Apocalypse Before Finals by Julie Steimle (electric book reader txt) 📕

Shaking her head firmly, Zormna continued towards her house, "No. Let's just walk in silence, ok?"

He moaned. However, Darren nodded, knowing how stubborn she could be. And he was there to keep her safe, and not endanger her. Jeff would kill him if he caused Zormna more trouble.  

The FBI agents listening not far off moaned also. But they noted to themselves that Darren had not been kept out of the 'alien affairs' as they had assumed. They jotted him as a source to pay attention to once more.

Darren left Zormna at her place and sighed as he watched her go indoors, listening to her secure the locks and engage the security system. He glanced across the road at the car stationed there and grimly shook his head. Fighting the urge to cross the street and talk to them, to tell them to leave, instead Darren trudged to his own house next door and went in.

Jeff didn't wait to call M. He dialed him up on his cell phone as soon as he arrived home. M had awaited his call, and Jeff had many questions.

"So they are going ahead with plan A?" Jeff asked again.

The man on the other side of the line gave him the affirmative. <<Sicamore's gone to D.C. for the weekend, and I hear they're moving his parents to some high security compound so you won't be able to touch them. They haven't said where.>>

Jeff sighed, running his hands through his hair over his scalp. "They've managed to keep you out of the loop this time, haven't they?"

M replied again in the affirmative. <<Not just me. All the people in the know are the ones high up. Us little people have been entirely kept in the dark. I'm just one of the lucky few that still gets a peek or two. And by the way, I know what files he has been looking at. We need to close down the transfer site you arrived at in Missouri and relocate your volunteer parents. I believe everyone in your house is now suspect.>>

Jeff ran his hand through his hair again. This was bad news. That meant everyone he had been in contact with since his arrival was under suspicion, including his best friend Al. Then he stopped. "How far do you think they'll go with his new operation, and when do you think they'll arrive at it?"

M deliberated for a second. <<I think they'll go all the way. As for when, I think they are waiting for you and Zormna to make a false move so they can legally nab you.>>

Jeff nodded, mulling over the word legally. That meant Sicamore was still stalling. "I see."

<<Big Z?>>

"M?" Jeff replied, still thinking.

<<Is there anything I should do on my end?>> M asked.

"I'm thinking." Jeff had closed his eyes and scratched his scalp.

He thought for a few minutes, clenching his hair and pacing across the living room floor. Orrlar, Jeff's pretended 'Uncle Orren', and his wife Malia, his pretended 'Aunt Mary', were watching him.

<<Big Z? You still there?>>

"Still thinking," Jeff said. He sat down on the couch. Letting out a breath, he shook his head. "All right. M? I need you to inform as many of our contacts in the Bureau, all Surface Patrol defectors and all rebel links, and notify them of the situation. I need them to gather together as a defense against what the FBI has planned. Use whatever measures are necessary."

<<Big Z?>>

"I'm still here," Jeff replied.

<< Yes, it's just...what's at stake exactly? I know you like doing things without many questions, and I'm sure it saves time, but I need something to motivate our men. They won't just go because you are in trouble alongside a Surface Patrol Alea. Most don't trust that Zormna Clendar. >>

Jeff sighed and nodded. "How much do you know?"

M paused. <<Only that the FBI found about you and Alea Zormna working together. They keep all other information tight. I don't even get to look into the files.>>

Jeff sighed and nodded again. He glanced up at Uncle Orren and said what had to be said. "It has to do with the last Tarrn. If Alea Zormna and I are caught in the FBI's trap, the last Tarrn's life is at stake."

Silence echoed on the other end.

<<I see.>>

"So, are you ready to help us?" Jeff asked, shifting his cellphone to the other ear.

<<Yes.>> M said immediately.

"Good." Jeff glanced up at Uncle Orren, who watched him still. The man's face was pensive and waiting.

<<M signing off.>>

"Until next time," Jeff replied. He pressed the off button and closed his pay-as-you-go cell phone.

"So the FBI is coming?" Uncle Orren asked.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah, but not yet. I think you'd better warn Eergvin and Asdrov to pack their vital belongings. I'll tell Alzdar. And you two also need to pack. The FBI figured the entire household is not from Earth."

Uncle Orren nodded.

"So our time here is up," Aunt Mary said with a sad tone to her voice.

Jeff nodded. "It seems so. M says they're waiting for Zormna and me to screw up so they can catch us legally. Get that. Legally."

Uncle Orren smirked. "And how long do you think you can go without that happening?"

Jeff shrugged. "I promised Zormna until the end of the school year. She has a date for Prom."

