Angelica though about Gail and her stomach sank again, causing her to feel nauseous. She felt pressure on the back of her shoulders as the painful emotions moved down her spine. “It shouldn’t have happened… Gail shouldn’t have died that way,” she thought aloud, shaking her head and pressing her chin into her knees. It all felt so surreal. If only she could pinch herself and wake up to realize it was just a nightmare.
The image of Gail walking Theo along the Potomac riverbank came into her mind. She then saw the image of a large man in dark clothes grabbing Gail, hitting her over the head with something in his hands and throwing her body into the river… knowing it would immediately surface and float… lifeless in the water for everyone to witness. There was no garden of flowers surrounding her as she violently left the world to join her lover -- only cold, dark waters.
Angelica once again looked out past the skyline, along the desert hills, and thought about the aerospace facility. This story was consuming her. It had invaded her life like an intruder, stealing her sense of security in the long and lonely hours of the night. And, with Gail and Matthew gone because of her involvement, her life had now forever changed. She wondered what life was going to be like without Gail. Angelica’s eyes watered and a tear softly glided down her cheek.
Angelica’s cell phone rang. She closed her eyes, forcing the remaining tear to drop against her body, running down the slope of her smooth, firm breast as she rose up and answered it. Carl’s voice was low and thick. Carl and Gail had worked together for over twenty years and had become close friends.
“Angelica, I have news. First… they declined an interview. I was told to make a request and someone would be in touch. I asked how long would that take and got the old faithful response… it could be months.”
Angelica exhaled. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Now, let me say this… just listen… okay… before you say anything in response to what I am about to tell you…”
Angelica managed the word, “Okay,” through her clenched jaw, even though her throat felt closed.
“They are calling it an accidental drowning. The report says a witness claimed to see her dog pulling at the leash. He said she was struggling to keep him calm while they were walking. Apparently, Theo must have caused her to fall into the water and hit the back of her head on a sharp rock or something at some point.
Angelica blurted out, “Bullshit, Carl… Fucking bullshit! They killed her! And you know it!” Angelica’s hand flew up, and she walked back over and stood in front of the window, peering out into the desert.
“Angelica, calm down,” Carl admonished her. “We can’t prove anything… we don’t know that for sure!”
Angelica squeezed her cell phone causing the space between her knuckles to turn white. “Really? That’s what you think, Carl? After what happened to Matthew Tillman? No, someone is sending me a clear message, Carl. You know in your heart Gail’s dog, Theo, would never cause her to drown! Gentle Theo? Carl… Come on!”
Carl took a deep breath. “What do you want to do, Angelica?” Carl went silent.
Angelica thought for a moment. “Did you get the envelope I left on your desk?”
“Yes, what is that thing? Looks like some sort of device. I couldn’t resist, I opened it.”
“Carl, lock it away and keep it safe for me. I’m meeting this morning with a scientist who worked for Frances Giano, and I think she’ll turn out to be a very good source. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Angelica hung up, turned around, walked over and tossed her cell phone onto the bed. She was fired up and needed to cool down. She stood there staring at her cell phone on the white sheet, contemplating. “I’ll find out who killed you, Gail,” she whispered.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Downstairs, Angelica saw Dr. Bishop standing in the middle of the lobby anxiously looking around. The eight large digital columns with twelve individual screens had rotated and were now displaying shadowy silhouettes of human bodies. It was eerie, Angelica thought. It appeared as if people were trying to escape from behind the screen. Dr. Bishop had walked over and was standing beside the screen with the image of a dark hand pressed flat. As she approached, it unnerved her.
Angelica walked over behind him, leaned in toward the back of his neck and softly said, “Good morning.”
Dr. Bishop swung around, visibly surprised. “Good morning!”
Dr. Bishop noticed Angelica staring at the hand… “Creepy isn’t it.”
Angelica gave a quick nod and then looked around the lobby noticing a woman sitting alone in a secluded area. Angelica nudged Dr. Bishop softly and pointed. Dr. Bishop turned around to see the woman in a brown silk blouse with long black hair pulled loosely into a bun. “Think that’s her?” he asked.
