“Do you really believe all that?” I ask into the darkness. “All that shit about aliens?”
“I don’t have a better theory.”
“Do you think they’re going to come back?”
“Hard to speculate,” he says. “If they came here for women and children…well, they got those. If that’s all they wanted, they don’t have a reason to come back. If that was just the first wave of an attack…”
His voice trails off, and I think about what he’s saying. Is it possible? If not aliens, then what? Caesar was right—we don’t have the kind of technology that explains what happened.
“I felt something,” I say quietly. “I felt something when we were in the tunnel by the train—right before things started collapsing.”
“What do you mean?”
“There was a…a sound. Did you hear it? It was really low pitched. It hurt my ears.”
“Yeah, I heard it.”
“When I heard that sound, it felt like…like I was being lifted off the ground. When the sound stopped, that’s when I fell.”
Falk is quiet for a minute.
“That’s when they took the others,” he says finally. “You were too far underground for them to get to you, but you could still feel it.”
“I don’t know…maybe. I can’t wrap my head around all of this, Falk. I was prepared to talk to the government about what Hudson was doing. I wasn’t prepared for…for whatever the hell is going on here.”
“I thought you might be relieved you don’t have to testify,” Falk says.
“Yeah, well…” I let out a long breath and chuckle to myself. “I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to it. With all the threats, I really didn’t think I would make it all the way to the Pentagon to even give my statement.”
“I wasn’t going to let them get to you.”
“I know you were going to try, but…” A shiver runs through me. “Did you hear what he said? What Hudson said when they took him away? It was in the transcripts.”
“Only that he threatened you.”
“He said I was as good as dead. It didn’t matter where I went or who I had around me. They were going to find me, and when they did, I was going to die. He didn’t even stop yelling when they dragged him off. He was completely serious, and I believed him.”
“He’s probably dead now,” Falk says. “You don’t have to think about him anymore.”
“It’s not that easy.”
In the dark silence, I can hear Falk’s steady breathing along with my own. There’s a crackle from the fire outside, and I imagine someone has added more wood to it though the voices have stopped.
“Do you want to tell me about what happened?” Falk asks.
I tense as memories begin to flash through my mind. I shake my head sharply.
“No,” I tell him. “Not now. Maybe someday.”
“All right.” He shifts, and I think he’s rolled from his back to his side. “If you ever decide you want to, I’m here.”
“Thanks.” I’m not sure the time will ever come even though I’ve told the story a dozen times. Falk said he had read up on me, so he probably knows most of it anyway. I don’t know why he would want to hear more of it.
“I asked for this assignment,” Falk suddenly admits.
“You did? Why?”
“You impressed me.”