Walking an Endless Path Pt. 02

Before Christof could intervene, Joe replied. "So, I've recently discovered." His expression was sad.

"Are we done here? Do you intend to press charges against Joseph for something, or can they attempt to return to their lives?" Christof asked.

"Please don't mistake us for the police, Mr. Waechter. Our mission is nothing less than national security and sometimes beyond those borders. We all understand where this particular scenario fits and what authority our mission grants us. However, let's entertain the idea that the Neumanns are as upstanding as you suggest. There is still the matter of how Joseph came to have these... abilities? Is that even the right word?"

Christof pursed his lips and seemed to come to a decision. He looked at Joe, then turned to the director. "Before we make ANY disclosure, I feel it is necessary to let you know that we have taken certain... precautionary steps to ensure a reasonable level of security, safety, and cooperation may be possible between your organization, the Neumann family, and our law firm. We fully understand the nature of your agency's authority and the risk it poses to the Neumann family's freedom and perhaps even survival." Christof addressed the director.

Bannon locked eyes with the lawyer, each assessing the other. "I'm also aware of what steps my agency might take to ensure information of this nature is restricted. Steps I have insufficient authority to control." He thought for a second. "Ms. Volkov."

"Yes, Ms. Volkov. She is only one facet of the mechanism in place to ensure the future safety of the Neumann family. You seem to be a man of reason, and I'm betting on you also being a man of integrity. Should we proceed, it would be advantageous to the Neumanns to ensure such a man was their point of contact with your agency. Without our precautions, I'm sure neither of you would play any part in future interactions." Christof explained.

Rachel started to protest, but Bannon shut her down immediately. "No, he's right, Rachel. Neither of us would be part of the team. It's a political nightmare, and they have their own people to deal with those. They don't need either of us."

She looked stunned, and Joe saw her trying to figure out possible scenarios. She must have reached the same conclusion as her face took on a rather desperate look. Bannon just nodded at her.

He turned back to the lawyer. "So, this is where the negotiations begin?"

Christof smiled. "Yes. Let's do that."

Joe's cell took that moment to ring. "I'm sorry! I forgot to turn off the ringer." He glanced at the screen. "Damn!"

"Who is it, Joseph?" Clara asked.

"Niki Love," he replied.

Bannon's eyebrows went up. "The pop star? You know Niki Love?" He sounded a little doubtful.

"Uh, yeah. I kinda have a date with her," Joe said shyly.

"Another facet of the mechanism, Mr. Bannon. Young Mr. Neumann met quite a few celebrities during his work as security guard this summer, and many took a keen interest in him." Christof explained. "You'd better take that call, Joseph. If you could postpone the date until tomorrow night, that would be preferable."

Joe nodded and walked to the room's far corner to answer the call.

"Any more surprises, Mr. Waechter?" Bannon asked.

"The surprises are endless with this family, but almost all are delightful!" His grin was broad and genuine.

A few moments later, Joe came back to his seat. "Again, I'm sorry about that. The ringer's off now."

"Your arrangements are made?" Christof asked.

Joe felt a little weird about discussing his date with the lawyer, but he'd been instructed to go with whatever play the lawyer might use, so he answered. "Yes, tomorrow night is good. But it wasn't easy putting her off. She was rather insistent. I had to agree to let her pick the restaurant and where to go after dinner."

Amy snorted loudly, and stage whispered a line from the song Love Shack by the B52s. Karl and Clara tried to suppress the grins fighting to show on their faces. Joe growled at his sister. Then they all realized their location, and the smiles quickly faded.

Bannon caught this exchange and immediately saw the love these people had for each other. His heart ached a little as he recalled a similar joy he'd once shared with his wife. He looked down to see he was rolling his ring. He separated his hands and regrouped.

"Before we start, I must know what protocols are involved in this scenario. That will have a large impact on the direction the agency will take. Are we talking about First Contact? Joseph isn't human, is he."

"Yes, he is!" Clara blurted, and Karl took her hand as she continued. "My son is human. He was born human, but now he is more."

Bannon looked confused. "Would you care to explain that?"

