In Situ (21 page)

It was late afternoon when Tom finally rolled his motorcycle into the Se
rvo Station in Wellington. He decided to stop and quickly top off his gas. He had been running with the light on for several miles, and didn’t want to risk running out. Besides, he was thirsty and needed a short break. This will only take a minute, he thought to himself as he stopped in front of the pumps.

The second he turned off his motor he was sorry. Gus Bell pulled in right behind him in his patrol car
, and Tom was sure he was in for a ticket. He had been running the motorcycle well over any reasonable speed limit the entire way down, and thought Gus must have seen him. Tom didn’t know Gus very well, but he had met him a few times before when he had visited the ranch with Alex. Maybe I can talk him out of it, he thought.

“Hey
, Tom, I figured that might be you!” Gus said, climbing out of his car with a broad smile on his face. He put his hat on and held out his hand. “This is like old home week or something. I just ran into Alex yesterday. Hey, nice ride man,” Gus said, adding a low whistle, admiring Tom’s bike. “Ducati? Never heard ‘a that brand before. Looks real fast. Real pretty too.”

“Thanks Gus,” Tom said, relieved. Obviously Gus had not seen him speeding. Tom opened the gas cap and began filling.

“I’ll be damned. I haven’t seen you in… what? Must be a couple of years,” Gus continued. “I know it’s probably none of my business, but I thought you and Alex… well, I thought you were on the out-n-outs so to speak.” Gus looked like he just could not wait to hear the reply.

Tom wasn’t upset. This was the way of small towns
-all gossip. If Gus weren’t here he’d probably be up at the barber shop in Price trying to find out what was going on in the county: who might be pregnant, who’s dog was about to have pups, who wasn’t in church last Sunday. “Well, Gus, we may be getting back together real soon here,” Tom said, as he placed the hose back in its holder.

“That so?” Gus couldn’t completely hide his disappointment. Just recently, he had rekindled his wild fantasy of divorcing his fat wife Sally and running off to Mexico or somewhere else with Alex. He knew it was just a crazy dream—they’d never even dated—but Tom had crushed it once again. “I can’t say as I blame you.” Gus looked over his shoulder into the store and spoke more softly. “Don’t tell Sally, but you know I have always thought that Alex
was a real catch.” He winked at Tom.

“Gus, you gonna talk that man’s ear off or come inside and say hello to your wife.” Sally’s voice was low and full of authority. Both men looked up and saw her rather large figure in the doorway. She had obviously been watching them for some time.

“Sally, this here is Tom Hancock. You remember, Alex’s husband,” Gus said, flinching, hoping Sally hadn’t heard him talking about Alex.

“Oh, hey
, Tom.” Sally gave a short wave and a disapproving look at Tom’s motorcycle. “Now, Gus, don’t be gettin’ any ideas. I got a list of things I need you to do for me up in town, and the day’s getting late. Come on in here!”

Gus looked sheepishly at Tom. “Well, good to see you again Tom.” He reached out and shook Tom’s hand. “Boy, this has been a busy day
. I had some government types come through earlier this afternoon looking for Alex too. In fact, they had me escort ‘em right to the gate.”

*

Tom hadn’t heard anything else Gus might have said to him. He pulled his helmet on, jumped back on his bike and gunned it, fishtailing out of the store parking lot, riding as fast as he could to the ranch, which was just a couple of miles further down the road. When he got there the gate was wide open—not a good sign. He rode on through it heading directly for the house.

As he approached
, he anticipated seeing some sort of government vehicles, but there was only one unfamiliar truck parked by the corral. He could see Billy and Bobby with their heads over the fence. The ranch truck and Alex’s SUV were in the barn. Tom stopped near the house and pulled off his helmet.

“Se
ñor, Señor!” Tom could hear the familiar voice of Garcia coming from the barn. The old man was half running half limping toward him. “Oh, Señor Tom,” Garcia said, now recognizing him, “there is no one here. I came to feed the horses, and they took her away!” he said as he approached out of breath. “Lo siento, Señor Tom. I try to stop them, but there were many men. They told me to stay away-with guns!”

“How long ago were they here?”

“Oh Se
ñor, less than one hour. I was here, I heard nothing Señor. Then three black cars—grande cars—came fast-fast down the road. They circle the house and then they shoot Señorita Alex!” Garcia pushed his hat back and wiped his face with his bandana.

Tom hadn’t seen any cars
. They must have left out the other direction. “What do you mean, Garcia? They shot Alex? Is she dead?”

