“And you’ve used this service before?” Malcolm asked.
“Yes, many times, and I have always made it appear that Kaley or Lisa are staying in the room with me. It explains why we don’t leave the room,” Simon clarified with a smile. Both women nodded their heads while grinning and showing no signs of embarrassment.
“Is this some sort a ruse?” Malcolm questioned with a puzzled look on his face. “Who are you people? I’ve worked with two of you for several years and now realize that I know nothing about any of you.”
Kaley now spoke. “Malcolm, calm down, we are all on the same team,” she said evenly.
“You’ve been playing with me all along,” Malcolm accused Kaley and pointed his finger at her.
Kaley sighed and spoke. “It’s true, I have tortured you and emasculated you to keep you off balance while we vetted you and clarified your skills. But it was all done for the good of the team. I found out that you were accepted to the team the same time that you did.”
“You keep talking about a team,” Malcolm snorted. “But what team do you mean?”
“I’ll answer that,” Simon uttered quickly. “We are the MAD team. It’s actually called the Mysterious Artifacts Department of Area 51, but you know how much the government loves lettered shortcuts.”
“But you have Air Force tags?”
“Our budget is buried deep in the Air Force’s financial plan,” Simon explained.
“Do you work out of Area 51?”
“No, we actually work out of our offices in Atlanta,” Simon said. “But, on occasion, we have to come to the hanger where all the mysterious artifacts are kept in Area 51 — to store artifacts that we have found and check on others.”
“Is that where we are going now?”
“We are headed to Area 51, but not to our usual hanger. I have never been to the part of Area 51 where we are headed,” Simon explained. “It’s very secretive you know.”
“This will be a new experience for all of us,” Lisa added brightly and clapped her hands.
“So is this the entire team or am I in for more surprises?” Malcolm quickly asked.
“That’s a fair question,” Simon replied while nodding his head up and down. “This is the whole team. Kaley does the physical work, Lisa does the research and identification and I make the arrangements.”
“And what’s my job?” Malcolm asked with concern.
“Why…you…find the artifacts, of course,” Simon articulated.
At the same time a little voice in his head spoke. “We have much to do.”
***
Malcolm was quiet for some time while he contemplated what he had learned. But it only lasted for fifteen minutes.
“So finding the bodies in the sinkhole triggered some kind of crisis, am I right?” He suddenly blurted out.
“Yes,” Simon responded. “It actually points to a very bad situation — one that if we don’t fix it could lead to the actual destruction of earth.
“How could it be that bad?” Malcolm said in denial.
“Let me explain,” Kaley interjected. “You already know that there are three copies of the ninth book in Philon’s treatise, correct?”
“If you say so,” Malcolm responded.
“And you do understand that there are people that can use them to make natural disasters, don’t you?”
“Again I will believe what you have said at least until someone can show me some hard evidence.”
“But what if I told you that two of the books are in the hands of some very bad people?” Kaley asked.
“I guess that would be cause for concern,” Malcolm agreed as he scratched his head.
“What if the two groups were a white supremacist group and a radical Muslim group of jihadists? And not only that, but they are fighting each other and creating a vast amount of collateral damage.”
“Explains the sinkhole,” Malcolm agreed. “But why were the jihadists in the trunk?”
“They had stolen the Effort’s, that’s the white supremacist group, codex that lists how to change weather. It turned out to be a really dumb move. The Effort tracked them down and took it back. We were not meant to find the bodies,” Simon explained.
“So is Ben Brown the owner of the book? Is he a supremacist?” Malcolm quickly asked as he, as a lawyer, was concerned about liability.
“Malcolm, we have no client named Ben Brown and certainly no policy worth fifty million dollars,” Simon announced. “I put the fake policy in the files and back dated it to before you came aboard. We needed a way to get you involved. The real owner of the Mechanical treatise is a supremacist.”
“So everything is false,” Malcolm screamed in anger after it took enough time for the information to sink in. “The policies, the relationships and whole damn company, you’re telling me that they’re all false?”
“No,” Kaley yelled back in a slightly nervous tone. “You’re just seeing things differently because you are confused.”
“He may not be ready,” Simon Stone said ominously as he shifted in his seat.
Malcolm quickly understood that if he wasn’t ready, he would be off the team and he knew what that meant — he would be dead. He also realized that Kaley was trying to help him.
“How do you know that the jihadists and the supremacists have a copy of a device made from Philon’s book?” Malcolm quickly asked.
“The government has the third book in custody. We’ve had it for several decades,” Simon explained. “We have developed a way to identify where a disaster has been initiated by one of the other books. You will understand once we get into ‘the Pit’.”
“What Pit?” Malcolm uttered.
“The Pit where we track everything going on,” Simon replied with a knowing smirk.
“We’re approaching the main entrance to Area 51,” Lisa sang out.
Kaley suddenly leaned in close to Malcolm’s ear. He could feel her hot breath on his skin.
“For God’s sake please stop making negative comments Malcolm,” she begged. “These people don’t play nice and I want to keep you around.”
