She knew for certain, then, that they had found the child of the grays. She thought of all the generations of effort that must have gone into his creation, of the struggles in the night, the long and careful thought of those strange, exquisite minds, and all the people who had suffered their bruising attentions, all for this person with the euphonious name of Conner Callaghan.
She knew, also, that she had more than a little of Adam still within her, whether due to some arcane connection devised by the grays or from her own beating heart, but she felt at that moment that, without question, she would give her life to save him.
Rob had flushed and grown silent. In his silence, he had taken the book from Professor Jeffers. “UFOs and the National Security State,” he said. “What does this mean?”
“Essentially that another academic has been marginalized for promoting folklore as fact. However, it’s actually an expertly written and devastating indictment. By careful and scholarly inches, it proves without question that the government is engaged in a cover-up of the UFO phenomenon. So what would you do with him, Air Force people, shoot him, get him fired, trump up some charges against him?”
How extraordinary to sit here and see this man suffering like this for a truth he believed in—and to know that he was right, to know it better than he did, and to still lie to him, and curse his innocent soul and condemn it with your lie.
“Dr. Jeffers,” Rob said, “we’d like to thank you for your time and help. We’ll contact this family in due time. Who knows, perhaps Conner Callaghan will solve the mystery for us.” He handed back the book. “I’ve always thought that the Air Force hid a lot of things that it shouldn’t. Maybe about this. But it’s not my lookout, unfortunately.”
He gave the wild-haired professor a grin that made his face explode into gleaming, twinkling boyishness.
On the walk to the parking lot, the snow was more persistent.
“That was pitiful,” Rob said.
“Why don’t we just tell them?”
“You don’t know? Even yet?”
“Sure I know. You tell people that something is going to invade not only their space but their actual, personal bodies, they are going to panic. I’m panicked, just thinking about it. If there was any viable alternative, I’d take it.”
“I think that’s how we all feel. But our next step is to meet this family. Because if we found this kid, we can be sure that Mike has found him, too.”
“Maybe the grays will attack him.”
“If he showed up with a gun they’d probably abduct him and barbecue his damned brain. But what if he’s more indirect? They have their limits, Lauren, as you must know.”
“Look, I don’t know how to protect him, either, okay! And it’s winter, it’s snowing, and it’s starting to get dark, so one of us had better come up with an idea. How about it, boss?”
“I’m not the boss. You’re the one closest to the grays. You’re the boss.”
“Fine. I say we go out to Oak Road. Take it from there.”
First they returned to Alfred. Rob threaded his way around to the parking lot closest to his billet and went up to change again. After Jeffers’s reaction, he no longer felt that the uniform was such a good idea.
She sat in the car and listened to the radio, which told the story of the onrushing storm.
TWENTY-THREE
“HI, CHRIS,” KATELYN SAID. SHE was quite surprised to see him. The Jefferses usually called before they came over. As he entered the foyer, snow swirled behind him and he brushed off his coat. He looked extremely solemn, she noticed. “Are you okay?”
“Where’s Conner?”
“Downstairs designing a train wreck. He had an unpleasant day, apparently. Why do you ask?”
“We need to talk. Where’s Dan?”
“Dan,” Katelyn called, “Chris is here.”
“Yo. Hey there,” he said coming in from the kitchen. “Whassup?” Then he saw Chris’s face. “What’s wrong?”
They went into the family room together. The TV was blasting. Katelyn turned it off.
“I got the classic visit from the Air Force today.”
What was he talking about? “What visit?”
“You’re not conversant in the UFO literature, of course. You’ve never read a word of anything I’ve given you.”
“That would be correct,” Dan said.
“I got a visit from the Air Force.” He looked from one of them to the other.
Katelyn had no idea what to say. She was at a complete loss.
“All right, let me background you. There is this legend that when somebody has a serious sighting or gets video or something like that, the Air Force secretly investigates. Do you follow that?”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “Of course.”
Katelyn felt kind of queasy. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this.
“Okay, so I went back to my office after class and who’s there but this Air Force colonel and this woman—my God, this woman!”
Not another one down, Katelyn thought. “Is Nancy at home? Is she aware of this woman?”
“Yes, she’ll be over in a minute. The baby’s going to sleep. But I didn’t want to wait, and you’ll see why in a second. Just listen. Okay, so I come in and the colonel is looking at UFOs and the National Security State, which I believe I foisted off on you last summer.”
“Okay,” Dan said. “Ended up on the shelf with Trailer Park Ghosts, and Bigfoot: First American, I’m afraid.”
Chris’s voice had a curious, measured quality to it, so different from his normal tone that Katelyn felt a twinge of concern that he might be sort of crazy just at the moment.
She did not want him to be crazy here. She and Dan were trying to work their way past the Marcie incident and having trouble. She wanted to let him make love to her, but so far had been unable. Unable just a couple of hours ago.
“Anyway, I have a prediction. These two folks are going to show up right here at this house sometime very soon, and they are going to ask to meet Conner.”
That focused Katelyn at once. “That’ll be the day,” she said.
