And if you say you’ve never seen any of that stuff except for on television, why then they set about converting you. They want to convince you that you’d better open your eyes and start looking around, because you need to know the TRUTH.
Open your eyes, they say, and the desert will reveal its secrets. Sooner or later you’ll spot the caves and tunnels, the ones that lead to a vast underground complex where aliens dwell.
Martians, to be exact. Creatures exiled from their dead planet, a dying race living out their final days beneath ours.
The government knows all about the Martians, of course. Those black helicopters are government helicopters. Those men in black are government agents. They provide the Martians with things they need in exchange for Martian technology.
Think about it, the saucer nuts say. How’d we get from vacuum tubes to transistors so quickly, and then from transistors to microchips? We had to have some help. It’s easier to back-engineer from alien technology than to engineer from scratch. And if the price of a technological bounty is giving the Martians what they need, why then… what exactly is our future worth?
The Martians have appetites, sure. Appetites that humankind wouldn’t find acceptable if the story became common knowledge. The Martians have appetites, and the men from the government feed those appetites with an endless supply of…
Convicts…
Mental patients…
Ordinary people who KNOW THE TRUTH…
Once a saucer nut gets that deep into the whole little green men conspiracy thing, you can’t get a word in edgewise. All you can do is nod your head and say something like, “Guess I’ll have to start watching my backside a little more carefully.”
But that’s not the way it was with the guy from the solid- panel van. With him, the roles were all mixed up. He was the one watching his backside while I rattled on.
I told him the whole loopy story and when I finally finished up, I was the one who didn’t have anything left to say. But I had to say something. So I said, “All I’m trying to tell you is that it’s dangerous to be out here alone.”
His tone was matter-of-fact with just a hint of condescension. “I’m searching for empirical proof,” he said. “I find that’s the best way to treat any investigation, from the fantastic to the mundane. I must have proof before I can believe anything. And until I believe, I can think of no reason to be frightened.”
“All I’m saying is that you need to be careful.”
He nodded. “I have a cellular phone, and there’s a radio in the van.”
I didn’t know quite why he said that. Maybe it was an offhand comment. Or maybe he was giving me a warning. Telling me that all he had to do was finger a couple buttons or twist a dial, and he wouldn’t be alone anymore.
I eyed him hard, watching for his reaction to the questions I was about to ask. “It’s good to have a phone and a radio,” I said. “But how about a gun? Do you have one of those?”
He smiled. “If it’s Martians I’m dealing with, I don’t see what earthly good a gun would do me.”
It was no answer at all, but he laughed as if he’d told me a joke.
He actually laughed.
I can’t imagine what kind of fool he took me for.
“I guess you know what you’re doing,” I said.
He nodded. “I guess I do.”
I got in my truck and started it up.
“Adios,” I said as I flipped a U-turn.
“Adios,” he replied, dismissing me. And then with a wry smile he added: “Vaya con Dios.”
I drove until I was well out of sight. Then I pulled over and called Wes on the walkie-talkie.
“I think you’re right,” I said. “There’s something wrong with the guy. He looks the part, but when you talk to him he doesn’t give off the right vibes.”
Wes’ voice crackled over the radio. “Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’ve hit the jackpot.”
I thumbed the transmitter. “What?”
“We got eight of ’em, Roy. Stupid wetbacks. Rudy spotted ’em heading down the arroyo. They didn’t have nowhere to go, really. So even if the guy in the van is a coyote, it doesn’t matter. He can sit out there in the heat ’til his brain boils up in his skull if he wants to, but we already got what we — ”
In the background, I heard a scream.
“I got to get back to work,” Wes said. “We need you to join up with us. Just follow the arroyo and you’ll find us. I think we could use a hand.”
“That’s a little out of my line, Wes.”
“Hell if it is.” Now Wes was yelling above the screams in the background. “You’re in animal control, ain’t you?”
“Yeah, but — ”
“No
The walkie-talkie went dead. The whole thing made me a little nervous. So nervous that I took the .22 target pistol out of the glove compartment and gripped it like some kind of talisman.
Where I stood, it was real quiet.
I remembered that question, the one that used to drive me crazy in college.
I was in the middle of nowhere.
Somewhere out there, someone was screaming.
But it didn’t matter how hard I listened.
I didn’t hear anything at all.
When I caught up with them, Wes and Rudy were already hard at work.
There were eight Mexicans. Three men — one of them old enough to have white hair — three women, one teenage girl, and one kid.
The younger men had been stripped and handcuffed. Wes held a gun on them, even so. The women and the kid and the old man huddled in a little patch of shade cast by the west wall of the arroyo.
The teenage girl was down on her hands and knees. Her faded blouse was torn and her jeans lay in a tired knot off to one side, along with a scuffed up pair of boots with holes in the soles. Rudy was behind her, his uniform pants halfway down, grunting away.
“Howdy, Roy.” Wes smiled. “Welcome to the party.”
My gut rolled. I couldn’t see the point of this. Like I said, there’s no reason to be cruel. But Wes and Rudy had obviously crossed that line a long time ago.
Wes didn’t trust me. That much was obvious. He forgot about the wetbacks and turned his attention to my face, just the way he had earlier, trying to gauge my reaction.
I know he didn’t expect the expression he got.
“Look out!” I yelled.
But the old man was already there. He’d come from behind when Wes turned to face me. He slashed at Wes with a switchblade. Wes whirled just in time to avoid the weapon, firing his pistol at the same time, and the old man tottered back as the bullets pitted his chest and he tripped over Rudy’s legs before Rudy knew what was going on.
Then it was like watching dominoes fall. The old man went down hard on top of Rudy, splashing the border
