Dealing to a Stranger

92 minutes into a 114 minute flight to Dulles Airport

The cabin lights brightened, Sam nudged her shoulder. She had had a fitful dream about being a puppet on silver strings. The audience in front of her all had red, glowing eyes and big, huge, gaping jaws full of sharp teeth just waiting to eat her if the puppeteer made a mistake. The stewardess came by, Sam lifted her blanket showing the stewardess that Kim was safely buckled in, he tucked her back in as well as he could. Kim started to nod back off. She didn't want to go back to the terrible dream it wasn't real. Sam nudged her again harder.

"I didn't Kim."

She clawed herself up from sleep, stretched and sat upright, "What didn't you do Sam?"

"I didn't make you fall in love with me."

"Dear is that what you've been worried about, I know you didn't Sam. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, way before we touched. When did you know when you were in love with me Sam?"

The plane moved around some, the engines pulled power and then dropped back off. "When you looked at me the first time Kim. I don't even know why I came to Sam's Town, something pulled me there, it was you, Kim. I was just going to go to bed. The flight had been diverted to Memphis because Regan was socked in due to thunder storms. They offered us hotel rooms around the airport. I got a limo and asked the driver where a fun place was, he took me to Tunica. He dropped me at the Resort, I was just going to go to bed. It had been a long flight from Japan, I just couldn't sleep. I went down to play some games to unwind. I never gamble, it is too much of a temptation to do so. If I wanted to, I would own the place by the end of the night. I don't need any more money. I have more than I could ever spend in a hundred lifetimes. I didn't even play there. I just walked out the doors and came over to Sam's Town, something drew me. A need I had never felt before. I started to walk by your table in a daze, it became a moment of clarity. Here, here was the end of my endless searching. You pulled me to you, you called me and I answered. I couldn't stop looking at your eyes. Then you grabbed my hand with the ring on it. It flashed Kim, it couldn't flash. The stones had never mated. What happened was impossible. They are not designed to work the way they did. Your amulet also flashed without the joining. They were designed for us, not your species. I told Ccrsst and Trassaa about the abnormalities, they examined my ring extensively, and I did also, we couldn't detect a malfunction. Trassaa made a suggestion that it might be because our concept of bonding, love, might be so close to being the same and then even more when joined together."

The plane jerked some more, the wheels touched down and they were pulled forward as the thrust reversers were engaged. Kim said, "I don't care what the damn stones say Sam, do you love me?"

"Yes Kim I do."

And he did.

Kim said, "I love you too Sam."

And she did.

They kissed as the plane taxied towards its assigned gate

At the exact time Sam started telling Kim 11 minutes earlier

"What the fuck do you mean they are on a flight into Washington and will land in 5 minutes? Fuck, they're probably on the ground right now GODDAMMIT!"

Section Chief Sowell didn't wait on a reply to his useless question. "Goddammit, if we alert the TSA or the locals they'll shoot them up because of the cover story. How soon will our agents get there? You did send some agents before you came to me with this steaming pile of horseshit?"

Agent Utesch withered under the Section Chief's glare, "I have sent three teams Sir, ETA is about 20-25 minutes. We'll miss them, Sir. We have tapped into the security camera system at the airport. The city is wired Sir, we can watch them most of the time as long as they stay inside the city limits. I have directed the tac and snipers to load and get back here as fast as they can. I have 4 Army Blackhawks, two are powering up now. If we get an idea on the type of ground transport, we'll find them. I have the second tac team coming in from Maryland. Shouldn't be much traffic yet, ETA maybe 40-50 minutes. But the traffics gonna change real quick in about an hour, when everybody starts pouring in for work."

"What's the total lost in Memphis?"

"The Lead Agent on Site is dead, another agent with a concussion. Two agents dead in traffic accident, two more seriously injured. They said the guy tried to kill them, drove straight at them at a high rate of speed with his lights off."

"Still have your doubts this guy isn't one of them."

"No Sir, not after watching the casino's surveillance. It's like he knew we where there. Agent Dupree made no outward signs before he was killed. He was watching the woman and monitoring their conversation apparently. Stranger stuck so fast, even under slow motion it is difficult to see the strike. No human could have moved and hit like that. It shattered Dupree's skull like an egg dropped from 10 feet."

