Interesting Times (Interesting Times #1) (18 page)

“She
escaped, since you seem to care.” The lizard man leaned in close to Oliver.
“Don’t imagine that you are going to be rescued, Mr. Jones. I swear to you, if
I can’t deliver you safely to the Matriarch, I will kill you myself.”

Oliver
swallowed hard. “Okay.”

The
lizard sighed and looked out the window again. “I knew going after you was a
mistake. I knew it! But the Matriarch…” he trailed off. “The Matriarch is never
wrong.” Oliver could tell from the Kalatari’s expression, though, that he
didn’t really believe what he was saying at all.

“So
where are we landing?”

“Oakland,”
the lizard said. “Provided that…” he stopped suddenly as the jet’s engines
whined and the plane began banking again. “What on earth?”

The
Kalatari’s cell phone buzzed. He answered and listened for a moment.
“Understood,” he said, hanging up. He looked at Oliver suspiciously. “Are you
signaling them somehow?”

“No,”
Oliver said. “I don’t have a phone.”

Orris
Rin frowned. “Some kind of telepathy?”

Oliver
nearly laughed. “No. Why are you…” but he suddenly remembered that Tyler had put
a tracking device somewhere on his clothes. Did things like that work when you
were airborne? He couldn’t think of a reason they wouldn’t. They must know
exactly where he was.

“They
hit our landing site,” Orris Rin explained. “We’re going to have to think of
something else.”  He went back into the cockpit and shut the door behind him.

Oliver
looked out the plane’s window. They were much closer to the ground now and
getting even closer. The pilot was still taking them down, then. But if they
couldn’t land in Oakland, where were they going to set down? He knew there had
to be other airports in the area, but as long as the tracking device was
transmitting, no place would be safe for the Kalatari for very long. Tyler
could easily extrapolate their destination just by checking Oliver’s trajectory
while he was still in the air. There were only so many runways in the Bay Area
to choose from.

The
plane banked again and Oliver noted that they were descending more quickly now
than FAA regulations probably allowed for. He looked at the freeways below,
trying to determine their location. There was very little traffic at this hour.
Was that I-880 or I-580 below him? They must be heading toward Richmond. How
long would it take his new friends to work that out and get there?

Orris
Rin emerged from the cockpit and walked back to Oliver’s seat. He reached for
Oliver’s waist, making Oliver jump in surprise, but the lizard man only
fastened his seat belt tightly around him.  “We’re landing,” he said.

“Oh.”
Oliver watched as Orris Rin took his own seat and fastened his belt. “Richmond?”

“In a
way,” the lizard man said. 

Oliver
looked down. The freeway was much closer now but there were no runway lights
anywhere in sight. Suddenly he knew what Rin had meant. They were going to land
in Richmond, but they weren’t going to any airport.

“This is
insane!” Oliver protested. “You can’t land on the freeway!”

“Why
not?” the lizard man asked. “Your friends won’t be expecting it.”

Oliver
looked out the window again. The plane would be down in a matter of minutes.
They were going to land going in the direction of traffic, he noted. A few cars
coming in the other direction had pulled off to the side of the road, no doubt
assuming that they were watching a crash landing. Surely somebody was calling
911. 

“You may
want to hold on,” Orris Rin said. Oliver just glared at him.

The
plane swerved and Oliver looked out the window to see them passing directly
over a trailer truck, close enough that if the door had been open Oliver
probably could have jumped onto its top. They’d be on the ground in seconds
now. He shut his eyes tightly and waited. Either he was about to hear the
screeching of tires, or the sound of metal being torn apart.

There
was a thud as the plane’s tires hit the pavement and then he heard the familiar
whine of airplane braking, which he suddenly felt was the most reassuring sound
in the world. Now they just needed enough clear space on the road to slow down
safely, but in a plane this size that shouldn’t be very much. Nor was it. The
plane slid forward a short distance and quickly jerked to a stop. Orris Rin
rose from his seat and bent to unfasten Oliver’s belt. “Stand up,” he said to
Oliver. “Quickly.”

The
cockpit door opened and the heavyset man emerged, again holding his shotgun. He
unlocked the lever that secured the door shut and opened it.

