The Clique Page 4

  Alex sat back and reread her email. This was more the tone she needed. She sounded a bit like her mother talking to an erring underling. Whoever c0nundrum was, she needed to take a firm hand with him.

  Alex saved the email. She had learned that when annoyed it was always better to sleep on a message before she sent it. She sat down to brush her hair at her dressing table. It was knotted as usual. She hadn’t found the time to brush it during the day again. “Squirrels’ nest,” she muttered. It was what her mother called it. She was tugging on one particular stubborn part when something caught the edge of her eye.

  Alex tensed. Edge of the eye appearances could herald all sorts of things. She didn’t move her head and in a few moments it happened again. Alex sprang to her feet, dropping her brush and whirled towards the images.

  Her curtains were open, and there, hovering over the distant cornfields, she could see lights in the sky. Alex let the breath out she hadn’t known she was holding. Nothing in her room. No shades. No ghosts. Only lights over a cornfield. But as she watched she saw the lights were too low to be a plane and they were moving erratically. It was probably nothing, but ….

  She pulled on a fleece and made her way across to the window. Very carefully, so as not to make a sound, she opened it, and crept out onto the tree branch that hung outside her room. She made her way cautiously along it, and then down onto the top of the porch. From here another tree reached up and out. She jumped across with the ease of much practice and slung herself down onto the ground. She grinned maybe one day she’d make her own parkour video and show people have it was really done.

  When she had first seen the old house, surrounded, almost embraced, by the trees, on the outskirts of town, she had thought her parents were mad to take it on. But since moving there, she had learned to love and use her new arboreal friends.

  Within minutes she was running down the rutted track that led from the house and out away to the fields.

  There were acres and acres of cornfields. More than Alex had ever imagined, when she lived in Britain, might ever be grown together. She’d seen plenty of movies where people had disappeared into cornfields and never come back. In her experience, if it was in a movie, it wasn’t likely to ever happen in real life. Besides if little green men from Alpha Centuari did come down and draw geometric designs in cornfields she’d love to meet one and ask them why. It seemed a strange kind of hobby for an alien race who could presumably travel faster than the speed of light to have.

  Alex ran into the cornfield without fear and without hesitation. The corn leaves brushed across her, whispering. The corn came up higher than her head. She ran along one of the rows that went roughly in the directions she had seen the lights. From previous exploits, looking for the corn obsessed aliens, she knew it was difficult to orientate in the field. She had also learned that breaking out from one of the rows and trying to go across the field was not a smart move. Corn was tough. It pushed back. So when she got to where she guessed was a little before where the lights had been, she stood on tip-toe and pushed aside the leaves to try and peek at the sky. The wind picked up. Leaves flew up into the night sky. One caught the corner of her eye making it water.

  Then she saw them. Two lights. Laser white. Further away than they had been. Tracing wide circles in the pitch darkness. One of them far more agile than the other. They were moving fast, swooping and diving. One stayed high. The other kept low. Not as fast as birds– for one minute Alex had the ridiculous idea that someone had strapped giant flashlights to the back of a couple of birds of prey. Then she realised why. The lights moved in a pattern. They were hunting. As she watched the lights hovered still in mid-air. Then with what was too easy to imagine as a malicious intent they started moving towards her.

  Alex let go of the leaves and crouched down. The wind whipped up around her making the corn sway violently. The whispering of the corn took on a more intense, loud and painful sound. Stems moved so violently Alex feared all the ones around her would be uprooted and thrown into the air. She crossed her fingers and stayed still.

  Adrenaline, a heady mix of inquisitiveness and fear pumped through her veins. She told herself she didn’t believe in alien corn artists, but at the same time a tiny part of her hoped it might be an alien craft.

