Chapter IX
Tyler was dumbstruck, he was not expecting Walker to just barge into his home like this, let alone know exactly what he and the other two were talking about. "Forgive me for the interruption, Mr. Tyler," he apologized with a New England accent, "But I arrived just now and heard your conversation. I wanted to see what you believed you were dealing with before I came in."
Tyler looked at the man scornfully, "You know, that's breaking and entering. I could arrest you for that."
"Once again, my apologies, Sheriff," Walker responded.
"Well, I'm not even sure if I believe you. For all we know, I could be crazy and we might just be dealing with a murder and an accident," Tyler responded.
"But what if the murders continue?" asked Walker, "What shall you tell the people of your little town? One of them is a serial killer? They'd all go mad with paranoia and fear, accusing one another of being killers. You could have a complete revolt."
Joe didn't answer, while James Larry and May Cooper looked at him. "Who is he?" May finally asked.
Tyler looked over at her, "T.B. Walker. I did research on the Internet for any events similar to what we're going through. Then again, we might be going through nothing, I most likely imagined what I saw and I just jumped to conclusions. But anyway, I found his website and sent him an email concerning what I saw and he decided to trace the email to its source and he came here."
"But your accounts coincide with other 'Predators'," responded Walker. He looked over at James and May, "Forgive me, I must introduce myself," he said. "I am Terrance Bartholomew Walker. T.B., for short, as you may have already observed. I hope to capture and study the creature that has unfortunately came upon your quiet home."
He turned to Tyler once again, "If you would be so kind as to show my team and I where all the sightings were, as well as the plaster castings that you have taken of the tracks."
Tyler sighed, "Could it wait until tomorrow?"
"If you wish to prevent any further deaths, we must verify if a 'Predator' has been here," Walker said, forcefully.
Tyler sighed once again; he already did not like the man, "Alright."
* * *
After being forced to tag along with Walker's Research and Capture team for several hours, Tyler was very relieved with the new day dawning a hopefully quiet day of patrol. He was hoping that the team did not find anything out of the ordinary and would just leave. But after several hours, the dispatcher came in with a call he was not wanting to hear, "Unit One," said the dispatcher's voice of the radio.
"Unit One, ten-four," responded Tyler.
"Unit-One, we have a ten-ninety-seven," she responded.
"Ten-four. Ten-twenty?" Tyler asked, implying that he needed to know where the disturbance was.
"Ten-four, ten-twenty at Highway Fifteen. Mile marker two-twenty. The house number is five-four-zero-nine. Some farmer called in about a bunch of people with fancy looking vans prowling around his fields. He says if we don't get him off his land, he will, with a rifle."
"Ten-four. I'm on my way," Tyler said, putting back the radio. Luckily he was already close to the scene, and within a few minutes, he was there. Once again, he picked up the radio and pressed the call button, "This is Unit One. Ten-twenty-three," he said, stating he had arrived at the scene through the police scanner code.
"Ten-four, Unit One," responded the dispatcher. Tyler exited the vehicle and noticed several white vans with various antennae and satellite dishes attached to their roofs. He noticed a little black symbol on the sides of the vans that resembled a strange, metallic mask with black eyes. He spotted a few people in lab coats and using some weird mechanical instruments. Tyler was pretty sure one of them was using some kind of Geiger meter, which was making electronic clicking noises. One of the scientist-looking people looked sternly at Tyler as he approached.
"Sir, if you could please, leave," he started, "We would appreciate there not being any contamination."
"Actually, you need to leave," Tyler said, flashing his badge, "You're trespassing on private property. Now, if you don't leave, I'll have to arrest you."
The scientist seemed upset; his eyes widened and were magnified by his thick glasses, "Do you have any idea what the scientific implications could be if our theories on some of the evidence we have found here are true?"
"No, I don't. But if you don't get moving in five minutes, I'm bringing in other officers and you'll be spending a night or two in the county jail," replied Tyler.
"What if we asked permission from the person who owns this land?" asked the scientist.
"Well, then it's okay, but we got a call saying he was going to use a shotgun on you if you didn't get out of here. So I'd say it'd be best if you left," Tyler smugly responded.
The scientist clenched his fist until his already pale knuckles were even paler and his face grew red. "Fine! But you can't keep us away for long!" he exclaimed. Then he huffed and collected his people and they moved on.
* * *
The Yautja watched a group of the native bipeds using small, mechanical instruments in a place he had been hours before. The machines made all kinds of electronic bleeps and clicks that were distorted quite a bit in the alien's own ears, and some of them put out electric fields that were visible in his helmet's many modes of vision.
Once again, the law enforcement biped appeared, and once again, he was unarmed. But the Yautja was glad of this; for then he could wait for an opportunity to hunt down the indigenous biped while it was alone. He breathed in with a clicking sound, as all of his species did, and he turned away as the group of bipeds got into their primitive combustion engine vehicles and went away, leaving a trail of hot carbon monoxide in their wake.
* * *
T.B. Walker burst into Tyler's office with a red, angry looking face. "Why did you make my people leave that site? There could have been important readings there!" The man said, he seemed quite intimidating when he was angry, because he was very close to Tyler's own six-foot-seven-inches
"Because," Tyler started calmly, he was reclined on his chair and his hands behind his head in a cool, collected manner, "Your people were breaking the law and I was completely within regulations by making them leave. Hell, I could have already had you behind bars for barging into my house like you did."
Walker's face became even redder, but suddenly he cooled down and took some deep breaths, "Forgive me, Sheriff." But then he suddenly smirked, as if a wonderful idea had popped into his head. "But you know, Sheriff, my people found some potentially dangerous radiation on that property."
Tyler perked up at this.
"But you know," Walker continued, "My people can clean it up, but we need access to the property and the residents should evacuate."
Tyler looked at Walker with contempt, "You're a clever son of a bitch."
"I know."