The Blackhawk banked right and headed back to the
northj, to the secure area of Devil's Nest, the other AH-6 "Who are these people, Billy?" Susie screamed. "Why are
flying escort. Turcotte flipped off the safety on the Calico they shooting at us?"
as they headed toward the treeline. Whatever was going Billy didn't waste time trying to explain. He slammed the
112 ROBERT DOHERTY 113
AREA 51
truck into reverse as the helicopter settled down in front of We'll get this sorted once we get back to base. There's been
him in the glow of the headlights, blowing dirt and debris an accident," he added lamely. "I'm Mike," he said, tap-
up into the air, blinding him. ping the man on the shoulder and pointing at the helicop-
The pickup's rear tires slipped into the drainage ditch on ter, the sudden human gesture momentarily disorienting
the side of the road. Dirt flew as Billy threw the gear into the couple.
first, but they didn't move. The man looked at Turcotte. "Billy. This here's Susie."
Turcotte nudged them toward the helicopter. "Well, Billy
The skids touched ground and Prague was out the door, and Susie, looks like the man wants you to go for a ride."
leaving the dart rifle behind in favor of his Calico. Turcotte "Shut up, meat," Prague snarled, gesturing with the
followed, right on his heels. Turcotte's mind was trying to weapon.
sort out all that had happened and was happening. They got into the helicopter and the pilot lifted.
"Hands up and out of the truck!" Prague yelled.
The doors opened and a man stepped out, a woman
following, hiding herself behind the man's bulk.
"Who are you people?" the man asked. THE CUBE, AREA 51
"Cuff them!" Prague ordered Turcotte. A third dot was now on the screen, popping on the screen
"They're civilians." He stood still. over eastern Nevada and heading almost directly toward
Prague shifted the muzzle of his Calico in Turcotte's di- Bouncer Three, which was returning to base. Gullick knew
rection. "Cuff them." that was Aurora on its way to intercept the bogey.
Turcotte looked at the weapon, looked at Prague, then "The bogey is dropping off the chase, sir," Quinn re-
pulled out two plastic cinches from his vest and secured the ported. The bogey was circling, heading back in toward the
couple's hands behind their backs. Nightscape objective.
"Let me see your ID," the man demanded. "You can't "Redirect Aurora toward Nebraska," Gullick ordered.
be doing this. We didn't do nothing wrong. You ain't cops." Quinn complied.
"Get in the helicopter," Prague ordered. He herded the "Aurora ETA at the objective?" Gullick immediately de-
procession toward the AH-6. manded.
"Where are you taking us?" the man asked, standing "Ten minutes," Quinn announced.
stubbornly in the middle of the road just short of the heli- Not bad time to cover almost twelve hundred miles. But
copter, the girl still cowering at his side. in this case it might be about nine minutes too late, Gullick
Turcotte looked at Prague and saw the way the man's reflected as he watched the symbol that represented the
body was set, saw his finger shifting from outside the trig- bogey close on the target site. He briefly considered order-
ger guard to inside, a sure sign he was about to fire. ing Bouncer Three to turn around, but that was beyond the
Turcotte had been trained just like Prague: the only safety present scope of his authority. Gullick smashed his fist
was the finger off the trigger. down onto the desk in front of him, startling those in the
Turcotte quickly stepped in between. "Just do as he says. Cube.
AREA 5 1 115
114 ROBERT DOHERTY
in evasive reaction, but the glow dipped right down with
VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
them and crashed into the front of the helicopter. There
The AH-6 cleared the trees at the edge of a field and was a shattering of Plexiglas and Turcotte ducked his head.
turned to the north. Turcotte had strapped the man and "Prepare for crash!" the pilot yelled into the intercom.
woman into the backseat and squeezed in next to them. "We're going--" The rest of his sentence was cut off as the
Prague was twisted around in the right front seat, the bar- nose of the chopper impacted with the ground. The blades
rel of his Calico pointed rearward, his finger caressing the cartwheeled into the soft dirt and exploded off, miracu-
outside of the trigger guard. lously pinwheeling away and not slashing through the body
Turcotte looked at the muzzle, then at Prague. "I'd ap- of the aircraft.
preciate it if you didn't point that thing at me," he said into Turcotte felt a sharp rip in his right side, then everything
the boom mike. Turcotte was scared. Not so much because became still. He lifted his head. The only sound was a high-
of the gun pointed at him, although that was a problem, pitched scream. He turned to his left. Susie's mouth was a
but more because the man holding the gun was acting so wide-open and the sound was emanating from it. Billy's
irrationally. What did Prague think he was going to do with eyes were open and he was blinking, trying to see in the
these two civilians? dark.
"I don't give a fuck what you'd appreciate," Prague an- Turcotte reached down and unbuckled Billy's seat belt,
swered over the intercom. "You questioned me in the mid- then whipped out his commando knife and cut the couple's
dle of a mission. That's a no-go, meat. I'm going to have hands free. "Get out," he said, nudging them toward the
your ass." left door, before turning his attention to the front seat.
The pilot was hanging limp in his harness, his right arm
"These people are civilians," Turcotte said. The couple
twisted at an unnatural angle. Prague was beginning to stir.
were ignorant of the conversation because they weren't
His Calico was gone, thrown from the aircraft on impact.
wearing headsets.
The smell of JP-4 aviation fuel was strong in the air. As
"They're fucking dead meat now, as far as I'm con-
soon as it hit a hot metal surface such as the engine ex-
cerned," Prague said. "They saw too much. They'll have to
haust, the helicopter would be an inferno.
go to the facility at Dulce and get clipped."
Prague appeared to be fumbling with his seat belt.
"I don't know what the hell you're doing, or what you're
Turcotte leaned over between the two front seats, ignoring
talking about," Turcotte said, "but they're--" He halted as
the explosion of pain that movement ignited on his right
the helicopter suddenly jerked hard right, then dropped
side. Prague's right hand was flipping open the cover to his
altitude.
holster. "Don't let them get away," he rasped at Turcotte.
"What are you doing?" Prague yelled at the pilot, keep-
He had the gun out and pointed it back toward Billy, who
ing his attention on the backseat.
was helping Susie out of the door.
"We got company!" the pilot screamed in return. A
Turcotte reacted, slamming the inside edge of his left
brightly glowing orb--about three feet in diameter--ap-
hand across Prague's throat, feeling cartilage give way,
peared directly in front of the windshield. The pilot
while with his right hand he hammered down on Prague's
slammed the collective down and pushed the cyclic forward
116 ROBERT DOHERTY
gun hand, hearing the forearm bone crack against the edge 9
of the seat. Prague's eyes bulged, and he gasped through
his mangled throat.
Turcotte followed Billy and Susie out the left rear door.
"Keep moving," he ordered, pushing them away. A flame
flickered somewhere in the rear of the helicopter. Staying
with the aircraft, Turcotte reached in the front seat and
unbuckled the pilot. Prague's left hand suddenly moved,
slashing across his body at Turcotte with his knife. The
blade cut through the Gore-Tex jacket and inflicted a gash
on Turcotte's right forearm. THE CUBE, AREA 51
Pinning Prague's left hand with his right, Turcotte leaned T - 1 1 7 HOURS, 45 MINUTES
over the pilot and hit Prague again in the throat with his
left, this time not holding back as he had the first time. The "Nightscape Six is down, sir," Quinn announced. "I have a
cartilage completely gave way and Prague's airway was transponder location. No communication by radio."
blocked. "Launch a conventional crash recovery to the transpon-
Turcotte threw the pilot over his shoulder. He jogged der location," General Gullick ordered. He continued to
away from the helicopter as it burst into flames. watch the dot representing the bogey. It was slowly moving
about in the vicinity of Nightscape Six's transponder signal.
