Jesse's Starship (9 page)

“Mr. Sanders, do you agree with that assessment?”

“I do; however, it appears one of them managed to get a shot off and hit the alien.”

“Why do you suggest that?”

“The two left the ship to find him. If you look at the video as they move toward the body, one of them has his arm extended in front of him. They were looking for him.” Mike paused, “It’s next to impossible to prevent ten attackers from getting a shot off if they have their weapons trained on you. One of the ten attackers managed to get a shot off and killed the Alien; those two came to check out why he hadn’t contacted them.”

General Thornton shook his head, “That doesn’t make sense. Where was that dead alien’s ship? If they came to check on him, there had to be two ships.”

“There were two, General. One of them was taken by the human you saw disappearing in the U-Haul .” The room exploded into shouts and Mike just stared at the monitor and smiled, “You did it; you son of a gun, you really did it.” Mike thought for a moment and said, “I need you to get someone on the ground in Phoenix to do some checking around.”

The room grew silent and General Thornton looked at the President who nodded, “What do you need?”

“I want you to check every gun shop in the city and see if any one purchased an H&K P-40 handgun.”

“Why?”

“I also need you to go to every major grocery store on the east side of Phoenix and see if anyone came in with a U-Haul and purchased an extraordinary amount of groceries.”

The President said, “You think he sold the gun and used the money to buy groceries?”

“I do, Mr. President; and if that happened, my friend would have been able to access that dead alien’s ship and take control of it.”

Branton shook his head, “How can you say that?”

“The first U-Haul appeared out of nowhere. That had to mean it was under the force field unloading. He backed the second truck up; which makes me wonder who drove the second truck.”

The assistant said, “The truck was rented by an Elyse Moreland. She’s a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson.”

Mike thought furiously and looked at the Major, “See if you can find any missing person’s report with her name in it.”

The gathering watched the Major punch the keys on his terminal for a minute and then they saw the shock on his face, “It appears her father and brother mysteriously disappeared in the desert outside Albuquerque nine years ago.”

“Jess had to have contacted her to see what she remembered. It appears she went with him.”

“You keep saying he had control of the first alien’s ship. Just how can you really believe that?”

“That’s why I had to see the recording of what happened. You’ve missed all the evidence because you don’t know what to look for.”

Thornton leaned back in his chair, “Please educate us, Mr. Sanders.”

Mike heard the sarcasm in the General’s voice and he smiled, “Pull up that alien that extended the force field.” The alien appeared on the display. “Now bring the view in close enough to see what it has on its wrist.” The view moved in and after a moment they saw a black band around the alien’s wrist.

“Now go back to where the man gets out of the first truck. Freeze it when he extends his arm to close the door.” The view changed to the human getting out of the first U-Haul and it stopped as he reached to close the door. The view moved in quickly and then they saw an identical black band around the human’s arm. “When the first alien was killed, Jess must have been able to take its wristband.” Mike looked at the video expert, “Move the video to where the second truck disappeared and move it forward from there.”

The recording showed the larger U-Haul sitting in the desert. After five minutes, the group watching the recording started to get impatient. Mike looked at them and said, “Wait for it….” Suddenly, the second truck appeared for a moment and then disappeared again.

Mike smiled, “Now this isn’t going to be easy. I want you to focus on the area where the spaceship was located. I want you move the view in to the sand and keep it focused on where the ground under that ship is located. You can fast forward, starting from the moment the second reappeared for a moment.”

“I’ll set the system to automatically stop if any changes are detected.”

“That would be good, Lieutenant.”

The group watched the video and suddenly it froze. Mike smiled. The video began again in slow motion and they saw a depression in the sand that had sand falling into it from the edges. Mike said, “Keep the video on that depression and tell me if anything changes.” The video moved forward and suddenly stopped; the depression had disappeared.

The President stared at Mike, “Tell me what you see here, Mr. Sanders.”

“The ship that was there first left, leaving the depression. The second truck that was hidden appeared for a moment. According to the video’s timeline at the top, the second ship came in two seconds later causing the truck and depression in the sand to disappear. It appears my friend and the young woman left the planet with one of their spaceships.”

“Why would he do that?”

“For the reason he’s been living in the desert all these years; he’s going to find his family.”

The President stared at Mike and finally said, “How are you able to see these things everyone missed?”

Mike was silent but General Forester said, “He was our best satellite Monitor, Mr. President.”

“How were you able to lose someone with his ability?”

“He’s the one that used the satellite system to find Wolf Group. He did it without orders and sent the relief team in without orders as well.”

The President looked at Mike, “That caused quite a stir.”

“They’re alive; they didn’t deserve to be abandoned.”

“Mr. Sanders, will you consider acting as one of my aides in determining what’s going on and keep me informed?”

“I will not report to the military again, Sir.”

“I’m not asking you to do that; I need someone to help me understand what’s happening here. I can see you appear to be eminently qualified to do it.”

“Sir, if I agree to do this, will you guarantee the safety of my family?”

“Why would they be in danger?”

“Because the leaders of our Military think they know what’s best and will not take lightly having their plans revealed.”

The four Chiefs started looking at each other. The President saw them and said, “If anything happens to your family, I will personally have the four officers in this room stripped of their ranks and pensions and start a trial to uncover how it happened.”

“That’s not good enough, Sir.”

“What do you want?”

“I want them taken to Cheyenne Mountain until this crisis is resolved”

Branton’s brow furrowed, “Why would you want that?”

“Will you do it Mr. President?”

The President looked at General Forester, “You will have the responsibility of getting them there safely.” The General nodded and spoke quickly into a handset. “I agree with General Thornton, why would you want them moved to Cheyenne Mountain?”

