Chapter 52: New Friends, New Secrets

Darren POV:

The girls had been gone nearly 20 minutes and we were starting to wonder what was taking them so long.

Thankfully, our conversations were lively and interesting, but over the last five minutes or so, a couple of our new friends asked whether or not Linda and Jamie had gotten lost.

I was glad when Marty finally grinned and pointed, “Oh, there they are! There must’ve been a really long line in the lady’s room!”

It was funny. As they approached the table Linda giggled, “I can’t believe I was that constipated! I think Jamie and I may have eaten too many of those mozzarella sticks?”

Jamie added, “That marinara sauce was so good, I just couldn’t help myself!”

That caused a considerable amount of laughter that helped our two girls seamlessly rejoin us.

Greg and I both knew that at some point ‘the story’ was going to break. Now, thankfully, none of our new friends should have any idea that it could’ve been Jamie and Linda.

It was 11:45 and some of the wait staff had gone around, turning on five or six big, projection TVs. They were tuning them in to the local TV channel that was doing a ‘Countdown to Midnight’ special.

Greg, Eddie and I had a good view of one of them that wasn’t too far away. Just a few minutes after the celebrities got started, however, they broke to the local news desk. The news anchor excitedly announced there had been another ‘Angel Assisted Medical Miracle’ at the Chandler Regional Hospital!

Since they didn’t have the volume up very loud, the only way most people could tell was the banner that was running just below the newscaster’s face. Suddenly, many of the other patrons began shouting for somebody to turn the volume up so they could hear what was being said. That caught everyone’s attention and now every eye in the place was riveted to one of the TVs.

A hush fell over the entire crowd.

Our people were perhaps the most shocked when he announced that there had been not just one, but two separate ‘Miraculous healing events’.

He said the names were being withheld, but his description was spot on as far as everyone at our table knowing (or hoping) one of them was Craig Robertson.

The other was some young lady who had been in a car wreck earlier in the afternoon and was in a coma, near death. They went on to say that there would be more details as soon as they could get them.

The second they went back to the New Year’s Eve special, the bar literally exploded with excited conversations. I could tell that our new friends were all stunned, hoping that their boss had been one of the lucky miracles.

Jim said, “Well, from the description they gave of the ‘older gentleman’, it almost had to be Mr Robertson, don’t you think?”

After nodding their heads in agreement with him, Marty stared at Wendy, then gasped, “I wonder if those are the same Angels ... um, you know?”

It was obvious she and Wendy hadn’t discussed their cures with anyone, outside of the six of them. I was pretty sure that’s why she got quiet all of a sudden. I think she was hoping that we didn’t pick up on the fact that we caught on to what she almost said.

I could tell that Linda was holding her breath, hoping again she wouldn’t be recognized.

Wendy asked how far the hospital was from the bar, and Jay told her it was about 12 miles, straight South, on Dobson Road.

Then she asked how long it would take to get there from here, and was told about 20 to 25 minutes depending upon how you hit all the traffic lights.

I could just see her doing the math in her head as she glanced over at Linda and Jamie.

Thankfully, she must have realized that there was no way it could’ve been them, since they’d only been gone for a total of about 20 minutes. Therefore, the round-trip was virtually impossible.

In a car.

Just before midnight, the newscaster came back on and said that immediately following the stroke of midnight, they were going to cut back in with a live report from the hospital. He said that the male victim had consented to release his name and it was indeed Craig Robertson. He also said that they had some inside surveillance video showing a doctor being guided down a hallway by two beautiful Glowing Angels. They were also planning on interviewing the doctor and several of the nurses who had witnessed the entire thing.

And, had spoken to the Angels at length!

When Linda and Jamie gasped in shock, both Wendy’s and Marty’s eyes were immediately riveted on them.

I flashed everyone in our group to be prepared to do some damage control.

Linda was nearly in tears, “I just know Wendy and Marty are certain I was at least one of their angels. We might have a chance if that video they were talking about was from behind us, but if it was from in front of us, there’s no way they won’t know it was us. I’m really sorry guys!”

