ome OSS and SOE people who had tried to my work. That does not excuse what happened or my role infiltrate Peenemunde during the war to stop the produc- in the war effort. It is simply what happened. tion of the V-2's. "I was working near Peenemunde. The top men--they "He told me what it was like at the camp and the way the were working on the rockets. I was with another group, Allies acted when they arrived--the intelligence people doing theoretical work that we hoped would have future and the war-crimes people showing up and fighting over application. Some of it touched on the potential of an the German prisoners and how some of the worst were atomic weapon. You can find out what you need to know scooped up by the intelligence people and never came to about that from other sources. trial. The intelligence people treated the German scientists "The problem was that our work was mainly theoretical, better than they did the survivors of the camps, because of laying the groundwork, and those in command did not the knowledge those men possessed. They just stepped have much patience. Germany was fighting a war on two over the bodies, I guess." fronts and the feeling was that the war had better be over As Kelly paused to catch her breath, Von Seeckt spoke. sooner rather than later, and we needed weapons now, not "I know now what happened at Dora. But I did not know theory." then. I left Peenemunde in spring of 1942. That was be- "You say you worked at Peenemunde?" Kelly cut in. Her fore"--his voice broke--"before it got bad." voice was harsh. He held up a hand, forestalling Kelly, who had begun to "Yes." speak. "But over the years I have asked myself the ques- "But you also say you didn't try to find out about the tion: What if I had not been ordered away? What would I camps?" have done?" Von Seeckt remained quiet. He turned back to the other three. "I would like to be- "Don't bullshit us," Kelly said. "What about the Dora lieve I would have acted differently than the majority of my concentration camp?" colleagues. But I spoke earlier of the honesty an old man The wind blew in the door from the desert floor, chilling should have. The honesty to come to peace with oneself the group. and one's God--if one believes in a God. And the honest "What was Dora?" Turcotte asked. answer I came up with after many years was no, I would "A camp that supplied workers to Peenemunde," Kelly not have acted differently. I would not have stood up and said. "The inmates were treated as terribly as the people at spoken out against the evil. the other, better-known camps. When the American "I know that for certain because I did not do so here, in liberated it--the day before Roosevelt died, as a matter this country, when I saw things happen out at Area 51. fact--they found over six thousand dead. The survivors When I heard rumors of what was going on at Dulce." weren't far from dead. And they worked for people like Von Seeckt slapped his palm on the tabletop. "But now I 256 ROBERT DOHERTY 257 AREA 51 am trying to make my peace and be honest. That is why I did not share with me. There was no mistaking the serious- am here." ness with which they set out to pursue the mission." "We're all trying to make our own peace," Turcotte said. Von Seeckt smiled. "I myself got very serious when I "Go on with your story. You say you left Peenemumde in found out where our mission was taking us: Cairo, behind the spring of 1942?" enemy lines. All I was told was to be prepared to find and Von Seeckt nodded. "Spring 1942 I remember it well. It secure something that might be radioactive. was the last spring I spent in Germany. My section chief "We traveled by train south to Italy. Then we were taken came to me with orders, reassigning me. I was a very junior by submarine across the Mediterranean to Tobruk, where member of the research staff and would not be missed. we were put on trucks and given local guides. The British That is why I was selected. When I asked my chief what I Eighth Army was in disarray and in retreat so it was not as would be doing and where I would be going, he laughed difficult as I had feared for us to infiltrate their lines and and said I was going wherever the Black Jesuit's vision make it to Cairo, although there were a few adventures said." along the way." Seeing the uncomprehending looks, Von Seeckt ex- Turcotte took a sip of his now cold coffee. The story was plained. "That is what those on the inside called Himmler: interesting but he didn't see how it helped them much with the Black Jesuit." He paused and closed his eyes. "The SS their present situation. And he could tell Kelly was very was very much a religious order. They had their own cere- disturbed by Von Seeckt's revelations about his past. monies and secret rites and sayings. If I was asked by an SS Turcotte himself wasn't happy about the SS connection. officer why I obeyed, my verbatim answer must be: 'From Von Seeckt could admit whatever he wanted, but that inner conviction, from my belief in Germany, the Fuhrer, didn't make it clean as far as Turcotte was concerned. Con- the Movement, and in the SS." That was our catechism. fession didn't make the crime go away. "There was much whispered talk of Himmler and the "A Major Klein was in charge," Von Seeckt continued. others at the top. Of how they believed in things most did "He did not share his information with us. We went to the not believe in. Did you know that in the winter of 1941 our west bank of the Nile and then I saw our destination: the troops were sent into Russia without an adequate supply of Great Pyramid. I was very much confused as I carried my cold weather equipment? But not because we didn't have radioactivity detector into the tunnel in the side of the pyr- cold weather gear sitting in supply depots in Germany, but amid in the dead of night. Why were we here? rather because a seer told Hitler that the winter would be "We went down, and Klein kept turning to a man who very mild and he believed that. It turned out to be one of had a piece of paper he consulted. The man pointed and the most brutal on record, so tens of thousands of soldiers Klein ordered his men, a squad of SS storm troopers, to froze and died because of a vision. break through a wall. We went through the opening into "So my colleagues in the scientific community saw a ri- another tunnel that sloped down. We went through two diculous task and they sent the junior man. Ah, but the more walls before we entered a room." men I linked up with to carry out this mission, they did not "The bottom chamber," Nabinger said. "Where I found think it a ridiculous task. They had information that they the words." 258 ROBERT DOHERTY 259 AREA 51 "Where you found the words," Von Seeckt repeated as a out a grenade, but he must have been shot before he could tractor trailer loaded with cattle roared past. "What did you find in the chamber?" Nabinger asked. throw it because he dropped it and it fell next to me. I "We went down and broke through the final walls into pushed it away--out of the back onto the sand, where it the chamber. There was a sarcophagus there--intact. Klein exploded. Then there were British Tommies everywhere. indicated for me to use my machine. I did and was sur- Klein was still alive. He tried to fight, but they shot him prised to see a high level of radiation in the chamber. Not many times. They took me and they took the box." dangerous to humans, but still, it should not have been Turcotte interrupted. "Klein didn't drop that grenade." there. It was much higher than what would be normal "Excuse me?" Von Seeckt was out of his story momen- background radiation. Klein didn't hesitate. He took a pick tarily. and levered off the lid. Turcotte was looking out the door down the road, where "I was stunned when I looked over his shoulder. There the cattle truck was a disappearing spot on the horizon. was a black metal box in there. I could tell the metal had "Klein was under orders to kill you and destroy the box." been carefully tooled and was not the work of ancient "How do you know that?" Von Seeckt asked. Egyptians. How, then, could this have gotten in here? I "It might have been fifty years ago, but many things asked myself. don't change. If they couldn't get the box home safely, then "I had no time to think on it. Klein ordered me to take they most certainly didn't want the other side to get it or up the box and I did, putting it in a backpack. It was bulky the knowledge you possessed. That's the way any mission but not overly heavy. Perhaps forty pounds. I was much like yours would have worked. The British did the same stronger in those days. thing when they sent specialists over to look at German "We left the pyramid the same way we had come in. We radar sites along the French Coast during the war. Their linked up with our two trucks and headed west while we security men had orders to kill the specialists rather than still had darkness to cover our movement. At daylight we allow them to be captured because of their knowledge of hid in the dunes. We had the two Arab guides that had British radar systems." stayed with the trucks to show us the way and they took us Von Seeckt nodded. "After all these years, do you know, west. that never occurred to me? It should have, after all I have "On the third night they led us right into an ambush." seen since." Von Seeckt shrugged. "I do not know if it was deliberate. "All that is fine and well," Nabinger said impatiently, The Arabs--they always worked for whoever would pay "but not important right now. What is important is--what them the most. It was not uncommon for the same guides was in the box?" to be working for both sides. It does not really matter. 