The Watchers (3 page)

“
But...? Is this like that
time with Alex?”

“
No. You need to be here. I
was due to tell you five minutes ago, but the power over Bismarck
delayed me.”

“
Power over Bismarck? You
mean, an alien?” Or rather, a demon?

“
There are forces at work
that you know nothing about but will soon learn. You are needed
here.”

She knew better than to argue with
him. Reaching for the door, she asked, “Are you coming with
me?”

“
I’ll join you shortly.
There are things I need to tend to out here.”

She glanced around them but didn’t see
anything. Even so, she didn’t doubt him. Something was there, and
even though she didn’t know what or where it was, she could feel
its presence. Eager to get away from it, she entered the
building.

Silence. Eerie silence. Shivering, she
pressed forward and made her way down the empty hallway. Her shoes
echoed softly off the linoleum floor. Once she stood in front of
the elevators, she took a moment to gather her courage before she
pressed the down button. Then she crossed her arms and waited. She
had no idea what she was doing or what she’d find.

I’m losing it. I’m
completely losing it.

That was the only reason why she’d do
something this stupid. But the angel wouldn’t lead her into
something that would hurt her. Would he?

The ding from the elevator brought her
attention to the doors that parted for her. Before she could change
her mind, she stepped into the elevator. She got ready to press a
button, but the one to take her down lit up and the doors closed.
Gasping, she jerked and backed into the wall.

Okay. That was
spooky.

She waited for an agonizing thirty
seconds while the elevator descended. As soon as the doors opened,
she ran out of it, glad that nothing else supernatural happened.
She looked behind her, but nothing had followed her out. At least,
she didn’t think something followed her out.

The doors shut and she became aware of
the dim corridor. All the lights were off except for a few in the
ceiling. To her left, she heard the sound of people talking. She
took a deep breath. Okay. So now she knew where to go. Despite her
slight trembling, she moved her feet.

I
can do this. I can. The angel said it would be
alright.

Her steps came to a halt and her
eyebrows furrowed. Wait. Did the angel say it would be alright? She
mentally ran over their conversation and realized all he told her
was to go.

Oh great. He never said
I’d be okay!

She turned to go back to the elevator,
but a dark shape hovering in the corner of a nearby doorway stopped
her.

The watchers are watching
you.

With a small squeak, she
bolted down the hallway toward the people. She reached the only
room with its lights turned on and instinctively came to a stop
right outside the door. Still shaken up, she crouched down so that
she could hide behind the table along the back of the room. A quick
look behind her assured her that the...
thing
...hadn’t followed
her.

She found a group of chairs located at
the end of the table and hid between them. Peering through the
chairs, she saw a group of three men and the alien in the front of
the room. She recognized the one named Devon—the one who’d injected
Alex with something. She also recognized the governor of North
Dakota. That left the other man and the alien.

“
So things are going
according to plan?” the governor asked as he wiped sweat from his
forehead with a neatly folded cloth.

“
Don’t be weak,” the alien
said. “Only the fit will survive.”

Survive?
Autumn gulped.
Survive
what?

“
Nothing must compromise
the plan,” the alien continued.

Devon leaned forward, placing his
elbows on the table they were all sitting at. “You and your family
will be fine as long as you cooperate.”

“
The sound wave frequencies
are only a short-term plan,” the unnamed man spoke. “It won’t
control the masses for much longer.”

“
Which is why we need to
get their attention onto other matters,” the alien said. “The
sooner, the better. You humans are slow in getting things
done.”

“
I had a couple of phone
calls and letters this past week. People are asking questions,” the
governor said. “I don’t believe they’ll be fooled much
longer.”

“
Get their minds off of why
we’re here,” the alien replied. “Threaten their
security.”

The governor winced. “North Dakota is
a relatively peaceful state and—”

“
So do what you can to
limit the number of casualties,” the unnamed man barked. “This
isn’t why we put you in this office, governor! You served in the
Gulf War. You’re supposed to be trained to deal with
stress.”

“
I was protecting life over
there.”

The man laughed. “Protecting life? I
got news for you, Governor West. That war and the one over there
right now have absolutely nothing to do with
protection.”

At least not human
protection,
the alien thought.

Autumn blinked. Was she the
only one who heard that? She examined the somber looks on the three
men’s faces as they continued to talk about
the plan
. The alien wasn’t looking at
her, but she had a clear view of its profile. She recalled the
alien she saw at Area 51. When the angel touched her, she caught a
glimpse of its true identity. She wondered if the same thing would
happen if she focused on this one. Taking a slow, deep breath, she
concentrated on its face, and after a few seconds, its features
darkened and eyes turned red.

Then its head began to turn in her
direction.

She quickly ducked so that the entire
chair blocked her from its view.

“
Governor,” Devon said in a
firm enough tone that made the others quiet. “This is not about the
world as we knew it. It’s about surviving in the new age. If things
get out of control, we have a safe place for you and your family to
go to, but you have to play by the rules if you want to make it. My
boss will see to it.”

Autumn dared to peek back through the
space in the chair and saw that the alien had its attention
directed back at the men. She breathed a soft sight of relief. That
was close.

Devon nodded in satisfaction. “Good.
We’re all agreed. We’ll vamp up the frequency in all the electronic
devices enough so that people will go back to sleep. It’s a
temporary fix but it’ll work.”