Aurora was now approaching the Nebraska-Colorado bor-
der.
VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
T-117 HOURS, 42 MINUTES
"Get out of here," Turcotte said to Susie and Billy, who
were staring at the burning helicopter. Turcotte had the
pilot's flight suit ripped open and was going over the man's
vital signs, doing a primary survey--for breathing first, then
bleeding, then checking for broken bones. The pilot was
good to go on the first two other than some scrapes and
cuts. There was an obvious broken arm.
Turcotte couldn't tell for sure, but based on the large
dent on the man's helmet and his unconscious condition,
119
AREA 51
118 ROBERT DOHERTY
soon. And then? That was the burning question. He'd
he felt the pilot had some sort of head injury, and he was killed Prague on reflex. He didn't regret it, given what he'd
not trained or equipped to deal with that. All he could do seen Prague do this evening, but the situation was very
was leave the helmet on and hope that it contained the confusing and Turcotte wasn't sure what his next move
injury until he could get the man some professional medi- should be.
cal help. The pilot was unconscious, and from his condition Had Prague known he was a plant? That would explain
it did not appear that he would be gaining consciousness some of his actions, but not all of them. And if Prague
anytime soon, which was fine with Turcotte. He immobi- hadn't known he was a plant, then the man had been bor-
lized the broken arm as well as he could. derline nuts; unless, Turcotte reminded himself, there was
"But--" Billy said, confused. "What--" another layer to everything that he had just witnessed. He
"No buts; no questions; no memory," Turcotte snapped, knew the actions, he just didn't know the motivation.
looking up from the pilot's body. "Forget everything that None of that was going to do him any good, Turcotte
happened tonight. Don't ever tell anyone, because if you knew, unless he could get back to Duncan with what he
do they won't believe you and then people who don't want had just seen, and to do that he was going to have to get
you talking will come looking for you. Leave it here and away from these Nightscape people. The pilot's uncon-
go-" scious condition would buy him some time once they were
Billy didn't need any further urging. He took Susie by picked up. It would simply be Turcotte's story, and he be-
the arm and quickly walked away in the darkness toward gan working on what he would tell them.
the nearest road.
He looked down at himself. Blood was seeping out the
right side of his Gore-Tex jacket and his right sleeve. He
delt with the forearm first, wrapping a bandage from his THE CUBE
combat vest over the sliced skin and stopping the bleeding. Gullick had complete telemetry feedback from Aurora and
Carefully probing with his fingers, he reached in through he could listen in on the pilot and reconnaissance systems
the jacket and gasped when he touched torn skin. Turcotte officer (RSO) talking to each other.
carefully unzipped his Gore-Tex jacket and jumpsuit. An "All systems on. We'll be in range of target in seventy-
eight-inch-long gash was just over the outside of his ribs. five seconds," the RSO announced.
As best he could, he bandaged the wound. Gullick keyed his mike. "Aurora, this is Cube Six. I want
Turcotte looked up into the sky. He could see the small a good shot of this target. Get it on the first pass. You
glowing object, about a thousand feet overhead. It was la- probably won't have an opportunity for a second. Over."
zily moving about, as if to view the results of its actions. He "Roger that, Cube Six," the RSO said. "Fifty seconds."
watched for a few moments, but there did not appear to be "Descending through ten thousand," the pilot an-
any immediate threat. Although from the way that thing nounced. "Slowing through two point five. The look will be
had been moving, Turcotte didn't think he would have right," he told the RSO, giving a direction to orient all the
much time to react if there were. sophisticated reconnaissance systems on board the aircraft.
Turcotte scanned the horizon. The others would be here
120 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 121
"Pod deploying," the RSO said as the speed gauge con- radar it will be gone in a blink and there's nothing they can
tinued to go down. Gullick knew that now that the plane do about it anyway. Damn right it's to pursue."
was under two thousand miles an hour the surveillance pod The length of Mexico was traversed in less than twelve
could be extended. Doing it at higher speeds would have minutes, Aurora now less than a thousand miles behind the
destroyed the necessary aerodynamics of the plane and bogey and closing rapidly.
caused the plane to break and burn. Even now, according "Intercept in eight minutes," Quinn announced.
to the telemetry, the skin temperature of the aircraft was
eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit. "Twenty seconds. All
green." VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
"Leveling at five thousand. Steady at Mach two."
"All systems on." Turcotte heard the choppers long before they arrived. The
Blackhawk landed on the opposite side of the crash and
Gullick looked up to the large screen at the front of the
discharged a squad of men with fire extinguishers. Turcotte
room. The red triangle representing Aurora closed on and
knew that by daylight there would be nothing in the field
passed the small dot indicating the bogey. Then the bogey
other than some charred cornstalks. The other AH-6
darted away.
landed right next to his location.
Gullick keyed the mike, "This is Cube Six. The bogey is
"Where's Major Prague?" the man who ran off the heli-
running! Vector one nine zero degrees. Pursue!"
copter asked.
Aurora was fast, but maneuverable it wasn't. Gullick
Turcotte pointed at the crash site. "Killed on impact."
watched as the red triangle began a long turn that would
The man knelt down next to the pilot. "What's his
encompass most of Nebraska and part of Iowa before it
status?"
was through. The small dot was heading southwest, cur-
"Broken arm. I think he has a concussion. I haven't
rently over Kansas.
taken his helmet off, to keep the pressure on in case his
"What's the bogey's speed?" General Gullick asked. skull is fractured."
"Computer estimates it's moving at Mach three point The man signaled for the pilot to be place on board the
six," Major Quinn replied. Blackhawk. He pointed to Turcotte. "You come with me.
As the bogey crossed the panhandle of Oklahoma, Au- They want you back at the Cube."
rora completed its turn over southern Nebraska. "She'll
catch up," Gullick said.
The two dots continued, Aurora steadily closing the gap.
THE CUBE
"Bogey's over Mexican airspace," Quinn reported. He
hesitated, but duty required that he speak. "Are you au- "Sir, Aurora already has a photo of the bogey," Quinn said.
thorizing Aurora to continue pursuit?" "What do you want it to do when it catches up?"
"Shit," Gullick said. "The Mexicans won't even know it's The Aurora was purely a reconnaissance plane. Mount-
there. Too high and too fast. And even if they get a blip on ing any sort of weapon system, even missiles, would have
122 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 123
destroyed its aerodynamic form and reduced its speed "Eighty miles," the pilot announced.
drastically. "Sixty."
"I want to find out where this bogey comes from," Gul- "I've got it!" the RSO yelled.
lick said. "Then I can send other people to take care of the In the small television screen Gullick could see a small
problem." dot. As if on cue the dot suddenly jerked to the right, a
Both indicators were now over the eastern beginning of splash of water shot up, and it was gone.
the Pacific Ocean. Gullick leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, his
The RSO's voice hissed in Gullick's ear. "Cube Six, this forehead furrowed in pain.
is Aurora. Request you lay on some fuel for us on the "Cube Six, this is Aurora. Bogey is down. I say again.
return flight. We will be past the point of no return in Bogey is down. Transmitting grid location."
fifteen minutes. Over."
"This is Cube Six. Roger. We're scrambling some tankers
for you. Keep on its tail. Out." Gullick pointed at Quinn,
who was also monitoring the radio.
"I'll take care of it, sir," Quinn said.
The Mexican coastline was now long gone. Gullick knew
that the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central and South
America--other than Canal traffic--was a very desolate
place. They were still heading almost due south.