“Let’s
go,” said Orris Rin, dragging Oliver to his feet. He pushed Oliver ahead of him
up the hallway.

The
heavyset man looked down at the street below. “It’s a little far,” he said to
Orris Rin. “We left the stairs back there.”

“It
doesn’t matter. Just jump.”

The
other man nodded. “What about the body?” he asked, looking at the eviscerated
flight attendant.

“Leave
him,” Orris Rin said. “Go.”

The
heavyset man turned and jumped out of the airplane. Oliver looked through the
door and estimated the drop was only about six feet. It was six feet he didn’t
want to try and jump with his hands bound, though. “Can you undo this?” he
asked Orris Rin, holding up his hands.

“No,”
said the lizard man, roughly pushing him out the door.

Oliver
hadn’t been prepared and he hit the ground awkwardly, his leg twisting under
him. Unable to brace himself, his body fell sideways and he struck the side of
his head on the asphalt. He saw stars and for a moment was sure he would lose
consciousness. That wouldn’t have been so bad, he thought. He could go to sleep
now.

He
watched, as if in a trance, as Orris Rin landed on the ground next to him. The
lizard man rose and jerked Oliver to his feet.

Oliver
felt the world spin. He shut his eyes as Orris Rin pushed him forward. Where
were they going? He opened his eyes but found that they wouldn’t focus. They
were heading toward a car, he thought. He blinked. Yes, a car had parked behind
the plane. Another lizard man and a human female were waiting there. They must
have coordinated this rendezvous once they knew they couldn’t use an airport,
Oliver realized. In a moment they’d be on the move and he had no idea how long
it would take Tyler to realize that they weren’t heading for an airport
anymore.

The new
lizard man stepped forward and punched Oliver savagely in the face. Oliver’s
vision went black and his head slumped. “Enough!” he heard Orris Rin shout. 

“He
burned our temple!” the lizard man shouted.

“
He
didn’t burn anything,” Orris Rin replied. “Besides, the Matriarch wants him
alive.”

Oliver
opened his eyes. He found they wouldn’t focus again. He tried to remember what
the symptoms of a concussion were. Did you have to lose consciousness for it to
count? He felt his head lolling backwards and he could see the moon above him.
Pretty
moon
, he thought.

“Cover
his eyes,” Orris Rin commanded. 

“Why?”
Oliver asked. His own voice sounded to him as if it were coming from miles
away.

“I’m not
convinced you aren’t signaling your friends somehow,” the lizard man said.
“Best if you can’t see where we’re going.”  He looked at the heavyset man. 
“You. Torch the plane.”

“I don’t
have a blindfold,” said the other Kalatari. He looked at the woman. “Do you
have a blindfold?”

“No.”

Orris
Rin sighed. “Check the trunk for something.”  The woman went to the back of the
car and Oliver heard the trunk opening.

Oliver
looked at Orris Rin, his eyes focusing and then unfocusing again. “You guys are
the second worst kidnappers ever,” he said woozily.

“What’s
wrong with him?” the other Kalatari asked. “Is he drunk?”

“You
bashed him in the head,” Orris Rin said. “He wasn’t all that bright to begin
with.”

The
woman returned. “I’ve got a hat,” she said, holding up a San Francisco 49’ers
cap.

“You’re
not the
worst
kidnappers ever,” Oliver continued. “Do you want to know
who that was?”

“What
are we going to do with a hat?” Orris Rin asked. “Never mind. Get him into the
car. We need to be out of here before the police or his friends show up.”

Oliver
was shoved into the car and quickly found himself sandwiched between Orris Rin
and the other Kalatari. He put his head back on the seat’s headrest and closed
his eyes. There was definitely something wrong with him, he thought. He
desperately wanted to go to sleep.  Everything would be better then.

The
heavyset man got behind the wheel of the car with the woman in the passenger
seat next to him. They pulled away from the plane, which Oliver dreamily noted
was now on fire. “Do you want the hat?” the woman asked. “You could pull it
down really far.”

“Oh,
fine,” said Orris Rin. He put the cap on Oliver’s head and pulled the brim down
over his eyes. Oliver found that he could see only slightly less than he had
been able to before. It didn’t matter much, as his eyes still weren’t
focusing. 

