by Terence West
Alex smiled. She felt as if she had hit the jackpot in her career. "You mean that all the saucers kept at Area 51 were actually living beings? What about all the little gray men with big black eyes everyone is always reporting talking about?"
Griggs answered. "Oh, they're real."
"But not in the capacity that you think," Jake cut in. "They are a biologically engineered species designed for the entire purpose of working for the machines and making in flight repairs to the ships that the giant machines could not make by themselves."
"Incredible." Alex grabbed the beer and took a big swallow. "What's 'S-4'?"
"It's basically the place where all the testing and back engineering of extraterrestrial technology happens," Griggs answered. "Site 4, or better known as S-4, creates the black project aircraft and devices, and Area 51 then takes them and tests them."
Jake tapped his fingers. "Where is it?"
"It's near the eastern border of the Tonopah Test Range, about ten miles south of the Groom Lake Complex. It's another underground base."
"What's the Governments obsession with underground bases?"
"Most of these bases started out above ground. Area 51 and S-4 went underground after the Government experimented in Colorado in the mid 60's and created NORAD deep inside of Cheyenne Mountain," Griggs explained. "These bases were designed to with stand the attack of a Soviet nuclear attack on the country. It's rumored that a vast underground network of tunnels connects all the bases, but I've never actually seen the tubes."
Alex mulled over what Griggs had just said. Her curiosity returned to the artifact. "So what is this piece we're looking for?"
Jake thought for a moment. "I can't really describe it," He grabbed one of the cocktail napkins off the table and removed a pen from his jacket. "But I can draw it."
He roughly sketched a thin object with a large globe on top with four legs extending down from it and some kind of control panel on the front. Alex quickly snatched the paper from him and stared at it. "I found this!"
"What?" Jake was confused.
"Remember I told you that they grabbed me off of a dig in Egypt?"
Jake nodded.
"This is the piece I found underneath the Sphinx!" She looked at the drawing. "When those goons carted me off, they must've picked it up too."
"We have to destroy it." He turned to Griggs. "Do you know exactly where S-4 is?"
"Yeah, I did a couple of patrols there when I first arrived at Dreamland. I can get you there." Griggs snatched back his beer and drank down the final gulp. "But I just want to go on record as saying that I don't think this is such a good idea."
"Noted." Jake turned to Alex. "Are you in?"
Alex smiled. "Let's go."
Chapter 20
General Perry lifted himself off the infirmary bed. Pain shot up through his leg as he tried to put pressure on the cast that covered his broken leg. The infirmary was a sterile white room with several examination tables and tables of surgical equipment near them. A multitude of doctors were taking care of wounded soldiers scattered throughout the room. Perry ran his left hand along his chest feeling the bandages around his ribs. Looking down at his broken arm, he sighed. Through his entire life, the worst injury he had ever sustained was a sprained ankle he had received playing high school basketball. One of the doctors lifted Perry's jacket off the desk and handed it to him. Slipping it over his shoulders he leaned back against the cold metal table.
"How long have I been out?" Perry asked the doctor.
"Several hours at least. We found you under your desk with numerous injuries."
Perry rubbed his face. "And the Advisors?"
"They are long since gone. They took the morning transport off the base, then caught a plane back to Washington DC."
"Shit!" He slammed his fist against the table. He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Crews of repairmen and engineers were rushing through the halls. Perry grabbed one by the arm and stopped him. "I want a full report."
The man didn't recognize him at first, then saw the stars on his collar and snapped to attention. "Yes, Sir." He thought for a moment. "The base has sustained major damage. The hangar for all intent and purpose has been destroyed. The underground portion has lost most of its structural integrity. It looks like we could have a major collapse on our hands if we don't act fast."
Perry patted him on the back. "Good work son. Get back to work."
The engineer saluted and went about his work. Perry took a right turn down an adjoining hallway. Most of the lights in the ceiling were out. Several portable lights had been placed around the base to provide light until the light fixtures could be repaired. Taking another right he found the hall blocked with debris that had fallen away from the walls and the roof. Perry spun around and retraced his steps back down the hall.
He grabbed another worker passing by. "How do I get to the command room from here?"
The man thought for a moment. "You can't take the way through the hangar because it's been blocked. You'll have to take the way through the research bay. It was one of the few areas not damaged by the blast."
"Dismissed." Perry turned around and started to walk the opposite way down the hall. Passing the infirmary, he was stopped abruptly by Anne.
"General Perry. Just the man I was looking for."
"Why is that?"
"I have bad news. Colonel Hunter is dead."
"Dear God." Perry tried to sound concerned. "What happened?"
"From what we can pull together is that either Griggs or Silver shot him. He was found next to the dead body of General Davis."
"Well at least we won't have to worry about Davis anymore. Hunter is just going to have to be counted as a casualty of war." He started walking toward the control room. "What happened to Silver and Griggs?"