"We're close," the pilot announced. "It's about two hun-
dred miles ahead of us. I'm throttling back to ease up on
it."
Gullick watched the telemetry. It reminded him of being
ground support when he was a test pilot. Reading the same
gauges that the pilot overhead did, but not having hands on
the controls. As the plane passed through Mach 2.5 the
RSO extended the surveillance pod and activated his low-
level light television (LLLTV) camera. Gullick immediately
had the image relayed through a satellite onto the screen in
front of him. The LLLTV was no ordinary television. The
camera enhanced both the light and image, giving it the
ability to display an image at night, while at the same time
carrying a magnification of over one hundred. The RSO
began scanning ahead, using the information fed to him
from the satellites above to pinpoint the bogey.
125
A R E A 5 1
11 but it was very hard for him to think clearly. "What's the
status at the crash site? '
Quinn was ready, the earplug in his right ear giving him
a live feed from the man in charge on the ground in Ne-
braska. "Fire is out. Recovery team is en route and will be
on site in twenty minutes. Those present on the scene from
Nightscape are cleaning up the pieces and providing secu-
rity. Still no response from locals. I think we'll make it
clear."
Gullick nodded. If they got the remains of the helicopter
THE CUBE, AREA 51 out of there before daylight without being spotted, the
T-114 HOURS Nightscape mission would be a success. The bogey was a
whole different question. One he hoped he could answer
General Gullick poured himself a cup of coffee, then took
shortly.
his chair at the head of the conference table. He took a
"What about the survivors of the helicopter crash? They
pair of painkiller pills out of his pocket and swallowed
here yet?" General Gullick asked.
them, washing them down with a swig of scalding coffee.
Quinn checked his computer. 'The pilot is in the clinic
Slowly the reports started coming back.
in Vegas being worked on. Major Prague was killed in the
"Aurora is returning," Major Quinn reported. "ETA in
crash. The third man, a Captain Mike Turcotte, was slightly
twenty-two minutes. We have the exact location where the
bogey went down into the ocean." injured but is here, sir."
Gullick looked at the inner circle of Majic-12, who were "Send him in."
in the room. Each man knew his area of responsibility, and
as the orders were issued, each took the appropriate ac- A quarter mile up a bedraggled and hurting Turcotte had
tion. "Admiral Coakley, the bogey is in your area of opera- been waiting for a half hour now. His Gore-Tex jacket was
tions now. I want whatever you have floating closest to the partly melted and he was black from soot and dirt. The
spot on top of it ASAP! I want you to be ready to go down bandage he had hurriedly put on his arm in Nebraska was
and recover that thing. soaked with blood, but he thought the bleeding was
"Mr. Davis, I want the information from Aurora stopped. He wasn't ready to peel the bandage off to check
downloaded to Major Quinn and I want to know what that until he was someplace where he could get proper medical
thing is." care.
"Already working on the digital relay," Davis replied. The helicopter had swung by the airstrip outside, drop-
"I'll have the hard copy from the pod as soon as it touches ping him off before continuing on with the pilot to Las
down." Vegas, where the program maintained its medical clinic
Gullick was mentally ticking off all that had happened, close by the hospital facilities at Nellis Air Force Base.
126 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 127
Turcotte had been met by two security men who had hus- knew that the reaction of those in charge when they found
tled him inside the hangar. out he had let the two civilians go might be more than a
The interior doors were shut, but there was a bouncer in letter of reprimand in his official files. These people were
the portion next to the elevator doors. Turcotte studied the playing hardball, and by killing Prague he had entered their
craft, recognizing it as the sister of the one that had flown playing field. He just hoped he could get out of here and
by earlier in Nebraska. For all he knew it could be the that then Duncan would cover his butt.
same one. It didn't take a genius to put together the cattle The elevator doors slid open, and the guard inside ges-
mutilations, the false landing signature lasered into the tured for him to come in. Turcotte walked in and the floor
cornfield, and these craft to recognize that there was a seemed to fall out from under him as they hurtled down.
cover-up operation of major proportion being operated The doors opened again, and Turcotte stepped out into the
here. Turcotte just didn't understand how the pieces fit to- control room of the Cube. He looked about but the guards
gether. The mission he had just been on in Nebraska hustled him through the room to a corridor in the back. He
seemed very high risk and he could see no clear-cut pur- entered a conference room where the lights were turned
pose to it. Unless it was to draw attention away from this down low. There were several people sitting in shadows
site, but that didn't quite click. near the end of the table. Turcotte walked up to the rank-
One thing was for certain, Turcotte knew. He certainly ing general.
had something to report on now. It would be someone Turcotte made no attempt to salute; his arm wouldn't
else's job to put the pieces together. He was glad to have allow it. "Captain Turcotte reporting, sir." He noted the
gotten out with his ass in one piece. He looked down at his nameplate on the man's chest--Gullick.
right hand. The fingers were shaking. Killing Prague, al- Gullick saluted smartly. "What happened?"
though not the first time he had killed, weighed heavily on
That voice--the same one that had been giving the or-
him. He turned his hand over and stared at the scar tissue
ders to Prague over the radio--Turcotte remembered now
there for a little while.
With great effort Turcotte brought his mind back to his where he had heard it before: the board of inquiry that had
present situation. He wasn't in the clear yet. He was confi- investigated what had happened in Germany. That voice
dent that Prague's burned body would raise no questions. had been one of six that had questioned him via
He knew that the other helicopter aircrews would return speakerphone in the secure holding area in Berlin.
later this morning or maybe even the following morning Turcotte took a deep breath and cleared his mind of every-
once they had finished sterilizing the crash site in Ne- thing but the story he now had to tell. There would be time
braska. And as soon as they were debriefed, the detection later to deal with the other issues.
of the two civilians by the other AH-6 crew would surface. Turcotte proceeded to describe the events of the previ-
Then there would be questions asked that he couldn't ade- ous night, leaving out the important facts about inter-
quately answer. The clock on his career was already tick- cepting the truck with the two civilians and killing Prague,
ing, but looking at the alien craft told Turcotte that there of course. Gullick was most interested in the attack by the
were larger issues than his pension involved here. He also small sphere, but there was nothing Turcotte could really
128 ROBERT DOHERTY 129
AREA 51
say about that as he had not been looking out the front "The composition of its skin was resistant to all attempts
when it had hit the helicopter. to--
Gullick listened to his account, then pointed back at the "Unknown, then." Gullick slapped his hand on the ta-
elevator doors. "They'll take you in to the clinic in the bletop, glaring at the picture as if he could penetrate it with
morning. You're dismissed." his eyes. "What the hell do we know about it?"
So much for thank you, Turcotte thought as he left the "Uh . . ." Quinn paused and took a deep breath. "Well,
room. Gullick had been the most outspoken in his praise of sir, we've got it in our records."
Turcotte's actions in Germany, praise that had confused "What?"
and sickened Turcotte. But obviously, the events of the pre- In response Quinn split the screen, the photo taken by
vious evening were not in the same league. Turcotte had no Aurora of the bogey sliding to the left and an identical
doubt that if he had killed the two civilians and presented object appearing on the right in grainy black and white.
their bodies like trophies, he would have received a hearty "Talk to me, Quinn," Gullick growled. "Talk to me."
slap on the back. "The photo on the right was"--Quinn paused again and
The elevator doors closed off the control room to cleared his throat with a nervous cough--"the photo on
Turcotte, and he began his return trip to the surface. He the right was taken by a gun camera in a P-47 Thunderbolt
should be able to get clear now. on February twenty-third, 1945, over the Rhine River in
Germany."