  Alex’s hands curled into fists. Her nails dug into her palms. The pain reminded her she could be in actual bodily danger. Aliens didn’t frighten her, but people did and she could not yet tell which this was. Then she felt it, pressing down on top of her. All at once her stomach felt heavy — this must be what people mean by your heart dropping, she thought. Blades, she could feel the percussive choppiness of blades cutting through the air. She concentrated. Two distinct vehicles. A helicopter and a what? She took a deep breath and tried to centre herself. She needed to be calm. To think clearly. Be in the moment, she told herself. Do not fear. There is only now. She was nearly there. She could feel her heartbeat quietening. I am in control of myself — her concentration was shredded by the sound of something rushing along the ground towards her.

  She turned quickly, still crouching, in the direction of the whispering corn. It grew louder by the second. She felt her breathing quicken. Her heartbeat sped out of control. Could this be what they were hunting? Unthinkingly her fingers went to the pocket on her jeans where she had kept the discs. If she ran they would see her, but if she didn’t. She hesitated one moment too long. Bham! She was flat on her back, totally winded.

  “Alex?”

  Alex blinked and looked up. There was a human figure standing in front of her.

  “Alex? Is that you?” it said.

  Reaching up she grabbed his ankle and, none too gently, yanked to over balance him. Rusty came crashing down beside his face first.

  “What the hell are you doing out here?” she hissed.

  “Why did you do that?” said Rusty.

  “Ssh, keep your voice down,” said Alex. “They might have mikes on them.”

  “Who? What? The UFOs?”

  “It’s a helicopter and a drone,” said Alex, realising the truth as she voiced it. “That’s why the pattern looks so odd. Different sized objects buzzing around each other.”

  “Oh,” said Rusty. “Definitely not aliens?”

  “Only if they’ve stolen a helicopter from somewhere. And that makes about as much sense as aliens with a cereal fetish.”

  Rusty rolled onto his back. “Yeah, I never got that bit either,” he said casually. There was a bit of corn in Alex’s hair and it was taking all his will power not to reach out and take it. He could tell she wasn’t in the least keen to see him, but despite being pulled hard down onto the ground, he was glad to see her. In the moonlight Alex, with her form-fitting blacks, looked a mixture of professional spy and tousled girl. He couldn’t deny he found it appealing. What had been a cold and slightly scary time had suddenly become an adventure.

  “I’m glad we agree,” said Alex snarkily. “But now we have to get the hell out of here.”

  “That’s what I was doing,” said Rusty.

  “No, you were about to be caught. It simple to follow someone running through corn from above. The stalks wave and betray you.”

  “Oh,” said Rusty. “Yeah. I see.” Rusty could feel himself blushing.

  “Good,” said Alex, “now you’ve almost led them to us, we’re going to have to get out the hard way. Do what I do.”

  Alex rolled on to her front and started to move slowly forward, crossing into another row. This meant pushing through the plants at the base and it was hard going, but she knew they had to move away from where Rusty had found her. “Slowly,” she said over her shoulder. “We don’t want to move the stalks any more than we have to.”

  “Umph,” said Rusty as a cob hit him full on the face.

  “Sorry,” said Alex, not meaning it. This was yet another set of clothes she was going to ruin. She pushed on.

  “How far do we have to go like this?” said Rusty.

  Alex stopped and wai
ted for Rusty to get alongside her. “Your animal instincts are telling you you have to flee,” she said. “I know this is agonisingly slow, but whoever is out there. We don’t want to get caught.”

  “It’s people from the Center,” said Rusty with conviction.

  “You saw them?”

  “No, but it makes sense.”

  “Whatever,” said Alex. “If we give in to panic and run they will catch us. Once we’ve moved another few rows across we can start heading down the row. We’ll still have to crawl, but it will be faster.”

  “You sound like you do this kind of thing often,” said Rusty.

  Alex didn’t respond. She moved off pushing through another row. She could barely see her hand in front of her face. The outline of the leaves and the stalks only came into form when she got right next to them. Beneath her she could feel the unevenness of the soil. It hadn’t rained for a few days, and it was rough against her hands. The earth had the acrid smell she associated with dust and cobwebs. She found herself stifling coughs as they crossed another row. One side of the field was much drier than the other. She didn’t have time to think about why. The leaves against her face became more brittle and she could no longer take the chance of pushing through. “Down this one,” she whispered to Rusty, hoping her sense of direction had kept her true.

