A Dubious Curse (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 8) Read online

  The video shot by Dale Unger appeared on the big screen. Loni and Previne watched in fascination with their mouths open. The creature on the screen did appear to be humanoid, but it was very thin and had loads of black hair, which looked like a bush on its head. Her skin was the color of the sky in the background of the video. It was lite blue.

  “Oh, my God,” Previne exclaimed, bringing her hand to her mouth. “It’s one of them. Lisa said their skin was blue in color.”

  “I think it’s a she and a Gy,” Loni announced as the three minute cut-version of the video concluded.

  “A what?” Previne looked at Loni like she was crazy. Usually, Previne was the one with off-the-wall knowledge.

  “I’ll explain in the jeep, Previne,” Loni coyly replied. “But let’s hurry.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We are going to capture her right now,” Loni impulsively announced, pointing to the now-blank TV screen.

  “But we were told to stay here,” Previne protested.

  “And let someone else capture her? Not on your life, Previne,” Loni spat back. “We need to do this.”

  “Loni, you’re being impulsive,” Previne warned, pointing an accusatory finger at her. One of Loni’s worst attributes was impulsiveness. Everyone on Banyon’s team knew it, including Loni.

  “Get your shoes on,” Loni roared.

  “Let’s call Colt first and get his advice,” Previne implored, hoping logic would prevail. She quickly found her phone and hit his number. The call went to voicemail. She dialed again and got the same results.

  “Well?” Loni asked, slipping into her sandals.

  “He is probably out-of-range,” she suggested.

  “Colt will understand, and we will be back before noon. That is, if we leave right now. Are you up for a real adventure?” Loni pressed her friend.

  “I suppose we can call him from the jeep while on the road,” Previne speculated, warming to the idea.

  “Previne, we need to go now. Some tourists may catch wind of this and capture the Gy before we do. She might be very important to Lisa.”

  She didn’t answer for a few seconds, as she considered it. “We’ll need to bring some clothes and food,” Previne finally said.

  “Okay,” Loni said with excitement, clapping her hands. She could tell that Previne was convincing herself to go.

  “I’ll grab my suitcase. You get water and something for her to eat,” Previne said as she bolted to the bedroom.

  “They are vegetarians, you know,” Loni called after her. “But I’m taking my guns. In fact, I’m taking the whole bag of guns we brought from Chicago, just in case.” Bringing guns made Loni very happy. On the way to the door, Loni grabbed her laptop and threw it into the knapsack with the food.

  They were on the road five minutes later.

  Loni navigated through several side streets and then came to the first of three highways that would take her to Rachel, Nevada. As soon as she entered the road, she put the pedal to the medal. They were thirty miles from downtown before Previne dared to ask her any questions. Loni was driving too fast to risk it.

  “So what is a Gy?” she started.

  “It’s all in Lytton’s book,” Loni replied.

  “You’ve read his book?”

  “That was what I was reading this morning before you and Colt got up. I started it last night. I downloaded a free copy to my reader. The book is kind of written in older English, but I was able to follow it.”

  Previne lost her train of thought for a few seconds as she recalled the pleasurable experience of her attempt to seduce Colton Banyon that morning. “But Loni, what is a Gy?” she persisted.

  “According to the book,” Loni started, “The Sumerians who went underground called themselves Vril-ya. In the culture that developed underground, the men became very passive, and the women became the stronger and smarter gender.”

  “But we are the smarter than men, anyway,” Previne laughed. “And, by the way, the book is early science fiction.”

  “But the Vril Society believes in it, Previne. They have for almost 150 years, and there is evidence which says they have communicated with the Vril-ya. How can you deny that?”

  “You do have a point,” Previne agreed thoughtfully.

  Loni continued, “In the book, children did all the work and when they became adults, they effectively retired. Young women between about twelve and eighteen were the explorers and warriors when needed. They were called Gy.”

  “An alien is an alien to me.” Previne still didn’t understand everything. “Why would this woman be different?”