Chuckling, Uncle Orren shook his head and asked, "What about you?"

Sighing, he glanced around the room as if he would miss it. "I actually wanted to finish school. You know, maybe graduate. I never graduated from school back Home."

Uncle Orren smirked. Rising, he patted Jeff on the shoulder before he went back to bed. "That's because you were too smart."

Jeff weakly chuckled. Then he sighed. He really had hoped to stick it out the end, but the prospect of him finishing school in Pennington was growing dim. The ever-threatening gloom of government intervention seemed to wrap him like thin threads of spider web, of which he could only escape by leaving Earth early. It was disappointing. He was enjoying just being a kid with few worries. Once he returned home, it would be back to the seriousness of the revolution full time. No more play.

With that despicable thought, he went to bed.

No man is a match for a woman's tears. - anon-

April. It was only in two weeks. Jeff had informed Zormna of everything that had transpired the evening of Sadie Hawkins, including what he had told M and what their plans were. This he did during English class, handwritten in his notebook passed between them under the nose of Mr. Humphries - and not in English. Up until that time, Jeff had never written in his own language on Earth for any reason - but Jeff was sure now that the FBI were watching their every move and listening to their every word outside of their homes. And since the FBI would not be able to read the writing even if they got hold of it he thought it was the best option. The only thing he spoke aloud to Zormna was, "Let's just last until April. Then we'll see about getting to May, shall we?"

The FBI could tell that Zormna was getting stir-crazy. She stopped pacing herself in her classes and started to finish her assignments long before her classmates. And the ever-watchful Mr. Humphries noticed that she wasn't concentrating on her work at all, sloppily doing assignments. However, April arrived without a mishap, and Jeff had asked Joy Henderson to the Prom. That was proof enough for the FBI that those two intended to stay to the end of the year at least. Jeff couldn't let Brian and Joy down a second time. His friendship with the Hendersons was too valuable to him.

...Which they found out during a weekend interview with the Henderson parents just after Sadie Hawkins. The FBI had visited the Hendersons to gauge how much they knew about Jeff and Zormna, pretending to investigate the murder of Zormna's great aunt as well as expressing 'concerns' for the 'increased intimacy' between Zormna and Jeff. The Hendersons, the FBI decided after a probing discussion, were only 'concerned neighbors' in this instance and knew only the stories Jeff and Zormna had told everyone within their circle of friends. And that included Brian and Joy who had eyed the agents critically during the entire visit and were later overheard telling their parents that they thought the FBI were also following Zormna at school. The agents had carefully concealed a bug in their 'family room' where those listening picked up nothing more than the daily goings-on of a devout Mormon family...which they could have gotten from any popular LDS YouTube family vlog. Nothing useful.

During this time, Agent Sicamore also delivered four more lectures at Washington D.C. on Martian citizens living peaceably among people of Earth, instigating quiet investigations in Missouri and Chicago. As he lectured about the possible criminal organization Jeff was part of, his sent agents discovered that the bed-and-breakfast in Missouri had burned down two days before their arrival. And the owners? They were nowhere to be found. As for the agents who were sent to Chicago to check in on Jeff and Alex's 'parents', the Streigles, they were disappointed to find that the couple was not home. Inquiring around the neighborhood and Mr. Streigle's workplace, they learned that the couple had gone on a European vacation and would not be back for at least a week. Of course the FBI did not wait to see if that was true. They broke into the apartment. Looking about, they saw that all personal photographs and documents had been removed from the place - including those of their two sons, Alex and Jeff, which had been prominently displayed during their earlier visits. The couple did not come back after the two weeks, and no one could trace where exactly they had gone.

When Agent Sicamore delivered the lecture about the Surface Patrol verses Jeff's organization, his agency had visited and 'raided' the office of Jeff's and Alex's social worker. She had been out visiting a family at the time, they were told. She would be back in a few minutes, her co-workers said. The woman never showed up. And when they went to her house, they found it had been recently cleared. The entire apartment was empty. Even the landlord was surprised it had been vacated, staring at the cleaned out place while muttering about how the 'lousy deposit' would not be able to pay for the damages.

And while Agent Sicamore reported what exactly a Tarrn was and what it meant to the situation at hand, the agents who had gone back to Ireland to investigate the school where Zormna and Jeff had both been registered as students at one point, reported back that the individuals they had spoken with during their last visit were long gone. And those who had worked with them reported a visit by a pale stranger who had shared some kind of bad news with them. Their exit had been quick and left no leads. Fact was, the only people who had remained within the FBI sights were those in Jeff's household and Zormna Clendar herself.  

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