The Secret Manuscript (22 page)

They did not
tell anyone they were leaving. Of course, Ben did not have anyone
to tell, and Vanessa lived alone so no one would notice her
absence. Depending on how long they planned to stay in Cold Lake,
she figured she would have to come back to Calgary at some point.
With a full tank of gas, they hit the highway, heading
Northeast.

When they got
out of the city, Vanessa reclined her chair, and put her feet up on
the dash.

“You don’t
mind, do you?” she asked.

“No, not at
all, make yourself comfortable. We have a long drive ahead of
us.”

“Do you think
we’re doing the right thing?” Vanessa asked, having last-minute
doubts.

“Given the
alternatives, this is our best course of action.”

“Yeah, I think
leaving town is the safest play, but why go back to Cold Lake?”

“It’s the only
place I know, plus Kyle is there.”

“Do they have
a Wal-Mart?”

Ben laughed.
“No, unfortunately there’s no Wal-Mart, but there’s a Ray’s
Superstore!”

With the tunes
playing and the sun setting, Ben embraced the serenity of the long
drive. Surrounding him were emerald mountain ranges and billowy
clouds, which had a calming effect on him. After several hours of
driving, he looked over at Vanessa and saw she was asleep. Ben was
getting tired himself and needed a break so he turned off at the
next exit and pulled into a rest stop.

As soon as the
tires rolled across the noisy gravel in the parking lot, Vanessa
woke up. She sat up and adjusted her seat to an upright
position.

“Is this Cold
Lake?” she asked, looking at the one lone building in the middle of
nowhere.

Ben laughed.
“No, this is just a rest stop along the way. I thought we could
take a break and stretch our legs.”

“Good
idea.”

“I have to use
the washroom,” Ben said.

They exited
the vehicle and went their separate ways. Vanessa went into the
store and browsed the aisles for some snacks while Ben used the
restroom. She went to the chip aisle first, looking for something
salty. As she perused the different options, a vehicle pulled up
and then cut its lights off. It came to a stop just out of view
from the front window of the store. Two large men exited the
vehicle and entered the store. The door opened, triggering a tiny
bell to ring. Thinking it was Ben, Vanessa looked up and could not
believe her eyes. It was the two thugs from the university; somehow
they had tracked them to the middle of nowhere.

Vanessa
crouched low and hid at the end of the chip aisle. She looked above
her head and saw a circular mirror in the corner, which clearly
gave away her position. Staying low, she repositioned to the centre
of the last aisle and was truly at a loss as to what she should do.
She thought about texting Ben, but knew she did not have enough
time. The two men spread out, taking opposite ends of the first
aisle. They then walked from the front of the store to the back,
looking up and down the aisles. It would not be long before they
discovered Vanessa hiding at the back of the store, and there was
no telling what they would do to her once she was caught. She was
genuinely freaking out and desperate for a way to escape.

As the two men
approached, time was running out. She looked all around her and
discovered an item on the shelf that she thought may come in handy.
She quickly opened the package and gripped the small item in her
hand. When the men reached the aisle, Vanessa popped up and sprayed
them in the face with bear spray. The men clutched their faces and
screamed in pain as Vanessa quickly ran past them and out the front
door.

The timing was
perfect since Ben was returning from the washroom and heading back
to the car. He was only a few feet away from the car when he saw
Vanessa running toward him at full sprint yelling at him.

“Get in the
car!” she screamed.

Not exactly
sure what was going on, Ben wasted no time and followed her
instructions. He jumped in the car and fired up the engine. The
loud exhaust growled with aggression. Ben leaned over and opened
the passenger door, allowing Vanessa to jump in. Before her right
foot was even in the car, Ben slammed his foot on the gas pedal and
took off. Vanessa quickly pulled her legs into the car before the
door slammed shut.