'The box was sealed when we found it and Klein refused "The lead truck took a direct hit from a British tank. to allow me to open it. As my friend Captain Turcotte so There were bullets tearing through the canvas sides of the aptly has noted, Klein was a stickler for following orders. truckbed I was in. I dived down next to the box. That was The British took me, and the box, and I was hustled my job--protect the box. Klein was next to me. He pulled away. First back to Cairo. Then on a plane. . . ." Von 260 ROBERT DOHERTY 261 AREA 51 Seeckt paused. "Suffice it to say I eventually ended up in "There was a small nuclear weapon in the box," Von England in the hands of the SOE." Seeckt said. "SOE?" Nabinger asked. "Oh fuck," Turcotte said. "What have we gotten into "Special Operations Executive," Kelly said. here?" Von Seeckt nodded. "Quite correct, as the English Nabinger slowly sat back in his seat. "Buried under the would say. They interrogated me, and I told them what I Great Pyramid for ten thousand years?" knew. Which wasn't much. They also checked the box for "Buried under the pyramid for approximately ten thou- radioactivity. And got a positive reading." He looked at sand years," Von Seeckt confirmed. "Of course, we only Kelly, sensing her change in mood. "You know something guessed in the beginning that that was what it was. The of the SOE?" Americans were just at the start of the Manhattan Project "As I said earlier, my father was in the OSS. The Ameri- at the time, so our knowledge was rather primitive by to- can counterpart to the SOE." day's standards. Ten years earlier and we probably would Von Seeckt stroked his beard. "That is most intriguing. not have had a clue what was in the box. The SOE turned me over to the OSS. Apparently radioac- "We took the bomb apart. Very carefully." Von Seeckt tivity was the Americans' province." chuckled. "The Americans always thought I knew more "The British didn't open the box either?" Nabinger was than I knew. After all, I had been found with the damn trying very hard to control his patience. thing. But the longer I was there, the more I did know as "They couldn't open the box," Von Seeckt corrected. "So we worked. Even with today's technology, though, I do not they shipped me off to the United States. The box was on believe they are able to make a bomb as small and light- the same plane. After all, the British did have a war to fight weight and efficient as that one we worked on. It was and apparently more important things to attend to. Also, amazing. There were parts that I still don't understand. But as I was to find out, radioactivity was the province of the we were able to learn enough from it--along with the work Americans." being done in other places--to put together the bombs we "Did the box ever get opened?" Nabinger almost did use to end that war." groaned the question. "So this bomb from the pyramid--it was from the same "Yes, yes, it did," Von Seeckt said. "The Americans did people who built these disks and the mothership?" Nab- that. They kept me in a place outside of Washington, some- inger's question was rhetorical. "That raises so many ques- where out in the country. To this day I could not tell you tions and issues about the pyramid and why it was built. where it was. The box went somewhere else and I was in- Perhaps--" terrogated. Then they seemed to forget about me for sev- "Professor." Turcotte's voice cut through like the cold eral weeks. One day two men showed up at my jail cell. wind that was blowing in the door. "Those questions can One was a lieutenant colonel and the other a civilian. They wait. Right now we need to get a little farther up the road. took me to a new place." Von Seeckt pointed to the north- It's not that far to Dulce, and we have to wait until dark to east, along the road. "To Dulce." try anything, but I'd like to take a look around during day- "The box?" Nabinger's patience was exhausted. light. You can discuss this on the way." 262 ROBERT DOHERTY 263 AREA 51 As Von Seeckt and Nabinger climbed into the back of General Gullick had always thought Slayden a worthless the van, Kelly tapped Turcotte on the arm and leaned member of Majic-12, but Duncan's visit had forced him to close. "Did you ever see this mothership that Von Seeckt is search for ways to gain time. The psychologist had been the so worried about?" answer. "No. I only saw the smaller bouncers." Turcotte looked Slayden began. "There have been numerous movies and at her. "Why?" books published in the field of science fiction about the "Because we only have Von Seeckt's word that it exists. reaction of people on Earth to alien contact--either here And his story about what he admits to doing during World on Earth if the aliens come to us or in the future when we War II doesn't thrill me. What if there's more that he's not expand to the stars. There have, in fact, been several gov- telling us? He was SS, for Christ's sake." ernment work groups over the last several decades dedi- "Is there anything specific that makes you doubt his cated to projecting possible reactions to contact with story about what is going on now?" Turcotte asked. extraterrestrial life forms. "I've learned to question things, and my question is, if "While Project Blue Book was the Air Force's official the mothership doesn't exist, then maybe this whole thing watchdog for unidentified flying objects, there were classi- is a setup. And even if it does exist, maybe this whole thing fied study groups composed of social psychologists and mil- is a setup." itary representatives, whose purpose was to prepare "A setup for what?" Turcotte asked. contingency plans for alien contact. These projects fell un- "If I knew that, I'd know if it was a setup," Kelly said. der the province of DARPA--the Defense Advanced Re- A small smile crept along Turcotte's lips. "I like that. search Projects Agency. I was one of the original members Paranoid thinking. Makes me feel almost sane." of DARPA's contact committee. "Next chance we get, I'll tell you my story, and you'll "The problem we were given was initially a theoretical understand why I'm paranoid." one." Slayden smiled. "Of course, at the time, we on the committee did not know of the existence of this facility. We were also severely restricted by ethical and security consid- erations. We were working with the subject of large-group THE CUBE, AREA 51 dynamics: how the people of Earth would respond to an "General." Dr. Slayden inclined his head toward Gullick, outside entity. The ability to conduct realistic experimenta- then took in the other people in the room. "Gentlemen tion was almost nil. In fact our most valid research data and lady." base was the public reaction to the broadcast of The War of Slayden was an old man, formerly the second oldest on the Worlds by Orson Welles in 1938. the committee after Von Seeckt, now the oldest with the "The major result of that broadcast was mass hysteria one empty chair on the right side of the table. Slayden was and fear. As this chart shows . . ." bald and his forehead was wrinkled. His major distinguish- As Slayden went through his repertoire, General Gullick ing feature was his bushy white eyebrows, quite startling shifted his attention to the computer screen built into the given his naked skull. desktop in front of him. Everyone around the table already I 264 ROBERT DOHERTY 265 AREA 51 knew that what Slayden was saying was unimportant. Ev- "Contrary to what the press has reported, our security eryone, that is, except Dr. Duncan--that was the whole here has been designed not to keep observers out, but to purpose of this briefing. actually allow observers to see what we want them to see. There was nothing new from the Lincoln task force on We could have easily blocked access to all vantage points the foo fighters and nothing on Von Seeckt and the other into the Groom Lake area. Instead we put holes in our three targets. Gullick reluctantly returned his attention to security net at certain times and places and allowed desig- the briefing. nated visual and auditory stimuli to be observed and re- "However, no one had ever really considered the possi- corded. bility of our exposure to alien life coming in the form of the "We also used agents of misinformation. One noted ex- discovery of the bouncers and mothership--a sort of ample is a man called Steve Jarvis, who has claimed for archaeological discovery of extraterrestrial life. There have years to have worked out here at Area 51. In reality, Jarvis been people, most labeled crackpots, who have pointed to is an agent of ours who reveals information to media peo- various artifacts and symbols on the planet as signs that we ple. Some of the information he gives is actually true, some have been visited in the past by alien life forms. The is false. All of it is specifically designed to prepare people bouncers and mothership are incontrovertible proof that to accept without fear what we have here. this has happened. This presents us with several challenges "We actually even ran a small test of disclosure several but also a great opportunity." years ago when the Air Force rolled out the F-117 Stealth Slayden had forgotten that this was mainly a propaganda fighter and displayed it publicly. There was no valid mili- briefing for Duncan, and he was totally immersed in his tary or security reason to reveal the existence of the Stealth material. "You see, one of the greatest uncontrolled vari- fighter. In fact, the Air Force vigorously fought the disclo- ables in contact theory was that the contact would occur at sure. However, the operation was done to test media and the discretion of the extraterrestrials. That they would popular reaction to a government revelation of something come to us. Or that the discovery of evidence that the the government had previously kept secret from the popu- planet had been visited in the past by aliens would hit the lace. news in an uncontrolled manner. Here at Area 51, though, "As you can see from my data on that . . ." we control that variable. We have the evidence and it is at Gullick remembered that event well. The Air Force had our discretion that the information be revealed. Because screamed bloody murder about publicizing the F-117. But we control that variable, we can also prepare both our- the interesting thing to Gullick was that Slayden and his selves and the public for the moment of disclosure." spin doctors had turned the tables on the Air Force Gen- Slayden looked at Duncan. "You may have noticed over eral Staff, pointing out to them the beneficial possibilities the course of the last several years an increasing number of disclosure would bring in the arena of budgeting with Con- reports in the news media about Area 51. These reports gress. In the end the Air Force had been enthusiastic about did not start in a vacuum. We have done many things to the event. Gullick wasn't foolish enough to believe, though, deliberately lay the groundwork for the public to accept the that the F-117 disclosure was anything like announcing the revelation of what we have here. existence of the mothership. It sure sounded good, though. 