Cloud Invasion (2 page)

"I need to see that thing," James said. "Is somebody examining it?"

"Farrell put a team together," I shrugged. "We should have a complete report in about a week."

"Will he send the information to us?"

"That's what I asked for."

"Good. Thank you, Colonel Hunter."

* * *

Corinne

I still wasn't up to packing the following morning; I didn't have much to pack, anyway. Several sets of pajamas, a hairbrush, lotion and toothbrush. Everything else was loaded on a cargo plane somewhere.

The Pacific Northwest hadn't been a blip on anybody's radar as a place to hide the Program, so I imagined Auggie and the President chose it because of that. It might be the last place the enemy expected us to go.

Rafe stuffed my meager belongings into a small bag and zipped it up while I swung my feet over the side of my bed and watched him work. Thankfully, Marcus had left us alone; he was probably in a dungeon somewhere, planning more torture for me.

"James is bringing something for you to wear-all you have is pajamas," Rafe pointed out the obvious.

"Good. I hope it's comfortable," I said. "Shoes, too?"

"Of course. I can't wait to dress you in blue to match your eyes," he walked toward me and took my face in his hands. "An evening dress, perhaps, or a nice blouse." He leaned in to kiss me.

"You taste good," I said.

"Thank you. Do you want something else to eat?"

"No, the pancakes filled me up," I said. I'd had those with a glass of milk, and only finished about a third of what was placed in front of me.

"Do you still love me?" he leaned back to ask, his dark eyes begging me to say it was so.

"Honey, that's the only thing that brought me back," I said.

"Just what I wanted to hear," he murmured before kissing me again.

* * *

Flying in a military cargo plane was now on the list of things I hated. We were buckled into four rows of seats and the rest of our belongings, which hadn't already been sent ahead, were packed in crates and boxes and tied down behind us.

Sitting up that long was extremely uncomfortable after a while, and there wasn't any place to lie down. If Rafe and James hadn't sat with me, I might not have made it. Eventually, we landed at a naval airbase on Whidbey Island north of Seattle.

Our transfer to the new facility was done by helicopter after that, under a cloudy and darkening sky.

* * *

Ilya

I held Corinne close after the helicopters landed and we were allowed off. The facility had been excavated into the southern side of Mount Pilchuck, located north and east of Seattle, with only two camouflaged windows facing southwestward. I imagined that if we looked through those windows hard enough on a clear day, we might see Puget Sound.

At the summit of the mountain lies a fire lookout, and on the western side a popular hiking trail meanders upward. Where the facility was located, the mountain was much more inhospitable, with steep sides, rocky cliffs and pines lower down that jutted into the sky.

At one time, a ski resort was located not far from the western edge of our new facility. It closed in 1979 after a combination of weather problems resulted in a lack of snow and a subsequent refusal by the Forestry Service to renew the lease.

Sometime after that, the resort was destroyed by a mysterious fire. I didn't wish to investigate the cause or the outcome-I had no interest in it, after all.

"You need warmer clothing," I murmured against Corinne's hair when she shivered against me. She wrapped her arms about my waist and buried her head against my chest. The ride had been torture for her, and the ensuing helicopter flight only added to her misery. She needed to lie down.

"Let's get her inside," Dr. Shaw walked up beside us. "She needs rest."

We followed Colonel Hunter as he walked toward a thick, steel door, painted to match its rocky surroundings and nearly hidden behind pines and plants. It required a code and an eyescan to get inside. It made me wonder about Corinne's ability to defeat the security system in place, and whether it had been modified to prevent that.

An elevator stood at the end of a wide entry; we rode it to the main floor, where all offices and suites were located. At that moment, I hoped we'd have a kitchen.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

Cori was asleep on her feet when Rafe pulled her down the hall toward their shared suite. "We'll have a meeting in the morning, when she's awake," I said and opened the suite door for them. Rafe lifted her and carried her inside. I closed the door behind them and walked toward my new office.

The facility had been built after the attack on Fort Stevens in 1942 by the Japanese. Originally, it was built as a command center in World War II in case of further attacks, but it was never finished-the end of the war came. It sat there, an empty bunker, until nine presidents ago, when it was selected as a potential spot for local military personnel in case of an attack during the cold war.

That idea was abandoned the minute the wall fell outside East Germany, so it sat empty again, until the President considered it as a retreat for the Program. Recently, as in the last eight weeks, it had been modified to accommodate the Program. Thankfully, Madam President hadn't shared that information with Hal-she'd come to me and I'd secretly enlisted Navy engineers for the cause.

It was nearly finished, a few windows and upgrades notwithstanding, and we had a tunnel, complete with electric vehicles to drive through it, which ended in a ranch farther down the mountain.

I found it amusing that our exit hole was located near a resident's home, converted from an old train caboose. While I had no desire of my own to live in a converted train caboose, I silently applauded the inventive repurposing of the abandoned car.

From the exit, we could take one of the waiting SUVs if we needed to drive to Seattle or anywhere else. Several military agents were set up to treat the property as their own and guard the tunnel entrance. They were already in place, and some of them would act as bodyguards for us if needed.

Shaw worried that some of ours would get cabin fever, being so far from everything. An occasional outing would be allowed, unless we were under lockdown. Laci was also being moved-to a nice house in Seattle. I promised I'd see her at least once a week.

