Legacy: chapter 18
The United Airlines terminal lobby at Dulles International Airport was surprisingly quiet for this hour of the evening. Thomas Richards and his small group of family were almost alone in the huge room. The only souls near-by were the ticket desk clerks and several other passengers waiting to catch the same flight to Buenos Aries that Thomas had booked earlier that day. The silence affected everyone, even the children. Connie and Cecei focused deep concentration on the pages of a coloring book while Brandon was content to sleep. Rebecca, on the other hand was wide awake, and displaying all the signs of a nervous first time air traveler. Thomas reached over and placed his hand around hers.
"There's really nothing to it," he said. "It gets a little bumpy during take off and landing but its smooth in between."
She glanced up and smiled lightly, "I know, I just keep thinking of things that could go wrong."
"I did that my first time too."
"I know it will be okay as long as your there, dad."
Thomas leaned back in the impossibly uncomfortable lobby chair while Rebecca looked over and watched the girls drawing. No matter how hard Thomas tried to force his former life away, there was always some buried memory popping out of the recesses of his mind to remind him.
All the horrible knowledge! The killings, the setups, the conspiracies… Thomas had been right in the middle of it for far too long. He feared that his escape might have come too late to save him. Not from a premature death at the hands of Keith or his bumbling colleges, but from the poisoning of his very soul. You can only spend so much time around pure evil before you are forever changed by that evil.
Even the idea to flee to Argentina was a cold reminder of the evil induced change. As Thomas tried to run from his past, he was walking in the footsteps of a former boss who had fled Buenos Aries some years earlier to avoid prosecution for his deeds.
Even the nameless, faceless men in charge of the U.S. government's darkest agency were vulnerable to the strong arms of justice. A fact that brought Thomas some comfort, and an idea so devious and underhanded that he felt shame for having thought of it. Of course, it would be the right thing to do, as long as Keith Sheppard was not the judge of right and wrong in the case.
Thomas chuckled lightly to himself, Rebecca looked over.
"Something funny?" she asked.
Thomas turned toward her with a sly grin showing on his wrinkled features, "no, just thought of something from work…" he glanced toward a bank of pay phones near the center of the lobby. "I need to make a phone call, I'll only be a minute."
"Just relax." Allie sat opposite Jamie in a hard backed wooden chair with her eyes closed. They were holding hands, "picture him as you last remember him."
"I'm trying…" Jamie kept his eyes shut tightly. He could feel a definite flow of something not normal between himself and Allie. His instincts told him to be afraid but there was a power in that unusual, warm, flowing sensation that calmed him.
"You're not relaxing, I can feel your muscles tense." Allie spoke monotonously. She was trying to subtly prod the boy's subconscious mind. To what end? Allie had no idea. But there was little else she could do at the moment. This entire experiment was based on a very shaky theory, Allie decided not to tell Jamie that they might be wasting time though.
"I can't do this, I don't have any special power stuff…"
"Yes you can. Everyone has the ability, extremely few can even begin to use it."
Jamie opened his eyes, "but I'm not one of them."
Allie sensed his cut off in concentration. She opened her eyes revealing two solid black orbs, "I am." she said, her monotonous voice low and forceful.
Jamie was caught in a trance by the reflective blackness of Allie's eyes, "what… what happened?" he asked.
"Nothing…" Allie squeezed his hands, "concentrate!"
Jamie slammed his lids shut once more. "Tell me how this is supposed to help my brother again?"
"All things are connected, animals which are closely related share a stronger connection."
"That doesn't explain anything." Jamie protested.
"You don't need to understand, just trust that it's true."
"How do I know it's true if I cant understand it?" Jamie opened his eyes again.
Allie released his hands and sighed, "you ask way too many questions…" she opened her eyes as the blackness retreated, "it probably wouldn't have worked anyway."
"Now what do we do?" Jamie asked.
"I don't know!" exhausted strain was clear on Allie's voice as she stood up. "I've never had to do anything like this… if Mary were here… she knows about all the undercover government stuff."
"Can't you go to your mother ship or something?"
