Special Agents Kenneth Aida and Rebecca Rogers investigate stolen nukes and "Booger Men" in this somewhat of an X-Files spoof
The Ick Files I
Part 1
The military troop transport truck drove out the main gate of Anderson Army Base at high speed. Actually, it was more THROUGH it, for the gate was closed when the truck got to it and bashed it down in its escape. Hundreds of army troops chased after the truck, firing their guns at it for all they were worth. Eventually, they had to give up since the truck was already far out of reach and getting farther away every second.
“Lower your weapons,” the major in the lead said. “They’re gone.”
The troops did as they were ordered.
“Sanders,” the major said to the man next to him. “This is not going to look good on our report. But we have to let them know.”
“Yes, sir,” the young man said.
“I can’t believe we just lost three nuclear warheads,” the major said to himself as he looked at the now empty road outside the busted gate.
Meanwhile, in the cab of the truck, two young guys are laughing maniacally as they remove their fake army outfits.
“Man, that was so easy!” the man driving said.
“Yeah,” his companion said. “It was like taking candy from a baby. I never thought the security would be so lax!”
“Well, once word gets out about this, it won’t be again, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah. Well, I guess we’d better report the success of our mission.” He grabs a walkie-talkie. “Baxter, do you read me? This is Kyle. Mission was successful. We’re on our way.”
The door to the scientific laboratory opened, startling the man sitting at the computer desk. He had salt-and-pepper hair and wore a white doctor’s lab coat. At the back of the lab was a closed door with a tiny window in it. Banging and growling could be heard from behind it. The old man looked up at the middle-aged man in the doorway. He had short-cut blonde hair and wire-rim glasses.
“Yes, Baxter, what is it?” the doctor asked.
“Kyle just reported in, Dr. Stedman.”
“And?”
“The mission went successfully. They’re on their way now.”
The doctor stood up. A big grin formed on his face. “Excellent!” he said. “Everything is working out perfectly. Soon the world will be forced to recognize my genius, or face nuclear annihilation and repopulation by my Booger Men. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Baxter joined in the doctor’s maniacal laughter.
To be continued…
part 2
The thirtyish, dark haired man wearing only red sweat pants, stood at the ready, with his arms and hands held defensively before him, and sized up his opponent at the other end of the room. Then with a yell, he charged at his foe. A few feet from his opponent, he jumped into the air and went into a flying kick.
Then the phone rang.
The man, startled out of his concentration, fell to the ground just inches from the practice bag he had been attacking.
“Damn!” he said as he lay on the floor listening to the phone ring off its hook. “Couldn’t they wait until AFTER my morning exercise routine?” He picked himself up off the floor. “This had better be important.”
He walked across the floor to a table by the apartment door and picked up the phone. “HELLO!” he said testily.
“Uh…Agent Kenneth Aida?” said the voice from the phone.
The man’s eyes widened as he recognized the voice and a sheepish expression crossed his face. “Oh! Mr. President, sir! I’m so sorry!”
“Apology accepted, Agent Aida.”
“Thank you, sir. Sir, what may I do for you?”
“I prefer not to discuss this matter over an open phone line. If you would…”
“On my way, sir!”
“Thank you, Agent Aida.”
Special Agent Kenneth Aida hung up the phone and hurried to his bedroom. Showing up at the White House in just a pair sweat pants wouldn’t be too dignified and professional.
Kenneth Aida pulled up in front of the White House in his red Mustang convertible and hopped out. The two secret service agents waiting on the steps for him approached him as he straightened the tie of his navy blue pinstripe suit.
“Special Agent Aida?” one secret service agent asked.
“Yes,” Kenneth said.
“Follow us, sir,” the other secret service agent said.
“All right.”
The secret service agents escorted Kenneth inside the White House and to the Oval Office.
A man of about sixty sat behind the desk that sported the American crest of a bald eagle holding a flag and an olive branch in its talons. He wore a black business suit and was looking solemly at a sheet of paper. Against the wall to the left of the president stood a tall, pretty redheaded woman in a tailored black skirt suit. To the right of the president stood a man about Kenneth’s age, wearing the dress uniform of an Army general. The president stood up as Kenneth entered.
“Ah, Agent Aida,” the president said, “thank you for coming so soon.”
“No problem, President Carlson. So, what can I do for you that you couldn’t talk about on the phone?”
The Army brass representative spoke up. “We’ve got a situation.”
Kenneth rolled his eyes. “Uh, yeah, I kinda figured that, General. What sort of situation?”
The redhead answered this time. “Three nuclear warheads have been stolen from Anderson Army Base.”
Kenneth stared at her. “WHAT? Three nukes? How did that happen? And when? And who are you, Miss?”
“She is Special Agent Rebecca Rogers,” President Carlson said. “She is to be your partner in this endeavor.”
“Partner?” Kenneth said. “I don’t need a partner. I work alone. Sir.”