266 ROBERT DOHERTY Of course, Slayden was only giving Duncan the tip of the 25 iceberg. Slayden and his people had early on presented one of the truths of psychological preparation: overstimulation. And making people believe the truth to be much worse than it really was, was one of the major purposes of the Nightscape missions. Nightscape had conducted numerous animal mutilations, rural overflights by the disks, and even human abductions. There was no way they would let Duncan know about that. And even Slayden didn't know the extent of Nightscape; he didn't know of the need at Dulce for the people who were ROUTE 666, NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO abducted or the animal parts that were brought back. Gul- T-81 HOURS lick rubbed the right side of his skull, irritated at the timbre They still had the same van. Kelly had argued to ditch it, of Slayden's voice. Goddamn academic assholes. Gullick but Turcotte insisted they might need the equipment. checked his screen one more time, looking for an update They'd compromised by switching the government license on the search for both the foo fighters and Von Seeckt's plate for a private one. group. Kelly had assumed driving chores and watched in the Gullick looked across the conference table at Duncan. rearview mirror as Turcotte sat in one of the four captain's He was disgusted with outsiders whining and complaining chairs in the back, beside the communication and com- about government secrecy and security. He thought it the puter console that took up most of the left side. They both most amazing paradox and could not understand why oth- were listening as Von Seeckt and Nabinger put together ers didn't see it the way he did: If the public could handle what they had shared and tried to postulate some reason- knowing everything, then there wouldn't be any need for able theories to explain what they had. the secrecy because the world would be living in harmony. "We have to assume that the bomb you found in the It was the same people who decried the government that pyramid was of the same technology as the disk and made the government necessary. If they all had the self- mothership," Nabinger said. discipline that he and other military people had, the world Von Seeckt nodded. "Yes, that is reasonable." would be a hell of a better place, Gullick thought as he "Going beyond that, I think that many of the commonal- waited impatiently for the briefing to be over so he could ities among ancient civilizations can now be explained." get back to real work. Nabinger took out of his backpack the papers Slater had given him. "The high rune language that has been found at various spots across the world must have originated with these aliens. In fact, I would say that these aliens must have affected the natural progression of mankind's develop- 268 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 269 ment." He then proceeded to explain the diffusionest the- were still capable of flight. Hell, we're flying them now. ory of the rise of civilization. Surely they wouldn't have hidden them like that." When he'd finished Von Seeckt was deep in thought. "I "And why the bomb hidden in the pyramid?" Kelly have thought about this often over the years, wondering asked. who left this marvelous technology behind and why. About That question was one Nabinger must have been ten thousand years ago there was an alien outpost on this pondering. "No one has ever really determined why the planet. It was-- pyramids were built. Originally they were assumed to be "Why aliens?" Turcotte asked suddenly, echoing the burial monuments, but that theory was debunked when no question that had popped up in Kelly's head. bodies were found in the chambers inside. Then it was "Excuse me?" Von Seeckt said. assumed they were cenotaphs--monuments to dead pha- "Why does it have to be aliens? All along everyone is raohs whose actual burial place was hidden to guard assuming that these craft were left by another species, but against future grave robbers. why couldn't they have been developed by some ancient "But with this new information there's another theory civilization of man that perished, and we're the recycles?" we ought to consider. It is a bit strange, but as Doctor Von Nabinger smiled. "I have considered that, but the facts Seeckt has said, we must consider all possibilities. Let me argue against it's being even a remote possibility. The level give you a little information about the construction of the of civilization needed to develop craft such as they have Great Pyramid. out at Area 51 would have left much more of a trace than "There are two small tunnels coming out of the upper- simply those craft and the bomb found under the Great most chamber, also known as the king's chamber. The ex- Pyramid. We have been scouring the surface of the planet act purpose of these tunnels is not clear, as they are too for a long time. Certainly an advanced human civilization small for people to go through. An interesting fact, though, would have left more of a trace. No, these things had to is that if you follow their exact azimuth out to the stars, one have come from an alien culture." is aligned with Alpha Centauri and the other with Alpha In the rearview mirror Kelly could see Turcotte raise his Draconis, two nearby star systems." hands, ceding the point. "Maybe our aliens came from one of those systems," "However, it is good that we not close our minds to Von Seeckt said. other possibilities," Von Seeckt said. "As I was saying, it "Another interesting theory, but one previously consid- appears that we are back at the original problem. We are ered outrageous," Nabinger said, "is that the pyramids are not any closer to understanding why the ships were aban- space beacons. Originally, the entire exterior of all three in doned by the aliens." the Giza group was covered with very finely crafted flat "Maybe they had no place to go," Kelly offered. "Maybe limestone." He looked at the other two men in the back of their home world was destroyed and they came here on a the van. "Can you visualize what they must have looked one-way colonizing mission, and that is why the mothership like then?" was hidden in that cave--so they couldn't go back." Turcotte nodded. "I imagine you would probably have "But what about the bouncers?" Turcotte asked. "They been able to see them from space." 270 ROBERT DOHERTY 271 AREA 51 "Visually, yes, when they reflected sunlight," Nabinger some of the equipment stored there. He glanced up at Von said. "But even more importantly, given the angle of the Seeckt. "Mind telling us what's at Dulce?" sides of the pyramid, if they are viewed above thirty-eight Kelly nodded slightly to herself. She was beginning to degrees from the horizon--i.e., from space--they would like Turcotte more and more. There was a lot of fog have painted a radar picture with a directivity factor of swirling about this situation: different agendas by the four over six hundred million for a two-centimeter wavelength." people in this van, unclear government objectives, secrets "Not exactly the Stealth bomber," Turcotte noted. piled on top of secrets. She just wanted Johnny and then "No. Such a radar picture could be seen from a long way she was going to break this wide open. To get Johnny, away from the planet, to say the least." Nabinger leaned though, she was going to have to trust Turcotte's skills. She forward. "The first question I asked myself when I origi- knew that Turcotte was going to have to trust Von Seeckt nally saw the pyramids many years ago was the most basic. to the same degree--and he didn't. She didn't either. Her Why did the ancient Egyptians choose that form? No one reporter's sixth sense told her the old man was holding has ever been able to give an adequate reason. If, given the back. building capability of the time, you wanted to build a mas- "I told you," Von Seeckt said. "It is another government sive structure that could be detected from space, the pyra- installation, an offshoot of the installation at Area 51." mid is the best choice." "Have you ever been there?" Turcotte asked. The archeologist was warming to his subject matter. "I told you. Once. Just after the end of World War II. It "Hell, think about all the other symbols that have been was very long ago and my memories are not that good." etched into the surface of the Earth by the ancients! The "I know you said that," Turcotte said. "And I asked you giant bird symbols on plateaus in South America. Symbols again because I don't understand why you never went there in chalk in England. We've always wondered why early man again if this place was such an important part of Majic-12 was so intent on drawing symbols that could only be seen and you were one of the founding members of the board, from above when they themselves would never have been so to speak." able to see it from that perspective." The sound of the van engine and the tires rolling "That still doesn't answer any of the questions that we sounded abnormally loud in the silence. Kelly decided to need answers to," Turcotte said. "If we don't come up with see if she could keep the ball rolling. "Want to hear what is something to support Von Seeckt's contention that the suspected to go on there?" she called out. mothership mustn't be flown, all we've done is put our- "I'd appreciate any information, even rumors, at this selves in a deep shit-pile with no way out." point," Turcotte said. "That is what we will find at Dulce," Von Seeckt said. Kelly brought her research to the forefront of her brain. "Well, we're just about there," Kelly said. "I hope some- "Among the UFO community it's said that Dulce is the site one's got a plan." of a bioengineering lab. That it's a place where our govern- "I'll have one by the time we get there," Turcotte said, ment