The next morning the day-nurse made her 7a.m. rounds rousing Joel from his semi-restful (mostly creative) sleep. "Now how can I cash in on this?" Looking at the day-nurse, she was one of those 30 years plus with a bulldog complexion. She took the vitals, "and how are you feeling this morning?" she asked as she took his pulse.
"Much better, thanks," wincing at the slight headache ringing in his head. "When can I get out of here?"
She looked at her watch and noted the results on his charts, "I can't say. You had a nasty bump on your head and the police want to talk to you. They're waiting outside." The nurse finished her duties taking the vitals and promptly walked out.
In walked three men. Two of which wore khaki short-sleeved uniforms. The patches and badges said they were Paradise's finest. The third man was definitely a suit, but from where was anyone's guess. The suit stayed behind in the background as one of the officers' spoke. The sheriff removed his brown round hat, "Good morning sir, I'm Sheriff Tumlin. This is Deputy Coleman. I need some information concerning your accident. I already have most of the information from your license and the wreckage. Could you tell me what happened? You're not being charged with anything."
Sheriff Tumlin pulled out a micro-recorder as Joel thought for a moment. Taking a deep breath, Joel answered, "All I know I was driving along getting ready to get a room for the night. I just got off my cell with my girlfriend. Then the car crashed. Must've blown a tire or something. Next thing I know, I woke up here."
"Was there anyone with you in the car? Where you alone?" Asked the Sheriff.
"Yeah I was alone. I just finished a business trip, and I was going home."
"And what do you do for a living, Mr. Gonzalez?"
"I'm an aircraft maintenance consultant. I go to aircraft boneyards and evaluate airframes and parts for possible salvaging or restoration.
The suit pulled out a wallet from his jacket. "Sir, I'm Agent Sellers from the FBI." He pulled out an 8x10 from a folder. "Have you ever seen this person before?" He said handing the photo to Joel.
Joel mused over the picture for a moment. The face was cleaned up, but it was definitely Red Barton. "Uh... Nope. Never saw him before. Should I?"
Agent Sellers put the photo away. "No sir. We had a report that he was seen in the area, and we're covering all possibilities. Thank you sir. Agent Sellers then walked out of the room.
"Well, I have all the information I need. Will you be staying in Paradise?"
"No, I have to get to Santa Fe. My girlfriend doesn't know what happened to me."
The Sheriff and Deputy left the room as the Doctor walked in, "Good Morning, Mr. Gonzalez. How are you feeling?"
"Better, doc. When can I get out of here?"
"Well, your chart say you vitals are normal despite your car accident. Everything checks out fine. I'll have your release in an hour or so. Just relax as I get the release papers started."
Agent Sellers left the room. His partner, waiting for him around the corner joins up, "Well? What do you think?"
"He's lying. I know it. He's the only one to have been exposed and not disappear. Did you impound the car?" he asked as they got to the parking lot.
"Just the engine; we got to it before the locals had a chance to see Dr. Barton fused in it. What the hell happened to him?"
" I don't know. First things first, you have the tail for our test subject?"
"Yeah the team's ready to observe and report anything unusual. Non-contact is the word."
"Good, let's get back to the lab. I want to check out the picture he touched and his background info." The two men climbed into their car and drove off into the desert.
Processed and released from the hospital, Joel arranged for a rental car from a local dealership. The standard Ford " POS ain't gonna get laid mobile." Leaving Paradise behind for good, he turned on his cellphone. 'YOU HAVE 20 MESSAGES.' "Oh shit." They were all from Janice. Ignoring the messages, he dialed home.
"Hi, darling, Ho� Wait a �. I know�. Come on�.. Would you�. Give me������.. Awwwwwwwww. Okay, I'll be home in about three hours." Hanging up the cellphone and hitting the gas, Joel was not looking forward to going home.
The lab was lined up with various electronics. Monitor, sensors, and so on. Sellers donned his lab coat handing the picture of Red to a female assistance. "Check the picture, first for fingerprints then check the radiation test strip on the back. What do you have on the engine?"
Another female lab assistant printed out a report from a computer. "The car was definitely phased out of sync. There are minor disruptions in the metal but nothing surprising there. Dr. Barton's death was due to system shock from being molecularly fused with the metal."
Taking the report from the assistant. "But how did he fuse with the engine block? And why is he older. He disappeared last month, but he looks ten years older."
The first assistant returned, "Sir, you better check this out."