“Not this time, Agent Aida.” President Carlson said. “I am personally assigning the two of you to this case. You are to retrieve the three nukes at all costs as soon as possible. And to answer your other questions, two men in the employ of one Dr. Stedman stole them yesterday evening. They managed to pose as two army soldiers and…” He glanced meaningfully at the general, who tugged at his collar uncomfortably, “…slip underneath base security and hijack the warheads.”
“Who is this Dr. Stedman?” Kenneth asked.
“Apparently some nutcase medical researcher. I recently received his demands.”
He handed the piece of paper he’d been looking at to Kenneth. Kenneth read through the rather short note. “He wants the world to recognize his genius or he’s going to subject the world to nuclear annihilation and repopulate it with his army of….BOOGER MEN???? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“I agree that last bit does sound a little ludicrous, Agent Aida, but madmen need to be taken seriously. He has the nuclear warheads in his possession, and I have no doubt he is willing to use them. We must get them back.”
Kenneth stopped laughing. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now go, Agent Aida, Agent Rogers. Get the warheads back as soon as possible. And God bless.”
“Yes, sir,” the agents said at the same time before leaving the Oval Office.
To be continued…
part 3
An army troop transport truck pulled up to a barn situated on an abandoned farm. The cab doors opened and two young brown-haired men climbed out. The one on the passenger’s side ran around to the other side and high-fived his friend.
“Man, Jake,” he said, “I STILL can’t believe we pulled it off!”
“I know, Kyle,” Jake said as he walked to the back of the truck and pulled the camouflage tarp aside. “We certainly got lucky. I still can’t believe how lax the base’s security was.”
A man with short blonde hair and wire-rim glasses walked over from the farmhouse. “Let me see,” he said.
“Certainly, Baxter,” Jake said. He stepped aside to allow a clear view of three nuclear warheads.
Baxter peered inside. “Good job,” he said. “Unload them and store them in the barn. And be careful.”
“Of course we’ll be careful!” Kyle said. “We’re not stupid, you know. And when will we get our payment?”
“You’ll get paid when the doctor says so,” Baxter said. Then he walked off back to the farmhouse.
“You’ll get paid when the doctor says so,” Kyle mimiced sneeringly.
“Knock it off, Kyle, and give me a hand with these nukes,” Jake said.
“Oh, all right, Jake,” Kyle said. “But why do you let that guy order you around?”
“Because that guy has the doctor’s ear, and if we do a good job, the doctor might give us a bonus.”
“Well, I don’t trust the doctor. He’s loony. Wanting to repopulate the world with Booger Men??? Give me a break!!”
“I know, Kyle. I know. But he offered us a LOT of money to do this job. And you know we need the money. So let’s just do the job and get paid. Then we can leave and forget all about the doctor and his Booger Men.”
Special Agents Kenneth Aida and Rebecca Rogers drove down the street in Aida’s red Mustang convertible. Aida took a right turn sharply, making the wheels screech.
“AGENT AIDA!” Rogers yelled. “Please, be careful!”
Baxter walked into the lab located the back half of the farmhouse. At table on the right side of the room, a white haired man in a white lab coat was bent over a microscope.
“Doctor Stedman,” Baxter said.
The old man looked up. “Ah, Baxter,” he said. “News?”
“Yes. Jake and Kyle are back with the warheads. I told them to store them in the barn.”
“Excellent! Thank you, Baxter. Give them their payment once they are finished.”
“Yes, sir,” Baxter said, the bowed and left the lab.
To be continued…
Part 4
Special Agents Kenneth Aida and Rebecca Rogers walked into Kiki’s Strip Joint. Immediately, they were assualted by the heavy smell of cigarette smoke mixed with alcohol, and the sound of the loud rock music that the pretty blonde stripper on the runway in the center of the club was dancing to.
Rogers frowned at the whole scene, but Aida had a big smile on his ruggedly handsome face. The smile got bigger as he noticed one of the pink bikini-clad waitresses.
He waved at her. “Angela!” he called.
The black-haired waitress turned to face him and smiled. “Kenneth!” she said. She finished taking orders and walked over to the agents. She planted a big, long kiss on Aida’s mouth.
“Ah…ahem,” Rogers said after a minute, effectively bringing the kiss to a halt.
“Kenneth, where have you been?” Angela said. “You haven’t been here in weeks!”
“Sorry, Angela,” Aida said. “I’ve been pretty busy lately.”
“I see. So, who’s your friend?”
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Rogers said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “I’m just his new partner.”
“New partner? But I thought Kenneth always worked alone.”
“Until now,” Aida said. “The President himself assigned Agent Rogers to me for this particular case. Which is why I’m here. I need information, Angela.”
“Okay. No problem. But it’ll cost ya.”
“How much this time?”
Angela thought for a second. “No money this time, Kenneth.”
“Then what?”
She pointed to Rogers. “Her. She has to dance.”
Aida and Rogers stared at her, slackjawed.
