فصل 3

Chapter 3: Nightmares

“What are you thinking?” Taylor asked softly.

“Why don’t you just read my mind?” I said.

“I’d rather you tell me what you want to tell me.” I turned and looked at her. “Remember our conversation on the rooftop in Taiwan? How I said we were going to retire?” She nodded sadly. “Yes.”

“I can’t believe how much has changed in just a few days. We’ll never retire. There will never be peace.” “There could be,” she said. “We can still hope.” “Hope won’t bring my mother back. It won’t bring anyone back.” “We don’t know for sure if she’s . . .” She couldn’t say the word. “Maybe she escaped. Maybe she had already left before they attacked.” I took a deep breath and bowed my head. I was afraid to hope. It would only make hearing the truth worse. “If that were true, the voice would have told us,” I said.

“The voice doesn’t know everything,” she replied.

“It hasn’t been wrong yet.”

Ostin came up next to me, crouching in the aisle next to my seat. His eyes were red and swollen. “I’ve got to ask the pilot something,” he said. “I don’t understand how the Elgen could have attacked the ranch without the U.S. military stopping them. They couldn’t have crossed the border without being spotted on radar.” “I’ll come with you,” I said.

We both walked to the front of the plane. The cockpit door was open.

“Excuse me,” Ostin said as we stepped into the small cockpit. “I have a question.” The captain, Scott, quickly turned back. “Whoa, Michael, you need to step back. You’re affecting the instrumentation.” He turned to his copilot, Boyd. “You take the controls, we’re going to step out.” Boyd nodded. “Got it.”

We backed out of the cockpit, and Scott followed. He asked Ostin, “What’s your question, son?” “How could the Elgen have attacked a target inside America? Why didn’t the U.S. military stop them?” “The ranch isn’t in America,” Scott said. “It’s in Mexico. The Elgen launched a surprise attack by air through the Gulf of California. They never entered U.S. airspace.” “We were in Mexico?” I asked.

“We were in a remote part of Sonora.”

“Mexico,” Ostin said. “That’s why they were left alone . . .” “They weren’t left alone,” I said.

“. . . by the government,” Ostin said. “How much longer until we land?” “About four hours. So get some rest. We have some intense days ahead.” “How do we know if the ranch’s landing strip is safe?” Ostin asked.

“We don’t,” Scott said. “We don’t even know if the Elgen are still at the ranch. So we’re going to land in Douglas, Arizona, on the U.S. side of the border, then drive down. So get some rest.” Ostin and I went back to our seats. I don’t know why I was so eager to go to the ranch. I guess we don’t really accept that someone is dead until we see them. Maybe that’s why we have funerals.

I reclined my seat, lay back, and closed my eyes. I suppose my exhaustion was finally greater than my anxiety, because I fell asleep. I woke as we were descending. I looked over at Taylor. She was looking at me.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About three hours. You were making a lot of noise. Did you have more nightmares?” “Yes,” I said. “More nightmares. You didn’t look into my mind?” “No. Your nightmares scare me too much.”