Tarizon, Conquest Earth, Tarizon Trilogy Vol 3 Read online

  Chapter 9

  Peter’s Return

  March 1993

  Stan Turner sat at his desk in his ninth floor office and gazed out over the north Dallas landscape, just turning green after a short Texas winter. Ever since his son Peter had been exiled to the planet Tarizon, he’d spent a lot of time looking out the window, wondering if he’d ever see his son again. Once a workaholic who spent eighty hours a week in the office, he now came to work at nine and was gone at five.

  Perspectives change when you lose a loved one, he thought. Fortunately, his partner, Paula Waters, and the firm’s new associate, Jodie Marshall, understood the tragedy in his life and had taken up the slack.

  The telephone rang. Stan picked it up.

  “Stan, Mo’s on the phone,” his secretary Maria advised.

  Stan backed away from the telephone as if it were a Komodo dragon. He hadn’t heard from Mo in over a year, and it had been his ardent hope that he’d never speak to the CIA operative ever again. He would have let the call go to voice mail, but there was a slim chance Mo might have new information on Peter. He had to take the call. Cautiously, he picked up the telephone.

  “Hello.”

  “Stan. Thanks for taking my call. I know I’m the last person you wanted to talk to today.”

  “Yeah. Well, I am a little surprised to hear from you. Why did you call? Do you have news about Peter?”

  “Not specifically. But that is one reason I called. I wondered if you’d heard from him.”

  “No. I haven’t. Is he on his way back to Earth?”

  “I don’t know. There’s just some strange stuff going on with the Tarizonians. I don’t know what to make of it.”

  “Like what?”

  “I can’t talk about it over the telephone. Your telephones are probably bugged. Can we meet?”

  Stan held the phone out and looked at it warily, wondering if his calls were in fact being monitored, then returned it to his ear. “Sure. Where?”

  “You know that diner where I told you about Peter’s exile?”

  Stan thought back to that horrible day when he drove out to where the police had found Peter’s abandoned station wagon. Stan feared then that he’d been taken by the Tarizonians, but wasn’t sure until Mo confirmed it when they’d met at the diner.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Meet me there tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. I’ll buy you breakfast. Be sure you’re not followed.”

  “What? Someone’s watching me, too?”

  “I’m afraid so. See you tomorrow.”

  Stan hung up the telephone in shock. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would be bugging his phones and watching him. He’d assumed most of the Tarizonians had left Earth to fight in the civil war back on Tarizon. Even if there were a few still hanging around, why would they care about him? He’d stayed clear of the former Tarizonian project leader, Kulchz, and his kind since the Repopulation Project ended.

  A sick feeling came over him. He couldn’t imagine what Mo had to tell him. When he got home that night he told his wife Rebekah about the telephone call.

  “Why would he ask if we’d heard from Peter?” Rebekah asked. “How could we have possibly heard from him unless Mo knows he’s on his way home? That must be it.”

  “I don’t think you should get your hopes up, honey. Mo specifically said he didn’t know if Peter was coming home.”

  “Oh, I wish he’d have met with you tonight. Now I’m a nervous wreck. I won’t be able to sleep. I’m coming with you tomorrow.”

  “No. He didn’t invite you.”

  “I don’t care. I’m coming. I’ll wait in the car while you two meet.”

  Stan sighed. “Okay. I guess that won’t hurt. Just don’t let Mo see you. I don’t know how he’ll react if he sees you in the car.”

  “Well, you can park the car down the street. Then he won’t be able to see me when he goes into the diner.”

  Stan nodded and smiled. “This is crazy.”

  “But what if Peter is coming home?” Rebekah said excitedly. “Oh, I can’t wait until tomorrow!”

  After a restless night, Stan and Rebekah left early the next morning to make sure they weren’t late for Stan’s meeting with Mo. Stan parked in an adjacent parking lot, out of view of the diner. He kissed Rebekah and then walked next door to the diner and entered. Mo was already at a table, drinking a cup of coffee. He motioned to Stan when he saw him. Stan went over and sat down.

  “Hi. Am I late?” Stan asked.

  Mo looked at his watch. “No, right on time. I left early. You never know about traffic and I didn’t want you to have to wait around for me.”

  The waitress came over with a cup of coffee for Stan and took their orders.

  Stan took a sip of his coffee. “Well, I’m here. What’s going on?”

  “I guess, for starters, I should fill you in on what’s been happening since we last talked.”

  “Is that absolutely necessary? I really don’t want to get involved with the CIA or your alien friends.”

  “Yeah. Well, I’m afraid you are involved whether you like it or not.”

  Stan sighed. “Why is that?”

  “Since your son became a general in the Loyalist army.”

  “A general? Peter?”

  “Yes. An Earth shuttle recently landed and the Air Force has been tracking it. The last transmission we intercepted said he was commanding the 3rd Loyalist Army from some mountain headquarters.”

