Mind Sync Chapter Two

Bree gunned her bike down Highway 89-A toward the Red Rock Coffee Shop. The engine of her beloved Harley Dyna Super Glide Sport roared in response, a sound that normally soothed her soul. Today, the sound only made her headache worse, even with its street legal, EPA-quiet exhaust system; not the blow your eardrums, look-how-macho-I-am Screaming Eagle slip-ons that so many Dynas had.

She enjoyed the freedom she felt when riding her motorcycle: not all boxed in and trapped like she did in enclosed vehicles.

Damn it! Not now.

She’d been free of flashbacks for a while. But in that moment for some reason - maybe the hangover, maybe the fact that her life had been turned upside down - the mere thought of being in a car caused painful memories from the car-jacking and tragic death of her mother to flood her conscious mind:

“Start driving now!” The gunman had yelled from the backseat as he’d pressed the cold barrel of his gun against her temple.

Bree had reached over to grab her mom’s hand, but hadn’t dared move her head.

Her brother Jason, six years her junior and only six at the time, had begun crying. His cries had torn at her heart, but she’d been completely helpless and unable to comfort him.

“Shut the fuck up!” The gunman had yelled at Jason, but this only made Jase cry harder. The pressure from the muzzle of the gun against her temple disappeared and then Bree had heard a sickening sound behind her. She’d turned to see the bastard smash the butt of his gun into Jason’s head. Her baby brother had slumped over, blood flowing from a wound on his head. Her mom had yelled out, slamming on the brakes.

“Keep driving, bitch, or I’m gonna shoot the lovely young lady here in the head!” With that threat, the gunman had pressed his gun against Bree’s temple again and the car had lurched forward.

Helpless. She’d been totally helpless.

The sun peered over Munds Mountain, nearly blinding her as she cruised down Highway 89-A, bringing her attention back to the present. She blinked a few times to clear her eyes. Misty from the sun, she told herself, not the memory of the bastard who’d murdered her mother and given her brother brain damage. She wouldn’t let that asshole have that kind of control over her. Not anymore.

She squinted through her sunglasses to focus on the road, even though she could probably get to her destination blindfolded. She needed to keep the rest of that fucking memory from flooding her. She tried to swallow, but her throat had gone dry.

Coffee. Focus on coffee. She could almost smell the delightful aroma of the coffee shop as she pulled into the parking lot.

Coffee would make it all better. Well, it wouldn’t help everything, but caffeine and a little food would at least help lessen the impact of her hangover.

Bree peeled off her leather riding gloves, hung her helmet on the back of her seat, and hopped off her bike. Her boots hit the blacktop with a thud. She tucked her keys in the pocket of her lightweight leather jacket with one hand and yanked open the door of Red Rock Coffee with the other.

Breathe. She needed to settle or she might just punch the next person she saw in the face.

The barista greeted her at the counter with a warm smile that lit up her beautiful blue eyes. “Good morning, Bree. How are ya?”

“Hey, Summer. I feel like shit. How can you look so chipper after last night’s party?”

Summer raised her brows.“Well, I didn’t drink half a keg like some people.”

“Oh, nice. Kick a woman when she’s down. Is that any way to treat your favorite customer?”

“You know you’re still my favorite, even if you do drink like a frat boy.” Summer added a friendly wink to her smile.

“Okay, then all is right in my world.” Bree flashed a rare full smile in return, not sure if Summer was flirting with her or just being friendly. Either way, the cheerful barista had a way of brightening her day.

“Your usual?”

Bree nodded. “As long as I’m still your favorite, maybe you could add an extra shot of espresso? I could use it today. And, make it to go.” Bree pointed to the glass case filled with muffins, cookies, and breakfast treats. “Plus one of those little quiche things. Heated up.” In afterthought she added, “please.”

“You got it, Bree.” Summer made Bree’s Red Rocket - a cup of coffee with two shots of espresso, caramel syrup, and a splash of almond milk.

