The Bovine Connection (47 page)

Angelica awoke to a sound at the door. She jerked her head up from the fetal position she had formed to keep warm.

Angelica sat up and scooted back against the wall, away from the door. She rubbed her face with the inside of her arm. She looked at her arm as she lowered it, and noticed there were dark red flakes of dried blood. Angelica flinched and started shaking as she noticed her white lab coat was soaked with blood.

Angelica watched anxiously as the door opened and a tall, thin man with jet black hair stepped in. He appeared Italian. He had olive skin and a beak shaped nose. His eyes were dark and cold, and his face pronounced and triumphant.

“Ms. Bradley… How nice to make your acquaintance. I’ve heard so much about you,” he stated sarcastically in a slight Italian accent. Angelica scooted back, as close as she could get to the wall… trembling. Her lip felt swollen and she put her hand to her mouth to check it and felt a large gash. When she lowered her hand, she noticed more flakes of dried blood. She jerked her hand up to get a better look. Angelica tasted iron when she licked across the gash in her lip. Her lip had started to bleed again.

“Yes, appears your lip is bleeding.” He let out a deep breath as if he were genuinely disappointed.

“We had to extract some information from you. Seems the injection took a little longer to take effect. You are quite a fighter, Ms. Bradley, I must say, given your size. Angelica started to shake uncontrollably as if she were standing inside of a freezer. “Please, do not kill me,” she stuttered through her bloody split open lip.

He stepped closer. Angelica tried to open her eyes wider, but the room was too bright, causing her to squint. “Ms. Bradley, did you think you were going to just step into the chamber and jump unnoticed?” He laughed an unusual laugh… a frightening chuckle as he shook his head.

“Where are Dr. Wallace and Dr. Bishop?” Angelica asked as blood ran down her chin. He looked down and then back up to meet Angelica’s eyes. “Well, why don’t I just show you?” He reached out his hand toward the door for Angelica to get up and walk out. She shook her head, terrified. “No, you are going to kill me, aren’t you?” she stuttered. Her lips were blue and shaking.

“Now Angelica, come on, get up. Let’s go see your friends. Come now… come with me.”

Angelica slowly stood up, trembling almost out of control, and still weak from the neck injection. She walked reluctantly slouched over and out of the room into a hallway, slowly turning to look at him and noticing the security guard behind him.

“Go on, that way.” He pointed. She walked slightly sideways, trying to keep an eye on him and the guard that followed behind.

“I heard you’ve been asking a lot of questions about me,” he murmured. Angelica realized at that moment he was Francis Giano.

“Through that door, there…” Francis pointed. Angelica looked back and into his cold eyes one more time before she turned the knob and opened the door.

Slouched over from pain in her shoulder, soreness in her neck and trembling out of control, she looked up into the lab and screamed. “No!”

Floating in a large cylinder tank of light green liquid was Dr. Wallace’s frail, nude body. Her eyes were still open and her long black hair had come completely loose from the bun and was steadily swaying toward the top of the tank. Angelica dropped to her knees, with her hands over her face, crying and shaking her head. She was afraid to look around for fear she’d see Dr. Bishop had suffered the same fate.

All of a sudden, the guard grabbed her arm and yanked her up. Her body was too limp to walk on her own so he dragged her and sat her down in a chair. Angelica was sobbing. “Why did you kill her? Where is Dr. Marc Bishop?”

Francis looked Angelica directly in the eyes… “She took an oath and broke it. We retrieved that cylinder tank from a crashed craft here on Mars, still works, you know. Oh and Dr. Bishop is safe, for now.” Francis smirked as he tossed his hand in the air. His condescending smile sent chills down Angelica’s spine.

Francis stepped closer to Angelica. “So, how do you like the Red Planet?” Angelica shook her head, unwilling to speak.

“Quite impressive, isn’t it!” His voice was assertive, quiet, and deep. Angelica dropped her head. “Angelica, dear, I need your full attention, please.” Francis walked around her chair, reached down, and lifted Angelica’s chin. She tilted her head and watched him out of the corner of her eye.

