I Will Love You Forever

Chapter 4, part 4: Invasion

Its roar rattled the front windows. Helicopters had been fairly common where Ken and Lu had lived in Pennsylvania, but they were very rare here, and they certainly wouldn't go buzzing houses in an area where residents weren't used to helicopters. He realized he had heard helicopters several times over the past few days. It was such a common sound back East that he hadn't thought about it. He also realized that he had heard a loud boom the night before, which might have been the sonic boom from a fast-moving jet.

He dashed to the front of the house, and was surprised to see two white vehicles coming up the drive, as the helicopter, which looked black and somewhat menacing, rose up into the sky and turned to the side. From what he could see, it had passed less than twenty feet above his roof. When they crunched to a stop behind his pickup, he could see that one vehicle was a National Park Service pickup truck, and the other was an SUV with Homeland Security on its side.

As they pulled to a stop, Ken turned back to look at Lu. Sudden dread filled him. He didn't know why two federal agencies would be interested in coming to his house and bringing a helicopter. He didn't know what had happened in the clearing or why Lu's head was healing so very fast. He didn't know why his broken leg was somehow no longer broken, and why he hadn't died of the infection. All these things just might possibly be related. No, they probably were related. The thought sounded crazy, even in his mind. If that was the case, though, Lu might be in serious danger.

"Quickly," he said to Lu, "Lie down on the mattress, and pretend to be asleep."

"Pretend?" She looked at him, puzzled.

"Just keep your breathing slow and your eye closed. I don't want them talking to you or seeing your injury. Go!" He pointed to the mattress.

"Ken come?"

"I'll be right here." He ran to the bathroom to get a hand towel.

When he got back, she was already lying down on the mattress. Seeing her nakedness lying down on the bed distracted Ken with desire, before the urgency of the moment caught up with him again. He gently wrapped the towel around the top of her head, covering the injury. As he did so, he whispered, "Just lie quietly."

The doorbell rang just as he finished. He pulled the blanket up to tuck her in, as Lu closed her eye, her head on the pillow.

Ken stood up, and took one glance at the rear windows. He had the sheeting on the kitchen counter, but hadn't had time to put it on yet. All three of the windows within view were missing most of their glass. He had swept up the loose glass, but it was going to look suspicious, if they were looking for ... He stopped, as he realized he had no idea what they might be looking for.

He opened the door to see two men: a park ranger in uniform and a man in a suit and tie. The park ranger was smiling, but the suit looked absolutely serious. Both of them looked very tired.

"Mr. Winston?" The suit held up an FBI ID. "Homeland Security and National Park Service. May we come in?" His shoulder holster was visible under his jacket.

"Ah," said Ken, looking back over his shoulder. "My wife is sick, and I don't want to disturb her. May I ask what this is about?"

"A matter of national security," said the FBI man, who was considerably larger than Ken. He stepped into the doorway and pushed it wide open. "We don't need a warrant," he said, "so let's just keep this pleasant, shall we?" Ken found himself being pushed back in. He had thought that citizens were allowed to refuse entry without a warrant, but this armed and much larger man was just shoving him aside.

"My wife really is very sick," Ken said, his voice shaking.

"What's wrong with her?" asked the ranger, coming in less intrusively. Ken could see the man was about his own size, thin, with sandy brown hair. He seemed friendly enough, but Ken could see the ragged edge of exhaustion around his eyes.