turns over people to the aliens whose craft we are looking in the drawers below the console and checking out flying at Area 51. We know the first part is true." 272 ROBERT DOHERTY 273 AREA 51 "And we know the part about turning people over to could not stand to see what they were doing." Von Seeckt aliens isn't true," Turcotte noted. told them about Paperclip. "Are you sure?" Kelly asked. "Surely most of these people are dead now," Kelly said "No, it cannot be!" Von Seeckt cried out. "I would have when he was done. "But I imagine that the work is still known if we'd had contact with whoever left the bouncers continuing there and that explains a lot of the Nightscape and mothership. We would not have had to struggle so stuff and why everything is classified. But what's the con- hard for so many years. We just got into the mothership nection with the mothership?" this past year. It sat for so long, a puzzle we couldn't "I have not been there, true," Von Seeckt said, "but break." Gullick and the others he trusted--they traveled to Dulce "Maybe something changed this year," Kelly suggested. often. Something changed this year. They changed." She had Von Seeckt off balance and she knew from experi- Kelly sensed blood in the water. "Changed? Changed ence that she had to keep up the pressure. "I have heard how?" that the government is doing testing on mind control at "They began acting irrationally," Von Seeckt said. "We Dulce. They are supposedly working with memory-affect- always had secrecy in Majic-12. And Dulce has existed for ing drugs and EDOM." many years, as Captain Turcotte says. But something is dif- "What's EDOM?" Turcotte asked. ferent now. The urgency to fly the mothership. What is the "Electronic dissolution of memory," Kelly said. "I did an rush? Even getting into it. For so many years we could not article on it a few years back. Of course, the people I inter- penetrate the skin, then suddenly they pick a certain spot viewed were only talking about it theoretically, but it al- and try a new technique, and they succeed after decades of ways seems that our government likes to take theory and trying. see if it can work. EDOM is used to cause selective amne- "Even how quickly they have mastered the controls and sia. It creates acidic croline, which blocks the transmission the instruments. It is as if they know much more than they of nerve impulses, which in the brain stops the transmis- should." sion of thought in the affected area." "Could they have broken the code on the high runes?" "Ever hear of that?" Turcotte asked Von Seeckt. Nabinger asked. "That would explain some of it." "I have heard . . ." Von Seeckt began, then he paused. "Some of it, yes," Von Seeckt agreed. "But I do not When he spoke again, his voice was hesitant. "I will tell think they have broken the code, or if they have, it does not you the truth. I will tell you why I never went back to Dulce explain why they are acting so strangely and in such a after my visit in 1946." rush." Von Seeckt threw his hands up in the air. "I do not They all waited. understand." "Because I knew who was working there." Von Seeckt's "Do you know where the facility is?" Turcotte asked. voice dripped disgust. "I met them. My fellow Germans. "Not exactly. Just somewhere on the outside of the town The biological and chemical warfare experts. And they of Dulce. I do remember a large mountain behind the town were continuing their experimental work that they had and that we went around the mountain on a dirt road. started in the concentration camps. I could not go there. I Then we went into a tunnel and it was all underground." 274 ROBERT DOHERTY 275 AREA 51 Turcotte rubbed his forehead. "So you don't exactly know where it is and you don't exactly know what goes on The copper taste flooded Johnny's mouth and his world there?" went black again. But this time he could hear his own "No." screams, sounding as if it were some other person a long Kelly looked up in the rearview mirror. Turcotte met her way away. But the pain was close. eyes, then spoke. "Well, we'll be there shortly. And we'll find out what's going on and get Johnny Simmons out of there." Kelly opened her mouth to say something, then shut it. She turned her eyes back to the road and drove. VICINITY, DULCE, NEW MEXICO Johnny Simmons could see. He didn't know how long ago it had started, but it had begun with the slightest tinge of gray infiltrating the blackness surrounding him. Then the difference between light and dark grew, and he was able to make out some forms moving around on the periphery of his vision. He couldn't move his head, nor could he move his eyes. But as time went by, he wished the slight improvement that had occurred had not. Because there was something wrong about the forms he caught glimpses of. They were human shaped, but they weren't human and that is what scared him. The silhouetted forms were all wrong--heads too large; arms too long; torsos too short. Once he thought he saw the outline of a hand, but there were six fingers instead of five and the fingers were much too long. Johnny was concentrating so hard on his eyes that it was a while before he noticed other changes in his environ- ment. There was a scent in the air. A very unpleasant scent. And he could hear sound, albeit as if from a long distance away. It was a clicking sound, but not mechanical. More like insect clicking. 277 AREA 51 Route 64 passed along the south side of the community, 25 and Kelly carefully kept to the speed limit as they drove through. As the town slipped behind them, Turcotte told her to pull off on a dirt road and stop. "You say the facility is behind that mountain?" he asked Von Seeckt. "Yes. It was night when I came here and over fifty years ago, though. There wasn't much here in those days. I don't remember all these buildings." Turcotte looked to the north. "All right. We have about ROUTE 64, NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO two hours of daylight left. Let's check out what we can see T-79 HOURS from the van." He pointed back toward town and Kelly turned them around. The road curved around a small lake to the left and passed They cruised in past the sign marking the city limits and between tree-covered hills. Turcotte checked the map. took a right, going past the local elementary school. The They were close to Dulce. According to Rand McNally the road slowly sloped up. Within a quarter mile they were at town was just south of the border with Colorado, nestled the base of the ridge. Turcotte kept Kelly taking turns that between the Carson National Forest and the Rio Grande directed them to the right. It was the only way he could see National Forest. The terrain was rocky and mountainous, around the mountain. Left would only run along the south with occasional clusters of pine trees adorning the hillsides. side of the ridgeline. It was the sort of relatively unpopulated area the govern- An arrowhead with a 2 inside it marked a road leading ment liked to build secret facilities in. to the northeast. The other roads all appeared to be local They hit a straight section of road and a long-distance residential streets. Kelly turned onto the arrowhead road view opened up directly ahead. Von Seeckt leaned forward and they began climbing the shoulder of the mountain. A between the seats. "There. That mountain to the left. I sign indicated they were now on the Jicarilla Apache In- remember that. The facility is behind it." dian Reservation. A white Ford Bronco rolled past with A long ridge extended from left to right about ten miles two men seated inside and Turcotte twisted his head and ahead, culminating in a peak slightly separated from the watched it go by. main body of the ridge. "Government plates," he noted. "Where should I go?" Kelly asked. "Yeah," Kelly said. "Stay on this road," Turcotte said. "I'll tell you where to "Probably from the facility." stop." "I don't want to burst your bubble," Kelly said, "but you As they got closer, the town of Dulce appeared at the see a lot of U.S. government plates out here. We're on base of the ridgeline, a scattering of buildings along the ederal land, actually Indian land, but the Bureau of Indian valley floor running up to the base of the large mountain. Affairs, which helps run the reservations, is federal." 278 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 279 "But it could be from the base," Turcotte said. guarded facilities. The goal of a lot of the security is not, as "Ah, optimism," Kelly said, mimicking his Canuck ac- you would think, to prevent someone from actually break- cent. "I like that." ing in. The goal is deterrence: to keep someone from con- "There." Turcotte pointed to the right shoulder. "Stop sidering breaking in." there." "I don't understand," Nabinger said from the rear. The road split. To the right it went down into a valley. To "Think of the security cameras in banks," Turcotte ex- the left a wide, well-maintained gravel road curved along plained. "They work through deterrence. They keep most the back of the ridgeline and disappeared. people from robbing the bank because those people know "It's around there," Turcotte announced firmly. their picture will get taken and the police will eventually "Why not to the right?" she asked. catch them. The same with most security. For example, if I "Von Seeckt said it was behind the mountain. To the wanted to kill the President, I could most definitely kill right is not behind the mountain." He looked to the back. him. The problem lies with killing him and getting away "Correct?" afterward." Von Seeckt concurred. "I believe to the left." "So, you're saying we can get in to this facility but we Turcotte continued. "Also, since we left Phoenix that's can't get out?" Kelly asked. the best maintained and widest gravel road I've seen." He "Oh, I think we should be able to get out. It's just that smiled. "But mostly, the thing that convinces me that the they'll know we did it." facility is down that road--besides Von Seeckt's opinion, of Kelly shrugged. "Hell, that ain't a problem. They're al- course--are those little lines of what appears to be smoke ready after us. We get Johnny, we go public. That's the only hanging above the road." He