Chapter 8: North Through Alaska

 

            Margaret and Wade sat silently in the plane as it traveled over six hundred miles to its destination. Unknown to Wade, the plane was headed to Clear Air Force Station. They would not be met by armed guards or any form of security. The plane was listed with a designation permitted only by politicians. Calling ahead, the pilot simply informed the airfield operations of the number of passengers on board, arrangements were made for transportation from there. By default, evacuation of the Primary were sent directly to Clear in the efforts to maintain security. By the time anyone knew that Wade was the source of the security breach, they would be long gone.

            Margaret, avoiding eye contact, finally confronted Wade about killing Lila.

            “How could you do it?” Margaret asked shakily.

            Wade studied the terrain as they flew past at nearly five hundred miles per hour. Without breaking eye contact with the mountains, he answered.

            “She wasn't going to let me go.” He answered simply.

            “How could you possibly know that? You have no idea what her plans were for you!” Margaret blurted.

            Wade took a deep breath and turned his head from his peaceful vista and focused on Margaret.

            “She was going to recover my mind, my memories, and all that my life is simply to see if she could. I was the test of their experiment. Nothing more. When she was done, she was going to revert me back to what I was. I would wake up with someone over me as if I were an infant all over again.”

            Margaret attempted to defend Lila's intentions. She couldn't. It wasn't beyond reason. With a sudden flash of his words echoing in her head she asked.

            “Wait. What do you mean recover your memories?”

            Wade looked at her in a whole new way. A look she had never seen. With eyes older than any man she had known.

            “I remember everything.” Wade replied.

            Turning his head back to the beautiful vista, Margaret began to wrap her head around the vast memories that he had filling his mind at once. Lifetimes of lovers, children, aliases, and pain flooding through in one long string of memories. Waking up from death seeming no more important that waking up in the morning.

            “But how? How could you...” Margaret stopped. She knew already.

            He was the experiment. This was a new procedure. She thought.

            In less than an hour and a half, the plane touched down gently on the tarmac of Clear Air Force Station. Lowering the hatch, the pilot wished them better luck as a dark car approached from the tail end of the aircraft. Margaret thanked the men and climbed down first. The driver met the two at the rear door and opened the door for Margaret. Walking quickly around to the other side, the driver opened the door for Wade. Thanking the sharply dressed old man, Wade climbed in the car as he had done thousands of times before.

            Before departing the hangar, the driver turned back to his passengers and asked.

            “Sir. Ma'am. Where are we off to today?”

            Margaret deflected the question to Wade. Wade quickly answered.

            “Take us to the nearest town, please.”

            With a dutiful nod, the driver turned back to the front and drove the vehicle smoothly away from the hangar.

            In the peaceful silence that Wade had been accustomed to, the drive to Anderson, Alaska was shorter than he had expected. The rush of thoughts in his mind still hadn't processed as much as he would have liked. Images of rushing upstairs to a helicopter came back at him like memories of a faint dream. Explosions ringing his ears as he plummeted to the ground. Through all of his lifetimes, he could still not explain why he woke up after each death. He didn't know how his body worked. Only that it did.

            As they pass a bright red roadhouse, Wade spoke to the driver.

            “Pull in here, please.”

            The driver nodded in acknowledgment and pulled in to the roadhouse. Wade opened the door before the driver could get to him. Margaret followed suit.

            “Thank you, sir. This will do just fine. We won't need your services anymore.” Wade said.

            The driver tipped his hat and stood patiently. Margaret walked to the man and handing him one hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills.

            “Thank you very much, sir.” She said cordially.

            The driver smiled wide across his aged face and turned quickly to his vehicle. As the dust rose from the departing vehicle, Margaret looked to Wade.

            “I hope you have a plan, dear.” She said as she walked her way to the front doors.

            Wade smiled a knowing smile and walked behind his loyal friend.

Sitting at an empty table, a kind woman, hardened by the isolation of this place, offered them some drinks. Wade accepted some plain water. Looking to Margaret, she kindly asked for something stronger.

            “If you have it, could I trouble you for some scotch?” Margaret asked.

            The waitress smiled at the oddly placed woman.

            “No trouble at all. I'll be back shortly to get your order.” With a wink, the waitress left them alone.

            Savoring his water, Wade placed the glass down and slowly began to spin the glass in its place.

            “My dear Margaret.” He began.

            Margaret leaned forward.

            “Could I trouble you for just one more thing?” He asked.

            Margaret smiled.

            “We're past asking, aren't we?” She smiled.

            “I suppose so. I need your cell phone, if you please.” Wade asked with his hand held out.

            Margaret, who has been working in this position for years, had never heard a student of hers ask for a cell phone. Although, she had never seen a student gain full recollection of past lives and set fire to the Primary, either.

            Handing the phone to Wade, she asked.

            “Letting your wife know you're okay?” She laughed.

            Wade smiled.

            “No. Just collecting on a bit of money I stashed away.”

            Logging in to the infamous Swiss Banks, Wade flipped through to the transfer page.

            “I am lacking a checking account. Can you put your information in?” Wade asked.

            “Ooh! Free money!” Margaret joked.

            Entering her information into the website, she passed the phone back when she had finished. Wade finalized the steps and transferred a considerable amount. Logging out of the site, Wade slid the phone back to her.

            “We will eat here. Stay the night, then we'll get a car in the morning.” With that said, Wade turned back to his menu as the waitress returned with a glass of whiskey.

            “I'm sorry, we didn't have any more scotch. Here is some Irish whiskey for ya, if you wouldn't mind. We only had Jameson in stock.” The waitress said as she placed the drink down on a napkin.

            “This will do just fine, thank you so much!” Margaret replied.

            Wade smiled his crooked smile at Margaret and placed his menu down to order his first meal of freedom in a very long time.