“I do not think
dead, Senor Tom. I think maybe they shoot her with a drugs—like they do animals. Pero, Señor…,” Garcia hesitated, as if he was sure that no one would believe him, “pero, Señor—they also shot a grande lizard, Señor! Muy, muy grande!

“A lizard?”

“Si, Señor. He was bigger than you, Señor Tom, and walked like you do and I do, Señor Tom!” Garcia went on, his eyes wide. “But faster, much faster.”

“
Wait, where was this lizard, Garcia?’

“En la casa
, Señor, en la casa!” Garcia said, pointing at the farm house. “When Señorita Alex was shoot, he came from the front door with such speed that he catch her before she falls down. He was like a demon, a ghost. El Diablo, Senior, El Diablo!”

Tom could see the dust from another car coming down the road. Sure enough, it was Gus with his red lights on. He drove up next to Tom and Garcia.

“Wow, Tom, you pulled out so fast I got to worrying. Is everything OK?” Gus asked from his car window.

“Gus, take me to the airport,” Tom said, coming around to the passenger side of the patrol car.

“Well, that’d be up in Price, Tom,” Gus said, not understanding. “They have an airport up there, but it’s really just an airstrip, if you know what I mean.” He watched curiously as Tom jumped in the passenger side of his patrol car.

“I know where it is
, Gus. That’s where they took Alex.”

“Whaddaya mean
, Tom?”

“Gus, those government guys you sent down here earlier
, they kidnapped Alex. They took her, Gus, and I know where they are taking her now. We need to get to that airport!”

Gus floored the patrol car in the
direction of Price. As they sped past the market, they noticed Sally out in the driveway, with her hands on her hips, watching disapprovingly as they drove by.

“Oh boy,” Gus said, “I’m in for it when I get home.” He reached down and turned on his siren.
“Makes it look more official.”

*

It took about twenty minutes to get to Price with Gus driving as fast as he
could and Tom regretting that he hadn’t taken the wheel. As Gus finally made the turn for the airport, they passed three large black SUVs just leaving, standard issue CIA vehicles that completely ignored the patrol car’s flashing lights and siren. Tom had a sinking feeling that he was too late. The SUVs turned toward Provo, probably on their way back up to Salt Lake. No telling how they had gotten down here so fast.

The airport consisted of a small parking lot and two uncontrolled landing strips that intersected midway down their length. A yellow windsock dangled in the dead air of the desert. There were
a half dozen aluminum hangars just off of the parking lot side, and two port-a-potties sat nearby. Across the field, an unmarked Chinook was just rotating off of the runway. Gus stopped the car still confused, but aware that they were too late for something. As if taunting Tom, the chopper lifted off and flew directly over the patrol car, then started climbing. He marked its’ heading.

Tom noticed someone wo
rking on an old biplane in one of the hangars. “Gus, drive me over there would you,” he said, pointing at the plane.

“Sure
, Tom,” Gus said squinting in that direction. “I think that’d be old Matt Kosek.”

“You know him?”

“Oh sure, Matt’s born and raised here, just like me. His pop used to fly for the Air Force. He always kept that old Stearman around for air shows and such. Matt flies it around himself ever once in a while just to keep it fresh. Kids love it when he buzzes the school yard. Can’t say as much for teachers.”

“Gus, I am going to need to get my hands on that plane. We are going to have to commandeer it
, and I need your help. I have to try to follow that helicopter, and find Alex.

“
Alright, Tom, but maybe we should just ask.”

Gus drove across the
air strip and pulled the patrol car right up to the hangar. Just inside was a vintage Stearman biplane with the classic yellow and blue colors of the Army Air Corps. Tom noted that the plane appeared to be in mint condition.

“Hey, Matt,” Gus said as they both got out of the car.

“Well hey, Gus, what are you doing out this way? I never seen this place as busy as it has been today.” Matt said, gesturing towards the area where the helicopter had just taken off.

“Matt, this here is Tom Hancock
. You remember Simon’s girl Alex? Well this is her husband. Anyhow, Matt, we are having kind of an emergency, and Tom here needs to borrow your plane if that’d be OK with you.” Gus looked him directly in the eye, his hand on his holster.

Matt stared back at Gus
, sizing him up and letting his unusual request sink in. He had known Gus his whole life.

“Come on Matt,” Gus said
, dropping his hands to his sides. “It’s not that much different from borrowing a car. You’d let Tom here borrow your car if I asked, wouldn’t ya?”

“Well,” Matt turned and looked directly at Tom
as he finished wiping a socket with a red rag. “I guess you couldn’t have picked a better time. I just fueled her and was getting ready to take her up. Then all that commotion over at the other end of the field started, and I kind a got caught up watching.”

