Escape to Earth 1: Running From Fate (18 page)

“Really?”

“I didn’t do it in one continuous round. I practiced on each hole but only played one ball through the round.”

Salud nodded, “I noticed that there were others watching us.”

“You’re right. I have to be careful.”

• • •

Salud sat on the plane going back to Boston Sunday night and dreaded the cold temperatures. She had spent the weekend with Lukas and saw that he was incredibly proficient with his golf clubs. Still, tournament pressure was quite different from just playing a round of golf. They had shared the condo and she slept in one room and him in the other. She thought about that…for the rest of the flight home.

Lukas dropped Salud off at the airport and headed back up I-95 to Port St. Lucie. She impressed him with how quickly she had learned the cues and made them sound normal. He was going to deliberately focus most of the attention he would generate, if he was competitive, on her. She didn’t know it…yet. He missed her. He shook his head and wondered what that meant. His cellphone rang and he pressed the telephone icon on the steering wheel, “Hello, Joey. It’s been a while.”

“How’s the golf going?”

“I’m making progress.”

“Will you be able to compete?”

“I believe so. What about my background?

“One of my operatives has found someone to help us out.”

“Who.”

“A long time employee that works in our Switzerland office had a son in Norway twenty two years ago. She moved to Paris where the child died at the age of ten. You’re going to use that child’s identity.”

“Won’t it be traced?”

“No. She’s moving back to Norway and that country doesn’t have the death recorded.”

Lukas smiled, “But they do have the birth.”

“Exactly. She has provided a background story that will withstand scrutiny. I’m sending it to you and you’ll need to memorize it.”

“Why is she doing this?”

“She loves my father. She’s always kept her distance from him after he married. I approached her and she was willing to do what we needed.”

“Can you trust her?”

“I can.”

“What if the reporters come snooping around?”

“She lives inside the arctic circle. They won’t find her easily.”

“If you think this will work…”

“She’s the reason you’re going to get the sponsor’s exemption.”

“What?”

“Her boy loves golf and this is my way of thanking her for thirty years of dedicated service to our business.” Joey paused and said, “I’m having a courier bring you your Switzerland Driver’s license and your United States Green Card.”

“Green Card?”

“Yes, you and your mother have dual citizenship. You’ve been working for me for the last three years.”

“How is that going to square with working at the restaurant in Boston?”

“The company sent you there to be a bodyguard and keep an eye out for my safety.”

Lukas shook his head, “You better send me the narrative so I can get up to speed. By the way, what’s my new name?”

“That’s the funny thing; her child’s name was Lukas.”

“That’s not funny, Joey.”

“Lukas, you having the same name as her son is why she has chosen to do this. This is beyond my ability to calculate what the odds are of both of you having the same name…”

“The odds are impossible, Joey.”

“Then you explain it. However, the courier will be at your condo in the morning.”

“Thanks Joey.”

“No problem. Good luck.”

“Joey!”

“Yeah.”

“Will you tell Salud?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks again.” Lukas drove up the interstate and wondered about the odds of having the same name. Something was happening here that was outside his ability to understand. He thought about the name he had been given by the pod and remembered that it had chosen a name in Norway. Whatever was going on, it started with the pod. He thought about it and wondered if this was fate…or something else entirely. He arrived at the condo and was no closer to an answer.

• • •

“Jinks.”

“Yeah, Stoney.”

“We’ve managed to locate the source of the magnetic readings.”

“Are you there now?”

“I am.”

“Send the location to my phone. I’ll be there shortly.”

Jinks drove up the hill and saw Stoney waiting for him in front of an old three-story house. He pulled over and Stoney got in the passenger’s seat, “Drive around back.” Jinks went to the corner and took a right. He saw four government cars in the parking lot with several men in haz-met suits using portable hand scanners on the pavement. He looked at Stoney, “I concocted a story about hazardous material. The building’s owner is cooperating with me.” Jinks nodded and stopped the car. He got out and watched the men scanning the ground, “What have you found here?”

