Warlock held the laser gun pointed at Kurt and said, “How about heading into the dining area. Up against that wall there, sit down, and we can talk about this situation. I don’t know you, either of you, actually, I got my orders and they are to assist McDonald in the apprehension and return of you, Mr. Kurt Sloan, employee of the Alleghenia Administrative System, to Pittsburgh. That’s what my warrant reads and that’s what I’m going to do unless I get orders otherwise.”
“Warrant?” Kurt replied.
“Issued by Judge Jorge Lopez of the 6th District Court of the Atlantica Republic. It goes on and on, then says,”
Warlock looks closely at the “4 x 6” screen in his hand-held scanner, “to enable the Security Division of the Atlantica Republic, Alleghenia District to apprehend, return, and interrogate Mr. Kurt Sloan as to breaking his security code, leaving his work station, and resigning his position without notice. That’s all. Nothing too complicated. Course we have to frisk you, and that should be done now by McDonald.”
“Right, Sloan. Stand up and take off your clothes. Warlock you check him out while I go through his backpack.
Ladies, you go down that hall while this is going on,” Martin said. “I’ll figure out a way to check you three, but right now, I need to check my friend, Mr. Sloan.”
The two women and Elizabeth left the area. Kurt slipped off his jacket and pants, while McDonald began to rummage through his backpack.
“Toss your clothes over to me,” Warlock said.
It was an odd scene. A tall white man stood in his underwear, while an older, bulky, tanned white man held a gun. Against the wall of this classic home a young black man fingered through a leather notebook, as he stood over the opened backpack. There was no noise in the living area, except the sound of rushing water coming from the stairwell. After a few minutes, Martin put down the backpack and looked over at Warlock.
“We gotta talk,” Warlock said as he walked over to Martin. “There’s a problem. Let’s go over there”, he said gruffly looking over to the fireplace with the sloping and deeply imbedded boulders in the stone floor.
“Did you find anything?” Warlock asked with his foot on the threshold.
“No, not on the first go around. But we will. I know it,” he quickly answered.
“What did you find?”
“The usual items that a man would use in hiking a long distance,” Warlock replied matter-of-factly.
McDonald was fuming. Warlock turned away and looked over at Kurt. He had a puzzled look on his face.
“McDonald, this guy does not look like the usual enemy combatant that I’ve faced in my military career over the years. He looks like what he is, a historian taking a hike, who met an old female friend. Who, by the way, is quite a good looking female friend. If I was him, I would not be happy having us intrude on this rendezvous,”
he ended looking back at Sloan, who was now sitting up against the wall. He turned back to McDonald, “Now what?”
“That was preliminary, Warlock. There will be a more extensive search and interrogation when we get back to Pittsburgh. Our warrant states that we must bring him back for interrogation. That’s what we’re going to do. He may have hidden things along the way, stashed it for future pick-up. Who knows, but we will find out. Yank his scanner and any other Tellcom piece he may have. We’ll see who he has contacted or vice versa. But I think his data is still with him or even here. He needs that when he gets to Columbia. That’s where he was going and he needed something of value when he reached their border, so I’m betting it still has it with him,” Martin said.
“You’re getting a bit far fetched, aren’t you. You need a specific warrant for Telecomm units. You should know that. Your warrant doesn’t cover that, besides this guy doesn’t seem like a traitor, a saboteur, if you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean, and it means nothing. I know he has something and I also know he’s trying to get overseas. He didn’t have any plans to go back to Pittsburgh, I even figured that out from some of the people I talked to. We’re taking Sloan back to Pittsburgh. So go over the place one more time and also ask him for his Tellcom devices. Then we’ll figure out a way to check out his lady friend. Maybe I’ll use the ladies. Promise them leniency with Security or something. By the way if he refuses to give up his Tellcom devices that will prove my point. Once we know there is nothing here, then we’ll leave.” he said. “Sloan stay just where you are,” Martin barked.
He and Warlock walked toward the kitchen where the three women were standing in a circle. They stopped talking when Martin and Warlock approached
“You two, you say you want to make a new life in Atlantica, right?”
Both Isabelle and Elena nodded their heads.
