by James Harris
CHAPTER58
It was a long tedious drive through the arid desert from California to New Mexico. The boys took turns dozing.
The surveillance car kept its distance, including during stops for fuel and food.
The boys’ van was a late model Dodge and it ran well. They maintained a steady speed of eighty miles per hour, encountering no police along the way. Traffic was light this time of year.
Unlike the deserts of Saudi Arabia or Egypt, with their yellow sand and powdery dunes, the soil of this desert was a combination of small pebble-sized rocks and chunks of larger black stones. This desert looked like the landscape of Mars. Mounds of stones appeared sporadically every few hundred feet for no good reason.
It was beautiful to look at, nonetheless. When the sun hit the landscape just right, there was a glorious orange or red tinge to it that took your breath away. The desert sky was a violet blue that contrasted the desert reds and browns. No wonder the twins always found the sky back home in Canada pale by comparison.
Several times during the journey east, the twins saw a military helicopter swoop overhead, circle nonchalantly, and then fly away.
Around dusk on the third day, it happened again. The helicopter over-flew them. Hawk strained his neck as his eyes followed the path of the black helicopter carving a slow easy circle overhead. “Joe, that’s not the first time that chopper has buzzed us. I’m sure we’re being tracked.”
“So am I. The question is: Who is tracking us?”
“Well, whoever it is, they’re leaving us alone.”
“For now.”
“How long until we make New Mexico?”
“Just after sunrise. We could try driving without headlights and see if we lose them. There’s not much traffic and the moon’s high.”
“Still too dangerous. Besides, I haven’t seen the chopper at night, just during the daylight hours.”
“What happens if there’s more than the chopper following us? What if they also have cars following us? We could lose them if we drove with the lights out.”
“Joe, you seem to have some fondness for driving in the dark. Like on the arena road outside of Elliot Lake. You must have a death wish.”
“It won’t be all that dark with the moon.”
“Forget it. The road is a straight line. They could pick us up easily.”
“All right, I’ll forget it. For now.”
“I’m concerned that we can’t get through to Dad,” Hawk said. “The switchboard blocks all his calls. Pentagon priority only.”
“Yeah, but don’t forget that it’s a military base, not a civilian hospital. They have their own rules.”
“Especially ICU. The surgeon probably has a ‘no disturb’ order.”
“Well, I guess we’re on our own.”
Their white van pulled up to the gate of Los Alamos AFB in full view. It was early afternoon. Two guards immediately approached the vehicle leaving behind a third in the guardhouse. Hawk used the Voice and they were allowed to enter. They drove to the far southwest corner of the base near the threshold of runway 09. The building where Bohr had conducted his experiments was empty, had been for years. They backed the van up to the side delivery entrance, forced the lock, and slid the sarcophagus onto a dolly. They wheeled it into Bohr’s old laboratory and then carefully resealed the door and left.
They headed immediately from Los Alamos to Boulder Colorado where they lived. The twins had a rented hanger at Boulder Municipal Airport. Inside they had a 1966 Cessna 150 and Alpha III. It had been several days since they had had word on their father. As soon as they reached home, they called the only person they knew who could help. They called the Secretary of Defense.
“Boys, I’m afraid I have bad news about your father. We have been trying to locate him also. There was an incident at Edwards …”
“He was shot, sir. We were there,” Joe said.
“So I understand. Several personnel were shot. Your father was kidnapped right out of the hospital and has disappeared.”
“Kidnapped! But sir, how could you let that happen? I mean, isn’t that a secure military base.”
“Son, you have every reason to be pissed. So am I. We have had our domestic intelligence agencies working on this, but so far, nothing.”
“No leads?”
“Off the record, I suspect the other alien, Wixon, and his bunch. But I have no proof.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Stay out of trouble. We’ll find your father. Stay away from Wixon.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hawk put down the phone and looked at his brother.
“Where’s Stell?”
“He works for NMJIC … or something. National Military Command …”
“Dad wrote it down for us. He works for a guy called H. We have the address.”
“It’s in Washington, D.C.”
“We’re going to Washington.”
“We need to get there fast.”
“You bet. That’s why we’re taking the spaceship.”
“I’ll drive,” Joe said.
CHAPTER59
The twins landed their ship in Washington, D.C., that night. Joe flew in boldly, tailing a military transport aircraft. He was no more than a hundred feet behind the plane in the middle of the jet wash. D.C. radar mistook the no-ID signal ping as an errant ghost of the landing aircraft.
Joe glided the scout ship at ten feet above ground level into a newly rented hangar on the outskirts of the airport.
A rental car was waiting for them with the keys inside the glove compartment, as they had arranged. After locking down the hangar, they sped to the Phoenix Park Hotel close to Central Station and the Capitol Building.
“We can rest tonight, and tomorrow we’ll find out exactly where they’ve hidden Dad,” Joe said as he drove along. “Tomorrow we spy on Stell on his own ground. A surprise visit.”
