“You still with you-know-who?” he whispered.
“Yup.”
“Fuck! Where you at?”
“Home.”
“Fuck! You need to get the fuck out of there, right the fuck now!”
“What happened?” I stood up.
“Someone talked, man. One of those fucking medics. Had to be. You know one of us would never betray you.”
“How do you know someone talked?”
“Because the fucking men in black are here. Fucking Will Smith and all his friends!”
“What?!”
“Yeah, dude. They got the sunglasses and everything. And the Chief just gave them your address!” Then he went quiet. “Yeah, Mom, I know. I promise I'll come by tomorrow but right now, Igotta go, okay?”
“Okay. Got it. Thanks, buddy. I owe you.”
“Yeah, love you too.” The line went dead.
“Shit!” I grabbed Kaspian's arm. “Get up! We gotta go now!”
“What is that thing you spoke into?”
“It's called a phone. We use it to speak to people over long distances, and Gromit just called me from the station. They're coming for you! Come on!” I pulled on his arm as he stood.
“Who's coming?”
“People who will lock you up and then cut you up.”
“What?” He scowled at me. “Met, I can handle—”
“No, you can't! Just trust me on this and get moving!” I ran for the house.
Kaspian gave up on whatever he was going to say and chased after me.
Chapter Ten
I couldn't throw everything away for some guy I just met, no matter how hot he was or how much my instincts screamed at me to protect him. I had worked too hard to get where I was to just torch it on a whim. That being said, I couldn't just toss Kas to the men in black, either. If he really was an alien, which the arrival of the spooks seemed to confirm, they'd slice him up in a secret lab somewhere in the desert.
As I drove, my mind worked double time. I had a ramshackle piece of shit property in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, also known as Dallas, Oregon. Granted, Dallas was growing. I shouldn't call it bumfuck. It wasn't backwoods; it was picturesque. That's what the realtor had said. But my property was way back in Dallas, out in the middle of nothing. Which is why I bought it. That and the fact that it only cost me thirty grand.
It was an investment and also a place for me to escape to. Three rows of trees hid the house from the road and there was even a creek out back. The house was a piece of shit, but it was standing and it had electricity. Plumbing worked too. I furnished it with the bare minimum, but it would do. And the best part was that no one knew I owned it.
Yeah all right, it was registered in my name, and the spooks could probably find it. But I was hoping that Gromit was overreacting, and they were just trying to find me to confirm or deny whatever story they'd been told. If I could get Kas to the Dallas house and get back to Salem in time to meet the men in black, I could answer their questions and set the whole thing to rest. Then they wouldn't need to look into me any further. But I had to be quick. I wanted to look as if I'd been home the whole time, just hanging out. Without an alien.
“Where are we going?” Kaspian asked.
“I got another place nearby. It's more land than house, and the house is more of a shack. Sorry. Mainly, I use it when I want to get away from people.”
“It's far from your village?”
“Yeah. And none of my friends know about it.” I glanced at him. “Hopefully, no one will look me up and figure out that I own it.”