“
We’ll need a suitable
distraction too,” the unnamed man added. “We can’t afford to take
our chances.” He looked pointedly at the governor. “You know what
you need to do, so I expect you to do it.”

People will go back to
sleep?
A suitable distraction?
Just what did all that mean? Autumn was really
beginning to wish she hadn’t ventured down here. This thing went
deeper than she thought...or wanted to think. She rubbed her
forehead. Her fingers itched for a cigarette, but there was no way
she could light one up—not here...and not now. So she
subconsciously grabbed for something, and that something happened
to be her sister’s cross necklace that hung around her
neck.

“
I have to get back to DC,”
the unnamed man said as he stood up. “I do give reports on what the
governors in each state do or don’t do to cooperate with the New
World Order.”

Governor West closed his eyes for a
moment but nodded his understanding before he stood up.

The others followed suit, and soon,
they left the room.

When she was alone, she exhaled and
released her hold on the necklace. She was safe. Now all she had to
do was wait for a few minutes until they left and get out of there.
Then she could talk to Alex.

She counted to two minutes before she
slipped out of her hiding place. Just when she stood up, someone
turned the lights off. She gasped and spun around.

Devon frowned, his hand still on the
light switch, and narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you doing
here?”

She waited for her “guardian” angel to
appear and hide her like he did before, but he didn’t. Oh great!
What was she supposed to do? The angel told her to come here, she
did, and now he abandoned her? It wasn’t like she was being
careless this time.

Devon put his hand down from the light
switch and stepped into the dark room lit only by the lights in the
corridor. “I asked you a question.”

She immediately stepped back, looking
for something to arm herself with. She gripped the chair. It wasn’t
light. She hid her aggravation. Where was her angelic helper?
Clearing her throat, she said the first thing that came to her
mind. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced over his shoulder before he
took out a small rectangular device from his pocket. After
adjusting something, he placed it on the table by the door. Then he
headed in her direction.

Startled, she picked up the heavy
chair and got ready to throw it at him. “Stop!”

He was in the middle of the room, just
a few feet from her. “You think this is some kind of game? You
follow people into buildings and listen in on their
conversations?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“You’re one to talk. Telling the governor to harm some people so
you can put the ignorant masses back to sleep.”

“
You’d do well to find
other things to do with your time.”

He took another step forward, and she
flung the chair at him. It missed him. She grunted. She didn’t even
get close! Why did she have to be such a lousy aim?

She noted the concern on his face.
“Look, I don’t want you to get into trouble, alright? You shouldn’t
be here. My suggestion is that you leave and forget what you saw
and heard.”

She shook her head. How could he
expect her to do that? Whatever he and those with him had in mind
wasn’t right. It wasn’t decent. She knew it.

“
Either you forget it or
they’ll kill you,” he said, his voice solemn. “Do you want to
live?”

“
Of course, I want to
live.”

“
Then you know what you
need to do.” He motioned for her to go to the door. “I’ll let you
off with a warning this time.”

She debated whether it was wise to
stay there and insist he tell her exactly what the men had been
talking about, but a movement in the hallway caught her attention.
The angel waved her forward. She rolled her eyes. Oh sure. Now,
when she’d been caught and scolded, the angel decided to show
up.

With a heavy sigh, she strode out of
the room. She went over to the angel and wanted to ask why he took
so long to get to her, but Devon closed the door behind him and
faced her.

“
You’ll have to go out
another way,” he said.

She glanced from the angel and back to
Devon. Didn’t Devon even see the angel? Devon took her arm and led
her in the opposite direction from which she came. Nope. He didn’t
see the angel. Her gaze drifted to his hand, and she saw he was
holding that strange device.

“
What is that?” she asked,
keeping her voice low.

“
Let’s just say it ensures
no one knows this conversation took place.”

His steps were hurried so she decided
not to press the issue. Instead, she walked with him to a staircase
and climbed a flight before he led her out into a vacant corridor.
The entire time, the angel followed, and none of them spoke.
Something in Devon’s movements were anxious, so she decided the
sooner she got out of there, the better.

They reached a door and he opened it.
The bright sunlight made her squint as she stepped outside, the
angel close behind. She turned, expecting Devon to leave too, but
he shut the door and the lock clicked into place.

“
What just happened?” she
asked the angel.

“
Exactly what needed to,”
he answered.

“
What? That I would hear
the governor’s going to stage something?”

“
No.” The angel smiled. “It
wasn’t you that needed to be reached this time.”

Then he vanished.

She groaned and threw her hands up in
the air. Of course, he spoke in weird, cryptic words. Why wouldn’t
he? He was supernatural, after all. Not once did he give her
clarity on anything. Why would he start now? Deciding she’d had
enough, she darted across the lawn spanning the side of the capitol
building and headed for her car.

Chapter Four

Alex sat across from Autumn and
studied her expression. “That’s it?” he asked.

She shrugged. Though the plate of
lasagna looked appealing, she had little appetite. She finally gave
up on trying to enjoy her half-eaten meal and put her fork down.
Leaning forward on the table in the family restaurant, she said, “I
don’t understand what’s going on.”

He took a drink of soda and set it
back down. “So you think they’re emitting sound waves to keep us
oblivious to what’s really going on?”