Western "Then we got word that some IRA fellows were in town, currency. trying to buy surplus East German armament that some "The only difference between now and back in the eight- former members of the army had stashed away for a rainy ies is that we learned our lessons from those old days and day when the wall came down. The word was these Irish now we preempt terrorism. And that's why you don't hear guys were trying to get some SAM-7 shoulder-fired antiair- about it so much anymore--not because the assholes have craft missiles. gone away. People are so naive." "We don't know what they were going to do with them, "Preempt?" Kelly asked. although the best guess was they'd sit outside Heathrow Turcotte gave a short, nasty laugh. "Yeah. When we were and take out a Concorde just after takeoff. That would AREA 51 2O3 202 ROBERT DOHERTY make the news, which is all those scumbags want. I know the way they would have to leave. We had a good spot on a they signed a peace accord and ceasefire and all that happy curve in the road. shit, but that don't stop the guys who pull the trigger. They "When the car didn't show after an hour, my CO--let's have to be on the edge. A lot of those people do what they call him Rolf--got spooked. Surveillance told us they'd do because they like it. They couldn't give a shit about the stopped in town. But maybe they'd left by another way. so-called goals they shout at the cameras. It's just an excuse Rolf asked me what I thought. How the fuck was I to to be a sociopath." know? He paused when the waitress came by to take their or- "So Rolf and I went into the village and spotted the car der. Kelly ordered a bagel, Turcotte a glass of orange juice. outside a bar. We'd been told there were three of them. So "Anyway, everything about the mission was rushed be- old Rolf he decides, hey, fuck it, let's take them out right cause the intel was late. The IRA had already purchased now and right here. You and me. He was still worried that the missiles and had them loaded in a car and were head- they might have spotted the surveillance team that had ing for France when we were alerted. We were airlifted been following them and that they might take a different ahead of them and picked up some cars. The terrorists route out of town to lose the tail and bypass the ambush were taking back roads--staying away from the auto- our team had set up. Or that they might even be doing a bahn--which played right into our hands." dead drop with the missiles in the town and we might lose The angry undercurrent in Turcotte's voice grew. "We track of the ordnance. should have just stopped them and taken them into cus- "So I said, hey, yeah, sounds good to me. We had MP-5 tody. But we couldn't do that, you see. Because that would silenced subs slung inside our long coats and pistols in our have caused too much controversy--the trial and all. And shoulder holsters. Rolf ordered surveillance to close up it just compounds the problem to put them in jail, 'cause tight around the bar to make sure no one escaped and to that gives every blood relative they have a reason to grab pick us up when we were done." some hostages and demand their release. And the whole The waitress brought the bagel and orange juice. cycle starts again. So instead we were supposed to kill Turcotte took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled as she them. Make it look like we were terrorists ourselves, and walked away. that way no one looks bad except the local cops. "We walked right in the front fucking door. The place is "So." Turcotte took a deep breath to steady his voice. packed, people eating dinner and drinking. Must have "We were all set to hit them outside a small town in central been twenty, twenty-five people in there. But we spot our Germany. They were heading up to Kiel to load the weap- suspects right away and guess what? There's only two of ons on a freighter for transshipment to England. But the these bozos seated in a booth, drinking. So Rolf looked at IRA guys--they were Irish after all--they had to stop in a me like, hey where's number three? So again, like how the Gasthaus for a few brews and lunch before making it to fuck do I know? Probably taking a piss. I started to the bar their rendezvous at the port. to order a brew, scanning the room as I went, but Rolf "I was the team XO--executive officer. The commander hesitated. was a German. We set up on the north side of the town-- "I can't blame him too much. Shit, we had silenced sub- 204 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 2O5 machine guns under our coats and we were there to kill." "The only good thing was he just had fifteen rounds in Turcotte gave Kelly a twisted grin. "Contrary to popular the mag. He got the IRA guy, but he also hit some civilians. fiction and what they show on the movies, we weren't stone I didn't know how many at the time. There was just this cold killers. We were good at our job, but we were also pile of bodies; at the very least the three that had been scared. Most people are in that situation. If you aren't, around the IRA man, plus some others who'd been in the you're crazy--and I have met some of those crazies. Any- line of fire. Rolf was even flipping his taped-together maga- way, one of the IRA guys in the booth he looks at Rolf zines, putting a fresh one in when I grabbed the gun out of standing there with his thumb up his ass and you could just his hand." Turcotte pulled out his right hand and put it in tell that the Irish guy knew who we were. Rolf wasn't ex- front of Kelly's face. The skin on his palm was knotted with actly the greatest actor in the world, and I'm sure I wasn't scar tissue. "You can still see where the suppressor on the giving off the best vibes either. barrel of Rolfs sub burned my hand. At the time I didn't "So the guy reached under his coat, and Rolf and I feel a thing, I was so freaked. hosed the two of them down lickety-split. We each fired "So I took his weapon and grabbed him by the collar and half a magazine--fifteen rounds each--and there was made for the door. One thing for sure--people really got nothing left' in that booth but chewed-up meat. And the the hell out of our way now. Surveillance had a car waiting most amazing thing was that after the first shot there for us and I threw Rolf in and we split." wasn't a single sound other than the sound of our brass Turcotte took a drink of coffee. "I found out later that falling to the floor. Everyone in the place just fucking froze night that Rolf had killed four civilians, including a preg- and looked at us, wondering who was next. Then someone nant eighteen-year-old girl, and wounded three. The news had to scream, and everything went to hell." was playing it up like an internal IRA hit and the whole Turcotte's eyes had taken on a distant look as he went country was in an uproar to catch the killers. But they back into that room. "The smart ones just hit the deck. couldn't catch the killers, could they? Because the country That's what Rolf and I yelled at them in German to do was the killers. after the scream. But about half the people rushed for the "For a while I even thought they might give Rolf and me doors, and that's when we spotted the third guy. He was in up as sacrificial lambs, but then common sense kicked in. I the middle of a group of four people, running for it. He was stupid for even thinking that. If they gave us up, the might have been taking a leak. He might have been around whole counterterrorist operation would be out in the open the corner at the bar. I don't know. But there he was." and those in power certainly didn't want that. Might lose a Turcotte shook his head. "And Rolf--fucking Rolf--he few votes at the polling booth. So you know what they just fired them all up. I don't know what short-circuited in did?" Turcotte looked at Kelly with red-rimmed eyes. his head. Hell, the third guy couldn't have gone anywhere. Kelly slowly shook her head. Surveillance had to have been sitting on top of his car out- "They held an inquest, of course. That's proper form in side by now and could have taken him out once they got an the military. As a matter of fact the head man I met down open shot outside the Gasthaus. But Rolf just lost it." in the Cube, General Gullick, he was one of those ap- Turcotte's voice briefly broke. pointed to look into the whole thing. For security reasons 206 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 2O7 we never saw those who questioned us, nor did we know Von Seeckt and I don't give a shit whether you believe me their names. They talked to us and then talked to each or not. Because it's between me and all these high-speed other, and guess what they decided? They gave us fucking assholes who pull strings and cause people to die. Fuck me medals. Yeah, Rolf and me. Ain't that great? A medal for once, shame on me--fuck me twice, I fuck back." killing a pregnant woman." "You didn't kill her," Kelly quietly remarked. "Does it matter? I was part of it. I could have told Rolf to wait. I could have done a lot of things." "He was the commander. It was his responsibility," Kelly argued, remembering what her father had told her about the army and covert operations. "Yeah. I know. I was just following orders, right?" Kelly had no answer for that. "So that's how my career in the regular army and Special Forces ended. I went to my American commander and told him where he could shove his medal, and they had me on the next thing smoking back to the States. But I had to stop in D.C. first. To meet someone." He proceeded to tell her about meeting Dr. Duncan, her orders to him, and the phone line out of commission. "Why were you chosen?" "Right person, right time," Turcotte said with a shrug. "There aren't that many high-speed dudes like me who have top-level clearances and can fire a gun." Kelly shook her head. "You were chosen because you told them to shove the medal. It showed somebody, some- place, that you had integrity. That's