The Carrier (The Carrier Series Book 1) (15 page)

The next morning came too early. It wasn’t that
Ava and I stayed out too late, but rather the fact that once I got home, I was
so jacked up from the date that it took me several hours to calm down and then
finally fall asleep.

I replayed over and over the perfect night,
beginning with when Ava surprised me by introducing me to her mother. Ava’s
mother was pretty good-looking for a mom with college-aged kids, and her eyes
seemed to emit kindness. Maybe Ava was right when she said benevolence ran in
her genes.

I thought about my first very important encounter
with Ava’s mother. I knew the way into a woman’s heart had much to do with her
mother’s and best friend’s approval. I had asked if she was enjoying her summer
and commented on the book she was reading. I wanted her to feel that Ava was
safe with me. Mothers sometimes have a hard time trusting their daughters’
boyfriends.

I dragged my ass out of bed and hopped in the
shower. I had been looking for a truly authentic Dells date yesterday, and Ava
had gotten the job done. I imagined myself standing right next to Ava on top of
that towering sandstone cliff overlooking the river again. The Wisconsin River
looked more majestic and powerful from our position up above it than it did
from down on its surface in a tour boat. The sandstone cliffs that lined its
banks were handsomely framing the sparkling water at their feet. It was more
gorgeous than anything I had ever seen.

But then I remembered how the setting sun
casted soft, yellow glows around Ava’s brown hair and sparkled off her face. I
decided she looked, without a doubt, just as gorgeous as the scenery.

It was quiet and serene, and it had felt like
we were the last two people left on earth.

I turned off the water and grabbed a towel from
the rack on the wall.

It honestly was the best date I had ever been
on. We had gone through the motions of a typical first date, asking each other
questions about family, friends, and our lives up to this point. I had been
trained by the FBI to tell part of the truth, but not to blatantly lie. For the
first time in my life, I actually wanted to tell the whole truth, but I knew
that by not telling Ava, I was protecting her.

I made a couple pieces of peanut butter toast
and continued to let my mind wander about last night’s events, especially the
part when she took me to Make
Out
Rock, and we, well,
made out.

On my way out the door, I poured coffee into my
travel mug and then locked up. The whole morning I was thinking about Ava. What
she looked like last night, where she took me, what she smelled like, what she
sounded like, when I’d see her again... My mind went round and round in circles
and, quite frankly, I loved it.

I knew I wouldn’t see her today since I was
stuck at the Dairy Queen
booth
all day, and we hadn’t
made any plans for tonight. It was 8:00 when I parked in the lot. I walked down
to the booth, yawning and rubbing my eyes. I should have brought two mugs of
coffee. I opened up the door, pulled down the advertisers that were pushed up
against the windows, and slid the glass over to open the booth. I was about to
sit down on my stool when an extra large tour bus pulled up right in front of
my booth and parked there. I was about to leave the booth to explain they
couldn’t park on the street when the door opened and a mousy, unattractive lady
in her thirties got out. She walked over to my window.

“Hi there.
I
have your 8:30 tour group with
Badgerland
Tours.” She
opened up a dark brown folder and tapped her itinerary with her pencil.

This was new to me. “Ah, let me call the
office.” On the phone, Darren’s secretary told me to instruct the tour group
how to get down to the Lower Dells Docks since they weren’t in the right spot.
The lady looked a little ticked when I told her she was in the wrong place.

Just after the huge tour bus left, my phone
buzzed with a new text message. It was from Agent Harper.

Check email inbox. New
intel
on the Carrier.

 Activity on the street and sidewalk in
front of me was pretty bare, so I decided to read the email from my tablet
instead of my phone. I pulled open my CBB-issued briefcase and shuffled through
the items inside. The agency had placed me here with plenty of neat gadgets. I
found several electronic devices: tiny microphones, bugs, fancy GPS and
tracking
systems,
and night vision goggles sat among
other items I was still learning how to use. After a minute I found my tablet
near the bottom of the case.

The email was titled “classified” and I had to
enter my classification and identification passwords to open it.  It was a
good-sized email, and I wasn’t sure I was awake enough to read something so
scientifically wordy and heavy this early in the morning. I rubbed my eye
sockets and continued anyway.

New research suggests
the source of potentially harmful radiation is from a space object that likely
fell onto earth almost a century ago...

“Thank you, Agent Hill,” I imitated my boss’s
voice, “for making this integral discovery.”

About an hour after I started my shift, I was
buried deep into the science mumbo-jumbo of the report, and barely noticed the
big green army Duck pull up in front of the Dairy Queen. It parked there, and
then the engine shut off. I looked up and recognized that this Duck was
different from the Ducks that go out on tour on the Wisconsin River—this one
had stairs built into the side like a bus. I guess they couldn’t take those out
into the water or they’d end up on the bottom of the river!

A short dude sauntered off the Duck, did a
stretch, and gave an obnoxiously loud yawn. The guy caught my eye and came
walking over to the booth.