“Un-uh,” Rogers said after a minute. She shook her head. “No way.”
“Then no info,” Angela said.
“Oh, come on, Angela,” Aida said. “Name another price.”
“Sorry, Kenneth. No dance, no info.”
Aida turned to Rogers. “Sorry, Becky.”
“I won’t do it, Agent Aida. And don’t call me Becky.”
“Please? We need to get whatever information we can, Rebecca.”
“I know that…”
“Pleeeeeeeease?”
“No.”
Fifteen minutes later, the lights came up on the runway, Arabian music played, and a pretty lady with long red hair and a harem girl’s sheer green outfit stepped out from behind the curtain.
“How did I let myself get talked into this?” Rogers muttered to herself as she started doing a belly dance.
In a flash, Baxter pulled a pistol from behind his back and fired twice. Kyle and Jake fell to the ground, dead from a single shot to the forehead each.
Baxter holstered his pistol and laughed.
To be continued…
Part 5
Arabian music played, and Special Agent Rebecca Rogers began her striptease along the runway of Kiki’s Strip Joint. From the start, the male patrons had their eyes glued to her. They applauded wildly, and many howled like wolves. Bills of varying denominations – from $10 on up – were tossed onto the stage…and she had only barely gotten the veil of her green harem girl outfit off!
“Maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” she thought when she saw all the money that the men were giving her.
Meanwhile, Angela led Agent Aida to a stage-side table.
“Here, Kenneth,” she said. “Have a seat and enjoy the show. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I need to get these orders filled before the customers get upset.” She walked off
Aida just nodded his head absently in reply. His eyes and attention were focused solely on his seductively dancing partner. “God, she looks great!” he thought over and over as he watched Rogers.
Rogers bellydanced and sashayed down the runway. She tossed her veil out into the crowd, and the men roared in glee. She noticed Aida down in front with his eyes glued to her, and a small, wry smile formed on her lips. She came to a stop halfway down the runway and slowly slid out of her skirt. Standing only in her panties, she kicked the skirt into the hyper crowd. Where it landed, a group of men fought over it.
Aida’s eyes got wider.
As she continued bellydancing, Rogers then slowly started pulling off the top she wore. The crowd yelled madly. Aida’s eyes looked about ready to pop. Then the top came off, revealing to everyone Rogers’s bare bossom. She tossed the top out to the screaming men. Money flew onto the stage.
Aida fell back to the floor in shock. He’d never thought she’d go THAT far! Quickly, he got his wits together and jumped up onto the stage.
“That’s enough!” he said. “Show’s over!” He walked up to Rogers and put his jacket around her. “Go into the back and get dressed, Becky. We have a job to do, remember?”
“But…but I was having fun!” she said.
“What’s more important? Stripping or stopping a mad scientist with three nuclear warheads?”
She stared at him for a second. “Oh! You’re right, Agent Aida. I’ll go get dressed.”
“Good girl, Becky.”
She took a last lingering look at the stage. “But what about my money?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it for you. Just get dressed.”
“Right.” She walked back to the curtain, but stopped before going behind it as she remembered something. She turned back around. “And don’t call me Becky!” she said. Then she disappeared behind the curtain.
Aida smiled and turned back to the stage…and the large group of angry men surrounding the stage.
“Is there a problem?” Aida asked.
“Yeah,” one man said. “You ruined the show!”
“My apologies, but I couldn’t allow that federal agent to disgrace herself any further. Be glad for what you got to see…which was most of the show, anyway.”
“We’ll be glad,” the man said, “once we’ve bashed your face in!”
“So that’s how it’s going to be, is it? Bring it on, then!”
Aida spread his legs and put his arms and hands in front of him in a classic martial arts “on guard” position. The men swarmed the stage.
Rogers sat in the dressing room in the back of the club. She was dressed once again in her black skirt suit. She sat staring at her reflection in the mirror.
“What did I think I was doing out there?” she wondered morosely. “How could I let myself do that? And in front of Agent Aida, no less! I can only hope he doesn’t think ill of me, now. And I certainly hope word of this doesn’t reach the agency. It definitely won’t look good on my record.”
A loud crash from the direction of the stage startled her out of her musings. She ran back to the curtain and looked out.
Aida stood on the stage, surrounded by the unconcious bodies of some of the men who had watched her dance. Others of the crowd lay unconcious on the ground beside the stage, among tipped over and broken tables and chairs.
“Agent Aida!” she called. “What’s going on out here?”
He turned to her. “Don’t worry, Becky. They just wanted to show their appreciation for your dance by beating me up. I stopped them, though.” He handed her a wad of money. “Oh, and here’re your tips.”
Rogers stared at him and slowly walked up to him, feeling sort of in a daze, and took the money.
Aida passed a hand in front of her eyes, and got no reaction. He thought for a second. “Hey, Becky,” he said, “would you do me a favor?”
“Uh-huh,” she said distractedly. “What?”