even rarer than a top- level security clearance." Kelly reached across the table and squeezed his hand, feeling the rough flesh in the palm. "You got screwed, Turcotte." "No." Turcotte shook his head. "I screwed myself the minute I started playing God with a gun. I thought I was in control, but I was just a pawn, and they used me up like one. And now you know why I turned on my commander out there in Nebraska and killed him and why I rescued 209 1 8 The hangar doors slowly slid open. Inside Bouncer Three, Major Paul Terrent checked the control panel, which was a mixture of the original fixtures and added-on human tech- nology, including a satellite communications link with Gen- eral Gullick in the Cube. "All set," he announced. "I don't like being the bait," his copilot, Captain Kevin Scheuler, remarked. They were both reclined in depres- sions in the floor of the disk. The cockpit was an oval, twelve feet in diameter. They could see out in all direc- tions, the inner walls displaying what was outside of them THE CUBE, AREA 51 as if the walls themselves were not there--another piece of T-96 HOURS technology they could use but still didn't understand. "Give me a status," Gullick ordered. The effect, while useful, was extremely disorienting, and "Bouncer Three is ready for flight," Quinn reported. perhaps the second greatest hurdle Bouncer test pilots had "Bouncer Eight is also prepped and ready. Aurora is on to overcome. Most particularly, the view straight down standby status. Our link to Cheyenne Mountain is live and when the craft was at altitude, as if the pilot were floating secure. Anything moves, we'll be able to track it, sir." in the air, was quite a shock to the system until one got "General Brown?" Gullick asked. used to it. For this night's mission both men were wearing The Air Force deputy chief of staff frowned. His conver- night vision goggles on their flight helmets and the interior sation with his boss in Washington had been anything but of the hangar was lit in red lights, meaning there was little difference in illumination for them between there and the fun. "I talked to the chief of staff and he okayed the alerts, outside night sky. but he was not happy about it." However, the greatest hurdle to flying the machine was "I don't care if he was happy or not," Gullick said. "I the physical limitations of the pilots. The Bouncer was ca- just care that the mission is a go." pable of maneuvers that the pilot's physiology could not Brown looked down at his own computer screen. "We've handle. In the early days of the program there had been got every base alerted and planes on standby for pursuit. blackouts, broken bones, and various other injuries, includ- The primary and alternate kill zones are a go." ing one fatal crash--the disk staying intact, the uncon- "Admiral Coakley?" scious pilots inside being turned into crushed protoplasm "The carrier Abraham Lincoln is steaming toward the on impact with the earth. The disk had been recovered, sight where the foo fighter went down. It's got planes on cleaned out, and was still capable of flight. The two pilots alert." had been buried with honors; their widows told they had "We're all set, then," Gullick said. "Let's roll." died flying an experimental aircraft and given their posthu- mous medals at the funeral. 210 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 211 There was machinery surrounding the depressions that The airstrip outside was dark. Terrent pulled up on a the scientists had yet to figure out. The project's scientists lever to his side with his left hand and the disk lifted. The believed that there was a built-in way for the pilot depres- control system was simplicity itself. Pull up on the lever sions/seats to be shielded from the effect of G-forces, but and the disk went up. Let go of it and the lever returned to they had yet to discover it. It was as if a child who was center and the disk stayed at that altitude. Push down on it capable of riding a tricycle were allowed into a car. He and the disk descended. might understand what the steering wheel did, but he Terrent pushed the yoke forward with his right hand and wouldn't understand what the small opening on the steer- they moved forward. The yoke worked in the same manner ing wheel column was for, especially if the child had not as the altitude lever. Letting go brought the disk to a halt. been given the keys. Constant pressure equaled constant speed in whichever di- The best that they had been able to come up with was rection the yoke was pushed. allowing the test pilots enough flight time so that they un- Scheuler was looking at the navigation display--a human derstood their own limitations and did not push the ma- device tied in to a satellite positioning system. A computer chine past what they could handle. Beyond that, the display with a black rectangular outline to separate it from shoulder and waist harnesses bolted around the depres- the surrounding view showed their present position as a sions would have to do. small red glowing dot with state borders shown in light "There's nothing that can catch us," Major Terrent said. green lines. It was the easiest way to orient the pilots as to "Nothing human," Scheuler noted. "But if this foo their location. fighter thing was made by the same people who made this, "Let's roll," Terrent said. He pressed forward and they or people like the people who made this, then-- were out of the hangar. "Then nothing," Terrent cut in. "This ship is at least ten Behind them, still in the hangar, Bouncer Eight rose to a thousand years old. The eggheads know that, at least. Who- hover and waited. On the airstrip Aurora stood at the end, ever left it behind has been long gone. And they probably engines on, prepared for flight. On airstrips across the weren't people." United States and down into Panama, and on board the "Then why are we flying this mission, trying to bait this Abraham Lincoln at sea, pilots sat in their cockpits and foo fighter? Who made it?" Scheuler asked. waited--for what, they had not been told. But they knew "Because General Gullick ordered it," Terrent said. He whatever it was, this was no game. The planes' wings had looked at Scheuler. "You have any further questions, I sug- live missiles slung underneath and the Galling guns were gest you talk to him." loaded with bullets. Scheuler shook his head. "No, thanks." Terrent pressed a small red button added on top of the All clear," Quinn said, a rather unnecessary statement Y-shaped yoke in front of him, keying the SATCOM radio. since everyone in the room could see the small red dot "Cube Six, this is Bouncer Three. All systems ready. Over." indicating Bouncer Three moving northwest out of the Gullick's deep voice answered. "This is Cube Six. Go. state. The computer had already screened out all commer- Out." cial aircraft flights. 212 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 213 "Contact!" Quinn announced. A small green dot had "That's the lake," Terrent said. He pressed the yoke to the suddenly appeared on the screen, well behind Bouncer right a bit more. Three. "Same reading as the first one!" "On course," Scheuler said, checking their projected di- "Three, this is Six," Gullick spoke into his headset. rection. "Head for Checkpoint Alpha. Over." "Is the bogey turning yet?" "Yes," Scheuler said. "It's taken the bait. Right on our On board Bouncer Three, Major Terrent slowly pressed trail, about one hundred and fifty miles behind." the yoke to the right and the disk began a long curve over Terrent keyed his mike. "Six, this is Three. Kill Zone southern Idaho, turning toward the Great Salt Lake. What Alpha in one minute, forty-seven seconds. Over." was different about the turn from one made by an ordinary aircraft was the fact that there was no banking. The disk "Roger," Gullick answered. There were several more dots simply changed directions, staying flat and level. The bod- on the screen now. The red one indicated Bouncer Three ies of the two men inside strained against their restraining heading directly toward a small orange rectangle--Kill harnesses during the turn, then settled back in the depres- Zone Alpha--a point directly over the center of the Hill sions. Air Force Base Range. On the ground out there a helicop- "Give me a reading," Terrent said. ter and recovery crew from Nightscape waited. The green dot was the bogey, following Bouncer Three. Two red "The bogey's about three hundred miles behind us," plane silhouettes showed the F-16's on an intercept course. Captain Scheuler responded. He was watching the same A red triangle represented Aurora, en route directly from information on his small screen that the people in the Area 51. Cube had displayed on their large one. "Intercept in forty-five seconds," Quinn announced. "Is it turning with us?" Terrent asked. Bouncer Three went through the orange rectangle. "Not yet." "What the fuck was that?" the pilot of the lead F-16 called "Get Aurora in the air," Gullick ordered. "Alert Kill Zone out as Bouncer Three flashed by. Alpha reaction forces and get them up too. Have you fed "Wolfhound One, this is Six. Stay on target!" General coordinates of the bogey to Teal Amber?" Gullick's voice in the pilot's helmet was a cold slap in the Quinn was working quickly. "Yes, sir." face. "Have you got a lock on the target?" The pilot checked his instruments. "Roger, Six." At Hill Air Force Base, just outside Salt Lake City, two "Arm your missiles." F-16 Fighting Falcons roared down the runway and up into The pilot armed the air-to-air missiles under his wings. the night sky. As soon as they had reached sufficient alti- Still shaken by the image of Bouncer Three, he also armed tude, they turned west, over the flat surface of the lake, his 20mm multibarrel cannon. His wingman did the same. heading for the desolate land on the far side. "This son of a bitch is moving fast," the wingman said over the secure link between the two planes. 