Incarnate: Mars Origin "I" Series Book III (8 page)

Cleveland
Heights, Ohio

“Mom!”

I
walked in the backdoor and my kitchen was full of people. Micah came over to me
and practically picked me up, wrapping his arms around me tight as a vice grip.

“Mom.
How did you get home?” He pulled back, looked at me and then looked across the
room. My eyes followed his as he watched his dad come into the kitchen. My
husband Mase pushed Micah out of the way, and took me in a huge hug.

“Oh
my goodness, babe, what did they do to you?” he said. “Who was it?” Holding on
to my arms, he pushed me forward and looked me up and down and then pulled his
face close to mine. “I’m so happy you’re okay.” I saw a tear in his eye.

Greg
came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around the both of us. I tried to
push away, but their arms were so strong around me.

“Guys!
I’m fine. I’m okay. Let me go.” I laughed and tried to wiggle loose from their
grasp. I looked over and saw Nikhil Chandra standing next to the kitchen table
with a wide grin on his face.

“Really,
I’m okay.” I pushed back at Mase and Greg until they pulled away. And then down
the hallway from the front of the house came my sisters, Claire and Cassie, and
my daughter, Courtney. “Is the whole family here?”

Micah
followed my eyes. “Yeah, I called them,” he said. “I couldn’t reach Logan.”

“That’s
because there’s no phone service in the Belize rainforest,” I said. I looked
around thinking my other four brothers would come walking around the corner at
any second. “You would’ve thought I died,” I said looking around the room.
Courtney and Claire were crying.

“You
were kidnapped,” Greg said. “That’s just as bad, and could have ended up with
you being dead.”

“I
wasn’t kidnapped.” I frowned.

All
eyes turned to Micah. He threw up both his hands. “She was forcibly taken.
Against her will. According to Ohio law, that’s kidnapping.”

Now
all eyes turned back to look at me.

“So.
Okay.” I held up my hands. “Maybe I was kidnapped. But they didn’t try to hurt
me. And they didn’t ask you for money or anything -” I looked from Mase to
Greg. “Did they?”

“Justin,
don’t be so naïve,” Greg said. He looked over at Micah. “You’d better go and
call the police back. Let them know that she’s home. And that she’s safe.”

“You
called the police?”

“You
were kidnapped,” came a unified response from most of the people in the room.

The
crowd
of people, I should say.

I
spread out my arms, symbolically breaking away from everyone and walked over to
the kitchen table. “Just let me sit down.” Everyone followed me. I pushed out a
long sigh as I sat. I put my hand over my forehead and closed my eyes.

Mase
put his arm around me. “You okay? I was so worried.” He pulled me in close.

“We
were all worried,” Claire said.

I
nodded my head. “I’m fine.” I opened up my eyes, leaned in and kissed Mase,
pulling away, I looked around at everyone.

“And
what the heck could anyone want with you?” Greg took a chair across from where
I where I was sitting.

“You
wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

Callie
went to the kitchen window. “How did you get here?”

Greg
hopped up and joined Callie at the window. “Is there someone out there?”

“Nobody’s
out there.” He and Callie were peering out of the window. “They dropped me
off.”

Again
all eyes turned and looked at me.

“Who?”
They spoke in unison.

“Who
dropped you off?” Greg said.

I
looked at Nikhil Chandra, who hadn’t said anything since my return, and then
back at the large group standing in my kitchen. “It was Bruce Cook.”

“Bruce
Cook?” Nikhil repeated the name and his whole demeanor changed.

Greg
came over and bent down in front of me with a furrowed brow and breathing
heavily. “The guy from the Bilderberg Group?  Senator Bruce Cook? He’s the
one that took you?”

Everyone
in the room didn’t know who Bruce Cook was, so before I could relay the story
of what he wanted, I had to bring my sister Callie, and my kids Courtney and
Micah up to speed.

While
I told them, both Greg and Mase had amused looks on their faces because they
remembered our past experiences with him. But the look on Nikhil’s face was
something different. A few times I lost my train of thought trying to read it
and figure out what he was thinking.

“So,
this Senator from California is also the head of a secret organization?” Micah
questioned me like he had me on the witness stand.