I decided to get into Marty’s head again to see what she was really thinking while Greg eased his way into Wendy’s.

Linda’s perception was, unfortunately, spot on.

The second the newscaster had mentioned that the Angels were flying, the whole concept of ‘how long it would take to get there’ went right out the window. Marty even said to herself that she thought Linda reminded her of her Angel when they all met us for that first construction meeting.

Greg confirmed that Wendy was thinking nearly the same thing, but distinctly remembered that one of the Angels was a guy and while Linda looked like she could have been one of them, Jamie certainly did not. But, that was the only thing keeping her from totally believing that Linda and Jamie weren’t the Angels in question tonight.

Maggie, meanwhile, had gotten into Jim’s head.

She reported that Jim was trying to remember the description the girls had given them, but still didn’t suspect it could have been Linda and Jamie. He was more concerned with Marty’s state of mind, having almost spilled the beans herself. He was concerned that if Wendy had also told us she had been cured by Angels, we might think they were both crazy.

It was apparent the other three guys were probably thinking thoughts along those same lines.

I ‘asked’ my friends if any of them thought we might should just give them a confidentiality spell, then go outside and tell all of them the truth. Hopefully, finding a place where no one else could hear.

That idea was getting mixed reviews.

With all the confusion, I don’t think anyone at our tables even noticed the clock already passed midnight and the scene had gone back to the news desk. Once again, every eye in the place was riveted to one of the televisions.

Theories and speculation were loudly being debated by everyone in the bar!

Unlike some of the previous media coverage of the times Charlie and Linda had done a cure, this TV crew was taking it much more seriously.

Of course, they led off with the video showing Linda and Jamie seemingly being pulled through the air by the doctor as they went to do the second cure. And naturally, it was a full frontal view.

AND ... Linda and Jamie even appeared to be smiling for the cameras!

Now, their entire clan and all of their eyes were riveted on Linda and Jamie.

I realized that when Greg told Linda she didn’t really look like herself in her Angel disguise, he may have been wrong. There were no doubts, at least to our six new friends, that the two Angels they saw on TV had to be Linda and Jamie.

Now we were just hoping that no one else in the bar would recognize them!

Monte felt strongly that we needed to go with my idea, right now, and get our friends out of the bar ASAP.

Since they were still interspersed with us, the nearest ones put their arm around the closest ‘new friend’ and quietly asked them to please follow us outside, right away.

Monte and I went with Jim, Linda and Emmy with Marty, and Jamie and Gracie were with Wendy. I don’t remember the rest, but while they were all a bit unnerved at first. We were sending all of them ‘calming’ thoughts. We were whispering to each of them that we’d tell them anything they wanted to know if they’d all just relax and calmly walk out of the bar with us.

Thankfully, with all the other bar patrons being totally engrossed watching the TVs, we were able to slip out relatively unnoticed.

Because the girls had parked our van in the far corner of the lot, that’s where we led them. I was impressed by the way we only had to hush them a couple times before we got safely out by the van.

I could tell it was driving Marty nuts, desperately wanting know if Linda and Jamie really were the Angels.

Linda and Jamie looked all around the parking lot to make sure nobody else could see them. Then, for just a second, they turned into their glowing Angels and rose a few feet off the ground.

Thinking about it, that was probably much more expedient than having them ask 20 questions.

All of our new friends had their mouths open, catching flies.

Jim looked at Monte in awe, then asked, quietly, “Who are you people, really? I know you’re probably really strong, but I just knew you had ‘something special’ the way you stopped Jake’s punch the way you did. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t have done that!”

Monte chuckled, “What was it he said in one of his movies? Oh yeah, I’ll be baaack!” Then he instantly disappeared.

A second later he was standing on top of the van, calmly waving at everyone who’d been looking around wondering where he went, saying, “Hi guys!”

Since all the bar patrons were obviously still inside, several of us ported up on top of the van, to join Monte.

Linda giggled, then huffed, “All right you clowns, now get your asses down here and behave yourselves, will you? This ain’t amateur night on the Gong Show!”

We all gave her a sheepish look then ported back down to the ground.