214 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 215 "Not fast enough," the pilot said. General Gullick was concerned about the same thing in Gullick reacted first. "Get Aurora after it. Launch Bouncer the Cube. "What's the speed of the bogey?" Eight." He keyed his radio. "Bouncer Three, this is Six. "Computer estimates twelve hundred miles an hour," Head for Kill Zone Bravo. Over." Quinn replied. "It's pacing Bouncer Three." Which was "This is Three. Roger." the reason the disk was flying so slowly, trying to draw the Gullick switched frequencies. "Wolfhound One, this is bogey in to the kill zone at a slow enough speed to be hit Six. Return to base for debriefing. Out." by the conventional jets. Gullick was intimately familiar with the weapon systems on board the F-16's--he was As the two F-16's turned back toward Salt Lake City and checked out on the aircraft. They could handle that speed. Hill Air Force Base, the pilot of the lead aircraft looked across the night sky to his wingman. "Six, this is Wolfhound One. Target will be in range in ten "We're in for a long night," he said on their secure chan- seconds. Request final authorization. Over." nel. "I don't know what it was we just saw--or didn't see-- "This is Six. Fire as soon as target is in range. Over." but one thing for sure, the security dinks are going to be all The pilot took a deep breath. over us on the ground." "Is this guy for real?" his wingman asked. "No time for questions," the pilot snapped. The heads- Major Terrent lined up Bouncer Three on an azimuth that up display indicated the target was in range. "Fire!" he would take them directly over the four corners--where yelled. Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico met--the only A Sidewinder missile leapt out from underneath the place in the United States contiguous to four states. wings of both planes. Kill Zone Bravo was several hundred miles beyond that in the same direction. White Sands Missile Range. Even though they conceptually knew what the bouncers "Where's the bogey?" Terrent asked. were capable of--and therefore could conceptualize what "Holding, about fifty miles behind us," Scheuler re- the foo fighters might be able to do--there was complete ported. shock as the bogey simply left the orange square behind "Let's hope they're better prepared at Bravo," Terrent and was over fifty miles away by the time the Sidewinders said. had crossed the two miles from where the F-16's were to where the bogey had been. General Gullick was directing the situation to insure just that. He had Aurora and Bouncer Eight heading directly "What the fuck was that?" the F-16 pilot said for the sec- toward the kill zone. They would beat Three there by four ond time in less than two minutes. His heads-up display minutes. was clear. The Sidewinder he'd fired was an arc disappear- Four F-15's from the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hol- ing over the base range, running out of fuel and descend- loman Air Force Base were already in the air. He didn't ing. Whatever he'd fired at was gone. expect them to have any more luck than the two F-16's 216 ROBERT DOHERTY 217 AREA 51 had--except now he had the ace card of having Bouncer From Bouncer Three, Captain Scheuler could see the wait- Eight in the air. Gullick planned on using both it and ing F-15's on his display. "ETA thirty seconds," he said. Bouncer Three to corral the bogey into a position where "Slowing." Major Terrent let up on the yoke. the F-15's could get a good shot at it. Aurora was to be on standby to chase, just in case it did get away again and "That's the first one," Eagle Flight Leader called out as moved outside the continental United States. It was a rule Bouncer Three buzzed through, slowing as it went. His that even General Gullick could not break on his own ini- men were disciplined. No one questioned what it was. That tiative--the bouncers could not fly over the ocean or for- would have to wait until the ready room after the mission. eign territory on the remote chance they might go down. Even then, they all knew they could never speak openly of The wall display was crowded now. Bouncer Three tonight's mission. straight shot from Salt Lake to White Sands, the bogey just "Lock on," Eagle Leader confirmed. behind. Bouncer Eight and Aurora on line from Nevada. "Locked," Eagle Two echoed, as did the other two pi- Four small airplane silhouettes lying in wait over White lots. Sands. "Fire!" "Amber Teal has the bogey," Quinn announced. "We're getting some imagery." On the display at the front of the Cube the foo fighter Gullick wasn't impressed or interested. They already had appeared to suddenly become motionless as a thin red line photos of the foo fighters. He wanted the real thing. He extended from each fighter toward the green dot. keyed his SATCOM link to the F-15 commander. "Eagle Leader, this is Cube Six. Target ETA in five minutes, "Jesus Christ!" Eagle Flight Leader swore. The bogey had twenty seconds. You're only going to get one shot at this. disappeared--straight up! Then reality set in hard. "Eva- Make it good. Over." sive maneuvers!" he screamed as the Sidewinder missile "This is Eagle Leader. Roger. Over." Eagle Flight Leader from the F-15 opposite him locked onto his plane. glanced out of his cockpit at the other three planes. "Eagle For four seconds there was absolute confusion as pilots Flight, take up positions. Get a fix on the first craft as it and planes scrambled to escape friendly fire. goes through. It will come to a halt on the far side of the kill zone. A second craft similar to the first is also en route General Gullick didn't even watch the self-induced melee. from the west and will also hold on the western side of the "Bouncer Three, go! Direct angle of intercept. Break. kill zone. Launch on the bogey as soon as it crosses Phase Eight, loop to the south and catch it if it goes the way the Line Happy. Over." other did! Aurora, get some altitude. Move, people! Move! The four planes broke into a cloverleaf pattern, the kill Over." zone a large pocket of empty sky, crisscrossed with elec- "Seventy thousand feet and climbing," Quinn reported. tronic energy as the planes turned on their targeting radar. "Seventy-five thousand." AREA 51 219 218 ROBERT DOHERTY "Please, Lord," Eagle Flight Leader whispered as he "Southwest," Scheuler said. "Heading, two-one-zero de- pulled out of the steep dive he'd gone into. A Sidewinder grees." roared past to his left. He keyed his radio. "Eagle Flight report. Over." "What's it doing?" Gullick asked. "One. Roger. Over." "Bogey heading two-one-zero degrees," Quinn said. "Two. Roger. Over." "Descending on a glide path, going down through one hun- "Three. Took a licking, but I'm still kicking. Over." dred and ten thousand. Three is in close pursuit. Eight Eagle Flight Leader looked up. Not to where the bogey is--" Quinn paused. "The bogey's turning!" had gone but farther. "Thank you, Lord." "Uh-oh," Captain Scheuler said as things changed on his "Ninety thousand and still climbing," Scheuler informed display. Major Terrent. His fingers hit the keyboard in front of him, "What?" The controls were getting firmer in Major Ter- his arms struggling against the G-forces pushing him down rent's hands. They were just about down to one hundred into his cutout seat. thousand feet. Scheuler snapped into action. "Collision alert!" "One hundred ten thousand and still climbing," Major "Give me a direction!" Terrent yelled. Quinn said. "The F-15's are all secure and returning to Holloman," he added. "One hundred and twenty thou- "Break right," Scheuler guessed. sand." Well over twenty miles up and still going vertical. On the large screen the red and green dots both curved in "One hundred and twenty-five thousand. It's peaking the same direction and merged. Gullick stood, his teeth over," Scheuler said. biting through the forgotten cigar. Major Terrent let out his breath. The controls had started to get slightly sluggish. The record for altitude in a Scheuler watched the foo fighter tear by directly overhead, bouncer was one hundred and sixty-five thousand feet, and less than ten feet away. A beam of white light was flashing that had been a wild ride four years ago. For some reason, out of the small glowing ball and raking over and through due to the magnetic propulsion system, which had not yet their disk. been figured out, at over a hundred thousand feet the disk "Engine failure. Loss of all control," Terrent reported. started losing power. They both felt their weight lighten, then they were peaking The crew of the disk that had made the record flight had over and heading down. had the unnerving experience of peaking out while still Scheuler looked at his display. "Ninety thousand and in trying to climb and gone into an uncontrolled descent be- free fall." fore the disk had regained power. The lever and yoke moved freely in Terrent's hands. "Heading?" Terrent asked, concentrating on keeping control. "Nothing. No power." He looked over at Scheuler. Both 220 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 221 men were maintaining their external discipline but their the bogey and Bouncer Eight was increasing rather than voices displayed their fear. decreasing, despite the crew of the disk pushing it to the "Eighty-five thousand," Scheuler said. limits of human endurance. Gullick spit out the mangled remains of his cigar. "Bouncer Three is in uncontrolled descent," Quinn re- "Bouncer Eight, this is Cube Six. Break off. I say again, ported. "No power. Bouncer Eight and Aurora are still in break off and return home. Aurora, continue pursuit. pursuit." Over." The green dot representing the foo fighter was moving "This is Bouncer Eight. Roger. Over." swiftly to the southwest. "This is Aurora. Roger. Over." On the screen Bouncer Eight rapidly decelerated and "Sixty thousand," Scheuler reported. curved back into airspace above the United States. Aurora Terrent let go of the useless controls. continued following