General Gullick waited until the elevator doors had closed There was a nervous rustle from the other men in the
behind the Army captain. Then he returned his attention inner circle of Majic-12 who were at the table.
to Major Quinn. "That was no help. I want all the other "A foo fighter," Gullick said.
personnel completely debriefed when they return from the "Yes, sir."
"What's a foo fighter?" Kennedy asked.
MSS. Have you analyzed the data from Aurora?" Gullick remained silent, digesting the revelation. Quinn
"Yes, sir. We've got several good shots of the bogey." looked at the information he had dredged up on his com-
"Put one on the screen," General Gullick ordered. puter screen and continued for the others in the room who
A small glowing ball appeared on Gullick's computer didn't know their aviation history. "The object on the right
screen. was called a 'foo fighter.' There were numerous sightings of
"Scale?" Gullick asked. these objects made by aircrews during World War II. Be-
Around the edges of the screen rulers appeared. "It's cause they were initially suspected to be Japanese and Ger-
three feet in diameter, sir," Quinn said. man secret weapons, all information concerning them was
"Propulsion system?" classified.
"Unknown." "The foo fighter reports started in late 1944. They were
"Flight dynamics?" described as metallic spheres or balls of light, about three
"Unknown." feet in diameter. Since the bomber aircrews that reported
"Spectral analysis?" them were usually veterans and gun cameras on board es-
AREA 51 131
130 ROBERT DOHERTY
cort fighters occasionally recorded them also, giving factual fighters. The mission was almost scrapped when the
spheres appeared, but the commander on the ground at
support to those accounts, the reports were taken seri-
ously." the departure airfield at Tinian decided to continue it.
Quinn was in his element. Before being assigned to the There was no hostile action by the foo fighters and the
situation was repeated several days later during the mission
project he had worked in Project Blue Book, the Air
Force's classified study group on UFOs--reports of un- to Nagasaki."
Kennedy leaned forward. "Von Seeckt was on the air-
identified craft other than the ones kept at Area 51. Blue
Book has also been a smokescreen for the Area 51 project field there at Tinian back when they launched the Enola
Gay
and a purveyor of disinformation to mislead serious re- carrying that bomb, wasn't he?"
searchers. The foo fighters were in the Blue Book files and "Yes, sir. Von Seeckt was there," Quinn replied.
"And we still don't know anything about these foo fight-
most aviators had heard of them.
"The lid could not be kept on such a widespread occur- ers, do we?" Gullick asked.
rence, and reports of foo fighters did leak out to the gen- "No, sir."
eral press, and they are even mentioned in some modern "Russian?" Kennedy asked.
Quinn stared at him. "Excuse me, sir?"
books about UFOs. What didn't leak out, though, is that "They couldn't have been Russian, could they? The sons
we lost twelve aircraft to the foo fighters. Every time one of of bitches did beat us with Sputnik. Maybe they made these
our fighters or bombers would try to get close to one or fire
on them--they were bogies, after all--the foo fighters things."
"Uh, no, sir, I don't believe there was any indication they
would turn and ram the attacker, leaving our aircraft the were Russian," Quinn replied. "Once the war was over,
worse for the encounter. Just like what happened to Night-
scape Six. Because of these encounters, classified standing reports about the foo fighters ended for a while."
orders were issued by Army Air Corps high command to "For a while?" Kennedy repeated.
"In 1986 a bogey was picked up in the atmosphere by
leave the foo fighters alone. Apparently that worked, be- space surveillance and tracked," Quinn said. "The object
cause there were no further reports of attacks.
"After the war, when intelligence went through Japanese did not fit any known aircraft parameters."
Quinn pressed a key and a new picture appeared on the
and German records, it was discovered that they, too, had screen. It looked as if a child had gone crazy with a bright
run into foo fighters and experienced the same results. We green pen. A line zigzagged across the screen and looped
know they weren't behind them from what we found. In back on itself several times. "This is the flight path of a
fact, the records showed they thought the spheres were our bogey they picked up back in eighty-six flying at altitudes
secret weapons. ranging from four to one hundred and eighty thousand
"Of particular interest is an incident that is still classified feet." Quinn hit another button. "This is the flight pattern
Q, level five." Quinn hesitated, but Gullick gestured for of our bogey tonight superimposed on the one from eighty-
him to go on and tell the others. "On August sixth, 1945, six." The two were very similar. "There's something else,
when the Enola Gay flew the first atomic mission toward sir."
Hiroshima, it was accompanied the entire way by three foo
132 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 133
"And that is?" Gullick asked. As the men filed out, Kennedy stopped by General Gul-
"There was another series of unexplained sightings right lick and sat down next to him. "Maybe we should check
after this one. The Navy along with the DIA were running with Hemstadt at Dulce about these foo fighters," he said.
an operation called Project Aquarius. It was, um, well, "There might be some information about them in the Ma-
what they were doing-- chine."
"Spit it out, man!" Gullick ordered. Gullick looked up from the tabletop and stared into
"They were experimenting using psychics to try to locate Kennedy's eyes. "Do you want to go to Dulce to hook up
submarines." to the Machine?"
"Oh, Christ," Gullick muttered. "And?" he wearily Kennedy swallowed. "I thought we could just call him
asked. and ask. It's possible that the Machine might be control-
"The psychics were doing reasonably well. About a sixty- ling--
percent success rate on getting the approximate longitude "You think too much," Gullick cut him off, ending the
and latitude of submerged submarines simply by sitting in a conversation.
room in the Pentagon and using mental imaging of a pho-
tograph of each specific submarine.
"There was an unexpected thing that occurred every
once in a while, though. One of the psychics would pick up
the image of something else at the same coordinates as the
submarines. Something hovering above the location of the
sub."
"And, let me guess," Gullick said. "We don't know what
that something was, correct?"
"Space surveillance picked up . . ." Quinn hit his key-
board and let the flight-path schematic speak for itself: an-
other radical flight pattern.
"Did anyone ever explain any of these sightings?" Gul-
lick asked.
"No, sir."
"So we have a real UFO on our hands now, don't we?"
Gullick said.
"Uh, yes, sir."
"Well, that's just fucking fine!" Gullick snapped. "That's
all I need right now." He glared at Admiral Coakley. "I
want that thing recovered and I want to know what the hell
it is!"
11 12
VICINITY DULCE, NEW MEXICO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
T - 113 HOURS, 3O MINUTES T - 112 HOURS, 3O MINUTES
Johnny Simmons awoke to darkness. At least he thought Las Vegas slowed down slightly at five-thirty in the morn-
he was awake. He could see nothing, hear nothing. When ing. The neon still glowed, and there were people on the
he tried to move, panic set in. His limbs didn't respond. He streets, most heading to their rooms for a few hours of
had a horrible feeling of being awake but asleep, unable to sleep before starting over again on the games of chance.
connect the conscious mind with the nervous system to Kelly Reynolds was doing the opposite, starting her day
produce action. He felt detached from his body and reality. after catching three hours of sleep in her motel room. The
A mind floating in a black void. first thing she had done when the alarm went off was call
Then came the pain. Without sight or sound it exploded Johnny's apartment on the slim chance that he might be
into his brain, becoming all his mind, all of his world. It was there or have changed the message.
coming from every nerve ending in jagged, climbing spikes, She looked up as a red-eye flight roared in toward the
far beyond anything he had thought possible. horizon. Walk to the sounds of the planes, she thought to
Johnny screamed, and the worst of it all was that he herself, paraphrasing Napoleon. She'd rent a car at the
couldn't hear his own voice. airport. Right now she needed the fresh air and the time to
think.
This is what dad would have done, go for the strongest link.
