Chapter Seven #2
“Once you retrieve the key that opens this box and read the instructions, I’d like for you to give me a call on this phone. Mine is the only number saved in it.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked suspiciously. Why was the Secret Keeper involving himself in this errand?
He shrugged as if it was of no consequence, but she suspected it was quite significant.
“I’m simply offering…” he paused a beat before he said, “…guidance in case you need it. Maybe you won’t.
But I’d like for you to call me either way.
I’m available to you, if you need to discuss anything or have any questions after you read the contents.
” He eyed the metal box she’d yet to retrieve, then stared at her once more.
Cryptic, but it made her feel better, for some foolish reason.
She didn’t expect to call him except to say, “I don’t need you or your special Secret Keeper guidance,” and promptly hang up.
Since he’d told her that not needing him was a possible outcome, she was ready to move forward and get back to Alienn.
As she contemplated this odd instruction, she took note of his general attitude since she’d stepped into his office, uninvited, courtesy of Jack Grey.
She wasn’t certain, but the Secret Keeper seemed borderline amused about this whole situation, when it was anything but funny.
Still, she was grateful he wasn’t angry or vengeful, like she’d half been expecting, but his almost giddy attitude put her off center.
It likely didn’t help that she was so tired after the fraught trip here with Jack and all the baggage they had between them.
And once they left here, she faced another endless return trip likely to be filled with more tension.
Shake it off.
Madelaine picked up the phone and pocketed it. This time when she reached for the metal box, he didn’t stop her.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Certainly. And please, don’t forget to call me, doesn’t matter what time of day or night.”
“Okay. Will do.” She was likely not going to call him. She was certain she wouldn’t need any guidance, least of all his.
“Would you and Jack like to stay here in Suspicion for some time before you head back to Alienn? I know you are on a deadline, but there are rooms available on this floor if you’d like to rest before you depart.”
Madelaine didn’t have to think about that offer. She needed a nap in the worst way. “Yes. Thank you. I’d love to get a couple of hours of rest before we get back on the road.”
“Excellent. I’ll have Chester show you to your temporary quarters.”
Madelaine took the time to place the metal box into the packable backpack she’d tucked into her purse. Once the metal box was secure inside, along with her purse, she slung the backpack over one shoulder and headed to the door.
“Thanks again,” she called out behind her, not waiting for him to see her to the door.
Out in the reception area, Chester stood up. “Are you ready to see the temporary quarters?”
Madelaine nodded, shocked that he knew without being given instructions. But given where she was and whom she’d just spoken to, it maybe shouldn’t stun her.
Jack didn’t seem surprised, either. Perhaps this was standard operating procedure for visits to the Secret Keeper each month. Maybe that was why Chester was ready to take them to the temporary quarters to rest up for the journey back to Alienn.
Maybe you should leave Jack here in Suspicion…asleep and safe, the totally mean little inner voice in her head suggested.
Madelaine thought about whether it would be safer for Jack if she left him behind.
It occurred to her that her mean internal voice seemed to be working overtime on ways to make Jack hate her more than he likely already did.
During her long absence from Earth, he thought of their love for each other and hadn’t moved on to another woman and settled down to married life like all of his siblings had done.
She shook her head. No. She wasn’t leaving Jack behind in Minnesota. She was not going to add more checkmarks to the wrong side of the “love her or loathe her” column of Jack’s list of exact offenses regarding her actions toward him.
Her mean little internal voice could suck it.
The Observer had followed Madelaine Archer as best as possible from Alpha-Prime to Alienn, Arkansas, and on to Suspicion, Minnesota, keeping a meticulous record of her movements and interactions.
The Observer needed to exercise patience and restraint with this important task.
A task that would have been fraught regardless of the courier involved.
Madelaine Archer was never supposed to have been the Paladin Courier. Great sacrifices had been made in order for Madelaine to take on that duty.
The original strategy for this journey had been altered, in part due to a charlatan who had stolen that which was precious to satisfy his greed for power.
The Observer had no pity for whatever happened to the thief in the end.
None at all. The thief had not been punished fully—at least not yet—but he would be as soon as his usefulness was at an end.
Forces at work in the shadows had tried to dictate a different path to meet their greedy, insatiable need for power and wealth. They would not prevail, either, if the Observer had any possible way to prevent it.
While the Observer’s job was simply to document the Paladin Courier’s journey, which had been decades in the making, the Observer was not without resources to help and guide Madelaine.
The Observer found Madelaine to be rather resourceful. Her acquisition of a bachelor up for bid at an Alienn auction to aid her in the journey to the Secret Keeper had been inventive.
Thus far, the journey of the Paladin Courier had been fairly uneventful.
The Observer did not expect that to last much longer.