12 - Nico
The call had finally come in, and Nico was heading to the rental so he could have some privacy. He slammed the driver’s door behind him and connected the call. He noticed his leg bouncing and forced it still. Forced himself still. “I need to get home. Why did you even bring me here?”
“Wait. If you know exactly where I am, and you know exactly where he is, why do you need me?”
“Technology can’t tell us why . He’s going there for a reason, and we need you to find out what that is.”
“How is this important?”
“Because the news is about to break. And I suspect this is related.”
“What news?”
The video screen changed to show a rock in a high-tech lab.
“This is a moon rock brought back by Apollo 17 in 1972.” The view zoomed into the crystalline structure, and there, shaped by microscopic crystals, was a human stick figure inside a circle with a line through it.
“We’ve never seen this No Humans sign before. ”
The image cut to show a galloping herd of antelope swirling in the same No Humans pattern. “These are impala, on a private animal reserve in South Africa,” the Director told him.
Next Nico saw a satellite view of a light blue circle with the stick figure crossed out in the middle of a darker blue sea.
“This is in the Maldives,” the Director explained.
“The atoll isn’t new, but the human figure in the no symbol wasn’t in our satellite images yesterday.
These signs are popping up everywhere. We’re not going to be able to contain it much longer. ”
“Holy crap,” Nico breathed. “This is the aliens?”
“Certainly what people are going to think.”
If this was really happening… “I need to get home to Sam.”
“I thought you’d say that,” the Director said. There was a double-click, and then a voice Nico knew.
“Darling boy, there’s no one else I can trust for this.”
His mind raced to understand. The clicks were the Director disabling their voice filter. And this was… “Godeane?”
The camera on the Director’s side of the call turned on and there was Godeane, face lined with age and worry. And something else, Nico realized with a pang that almost hurt in his chest: affection. “Hello, Nico.”
“You’re the Director? I’ve been working for you this whole time?” Nico almost laughed at how weird that was. “Why didn’t you just tell me it was you?”
“Protocols.” Godeane put her hands out like she was surrounded by bureaucracy and only by sheer force of will did she keep some of it at bay. “And wanting to keep you safe. Anyway, it ruins my dotty innocent-grandma vibe.”
“Dotty?” Nico shook his head. He’d seen her pull the old lady routine before, but he wasn’t fooled, then or now. “I don’t think so. But Sam’s going to need me.”
“We have eyes on Sam. He’s fine.”
Eyes on Sam. Did Sam know that? Was that why he’d gotten a new phone?
“Follow this man. Find out what he’s up to. And as soon as we know what’s going on, I’ll get you on the first jet home.” Godeane clasped the blue agate necklace she always wore. “I promise.”
Nico knew he’d say yes.
1639
They ended the call, and Nico grabbed his overnight bag from the first of the backseat rows in the rental.
He took out a hard plastic case the size of a kid’s lunchbox.
Nestled in a custom-cut foam insert was Byron’s hummingbird drone and the controller—he’d given it to Nico as a wedding gift.
Nico kept it fully charged, just in case.
He texted Byron.
What’s the range of the hummingbird drone?
5 miles. More if you have line of sight.
Then Byron texted again.
Everything all right?
Nico thought about the alien messages, and how they were about to hit the news.
Not sure.
You need me to come to you? I’m only a 36 hour drive from NY. I’ve been working on something I want to share with you anyway…
Could he tell Byron what was going on? That he was in California, on some spy mission? That an alien invasion was imminent? Probably not on this phone—not with the agency spying on him. With Godeane spying on him. He was still processing that.
Let’s talk later, okay?
Here for you, No Obstacles.
Nico gave the message a thumbs-up.
1643
The hummingbird drone landed on top of the airfield’s chain-link fence, its three-toes-forward-one-toe-back grip holding it steady.
Beyond a row of six parked helicopters, the runway was basically a dry lakebed.
Through the hummingbird drone’s eye camera, Nico watched a military transport plane land, kicking up a dust plume that made it easy to track.
Nico pivoted the drone’s head to follow the taxiing plane until it stopped by the single hangar building. He flew the drone closer, landing on a ridge of the plane’s wing to watch as the jet door swung out and down, offering steps to the scorched ground.