Karl took up the conversation after receiving a nod from Christof. "My wife is correct. Joseph was born to human parents. He was only a few days old when he was exposed to a creature we've come to believe is symbiotic. It merged with the newborn and has altered his body over the years to make it stronger and more durable. We've witnessed no alterations to Joe's mind, however. The modifications appear to be completely physical."

"May I assume this creature was not of terrestrial origin?" Agent White asked.

"I don't know where it came from, but your assumption would likely be correct," Karl answered.

"And was there an apparatus near the location of this creature that might have caused a release of energy?" she asked.

"Again, I don't know if it was mechanical, but there was... something large, which threw off a lot of weird light. I think it was a portal or door. Where it led, I don't know."

Rachel was ecstatic! This was it. Proof of her theories. A description of the event that occurred at the location of one of the gravity anomalies.

Christof raised a hand to get their attention. "It should be noted that the infant who grew into the man we now know as Joseph was not voluntarily exposed to the creature. That he survived the merging is a miracle in itself. His humanity is not to be questioned, and his rights as a human will not be denied. This is non-negotiable. He wants to actively participate in investigating his origin as long as said investigation does not risk his freedom and personal autonomy. He will be granted access to any information discovered about him and to people who can assist with his comprehension.

Additionally, it is paramount that his unique status remains a secret. We desire this as much, if not more, than your agency and the government you work for. This said, we are willing to trigger the global release of our information and circumstances should any steps be taken that risk the lives, freedom, or autonomy of the Neumanns or the principles of Waechter, Bergstrӧm, and Volkov."

"Those are your terms?" the director asked.

"These are our terms," Christof confirmed.

"Before I can get anyone to take you seriously, I will need some proof of his unique physical make up. DNA would be best," Bannon requested.

"Karl, do your medical records for Joseph include a DNA test?" Christof asked.

"You have medical records?" Rachel asked Christof, eager to get access.

"My dear Agent White. There is extensive documentation of every stage of Joseph's life. Once we have negotiated an agreement with your agency and have some assurance of their intention to honor that agreement, you may ask Joseph nicely for the information, and he will likely give it to you, being the genuinely nice fellow he is. It would be helpful if you could see him as a person and not just a lab experiment. We all find that distasteful and disrespectful."

Rachel reeled back from the verbal slap, and her eyes went to the Neumanns staring back at her. Aside from Joseph, who just looked embarrassed, the rest of the family was eyeing her with various levels of anger. She turned to Bannon to see he was also wearing an annoyed expression.

Karl looked over to Christof. "We don't have that type of equipment in Glennville, so no."

Christof looked to Joe. "Would you be willing to give them a DNA sample?"

"Sure. How?"

Bannon looked at Agent White with a raised eyebrow. She nodded.

"Firstly, please accept my apology if I made you feel uncomfortable. No disrespect was intended," Joe nodded to her. "I can take DNA from a swab of the inside of your mouth. Also from bodily fluids such as blood, urine, or semen."

Joe squirmed in embarrassment. "Uh, let's try the swab."

Agent White put a small briefcase on the table and opened it up. She pulled two long tubes from the case and opened one to expose the swab end. Joe leaned forward and opened his mouth, and Rachel rubbed the tip thoroughly against the inside of Joe's cheek. She sealed up the tube and took out a second one. Joe leaned forward again, and she swabbed the inside of the other cheek.

"Typically, I try to get more than one source. Would you be willing to give me a drop of blood?" Rachel asked.

"How do you get it?" he asked.

"It's just a little pin prick on your finger," she said.

"Yeah, that's not going to work," Joe replied.

"Why?" the agent asked.

Instead of explaining it, Joe simply held out his hand. Agent White examined the smooth, blemish-free skin and was surprised to find absolutely no scratches or signs of day-to-day wear. She pulled the blood sampling device from the case and looked at Joe for permission. He nodded, so she poked the sharp edge against his fingertip. Joe didn't wince or pull away, and when she removed the device, there was no sign of a cut. She frowned and tried again, pushing harder this time. Again, Joe made no sign of noticing, nor was his flesh cut. She examined the sharp point and wiped it down. It cut through the cloth.