The thought brought a sad smile to her face. Her father
and his stories. The best time of his life had been over
northj, to the secure area of Devil's Nest, the other AH-6 "Who are these people, Billy?" Susie screamed. "Why are
flying escort. Turcotte flipped off the safety on the Calico they shooting at us?"
as they headed toward the treeline. Whatever was going Billy didn't waste time trying to explain. He slammed the
112 ROBERT DOHERTY 113
AREA 51
truck into reverse as the helicopter settled down in front of We'll get this sorted once we get back to base. There's been
him in the glow of the headlights, blowing dirt and debris an accident," he added lamely. "I'm Mike," he said, tap-
up into the air, blinding him. ping the man on the shoulder and pointing at the helicop-
The pickup's rear tires slipped into the drainage ditch on ter, the sudden human gesture momentarily disorienting
the side of the road. Dirt flew as Billy threw the gear into the couple.
first, but they didn't move. The man looked at Turcotte. "Billy. This here's Susie."
Turcotte nudged them toward the helicopter. "Well, Billy
The skids touched ground and Prague was out the door, and Susie, looks like the man wants you to go for a ride."
leaving the dart rifle behind in favor of his Calico. Turcotte "Shut up, meat," Prague snarled, gesturing with the
followed, right on his heels. Turcotte's mind was trying to weapon.
sort out all that had happened and was happening. They got into the helicopter and the pilot lifted.
"Hands up and out of the truck!" Prague yelled.
The doors opened and a man stepped out, a woman
following, hiding herself behind the man's bulk.
"Who are you people?" the man asked. THE CUBE, AREA 51
"Cuff them!" Prague ordered Turcotte. A third dot was now on the screen, popping on the screen
"They're civilians." He stood still. over eastern Nevada and heading almost directly toward
Prague shifted the muzzle of his Calico in Turcotte's di- Bouncer Three, which was returning to base. Gullick knew
rection. "Cuff them." that was Aurora on its way to intercept the bogey.
Turcotte looked at the weapon, looked at Prague, then "The bogey is dropping off the chase, sir," Quinn re-
pulled out two plastic cinches from his vest and secured the ported. The bogey was circling, heading back in toward the
couple's hands behind their backs. Nightscape objective.
"Let me see your ID," the man demanded. "You can't "Redirect Aurora toward Nebraska," Gullick ordered.
be doing this. We didn't do nothing wrong. You ain't cops." Quinn complied.
"Get in the helicopter," Prague ordered. He herded the "Aurora ETA at the objective?" Gullick immediately de-
procession toward the AH-6. manded.
"Where are you taking us?" the man asked, standing "Ten minutes," Quinn announced.
stubbornly in the middle of the road just short of the heli- Not bad time to cover almost twelve hundred miles. But
copter, the girl still cowering at his side. in this case it might be about nine minutes too late, Gullick
Turcotte looked at Prague and saw the way the man's reflected as he watched the symbol that represented the
body was set, saw his finger shifting from outside the trig- bogey close on the target site. He briefly considered order-
ger guard to inside, a sure sign he was about to fire. ing Bouncer Three to turn around, but that was beyond the
Turcotte had been trained just like Prague: the only safety present scope of his authority. Gullick smashed his fist
was the finger off the trigger. down onto the desk in front of him, startling those in the
Turcotte quickly stepped in between. "Just do as he says. Cube.
AREA 5 1 115
114 ROBERT DOHERTY
in evasive reaction, but the glow dipped right down with
VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
them and crashed into the front of the helicopter. There
The AH-6 cleared the trees at the edge of a field and was a shattering of Plexiglas and Turcotte ducked his head.
turned to the north. Turcotte had strapped the man and "Prepare for crash!" the pilot yelled into the intercom.
woman into the backseat and squeezed in next to them. "We're going--" The rest of his sentence was cut off as the
Prague was twisted around in the right front seat, the bar- nose of the chopper impacted with the ground. The blades
rel of his Calico pointed rearward, his finger caressing the cartwheeled into the soft dirt and exploded off, miracu-
outside of the trigger guard. lously pinwheeling away and not slashing through the body
Turcotte looked at the muzzle, then at Prague. "I'd ap- of the aircraft.
preciate it if you didn't point that thing at me," he said into Turcotte felt a sharp rip in his right side, then everything
the boom mike. Turcotte was scared. Not so much because became still. He lifted his head. The only sound was a high-
of the gun pointed at him, although that was a problem, pitched scream. He turned to his left. Susie's mouth was a
but more because the man holding the gun was acting so wide-open and the sound was emanating from it. Billy's
irrationally. What did Prague think he was going to do with eyes were open and he was blinking, trying to see in the
these two civilians? dark.
"I don't give a fuck what you'd appreciate," Prague an- Turcotte reached down and unbuckled Billy's seat belt,
swered over the intercom. "You questioned me in the mid- then whipped out his commando knife and cut the couple's
dle of a mission. That's a no-go, meat. I'm going to have hands free. "Get out," he said, nudging them toward the
your ass." left door, before turning his attention to the front seat.
The pilot was hanging limp in his harness, his right arm
"These people are civilians," Turcotte said. The couple
twisted at an unnatural angle. Prague was beginning to stir.
were ignorant of the conversation because they weren't
His Calico was gone, thrown from the aircraft on impact.
wearing headsets.
The smell of JP-4 aviation fuel was strong in the air. As
"They're fucking dead meat now, as far as I'm con-
soon as it hit a hot metal surface such as the engine ex-
cerned," Prague said. "They saw too much. They'll have to
haust, the helicopter would be an inferno.
go to the facility at Dulce and get clipped."
Prague appeared to be fumbling with his seat belt.
"I don't know what the hell you're doing, or what you're
Turcotte leaned over between the two front seats, ignoring
talking about," Turcotte said, "but they're--" He halted as
the explosion of pain that movement ignited on his right
the helicopter suddenly jerked hard right, then dropped
side. Prague's right hand was flipping open the cover to his
altitude.
holster. "Don't let them get away," he rasped at Turcotte.
"What are you doing?" Prague yelled at the pilot, keep-
He had the gun out and pointed it back toward Billy, who
ing his attention on the backseat.
was helping Susie out of the door.
"We got company!" the pilot screamed in return. A
Turcotte reacted, slamming the inside edge of his left
brightly glowing orb--about three feet in diameter--ap-
hand across Prague's throat, feeling cartilage give way,
peared directly in front of the windshield. The pilot
while with his right hand he hammered down on Prague's
slammed the collective down and pushed the cyclic forward
116 ROBERT DOHERTY
gun hand, hearing the forearm bone crack against the edge 9
of the seat. Prague's eyes bulged, and he gasped through
his mangled throat.
Turcotte followed Billy and Susie out the left rear door.
"Keep moving," he ordered, pushing them away. A flame
flickered somewhere in the rear of the helicopter. Staying
with the aircraft, Turcotte reached in the front seat and
unbuckled the pilot. Prague's left hand suddenly moved,
slashing across his body at Turcotte with his knife. The
blade cut through the Gore-Tex jacket and inflicted a gash
on Turcotte's right forearm. THE CUBE, AREA 51
Pinning Prague's left hand with his right, Turcotte leaned T - 1 1 7 HOURS, 45 MINUTES
over the pilot and hit Prague again in the throat with his
left, this time not holding back as he had the first time. The "Nightscape Six is down, sir," Quinn announced. "I have a
cartilage completely gave way and Prague's airway was transponder location. No communication by radio."
blocked. "Launch a conventional crash recovery to the transpon-
Turcotte threw the pilot over his shoulder. He jogged der location," General Gullick ordered. He continued to
away from the helicopter as it burst into flames. watch the dot representing the bogey. It was slowly moving
about in the vicinity of Nightscape Six's transponder signal.