“As I said to you when we picked you up, you’re going to Pittsburgh and turned over to Security for
interrogation. I need you to prove your loyalty to this new country you say you want to be part of by checking her for any suspicious possessions, either in her backpack or on her person. Will you do that?”
Isabelle looked at Elena then turned to Martin and said, “If it will get us out of these bracelets and you put in a good word for us, we’ll be glad to do it, right girl?”
“Okay, Warlock will be right at the open door while you do the search. He won’t watch, but he will listen. You understand?”
“We do, sir,” Isabelle said to McDonald. In a few seconds he had undone the wrist cuffs. They both rubbed their wrists.
“Warlock, come here,” Martin shouted.
Warlock, who had stepped back to check on Kurt, returned.
“The ladies are going to search this Anglo woman here in the kitchen. You stay by the open door while they check her and her backpack,” Martin said forcefully. “Okay, ladies, get it done.”
Martin walked back into the living room where Kurt was still hunched against the wall.
“You know you could save us all a lot of time and yourself a lot of discomfort Sloan, if you would just tell me what you have done since you left Pittsburgh.”
“McDonald, my father brought me to Fallingwater when I was a kid. It is probably the best memory of my father. I needed to get away. Things were piling up in my brain. I couldn’t decide what I was going to do with my life, so I just left,” he said quietly without looking up at McDonald.
“Sloan, I did some checking on you, man. You have been a busy Anglo the past few weeks, very busy. Looking up stuff you shouldn’t be looking up. Then just taking off without informing your Personnel Officer or even your supervisor,Dr. Alexander. He was really upset that you left him, after all he had done for you. What you have done by leaving without permission is by itself a punishable crime. When we find the data, you will be spending more time in your homeland than you ever wanted, but in a detention center. So you’d be better off if just told me what you’re doing here.”
“No matter what I told you, I’m guessing, you wouldn’t believe me, McDonald. For some reason, you’re after my ass, come hell or high water. Just let the lady go and I’ll go with you. If it’s Security that you’re taking me to, I’ll wait until we get there. Meantime, she didn’t do anything but show me how to get to Fallingwater. So let her go, McDonald.”
Suddenly, the look on Martin’s face turned to a scowl and anger spread over his face. “Sloan, I’ll see you in that brand new jail on your beloved Monongahela River for the rest of your life. I can do it because I’m going to prove you are a goddamn Anglo spy whose taken valuable documents about our Aquifer System. I will find that data either on you or on that babe down the hall. All I know is that you are going down. Suit yourself. Either you tell me what you have done with the data or I’ll turn my Security accomplice, Mr. Warlock on your body.
Security could care less if you’re a bit bumped and bruised when they get you. Do you hear me, you Anglo son of a bitch?” he yelled right into Kurt’s face.
For a second it was quiet then the silence was broken by voices coming down the hall. Elizabeth was walking towards them, followed by Isabelle and Elena who in turn was followed by Warlock.
They gathered around Martin and Isabelle spoke up, “Nothing on her or in her backpack, Mr. McDonald.
Empty. Nada,” she said forcefully.
Martin’s scowl remained. “Okay, for now we’re going to search every corner in this place. Pull every loose stone in the wall. Check in that chimney. Every place something could be hidden. When we finish that, we’ll head back to Pittsburgh with or without the information. I’ll let Security take it from there.”
“You two,” he snapped at Kurt and Elizabeth, “sit over there by the fireplace.” Pointing to Isabelle and Elena,
“you two sit on the covered sofa.Warlock you watch them. I’m going to look around to see if Sloan hid anything. He didn’t know we were coming, so maybe it’s something I can quickly find.
Martin began looking, for the first time at this old stone home. Water could be heard cascading underneath.
“Man, sounds like we’re inside a waterfall. Some strange place. It’s so small. Can’t see why this is so special.
So goddamn small,” Martin said muttering to himself as he walked off.
’Now what’s going on?’ Martin thought as a thundering sound was heard.
Warlock came after him and said, “Did you hear that, there’s a bomber of a storm coming. I forgot to tell you before that the storm is predicted to come in much earlier than forecasted. Sounds like it’s already here. Strong wind, rain, then snow after dark. Potential for a lot of snow. I monitored Weather Central. You could see the stuff coming down over the Point in Pittsburgh. Couldn’t even see the rivers. It came off the Euro satellite.”