While our new friends were still shocked to the core, Linda’s banter had significantly lightened the mood.

Since we knew it would only be a matter of time before somebody caught us fooling around, it wasn’t hard to convince our new friends to follow us back to our place. They were a little leery at first, but, became very enthusiastic when we told them we would answer all of their questions.

That is, once we were somewhere we could be sure no one else could see or hear us.

Since Wendy and Marty had ridden here with their friends, they begged us to let them ride with us back to our trailers. Monte volunteered to ride with Jim and Roger, while I rode with Glenn and Jay in Jay’s pickup.

Not surprisingly, the two of them had a gazillion questions. While I did answer a few of them, I told them it would be best to wait until all of us were together since I knew that’s what all their friends had just been told.

When Jay looked at me, questioningly, I chuckled, “How much do you wanna bet your four friends were all told the exact same thing I just told you?”

He just smirked at me, “Something tells me you know something that I don’t know? Let me guess, you guys are telepathic, too?”

Both he and Glenn started shaking their heads and softly laughing when all I did was just stare at them and grin.

Greg POV:

Thank God Darren had taken me up to Ibera’s and showed me most of what I’d missed! Otherwise, tonight would have been an abject disaster! Not that it still wasn’t, or wouldn’t end up being, but if I hadn’t known everything about Wendy’s and Marty’s previous encounter with Linda and Charlie I could have really screwed things up!

Not to mention been totally friggin’ lost!

Marty was plastered to Linda, asking a gazillion questions, while Wendy was sitting next to Jamie, nearly as inquisitive, mostly wanting to know who the ‘guy’ was that had been there with Linda when they received their healing episode,

I could feel my two lovers getting anxious, so I said, calmly, “Hey ladies, please wait till we get home so everybody can hear the whole story? I know Linda and Jamie will answer most if not all of your questions. But first, you’re all going to have to agree to keep everything you’ve learned and will learn about us, absolutely confidential!? You can’t talk about it with anybody. Do you think you’ll be able to do that?”

Marty and Wendy looked at each other, wide-eyed, then nodded ... like a couple bobble heads.

Marty asked, timidly, “So, we can’t even talk about it with our guys?”

Linda giggled, then patted my shoulder, “Of course you can talk about it with your guys! Greg just means nobody else who isn’t here tonight ... even Craig, your boss.”

“But, but, Wendy and I have already told him that we were cured by Angels!”

Wendy tittered, “but, I don’t think he believed us?”

“I bet he believes us now!” Marty chirped, “So, what are we going to do, because I’m sure he’s going to ask us about it? And I know he’s going to be out here on Monday to get us started.”

Linda smiled at them, wanly, “Don’t panic. As long as you don’t say anything that gives him the idea that you actually know it was us, you can go ahead and talk about your common experiences. Does that make sense?”

“Ahhh, I see. So like, if he asks if we had the same two angels, we can say we’re not sure, but that one of ours was a guy?” Marty asked, with raised eyebrows.

Jamie nodded, “Exactly! But understand, what Greg told you about keeping us a secret, is paramount. Can either of you even imagine what would happen if word got out that we could heal people? Just think about that for a second.”

Both Wendy’s and Marty’s faces went through a myriad of different expressions as they thought through what Jamie just asked. Finally, as we were almost home, Marty sighed, “I think I understand. You would have millions and millions of people all trying to get you to heal them or someone they knew. You guys would never get a minute’s peace! Is that what you mean?”

Everybody in the van was nodding at them, solemnly.

Linda cracked a half smile, “Yes, that’s the problem exactly. Jamie and I would never have the time to pay any attention to raising our babies. It’s not that we wouldn’t like to cure everyone in the world of every possible malady, but it’s simply not possible.

Marty put her finger up then asked, “Just one more quick question, please? Are you two really Angels?” She asked, pointing at Linda and Jamie.

Linda giggled, “Trust me ladies, once you get to know us better, you’ll discover were definitely not angels!”

I almost busted a gut hearing Linda say the exact same thing I’d suggested to her earlier. It became even harder not to laugh when she kept grinning and winking at me!