“See anything interesting?” asked Tom.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Looked to me like they loaded a couple of bodies on that chopper. It was a hard to see real clear from here, but that’s what it looked like, couple of bodies. They really struggled with one, looked huge, like it probably weighed a ton. Those boys were having a real tough time with it,” Matt said, shaking his head.

Tom looked over his shoulder and marked the current altitude and direction of the Chinook
. It was definitely headed southwest, which gave him a big clue about its destination, but he needed to get going or he was not going to be able to tail it. Tom wanted to follow the chopper directly. He didn’t want to take any chances losing it even though he was pretty certain of the course it would take.

“Thanks
, Matt. I’ll take good care of her.”

“If you can push a grocery cart, then you pretty much ou
ght-a be able to fly her. Somethin’ tells me you’ve flown better, and maybe worse.”

“Yes
, Sir, I have.”

“Well jump in and I’ll fire this muthah up for you. Here, take this jacket.
Gonna be cold up. Oughtta be some goggles in the cockpit somewheres. No radio though. Broke it a while ago and haven’t got around to gettin’ it fixed yet,” Matt said.

Tom threw on the leather jacket Matt ha
nded him, zipping it all the way, and hopped into the back seat of the plane. Draped over the throttle was a set of vintage goggles. He looked around the cockpit just to get his bearings, fastened the seat belts and tested the controls. Everything seemed to be working. He pulled on the goggles and flicked on the power switch.

“Contact!”

Matt bent down at the front of the plane and gave the propeller a hefty swing. The aircraft shuddered and popped, and then the motor came alive and began to rev.

Tom gave both Matt and Gus the thumbs up and rolled the plane out onto the airfield.
He checked the windsock and made sure the runways and air space were clear, then gave the little airplane all of its throttle, ran it down the asphalt and rotated the nose into the air. Tom checked to the southwest but could no longer see the Chinook. He would just have to fly as fast as he could and hope that he could catch up.

Gus and Matt watched as Tom headed for the horizon.

“Thanks, Matt,” Gus said to his friend. “Tom was pretty certain that Alex was on that helicopter, and that the guys took her were up to no-good.”

Matt kept his eyes on the plane until it disappeared from sight. “Then
, I have a feeling that’s the last I’ll be seeing of Dad’s old plane,” Matt said wistfully. “Hope the wife has kept up the insurance.”

This was the second time in two days that she had been knocked out: the first time from a rock, and this time from a tranquilizer gun. Alex had another splitting headache. She could hear the incessant vibration of helicopter rotors as she regained consciousness, and she knew that the minute she opened her eyes she was going to feel violently hung over. When she finally let her eyes open, she braced for pain, and found that she was facing a warrant officer seated directly across from her and that she was flying in the back of some massive military helicopter. The officer was reading something displayed on an electronic notebook.

Where the hell am I,
Alex wondered. Worse, she worried, what happened to Mot?

She tried moving her hands but they were secured with plastic ties to the flight chair. The warrant officer looked up and smiled
, nonplussed by Alex’s struggling. Mr. Cool Calm Collected. He wouldn’t be if I could get loose, she thought, immediately irritated by the officer’s passive demeanor. Oh my god my head hurts! Alex tried to say something, but realized it was too loud in the helicopter to converse. The rotor thump was making her head throb.

The
officer held up a single finger, and then grabbed a headphone set off a rack. He plugged them in and then gently placed them on Alex’s head. He was actually kind of good looking, Alex noted, even though she was seething. He swung the microphone close to Alex’s lips, continuing to smile as if he had been given the best job in the world.

“How’s that?” she could read his lips but nothing was coming thr
ough. He reached over slowly and adjusted the volume on the headset slightly. “How’s that volume, Doctor?” the officer asked again.

“Good,
” she said into the headset. But how does he know that I am a doctor? “Where is Mot?”

The
officer looked puzzled.

“The creature? Where is he?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s right behind you, Ma’am,” the officer said, pointing over Alex’s shoulder. “A little more sedated, but it is right behind. If you would like, I can remove your restraints so you can move around a bit?” The Officer’s tone revealed nothing about the orders he had been given to immediately use his Taser on Alex if she started acting up in any way.

The officer
had called her ‘Ma’am.’ The kiss of death, thought Alex. I must look like shit. Ma’am! Jesus. “Well yes, Lieutenant, that would be very nice,” Alex said in the sweetest voice she could muster, resenting the new moniker, but realizing that she might need this asshole’s cooperation. “Stay calm, Alex, stay calm,” old Simon warned.

The
officer slid forward again and deftly clipped off the plastic ties on her wrists.

