Area 51 (39 page)

Kelly pressed down on the accelerator. The lights of the complex were less than a half mile away.

"The doors to the hangar are closed," Nabinger said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I just want to get there in one piece. Then I'll figure something out," Kelly replied.

"The helicopter is still inbound," Quinn reported. "Whoever is flying it is damn good. They're below tracking by ground radar. We can't relay from satellite tracking to the AA sites because of the jamming."

"Launch the alert bouncer," Gullick ordered. "Have it bring down the helicopter."

Haverstraw looked out her windshield. There was a lot going on. She could see vehicles down below in a circus of headlights running about. There were several helicopters flitting about also. One of those turned toward her.

"We've got company," Lieutenant Jefferson said.

Haverstraw didn't reply. She watched the AH-6 come straight toward them from a half mile away.

"Uh, we're on a collision course," Jefferson said.

There was a quarter mile between the two aircraft, pilot of the AH-6 was flashing his spotlight at them.

"I think he wants us to land," Jefferson said.

Haverstraw remained silent, her hands tight on the controls.

Lisa Duncan twisted in her seat and looked forward as Jefferson spoke again.

"Uh, Deb, he's--oh, Christ!" the copilot screamed out as the AH-6 filled up the entire forward view. At the last moment the other chopper suddenly veered, averting the midair collision.

"Chicken," Haverstraw muttered. She raised her voice.

"We'll be there in thirty seconds."

"The hangar doors are opening!" Nabinger called out as a sliver of red light appeared ahead.

"I'm heading for it," Kelly said.

"Hey!" the sergeant seated inside the humvee called out as the muzzle of a submachine gun appeared in the door.

"Watch that thing!"

"No, you watch it," Turcotte said, edging into the vehicle. He looked at the computer system and the wires leading out of the black box hooked up to it.

"This is to blow the charges to open up Hangar Two?"

The sergeant was most definitely watching the end of the muzzle, the black hole seeming to grow larger every second it was fixed between his eyes. "Yes."

"Turn it on and bring up the firing sequence program."

"Geez, look at that," Haverstraw said as she set the Blackhawk down two hundred meters away from the large door that was sliding open in the side of the mountain. Red light spilled out onto the concrete and a disk was hovering there.

It moved forward when the door was wide enough.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Thanks for the ride," Duncan said. "You'd better shut down and wait here until things get cleared up."

'Roger that," Haverstraw said. "And you're welcome."

Duncan took off her headset and got out of the helicopter. She turned her head as a van came to a screeching halt between her and the disk.

Turcotte looked at the screen. The charges were listed along with order and timing of initiation. He quickly began typing.

Armed guards ran out of the hangar as the bouncer hovered overhead, shining a light down on the scene being played out.

"Get out of the vehicle with your hands up!" one of the men ordered, pointing his weapon at the windshield of the van.

"Let's go," Kelly said. "We did all we can do. Let's hope we gave Turcotte enough time to do his end."

She opened the driver's door and stepped out along with Nabinger, the latter still holding the rongorongo tablet and wearing his backpack. Von Seeckt got out of the rear.

"Face down on the ground!" the man ordered.

"Wait a second!" a woman's voice called out. All eyes turned to the figure walking over from the Blackhawk helicopter. "I'm Dr. Duncan." She held out an ID

card. "Presidential adviser to Majic-12."

The senior Nightscape man paused, confused at this sudden apparition and wrinkle in the chain of command. The three groups were all gathered in a thirty-foot circle just in front of the doors to Hangar One.

"I want General Gullick and I want him here now!"

Duncan demanded.

"We have to secure these prisoners first," the guard said.

"I'm Kelly Reynolds," Kelly said, stepping forward, making sure her hands were away from her sides. "You know Dr. Von Seeckt, and the other man is Professor Nabinger of the Brooklyn Museum. We called you earlier."

Duncan nodded. "I know you called me earlier. That's why I'm here. We're going to get to the bottom of this."

She turned back to the guard. "Your prisoners are not going anywhere. None of us are. Get General Gullick up here now."

"Sir," Quinn said tentatively, putting down the phone.