Back at our trailers we realized it was too cool to sit outside, so several of the guys grabbed six of our tall, Captain’s style lawn chairs before heading into our Toy Hauler.

Luckily we already had two eight-foot folding tables set up with enough seats for the 18 of us in the family. We knew it was going to be cozy, and since Jeremy, Sheila, Joni, Rex, Bruce and Diane knew they weren’t necessarily going to be the topics of discussion, they took the tall captain’s chairs so they could sit behind us but still see and hear everything that was going on.

Darren, Monte, Charlene, Linda and I worked together to get everybody something to drink. While the guys mostly wanted something alcoholic, the ladies seemed content with just soft drinks and iced tea.

Just like in the bar, our new friends were interspersed with us, most notably Linda sitting next to Marty and Jamie sitting next to Wendy. There were some chuckles as different ones wanted to make sure they knew someone’s name. Once all the re-introductions were made, I decided to start the ball rolling by asking who had the first question.

I found it humorous that all of a sudden it seemed like the cat had gotten all of their tongues.

Then, the timidest one of the bunch, Glenn, finally raised his hand and asked, “By any chance, are any of you that Jonah guy, you know, the Invisible Man, that was in the news several months back? We all watched that story on the news about how he and some of his ‘friends’ got together and busted an entire Mafia family near Chicago!”

That had Jim looking at Monte, and grinning, with raised eyebrows.

Monte nodded, “Yes! And no. I know it’s confusing, but when it comes right down to it, many of us in this room have assumed the ‘Jonah’ persona at one time or another. The original Jonah was just a fictitious figure my friend Charlie and his brother Bob invented. When they first started helping the police, they didn’t know how to become invisible yet, or change their appearance. So, since everything they did was telekinetic, they would just ‘say’ that they were being helped by the ‘Invisible Man’, Jonah. Do all of you know what telekinesis is?”

Several of them were shaking their heads then Roger grinned, “I do! Isn’t that when you can use your mind to move things?”

Monte grinned, “You’ve got it, but in reality there’s a whole lot more than just moving things. Like being able to fly. The next step up the power ladder is called psychokinesis. Some people think telekinesis and psychokinesis are the same thing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s a long story, but most of us have psychokinesis. That was how my friends and I went from standing next to you to being on top of the van back in the parking lot. We call it teleportation. Every one of us has that ability now. We all also have the ability to become totally invisible.” He said then mentally urged all of us to become invisible.

When it appeared our six new friends were the only ones in the trailer, their gasp’s nearly sucked all the air out of the room. Before they really freaked out, we all reappeared and began chuckling.

“Where did you guys go?” Roger asked.

“Nowhere. We were still right here and if you had reached over you could’ve touched us. As you can see, if you were trying to catch a criminal in the act, that little ability could really come in handy, couldn’t it?”

They wanted us to do it again, and when we did, they all reached over and couldn’t believe that we were still there.

The wiry guy, Jay, started chuckling, “Boy, if you were in the spying business, that could come in real handy, too!”

Monte winked at him, “You can say that again!”

Jay’s mouth dropped open, “Oh wow, when you said several of you had to go back to Washington DC Sunday, do you guys all work for like, the CIA?”

Monte held his finger in front of his face, “Before we go much further, we need to ask the six of you a serious question...

“Would you guys be willing to accept what we call a ‘confidentiality consequence’? That means, if you do, you accept that if you ever tried telling anyone not in this room with us right now, anything about us or anything that we tell you, you’ll get a severe pain in your stomach. It will start out feeling like you have to fart, then, the more you try to say, you’ll get to the point where you feel like you just swallowed a jar full of broken glass. I know that sounds severe, but if you accept it, there’s also an amazing gift that goes along with it. Mental telepathy. How would the six of you like to be able to talk to each other, or all of us, anytime you want, from any distance, simply by thinking about it?”

Jim, who had been hanging on Monte’s every word, chuckled then asked, “You mean like, if I was working and had a bunch of nails in my mouth, I could ask one of my friends to hold the board a certain way by just thinking it, instead of having to take the nails out of my mouth and telling them?”

