The Pandora Directive

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I picked up my speeder from the valet, half-expecting a couple of NSA agents to be waiting in the back seat. I guess it was my lucky day.

As I flew back to my office, I was a jumble of excitement, weariness, and anxiety. Malloy must have known the burden he was dumping on his friends’ backs. If only he’d never made the discovery. The spacecraft, if there actually was one, had been here for hundreds, maybe thousands of years without being found. Maybe it could’ve lain there in peace for another million years. Maybe we could have thrown ourselves into extinction without ever finding it. As it was, the proverbial cat was out of the bag, and it was one gigantic cat. Witt was right. If there was antihydrogen stored on the spacecraft, there was no question that it needed to be destroyed. It was the last thing we needed in circulation.

When I got back to my office, I couldn’t remember ever being so tired. Tomorrow I would be flying to Peru to help locate and scrap an alien spacecraft. Definitely something to write home about. Unfortunately, the thought of it was sapping any meagre amounts of energy left in my weary, forty year old body. I stumbled into my bedroom and pulled up abruptly.

Regan was stretched languidly across my bed, a thin veneer of silk draped over her creamy skin. God, of all the times to tempt me. I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to deal with this now. I leaned against the door frame and lit a cigarette. “I suppose you’ve already sat in my chair and eaten my porridge.”

Regan looked up at me feverishly, her eyes bright. “It took you long enough. I was afraid I’d have to start without you. Hope you don’t mind — I thought I’d get comfortable while I waited. I’m feeling extremely comfortable.”

“You look it.”

She moved restlessly and immodestly. “How long does it take you to smoke a cigarette?”

“Why? You in a hurry?”

“That’s one way to describe it.”

I walked toward the bed and crushed my Lucky Strike into an ashtray on the nightstand. Regan ran her hand across the bedspread, her eyes following my every move. She was putting off more heat than a space shuttle on re-entry. I took a step back and stared down at the most desirable woman in the world. “Tell me, Regan, do you always get what you want?”

“Only if I really want it.”

Her shallow breathing was contagious. With no small effort, I turned and crossed the room, removing my hat and overcoat. I looked back at Regan, steadying myself on the dresser. “I’ve never really understood women that well. Could you explain to me exactly what’s happening here?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never done this before.”

“Just once… by myself. It confused me and made me feel dirty.”

Regan smiled seductively. “Come over here, little boy.”

I walked back across the room and sat down on the corner of the bed. Regan sat up and loosened my tie. “If we’re going to be in this together, I need to know that you’re in all the way.”

“I have to warn you, I failed all my commitment classes in college.”

Regan’s fingers moved slowly across my ear and into my hair. “I can teach an old dog new tricks.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Her face was close to mine, her eyes focused on my mouth. “Promise me, Tex. Promise that you’ll stay with me and see this to the end.”

“I’m not taking you with me, Regan.”

“You can have me, and everything else you ever wanted. Just for taking me with you.” I only wanted one thing in the world at that moment. I was standing at the edge of the abyss, bits of gravel tumbling into the chasm and falling over. Suddenly, a face came into my mind. Chelsee’s face. I got up from the bed and backed away. Regan looked up at me, her face twisted in confusion. “Don’t do this to me, Tex. I’ve already lost my father. I don’t want to lose you.” She was changing tactics. I couldn’t believe the negligee approach had ever failed before, but she seemed to have other tricks up her sleeve.

“I want you, Regan. And I don’t want you to think I don’t care for you or what happens to you. I do. The problem is, I think you’re trying to force me to choose between you and what I think needs to be done.”

Regan turned a shade darker. “So you’re on the side of those old men? What the hell is wrong with you? I can give you everything. I can love you like you’ve never been loved. I don’t know much about the antimatter, or whatever it is my father was talking about, but I know that it’s worth a fortune. A fortune that can be ours.”

“I don’t want to argue about this. The way you look is making it difficult enough.”

Regan swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Grabbing her clothes from a chair, she stormed past me. I turn to watch her leave. At the door, she whirled around. “You blew it, Tex. You could have had it all.” With that parting shot, she threw open the door and disappeared into the night.