The Deep Beneath (25 page)

Erika’s hand felt warm and electric – alive. No one had ever voluntarily touched him before. Any physical contact he had ever had was required as part of their job.
Do not leave me
.

“Can you speak?” Jack asked.

Tex forced his head up and through bleary eyes made out two people standing on either side of Erika’s kneeling form. Tex tried to lick his lips, but his mouth remained dry. He laughed internally at the irony that while his body was slowly drowning, his lips and throat were dry as bones in the noonday sun. Finally he got his mouth to work. “I am okay,” he croaked.

“You don’t look okay,” Erika said.

“Yeah. No offense, but you look like dog crap,” said Ian.

“I did not know I was going to have visitors or I would have freshened up,” Tex said. His voice sounded like crunching crackers. He forced a wan smile to his lips.

“That horrid woman. Look what she’s done to you. How am I supposed to leave you in this condition?”

Erika’s voice sounded forced and tense. Tex lifted his head and tried to see Erika clearly. He blinked and her face came into focus. Her lip had nearly healed, but her right eye was still ringed by a purple bruise that had faded to green around the edges. Her hair was still pulled back, but a few stringy strands fell on either side of her face. She wore A.H.D.N.A. clothes, and Tex thought that they made her look somehow smaller than the black jeans, boots and black T-shirt she had been wearing when he met her. Overall she looked tired. And something else.
Sad. So very sad.
She knows the truth, then.

Tex almost wished that Commander Sturgis had come with them. He imagined crushing her throat and watching her writhe on the floor like a fish out of water, gulping for precious air. But she was not there, and even if she was, he was too weak to accomplish such a thing. Commander Sturgis, wherever she was, continued to breathe easily while his lungs were heavy and burdened by water.

“What’s wrong with him? Why is he so weak and barely able to speak?” asked Ian.

“The air in this very humid room has dampened his nervous system,” said Sewell. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t do permanent damage or anything. No different than a human getting a sedative.”

Very different. I am drowning.

“Is that why you left Alecto outside?” asked Erika.

Alecto? Outside?
Tex pulled himself inward for a moment and tried with everything he had to reach out to her. To feel her presence even if he could not speak with her. But he felt nothing except the pain in his lungs and the ache in his joints from his cells slowly drowning.

“Yes,” said Sewell. “That way her abilities aren’t weakened. Did you hear that, 9? She’s out there to make sure you don’t try anything. You’ve got a few minutes to say goodbye to your friends here, then they’re going back up top.”

Tex lifted his head again and searched the blobs in front of him to focus on Sewell. He blinked several times and his eyes focused long enough to see Sewell standing to the left of him and closest to the door. Sewell’s face was as ruddy and puffy as always. He was wringing his hands and licked his lips.

“You know I am not going to try anything, Sewell. I can barely hold my head up. I am hardly in a condition to attempt an escape.”

Sewell laughed nervously. “Well, that may be, but Commander Sturgis isn’t taking any chances.”

Erika removed her hand from Tex and stood up. “Look at him,” said Erika. “He can barely stay upright. This is … he’s nearly –”

Jack took Erika’s hand and he moved his thumb gently along the curve of her hand and glanced at her. Tex did not like seeing Erika’s hand in Jack’s. Again he felt the urge to hurt Jack. If his nervous system had not been flooded, he may have lashed out at Jack. For a brief moment he was glad of the humidity so that he could not act on his strange and newfound feelings of jealousy.
I must learn to control these thoughts.

“Please, Mr. Sewell, allow us the opportunity to say goodbye in privacy,” said Tex.

“No can do, 9.”

“Please.” Tex coughed and his voice was hoarse and barely more than a whisper. “These are the only friends I have ever had. Ever
will
have. Grant me this one dignity. You, the guards and Alecto will be just outside the door.” Tex forced his head up so that he could look Sewell in the eye. “Please.”

Sewell shifted nervously. A bead of sweat rolled from his temple down his cheek.

“Please, Mr. Sewell,” Erika said. She let go of Jack’s hand and reached for Sewell’s. “Give him – and us – the opportunity for the proper goodbye that Commander Sturgis wants us to have.”

Sewell turned to Erika and searched her face. His eyes darted back and forth from Erika to Tex and then to the guards. Finally he said, “Oh, all right. But five minutes, no more. I’ll probably have hell to pay for this. We’ll be right outside with Alecto, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Ian said.