the bogey. "Fifty-five thousand." "Alert the Abraham Lincoln to launch pursuit," Gullick ordered Admiral Coakley. The general finally shifted his "The bogey will hit the Mexican border in two minutes," gaze to the upper part of the screen. The green dot repre- Quinn reported. senting Bouncer Three was still motionless. "Altitude?" he "Bouncer Eight, this is Cube Six," Gullick said into his asked. boom mike. "Get that son of a bitch!" Quinn knew what he was referring to. "Thirty thousand. Still no power. Uncontrolled descent." With no power other than the Earth's gravity, Bouncer "Nightscape recovery status?" Gullick asked. Three was going down at terminal velocity. They had "In the air toward projected impact area," Quinn said. tipped over and the edge to both men's right was leading the way down. "I'm going to initiate at twenty thousand," Terrent said. They were actually descending more slowly than they His right hand rested on a red lever. "Clear." had gone up, Scheuler reflected, watching the digital dis- Scheuler pushed aside the keyboard and display from his play count down in front of him. He felt strangely de- lap as Terrent did the same. "Clear." tached, his years of pilot training keeping the fear at bay. "Cable up," Terrent ordered. At least they weren't tumbling. Scheuler hit a button on the side of his seat. Anchored Scheuler glanced over questioningly at Terrent. "Forty- to the ceiling above and behind the two of them, a cable five thousand." tightened, its near anchor point sliding along a track bolted Terrent tried the controls again. "Still nothing," he re- onto the floor until it stopped right between the two de- ported. pressions the men were seated in. "Hook up," Terrent instructed. "Thirty seconds to the border," Quinn said. He confirmed Scheuler reached into the waist pocket of his flight suit the bad news the screen was displaying. The gap between and pulled out a locking carabiner and slipped it onto the 222 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 223 steel cable, just above where Terrent put his. He made sure "Ten thousand feet," Quinn said. He looked at his com- it was on and screwed tight the lock. He then traced the puter screen and hit a few keys. "We're getting a slight nylon webbing back from it to the harness strapped around change in downward velocity on Bouncer Three." his torso, making sure it was clear and not wrapped around "I thought you said the readout said the hatch was blown anything. and they had initiated escape." Gullick said. "Hooked up," he confirmed. He glanced over at his dis- "Yes, sir, the hatch is gone, but"--Quinn checked the play. "Twenty-two thousand five hundred." data being sent in from the satellites and Bouncer Three Terrent grabbed the controls one last time and tried itself--"but it's slowing, sir!" them. They moved freely. No response. He looked at Gullick nodded, but turned his attention back toward Scheuler. "Ready, Kevin?" the screen and the green dot of the bogey, now over the "Ready." Pacific far west of Panama. "Blowing hatch on three. One. Two. Three." Terrent slammed down the red lever and the exploding bolts on the Without Scheuler, Terrent had no idea what his altitude hatch at the other end of the cable blew. The hatch spun was. He'd pushed aside his own heads-up display when away and cold night air whistled in. he'd hooked up. The power was coming back, but very "Go!" Terrent screamed. slowly. Captain Scheuler unbuckled his shoulder straps and pushed, sliding up the cable, slamming against the roof of "Five thousand feet, continuing to decelerate," Quinn said. the disk. He got oriented and looked down at Terrent, still "How come I don't see the F-14's from the Abraham in his seat. Then he let go and was sucked out of the hatch, Lincoln on the display?" General Gullick asked. the nylon strap reaching its end and deploying the para- "I--uh--" Quinn's fingers flew over the keyboard and a cluster of small plane silhouettes appeared on the screen. chute that he had been sitting on. The disk was already They were heading toward an orange circle representing gone into the darkness below by the time the chute finished the spot where the previous foo fighter had gone into the opening. ocean. The symbols for the bogey and Aurora were also He watched but there was no other blossoming of white heading there. canopy below. 'I think I've got it!" Terrent yelled to himself. He had the Major Terrenes hands were on the releases for his shoulder altitude lever pulled up as high as it would go and could straps when his pilot's instincts took over one last time. He continue to feel power returning. "We'll make it, we'll--" reached down and grabbed the controls. There was some- thing--the slightest response. His focus came back inside She's down," Quinn said in a quiet voice. "Bouncer Three the craft as he wrestled with the controls. is down. All telemetry is cut." "Make sure Nightscape recovery has the exact position 224 ROBERT DOHERTY from the last readout," Gullick ordered. "Time to bogey 19 intercept for the Tomcats?" Quinn looked at General Gullick for a few seconds, then turned back to his terminal. "Six minutes." "I don't see what good intercept will do," Admiral Coakley protested. "We've already tried twice. It's over the ocean. Even if we down the bogey it won't--" "I am in charge here," General Gullick hissed. "Don't ever-- "Bogey's gone, sir," Quinn said. "She's gone under." The data was complex and much of it was not in the histor- ical record. It counted at least six different types of atmo- spheric craft, only two of which were listed. And it was not action of this type that had awoken it twice before. Never- theless, this new event was a threat because it was tied in to the place where the mothership was. Valuable energy was diverted, and the main processor was brought up to forty-percent capacity to ponder the bursts of input that had occurred in this past cycle of the planet around its star. There had been conflict, but that did not concern it. There were larger issues at stake here. 20 21 VICINITY, DULCE, NEW MEXICO WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO T-93 HOURS, 3O MINUTES T-93 HOURS, 30 MINUTES There was something stuck in both his arms and on the The first thing Colonel Dickerson did as his command-and- inside of each thigh. Johnny Simmons also sensed tubes control helicopter zeroed in on the personnel beacon from between his legs--a catheter, both fore and aft. There was Bouncer Three was have his aide, Captain Travers, remove also some sort of device hooked in the right side of his the silver eagles on his collar and replace them with two mouth, giving off a very light mist of moisture. Another stars. That was for any military personnel they might run tube ran into the left side of his mouth and that was how he into. The typical military mentality viewed generals as was breathing. There was something over his face, covering gods, and that was the way Dickerson wanted people re- it, pressing his eyes shut and blocking off his nose. Beyond that Simmons didn't have a clue as to his condition. And sponding to his orders this night. those discoveries had been made only in those few breaks "ETA to beacon two minutes," the pilot of the UH-60 between periods of excruciating pain. Blackhawk announced over the intercom. He assumed that at least one of whatever was stuck in Dickerson glanced out the window. Three other him was a nutritional IV. He had no clue as to the passage Blackhawks followed, spread out against the night sky, of time, but it felt as if his entire existence had been spent their running lights darkened. He hit the transmit button in this darkness. for his radio. "Roller, this is Hawk. Give me some good If it had not been for the needles and catheters, Johnny news. Over." believed he would have thought himself dead and his soul The response from his second-in-command at the main exiled to hell. But this was a living hell, a physical one. White Sands complex was immediate. "This is Roller. I've He felt a coppery taste in his mouth. He didn't even wait got people awake here. The duty officer is rounding us up for the pain now. His mouth contorted open and he silently some transport. They've got two lowboys we can use and a screamed. crane rated for what we need for recovery. Over." "How long before you can get them out to the range? Over." 228 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 229 "An hour and a half max. Over." son calculated that it was buried at least twenty feet into "Roger. Out." the countryside. The pilot came on the intercom as soon as Dickerson "What about the beacon on the hatch?" he asked Cap- was finished. "There he is, sir." tain Travers. Dickerson leaned forward and looked out. "Pick him "Nightscape Two has it on screen and is closing on it. up," he ordered. About four miles to the southwest of our location," Travers The Blackhawk descended and landed. The man on the responded. ground sat on his parachute to prevent it from being in- They had to clean up every single piece of gear and flated by the groundwash of the rotor blades. Two men equipment. There was always the chance that someone jumped off the rear of Dickerson's aircraft, ran over to they had to recruit to help with the recovery--such as the Captain Scheuler, and escorted him back to the bird, secur- drivers of the lowboys or the bulldozer or crane operator-- ing the parachute. might talk, but as long as there was no physical evidence, Scheuler put on a headset as soon as he was on board. they were good to go. "Have you picked up Major Terrent's signal?" he asked. "Let's land," Dickerson ordered. Dickerson indicated for the pilot to take off. "No. We're going to the disk transponder." "Maybe his equipment got damaged when he was getting THE CUBE, AREA 51 out of the disk," Scheuler said. Dickerson glanced across at the pilot, who met the look General Gullick scanned the haggard faces around the briefly, then went back to flying. There