I think she likes me,” Malcolm thought pleasantly.
Chapter Seventeen
Duha Farooq, the Chief of Police for the small city of Adrar, Algeria, stepped out of his vehicle. The city was located in the west-central part of the desolate country. His vehicle was a ten year old battered black Land Rover. He headed towards the two farmers who waited for him up on the mostly sandy hill in the distance. They motioned for him to hurry. He had driven ten miles from downtown Adrar on rutted dirt roads just so he could speak to the extremely agitated men.
“Ahlan wa sahlan,” Chief Farooq called to the men as he greeted them with a traditional phrase — it meant “you’re like my family and so take it easy.” He took his time as he struggled up the hill. He was a huge person and quite an old man to be working in the gigantic and dangerous Sahara Desert. Farooq stood six feet and four inches and easily weighed three hundred pounds. His police job had taken a normal life away from him. He was often on the road for days doing police work.
He and his two deputies were the only law in the extremely dry Adrar Province of Algeria. The province had only one city and only about seventy thousand people. But it covered an area slightly larger than Texas.
The two farmers began jabbering away as soon as the big man was within a few yards.
“You have to do something,” the first farmer raged and pounded his walking staff on the ground. He clearly felt that he had been mistreated.
“Someone needs to pay us for this mess,” the second farmer demanded.
Farooq moved next to the two farmers and politely asked what they were talking about.
The first farmer pointed to the open valley below. “Look. What is doing this?”
Farooq had been in law enforcement for over thirty years, he had seen many strange things he could not explain, but what he was now looking at topped the list. Down in the semi-arid valley below where h
e stood, he saw many congregations of goats, birds, other animals and even camels. They were in packs and running one way and then reversing and running the other way. They didn’t seem to have a sense of direction. Several animals lay dead or dying on the rocky ground.
“When did the animals start running around like that?” the confused policeman asked.
“As soon as that cloud appeared,” one of the farmers explained as he pointed to the dark ominous cloud that hung over the small valley, He pointed with his staff.
“Well, that is odd,” Farooq acknowledged as he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his thinning hair. It was mid-summer in the huge desert surrounding Adrar. The temperature often approached 122 degrees. In fact, this part of the Sahara rivaled Death Valley for the hottest place on earth.
“Clouds are usually non-existent this time of the year,” the farmer continued. “But a few hours ago it suddenly appeared in the sky and started the animals running. It’s like they have lost their ability to judge where they are going.”
As they stood on the hill and watched, several animals became completely dehydrated and fell to the ground. “We’re facing financial disaster,” one of the farmers wailed.
Suddenly, the cloud shifted like it was had noticed them. It began moving toward the three men on the hill.
“I will look into this with the people at the university as soon as I get back to Adrar,” Duha Farooq promised. “I’ll send them out here to study this cloud.”
The Chief of Police began walking down the hill, but was stopped by one of the farmers. “Hey, Farooq, your vehicle is on the other side of the hill.”
“Oh,” he responded and laughed. He turned around and headed in the other direction.
One hour later, Chief Farooq passed the two farmers who seemed to have gotten as lost as he was on the small hill.
The three of them were never seen again.
Chapter Eighteen
It took over an hour to clear the three military checkpoints and reach the center of Area 51. The MAD team was subjected to x-rays, personal inspection, body searches and were handed several documents that they had to read and sign. Finally, a corporal in an open-topped Jeep drove them to a non-descript hanger and discharged them when a colonel in a grey jumpsuit appeared through a small door in the large hanger. The colonel snapped to attention when he saw Simon Stone in a general’s jumpsuit.
“Colonel Jacobs reporting as requested,” the military man offered as he came to attention. “I am the commander of this station.”
“At ease colonel,” Simon said quickly after he saluted. “These are my team members.” After introductions, the general spoke again. “They are to have access to anything I am entitled to view, do you understand?”
“Of course, sir,” Colonel Jacobs responded. “I suggest that we enter the Pit immediately. We’ve detected an event only a few minutes ago, so it is chaos in there, but you’ll get a good feel for what we are dealing with.”
“We’ll also need one of your people to get us up to speed,” Kaley suggested. “What is going on here is a little out of our experience.”
The colonel glanced at his iPad giving it a couple of swipes with a finger and then said, “It appears that you all passed the screening. You’ll have full access. I can honor your request for a guide as well. Let’s go,” he said as he turned toward the hanger.
“So what do you mean by an event?” Malcolm asked the colonel as he jogged up to the fast-paced officer.
“Anytime someone activates one of the weapons, we call it an event, whether it’s the Muslims, the supremacists or us,” the colonel explained.
“What can you tell us about this current event?” Malcolm politely asked as he considered the fact that the colonel implied that the word us meant the military sometimes activated the weapon too. He wondered why they would do that.
“We think it’s an attack by the supremacist group called the Effort. Have you heard of them?” The colonel inquired and tilted his head towards Lisa.