“After we wrap up this case, would you do a private dance for me?”
She snapped out of it. “WHAT?!” she said, and slugged him.
“OW!” Aida said, surprised at her strength. He rubbed his chin.
“NO WAY would I ever do that! And don’t call me Becky! How many times do I have to say that?”
“Okay, Rebecca, okay! I was just kidding.”
Angela walked up then.
“Kenneth,” she said. “I have some bad news. Because of the fight, the manager is barring you from here indefinitely…starting now. You and Miss Rogers will have to leave.”
“But what about the information we wanted?” Aida asked.
“Ask your question really quickly.”
“Did any suspicious guys come in in the past few weeks?”
“A lot of suspicious men come in here, you know that. But yeah, a couple of yahoos came in a couple of weeks ago. Called each other Jake and Kyle. They mentioned something about having some “big job to do”. I figured they were just trying to impress their waitress. They looked to be in their twenties, and had brown hair. Not too bad looking, either. But they seemed kinda ditzy. And I thought I overheard the name Alexandria, but I can’t be sure.”
“Okay, thanks, Angela,” Aida said. “We’ll go now. I’ll see you around, I guess.”
“Be careful, Kenneth.”
“I will.”
Aida jumped down off the runway, and helped Rogers down. He gave Angela a quick kiss, then he and Rogers left the club.
“So, what’s the story with you and Angela,” Rogers asked as Aida drove his red Mustang convertible out of the parking lot and on down the road.
“Not much. She was an informant during one of my earlier cases. And she’s stayed my informant. She was also my girlfriend at one time, but that didn’t work out. We’re still friends, though.”
“Pretty close friends, it seems to me. So, what’s our next step?”
“Well, the nukes were transported in a stolen army troop transport truck. We’ll check and see if any vehicles like that were spotted in the Alexandria area.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Aida’s cell phone rang. He answered it. “Hello? Oh, General, what can I do for you? What?!” He frowned. “I see. Thank you.” He hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Rogers asked.
“The stolen transport truck was just anonymously returned to the base.”
Rogers sighed. “Well, so much for our plan. What now?”
“I don’t know, Rebecca. I just don’t know.”
To be continued…
part 6
Baxter entered the laboratory, and Doctor Stedman, who was sitting at a desk, looked up from his journal.
“Yes, Baxter?” the doctor asked.
“Jake and Kyle have been paid, and the truck returned. And I checked the warheads. They’re secure. Those two did a good job with them.”
“Ah. Good, Baxter. Good. Thank you.”
The banging and growling from behind the metal door at the back of the room got louder.
“Sounds like it’s feeding time,” the doctor said, and stood up. “I’ll tend to that. You may do whatever you want for now, Baxter.” The doctor headed for the door.
“Thank you, sir.”
Stedman stopped with his hand on the doorhandle. He turned to face the bespectacled blonde man. “Oh, and Baxter, thank you for all your help from the start. I don’t know if I could have come this far without you.”
“You couldn’t, old man,” Baxter thought with hatred. “You owe everything to me, you puny weakling. But the best is yet to come. You’ll see.” Aloud, he respectfully said, “You’re welcome, Doctor.”
Doctor Stedman entered the back room, quickly closing the door behind him, and Baxter left the laboratory.
Aida’s red Mustang convertible pulled into a parking space at a small Italian restaurant, and Agents Aida and Rogers got out and entered Mario’s Fine Italian Eatery. The place wasn’t busy, so they quickly were shown to a table for two.
“What are we doing here, Agent Aida?” Rogers asked as she looked at her menu.
“I’m hungry,” he replied from behind his menu. “Aren’t you, Rebecca?”
“I suppose so, yeah. A little. I didn’t know what a workout stripping was.”
Aida lowered his menu, a cocky smile on his face. “Are you still not going to give me a private dance?”
Rogers looked daggers at him.
Aida shrank back in his seat slightly and raised his menu. “Okay. I take that as a ‘NO’. Getting back on topic… I brought us here, also, Rebecca, so that we can recoup and rethink our strategy while we eat. I tend to think a little better with food on my stomach.”
“Is that so?” Rogers said teasingly.
The waiter walked up then, and the agents each ordered a lasagne lunch special. After the waiter left, the two began their strategy session.
“So,” Rogers said.
“So,” Aida said.
“What did you have in mind for recouping and rethinking?”
“Figuring out our next step.”
“Obviously. Any ideas?”
“No. What do I look like, a detective?”
“Acutally, yeah. The work that federal agents and detectives do isn’t all that different.”
He considered that for a moment. “I suppose you have a point. Let’s play detective, then. Who do you want to be? Miss Marple?”
Rogers frowned.
“Too old for you, huh?” Aida said. “Well, then, since there are two of us, how about Tommy and Tuppence? Or Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane? Oh, I know! Nick and Nora Charles.”
“Uh-huh. Right. So, where’s the dog Asta, then, ‘Nick’?”
