Emerald and Amber
Starlight
Nighttime Colors
Sunset
12 Days (pt. 10/12)
“Are you ready to find out the truth?” a man’s voice whispered.
Lila whirled around, binoculars held like a club in her hand.
Ian moved quickly to locate the source of the voice and after a brief struggle put the stranger into a chokehold. The man thrashed about and then went limp.
“Light,” Ian said in a low voice.
Lila fumbled in her handbag, pulling out the small LED flashlight she kept in there. Flipping it on, she shone it in Ian’s general direction.
Ian winced. “A little lower with the light, please.”
She dropped the angle of the flashlight and peered at the man being held by Ian.
“Mitchell,” she whispered. “You got here fast.”
“As did you,” Mitchell said quietly. “If you look up, you’ll see a plane approaching the airstrip over there.” He inclined his head toward the area south of the towers.
They glanced up in the darkening sky and saw a small airplane approaching. It came in quickly for a landing while they watched.
“If you’ll release me?” Mitchell addressed Ian, who still maintained his hold.
Ian stepped back, allowing him his freedom. Mitchell nodded toward the plane. “You’ll want to see this.” He motioned to the binoculars Lila clutched in her hand. Lila immediately put them up to her eyes.
In the gathering dusk, she could make out two men unloading what seemed to be a heavy box. They struggled to carry it over to a 4-wheeler that looked more like a golf cart with seating and a roof for shade. Task accomplished, one of the men returned to the plane with its engine still running and prepared to take off, while the other man drove away on a dusty track toward the towers.
Lila quickly passed the binoculars to Ian. He sized up the situation and turned to Mitchell. “Drugs? Weapons?”
“Anything can be a weapon depending on how it’s used,” Mitchell replied cagily.
“Get to the point,” Ian said.
“A drone; competition to the one that you saw recently. This one has the capability to direct a high-energy laser beam at an identified target. Before this, you needed a turret-sized mechanism to deliver the hit.”
“Is that what was used at the exhibition that killed Regelmeister?” Lila inquired.
“Yes, it had a self destruct function activated. Costly to lose the equipment, but with the bounty earned from a targeted hit and the opportunity for a public test trial of the equipment, well worth it.”
“Wouldn’t someone notice a laser beam?” Lila asked skeptically.
“Not a nearly invisible pinpoint of light.” Mitchell continued, “Drones will soon be ubiquitous in our environment. No one will question seeing a police drone or military drone overhead for surveillance in almost any city. Now, with the proven ability to target with great accuracy, there’s a lot more at stake. For instance,” he paused, “who owns the technology?”
12 Days (pt. 9/12)
Ian and Lila raced from the exhibit hall to try to catch up with Mitchell. He was nowhere to be seen.
“I’d like to know exactly what he meant by three towers,” Lila said thoughtfully as they walked slowly toward their car. As they got closer to it, she saw a white piece of paper underneath the driver side wiper blade. Leaning over, she lifted the wiper blade and pulled the paper from beneath it.
Smoothing the paper flat against the side of the car, she studied a simple hand drawn map in black ink with two lines indicating what appeared to be a road, a dividing line with CA / NV written on either side of it, and three towers off to the side of the road. There was a small compass in the right corner of the paper that indicated the towers were on the north side of the road.
Lila wore a puzzled expression as she tapped the paper a couple of times before turning to Ian. “You know where this is, don’t you?”
“Not really. I mean, I can tell that it’s close to the California-Nevada border, but aside from that…” Ian’s voice trailed off and he shrugged.
“It’s in the Mohave Desert next to the interstate. I see it every time I’m driving to Vegas,” Lila said with conviction.
“You’re sure you can find it?” Ian looked at her skeptically.
“Absolutely. You’ll know it when you see it,” she said confidently.
Clutching the map, Lila hopped in the passenger side and looked up at Ian expectantly. “Let’s go!”
Twilight was falling over the desert when less than three hours later Ian pulled onto the shoulder of northbound I-15.