wasn't time to tell conference table. There were two empty seats. Dr. Duncan Scheuler about the slight slowing in descent of Bouncer had not been informed of, or invited to, the night's activi- Three just before impact. ties, and Von Seeckt was, of course, absent. As recorder "ETA to disk transponder?" Dickerson asked. and data retriever, Major Quinn was seated away from the "Thirty seconds." table, at a computer console to Gullick's left. The pilot pointed. "There it is, sir." "Gentlemen," Gullick began, "we have a problem occur- "Shit," Dickerson heard the copilot mutter. And that ring at a most critical time. We have Bouncer Three down was a rather appropriate comment on the current condi- with one casualty at White Sands. We also have six aircrews tion of Bouncer Three. He keyed his radio. "Roller, we're currently being debriefed on the night's events. And all we going to need a dozer and probably a backhoe too. Over." have gained against those potential security breaches is a His aide back at main base was ready. "Roger." replay of the events of the other night. We have more pic- The pilot brought the aircraft to a hover, the searchlight tures of this foo fighter to add to our records and we have on the belly of the helicopter trained down and forward on almost the exact same location in the Pacific Ocean that it the crash site. Bouncer Three had hit at an angle. Only the disappeared into." trail edge was visible, sticking up out of the dirt ridge it had Gullick paused and leaned back in his chair, steepling his impacted into. Knowing the dimension of the disk, Dicker- fingers. "This thing, this craft, has beaten the best we could 230 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 231 throw against it, including our appropriated technology Ten heads swiveled and looked at the one man who here." He looked at Dr. Underbill. "Any idea what it did didn't rate a leather seat. Major Quinn seemed to sink to Bouncer Three?" lower behind his portable computer. The representative from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory "Say again?" Gullick said in his deep voice. held a roll of telemetry paper in his hands. "Not until I get "Perhaps they are aliens, sir," Quinn said. a chance to look at the flight recorder and talk to the crew- "You mean the foo fighters are UFOs?" General Brown man who survived. All I can determine from this," he said, sniffed. shaking the paper, "is that there was a complete loss of "Of course they're UFOs," General Gullick cut in, sur- power on board Bouncer Three in conjunction with a near prising everyone in the room with the harshness of his collision with the foo fighter. The power loss lasted for one tone. "We don't know what the fuck they are, do we? That minute and forty-six seconds, then some power began re- makes them unidentified, right? And they fly, right? And turning, but too late for the pilot to compensate for the they're real objects, aren't they?" He slapped a palm down craft's terminal velocity." on the table top. "Gentlemen, as far as the rest of the Dr. Ferrel, the physicist, cleared his throat. "Since we world is concerned we're flying UFOs here every week. The don't understand the exact workings of the propulsion sys- question I want an answer to is who is flying the UFOs that tem of the disks, it makes it doubly hard for us to try to we aren't?" He swiveled his head to Quinn. "And you figure out what the foo fighter did to Bouncer Three to think it's aliens?" cause the crash." "We have no hint that anyone on Earth possesses the "What about something we do understand?" Gullick technology needed for these foo fighters, sir," Quinn said. asked. "We certainly understand how helicopters fly." "Yes, Major, but the Russians sure as shit don't think we Underhill nodded. "I've gone over the wreckage of the possess the technology to make the bouncers either. And AH-6 that crashed in Nebraska, and the only thing I have we don't," Gullick hissed. "My point is, has someone else been able to determine is that it suffered complete engine dug up some technology like we have here?" failure. There was no problem with either the transmission Kennedy, from CIA, leaned forward. "If I remember or hydraulics or else no one would have survived the crash. rightly from my inbriefing, there were other sites listed on The engine simply ceased functioning. Perhaps some sort the tablets that we never had a chance to look at." of electrical or magnetic interference. "Most of those sites were ancient ruins," Quinn said "The pilot is still in a coma and I have not been able to quickly, "but the thing is, there are more high runes at interview him. I have some theories, but until I can work those sites. Who knows what might be written there? We on them, I have no idea how the foo fighter caused the haven't been able to decipher the writing. We do know that engine on that aircraft to cease functioning." Germans deciphered some of the high runes, but that "Does anyone," Gullick said, with emphasis, "have any was lost in World War II." idea what these foo fighters are or who is behind them?" Lost to us," Gullick amended. "And it's not certain that A long silence descended on the conference table. Germans were able to read the high runes. They might "Aliens?" nave been working off of a map like we did when we went 232 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 233 down to Antarctica and picked up the other seven bounc- Gullick turned to Kennedy. "Do you have any informa- ers. Remember," Gullick added, "that we just uncovered tion that might be connected to this?" what was at Jamiltepec eight months ago." Kennedy stroked his chin. "There's several things that That caught Major Quinn's attention. He had never might be of significance. We know they have been carrying heard of Jamiltepec or of a discovery having been made out secret test flights at their facility at Tyuratam in south- there related to the Majic-12 project. Now, though, was not ern Siberia for decades, and we've never been able to pen- the time to bring it up. etrate the security there. They do everything at night and Kennedy leaned forward. "We do have to remember that even with infrared overhead satellite imagery, we haven't the Russians picked up quite a bit of information at the been able to figure out what they've got. So they could be flying foo fighters." end of World War II. After all, they had a chance to go "But these things went down into the Pacific," General through all the records in Berlin. They also knew what they Brown noted. were doing when they conquered Germany. If people only "They could be launching and recovering off a subma- knew the fight that went on over the scientific corpse of the rine," Admiral Coakley said. "Hell, their Delta-class subs Third Reich between us and the Russians." are the largest submarines in the world. I'm sure they could The last comment earned the CIA representative a hard have modified one to handle this sort of thing." look from General Gullick, and Kennedy quickly moved "Any sign of Russian submarine activity from your peo- on. ple at the site?" General Gullick asked. "My point is," Kennedy said quickly, "that maybe the "Nothing so far. Last report I had was that our ships Russians found their own technology in the form of these were in position and they were preparing to send a sub- foo fighters. After all, we have no reports of Russian air- mersible down," Coakley replied. craft running into them during the war. And it is pretty Major Quinn had to grip the edge of his computer to suspicious that the Enola Gay was escorted on its way to remind himself that he was awake. He couldn't believe the Hiroshima. Truman did inform Stalin that the bomb was way the men around the conference table were talking. It going to be dropped. Maybe they wanted to see what was was as if they had all halved their IQ and added in a dose going on and try to learn as much as they could about the of paranoia. bomb." Gullick turned his attention back to Kennedy and indi- "And remember, they put Sputnik up in 1957." General cated for him to continue. "This might not have anything Brown was caught up in Kennedy's theory. "While we were to do with this situation, but it's the latest thing we've dicking around with the bouncers and not pursuing our picked up," Kennedy said. "We know the Russians are do- own space program as aggressively as we should have, ing work with linking human brains directly into computer maybe they were working on these foo fighters and re- hardware. We don't know where they got the technology verse-engineering them with a bit more success than we for that. It's way beyond anything worked on in the West. had. Hell, those damn Sputniks looked like these foo fight- These foo fighters are obviously too small to carry a per- ers." son, but perhaps the Russians might have put one of these AREA 51 234 ROBERT DOHERTY 235 biocomputers on board while using magnetic flight tech- Gullick gestured for him to continue. nology such as we have in the disks. Or they simply might "Surveillance in Phoenix has picked up Von Seeckt, be remotely controlled from a room such as we have here." Turcotte, and this female reporter, Reynolds." "We've picked up no discernible broadcast link to the "Phoenix?" Gullick asked. foo fighter," Major Quinn said, trying to edge the discus- "Yes, sir. I ordered surveillance on the apartment of the sion back to a commonsense footing. "Unless it was a very reporter who tried to infiltrate the other night once I found narrow-beam satellite laser link we would have caught it, out that Reynolds was asking about him. The surveillance and such a narrow beam would have been difficult to keep just settled in place this evening and they've spotted all on the foo fighter, given its speed and how quickly it ma- three targets at the apartment and are requesting further neuvered." instructions." "Could Von Seeckt have been turned?" Gullick suddenly "Have them pick up all three and take