"Remarkable!" she said. "Is all of your skin this resilient?"

"Yeah, I think so. I don't get cuts or scratches," he replied.

"What if you need medical attention like surgery?" she asked.

Joe thought about the times he'd been in the hospital. He recalled how upset Doc Watson had been and how worried his Dad had looked. He looked over at his Dad. "Does Doc Watson know?" he asked.

"No. He knows he can't take your blood like he did when you were a child, but he doesn't know why."

Joe thought about how good Doc Watson had been to him and how much it must drive him crazy, not knowing why Joe was so different. "Would it be possible to include him in the research team? He obviously knows how to keep a secret."

Christof frowned and said, "That also puts the good doctor at risk, Joseph. He is safer not knowing."

Joe just nodded to that, but he still felt bad. He looked back at Agent White, who looked like she was still hoping for an answer. "I've been injured badly twice, but both times, I just healed with time. The doctor couldn't really do anything for me. He couldn't x-ray me as it broke the machine, couldn't do an ultrasound as that broke the machine, and he couldn't take an EKG as that also broke the machine. At the time, I wasn't aware that was happening."

"Okay, then blood is out. That leaves urine and semen," she said, oblivious to Joe's discomfort.

"Let's just try the swabs you've already taken for now, Rachel," Bannon said, coming to Joe's rescue. She looked disappointed but packed away the sample bottles she had in her hands and put the case away.

Bannon still had questions. Many questions, but the most critical was finding out more about Joe's forced merging with the creature. That sounded like something his agency might consider a threat.

"Can we return to the initial event when Joseph came into contact with the creature? You mentioned it wasn't voluntary. Can you explain what you meant by that?" he asked.

"I can do one better." Christof pulled a USB data stick he'd prepared for the meeting from his pocket. "On this memory stick is Karl's video statement he recorded on the night of the event. He had the incredible presence of mind to make a video describing the events in as much detail as he could recall right after it happened. It is the freshest recollection you will get. This is just the first file of the record Karl made for his son's life. We may watch it now if you'd like, and you may keep the key. This is only the first of a large file set comprising the package we've cached for distribution as a deterrent for bad behavior." He handed the stick to Bannon, who passed it along to an eager Agent White. She reconnected her tablet to the screen and plugged in the memory stick. A window appeared showing the one video file. She launched the video player, and Karl's butt in pajama bottoms appeared on the screen as he walked away from the camera to circle his desk and sit down. Joe, Amy, and Clara all burst out laughing.

"Nice PJs, Dad!" Amy said.

"Hey! The idea to start a video diary came to me as I tried to sleep that night, and I didn't think anyone else would watch it!" Karl growled, clearly embarrassed.

Bannon suppressed a smile and watched the screen. On it, the clearly shaken man described how he and the sheriff had investigated the strange lights in the back field. How they'd come upon a clearing in the cornfield containing a large doorway of light. How they saw three strange beings holding what turned out to be weapons. He described the gun battle and how they'd witnessed the horrifying murder of Joseph's parents. Then he talked about how he'd tried to prevent the infant from being exposed to the creature but ultimately failed. Finally, he spoke of their return to the house and Joe's poor health condition.

It was an excellent recording, and combined with the DNA proof of Joseph's unique physical state, it would be sufficient to get his superior's attention.

"So these beings were hostile. Performing some kind of experiment on humans?" he asked.

"That was certainly my impression," Karl said. "Unfortunately, the only other witness to the event, Sheriff Jeff Monroe, passed away two years ago. I don't know if he made a personal record of the event. I know the police report he made was something that would be more readily ingested. We couldn't report the deaths of the two kids as we had no physical proof, nor could we describe how they died without dredging up the entire mess. It wasn't something Jeff was proud of. He was a straight shooter, but we had no way to prove that it happened. A big circular dead zone in a cornfield isn't proof."

"Dead zone? It isn't still like that, is it?" Agent White asked.

"Yes, it is. I've put a fence around its outside edge. Nothing grows inside the fence. Snow won't collect on the area either." Karl replied.

"Director Bannon, we need to get a team out there to take soil samples, take readings of the background radiation, perhaps excavate the dead zone itself," she said excitedly.