“Sir, I’ve dealt with our military leaders for ten years. I know them better than I know my own children. They did everything in their power to prevent your and Senator Ingram from gaining access to this information. Actually, they went beyond even what they should have been willing to do. That means they had to delay you learning about this before they initiated a response to the destruction of our aircraft.”

Mike saw the four Chiefs were staring bullets at him but he didn’t care. “What do you mean?”

“I was in the Satellite Corp for ten years and I know pretty much everything there is to know about what’s circling our planet. However, there was a launch fifteen years ago that I was not allowed to investigate. I believe that satellite has nuclear missiles on board and they’re planning to use it to take a shot at the alien’s ships.”

The room grew deathly silent. The President stared at the Generals, “I don’t know about a satellite with nuclear weapons on board.”

Mike said, “Plausible deniability, Mr. President.”

“Is what he is saying true?”

No one said a word.

“If you intend to keep your positions, you will answer my question.”

General Thornton said, “Yes, Mr. President, it is.”

“And are you launching an attack?”

Thornton glanced up at the clock above the monitor and said, “It was launched thirty seconds ago.”

The President said, “Guards, you will place the four Chiefs under arrest and you will go round up that treasonous Admiral I just fired and place him under arrest as well.”

Thornton shook his head, “You know we had to respond to this attack, Mr. President.”

“I don’t totally disagree with you; however, that is not a decision that the Constitution allows you to make. That is where your treason lies.” The guards pulled their handguns and escorted the four out of the room. The President looked at Mike, “Who can I trust?”

“That’s the sad part, Mr. President; no one. And the bad thing about it is that this information isn’t secret.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Soviets have satellites that can watch our birds and determine what they’re viewing. Captain Tyler told me that a Soviet Satellite was not far from the one he used to record what happened. I suspect they saw what happened and they have no idea what really happened. You might want to open a dialogue with them.”

Jack looked at his cell phone and lifted it to his ear. He said, “Do what they tell you!” Jack then glanced at his cell phone and said, “That was Tilly; she said an Apache came in and three men dressed in black were approaching the farmhouse with weapons drawn.”

Mike shook his head and said, “You can start with General Forester to find out where she’s been taken.”

The President stared at Mike and for the first time in office he wondered who was really in control.

• • •

Tilly sat in a room with a blindfold on with her arms and legs bound to a chair. She sat still and listened to her surroundings. She knew someone was sitting in the room with her. She couldn’t hear him; but she smelled him. Living in the desert heightens one sense of smell. She replayed the three rushing into the house and throwing a bag over her head. It was at least a two hour flight in an Apache and she knew they had to be within four hundred miles of Phoenix. She could tell by the sound of the rotors on the helicopter that it was flying at its maximum speed. She focused on the images of the black clad men that had taken her and suddenly remembered something. She said, “I really hope none of you have any family members that are still alive.” Silence greeted her remark.

The soldier in the room with her thought this lady was one cool customer. He looked at the one way mirror and knew his teammates were listening in on what she was saying. He lowered his voice and said, “And just why is that?”

“My husband will find out who you are; he is brilliant beyond your belief and he will expose your treason to the world and make sure your families are brought out into the open to share your shame.” The soldier remained silent. Tilly decided to play her gambit, “Your fellow warriors will also disown you and never accept you back into their ranks.”

“What are you talking about old woman?”

“I saw the collar on your uniform when you pulled the bag over my head; that uniform is worn by our Seals. You think you’re doing something to protect our country but you’re wrong. It is that mistake in judgment that will have your fellow warriors condemn you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“My husband’s name is Mike Sanders and he showed me the photographs he took from a high altitude satellite when he finally found Wolf Team pinned down in the desert. He searched for them against orders and he also ordered the pickup team in against his commander’s orders. He was forced to leave the military for saving those young men. He told me it was worth it; they didn’t deserve to be abandoned to die.” Tilly paused, “What do you think your brave fellow warriors are going to say when they discover that you kidnapped the wife of the savior of Wolf Team?”

The soldier stood up and stared at the woman. He looked at the one way mirror and shook his head in shock. The other two members of the team came in and stared at Tilly. One of them said, “Where was the team when it was extracted?”

“In the desert close to an Iranian nuclear facility.”

The soldier walked forward and removed Tilly’s blindfold and untied her from the chair. He removed his black head covering and bent down in front of her, “I was a private on that team. We were dead. We lost sixty percent of the team and we were not far from being killed. The jets that came in and strafed the enemy tanks approaching us arrived just in time for the helicopter to get us out. I was never told who ordered the extraction team in. I did learn that whoever ordered it was punished for doing it. I am going to contact my commander and make sure this mission was authorized.” The man left the room and returned three minutes later; he looked at the other two with a grim look on his face, “The Chiefs have been arrested for treason. We have been ordered to make sure nothing happens to this lady. He’s of the opinion that others will be coming to take her off our hands.”

The soldier turned to Tilly, “We need to get out of here, now!” The four rushed out of the small building out in the middle of the desert and moved quickly into the foothills of a mountain range three hundred yards from the building. They settled into the rocks and looked back at the house. “What’s going on, Sarge?”

“I don’t know but this lady is important.”

Tilly said, “Something’s coming.”

The Seals turned and looked out at the desert beyond the building and in a few moments heard the thumping sound of a helicopter. The Chief Petty Officer looked at Tilly and she smiled, “The desert has a way of improving ones hearing.” The Chief turned and saw the Apache come in low to the ground and fire four missiles at the small building. The building exploded and blew debris more than a hundred feet into the air. The Apache turned and flew back the way it had come. “Chief, it looks like you’ve been hung out to die again.”

The Chief Petty Officer lifted his satellite phone and saw it was not receiving a signal. He took a deep breath and knew he was alive because of the woman. He didn’t know how long they would remain alive more than a hundred miles from water. “Get down to the house and see if anything survived that we can use.”