Tesla, Jason Walker [reading cloud ebooks TXT] 📗

found himself a new lab to rent on two floors of a building at 46 East Houston Street in New York City. Feeling that he was finally out of Edison’s ring of influence once more, Tesla allowed himself a breath of relief and returned to his work with renewed vigour.

 

Chapter 7
Leave September 12, 1993

After a whirlwind week spent hiking through the jungle in an attempt to find a downed spacecraft, Darren was thrilled to hear that he had a two-week leave coming up. Before it hit, Darren went Stateside once more. He caught a plane from Nelson Garcia to a military air force base in New York State.

This wasn’t the first time that he’d been there. Still, after being in the empty jungle for so long, the hustle and bustle of New York City would be a massive adjustment to have to try and deal with when Darren got there. He hired a cab after walking off the base, which drove him to the giant metropolis. After getting into his hotel, Mathews changed out of the shorts he’d worn for the long flights and took a cab out to the garden square.

It wasn’t hard to find Anna.

She was waiting for him on one of the benches. Her face lit up when she caught sight of him. They rushed toward each other, Darren catching Anna under the arms and spinning her about in a hug.

Anna laughed. “Hi, honey. I missed you!”

“Not nearly as much as I missed you,” said Darren. He settled her back down and leaned in for a kiss. Anna eagerly returned it. When they parted, she took hold of one of Darren’s hands and led him over to one of the benches nearby.

She said, “How was your trip?” He smiled as he walked beside her. “It was loud being in an unpressurized aircraft. I’m just getting my hearing back.”

Anna sat down and watched several couples walking around.

“My hotel looks nice. Thanks for suggesting that we go there. Are your bags in your hotel?” he asked her. Anna nodded her head as she leaned into his shoulder and rubbed his back. “My bags are checked in at the hotel lobby, so we can go and collect them and then go back to your hotel.”

“Good. What about the apartment in Florida?”

Anna didn’t look happy when she looked out at the pigeons, which were walking around in front of them looking for bits of food from the last people that had been there. “Alan Schiff made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He put us in a safe house.”

Darren looked unimpressed. “What?”

“I asked him for some time away from Pine Gap, and he was shocked that I would even think of asking to leave the base because of everything that’s been taking place. Then, the Iranian fiasco—that went all the way up the chain to be resolved, you know.”

“Really? Wow. Doesn’t surprise me, though. So, they want to monitor everything you say while you’re away from them. That’s what I reckon is happening there,” Darren replied.

Anna nodded her head in response and didn’t say anything.

“If I were you, I’d spend less time there and more time at your parents’ place. Make sure you check your parents’ place for bugs before I get there. I don’t want to slip up and say something over the dinner table after having a good meal and a few too many wines,” Darren said jokingly with a clever smile.

Anna frowned. “You’re not going to reveal anything to my parents, Darren, so don’t even say things like that. I’ll make sure that the place is clean, though. I can’t imagine how anyone would slip in there and bug their place, though. They’re always there. It’ll be so good to just relax and enjoy the countryside.”

Darren put his arm around her, and she readjusted herself so she was closer to him as the wind picked up. Several cars honked their horns over on the street nearby, which caught their attention. Someone undid a window and started yelling obscenities at another driver; one could determine as much without speaking Italian. “I have some things to tell you,” Darren said as he refocused his attention on her. She was the only female in the world that Darren could talk to like this.

So, voices hushed, he told her everything. He told her about the bodies and the fire and how he wasn’t sure yet who had really caused it. He told her about the mercenaries from Kruger—how they had teleported into the area and left it just as fast as if they had split open the seams of reality.

“And the base beneath Diego Garcia! That was awesome. It had to have been at least a mile under the ocean.”

“I know that there was some kind of breach, but that’s about it,” Anna replied.

“It was wild. I keep thinking that I’ve seen everything this job has to offer me, but then something else gets thrown in my face,” said Darren. He thought about the watch when he said it.

For a moment, he debated telling Anna about what he’d found, but he quickly decided against it. Not until he knew more about the watch’s origins. Darren didn’t want to put Anna into undue danger.

Anna listened patiently, but before long, Darren could tell that she was holding back something so he asked her, “You look like you want to tell me something. What did you want to tell me?”

He was right. She smiled at him as she rubbed the front of his chest through the jacket that he was wearing. “It’s . . . not as exciting,” admitted Anna. “Actually, why don’t we get something to eat first?”