  “Previne, if this is a real Gy, she would be very strong and have incredible powers. The Gy knows how to control the Vril energy and could easily destroy Las Vegas with just a wave of her staff. The Gy each carry a staff containing some Vril.”

  Suddenly nervous, Previne asked Loni the real question. “Do you think that this Gy came to the surface to destroy us?”

  “If she did come to destroy us, why hasn’t she done so already? I think there is another reason she is here.”

  “So, you really think this alien is a Gy sent here to see Lisa?” Previne asked, as she realized what Loni was thinking.

  “If not, it would be a huge coincidence.”

  anyon had turned his jeep off the dusty highway as soon as Pramilla had told him that they had cell phone reception. His jeep was now his command center. It took about twenty minutes to rescue his people. He was now sure the book was safe.

  Banyon stayed on the line with Maya until she and Eric were strapped into the super-fast experimental Air Force jet that would whisk them back to Las Vegas in record time. As soon as he hung up, he asked Wolf for an update on Harold Bass.

  “I’m afraid he is mad at me,” Wolf replied feigning sadness. “He has discovered he can go back in history and follow anyone’s timeline, but he still hasn’t discovered that he can watch more than one person at a time. No one up here will be allowed to tell him either. It might be the edge we need to stop him. He will have to stop looking at one person and switch to another person. It will give us some room to maneuver.”

  “Why did he finish reliving his life early? I thought you said he wouldn’t be done until midday? It’s only about eleven o’clock right now.” Banyon was concerned because Harold was catching up fast.

  “He decided to skip his life as a family man. I heard him utter that it was too dull,” Wolf said. “He doesn’t seem to care too much for his son, Barry.”

  “Who is he tracking now?”

  “He is tracing Lisa and will soon find the connection to you, Colt.”

  “How bad is that?”

  “When he discovers you are the one who has contacts up here, I’m afraid it will cause complications.”

  Banyon thought for a second before he replied. “Which means he will also connect Loni and Previne and find my house, doesn’t it?

  “Yes.”

  “So, none of us should go near the house, right? I’ve already told Maya to go to Plan G-String. I’d better get Loni out of the house.”

  “She has already left the house,” Wolf informed him. “She and Previne have gone on a quest in the desert.”

  “Where the hell did she go?” Banyon found himself yelling. Pramilla and Lisa looked at him with concern. He quickly covered his outburst by asking a question. “So is she safe, at least?”

  “Yes, except she is driving too fast.”

  “Why did she leave the house?”

  “She wants to find someone who is lost in the desert. She will need my help to do that, but I need a starting point to find her objective,” Wolf calmly stated. “I don’t know where to begin to look.”

  “I’ll get a location and a time when I call her,” an irritated Banyon responded. You’ve done it again, Loni, he thought.

  “She and Previne have been trying to call you for over an hour. You should call her soon,” Wolf pressed him.

  First, Banyon had another ques
tion. He was always trying to stay a step ahead. “Is Harold sending men to my house?”

  “He has already told his son to collect men and go there. They will be there within an hour,” the spirit replied.

  “Will it give us enough time to get to our Plan G-string location?”

  “Speed and diversion are your best assets right now. I believe Harold will be watching the house and not you.”

  “Okay, but I need to inform the bodyguards about Plan G-string and then contact Loni and Previne,” Banyon said taking a deep breath. His morning had been more stressful then he had expected.

  He immediately hit the speed dial for Dewey & Beatem. A voice picked up. It was a voice Banyon didn’t recognize.

  “I need to speak to Bart,” Banyon said.

  The women answered that Bart was out of the office on assignment and would not be back for several days.

  “Can I speak to Heather, then?” Banyon asked.

  “Gone, too,” the women replied.

  “How about Mandy?”

  “Also out,” she replied.

  Banyon now knew three of the bodyguards were Bart, Mandy and Heather. He had worked with each of them before.

  “Then put me through to Timmy.”

  “As you wish,” the formal receptionist replied. The line went dead for a few seconds before Timmy came on the line.