them to Dulce," asked. "I know he's been here from the very beginning, but Gullick ordered. remember where he came from. Maybe the Russians finally Quinn paused in sending the order. "There's something got to him, or maybe he's been working for them all else, sir. The men we sent to check out Von Seeckt's quar- along." ters have found a message on his answering service that Kennedy frowned. "I doubt that. We've had the tightest might be important. It was from a Professor Nabinger." security on all Majic-12 personnel." "What was the message?" General Gullick asked. "Well, what about this Turcotte fellow or this female re- Quinn read from the screen. " 'Professor Von Seeckt, my porter? Could either of them be working for the other name is Peter Nabinger. I work with the Egyptology De- side?" partment at the Brooklyn Museum. I would like to talk to Quinn started, remembering the intercept of Duncan's you about the Great Pyramid, which I believe we have a message to the White House chief of staff. Gullick mustn't mutual interest in. I just deciphered some of the writing in have gotten to it yet. Again, he decided to keep his peace, the lower chamber, which I believe you visited once upon a this time to avoid an ass-chewing. time, and it says: 'Power, sun. Forbidden. Home place, "I have my people checking on it," Kennedy said. "Noth- chariot, never again. Death to all living things.' Perhaps ing has turned up so far." you could help shed some light on my translation. Leave "Let's see what Admiral Coakley finds us in the Pacific. me a message how I can get hold of you at my voice-mail Maybe that will solve this mystery," Gullick said. "For now, box. My number is 212-555-1474.' " our priorities are sterilizing the crash site at White Sands "If this Nabinger knows about Von Seeckt and the pyra- and continuing our countdown for the mothership." mid-- " began Kennedy, but a wave of Gullick's hand Major Quinn had been working at his computer, reading stopped him. data from the various components of the project spread out across the United States and the globe. He was re- "I agree that is dangerous"--Gullick was excited--"but lieved when information began scrolling up. "Sir, we've got of more importance is the fact that it seems Nabinger can some news on Von Seeckt." decipher the high runes. If he can do that, then maybe we 236 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 237 can . . ." Gullick paused. "Did our people check to see if "Oh, my God," Scheuler muttered. Von Seeckt has contacted Nabinger?" Blood and pieces of Major Terrent were scattered about Quinn nodded. "Yes, sir. Von Seeckt called Nabinger's everywhere inside. Dickerson sat down with his back to the service at eight twenty-six and left a message giving a loca- hatch, trying to control his breathing while Scheuler vom- tion for them to meet tomorrow, or actually this morning," ited. Dickerson had been a forward air controller during he amended, looking at the digital clock on the wall. Desert Storm and had seen the destruction wrought on the "The location?" highway north out of Kuwait near the end of the war. But "The apartment in Phoenix," Quinn answered. that was war and the bodies had been those of the enemy. Gullick smiled for the first time in twenty-four hours. Goddamn Gullick, he thought. Dickerson grabbed the "So we can bag all our little birds in one nest in a few edges of the hatch, and lowered himself in. "Let's go," he hours. Excellent. Get me a direct line to the Nightscape ordered Scheuler, who gingerly followed. leader on the ground in Phoenix." "See if it still works," Dickerson ordered. He'd sure as hell rather fly it back to Nevada than have to cover it up and take back roads by night. WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO Scheuler looked at the blood- and viscera-covered de- pression that Terrent had occupied. The engine on the crane whined in protest, but the earth "You can take a shower later," Dickerson forced himself gave before the cable, and inch by inch Bouncer Three was to say. "Right now I need to know whether we have power, pulled up out of its hole. As soon as it was clear, the crane and we don't have time to dean this thing up." operator rotated right, bringing the disk toward the flatbed "Sir, I--" that was waiting. In the glow of the hastily erected arc "Captain!" Dickerson snapped. lights, Colonel Dickerson could see that the outer skin of "Yes, sir." Scheuler slid into the seat, a grimace on his the disk appeared to be unscathed. As soon as Bouncer Three was down on the truck, Dick- face. His hands went over the control panel. Lights came erson grabbed hold of the side of the flatbed and clam- on briefly, then faded as the skin of the craft went clear and bered up onto the wood deck and then onto the sloping they could see by the arc lights set up outside. side of the craft itself. His aide and Captain Scheuler were "We have power." Scheuler stated the obvious. He right behind him. Balancing carefully, Dickerson edged up looked down at the altitude-control level and froze. Ter- until he was at the hatch that Scheuler had thrown himself rent's hand was still gripped tightly around it, the stub of out of two miles above their heads. his forearm ending in shattered bone and flesh. He cried The interior was dark with the power off. Taking a halo- out and turned away. gen flashlight off his belt, Dickerson shone it down on the Colonel Dickerson knelt down and gently pried the dead inside. Despite having fought in two wars and seen more object loose. Goddamn Gullick, Goddamn Gullick; it was a than his share of carnage, Dickerson flinched at the scene chant his brain was using to hold on to sanity. "See if you within. He sensed Scheuler coming up next to him. have flight control," he ordered in a softer voice. 238 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 239 Scheuler grabbed the lever. Space appeared below their "But if they found out about Paperclip--" began Ken- feet. "We have flight control," he said in a rote voice. nedy. "All right," Dickerson said. "Captain Travers will fly with "We inherited Paperclip," Gullick cut in. "Just as we you back to Groom Lake. We'll have pursuit aircraft flying inherited Majic. And people know about Paperclip. It's not escort. Got that, Captain?" that big of a secret anymore." There was no answer. "Yeah, but we kept it going," Kennedy pointed out. "Do you understand?" "And what most people know is only the tip of the ice- "Yes, sir," Scheuler weakly said. berg." Dickerson climbed back out of the disk and gave the "Von Seeckt doesn't know Paperclip is still running, and appropriate orders. Finally done, he walked away from the he was only on the periphery of it all back in the forties." lights and behind the sandy ridge that the disk had crashed "He knows about Dulce," Kennedy countered. into. He knelt down in the sand and vomited. "He knows Dulce exists and that it's connected somehow with us here. But he was never given access to what has been going on there," Gullick said. "He doesn't have a clue what's going on there." The right side of Gullick's face THE CUBE, AREA 51 twitched and he put a hand up, pressing on the pain he felt The lights were dim in the conference room and Gullick in his skull. Even thinking about Dulce hurt. He didn't was completely in the shadows. The other members of want to speak about it anymore. There were more impor- Majic-12 were gone, trying to get some long-overdue sleep tant things to deal with. Gullick ticked off the problems on or checking in with their own agencies--except for Ken- his fingers. nedy, the deputy director of operations for the CIA. He "Tomorrow, or more accurately this morning, we take had waited as the others filed out. care of Von Seeckt and the others there in Phoenix. That "We're sitting on a fucking powder keg here," Kennedy will close that leak down. began. "By dawn we'll have the mess at White Sands all cleaned "I know that," Gullick said. He had the briefing book up and the aircrews involved debriefed and cleared. with Duncan's intercepted message in it. It confirmed that "We have the eight o'clock briefing by Slayden, which Turcotte had been a plant, but of more import was the should help get Duncan off our back for a little while. threat that Duncan would get the President to delay the Long enough. test flight. That simply couldn't be allowed. "Admiral Coakley should be giving us something on "The others--they don't know what Von Seeckt knows, these foo fighters soon. what you and I know, about the history of this project," "And last but not least, in ninety-three hours we fly the Kennedy said. mothership. That is the most important thing." General "They're in it too far now. Even if they knew, it's too late Gullick turned, facing away from Kennedy to end the dis- for all of them," Gullick said. "Just the Majestic-12 stuff is cussion. He heard Kennedy leave, then reached into his enough to sink every damn one of them." pocket and pulled out two more of the special pills Dr. 240 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 241 Cruise had given him. He needed something to reduce the It was the way language worked. It also fit the diffusionist throbbing in his brain. theory of the evolution of civilization. The real problem for Nabinger--beyond the fact that the dialect made translation difficult--was that the content AIRSPACE, SOUTHERN UNITED STATES of the messages, once translated, was hard to comprehend. Most of the words and partial sentences he was translating Checking the few photos that he had not seen before referred to mythology or religion, gods and death and great helped Professor Nabinger's fledgling high rune vocabulary calamities. But there was very little specific information. grow by a phrase or two. The seats on either side of him Most of the high runes in the pictures seemed related to were empty and there were photos spread out all over the whatever form of worship existed in the locale they were