“Uh…. Waiting in the car?”
Rogers rolled her eyes. “Enough fooling around, Agent Aida. Let’s get to work.”
“Oh, all right. What first, Miss Detective?”
“For a start, let’s go over what we know so far.”
“Sounds good. And what do we know?”
The waiter brought their food, then. Once he was gone, they continued their discussion between bites of lasagne.
“‘What do we know?’?” Rogers repeated. “Hmmm. What DO we know? Well, we know a madman is in possession of three stolen nuclear warheads, and wants to use them to annihilate the world if his genius isn’t recognized.”
Aida snickered. “Oh, and don’t forget, Rebecca, he then wants to repopulate the world with Booger Men after using the nukes.”
“Right,” she said behind a smile. “Hence the reason he’s being called a madman.”
“Uh-huh. And we know that two men named Jake and Kyle transported the stolen nukes in a stolen army troop transport truck. But the truck has just been anonymously returned to Anderson Army Base.”
“Yeah. But we also know it might have gone to Alexandria before being returned.”
“Well, yeah. But how can we be sure?”
“Well….” Rogers thought for a minute. “We can still check and see if an army troop transport truck was seen in the Alexandria area. And we can check the truck for clues. We can even have a forensics test run on the truck.”
“Forensics test?”
“Yeah. For traces of dirt or anything only found in the Alexandria area.”
“Brilliant!” Aida said. “I would never have thought of that. You must like mystery stories a lot, Rebecca.”
“Actually, I do.”
“Well, now that we have a plan, let’s finish eating and get back to work.”
Baxter walked into the barn and climbed up to the hayless hayloft. In the far corner, dangling from some rope, were the dead bodies of Jake and Kyle. On the wooden floor, beneath the swinging forms, sat what looked like large versions of the egg sacks of some insect. A clear slime covered the eggs. And they also appeared to be pulsing.
Baxter walked over to these eggs, removed his wire-rim glasses, blinked twice, and looked down at the slimy things proudly with new eyes. These eyes were totally black.
“Soon, my dears,” he said with a hissing voice. “Soon this planet will be ours.”
To be continued…
part 7
The red Mustang convertible sped out of the parking lot of Mario’s Fine Italian Eatery and tore off down the road. As they drove, Special Agent Kenneth Aida made a cell phone call.
“Kelly, this is Agent Aida,” he said to the receptionist who answered. “We’re on our way to Anderson Army Base. I want a forensics team to meet us there.”
“No problem, Agent,” the girl on the other end said. “I’ll get right on it.”
“Thanks, Kelly.”
Aida hung up and made a sharp right turn onto the interstate.
“Could you make your turns any sharper, Agent Aida?” Special Agent Rebecca Rogers quipped from the passenger’s seat. “The wheels barely left the ground over here, and you just missed the light pole.”
“Cute. Keep it up, Rebecca, and next time you’re walking.”
Aida brought his Mustang to a halt at the gate of Anderson Army Base and he and Rogers showed their identification to the guard.
“Oh, yes, Agents,” the young guardsman said. “You’ve been expected. The forensics team is already here. The truck is in storage shed 18. Just hang a right at the intersection just ahead.”
“Thank you,” Aida said.
The guardsman raised the gate, and Aida drove through quickly. At the intersection, he turned right, sharply. The side of the Mustang’s rear bumper clipped a road sign before he could straighten the car out, and the sign fell to the ground. Rogers remained silent as Aida drove on.
“What, no smart-aleck remark this time, Rebecca?” Aida said.
“Nope. I don’t want to walk all the way to Alexandria.”
“Oh, I was just kidding when I said that. I’d never make you walk anywhere.”
“I know that, Agent Aida. The truth is, I couldn’t think of anything to say.”
“Really? That’s a shame. I like your remarks about my driving.”
“You do? Okay, then. How about this? That sign’ll come out of your paycheck for sure.”
“Much better. And you’re probably right about that, too.”
They approached a big metal storage shed that looked very much like an airplane hangar. A large black 18 was painted on the closed doors.
“This looks like the place,” Aida said as he brought the car to a stop outside the doors.
“Oh, really? I never would have guessed.”
“Ha, ha.”
The two agents got out of the car and made their way inside the shed.
“Good. The time is almost at hand, and my children must be ready. Now, do as I ordered, Doctor.”
“Yes…”
Doctor Stedman opened the lap drawer of his desk, and pulled out a revolver. Slowly, he walked to the door at the back of the laboratory, opened it, and walked inside. The door closed behind him. He walked down the short hallway to a room full of large cages. Roaring and rattling the bars of a dozen of the cages were hideous creatures that looked like slimy humanoids. Their eyes were completely black. On some of them, the slime seemed to be beginning to harden into a shiny black shell like an insect’s. These were Stedman’s so-called Booger Men.
