Return to Paradise

CHAPTER THREE

AFTER I DROP SARAH OFF AT HER HOUSE, I switch into detective mode.

It’s only been a little while since the whole “aliens are real and attacking your school” thing, but since then I’ve been trying to get as much information about what’s going on as possible. I’d like to say that it’s so that if Earth has to fight, I can take on the bad guys, but I think it’s mostly just because I need something to do. And because I like to be a person in the know. Preferably the one calling the shots. Maybe that’s what made me such a good quarterback. It’s surprisingly tough to go from being the guy who knows everything that’s going on in school to some dumb jock who didn’t even realize there was a war going on around him.

I can fix that. I just have to gather info.

Plus, it gives me something to talk to Sarah about other than whether or not I think John—and the others, but mostly just John—is okay or not. Even if it does make me sound a little like nutso Sam.

I take the long way home and drive past the high school. Not that I can get anywhere close to it—the authorities have the whole area around it pretty locked down. It isn’t the police who are running the show now. If so, I could probably camp out on the school lawn if I wanted to since my dad is the sheriff. No, there are people much higher up running the investigation. The FBI, and I’m guessing some other three-letter government groups that we civilians aren’t even supposed to know about. There are a lot of people in black suits walking around Paradise these days, which I guess makes sense since this is some grade-A Area 51 shit. Once I’d tried to sneak over to the school through the woods that border it, but they’ve got all the surrounding areas lit up with giant floodlights at night. I couldn’t get within a few yards of the edge of the trees or else someone might have seen me.

It would have been a nice time to have that alien girl—Six—and her invisibility powers around.

Today I recognize the cop who’s posted to make sure that no one turns down the street that leads to the school. Todd is only three or four years older than me. He was a big town football star back in the day and always likes to corner me and talk stats and plays when I’m at the station. I hesitate for a second and then decide to try my luck. I want to know what’s going on at the school. Maybe if I can get close enough to see what kind of detective work they’re doing, I can get an idea of how much they do or don’t know. Maybe I can even talk one of them into spilling a few secrets if I don’t see any pale dudes walking around.

I make a loop and come back to the school. As I’m doing so, I take off my letter jacket and toss it into the backseat, shoving my backpack on top of it.

“Hey, man,” I say, pulling up beside Todd. A couple of traffic barrels sit in front of my bumper. “How’s it going?”

“Just freezing my ass off to protect this sacred ground,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets and nodding his head towards the school. I can’t tell if he’s joking about the sacred ground or not because he’s definitely the kind of guy who will be talking about his high school glory days until his dying breath.

“Yeah,” I say, trying my best to sound casual. “What are they doing over there, anyway? I mean, I heard the place is a mess, but Dad says they aren’t telling you much about whether they’re finding anything useful or not.”

“It’s all classified intel,” Todd says, raising his eyebrows just a little bit to make it sound really important. “You know. Homeland-security-type stuff. Apparently the government doesn’t like it too much if you try to destroy a school.”

“I bet, man.” I nod. “Hey, so I actually left my letter jacket in the locker room back before all this shit went down and—I know this is stupid, but I feel kind of naked without it. Do you think I could just run in really fast and grab it? I mean, you probably felt the same way about yours when you were racking up touchdowns, right? It’s like a second skin.”

Something weird happens to Todd’s face. He’s quiet, and it looks like he just got a big whiff of something foul. Finally, he just shakes his head.

“No can do, buddy,” he says slowly. “The place is off-limits. I’m not even supposed to go all the way to campus.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No,” he says again. This time there’s no room for argument.

I squint my eyes and try to see as far down the street that dead-ends into campus as I can, but all I can make out is a handful of big black SUVs and a couple of moving figures dressed in dark clothes.

Todd clears his throat, and I snap back to the present.

“It’s cool,” I say. “I just thought I’d ask.” I force a grin. “But if something happens to my jacket, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Todd gives a little smile as I back up and head away from the school.

They won’t even let him all the way up to campus? I think. What the hell are they doing there?