“How rude of me… It’s like going to third base without even getting to know one another.” Francis stroked the back of Angelica light blonde hair. “You are a beautiful woman, I’m sure you know that. Shall we get to know each other, Ms. Bradley?” Angelica eyes watered and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I am Michelangelo Francis Giano,” he announced proudly with an Italian accent. “I built this facility.” Francis gestured his hand about the room. So, how did you like your tour of Cydonia?”

Angelica looked up, and then scanned the room. There was no way to escape. The guard was in front of the only door.

“Now Angelica, you’ve seen a lot. Taken a few photos… now, now, you should know we don’t allow photography here.”

Smeared with blood, Angelica’s face was red. The tissue on her lip was swollen and split wide open. She could taste the metallic blood in the salty tears as they ran into her mouth.

“Why did you build the teleportation chamber, the aerospace facility? What are you doing here, Francis?” Her voice shock.

Francis laughed. “Good, we are on a first name basis, makes for candid dialogue, don’t you agree?” 

The door to the chamber swung open and Angelica watched, stunned, as a man confidently walked towards her. She recognized him immediately.

“Why is he here?” Angelica shouted.

Francis looked over at John Kaye. “He is a friend.” John smugly smiled. He appeared to enjoy watching their interaction.

Angelica kept her eyes on John Kaye as he walked over and sat down in a chair to her left. His expression didn’t change. He was peering right through her. “He’s your money man,” she mumbled.

Francis laughed. “Very good! And that was a hard one to figure out,” he said sarcastically.

“You are as smart as you are pretty,” he said, condescendingly. “I am a wealthy man; however, a lot of people have invested in this project, and Mr. Kaye is their go-to guy. I’m not much on socializing… I have people for that. I’d rather use my spare time to enjoy my ranch in Montana.”

The door opened again and Dr. Bishop was brought in. He was hunched over with a blood-soaked gag tied around his mouth. He had a swollen black eye and bloody nose… he was badly roughed up.

Angelica gasped. “Marc! What have they done to you?”

The guard dropped Dr. Bishop, with his hands tied behind his back, into a chair in the right corner, facing Angelica.

Francis looked over at the second guard and gestured him out. Dr. Bishop’s fearful eyes were staring at Angelica.

“Now, where was I? Oh, that’s right… you’ve just recently visited there – what did you think?” Angelica lowered her head and ignored his question. The sight of Dr. Bishop unnerved her.

“Elberton… my hometown! My family settled there from Italy. My great-grandfather, Michelangelo Giano was intrigued by the stories of gold in Elberton so he went there in search of it… a miner… damn good at it too. He made his fortune mining gold and silver.

The men in our family followed in his footsteps and we were living the American dream… my sister and I… my lovely sister Giuliana. Ana as we called her. She’s passed on… to the other side years ago. She was a special woman. She married a local rancher by the name of Anderson. I believe you met his son,” he said nonchalantly.

Angelica lifted her head and sighed. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard she felt it in her throat. She closed her eyes for a moment and started to tremble. “Did you say Anderson married your sister?” she mumbled.

“Yes, I did. Nice couple they were -- at least, until those damned grey ETs destroyed their lives.”

Angelica started trembling uncontrollably again. She was astute enough to know where he was heading. She felt trapped in a nightmare.

“They took a liking to my little sister and started taking her from her bed in the middle of the night. They were especially interested in her reproductive system; yes, they messed her up. She eventually went crazy and…” Francis looked down. “She killed herself. We covered it up and called it an accident… didn’t want to bring shame to her or the family. That husband of hers, Hugh… a weak man. Couldn’t protect my sister.” Francis laughed. A laugh that penetrated Angelica’s bones.

“The military came to Elberton and wanted to build a base, and not just any base, an underground base.” Francis said.

Dr. Bishop looked to his hard left and saw Dr. Wallace floating in the tank. Becoming distraught, he jerked around and dropped his head in frustration.

