Author’s note:
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.As it ends up, getting to see the boss is pretty easy when you’re willing to assault someone. At least, that’s how it worked out for us.
Chapter 32 – The Hostile Hotel
London punched the guy right smack in the middle of the face. He staggered onto his heels and put his hands on his nose.
The other guard brought up his rifle.
I took a step back and raised my hands. “Whoa there, comrade.”
“Hold it right there.”
London threw up her arms. “You’re going to shoot me for punching him?”
“Well-”
She took a step toward the second guard. “Well, what? We both know you’re not. Just get on your radio and tell Jex he has guests.”
The guard stared at us a moment, then took a step back, lowered his gun, and got on his radio.
The punched guard was a bleeder. It took a good ten minutes before he stemmed the flow.
Sure, he’s ready for an alien invasion, but not a nosebleed.
Five minutes after that, a pickup truck pulled up to take us into town where Jex and a few of his lieutenants or commanders or whatever he was calling them were meeting.
The line of vans, campers, and pickup trucks waiting to enter the field was backing up a good quarter mile down the road.
Where are all these people coming from?
We pulled up in front of the only hotel in town. It was a sleepy little place with only a few rooms, a café with big picture windows downstairs, and a wealth of refined old school personality.
The café wasn’t open for business, but Jex and a couple others were in there sitting around a table and pouring over what looked to be maps.
A shot of anger trickled down my spine at the sight of the talk show host. Perhaps I still felt a little offended by the way he had treated me on his show.
We went in the main entrance to the hotel.
The main lobby smelled like cherry and cedar. The furniture looked like it was at least sixty years old, but still in excellent condition. The whole place was a warm step back in time.
To bad I didn’t find this place under different circumstances.
Our guard told us to stay put then threw open the glass paneled door to the café and entered.
The door slammed back shut behind him. The pane rattled like it was going to flop out and break on the floor.
Through the door we could see yelling. All of it directed at our guard. It was too muffled to hear well, but the idea was clear. The guard was a total moron to bring someone out here. Jex stood and leaned forward to get a look at us through the door. He stopped his tirade mid sentence when he recognized me and pushed back his chair.
He was wearing black fatigues with a red, white, and blue armband. He seemed somewhat taller than he had in the studio and he walked toward us with a definite swagger. Maybe he was feeling the rush of power that comes from leading an army of survivalists and lunatics. Or maybe it was just the firearm he had in a holster on his hip.
London leaned over and whispered, “Wow, from his voice on the radio I expected someone-”
I half turned to her. “Fatter?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
Jex opened the door, shook our hands, and motioned to a sitting area in the back of the lobby. “Can we talk a minute?”
I nearly rolled my eyes. No, we drove the whole way out here just to stare at you. “That’s why we’re here.”
London and I sat on a plush velvet couch.
Jex pulled up a carved wooden chair. “I was afraid you didn’t make it. Word got around about the attack outside of Houston. To be honest, I was shocked that you called. And by the way, that was a really bad idea.”
I crossed my legs and leaned back. “I gathered as much.”
He pointed a finger at me. “Really, you should have known they’d be listening in to my calls.”
“Who, the aliens? How was I supposed-”
“No, the feds.”Jex reached into a pocket, pulled out a pen, and started twiddling with it. “They’ve been keeping the whole alien thing under wraps for years and years, and then I broke the story with just enough detail that they thought I had to have hard evidence. They had no choice but to go public. The thing is, those feds don’t really forgive easily. And of course once the president went on TV, well, why would the aliens operate in secret anymore? So that’s cat’s out of the bag, and they all see it as my fault.”
Man alive, this guy likes to hear himself talk.
London glared at him. “So what is everybody doing in Tennessee?”
“They’ve got a base here with the main entrance one hill over from the camp. As soon as I read where to go in that packet you delivered, I booked the whole hotel and made arrangements for the field we’re using as a camp.” Jex raised his eyebrows pointed to the cooler sitting by my foot. “I take it you’ve got in there what I think you’ve got in there?”
I glanced down. “Yes it is, but go back. You mean a base for the extraterrestrials? Why did we set them up with a base? And why does the government take their side in all these attacks? Why aren’t the Marines here to carry out an attack rather than a bunch of, you know, you guys?”
He stayed focused on the cooler. “You’d better leave that with me until we decide whether or not to use it.”
Unbelievable. “Wait, wait, wait. Not use it? If the aliens are so scared of it that they’ll bomb a neighborhood minutes after establishing a peace agreement, don’t you think we should make their fears-”
“To be fair, I don’t think they know exactly what it is.”