“The man is this very big, tough-looking type. But fatherly, sort of. You know this guy is in on the secrets the second you lay eyes on him. Very imposing figure, indeed. The woman—well, you have to see her. She radiates something and it is weird. If I ever saw anyone who might be an alien in human form, it’s this woman. She has these big, staring eyes and she is very, very still. She just sits there staring at you, and you get these bizarre feelings, like she’s penetrating your mind, somehow.”
This was all beginning to sound more than a little crazy, even for Chris. “You’re scared,” she said. “Tell us why.”
“I didn’t realize at first what was going on, and I slipped. I told them something I don’t think I should have. About Conner being a genius.”
“But they were there asking about the UFO,” Dan said, “so what does it matter?”
“Oh, no, they never mentioned the UFO. Of course not. That isn’t the way these things are done. They were asking if we had any physics geniuses at Bell for some kind of Air Force program.”
Katelyn laughed, she couldn’t help it. He glared at her, though, and she stopped.
“I’ve had enough laughter,” he said in a low voice. “The point is—”
“They didn’t actually mention UFOs, though?”
“No, Katelyn, they did not.”
The phone rang. Katelyn got up and took it in the kitchen. “Hi, Nancy.”
“It’s snowing too hard, I’m staying put. Has he told you?” Nancy asked.
“He thinks the Air Force is interested in Conner because of the UFO. He’s not making a lot of sense, Nancy.” She did not tell her that he sounded like he was on his way around the bend, not with a little baby for her to worry about. Anyway, he’d probably be fine in the morning. He had these flights of weirdness every time a big UFO report appeared on one of the crazy-person Web sites he haunted.
“The r
eality part is that the Air Force is looking for geniuses for some sort of program of theirs,” Nancy said. “The Chris part is that they’re secretly investigating UFOs.”
“Well, then, I’m glad he told them about Conner. Conner could use more stimulation.”
“Be careful, Katelyn. This is some kind of military thing. I’d make certain that you can supervise Conner at all times.”
Katelyn had no real problem with the military. But then again, she would protect Conner and Conner’s mind from any kind of intrusion at all. “For sure,” she said.
“Is Chris drinking, by the way?”
“No, he didn’t ask and I didn’t offer. Dan got tanked at the Peep the other day and I loaded the liquor into the garage attic.”
“Over the Marcie thing, yeah, I heard.”
God, this was such a little place! “You mean, the fact that he got tenure?”
There was the briefest of silences, then Nancy said, “Congratulations, by the way.”
“We’re holding off on the official celebration until after the official announcement. You want me to send yours home?”
“Yeah, please. Before the UFOs come out.”
She went back into the living room, where Dan and Chris were staring at each other like two people at a funeral. “Momma called, Chris. Time to go home.”
“Katelyn,” Dan said, “I’m what they call an abductee, and so are you.”
She sat down. “That again. Okay, Dan, it has to do with folklore, not with reality. There’s nobody being abducted by aliens because there are no aliens, at least not here at the moment. I’ll grant that the video is strange, but we are in no way involved.”
The doorbell rang—and sent a shock through her. Silence fell. Dan jumped to his feet, strode off to answer it.
Katelyn brushed past him. “I’ll get it.”
She swung the door open.
A QUARTER OF A MILE away, Mike Wilkes crouched watching the Kelton house. He was freezing cold, despite the fact that he’d bought boots, gloves, and a black Eddie Bauer jacket. He knew the house’s layout, and by nine he also knew that the boys both slept in the same room, that the dog was a Doberman, and that nobody in the house was in good enough condition to match him, despite the boys’ age advantages.
Lights flickering drew his gaze to the road. A car came, moving slowly in the snow. He slid back a little, lest the lights reflect on the lenses of his tiny, light-amplifying binoculars. He did not recognize the vehicle, but he could see two dim figures inside.
The lights went out abruptly, and he was sure that it had stopped around the bend. That would mean that it was either at the Jefferses’ or the Callaghans’ house. That was of interest, and he had to find out. He left his position but remained behind the tree line as he worked his way to a location that would enable him to see the last two houses on the road.
OVERHEAD, THE THREE THIEVES SAW the radiant energies of all the bodies on Oak Road. Given the alteration of the deadly satellite’s orbit, they were on full alert now. Below them, they observed the shimmering darkness that was Colonel Wilkes moving among the trees. The Thieves were uneasy about Wilkes being out here. But he showed no interest in the Callaghan house. The collective had instructed them to let him proceed, as long as he didn’t threaten Conner directly. In fact, it was eager for him to proceed. Maybe he had bought their little trick.
MIKE RETURNED TO HIS ORIGINAL position. He had wanted to see if it was a motor pool car. It was not. Not only that, it was in front of the Jeffers house. His conclusion: continue with his plan.
KATELYN WAS THUNDERSTRUCK TO SEE the very people that Chris was talking about standing on her stoop. They were snowblown and miserable looking, and she immediately let them in.