“You mean visiting H at the National Military Command.”
“He’s Stell’s weak link,” Joe said. “He’s the one person who Stell trusts. He knows what’s happened to Dad.”
“Hopefully he’ll tell us where Dad is.”
“Hopefully he knows.”
“What if Stell’s there?”
“We deal with it. That’s all. We deal with it.”
“We have to get H to talk.”
“We’ll use the Voice. He’ll tell us what he knows. Count on it.”
The next morning the twins got up and left the Phoenix Park hotel. Joe headed west down E Street until the White House came into view. He turned sharply right onto Twelfth Street after passing by Ford’s Theatre on his right. He turned onto F Street and parked the car.
There were two ten-story buildings on the northwest side of F Street. Joe glanced down at the address and description his father had given him as the discreet headquarters of the NMJIC. It was known as the National Military Command Building. It was where H coordinated the intelligence operations for the nation. This was what Stell called home.
“According to Dad, we go down that side alley between the two buildings,” Joe said. “There’s a small doorway. Lots of security.”
Joe looked toward the building. “At the doorway is a keypad. Dad told us to use his code and the door will open. Inside there will be a small anteroom. Beyond that is another door with the security guys inside.”
“We must get in before the security cameras get a good look at us.”
The pair eased from the rental car and donned their Washington Redskins ball caps and mirror aviator glasses.
They dodged traffic and raced down the alley to the doorway. Joe punched in the code and crossed his fingers. The door opened and they slipped in.
Almost immediately, an armed guard walked out of the far door with his hand on his pistol holster. The door clicked securely closed behind him, isolating them in the room.
“Hold it, fellas! We can’t see your faces. Take off the glasses and hats, if you don’t mind.” He was young,
about twenty-five.
Hawk, his eyes in shadow, smiled and reached out his hand as if to give a handshake. The man flinched and stepped backward holding up his hand as if he were warding off the plague. “No closer. Do as I say. Now!”
Hawk, still smiling, used the Voice. The man became mesmerized. His eyes clouded over and his face became slack.
“I need you to open the door for us,” Hawk said quietly.
The officer became agitated. Sweat began to trickle from his brow. “I can’t open the door from here. Security.”
“We know that. Instruct your friends inside to open the door.”
“I wish I could. I really do. They won’t open the door, though. Not until we have a firm ID on you both. I’m sorry.”
“The cameras,” Hawk said.
Joe held up his hand and three streaks of light exploded from his hands, flying in different directions, disintegrating the cameras instantly.
Joe pushed the thought at the guard:
The guard stared as the twins disappeared before his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and face as if awakening from a dream.
A disembodied voice crackled over a hidden speaker. “Porter! What happened? We’ve lost video.”
The guard looked around in wonder. “They’re gone. They’ve disappeared.”
“Are you sure? We saw two guys in Redskins caps. What happened?”
“They’re gone. 631. Open up and let me back in, will ya?”
The guard on the radio recognized the secret all-clear code. If there was still a hostile present, the guard was trained to use another code alerting the inside guards, or, alternatively, to use no code at all.
There was a click, and Porter saw the door open an inch. A gun barrel poked out and the door opened slowly.
Seeing that Porter was alone in the room, the other guard pulled him inside. “Get in. We’ll have to report the attack on our video right away.”
“Damnedest thing I ever did see.”
“What the hell were they after anyways? Drugs? They looked like druggies to me! How did they get the code?”
“Don’t matter,” Porter said. “Let’s lock down and call it in, OK?”
“Gotcha.”
Hawk and Joe had eased into the security room right behind Porter. They took control of the guards before they could shut the door.
Hawk pushed:
The guards blinked and their mouths went slack.
Hawk and Joe slipped by them and proceeded to the elevator.
It was a typical government building; green and brown speckled floor tile and light green walls. There were two elevator bays ahead.
“Keep your head down, Joe. Don’t look up at the security cameras.”
“Just curious where they are.”
“Yeah, so you can zap them. Forget it. You wouldn’t see all of them anyway. It’s the one that you don’t spot that will ID you.”
They waited until the elevator doors slid open. Both of them were tense, ready for a confrontation with security, or anyone for that matter. The elevator was empty.
“What did Dad say? Penthouse?” Joe said.
“Try to keep your voice down. There must be audio surveillance here, too.”
“Well? Which button do you want me to push?”
“Let’s try P.”
They positioned themselves on either side of the door, pressed up against the wall of the elevator to avoid immediate detection. The elevator slowed, and then came to a bouncy stop. There was a long pause before the door slid open.
They could hear the buzz of an office at work. They could smell coffee, ink from the many IBM Selectric typewriters whirling away, and the glue of newly installed carpeting.
Seeing no guards, Joe gave the all clear and stepped off the elevator. Hawk was one step behind him and noticed Joe give a startled look as he glanced to his left.
