"What are we going to do?" Katei screamed as she skated her board into the shop.
"Another one?" Bobbie asked.
"The ninth person has disappeared without a trace," Katei answered.
"Who was it this time?" Wooley asked.
"Chuck Folds," Katei answered.
"You mean, Chuck Folds, the base player?" Steve asked.
"That's the one," Katei replied.
"Is he related to Ben Folds?" Wooley asked.
"He's Ben's younger brother," Bobbie answered.
"Why would the Aliens take him?" Steve asked. "He's not been involved in any of our efforts to take down the Aliens, has he?"
"Well," Bobbie said, "I did run into him over at UNCG the other day. Do you think that had anything to do with it?"
"Maybe," Steve said, "but don't go getting paranoid. If the Aliens kidnapped everyone you run into they'd have already got half of Greensboro by now. I think there's another reason."
"There is another reason," Veggie said as he hobbled out of the office barely able to walk on his cane." Mind control."
_____
For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on. It had been weeks since I heard from Donny and his was the only number in my phone. We did that before I left to make it harder for others to track me down. It wasn't that I didn't trust Steve, Wooley and Veggie but Donny is my brother, I'd known him since Momma brought him home from the hospital 51 years ago.
To make matters worse, the snow was so deep I couldn't get off the mountain if my life depended on it. I spent most of my time hunting firewood to stay warm and cook the game that monster of a dog dragged in. I don't know why he stayed unless it was to get his ears rubbed. Then again, maybe it was his mountain and he was wondering why I stayed. The venison was great and the 'possum was pretty good too but I was certain I would have to become a vegetarian when I got home if I was ever to get my cholesterol back under control. If only he hadn't of eaten the best cuts before he dragged it back to me. Oh well, the grease made good gravy and biscuits.
_____
Steve and Wooley were hatching a plan and figured the girls probably wouldn't go for it. It was common knowledge the Aliens were behind the kidnappings as several late night party goers had reported seeing what looked like struggling bodies wrapped in blankets being carried inside the Alien's building in the middle of the night. "I got my hands on the original 50 year old blueprints of their building," Steve said, "and from what I can tell it's not really a building at all."
"It's not a building?" Wooley asked. "Then what is it?"
"It looks like the top is designed to break away," Steve said, "and underneath is a giant underground silo."
"You mean like a missile silo?" Wooley asked.
"I mean like a spaceship silo," Steve answered. "This thing looks like it goes down into the ground for miles."
"Why so big?" Wooley asked. "There can't be that many of them."
"Storage."
"For what?"
"Something they plan to steal a lot of." Steve answered.
"Or something they've already stolen a lot of," Wooley pondered.
"Either way," Steve said, "they built themselves a spaceship underground right slap dab in the middle of Downtown Greensboro."
"When they blast off all of downtown gets fried, one big bang." Wooley commented.
"And it won't be over easy." Steve added.
"So what do we do?" Wooley asked.
"We make sure that space ship never takes off."
Continue to Ghost Riders.