"At last report out security system tracked them leaving the base in a white Jeep Cherokee. One of our operatives located them with Dr. Robinson at a casino in down town Las Vegas. They couldn't make a move because the place was so crowded, but we do have people following them."
"Do we have any indication of where they're going next?"
"Our operative reports that they were discussing S-4."
Perry slammed his fist into his open hand then cringed. "Damn broken arm." He rubbed his arm. "This could be very good for us. I want all available soldiers transferred to S-4 immediately. That includes you and our man in black."
Anne looked down at her feet. "He was killed in the explosion. I narrowly escaped being trapped in the explosion myself."
"Damn. He was a good man."
"We have other men in black, Sir."
"Not any that was as good as him." They stopped at a door. Perry removed his key card and slid it through the control box. The door slowly began to slide open. "Why's the door taking so long?"
"The bases main power generators were damaged. We're operating on reserve power, and there's not a lot to go around."
The two stepped through the now open door. "I will be joining you at S-4 shortly. I just need to take care of a few things here first."
"Like what?"
"First off I need to promote a new Colonel. Then I need to check in with Washington." The two passed by another hallway that had been damaged in the blast. He stopped and turned to face her. "Major Caroll, I'm giving you a field promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. Stop these men Anne. I don't have time for another mistake like the last one."
She nodded and ran her hand through her long brown hair. Her green eyes sparkled with a hint of evil, "Yes, Sir."
* * * *
The three were stocked with supplies and on the road again by dusk. Jake had stretched out in the back seat and was taking a short nap. Griggs was driving and Alex was riding shotgun. Both were watching the sun set on the horizon.
Alex turned to Griggs. "If there's one thing you can say about Nevada, it does have the best sunsets."
Griggs agreed.
"You know, I don't know your first n
ame. All I've ever heard Jake call you is Griggs or Major."
He smiled. "My name is Jason. During the plan to get you out, I was Silver's commanding officer. That's why he calls me Major."
"Makes sense." She stared out the window at the sunset. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Shoot. We're still about a half an hour out of Tonopah. From there it's only about forty more miles until we reach S-4."
"How did you get caught up in this whole thing?"
"You mean rescuing you?"
"No I mean Area 51 in general."
"Oh," he checked his watch. "I was assigned here after I was labeled a 'War Hero' in Desert Storm."
"What did you do?"
"I saved my entire platoon by taking out an entire armored division by myself. Several tanks pinned us down. We didn't have the firepower to bring them down, and our radio had been damaged when our communications officer had been killed. I made my way around the rear of the closest tank and forced my way inside. I took control of the tank and destroyed the other three."
"Jesus," Alex softly exclaimed. "What are you? 'The Terminator'?"
Griggs smiled. "Just standing up for what I believed in. I joined the Marines to defend my country and that's what I was doing."
"That still doesn't explain how you got to Area 51."
"The Groom Lake Complex is the United States most top secret facility. They only want the best of the best there. They feel that way there will be less possibility of having a leak."
"What they never counted on, though, is that a lot of the soldiers find out what they're doing at the base is wrong." Alex was starting to get the picture.
"Right."
"So why did you join the marines in the first place?"
"It was really the only thing I could do." He checked his watch. "I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest. I wasn't good in school and the only job that I could do in my hometown was work at my father's sawmill. So I didn't have many options."
"You can't tell me that a big man like you didn't get any kind of sports scholarship. You didn't play football?"
"Yeah, I played some high school football, but I decided to pursue a different goal my senior year."
"Which was?"
He grinned at her. "Women."
"Very nice. So you were the average hormonally driven teenage male."
"Yeah. Blew my chance at a football scholarship to the University of Oklahoma all for a couple of parties and some wild sex."
"I guess everyone goes through that phase in school. I know I did. I'm glad I got it out of my system before I went to college, though. When I went up for my Ph.D., I needed to study hard. I didn't have any time for parties or men."
"Sometimes I wish I had gone to college." He guided the white Jeep smoothly around a bend in the road. "I could've been more than just some grunt in the military. You know what I always wanted to be?"
She looked at him and smiled. "What?"
"I always wanted to be a teacher."
"What kind of teacher?"
"It didn't matter. I always thought it would be incredible to shape young people's minds, ya know? To be the person they went to when they wanted to learn."
"I like that," she said softly to him.
The sun had now settled down behind the horizon allowing the stars to slowly rise above it into a clear night sky. "We're almost there. You might want to wake Mr. Snooze up." He pointed with his thumb into the back seat.
Alex shifted in her seat so that she could reach back and wake Jake. "I had a nice talk. Thanks Rick."
He smiled and nodded. "I did too."
She reached behind her and shook Jake. Slowly he rolled off his side and on to his back. Opening his eyes, he started to rub the sleep out of them. He cleared his throat and sat up. "Are we there yet?"