“Probably… Let’s find out.” Angelica walked over to the woman sitting alone with her head lowered scanning a sheet of paper. “Hello. I’m Angelica Bradley. Are you a friend of Dr. Hamilton Howell?”
The woman looked up and stared suspiciously at Angelica before her eyes moved over to Dr. Bishop. Angelica felt slightly uncomfortable under her penetrating gaze. “Yes. I am Dr. Olivia Wallace,” the woman said, as she stood up and extended her frail hand.
Dr. Bishop stepped around Angelica and took charge by shaking her hand first. “Hello, Dr. Wallace… I am Dr. Marc Bishop.”
Dr. Wallace nodded. Angelica sat down in the chair across from the woman, and Dr. Bishop quickly took a seat beside Angelica.
Angelica waited for Dr. Wallace to sit down again before starting the interview. Dr. Wallace slowly looked around as if she had lost something before taking a seat. She glanced around the hotel apprehensively. It was obvious she was nervous and somewhat disoriented.
“Thank you for meeting with us, Dr. Wallace,” Angelica said. “As I’m sure Hamilton mentioned… I am an investigative journalist, I have a magazine, the Liberator, and my friend here is an archaeologist for the Smithsonian. We are interested in Francis Giano and the aerospace facility.” Angelica was patiently speaking in a soft tone which was hard to hear over the noise of the hotel guests.
Dr. Wallace’s eyed gleamed. “An archaeologist with the Smithsonian… fascinating! Yes, Hamilton briefed me yesterday over the phone. Where would you like for me to start?”
Angelica pulled out her recorder, notepad and pen. “First of all, if you will, please tell me your area of expertise.”
Dr. Wallace looked around the hotel again and then back to Angelica. “I am a Physicist. I earned my Ph.D in experimental nuclear physics.”
Angelica was making notes on her pad, and glanced up curiously. “Can I ask why you keep looking around the hotel? Are you concerned that you are under surveillance?”
Dr. Wallace shifted in her seat. “Ms. Bradley, I speak openly in regards to my work at ASTIC.”
Angelica glanced up for a moment, and then continued writing on her pad. “That is Giano’s facility?”
“Yes, Aerospace Sciences and Technology International Corporation: A-S-T-I-C. They are well aware of my actions. I tend to look around out of habit more than concern. But there is no doubt we are being watched as we speak,” Dr. Wallace stated confidently.
Dr. Bishop felt a chill run through him as he slowly looked around the lobby. No one looked out-of-the-ordinary, so he turned back around to catch Angelica peering at him. Dr. Bishop shrugged his shoulders.
Angelica continued. “Dr. Hamilton Howell said you worked at the base on Mars. Is that correct?”
Dr. Wallace didn’t flinch. “Yes.” Her face went flat.
“Okay, first -- what can you tell me about Francis Giano?”
“I’ve met Frances once,” Dr. Wallace said. “He is a brilliant man. Very reclusive, however. I worked in the laboratory at his facility here in Nevada mainly on antigravity technology. We worked on reverse engineering ET crafts during the first few years of my tenure there.”
Dr. Bishop was clearly fascinated and quickly asked the next question. “What other projects w
ere you involved in?”
Dr. Wallace smiled devilishly. “Are you referring to the blueprints?”
Dr. Bishop nodded. He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant from her sarcastic tone, but he was going to play along and hope she was referring to the ancient blueprints from ‘The Chamber of Knowledge’. “Yes, the blueprints.” Dr. Bishop examined Dr. Wallace’s face.
Dr. Wallace continued. “Well, how else would we have figured out how to teleport to Mars? They don’t just hand over knowledge of that magnitude without expecting something in return, you know.” Dr. Wallace’s eyes grew grave. “However, we’ve become weary of their barters. They don’t exactly hold up to their end of the bargain, you see.”
Angelica was confused. “Who are… they?”
“The ETs… the ones interested in our resources, and that isn’t limited to non-organic minerals and elements, if you know what I mean.”
Angelica thought for a moment. “Humans?”
