“Good morning,” he said, treating her to a full smile that did strange things to her insides. “Am I your first customer today?”
“Yes, what can I get for you?” Lily asked, grabbing a menu from the counter.
He seated himself there, glanced quickly at the menu she proffered and said “I’ll have your Number 2 Special.”
Lily jotted this down on a pad and rushed to the kitchen. She was waitress, cook, and sole bottle washer; deftly, she started cracking eggs, turning on the griddle, and marshalling the ingredients needed for this order. She’d just put the bacon on the griddle when she became aware of a shadow that fell over the stove. Whirling around, her hands moved into a defensive position, her training turning her slight frame into one of intense concentration.
The shadow was the stranger and he held no gun or knife, in fact he raised his hands palms out. “Whoa! I thought you’d have a cook or something,” he said with a wry grin.
“Nope,” Lily said, standing down. “Just me. Did you want to change your order?”
“No. But I’d like to talk to you.”
Internally, she sighed. Time and again, individuals would drop into San’s Café just to talk. She’d enjoyed it when she was a young teenager, idealistic, and eager to know more of the world around her. Now, such discussions could be a burden. Yet she also keenly felt at this moment her own solitary state. Her runaway father and brother might be self-absorbed, but they instilled, however vague, a sense of belonging. She wondered if this man was as rootless as she felt now.
Lily cooked quickly, and poured two cups of coffee out. The stranger settled himself at a small table and she brought her cup to sit across from him. There looked to be little or no trade this morning, so she assumed a sympathetic expression.
He ate a few bites quickly, then put down his fork. “I’ve been watching you for a while. No, no! Don’t get that look fixed on me! I am not some psychopath.”
“You’d better say something quick to change my mind,” Lily warned him.
“How about this?” he replied, and rattled of a list of numbers that included her social security number, deployment and military service member i.d. number, and the date of her discharge from the Army.
“Did you get these from Dr. Thompson in Cortez?” she said, ready to jump up and retrieve the service revolver she kept near the cash register. But she knew this couldn’t be true. These numbers were confidential, weren’t they?
He shook his head. “No. I got them from Captain Wolfe stationed at Groom Lake.”
Lily narrowed her eyes. “I recall Nellis near Las Vegas and an Air Station at Fallon. Never heard of Groom Lake.”
“Well, that’s one of this base’s names, but most people know it as Area 51.”
Lily sat up straighter. “Okay, now we’re in classified territory.” Her eyes strayed to the area of the cash register. The stranger wore light-colored camo fatigues, but then did lots of fashion-conscious men who’d never done a turn in the military. The muscles on this guy, however, made her think at once of Special Ops. Now, he rummaged in a pocket located above his knee. It wasn’t the right shape to hold a gun so Lily relaxed her suddenly stiff spine.
As he pulled out a worn map, he held out one hand for a shake. “By the way, my name’s Gabriel.”
Lily shook it. “Just Gabriel?”
“That’s all,” said with an impish grin that took the sting out of the rebuff. “By the way, Captain Wolfe got your i.d. from Sargent Eric Gill.”
Continued next week