“Well, I didn’t come all this way to hand over the most dangerous biological weapon that has ever existed without knowing exactly how and when it’s going to be used.”
Jex balled up a fist and banged it on the arm rest. “And I’m not going to let someone I don’t trust completely bring something that dangerous into my camp.”
London scooted forward so fast she almost came off the couch. “And didn’t you say that we are already at war? That we needed to fight with everything-”
Jex raised his hands. “Look. I didn’t know if you’d show up. So I started evaluating other strategies. I’m not saying I won’t use it. I’m just saying I want to know where it is in case it comes to that. And we’ll know soon enough if it is going to come to that.”
My nostrils flared. “And how are you going to protect it if they hit the camp?”
“We have more than enough firepower there to take down one of the smaller UFOs.”
“How do you even know that?”
Alan Jex folded his muscular arms and gave me his best ‘I’m in charge here’ look. “It was in that packet you delivered. There was one in China brought down with small arms fire. You just can’t use steel or steel jacketed ammo very well. It gets caught up in the enemy’s magnetic shield.”
“I’m still the only one here that has a full appreciation of what this virus can do. I should be the one to handle it.”
He stood. “Why, because you’ve had tactical training?”
I jumped to my feet. “Oh, and you’ve had medical hazmat training?”
I glared at Jex.
He glared right back.
London grabbed my arm. “Let’s go Corbin. Apparently they don’t want your help.”
I crouched, grabbed the cooler, and took a backward step toward the door.
Jex clenched his jaw and popped his knuckles.
I took another step back. “I could help, you know. You don’t have to control every last thing.”
London gave me another tug and nodded at Jex. “Wish I could say it was nice to meet you.”
We turned and walked toward the door.
“Wait.”
I glanced back.
Jex grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “All right. Hold on, you two. I’m sorry, things are stressful and I’m not quite myself. You got a place to sleep tonight?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay. If you want you can stay here in the hotel. There’s an open room upstairs. We can talk again tomorrow after-” Jex stopped himself and cocked his head to the side. “After we both get some sleep.”
I got the distinct feeling that I shouldn’t trust him blindly. However, it was late and sleeping outside on the ground didn’t really appeal to me. Neither did knocking door to door in this dinky town asking for a couch to sleep on. I nodded.
“Hold on a second.” Jex went behind the counter and produced a key. “Room four. I think it’s on the left upstairs.”
London let go of my arm to take the key. “So why isn’t the president on our side?”
“Good question.” Jex shrugged, took one more glance at the cooler, then turned. “Get some sleep.”
The upstairs fit exactly with the lobby. It was adorned with intricate crown molding and antique fixtures.
Our room was larger than I would have expected, but it still only had the one bed.
I sighed as I closed the door and locked the chain lock. “I guess I’ll take the couch. At least this one has a couch. Better than that chair in the last motel room we shared. You know, or the floor of your Dad’s RV.”
London made a point of looking around the room, then turned to me and pursed her lips. “No, we can share the bed.”
I raised an eyebrow.
London gave me a less than half-hearted slap with a very tired smile. “But don’t be getting any ideas. We’ll divide the sheets and sleep burrito style, with your opening facing one side and my opening facing the other.”
I set the cooler on the nightstand, drank as much water as I could and made up the bed according to London’s directions. “You know, this is really more of a taco than a burrito.”
“Shut up. It’s a burrito.”
I finished getting myself ready then crawled into my side. A tiny temptation in the back of my tired head told me that I should be attempting some kind of hanky panky.
London was still fussing about getting herself ready.
Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for ten minutes first, then see how it goes.
I was still in my burrito and laying on my side when I awoke.
Through the squinting I could tell the sun was already up. An extra weight pressed on my hip.
I turned my head and peeled my eyes half open.
The extra weight was London’s leg. Apparently she had abandoned her burrito, stretched out, and claimed most of the bed for herself.
I slid out from under London’s smooth leg, put my feet on the floor, and stretched.
Something wasn’t right.
I scanned around the room.
Why can’t I put my finger on it? What is wrong here?
And then I saw it. Or rather, I didn’t see it.
The cooler is gone. The virus-
An impatient knock sounded at the door.
I jerked my head around to get a look at the door.
The chain lock had been cut and now dangled in two pieces.
My stomach dropped and I started to sweat. It’s gone.
Another knock hammered on the door.
Keep Reading! Chapter 33 is here.
Good job Bryce! Im not real good at proof reading, but I will read it again and see if I can find something. Hope you and the family are doing good. I enjoyed the chapter, as I always do! Thanks!!!