"I'm just about to take the turn off that leads there. It should only be another ten minutes or so."
"Do we have a plan?" He asked groggily.
"Not yet." Alex replied.
"We better come up with one in a hurry then."
Chapter 21
Anne stepped out of the helicopter wearing full black army fatigues, her brown hair tied up in a ponytail behind her head. Several soldiers accompanying her also stepped off the chopper. The team moved away from the helicopter as it slowly lifted off the pad into the night sky.
The helicopter pad was just an area of leveled dirt on the left side of the road near the entrance. The road leading down into the base was a very winding and treacherous road that passed near several sheer walls that dropped off hundreds of feet into the canyon below.
Anne looked around the terrain. S-4 was a very different place than Area 51. Unlike Area 51, S-4 had no real outstanding features. It had no hangars or runways and only a few communication towers littered the barren landscape. The base had been moved totally underground several years ago. The only major landmark that remained above ground was the entrance. It was a huge archway built into the side of the mountain. There was a guard shack built on the right side of the archway that housed at least four guards and two white Jeep Cherokees.
Anne stood in front of her ten-man strike force. The men were standing at attention side by side near the entrance. She walked down the line and inspected each man. "Welcome to Site 4, Gentlemen," she said in her most commanding voice. "I know many of you have never been assigned here so the base will be very unfamiliar to you, but we are here for a very specific reason." She paced back and forth in front of the men with her hands clasped behind her back. "We are here to stop an assault on this facility. You are to use every means necessary to stop these men." She stopped in the center of the men. "Deadly force is authorized."
The men briefly broke formation when they heard that, but quickly recomposed themselves and snapped to attention.
"You will report only to me," she continued. "If another officer tries to pull you off of what you are doing, tell them no and if they have any questions tell them to find me or General Perry." She looked at her group. "Understood?"
"Yes Colonel!" They shouted in unison.
"All right everyone inside. Split up. I want regular reports every fifteen minutes." She started to walk away. "Dismissed."
The men made their way toward the entrance and walked inside. Anne made her way over to the guard shack and opened the door. Four men dressed in standard green army fatigues stood inside going about their normal duties. They quickly turned and saluted as she walked in. "At ease."
"What can we do for you Colonel?"
"How many vehicles pass through these gates everyday?"
The nearest man answered. "Probably between forty and fifty."
"And what's the standard procedure for checking them?"
"We have every passenger in the vehicle show their ID, then we check for possible stowaways inside or in the trunk. If they pass, we let them through."
Anne nodded. She glanced over at the entrance. Is that the only thing keeping vehicles from going in?" She pointed at a black and yellow striped bar crossing in front of the entrance.
"Yeah. When a vehicle checks out, we raise the bar and let them through."
"That's it?"
"Colonel, this facility is not as well known as Area 51. The need for security around here is not as important. Add that to the fact that our location is very well hidden deep inside this canyon makes this base very, if not extremely, difficult to infiltrate."
"Not as important? This base houses some of the most top secret devices in the world." She got in the face of the man talking to her. "I want security doubled at the gate for the next forty-eight hours," she yelled. "I don't care if you bring the cook up to stand at the front door. Do you understand me?"
The man brought himself to attention. "Yes Colonel."
"Very good."
* * * *
They had jettisoned the Jeep about five miles out side of the base perimeter. All three were now dressed in black fatigues with combat boots and full armaments. Moving singl
e file across the desert, they moved back and forth between the sagebrush under the light of the full moon.
Griggs was in the lead. He stopped and turned back to the others. "This full moon is really going to hinder our mission. It's too bright out here."
Jake looked around. "We've got no choice. We have to complete this mission."
"We need to get in there before they do any tests with the device." Alex was standing between the two.
"Agreed." Griggs looked around. "I have no idea what kind of security they have surrounding the base. If it's anything like that have at Groom Lake, then they probably already know we're coming."
"Great," Jake moaned.
"We want to get in there and get out as quickly and as quietly as possible," Griggs stated. "Here's my plan. S-4 only has one entrance. We need to get in there."
Jake chuckled to himself. "Very good Major. Did you come up with that all by yourself?"
Griggs got defensive. "I don't see you coming up with anything better."
Alex stepped between them. "All right, break it up. We have a mission to do."
Jake thought for a moment. "That can't be the only entrance into the base. I'm betting that the facility has to have some kind of ventilation system that we can get in through."
"It probably doesn't. You have to remember Jake that these bases were designed to survive a direct nuclear assault. They can operate completely independently within themselves. A ventilation system sucking in contaminated air probably isn't the best idea."
"I see your point." Jake scanned the horizon. "How about those?" Jake pointed to several towers in the distance.
Griggs stared for a moment. "It's possible that there is a passage into the base from there."
Alex started walking away. "Let's go then."