  “Colt, dude, what’s shaking,” the computer geek started.

  “Hi, Timmy,” Banyon greeted him.

  “You must be into something big, man. You took all my eye candy.” Banyon knew he was talking about Mandy and Heather and maybe other women. Timmy was an acknowledged voyeur.

  “Timmy, I need two things from you,” Banyon said in a slightly strained voice. Timmy realized he was serious.

  “Shoot,” Timmy replied.

  “First, I need you get a message to Bart. He is still probably in the air and heading here. Tell him plans have changed and he is to implement Plan G-String.” Banyon said into the phone.

  “What a pleasurable name for a plan,” Timmy joked.

  “Timmy, it is actually very important he gets the message,” Banyon chastised the near-teenager.

  Quickly changing his attitude, Timmy said, “I’ll do it immediately. What else do you need, oh great one?”

  “I’m sending you some pictures of some sort of transmitting and receiving device. See if you can identify it or find out anything about it. Call me when you have answers,” Banyon ordered.

  “Consider it done,” Timmy said hanging up. Banyon knew Timmy was a genius with hardware, and that he would also inform Bart of the change. They had worked together before.

  As soon as Banyon had pressed the ‘end call’ button, Pramilla’s phone rang. “It’s Previne,” she exclaimed.

  “Find out where they are,” Banyon ordered.

  “Where are you guys?” Pramilla quickly asked, putting the call on speakerphone so they all could hear.

  “We are about ten miles south of Rachel, Nevada,” Previne told them. “We need Colt to help us.”

  “What do you need, and why are you out there?” Banyon knew Loni was incredibly impulsive, and he often had to bail her out of bad situations. This looked like one.

  “We need you to ask Wolf to locate someone for us,” Loni yelled into the phone. “It was last spotted in the town of Rachel at about seven o’clock this morning. Hurry, Colt, I’m almost there.”

  Banyon could hear the concern in her voice and decided to help her before asking any more questions. He immediately called out to Wolf. “Can you see anything, Wolf? We are looking for a person, I think?”

  Wolf responded immediately. “Tell Loni to slow down and take the dirt road coming up on the right. It is about a mile away.”

  Banyon passed on the information. “I see it,” Previne yelled out excitedly. “Then what?” she asked.

  Banyon had already asked Wolf for further directions. “About a hundred yards down the road, turn left into the desert. You will see a large rock. Your quarry is hiding behind it in the shade.”

  “Got it,” Loni yelled. “We’ll be there in one minute.”

  “Who are you after?” Pramilla asked the question Banyon had on his lips but was afraid to ask.

  “We’ll tell you in a minute,” Previne replied evasively. “Stay on the line.”

  Pramilla put the phone down in the console. Lisa leaned in from the back, and Banyon and Pramilla leaned in from the sides to hear the drama as it unfolded.

  Suddenly, they heard the jeep skid to a stop and doors opening. “Get a gun,” Loni yelled to Previne. Banyon could hear the unmistakable sound of guns cocking. It sounded like Loni had two. Then, they heard the sound of people running. Previne picked up the phone and tore off into the desert.

  “You go left; I’ll go right,” Loni whispered. “But be quiet, we want to sneak up on her,” Loni added.

  Three sets of eyebrows raised in the jeep when Loni said their prey was a ‘her’. Suddenly, there was no sound, except for an occasional wisp of wind and Previne’s breathing. Everyone waited tensely.

  The quiet was broken when they heard Loni yelling, “Hands up!” She added, “Get down on the ground, now!”

  “I don’t think she understands,” they heard Previne tell Loni.

  “Try hand signs—even aliens should understand,” Loni replied. “I’ll cover you.” Previne indicated that the creature should get down on the ground. The creature complied.

  “My God, her skin is completely blue,” Previne remarked as she slipped plastic cuffs on the alien.

  n Banyon’s jeep, the three faces were so close together as they listened that when Previne mentioned blue skin, their heads collided. Shock registered on their faces. The realization that Loni and Previne had captured a blue-skinned woman could only mean she was from “down under”.