“Hey, buddy! You don’t have a coffee maker back
there, do
ya
?” He walked closer and leaned his arm on
the counter. This guy was a card.

“Ah, no.
Sorry, man.”

“Hey, just
joshin
’
ya
! I’m Ted.
How you
doin
’?”

“Hey, Ted, I’m Nolan.
Nice to
meet you.”
I looked over at the Duck. “What are you doing out here on
the street with that big Duck?”

Ted looked confused for a second. He turned
around and looked at the Duck behind him and then said, “Oh. You don’t know
about the shuttle Ducks? The drivers have to take a turn working the shuttle
one day a week. We have to drive this big boy downtown, pick up passengers, and
take them back to the docks down on Highway 12. We go back and forth all day
long.”

“Oh. That sucks. Wouldn’t you rather be out on
the river making money?”

“Exactly.
The
traffic, the
idiots
downtown... I do not look forward
to Tuesdays.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Then there was a pause as we
both weren’t sure what to say next.

“So...is this your first summer working for the
boats? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

“Yeah.
I’ve only
been working a few weeks.” I picked up the pen on the counter in front of me
and turned it in my hands.

“Oh, hey, you know any tour guides? My good
buddy, Ava, works on the Lower Dells.”

“Yes, I know Ava!” Then I realized I’d gotten a
little too excited at the sound of her name, so I toned it down a little.
“Actually, I’m sort of dating her.”

“Really?
With that
hottie
?”
He was smiling
ear to ear.

So it was okay to get excited.
“Yeah!
She is a really great girl...if you know what I
mean.”

Ted quickly wiped the smile off his face. “
Wait,
are you the jerk who threw a punch at my friend
Aaron?”

“Oh no, hold on. You’ve got it all wrong. He
was way
outta
line. Ava was yelling for help.”

 
“Really?”
He
leaned forward on the counter, looked me straight in the eyes, and lowered his
voice. “Ava is a very sweet, perfect girl, and she deserves nothing but the
best.”

I thought of a conversation Ava and I had last
night. “Oh, listen, Ted, I don’t think Ava is interested in you. She and I went
out last night and she actually told me about your friendship with her. I got
the picture she doesn’t like you that way.”

“Thanks, genius. I figured that out years ago.
I was simply trying to give you the gentleman’s warning that Ava is a great
catch, and I don’t want to see her hurt.” He gave me the stink eye.

“Gotcha.
Good
to know.” Hurting Ava was not in my plans. Actually, I had no plans at this
point. I was a little sick of the lecture from Ted, so I took an interest in
the newspaper on the counter.

Ted sensed my dislike in his words. “Listen. I
don’t know a thing about you...”

“That’s right. You don’t,” I interrupted,
probably with more cheek than needed. I don’t know why I was feeling so
defensive around Ted. 

He tried to ignore my rudeness. “But I do know
that Ava is a good judge of character. So I’m
gonna
let you know that Ava is one of my very best friends, and I trust you will be a
great friend and...
maybe
more to her. But, if you lay
a hand on her in the wrong way, I will know and I will personally make sure you
pay.” Then he paused and looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Got it?”

Sure, I punched out his friend, but what made
Ted think I would ever hurt Ava? Instead of taking offense from Ted’s little
lecture, I decided to play the whole thing off as no big deal.

I smiled a little and said, “Got it, Ted. I
assure you, I will be nothing but a perfect gentleman to Ava. I know she is
something special.” Then we shared a moment of understanding. I think Ted saw
something in me he didn’t before because his face relaxed a bit.

“Alright, buddy. I’m glad we’re clear. Now,
let’s talk business. Did you catch the Brewer’s game last night?”

I hadn’t caught the baseball game, but I did
watch
Sports Center
that morning and was able to hold my own in the
baseball conversation. We talked for a few more minutes, and then Ted had some
passengers get on his shuttle and he had to take a trip back to the Duck docks.

After he left, I thought a little bit more
about Ted, and I hoped Ava knew what a good friend she had. He really was
looking out for
her own
good. I didn’t see Ted anymore
on the shuttle Duck that day, though. The next time the shuttle showed up, some
other guy was driving, and he told me it had got busy, so they had to put Ted
on the river. He must have been happy about that.

The morning was moderately busy downtown, and
tourists were at my counter all day. I wasn’t able to get much reading done,
which was slightly annoying, but at the same time, those documents were making
me fall asleep. I felt like there was something I was oblivious to, and so the
reports didn’t make much sense to me. I learn much better audibly than
visually, so I figured I would get filled in with Agent Harper’s update
later. 

Brian’s shift began a few hours after I met
Ted. It was an odd shift where the agent came in late to help during the busy
time at the Dairy Queen booth, and then mid-afternoon they had to head over to
the old, cream-colored, antique Dells Boat Tours building down the street to
sell to the dinner cruise crowd.

Brian walked in the door and wasted no time
getting to the point.
“So, my man.
How was the big
date last night?”