“Yeah.
But it’s not so secretive. We found its website and past member names on the
Internet,” I said.

“That’s
true, we did find their information in the public domain, but what they do is a
secret, Micah,” Greg spoke. “Call it what it is, Justin. And this guy - a
Senator - shouldn’t be a part of it. Where’s the transparency in that?”

Mase
laughed. “There isn’t any.” He went over to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher
of iced tea.

“What’s
the name of this organization, Ma?” Micah pulled out his cell phone.

“The
Bilderberg Group.”

“Google.
Bilderberg Group,” Micah spoke into his phone.

“Here,
Sweetie.” Mase put a glass of iced tea in front of me. I’ll go out later and
get you something stronger. I know you must
need
some Pepsi right about
now.”

“Pepsi
would be nice.” I smiled at Mase.

“Yeah
so, Micah,” Mase said, rubbing my back, “when I took your mother out to San
Diego to meet him, she said the meeting was kind of scary.”

Micah
was scrolling down on his phone, apparently reading whatever his Google search
had pulled up.

 “Okay,”
Micah said looking up to get our attention. “This says that ‘the Bilderberg
Group is comprised of
approximately 120–150 political leaders and
experts from industry, finance, academia and the media
.’” He read off of
his phone. “They
have annual private meetings and quote, ‘provide
an opportunity for participants to speak and debate candidly and to find out
what major figures really think, without the risk of off-the-cuff comments
becoming fodder for controversy in the media.’”

“We already know that, Micah. We dealt with those folks last year I
told you,” Greg said.

“Well, I didn’t know, Uncle Greg,” Courtney said walking over to her
brother. “Let me see that.”

“What in the world does that have to do with you being kidnapped?” Callie
asked.

“It’s so strange,” I said turning to Callie. “When I spoke to him last
year, he seemed to be trying to goad me. He talked about my books, both of them
and he even asked me if I thought I could decode the Voynich Manuscript.”

“How did he know about your books and that you were working on the
Voynich?” Callie asked. “I don’t even know much about those things and I’m your
sister.”

“Good question,” I said. “I never found out how he knew.”

“I remember you told me that you told ole’ Senator Bruce that you
didn’t think you’d be able to do translate it,” Mase said.

I laughed. “I didn’t know what to say to that man. I went there to see
if he knew anything and he started questioning me like I had committed a
crime.”

“Please, girl,” Greg said. “You went there trying to find out if the
man was a Martian.” He started laughing and pushed his shoulder into Mase. “You
remember that, man. She said that maybe the people from the Bilderberg Group
were the direct descendants of the
people who came here from Mars.”

“I
didn’t say that.” I sucked my tongue. I should be used to people trying to goad
me after living with my big brother, Greg all my life. He was the perpetual
thorn in my side. “And we
are
the people that came here from Mars.”

“Yes,
you did lil’ sis. That’s exactly what you said. Don’t you remember that, Mase?
She said she needed to find Martians to help her figure out what that Voynich
Manuscript said.”

“You
did translate it though?” Callie said. “So why didn’t you just tell him that?”

Greg
spoke for me. “Who knew what that man was – is capable of. Good thing she
didn’t tell them, look what he did to her today.” He looked over at Nikhil
Chandra who had been quiet the entire time. “And you know, Nikhil it was you
who told Justin about the Voynich Manuscript and about the Bilderberg Group. If
I remember correctly, you wrote the name of the group on the back of your
business card.”

Nikhil
looked into Greg’s eyes. A surreptitious grin spread across his face. “Guilty
as charged.”

Cleveland, Ohio

Bruce
Cook made himself comfortable in the rented limousine as he headed to Burke
Lakefront Airport. He had a private plane waiting there for him to take him
back to Washington, D.C. after his meeting with Justin Dickerson.

“Did
she want to cooperate?” she asked as he entered the plane.

“Yes.
I think so. I think this worked out well.”

“Everything
is falling into place, then?” She helped him put his things in the overhead
compartment and get buckled in.