"Yes, we can put that on the to-do list. I suggest that, since nothing has changed in that location for more than two decades, it will hold for now," Roger responded. "Have the beings ever returned to your knowledge?" he asked Karl.

"No. I haven't seen any sign of them since that night," he replied.

Joe was quiet as what he'd heard in his Dad's video went round and round in his mind. The description of how his birth parents had been burned alive from the inside out was particularly disturbing and clung to his mind. He shuddered at the thought of how much they must have suffered. His birth mother had been about Amy's age when these beings took her life. His birth father had only been a little older. They were just kids on the run with a new baby, alone in the world. From what his adoptive parents had told him about them, their lives hadn't been that easy, to begin with, and to end up like that was so unfair. He felt so much impotent rage he trembled. He wanted so badly to get his hands on the bastards who murdered them—

"Joseph? Are you okay, honey?" his mother gently asked.

Joe closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. He felt the rage slide away. Tears ran down his cheeks. "Sorry, Mom. I'm just shaken by how they died." The rage threatened to take him again, so we resumed his deep breathing until he felt himself calm. Clara reached across in front of Amy and gripped his hand. Amy placed her hand on top of theirs.

Bannon looked at Rachel in shock. Her eyes were wide with excitement. "Nictitating membrane, maybe?" she said, describing the blackness they'd just seen take over his eyes. "A protective layer triggered by strong emotion."

Joe noticed then that he'd splintered one of the wood armrests he'd been gripping during the video. He was immediately remorseful. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry about the chair! I'll pay to fix it!" he said to Bannon.

"That's okay, son. It just gives the lab boys one more puzzle to solve." he smiled at Joe.

"Are we done for today? I'm feeling a little drained." Joe asked, looking from Bannon to Christof.

Bannon looked at Agent White, who wore a dismayed expression. He was sure she'd just begun and probably expected they'd work through the day and into the wee hours of the night.

"Yes, we're fine for today. Where are you staying while you're in LA?" Bannon asked.

"We've booked some rooms at the Fairmont in Santa Monica," Christof replied.

"I understand you arrived in a private jet. I'm going to ask you to remain in LA until we can make the required arrangements. We can put you up in a hotel for that interval, but it will be more modest than the Fairmont." Bannon said.

"Director Bannon, we all have busy lives and businesses to return to. We can dedicate no more than a week or two before those lives must resume. That said, Joseph and Amy had arranged to be here for a few months at the very least. Amy has an acting career to begin, and Joseph is looking for training in personal security. I assume your agency could offer him such training, which would also grant you access to the young man for up to eight hours every day until he determines his training is complete. How much time he gives you from that time on is something you can negotiate with him then. We will check in with our young friends daily to ensure the agreement is being honored. Does this sound reasonable?" Christof asked.

"I suppose it will have to do," he replied.

"How much time will you need to prepare for your superiors?" Christof asked.

"Once I have the DNA evidence, I'll probably only need two to three days," Bannon said.

"Then please notify me when you receive the DNA report, as I will schedule a demonstration of our ability to distribute information. Not to worry, the payload in the demonstration will not contain anything sensitive. It will simply provide your superiors with proof that our precautions have teeth," he said with his best lawyer smile, and Bannon fully understood his meaning.

"There is still the matter of removing the stigma your news report has applied to my clients. Selina has graciously prepared a statement you may use that might work nicely for this. You may choose another method, but they must be fully and publicly cleared. That is not negotiable. We've also included a written statement of our terms for the agreement for you to negotiate with your superiors. Selina will also send you the amendment outlining the Neumann's requirement for you and Agent White to head the investigation. This will also be non-negotiable if you are in agreement." When Bannon nodded, Selina made a note on her tablet. Christof pulled a docket from his briefcase and slid it across the table to Bannon.

The director opened the docket and reviewed the pages inside. Aside from the DNA evidence and the video statement on the memory stick, everything he needed was in the docket. He read the prepared statement and chuckled quietly in surprise. It was a plausible cover story that made the agency look good. He was impressed! Bannon nodded at Selina, who returned it with the hint of a smile.