Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“Is there a problem?” Vic asked. He glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned. “It looks like the human authorities have found us.”
“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” Torri said hopefully. “Maybe he just happened to come up behind us and he’ll leave us alone.”
But a moment later, the police cruiser’s lights flipped on and its siren began to wail.
“I don’t think they’re going to leave us alone,” Vic said grimly.
“What are we going to do?” Torri felt sick. “We can’t let them stop us! You said yourself if the Scourge arrive before we can get your people to come help, the Earth is toast!”
“I don’t suppose the authorities would listen if we tried to explain?” Vic asked.
Torri snorted.
“That would be a big, fat ‘No.’ Why do you think I got committed to St. Elizabeth’s in the first place? Because I told Chuck that I was having dreams about aliens coming to conquer the Earth. People on Earth might like science fiction but there’s a heavy emphasis on the fiction part. Nobody is going to believe us if we tell them we have to leave Earth to go get the good aliens to fight the bad ones who are coming to invade.”
“Then we will have to evade them,” Vic said grimly.
“But how?” Torri asked. “Can you camouflage us both so the truck looks empty?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “I wish I could, but I can only change my own appearance. The spot where my ship is parked is just up ahead. I will pull this vehicle in right beside it and distract them. You must do your best to exit this vehicle and enter the ship.”
“But will you be safe?” Torri asked anxiously. “Cops in this country are armed, you know and they will shoot you. You have to be careful, Vic!”
“I will be as careful as I can but as you say, we cannot let them stop us,” he said grimly. “Look there—that’s my ship.”
He pointed to a Scenic Lookout up ahead. It was just a small, curved parking area on the side of the main road that looked out over the side of the mountain. Tourists like to stop there and take pictures of the sweeping view.
Today there were no tourists. Torri saw only a single car parked there. It was sleek and silver and very modern-looking. If she hadn’t known it was actually Vic’s ship, she would have thought it was some kind of European luxury sports sedan or something.
“I’ll park right beside my ship,” Vic told her as they pulled into the Lookout. “And open the doors remotely for you. Get in as quickly and quietly as you can.”
“But what if they shoot at you?” Torri’s stomach was in knots and the monotonous wail of the police sirens was getting louder and louder as the police car pulled in behind them.
“Don’t worry—the outer hull of my ship is extremely tough,” Vic told her. “It will protect you from any projectile weapons.”
“I’m talking about you though!” Torri protested. “What if they shoot at you?”
“I’ll do my best not to get hit,” Vic said simply. He turned off the truck. “Now go—slip out while I try to distract the authorities.”
As he spoke, his body began to change rapidly. After just a few seconds, it wasn’t Vic but Mike O’Toole sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck.
Torri supposed it was the disguise that made the most sense. O’Toole was—or had been—the rightful owner of the truck, after all. But seeing the dead orderly who had tormented her at St. Elizabeth’s appear right beside her, still gave her the cold shivers.
“Okay, everybody stay in the car and keep your hands where I can see them,” someone shouted. It was a single policeman and though he didn’t have his gun drawn, his hand was on the weapon, ready to pull it out at any minute.
Torri froze for a moment. Every instinct said she ought to do what the policeman said and obey authority. But then she thought about what would happen if she was caught. Not only would the Earth be overrun in a matter of days, she would also, most probably, be shipped back to St. Elizabeth’s.
No—I’m never going back there! she thought fiercely. It gave her the strength to open her door and slip quietly to the ground. Gripping her duffle bag fiercely in one arm, she slipped over to the silver spaceship car beside her.
The policeman was rounding the driver’s side of the truck now but he still heard the truck’s passenger side door open.
“I said stay where you are!” he shouted menacingly.
“It’s okay, officer—my girlfriend just really has to go, you know?” Vic as O’Toole said easily.
It was eerie how well he duplicated the orderly’s voice and speech patterns, Torri thought and then she looked more closely to the sleek metal car, searching for the door handle.