Project Apex (15 page)

"Don’t patronise me, lady," Herman said, glancing at Draven. "My guess is you're here to find out about Project Apex."

Draven and Kate’s stunned silence spoke volumes to Herman. Clearly enjoying being the centre of attention, he relaxed and went on. "Lucky for you two, I know all about it. Believe me, this shit will blow your goddamn minds."

"In that case, I think you better start from the beginning," Kate said, giving Herman her full attention.

"Okay, sure thing. But not here."

"Why not?"

"Bugs," Herman whispered, then pointed to the roof and lowered his voice to a whisper. "They're listening through the walls."

He wore an elastic grin whilst he waited for some kind of acknowledgement. Kate and Draven shared a worried glance.

"Uh, I’m not sure there are bugs in here pal," Draven said, somehow hiding his smile.

"Oh, they are. They’re always listening. Big Brother. Using alien technology lifted from Roswell. Trust me, I know about this stuff."

Draven and Kate exchanged another quick look, and this time, Herman saw it.

"Hey, now I’m not one of those crazy conspiracy loons you know."

"Nobody said you were," Kate said.

"No, but I saw that look in your eye. I’m different to those guys. I have direct sources if you know what I mean," He said, rolling his eyes towards the heavens. "No speculation from Herman, just honest to god facts."

As much as Draven thought getting into a long conversation with Herman about his supposed sources of info could be all kinds of fun, he knew time was critical, and they had to push on.

"Look,” Kate said. “If we could just stick to the current situation it would help. What do you know about Project Apex?"

"Are you kidding me? What don’t I know? I've been janitor here for years. I see things. I hear things. People think I’m dumb because I push a mop instead of a pen. But I was chosen for a reason. I’m supposed to make a difference. It’s my destiny."

"Okay, relax," Kate said. "Just tell us what you know.”

"No, sorry. I don’t trust the government." Herman said, his eyes darting nervously around the room.

"So where do you suggest we talk?" Kate said, trying to hide her irritation.

"My place. At least, I know it's safe there."

"I don’t think we can do that. We don’t have time." Kate said.

"Then make time. Believe me; you are going to want to see what I have to show you."

Draven shifted in his seat, picturing Herman as the nice guy who lures you into his house before chopping you up and feeding you to his pet cat. It was always a pet cat.

"It looks like we have no choice," Kate said, moving towards the door. "I'll clear it with Robbins. You better not be wasting our time."

Draven and Herman watched her leave.

"Don’t worry about her. She's cranky." Draven said, deciding for as odd as Herman was, he quite liked him.

"I like it. Strong women do it for me," Herman replied with a grin.

"A word to the wise. That one has a temper. You might want to give her a wide berth."

"Noted."

"Well, we better go upstairs and get moving."

"Sounds good. Hey, any chance we can go to the drive through on the way? I’m starving."

"I don’t think they’ll go for that," Draven replied with a grin.

"Should have known. Damn government." Herman muttered as they left the lab and headed back upstairs. Seeing the hellish scene made them forget their jovial tone, and reminded Draven at least why he was there.

“What a mess," Herman muttered.

"This is bad, but it’s only the start," Draven replied.

"What do you mean?"

"If I’m right, this is just a drop in the ocean compared to what's to come."

IV

Harmony Place Trailer Park was exactly the kind of location Draven had expected Herman to live at. As they drove across the Pontiac Bridge towards Virginia, none of them spoke. Kate concentrated on the road, her face taut and focused. Draven sat beside her, watching the impressive architecture of Washington give way to the urban landscape of Virginia. He was wondering just how bad things must be if they were forced to invest so much time and energy on the word of a man like Herman – who on face value seemed to be as mad as a box of frogs.

Draven glanced at him in the rearview mirror. To his surprise, Herman was looking back at him. He sat in the centre seat, arms resting palms up on his thighs.

"Did you know the government is filling the air with chemicals?" he said.

"Say again?" Draven replied, only half listening.

"Chemicals. Contrails. You know when you see those trails coming from aeroplanes? It's not friction or air resistance or any of that crap. It's a chemical they pump into the atmosphere to keep us docile. To stop us asking questions."

Draven half turned in his seat, curious and amused at the same time. "Come on, that seems very farfetched."

"No, it's true. Man, people need to wake up to what's happening. Society now is too happy to sit and stare at their TV's whilst the governments rule the world. You ever hear of the Illuminati?"

"Yeah, I have as it goes. I don't believe in it, though."

"Figures. You government types never do." Herman grunted.

"Actually, I'm civilian. I'm only here as a consultant."

Herman's eyes lit up, and Draven half wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"Well, in that case, you and I have stuff to discuss my friend. When we get inside, I can show you things- tangible evidence of government cover-ups that will blow your mind."

"Where am I going here?" Kate grunted as she rolled down the dusty track lined with grubby trailers.

"Right down at the end. There's a red pickup parked outside. You can't miss it." Herman replied, and then turned back to Draven.

"I tell you, man, there's stuff out there in the public domain that gets deflected or pushed aside by the press."

"In my experience, the press are a bloodthirsty bunch who would kill for a hot story," Draven said.

"That's what they want you to think. In reality, they're just puppets. Pawns to the Illuminati and the other higher powers. I'm talking about inter-dimensional communication with beings on a different plane than us. The world is due a wake-up call, and based on what I know about Project Apex, this could be it."