“I’m going to let Dr. Carter explain that. It’s beyond my paygrade.” Jinks chuckled and saw a white haired young man walking toward him. He arrived and said, “Colonel Jekins, I’m Dr. Carter.”

“What’s going on here Doctor?”

“We’ve detected a massive magnetic field around the area we’re currently scanning.”

“What does that mean?”

“The magnetic field doesn’t match any we have ever recorded. The pattern appears to be created by positrons that excite a neutral field…”

“Slow down Doctor. Would you mind telling what that means in simple terms?” Jinks looked at Stoney and saw his ‘I told you so’ look.

“This magnetic field was not created by using a normal electrical field. It appears to have been made by positrons…uhhh, cosmic rays that excited a field that didn’t possess a positive or neutral charge.” Jinks shook his head again. And Carter sighed, “Sir, we are not capable of producing positrons.”

“Why not? I believe I read something about them.”

“Positrons are created in the most powerful blasts in the universe. They’re found in the blast produced by supernova. They occur when anti-matter is produced during that massive explosion. Positrons are the electrons of an anti-matter atom.”

Jinks looked at the ground being scanned and said, “What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know?”

Jinks looked at Carter, “Can you possibly conceive of a purpose for a magnetic field that was made by these things you’ve detected?”

“There are some scientists that have speculated that positrons and neutrons might be used as a kind of anti-gravity device.”

Jinks stared at Carter and looked back at the area being scanned. “Doctor, are you telling me that you’re detecting things that are not possible?”

“Positrons hit the Earth on a regular basis. We have numerous devices around the planet to measure them. However, this small patch of ground is releasing more of them in an hour than we receive in a year. I don’t understand how this is happening but our scanners are detecting them.”

“I want a written explanation of what you’ve found.”

“You’ll need a scientist to explain it.”

“No, I won’t. You’re going to write an explanation in your report.” Carter blew out a breath and shook his head. He started to say something but shook his head again and went back over to the men scanning the ground. Jinks looked at Stoney, “What have you been able to find out?”

“One of the residents say that one of their renters parked a new corvette in that exact spot for a number of months.”

“What do you have on the renter?”

“The forms he filled out are blank. The owner was genuinely shocked by the revelation and he wasn’t faking his surprise. I can tell he wasn’t being deceptive. He did tell me that he spoke with a foreign accent.”

“What kind of accent?”

“They said European but weren’t able to be more specific.”

“Please tell me you have a name.”

Stoney tilted his head, “They had no contact with him after he paid them for a year’s rent in advance. He thinks his name started with either L or K. No one ever complained about him and they pretty much didn’t think about him. The owner that took the application died of a heart attack two months ago. We won’t be able to get a description.”

Jinks shook his head, “Check with the neighbors and see if anyone knew him.”

“I’ve done that as well. There was a young pregnant woman who lives next door that said she didn’t know anything.”

Jinks smiled, “But?”

“I think she’s not telling the truth.”

Jinks nodded and looked back at the men scanning the pavement. “I hate to say it but that corvette may be what we saw leaving the planet and the renter was probably on board.”

“If that’s the case, do you want me to stress the woman?”

“Not yet. I need to discuss this with the General. I’ll let you know about that later.”

Stoney nodded and went to the soldiers that were standing outside their cars. Jinks began worrying. Something was going on and it didn’t look like it was local. He looked up at the sky and wondered if he was being watched. He had received a report from Captain Bohannon that more photos from numerous observatories had turned up showing the blockage. Some of them were taken five months earlier. Now…there was nothing. Whatever had been going on ended with the departure of that object. He leaned against the car and thought about what was happening.

Chapter Twelve

Lukas putted the ball and rimmed the cup. Salud tapped it back to him and he putted again. It went into the cup and he looked at her, “We need to head over to the tee.”

Salud picked up the small walking bag and saw several caddies around the practice green laugh at her. She pursed her lips and looked away from them. “Did you know this was going to happen?”

Lukas shrugged, “I thought it might.”

Salud walked across the cart path and put the bag down to wait for the pros on the first tee to tee off. Lukas had made the cut and going into the last round of the classic he was in fourth place three strokes back. The pro they were playing with had just won on the European Tour the week before and worked hard to totally ignore them. Lukas saw an official motion him forward and he said, “Show time.”

