Don't Look Back (Warders of Earth) (14 page)

My blood ran cold.

Em’s adoptive mother was missing. Could he have had something to do with it?

Deeply troubled, I slouched inside to join the others. We crowded about in a small reception area which apart from a desk complete with monitor and printer held little else. The front windows were boarded up but otherwise the office appeared to have suffered very little damage from the recent storm.

“In here.” Em pushed open another door and went down the hallway entering a room to the right.

This room was huge filled with desks, computers, photocopiers and rows of gun-metal filing cabinets. It was well-lit with overhead fluorescent lights and wide windows lining one wall. A few people were grouped around a desk near the rear of the room.

As I inched past empty desks, I spotted Em’s adoptive father. Looking tired and anxious with dark bags under his eyes and deep lines chiselled into his sagging cheeks, he spoke with two men dressed in business suits.
They certainly stood out in the small country town with their smart suits and styled hair. As I approached, Mr Andrews slipped a black USB stick into his jacket pocket.

“Hello Emma.” He nodded. “I see you’ve brought friends with you.”

“I was wondering if you’ve heard from Mum?” Em asked.

“No, unfortunately I haven’t heard a word but I expect she’ll be in contact shortly. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear. I expect you to return this courtesy.”

“Of course I will. By the way this is Alex Garroway and his friend Shay who’s come for a visit.”

“Thank you, Emma. I was wondering when you would decide to introduce us,” Mr Andrews said, his voice so cold I squirmed, wondering why I’d ever thought this guy was nice. Dad would never be this rude.

Mr Andrews’ keen eyes appeared to linger on Alex. “Welcome to our small town. So your father is the new mechanic? I can’t imagine he’d get that much business here, seeing as old Rogers has been here for decades. Country people can be slow to change their habits.”

“Dad’s enjoying the quiet pace.” Alex smiled easily as he leaned casually against the wall.

It was easy to see where Em got her penchant for asking questions.

Mr Andrews’ eyebrows rose. “Lucky man. Not all of us are so fortunate to be able to afford to work as and when we please.”

There was the faintest hint of a sneer in his tone.

Surprised, I glanced up.

The other two men laughed.

Tension filled the room.

Em stared at the strangers as if transfixed.

“Have you heard anything more about the meteor shower, Mr Andrews?” Dan asked. He and Shay were sprawled in a couple of chairs. “Dad and I believe there’s a lot more going on then what we’ve been told.”

“You’re right there, Daniel” Mr Andrews turned to his friends. “I told you we had a genius in this town. This boy is going to be someone to watch out for in the future.”

Now that was a weird thing to say. His hands seemed to be shaking as he fiddled with the computer screen on his desk, adjusting the angle so that it faced the wall behind him. Was he hiding something?

“We’ll have to get a lead on everything the government knows about these meteors. Perhaps you can help me there, Daniel.”

“Me? I don’t know that I could help much.”

“No? But your father must know a lot more given his connections,” Mr Andrews said smoothly. “Perhaps you could give me his mobile number. He doesn’t appear to be listed.”

My blood ran cold. He was fishing for information. I snapped, “You’re wrong. That was a long time ago.”

“Really?” His eyebrows rose to his sparse hairline. “Well, if you’ll excuse us. We have business to discuss.”

Mr Andrews furtive behaviour made me remember the strange buildings we’d found on his land. “Actually, Mr Andrews. I was wondering about that land you have down near Yerabee Creek Road. Em, Marnie and I went riding down there the other day and we’re curious to know what’s in those buildings.”

“I don’t see that’s any of your business, young lady.” Mr Andrews smiled smoothly, showing all of his teeth.

“I’m interested in land care.” See, I can smile like that too.

His cold eyes drilled into me. “Sheila and I intend to start a hydroponics business.”

“This is a waste of time. We have to leave,” interrupted the taller of the two men.

I shivered as his eyes alighted on me. And stayed. The way he examined me was down-right creepy. The urge to run made my knees quake. I’d never met him before but damn his voice sounded familiar.

“We’ll wait until we hear from you. I trust you won’t forget,” the other man said.

“You can count on me.” Mr Andrews shook hands with them and ushered them towards the door.

Overhead, the lights flickered. A zapping noise.

Then Mr Andrew’s monitor exploded.

Chapter 10 – ANSWERS

What a day! I couldn’t remember the last time I was this happy to reach home. With a resurgence of energy, I pushed open the gate and ran up the path, leaping over the puddles. Behind me, car doors closed and footsteps sloshed over the soggy ground as the others followed.

              The clouds were finally beginning to drift away. Sunlight spread like laser beams over the land, causing the droplets of water lingering on the grass and the native bushes planted in the front yard to sparkle like clusters of diamonds. The air smelt crisp and clean, new born after the recent deluge. The humidity had finally eased.