"You believe this crap, don't you?" Kate snapped.

"Absolutely I do. You should too. "

"You people are always so quick to throw the conspiracy crap around, but you forget about how people like us protect you."

"In what way?" Herman said, refusing to back down.

"Terrorists for one. If you only knew the number of times the government have stopped attacks before they happen in order to keep people safe, you might change your opinion."

"A fair point,” Herman said, leaning forward in his seat. “To which I ask why is this country under a terror threat in the first place?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the way I see it, if Uncle Sam had kept his nose out of the business of other countries, all this hostility would probably be aimed elsewhere."

"Are you seriously suggesting we brought it on ourselves?" Kate said, unable to hide her anger.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. This country would be a hell of a lot better off if they just stopped poking around in the affairs that don’t concern us."

"That's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard," she snapped.

"Hey, how about we all take it easy and concentrate on the job in hand, okay?" Draven said as the car rolled to a stop at Herman's trailer.

The tired motor home suited their zany passenger to a tee. Everything from the grubby whitewashed outer walls to the tattered American flag hanging from a broom handle screwed to the roof screamed weirdo.

"Here we are," Herman said with a grin. “Prepare to have your minds blown."

He tried to open the door, glaring at the back of Kate's head when the handle moved freely in his hand. "Are you kidding me? You put the child locks on?" he grunted.

"For your own safety," Kate said, just about hiding a smile.

Draven hid his own smile just long enough to hop out of the car and release Herman. He walked towards the trailer, shoulders sloped and bobbing his head, reminiscent of a chicken. Pausing to fish a key out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and went inside, switching on the lights.

"Come on in," he yelled over his shoulder before turning towards the kitchen area. Draven followed Kate up the two creaky steps and into the compact trailer. There was a vague smell of beer and old farts. Draven wrinkled his nose. He watched for Kate's reaction but saw only a blank canvas. He joined her in looking around the camper. To their left was a seating area of sorts with a fold away breakfast table. A dirty pillow and grubby blanket were on the end seat. It appeared from the wear in the imitation leather seats, that this was where Herman spent the vast bulk of his time. Pinned to the wall were two posters. One depicting a grainy photograph of the Patterson Bigfoot, the other was a shabby X-Files poster, complete with a brooding Mulder & Scully, and the tagline 'The Truth is out there'. Draven was starting to think their host was pretty out there too. Beyond the sitting room were two doors which Draven guessed contained the bedroom and bathroom. To their right, Herman was in the small kitchenette, washing out some cups.

"Coffee? I'm all out of milk but if you don't mind taking it black you can knock yourself out."

"No, thanks," Kate said.

"I'm good," Draven added.

"Suit yourselves."

They waited until Herman had made himself a coffee in a cup with rings on the inside which wouldn't look out of place on Saturn. He walked into the seating area, and waited, watching them with a grin on his face.

"So, you were going to tell us what you know about Project Apex?" Kate said.

"I can go one better. I'll show you. Come on," He said, walking his chicken walk towards one of the closed rooms at the end of the trailer. Draven went to follow and felt light fingers on his arm. Kate shook her head ever so slightly and made sure to go in front, hand hovering near her weapon which was holstered inside her jacket.

Message received, he let her go next as he followed behind, taking a moment to acknowledge the impressive array of conspiracy documentaries and DVDs which were scattered around the TV.

Herman paused at the door, turning to face them with that familiar self-amused grin.

"Project Apex has been a pet project of mine, something of an obsession. It's one of those things I was so close to, it was too tempting not to research if you know what I mean."

He waited for a reply, and when none came, his smile faltered for a second. "Well, anyway, here is the sum of my work. Welcome, to the Apex room."

He opened the door and bobbed inside. What used to be a bedroom had been stripped bare of furniture, the window boarded over. A small coffee cup ringed desk and chair were positioned in the centre of the room amid the mountains of papers and cuttings. Every surface of the walls was covered with articles, photographs, theories. Draven couldn't help but be impressed. A lot of the documents had notes directly written onto them in Herman's spiky hand. Others were highlighted and underlined in yellow or pink from fluorescent pens.

"Wow, this is...extensive," Draven mumbled as he tried to take in the sheer volume of information.

"As I said, it's become an obsession."

Kate was over by the wall, leaning close to some of the papers pinned there. "Are these official homeland security documents?" She said, turning towards him.

"It depends on how much trouble I'm in if they are," he replied, shuffling his feet.

"Don't worry, I won't haul you in. I just wanted to assess the validity."

"In that case, let's just say they're real enough."

"How the hell did you get all this?" Draven asked.

"It wasn't hard. As I said, I work in there and nobody would ever suspect the lowly janitor of having the mental prowess or the desire to pay attention to what was going on. See, I’m smarter than people give me credit for."

"So why are you a janitor?" Kate said. There was no malice in her question, but Draven saw Herman flinch as she asked it.

"Circumstances worked against me. Let’s call it a youth spent wasting time doing things I shouldn’t be doing and never really giving a second thought to getting a formal education. By the time I realised what I was doing, it was too late and I had to educate myself. That's when I started to see the world for what it really was, and the lies it's built on."

"And you think Project Apex is part of it?"

"Damn right I do, lady. All the evidence points to it."

“It’s obvious you have a great interest in this project and have shadowed Dr. Genaro's work closely. With him missing, we need you to fill in the gaps."

"He's not dead, you know."