Darren raised his brows. “All right? Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”

“I want garlic bread.”

“Then we’ll get garlic bread,” he told her as they started looking around to see what their options were.

Several pigeons flew over them. One pooped in the air and the bird shit narrowly missed them.

“Count yourself lucky, mate,” Darren said as he looked at the birds that were flying away.

“They’re probably laughing at us,” Anna said, laughing.

It wasn’t too much later that they found themselves seated at an Italian restaurant on the other side of town. The decor was simple and old fashioned. There was a free basket of garlic bread at the centre of the table. While they waited for their order to be filled, Darren prodded again. “So what did you want to tell me?”

Anna busied herself with another bite of bread.

Darren said, “You’ve put it off so much that I’m really curious now.”

“I . . . suppose you won’t let me put it off until after we eat?”

“I would really rather know now. Is something wrong? Did something happen?”

“No, no, nothing’s wrong. I mean, well, maybe. I hope you don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

“Love, why don’t you tell me?” Darren reached across the table, taking hold of Anna’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Whatever it is, we’ll work through it together.”

Anna broke down. She blurted out, “I’m pregnant!” Then, she pulled her hand away and covered her face with it.

Darren froze. It was like time had stopped. “. . . pregnant?”

Anna couldn’t bring herself to speak. She nodded instead.

Warmth bloomed in Darren’s chest. He asked, “You mean we’re going to have a kid?”

Anna nodded again. She still didn’t move her hands.

“Why are you acting like that’s a bad thing?” Darren tugged her hands away from her face. “There’s no one else I would rather have a family with.”

Anna’s heart all but melted. “Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do,” said Darren. “Why would you think that this would be a bad thing?”

“Just—with our line of work,” said Anna. Haltingly, she explained why it had taken so long for her to tell him, and why it had been a cause of worry for her instead of one to celebrate.

Darren told her, “Don’t worry about those bastards. This is a good thing, babe. It’s something we can control if we plan ahead.” Anna reached for her glass as the waitress returned with two glasses of water, which had ice in them. She was thirsty and hoped the water wouldn’t wreak havoc on her digestive system because she’d had bad water that put her in the hospital when she was in Costa Rica—a story she proceeded to tell Darren.

A few minutes later, their food arrived. They spent the rest of the meal pointedly avoiding any talk of work. Anna suggested that she might look at places to live in Florida, where her parents had retired.

“It would be nice,” she said. “If they got to know their grandparents.”

“That’s a good thought,” said Darren. “I’m not sure how long I can sit still, though, and Florida would be a long way from home for me. Even now I’m fixing to go back to Australia, but I mean we could try it out and see how it all goes,” Darren said as he tried the food.

A few moments later, she suggested, “The beaches there are nice all year round. It would be a good place to get married.”

Darren choked on his pasta.

Quickly Anna added, “Just a thought, babe. We don’t have to rush to it, or do it at all, even.”

“That’s a pretty heavy topic. I just—wasn’t expecting any of this today. No wonder you took your time trying to figure out your approach. You’re hitting me with a double whammy here, Anna. I’m trying to be cool with the news, but don’t drop all of this on me at once. Holy cow, mate.”

Anna looked down at the table and felt bad. “Sorry. My mind is full of ideas and plans at the moment. If it helps, I wasn’t expecting you to tell me you were almost blown to bits in Diego Garcia.”

“The fire was pretty serious. Multiple people were lost . . .”

Anna said, “We live a strange life, don’t we?”

“We do, but I’m happy about it. I wouldn’t have met you if our life wasn’t so out of this world.”

“That’s a horrible joke!”

“You love it,” said Darren, grinning at her.

Sheepishly, Anna admitted, “You’re right, I do,” as she took a bite of her garlic bread. Darren started thinking of ways to tell her he needed space to think about things but they were on a limited timeline for their stay in the United States.

“Would you mind if I took some alone time to soak in what you’ve just told me? There’s a national park in upper New York State that has a lot of people going missing in it. I wanted to check that place out for years since I heard about some guy named David Paulides investigating people going missing from National Parks all over the world.”

Anna thought about what he was saying. “No. I can understand what you’re saying. I can fly out next week to go see the apartment in Florida and then make my way over to my parents’ place. You can meet me there as soon as you’re finished exploring. I’m okay with that. We need to get out the head space that we’re in and figure out a new direction,” she replied as she looked into his eyes.

They spent the week together, pretending to be tourists like everyone else. By