Chapter IX
I was lying in the tube with electrodes planted on my head while the machine banged away with a noise that penetrated my skull and made my teeth ache.
A voice came over the intercom and told me to think about Penny, then gave me other images to ponder on while they scanned my brain. I had already had a cat scan earlier and had actually fallen asleep in the tube. It hadn’t seemed to matter to them, not the doctors or the scientists that had gathered in the amphitheater above us.
Jed was there, too, observing the proceedings. He told me he and his team had been assigned as my primary case officers and they were busy tracking down perverts involved in the sex kidnapping ring.
His agents had traced the last man to a house in Tennessee. He wanted me to go with them to the place and scope it out but the hospital wanted to do their test first. I had another day here, and then we were leaving.
My uncle was opposed but I had agreed. I felt it was safe and Penny was on her way to recovery, no longer needed me. I was afraid that there might be more victims like her; wanted both to save them and run away from the idea.
I drifted into a haze; my senses didn’t shut down but simply stopped working. I knew my eyes were open but all I could see was a formless white mist that shimmered all around me. I could smell only the sharp ozone after a lightning storm even though I brought my arm up to my nose and stuck in into the flesh. I couldn’t feel it or the coldness of the table under my thin bones. Sound was a thin crackling like cellophane being ripped from a package of cigarettes. The taste of stale smoke was in my mouth, like steel wool, tinny, coppery. I couldn’t even feel my teeth grating against each other. Thoughts raced across my mind that I had no idea from whence they came, things I had never thought of nor knew of, prompted by questions I didn’t hear but somehow sensed. Abruptly, like a door slamming shut, I was rudely jerked out of that place and blinked as the bright lights speared my eyes.
“All done, Cale,” said the cheerful voice of the tech that had strapped me in. She pulled loose the tie that held my head still and sat me up. I was stiff from not moving, and was surprised that I’d been in there for three hours.
My police guard was standing in the doorway waiting for me. “Hey, Cale,” he said and gave me a high five. He was one of the few men I felt comfortable around. He escorted me to the outpatient lounge and I was met by Jed and his team.
Everyone came to see me off but the only one I would let hug me goodbye was Dr. Trish. I’d already said my goodbyes to Penny and her mom. I knew that they would be fine and more than fine; I’d whispered some numbers into Penny’s ear and she’d memorized them. We both knew that they were a winning ticket and her mom would put the money to good use taking care of her. Being a single parent with a child, she needed the help and Penny promised she’d use it to help other kids like her. I knew she’d make good on that promise.
She told me to be careful, I had a long way to go and it was fraught with danger, dark dragon clouds she called them.
“Cale?” Jed’s voice brought me back from my reverie.
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve got your things packed. Ready?”
I looked around at the crowd of people come to see me off, had nothing to say except thank you and followed him out to the waiting government SUV.
“It’s brand new,” one of the agents said. “Check it out for yourself.”
I put my hand on the door; felt the impression of the auto worker who’d built the car, the anger of the driver who’d transported it along with seven others, fleeting glimpses of the car dealership and the government procurement office. Last and strongest was the personality of the agent who’d driven it here to pick me up. He was a little afraid of me but he’d never experienced anything traumatic enough to scar his psyche so he left only innocuous sensations for me to read.
We were headed out of town on the interstate towards the airport. I was sitting in the middle seat on the window, lap belted in and watching the scenery go by.
It was very flat with large trees on both sides and sloughs of dirty brown water on my right. Swarms of mosquitoes hovered in clouds above the open patches.
Traffic was heavy, lots of tractor trailers passed us, double cargo haulers, car carriers and a lot of those metal containers off of loading ships. Every time one passed, a frisson of cold shot up my spine and made me uneasy. So sensitive to my moods, Dr. Deleon noticed and asked me what was wrong from his seat in the front next to the driver.
“What’s up, Cale?”
“Something. Not sure what. Something with those cargo containers,” I responded but we arrived at the airport without incident and pulled up right on the apron where the FBI Lear jet was parked. The pilot and another agent met us at the steps and led us inside.
Curious eyes followed me as I walked down the narrow aisle to a seat on the window. There was room for twelve and several desks set up with laptops and files spread out.
I saw pictures of me and Penny; the nearest agent closed them hastily as my shocked face took in images of me in the ER naked and bruised and of Penny in worse condition.
“Sorry,” he said to Deleon and flushed. I looked like I was dead, with blood all over me, pale, eyes wide and blank, and my mouth open in a silent scream. I had remembered screaming; being unable to stop until they had drugged me.
I spent the whole flight looking out the window with my face pressed against the cool glass.
“Cale,” Jed walked down the aisle with a glass of water and a paper cup. “Pills. You hungry?”
“When am I not?” I looked in the cup, saw a bevy of drugs and swallowed them obediently.
“It’s amoxicillin, vitamins, iron and an anti-depressant. If you’re in pain, I can give you a pain pill.”
“My legs are fine, bruises don’t hurt anymore and my throat is okay I do have a slight headache,” I admitted. “Could be cus I’m hungry.”
“Sandwiches or microwave meal?”
“Microwave.”
“We have meatloaf, turkey, and chicken fried steak.”
“Chicken fried? Mashed taters and cream gravy?”