“Yes, we have,” General Stone interjected. “Their stronghold is in the United States. And I believe they are headquartered in Chicago. They follow the principles laid out in Adolf Hitler’s fanatical book Mein Kampf. They hate everyone but white people — who they believe are the superior race. They are well funded and have supporters in high positions in many industries. They can be extremely brutal and are not concerned with collateral damage. Their ultimate goal is world domination by fascism.”
“That’s a fair recap,” the colonel expressed with admiration. “And add in the Muslims?”
“The radical Muslims need little introduction,” the general said to extend everyone’s knowledge. “They want nothing more than world domination as well, but under the guise of a self-proclaimed peaceful religion.”
“Yeah,” Kaley suddenly shouted out. “But the difference is under Islam, women, especially women like me get kicked back to the Stone Age.”
“What do you mean?” Malcolm said in confusion as he had never heard Kaley take a stand on anything before.
“While Muslims don’t care what color your skin is — as long as you follow Sharia Law — you can live in peace. That is if you are a man and a man only. A woman has almost no rights, no protection from mistreatment, including beatings, must be submissive and has to wear a hijab to cover almost all of her body,” Kaley said with fire. “For women, everything is dependent upon the ruling by the local Iman, or her husband, and she most likely wouldn’t be able to choose him or her either. Hell, in most Islamic countries, women can’t vote or drive.”
She sounds like she might be pressing the gay issue, Malcolm considered.
“So you favor white supremacy?” the colonel said with surprise.
“Of course I do not!” Kaley spat back forcefully. “But to me it’s all about what these animals do to women, especially young women. I hate that.”
“Let’s get back to the event. What can you tell us?” the general butted in before someone said something they shouldn’t in the politically correct environment.
The travelers had already entered the door to the area known as the Pit. They were heading up a dark hallway to what appeared to be a big open room that reminded everybody of the stock market trading floor.
The Pit was set up like a huge descending concert hall except instead of seats for people to sit, there were manned computer stations piled four rows deep. The far wall held more than thirty screens dominated by three eight-foot monitors covered in lines and dots. Currently there were red lights flashing everywhere and an annoying alarm sound blared from somewhere above the Pit. The small MAD group stood huddled at the back of the room and above all the activity in bewilderment.
“Wow!” Lisa exclaimed. She had to scream to be heard. “This is unbelievable. I’m going into sensory overload.”
Colonel Jacobs spoke into a walkie-talkie that appeared in his hand and ordered somebody to kill the red lights and the alarm. He then looked around and eventually got the attention of a middle-aged mousy and non-smiling woman in a white lab coat and an orange jumpsuit. She wore horned rim glasses. She acknowledged him and stopped by a desk where she picked up four binders on the way up to them.
“May I introduce Doctor Gillian Darby,” the colonel said. “She’s the head of the research team on this project. She can answer all your questions. You’ll find that she is very efficient,” he said with a drip of sarcasm. He then excused himself, left the group and headed down into the Pit.
The doctor smiled at him with a false expression. It was clear to everyone that the colonel and Dr. Darby didn’t see eye to eye. Kaley didn’t waste any time before asking a question.
“Dr. Darby, what’s this event we are looking at here?” Kaley nodded towards all the confusing monitors.
“Well, I’ve recapped everything you need to know in the binders I just handed you,” she replied. “I’ve tried to write it in simple layman’s language.” That didn’t sit well with Kaley, she wanted
answers not some bureaucratic nonsense.
“I see that a light is blinking at the top of that monitor on the far right. Do you see it?” Kaley asked as she pointed.
“Of course,” Dr. Darby replied smugly as she turned her head.
“The title on the monitor says, Algerian Megalith,” Kaley pointed out. “What’s that?”
“Perhaps you should take some time and read the binder I worked so hard to put together for you,” Dr. Darby said in a snotty voice. “Perhaps then you could ask me intelligent questions, my dear.”
“We don’t have much time and we need answers now, doctor. We’re trying to save peoples’ lives and maybe the whole planet.” Kaley said through gritted teeth. “So…what…is…it?”
“I’m afraid that I can’t help you if you do not want to follow my rules and directions,” the stubborn doctor replied. She crossed her arms in defiance and threw out her chin.
Kaley became unglued. “Who the hell do you think you are, bitch,” Kaley screamed at the mousy doctor. “We need answers and you’re playing some mind-numbing game of who’s got the upper hand. It’s stupid.”
“I won’t put up with any name calling,” the red faced pencil pusher responded hotly and pointed an accusing finger at Kaley. “I’m reporting you to human resources immediately,” she cried out like someone had stabbed her. “We’ll see who the bitch is then.”
“Ah… Doctor Darby…you are dismissed,” General Simon Stone said as a suggestion.
“I’m just trying to do my job, damn it,” she screamed back at him.
“That was an order,” the general roared. “Get the hell out of here. I’ll also be speaking to your superior about your behavior as soon as we avert this world crisis.”
The Oracle Philon Page 7
