I was right. We could not risk those guys getting a hold of a century-old picture of the three of us. Our secret would never be safe.

  “I’ll go,” he said, stepping away.

  “No, please−”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Before I could even respond, Wes took off in a jog toward the house.

  Instinctively, I took a step to follow and Dr. Carter took hold of my elbow. “No, stay out of sight. He’ll be fine.”

  Seconds felt like minutes and although I couldn’t hear the approach, it felt like the helicopter was hovering right over me, shaking every nerve in my body. My eyes squinted trying to see movement in the house, but everything was too dark. A sudden cool breeze tickled my spine, and I shuddered. What’s taking him so long? Just then a dark shadow approached from the tree line, and Dr. Carter and I jumped.

  “It’s me,” Wes whispered taking hold of my hand and pulling me down the drive.

  “Geez, you scared the crap out of us.”

  “Sorry, I wanted to stay out of sight.”

  “What took you so long?”

  “I thought it would be wise to close the windows and dispose of the open water. Now let’s get out of here.”

  Even though the trees hovered over the driveway, nearly creating a tunnel, Wes instinctively moved us right next to the tree line. It occurred to me, then, just how close they were.

  Wes pulled me by the hand too fast for my comfort and led me down the long driveway that brought us there. About ten yards into it, he took out his earpiece and radioed down to the guards that we were coming and to turn off all the car’s lights.

  “Are you sure you hear something?” Dr. Carter asked, seconds after Wes put the earpiece back in his pocket.

  “I’m sure,” he said.

  Within moments, we could hear it, too. The sound of it brought memories flooding back and I wrapped my arms around Wes’ waist. Oh, my goodness. Please don’t happen again. Oh, my goodness. I kept repeating those words to myself hoping not to experience another separation, or worse.

  “Maybe they just want to talk to me,” Dr. Carter said, breaking my thoughts.

  “Maybe,” Wes replied, still hurrying us along.

  “Somehow, I don’t think so,” Dr. Carter responded.

  Neither do I, I thought.

  We reached the SUV in half the time it had taken us to reach the cabin, and Wes suggested we sit and wait.

  “But the whole point was to
get away from here right?” I complained.

  “I just wanted to get away from the house. Luckily, Dr. Carter had the driveway blocked off, so we couldn’t park near the house. They won’t see us unless we turn on the headlights. I say we wait until they leave.”

  He had to be kidding. “So we just sit here in the dark and hope no one notices?”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” said Dr. Carter. “And that way, if they leave, I may be able to return to get some things.”

  Wes didn’t respond and I took that to mean Wes thought that was a bad idea. The air around us was completely still until the helicopter descended and then the ground seemed to vibrate. Luckily, the helicopter approached the house from the east and didn’t pass over us, so we were safely hidden.

  We couldn’t tell what kind of helicopter it was, but given the way it hovered right above the cabin, we could only assume it was military. “These people get around, don’t they?” I tried to joke.

  No one laughed, but Wes said, “Yeah. Looks like it.”

  We sat in silence for a while after that. And then the air around us tensed.

  “Shit. Do you see that?” the driver shouted, getting out of the car and pulling his gun from his holster. Wes jerked up and leaned out the window searching the darkness.

  “Son of a—”

  “What?” I cut him off.

  “Oh, my God.” Dr. Carter croaked.

  “What?” I leaned over to look out of Wes’ window.

  Through the trees was a glow of yellow, orange, and red, growing taller by the second.

  “His house is on fire!” I shouted.

  Wes opened his door and stood. “Get in the car, Stephen.”

  Stephen, with his gun still by his side, must’ve realized shooting a burning cabin wouldn’t get us anywhere, so he complied with Wes’ order.

  Once we were all back inside, Dr. Carter started reeling off how completely out of line this was. All I could think of to say was, “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, it looks like I won’t be going back there. Such bastards,” he hissed.

  Wes piggy-backed on my apology and Dr. Carter was about to say something when Wes shouted, “They’re coming. We need to get over more. Right now. No lights!”

  All the guys jumped out of the car and started pushing it further off the road. They didn’t want to use the brakes, so they eased it over into the tree line as much as possible before letting it stop on its own. We were so far into the ditch that I wasn’t sure how we would get out, but it didn’t matter. Not with the helicopter approaching.