Stedman pressed a button on a wall, and the doors to the cages opened. Then he put the barrel of the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. As his lifeless body collapsed to the floor, the creatures jumped on him and began feeding.
In the laboratory, Baxter stared at the closed door. At the sound of the gunshot, he smiled evilly. “Thank you, Doctor, for your final service to my cause,” he said. “You were a good tool. It was easy to put your weak human mind under my control and make you think you had created something grand and to make you think it was your idea to steal the nuclear warheads in order take over the world.” He frowned slightly. “But why did you have to choose the name “Booger Men”?” He shook his head. “Well, anyway, now your flesh and blood will feed my children well, so that they may become strong enough to conquer and repopulate your world.”
As soon as Agents Aida and Rogers entered the shed, a dark-haired man in a white lab coat approached them.
“Agents Aida and Rogers?” he asked.
“Yes,” Aida said. “That’s us.”
“Good. I’m Doctor Jonathan Williams. And I have something to show you.”
“Already?” Rogers said.
“Yes. Follow me.”
He led them to a troop transport truck parked in the center of the shed. Two men and one woman – all in white lab coats – stood by a table with a computer and microscope on it.
“This is the truck that was stolen,” Williams said. “We looked it over, and were only able to find a bit of mud on a tire to analyze.”
“And what did you come up with?” Aida asked.
“Various elements and chemicals in the mud indicate it came from a farm. But the mud is fairly common. The farm it came from could be anywhere.”
“Could it have come from Alexandria?” Rogers asked.
“I just said ‘anywhere’, didn’t I?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“So, is that what you wanted to show us?” Aida asked.
“No. This is.” Williams handed Aida a piece of paper. “We found this on the floorboard.”
Aida looked at it, his eyes widened, and he hit the floor in shook. Rogers looked down at him in surprise.
“What is it, Agent Aida?” she asked.
From his prostrate position on the ground, Aida handed the piece of paper up to her. She took it and looked at it. Her eyes widened, too.
“I…I don’t believe it!” she said. “Those two idiots drew a map from the base to Stedman’s hideout!”
To be continued…
part 8
Aida’s red Mustang convertible tore out of Anderson Army Base outside Annapolis and made its way to the interstate.
“How long until we reach Alexandria?” Special Agent Rebecca Rogers asked.
“At this speed, about an hour, give or take,” Special Agent Kenneth Aida replied.
“This is one time I’m glad for your reckless driving.”
“Why, thank you.”
“I just hope we’re in time.”
“So do I, Rebecca. So do I.”
“I also hope we don’t get pulled over for speeding.”
Baxter walked into the room at the back of the laboratory and surveyed the scene with completely black eyes. On the floor, only a few bloody bits remained of Doctor Stedman. In the open cages, the slimy humanoid “Booger Men” sat quietly, as if waiting for something.
“Good,” Baxter said. “Good. Soon, my dears, this world will be ours. As soon as you all are ready for battle, we will begin our conquest.”
“Okay,” Rogers said, looking at the map Jake and Kyle had drawn. “Turn right, here.”
Aida did as she said, taking a sharp right turn off the dirt road they were on and onto another dirt road, the tires kicking up rocks and a dirt cloud as the rear tires skidded slightly with the turn.
The duo had made good time, thanks to Aida’s speeding along the interstate. They had reached Alexandria in just over an hour, and had followed the map to the outskirts of the city where the farms were located.
A breeze blew the dirt cloud towards the two people in the car, and Rogers coughed as she inhaled some of it. “Next time, Agent Aida,” she said with a small wheeze, “could you be more careful on dirt roads? Humans weren’t meant to breathe dirt, you know.”
“Sorry,” he said after a coughing fit of his own. “I’ve never driven in the country before.”
Rogers looked at the map again. “We should be close, now. There should be another little road up on the left…. Yes, there.” She pointed. “Turn there.”
He did as commanded, and made a careful turn onto the road his partner indicated.
“Agent Aida, I’m impressed,” Rogers said. “You can actually make a smooth turn.”
“Contrary to popular belief, Rebecca, I CAN drive safely. I just have more fun driving recklessly.”
“Well, why don’t you put your safe driving skills to use and take us carefully up to the farm ahead. According to the map, that’s Dr. Stedman’s hideout.”
“Aye aye, Cap’n,” he said, giving her a small salute.
Slowly, Aida drove the Mustang down the road until they came to the gate of the wooden fence at the edge of the property. Aida parked the car, and then he and Rogers got out.
They stood by the fence and looked at the farmhouse, and the barn behind and to the right of the house.
“You know, it’ll be dark soon,” Rogers said. “Do you have any flashlights?”
“Yeah,” Aida said. “There are a couple of pocket-size flashlights under your seat.”
“All right. I’ll get them.”
Rogers opened the car door and bent over the passenger’s seat to reach underneath it. When she stood back up she held two small flashlights…and two magazines.
“What are these?” she asked, looking at the magazines.
“Oh, I forgot they were there!” Aida thought to himself in horror.