A faint breeze rustled through the fruit trees. Overhead a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos screeched as they winged their way north.

The power surge had not only affected the newspaper office but most of the town was again without power. We’d left Mr Andrews cleaning up the remains of his computer in the dark. He’d insisted we leave and take a shaken Em with us.

“It’s like a nightmare. An awful nightmare!” she had cried.

I could only agree. I didn’t feel so calm myself. It was lucky no one had been injured when we were showered with shards of plastic and splinters of glass. In fact, the whole experience had left me with a sinking feeling of dread twisting my belly. For two pins, I’d bundle Mum and Dan and my friends in the car and leave this town behind.

I swung open the screen door and headed for the living where I found Mum and Bob sitting close together on the old sofa. They looked pretty cozy.
Were they holding hands?

It looked like both my parents were moving on. Maybe it was about time I accepted it.

But not with this guy.

I didn’t trust him. I knew on a gut level he was up to something shady. Until I had some hard facts though, it would be pointless to share my feelings with my mother.

Instead I collapsed into an armchair, saying, “You won’t believe what happened, Mum. There we were, in the back office of
The Chronicle,
when ka-boom! A computer exploded. I thought a bomb had gone off. You should have seen those suits hit the floor. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast.”

“Suits? What suits?” asked Bob sharply, shooting a swift look at his son when Alex entered the room.

“No one important, just something to do with Dad’s business.” Em sighed and leaned her weight against Alex forcing him to place an arm about her or she’d tumble to the floor.

I couldn’t help grinning at his resigned expression. You had to hand it to Em, she sure knew all the right moves. She snuggled into his side and I had to look away. The thought that they might become a couple bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

“Was anyone hurt?” Mum’s worried eyes studied me then switched to Dan.

“No, Mum. Everyone’s okay. Did you have any problems here?”

“Power hasn’t been returned to any of the residential areas as yet,” Bob said. “So the answer to your question is no.”

Cheeks hot, I gritted my teeth. His pompous,
I’m-in-charge
attitude grated on me and I couldn’t work out why Mum found him so attractive. Sure he was a buff, military type but that was the total opposite of my laid-back,
she’ll-be-right
father. Maybe Mr Garroway would grow on me. I owed it to Mum to at least try to be civil.

My brother crossed the room to perch on the arm of my chair while he explained what happened.

“I see. Thank heavens, for a moment there I thought it was something quite serious.” Mum smiled. “Have you heard from your mother yet Emma?”

“No and Dad hasn’t heard from her either,” Em responded quietly.

“I’m sure she’ll contact you very soon. Try not to worry too much, dear.”

Bob cleared his throat. “You mentioned that Mr Andrews had visitors with him. Business associates?”

“I guess so. I really don’t know.” Em ducked her head as everyone turned to look at her.

Remembering my impression I’d heard the tall man’s voice before I shifted my weight and the old springs in the chair creaked. “I don’t believe they’re journalists. They didn’t look the part for one thing.”

“What exactly do journalists look like, Tara?” Alex queried, a grin spreading slowly over his face.

“They looked like high-powered business men. Ones with a lot of dosh. Ones used to wielding a lot of responsibility. Didn’t they Em?”

Alex drawled, “Maybe they were here to do a business deal with your father, Emma.”

“Maybe. If you’ll excuse me, I don’t feel very well. I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.” Em hurried from the room.

Poor Em.
She was probably thinking about her adoptive mother and here we were giving her the third degree.
I glared at Alex. “Now look what you’ve done!”

He spread his hands wide, as if to say
‘Who me?’

“Did you notice the USB stick, Sis? The one that was handed to Mr Andrews?” intruded Dan’s excited voice.

“Yes, and did you notice how he turned the screen away so we couldn’t see what was on it?”

Alex snorted. “Conspiracy theorists eat you hearts out. You should hear you two. You’d think there was a war going on.”

“You were there, Alex,” Dan pointed out. “Those guys were acting seriously weird.”

“We barged in on them with no warning.” Alex shrugged. “Your imagination’s in overdrive.”

“Remind me exactly what you’re doing here?” I said sweetly, immediately on the defensive.

“Where you go, I go.” Alex worked his jaw as if biting down on further words.

I rolled my eyes, not in the least sucked in with his chest beating. “Oh please. A second ago, you were all over Em.”

“She was upset. You’d prefer me to let her fall?”

How to answer that when I knew full well Em had been playacting?

Mum rose to her feet and glared round the room. “That will do, all of you. No more arguing please. I can’t help worrying about the real issue here.”

“I agree.” Bob stood. “I believe it’s time we took action. We need to be prepared for any eventuality.” He stated in his firm no-nonsense voice.

“Sir...” began Alex but his father shook his head.