A guy who wasn’t much older than Nico strode down and out of the plane. His acne-scarred face matched the photo Godeane had shown him earlier. The Person of Interest.
Some army guy in desert camouflage leaned against a white Ford Mustang with blue racing stripes down the center that was parked by the hangar.
Person of Interest approached and Camouflage Guy tossed him some keys.
As Person of Interest got in, Nico darted the drone over the car and by the back trunk, searching for a place for the drone to stow away.
But the spoiler, trunk medallion, tail lights, bumper…
every surface he could see was too smooth, and the drone would just slide off.
The license plate though—that might work.
Nico maneuvered the drone in feetfirst and had its claws grab the metal edge.
One leg slipped under the plate by the screw, but the drone seemed secure, so Nico folded the wings tight.
And just in time, because the Mustang pulled out fast. Another cloud of dust rose behind the car, and Nico realized visibility would be a problem until the car got back on paved roads.
But he could track the drone’s location on the handheld controller, so that meant he knew the car’s location and where this Person of Interest was without having to follow him in person.
Nico watched the location icon on the controller’s digital map as the car turned left out of the airfield, coming south toward the main town area, where Nico was parked outside the diner and next to a grocery store.
He could hang back three or four miles, and the hummingbird drone would do most of the work for him.
Multiple cars and pickup trucks started to come into the lot around him. People ran into the grocery store.
What was going on? Nico checked his phone for the time: 1652.
He opened a news app and the banner screamed:
B REAKING N EWS: A LIEN W ARNINGS A PPEAR A ROUND THE G LOBE
An aerial view of the No Humans pattern in two shades of dirt—yellow lines on a rusty red background.
Words on the screen read P ERU’S N AZCA D ESERT .
A talking-head scientist was saying, “the rest of the geoglyphs are two thousand years old, and we just discovered this now? That can’t be a coincidence. ”
Nico swiped to the next story. Ferris wheel lights showed the same No Humans pattern in green, over the words S ANTA M ONICA P IER: H ACKED!
He swiped again and the image and text changed to A NCIENT C AVE IN N EW Z EALAND , where bioluminescent glowworms squirmed over a rock face to make the same No Humans pattern.
Closing the news, Nico dialed Sam at his new number. But instead of going through, there was just a mechanical voice: “All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later.”
Nico tried texting, you OK? But that didn’t go through either.
Calm down. He told himself. Godeane said they have eyes on Sam. He’s fine.
Holy crap. If cell service was down, there was no guarantee GPS would keep working… and then he wouldn’t be able to track Person of Interest. He toggled to the hummingbird drone tracker screen. The icon was still there, showing Person of Interest was heading west, about four miles off.
Nico gunned the engine and pulled fast out of the parking lot and into traffic. He couldn’t lose the guy.
1701
The road sign announced:
G OLDSTONE D EEP S PACE C OMMUNICATIONS C OMPLEX
0.25 MILES
Nico slowed as he approached the last turnoff before the guard gate, smoothly pulling left on the loop south to NASA Road.
He made the first right on Venus Station Road.
About a mile down he could see two satellite dishes, each as tall as a four-story building.
He stopped and checked Person of Interest’s location.
His target was about six miles north. The signal was getting faint, but it looked like the guy had stopped driving.
Nico toggled to look and listen through the hummingbird drone’s eye camera and microphone.
The drone shook along with the parked car as the door was slammed shut.
“Been expecting you,” a twangy adult voice said through the staticky connection.
“I thought deserts were supposed to be hot?” Turned out Person of Interest had a Russian accent.
It was weird that Nico had just talked to some guy with a Russian accent when he was at LAX.
But that was an American agent, some expert who worked for one of the Director’s—one of Godeane’s—departments. Who was this?
“There’s coffee inside. You should get some before it gets cold—power’s out,” Twangy said.
Nico tried to get the hummingbird drone to follow, but one of its claws was stuck under the license plate.
He got out of his rental, wondering if that would boost the signal.
Nico tried to fly it loose, but the left wing was pushed up against the car and wouldn’t extend.
The right wing flapped, banging twice against the metal before he stopped trying. Damn it. He didn’t want to break it.
And now he couldn’t hear them anymore.
Nico realized he’d have to go get the drone free himself. So much for spying from a safe distance.