“What assurances do I have that you will not kill me after I find him for you?”
“The same assurance we have that you will not try to kill our representative: Neither side would gain anything by such behavior.”
It wasn’t much, but it was what I had expected him to say, all he really could say. “Okay. Now, how about letting me go so we can get started?”
The older alien pointed an arm and the bodyguards freed me. The bonds appeared to be a sort of flexible plastic wrap. I reached for one near my ankle but the nearer bodyguard snatched it away.
“Leave now and begin your work,” the older alien said. Pointing to the original leader, he continued, “He will answer the questions you will need to ask.” He turned and walked toward a side door, the two bodyguards trailing him.
I got up, grabbed the bag of diamonds, and followed them. My new buddy trailed me. The side door led to what had once been the garage’s office, and from there we went out into the light. It was early afternoon, the fall air still warming from the sun, so I had indeed been gone only a few hours. My stomach began to rumble as my body relaxed and I realized I was hungry.
Two black BMW sedans with blacked-out windows were parked outside the garage, which sat well back from the road. On either side of the garage and on the other side of the road were fields of wild growth. A road sign just visible from where I stood told me I was only a few miles outside of Pittsboro, so they had taken me less than an hour from the gym. Moving surprisingly quickly now that he was out in the open, the older alien folded himself into the passenger seat of one of the cars. The bodyguards crammed themselves into the car with him and quickly drove off.
“You were expecting spaceships?” asked my companion.
When I realized he was trying to make a joke, I stared at his face for a sign I could use in the future. I found nothing. If their expressions changed, it was in ways I was unable to discern. Then I noticed that his lower right arm was twitching slightly; I’d have to watch those arms.
“No. It makes sense that with your particular needs you’d try to keep a low profile.”
His lower left arm reached into his suit and briefly disappeared; the suit appeared transparent the entire time. The arm reappeared holding the car’s keys.
“How about I drive?” I asked.
“I would prefer that,” he said. “Your automobiles are not well suited to us.”
“I would also prefer it.” I took the keys and headed to the car. The seat was all the way back and leaning two-thirds of the way down, so it took me a few moments to adjust it. The alien folded quickly into the car, but he definitely didn’t look comfortable. That was fine by me; we’d be in the car a lot, and after this morning’s episode I didn’t mind at all that he suffered. “We’re going to be together for a while, so I need to know what to call you. I go by Matt; what’s your name?”
“In my language it is—” the translator let out a burst of the chattering noises I had heard earlier “—but the translator cannot find equivalents in your language for our names.”
“Okay, I’ll name you.” I looked at him crammed into the seat, arms everywhere, a giant blue bug reclined almost on its back, and I laughed. “I’d go with Gregor, but that’s too much work to say. So, Greg it is.”
“Greg?”
“Yup.”
“It will serve. Now, you must find James Peterson.”
“First, we have to go back to the gym so I can change and grab some food.” I started the car and we headed out. I drove in silence, wanting the time to think, and I was pleased to find that Greg was content to ride quietly along.
* * *
By the time ninth grade ended, Jim and I were the closest of friends. Neither of us needed to study much to keep up with our homework, so we spent every evening we could at the courts. We played every two-man team we could find, we joined every larger game that would have us, and when no one else was around to play, we practiced shooting and played each other. The playing and the practice paid off, because by the end of the year we were regularly joining games on the second court from the trees. The day we were asked for the first time to play in a game on that court, we celebrated like we had jointly jammed home the winning basket in the NBA championship game.