Allie looked back at the boy and smiled, "this isn't a movie…" he's right though, the scanners on an orbital base-craft could locate Tyler's bio-energy signature… "But there are no ships in the vicinity…" Allie thought out loud.
"What?"
Allie shook her head, "it's nothing, I was just…"
The muffled ring of a cell phone stopped Allie mid-sentence. She turned slowly until the phones location was revealed. Its gunmetal and blue casing visible from beneath a stack of papers. Allie moved the few short feet to the table and slid the phone out.
"Payphone?" Allie read the caller ID aloud. She glanced to Jamie.
"Answer it?" he shrugged. Allie pressed the talk button and brought it to her ear.
"Hello?"
The person on the other end took a breath, then: "is this Mary Crawford?" it was a mans voice, old and raspy.
Allie opened her mouth to say 'no' but rethought. "Yes, it is," she said, instead.
The man on the other end hesitated, "I… was expecting you to sound older…"
He doesn't know Mary…Allie thought, "Who is this?"
"You don't know me, but I know all about you Miss Crawford… don't worry, I'm a friend."
Allie considered her words carefully, saying something like Mary would say sounded easy, but was proving quite difficult, "what is your name, friend?"
The man on the other end laughed, "you know better then that, Mary. Enough of this, though. I don't have much time."
"Okay…" Allie started but cut it off when the man continued talking.
"We have a mutual enemy, Keith Sheppard. I want to help you destroy him."
Allie said nothing as she considered the mans words, he cleared his throat in the phone to get her attention, "I'm listening." Allie said.
"The monster has kidnapped three children in order to lure that alien-girl thing your trying to help, I know where he's keeping them."
"You know where my friends are!?" Allie blurted then immediately covered her mouth; it was to late to stop it though.
Again, the old man on the other end of the phone was silent for a long time, "who is this?" he asked finally.
Allie wavered on indecision for a moment. But there was no need to hide things now, "I'm the alien-girl thing…" she said, a hint of disgustful mocking in her words.
"I have to go now…"
"No! Tell me where my friends are!" Allie cried out.
All she could hear for a long time was slow, steady breathing.
"Please…" Allie pleaded, "help me."
After a deep labored breath, the man said: "I will help those children. However, I can't help you."
"Thank you," Allie said, her voice low and subdued. She could feel a definite coldness and hate from the man, even through the phone. He disliked her because of what she was.
"It's a warehouse, 1142 Balane."
"Is that all…" she asked.
"Keith is very dangerous, he intends to kill you."
"I guess you think I should let him?"
Again, a slight pause, then: "I don't know what to think anymore." With that, the phone clicked as the man on the other end hung up, Allie pressed the button to turn the cell off.
Jamie watched her toss the phone to the table, "who was it? Do they know where my brother is?"
Allie stood still for a while with her back to Jamie. The tone in that old mans voice still echoed.
All the effort Allie had put into rationalizing her existence was just about pushed out of her mind this days encounters, first from Jamie, and now from a man she had never even seen. She had heard the argument before. On Xeln, purist factions had demanded that she be sent away or destroyed, citing an ancient admonition against genetic experimentation. It was then that the reality of her existence had hit Allie full-force. She was different; not human, not Xe… not like anything that had ever existed before, or should have ever existed at all. The thought terrified her at first, but John had been there, as he always was, to help her understand. And she managed to convince herself that her differences made her unique and important. But how would that uniqueness appear to the human populace? Would everyone hate her for the genetic experiment she is?
"Allie," Jamie gently prodded with his words, "are you okay?"
"Yes," Allie said, turned to face him, "I was just thinking."
"The person on the phone… do they know where my brother is?"
Allie took a seat in a chair at the map table, "yes," she said while searching for a piece of paper. She found a blank sheet of copy paper and a pen, started writing.
"What are you doing?" Jamie moved closer, but maintained a careful distance.
"Leaving a note…" Allie continued writing.
Jamie looked at the paper, then back to Allie's face. The intense concentration there, and rising electric tension in the room didn't get past Jamie's young senses. He knew that something the person on the phone had said upset her.