“Playboy AND Penthouse magazines??” Rogers said. “Agent Aida, you definitely have a problem if you read these AND go to strip clubs.”
“I know, Rebecca. I know. My counselor said I’d get better once I found the right woman, though.”
“I guess you haven’t found her yet, huh?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Aida said, and the look he gave Rogers made her blush.
“Let’s get to work,” Rogers snapped.
Aida smiled. “All right.”
Aida opened the gate and let Rogers go in first. Then he shut the gate behind him. The two walked towards the farmhouse.
“Let’s split up,” Aida suggested. “We can search faster that way. I’ll go check out the barn. You check out the farmhouse.”
Rogers walked up to the front door of the farmhouse and knocked. There was no answer. She tried the doorknob, and found it unlocked. Shrugging, she opened the door and walked in. All the lights were on. But as she made her way along inside the house, she saw no one. At the back of the house, she found a closed door with a crudely drawn sign posted on it, as if a child had written it. It read: OFF LIMITS.
Not one to say “no” to her sense of curiousity, she turned the doorknob. The door opened, and she entered Stedman’s laboratory. Of course, she found no doctor in the lab. She looked around, but could make neither heads nor tails of the notes and incomplete projects she found. Her curiousity was piqued again by the door at the back of the laboratory. She opened the door and went inside. She followed the short hallway to the room full of cells…and came to an abrupt halt.
She looked in horror at the bloody bits that remained of Dr. Stedman, at the slimy humanoids in the cells, and at the blonde man that approached her. The man who had black, shiny skin like an insect’s exoskeleton, and completely black eyes
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Baxter asked.
Aida entered the barn and made a quick survey of the ground floor.
“I don’t see anything,” he said to himself. “If they were hiding nukes in here, where would they put them?”
He looked again, and his attention was drawn to a big pile of hay in a corner. He walked over to it and began digging. His efforts were soon rewarded with the sight of dark grey metal.
“Aha! There you are!”
He quickly tore down the haystack and revealed the three stolen nuclear warheads. He made a quick check of them, and found they weren’t armed. He also found a remote control next to them, and pocketed it.
“Good,” he said. “We still have some time.”
He went back to the door, and took one more quick look around. This time he looked up to the hayloft…and saw the bodies of Jake and Kyle hanging from the roof, and pulsing egg sacks beneath them.
“EEEW! GROSS! What the hell is that?!” Then he heard Rogers’ scream and stiffened. “AH! BECKY!!”
He ran out the door and headed for the farmhouse. The sight of a figure walking from the farmhouse towards the barn brought him to a halt. As the figure neared him, he could see that it was a man holding a woman in his arms. The man stopped a few yards from Aida.
Aida looked closely at the man. He was blonde, had shiny black skin, and totally black eyes. And he held an unconscious Rogers in his arms. Aida quickly drew his pistol and aimed it at the man.
“Let her go!” Aida demanded.
“No, I don’t think so,” Baxter said. “I think I will use this lovely human lady as my mate.”
“Over my dead body!”
“Not a problem, human.”
“Let her go, and I’ll give you this,” Aida said. He pulled out the remote control and showed it to Baxter.
“The remote! Where did you get that?”
“The barn. It was with the nuclear warheads.”
Rogers woke up then and started squirming. “Put me down, you creep!”
In one swift move, Baxter set Rogers down on her feet, put a vice-like grip on her arm, and pulled a pistol from behind his back and placed the barrel to her head.
“Lower your weapon and give me the remote, or she’s dead,” Baxter said.
Aida huffed and dropped his gun. “All right. But you let her go, first.”
“Fair enough.”
Baxter released his hold on Rogers, and she ran for Aida.
“Aida!” she yelled as she ran. “Aida!”
“Becky!” he called. “Hurry!”
Aida watched her run, and saw Baxter raise his gun and fire. Rogers stopped running only a few feet from Aida. The look of shock and terror on her face when the bullet struck her in the back would forever be etched in Aida’s memory. Rogers collapsed to the ground at Aida’s feet.
“BECKY!” Aida yelled in horror. “BECKY!!” He dropped to his knees beside her. “BECKYYYYY!!”
Baxter just laughed madly.
To be concluded…
part 9
“BECKY!!” Special Agent Kenneth Aida cried out from his kneeling position beside the motionless body of Special Agent Rebecca Rogers. He glared at the blonde, black-skinned man in anger and fury. “YOU BASTARD! YOU KILLED HER!”
“She would have died eventually,” Baxter said. “I just made it happen sooner rather than later.”
“And now I’m going to kill you!”
“You may try, puny human, but you will fail!”
“No I won’t!” Aida picked his gun up from the ground and stood up. “You are one dead bug!”
Baxter pointed his gun at Aida.
Aida pointed his gun at Baxter.
A shot rang out.
Baxter slowly lowered his gun. Yellow goo leaked from the middle of one of his black eyes. He dropped to the ground, dead.