Lila pointed to the other side of the freeway at the three glowing towers. “There they are,” she said triumphantly.
Ian gave a low whistle. “Nice work. Let me see the map one more time.”
She passed it over to him.
“It fits,” he agreed, and gave the map back to her.
Easing back onto the road, he continued until they reached the exit for the tiny town of Primm situated near the Nevada border. He took the exit and drove across the road to the southbound on-ramp for I-15 where he merged back onto the interstate.
As they closed in on the area near the three towers, Ian pulled as far off the road as possible.
“Lucky there isn’t more traffic,” Lila commented in a low voice.
Ian nodded, all his attention focused on the three towers. “Can you get the binoculars from under the seat?” he asked Lila quietly.
She reached under the seat and grabbed the digital camera binoculars.
Ian reached up to turn off the dome light so that they wouldn’t be illuminated as they opened the car doors. As they exited the car and began walking toward the towers, they heard a voice behind them.
12 Days (pt. 8/12)
Lila and Ian drove over to the mid-Wilshire area where Ian managed to find street parking some distance away from the museum.
“Saved ten bucks,” he remarked with satisfaction.
“Yeah, but if we have to make a quick escape that could cost us,” Lila remarked.
They briskly walked over to museum, paid their admission, and identified the building in which they were to meet the mystery person or persons.
Lila glanced at her watch. “Fifteen minutes. Let’s get set up.”
They walked into the main exhibit area and casually moved apart as they studied the artifacts that included footage from the 1920 silent film, Der Golem [The Golem], something that captured Lila’s attention immediately. She stood entranced in front of the screen, forgetting momentarily to pay attention to those around her.
“Interesting movie,” a man’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
She swung around nearly braining the guy with her handbag.
A thin, dark haired man in his late 50s stood slightly behind her. At her startled reaction he held up his hands in a gesture to indicate that he meant no harm.
“Yes, it is,” she replied cautiously.
“I find the golem to be a physical representation of the creative process. We create something without knowing how it will change once it is released to the world.” The dark haired man smiled grimly. “Unfortunately this can have,” he paused, “unintended consequences.”
Lila smiled. “That matches perfectly with my motto: expect the unexpected.”
Mitchell inclined his head, acknowledging her riposte.
He held out his hand. “Mitchell Harvard.”
Lila decided to play along to see where this was going. “Lila.”
Ian wended his way over to where they were standing. “I haven’t had the pleasure,” he said pleasantly.
“Mitchell,” the man held out his hand to Ian, who shook it briefly.
“I take it you’re also an admirer of silent film?” Ian queried.
“I find the subject matter particularly intriguing.” Mitchell’s gesture encompassed both Ian and Lila. “Are you early film aficionados?”
Lila laughed. “I’ve attended a couple of UCLA sponsored silent film showings, but that’s the extent of my knowledge.”
“I guess you could say we’re here to learn more about it,” Ian said carefully.
“Certainly this is a fine example of German Expressionism. Also, I think the message that one’s creation often outgrows one’s ability to control it is particularly poignant.”
Ian quirked his eyebrow at Mitchell, “And yet it can be combated by a single person, as in the film. Was the golem evil or merely misunderstood?”
“Can’t it be both?” Mitchell posed the question.
Lila mused, “First the golem saves many people, but later kills someone. Does the second action negate the first?”
Mitchell smiled politely. “Perhaps we come at this from different perspectives. I find that evil may often hide behind the face of good.” He looked around the room, noting that they were currently the only ones at the exhibit.
Lila pressed him. “Do you have a specific instance in mind?”
“Suppose a group knows that someone has created a weapon with the intent to use it for an evil purpose. The group members decide that they are willing to do anything to stop that plan. What is your responsibility if you find out about this situation?” Mitchell asked tensely.
The lights went out in the room and Mitchell pulled Ian and Lila closer to him. “Mohave Desert. The three towers. 3 p.m. tomorrow. If you are the sort who would indeed do something.”
The lights came back on suddenly, and Ian and Lila blinked to clear their vision. Mitchell had disappeared.