“Not the bomb shelter idea!” I groaned, shivering inside at the mention of that bloody word again.

“We could leave town. Head out into the desert. Live off the land,” said Alex who immediately shouted with laughter at the horrified look I knew must be written all over my face.

I couldn’t imagine anything worse even though I knew he was teasing me. Suppressing my answering grin, I pointed toward the door.  “On your way cowboy.”

“Bob, would you mind giving us some time alone? I need to talk to my children.”

“Of course, Marion. Call if you need me.” Bob squeezed my mother’s hand. She nodded and he ushered his son and Shay from the room.

Left alone with Mum and Dan, I waited.

The click of the screen door latching shut sounded loud in the weighted silence. I could tell by the way Mum kept touching the wedding ring she still wore on her finger that she intended to have one of her
‘serious talks.’

She sank back onto the sofa and pressed her fingers to her temple. “Really, your father should be here. I wish...” She fell silent.

“Mum?” I shared a look with Dan who shrugged his shoulders. “Mum, what’s going on?”

She sighed. “I know what you think of me, you especially Tara. That I’m crazy, suffering from delusions or paranoia or both!” Mum gave a wry smile and raised her head. “This is important. Vital actually, that you both accept the truth.”

“What truth?” I huddled into the chair and folded my arms, feeling an icy coldness creep up my spine.

“The truth of your birth.”

“What the...? Are we adopted?” I squeaked.

“For heavens sake, Tara. Be quiet and listen.” Mum glared.

“Sorry, Mum, I’m listening.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath and clasped her hands together in her lap. Her face took on a far-away look as if she was reliving the past while she spoke. “Your father and I met at University and we fell in love. Deeply, crazily, madly in love.”

She paused, a tender smile curving her lips. Giving her head a little shake she continued. “We were both fired with the desire to change the world for what we believed to be for the better. When we were offered jobs with a multi-national research company with a facility in Germany, we leapt at the opportunity. At first, everything seemed aboveboard. We believed we were doing valuable work that would benefit mankind. But gradually over the next couple of years, we realised there was something much more sinister happening.”

“Woah,” whispered Dan.

“Shush. Go on, Mum.”

“We thought we had it all. A perfect marriage and perfect jobs. Your father was brilliant.” Warmth infused her voice. “He was tireless, always working, always searching for answers. He thought, actually we both thought, we were working on ways to eliminate disease and genetically inherited illnesses. We were wrong. The research was geared towards producing genetically manipulated human beings. Ones who were programmed before birth to have certain abilities.”

Dan reached for my hand and I gripped it hard as Mum looked at us with tears shining in her eyes.

This was major and beginning to make a lot of sense.

“The corporation who ran the underground facility where we worked, wanted to create special beings. Their research was founded on technology way beyond our capabilities at that time. But we didn’t question it. Not then. First it was whispers, then when we investigated it further we found our research was based on alien technology. And the facility had one goal. In particular, they wanted people who could communicate with or understand alien language.”

“Aliens? Holy shit!”

“Tara!”

“You don’t really expect me to sit here and say nothing, do you? You’re going to tell us that we’re not your kids. That we were created in some laboratory. That we’re some kind of freaks.” My voice rose with the fury and hurt surging beneath my breast. I thought back on the long years of struggling to read, to fit in, of the misery of school and the deeply held belief that I was mentally defective.

That I wasn’t normal.

Now, here was Mum actually telling me that yes, I wasn’t like everyone else. My brain was faulty thanks to scientists tampering with genetics.

I should be thinking not another one of Mum’s delusions. But this certainly explained the nomadic life we’d led until we arrived in Wallaby Creek.

And my nightmares.

“It wasn’t like that, it was never like that.” My mother held out her hands beseechingly.

I shook my head furiously, clinging to my anger, my sense of outrage. I knew if I let go, I’d fold. “Why should we believe you?”

“I can’t make you believe. All I can say, is this is the truth.”

The quiet words hit me like stones.

“What about the alien bit, Mum?” The fear in Dan’s voice only fed my bitterness.

“They’re coming. They needed someone who’d act as an intermediary and stop them from destroying Earth. When we discovered operatives from a secret military force had infiltrated the facility with the intention of killing.....”

“Am I interrupting?”

I jumped and looked up to see Em beaming from the doorway. How much had she heard? Until I was certain this was true, I sure didn’t want the rest of the world to know, not even my closest friends. I needed to check with Dad first, then think about what, if anything, I could do. But seriously?

Aliens?

Em chattered on, seemingly oblivious to the fraught tension in the room. “I’d thought we’d go to the pool.”

After giving Dan a warning squeeze to his hand, I pushed to my feet. “Sorry. I’ve got a shift at the pub in an hour. I need to get ready.”