Aida dropped his gun and knelt beside Rogers again and held her in his lap.
“Oh, Becky, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Unnn…” Rogers groaned softly.
Aida heard her, and he smiled. “Becky? You’re still alive? Thank God!”
“A…Aida?” she said softly. “Th…there are…creatures…in the farmhouse…”
“Don’t worry, Becky. I’ll take care of it, then get you to a hospital. Just hang in there.”
“I…I’ll try.”
“Good girl. I’ll be right back.”
Aida laid her gently on the ground and stood up.
“Now, how am I going to do this?” he muttered to himself.
Then he remembered cans of gasoline in the barn. Quickly he ran back to the barn. He dragged the nuclear warheads out, then doused the barn in gasoline. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit the gas. He then ran to the farmhouse, doused it in gas, and set it afire. Then he ran back to Rogers.
“Becky, are you all right?” he asked as he knelt beside her again.
“I…I…” she said softly.
“Don’t worry. Everything will be all right, Becky. You’ll see. Just hang in there. Don’t leave me. Please, Becky. Don’t leave me.”
He picked her up and carried her back to his red Mustang convertible. He placed her gently in the passenger’s seat, then slid in behind the wheel. Then he took off down the dirt road he’d taken to the farmhouse and retraced his original route, making his way back to urban Alexandria. As he drove, he made a couple of cell phone calls.
First he called the agency. “Kelly,” he said. “I’ve located the warheads. Get someone to this farm before the local fire department and other emergency crews get there.” He gave her the address of Stedman’s farm.
“Sure thing, Agent Aida,” the receptionist said.
“Thanks.”
He hung up and dialed another number. “This is Special Agent Kenneth Aida. My partner has been shot. I’m on my way to a hospital. I’m currently at the corner of Fifth and Main, heading east down Main. Where is the closest hospital?”
“Agent Aida, you are only five blocks away from Alexandria General Hospital,” the dispatcher said. “Just stay straight on Main. I’ll have a crew standing by for you at the ER entrance.”
“Thank you.” He hung up and looked over at Rogers. “Hang in there, Becky. Don’t leave me, partner.”
Aida stepped on the gas and flew down the road. He cut a sharp right turn into the hospital driveway and came to a screeching halt at the ER entrance. Hospital staff came running out with a gurney and they put Rogers on it and wheeled her inside. Aida would have gone with them all the way to the ER, but he got stuck filling out the paperwork.
Hours passed, and finally a doctor came into the waiting room.
“Special Agent Aida?” he asked.
Aida stood up from the chair he’d been sitting in. “Yes?”
“Your partner made it through surgery safely. She was lucky. The bullet just barely missed her spine and lungs. She’s resting right now. You may go in and sit with her, but don’t disturb her. She’s to stay here a couple of days for observation. If there are no complications, she’ll be free to leave then. She’s in room 413.”
Aida sat at Rogers’s bedside, holding her hand and gently brushing her red hair from her face. He smiled as he watched her sleeping. After a while, her eyes opened, and his smile got bigger.
“A…Agent Aida?” she said when she saw him.
“Welcome back, Rebecca,” Aida said.
“Wh…where am I?”
“Alexandria General Hospital. You were shot, remember? I brought you here and the doctors fixed you up.”
“I…I remember. You drove fast, didn’t you?”
“Of course. It was an emergency. I didn’t want you to die.”
“Well, now I guess I have another time I’m glad for your reckless driving, Agent Aida.”
“Rebecca, do me a favor. Call me Kenneth. Please.”
She smiled. “All right. Kenneth.” Then she frowned slightly. “The case is over now. Right, Kenneth?
I guess now we won’t be partners anymore. I won’t ever see you again…” She looked like she would start crying. “I don’t want that! I want to stay your partner, Kenneth!”
“I want you to stay my partner, too, Rebecca. Which is why I made a phone call while you were sleeping. I discussed it with the higher ups, and they agreed. We’re partners permanently, Rebecca.”
“Oh, Kenneth…”
They smiled at each other.
“Kenneth, what can I do to thank you for saving my life?”
“Oh, well now, let’s see…” He pretended to think for a second. “How about giving me a private dance once you get out of the hospital?” he suggested, then braced himself for her punishment.
Instead of punishing him, she smiled. “We’ll see. Would you settle for this for now?”
“For what?”
“This.”
She grabbed him by his necktie and pulled him down to where his face was in front of hers. Then she kissed him – softly at first and then, to Aida’s great surprise, with lots more feeling.
A young man’s need for respect and his search for love enables him to be coerced into becoming an undercover cop. Follow this man to see how others see him and try to understand why the job he becomes obsessed with and his quest for love, tear him ap
Black Leather and Blue Denim, A '50s Novel is adult literature for anyone who likes 1950s' teen culture. BL&BD has been given a 5 Star Rating by ebookpalace.com and by Midwest Review
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