The Shakespeare Incident Page 22

  Jen wiped her mouth the best she could and stood up under her own power. She looked through the thick glass and pointed at something glowing…

  And that’s when Denise noticed what was on the other side…

  “OMG, it’s a grail!” Denise said out loud. This was a big grail, maybe as big as the Stanley Cup, the hockey trophy.

  Instinctively, Denise ran toward her mother to try to help her. Jen finally saw her.

  “Denise?” It was her mother asking her the question within the dream. “You look different, all grown up. Why are you here at the plant with me? You’ve got to get out of here!”

  Get out of the plant or get out of the dream? Her mother reached for her in the dream. The shock waves emanating from the grail cracked the bulletproof glass. Those shards pierced her mother’s skin, drew blood from a thousand different holes.

  “Denise, what’s happening?” her mother asked.

  “I don’t know mom.”

  Denise looked down at her own body in the dream, she was bleeding all over every inch of exposed skin as well. She had to get out of the dream, or it could kill them both. Could Denise die in the dream? Could Jen?

  The dueling heartbeats were deafening. Her mother moaned in agony and it looked like the nuclear plant walls were collapsing around her.

  Denise winced in pain both in and out of the dream. The winds got worse. The heat got worse. The shards got worse.

  “Denise, save me!!!” Her mother’s face was now directly in front of her. The whole plant exploded in the dream.

  Denise let go of her mother’s hand. Was the explosion real or some psychic reaction?

  Denise next saw a blinding light and then darkness with the afterimage of a mushroom cloud. She felt a burning sensation in her hands, as if her blood itself was crystalizing. Was she stuck in her mother’s dream?

  There was another flash and then darkness with that damn mushroom after-image. Was she shooting back to reality or shooting straight up to heaven?

  “Denise come back!!!” her mom yelled. “Save me!!!”

  It stayed dark. The last sounds of Jen’s words faded. There was a thud.

  What caused that thud?

  After an eternity later, Denise finally opened her eyes. She was flat on the floor of the hospital room. It hadn’t changed at all. Her mom was still asleep in the bed a few feet away. She looked down at her own hand, while she wasn’t bleeding, it was actually red as if the blood, the glass or whatever it was had pushed her skin out from the inside.

  Dr. Schwartz hurried in from down the hall. “Why are you on the floor?” He helped her up. She winced when he touched her hand.

  “What happened to your hand?” he asked.

  This was real?

  But by the time the young doctor had finished examining her hand more closely, the swelling and scarring in Denise’s hand was gone.

  “It must have been the light,” the doctor said. “You seem Okay.”

  Jen snorted for a second.

  Dr. Patel had now arrived, dressed in sweats as if she’d slept here. Piranha the guard returned. Did he sleep here too? He looked groggy and worse for wear.

  Without even looking at the doctor, Piranha grabbed Denise by the shoulder. “If I see you again, you will be admitted here as a patient,” he said. He steered her to the elevator and pressed the button.

  “Hold her there,” Dr. Patel shouted, before coming over. “Miss Song, I think it might be best if you find somewhere else to stay and kindly refrain from visiting your mother for the immediate future.”

  “But she said she wanted me to save her.”

  Dr. Patel shook her head. “And Dr. Schwartz, we will have to discuss your conduct regarding this patient and her family in private!”

  She didn’t quite rip his ID badge off, but she might as well have. “Now take Ms. Song away and don’t let her back in the building without my express authorization.”

  His hand still on her shoulder, Piranha escorted Denise out the door all the way to the Kia. He remained outside until Denise drove out of the parking lot.

  Denise pulled into a gigantic parking lot near NMSU’s athletic facilities, which were empty this time of night. There had to be a connection between the grail in her mother’s dream and the grail that made Denny go insane. There had been an American military officer at the plant in the dream. Perhaps the officer’s trip to the Asian grail factory had some connection to Denny and the experiments back here.

  Denise was too tired to ponder it anymore, and her entire body was still recovering. She couldn’t drive back to Lordsburg this late. She called Dew who was up despite it being nearly one in the morning, working on that class project. “Can I spend the night with you?”

  Chapter 38

  Thursday, July 30

  “It all has to do with the grails,” Denise repeated to herself before going to sleep on Dew’s couch, well after midnight. Sahar purred.

  When Denise put her head down, she was in pain, like something was stabbing her through the back of her neck. She hoped that it was a small grail, something that would help her with the case, but when she turned over, she found that it was only a plush cat toy shaped like a laser blaster. It was supposed to be a cat-friendly version of one of the weapons the laser geishas used in their anime series, but there was some hard plastic on the tip that must have splintered.

  Out of nowhere, Sahar grabbed the toy and drowned it in her water dish.

  “Sorry,” Denise said to Sahar. Denise petted the cat who purred back in satisfaction.

  “Glad you’re finally up,” Dew said. Dew had given up the dreadlocked look for straight hair, and now was wearing a t-shirt that depicted the anime team of Laser Geishas engaged in a life or death battle with some alien invaders.

  Had Dew created it herself? The lettering on the shirt was in Japanese in sloppy handmade kanji. Dew even munched on a seaweed snack to complete the cultural appropriation. Her class project would never be done at this rate.