Sewell dropped Erika’s hand, motioned to the guards, and they left the pool room. As soon as the doors were closed, Tex said, “So you were able to tell them, Jack?”

“Tell who what?” asked Ian.

“He doesn’t know yet,” Jack said.

“Know what? What the hell’s going on?” Ian’s brows were drawn together, his mouth pulled tight with anger and impatience.

“You may want to sit down for this,” said Erika.

Ian did not sit.

“We’re not going home, Ian,” Erika said. Her voice trembled. “She’s going to have us killed.”

“What? No, she had us sign the agreement. We’re going home, like she said.” Ian’s voice was raised close to an octave and echoed loudly in the nearly empty, cavernous room.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” Jack said.

“Why would you tell me this? Was it you?” Ian pointed to Tex. “You’re getting Erika all worried for nothing.”

“It is true, Ian. I wish it were not,” Tex said.

“You can’t trust him. He kidnapped us. Got us into all this trouble. And he’s lying to you.”

Erika grabbed for Ian’s hand, but he pulled it away from her. His eyes were filled with water. “I’m going home, dammit. I’m going home.” Ian walked toward the door.

“Ian, stop. We’ve only got a few minutes and we have to talk to Tex and try to make a plan. I need you to cowboy up for a minute and stop freaking out. You’ll have time for that later,” said Erika.

Ian stopped walking away from them, but he did not return to their side either. “This is a government facility. Sturgis is military. Look, Jack, I know you believe in conspiracy crap, but I don’t. My dad was military. They don’t just go around killing innocent teenagers. You guys are letting your imaginations run away with you.”

“Imaginations? Ian, what the hell do you call all this?” Jack gestured with his arms outward and then pointed them toward Tex. “Are we in a delusion right now?”

Ian did not answer.

“I understand your fear, Ian,” Tex said. “And I know that you blame me. As you should. I regret my decision to force the three of you to take me to Sedona. If I could undo it, I would. But there may still be hope for all of us. The greys –”

“Have they contacted you again?” asked Jack.

Tex shook his head slowly. It took great effort. “I have tried – to contact –” he rasped.

“What’s this all about?” Ian asked.

“When I was at the doc’s office getting the bullet out, Tex and I were able to speak. For a few minutes, anyway. And he told me that he read Sturgis’ mind on the trip back here. That’s how he knew what her true plans are for us. And he also had another communication from the greys. They intend to rescue him. Here. Isn’t that right?” asked Jack.

Tex nodded.

“So Tex asked me to tell you guys, but I couldn’t until now. And he said that if the greys come for him, that he’ll try to get them to take us with them. That is, if we’re still alive.”

Ian walked toward them and laughed. “Us, go with aliens?” He laughed more.

“Do you think they will be willing to take us too?” asked Erika.

“Erika! Listen to yourself. How can you consider such a thing? They want to start a war with us, remember? I don’t think they’re going to roll out the red carpet and say, ‘We come in peace’,” said Ian.

“You’re assuming that Commander Sturgis is a relatively sane person, not a nut-burger. She’s a paranoid loon,” said Erika.

“That UFO crashed in what, like ’47? If the greys haven’t started something by now, they’re not going to,” said Jack.

“Yeah, it was all probably Cold War paranoid ‘red scare’ bullshit that started this whole thing. She’s lying about a war just to fuel her creepy empire down here, and she’s lying about sending us home too. Why would you believe her?” asked Erika.

“Why would you believe him?” Ian said. He pointed to Tex.

Erika’s voice settled back to its normal level. “I don’t know. I just do. I guess if I have to pick sides, I’ll side with Tex and grey aliens I’ve never met than with psycho bitch and the government that would put her in charge of anything. And if I’m going to die, maybe I’d rather die in space than in this freakin’ cave.”

Ian stood with his arms crossed across his chest. His face was red with anger and his jaw set in defiance.

“It may be a moot argument,” Tex said. “I cannot communicate further with the greys. They may be unable to find me let alone rescue us.”

“Maybe they can sense you somehow, like pick up on your brainwaves or something, even if you can’t talk to them,” Erika said.

Her words brought a feeling of hope and relief over Tex. He looked up at her through his blanket and forced his mouth to smile. “Thank you,” he said. “Your words encourage me.” He reached his hand up through the blanket and hoped that she would take it and not recoil from him. Erika did not recoil.