  She raised her belly off the ground and began moving in a half crawl, gaining speed, but doing her best to stay as low as possible. Clouds of dust rose into her face. Behind her she heard Rusty choking. “Not long now,” she tried to reassure Rusty, and got a mouthful of dry earth for her efforts.

  Finally, Alex saw the end of the road. As soon as she was free of the corn, she legged it into the shadows of the trees. Behind her she heard the scrambling sounds of Rusty following.

  “Where are you?” he said.

  Alex tapped him on the shoulder and he let out a stifled Yelp. “You’re being a bit of a girl, you know that, don’t you?” said Alex.

  “Huh?” said Rusty.

  Alex sighed. “That was irony. I’ll explain it to you sometime. Now follow me.”

  She led him quickly through the trees and along the lane to her house. She swung herself up on the first tree. She squatted on a branch and put her fingers to her lips, beckoning to him to follow.

  “Who lives here?” called Rusty.

  “I do. With my parents. So keep it down!” hissed Alex.

  “I should go.”

  “Get up here now,” said Alex in her most commanding voice. “You have stuff to explain.”

  Rusty’s shoulders slumped. Then he swung himself up. As he did so Alex moved on to the next tree and then through her open window. Rusty, less used to entering houses by trees than Alex, made enough noise to make Alex wince. He landed heavily on her bedroom floor. There was the sound of a door opening along the corridor and footsteps approached.

  Alex unlocked her bedroom door and called, “Sorry fell asleep and knocked my books over. Going to bed now!” She closed the door and locked it again. The footsteps retreated.

  Alex sat on her bed and motioned to Rusty to take the one chair. “So?” she said softly.

  “I was looking for the lights like you,” said Rusty. He shifted uncomfortably on the chair.

  “Why?” asked Alex.

  “Why were you?” retorted Rusty. “I was curious.”

  “You can’t see the cornfields from your house. You must have been out already.”

  “So, I was going for a walk.”

  Alex stood up. “Fine,” she said. “Get out. I don’t have time for your games.”

  “What were you doing?” persisted Rusty.

  Alex pointed to her window. Over the trees they could both make out the lights retreating.

  “Oh,” said Rusty. “But why would you …?”

  Alex ignored him. She got off her bed and turned down the sheets. Rusty felt his pulse quicken. Could she be inviting him too …. No, that wouldn’t be right. “Hang on a minute,” said Rusty. “I’ve got a girlfriend.” He felt like kicking himself for saying this.

  Alex whirled round. “You think I’m inviting you to stay?” She snarled. “Not if you were the last man on earth. I’m trying to make it clear to you our conversation — any conversation ever between us — is over.”

  Rusty held up his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to …” God, he was embarrassed. How could he have thought she would be interested in him.

  “What?” demanded Alex.

  “I thought someone was trying to escape from the Center,” blurted Rusty. “I wanted to help.”

  “Escape?” asked Alex confused. “It’s not a prison.”

  “That’s what they want you to think,” said Rusty. “They took my dad.” He stood up. Alex could see every inch of him was trembling with emotion. “Those bastards took my father. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead, but I’m damn sure he wasn’t the only one. They poisoned my mother and they stole my father.”

  “Okay. Okay,” said Alex. “Calm down. I think you had better start from the beginning.”

  Rusty sat back down. All his rage suddenly dissolved. “There isn’t much more to tell. My mom worked there. She got ill. My dad blamed the Center. He made a lot of noise about how they were doing something dangerous and then he disappeared. Mom said he’d left because he couldn’t cope with looking after her and us. But then Dr Straker started coming round. Every time he comes in the house he leaves Mom upset and exhausted. She won’t discuss Dad. She has forbidden me and my sister from ever mentioning his name. She’s played the whole abandoned wife to the hilt.”

