Lost Contact (The Bridge Sequence Book One), Nathan Hystad [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

wanting to spend some time with you outside the office. Can we start over?” She looked so innocent, her voice like honey, and I nodded against my better judgment.

I tried the hummus, and it was as wonderful as advertised. I attempted to put the stress of what was forming in my mind for a while but couldn’t shake the feeling that this was my last supper.

____________

I set the keys on the side table near my door, and Marcus glanced up from the glow of his laptop. He was at the island, in his usual spot, and he closed the computer. He looked as tired as I felt.

“Anything?” I asked. I knew he’d been out of luck; otherwise, he would have texted me earlier.

“Nope. Let’s face it. It’s impossible to decipher that sixth coordinate. We have five, though. I mean, we’re far closer to the truth than before,” he told me. I peered at his shirt, seeing an old comic book dog sleeping on his house.

I took off my jacket, draping it across the couch, and sat beside him. “What’s next? Hunter’s getting impatient. If we’re going to do this, we need his funding.”

Marcus gave me a sly grin. “More importantly, how was your date?”

I laughed. Marcus always found a way to ease the tension in a room. “It was… good. She’s quite the woman, but I don’t have time for that.”

“I’ve seen Jessica. She’s…” Marcus stopped himself when he saw my expression.

“Let’s focus. Anything strange go on today?” I asked, not wanting to recall the bizarre date I’d just experienced.

“Like, did any black-suited G-man types knock on the door, flashing fake badges? No. But the pizza guy did forget to charge me for the breadsticks.” Marcus glanced to the half-empty pizza box on the table.

“Good.”

Someone banged loudly on the door, a muffled voice calling through the dense wood. “It’s after ten. Who the hell…?”

I walked over slowly, wondering if I should take my gun. I pressed my eye to the door viewer and saw Hunter Madison’s distorted face.

I unlocked the deadbolt and stepped aside, letting him in. His expensive jacket was blanketed in snowflakes, and more sat on his gray hair. He was animated as he dashed inside, shaking flakes from his sleeves. “Rex, you’ve been holding out on me. Let me see it.”

I froze. “See what?”

“I know you have it. Don’t be silly.” The billionaire was alone, and I peered out the door to see his driver parked in the luxury sedan, the engine still running. I closed the door as Hunter strode through my townhouse, his gaze lingering curiously on my few possessions. “How quaint.”

I suspected he didn’t spend much time in regular people’s houses, and I dismissed the insult quickly. “What do you want?”

He shifted to Marcus’ side, looking at the computer. “You found the Case.”

“Case? You’ll have to be more…” I started to say, but he moved with a speed defying his age and health.

“Listen here, Rexford Walker. I paid for your little adventure, and you’re going to tell me what you found now, or you’ll regret it.” Hunter was serious, his gaze murky and cold, his hands clutching my shirt.

“How did you know?” I asked calmly.

“You had to have the bags scanned at security, didn’t you?” He pulled his cell phone out and flipped it to face me. My duffel bag showed on the screen, the scan showing the shape of the cube inside it.

He let go, and I nodded, impressed that he’d been able to access the Caracas airport scans like that. “Fine. If it’s any consolation, I was about to call you.”

“Is that so?” he asked.

“Sure,” I lied. I would have had to tell him something if I wanted to continue the search, but how much information I shared was up in the air. “Be right back.”

I left him with Marcus while I went to my hiding spot under the office floor. I returned shortly after, and Marcus had three glasses of whiskey poured. Hunter held his, sniffing it as I brought the object in the original burlap sack. He stared at the bag as he downed the drink and set the glass on the island.

“This is it?”

I opened the drawstring, pulling the cube out. He stumbled toward me, his hands clasping it firmly. “This is the Case. Hardy explained his theory well.”

“He knew this existed?” I asked. So far, I’d had little to go on. Marcus hadn’t been able to translate the book yet, and I feared we never would.

“There are six Tokens and one Case. Once combined in the proper order, the Bridge will appear.”

“In the right location,” I finished.

“That’s right. Portugal. Estrelas.”

“Stars. You know the spot now?” I asked.

“I always have, and I’ve been there, as I’ve said. Many times. But it’s barren. Nothing to indicate your father or Clayton ever visited. It’s an empty cavern, with a hole in the ceiling and a pedestal directly under it.”

My hands flexed with extra energy as he spoke of it. “That has to be the Bridge access point.”

Marcus’ expression was grim. “This is real?”

“You didn’t believe before, son?” Hunter asked.

“I dunno. I mean, Rex is a little pragmatic about this stuff, but now, with hired guns chasing us and unidentified objects arriving in our solar system… I kind of wish it weren’t true. How can we go back after knowing all of this?” His question was simple, and it sounded hypothetical, but that didn’t prevent Hunter from answering.

He sat at the island, clutching the Case. “You don’t, son. Once you’ve seen Pandora’s Box, you come to be obsessed. Everything becomes futile, because if there is so much more to this existence than the monotony of life, we’re driven to obtain it. Can you imagine what it was like to live five thousand years ago? With no means to travel, no knowledge of anything outside your own plains, or valley, or island, or whatever you lived nearby?

“Picture that, and suddenly, you see a boat crash on the shore, or a plane