Monte grinned, “Exactly like that, only better, because when you communicate telepathically, besides just communicating words, you’d really be sending pictures of exactly how you wanted that board held! They wouldn’t even have to ask what you were talking about!”

All six of them were flabbergasted. They began animatedly telling each other just how useful that could be. Finally, while still grinning at Jim, they all accepted the consequence.

Darren and Jeremy had already agreed and went around giving each of them our upgraded telepathy. It’s amazing how, when somebody already believes something is possible, how quickly they figure out how to use it. Within just a few minutes, all six of them were holding very detailed discussions with all of us. Which led Jay to re-asking if Monte and his buddies all worked for the CIA.

Monte said, “Not all of us, no.” He hugged Maggie, who was sitting right next to him, then added, “Maggie does, along with my friend Bruce and Diane sitting back in those other chairs. The other two jamokes sitting back there, Rex and Jeremy, actually work for the NSA. That cute redheaded pixie, Sheila and Rex’s girl, Joni, work for the FBI as special attaché’s in the FBI’s Domestic Sex Slavery and Trafficking Division. They got those jobs shortly after that big bust that you guys saw on TV. I take it you all saw the video of the Angels healing all those kids who had been forced into being sex slaves?”

Marty gasped, looking back and forth at Linda and Jamie, “So, that was you guys too? Who were the other four Angels? On the clip that I saw, there were six of them.”

Linda took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Emmy, sitting right over there, was one of them and my sister, Jessica was another. She works on a ... special luxury yacht near Miami. The other two were Charlie and his wife Mary who aren’t ... here ... right now.” She ended quietly.

Marty glanced at Wendy, looking confused. Then she asked, “Was Charlie the other Angel that was with you that night we were shot?”

Linda nodded, “Yes, that was him...”

Roger gave her a concerned look, “And where are they right now? Oh, are they the ones who are overseas somewhere on some kind of business?”

I could see Linda was struggling so I jumped in, “That’s the story that we’ve been giving everybody. The truth, I’m afraid, is much stranger than fiction and I’m not sure if it would be a good thing for us to explain any further, tonight?”

I felt Monte pat me on the back. I realized I’d probably already said too much.

That became apparent when Jim asked, jokingly, “WHAT? Did they get like ... abducted by aliens or something?”

Suddenly, we all froze and you could have heard a pin drop.

We went into a quick group conversation, totally forgetting that now included our six new friends. Several opinions were being discussed, explicitly and in detail, before I noticed our new friend’s eyes were as wide open as their mouths!

Suddenly Glenn and Roger gasped, “Holy shit! Are you kidding? Charlie’s lost in a wormhole somewhere and Mary, Bob and Charlie’s baby son were abducted by ... aliens, known as Gromoriks?”

Then Roger asked, “What, the actual heck, is a wormhole?”

Then Glenn gasped, “And what in the world is a Gromorik?”

Monte, Darren, Rex, Bruce, Jeremy and I all had our heads in our hands, wondering just what the hell we were going to do now.

Talk about spilling the friggin’ beans!

Eddie and Bill were trying to stifle a chuckle, even though they only knew a tiny part of the whole story.

Linda, who had her arm around a thoroughly bewildered Marty sighed, “Well guys, what do you think? Is it time to introduce our new friends to Ibera?”

Monte just groaned, but then, shaking his head said, seriously, “Look guys, we screwed up and totally spaced off the fact that you could hear our telepathic conversations. For now, please, just accept the fact that it’s true that Bob, Mary and little CJ were abducted by a group of aliens, known as Gromoriks, and let it go for right now? The problem is, it would take a week to tell you enough of the story to enable you to even comprehend what actually happened.”

Roger took a deep breath, “What about Charlie? Was he abducted too?”

I shook my head, “No. He’s actually somewhere in time, either in the distant past or future, we just don’t know which. That was caused when he jumped into a wormhole through space when he shouldn’t have. Like Monte said, we’d need to show you or you’ll never understand.”

Glenn was excitedly gesturing with his hands like his head had just exploded!