The car’s
wheels dug into the pebbly surface and spit up loads of small rocks
and dirt. The backend fishtailed in the loose gravel until it found
traction on the highway pavement. Almost instantly, the car
accelerated to 100 km/h. Ben checked the rear-view mirror, but
could not see any headlights behind him. Until that moment, he had
yet to communicate with Vanessa as to what was going on.

“What’s wrong,
babe?” he asked in an excited tone, clearly agitated from the
ordeal.

“I saw the
goons from the university; I think they’re following us,” Vanessa
said.

“Are you
sure?”

“I’m sure!”
she said, still distressed.

“What
happened?”

“They came in
and were searching the place. I think they thought we were both in
the store. I was hiding in the last aisle and they were coming
closer. I panicked and didn’t know what to do.”

“So what did
you do?”

“I sprayed
them with pepper spray!” she said.

“You
what?”

“Yeah, right
in their faces.”

“And you were
sure it was them?” Ben asked.

“I mean, I
don’t know. I didn’t get a good look, but I’m pretty sure.”

“Vanessa, you
might have just sprayed two random fishermen or something.”

“They didn’t
look like fishermen.”

Not trusting
the rear-view mirror, Ben contorted his body around and looked out
the rear windshield.

“I don’t see
anybody following us.”

“Ben, I’m sure
it was them… pretty sure... oh gosh, did I just spray two random
men in the face with pepper spray?”

The tension of
the situation broke and they both burst out laughing.

“They must
have been surprised when you popped up like a possessed demon and
blasted them in the face with acid,” Ben said, laughing as he
pictured the situation. “That was probably the last thing those
poor guys expected.”

“Should we go
back and apologize?” she asked.

“No, don’t
worry about it. If they were the size of the two men from the
university, they should be tough enough to handle a little
mace.”

“I think it
was bear spray,” she added. “Is that worse?”

“I have no
idea, but I’m assuming it’s not too pleasant. If it was the two men
from the university, they won’t be driving anytime soon. I’ve been
hauling ass for the past few minutes, there’s no way they’re
catching up to us.”

“What if
they’re tracking us somehow?”

Ben paused to
think for a moment.

“Check the
bag,” he said.

“What am I
checking for?” Vanessa asked.

“There’s a
little metallic disk-type thing. It’s small enough to fit in your
palm.”

Vanessa opened
Ben’s bag and sifted through the clothing.

“Check the
small compartment,” he said, taking a second to glance over.

“Is this it?”
she said, pulling out the strange-looking object.

“Yes, that’s
it.”

“What is this
thing?” she asked, flipping it around to inspect all sides.

“I have no
idea. I thought it was a paperweight or some sort of artifact, but
maybe it’s a tracking device. I had it with me at the university
when the men found me.”

“Where did it
come from?”

“I found it in
the secret room in my house… on top of the manuscript. Whatever it
is, it was important enough to hide in a secret locked room.”

“You said
there are two instances when they found you,” Vanessa said, “once
at your house and then at the university.”

“Yeah?”

“But you’ve
always had this thing with you. So if they’re using this thing to
track you, why have they only showed up on those two
occasions?”

“What do you
mean?”

“Think about
it. If this is some sort of tracking device and it has never left
your possession, shouldn’t they have been able to find you anytime
they wanted? So either they track you all the time, but only bother
to pursue when they need something or in this case, when you leave
the city...”

“Or?”

“Maybe they’re
only able to track you under certain conditions such as when you
leave the house with it.”

“That makes
sense actually,” Ben said. “I didn’t have any problems until I
removed the device from the room and brought it upstairs that one
day. As soon as I did that, two large men showed up at my house and
kicked my door down. Ever since that day, I’ve kept it locked in
the basement in a vault-like room. The only exception was when I
had to break into my house and retrieve the manuscript. I was using
the device as a paperweight and must have slipped it into my bag
when I grabbed the stack of papers.”

“So you had it
with you at the university?”

“Yeah, it was
in my pocket. Maybe that explains why I found it encased in a steel
room in the ground. That’s the only way it can’t be tracked.”