"Do you have the results already?" Taking the clipboard from her. Sellers flipped through the pages then handed them back to her, "Double check the results. If these are accurate, then we have to get Mr. Gonzalez back here to find out what he's capable of." Grabbing a cellphone. "This is Sellers, change of operation. We don't have much time."
The voice on the other end replied, "We have the surveillance equipment ready and we have a fix on the car, what are your orders?"
Joel pulls up into the driveway of his house. Before the parking brake was even applied, a very pissed off 5'2"short haired Chinese brunette came storming out of the house. "What the hell happened to you out there! I get this call from some police officer that you were in an accident and were in the hospital?"
Joel got out of the Ford POS. "I'm all right really, just calm down, Janice." Joel hugged Janice then walked inside the house telling Janice an edited version of the accident. Joel lay down on the sofa while Janice lay on top of him, her back to his chest. After a quick nap together on the sofa, Joel looked at Janice sleeping like an angel with her hands tucked just under her chin. Concentrating for an instant, Joel looked over to the grandfather clock. The pendulum was frozen in mid-swing. Carefully lifting Janice, Joel sneaked out from under her and discovered that she was hanging in mid-air. "Cool," he thought, placing Janice back on the sofa and covering her with a blanket.
Looking around the neighborhood at his frozen neighbors, Joel pushes the POS out of the driveway. "Oh, Denise you're looking lovely as always." Across the street frozen in mid-stride, Denise wore cut-off jogging shorts with a tank top. Her long blond hair pulled back to bun. "Business first, I'll get back to you later." Joel concentrated again and Denise resumed her jog. Joel started the engine and headed to the mall.
Once there Joel headed to the Ritz Camera store and purchased a full manual 35mm camera with a the fastest shutter speed possible with some low-light high speed film. Taking a few moments to remember the instructions, he set about to test a theory.
Going to the food court, Joel stands about the escalator looking at the passerby's. Concentrating a bit, the world comes to a halt. Spotting a pair of businesswomen walking towards him, Joel prepares the camera. The first woman, a 5'6" shoulder length wavy redhead, is wearing a sharp tailored peach colored skirt suit with a pale pick blouse. The other woman, a 5'6" shorthaired brunette, is wearing a dark blue pantsuit with a black blouse. Taking his time so hopefully the film has enough exposure, Joel snaps a few pictures of the pair. Leaving the camera in mid-air, he opens up their blouses marveling at the exposed bras and then snaps a few more pics. At every stage of their undressing a few more pictures are taken. Within a few more minutes, the two women are completely naked and still in the same position when they were frozen. Looking about the food court, Joel fondled the two women, searching for more subjects. Soon eight high school girls who were sitting all together were stripped, posed and photographed for Joel's viewing pleasure later, as well as those four oriental serving girls behind the Wok and Roll counter, and the many lovely women wearing those Capri pants and sleeveless tops. Each and every one of them was stripped naked and left as they were. Feeling hungry, Joel instinctively looked at his watch for the time. "Hey this is working." The watch says 8:50 p.m., but the clock behind the Wok and Roll counter says 1:18 p.m. "No wonder I'm famished." Grabbing a quick meal from the Wok and Roll and fucking the cutest of the four girls there, Joel runs out of the food court with his camera and bag of film. He climbs into the rental and knits his brows together. Even at this distance, the screams coming from the mall were deafening. A few moments later, some of Joel's "models" were racing across the parking lot, some half dressed and others barely covering themselves with whatever they have on hand. Laughing himself stupid, Joel headed for home.
Standing on the second level observing the panic in the food court. A man dials up his cell phone. Another man runs up to him with a couple of �" videotapes. "Got the mall security tapes. We have to leave now before someone finds out they're missing."
A voice comes through the phone speaker. "This is Sellers."
"Sir, this is Branson. The subject disappeared."
"What do you mean disappeared?"
"One moment he was standing by the escalator in the food court and the next moment he was gone and just about every woman in the food court was naked and screaming. Carlton has the mall security tapes."
"Oh god, he can do it. He can really do it. Branson, I want those tapes immediately." Branson nodded to Carlton and Carlton took off for the parking lot. "How do you recommend capture of the subject?"
"I don't sir. I would recommend capture through the use of a third party."
"All right, I want you to standby for now. Just observe until I analyze those tapes and recommend some course of action."
"Copy." Branson hung up the cell phone. He pulled out a palm pilot from his pocket. After tapping the screen, a road map of the highway pops ups on the display. A small dot is blinking in the center with a display in the corner stating the speed and direction of Joel's rental car. "Gotcha!"