General Gullick's eyes were transfixed on the main screen, which showed the overlay of Area 51. All the vehicles had finally been corralled and the UFO

watchers placed under arrest.

"Yes?"

"Dr. Duncan was on board that Blackhawk. She's up at Hangar One right now demanding to see you. Von Seeckt, Nabinger, and the reporter are there too."

A nerve began twitching on the side of Gullick's face.

"Do we have commo yet?" Gullick demanded.

Quinn checked. "Yes, sir. The interference has stopped."

"Do you have contact with the engineer site?"

"No response, sir."

"Order Bouncer Four to check it out, ASAP!"

Gullick spun away from the screen and walked to the elevator. Quinn relaxed slightly as the doors shut behind the general and he relayed the orders.

The bouncer suddenly darted away to the west, leaving the tableau outside the hangar frozen in a standoff between the weapons of the Nightscape men and the tentative shield of Duncan's position.

A large figure walked out of the hangar, casting a long shadow from the backdrop of red light. General Gullick walked up and looked about. "Very nice. Very nice." He stared at Duncan. "I'm sure you have an explanation for this circus you've orchestrated?"

I'm sure you have an answer for attempting to shoot down my helicopter," she returned.

"I am authorized by law to use deadly force to safeguard this facility,"

Gullick said. "You are the one who violated law by coming into restricted airspace and failing to respond when challenged."

"What about Dulce, General?" Duncan retorted. "What about General Hemstadt--formerly of the Werhmacht?

What about Paperclip? Where is Captain Turcotte?"

Kelly saw the change come over Gullick and she reached out to stop Duncan's harangue.

As he finished typing, Turcotte saw a bright light coming out of the east through the camouflage netting. The same bright light he had seen his first night out here. The bouncer came to a halt forty feet away and landed. A man came out of the hatch on top, weapon in hand.

Duncan and Gullick both stopped their arguing and turned as a new voice called out. "You both don't understand!"

Nabinger yelled. He looked about wildly, holding up the rongorongo tablet. "None of you do." He pointed at the hangar. "You don't understand what you have in there and where it came from. You don't understand any of it."

Gullick snatched a submachine gun from one of the Nightscape guards. "No, I don't understand, but you never will either." He pointed the muzzle at Duncan.

"You've gone too far," Duncan said.

"You signed your own death warrant, lady. You said too much and you know too much." His finger had already closed over the trigger when he was blinded by the searing glow of a bright searchlight. Without a noise Bouncer Four settled down behind Duncan's group.

"Get over here!" Turcotte yelled from the hatch on top of the saucer.

"Let's go," Kelly said, grabbing Duncan by the shoulders and pushing her toward the bouncer. The others followe Turcotte saw Gullick raise the muzzle of the submachine gun in his direction. "Do it and I fire the charges!"

Turcotte called out, holding up the remote detonator for Hangar Two.

Gullick froze. "What did you do?"

"I did a little resequencing. I don't think it will quite work the way you'd like," Turcotte said, keeping an eye on his people as they moved in his direction and climbed the slope of the disk.

"You can't do that!" Gullick cried out.

"I won't if you let us get out of here," Turcotte promised.

"Back off," General Gullick ordered, waving to his security men.

Turcotte stepped aside, allowing the others to climb in the hatch. When all were on board, he slipped down inside, shutting the hatch behind him. "Take off!" he yelled at the pilot.

On the ground Gullick whirled. "I want Aurora ready for flight now!" He didn't trust this alien technology anymore.

"Yes, sir!"

"Where do you want to go?" Captain Scheuler asked from the depression in the center of the disk. He'd put up no argument at the engineer site when Turcotte had dropped through the hatch, weapon in hand, and ordered him to fly back to Hangar One. The others were sitting gingerly on the floor of the bouncer, gathered around the center. Von Seeckt had his eyes closed, trying to keep from being disoriented by the view out.

Turcotte still held a submachine gun pointed in the general direction of the pilot. "Turn right," he ordered thepilot.

"What are you doing?" Kelly asked.

Turcotte was looking out the clear skin of the bouncer as they went around the mountain that hid the hangar complexes. He flipped open the cover on the firing button on the remote, then pressed the trigger.

