father, the building’s blueprints spread out on a table in front of him.
“What’s the situation?” Eric asked.
“He’s going to kill the girl if we don’t tell the whole world that we’re not alone.”
“You two were going to pick her up. This was supposed to be easy.”
Mary ignored the accusatory tone in her father’s voice. “We have to make sure that little girl doesn’t get hurt.” She glanced over to where a gas company truck rested at the curb, the snipers she’d already put into position now taking aim, awaiting her signal.
“No one’s getting killed here today,” Eric warned her, his eyes now on the same snipers.
Mary nodded, and suddenly, the snipers fired, smashing through the windows of Dr. Penzler’s office.
For a moment, there was silence, then the phone rang, and Mary quickly picked it up.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!”
It was Ray, and he was screaming.
“It was a miscommunication,” Mary told him urgently. “It won’t happen again.”
“YOU’RE DAMNED RIGHT IT WON’T! NEXT TIME ANYTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENS, THE LITTLE GIRL IS COMING OUT THE WINDOW WITH A BULLET IN HER HEAD!”
Mary put down the phone, and stared at the window of Dr. Penzler’s office, where Ray now stood, Allie held like a body shield in front of him, angrily repeating his demands.
“He’s going to kill her,” Mary said. “The proof. We can’t let that happen.”
“I will not be a party to any more killing,” Eric said firmly. “I’m done with that.”
“I don’t think you are, Dad,” Mary said darkly. “You know who’s in there, right? Besides the little girl, I mean. Her mother… and her father. That means he knows. That’s a lot of information in the hands of two people who have had some very bad experiences with us over the years.” She returned her gaze to the shattered window. “They have to go. And Dr. Penzler, too. I can’t risk a leak. Allie’s too important.” She shook her head. “None of the others matter anymore. It’s all about Allie.”
“You are not in charge here, Mary,” Eric reminded her. “I am. Take a step. Calm down.”
Mary smiled, but her eyes remained cold. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right.”
Eric stared at her warily. “On your way out, tell your personal gunmen that their services will no longer be required.”
Mary stiffened like a soldier called to attention. “Yes, Dad,” she said as she left the room.
Allie looked softly into Ray’s tormented eyes.
“It’s easier, isn’t it, Mr. Morrison,” she asked. “Blaming it on them.”
Ray sucked in an exhausted breath. “What?”
“It’s easier to say that ‘they’ did it to you,” Allie answered. “That ‘they’ came down and took you.”
Ray’s fingers tightened around the pistol grip. “Shut up.”
“It’s a whole lot scarier when the monsters are us,” Allie continued.
“I told you to shut up,” Ray said.
“Nothing you do is going to change what happened, Mr. Morrison.”
“And what was that?” Ray challenged her.
“That man in the woods when you were eight,” Allie answered. “The one who took you in the shed. He wasn’t from another planet. He was just mean and crazy.”
Ray leaped to his feet. “Shut up!”
“You’re just going to hurt a lot more people, that’s all.”
Ray lowered the pistol, his hand shaking, but his face curiously serene, as if he’d lived the life of one condemned, but whose death sentence had suddenly been lifted. He looked at Allie without fear or malice. “What should I do now?” he asked.
Allie smiled quietly. “I think you already know.”
Mary eased back behind the gas truck as the door to Dr. Penzler’s building opened.
“They’re coming out,” she said. “The girl said she’d come with us.”
The sniper nodded.
“Remember what I told you.”
“Good as done,” the sniper assured her.
Mary edged back to the rear of the truck. She could see Allie in the lead, the others behind her, all walking slowly, keeping their pace with hers. One, two, three, she began, counting the seconds for the moment, five, six…
She stopped as her father abruptly appeared, striding across the street, waving his arms, his voice higher and more desperate than she’d ever heard it.
“Get away!” he cried. “Take your little girl! Run!”
She nodded to the sniper.
He promptly took aim and fired.
The sound of the blast seemed to shear away the night. In the distance, Eric spun around as the bullet pierced him, then fell heavily to the ground.
Mary stepped out from behind the truck, her gaze lethally fixed on Allie. The proof, she thought, watching as Allie stood in place, her gaze focused no less intently on Mary.
Wakeman took his place beside her, and together they moved forward, intently… then strangely… then impossibly as the street and buildings dissolved and they found themselves in a broad green field where nothing stood around them but a happily grazing cow.
“I’m ready to go with you.”
The pasture vanished and Allie stood before them, the street deserted now, the hostages departed, nothing but the eerie silence that follows a violent storm.
“Screening,” Wakeman said, his voice filled with awe.
“What?” Mary asked.
“She threw up a screen, and everyone escaped while she kept us behind it,” Wakeman said, his gaze resting quietly on Allie. He smiled. “Little girl,” he said gently, “I love the way your mind works.”
PART EIGHT. Dropping the Dishes
Chapter One
Allie sat silent as the truck sped through the cold New England night. She stared straight ahead but saw everything around her, Mary on one side, Wakeman on the other, busily assembling a five-sided helmet.
“Do you know who I am?” Mary asked.
“Not exactly.”
“Our families go way back,” Mary told her. “Mine and your mom’s and your dad’s. I kind of think that you and I might be the end of all this.”
“We might be just the beginning,” Allie said. She looked at Mary. “Your grandfather wasn’t a very happy man. Why are you trying to be like him?”
Before Mary could answer, Wakeman said, “We’re almost at the airstrip. We better get this thing in place.” He nudged Allie forward and placed the helmet over her head and secured it with a strap. “What can you see?” he asked.
Allie didn’t answer.