"And another report from the 'on sites' Sir, they said right as the chase started they experienced communication diffuculty, like some sort of jamming attempt. It wasn't total but it did interfere with the operation."

"I've been telling these idiots for 20 years, these things may look human, but they ain't. I have shaken this fuck's hand, celebration party about 7 years ago. Right after the new systems went online, I'll bet the alien bastards are looking up under our dresses right now as we speak. We've got to get them and get him alive. We have to know how badly our systems are compromised. Shit, he's been a government contractor for over 20 years. Damn near all our telecommunication systems are his, we're fucked."

"What are your orders Sir?"

"Find them, follow them, see if they will lead us to the other two, God I hope there are just two more, I don't want no fucking, running gun battles through the damn streets of Washington. We monitor and see if he tries a meet with the other two. He has to know we are watching his credit accounts. I want those shut down now, that just leaves the bastard pocket money. That ought to slow them some, make them go to ground. He'll have to meet with his buddies to get out of this city. I want you to call in local troops, station them 50 miles out, full load outs, every road out, even a damn goat trail. If they try to leave, we take them. Other than that, we watch, follow at distance, total emcom, the bastard might be able to monitor our communication systems somehow. Stay to fuck back away from them, I mean next county distance, NO close contact. When the meet goes down with the other two, if it does, we take the group out. Do what you can to keep this fucker alive, we need to talk to him, the other three, terminate if they attempt to resist or flee. And for God's sake, brief the teams personally to stay out of their reach. We pretty much know Collett is human and a collaborator, but if the other two are out there and still alive, then they are like him. Extremely fast and very deadly."

CHAPTER 25

7:04 AM

The Yellow Cab dropped them off in front of the Holiday Inn Express about five miles south of the Memorial Mall. Next door was a shopping mall. Sam paid the driver and gave him a tip. They waited till the cab drove away, strolling slowly towards the front door. When the cab was out of sight, they turned and left. They walked up three blocks to an I.H.O.P and had breakfast, neither ate much. Sam asked the waitress if he could borrow a phone book, handing the lady a 5 dollar bill, she came back in about a minute with one. Kim sipped coffee and poked at her uneaten food, she still felt sleepy. She watched as Sam looked up hotels close by.

"There's a Marriot Embassy Suite about 5 or 6 blocks west of where we are. One of those places that have rooms with kitchens and the such. Does that sound OK Kim?"

"Just as long as I'm with you Sam." Kim looked at him, she knew he didn't sleep on the flight. She felt like she had been run over by one of those pieces of road equipment that flattens pavement. Stretched out, smashed. Sam looked like he had just gotten up from a resting 10 hour sleep. His spiky semi-short, light brown hair didn't look mussed up even after being in the hurricane of wind from their first escape car. She had gone to the restroom and took her dirty ball hat off, she had grimaced at the horror her hair had suffered. She quickly stuffed her hair back into the hat. She tried to do something with her face. She finally just scrubbed it good. She had a sour taste in her mouth. Some water swished her mouth helped some. And, she thought she could detect a slight smell of dried fear over the last of her perfume. She was a woman and she wanted woman stuff. She didn't even have a bag or purse, it was like walking around naked.

After coming back to the table, "It's not like this all the time is it Sam?"

He gave her a sad smile, "It's never been like this before Kim, they think they're getting close. When we get to the island, they're going to be back at step one. And if they really piss me off, I just might shut down half the world's telecommunication's system. After all I designed and built them. Heck 25% I personally financed, through outside companies and contracts, into orbit. If they keep this up, I'll take out third of the birds in orbit, it'll take a decade to rebuild their systems. And then they wouldn't know if it wasn't me rebuilding them just so I can take them out again. I've been designing and building most of the in-use systems for the last 40 years."

"SOBs ought to be giving me a damn medal instead of trying to put a bullet in me, idiots. If they tried to contact us instead of kill us, we could push the Earth's technology a hundred years maybe two ahead of where they are today. I sort of understand the ship's propulsion system's design. I am very familiar with the life support systems we had. I have a very good understanding of the computer systems, and some design options that would increase your people's speed and programming complexity by about a million or so. I have been helping here and there with those." Sam sighed, "I've not been sitting on my hands since we crashed on this rock. That's where all that money came from, things I have done helping your people for the last 40 or 50 years, a guy needs a hobby."