Francis continued. “And that is when my father started working with the military to build the Newton Air Force underground base. They knew my father was an expert miner and understood which explosives to use with certain types of rocks, so he worked alongside their geologists. Since he knew the lay of the land, he advised the military. He led a crew of miners during the construction. That was until the day he stumbled onto the well-hidden underground ET base and story short – he was killed in the crossfire. That day everything changed for me. I would get my revenge on the grey race.”

Angelica soaked in sweat, nervously moved her eyes back and forth from John Kaye to Francis.

Francis turned to the guard and said… “He can come in now.”

Angelica looked up anxiously at the door in anticipation of the only missing piece to Francis’s story, Michael. The door opened and he stepped in. He looked strange. His eyes were sympathetic, yet different. He was wearing the fine, dark suit she had imagined he wore while on the phone with him.

His hair was perfectly groomed, slicked down, and he was even more incredibly handsome than she had remembered. Images of their lovemaking ran through her mind as the tears started to flow again. She remembered how he caressed her face and pulled her to his lips… kissed down her neck while his tongue glided down her skin as he moved toward her breast. Could it have been all a lie? The thoughts were too much to bear and she quickly snapped back to reality.

Now the pain was overwhelming, so unfamiliar, she felt as if she were coming apart at the seams and going to explode. Angelica opened her mouth to speak and suddenly choked as streams of tears rushed down her face into her mouth. “Why, Michael?”

Dr. Bishop had his head lowered, depleted of every last ounce of energy, but he jerked his head up. He recognized the name and heard the stress in Angelica’s voice as she screamed it through a heavy, panted breath. Dr. Bishop’s eyes grew wide as he shook his head in anger and mumbled under the bloody cloth tied around his mouth. He stated to get up but the guard grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down. 

Michael dropped his head for a moment and then looked Angelica in the eyes as he moved closer to her.

“I told you to walk away! I begged you to walk away, you stubborn woman!” Michael looked down at his feet and appeared to be debating a thought. When he looked up, his soulful hazel blue-green eyes peered deep into her eyes again. “You know you are the reason Matthew is dead, Angelica. And your friend, the lady…” He spoke softly as he stepped up to her and kneeled down. Angelica’s eyes grew wide.

Francis rolled his eyes and stepped away, turned his back to them, facing John Kaye. Tears were rapidly streaming down Angelica’s face and running into her open mouth. She was in shock. She started shaking her head. “No, no, no… I trusted you!”

“Angelica, I want to propose something to you. I want you to think about it for a moment before you respond. We can still be together. You would just have to change, my love. Do you follow me? Do you understand?” Michael touched Angelica’s cheek softly as she jerked away and made eye contact with John Kaye. “I love you and want you with me.” Angelica’s face flattened - she was pale and her expression blank. All life had drained out of it. Trying to avoid eye contact with Michael, she looked over at Dr. Bishop, who was shaking his head, wide eyed, and mumbling through the mouth gag.

“How?” Angelica asked, for lack of a better response, as she turned her head to face Michael directly. Angelica felt as if her body was burning from the inside out. It dawned on her that she was staring at a complete stranger, not the man she had fallen in love with.

“You can come back with me… we can be with each other. Francis has agreed.”

Angelica was confused. What is going to happen? What is this about, Michael? Why are you doing this? I’m confused… no, I don’t know…” She felt as if she couldn’t breathe, as she forced the words out.

Michael stood up and paced the floor in front of her. “It’s about Eplar. It will be destroyed.”

”Why… Why, would you do that?” Angelica shouted, sounding alarmed.

Michael rubbed his palm across his forehead, clearly agitated. “They are seeding that planet with alien-human hybrids. Don’t you understand? It is wrong… against God’s will! And those fuckers caused my mother’s death after they took her eggs and destroyed her!” Michael yelled… showing an entirely new persona, causing Angelica to flinch. “I’m sorry, baby… I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said quickly and softly.