pointed to the gravel road. way we'll make it." "See them? There and there?" "Right," Turcotte said. "Yes. What are they?" "So, back to my original question," Kelly said. "What "That's dust caught in a laser beam. A car goes down now?" that road, the beam gets broken and a signal is sent. "Back to town," Turcotte said. "We need a ticket to get There's two of them, so they can tell if a vehicle is coming us in. Once inside I'll get us to Johnny." or going depending on the order the beams get broken. I "And the high rune tablets," Nabinger added. "Von don't think the Bureau of Indian Affairs guards the reser- Seeckt told me that Dulce is where they keep all the ones vations that tightly, do you?" the government has." "What now?" Kelly asked, glancing over her shoulder at "And the high rune tablets," Turcotte amended. "What- the other two men in the rear. ever you can find." "I don't think this place will be as well guarded as Area "Anyplace in particular in town?" Kelly asked as she 51," Turcotte said. "All the work here must be done inside, turned them around and headed to the south. so it obviously doesn't attract as much attention as the "Know how cops always hang out at the local doughnut other facility. So that's to our advantage. shop?" Turcotte said. "The other thing to remember is a basic fact about most "Yes." 28O ROBERT DOHERTY 281 AREA 51 "We need to find where the workers from the base get met him halfway between the two vehicles, caught in the their doughnuts." glow of the headlights. "You an idiot or what?" the driver demanded. "You pass me and-- Without a word Turcotte fired the stun gun, dropping the T-73 HOURS, 15 MINUTES man immediately. He cuffed him with plastic cinches from "That one," Turcotte said. They'd watched a dozen or so his vest and dragged the body into the back of the van. cars with small green stickers on the front center of the "Get into the truck," he ordered Von Seeckt and Nabinger. windshield pull in and out of the convenience-store parking The two men scuttled over into the backseat of the Subur- lot over the course of the past several hours. Turcotte had ban. pointed out the stickers and explained that they were de- Kelly drove the van a hundred meters down the tar road, cals used to identify cars that had access to government where the turn concealed them from the intersection. installations. As night had fallen, the lights had come on, There was no place to conceal the van, so she just pulled illuminating the parking and leaving their van in the dark- off to the shoulder. Turcotte made sure the man was secure ness across the street. and quickly frisked him. "I've got him." Kelly started the engine to the van and "This isn't much of a plan," Kelly muttered as she locked followed the Suburban out of the parking lot of the Minit the van and pocketed the keys. "And I'm not sure I buy Mart. your easy-to-get-in-and-out theory." "One of my commanders in the infantry used to say any They followed the truck as it went north through town plan was better than having Rommel stick it up your ass on and then turned onto Reservation Route 2. They were a the drop zone," Turcotte said as they jogged up the road quarter mile from the split in the road. toward the truck. "Now," Turcotte ordered. "I don't get it," Kelly said. Kelly flashed her high beams and accelerated until they "I never did, either, but it sounded good. What's really were right on the bumper of the Suburban. She swung out interesting," he said, pausing for a second and looking at and passed, Turcotte leaning out the window and giving the her in the starlight, "is that you're the first person who ever finger to the driver of the truck as he screamed obscenities. said that about that quote. I never told my commander I Kelly slammed on the brakes and they skidded to a halt didn't get it." at the intersection with the gravel road. The driver of the "And?" Kelly said. Suburban came to a stop on the gravel road, headlights He began jogging again. "It means you listen and you pointing at the van. think." "What the fuck is your problem, asshole?" the burly Turcotte took the wheel this time. He scanned the inte- driver of the truck demanded as he stepped out and started rior and reached above the visor; an electronic card key walking toward the van. was there, such as those used in hotels to open doors. He Turcotte jumped out of the passenger side of the van and checked the name: Spencer. "The plan is getting better by 283 282 AREA 51 ROBERT DOHERTY also to allow people to begin getting their night sight when the minute." He tucked the card between his legs next to the stun gun. "Everyone down. We're going to be on cam- departing. The slots were numbered, but Turcotte took his chances era in a second." and went to the far end, out of sight of the guard, and Throwing the engine into gear, he rolled down the gravel parked. There were about ten other cars in the garage. road, past the laser sensors. There was no way he could see Over fifty spaces were empty, which meant that the night it, but he had no doubt that the vehicle was being surveyed shift was a skeleton crew, for which Turcotte was grateful. by infrared cameras to check for the decal and insure it was There was a pair of sliding doors set in the rock twenty authorized. He knew the decal was covered with a fluores- feet from where he had parked. "Let's go." cent coating that could easily be seen through such a de- Turcotte glanced over his shoulder at the three people vice. He watched the road carefully, hoping that there following him--Kelly short and compact, Von Seeckt lean- would be no more forks where a decision had to be made. ing on his cane, and Nabinger bringing up the rear. Kelly A sign appeared in the headlights warning that they were smiled at him. "Lead on, fearless one." now entering a federal restricted area and the fine print He slid the card key into the slot on the side of the listed all the dire consequences unauthorized personnel elevator. The doors slid open. They crowded inside and would face and all the constitutional rights that they no Turcotte examined the buttons. They ranged from HP, Ga- longer had. Four hundred meters past the sign a steel bar rage, down through sublevels 4 to 1. "I'd say HP stands for stretched across the road. A machine such as those used at 'helipad.' They probably have one cut into the side of the airports to give out parking tickets was on the left side. mountain or maybe even on the top of the mountain above Turcotte pulled up and inserted the card key into the slot. us. Any idea what floor we should go to?" he asked Von The steel bar lifted. Seeckt. He continued on, then the road split. Turcotte had less The old man shrugged. "They had stairs when I was here than three seconds to make a decision. To the left loomed last, but we did go down." the mountain. To the right the valley floor. He turned left "I'd say bottom level," Kelly suggested. "The greater the and immediately was in a narrow valley. The sides closed in secret, the deeper you go." and camouflage netting covered the road, staked down on "Real scientific," Turcotte muttered. He hit sublevel 1. the rock walls on either side, confirming his decision. A The elevator dropped, the lights on the wall flashed, then thirty-foot-wide opening in the base of the mountain ap- halted at sublevel 2. A message appeared on the digital peared directly ahead, carved into the side of the moun- display above the number lights: tain. A dull red glow came out of the opening. A bored security guard in a booth just inside the cave ACCESS TO SUBLEVEL 1 LIMITED TO opening hardly looked up, waving the Suburban in. A large AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. parking garage was off to the right and Turcotte turned TOP SECRET Q LEVEL CLEARANCE REQUIRED. that way. The man-made cave was dimly lit by red lights. DUAL ACCESS MANDATORY. That was both to defeat detection from the outside by not INSERT ACCESS KEYS NOW. having bright white light coming out of the entrance, and 284 ROBERT DOHERTY 285 AREA 51 Turcotte looked at the two small openings--made for ster when Turcotte jumped into the air, feet leading, and small round objects--one just below the digital display and flew over the desk. The bottom of his boots caught the the other on the far wall. They were far enough apart that guard in the chest, knocking him back against the wall. one person could not operate both keys--just like the Turcotte was back on his feet first and he slammed a turn launch systems of ICBM. "I don't have the keys for that, kick into the side of the guard's skull, knocking him out. and our Mr. Spencer didn't have them on him either." He turned to the desktop and looked at the computer "Let's try this level," Kelly suggested. screen that was built into it. It showed a schematic, with Turcotte pressed the open button and the doors slid rooms labeled and green lights in each little box. The oth- apart, revealing a small foyer and another door and an- ers quickly gathered around. other warning sign: "Archives," Turcotte said, resting a finger on a room. He looked up at Nabinger and Von Seeckt. "That's yours." He SUBLEVEL 2 reached into his pocket and pulled out the stun gun. "You AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. meet anyone, use this. Just aim and pull the trigger, the RED CLEARANCE REQUIRED. gun does the rest. You've got five minutes. Then be back here whether you found what you're looking for or not." An opening for a card key to be passed through was just Nabinger oriented himself with the diagram and looked below the sign. Turcotte held up the card key he'd appro- down the corridor. "Right. Let's go." He headed off with priated from the Suburban. It was orange. "We're still out Von Seeckt. of the depth of Mr. Spencer's security range." He stepped Turcotte pointed. "I'd say your friend is in one of these forward and shrugged off the small backpack he had on. two places." One was labeled HOLDING AREA and the other "But I think I can handle this little roadblock." He re- BIOLAB. moved a small black box. "Biolab," Kelly said. "What's that?" Kelly asked. They sprinted in the opposite direction from the one "Something I found in the van. They had