  Stan just stared at Mo incredulously.

  “Give me a break—he’s just a kid,” Stan finally said.

  “Quite an extraordinary kid, apparently. The Tarizonians are watching you in case Peter shows up for a visit.”

  “So, I take it the Tarizonians here on Earth aren’t on Peter’s side.”

  “Correct. You remember Kulchz?”

  “How could I forget him?”

  “Well, he was an old friend of Videl Lai, the new Chancellor on Tarizon. Peter is leading the revolt against Videl Lai.”

  Stan swallowed hard. “So, if Peter shows up to visit they’ll try to kill him.”

  Mo nodded. “So that’s why we needed to talk.”

  Stan shook his head. “Oh, my God! I can’t believe this.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “So, what do you want me to do?”

  “Just listen for now. You need to know what we’re up against.”

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “Since we last talked, the Agency has discovered that the Tarizon Repopulation Project was a fraud.”

  “A fraud. What do you mean?”

  “Well, our government and Tarizon’s Central Authority considered it to be a legitimate project, designed to maintain the population level on Tarizon, but Videl Lai and the others running the project had other objectives.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, they apparently were of the opinion that Tarizon was a lost cause, and some of us at the Agency believe that during the time they were here breeding children, pursuant to their rights under the treaty, they were also surreptitiously infiltrating the government and our military.”

  “Are you serious? How do you know that?”

  “We’ve been watching Kulchz and others and listening to their conversations,” Mo replied. “We know they’re planning something.”

  “Such as?”

  “Since the shuttle’s arrival there has been talk of a fleet of some sort coming to Earth. We are concerned that this fleet, if it shows up, might have hostile intentions.”

  “Oh, my God! What are you going to do?”

  “We don’t know yet, but if you hear from Peter, it’s imperative we be informed immediately.”

  “Okay. I’ll do that, but what are you going to do to stop Kulchz’ men from killing Peter?”

  “We’ll be watching your home and your office, but I doubt Peter would come knocking on your door. He’s too smart for that.”

  Stan raised his eyebrows. “I always knew he was a smart kid
, but this is off the charts. I wonder if I’ll even recognize him.”

  “I’m sure you will. He’s still your son.”

  “I don’t know,” Stan said thoughtfully. “You know. If Kulchz and his friends do intend to kill Peter and attack our country, I want to do more than just keep my eyes and ears open. What else can I do to help?”

  Mo smiled. “I knew you’d say that, but I don’t know what else you could do right now. We just don’t have enough information yet.”

  “You said they were infiltrating the government and our military. How extensive is the infiltration and what’s their ultimate objective?”

  “We are tracking some 400 or so operatives, including congressmen, senators, a governor, several corporate CEOs, a good number of low-level officers in all branches of our military, a chief of police, a sheriff—”

  “Oh, my God!”

  “As far as their ultimate objective, we’re not sure.”

  “This is horrible. Why don’t you just arrest them?”

  Mo shrugged. “Well, if we did, it would expose the Tarizon Repopulation Project. The current administration, even though it inherited the project and wasn’t responsible for it, would probably be criticized for not stopping it sooner.”

  “Yes, but by letting aliens infiltrate the government the President is putting the nation at risk.”

  “I agree, but I don’t make policy. I just follow orders. The President wants us just to monitor them for now and try to ascertain their intentions.”

  “Are you sure you’ve identified all the aliens still on Earth?”

  “No. We know there are others.”

  Stan shook his head. “This is a reckless and dangerous policy. Don’t you think it would be better to hunt them all down and arrest them and come clean with the American people?”

  “I agree wholeheartedly, but I’m not the president.”

  Stan shook his head. “Okay. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut. Is that what you want?”

  “Exactly. Thanks, Stan. I knew we could count on you.”

  Mo took one more sip of his coffee, paid the bill, and left. Stan sat there for a moment, dazed. Finally he got up and left to rejoin Rebekah in the car. She had a worried look on her face when he sat down in the driver’s seat.

  “So, is Peter coming home?” she asked.

  “He might be. Nobody really knows for sure, but we’ve got a serious problem.”

  Stan relayed to Rebekah what Mo had told him. She sighed and said, “Well, there are people watching you.”

  “Really? How do you know?”

  “I saw a man across the street sitting in a car. He followed Mo when he left just now.”

  “Hmm. They’re watching the CIA, too. This isn’t good.”

  “And they’re still watching us, by the way,” Rebekah said softly.

  Stan looked around. “Where are they?”

  “Look to your right. There’s a man standing by the newspaper rack, pretending to read his paper.”

  Stan saw the man then looked away. “That’s the problem with these Tarizonians,” he said. “They always know where you are. I don’t know if the CIA is any match for them. I wish I could do something.”

  “What could you possibly do?”

  “I don’t know. But I hate just siting around when I know our country—our world—is in dire jeopardy!”