Salud picked up her bag and walked behind him to the first tee. She put the bag down and the caddie of the pro in her group walked by and deliberately knocked her bag over. Lukas saw it happen and he rushed over and grabbed Salud before she could kick him in the shin. Lukas grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, “Calm down!”

“I’ve had enough of their smart remarks and pushing me around. Enough is enough. They act like we don’t belong here!”

The TV sound tech pointed his long microphone at them and began recording their conversation. The TV announcers listened in and the conversation went out on the air. “Salud, in their eyes we don’t.”

“WHY NOT?”

“You have to look at it from their point of view, Salud. They’re out here every week busting their humps to make a living. They struggle and it takes some of them years to finally get a card to play on the tour. We walked in with a sponsor’s exemption and one of them wasn’t allowed to participate because we took his place. I don’t have a card. Every pro here identifies with the poor bloke that could have been here except for us.” Lukas looked at the official and saw the group in front of them was still waiting in the fairway to hit their second shot. He turned back to Salud, “I don’t blame them for their feelings and you and I are going to have to respect those feelings as being valid. Can you understand that?” Salud took a deep breath, “Yes, I guess.”

Lukas smiled and gave her a hug. She picked up her bag and walked with Lukas on to the tee box.

The TV announcers looked at each other and the former pro smiled, “It does appear that Lukas Axel understands this game. It’s really refreshing to hear someone that is not so full of themselves that he appreciates what his peers are experiencing.”

Inside the control room the director said, “I want them followed and recorded for the rest of this round.” The sound tech acknowledged the order and walked down the fairway. Lukas leaned over and whispered in Salud’s ear, “Be careful, we’re being recorded in this round.”

Salud looked at him, “Is it my fault?” Lukas tilted his head and Salud said, “I’ll behave.” Lukas heard his name announced and he went over to the bag and pulled the driver half way out of the bag and hesitated. Salud said, “With the crossing wind, you might want to use a three wood.”

Lukas looked at her, “Are you sure about that? It might leave a long second shot.”

“Better long from the fairway than short from the trash.”

Lukas dropped the driver and took out the three wood. The Announcer said, “I don’t know that I would have followed her advice. The first hole is a long one.”

“The pro nodded, “Yes, but hitting from the rough is impossible on this hole.”

Lukas addressed the ball and ripped a three hundred yard fade into the center of the fairway. Salud smiled and took the three wood. It was his longest drive of the week. The Pro said, “With a three wood that long, I don’t know if I’d pull the driver all day.”

• • •

The holes passed and the audience heard Salud offer suggestions to Lukas and he followed every one of them. At the end of nine holes, he was tied for the lead. The Lead changed hands three times over the next eight holes and Lukas stood over the putt on the eighteenth green. The leader from the previous day birdied the seventeenth hole and tied the score. Salud wondered why Lukas had not just run away with the tournament but now he was bent over looking at the twenty-five foot putt for birdie. She moved behind him and millions of spectators heard him say, “What do you see?”

Salud saw his putter was in the center of his body but her eyes told her the putt was going to break to the left. She shook her head and decided to trust Lukas, “It’s pretty much a straight putt.”

The former pro announcer said, “She’s absolutely wrong. That putt is going to break at least two balls left!”

Lukas said, “You don’t think it’s going to go left slightly?”

Salud saw his putter was still in the center of his body and she stood up and said, “Don’t give up the hole.”

Lukas nodded and stood up to the putt. The announcer said, “He’s being foolish here. This is going to cost him an outright win.”

Lukas smiled and stroked the ball. It rolled straight at the hole and started breaking left just as it fell into the hole. Salud watched it drop and jumped straight up in the air. She ran forward and hugged Lukas as the other golfer walked over and said, “That was an amazing putt. Congratulations.” Lukas shook his hand and he turned to Salud, “If you ever want carry my bag, I’d love to have you.” His caddie looked at Salud with a sneer and walked off the green.