all sorts of Von Seeckt and Nabinger had taken. The hall was quiet goodies back there." A card key was attached to the box by and they passed several doors with nameplates on the out- several wires. Turcotte slid it into the slot in the direction side--obviously offices for the people who worked here in opposite that indicated by the arrow. "It reads the door the daytime. code backward, memorizes it, and then reverses the code. "Left," Kelly said. A set of swinging double doors waited I've used similar devices in some of my other assignments." at the end of a short corridor. They halted and Kelly He slid it down in the proper direction and the two doors arched her eyebrows at Turcotte in question as they heard slip open to reveal a guard seated at a desk ten feet away. someone cough on the other side. "Hey!" the guard yelled, bounding to his feet. "We charge," Turcotte whispered. Turcotte dropped the box and reached for the stun gun. "You don't have much of a tactical repertoire," Kelly It got caught in his pocket and he abandoned the effort, replied quietly. sprinting forward. The guard's gun had just cleared his hol- Turcotte pushed the doors open and stepped in. A mid- 286 ROBERT DOHERTY 287 AREA 51 die-aged woman in a white coat was bent over a large "But I can't just open it. The shock will kill the obj--" She chest-high rectangular black object. Her hair was pulled caught herself. "The patient. I have to do this in proper back tight in a bun and she peered up over a pair of procedure." glasses. "How long?" Turcotte asked. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Fifteen minutes to--" "Johnny Simmons?" Turcotte asked. "Make it five." "What?" the woman replied, but Turcotte caught the shift of her eyes to the black object. At the other end of this level of the facility Von Seeckt and He walked past her and looked down. It reminded him Professor Nabinger were staring at an intellectual treasure of an oversized coffin. There was a panel on the top--what trove. The archives had been dark when they opened the the woman had been looking at. "What is this?" he asked. doors. When Nabinger hit the lights, a room full of large "Who are you people?" The woman looked past them at filing cabinets had come into view. Opening drawers, they the door. "What are you doing here?" found photos. The drawers were labeled with numbers that There were a number of cables coming out of the ceiling, meant nothing to the two men. At the far end of the room going into the black top. Some of the cables were clear and there was a vault door with a small glass window. Von there was fluid in them. He turned on the woman. "Get Seeckt peered through. "The original stone tablets from him out of there." the mothership cavern are in there," he said. "But they "Johnny's in there?" Kelly stared at the casing. She must have photographs of them in these cabinets." walked over and picked up a clipboard hanging on a hook. Nabinger was already opening drawers. "Here's the She checked the papers on it. same high runes from the site in Mexico that Slader "Someone's in there," Turcotte said. "Those are IV showed me," Nabinger said, holding up large ten-by-fif- tubes. I don't know what they're carrying, but someone's in teen-inch glossies. there on the receiving end." "Yes, yes," Von Seeckt said absently, throwing open "It's Johnny," Kelly said, holding up the clipboard. drawer after drawer. "We need to find ones she didn't "Get him out of there," Turcotte repeated. show you--the ones from the mothership cavern. I do not "I don't know who you are," the woman began, "but-- believe our Captain Turcotte will have much patience once Turcotte slid his Browning High Power out of its holster. his five-minute limit is up." He pulled the hammer back with his thumb. "You got five Nabinger started going through drawers more quickly. seconds or I put a round through your left thigh." The woman glared at him. "You wouldn't dare!" The woman's hands shook as she worked on the panel. "He would," Kelly said. "And if he didn't, I would. Open Most of the cables had been disconnected and she was it!" checking some readings. "One. Two. Three." Turcotte dropped the barrel and "What did you people do to him?" Kelly asked. aimed at the woman's leg. "It's complicated," the woman said. "All right. All right!" The woman held up her hands. "E-D-O-M?" Kelly spelled out the letters. 288 ROBERT DOHERTY 289 AREA 51 The woman stiffened. "How do you know of that?" Kelly looked at the woman. "Finish the job," Turcotte said. "Please don't," the woman begged. The woman hit a key and the box began beeping. "It will "The change starts here," Kelly said. She shot the be safe to open in thirty seconds." woman with the stun gun, then hurried after the others. They piled into the elevator. Turcotte leaned Johnny up Von Seeckt had paused at one drawer, looking at the against the wall and Kelly kneeled to support him. photos more carefully. At the end of the aisle Nabinger Turcotte punched in the button labeled G and the eleva- was moving on to the next cabinet when he noticed some- tor rose. He poked Nabinger in the chest. "You and Kelly thing in a glass cabinet on the wall. He moved over and carry him out to the van." stared at the object inside. "What are you doing?" Kelly asked. Von Seeckt held up a handful of pictures. "These are the "My job," Turcotte said. "I'll link up with you in Utah. photos from the mothership cavern! Let us rejoin the good Capitol Reef National Park. It's small. I'll find you." captain." "Why aren't you going with us?" Kelly demanded. "I'm going to see what's on sublevel one," Turcotte said. The beeping stopped and the woman pointed at a lever on "Plus, I'll create a diversion so you can get away." He hus- the side of the box. "Lift that." tled them out into the garage, then stepped back into the Turcotte grabbed the red handle and pulled it up. With a elevator. hiss the lid came up, revealing a naked Johnny Simmons "But--" The shutting doors cut off the rest of her words. submerged inside a pool of dark-colored liquid. Needles Turcotte punched in sublevel 2 and the elevator went were stuck in both arms and tubes led to his lower body. A back down to where he had just left. The doors opened on tube was inserted in his mouth, a clear plastic-type material the unconscious guard. Turcotte ran out and grabbed the wrapped around the tube and molded to his face, ensuring guard's body. He dragged the body back, wedging it in the a seal to keep the fluid out. doorway to keep the doors from shutting. Then he "I have to remove the oxygen tube and the catheters and shrugged off the backpack of gear he had appropriated IVs," the woman said. from the van. He knew it was only a matter of time before "Do it." Turcotte said. He turned as Von Seeckt and some alarm was raised. They had to have some sort of Nabinger appeared in the doorway. Nabinger's hands were internal checks with the guards, and when the sublevel 2 bleeding and he held something wrapped in his jacket. guard didn't respond . . . well, then things would get ex- "You were not at--" Von Seeckt halted in midsentence citing. when he saw the body inside the black box. "Ah, these He laid out two one-pound charges of C-6 explosive he'd people! They never stopped. They never stopped." found in the van on the carpeted floor of the elevator. He "Enough," Turcotte ordered. The woman was done. He molded the puttylike material into two foot-long half cir- leaned over and scooped Johnny up. "Let's go." cles, placing them about two and a half feet apart in the "What do I do with her?" Kelly asked. center of the floor. He pushed a nonelectric blasting cap "Kill her," Turcotte snapped as he headed out the door. into each charge. He'd crimped detonating cord into each 290 ROBERT DOHERTY 291 AREA 51 fuse in the van, so all he had to do was tie the loose ends of pulled the pin, and tossed it toward the sound of the guns. the det cord together with a square knot, leaving enough to He squeezed his eyes shut and put his hands over his ears. put on the M60 fuse igniter. The igniter was about six As soon as he felt the concussion, he sprang up. In his inches long by an inch in diameter with a metal ring at the last assignment Turcotte had fired thousands of rounds opposite end from the det cord. from the pistol every day. It was an extension of his body The det cord was just long enough for him to step out- and he could put a round into a quarter-sized circle at side the elevator doors. He pulled the unconscious guard out of the way and held one of the doors open with his left twenty-five feet. One guard was kneeling, submachine gun dangling on hand. Then he checked his watch. It had been almost five the end of its sling, his hands rubbing his eyes. The other minutes since he'd let the others out in the garage. They still had his weapon ready but was disoriented, facing ought to be getting near the metal gate. He'd give them toward the wall, blinking and shaking his head. Turcotte another two minutes, then showtime. The seconds dragged fired twice, hitting the first man in the center of his fore- by slowly. head, throwing the body back. The next round hit the sec- Time. Turcotte put the M60 in his mouth, clamping ond man in the temple. As he keeled over, his dead finger down on it with his teeth. He pulled the metal ring with his jerked back on the trigger, sending a stream of bullets into right hand. The detonating cord burned at twenty thousand feet per the wall. Turcotte slowly slid on his belly up into the corridor. He second. The result was that Turcotte was still pulling when got to his feet, staying low in a crouch. The hall extended the charges exploded. He threw down the igniter and about sixty feet, to a dead end. There were several doors to stepped into the elevator. A three-foot hole was in the the left and another corridor turning to the right. There floor. Turcotte jumped in, falling ten feet, landing on the were red lights flashing and a teeth-jarring low-frequency concrete bottom of the elevator shaft. He heard alarms siren wailing. One of the doors to the left opened and screaming in the distance. Turcotte snapped a shot in that direction, causing whoever The sublevel elevator doors