"How old are you Sam?"

Sam looked around, "Earth years?"

Kim smiled, "No silly make it in Martian years. Yes Sam, Earth years please."

Sam sort of squinted out of one wonderful eye with the other closed, doing the math, "220, maybe 230, I'd need a calculator to give you an exact number."

"That's close enough Sam," Kim said in awe. "My God Sam, you don't look that old!"

"Sam's not that old Kimberly. Sam's only 61 years old, I'm 220, Sam's not."

"I don't understand Sam?"

He did a quick scan around them again, "Look we are not human, we don't even look human. We are closer to what those jerks always portray as those little gray looking space creatures. We're more of a bluish because we have copper based blood, only gray when we are dead. When we crashed here, we had to change to fit in. Ccrsst and Trassaa salvaged some of the medical stuff while I recovered from the injuries I had gotten during the wreck. Veettaa was dead from the impact. I was very badly damaged. Four days later I was at least able to walk thanks to their skills. Then the cowboy found the crash site. We played dead. He got close to Ccrsst and she tried to touch him, he was quick, pulled a pistol on her. She acted hurt and he didn't shoot. He did pee himself though, jumped on his horse and took off. We packed what we could and left. A day later we came upon this old prospector sleeping at night. Trassaa pushed him into thinking we were just your average ole human and he helped us for about a year. Nice guy really, Frank Hildebrand, genetically I'm his son. We had some maps Veettaa had made of your planet, mineral and geological maps. We lead him to a gold strike, he helped get some of the stuff those two needed and they made me Sam. They used his biology to grow me, They did some stuff to speed up the development and make me grow faster to an adult. We took a couple of million off Frank, said our goodbyes and moved to a sleepy little watering hole called Las Vegas. Ccrsst and Trassaa changed also, the rest, they say, is history."

"How long will you live Sam?"

"If I stay here, maybe another hundred, if I'm lucky one fifty, if I get back home I could stretch it out 200 maybe 300."

Kim looked and felt sad, even if the Good Lord smiled on her, she'd be awful lucky to get 70 more.

Sam must have seen her look of sadness, "Kim, we can help you, the other two are like genetic geniuses. And since coming here, there is not another two people smarter at it on this planet than they are. I can do some pretty amazing things myself." Again he did a quick sweep around them, "You haven't asked the most obvious question even after all the stuff I told you the night we met."

Kim gave him a questioning frown, "What question should I have asked you?"

"I said I make people happy. Happy for the rest of their lives, right?"

"Yes Sam you did. Course you forgot to mention to me about the people trying to arrest me and shoot at me. So, what was the question?"

"Remember Mrs. Parsons, the lady that won the two jackpots?"

"Yeah, you certainly made her night. She was pretty damn happy."

Sam just sat staring at her with a half grin, his eyes looked like a mischievous 10 year's old. Kim looked back at him pondering. What was the question? Mrs. Parsons was happy, pretty damn happy that night. Then it came like a bolt out of the blue, yes, she was pretty damn happy, THAT NIGHT, but what about the rest of her life?

Kim grinned back, "What did you do to her Sam?"

"Let's just say, at her next chemo treatment, her last chemo treatment, she is going to be asked a whole lot of questions she will not be able to answer."

"Good God Sam, you cured her cancer?" Kim said in total awe.

"Nope! She cured it herself. I just sort of directed her body a little. Telling it what to do. I gave it instructions, just like I can when I touch people, it's not magic Kim, we just think a little differently. Even micro-chipped machines we can influence some as long as they are not shielded. Your dealing machine had an optical scanner built into the unit, it used it to count the cards and ensure the proper amount were dealt. I sort of reached out and use the signal to manipulate the deck. I don't have to touch chipped devices, just get about 6 or so feet from them. If I try really hard, I can effect their functioning out to about 100 feet, make the chips malfunction. I hear radio signals, usually I just ignore them, but if they are transmitted from close by it is like a person yelling in my ear. I can sort of 'yell' back, screw up the signals somewhat. People's thoughts work along the same lines, sort of a signal produced by the brain. If I touch someone I can hear them, affect them." He gave the famous Sam quirky smile, "I should have really pissed off the casino, walked in the middle of the slots and have everyone of them being played hit a jackpot at the same time."