"You told Gullick you wouldn't do that!" Lisa Duncan said.

"I lied."

Hangar Two was deserted, which was fortunate. The outer wall caved in, not in the orderly manner that had been planned, but in a cascade of rock and rubble crashing down onto the mothership, burying it under tons of debris.

In the Cube, Major Quinn felt the rumble of the explosions and watched the first rocks begin falling in Hangar Two on the remote video screens before the cameras were consumed by the man-made earthquake. "Oh, fuck," he muttered.

Gullick knew what had happened even as the last of the aftershocks of the explosions settled away. He staggered, then sank to his knees. He pressed his hands to the side of his head as pain reverbrated back and forth from one side to the other, searing through his brain. A moan escaped his lips. "I'm sorry,"

he whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Sir, Aurora is ready for flight," a young officer said with much trepidation.

Maybe it could be salvaged, Gullick thought, seizing upon that single idea. He slowly got to his feet. The manta ray of the high-speed plane was silhouetted against the runway lights. Yes, there was still a way to salvage things
32

AIRSPACE, NEVADA

"What now?" Kelly asked. The others were gathered around, now standing on the floor of the bouncer, trying to get used to the eerie view straight through the skin of the craft. It was a bit tight with everyone inside. They were currently heading south out of Area 51 at two hundred miles an hour and slowly gaining altitude.

"I don't know." Turcotte turned to the others. "I got you out of there and the Mothership won't be flying for several weeks at least. So I did my part. Where to?"

"Nellis," Duncan said. "I can--"

"Las Vegas has got a good media hook-in," Kelly said, excited. "We fly this damn thing right downtown! Land in the fountain at Caesars Palace. That'll wake them up."

"This isn't a media circus," Duncan said. "I'm in--"

"No!" Nabinger held out the wooden tablet that he'd been hauling with him throughout the entire adventure at Area 51. "You're all wrong. We have to go to the place where the answers are."

"And that is?" Turcotte asked.

Nabinger pointed with his free hand at the tablet in the other. "Easter Island."

"Easter Island?" Duncan asked.

"Easter Island," Nabinger repeated. "From what I've decoded on this, the answers are there."

"No way," Kelly said. "We have to go public."

"Agreed," Duncan said. "As soon as we land, I can contact the President and we can stop this insanity." She tapped Scheuler on the shoulder. "Land us at Las Vegas."

The pilot laughed with a manic edge as his hands worked at the controls.

"Lady, you can shoot me if you want, but I don't think we're going to land in Las Vegas."

Turcotte still had his submachine gun ready for use.

"Why not?"

The pilot held up his hands. "Because I'm no longer flying this thing."

"Who is?" Turcotte asked.

"It's flying itself," Scheuler said.

"Where are we going, then?" Turcotte demanded.

"Just east of south right now on a heading of eighty-four degrees," the pilot said. "More than that I can't tell you until we get there."

"Does the radio work?" Duncan asked. "I can call and get us help."

Scheuler tried it. "No, ma'am."

"Give me a direction, Quinn," Gullick growled into the radio as Aurora powered up.

Quinn's voice came back through the headset. "South, sir."

"You heard him," Gullick said to the pilot as he settled into the RSO's seat.

"Due south."

The plane hurtled forward and lifted. Out of the small window Gullick could just make out the silhouette of the mountain that hid the mothership. He felt the pain intensify in his head. "Stay busy," he whispered to himself. He knew they couldn't catch the bouncer, but at least they could track it. Eventually it would land. He ordered tankers along their projected flight path for inflight refueling.

Kelly knelt down next to the pilot. "Do you have a map of the world?"

Scheuler nodded. He swung in the laptop control and brought up a world overlay on the screen.

"Show me where Easter Island is," Kelly said.

Scheuler tapped a few keys. "Easter Island is in the Pacific. Off the coast of Chile. I'd say about five thousand miles from where we are right now."

"And on what azimuth from us?" Kelly asked.

Scheuler checked, then looked up. "Eighty-four degrees."

"It appears we're going to Easter Island whether we want to or not," Kelly announced. "How long until we get there?"