Sedona Conspiracy

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ^WARNINGS

Dario Watt held a strategy meeting with his deputies. Four men arrived with him at the conference room overlooking a portal bay bright with lights reflecting off titanium-strutted plas-steel walls. It was early, the bay just beginning to gear up for the day’s travel schedule, and only a few people walked the floor. As a minister, it had been ordinary for him to arrange a meeting before departure, and his deputies were familiar faces among portal staff. They were the last four men he could trust. All others had abandoned him, including his president, men who claimed to be visionaries but were willing to sacrifice the security of their world just to make a show of it.

The door was closed, and a deputy made an electronic sweep while the rest waited patiently. “It’s clean,” the man finally said, and sat down with the others.

Watt sat at the head of the table, and folded his hands together in front of him. “Thank you all for arriving promptly. I’ll keep this short, and we’ll continue our usual meeting schedule on the other side. Things are speeding up there. I wish I could bring you good news, but the facts are otherwise. The opposition has somehow become aware of all our plans, or is able to anticipate them. I’ve not been able to locate White since his arrest. He might have told them something, but plans we’ve made since then have also been uncovered.”

“Do you think we have a security breach on this side?” asked a deputy.

“No. I trust all of you completely. Our adversaries are skilled, and numerous. Our moves must be pre-planned and quick. It’s clear to me we must abandon any plan to return the star craft safely. It will have to be sacrificed. The fault is my own. I overestimated American greed for money, and forgot about pride. Every government operative I’ve tried to buy, even Davis, is now working against us. The fools can barely conceal lies from each other. The council is controlling Price, trying to use him to gain access to us, and feeding him information about the star craft. Price will have it flying in space within weeks unless we eliminate him. That will be difficult. We tried it once, and you all know what happened.”

“They were cloaked, and we didn’t expect them,” said another deputy. “Now they’ll be watching him all the time.”

“True, but we’ll have to try. My plan involves multiple diversions. The Council has a limited number of armed personnel, but in the event of failure we should be prepared to move to the next stage. If the star craft flies, it can be destroyed in space, but that is complex. It is better to destroy it on the ground. One of your people must go through and see to that. A simple explosive keyed to the startup sequence can do the job.”

“And if that fails?” asked another deputy. His voice dripped sarcasm, and Watt frowned at him.

“If you have better ideas, we’d like to hear them now.”

“It’s not that, Minister. We’re too few in number. We need a force behind us.”

“Ah, but I have such a force. That’s the one thing White managed to do before his arrest. He found a sympathetic ear among the Blues, and put me in touch with a mercenary force more than happy to take our money.”

“Kashmires?”

“A few. They’re a mix of several nations, well armed, around a hundred of them and battle hardened. I can call them up on a day’s notice, but only for a major operation that will be our final option if everything else fails.”

“We’ll destroy everything,” said a deputy.

“Star craft, base and portal, all of it will be obliterated by the explosion. The required ordinance will be massive. We’ll bring it through the portal in a shipping crate, preset to detonate. The mercenaries will provide cover for the operation.”

“What about the Council? Do we just leave them there to die? It could be politically offensive to our neighbors.”

“I personally don’t care. Let them rot, or get home the best way they can. And there will be no future contact with the Americans. The explosion will kill all of them in the base, and even the nearby town is likely to sink out of sight into the ground. I have faith that our constituency will understand the need for this, as well as the need for new leadership.”

“If you’re wrong, we’ll all be dead men,” said a deputy.

“Better that than to allow these people to spread their corruption to the stars,” said Dario Watt.

Leon intended to follow John Coulter when he could, but two weeks passed by and he was unable to locate the man. Each day, before and after his office duties, he searched the town for Coulter’s black Mercedes, and never found it. Coulter didn’t call him, and hadn’t called Eric.

“I don’t like it,” Leon said to Eric. “The guy has dropped out of sight right after giving you a pile of money. Something has spooked him. Has that guy Brown contacted you again?”

“Nope. Not a word. I thought he might. We’re flight-testing this week. Ground rehearsal is tomorrow. Dillon still thinks I’m nuts. Hell, I think I’m nuts. These images come to me, and it’s always the right thing to do. I’m beginning to think I can actually fly that bird.”

“You probably can. Brown hinted at it. I think you’re being programmed for it, all the information you need is being fed to you through hypnosis or some other weird process we don’t understand. Your dreams have something to do with that. I bet they were doing it with Johnson, too. Otherwise, I don’t see why they’d pick on you.”

“Maybe that’s why he was killed. Brown didn’t say anything about him. Maybe they were getting Johnson ready to fly Sparrow and our resident saboteur had to kill him. He nearly killed me on the same day. That would have really set us back.”

“Are you still carrying?”

“Waist and boot, when I’m in town. Davis won’t let me bring anything into the base, but I’ve somehow acquired a Beretta 92F there.”

“Hang on to it,” said Leon. “What do you say we close the office early. I want to widen my search area for Coulter, and you have a big day tomorrow.”

“Fine with me,” said Eric, and locked his desk.

They left together, turning in opposite directions on 89A. Leon headed uptown and cruised the tourist area, went back to the Y and east to Oak Creek Village and the parking areas near Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. Traffic was growing heavier as he returned to Sedona, and went back south on 89A to the high school. He spent the better part of an hour doing the Red Rock Loop, slowing at every side street and dirt road. If Coulter had changed cars, Leon was wasting time.

Frustrated again, he sped back to Dry Creek Road and turned towards home. In his haste, and in heavy traffic, he failed to notice the black Mercedes sitting in the parking area in front of Nataly’s shop.