"Wait a minute Sam, what about the swapped queens, I saw that, after they were dealt by the machine?"

Sam smilingly shook his head slightly, "Yes Kim, you did see that didn't you?"

Kim now looked around casually, "OK there ET, explain that one away.?"

"I did, YOU saw it. How come the security cameras didn't see it?"

It was Kim's turn to look at Sam with a thinking look on her face, "You made me see something that didn't happen. You did whatever you do and made just me see that the cards had changed. But, you didn't touch me."

"But we had touched, it was like what happens when we are bonded. Whatever pulled me to you bonded us right then and there, that I have absolutely no understanding how it happened, it was magic. Your signals to me are like a warm, bright light, I can see you in a way, even when I am far from you. You are like a lighthouse in a stormy ocean. Then when you grabbed my hand and the ring flashed when it shouldn't have been able to do that without being mated to the other gem, pure magic."

"It wasn't magic Sam, it was love. Love brought you to me. It bonded us. We both had the same needs, we both needed to be a part of each other. Together we make a whole."

"Good enough reason to me Kim. Now, how about hitting a drugstore?"

"Are you reading my mind Sam?"

"I told you, I can't do that Kim without touching you. Even then I wouldn't do that, your mind is your mind." He pointed behind her, "I've been staring at that damn CVS pharmacy for the last 40 minutes and I really would like to go and buy a toothbrush." Sam helped her out of the booth, laid 30 dollars on a 17 something dollar bill and they walked out happily, together.

10 minutes later

Kim browsed the make-up aisle, just picking a few things she needed. Sam rounded a corner pushing the ridiculously small shopping cart, he looked like the Jolly Tan Giant pushing a kiddy's toy around.

"I hope you like a soft one," he said when he got close.

Kim dumped the stuff she had picked up in the cart, "No Dear, I like big, hard ones."

"Not me silly," he said, "toothbrushes, I couldn't even find a medium bristle. Did you want me to get some conditioner," he started to pull the brim of her ball cap up.

Kim stepped back and readjusted her dirty hat. She looked at the Pantene in the cart, "That's good Sam, maybe some Jergen's soap, hotel soap is hell on the skin."

Sam turned, leaving the cart with her, "Your wish is my command, My Queen." He stalked away looking in the aisles for her dragon to slay.

Kim finished getting her bare essentials, ending by finding a hairbrush she thought both her and Sam could use. She started to move towards the check-out when her knight came back caring the slain dragon's head in one hand and a blue and green tote in the other. He pushed back some on her cap's bill and gave her a nice kiss.

"Sorry Princess, no Jergens, I hope Dove with face cream will work. But, I bring other treasures from a far off land called China, a thing called a book bag, Your Highness."

Kim smiled and shook her head, "You will be forgiven for your ineptitude this one time Brave Knight. Later I might have other functions you may be asked to perform, naughty tasks."

He gave her a big wide grin, "I am yours, you have but to ask, I will be more than happy to pleasure my Queen."

They checked and paid for their stuff, quite happily.

After leaving the check-out bags behind and with a semi-full tote, Kim started to feel more human and less sought. Still, any movement, a beeping car's horn, someone yelling for another, drew her attention like a iron filings to a magnet. She never let her eyes rest. She looked and looked hard at everything, assessing each as a possible threat to her future happiness. Sam seemed to just stroll along with her, but she knew he was equally observant, just in a different way. She trusted Sam's observations way more than the limited one her eyes could see, he saw things un-seeable.

After another 5 blocks, they found the Embassy Suite and checked in. Sam pushed the counterman about their names, but paid for the room in cash for a three night's stay. Kim played the game like a pro, she casually mention she was tired from the drive and she wanted to lay down, they could unload the car later today after a nap. They strolled off to find their room, holding each other with her leaning her head on his shoulder. They kissed hard the whole elevator ride up to the 8^th floor. They were safe and so close to getting away together.

27 minutes later

The counter agent Sid, looked up as the two men entered. One sort of browsed the pamphlet section about sights and services in the D.C. area. The other came over to him. The man pulled out a FBI ID and some photos, "Excuse me Sir, have you seen this couple?"