“I can hear the damn wind and see those trees bending over. How much time do we have?” asked Martin.
“This one is early. It’s a northeaster that was supposed to head out over Nova Scotia, but it ran into a front coming down from Canada and is circling over Atlantica. It’s a gigantic swirling pattern. It’s picking up more moisture over Lake Erie. When it reaches here it will all be snow.“
“It’s only rain now, Warlock. Surely we can fly in a heavy rain, just put the Skimmer on autopilot, right?”
“Wrong. Okay in rain. I told you, McDonald. By the time it reaches here, it will be colder, well below thirty-two. It’s a bit rare, but in an hour or so, it’s going to be a bitch. My point is we can’t leave. We better get some wood in here fast. I’ll go back to the Skimmer and get the provisions I’ve stored in the emergency compartment.
But there’s no way we can get off the ground in time, and I think we’re going to be stranded here.”
“I don’t believe this. Why can’t we just leave now?” Martin said disgustedly.
“No time. Even if we get up, we’re going to get hammered in the air. As soon as we’re airborne we’ll be heading right into it. That snow will be absolutely blinding. I can’t take that chance. In fact, while we’re bullshitting, our time for survival is ticking away. I’m serious. We gotta move”.
“Okay. Let’s go. Let me handle this. You go get the stuff from the Skimmer. I’ll send the big woman with you and I’ll handle the rest of them here. Just be careful and watch. There’s something about that woman that I don’t trust. Let’s see what is in this place we can use and we’ll get as much wood from the outside as possible.”
They went quickly back to the group, who were now looking outside at the swaying trees and slashing rain.
“I’m going to have Major Warlock give you a breakdown of what is happening,” Martin said.
“Listen closely, all of you. We have a rough storm coming in within the hour. When it’s over, probably tomorrow, we’re flying to Pittsburgh and you’ll be turned over to Security. For now, we have a problem. This storm is coming out of Canada off Lake Erie. First we’ll have heavy rain, then it will turn to snow. By tonight it’s going to get much colder. We have to get all the wood we can find outside and bring it in here, so we can get a fire. We’re going to have to keep it going because the temps are supposed to drop drastically in the next couple of hours. If you don’t want to freeze to death in here, you can help to get ready for this storm. Is that clear?” he loudly asked.
All four nodded.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You,” Warlock pointed at Isabelle, “you come with me. We’re going to the Skimmer and see what we can bring back. McDonald will have the rest of you get the wood. Move, we have about thirty minutes before the rain comes and soaks everything.”
Warlock was out the door and heading up the walkway with Isabelle behind him. McDonald told Kurt and
Elena to go outside and look for wood.
Martin and Elizabeth began a search of Fallingwater. Except for the built-in furniture, the stone structure looked barren. In a few minutes Kurt came back with his arm full of branches, followed closely by Elena with a similar load. They dropped their armfuls by the fireplace, as Elizabeth came down from upstairs.
“We found some old logs on the third level”, Elizabeth said coming into the main living area with her arms filled with slender curved logs. “Someone stored logs in the guest room. This stuff is so dry and light. Probably been there for years,” she said, dropping her load of logs by the pile Kurt had built next to the fireplace.
Elena headed back out the door as Kurt took Elizabeth’s arm and squeezed it. “How are you holding up?” he said quietly looking at her. “How did the search go?” he asked as he scanned about the room looking for McDonald.
“Fine,” she answered in a whisper. “Listen to me” as she also looked about, “Your contact has been made.”
“What do you mean?” Kurt whispered incredulously.
“The ladies. They were on their way here when they saw the Skimmer at Ohiopyle last night. They gave me the code name, ‘Cobra’.
“That’s right. Who are they?” Kurt asked in a whisper.
“They said they’re agents from UNIA in Paris. Their stationed in Montreal and were dropped at Ohiopyle. The South Carolina stuff was a cover. They were ordered to pick you up here at noon either yesterday, today, or no later than tomorrow,” she said into his ear. As Elizabeth spoke in a whisper, Kurt could see her body stiffen.
She suddenly reached over, grabbed one of the logs and said loudly, “We need to get more of this type, Kurt,”
as Martin burst into the room.