Aurora was now approaching the Nebraska-Colorado bor-
der.
VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
T-117 HOURS, 42 MINUTES
"Get out of here," Turcotte said to Susie and Billy, who
were staring at the burning helicopter. Turcotte had the
pilot's flight suit ripped open and was going over the man's
vital signs, doing a primary survey--for breathing first, then
bleeding, then checking for broken bones. The pilot was
good to go on the first two other than some scrapes and
cuts. There was an obvious broken arm.
Turcotte couldn't tell for sure, but based on the large
dent on the man's helmet and his unconscious condition,
119
AREA 51
118 ROBERT DOHERTY
soon. And then? That was the burning question. He'd
he felt the pilot had some sort of head injury, and he was killed Prague on reflex. He didn't regret it, given what he'd
not trained or equipped to deal with that. All he could do seen Prague do this evening, but the situation was very
was leave the helmet on and hope that it contained the confusing and Turcotte wasn't sure what his next move
injury until he could get the man some professional medi- should be.
cal help. The pilot was unconscious, and from his condition Had Prague known he was a plant? That would explain
it did not appear that he would be gaining consciousness some of his actions, but not all of them. And if Prague
anytime soon, which was fine with Turcotte. He immobi- hadn't known he was a plant, then the man had been bor-
lized the broken arm as well as he could. derline nuts; unless, Turcotte reminded himself, there was
"But--" Billy said, confused. "What--" another layer to everything that he had just witnessed. He
"No buts; no questions; no memory," Turcotte snapped, knew the actions, he just didn't know the motivation.
looking up from the pilot's body. "Forget everything that None of that was going to do him any good, Turcotte
happened tonight. Don't ever tell anyone, because if you knew, unless he could get back to Duncan with what he
do they won't believe you and then people who don't want had just seen, and to do that he was going to have to get
you talking will come looking for you. Leave it here and away from these Nightscape people. The pilot's uncon-
go-" scious condition would buy him some time once they were
Billy didn't need any further urging. He took Susie by picked up. It would simply be Turcotte's story, and he be-
the arm and quickly walked away in the darkness toward gan working on what he would tell them.
the nearest road.
He looked down at himself. Blood was seeping out the
right side of his Gore-Tex jacket and his right sleeve. He
delt with the forearm first, wrapping a bandage from his THE CUBE
combat vest over the sliced skin and stopping the bleeding. Gullick had complete telemetry feedback from Aurora and
Carefully probing with his fingers, he reached in through he could listen in on the pilot and reconnaissance systems
the jacket and gasped when he touched torn skin. Turcotte officer (RSO) talking to each other.
carefully unzipped his Gore-Tex jacket and jumpsuit. An "All systems on. We'll be in range of target in seventy-
eight-inch-long gash was just over the outside of his ribs. five seconds," the RSO announced.
As best he could, he bandaged the wound. Gullick keyed his mike. "Aurora, this is Cube Six. I want
Turcotte looked up into the sky. He could see the small a good shot of this target. Get it on the first pass. You
glowing object, about a thousand feet overhead. It was la- probably won't have an opportunity for a second. Over."
zily moving about, as if to view the results of its actions. He "Roger that, Cube Six," the RSO said. "Fifty seconds."
watched for a few moments, but there did not appear to be "Descending through ten thousand," the pilot an-
any immediate threat. Although from the way that thing nounced. "Slowing through two point five. The look will be
had been moving, Turcotte didn't think he would have right," he told the RSO, giving a direction to orient all the
much time to react if there were. sophisticated reconnaissance systems on board the aircraft.
Turcotte scanned the horizon. The others would be here
120 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 121
"Pod deploying," the RSO said as the speed gauge con- radar it will be gone in a blink and there's nothing they can
tinued to go down. Gullick knew that now that the plane do about it anyway. Damn right it's to pursue."
was under two thousand miles an hour the surveillance pod The length of Mexico was traversed in less than twelve
could be extended. Doing it at higher speeds would have minutes, Aurora now less than a thousand miles behind the
destroyed the necessary aerodynamics of the plane and bogey and closing rapidly.
caused the plane to break and burn. Even now, according "Intercept in eight minutes," Quinn announced.
to the telemetry, the skin temperature of the aircraft was
eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit. "Twenty seconds. All
green." VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA
"Leveling at five thousand. Steady at Mach two."
"All systems on." Turcotte heard the choppers long before they arrived. The
Blackhawk landed on the opposite side of the crash and
Gullick looked up to the large screen at the front of the
discharged a squad of men with fire extinguishers. Turcotte
room. The red triangle representing Aurora closed on and
knew that by daylight there would be nothing in the field
passed the small dot indicating the bogey. Then the bogey
other than some charred cornstalks. The other AH-6
darted away.
landed right next to his location.
Gullick keyed the mike, "This is Cube Six. The bogey is
"Where's Major Prague?" the man who ran off the heli-
running! Vector one nine zero degrees. Pursue!"
copter asked.
Aurora was fast, but maneuverable it wasn't. Gullick
Turcotte pointed at the crash site. "Killed on impact."
watched as the red triangle began a long turn that would
The man knelt down next to the pilot. "What's his
encompass most of Nebraska and part of Iowa before it
status?"
was through. The small dot was heading southwest, cur-
"Broken arm. I think he has a concussion. I haven't
rently over Kansas.
taken his helmet off, to keep the pressure on in case his
"What's the bogey's speed?" General Gullick asked. skull is fractured."
"Computer estimates it's moving at Mach three point The man signaled for the pilot to be place on board the
six," Major Quinn replied. Blackhawk. He pointed to Turcotte. "You come with me.
As the bogey crossed the panhandle of Oklahoma, Au- They want you back at the Cube."
rora completed its turn over southern Nebraska. "She'll
catch up," Gullick said.
The two dots continued, Aurora steadily closing the gap.
THE CUBE
"Bogey's over Mexican airspace," Quinn reported. He
hesitated, but duty required that he speak. "Are you au- "Sir, Aurora already has a photo of the bogey," Quinn said.
thorizing Aurora to continue pursuit?" "What do you want it to do when it catches up?"
"Shit," Gullick said. "The Mexicans won't even know it's The Aurora was purely a reconnaissance plane. Mount-
there. Too high and too fast. And even if they get a blip on ing any sort of weapon system, even missiles, would have
122 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 123
destroyed its aerodynamic form and reduced its speed "Eighty miles," the pilot announced.
drastically. "Sixty."
"I want to find out where this bogey comes from," Gul- "I've got it!" the RSO yelled.
lick said. "Then I can send other people to take care of the In the small television screen Gullick could see a small
problem." dot. As if on cue the dot suddenly jerked to the right, a
Both indicators were now over the eastern beginning of splash of water shot up, and it was gone.
the Pacific Ocean. Gullick leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, his
The RSO's voice hissed in Gullick's ear. "Cube Six, this forehead furrowed in pain.
is Aurora. Request you lay on some fuel for us on the "Cube Six, this is Aurora. Bogey is down. I say again.
return flight. We will be past the point of no return in Bogey is down. Transmitting grid location."
fifteen minutes. Over."
"This is Cube Six. Roger. We're scrambling some tankers
for you. Keep on its tail. Out." Gullick pointed at Quinn,
who was also monitoring the radio.
"I'll take care of it, sir," Quinn said.
The Mexican coastline was now long gone. Gullick knew
that the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central and South
America--other than Canal traffic--was a very desolate
place. They were still heading almost due south.
"We're close," the pilot announced. "It's about two hun-
dred miles ahead of us. I'm throttling back to ease up on
it."
