“So this road is seriously called the Extraterrestrial Highway?” Willis asked.
“It’s the town closest to Area 51,” Avery said. “It’s small, but it draws a fair number of tourists.”
“Kind of weird, a conspiracy theory nut living this close to Area 51, of all places, don’t you think?” Willis ran a hand across his shaved scalp.
“Perhaps he’s hiding in plain sight?” Sofia offered. “I guess we can ask him when we find him.”
“How about we get going?” Avery said. “We’ll go in separately and do some browsing. If one of us spots him, text the others.”
“Look at the little girl taking charge.” Willis smiled indulgently.
“You have a problem with that?”
“No, girl. It’s just the Maddock in you coming out.”
“Whatever. Remember, I don’t want you approaching him,” she said to Willis. “Sofia and I are a bit less intimidating. You just hang back in case we need you.”
Willis nodded.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Avery waited until first Willis, then Sofia, entered the store, then followed a minute later. The bookstore was packed with rows of overstuffed shelves teeming with books, DVDs and CDs. New and used items were shelved together. She inhaled the aroma of slightly scorched coffee beans and smiled. This was her kind of place.
She spotted Willis’ head bobbing along above the shelves in the movie section. Sofia was nowhere to be seen. Avery thought for a moment. Where might an expert on the lost library browse? She approached the register and asked the sleepy-looking cashier to direct her to the section on ancient mysteries. He waved her toward the back corner of the store and slumped back onto his stool, a defeated look on his face.
The ancient mysteries aisle was empty of customers, so she selected a book at random and wandered toward the coffee shop. Krueger wasn’t there. She bought a cup of house blend, one sugar, no cream, in a to-go cup, and resumed her wanderings. She hadn’t gone ten steps when her cell phone vibrated. It was a text from Sofia.
Seating area beside the magazines.
Avery rounded the magazine display and found a circle of sofas, chairs, ottomans, and side tables. Sofia was curled up in an overstuffed armchair reading a magazine. Avery couldn’t help but notice, and envy, the way Sofia did everything, even sit in a chair, with such natural grace. She wondered, with a touch of resentment, how long it would be before Bones got his hooks into the beautiful archaeologist. Pushing the juvenile thoughts aside, she refocused.
You’re here to find someone, she thought. Where is he?
And then she spotted him. Directly across from Sofia sat a slender, fair-skinned man with blue eyes. He wore his shockingly blond hair in a flat top cut, and he was clad in jeans and an Oxford cloth shirt. He was flipping through the sports section of the Roswell Daily Register, his coffee untouched on the table beside him.
His eyes barely flitted in her direction as she sat down in the chair next to his. She smiled and he made the faintest of nods before returning to his paper. She took a sip of coffee, opened her book, and pretended to read. She’d inadvertently grabbed a book titled Mysteries of the Ancient World, and now wondered if Krueger would notice and fear something was amiss. Way to be heavy-handed, Avery.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Willis loitering in front of the magazines — the Playboys, to be exact. The guy had spent too much time with Bones. She glanced at Sofia, who looked meaningfully at Krueger and nodded once. Avery took a deep breath.
“Excuse me, could I borrow the front page?”
Krueger looked up at her, surprised, and then held out the front page section. As Avery accepted it, she leaned in close and whispered, “We need to speak to you, Mister Krueger.”
Krueger sat up straight. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “You have the wrong person.”
“Please,” Sofia said, unfolding her legs and leaning toward him, urgency in her eyes. “We need your help.”
“There’s nothing I can help you with.” He folded his paper and made to rise, but Avery stood and blocked his way.
“Too many people have already died. We need your help to stop it.”
“People you’ve killed,” Krueger retorted. “I don’t know how you found me, but I promise you, I won’t go down without a fight.” He reached down and grabbed the cuff of his jeans.
Avery’s stomach lurched as she caught a glimpse of a small revolver, and then Willis was there. He seized Krueger’s wrists from behind and held him still.
“No need for that. Whoever you’re running from, we ain’t them.”
Alarmed, Krueger looked back at Willis and then, strangely, relaxed.
“You’re right. You aren’t.”
Willis released Krueger and sat down on the arm of the chair on the side of Krueger opposite Avery. From there, he could be on the man in an instant should he make another try for his weapon.
“I’m glad you can see that,” she said. “Do you know who’s after you?”
“I don’t know who, exactly, they are, but I know what they want and why. Best I can tell, they’re no better than Nazis. They probably saw my surname, saw a picture of me, and figured I’d be a sympathizer.” He smirked at Avery. “I could believe you were one of them, but a Latina and a black man? Not a chance. Tell your friend to relax.” He tilted his head toward Willis. “I’m not going to run, and I definitely won’t try for my gun again.”
“Glad to hear it.” Avery waved at Willis, and he slid down into his chair, though he still appeared as tense as a runner waiting for the starting pistol.
“So, who are you and what do you want?” Krueger asked.
“We’re part of a team dedicated to rooting out the people who are after you,” Sofia said.
“Who are they, exactly?”
“We’re not supposed to talk about that.” Avery bit her lip, wondering how he would respond.
“If you want my help, you’re going to have to trust me, at least a little bit.” Krueger’s gaze was rock hard.
“Fine. They’re called the Dominion. They claim to be a Christian group, and they have roots in many churches, but they’ve also infiltrated branches of government. We’re new to the team and aren’t privy to all the information our director has, but their leanings definitely tend toward Nazi beliefs.” Avery paused while Krueger mulled this over.
“What are their aims? Overthrow the government?”
“More like take it over organically,” Avery said. “For some time now, they’ve been building their power in the shadows, both in the religious and secular spheres. But something they did very recently leads us to believe they’re either changing their strategy or, more likely, expanding it.”
Krueger frowned at her.
“Did you hear about the Tsunami that struck Key West?” Kruger said he had, and Avery filled him in on what they knew, and what they thought they knew, about the disaster.
Krueger stared at her for a full ten seconds, and then he laughed.
“Atlantis? Right. Tell you what, I’ll let you get back to your book,” he tapped the book on ancient mysteries, “and your whacked-out ideas. I need to find a new town and create a new identity.”
“Would you like to see some pictures of the weapon?” Sofia asked softly.
Krueger froze, half in, half out of his chair.
Sofia took out her iPad and flipped through a series of images, all showing the Atlantean device they had recovered off the coast of Cuba. Next, she showed him several images of the temple, all screenshots taken from the submarine’s video feed. Finally, she showed him the pictures she had taken of the temple in Spain before its destruction.