“Where
are we going?” the heavyset man asked.

Orris
Rin took out his cell phone and made a call, asking the same question. He
listened for a moment, then handed his phone over the seat to the heavyset man,
who took it and put it to his ear.

“Got
it,” the heavyset man said, handing the phone back. “I know the place. I’ve
been there once before.”

“Good,”
said Orris Rin. “Mind the speed limits. We can’t afford to be pulled over.”

“D.W.L.,”
Oliver said. 

“What?”
the Kalatari asked.

“Driving
While Lizard,” Oliver said, then laughed softly. He shut his eyes, but the
world still wouldn’t stop spinning. He wondered if it ever would.

Suddenly
the heavyset man said, “We’re here.”

Oliver
opened his eyes. Already? They couldn’t have gone more than a mile or two. But
it was morning now, he saw. The sun was just beginning to peek over the
horizon. 

He was
still in the back seat of the car with the two Kalatari. But the car had
stopped and they were in a residential neighborhood, far from the freeway
they’d been on the last time he’d had his eyes open.

Had he
been unconscious? How much time had passed?

Oliver
groaned. His head felt like he’d been hit with a frying pan. “We’re where?”

“End of
the road, Mr. Jones,” Orris Rin said. “Prepare yourself. The Matriarch is
waiting for you.”

Chapter 20

Orris Rin
and the other Kalatari dragged Oliver, still woozy from repeated blows to the
head, out of the sedan and onto the sidewalk. They were in front of a small,
abandoned church. Its windows had been boarded up and it was in terrible need
of a paint job. Oliver could see the remnants of yellow police tape strewn
around the church’s dirty lawn. It was impossible to tell how long the church
had been deserted, but Oliver would have guessed a decade or more.

The two
Kalatari were now wearing trench coats and had fedoras pulled down low over
their eyes. They looked ridiculous, Oliver thought, but he had to admit that
from a distance, nobody would have any idea that they were anything other than
ordinary men with seriously questionable fashion sense.

He had
obviously been unconscious for a while if the lizard men had found the time to
stop and change clothes. He didn’t remember that happening at all.

“Where
are we?” Oliver asked, looking around. He didn’t recognize the neighborhood and
couldn’t see any landmarks that would help him get an idea of his location.

“Bakersfield,”
Orris Rin said.

“Oh.”
Oliver had never been to Bakersfield and knew little about the city, other than
that it was several hours drive south of San Francisco. It was only an hour or
two from Los Angeles, if he remembered correctly. They’d had quite a drive
during the night.

“Plans
changed several times,” Orris Rin continued. “It seems that you were not
communicating with your friends, but they have somehow been able to track your
movements nonetheless. They will not arrive here quickly enough to save you,
though. And we’ve set a little trap for them out here just in case they do show
up before we’re done with you.”

Oliver
felt the world start to rotate around him again. That wasn’t a good sign at
all, he thought. Whether it had been his head cracking on the pavement earlier or
the other Kalatari punching him in the face he wasn’t sure, but he definitely
had a concussion. Or something much, much worse.

“Come
on, then. Let’s get it done.” Orris Rin stopped for a moment to size him up.
“You are an idiot, Oliver, but you weren’t bad company. This isn’t personal.”

“Murdering
me
feels
pretty personal,” Oliver noted.

Orris
Rin shrugged. “I suppose so.” He nodded at the other Kalatari. “Take him
inside.” Oliver found himself seized by the arms and propelled rapidly toward
the church’s front doors.

The
interior of the church was more or less what Oliver might have expected. A
dozen rows of wooden pews were covered with dust. Stained glass littered the
floor, the windows casualties of rock-throwing vandals. The paint on the walls
was peeling and the whole place smelled of mildew and rot. Oliver was a little
surprised the church hadn’t already been torn down. It would have been more
trouble to renovate this place than it was probably worth.

What he
would have not expected, though, was that the church was full of congregants.
About three-quarters of the people inside were ordinary humans. Most of them
looked like they’d been roused from their beds to rush here during the night. A
few were still in their nightclothes and one man wore shorts with mismatched
shoes.