NOVA

A bright light shone down onto a cold metal table, its light bouncing off the table’s surface and filling the rest of the room. It was the only source of light in the small room, but it was more than sufficient to light the entirety of the space. The table, made of a cheap, light metal, was bolted to the floor to prevent it from moving. As Gavin looked down at the table he noticed how shiny it was. Why a table was so clean in such a place like this he had no idea. The wooden chair he had been tied to seemed to fit the atmosphere of what he had experienced better than anything else in the room.

He heard a door open across the room from where he was. Someone in heavy boots walked in and shut the door behind them quietly, as if to try and keep their entrance a secret. Gavin winced as he heard the door shut. He had already suffered quite enough, what more could these people want from him? The loud, clunking footsteps continued across the small room until their owner met the table. Another chair was pulled up to the table and the man attached to the feet sat down.

“Gavin Burns, do you know who I am?”, the man said as he pulled a folded up piece of paper out of the breast pocket of his field jacket. He unfolded the paper and smoothed it out on the table, then sat back in his chair, arms folded, waiting for a response.

Gavin looked up and studied the man in front of him. He appeared to be in his late fifties, or at least that’s what he gathered based on his graying high and tight haircut and clean shaven, yet wrinkled face. The man was wearing a military camo field jacket with khaki cargo parts tucked into a similar shade of khaki boots.

“I don’t know, some kind of military person?” Gavin replied,wincing after he finished speaking and hoping that this wouldn’t result in another beating.

“You would be somewhat correct. My name is Major General Kenneth Greaves.”, he said. “I work for the people of this country and serve their interests in regards to the paranormal events that occur here.”

Had Gavin been standing he would have taken a step back. What an odd combination of words to say, he thought. Why would the government, much less the military, have interests in regards to paranormal events?

“Okay”, Gavin said, barely managing to get the words out through a surprised face. “What does that have to do with me and why am I here?”

The Major General chuckled lightly. He put both hands behind his head, fingers laced, and kicked his boots up on the table in a relaxed fashion.

“Why don’t you tell me that and we can go from there”

“Well…Sir, I don’t really know why I’m here. Yesterday evening I was investigating a murder at a golf course and now I’m sitting in what seems to be a dungeon with a man I’ve never met before in my life. Maybe I could think better if I wasn’t tied to this chair”, Gavin said, raising one eyebrow.

The man sitting opposite Gavin cleared his throat and put his boots back on the floor. With that motion another man, dressed in dark gray tactical gear entered the room and pulled a knife from his boot. With a swift motion the third man ran the knife through the paracord that was binding Gavin to the old, musty chair he was sitting in. The ropes fell to the ground and a small cloud of dust rose in the air. Someone really needs to clean this room, Gavin thought as he stood up and started to stretch.

The third man went to leave and before being able to exit the room was stopped by the Major General who whispered something to him that Gavin was unable to hear.

“Please don’t kill me before I find out why I’m here”, Gavin asked, retreating to the far corner of the room to put as much distance between him and the pair of other men. If he was going to be attacked he wanted to have as much time to live as possible, even if it was just seconds.

Laughter filled the room as the military men turned to face Gavin and the Major General began to speak.

“We would never kill you Gavin. The only reason we have you here is to talk, maybe more depending on how this goes. Why don’t you sit down and start telling us more about what you’ve been up to over the last few weeks.”

The Major General pulled a handgun from the holster on his belt and pointed it at Gavin.

“You can tell us, or you can take the alternative, that is”

Gavin resumed sitting in the rickety chair that he had once been tied to, the legs creaking as he sat down as if they were about to snap under his weight. He wasn’t in the mood to be shot today, so maybe it was time for his normal snarky attitude to take a backseat.

Resting his elbows on the table Gavin leaned forward and asked “I’m not sure what you mean. I’ve been up to quite a bit. Work has been busy, my life hasn’t. Just shoot me straight, what do you want to know so bad that you had me kidnapped, beated, and tied to a chair to get it?”

The Major General sat up in his chair and scooted to the edge of his seat. He placed his elbows on the table and then rested his head on his folded hands, almost as if he was trying to patronize Gavin. He sighed and then closed his eyes.

“You really don’t know, do you?” he said to Gavin, “Your chief has told many people he sees a bright future in you but you seem to be just a let down from our perspective.”

Gavin was starting to turn red. All this beating around the bush and not being direct was definitely not something that he was too fond of. He was more of a straight shooter, he always wanted to be as direct as he could and do his best to not hide his intentions from people. “Honesty is the best policy” was the mantra that he lived his life by and he felt that not going straight to the point when asked a question violated this.

“I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about”, Gavin said.

“Let’s go back then. Tell me what you remember about the Clemons Case”, Major General Greaves asked.