“Hey …” was all the poor woman had time to utter before Joe silenced her with the Voice. They placed her in a chair off to the side.
They moved about the large office quietly. The bulk of the space was a glassed-in array of electronics that whirled away in climate-controlled partitioned rooms. The other part of the office was split into smaller sections partitioned off with gray office dividers.
They walked through the maze until they reached two private mirrored-glass offices. There were reflective windows from floor to ceiling. The doors and jambs were made of polished and lacquered aluminum. Their father had briefed them on which office had been H’s. Hopefully he was still in the same one.
“There’s his office. The one right ahead.”
“Joe, stay still. Someone is coming. Use it to make us invisible to them.”
The young woman walked by, but hesitated slightly. She felt a shiver run through her as if she had seen a ghost. She continued with a sideways glance directly at the boys but never registered that she saw them.
“Let’s go,” Hawk whispered.
They went to H’s door and stopped. Joe pressed an ear against the oak door and then straightened, shaking his head. Nothing. All quiet. He grasped the handle and slowly opened the door, peeking inside. The office was empty. They slipped inside quickly and shut the door behind them.
“He’s gone. Now what?”
Hawk walked over to the desk to check H’s agenda. Finally he looked up and said, “Well, that explains why there’s nobody around. There’s some kind of early morning meeting of department heads.”
“What time did it start?”
“8:00 a.m.”
Joe looked at his watch. It was 9:30. “It should be over soon. How long can these people talk?”
Hawk sighed. “We need a plan.”
“We have a plan. We push and H tells us all we need to know about where Dad is.”
“What if he’s not alone?”
“We Voice them and get what we need from H.”
Hawk looked around uneasily. They were like sitting ducks in this closed-in office. They had purposefully thrown themselves right into Stell’s den. There were potential enemies everywhere.
Thank God Joe chose not to read his mind or they both would have bolted from the room at the same time. Hawk smiled reassuringly and Joe smiled back.
Sometimes the safest place was in the epicenter of danger itself, Hawk thought. It would be the last place the enemy looked. “Whatever happens, we have to render ourselves invisible to whoever enters,” he said.
Joe placed a finger at his lips as a signal for his brother to look at the door.
The oak door burst open. H was being hounded by three technocrats.
“H, you must listen to us,” one of them pleaded.
“OK everyone, we’ve had this discussion for hours. Give me a break. I’m tired.”
The two young men and one young woman stopped abruptly. They hadn’t seen the twins, but they felt the presence of someone else in the room.
“What?” H wearily asked. He looked around. “What is it?”
The young woman spoke up, looking around. “Does it feel cold in here?”
“If there isn’t anything else, can we close off?” H said.
A disheveled young man spoke up. “Just one more thing, H.”
The young man and woman dragged their misguided friend out of H’s office. This was not the time or the place.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Joe and Hawk watched as H slid down into the opulent leather chair behind his desk. It squeaked and crumpled under his weight. He cupped his skull in his hands and rested his elbows on the desk. On the wall a clock ticked. The man seemed to take comfort in listening to it.
Joe walked silently away from the wall toward H’s desk, materializing along the way.
H didn’t look up. “Please stop where you are.”
Joe was taken by surprise. “Sorry,” was all he c
ould muster.
H smiled wryly into his fists. He was tired but not out of the game. He still hadn’t looked up. “Let me guess. You’re Frank’s boys?”
“Yes, sir,” Hawk answered as he neared the desk. “How did you …?”
“It was just a matter of time before you came here,” H said.
He lifted his head. “Let me see you, please.”
H had been watching them materialize. He had a TV screen embedded into his desktop with a feed from a surveillance camera in his office.
“How do you do that materialization thing …? Never mind; not important, really. Let me look at you.”
There in front of him were two apparently normal youths. They looked about fifteen or sixteen, but H knew they were older.
“We are indebted to your father …” he began, but Hawk cut him off.
“Mr. H. That is to say, … um …”
“Call me H. Even my wife calls me H now!” His eyes wandered to the photos on his desk.
“OK. H, we’ve come because we have to get … I mean we’ve come for our father.”
“Fellas, your father is a special man.”
“We know that.”
“No. No. I don’t mean it like that. He is special to the U.S. He is like … military property.”
The boys didn’t like the sound of that.
“Excuse me, he’s our dad and we want him back,” Joe said. “It’s that simple. Where is he being held?”
H stood up with a sudden surge of energy. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me. He needs protection, government protection. He’s in our protective custody.”
“Nothing doing. He’s our father and we’ve come for him, with or without your help.”
“Don’t you threaten me, young man. Do you know who you are talking to? Do you realize who I am?”
“A kidnapper?”
“Damn it, get out!” he said, waving his arms and stumbling toward the two. His breathing was constricted and his face was flushed with rage. Then he stopped suddenly and reached out to hold onto the desk for support. His eyes lost their focus and he half closed them, blocking out the present confrontation.