were at waist level. Turcotte it was to slam the door shut. There were name plaques next reached up and jammed his fingers between them and to each door on the left and Turcotte surmised that those pulled. He felt some of the stitches Cruise had put in his rooms were quarters for sublevel 1 staff. side pop. The doors grudgingly gave six inches, then the He abandoned his cautious approach and ran forward, emergency program kicked in and they began opening of turning the corner to the right. The hall he faced was ten their own accord. feet long, ending in a double set of doors with more dire Turcotte had his Browning out in his right hand as he warnings in red posted on them. Turcotte pushed the doors peeked up over the lip. There were two guards standing in open and stepped in. The rough concrete floor angled the corridor and they were ready, the explosion having down to a large cavern carved out of the mountain. The alerted them. Bullets ripped in above Turcotte's head. He ceiling was twenty feet high and the far wall a hundred ducked and heard the rounds thump into the wall above his meters away. What caught Turcotte's attention first were head. He removed a flash-bang grenade from his pocket, several dozen large vertical vats that were full of some am- 292 ROBERT DOHERTY 293 AREA 51 ber-colored liquid and each one holding something in it. t'me of night he didn't think there was a platoon of men Turcotte stepped up to the nearest one and peered in. He hanging around "just in case." recoiled as he recognized what was a human being. There A humming noise drew his attention back to the pyra- were tubes coming in and out of the body and the entire mid A golden glow was flowing out of the apex, forming a head was encased in a black bulb with numerous wires three-foot-diameter circle in the air above. Turcotte stag- going into it. It reminded Turcotte of what had been done gered back. His head felt as if an ax had split his brain from to Johnny Simmons, except on a more sophisticated level. ear to ear. He turned and ran, heading away from the cor- A golden glow to the right caught Turcotte's attention. ridor he'd come down. When he'd first come into the room He ran in that direction and stopped in surprise as he he'd realized they hadn't gotten all this equipment in here cleared the last vat. The glow came from the surface of a through the elevator he'd destroyed. There had to be an- small pyramid, about eight feet high and four feet across other way. He fought to keep his concentration against the each base side. tidal wave of pain that surged through his skull. Several cables hanging from the ceiling were hooked The floor began sloping up again. A large vertical door into it, but it was the texture of the surface that caught and beckoned. Turcotte grabbed the strap on the bottom of it held Turcotte's attention. It was perfectly smooth and solid and pulled up. It lifted to reveal a large freight elevator. appearing. The surface seemed to be some sort of metal Stepping in, he pulled the door back down and checked the and when Turcotte touched it, it was cool and as unyielding control panel. It had the same two-key system, but the keys as the hardest steel. Yet the glow seemed to come right out were only needed to go down. He punched in HP and the of the material. floor jerked. There were markings all over it. Turcotte recognized the The pain in his head slowly subsided as he got farther high rune writing from the photos Nabinger had shown away from sublevel 1. He went up past 2, 3, then 4. The him. parking garage passed by, then almost ten seconds of There was a noise. Turcotte spun and fired. A guard movement passed until the light came on for HP. The ele- racing through the double doors returned fire with a sub- vator came to a halt. Turcotte pulled up on the inside strap machine gun, his rounds hitting several of the vats, shatter- and the door opened onto a large bay carved into the side ing glass, the liquid pouring out. The man was disoriented of the mountain. Camouflage netting overhung the open by the layout of the room and had fired instinctively at the end and the place was dimly lit with red night-lights. Crates sound of Turcotte's gun. and boxes were stacked about. If there had been a guard Turcotte fired again, more carefully, and hit the man up here he must have responded to the alarm on the lower twice, killing him. He felt nothing. He was in action mode, level, because the place was deserted. Turcotte ran across taking care of what needed to be done. He needed infor- to the netting and peered out. A steel platform large mation and he had plenty from what he had seen in this enough to take the biggest helicopter in the inventory had room. He didn't expect any more guards soon. One of the been erected out there. He walked out onto it. The side of Catch-22's of a place like this was that the more guards you e mountain was very steep here. Turcotte looked down. had, the more people you had who were security risks. This The valley below was in darkness, giving no idea how far 294 ROBERT DOHERTY 295 AREA 51 down it went. Eight hundred feet above, the top of the disconnecting. Then he dialed a new number with a 910 mountain was silhouetted against the light of the moon. area code. Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Turcotte slid over the edge of the platform onto the rock- A sleepy voice answered. "Colonel Mickell." and-dirt mountainside and began climbing. "It's Mike Turcotte, sir." After a few minutes he could see lights moving in the The voice woke up. "Jesus, Turc, what the fuck have you valley below. Reinforcements. It would take them a while done?" to get air assets in--he hoped. Having been in Special Op- Turcotte leaned against the phone booth, energy drain- erations for years, Turcotte knew that there just weren't ing out of his body. "I don't know, sir. I don't know what's packs of men sitting around with high-speed helicopters going on. What have you heard?" waiting around every corner. "I haven't heard shit except somebody wants your ass He moved from rock to rock, clinging to bushes at times. bad. One of those agencies with a whole bunch of letters He'd learned mountain climbing during a tour in Germany has put out a classified 'grab and hold' on you. I about shit and this slope wasn't technically very difficult. The dark- when I saw it come through in my reading file." ness was a bit of a problem, but his eyes were adjusting. Mickell was the deputy commander of the Special He reached the top of the mountain after forty-five min- Forces Training Command at Fort Bragg and an old friend. utes. He turned to the west, following the ridgeline that he "Can you help me, sir?" had seen coming into town during the day. He moved "What do you need?" quicker now that he was gradually descending. His head "I need to find out if someone is for real and, if she is, still hurt, feeling as if a massive headache was worming its how to contact her." way around his head, moving from section to section. What "Give me her name." had that pyramid been? It definitely wasn't man-made. He "Duncan. Dr. Lisa Duncan. She told me she was the knew it was connected to the bouncers and mothership. President's adviser to a thing called Majic-12." But how was it connected to the bodies in the vats? What Mickell whistled. "Oh, man, you're in some deep stuff. the hell was going on down there? How do I reach you?" He saw the lights of Dulce to his left and he curved "You don't, sir. I'll get back in contact with you." downslope in that direction, heading for the western edge "Watch your butt, Turc." of town. As the ridgeline leveled out to valley floor he "Yes, sir." passed the first houses. An occasional dog barked, but Turcotte slowly hung up the phone. He wasn't one hun- Turcotte moved swiftly, not worried right now about the dred percent certain that Mickell would back him up. He locals. didn't know why Duncan's number didn't work. The only He spotted a pay phone outside a closed bowling area means of communication she'd given him as he went un- and jogged up to it. He picked up the receiver and dialed dercover and it had been out now for a couple of days. Not the number Dr. Duncan had given him. After the second good. Not good at all. He'd just killed three men this eve- ring a mechanical device informed that the number was no ning. "Fuck," Turcotte muttered. What the hell was that longer in service. Turcotte pushed down the metal lever, pyramid? I 296 ROBERT DOHERTY Turcotte rubbed his forehead. He'd played his last cards. 26 When it got down to it, he had to admit that the only people he could trust right now were heading for Utah and the rendezvous he had planned. He didn't want to go there, but it was the only place he could go. He looked about. There was a pickup truck parked on the street. Goddamn, his head hurt. Turcotte drew deep inside, relying on years of harsh training. He drew up strength where most would find nothing. And headed for the pickup truck. ROUTE 64, NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO T-7O HOURS, 4O MINUTES Johnny Simmons started screaming and Kelly's best efforts couldn't stop it. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight, whispering words of comfort in his ear. Getting out of the facility had been even easier than getting in. They'd piled into the Suburban, driven out past the unsuspecting guard, and linked back up with the van. Returning the still-unconscious driver to his own truck, they'd jumped into the van and driven back down through town and turned left on Route 64. "Can't you keep him quiet?" Von Seeckt asked from the driver's seat, checking the rearview mirror. "I'd be screaming too," Kelly answered, "if I'd been locked in that thing for four days. You just drive. No one can hear him except us." Johnny quieted down and appeared to fall asleep or, Kelly thought, slip into unconsciousness. She turned to Nabinger, who had his hands wrapped in a bloodstained towel. Kelly pulled out the first-aid kit. "What happened to you, Professor?" "There was something I had to get and it was in a glass case. I couldn't find a key so I broke the glass," Nabinger replied. 