Taken

“Killed the guy.”

Jesse felt the world empty, all brightness dim. “Dad,” he whispered as he slumped to the floor.

“Did you hear what happened?” Owen asked as Marty and Howard took their places before his desk.

“Happened, sir?” Howard asked tentatively.

“To Russell Keys.”

Howard and Marty exchanged glances.

“Where the hell have you two been, anyway?” Owen demanded.

“ Montana,” Howard answered shakily.

“You told us to bring you a smoking gun, sir,” Howard said, “We were following a lead and…”

“And?” Owen asked.

“Dead end,” Howard answered.

Owen eyed Howard suspiciously.

“All right,” Owen said. “You can go.”

Howard and Marty headed for the door.

“Oh, Howard,” Owen said suddenly. “Can you stay for just a minute, I need your help with something at home. Personal.”

“Yes, sir,” Howard said, then stepped over to Owen’s desk as Marty left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Something going on with Marty?”

“How do you mean?”

“He feels to me like someone who’s about to try an end run,” Owen said. He looked at Howard sternly. “Keep an eye on him. I rely on you completely. You’re my eyes and ears out there, Howard.”

Howard came to attention. “Yes, sir.”

A

Outside the room, Eric and Sam huddled by the door, listening as their mother ransacked their father’s office.

“I’m calling Dad,” Eric said urgently.

“He’d just make things worse,” Sam replied. “Let me try to talk to her first.”

“Talk to her if you want to,” Eric said dismissively. “But I’m calling Dad.”

He rushed down the hallway as Sam opened the door to Owen’s office and stepped inside.

“What are you looking for?” he asked his mother.

“Evidence,” A

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. “Evidence of what?”

A

The door opened, and she peered inside. The interior of the safe was bare save for a small piece of metal. She turned the metal in her hand, her gaze fixed on the odd markings that had been carved into it.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“Part of your inheritance,” Owen replied.

Sam turned to see his father standing massively in the doorway.

“Your mother and I need to talk,” Owen said.

Sam obeyed immediately, though A

“A

A

“A

A

“I want it to be like that again for us,” Owen said. He gently eased the artifact from her fingers and set it down on the desk, then took her hands and held them tenderly. “A

She nodded slowly, her eyes slightly glazed.

“There’s a place in Mi

She released a weary breath, and he saw that she had no will to resist him.

When Howard arrived Owen escorted A

A short while later Owen pulled his car across Highway 50 and waited. Howard would have to drive down this narrow, lonely road to get to Mi

Owen got out and walked over to the driver’s side, where Howard sat, looking at him quizzically.

For a moment, he stood by the door, reminding himself of what it was all for, and that these were not the first to be sacrificed. Then he drew the pistol from his back pocket and fired,

Howard slumped to the right, a small hole in his forehead.

“He was always a little simple, that one,” Owen said to A

She stared at him, her eyes wide with terror. Then she jerked open the door and rushed down the deserted road. Owen stood in place, drew her calmly into his sights, and pulled the trigger.

She fell like something from a great height, crumpling lifelessly to the ground. He picked her up, carried her back to the car, placed the gun in Howard’s dead hand and pulled the trigger a third time.

The blast seemed to echo among the mutely watching stars.

Jesse lifted the model of a spacecraft he’d fashioned out of small strips of torn paper plate. He didn’t know how the design came to him, only that it had risen spontaneously into his mind.

He looked about the bare shelter, the wall of sandbags that rose to the concrete ceiling, and thought of his father, how sad it would make him to know that his son was here, alone, imprisoned, waiting… for whatever they were going to do to him.

He heard a whispery rustle, like the sound of wind through winter corn, glanced toward the far wall and saw the upper line of sandbags move slightly, as if rocked by earthquake. But the floor of the bunker didn’t move. The earth was still, and yet a single sandbag suddenly shifted, tilted forward and fell to the floor, lifting a wave of dust into the air.

Jesse leaped to his feet and stood, powerless and terrified, as another sandbag toppled to the floor, then another, and another, bright shafts of light shooting into the dark bunker, so that the interior now glowed softly, the light building steadily as one by one, the sandbags fell, a wall crumbling to reveal a medical room, stainless steel tables ready and waiting, with four small creatures facing him, their slender arms dangling far below their waists, and a tall figure in between, lifting his arms in welcome to his son.