Vrin: Ten Mortal Gods (31 page)

“Hi, Stephen, this is Thomas!” I spoke loudly into the watch.

“
Thomas!
It’s great to hear your voice! Why are you yelling?”

“They were from the FBI, really
strange
looking guys, they wanted to know if I’d heard from you.

My heart skipped a beat. “You didn’t tell them anything. And what do you mean
strange?”

“It was like-- like they were straight out of a men’s catalog or something, every hair in place, perfect clothes,
perfect
skin, a little
too
perfect. It was
weird.”

“But you’re not
safe
with me.”

Sam got off the couch and walked toward us. “You’re not in any condition to go anywhere by yourself. We need to stay with you.”

Annie’s eyes were pleading. “Sam’s right, Thomas. We just got you back, I don’t want to take a chance of losing you again.”

I looked at Annie, then back at Sam. “Well, I
need
to find out what’s going on, and that’s going to draw attention to me...”

Sam gripped my shoulder. “We’re in this together. This is
our
problem.”

“She’s the only lead I have.” I pulled the envelope from my pocket and held it out. “Solomon told me to give this to her.” Annie slid it from my grasp and opened it. “I know it doesn’t make any sense,” I said, “but it must be important somehow.”

“This is it?” She held up the tiny piece of paper.

Sam came around and looked over her shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s what doesn’t make sense. Why would he ask me to deliver a packet, with just my
name?”

“Are you supposed to mail it?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know. Everything happened so fast, I don’t remember exactly what Solomon said. But I’m guessing this Hazel Brown knows
something,
and I want to know what she knows.”

They both nodded.

“Which means, I need to go to Florida to find her. And if those men tracking me are the same ones who want me
dead
, I don’t want to put my family in danger.”

“But you just agreed to let us...”

I put my hand up. “Annie, we can all go to Florida, but when we get to Marathon, you and Rebecca need to stay behind for a bit-- just until we know it’s safe. Okay?” I looked over at Rebecca, quietly sitting on the couch.

“Andy lives in Homestead,” Annie said abruptly. “We could stay at his place. Plus, we’ll have access to the Florida branch if we need it.”

“We have a branch in
Florida?”

“You always talked about how much you loved it there.” She smiled and shrugged.

I gave her a warm look.
“You
are a faithful woman, Annie Tardin.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I have my moments.”

THE FALLEN

001001011001110

The trip from Haiti to Miami was surprisingly uneventful. Several times I tried to call Hazel Brown, but she was unavailable. I was, however, welcome to leave a message.

In Miami we had a company car brought to the airport under strictest secrecy. Sam and I dropped Annie and Rebecca off at Andy’s in Homestead, then continued on down the Florida Keys to Marathon.

“Pinrow!” I said with a point.

“Blinker-on,
”
said the synthetic voice of the car. “Turning-
left-
onto-
Pinrow-Street.”
The digital voice was
annoyingly
perfect.

“Can we turn that thing off?” I said, searching the dashboard. “It’s getting on my nerves.”

“GPS voice off,” said Sam, giving me a big grin.

I gave him a big smirk. “I could have done
that.”

Slowly we rolled down Pinrow Street to a one story white stucco home. “There it is,” I said, pointing. “128.”

Sam drove past it, turned around in a driveway a few houses down, then pulled to the side of the road. “Now what?” he asked.

“Well, it looks like there’s no one home, but...” As I spoke a tiny compact electric car pulled into the driveway. An overweight, short, black woman in an bright orange dress stepped out. She reached into the car and came out clutching a stack of papers and a briefcase. Awkwardly, she scurried up the front steps and disappeared inside the house.

“That must be our lady,” I said.

“
She
is going to help us?” Sam looked at me with eyebrows raised.

“That's the plan,” I said, checking out the back window. “I’ll go talk to her. You stay here, and call me if you see anything suspicious.”

“O-
kay.”
He nodded. “How long will you be?”

“If I haven't contacted you in fifteen minutes, come looking for me,” I said, stepping out of the car. Slowly I walked toward the house, casually scanning the area. As I reached the front steps, I took another scan of the neighborhood, then gave the doorbell a poke.

Inside, the shades were drawn, causing the otherwise normal interior to look dark and foreboding. I followed her into an office where she sat down at a computer. She tapped a button on the desk then reached her hand toward me. “The envelope please.”