Her hand was about the same size as his though not quite so thin. Erika’s skin was soft and dry. As he held her hand in his, he could feel her pulse quicken in her veins. Tex looked up into Erika’s eyes. Her pupils were dilated. Her normally brown eyes looked nearly black, though not quite so dark as his.

You do not fear me, Erika Holt. In fact, you may well be as curious about me as I am about you.

Jack shifted on his feet. Erika withdrew her hand from Tex’s.

“I don’t agree with you on this,” said Ian.

“Well, it may not matter what we think,” said Jack.

“Why is that?” asked Erika.

“Because we’re assuming that the greys really are coming for Tex and that they’ll be able to find him
and
that they’d be willing to take us too. A lot of ifs.”

“And you’re assuming that Commander Sturgis plans to kill us,” said Ian.

They had argued themselves into an impasse.

“Our time runs short, so I will make this suggestion. If you see an opportunity to escape this place, take it. You have known Commander Sturgis for a very short time, Ian. But I have known her the whole of my life. You may feel that you can trust her, but I
know
that you cannot. No one can. I suggest that you do not leave your fate up to her if you have a choice in the matter.”

Ian did not respond, but his face was less pinched than it was before. It seemed to Tex that perhaps Ian would consider what he had said.

Erika knelt once more in front of Tex. She reached her hand to his and touched it through his blanket.

“This may well be goodbye, Tex. If we do make it out of here, I’ll want to forget any of this happened to me. To go on with life as usual. But I know I won’t be able to. I’ll never forget you.”

Tex looked into Erika’s eyes and there was a sparkle of light in her left eye. A tear. It did not fall, and Tex was glad of it. The single drop of water glistened at the corner of her eye, reflecting back to him an image of himself with an image of Erika in his own eye. It was as if he had a camera that had taken a picture of the scene, of the two of them together. And he forced his mind to remember the image, as it may be the last he would ever have of him and Erika together.

“I shall never forget you either, Erika Holt.”

Soldiers marched the three back to their cells at gunpoint. Alecto and Sewell walked behind them silently until they reached the thick steel doors that led to the hall containing their cells.

As soon as the metal door clanged closed behind Erika, any shred of hope that Ian was right – that Sturgis would not murder three teenagers just to keep her hybrids secret – was gone. They weren’t going home.
I really am going to die.
Erika did not cry because she knew if she started, she would never stop. She did not scream because she knew that no one could hear her.

Instead she paced like a caged cat. When she tired of pacing, she lay on the hard bed. Bored with staring at the single bulb above her, she jogged in place then did push-ups.
I’m not going to go batty. I won’t let her do that to me.
The phrase became a mantra in her mind as she tolerated another day in her tin can. A day that felt like a week.

Erika considered her options and found that she didn’t have any. None except the remote possibility that Tex’s alien cousins were in fact mounting a hybrid rescue mission. If they came for him, perhaps it would be an opportunity for escape. Erika tucked the idea neatly into the back pocket of her mind and waited, though for what she did not know.

She had fallen into a restless sleep and was jarred awake by the sound of the clanking of her metal door. Still groggy, her first thought was that maybe it was Tex rescuing her. The idea of escape primed her adrenalin pump and she was instantly awake, her heart thumping in her chest, her eyes wide and alert. But Sergeant Freeman’s wide silhouette was in the doorway, not Tex. The heat of her adrenalin rush was replaced with the cold ice of dread in her veins. Freeman had two other guards behind him, all wielding guns.

“Get up. We’re moving out,” Freeman said.

As Erika walked into the hallway, she saw that they had already rounded up Jack and Ian. The three exchanged glances but didn’t speak. She hadn’t thought either of them could look worse, but somehow they managed it. Erika wondered if she looked as rode hard and put away wet as they did.
They look as hopeless as I feel.

Once again they shuffled down the long, grey corridor. Erika tried to think positively. She tried to focus on school and how close she was to graduation. She thought about her mom and how maybe she would finally sober up once and for all. But mostly she thought about Jack and Ian. About how she wished that they’d never gone out to the desert that night.
I should have gone to the stupid party
. If she hadn’t insisted they avoid the crowd, Ian and Jack wouldn’t be in danger.
It seems like ages ago
.