Gullick watched the telemetry. It reminded him of being
ground support when he was a test pilot. Reading the same
gauges that the pilot overhead did, but not having hands on
the controls. As the plane passed through Mach 2.5 the
RSO extended the surveillance pod and activated his low-
level light television (LLLTV) camera. Gullick immediately
had the image relayed through a satellite onto the screen in
front of him. The LLLTV was no ordinary television. The
camera enhanced both the light and image, giving it the
ability to display an image at night, while at the same time
carrying a magnification of over one hundred. The RSO
began scanning ahead, using the information fed to him
from the satellites above to pinpoint the bogey.
125
A R E A 5 1
11 but it was very hard for him to think clearly. "What's the
status at the crash site? '
Quinn was ready, the earplug in his right ear giving him
a live feed from the man in charge on the ground in Ne-
braska. "Fire is out. Recovery team is en route and will be
on site in twenty minutes. Those present on the scene from
Nightscape are cleaning up the pieces and providing secu-
rity. Still no response from locals. I think we'll make it
clear."
Gullick nodded. If they got the remains of the helicopter
THE CUBE, AREA 51 out of there before daylight without being spotted, the
T-114 HOURS Nightscape mission would be a success. The bogey was a
whole different question. One he hoped he could answer
General Gullick poured himself a cup of coffee, then took
shortly.
his chair at the head of the conference table. He took a
"What about the survivors of the helicopter crash? They
pair of painkiller pills out of his pocket and swallowed
here yet?" General Gullick asked.
them, washing them down with a swig of scalding coffee.
Quinn checked his computer. 'The pilot is in the clinic
Slowly the reports started coming back.
in Vegas being worked on. Major Prague was killed in the
"Aurora is returning," Major Quinn reported. "ETA in
crash. The third man, a Captain Mike Turcotte, was slightly
twenty-two minutes. We have the exact location where the
bogey went down into the ocean." injured but is here, sir."
Gullick looked at the inner circle of Majic-12, who were "Send him in."
in the room. Each man knew his area of responsibility, and
as the orders were issued, each took the appropriate ac- A quarter mile up a bedraggled and hurting Turcotte had
tion. "Admiral Coakley, the bogey is in your area of opera- been waiting for a half hour now. His Gore-Tex jacket was
tions now. I want whatever you have floating closest to the partly melted and he was black from soot and dirt. The
spot on top of it ASAP! I want you to be ready to go down bandage he had hurriedly put on his arm in Nebraska was
and recover that thing. soaked with blood, but he thought the bleeding was
"Mr. Davis, I want the information from Aurora stopped. He wasn't ready to peel the bandage off to check
downloaded to Major Quinn and I want to know what that until he was someplace where he could get proper medical
thing is." care.
"Already working on the digital relay," Davis replied. The helicopter had swung by the airstrip outside, drop-
"I'll have the hard copy from the pod as soon as it touches ping him off before continuing on with the pilot to Las
down." Vegas, where the program maintained its medical clinic
Gullick was mentally ticking off all that had happened, close by the hospital facilities at Nellis Air Force Base.
126 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 127
Turcotte had been met by two security men who had hus- knew that the reaction of those in charge when they found
tled him inside the hangar. out he had let the two civilians go might be more than a
The interior doors were shut, but there was a bouncer in letter of reprimand in his official files. These people were
the portion next to the elevator doors. Turcotte studied the playing hardball, and by killing Prague he had entered their
craft, recognizing it as the sister of the one that had flown playing field. He just hoped he could get out of here and
by earlier in Nebraska. For all he knew it could be the that then Duncan would cover his butt.
same one. It didn't take a genius to put together the cattle The elevator doors slid open, and the guard inside ges-
mutilations, the false landing signature lasered into the tured for him to come in. Turcotte walked in and the floor
cornfield, and these craft to recognize that there was a seemed to fall out from under him as they hurtled down.
cover-up operation of major proportion being operated The doors opened again, and Turcotte stepped out into the
here. Turcotte just didn't understand how the pieces fit to- control room of the Cube. He looked about but the guards
gether. The mission he had just been on in Nebraska hustled him through the room to a corridor in the back. He
seemed very high risk and he could see no clear-cut pur- entered a conference room where the lights were turned
pose to it. Unless it was to draw attention away from this down low. There were several people sitting in shadows
site, but that didn't quite click. near the end of the table. Turcotte walked up to the rank-
One thing was for certain, Turcotte knew. He certainly ing general.
had something to report on now. It would be someone Turcotte made no attempt to salute; his arm wouldn't
else's job to put the pieces together. He was glad to have allow it. "Captain Turcotte reporting, sir." He noted the
gotten out with his ass in one piece. He looked down at his nameplate on the man's chest--Gullick.
right hand. The fingers were shaking. Killing Prague, al- Gullick saluted smartly. "What happened?"
though not the first time he had killed, weighed heavily on
That voice--the same one that had been giving the or-
him. He turned his hand over and stared at the scar tissue
ders to Prague over the radio--Turcotte remembered now
there for a little while.
With great effort Turcotte brought his mind back to his where he had heard it before: the board of inquiry that had
present situation. He wasn't in the clear yet. He was confi- investigated what had happened in Germany. That voice
dent that Prague's burned body would raise no questions. had been one of six that had questioned him via
He knew that the other helicopter aircrews would return speakerphone in the secure holding area in Berlin.
later this morning or maybe even the following morning Turcotte took a deep breath and cleared his mind of every-
once they had finished sterilizing the crash site in Ne- thing but the story he now had to tell. There would be time
braska. And as soon as they were debriefed, the detection later to deal with the other issues.
of the two civilians by the other AH-6 crew would surface. Turcotte proceeded to describe the events of the previ-
Then there would be questions asked that he couldn't ade- ous night, leaving out the important facts about inter-
quately answer. The clock on his career was already tick- cepting the truck with the two civilians and killing Prague,
ing, but looking at the alien craft told Turcotte that there of course. Gullick was most interested in the attack by the
were larger issues than his pension involved here. He also small sphere, but there was nothing Turcotte could really
128 ROBERT DOHERTY 129
AREA 51
say about that as he had not been looking out the front "The composition of its skin was resistant to all attempts
when it had hit the helicopter. to--
Gullick listened to his account, then pointed back at the "Unknown, then." Gullick slapped his hand on the ta-
elevator doors. "They'll take you in to the clinic in the bletop, glaring at the picture as if he could penetrate it with
morning. You're dismissed." his eyes. "What the hell do we know about it?"
So much for thank you, Turcotte thought as he left the "Uh . . ." Quinn paused and took a deep breath. "Well,
room. Gullick had been the most outspoken in his praise of sir, we've got it in our records."
Turcotte's actions in Germany, praise that had confused "What?"
and sickened Turcotte. But obviously, the events of the pre- In response Quinn split the screen, the photo taken by
vious evening were not in the same league. Turcotte had no Aurora of the bogey sliding to the left and an identical
doubt that if he had killed the two civilians and presented object appearing on the right in grainy black and white.
their bodies like trophies, he would have received a hearty "Talk to me, Quinn," Gullick growled. "Talk to me."
slap on the back. "The photo on the right was"--Quinn paused again and
The elevator doors closed off the control room to cleared his throat with a nervous cough--"the photo on
Turcotte, and he began his return trip to the surface. He the right was taken by a gun camera in a P-47 Thunderbolt
should be able to get clear now. on February twenty-third, 1945, over the Rhine River in
Germany."