“Don't you even want to know who I...”

“I know who you are.” She reemphasized her outstretched hand. I handed her the envelope and she opened it quickly. A smile crossed her face. “How appropriate,” she said, tapping the button again. “Load file twelve. Enter letter sequence, cap T, lower h,o,m, bold
a,
unbold, s, space, t,a,r,d, bold
i,
unbold, n.”

I shook my head. Of course it was a
code.
How could I have missed it?

The screen responded to her commands and the face of Doctor Solomon appeared. “Hello, Miss Brown. I'm sorry we can no longer talk directly, but I do need more information. I have uploaded the latest data to the site. Please use this new sequence to decrypt the access code. And please tell Thomas I am sorry for our less than auspicious meeting, and that I am grateful for his assistance. I will contact you again by currier at the new address listed in the data. May the true God bless you and protect you.”

The True God?
Dr. Solomon was a religious man?

Hazel set the note aside. “Download Vrin encryption with access password.” The screen went crazy, then became dark again. Hazel swiveled around. “We need to go!” She grabbed a transparent cube from an indent in the desk and stood up.

“Dad?” said my watch. “A black van just pulled up in front of the house.”

Hazel’s eyes rounded. “They were quicker this time.”

Quicker?
Was she referring to how fast they had gotten to the house after she accessed the information? That wasn’t quick, that was impossible!

She clutched my arm.
“This way!”
We scurried down the hall and out the back door, down the steps and into a concrete cylinder, which lay sideways along the back of the house.

“Plug your ears, honey! It's gonna be
loud!”

My fingers barely reached my ears as the shock wave of the explosion hit. The concrete creaked and shuddered. Loud thumps sounded.

“
Move!”
she said, scurrying out.

Dust and smoke hit my face as I climbed out on shaky limbs. And saw what was left of the house.

Together we stumbled down the street to where Samuel sat behind the wheel. Terrified. “They
walked through
the walls!” he screamed, as we climbed into the car.

“Go!
Quickly!”
Hazel ordered from the back seat.

“WHAT
WERE
THOSE GUYS!” Sam shrieked. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

“
Now!”

He turned the key and peeled out onto the road. “I am
freaked out,
Dad!”

I twisted and looked over the seat at Hazel.
“What just happened?”
My voice came out in a high pitch.

She had the briefcase on her lap and was frantically typing.

“Hazel,
What just HAPPENED?”

“Turn on to Route 1.” Her voice was calm.

I looked at Sam.
“Do it!”

“This is
nuts!
People don’t just walk through walls!”

I looked over the seat. “Hazel, who...”

“Take a turn at the next light. I'll explain in a minute,” she said, still typing.

I nodded at Sam. The wheel spun and the tires screeched as we took off down a canal road. I looked back at Hazel. “It’s a dead end!”

We emerged from the houses to see a dock running parallel to the road, and Hazel, frantically untying a speed boat. Sam helped me across the yard and into the boat, then grabbed the ropes from Hazel. She climbed over the edge and hobbled to the front.

“Ho!
Wait a minute!”
Sam yelled as the boat began to pull away from the dock. The boat slowed and he jumped aboard.

I made my way up to the vinyl co-pilot's seat. “Hazel! We need some answers!”

“I imagine you do.”

“
Who were those guys?
”

“Those, my friend, were the fallen ones.”

I stared at her.
“ --What?
You mean, like, from Davata Notrals?”

“Come
on!
You're telling me we’re being pursued-- by
fallen angels?”

“Yep.”

Again I stared. “O-
kay.
Let’s just say I believe you, which I don’t, but if I did--
why
would fallen angels be interested in
me?”

She kicked the boat into high gear as we headed out into the Gulf of Mexico. “Because you know too much about Vrin!” she shouted above the noise of the wind.

“
Vrin?”
My response was almost a scream.

“
All your questions will be answered soon! We need to...”
Her words were lost above the roar of the engine.

The boat bounced over the waves and I held on for dear life. My tired body was
not
appreciating this. At all! Finally the engine slowed and the boat sidled up to a run down excuse for a houseboat.

“Come on,” Hazel said, quickly stepping over the side. Sam jumped out and started securing the boat. “We should be safe here,” Hazel added.