  Denise didn’t want to tell Dew about her mother’s dream yet. She noticed a text from Hikaru confirming their date. “I have a date with Hikaru on Friday, we’re supposed to meet at White Sands Missile Range, at the headquarters.”

  “You guys are so perfect for each other,” Dew said. “The two weirdos on Team Turquoise.”

  “Hey,” Denise replied. “That’s not fair.”

  “I’m saying that with love. For both of you.”

  While checking her phone, Denise noticed an update from the nmcourts.gov site. “The judge finally granted our motion for a subpoena duces tecum.”

  Denise called Rayne and told her the good news and reminded her that she needed to be there. Rayne was less than enthusiastic. “I don’t love going on base,” Rayne said. “It reminds me of growing up with the colonel.”

  “It must have been tough for you,” Denise said. “My mom was just crazy, she wasn’t a colonel.”

  “Do you really need me for this?” Rayne asked again.

  “We can’t do it without you, Rayne,” Denise said. “We had to use your name on the subpoena just to get on base in the first place.”

  “Let me check on something,” Rayne said. “I’ll get back to you.” She hung up.

  “Why is this visit to the missile range so important?” Dew asked.

  Denise thought back to the grail in her mother’s dream and the military man walking down the tunnel. There was a connection to this case somehow. “Denny says he was the subject of experiments. Let’s just say I know the military was using some technology—the grail technology—that does indeed cause adverse reactions in people, and maybe that technology caused an adverse reaction in Denny causing him to go insane. That would make him innocent.”

  “I think the term is not guilty,” Dew said. “No one is ever innocent. So, you believe him now?”

 
“Well, I think one of those grails affected my mom—don’t ask me how I know that—and maybe these grails that were used on Denny while he was in the military. Maybe there really were experiments. He says that the technology is extraterrestrial, but they might just be coming from Korea. I don’t know which is worse.”

  “Do you have to go on site to get those records?”

  “Yeah,” Denise said. “The judge is requiring Rayne Herring to be there as she’s the one with the security clearance. There’s even a temporary badge that can be downloaded with her name on it. And one that says DESIGNEE.

  Denise had Dew print the badges. Denise frowned. “The visit time would be the same time as the date. I’ll have to cancel with Hikaru.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Dew said. Sahar purred in agreement, rubbing up on Denise’s leg. “You haven’t had a date, like ever. And Rayne? She’s not the sharpest saw in the shed. I think she hit her head on the rim when dunking a basketball. Right here, it says that a designee can accompany Rayne.”

  “So?”

  Dew pointed at herself with two thumbs. “I got your designee right here.”

  “I don’t know, Dew,” Denise said.

  Dew was practically hyperventilating with excitement; she spilled her seaweed snacks on the dirty carpet. “Denise, do you have to be the one to personally check the records? You’re not exactly a computer whiz. And you didn’t do so well in the mental health classes in law school. And besides, I’d hate to see you cancel your first date this century… this millennium.”

  Denise magnified the order onscreen. Denny’s attorney or designees could be the one to review the records. Rayne had to be there with the custodian of records, but could anyone else accompany her?

  “Rayne has to go,” Denise said, “but won’t you need a clearance yourself?”

  “Want to see a magic trick?” Dew asked. She got on a video chat with Luna, putting the call onscreen.

  “Mother,” she said to Luna. Denise remembered that Dew only called Luna mother when it was important. “Can you get me on base with Rayne when she looks at the files for the case?”

  “We’ll see,” Luna replied.

  They could almost feel the wind inside the apartment as Hurricane Luna got to work somewhere in New Mexico. Moments later, Dew’s email clicked. Dew pressed a button. As if by magic, Dew picked up a temporary badge printed with her name on it and showed it to Denise.

  Dew smiled. “Now call and confirm that date with your fellow weirdo.”

  Denise went outside and called Hikaru via FaceTime. He wore a white lab coat, but she could see his cycling jersey underneath. “My probation at work seems to be over,” he said.

  “Hopefully, I won’t get you in trouble again.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile. “I heard that they’re letting you onto Syrinx.”

  “How did you hear that?”

  “I spend half my time over there.”

  “I know you wanted to meet at the main White Sands base, but can you pick me up over at Syrinx and drive me back to your helicopter?”

  There was a pause. Denise heard some clicks over the phone.

  “That might even be better,” he said. “I can meet you there and take you anywhere in the helicopter. Remember to bring exploring clothes.”

  They firmed up a few more details and ended the call. When she went back into the apartment, Denise had on the biggest smile of her life.

  “You’re blushing, Denise,” Dew said.

  Denise felt fantastic for the first time since this all began. She had a date with a boy she could really love. Dew and Rayne were going to get the records that would hopefully free Denny.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Her phone rang. It was Rayne. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said. “I will need a babysitter.”

  Chapter 39

  Friday, July 31

  After an hour of solving logistical challenges with Rayne and Dew, Denise didn’t bother going all the way back to Lordsburg. She planned the excursion from Dew’s apartment, while dodging the star cats. Dew and Rayne would access the military records on base while Denise did the air tour with Hikaru. Hikaru would fly her back to wherever she needed on his magic carpet, well his magic corporate helicopter.

