Ground Zero Part 37

THURSDAY.

1.

They sat on the edge of an unused luggage carousel on the bottom floor of Newark Airport's terminal C, away from the new arrivals awaiting their bags. Weezy was wearing brand-new jeans and a yellow, short-sleeve top. Looked like she'd done some clothes shopping since Eddie had picked her up.

Jack had trained down from Penn Station; Weezy had driven Eddie's car and parked in the hourly lot.

"Here's what Goren's daughter looks like," she said, handing Jack a photo. "Her name's Alice-Alice Laverty-and it's a recent shot."

Jack saw a slim, plain-looking brunette in her thirties walking through what appeared to be a shopping mall.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Kevin took it. He loved the whole espionage thing, playing field agent, following people."

And being followed, Jack thought.

Weezy was silent, staring at the floor.

"How are you dealing ... ?"

"With his death? I cried last night, and I cried this morning. But I'm slowly finding s.p.a.ce for it, a place to tuck it away. The Compendium Compendium helps." helps."

"You started?"

"As soon as I got to Eddie's. Jack, it's ... it's like a dream come true. No question the book's the real thing, an artifact from a forgotten age."

"The random, s.h.i.+fting page order is something else, huh?"

"When you told me about that, I couldn't imagine how that could be true, but you weren't kidding. Kind of confusing."

"Kind of? They should have called it the Confusium." Confusium."

"I can't wait to get back to it. But in the meantime ..." She handed him another photo. "Here's a not-so-recent shot of the man himself from the police report. It was taken about the turn of the millennium, so you can count on him looking older now."

Jack saw a grinning man with dark hair and graying temples wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt emblazoned with the outline of a typical gray alien and the words They've Always Been Here! They've Always Been Here!

"Ernest Goren in happier days."

Weezy nodded. "Before he saw whatever he saw."

"And torched his home and killed his wife. You don't know that he saw anything."

"Something made him crazy." made him crazy."

"Maybe it was just his time."

"For what?"

"To break with reality. I mean, he believes in UFOs from the center of the Earth. How big a leap is it from there to Bonkersville where he believes his wife is an alien spy and he kills her?"

"Just because someone has ideas that don't conform to the mainstream's concept of reality doesn't mean they're psychotic. Look at me." She shook her head. "No, strike that. I'm not a good example."

"You're okay."

"I'm bipolar. Actually, I'm beyond bipolar. I'm tripolar."

"But you've been right all along."

"You mean my crazy ideas turned out to be not so crazy after all? How about that?"

"But you were into subtleties. You never believed in the Antichrist or s.p.a.ce aliens manipulating events."

"But something has has been manipulating us. I've always believed that-I just thought it was the work of secret societies like the Septimus Order. Now, thanks to you, I know it's so-so-so much bigger. And what about the Antichrist? Wouldn't R fall into that role? And then there are the believers in the New World Order conspiracy-are they so wrong? Isn't that what R and the Order are looking to create by opening the gates to the Otherness?" been manipulating us. I've always believed that-I just thought it was the work of secret societies like the Septimus Order. Now, thanks to you, I know it's so-so-so much bigger. And what about the Antichrist? Wouldn't R fall into that role? And then there are the believers in the New World Order conspiracy-are they so wrong? Isn't that what R and the Order are looking to create by opening the gates to the Otherness?"

She had a point. A good one. That brain of hers ...

"Different interpretations of the same thing."

"Right. What if the End Times crowd and the UFO folks and the NWO believers, instead of being crazy or deranged or deluded, are blessed or cursed with some sort of sixth sense, some unique form of intuition that allows them to sense the manipulations?"

He remembered a conversation with a strange guy named Canfield at the SESOUP conference.

Jack said, "I have it on good authority that they're called 'sensitives.' Their nervous systems are more attuned to the Otherness than most. They sense the Otherness out there but they don't know what to make of it. Some go schiz because of the 'voices' they're hearing, and others see conspiracies everywhere or come up with elaborate theories."

Weezy nodded. "So they're like the blind men with the elephant. They get to touch only a small area of the beast, and each comes away with a different idea of what it is. In a way, they're all wrong, but not completely."

"Right. The New World Order, the gray aliens, the Bible, the Kabbalah, they're all attempts to explain what people sense going on."

"All different blind men reporting their interpretation of the elephant."

Jack shook his head. "Yeah, but what about us? Look at what we believe. It's far more out there than any of the others. What if we're if we're crazy?" crazy?"