I wanted the others to visit the city, too, to eat out or shop. They'd have guards with them, watching from a safe distance. Once Corinne approved the personnel we'd brought with us, I was hoping to loosen the restraints we'd worn closer to the Capital.

* * *

Ilya

Shaw arranged for sunlamps to be installed in every suite until the engineers and their staff could cut windows in the side of the mountain containing our rooms. That would take time.

I made sure Corinne was covered warmly after putting her to bed. I sat beside her, toying with the tablet Colonel Hunter had given me-several dozen photographs were loaded on it and I was checking them first to see whether I recognized anyone before Corinne looked.

I considered, too, what Baikov might be doing and where he could be at the moment. If I knew anything about him (and I did), then he was likely plotting death and destruction for someone.

"Honey, stop obsessing. I can feel it in my sleep," Corinne mumbled.

"Cabbage?" I set the tablet aside to scoot into position beside her. "How's my darling?" Pulling her against me, I settled her head onto my shoulder.

"Tired," she lifted her hand to cover a yawn.

"That plane ride was too much," I grumbled. She was already asleep again when I tucked a strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"Corinne's sunlamp burned out this morning," James informed me when I walked into our shared office, stifling a yawn.

"She can have mine," I said. "What happened? Those things are new."

"Just got a bad one, I guess-hardly anybody else has used theirs, but she had it turned on this morning and it just went out. She changed the bulb, but that wasn't the problem."

"Was she writing when it blew?"

"Of course. Rafe said she sneaked out of bed, went into her office next to their bedroom and sat down at the computer without waking him. She was writing when he got up an hour later. Here are those photographs you gave her, with notes," he handed a tablet to me.

"She got those done, too?" I scrolled through the photographs, reading the short blurbs she'd sent. Several had crimes listed beneath the photographs; a few had lists of evidence to gather to prove their guilt. None of them were clones-at least she hadn't identified them as such.

Two of them were members of Congress. I was least surprised about them and gave a snort when I read their information. Their crimes were of the white-collar variety, and I wondered if Madam President would even bother to investigate.

"Nothing about the enemy," I said. "Dr. Farrell says the autopsy on the lizard woman makes for interesting reading. He's forwarding that information to us later today."

"Did he give you anything at all about her?" James asked.

"He says the DNA shows she's mostly humanoid, but he's still trying to get a lock on the rest of it."

"How can that happen?" James asked, his mouth settling into a puzzled frown. "Gene splicing?"

"I don't think that's it," I said. "He and I have a guess, but we can't prove anything at this point."

What I didn't tell James was that I knew significantly more about the Program now than I did a month ago. Farrell and I'd had several discussions, and the more I learned, the more it concerned me.

I felt we were lucky that Corinne survived a second round of the drug. It had never been attempted twice on anyone else, because the death toll on the first round was much too high. Actually, where she was concerned, I considered that we'd hit the drug lottery twice and didn't want to jinx it by discussing her survival.

Conversations with Farrell and his medical team were ongoing, too, about the clones. How they were made, how quickly they were made-we had too many questions and too few answers where those were concerned.

We'd done autopsies on the Becker clones, first. They'd all been identical to him in every way. Farrell had some theories, but without testing them, we couldn't be sure.

A research lab for our new location was in the process of being built. The moment it became operational, Farrell and his team would move in. I considered that I might have to put a rush on the windows-we needed natural sunlight.

"James, what about a patio or outside garden?" I asked.

He blinked at me-I'd gone from one subject straight into another, which made absolutely no sense.

"You mean, build that while they're cutting windows?"

"Yes. We can camouflage it with plants, trees and such. We can't open the windows they'll build. This will allow us outside air every day."

"I'll ask the engineers to draw up plans."

"Have them design it so the audio and video can be easily turned off and on."

"Will do. Anticipating private conversations?"

"Don't you think we need someplace for that?"

"Probably." He reached for his phone.

"Good. Keep me informed; I have a call with the President this morning, to discuss this." I held the tablet aloft.

"I'll see that you're not disturbed, Colonel."

"If Corinne or Rafe decide to disturb me, send them in. The President wants to speak with them, too. Eventually."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Corinne

Our suite was three thousand square feet and included my office, a study for Rafe, a huge bedroom, a kitchen and a dining area. The dining area included a long table with seating for eight. I imagined Auggie had been instrumental in arranging that.

We had plenty of storage, plus an extra bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen was everything Rafe and I could want, with a huge island and six barstools lined up along one side.

"Only oatmeal?" Rafe lifted an eyebrow at me. We'd made eggs, sausage and toast for him, but I'd made a small portion of oatmeal for myself.

"It's all I want," I shrugged. "I'll ask James if he can order protein shakes for me."

I knew we had the bugs turned on in our suite when James arrived ten minutes later to help himself to leftover eggs and sausage while I made fresh toast for him.

He used his tablet to order bottles of protein drink for me in several flavors while he ate. "Want more OJ?" I lifted the bottle in James' direction.

"Just coffee," he said. I made a fresh cup and set it at his elbow.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm better than I was yesterday. Thanks for getting me a new sunlamp, by the way. I'll try not to break this one."

"How soon can we make arrangements to go to Seattle?" Rafe asked. "I owe my cabbage dinner," he added, coming to a stop behind me and kissing the top of my head.

"Can I come?" James asked hopefully.