  “She’s a Gy,” Lisa screamed into Banyon’s ear. He could clearly see she was very excited. “Not from space, but from deep in the Earth.”

  “A Gy?” Banyon questioned. He had not read Lytton’s book.

  “Don’t let her touch her staff,” Lisa suddenly shouted into the cell phone. “All her power is in her staff.”

  “There is no staff,” Loni came back.

  “But they never go anywhere without their staff,” Lisa replied.

  “No staff,” Previne confirmed.

  “Well, get her into the jeep and head back,” Banyon told the women. “We’ll have to take her with us until we figure out who she is.”

  “What’s happened, Colt? Something has changed, hasn’t it?” Loni suddenly asked perceptively.

  “Harold Bass has quit his history and is now trying to find Lisa. He sent men to recover the Vril book in Germany, but we stopped him. Maya, Eric and the book are safe, but we need to go to a new plan.”

  “Which plan?” Loni anxiously asked.

  “Loni, we are implementing Plan G-String. I’m going there now with Lisa and Pramilla. Can you find it?” Banyon asked his partner. He heard her giggle at his pun.

  “Ask Previne?” she laughed. “She is my navigator.”

  “This isn’t funny. You picked the code words,” Banyon chided her.

  “Can either of you describe the Gy?” Lisa wondered out loud.

  “Well, she is blue,” Loni said. “Funny though, she looks more Asian to me than Caucasian, and she definitely needs more clothes. She is about three inches taller than me and very skinny— I can see her ribs. She also does not understand English.”

  “Let me try ancient Sumerian,” Lisa implored. Previne moved the cellphone near the creature’s ear, and Lisa began talking in the ancient language. After a few sentences, she stopped. “Any reaction?” Lisa asked.

  “None,” replied Previne. “But when I brought the phone near her ear, she seemed to know what to do.”

  “Right now, it doesn’t matter. Get her into the jeep, and bring her back,” Banyon ordered.

  Banyon could hear them open the jeep’s door and Loni tell
ing Previne to drive. She said she would sit in the backseat with the alien.

  “Okay, we’re on our way, see you at the G-string place,” she said. She was about to hang up when the alien spoke two words. They all tried to make out what she said. Loni was the first to respond.

  “I think she said something in a Chinese dialect. It’s an old version, usually not heard anymore. It comes from southern Mongolia.”

  “Can you make out what she said?” Banyon quickly asked.

  “I think she said, ‘phone home’.”

  anyon mentally recapped what he had accomplished already today. He wanted to make sure everyone was accounted for. As he looked out the front window of the jeep, he knew Lake Mead was in the distance. He knew he could cut through the Valley of Fire and be at his destination in about twenty minutes, but he didn’t want to leave yet. He didn’t want to be the first group to arrive.

  “Have we accounted for everyone?” Banyon asked Pramilla. Lisa sat in the back, shocked and deep in thought.

  “Well, Maya and Eric are heading back. They should be landing within an hour. Someone from the base will drive them out. Loni and Previne will take about an hour to get there, maybe a little less if Loni was driving, but my sister is always careful. You’ve called your guy, Timmy, with the pictures of the transmitter, and he also said he would make sure Bart will get your message. I think we are done,” Pramilla recapped.

  “That’s everything,” Banyon agreed.

  “Let’s go,” Pramilla said.

  “No,” Banyon replied. “I think we should stay here for at least an hour before we head to the location.”

  “What?” Pramilla cried out. “But I’m hot and sweaty.”

  Without responding to Pramilla, Banyon yelled out to Wolf. “Is Harold still watching Lisa?”

  “He is alternating between watching Lisa and your home. He heard you tell everybody about your new plan. He is waiting for you to make a mistake and lead him to your new rallying spot. It would be wise to stay where you are for now.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Banyon said. He turned to Pramilla and told her he would turn up the air conditioning. “We are not going to the location until I’m sure everyone else is close to arriving. I don’t want to give Harold time to rally any troops.”