When the UPS truck arrived, Nataly asked the driver to pull around to the back of the store so he wouldn’t risk hitting one of her closely-spaced displays with his loaded hand-truck. He complied, and unloaded several heavy cartons at the back of the store. Nataly left Marie in charge of the register and went back to open and inspect each carton for damage as it was brought in. Everything had arrived safely. She signed for everything, and the driver went away.

There was a carton of colorful crystal specimens from Mexico, and two boxes of Brazilian quartz. She opened them up and lovingly unwrapped each piece. A scepter of yellow quartz with rutile inclusions sang to her, and several others near her resonance were warm in her hand. Time stood still as she sensed the vibrations of each piece, but as she opened another carton the curtain between the back room and her shop was suddenly pulled aside and Marie was standing there, rolling her eyes and being dramatic again.

“Oh, God, you are here. I told him you’d gone out. He’s been waiting up front for half an hour.”

“Who?”

“Some man. He said Eric sent him over to pick you up.”

Nataly blinked. “That’s not right. Eric would call first. We didn’t have anything scheduled for now.”

Marie sighed grandly. “I’m only telling you what he said.”

“Okay, tell him I’ll be there in a minute.”

Marie returned to the front of the store, and Nataly resumed her unpacking of the box she’d been working on.

“The last thing Eric would do would be to send someone to pick me up for any reason. He’d come himself. What do I do now?” she said out loud. But before she could answer herself, the curtain was pulled aside again and a man was standing there. He was tall, and wore an expensive looking gray suit with a power tie. His face was square, quite handsome, and his eyes were deep brown. He smiled.

“I’m sorry, Miss Hegel. Didn’t Eric call you? We’re supposed to meet him at Toucan’s in fifteen minutes, and if we leave now we might make it on time.” The man looked around the room as he spoke, but remained standing by the curtain.

“Eric didn’t call me about anything. Who are you?” Nataly felt hairs moving on the back of her neck, and her entire body was suddenly tense.

The man took a card case from his vest pocket and handed her a business card. “John Coulter, Miss Hegel. My business is mostly import and export of art, artifacts, and antiquities. Eric and I go back a couple of years. I’ve had some luck selling art for him, and he suggested your store as another source of artistic treasures. We were supposed to meet today to discuss it, and now I find out he didn’t tell you about it. This is very embarrassing. I’ll call Eric from Toucan’s and have him pick you up, as he should have. The meeting will only take an hour. I see you’re quite busy here. That yellow crystal is exceptional, by the way. Such beautiful things in your store, just what I’m looking for. Can you spare the time?”

“I suppose,” said Nataly, still tense. The man’s eyes seemed fathomless, without expression. But it wasn’t the thing that bothered her the most about him.

“I’ll see you later, then. Dinner is my treat for both of you.”

Coulter walked away before Nataly could answer him. She watched him through the curtain. The man said something to Marie that made her smile, and then left the store. He got into a black sedan and left the parking lot, headed south, in the opposite direction from Toucan’s.

“Now I’m scared,” said Nataly. “That man is one of us, and Eric has never mentioned him to me. I’m calling Vasyl.”

She punched in a number on her phone, and waited, then hung up. “Not there. I’ll have to bother Eric.”

Eric had left the office, and she got only the message service. “I suppose he could be on the way here,” she said, and at that instant, the back door of the room was jerked open and John Coulter’s bulk was filling the doorway.

“Like I said, Natasha, you are coming with me,” he growled, and lunged towards her.

“Leni!” she screamed, and leaped backwards.

John Coulter encountered an invisible force in mid-lunge that first snapped his body upright and then slammed him on his back on the floor. Coulter rolled, scrambled to his hands and feet with unusual speed for a large man, and was ready to charge again as Nataly cowered in the corner. And then his eyes widened with sudden surprise and fear.

The air in front of Nataly seemed to shimmer, and then boil, and the figure of a man appeared starting with his head and then down to his feet. He was dressed in black from head to foot, his face covered with a deep purple shield, and he held a short, stubby weapon that he now raised towards Coulter.

“Shit!” snarled Coulter, and with one leap he reached the door and was through it.

“Let him go!” said Nataly. An engine roared behind her shop, and gravel crackled against the wall. The man who’d suddenly appeared now stood at the doorway, looking outside.

“Black Mercedes, 500 Series, and I have the license number.”

“Vasyl didn’t answer when I called.” Nataly choked back a sob, and her eyes were brimming with tears. “Oh thank you, Leni.”

“I have another number for him. I’m not leaving you now. Dry your eyes. I’ll report this to Vasyl. He’ll know what to do.”

“If you hadn’t been here—what did he want with me?”

“You would make a good hostage. Eric would do what he was told. It was anticipated.” Leni smiled. “What just happened only justifies all the lonely hours I’ve spent in this empty room without even something to read.”

Nataly laughed, put her arms around Leni and hugged him. “My protector with the face I never see,” she said.

“And never will,” said Leni. “I think it’s safe to work up front now. I have to make a call, and recharge for cloaking. Expect me to be wandering the store. I’ll try not to bump into anything.”

Nataly heard the soothing tone of Leni’s voice, but knew that inside the man was a coiled spring.

She returned to the front of the store. Marie looked at her strangely, but said nothing. Nataly wanted to call Eric and tell him what had happened, but knew she shouldn’t. He had work coming up that would not be helped by worry.

She didn’t even think about calling Leon.