that’s for sure. I mean, who the heck would be left to serve me at Taco Bell?” Ty declared.
Jayde shook her head. “Boys!”
“Right, yeah—where were we?” Ty swiveled in his chair and tapped a few more keys.
On the screen a montage of video news clippings began playing, each one associated with a dot on the map, and they flashed up on the screen only to be replaced by another: Aurora, Texas, 1897; Los Angeles, 1942; Roswell, NM, 1947; Westall, Australia, 1966; Shag Harbour, Canada, 1967; Belgium, 1989; Zimbabwe, 1994; Phoenix lights, 1997; Illinois, 2000; Rendlesham Forest, England, 2008; Moscow, 2009; China, 2010; Utah, 2011; and others. Travis watched, occasionally glancing at each of them, waiting to see if they were about to burst into laughter. If they were about to, they gave no indication.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen or heard of these events; heck, he’d grown up around the Logans and spent many a night at a sleepover, dozing off while Ryan recounted stories that his father had with callers on his radio show, but he had always taken them with a grain of salt. He would tell Ryan that it was always the same grainy photos, bad footage, shaky cameras and witnesses who looked like they had nothing better to do than make up stories and grab their fifteen minutes of fame. If it were real, surely someone would have better footage, he thought. Or was everyone just so wired on coffee they couldn’t keep a damn camera straight?
“Travis, for thousands of years, Watchers have gone to great lengths to conceal their whereabouts, their movements and, more specifically, their abductions. And yet lately—we’re not too sure why, but they have become more brazen and sloppy. We managed to track their most recent activity back to Los Alamos and that led us to your father. It was then we discovered this has become far bigger than we imagined,” Jack said.
Travis smirked. “Okay, and you want me to believe they are here to clone us, invade our earth, take over our planet—right?”
“I can see someone has been watching far too much sci-fi,” Ty said.
“Travis, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but that’s not the point. Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. We have a strong reason to believe they have been using the Lab as a cover and your father is an important part of their agenda. What that is, we’re not entirely sure at this point. However, we do know that a vast number of abductees are being held; your father confirmed that.”
“What do you mean, people being held? Abducted?”
Lincoln leaned back on one of the tables.
“We had been following a lead—a disappearance of a teenage girl from Tulsa. We gave her photo to your father. That video you saw was him confirming it was her. He had been told they were mentally insane candidates for experimental testing.” Lincoln paused. “She was just an ordinary high school teen, good kid, good grades, a normal family life. That’s when your father agreed to help us.”
“So why didn’t you blast your way into the Lab?” Travis said.
“Hey, didn’t I say that was a good idea? I’m starting to like this kid.” Mason chirped.
Jayde rolled her eyes.
“They function like terrorist sleeper cells, taking root in cities, towns and different countries. Occasionally we have managed to get the odd one to rat on the whereabouts of another cell, but most would rather die than give up the head,” Jack said. “This was the first time we had managed to find someone on the inside who could gather intel on who, where and what we were dealing with. And from the little that your father had shared, he was on to something big.”
Travis stepped back. He ran his hand around the back of his neck and then across his face. “Yeah—okay … stop.”
“See, here’s what—” Jack began
Travis waved a hand, cutting him off. “STOP! That’s enough.” He tried to gather his thoughts, running his hand through his hair.
“Look, I
Jayde shook her head. “Boys!”
“Right, yeah—where were we?” Ty swiveled in his chair and tapped a few more keys.
On the screen a montage of video news clippings began playing, each one associated with a dot on the map, and they flashed up on the screen only to be replaced by another: Aurora, Texas, 1897; Los Angeles, 1942; Roswell, NM, 1947; Westall, Australia, 1966; Shag Harbour, Canada, 1967; Belgium, 1989; Zimbabwe, 1994; Phoenix lights, 1997; Illinois, 2000; Rendlesham Forest, England, 2008; Moscow, 2009; China, 2010; Utah, 2011; and others. Travis watched, occasionally glancing at each of them, waiting to see if they were about to burst into laughter. If they were about to, they gave no indication.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen or heard of these events; heck, he’d grown up around the Logans and spent many a night at a sleepover, dozing off while Ryan recounted stories that his father had with callers on his radio show, but he had always taken them with a grain of salt. He would tell Ryan that it was always the same grainy photos, bad footage, shaky cameras and witnesses who looked like they had nothing better to do than make up stories and grab their fifteen minutes of fame. If it were real, surely someone would have better footage, he thought. Or was everyone just so wired on coffee they couldn’t keep a damn camera straight?
“Travis, for thousands of years, Watchers have gone to great lengths to conceal their whereabouts, their movements and, more specifically, their abductions. And yet lately—we’re not too sure why, but they have become more brazen and sloppy. We managed to track their most recent activity back to Los Alamos and that led us to your father. It was then we discovered this has become far bigger than we imagined,” Jack said.
Travis smirked. “Okay, and you want me to believe they are here to clone us, invade our earth, take over our planet—right?”
“I can see someone has been watching far too much sci-fi,” Ty said.
“Travis, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but that’s not the point. Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. We have a strong reason to believe they have been using the Lab as a cover and your father is an important part of their agenda. What that is, we’re not entirely sure at this point. However, we do know that a vast number of abductees are being held; your father confirmed that.”
“What do you mean, people being held? Abducted?”
Lincoln leaned back on one of the tables.
“We had been following a lead—a disappearance of a teenage girl from Tulsa. We gave her photo to your father. That video you saw was him confirming it was her. He had been told they were mentally insane candidates for experimental testing.” Lincoln paused. “She was just an ordinary high school teen, good kid, good grades, a normal family life. That’s when your father agreed to help us.”
“So why didn’t you blast your way into the Lab?” Travis said.
“Hey, didn’t I say that was a good idea? I’m starting to like this kid.” Mason chirped.
Jayde rolled her eyes.
“They function like terrorist sleeper cells, taking root in cities, towns and different countries. Occasionally we have managed to get the odd one to rat on the whereabouts of another cell, but most would rather die than give up the head,” Jack said. “This was the first time we had managed to find someone on the inside who could gather intel on who, where and what we were dealing with. And from the little that your father had shared, he was on to something big.”
Travis stepped back. He ran his hand around the back of his neck and then across his face. “Yeah—okay … stop.”
“See, here’s what—” Jack began
Travis waved a hand, cutting him off. “STOP! That’s enough.” He tried to gather his thoughts, running his hand through his hair.
“Look, I
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