Allie laid the pen down and sat back, "your staying here," she said still looking at the paper, "I don't want anything to happen to you."
Jamie nodded but remained silent.
"I want you to hide," Allie turned toward him, projecting a screen of Mary Crawford before Jamie, "until this woman comes in. she's my friend and she will take care of you."
"O--okay…"
"Give her this," Allie folded the paper and handed it to Jamie, "it explains everything."
The static electric charge in the room was starting to make Jamie's hair stand on end, Allie's hair whipped gently in an invisible breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. "Where are you going?" Jamie asked.
"To take care of something." Allie said. In that instant, the bright white energy burst forth from her position but Jamie could still see her standing in the midst of it.
"I'll get your brother back, I promises," she said.
The light intensified, causing Jamie to shield his eyes. Then it faded to black as quickly as it had come. Allie was gone.
"Where's Allie?" Charlie asked. Lisa sat beside him on the couch while the TV flickered in the foreground, the only other light in the room came from the quickly setting sun outside.
"She was at her friends house, she should have been home by now." Lisa said, flipped the channel to a news program that was covering the three mysterious kidnappings.
"Oh…" Charlie looked down the hall, back to Lisa, "where's Ka'len?"
Lisa shrugged, "she said she was tired… I'm kind of worried about her."
Charlie stared at Lisa, she glanced sideways at him, "what?"
"Nothing," he shook his head, "it's just weird,"
"Well… she grew on me. What else can I say?"
Charlie nodded in agreement and fixed his attention on the TV, "those poor kids… what do you think is going on?"
"I don't know…" Lisa froze as a camera shot of the latest victims home flashed on screen, Charlie saw it too.
"But that's…" they both looked at each other before simultaneously jumping from the couch.
A knock at the front door stopped both of them cold right as they reached it. Lisa opened the door slowly, revealing a young man in military fatigues.
"Mrs. Keys?" He asked urgently, then acknowledged Charlie behind her.
"Can… can we help you?" Lisa asked.
"It's very important ma'am, about Allie…" Bryan paused as his words hit the two.
"What?" Charlie demanded, "If you did anything to…"
Lisa raised a hand to stop Charlie, "I know you!" she opened the door farther, "your that man that helped us"
"Yes ma'am. May I speak with you inside?" Bryan looked down the street at the news vans that had arrived at the scene recently, more then one of the news crews had shown interest in a member of the military in the area. Especially after he commandeered Sergeant Brady and his car for a ride.
"Yeah," Lisa stepped aside, "come in."
Bryan turned and motioned to someone, Lisa looked down to the street where a young officer stepped out of a patrol car and started making his way toward them.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked suspiciously, eyeing the policeman as he approached.
"Don't worry, I'm on your side. Allie knows that." Bryan said as he stepped inside.
"Where's Allie! What happened?" Lisa demanded.
"I'd rather not say at the moment," Bryan hooked a thumb in the direction of the congregating news vans, most of them now had their transmitter masts at full extension. "I bet more then one of those trucks has a parabolic in it, they can hear anything we say."
Lisa nodded, turned to lead the two men into to living room. Charlie closed the door after the officer stepped in.
Bryan wasted no time, "there is a situation." he said, "Mary went back to our headquarters incase Allie went there. I'm here to keep you two safe."
"Safe, from what?" Charlie came around the two men to join Lisa, "and who's Mary?"
Lisa glanced away. They had never told him about the Crawford woman. How would he react?
"Mary Crawford, you might remember her." Bryan said before Lisa had a chance to say anything.
"You don't mean…" Charlie looked toward Lisa, "that woman who took Allie before?"
Lisa kept her eyes downcast, "yes, that one." she said, "but Allie says she's changed. She said she's a friend now."
"A friend!"
"Charlie…."
"Okay… okay, I guess Allie can tell these things…"
"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" sergeant Brady spoke from behind Bryan.
"I told you already, it's a very complex story." Bryan said.
"Mary Crawford and the army… where the hell is my daughter!" Charlie was obviously becoming upset.
"We don't know right now. I can tell you what we do know if it'll help."
Charlie pointed to the chair next to the couch, "Please do."