row. He drank the third cup of coffee the stewardess had found in. brought him and smiled contentedly. The smile disap- There was no further information about the pyramids or peared just as quickly, though, when his mind came back to the existence or location of Atlantis. There were several the same problem. references to a great natural disaster sometime several How had the high rune language been distributed world- centuries before the birth of Christ, but that was nothing wide at such an early date in man's history, when even new. There was much emphasis on looking to the sky, but negotiating the Mediterranean Sea was an adventure Nabinger also knew that most religions looked to the sky, fraught with great hazard? Nabinger didn't know, but he whether to the sun, the stars, or the moon. People tended hoped that somewhere in the pictures an answer might be to look up when they thought of God. forthcoming. There were two problems, though. One was What was the connection? How had the high rune lan- that many of the pictures showed sites that had been dam- guage been spread? What had Von Seeckt found in the lower chamber of the Great Pyramid? Nabinger gathered aged in some way. Often the damage appeared to have up the photos and returned them to his battered backpack. been done deliberately, as in the water off Bimini. The Too many pieces with no connection. With no why. And second, and greater, problem was that many of the pictures Nabinger wanted the why. were of high runes that were, for lack of a better word, dialects. It was a problem that had frustrated Nabinger for years. There were enough subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, differences in the high rune writing from site to site to show that although they had very definitely grown from the same base, they had evolved differently in separate locales. It was as if the root language emerged in one place, been taken at a certain point to other locales, then evolved sepa- rately at each place. Which made sense, Nabinger allowed. AREA 51 243 22 "Don't do that." Turcotte's voice froze her hand on the knob. "Why?" Turcotte turned his gaze into the room. "If I have to explain everything I say, we're going to get our shit wasted when there's no time to explain. I'd appreciate it if you just do what I say when I say it." Kelly's clothes were wrinkled and she had not had the most comfortable night's sleep in the chair. "Are we in the middle of a crisis that you don't have time to explain?" PHOENIX, ARIZONA "Not this minute," Turcotte said. "But I'm preparing you T-87 HOURS, 15 MINUTES both for the minute when that's going to happen. Which," "You gave Nabinger this address?" Turcotte asked for the he said, jerking his thumb at the window, "is going to be third time. sometime this morning." "Yes," Von Seeckt replied from the comfort of the "Who's out there?" Von Seeckt asked, sitting up on the couch. The living room of the apartment was dark. couch and trying to pull his beard into some semblance of order. "You left it on his voice mail?" "Less than an hour ago a van pulled in across the street "Yes." and down that way"--Turcotte pointed to the left--"about "And he left the first message on your voice mail?" two hundred feet. For fifteen minutes no one got out. Then Turcotte persisted. a man exited, went over to our rent-a-car, and placed "Yes." something under the right rear quarter panel. He went "For God's sake," Kelly muttered from underneath a back and got in the van, and there's been no movement blanket on a large easy chair, "you sound like a cross-ex- since then. I assume they have surveillance on the back of amining attorney. We went through all that earlier today in this building also." the car. Is there a problem?" "What are they waiting for?" Kelly tossed aside the blan- Turcotte peered out the two-inch gap between the cur- ket, stood, and began gathering her few belongings. tain and the edge of the window. He'd been standing there "If they got the messages off Von Seeckt's answering for the past hour, unmoving while the other two slept, the service, probably the same thing we are. Waiting for Nab- only sign that he was conscious his eyeballs flickering as he inger to show." took in the view. Kelly paused, seeing that Turcotte was standing still. He had awakened them both a few minutes ago. It was 'Couldn't they just have had this place under surveillance still dark out and in the glow of the streetlights there was after kidnapping Johnny?" nothing moving on the street. "Yeah, there's a problem." "Maybe," Turcotte said. "But that van wasn't there when Kelly threw the blanket aside and reached for the lamp. we pulled in last night, and when you and I were out for 244 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 245 our little walk I did a sweep of the area and didn't spot any scrambled and deciphered by the machines. "Out here." surveillance. I think they only came on the scene this morn- The radio went dead. ing. Which makes me think they got around to checking The major pushed the ceiling mike out of the way and the good professor's answering service." looked at the other men. "We wait until the other target Von Seeckt nodded. "Yes. They would do that. I made a links up at the apartment. They have to be taken alive. All mistake, did I not?" of them." "Yes. And by the way, next time, you tell me what you're "It'll be daylight by the time the other guy gets here," doing before you do it." Turcotte reached inside his coat. one of the men said in protest. He pulled out a pistol, pulled out the magazine, checked it, "I know that," the major said in a tone that was not put it back, and pushed the slide back, chambering a conducive to discussion. "I'll clear it with the locals and round. keep them out of the way." He lifted a sophisticated-look- "What's the plan?" Kelly asked. ing gunlike object. "Remember--they are all to be taken "You ever read the book Killer Angels'?" Turcotte asked, alive, so use your stunners only." shifting over and looking back out the thin crack. "What about Turcotte?" one of the men asked. "He's "About the Battle of Gettysburg?" Kelly asked. going to be trouble." Turcotte spared a glance back at her. "Very good. Do "He's the priority target when we go in the door. The you remember what Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine others will be easy," the major said. did when he was on the far left of the Union line and about "I don't think Turcotte's going to worry about keeping us out of ammunition after continuous attacks by the Confed- alive," one of the men muttered. erates?" "He ordered a charge," Kelly said. Despite a long night with an extended layover at Dallas- "Right." Fort Worth International, Professor Nabinger felt thor- "So we're going to charge?" oughly alive and alert as the taxi turned the corner and the Turcotte smiled. "Just when they do. They'll be overcon- apartment building appeared. There was just the slightest fident and think they have the initiative. Timing is every- hint of dawn in the air in the east. thing." After removing his bags Nabinger paid the driver. He left the suitcase on the curb and tucked his leather case "Ah, fuck," the major muttered to the other men crowded with the photos Slader had given him under his arm as he into the van. He glared at the sophisticated communica- searched for the appropriate apartment. He knocked on tions rig bolted to the left rear wall of the van, then keyed the door and waited. It swung open, but no one was there. the mike hanging from the ceiling. "Roger that, sir. Any- "Hello?" Nabinger called out. thing else? Over." "Step in," a woman's voice came from inside the dark "Don't screw it up." General Gullick's voice was unmis- room. takable, even after being digitized and scrambled, then un- Nabinger took a step forward and a man's arm reached 246 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 247 around the door and grabbed his collar, pulling him into The major pulled open the side door and stepped out the room. The door slammed shut behind him. into the street, a silenced submachine gun at the ready. "What is going--" Nabinger started. "Quiet," Turcotte said. "We're going to be attacked in a Turcotte froze, the other three members of his group stack- few seconds. Go with her." He had one of the flash-bang ing up behind him. The officer with the submachine gun grenades he'd kept from the Nightscape mission in his was joined by a man from the front seat, both pointing hand. He pulled the pin and leaned against the door, lis- their weapons directly at Turcotte. tening. "Don't move an inch!" the officer ordered. Kelly took Nabinger's arm and led him to the far corner "What're you going to do? Shoot me?" Turcotte said, of the room, where Von Seeckt also waited. She handed hefting the stun gun. "Then why'd you use these? You're him a strip of dark cloth cut from the curtain. "Hold this supposed to take us alive, aren't you?" He took another over your eyes." step toward the two men. "Those are your orders, aren't "What for?" Nabinger asked. they?" "Just do it!" Kelly said. "Freeze right where you are." The officer settled the The door exploded in under the impact of a hand-held stock of the gun into his shoulder. battering ram and men tumbled in, their eyes searching for "General Gullick will be mighty pissed if you put holes targets. They were greeted with a bright bang and flash of in us," Turcotte said. white light, immediately blinding all of them. "He might be pissed, but you'll be dead," the major re- Turcotte dropped the dark cloth he'd held to protect his turned, centering his sights on Turcotte's chest. "I'll make vision and stepped among the four men, his arms moving damn--' The major's mouth froze in midsentence and a in a flurry of strikes, sending two of them down uncon- surprised look ran across his features. scious in less than a second. He scooped up one of the stun Turcotte fired at the driver and the stun round caught guns from an inert hand and finished off the other two with the man in the chest, and he collapsed next to his leader. it as they tried to regain their senses. Turcotte glanced over his shoulder. Kelly slowly lowered "Let's move!" Turcotte yelled. the stun gun she'd picked up on the way out. "Took you Kelly grabbed hold of Nabinger and they headed out the long enough," he said, gesturing for them to get into the van. door. 