“Mr. Gabris, we received a very unusual report of a man who showed up on your latest job site,” Agent Watkins got right to it, speaking even as he sat down. “The report was . . . unbelievable. However, around the same time that the sighting of this individual occurred, a NOAA GOES picked up—”
“Whoa, buddy!” I held up a hand. “You're shooting a lot of letters at me.”
“NOAA—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” Chinen said as if he'd studied for an exam. “They have satellites that monitor the earth. The satellites are called GOES for short—Geostationary Operational Environ—”
“Okay, I get it! You could have just said 'a satellite.'” I shook my head. “Now, what did this satellite see?” I looked back at Watkins.
“The satellite picked up an extreme electrical discharge.” Watkins leaned forward as if he were about to shock me. “A discharge of over five hundred million volts.”
I just stared at him.
Without any expression on his face or tone to his voice, Chinen said, “A really big lightning strike is about one hundred million volts.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “That's a lot of electricity. Was it a storm?”
“We don't know, Mr. Gabris. That's why we're here.” Watkins leaned back and stared at me. “They tracked that discharge to the sky above an Oregon forest. A forest that was on fire. The same fire that—”
“I was trying to put out?” I lifted my brows. “Dude, do you always drag things out like this?”
“Yes,” Chinen answered for him. “The fact is that we have a strange coincidence, Mr. Gabris. An extreme electrical discharge and the appearance of a man of unknown origin in the same location at the same time. We would have dismissed the report of a strange man under other circumstances. As it is, we must investigate.”
“Uh-huh.” I scowled at them. “Are you talking about the naked guy?”
“Yes, Mr. Gabris.” Watkins all but rolled his eyes. “We're talking about the naked guy.”
“Okay, can you drop the Mr. Gabris? You sound like you're part of the matrix.”
Chinen snorted a laugh, then pressed his lips together and cracked his neck. His blank expression settled back into place.
Watkins took a deep breath. A moment passed, then he tried again. “How would you prefer to be addressed?”
“My friends call me Met. You can too.” I lifted the beer at him. “Now, I'm getting that you think there's a connection between the naked guy and this discharge.” I wrinkled my face. “Ugh, that sounded gross.”
Watkins leaned forward again. “Where is the man? We were told that you left the site with him.”
“I did,” I admitted. “The guy was in shock. He was raving about being from another world.” I laughed to sell the lie. “The medic that treated him thought he might be a runaway from a psych hospital or something. So, I was gonna drive him to the closest hospital and see if anyone recognized or if they could call around, you know?”
“You say you were 'gonna drive him?'” Chinen caught that gem right away.
“Yeah. I got him all the way to Portland and then the guy started freaking out. Something about the buildings. He jumped out of the car before we even made it into the city, right at the Commercial Street ramp. You know the one?”
“We aren't from here.” Watkins squished up his already pinched face.
“Oh. Well, he jumped out of the truck. I couldn't get out and chase him since I was in traffic. It was all I could do to get his door shut. There's a lot of homeless in the area, so he blended in pretty quickly too. I lost sight of him in seconds.” I shook my head. “I felt awful about it. Still do. The poor guy. He could have been a vet. Fuck!” I ran a hand over my face, letting my real anxiety peep through for a second. “What if he had PTSD? Shit, maybe I should have called the Portland Police and warned them.” I leaned forward. “Should I do that? Or can you do that? They'd probably listen more to you than me.”
Chinen looked at Watkins. Watkins looked as if he were about to explode.
Chinen looked back at me. “We'll handle the Police, Met. Don't worry about that. For now, could you confirm for us the events of the day? Did this man put out a forest fire?”
I burst out laughing.
Watkins and Chinen just stared at me.
I stopped laughing. “You're serious?”
“That's what several people have reported.”
Chinen corrected Watkins with, “Actually, most said that the man showed up and then the fire went out. They couldn't attribute it to the man, but they said they believed he was connected.”