General Gullick waited until the elevator doors had closed There was a nervous rustle from the other men in the
behind the Army captain. Then he returned his attention inner circle of Majic-12 who were at the table.
to Major Quinn. "That was no help. I want all the other "A foo fighter," Gullick said.
personnel completely debriefed when they return from the "Yes, sir."
"What's a foo fighter?" Kennedy asked.
MSS. Have you analyzed the data from Aurora?" Gullick remained silent, digesting the revelation. Quinn
"Yes, sir. We've got several good shots of the bogey." looked at the information he had dredged up on his com-
"Put one on the screen," General Gullick ordered. puter screen and continued for the others in the room who
A small glowing ball appeared on Gullick's computer didn't know their aviation history. "The object on the right
screen. was called a 'foo fighter.' There were numerous sightings of
"Scale?" Gullick asked. these objects made by aircrews during World War II. Be-
Around the edges of the screen rulers appeared. "It's cause they were initially suspected to be Japanese and Ger-
three feet in diameter, sir," Quinn said. man secret weapons, all information concerning them was
"Propulsion system?" classified.
"Unknown." "The foo fighter reports started in late 1944. They were
"Flight dynamics?" described as metallic spheres or balls of light, about three
"Unknown." feet in diameter. Since the bomber aircrews that reported
"Spectral analysis?" them were usually veterans and gun cameras on board es-
AREA 51 131
130 ROBERT DOHERTY
cort fighters occasionally recorded them also, giving factual fighters. The mission was almost scrapped when the
spheres appeared, but the commander on the ground at
support to those accounts, the reports were taken seri-
ously." the departure airfield at Tinian decided to continue it.
Quinn was in his element. Before being assigned to the There was no hostile action by the foo fighters and the
situation was repeated several days later during the mission
project he had worked in Project Blue Book, the Air
Force's classified study group on UFOs--reports of un- to Nagasaki."
Kennedy leaned forward. "Von Seeckt was on the air-
identified craft other than the ones kept at Area 51. Blue
Book has also been a smokescreen for the Area 51 project field there at Tinian back when they launched the Enola
Gay
and a purveyor of disinformation to mislead serious re- carrying that bomb, wasn't he?"
searchers. The foo fighters were in the Blue Book files and "Yes, sir. Von Seeckt was there," Quinn replied.
"And we still don't know anything about these foo fight-
most aviators had heard of them.
"The lid could not be kept on such a widespread occur- ers, do we?" Gullick asked.
rence, and reports of foo fighters did leak out to the gen- "No, sir."
eral press, and they are even mentioned in some modern "Russian?" Kennedy asked.
Quinn stared at him. "Excuse me, sir?"
books about UFOs. What didn't leak out, though, is that "They couldn't have been Russian, could they? The sons
we lost twelve aircraft to the foo fighters. Every time one of of bitches did beat us with Sputnik. Maybe they made these
our fighters or bombers would try to get close to one or fire
on them--they were bogies, after all--the foo fighters things."
"Uh, no, sir, I don't believe there was any indication they
would turn and ram the attacker, leaving our aircraft the were Russian," Quinn replied. "Once the war was over,
worse for the encounter. Just like what happened to Night-
scape Six. Because of these encounters, classified standing reports about the foo fighters ended for a while."
orders were issued by Army Air Corps high command to "For a while?" Kennedy repeated.
"In 1986 a bogey was picked up in the atmosphere by
leave the foo fighters alone. Apparently that worked, be- space surveillance and tracked," Quinn said. "The object
cause there were no further reports of attacks.
"After the war, when intelligence went through Japanese did not fit any known aircraft parameters."
Quinn pressed a key and a new picture appeared on the
and German records, it was discovered that they, too, had screen. It looked as if a child had gone crazy with a bright
run into foo fighters and experienced the same results. We green pen. A line zigzagged across the screen and looped
know they weren't behind them from what we found. In back on itself several times. "This is the flight path of a
fact, the records showed they thought the spheres were our bogey they picked up back in eighty-six flying at altitudes
secret weapons. ranging from four to one hundred and eighty thousand
"Of particular interest is an incident that is still classified feet." Quinn hit another button. "This is the flight pattern
Q, level five." Quinn hesitated, but Gullick gestured for of our bogey tonight superimposed on the one from eighty-
him to go on and tell the others. "On August sixth, 1945, six." The two were very similar. "There's something else,
when the Enola Gay flew the first atomic mission toward sir."
Hiroshima, it was accompanied the entire way by three foo
132 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 133
"And that is?" Gullick asked. As the men filed out, Kennedy stopped by General Gul-
"There was another series of unexplained sightings right lick and sat down next to him. "Maybe we should check
after this one. The Navy along with the DIA were running with Hemstadt at Dulce about these foo fighters," he said.
an operation called Project Aquarius. It was, um, well, "There might be some information about them in the Ma-
what they were doing-- chine."
"Spit it out, man!" Gullick ordered. Gullick looked up from the tabletop and stared into
"They were experimenting using psychics to try to locate Kennedy's eyes. "Do you want to go to Dulce to hook up
submarines." to the Machine?"
"Oh, Christ," Gullick muttered. "And?" he wearily Kennedy swallowed. "I thought we could just call him
asked. and ask. It's possible that the Machine might be control-
"The psychics were doing reasonably well. About a sixty- ling--
percent success rate on getting the approximate longitude "You think too much," Gullick cut him off, ending the
and latitude of submerged submarines simply by sitting in a conversation.
room in the Pentagon and using mental imaging of a pho-
tograph of each specific submarine.
"There was an unexpected thing that occurred every
once in a while, though. One of the psychics would pick up
the image of something else at the same coordinates as the
submarines. Something hovering above the location of the
sub."
"And, let me guess," Gullick said. "We don't know what
that something was, correct?"
"Space surveillance picked up . . ." Quinn hit his key-
board and let the flight-path schematic speak for itself: an-
other radical flight pattern.
"Did anyone ever explain any of these sightings?" Gul-
lick asked.
"No, sir."
"So we have a real UFO on our hands now, don't we?"
Gullick said.
"Uh, yes, sir."
"Well, that's just fucking fine!" Gullick snapped. "That's
all I need right now." He glared at Admiral Coakley. "I
want that thing recovered and I want to know what the hell
it is!"
11 12
VICINITY DULCE, NEW MEXICO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
T - 113 HOURS, 3O MINUTES T - 112 HOURS, 3O MINUTES
Johnny Simmons awoke to darkness. At least he thought Las Vegas slowed down slightly at five-thirty in the morn-
he was awake. He could see nothing, hear nothing. When ing. The neon still glowed, and there were people on the
he tried to move, panic set in. His limbs didn't respond. He streets, most heading to their rooms for a few hours of
had a horrible feeling of being awake but asleep, unable to sleep before starting over again on the games of chance.
connect the conscious mind with the nervous system to Kelly Reynolds was doing the opposite, starting her day
produce action. He felt detached from his body and reality. after catching three hours of sleep in her motel room. The
A mind floating in a black void. first thing she had done when the alarm went off was call
Then came the pain. Without sight or sound it exploded Johnny's apartment on the slim chance that he might be
into his brain, becoming all his mind, all of his world. It was there or have changed the message.
coming from every nerve ending in jagged, climbing spikes, She looked up as a red-eye flight roared in toward the
far beyond anything he had thought possible. horizon. Walk to the sounds of the planes, she thought to
Johnny screamed, and the worst of it all was that he herself, paraphrasing Napoleon. She'd rent a car at the
couldn't hear his own voice. airport. Right now she needed the fresh air and the time to
think.
This is what dad would have done, go for the strongest link.
The thought brought a sad smile to her face. Her father
and his stories. The best time of his life had been over