***

In the parking lot at the Schnebly Hill Lookout, Bree looked around at the towering red mountain to her left. Millions of years of wind and rain had weathered many of the red rocks into easily identifiable shapes, like Elephant Rock, Bell Rock, and Coffee Pot Rock. Around the edge of this cliff was Snoopy Rock and Lucy, but she couldn’t see them from this angle. With a deep breath, she took in the sacred quality of the area, allowing it to soothe her soul.

Yeah, breakfast at Schnebly had been a good choice. Bree headed to her favorite picnic table, closest to the edge of the plateau and with the best view. The peaceful energy of the area wrapped around her like a blanket as she looked out at the valley below and more giant red rock formations beyond.

Breathing in the clean air, she took off her jacket and sat down to enjoy her coffee and breakfast. A few cars littered the parking lot, but with no one in sight, Bree savored the solitude. She took a big bite of the quiche pie. No longer piping hot, but it still tasted good. Except it needed salt.

Bree looked in the paper bag and found a couple of salt packets and napkins. Yep, Summer was definitely good to her. She salted the quiche and took another bite followed by a sip of her coffee.

Hmmm… now that hits the spot.

Good food, caffeine, and some red rocks could cure a lot. Bree leaned her back against the table and tilted her head to let the sun shine on her face, content for the moment.

“It’s a gorgeous day, isn’t it?”

Bree opened her eyes and turned her head toward the familiar raspy voice that’d disturbed her peaceful worship of the brilliant Arizona sunshine.

“Hello, Chief. Good to see ya.” Bree sat up and nodded at the tall man standing in front of her. As a teen, Bree’s rebellious nature, combined with festering anger from the car-jacking and murder of her mother, led to a few run-ins with the Sedona law enforcement. Nothing major, just teenage trouble making. A few of the officers enjoyed hassling her. Chief Rick Sloan, however, had always been kind. Very strict, but kind. He knew about the trauma she’d been through before moving to Sedona. He cared about her and expected more from her. He’d had a big influence on her life and choice of career.

“You know I’m not the Chief anymore.” The man took a deep breath and a quick flash of anger washed over his face.

“Yeah, I know. A lot of us got screwed by this whole Instant Karma system, didn’t we?” Bree nodded to the side, inviting the former chief of the Sedona Police Department to sit down. “How are you handling things?”

“From what I hear, better than you.” He peered at Bree over his sunglasses with a very parental look.

“Jeesh, I forgot what a small town Sedona is.” Bree flushed. Everyone knew everyone’s business in Slow-dona. “Well, I’m not a kid anymore. If I want to drown my troubles at the bars, I can sure as shit do that. I’m not breaking any laws, regular or IK.”

“Settle down, Bree. I’m not here to harass you. I know this has to be hard on you too.” Rick’s voice softened as he backpedaled. “Honestly, I’m not sure I’m handling it any better.” He shook his head and let out a big sigh. “I mean, violent crime is way down. The T’Lalz Invasion Threat Level is decreasing. Those are great results in only a few months and it’s hard to argue with that. I just wish they would’ve kept more of the existing law enforcement involved.”

“Would you really have wanted to work for them?” Bree interrupted.

“I don’t know. I just feel so damn useless. This is my town and I don’t have any say in it anymore.”

“That’s just it, Rick. Even if you worked for them you wouldn’t have any say. None of us do. They’ve stripped all the damn control away from us. I know violent crime is down and more and more people are starting to like this IK system, but I don’t like being under control of the Kusharians or the KG, whatever the hell they are. No matter how many times they explain their reasons and throw the damn ITL in our faces, I say it’s all bullshit. It’s all happened too fast and I don’t trust them.”

“So you think the Kusharians are really the ones in control? What do you think they’re up to? What about the Earth United Council?” Rick asked.

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right to me. It never has. How do we really know that the Kusharians are here to help? What’s in it for them? And, how do we know for sure these T’Lalz aliens are coming for us?” Bree’s shoulders tightened.