Alex immediately turned around the best she could in her seat. Behind her, further back in the aircraft, she could see Mot on a cot in the center and attendants on each side of him. He was not conscious
, but he was very securely belted down. She noticed that an IV hung on a rack at his side. It was clear that the doctors, or whoever they were… were ready to give Mot another shot of anesthesia if necessary to keep him down. His eyes were closed, and he had the scary loose look on his face of someone who had been sedated.

Alex could only vaguely recall wha
t had happened after breakfast with Mot. She could remember talking to Tom on the phone. There was something about him coming down to the ranch. Then she had seen Mr. Garcia and had apologized for not calling him sooner. She’d gone outside, intercepting him at the corral so he wouldn’t see Mot. Alex could remember walking back to the house, having the feeling that something was not right. Had Mot tried to warn her? Was there a pin prick in her neck? She had felt it, and then had pulled out the bullet-sized syringe just before passing out. As she sat there, trying to recover from the tranquilizer, the events of the morning became clear in her mind.

*

They flew on for some time. Alex decided that it was pointless to ask any more questions of the officer. She would find out why they had been taken soon enough, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell her. Whatever was going on, she had a vague idea that Batter must be behind it. She was overcome by a huge sense of relief to find that Mot had not been killed.

From the position of the
afternoon sun, Alex judged that the helicopter was heading west-southwest. She looked out the window and could see a very large dry lake bed coming into view. At first she thought it might be Salt Lake, but then she spotted the mass of airstrips that appeared at its south end. She knew this place from the many aerial photographs that Simon kept in the shop for years. This was the infamous Area 51 her father had been obsessed with since she was a child.

Alex looked back at the
officer. He was studying something on his note pad, but Alex was aware that if she made the slightest move he would notice. She looked back at Mot, and then back out the window. She noticed a speck on the horizon that seemed to be flying approximately the same speed and direction. Probably a security tail of some sort, she thought. The object was too far back to identify.

*

Batter looked up into the late afternoon sky. A large patch of cumulus clouds were forming in the west, slightly obscuring the sun as it drifted slowly toward the horizon. He could hear the distinctive sound of the dual blades of the Chinook slicing through the thin desert air before he could actually see the aircraft. Pete was with him. They stood at the end of runway 14L/32R.

A row of giant hangars, each large enough to house a 747 or even a C-130
, lined one side of the runway and ran for almost a mile like houses on a Monopoly board, but the proportions were epic. It looked like a neighborhood of giants. Behind the hangars, were the many above ground barracks and service facilities for Edwards Air Force base, which had always ostensibly been the main purpose of the entire complex. Below them, perhaps 500 feet, was the vast maze of secret facilities which had been under construction since the late 1950s. It was the single largest project ever undertaken-certainly by the U.S.-and probably by anyone anywhere in the world. Except perhaps, by the Chinese. Never underestimate the Chinese, Batter thought as he watched for the helicopter.

He looked around and shiv
ered. Batter had been a part of the development of this base for the last 30 years, and had been totally in charge of it and the construction of the other three ARCs for the last 10. To him, the job seemed like a natural function of the CIA umbrella, and he had been honored and had felt an extreme sense of duty when he was chosen to oversee them.

His position, like a select few of his colleagues, was considered so top secret
and so long range that it by-passed even the Director’s authority. In fact, for all intents and purposes, he didn’t even exist.

How fast the time had gone, Batter
thought, looking around at the massive air base. In another 24 hours, he mused, this place will look exactly as it does now, but below these hangars, the entire government of the United States will be here; and suddenly, my problem.

Now
Batter stood with the facility’s top ranking scientist and several staffers waiting for two other very important guests. Batter, despite all his pressing concerns, was very much looking forward to seeing Dr. Alex Moss again. He had been very attracted to her the first time they met, which in retrospect, he had to admit, had clouded his judgment-rare occurrence to be sure. But Batter was no misogynist. He loved women of all sorts and loved to be surrounded by them whether romantically or just in business. Never, he was proud to say, had he ever stepped over the line with any of them, despite the constant temptation. Alex was not only extremely tempting; she was a very accomplished scientist, and perfect for recruitment. He had been very disappointed when he heard she had died, and had felt somewhat responsible. But now, it seemed, all was well. He might have her on his team after all, a prospect which made the idea of being locked below ground somewhat more palatable. He could only imagine how thrilled she must be about the male Arzat.

Too ba
d the excitement would be short-lived, and he meant that literally. If there was one thing Batter was very good at, it was projecting. After everyone had settled into life underground, it would not be long until the issue came up of why they were expending valuable resources on lizards. Batter could already hear the banter. An informal committee would be formed at first, then the Vice President would end up involved. The scientists would fight the decision, but sooner or later the dinosaurs would be put down. That was inevitable.