“Yes.” Dr. Wallace frowned as she nodded.
Angelica made a quick note in her pad and then sat up straight in her chair. “Okay, Mars… Tell me what you did there.”
Dr. Bishop leaned in closer. The noise in the casino was distracting, he thought.
Dr. Wallace was silent for a moment. She appeared to be in deep though. Angelica and Dr. Bishop stared in unison at Dr. Wallace. Dr. Wallace continued. “I worked on a top clearance project at the base called, ‘Project Cetus’. There were only a few of us working on it. No one else knew about this particular project… All the other scientists were there to work on much more benign projects and less secretive… Well, a little less secretive,” Dr. Wallace laughed. “Anyway, it was an unpleasant experience, and that is why I left. They’ve labeled me a whistleblower now. I’ve been called crazy and unstable. They have tried to discredit me and have essentially destroyed my career. I think the only reason I am still alive is they have managed to ruin my reputation and now I appear to be just an old disgruntled ex-employee. And if they killed me, well, then maybe some might conclude that I was in fact telling the truth. You see?”
Angelica nodded. “How did you travel to Mars?”
“Unwillingly! I was taken by force! I was blindfolded.”
Angelica arched her neck in surprise. “Blindfolded?”
“Yes,” Dr. Wallace said with a straight face.
“Can you give me more details around how all that happened?” Angelica asked.
“Well, I was taken to a room and I sat there for several hours. Then after what felt like an eternity, I finally heard people coming, and then I heard the door open. I remember feeling an injection in the side of my neck. I was out for an unknown amount of time and when I finally awoke I raised my head, and boy did my head hurt like hell. I realized that I was sitting at a table with the blindfold still over my eyes. A deep, almost metallic male voice began asking strange questions like: what color is a lemon? Who is the President? Felt like it was some type of mind control procedure. And obviously, it was. Then, I remember another injection that gave me the same sensation. I now believe the injection induced memory loss.”
Dr. Bishop interrupted. “They were distorting your memory. How long did it take you to remember these details? Do you feel you have recovered all of the memories from that experience?”
Dr. Wallace glanced down and thought for a moment. “It took a year for it to start to come together… Only time will tell if anything else surfaces.”
Angelica looked sympathetically at Dr. Wallace who appeared deeply wounded from the emotional scars. “Please continue with how you were taken to Mars,” she whispered as she glanced at Dr. Bishop to notice his mouth was slightly open as if he were going to speak. Angelica took a deep breath and shifted in her seat.
Dr. Wallace glanced around anxiously. “Well, after the mind control receptivity testing, I remember being in the back of a vehicle of some sort, maybe a bus or van. I could hear voices and feel the motion of traveling. I’m not certain how long I traveled, but it didn’t feel like it was for very long. When the vehicle stopped, the door opened and I felt someone grab my arm and lift me. They escorted me out of the vehicle. At this time, my blindfold had loosened and slid slightly down. I tried to look around. It was dark… however I saw there were others blindfolded, as well. I had sensed the others while in the vehicle. Then we were escorted into a facility. I was taken into another room and they sat me down on a metal bench. I recall looking around through the opening of my blindfold and seeing an armed security guard. We were all told to keep quiet and not ask questions.”
“Oh my!” Dr. Bishop blurted. Angelica looked over at him curiously before gazing back at Dr. Wallace.
“Suddenly,” Dr. Wallace continued, “I felt a sharp pinch on the back of my neck and I was out. I’m not sure how long I was unconscious.” Dr. Wallace went silent and looked up in the air. “Had to be a while… When I came to, I was drowsy. Those shots have a strong effect on you. My blindfold was gone and I looked around and realized I was in a small room, wearing a white hospital gown.”
“That had to be terrifying!” Angelica said as she raised her hand to her mouth.
“There was a round window in the room,” Dr. Wallace continued, “about thirty or so inches in diameter. As I walked over to look out the window… well, at first, it looked like the Nevada desert. I realized it was not any desert on earth - it was different.”
”How was it different?” Angelica asked.