"Then it's a shared delusion-and a doozy. Because it explains everything."

"The Grand Unification Theory."

"That's for physics, but I guess the term fits." She smiled. "Grand Unification ... I like that."

"I can't take credit. Melanie Ehler, the former head of SESOUP, came up with it. But she never got a chance to prove it."

He wished he'd never heard of SESOUP. His involvement with the group led him into a situation that drew the attention of the Ally. It paid scant attention to this corner of reality-after all, Earth was already part of its collection-but it decided to begin turning him into a "spear."

He checked his watch. "I should get going. Half an hour till boarding and I still have to get through security."

Yeesh.

2.

"Hey, that's cold," Dawn said.

The Asian technician, who'd introduced herself as Ayo, gave an apologetic smile as she smeared the gel across Dawn's slightly swollen belly. "Sorry. We try to keep it warm but it's hard with the air-conditioning set like it is."

"At least your hands are warm."

Someone had drawn blood and then the obstetrician, Dr. Landsman, had done the pelvic exam-the lubricant gel he'd used had been just as cold as this stuff, but it had been down there there so it felt even colder. He'd said everything seemed fine, but the ultrasound would tell the real story. so it felt even colder. He'd said everything seemed fine, but the ultrasound would tell the real story.

Dawn lay on her back and hoped everything would be all right. She totally didn't know what she'd been thinking before when she'd wanted an abortion. This was her baby, her flesh and blood. She could feel it moving inside her. No way she could kill it. She just hoped it was all right-no birth defects or anything like that.

Ayo pointed to a monitor on a wheeled cart.

"After I start the scan, you'll be able to see the baby right there on the screen. You'll see its head, and its bones, and even its heart beating. And when we switch to three-D, you'll see its face."

"Will you be able to tell if it's a girl or a boy?"

Ayo shrugged. "Possibly, but no guarantee. All depends on the baby's position." She winked. "Some are more modest than others."

The door opened and Dr. Landsman came in with Mr. Osala. Dawn resisted an impulse to cover her belly. What was he doing here? Not like he was the father or anything-and not like she'd let the real father anywhere near her baby anyway.

"Is she all set?" the doctor said.

"Yes. I was just about to begin."

"I'll take it from here."

Ayo looked as if she'd been slapped. "But-"

"I said I'd take it, Ayo. Wait outside."

With a totally dumbfounded look, the technician nodded and left the room. Dawn didn't know what was going on here, but it sure seemed like someone was breaking with routine.

Dr. Landsman smiled down at her. "Now, Dawn, we're going to take a look at your baby. It won't hurt a bit. We use sound waves-"

"I know. Ayo explained it all. But I thought she was going to do it."

"Normally, she would, but you're a special patient and-"

Worry gnawed at her. "Why did you send her out of the room? Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, not at all. Just relax and this will be over in a few minutes."

He kept his eyes on the monitor as he began rubbing this gizmo that looked like an electric shaver over her belly. She watched the monitor too but couldn't make head or tail of the black-and-white image until Dr. Landsman pointed to a tiny black oval that seemed to be winking madly.

"See? There's the heart, pumping away."

Dawn stared at it, totally enthralled. Her baby's heart. How wonderful.

"It's okay, isn't it-the heart, I mean?"

"It's fine," he said with a smile. "Everything is-oh. Oh, my."

Dawn lifted her head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." But he had this strange, avid light in his eyes.

He put down the gizmo and turned the monitor away from her, so that only he and Mr. Osala could see it.

The doctor said, "When Drexler told me what I'd be looking for, I couldn't-well, I didn't know what to believe. But he was right."

Dawn felt a surge of panic. "Believe what? What are you talking about?"

They ignored her as Mr. Osala leaned forward.

"Where? Show me."

Dr. Landsman pointed to the screen. "See that? That's one. And this here is the other."

"Other what?" Dawn cried.

Mr. Osala nodded. "I see. Very interesting."

" 'Interesting'? It's stunning! It's-"

"It is not to leave this room. You will not speak of this and you will delete all images now."

"But-"

"Now. I thank you for your efforts and your expertise. We will pay you periodic visits with the same protocol." I thank you for your efforts and your expertise. We will pay you periodic visits with the same protocol."

"What do you see?" Dawn screamed.

Dr. Landsman looked at her as if he'd forgotten she was in the room.

"Oh. It's ... it's a boy."