  “But you think he’s still in the Center and Dr Straker is blackmailing her?” said Alex.

  “Exactly,” said Rusty looking surprised at how quickly she had caught on. “I think he’s threatening to kill Dad unless she keeps quiet about everything.”

  “You could be wrong,” said Alex gently. “Your dad could have left.”

  “And Straker is our visiting guardian angel? I saw your reaction to him. You don’t like him any more than I do.”

  “I lost a year,” said Alex abruptly. “I have no memory of what happened to me in the twelve months after we moved here and before I started community college. No idea at all.”

  “But you think it has something to do with the Center?” said Rusty.

  “I don’t know,” said Alex. “I have literally nothing to go on — or at least I didn’t until the day I saw Straker at your house. I was positive I knew him, but I couldn’t remember. It was like part of my mind was — was closed. And when he said hello. I knew his voice. And I felt sick.” She stopped. “That’s more than I’ve ever told anyone.”

  Rusty nodded. “Me too.” He reached out a hand to her, but didn’t touch her. “We need help. This website I’ve found. I think we should both contact them. See if we can get them to investigate the Center. I’ve read through all the stuff online. It seems legit. They could help us.”

  Alex couldn’t help it. She started to laugh. She laughed so hard she had to stuff the corner of the pillow in her mouth.

  “How is that funny?” said Rusty.

  Tears rolling down her face Alex put down her pillow. “It’s not funny at all,” she said gasping. “God, I wish there was someone who could help us out there, but that’s me.”

  “What?”

  “I’m Beyond Belief Investigations. It’s what I do. That’s why I was out in the cornfield. That’s why I’m deliberately flunking college to stay here. To investigate what’s going on.”

  “You’re kidding?” said Rusty, but inside he already knew it to be true.

  “Oh believe me, I wish I wasn’t,” said Alex. “This is like some wretched farce.”

  “Do your parents know about this?”

  “No,” said Alex quickly. “No one knows but you.”

  “I’m flattered,” said Rusty.

  “Don’t be,” said Alex. “You caught me off guard. It’s all so damn ridiculous.”

  “I won’t tel
l anyone,” said Rusty.

  “Good,” said Alex as menacingly as she could. “That’s the best way for you to stay healthy.”

  “As long as you let me work with you on this — this case,” said Rusty. He told himself he only wanted the truth, and that he would have to spend lots more time with Alex was a pure accident.

  “Shit,” said Alex.

  4. Divided We Stand

  Alex hadn’t heard from Rusty for two days. He hadn’t been in school. She had begun to believe he was deliberately avoiding her. She hoped he was so embarrassed by what he had told her he’d never bother her again. As for what she had said she winced every time she thought about it. How could she had admitted she was …. Maybe she could tell him it was all a bad joke.

  The front door bell rang. Alex heard it vaguely and ignored it. Two minutes later her mother knocked on her door. “Your friends are here,” she said.

  Friends — as in more than one. Alex’s heart sunk. She unlocked and opened the door. Her mother stood there with a false, bright smile on her face. Behind her stood Rusty, looking distinctly ovine, and beside him she caught a glimpse of hair so glossy it practically refracted light.

  “Aren’t you going to ask them in?” said her mother, pushing the door wide open.

  Bethany.

  “Yeah, of course,” said Alex. “Come in. Thanks Mom.”

  “Would you like some juice and snacks?” said her mother. Bethany turned her head aside barely suppressing a snigger. “I wouldn’t mind some milk,” said Rusty, “and crisps or cake or something.” He gave a shy smile. “I’m afraid I’m one of those people who is always hungry.”

  Irene smiled back at him. “Yes, I can see you’re still growing into yourself. I’ll be right back.”

  She closed the door behind her. The three of them stood awkwardly. Alex took the one chair and motioned to the other two to sit on the edge of the bed. Her room was large enough for all of them, but she had little in the way of furniture. She’d never needed it before.