'The conversation was interesting," Kelly said. "So very In the van the major tore the headset off and bounced it macho." They helped Von Seeckt and a thoroughly con- off the wall, his ears still ringing from the transmission of fused Nabinger into the back of the van. The street was still deserted. the flash-bang grenade going off in the apartment across the street. 'You drive," Turcotte said, standing in the opening be- "They're coming out!" the lookout man in the front seat tween the two front seats. "I want to play with the toys in the back." of the van yelled. 248 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 249 "Next stop, Dulce," Kelly said, throwing the van in gear played. "I want to know where they're heading. We've got and pulling away with a squeal of tires. to prevent them from going to the media. Alert Mr. Ken- nedy to have his domestic people monitor the wires. We get a peep that Von Seeckt has gone to anyone, I want THE CUBE Nightscape there." Gullick's eyes flickered across the map. "Tell those in Phoenix to stay there. I also want Tucson and "Sir, the team leader in Arizona reports that they've lost Albuquerque covered. They'll stay away from the airports, the targets." Quinn carefully kept his eyes down, looking at so we have them on the ground. The longer they're out his computer screen. there the bigger the circle grows." Three hours of sleep were all that General Gullick Quinn plunged on. "There's something else, sir." seemed to need to operate on. He wore a freshly pressed "Yes?" uniform and the starched edge of the light blue shirt under "The Abraham Lincoln task force is reporting negative his dark blue coat pressed into his neck as he turned his on any sign of the foo fighters. They've scanned the ocean attention from reading reports on the mothership. "Lost?" bottom for a twenty-kilometer circle around where the first "Professor Nabinger showed up and the Nightscape one went down and they've found nothing. The minisub off team moved in to secure all the targets." Quinn recited the the USS Pigeon has combed the bottom and--" facts in a monotone. "Apparently, Turcotte was prepared. "They stay there and they keep looking," Gullick or- He used a flash-bang grenade to disorient the entry team. dered. Then, using the stun guns from the entry team, he and the "Yes, sir." Quinn shut the lid on his laptop computer, others subdued the van team and took off, driving the then nervously flipped it open again. "Sir, uh . . ." He van." licked his lips. "They have the van?" General Gullick leaned back in his "What?" Gullick growled. chair. "Can we trace it?" "Sir, it's my duty to, uh, well . . ." Quinn rubbed his Quinn closed his eyes briefly. This day was starting out hands together, feeling the knob of his West Point ring on very badly and it wasn't going to get better as the new his right hand. The questions had been building for too information scrolling up on his screen told him. "No, sir." long. His voice became firmer. "Sir, this mission is going in "You mean we don't have a tracer on our own vehicles?" a direction that I don't understand. Our job is to work on Gullick asked. the alien equipment. I don't see how Nightscape and--" "No, sir." General Gullick slammed his fist into the tabletop. "Ma- "Why not?" Gullick raised his hand. "Forget it. We'll jor Quinn!" deal with that later. Put out a 'sight and report only' to the Quinn swallowed. "Yes, sir?" local authorities. Give them a description of the van and Gulhck stood. "I'm going to get some breakfast and then the people." I have to attend a meeting. I want you to relay a message to He looked up at the large display at the front of the all our people in the field and everyone working for us." room. An outline of the United States was currently dis- Gullick leaned over the table and put his face a foot away 250 ROBERT DOHERTY from Quinn's. "We have three goddamn days before we fly 23 the mothership. I'm tired of being told of failures and mis- takes and fuckups. I want answers and I want results. I've dedicated my life and my career to this project. I will not see it be tarnished or destroyed by the incompetence of others. You don't ask questions of me. No one asks ques- tions of me. Is that clear?" "Yes, sir." FORT APACHE INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZONA T-87 HOURS, 15 MINUTES "I think I'll just stay here," Nabinger said. They were stopped at a small rest area off Highway 60 on the Natanes Plateau. There was a brisk wind blowing out of the north- west and Turcotte was making instant cups of coffee for all of them, using the microwave inside the van and supplies he'd found in a cabinet there. They were seated in the captain's chairs inside with the side door open. "We can't let you do that," Turcotte said. "This is a free country!" Nabinger said. "I can do what- ever I want. I didn't plan on being in the middle of a fight." "We didn't plan it either," Kelly said. "But we're stuck. There's more going on here than any of us know." "I just wanted some answers," Nabinger said. "You'll get them," Kelly said. "But if you want them, you have to stick with us." Nabinger had not reacted too badly to being basically kidnapped and taken away in the van. But Kelly knew his type, as she'd interviewed scientists just like him. Many times the quest for knowledge became more important than everything else around them, includ- ing their own personal safety. This is all so incredible," Nabinger said. He looked at 252 ROBERT DOHERTY 253 AREA 51 Von Seeckt. "So you believe this message refers to the over the way the war to end all wars had ended. Do you mothership?" know that at the end of the First World War no foreign Von Seeckt nodded. "I believe it is a warning that we troops had yet set foot on German soil? That we were still must not fly the mothership. I believe the chariot obviously occupying French soil when the government surrendered?" refers to the mothership and I would take very seriously "Spare us the history lesson," Turcotte said. He had the never again and death to all living things writings." picked up the dagger and was looking at the symbols "If this is true," Nabinger said, "it means that the an- carved into the handle. He knew about the SS. "We've cient humans were influenced by the aliens that left these heard it all before." craft behind. It would help explain so many of the com- "But you asked," Von Seeckt said. "As I said, in the monalities in mythology and archeology." twenties we were poor and angry. In the thirties everyone "Let's hold on here a second," Kelly said. "If these writ- was crazy from having been poor and angry for so long. As ings in the Great Pyramid in Egypt refer to the mother- Captain Turcotte says, you all know what happened. I was ship--which was abandoned on this continent--then it had in the university in Munich studying physics when Czecho- to have been flying once upon a time." slovakia fell. I was young then and I had that--ah, what are "Of course it flew at one time," Von Seeckt said. "The the words--myopic, self-centered vision that the young real question is: Why did they stop flying it? What is the have. It was more important to me that I pass my compre- threat?" hensive exams and be awarded my degree than that the "I've got a better question for right now." Turcotte world was unraveling around me. handed a mug of steaming coffee to Von Seeckt. "You told "While I was at the university, I did not know that I was me on the plane out of Area 51 that you were recruited by being watched. The SS had established early on a special the U.S. military during the Second World War. Yet Profes- section to oversee scientific matters. Their commander re- sor Nabinger tells us that you were with the Nazis in the ported directly to Himmler. They put together a list of pyramid. I'd like an explanation. Now." scientists and technicians that could be of use to the party, "I second that," Kelly said. and my name was on the list. "I do not think-- ' Von Seeckt paused as Nabinger "They approached me in the summer of 1941. There was reached into his backpack and pulled out a dagger. special work being done, they told me, and I must help." "I was given this by the Arab who guided you into the For the first time Von Seeckt brought his gaze out of the pyramid back then." desert. He looked at each person in turn. "One of the Von Seeckt took the dagger and grimaced, then placed it advantages of being an old man who is dying is that I can down on the table. He cradled his wrinkled hands around tell the truth. I will not pretend and whine as so many of the mug and looked out over the bleak terrain of the In- my colleagues did at the end of the war that I worked dian reservation. "I was born in Freiburg in 1918. It is a against my will. Germany was my country and we were at town in southwest Germany, not far from the border with war. I did what I considered my duty to my country and I France. The times I grew up in were not good years in worked willingly. Germany. In the twenties everyone was poor and angry "The question that is always asked is 'What about the I 254 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 255 camps?'" Von Seeckt shrugged. "The first truth is that I him," she added, thrusting her chin toward Von Seeckt's did not really know about them. The higher truth is that I back. "My father was with the OSS, and he was there at did not care to know. There were rumors, but I did not Dora. He was sent in to find information on what had hap- care to pursue rumors. Again my focus was with myself and pened to s