  As for little Rita, she would be spending her time with Big Red Herring on the campaign trail at a “whistle stop” up at Spaceport America. The Upbound train didn’t really go to the spaceport of course, but the caboose would be transported by truck for the photo op. Big Red was passing through Cruces and would take her granddaughter up to the spaceport and presumably bring her back.

  Rita wasn’t happy about being stuck with grandma. Despite her military precision, Big Red always ran late. “She’s always taking a long-distance phone call from someone important and she makes me wait like ten feet away because the call is so secret. Maybe she’s calling Mars or something. I don’t want to go with her.”

  “You don’t get a vote,” Rayne reminded her daughter while talking on the phone with Denise.

  “Glad you were able to work it out, Rayne,” Denise said to her friend.

  “I’m doing it for you,” Rayne said. “You know how I hate these bases.”

  * * *

  Denise spent another night on the couch from hell in Dew’s apartment. She awoke in the middle of the night with Sahar on her chest.

  “Are you OK?” Denise asked the cat.

  Sahar purred, all good and licked her fur.

  When Denise woke up for good the next morning, Dew was already on the computer, five windows open on her screen. Dew must have given herself a crew cut in the night and was wearing army fatigues, but they were deliberately ripped.

  “Did you enlist?” Denise asked.

  “I’m wearing them ironically,” Dew said. She stared at the screen again.

  “Everything OK?”

  “There will be a delay,” Dew said. “I guess Rayne’s mom is firing missiles again.”

  “She doesn’t do that anymore now that she’s running for Congress,” said Denise. “As far as I know.”

  Dew rolled her eyes. When did she become a pacifist? Suri the black star cat had coughed up a hair ball and Denise stepped in it by accident. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  Moments later, there was a knock on the door. It was Rita and Rayne. “We’re supposed to meet my mom here,” Rayne said. “She’s supposed to take Rita out on the campaign trail.”

  “My grandma uses me as a prop.”

  Both Rayne and Rita wore red polo shirts with the campaign logo and buttons. “I don’t know which of us has it worse,” Rayne said.

  “I do, mom,” Rita said. “At least you can be with your friends while I have to be with grandma for that stupid campaign ad with a train that you’re supposed to be able to take non-stop to Neptune.”

  “I don’t know if she’s going to be with friends,” Dew said. “We were just teammates.”

  “So, you’ve become an ensign in Star Fleet?” Rayne asked, glancing at Dew’s rumpled fatigues.

  “At least I could get in,” Dew replied. “You have to be a college grad to be an officer.”

  “What’s she like?” Denise asked Rita, trying to break the tension. “Your grandma? Colonel Big Red seems like a tough cookie.”

  “She was supposed to be an astronaut,” Rayne said. “But she was too big for a spacesuit, male or female. She took it personally.”

  “If they had let me fly to the moon, we would have free interplanetary trade right now,” Rita imitated her grandmother. “We can’t let them aliens from Andromeda take American jobs!”

  As if on cue, Rayne got a text from Big Red and showed it to the group. There would be a lengthy delay as the logistics of the whistle stop tour grew more complex. A soon-to-be-former aide had forgott
en to secure an oversized load escort for the truck carrying the caboose. Big Red would now be picking up Rita here at the apartment at high noon.

  “Now what?” Rita asked. “We have a morning to kill.”

  As Petro and his posse were back and already out in full force, the smell of high-grade marijuana wafted in through the windows. Rayne took a sniff, shook her head and suggested a girl’s morning out, preferably with a different vista than the Vista de Estrella.

  Rita checked out Denise’s usual “cheerful charcoal” outfit. “Is that what you’re going to wear for your big date, Auntie Denise?”

  “I told her she looks like an Amish assassin,” Dew said.

  “No, she looks like Wednesday from the Addams Family,” said Rita.

  “Or a Ninja school drop-out,” said Rayne.

  Denise knew she had to play along. “Someone told me I looked like Darth Vader’s intern.” She looked down at her phone, there was that pic of two figures hiking up a ridge toward the desert sunset. “Oh damn, he told me to wear exploring clothing. I assume we’re going hiking or maybe cycling. What would an explorer wear?”

  Dew brought up an image of the film Out of Africa. While Robert Redford’s character looked dashing, Meryl Streep was in a long dress.

  “Not that,” Denise said.

  Dew next brought up an image of Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark. “I like that a little better,” Denise said.

  Dew then went with a still with Lara Croft Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie.

  “That’s way too much,” Denise said.

  “We have some time,” Rita said. “And this room is kinda gross, can we go to the outlet mall and give the Amish Assassin a makeover?”

  Rayne checked her watch. “It will take half hour to get there and half hour back. We can do it with time to spare. You need a makeover too, Dew. They might not let you on base dressed like a Section 8.”

  Dew shrugged. The smell from the outside got worse, and the cats sure weren’t helping with the smell inside. “Let’s do it,” Denise said, checking Google Maps on her phone and doing math in her head. “Maybe I should drive. I can get us there quickest. We never have enough time as we think.”