“I say we
throw this thing out the window.”

“Wait, we
don’t even know what it is yet. It might be something
valuable.”

“We know what
it is, it’s a tracking device!” Vanessa said.

“It looks a
bit high-tech to be a tracking device. Besides, I found it in a
secret room on top of a manuscript. Whoever left it for me wanted
to make sure I noticed it.”

“Whoever left
it for you should have left a note; I’m throwing it out the
window.”

“No
don’t!”

Vanessa had
her armed stretched out the window and was holding onto the device.
Ben pleaded with her not to let go of it. Just then, the device did
something it had never done before — it began to glow.

“Vanessa,
look,” Ben said in astonishment.

Vanessa looked
up and saw the same thing. It seemed like the device was activated
by the rushing air. “What’s it doing?” she asked.

“I’m not
sure.”

Ben wanted to
watch what the device was doing, but needed to keep his eyes on the
road. At one point, he looked down at the speedometer. The digital
display read 141.6 km/h. It was at that moment a stream of light
burst from the device and lit up the entire car in a flash. The
explosion of energy overrode some of their sensations. The audio
faded to silence, and all they could see was white light. Ben tried
to talk, but was unable to. In fact, he could not even move a
single muscle. Then, almost as instantaneous as it started, the
flash disappeared and their senses came flooding back. Ben was
disorientated, which was not a good thing since he was driving at
high speed. He quickly regained his bearings and focused on not
crashing. Vanessa was noticeably dazed and confused as well. She
retracted her arm back in the car, still holding the device.
Neither one of them had yet to say a word.

“What just
happened?” Vanessa finally asked.

“I’m not
sure.”

They drove in
silence, trying to independently process the strange feeling that
had just consumed them. It was indescribable and unlike anything
they had felt before. It was as if their souls had been ripped out
of their bodies and then sling-shotted back into them.

“Do you notice
anything different?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, where
did all these cars come from?”

The red glow
of taillights lit up in the darkness in front of them. Ben looked
at the time display in his car and it was flashing 00:00.

“Is this what
missing time feels like?” Ben asked.

“What do you
mean?”

“It’s a
phenomenon people claim to experience with UFOs, alien abductions,
and other paranormal activity. It’s where people experience an
unaccounted gap in their conscious memory.”

“You think we
were abducted by aliens?” Vanessa asked.

“Maybe,” Ben
said. “Now that you ask me, my anus kind of hurts. How’s your
anus?”

“My anus is
fine.”

“So what was
it then?”

“Whatever it
was, it came from this thing you insist we keep. I should have
thrown it away.”

“I think it’s
fine, just keep it inside the vehicle for now. We’ll study it more
when we get to Cold Lake.”

Ben and
Vanessa arrived in Cold Lake past midnight on Wednesday night. They
were worn out from the day and needed a place to crash. They drove
through town and found a hotel.

“Good
evening,” the lady at the front desk greeted them.

“Hi, we’re
looking for a room,” Ben said.

“Certainly,
sir. For how many nights?”

“Indefinitely.”

“Okay, and
what size bed would you like?”

“A king
please.”

“Unfortunately, the closest thing available is two queens.”

“Okay, that’s
fine, we’ll take it.”

“Great, I just
need your credit card for an authorization, please.”

“I don’t
actually have my credit card with me — my wallet was stolen this
afternoon.”

The lady had
noticed Ben’s bruised face and swollen lip, but did not address it.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, sir.”

“Vanessa, do
you have your credit card on you?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, but
there’s not much room on it,” she said. “Actually, I think it might
even be over its limit,” she said, being slightly embarrassed.
“Sorry, I’m a student, remember?”

“That’s fine,”
he replied. “How else can we do this?” Ben asked, turning back to
the lady. “Can I just pay you in cash?”

“Sure, it’ll
be one hundred for the room and two hundred for the deposit.”

Ben took all
the money from his pocket and laid it out on the counter. He had
exactly enough.