The Roswell Conspiracy

“Yes, sir.” The forklift driver carefully set down the pallet and went back to the small truck for another one.

His men formed a chain to move the pallet’s load, twenty-five-pound clear plastic bags full of tiny pink pellets. Golgov and Popovich had been instrumental in obtaining them.

Colchev smiled as he read the bag’s large block letters. ANFO. It had taken his team months to acquire the quantity they needed. And just as he’d planned, the last payload had arrived in time for the operation to be set in motion.

Short for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil, ANFO was one of the most common explosives in the world. Colchev walked over to the trailer to get a good look inside. His smile widened when he saw the fruition of so much hard work.

For the entire length of the interior, bags of ANFO were stacked from floor to ceiling.

SEVEN

After four hours in the police station, Tyler was famished. Before he’d had a chance to talk to Jess, they’d all been hauled away from the jet boat dock to be questioned at the Queenstown police department. An incident like this was extremely unusual for peaceful New Zealand, so he was sure they’d already made the worldwide news reports.

Tyler lost count of how many times he went over the story for the interrogating officers, all without stopping for lunch. No doubt they were comparing his tale to Grant’s and Fay’s. They were eventually convinced that Tyler was telling the truth, that unknown assailants attacked Fay and that Tyler and Grant had come to her rescue, although Tyler wasn’t so sure that she had really needed rescuing.

What the police wanted to know now was why she’d been targeted. So did Tyler. As he told the investigators, it must have something to do with her Roswell artifacts, but he had no idea why anyone would want them.

By mid-afternoon Tyler had told the detectives all he could, and he was released. The police seemed content to chalk this up to a strange robbery gone awry, and with both assailants dead, they considered the danger over.

The policeman who escorted Tyler out told him that someone would be coming by shortly to return the Audi using the keys Grant had given them. Tyler met Grant at the front of the station. When they saw the mass of news media outside, they took a seat in the waiting area.

“Well, this has been fun,” Tyler said. “Where’s Fay?”

“The cops interviewed her before they got to us,” Grant said. “They told me she left two hours ago to check out what’s left of her house.”

“I hope she’s able to salvage something.”

“At least she’s alive.”

Tyler couldn’t disagree, but the attitude that it could have been worse was small consolation for someone who just lost everything they owned.

Grant patted his stomach. “I’m as hungry as a vegan at a pig roast. As soon as we get the car back, we’re heading to that pizza place and I’m ordering an extra-large pepperoni. Then you’re going to tell me all about Jess.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. He should have known that would be Grant’s first topic of conversation.

“I’ll tell you now, because there’s nothing to it. She and I went out for a year at MIT. It didn’t work out and we broke up. End of story.”

“Uh huh. And how come I never heard about her before?”

“Do I know about all your old girlfriends?”

Grant smiled. “Good point. But now that she got us into a shootout in the middle of a foreign nation, maybe it’s time you spilled it.”

Tyler sighed. “All right. I was a junior and she was a freshman in a history elective I was taking. She sat next to me one day, and we started talking. I thought she was cute, and after about a week, I asked her to go to a party with me. One thing led to another, and we were a couple.”

“You thought she was cute? When she was a college freshman, did she look anything like she does now? ’Cause I got a look at her down at the dock. She’s not cute. She’s smokin’.”

“I noticed her. Everyone noticed her. A girl at MIT who looks like that had her choice of guys.”

“And she sat next to you? What was wrong with her?”

“Maybe she liked a man in uniform,” Tyler said with a shrug. “I was wearing my ROTC class A’s that day.”

Grant nodded knowingly. “That’s why I wear mine whenever I go to a wedding. Never fails. So why’d you break up?”

“Pretty simple. I wanted a long-term relationship. She was new to college and didn’t want to settle down just yet. So that was it. Three months later I met Karen.”

But in fact their relationship had been far more serious than he was letting on to Grant. The eight months he’d dated her had been intense, but that was a lifetime ago. Jess was the first girl he’d ever fallen in love with, and she’d broken his heart. But he harbored no ill will toward her because if he hadn’t broken up with Jess, he would never have gone out with Karen, his wife and the love of his life. In a way, he owed Jess for giving him the best years he’d ever had.

Grant had been great friends with Karen, though she had teased him mercilessly about his serial love life. Grant had been the only reason Tyler had lived through the terrible year after she was senselessly taken from him in a car accident.

A policeman came in through the front door, and the sounds of shouting reporters briefly invaded the station. He spotted Tyler and Grant.

“Dr. Locke and Mr. Westfield, your car is waiting.”

“They brought the car here?” Grant said. “That’s service for you.”

They walked outside and were immediately surrounded by the growing crowd of news people and cameras. Tyler saw the Audi and silently pushed his way through the cacophony of shouted questions.

He stopped when he saw Jess driving and Fay in the passenger seat.

Fay waved from her open window. “Get in!”

Not wanting to get into a discussion in front of the media, he and Grant crammed into the back seat. Jess hit the accelerator and zoomed down Camp Street.

“What are you doing here?” Tyler said.

“Didn’t you want your car back?” Jess said.

“Yes, but where are we going?”

“Back to my house.”

“Your house?”

“Well, we can’t go back to my house,” Fay said with a mixture of anger and sadness. “It burned to the ground before the fire brigade could get there.” A sob caught in her throat.

“I’m sorry, Fay,” Tyler said.

“I wish we could have done more,” Grant added.

“You boys did all you could. I would have gone up in smoke, too, if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”

“They couldn’t save anything?” Tyler said.

“All that’s left is what I have with me.”

There was silence for a moment until Grant opened his mouth.

“So, Jess, how do you know Tyler?”

Tyler had to stifle a groan.

“Tyler didn’t tell you about our hot love affair?”

“I heard it was quite passionate,” Fay said.