299 AREA 51 298 ROBERT DOHERTY ing this latest escapade, you mean. I think we'll be okay. I "Couldn't you have used something other than your just hope Turcotte made it out all right." hand to break the glass?" Kelly asked as she pulled out the "I am not concerned about them being after us," Von gauze and tape. Seeckt said. "I am concerned that we only have seventy- "I was in a hurry," Nabinger replied. After a moment's two hours before the mothership flies." silence he added, "I wasn't thinking about my hands." "What was so important?" Kelly inquired. Nabinger carefully unwrapped something from his jacket. He held a piece of wood, slightly curved, about two THE CUBE, AREA 51 feet long by one foot high and an inch thick. Even in the General Gullick did not look like a man who had just been dim light in the back of the van she could see that it was awakened five minutes ago. His uniform was well pressed covered with small carved characters. and his face clean shaven. Major Quinn had to wonder if "It's a rongorongo tablet from Easter Island," Nabinger Gullick shaved his face and skull before he went to bed said. "Do you know how rare these are? Only twenty-one every night for just such an occurrence as this--always are known to be in existence. This must be one that was ready for action. It suddenly occurred to Quinn that maybe secreted away." the general never slept. Maybe he just lay there in the dark, Kelly pointed at the eight-by-ten glossies that the two wide-awake, waiting for the next crisis. men had gathered. "What are those?" "Let me hear it from the beginning," Gullick ordered as Nabinger reluctantly looked from the tablet to the table, the other members of Majic-12, minus Dr. Duncan, strag- where the photos were piled. "Von Seeckt told me those gled in. are the photographs taken by the first team to enter the There wasn't much to tell. Quinn summarized the infor- mothership cavern. They found flat stones with high mation an excited security chief had called in from Dulce. runes." In reality, Quinn realized, as he recited the brief list of "What do they say?" Kelly asked as she finished one facts concerning the break-in and the abduction of the re- hand and began working on the other. porter Simmons and the theft of photos from the archives, Nabinger looked at the photos. "Well, it's not like read- they knew more here at the Cube, because it was obvious ing the newspaper, you know. This will take time." from the description from the guards and the female scien- "Well, you've got some time, so get to work," Kelly said tist who'd been on shift that it had been Von Seeckt, as she finished the second hand, then picked up a road Turcotte, Reynolds, and Nabinger acting in concert. map. She found where they had to meet Turcotte. "You've "I underestimated all of them," Gullick said when Quinn got all night," she announced. "I think we should get off was done. "Especially Von Seeckt and Turcotte." this main road and take back roads through the mountains, Kennedy leaned forward. "We're in trouble. They're go- heading west until we get to the linkup spot." ing to go to the media with this Simmons fellow." "How soon do you think they'll be after us?" Nabinger "How far into conditioning was Simmons?" Gullick asked. asked. "They're already after us," Kelly said. "After us follow- 300 ROBERT DOHERTY 301 AREA 5 1 Quinn was puzzled. What were they talking about? snapped. "Prepare everything to move up twenty-four Kennedy consulted his notepad. "They were sixty per- hours." cent into phase four." "But-" Quinn began. The general cut him off again Gullick looked at Doctor Slayden. "What do you think?" with a glare. Slayden considered it. "I can't say for sure." "I want the hangar opened tomorrow," Gullick said, "Goddammit!" Gullick's fist smashed into the desktop. "and I want the flight to be tomorrow night." Gullick "I'm tired of people bullshitting me when I ask them a looked around the table. "I think everyone has a lot of question." work to do, so I suggest you get moving." As they all got The room was silent for several moments, then Slayden up, his voice halted them. "By the way. I want the orders spoke. "They disconnected Simmons before treatment was on capturing Von Seeckt and his crew changed. It's no complete. That had to be a shock to his system, and the longer capture at any cost. It is terminate with highest way his mind will react to that, nobody knows. If nothing sanction." else happens, the sixty percent he did have will be enough to assure that Simmons will be discredited if he speaks publicly. He'll fit in with all the other wackos, to use a rather unscientific term." "What about the photos they stole?" General Brown asked. "They were of the high rune tablets," Gullick said. "Even if Nabinger can decipher the language, it will be quite a while before other scientists can verify his transla- tion. The tablets are not a problem. Even if they go to the media, it will take a little time before anyone starts believ- ing their story. They really don't have any proof." Gullick's voice was void of emotion, but a vein throbbed in his forehead. "All right. Then we're still back at the original problem--Von Seeckt and Turcotte. They're the threat, but I think at this point we can handle them for a little while. Long enough, at least, for us to finish the countdown. That's all that matters." Quinn found that a little hard to believe. What about afterward? he wanted to ask, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew that question would only earn him grief, so he chose another one. "What about the foo fighters?" "We'll deal with that and this new problem too," Gullick 303 AREA 51 him but it's bad. Von Seeckt's sleeping inside. Nabinger is looking at photos from the mothership hangar." "Has he gotten anything?" Turcotte asked. "What about you?" Kelly asked in response. "What hap- pened? What was done on sublevel one?" "I don't really know," Turcotte answered honestly and vaguely. He walked to the side door and slipped in, Kelly following. "What have you got?" he asked the archaeologist. "Better wake up Von Seeckt," Nabinger said. "He'll CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK, UTAH want to hear this." ADJUSTED T - 4 4 HOURS It took Von Seeckt a few minutes to get fully awake and then they all gathered around Professor Nabinger. He held Just north of Monument Valley, Capitol Reef National a legal pad covered with pencil marks. Park was right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. This "First you have to understand that my knowledge of the time of year it was virtually deserted. In fact, in a few high rune language is very rudimentary. I have a very small weeks the gates would be locked for the winter snows. The working vocabulary, and to compound that fact, there are lack of people, and out-of-the-way location, were two rea- symbols here that--although I believe they mean the same sons Turcotte had selected it as their meeting point. The as similar symbols from other sources--have slight differ- location put a lot of distance between themselves and ences in the way they are marked. Dulce. "The other problem is that the symbols that represent He drove in past the empty Ranger station and followed what we could call verbs are most difficult to make out the road around. At the first campsite he spotted the van. because of the variations in tense, which change the basic Kelly was standing outside, stun gun in hand, watching his symbol. truck. She relaxed when she saw him step out. There was a "Beyond the simple deciphering of the symbols and the concrete walkway at the end of the campsite, going along words they might mean," Nabinger continued, "there is an the top of the cliff on which the site was located. It af- additional problem to working with a picture language. forded a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains--or The ancient Egyptians called hieroglyphics 'medu metcher.' would have if the sun was up. That means 'the gods' words.' The word hieroglyphs, which "Good to see you," Kelly said. is Greek, refers specifically to the drawings in temples. It is "How is everyone?" Turcotte asked, stretching his arms difficult for us in the modern day to understand a language out. that was developed to explain the religious and mythi- "Johnny's semiconscious. Whenever he gains conscious- cal--" ness, he's delirious. I don't know what those people did to "Wait a second." Turcotte was tired and had had a long 304 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 305 night. "You're talking about hieroglyphics now. Let's stick THE CHIEF(?) SHIP/CRAFT NEGATIVE(?) FLY with the high runes and what they say." ENGINE/POWER(?) DANGEROUS Nabinger was tired also. "I'm trying to explain all this to ALL SIGNS NEGATIVE/BAD(?) AND MUST BE you so that you can take my few translations in the proper NEGATIVE/STOPPED(?) context. It would be wrong of us to superimpose our own MUST BE SOON culture and ideas upon what was written by a culture with a totally different set of values and ideas." He tapped the "That must refer to the mothership," Von Seeckt said. photos. "And here we are dealing with what appears to be "The negative with the question mark in the first sen- an alien culture. We don't have a clue if their perception of tence- you don't know for sure what that word is?" reality is the same as ours." "A verb," Nabinger said. "It might be cannot or should "We're flying their ships," Turcotte noted. "It couldn't not or will not. " be that far off." He thought of the pyramid and the golden "Makes a bit of difference," Turcotte noted. "I mean, glow above it and mentally reconsidered his last statement. what if the damn thing just broke? That would cover the "And not only that," Kelly added, "but didn't you tell us old won 't, wouldn't it? What if these aliens got stuck and earlier that it appears this high rune language was the pre- their triple A plan didn't cover Earth? And maybe that's cursor to all of mankind's written languages and probably why that thing shouldn't get cranked." served as the starting point for those languages? So if the Kelly put an arm on Turcotte 's shoulder. "See? You said roots are common, we must be able to understand it better 'shouldn't.' " than if they were totally alien."