Hell, Batter thought, if things got bad enough there might have to be some
other decisions about who else might have to go. People were inevitably always people, and it was hard to tell how even the best of them might act when it finally sunk in that they had essentially been buried alive. Batter still wasn’t even sure how he was going to take it despite the arrival of Dr. Moss. No, he decided, better to leave the creatures out of the ARC in the first place-he would be doing them a favor in the end.

The Chinook was approaching. He patted Pete Wilson on the shoulder as the helicopter came in for a landing.
“Excited?” he screamed at Pete, trying to help him make the best of a bad situation. Pete had been lost in his own thoughts, looking out at the vast airfield. He only nodded.

Batter looked across the runway and noticed a couple of F-22s preparing for takeoff. It seemed unusual
to have training flights this late in the day. A Sergeant ran up to him from across the tarmac. “Sorry to interrupt, Sir, but we thought you should know. It appears that the forty-seven was tailed into our airspace.”

“By what?”

The Sergeant hesitated, “Well Sir, looks like an old biplane of some sort.”

“
A biplane?”

“Yes
, Sir.”

“You guys aren’t too worried about that are you?” Batter asked.

“Sir, we are worried about everything, Sir,” the Sergeant replied as if he were stating the obvious.

“Sorry
, Sergeant. Yes, you are quite correct. Keep me informed.” The Sergeant saluted and walked away, and Batter was able to focus on the helicopter which had just landed.

*

“Welcome, Doctor,” Batter said as the roar of the Chinook’s engines died down.

Alex had been first o
ff the helicopter and personnel were already busily preparing to get the lizard off as well. Batter offered his hand to Alex which she ignored as she jumped down from the giant aircraft. She stormed past him, out of the range of the rotor wash, then stopped when she realized she had nowhere to go. A large military ambulance was driven into place as Mot was wheeled back on a gurney to the loading gate of the chopper.

“Welcome
, Doctor,” Pete said, walking over to meet her. He had not known what to expect of Dr. Alex Moss, and certainly was surprised by what he saw. “My name is Peter Wilson. I am the SIC at this base,” he said, also extending his hand which Alex refused. “I am sure you must be very upset Doctor, but Mr. Batter assures me that everything regarding your specimen was done with the utmost care to safeguard both you and the creature.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call knocking us out with tranquilizer guns and kidnapping us to be the friendliest way of inviting us down,” Alex replied sarcastically.

“Really, Doctor, would you have come any other way?” Batter said as he caught up with them, overhearing their interchange.

*

Tom was almost out of fuel.

He had used all of the engine
’s horsepower throughout the flight just to catch up and keep up with the Chinook. The fact that he had been forced to fly at full throttle hadn’t helped with fuel consumption. For an aircraft that was over seventy, the old girl had done a stellar job of keeping him in the game so far, he thought, but that wouldn’t last long now.

He
tapped his finger on the gauge and rocked the wings just to be sure he was getting an accurate reading. The needle moved slightly, but immediately drifted back toward zero. Maybe ten or fifteen more minutes, then that would be all she wrote and he would have to put the little plane down.

Tom relaxed a little when Groom Lake appeared far off on his starboard side. He was almost positive that was where
they were taking Alex and whatever-in-the-hell it was that they had captured with her. She had found something in the caves. He didn’t doubt that, but Tom could make no sense of what it might be. He had left Alex in an area that was dated to 65 million BCE. Nothing alive could have come from that, could it? It was completely inexplicable.

But Area 51 was famous as the place for the inexplicable
, and it was home to another of the four ARCs, which meant that Batter was probably in the mix. It also meant that any time now, he suddenly remembered, his plane would be identified on radar and he would become a target. The facility was boxed by a 25 mile restricted airspace; a ‘shoot to kill zone’ where the rule applied to anyone who dared to enter without permission. That was the one advantage of not having a working radio, he thought ironically. He couldn’t ask for clearance or identify himself even if the wanted to. Tom scanned the sky. He was going to have company any minute.

Two dots appeared on the horizon and seconds later a pair of F-22s buzzed him head
-on doing about 500 knots. The little Stearman took it in stride, but it did pick up some turbulence in its wings. Tom steadied the aircraft and looked back. He could see the fighters looping for another go round. This time they approached from behind, doing their best to match the Stearman’s slower speed. One jet trailed Tom’s plane and one approached on his left wing. He imagined he could hear the missile lock indicator blaring in the fighter cockpit behind him.