The Zul Enigma (31 page)

CHAPTER 18

Waking up after what seemed like an eternity, listening to voices arguing in
his head, it took Carlos some seconds to realise where he was. A tension he
couldn’t shake made him anxious and he looked at his watch, panicking about how
long he’d slept. It was getting on for four o’clock. Nearly time to leave the
house for good.

Rubbing his eyes he
walked over to the fridge for a can of something to take away the sour taste in
his mouth. He bent down to open the door and felt a ghostly touch of cold air
on his cheek that made him shudder. The light threw up eerie shadows,
emphasising traces the past week’s trauma had left on his face.

After days of wrestling
his doubts as he’d become increasingly disenchanted with Zul, his astonishing
appearance was the last thing Carlos had expected. It jogged him out of the
self-absorbed state he’d drifted into since the night at the motel when his
previous life had swirled out of control down the toilet, and gave him
something other than his own dismal situation to dwell on.

Zul’s revelations were
incredible. That it was a conflict in the rates of vibration causing
instability on Earth was a phenomenal yet, Carlos thought, believable claim. No
wonder he’d been so concerned with it himself. He’d sensed something serious
was wrong, but this – that the Earth and everything on it was heading for
destruction by the end of the year? The magnitude and immediacy of the
situation exceeded his worst fears.

However, there was still
so much that didn’t add up. The moment Zul had appeared, Carlos expected all
his doubts to be dispelled, but to the contrary he now had more questions than
before.

For a start, what did
Zul expect him to do, given his current circumstances? He was being watched
over every moment and once in the hospital that would be it: he had no idea how
long they’d keep him there.

Would he ever see Zul
again? From what he’d said, it seemed not and Carlos shook his head, angry with
himself for not having asked how he could summon Zul if he ever wanted, ever
needed to.

And another thing… why
hadn’t Zul appeared sooner? Could Carlos believe what he’d said? Nine and a
half months! Was that really enough time for Carlos to save the world?

But most disturbing of
all was that he had no evidence to prove Zul was what he claimed. Perhaps he
wasn’t a higher being at all. Perhaps he was just a man, one of a group with a
secret agenda or worse, as the American’s claimed, a figment of his own
imagination.

As he tilted his head back to drain the can, he noticed a tiny black speck on
the cornice. Of course! It was a safe house and every room would be equipped
with surveillance cameras. They would have recorded Zul’s virtual visit. He
wished he could steal a look at the CCTV records. Of course there’d be no point
in asking. Even if they had evidence of Zul’s appearance, the National
Intelligence crew was hardly going to admit it.

Then it dawned on
Carlos, it didn’t matter whether Zul had been captured on CCTV or not, since
the NI was sure to have recorded
all
Carlos’s communications since he’d
arrived, including his holovideo calls. Of course they knew about Zul’s visit
and they’d have alerted Barbara the moment he appeared.

He wished he could look
into her mind right then. Zul’s appearance by hologram would prove that Carlos
had been telling the truth. Dismissing him the way she had – trying to
make out he was mad – now it was her turn to look like an idiot. At least
that thought gave him some satisfaction.

He wondered what she’d
do. Whether she’d contact Bob immediately or wait, first mounting a full-scale
investigation to establish where the contact had come from. He smiled to
himself, imagining the furore that must be going on behind the scenes of the
safe house right at that very moment. They’d be making phone calls all over the
place and contacting experts from every discipline to examine the recording.
They’d break it down and pull it apart in every conceivable way, glean every
single piece of information, comb through every detail, analyse every aspect,
every nuance. But however much she delayed the moment, at some point she’d have
to tell Bob that Zul had appeared. Then they’d have to decide whether he was of
this world or not.

As did Carlos, who in
spite of some nagging misgivings, kept coming back to the one fact that no one
could explain: there was no known technology capable of lodging Zul’s e-mails
on the UN network, let alone initiating a holovideo call. It was not humanly
possible.

No matter how hard he
dwelt on this thought, in contrast with the elation he’d experienced on Zul’s
appearance, he couldn’t ignore the tug of an uneasy sensation in the pit of his
stomach jagging at him as if he was a fish on a hook. He was so weary of his
mind being a battlefield for contradictory thoughts and conflicting emotions.
It was exhausting and he’d had enough. All he wanted was to know the truth
– one way or the other – and disperse the thickening mist of
uncertainty once and for all.

Just thinking about
Zul’s theory of the universe and the evolution of the One that a few days ago
had made so much sense now seemed laughable.

Carlos Maiz –
chosen by aliens to save the world?

It really was quite
absurd.

Jumping at the ring of
the phone Carlos slopped the can of drink down his shirt. It was Mary. Time to
leave.

***

Carlos had been sitting in the car for some minutes with the driver at the
wheel, the engine running and the heater on when the back door opened. Barbara?
The opulent note in the perfume that preceded her as she slid into the back
seat next to him was oppressive and caused him to catch his breath.

‘What’s up Carlos?
Surprised?’ She raised her voice a notch. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting, we can be
off now,’ she called to the driver. Then turning back to Carlos. ‘Sure you’ve
packed everything?’

‘What are
you
doing here?’ he asked.

She knew. Carlos felt a
thrill of excitement.

She placed her
over-sized animal print handbag on the seat between them and smiled, a little
too gaily, Carlos thought.

‘I was on my way to
Baltimore to visit friends when I suddenly thought,’ she looked down as she
buckled her seat belt, ‘why
not
spend a few days in Vienna to look at
the sites? After all, I deserve a break don’t you think? So I did a U-turn and,’
she shrugged, ‘here I am.’