He gasped, “Whoa! I took some Quantum and Theoretical Physics courses and one day our professor and another teacher, working on his PhD, were spiff balling and theorizing about the possibilities that wormholes existed or could exist. I found it fascinating. In the end they explained that it would take a tremendous amount of power, but, someday Time Travel might be possible using something like a wormhole. Was Charlie trying to like, go back in time!?”

I knew this was out of my league, so, I pointed at Darren, “My brother from another mother, Darren, is the closest thing we have to an expert on that topic, so, Darren, you wanna reply?”

I had to laugh when he gave me that, ‘I’m gonna get you for this’, look, but smiled, “Ahhh, well, the truth of the matter is ... wormholes are really for Space Travel to distant planets in extremely short spaces of time. For instance, using a wormhole, you can travel 80,000 Light Years in about 5 to 6 minutes! The problem with trying to ‘create’ one is you have to manipulate different Dimensions and Time, simultaneously! Now, don’t ask me HOW because that’s way above my paygrade, so to speak! Not to mention, you also need to know the exact astrological coordinates for the entrance and exit points.” He chuckled, giving me the ole ‘stink eye’!

Now, almost everybody in the room was staring at Darren, open mouthed. Even Monte and his gang! I have a funny feeling he’d gotten that information from Ibera, and was treading very close to saying too much.

I chuckled to myself, because I distinctly remember him telling me 5 to 6 minutes was how long it took to get from Ibera’s to Perdition Island.

And that it was 80,000 light years away!

Finally, after catching his breath, Glenn said, “Wow, that’s unbelievable! You just stated in 30 seconds what those two professors beat around the bush, for over two hours about, and never could agree on! Their arguments danced all around what you just said, too. May I ask, where did you get that from?”

Darren just grinned, “First-hand experience? Like Monte tried to say, we just don’t have the time to go into all that tonight. Glenn, I can tell you, that you and I, and possibly Ed and Greg are going to have some nice long ‘philosophical’ discussions about things along those lines over the coming months. I have a feeling there are others that want to ask some more questions tonight. Right?”

I grinned at Ed when he flashed at me, desperately, “Make dang sure you don’t forget to include me on those discussions, okay?”

“Not to worry, Buddy, Darren and I are hopefully going to let you in on some Super Top-Secret shit that’s going to blow your mind, even worse than Glenn’s was just blown!”

Ed was grinning from ear to ear, “Hot damn, I can’t wait! Thanks Buddy!”

Marty was looking at Linda, “You said something about an Ibera? Who or what is that!?”

Darren, Monte and I were chuckling when Darren pointed at Monte.

Maggie started giggling like crazy, “Oh Marty! Ibera is a ‘She’ and she’s perhaps the only lady in the entire universe that loves my Man more than me! She darn near rapes him every time he goes up to see her!

I about choked to death trying not to laugh.

I didn’t know the big guy could turn that many shades of red! That made all of our new friends either gasp or start giggling.

“But, but ... doesn’t that make you jealous!?” Wendy asked, looking at Maggie.

While Maggie was still giggling, but, emphatically shaking her head, Linda told her, “Girls, Ibera has made wild, passionate love to every single guy here! Just like ... well, WE girls have all made love with ‘every guy here’! In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re all one big, polyamorous Family. Jealousy is not an emotion any of us experience ... anymore.” She abruptly ended, looking sad.

I knew she was thinking about what Charlie had explained to her, a long time ago. It made her sad, because it reminded her that Charlie, Mary and Bob were gone now.

I nodded at her before continuing, “Forgive Linda, please? She’s feeling sad because our ‘mentor’, Charlie, isn’t here now. It has nothing, yet everything to do with our not experiencing jealousy anymore. My best friend in the world was Charlie! I met him in our Sophomore year at college when I was interning with a construction company and he was interning with an architectural firm. We met because both firms were working on the same project! We got to know each other over that summer and became close friends.

“I could go into more detail, but I want to get to the point. Near the end of our Senior year he met Mary and fell deeply in love with her. Usually when that happens, two guys like us, start more or less blowing each other off, wanting to pay more attention to their new girlfriends.