“Everything
went better than I thought,” he said looking up at her. “Looks like we’re all
set. I could have maybe just talked to her in the first place, instead of all
that other business. Setting up that little trap to lure her in.” He raised an
eyebrow. “I didn’t tell her about that, though. We still have to find him. See
what he’s up to.”

“Yes.
Maybe you should have just contacted her first.” She sat down and buckled her
seat belt.

“What’s
wrong?” the Senator said. “I’d thought you’d be happy about things going so
well.”

“I
am,” she said.

“Well
if you’re happy, Elaina, show it! Smile.”

ϫ ϫ
ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

The
house had quieted down, and everyone but Micah had left. He was watching
television with his dad. I had time to think.

I
curled up on the sofa in my study. It was nice to come home to family. I had
been so scared in that room thinking that I wouldn’t ever see any of them
again. And it surprised me that Nikhil Chandra had been at my house when I got
back.

I
would have told him everything about my meeting with the Senator, but I
couldn’t while my other family was in the house. Mase and Greg should have
known, too. They deserved to know. Even though they may not have of approved of
the conversation.

I
had told the Senator that I had deciphered the Voynich Manuscript. That I had
had the blueprint of a space vehicle drawn to spec and it was like no modern
day man had ever seen. I also told him that I had genetics of a disease proof
society. A virtual fountain of youth formula. Then I had told him he could have
it all.

He
seemed to want to make up for the way he acted in our first meeting. In fact,
he sort of even apologized. Maybe just to get my cooperation, but I didn’t care
what prompted his new behavior. I wasn’t going to hold a grudge, especially now
that he was taking this burden off my shoulders.

And
I seemed to do the same for him. He took a sigh of relief when I told him he
could have what I had. And then he opened up to me. He told me that he had a
scientist he was working with at NASA that had information confirming what I
had written in my book. Things going back more than twenty years.

The
AHM Manuscripts had read that the Ancients hadn’t been able to hide all the
ruins they left on Mars. It seemed like now NASA had found proof of it. It had
only been a matter of time.

Micah
knocked on my door and stuck his head in.

“Hello,
my super hero son.”

“Can
I come in, Ma?”

“Yep.”
I sat up and patted the sofa next to me. “Come sit right here.”

“So,
I realized today that I don’t tell you enough that I love you.”

“I
love you, too.”

“But,
Ma, you’ve got to do something about getting into shape.”

“What
kind of shape are you talking about?”

“Today,
you couldn’t run. You couldn’t fight. You didn’t even tell me someone was
following us until it was too late for me to get you somewhere safe.”

“So
you’re talking about mental
and
physical shape?”

“This
isn’t funny.”

“I’m
not laughing. I’m old. You can’t do things when you’re old.”

“Why
do you always say that? You’re not old. Fifty-five is not old.”

“I’m
fifty-six.”

“Oh
well, in that case, I guess you
are
old.” He closed his eyes and shook
his head. Seemingly not too thrilled with my response to his efforts.

I
smacked his thigh. “Don’t get smart mouthed with me, boy.”

“Fifty
is not old.” He stood his ground. “Not at all. And, Ma, if people are going to
be coming after you about those things -” His eyes searched mine. “What are you
going to do about all of this?”

“I’m
going to do what they want me to do.”

“Wait.
Stop. You don’t mean you’re going to do what Senator Cook asked you to do?”

“Yes.
I am. I’ve decided.”

“Ma.
You can’t -”

Mase
came into the room and interrupted our conversation. He handed me the phone.
“It’s Logan. She says it’s important.”

I
took the phone, but before I diverted my attention to Logan on the other end, I
searched my son’s face. It had grown dark, worried lines filled his forehead
and he was clenching his jaw. I noticed he was rubbing his hands together. I
was going to have to talk to him more about all of this because at this point
he didn’t seem too happy about the things he had found out about me or my decision.

I,
on the other hand, thought it was probably the best decision I had ever made
when it came to dealing with what I knew. There was one person I did plan on
talking with before I gave up everything, though. That person, Jack Hughes,
worked for the government – my dubious kidnappers - but he was someone I
trusted. And someone, the only one, in spite of Micah’s stellar display of
fighting skills, and Nikhil’s secretiveness that I felt could protect me.