Keith and Shelley tried to get comfortable on the bullet train, heading south to Fullerton. The property surrounding Fuller’s mansion included about 500 wooded acres, and somewhere in that forest was a treasure that would make them rich, according to Shelley. Keith wasn’t so sure.

“I’m not so sure about this,” he said.

His fetcher bot, now modified for their mission, rested quietly in Keith’s backpack. The sensors from his old metal detector had integrated easily into the bot’s array. He also transplanted his handheld GPS unit’s innards to the fetcher. The programming was the tricky part, but before he left his apartment it all seemed to be working.

“It can’t hurt to try,” Shelley said.

Keith turned to look at her.

“Um, did you see what happened on that patio? If that beam, or pulse, or whatever it was had hit us, it would have done much more than just hurt.”

“But nobody’s after us. They don’t even know we know anything.”

“Yet.”

A man sitting across from them stuck his finger in his ear and wiggled it around. He pulled it out and looked at it, then wiped it on his suit pants. Having everything within walking distance had kept Keith from needing mass transit very often. He couldn’t imagine attaining the level of comfort it would take to pick his ear in public.

He also wondered why a man wearing an Armani suit was riding the bullet.

“I gotta hit the restroom,” Keith said.

He made his way down the aisle, keeping his face pointed straight ahead while his eyes watched the people. Through three cars he walked, some of the passengers wearing smiles, others whose indifferent dazes could be broken only by the name of their stop blaring from the speakers. The younger riders bobbed their heads to the sound of music coming from their personal media players. Those with receding hairlines and gray at their temples stared out the windows, as if answers lay in the rolling green hills. He saw only a few exceptions to the pattern.

A few rows short of the restrooms, Keith saw the men called Theo and Falcon. His palms broke out in sweat. Those guys brought bad luck, and until Shelley came into his life, he had kept risk as far away as possible.

But he really needed to pee.

His gaze remained on Theo too long. “You alright? You look like you just seen a ghost,” Theo said.

“Just need to use the b-b-bathroom,” Keith said.

“Theo, don’t talk to anybody non-essential,” muttered Falcon.

“Sorry, Billy Boy.” Then, to Keith, “Just forget I was ever here, y’hear?”

Falcon tugged on Theo’s sleeve. “Theo! This is only our second trip together. I can make it our last.”

Keith nodded and continued on his route.

Before he was out of earshot, he heard, “Pretty soon you’ll be just like me, Billy Boy. You’ll live for excitement.”

When Keith reached the restroom its sliding door opened. He ducked inside and after the door closed, he exhaled. He stepped on a pedal and leaned over the basin to splash cold water in his face.

Straightening up for a look in the mirror, he said, “You’re crazy. What are you thinking?” He looked down at the crotch of his pants. “Better yet, what are you thinking?”

Had he not been with Shelley the day before, he would have run screaming from The Cotton Patch like the rest of the patrons and tried to forget he had ever seen the strangers. Now, they happened to be on the same train. Clearly, his brain was not making all the decisions lately.

As he made his way back to his seat, he met the man in the Armani suit coming the other direction. The man’s eyes were fixed on a point near the restrooms. The spot where the two strangers sat.

Keith felt beads of sweat rolling down his rib cage. If anybody opened fire on that train with the kind of weapon used on the restaurant patio, things would get nasty in a hurry. He tried not to look suspicious as he squeezed past the suited man. With no idea of what an intentionally inconspicuous expression felt like, he wasn’t sure he got it right.

A few rows beyond where he and the suited man met, Keith risked a look back. The man passed Theo and Falcon and entered the restroom. “Okay, no shooting yet. That’s good,” Keith muttered. He made his way back through two more cars without meeting anyone else, just the way he liked it.

Back at their seats, Shelley had joined the ranks of the young. Her eyes closed and her earbuds in place, she swayed her head rhythmically to what Keith guessed was a ballad. Even magnets for controversy could seem sweet and peaceful with their eyes and mouth shut.

Before he sat, he noticed that the landscape blurred past more slowly. He braced himself as the rate of deceleration increased. Although he could make out what looked like a station up ahead, it was clear the train would stop well short.

A woman’s husky voice floated down from hidden speakers. “Good morning, everyone. We are experiencing an unplanned stop. Please remain seated while we determine the cause.”

(to be continued)