As she dropped her head
to adjust the belt so as not to crease the lapel of her cashmere coat, Carlos
slipped her a sideways glance trying to discern any tension in her bearing. But
he was disappointed and she settled back into the seat looking as relaxed and
confident as ever. She was a good actress. She didn’t betray the slightest hint
that she knew Zul had made a virtual appearance in Carlos’s room to inform him
that, without his help, the world would cease to exist before the year was out.

***

Three men were already on board the jet when the car drew up. As Carlos entered
the cabin, he recognised the doctor who had conducted his psychological
assessment the day before, but he’d never seen the other two and assumed they were
his new minders.

He was relieved that
Barbara made herself scarce for the first couple of hours into the flight
saying she had things to do, although to his irritation but not his surprise,
she joined him at his end of the cabin when dinner was about to be served.

‘Glass of wine Carlos?’
she asked.

The flight attendant
presented a bottle of white with one hand and a bottle of red with the other.
Carlos grunted towards the red.

The food was of gourmet
standard. The American government didn’t stint in looking after its top echelon
employees, or its detainees come to that, at least not in Carlos’s case.

Barbara tried to make
small talk, but Carlos was positive she had only joined him for one reason: to
pump him for information. For sure she knew Zul had appeared. The very fact
she’d changed her plans and was accompanying him to Vienna confirmed it.

In spite of wanting
revenge he promised himself he wouldn’t say anything impulsive, however much he
was tempted. The future of the planet must come before everything else and he
wasn’t about to jeopardise its chance of survival by making a stupid attempt to
try and get his own back. He would tread the path most beneficial to his cause.

Up until Barbara joined him Carlos had spent the entire flight putting himself
in her place and thinking through every scenario she might come up with to
explain Zul’s appearance, so he could decide on the best strategy to take when
she questioned him. As he saw it, he had three choices. He could pretend
nothing had happened, tell the truth, or play up being crazy.

After much reflection
and contrary to his initial gut reaction Carlos decided Barbara might still
believe he was playing Zul. She might think he’d videoed himself acting out
Zul’s part of the virtual conversation, initiated his own holovideo call and
streamed the video recording of Zul through to try and fool them into thinking
it was a real time virtual meeting. While she waited for her people to confirm
how he’d rigged the technical side she may still believe he was mad, in which
case it didn’t matter much what he said.

Or she may think the Zul
part had been played by someone else, in which case she would have to establish
how the holovideo call had been initiated. She might even wonder if one of her
own people could be in on it. She may believe Carlos was also involved, since
if he wasn’t she would have the added problem of proving how the e-mails had
been lodged on the UN network. If this was so, he would be best off telling the
truth because he was sure, if they wanted, they would get the truth out of him
eventually.

Alternatively, if
Barbara couldn’t find evidence to prove Zul was human, she may have to accept
he was what he claimed. This could be the first time the US government had
received information about the true process of evolution and if they believed
it, they may agree to help Carlos. In this case, Carlos had nothing to fear and
he could be totally honest.

Then he remembered Zul’s
warning that there were people who already knew the truth about evolution and
wanted to keep it secret. Some could be high up in the government or its
agencies and those people may want Carlos out of the way. They may already know
Zul was authentic and be aware of the very large can of worms Carlos could let
wriggle free. Perhaps they were already taking steps to shut him up. Perhaps
that
was why he was being shipped to a mental hospital or worse being taken to some
isolated detention centre. If this was the case, it wouldn’t matter what he
said, since the chances were he’d never see the light of day again.

But wait! There was one
other possibility: that Zul
was
a figment of his imagination. In which
case there was no record of Zul’s appearance for anyone to tell Barbara about.

As it turned out, all Carlos’s preparation was in vain. Barbara did not try and
pump him for information and as soon as she finished her meal she wished him a
good night and went to the bathroom before settling down to sleep.

CHAPTER 19

They landed at the airport in Vienna a little ahead of schedule and one of the
Austrian immigration officials who had boarded the plane stamped Carlos’s
passport. There were two black sedans parked alongside the jet and after the
luggage and everyone was loaded, they drove in procession to Carlos’s
penthouse.

When he went through his
things, particular, bordering on obsessive as he was, he knew someone had
searched his apartment. Probably looking for the Zul outfit, he thought with a
wry shake of his head.

He sorted his belongings
into two piles: to bin and to take and was finished in less than an hour. He’d
never been a hoarder. Everything left, including his Stones memorabilia,
Corrinne could box up and ship to him in Madrid.

He could hardly wait to
get out of the apartment. All his memories there with Elena had been soured by
Drew’s confession. He couldn’t care less if he never saw the place again.

Next he was taken to,
what Carlos assumed was, another safe house located near UNO City, but Barbara
made no move to get out of the car. Instead she said, ‘Carlos, I’ll say goodbye
to you here. I doubt whether we’ll see each other again,’ and she presented her
hand for him to shake.

He looked at her,
surprised. He’d been positive she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight
until he was safely checked into the hospital in Madrid or wherever else they’d
decided to take him. This was the second time he’d read her wrong in a matter
of hours and it disturbed him. He didn’t know if he should be relieved or even
more worried.

He shook her hand with
marginally more enthusiasm than had she been a leper and said, ‘Hey, it’s
Sunday. You better hurry, everything will be closed in a couple of hours.’

She chuckled. ‘Oh
Carlos! I was kidding about the sightseeing. I had to get to Europe at short
notice and since you were flying out it made sense to pool resources.’

Carlos could hardly
believe what he was hearing.