“We’ve all seen the videos of the brutal attacks on Kushari. I figured the Kusharians want to help us so that we’ll join them in the fight against the T’Lalz.”

“Or maybe they want to bring all their people here to escape the T’Lalz. Maybe those videos are fake and they want Earth for themselves because their planet sucks.” Bree kicked the ground with the toe of her boot, causing a plume of red dust to rise up in the air. “And those are my nicer theories.”

“You don’t trust the EUC? I’m sure they’ve got a lot more information than we do.”

“Exactly. Our government has a history of keeping important information from us. I’d say that teaming up with aliens to form an entirely new world government and hiding said facts from the public for decades puts a strong win in the column of the conspiracy nuts. It most definitely doesn’t engender trust in my book, no matter how many times they spout their good intentions, and no matter how good the results seem.”

“I know a lot of people are happy about the crackdown on violence. They haven’t felt this safe in a long, long time. If ever. IK would mean no more murders, rapes, muggings, school shootings. Hell, no more terrorism. You gotta admit, that sounds pretty good.”

Rick shifted on the bench.

Bree snorted. “Ha. But, did we trade the end of human-on-human violence for alien-on-human violence? Or our freedom for alien control? Plus, there are still a lot of people who feel pissed, trapped, and afraid.” Bree paused. “It’s just… I don’t know. I guess people’s reactions are all over the fucking board. And that’s not even mentioning all the religious zealots or the bizarre Instant Karma cults popping up.”

Rick nodded in agreement.

Before he could say anything, Bree continued. “Even if they’re telling the truth and we have to lower the overall violent energy of the planet to avoid being consumed by the T’Lalz, I don’t think humans can reach an ITL level one and maintain it. It’s too much of a change and too fast. I think it might backfire.”

“You might be right about that. I had dinner with Steve Yarrow from State Patrol yesterday and he said that there are small pockets of bizarre violence popping up in sporadic areas around the northern part of the state. Areas that were previously at a two or better. People that you wouldn’t even suspect of acting out. He doesn’t know what to make of it.” Rick gave Bree a concerned look.

“That’s what I’m talking about, Rick. It’s human nature. People have to feel in control or they explode like pressure cookers without a vent.”

“Always the cynic.” Rick’s right eyebrow raised, as did the corner of his mouth, like they were somehow connected by a string. Bree had always marveled at his ability to do that.

“Oh, come on. All your years in office, you can’t tell me you believe that people are capable of becoming peace-loving hippies overnight? Let alone maintaining it.” Bree tried to mimic the half-smirk, but only managed to pull off something that must have looked like a strange facial tremor. They both laughed at her attempt.

Rick shrugged. “Maybe we can. Maybe we’re ready.”

“Right, I forget who I’m talking to. Mr. ‘People are basically good and just need a nudge in the right direction.’”

“You, my dear, are a prime example of that philosophy. So, I think I’ll stand by my theory.” Rick gave Bree a serious look over his sunglasses.

“You can’t be naive enough to believe that works for everyone.” Bree’s shoulders creeped toward her ears and her muscles tensed.

“Okay. Okay. I don’t want to argue with you. Let’s agree to disagree.” Rick reached over to pat Bree on the shoulder and gave her a warm smile. “Look, I’ve gotta run, Lela is waiting on me. It was really nice to run into you, Bree. Hey, why don’t you come over for dinner soon? Everyone’d love to see you. How about Thursday?” Rick stood up.

Bree stood up too. “Sure. That sounds great. I’ll bring my guacamole if Lela’ll make her fish tacos?” Her voice went up in pitch to turn the statement to a question.

“Sounds like a plan.” They hugged and Rick headed off to the parking lot.

Bree sat back down. As much as she wanted to blow off Rick’s concern about the pockets of violence, he had good instincts. If he was worried, perhaps she should be also. She considered calling the Sheriff to gather more intel, but leaned back again to let the sun hit her face instead. After all, she’d planned on ignoring the world for a bit while hiding out at her uncle’s bunker in the desert.