In the family room, Chris, smiling tightly, introduced them. He was at least partly right about the appearance of the Glass woman. She had huge eyes, but they worked well in her face. She was a beautiful woman, and Katelyn knew instantly that her friend Colonel Langford was head over heels in love with her. Was she weird? Not at all.
They began a spiel about a special Air Force program for the very brilliant.
“Now,” Katelyn said, “let me get this straight. You put Conner in this tutorial program. But he does or doesn’t have to commit to the Air Force Academy?”
“Oh, no,” Miss Glass said, “no commitment at all. What will happen is that I’ll visit Conner daily and work with him in these accelerated concepts we’ve been referring to.”
“And back we go,” Dan said, “around the circle again. Let me be blunt. We want, in writing, an exact description of what you intend to do with Conner. And we want to be physically present at all times when you are with him.”
“And why don’t you just tell the truth about this?” Chris said.
Lauren Glass turned to him, and for an instant Katelyn saw a flicker in her eyes that was most definitely not normal. Katelyn thought she knew why. This girl was also super-bright. There is an aura around such people. They are not the same as the rest of us.
“The truth is that we’re in trouble with some important classified problems, and the country needs its very best minds to work on them.”
“Is it weapons?” Dan asked.
“Sir,” Colonel Langford said, “I can only repeat that we cannot go into detail.”
“Not with us,” Katelyn said, “but with our eleven-year-old son. I don’t think so.”
“Yes!” Chris said. “Way to go!”
Katelyn watched Lauren Glass grow very still, then saw her lips go into a line and her face become pale. The big eyes glittered with suppressed rage.
“Folks, I’m sorry, but I think we’re ready for you to leave,” Dan said. “Because I think that you’re here because of that UFO and aliens and abduction and all that sort of thing, and the fact that you’re trying to involve our son just plain scares me.”
“Me, too,” Katelyn said. She stood up. “So let’s just call it a night, shall we? And don’t come near our son, because if we find out you’re trying to approach him, we’re going to report you to the police.”
They gave each other frantic glances. “Ma’am, sir—we can talk to him. We can approach him. We have the right.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Dan said. He went out across the hall and upstairs, and Katelyn suddenly knew what he was doing.
“Dan!”
“Ma’am, your son is the most intelligent human being presently alive,” Lauren Glass babbled. “Please listen to us, because I am uniquely capable of teaching him what he needs to learn.”
Dan came rushing back with his hand thrust in his pocket.
“My gun is bigger than your gun,” Colonel Langford said with frightening nonchalance. “I want to see that thing on this table right now.” He pointed at the coffee table. “Right now, Dan. Do it!”
Dan took the pistol out and put it on the table.
“You’re right,” Langford continued. “This does have to do with certain extraordinary secrets.”
“At last,” Chris said.
“I remember me and Katelyn being brought together when we were kids. Being brought together in this dark, womb-like place. And I think you might know something about what this was.”
“I have some odd memories, too,” Katelyn said. “But nothing . . .” She trailed off. She didn’t know what more to say.
“We believe that you were abducted together, so that, by a process we don’t understand, you would inevitably later marry and have Conner.”
Katelyn’s mouth was so dry that she could hardly speak. She didn’t remember anything about any aliens when she was a kid, and she hadn’t even known Dan back in Madison, but she had gone from being furious at these people and scared because they were obviously a couple of stinking liars, to a sort of nauseated dread. From the dark, in other words, to the very dark.
“And Conner is the smartest person in the world,” she said.
“There could be others, of course. But he must be among no more than a very, very fe
w. Certainly, in this country, yes.”
“That part doesn’t surprise me. But as far as me and Dan—I met Dan years after we lived in Madison. So that’s all conjecture.”
Again, Lauren Glass smiled. She was a person with a thousand different faces, it seemed to Katelyn. This one combined what appeared to be contempt with anger, thinly masked beneath the grin. And the more you looked at her eyes, the odder they got.
“Conner’s a staggeringly good physics student,” Chris said. “He’s doing advanced graduate-level physics at the college and his work is . . . well, beautiful. The grasp of math is a lovely thing to witness.”
Langford spoke, his voice dense with authority. “Dr. and Mrs. Callaghan, what has happened here is that your child is intended to be the point of contact between mankind and a very old, very brilliant, and very advanced galactic civilization.”
Katelyn felt suddenly horribly dizzy. Then a sort of bomb seemed to go off within her. Did this mean that Chris’s nonsense . . . wasn’t?
Something came rising up from deep within her that seemed like a kind of release, as if some part of her had been in a trap and was now free.
To her own amazement she reached up so quickly that she didn’t have a chance to check herself, and slapped the colonel across the face.
Nobody said a word. Then Dan began to shake. For an instant, it seemed as if he was having a full-bore seizure, but it emerged into silent laughter. His eyes were closed tight, tears filling them.
Lauren Glass had cried out softly when the slap had taken place. Now she sat still and silent, rigid in her chair.
Rubbing his cheek, the colonel said, “It’s an understandable reaction.”
“I’m sorry! I just—Dan, will you stop that!”
He took a deep breath. Another. “What do we do?”