Terry Neale - Jo-el

“Bring the video back on, that will distract them.”

We watched the two engineers light up when their monitor came to life. For a while they watched Pippa, who was making coffee in the kitchen. She was probably trying to figure out what to do.

“Okay, bounce me to the bedroom, straight in and out, I’ll leave the note on the pillow.”

“Touching.” Sally smiled, I grimaced at her.

For five seconds I was just a few feet from Pippa. I so wanted to walk through to the kitchen and hold her in my arms, but I resisted and returned home.

We watched for a while longer. The head of the team reported back to his base of the false alarm. The two engineers were laughing and chatting again. Pippa sat in the living room, drinking her coffee and watching Billy who was playing with a tablet computer. I could see tears in her eyes.

I bounced to the airport in Norfolk, Virginia and used my new debit card to rent a car at Hertz. No problem, they took a one-thousand-dollar charge and would refund the balance when I returned the car. For good measure I added all the insurances. The East coast weather was cold but cooperating. The March storms and driving rain held off even as the clouds darkened ominously on the horizon. It would be almost dark by the time I reached Rodanthe. The drive was uneventful and I met Mrs. Greelitch at the cottage at a little after five. I’d stopped for groceries on the way and picked up a coloring book with markers for Billy. I was excited at the prospect of seeing Pippa. Mrs. Greelitch had turned up the heating in the cottage and explained where everything could be found. I made coffee and settled comfortably on the sofa. The cottage was exactly per the pictures, two bedrooms, a small kitchen with yellow tiles and a living room equipped with a decent size flat screen TV. I turned on the ice-maker and sorted out the groceries.

During the drive Sally informed me that Pippa had found the note. She’d read it six times, I think Sally exaggerated, and had then torn it into small pieces and flushed it down the toilet. A small bag was sitting on the bed. She was ready.

A little before six I reviewed what was happening at Pippa’s condo. No change with the six guys, they were sitting around looking bored. Inside, Pippa was watching TV with Billy on the sofa. I watched while keeping an eye on the clock over the mantelpiece. Nothing untoward.

At two minutes to six Pippa took Billy into the bedroom, one of the engineers made a note of the time when they’d lost visual.

I wasted no time and bounced to the bedroom. Pippa was startled but made no sound. Billy, on the other hand screamed. Shit!

“You ready?”

“Yes,” she nodded.

“ Jo-el, they’ve sensed a change in the condo,” Sally warned me.

I had no time to discuss why.

“Hold Billy in your arms,” I picked up the bag and grabbed Pippa’s right hand.

We bounced to the cottage. Billy screamed again. I put my arms around Pippa and held her tight, she began to cry.

“Ahhh!” Sally.

“You okay?”

“Yes, sorry, it’s been horrible. I feel violated. They’ve no right.”

I squeezed her to me once more and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Billy started to cry, she put him down and calmed him. I fetched the coloring book, which distracted him.

“Where are we?” asked Pippa.

“Rodanthe, the Outer Banks.”

“Is this where you live?” She said, beginning to take in the small cottage with all the knickknacks.

“No, I rented it for a week, starting today.”

She looked anxious. “Why didn’t you take me to your home?”

“Safety,” I replied.

“Oh, right!” she smiled at me and kissed me on the lips.

I made spaghetti with clams in a white wine sauce, straight from a packet. It was right up there with ‘okay’. The bottle of Pinot Grigio mellowed the food disappointment. Pippa gave Billy some spaghetti with cheese, which did the trick.

“What’s the plan?” Pippa asked as we cleared away the plates.

“For you, or for me?”

She stopped and looked at me. “Both of us.”

“Well, you’ve just pissed off the CIA big time, that’s for sure and I’m a wanted man. So we can’t be seen in public in the US. You’ve seen the TV news, the FBI are rounding up pedophiles by the bus load, next they’ll be arresting kidnappers and rapists and for good measure there’s seven serial killers who’ll be behind bars in the next day or so. The paperwork will keep them busy for a year. The Brits are doing the same,”

“How did you do that?”

“Me, I just told Sally what I wanted to do, she did the rest.”

“How?”

I paused and considered my decision. Do I tell Pippa everything? Would she believe me? Would I be putting her at risk? Seemed to me she was already at risk.

“Pippa, let’s finish clearing up and I’ll tell you.”

It was about the time Billy went to bed, so Pippa made him comfortable in the second bedroom. She hadn’t mentioned the sleeping arrangements so I presumed she was sharing with me or I’d be on the sofa. Funnily I didn’t seem to mind, I hadn’t slept with another woman since I’d dated Mary, I’d never been unfaithful and, to be honest, it scared me. I decided to let fate take its course.

Half an hour later we were comfortable on the sofa, Pippa was finishing the Pinot, while I nursed a Black Label. She looked at me and waited, her wide, brown eyes like jewels set in silk, her face a throwback to the actresses in the era of Lawrence of Arabia.

I told her everything, almost. The face on my computer; the trip to fetch the container; the belt computer; my heads-up display; my smart-suit, that elicited a few questions.

“What do you really look like?”

“I’m can’t show you,” I said.

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter and it’s for my security.”

I told her about Cirion. She said she didn’t believe me, at first. I asked her, “how do you think I am able to do all this? Can’t you see that none of it can possibly make sense, otherwise.”

I set up the disc-monitor and showed her pictures of Cirion and the strange people, with so many different skin colors. She held her face in her hands, her eyes glued to the screen, her mouth gaping open.

I told her about the network of computers installed on earth so many years ago and I told her about the data base of information covering everything that’s happened on our beautiful planet since that time. She cried.

“How can you deal with all of this?” Pippa beseeched me.

“I’ve had a little more time to get used to it, I guess. I’ve used the technology, I’ve seen things and experienced things that no one on earth has. Do you want to see Jesus Christ? A three-dimensional video of the real man?” I put Jesus on the screen, tending to poor people in a village near Jerusalem.

Her voice croaked, she could hardly speak, tears gushed down her face. She kept wiping tears away from her eyes as she watched the Holiest of men displaying unimaginable kindness to all around him. How could you not worship such a man?

She wanted to see her mother as a child in India. I showed her. More tears erupted, her mouth quivered with love, she reached out to hold her mother in her arms, the hologram so real. She saw herself as a child, she remembered the toys she’d played with, each one setting off another flood of emotion. Eventually she asked me to stop and she put her arms around me and held me as tight as she dared, her cheek pressed hard against mine.

“You haven’t asked me thequestion?” I said.

She pulled away and considered me carefully. “I’ve asked a lot of questions?”

I studied her for guidance, but there was none. “Why?” I said.