12 Days (pt. 7/12)
Stopping off at their place first, Lila determined to do some research before they left.
“It looks like LACMA is running an exhibit on the Golem legend.” Lila paused. “This makes me think about our trip to Krakow. I really loved those bread circles covered in poppy or sesame seeds. Mmm…” She fell silent with a blissful look on her face.
Ian waved his hand near her face. “Earth to Lila. Time for another trip to Europe.”
“Yes!” Lila’s eyes brightened. “Let’s go in July. Don’t you have some time off coming up?”
“Okay, back to the subject,” Ian said gently. “Golems. What do we know about ‘em?”
Lila turned determinedly back to the computer. “Let’s turn to our favorite source, Wikipedia.” She pulled up the site and read silently for a moment. “Okay, so it’s a lump of clay that is essentially magically made alive. A relative of the rabbi who originally made a golem way back in the 1500s said that when the rabbi saw the golem growing too huge, he ended up getting injured while trying to put the kibosh on it. Sounds like at first the golem was pretty useful, but after awhile it got out of control.”
“What does a golem have to do with a drone?” Ian asked quizzically
“Maybe,” Lila said slowly, “it has something to do with this larger legend about Rabbi Loew making a golem to protect the Jewish community in Prague during the late 1500s. There’s even a World War II era legend about a Nazi going up to the attic where this original golem is supposedly stored to try to stick a knife in it, but then the Nazi operative mysteriously ends up dead.”
Lila took a breath. “Wasn’t the company that produced the drone called Magen?” She quickly typed in the word and searched. “That means protector in Hebrew. The company has an office here in Los Angeles that we should probably visit.” She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking. “Todd Regelmeister, the defense guy who was killed, he could have been a threat to someone. We need to find out more about him.”
12 Days (pt. 6/12)
Ian and Lila parked in front of their place and made their way to the front door.
“Pearson is going to be thrilled to see us,” Lila pointed out.
“I’m sure,” Ian replied dryly, carefully opening the front door to block any attempt by the cat to escape. As expected, Pearson greeted them meowing vociferously, and demanding an explanation for their absence.
Walking in, instead of almost tripping over Pearson as she usually did, Lila managed to skid across the bamboo floor on an envelope pushed under their door by someone. After catching her balance, she reached down and picked up the envelope.
Pearson nearly crawled up her pant leg in his excitement at their return, so she stumbled over to the kitchen table and took a seat. He promptly climbed into her lap, kneading it, before settling in with a loud purr. Ian sat beside her at the table.
Lila thoroughly examined the unmarked envelope before slitting it open with her fingernail. Pulling out a single sheet of heavy cream-colored paper, she placed it on the table where they could both see.
GOLEMS. 2ND FLOOR AHMANSON BLDG. 15:00.
Lila looked quickly at her watch.
“We only have a couple of hours. Let’s grab some tacos and head over.”
“Sounds good,” Ian agreed.
They walked up the street to their favorite taco place where they got their usual orders of fish and shrimp tacos with drinks.
Appetites satiated, they prepared to drive over to LACMA.
12 Days (pt. 5/12)
Lichen spread across the stone steps leading down to the rock-strewn beach.
“Gorgeous.” Lila stood for a moment admiring the view of the sun setting behind them before quickly gazing around for the next sign of where they should go.
She saw what looked like a map tied to the metal railing with string that she tugged loose.
Ian crowded in next to her to hold the map flat against the wall.
“Los Angeles?” Lila rolled her eyes. and quirked her eyebrow at Ian. “After driving all the way up here, we’re supposed to drive right back down?” She squinted and tapped at the map. “Where is this place?”
Ian leaned closer. “Looks like LACMA,” he said referring to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Ian yawned hugely. “How about we head over to Trader Joe’s and pick up some food – I know you’re hungry – and then stop over at a motel in Seaside.”
Lila nodded. “Sounds good.”
They drove over to Trader Joe’s and picked up some wine, cheese, bread and chocolate before wending their way over to the motel.
The next morning they headed down to Los Angeles.