“The sky was baby blue and the geography was similar, however it obviously wasn’t Earth. I had seen pictures of Mars, and after seeing a strange tan, red, and brown camouflaged four wheeler Polaris style jeep driving towards what looked like large eco-structures within glass domes… I knew I was there. Stunned -- that would be a good word to describe my emotions at the time.”
Angelica interrupted her. “Did you say the sky was baby blue?” Angelica then looked over at Dr. Bishop with her brow furrowed.
“Yes,” Dr. Wallace said flatly and confidently. Dr. Wallace then stopped and looked down to her lap.
“And…” Dr. Bishop said. His voice cut sharply through the air. He was anxious for Dr. Wallace to continue.
Dr. Wallace looked back up and directly at Dr. Bishop. Her eyes were grim. “It all was happening so fast. Well, as I looked around I saw there were several facilities enclosed in glass domes and a massive pyramid structure, much as you see in Egypt. I soon learned there were underground facilities running throughout the planet – we have now renovated and inhabited much of them. I was told these facilities are where the ancient Martian culture eventually had to live. They had moved underground. Fascinating isn’t it?”
Always a skeptic, Angelica was struggling to believe Dr. Wallace. “Who lived there?”
“The civilization that once inhabited the planet,” Dr. Wallace said, as if it sounded completely normal.
Angelica wrinkled her forehead and observed Dr. Wallace’s face.
Angelica glanced over at Dr. Bishop. He was smiling as if he had suspected it.
“We’ve been going to Mars for several decades, Ms. Bradley.”
Angelica tapped her pen against her cheek. “Okay. Go on.”
“Well, I later learned you could breathe the air after you had undergone a slight adjustment period. The atmosphere on Mars is similar to Earth. The sky is blue, quite extraordinary. You see, the photos you have seen of Mars are altered,” Dr. Wallace raised her eyebrows. “You just have to adjust to the atmosphere slowly, I learned.”
“That’s interesting,” Angelica said. “Please continue.” She lowered her shoulders and relaxed back into the chair.
“I soon found out the room with the round window was to be my bunker,” Dr. Wallace told her. “There was a door with a control panel. On the panel was a large button labeled “CALL”… so I pushed it, obviously. After a few minutes, a man in a black uniform appeared with a holstered gun; once again… all the security personnel are armed. He entered the room and said ‘Come wi
th me, Dr. Wallace.’”
“Wow!” Angelica exclaimed. “What happened next?”
“I didn’t appreciate being told what to do,” Dr. Wallace continued. ”However I didn’t want to get shot, so I complied. I was taken to yet another room where I was pushed and instructed to put on a silver and white laboratory suit and over it -- a white lab coat. I was then taken into a brightly lit room and seated at a table.”
“What was their purpose,” Angelica asked. “Did they want to interrogate you?”
“A few minutes later,” Dr. Wallace said, “a very serious looking gray-haired older man in a white lab coat and with a German accent came in with a very polished man in a black suit. I was told that I was brought there by a space craft to work on an important mission and everything that I saw and experienced there was above top secret. “This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life,” he said. I was chosen because of my expertise. He went on to tell me in an arrogant tone, ‘It is a great responsibility to be a part of such a mission and an honor.’” Dr. Wallace lowered her voice in attempt to mimic the man.
“He informed me that I would be well compensated. I sat staring at the German scientist across the table in disbelief. I was in shock, as you can imagine. The man in the black suit just stood in the corner and watched us. He was creepy -- almost robotic. Well anyway, after that little welcoming speech, I realized I was contracted against my will to work on a top secret project to continue the construction of a teleportation chamber.”
“How did you feel about living and working under those conditions?” Angelica asked. Her voice sounded anxious. Angelica rolled her eyes. The thought of being taken against her will and treated like a prisoner unnerved her.
“The facilities were quite comfortable and modern,” Dr. Wallace responded, “so I made the best of it and did my job without argument.”
Angelica stopped Dr. Wallace. “Interesting. Did you see any other individuals while there -- outside of ASTIC personnel or the man in the black suit, such as top government officials?”
The Bovine Connection Page 32