“Ordered them for you,” he grinned. “Vanilla coke and ice cream.”
“Alright.”
I unsnapped my belt and scooted towards the galley, watched him as he popped two meals into the microwave. He pulled out two cups, ice cubes and set down two cans of vanilla coke in front of me. We ate in silence and the agents joined us.
The plane landed not in Tennessee like I expected but at a small airstrip on a base where the uniforms were marine issue and we disembarked down the four steps; were met by uniformed men in green camouflage that looked no older than 18. All of us got into the Hummer parked there and were driven to the big white building that bore no insignia yet I knew it was the FBI HQ at Quantico.
“The Director wants to meet you, Cale. Talk to you before we go any further. Your uncle is there with his lawyer. You okay with this?” Jed asked me as I tested my sense in the back seat of the Hummer.
So many personalities had been inside that all I got was a jumble of muted emotions so diluted that nothing came through strongly.
“Don’t have any choice. If I want this man who wants to buy me to leave me alone, I have to find him, bring him down or kill him.”
“Leave that part to us,” he said calmly. “You’ll be staying here until we find a safe place to house you in Tennessee. That’s where the rendezvous was to take place. In Memphis.
“The price for you has now climbed to $150K, Cale. That means someone has a real powerful need for you. They actually have your name listed, not just your physical description and your eyes.”
The Humvee pulled up in front of the drive under a portico where more guards armed with M16s escorted us into the building like we deserved Secret Service protection.
I knew these corridors we walked down, narrow, white walled with many doors and bulletin boards on the right. I had seen this place in my dreams and pushed past them to open the next door on my left to stand in front of the windows and look out over the woods were athletic young men and woman jogged in shorts and t-shirts.
“This is your office, Jed,” I said and he nodded, not surprised.
“Come on, we have to meet with the Director in the Conference room.”
That room I did not know; it had a view of the track and the barracks. It was a large room with a long table and padded leather chairs that swiveled and was behind double doors that unlocked with a coded key badge. Folders were laid out at the table; three men stood when we entered and my uncle came forward and hugged me. I stood stiffly under his embrace.
“Thank God, you’re alright,” he murmured. “Evil has a strange penchant for you, Cale Austin Snowdon.” He turned to the man in the suit jacket with jeans underneath, boots and a Stetson. “This is Jarrett Lee Emmons, our lawyer.”
He was South Texas with a hometown drawl, curly gray hair and faded green eyes that had squinted through many a Texas summer. His face was a road map of sun and wind; I felt comfortable around him, extended my hand and shook his.
The tall man in the blue suit was slightly overweight, reddish complexion with brown eyes and hair. His forehead was high and he had the longest earlobes I’d ever seen. A faint sheen of sweat was on his face. He put out his hand and I took it, held it and turned to Jed.
“Aspirin. Can I have two aspirin?” I dropped his hand and wiped mine against my jeans.
“You have a headache?”
I pursed my lips, went to the phone and dialed 911. Jed stood back and watched me with a bland face. The operator asked me what the emergency was and I spoke quietly, “Heart attack. Come quickly.”
She wanted to know who, was the person conscious, breathing, and had a pulse. I just said to come quick, or it would be too late.
“What’s going on?” they asked me in alarm and Jed handed me two aspirin.
I held them out to the Director, said simply, “Here.”
He swallowed them dry, looked from me to Dr. Deleon who moved close and picked up the man’s wrist, feeling for his pulse.
“Feeling indigestion, Director Kelstrom?” he asked grimly, setting the man down.
EMTs from the base burst into the room and took over. His face blanched and he turned white as the first irregular beat hit him. Sweat broke out in greasy beads as he grabbed his arm.
“Feels like an elephant’s sitting on my chest,” he gasped. Within minutes, they had him hooked up to a heart monitor, IVs, O2 and were wheeling him out to Walter Reed. The last thing I saw were his wide, frightened eyes on me.
“You’ll be okay,” I told him and he closed them in grateful surrender as the morphine kicked in.
“You are a different boy to hang around with, son,” Mr. Emmons shook his head. “How’d you know he was gonna crash?”
“I felt it when I touched him,” I said wearily. I sat down on the chair nearest me and leaned my head back. “Uncle Jamison, if I don’t stay and help them, I’ll be dead or insane within the year.”
I looked at the lawyer. “I want to become an emancipated minor. Can you do that?”
The lawyer nodded, looked at my uncle. “That okay with you, Jamison?”
“If that’s what he needs,” my uncle said slowly. “We would have liked for you to live with us, Cale. But you do what you have to.”
“Uncle James, don’t take the girls to the ranch. Ever. Promise me.”
“I promise.” He understood and was afraid.
“If they don’t go, nothing happens,” I said quickly. “Remember that. I need to sleep now. I’m sorry. I can’t handle anymore tonight.”
“Alright, Cale,” Jed Deleon spoke quietly and took my hand, pulled me up out of the chair and to the nearest elevator.
I remember stumbling towards a bed in a room built like a dorm with two beds both neatly made.
“Cale, I’ve put you in with trainee Hailey. She’s at dinner, will be in later. I’ll come back to introduce you, take you to dinner if you’re awake.”
I climbed onto the bed, shut him out, shut everything off, and didn’t hear the door close.