“Pretty great, buddy, pretty
great.”
The kiss replayed in my mind a few times, and I began
feeling a little weak in the knees. I knew my face was giving away my daydream
because when I looked over at Brian, he had a huge smile on his face as if he
could see the same movie I had playing in my head. 

“Ah, I’ve seen that look before. You really like
this girl, don’t you?” Brian punched me playfully in the shoulder.

I wished I could wipe that stupid smile off my
face, as I was sure I looked like a gleaming idiot, but the corners of my mouth
wouldn’t turn down. “You know, Brian, I haven’t felt like this in a really,
really long time. She just...does something to me, you know?”

You’re in trouble
, my
brain warned.

“I know, I know, my friend. I’ve been there
before.” He waited a few seconds, and I could tell he was recalling some old
memories. Then his face turned hard. “She broke my heart...but hey, I’m sure
that won’t happen to you.”

Brian too?
Jeez,
did every eligible guy who walked through Ava’s path try to win her heart?

I thought for a second about how this new
relationship might end, but I couldn’t imagine. Or was it that I didn’t want to
imagine it?

“She is a pretty special woman, Nolan. Just
know that.” Brian looked pretty serious. This was the second warning of the day
about treating Ava the right way. I wasn’t sure how to take it. Did I come off
as a complete jerk to everyone who barely knew me?

“Don’t think I don’t know that, Brian. I agree
completely with you!”

An elderly couple stepped up to the ticket
window, cutting off our conversation. The subject of dating Ava didn’t come up
anymore in the day’s conversations, and for me, the shift flew by mostly
because of Brian.

Before I knew it, it was time for Brian to head
over to the other booth, leaving me to people-watch and read the newspaper.
Late in the day I caught myself checking my till and counting my tickets. I
hadn’t sold too many today and my instant reaction was disappointment.

“Nolan. This job is only a cover,” I said to
myself.

Maybe I was getting in too deep.

My phone buzzed with a new message from the
CBB. The text was requiring me to become familiar with several new apps that
had been uploaded to my phone and tablet. There was a new search engine for FBI
databases, a series of maps with several different overlays, a bio scanner with
a night feature, and a Geiger counter suitable for searching out cosmic
radiation.

Ah-ha.
Tools that could be useful.

I spent the next hour studying the maps and
learning how to use the Geiger counter.

I packed up after Ava and Ted surprised me with
a visit to my booth, and I left them eating ice cream together at the
neighboring Dairy Queen. I turned my Audi left out of the parking lot and
headed north of town on a mission.

I followed Highway 13 to a Wayside Park on the
edge of the city of Wisconsin Dells. The small park was empty as I pulled into one
of the five parking stalls available. A sign reading
restrooms
in yellow
lettering was nailed to a dark-brown, small log cabin just off the parking lot.
It looked like the kind of place where the toilet was simply a board with a
hole in it over a pit in the ground. No thanks. I’d rather crap in the woods.

I shifted the car into park and took out my
tablet, opening the Geiger counter app. I wasn’t sure how well it would work,
but I began to scan the area. In seconds a report spit out the amount of radiation
in the immediate three-hundred-foot radius. The numbers were low.
Incredibly low.

I smiled. It worked.

I frowned. This would take forever. I had to
scan the entire city in three-hundred-foot sections. But then again, I
sort of wanted it to take forever.

 
*     *     *     *

I
scanned seven more times on my way back down Highway 13 and back into the city.
Most of the readings were the same as the first, with the exception of the
last, which showed slightly higher numbers. I felt hopeful that I might be able
to find the source of the radiation after all.

There was a party flaring up at Animal Island
as I returned to my tiny summer cabin, and I decided to indulge for a while. I
was happy to meet a few more employees, and I spent a lot of time talking to a
pair of guys who lived in the Ukraine. They came over for the summer to make
some money for their families back home. They were very funny and very willing
to share their life stories with me. I found it all very interesting. 

I tried to prevent it, but I kept looking over
at Ava’s house, checking for Ava’s Olds. It hadn’t showed up yet. What could
she be doing with Ted that long? They had ice cream hours ago.

I suddenly experienced a pang of panic and wanted
to call her and check if she was okay. No, that’s stupid. Of course she was
okay. She was a grown woman and could take care of herself. Except for the time
she almost tumbled down the hill, and when she almost got molested by her ex.

Nerves rumbled in my stomach. Calling her would
definitely come off as overprotective and annoying. I tried to ignore the
nerves, but they persisted. I craved Ava by my side and felt uneasy not knowing
what she was doing. As if someone slapped me in the side of my face, I stood
abruptly from the fire and shook my whole body. How had I developed such strong
feelings for Ava so quickly?

It was almost midnight, and although the party
was still
rollin
’, I decided to call it a night. Just
as I opened the screen door to my cabin, I saw headlights one street over. It
was Ava. She got out of the car alone, walked inside, and turned the front
porch light off. She never even looked over at Animal Island.

The sinking feeling returned to my body. Maybe
I was in this relationship deeper than Ava was.