by R. D. Brady
Norah moved to him, darting a glance at Penny, who did not look away from her screen. Adam nodded to the screen. “Penny will cover your tracks. You cannot respond to any of the emails. But you can read them.”
Norah let out a sigh. “Thanks, Adam.”
Norah scrolled through her email. Her mother had written her as expected. Her chest tightened, imagining her sitting at her computer picking away at the keyboard with one finger. Apparently the rescue dog she’d taken in had a fondness for her slippers. They were never next to her bed when she woke up in the morning. Last time, she’d found them in the bathtub.
Norah smiled. Her mom never complained about Norah and all of her travels. She’d just been thrilled when she’d been able to spend some time at the family home. She still had a room there for Norah, as well as her brothers.
Two of her brothers had sent her emails as well. One was in Afghanistan, the other one was in Germany. Her fingers itched to respond to both of them, knowing how much it meant to her when they had written to her when she was overseas. But right now she was in a different kind of war.
She spent a little time scrolling through the internet, catching up on news. There was nothing about the incident in New Mexico. She shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, it was a pretty isolated location. But still, she’d thought there might be something.
Her thoughts drifted to the tall winged creature that Luke Gillibrand had called Sammy. Where had he come from? And why had the creature helped them?
It must have been the same creature that had helped them in New Mexico. But what was it? And why had it chosen to help a little boy on a farm in Kansas? For that matter, what had drawn the Blue Boys there?
But more importantly, how had no one else noticed him? He must have flown over towns and cars. Did people just ignore it or write it off as a figment of their imagination?
Of course, before she started at D.E.A.D., she probably would’ve done the same. No one liked to stand out for being the one who called in a monster. Or a UFO. But both were real. And the U.S. government knew about both of them. And they had done a great job of making sure no one reported anything.
Her thoughts turned back to Sandra and Luke, a nagging worry forming in the back of her mind. Sandra had mentioned that Sammy had been communicating with her son. If anyone else at D.E.A.D. learned that, they would want to know why.
And she’d seen how they brought people in. She and Iggy had only avoided that fate thanks to Penny. Luke and Sandra wouldn’t have anyone.
It’s probably nothing. They’re fine. But Norah couldn’t quite convince herself of that. She turned in her chair. Penny was still fixated on the monitors in front of her. “Penny, I need you to check on someone.”
Penny didn’t respond. Her fingers flew over the keyboard underneath her hands, her eyes scanning different monitors.
“Penny, did you hear me?”
Penny’s gaze darted to Norah before shifting back to the monitors. Norah stood up and walked so that she was standing right behind one of the monitors. “I need you to check on someone. Sandra Gillibrand. She lives in—”
“Tribune, Kansas,” Penny said without looking up.
“How do you know that?” Norah moved to stand to the side of Penny with the view of the monitors.
Sandra’s military file flashed on the screen. Norah leaned forward, scanning it and noting the commendations. Sandra had been a good soldier. Next to it, another military file was displayed. Noah Gillibrand, Sandra’s husband and, Norah assumed, Luke’s father.
Norah scanned it as well, her gaze stopping at the blacked-out portion at the bottom. She pointed to it. “It’s been redacted. Can you find out what’s underneath this?”
Penny’s hands were a flurry of movement. The screens shifted from image to image. Norah turned her head against the onslaught, but Penny took it all in, her gaze shifting from monitor to monitor, image to image, barely blinking. Lights from the monitors flashed across Penny’s face, lighting up her glasses, giving her an otherworldly look. Finally, she nodded at the screen.
Norah leaned forward once again. Project Antaeus. Sandra’s husband and Luke’s father had been a subject of the project when he’d served in Iraq. But there were no further details.
“Penny, can you—”
“There.”
Norah turned her gaze to where Penny pointed. A new file had opened up, this one from the Department of Defense. Project Antaeus’s goal had been to create a stronger, more efficient soldier. It had been done in conjunction with the CIA.
A chill crawled over Norah. None of the CIA agents she had met while deployed had given her a sense of decency. If the CIA was involved, that didn’t bode well.
A spreadsheet appeared on the screen. Norah scanned it quickly, finding Noah’s name. She realized it was a list of all the soldiers who’d been involved in Project Antaeus. The first column listed the soldier’s project ID number, the second their first and last name, the third their rank, the fourth the branch of the military, followed by columns indicating their age and medical issues. But it was the last column that drew Norah’s attention. It displayed their day of death.
Every single one of them had died.
Norah stared at the screen, trying to make sense of it. It was highly unusual that all had passed, but if they were in the same platoon, it sadly wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.
She stared at the name Antaeus. It sounded Greek. “Penny, can you—”
Penny pointed at another monitor. It was a website on Greek mythology. Apparently Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Gaia. He drew his strength from touching the ground. He was invincible when he was touching the earth. He was defeated only when he was lifted from the ground.
Norah frowned. It seemed an odd choice for a project name. But what exactly did it mean?
It was curious, but it probably had nothing to do with the incident on Sandra’s farm. It could be a completely unrelated situation.
But it was also possible this was somehow connected. According to the dates, Luke’s father had been killed shortly before Luke had been born. And Sammy had befriended Luke and saved him.
Norah rubbed her eyes. No, she was reaching. The two were unconnected. Project Antaeus had been shut down over ten years ago. It wasn’t connected to what had happened to Sandra and Luke recently.
But still … “Is there way for you to check up on Sandra and Luke? Just, I don’t know, check if there’ve been any police reports or activity reported around their house?”
Penny nodded, her hands once again flying over the monitor and keyboard. Norah watched her in awe. In some ways, Penny was as foreign to her as Iggy, maybe even more so. In fact, Iggy was easier to understand. He simply wanted to belong, wanted to be cared for. And in return, he was loyal to those who he cared for and who cared for him.
But Penny … Norah couldn’t even begin to imagine how her brain worked. Norah could barely take in the images on the screen before Penny had whisked them away, replacing them with different images. And Penny was taking in all of the information, soaking it up like a sponge. Norah could barely look at the screens for more than five minutes before she started to get a headache. She had no idea how Penny managed it.
But that wasn’t the greatest difference between Penny and Iggy: Penny, unlike Iggy, didn’t seem to need human connection. But she did need connection. She had risked a great deal to protect Agaren. She considered him a friend, even though she had never met him or even talked to him. Norah wasn’t sure if she was envious of Penny’s intelligence or felt bad for how it seemed to keep her from being connected to those around her.
Penny’s hands stopped moving. Norah redirected her attention back to the monitor. She frowned, trying to understand what she was looking at. It was night-vision footage. It started in an SUV, and then whoever was taking the footage was moving toward a house. A tingle of recognition ran over her. “Is that Sandra’s house?”
Penny nodded. “Yes.”
&nb
sp; Norah leaned forward as a flash bang sailed through the front window. Her heart in her throat, she watched as a group of three soldiers stormed in ahead, and then they were in the house, but a quick search revealed that they weren’t there.
Norah leaned on the monitor on the table in front of her. “Who is that?”
“CIA black ops.” Penny frowned. “But I can’t find the name of the supervisor who okayed it.”
Norah knew it was related to the events at New Mexico. “Did something happen to Sandra and Luke? Are they okay? Are they hurt?”
Penny shook her head. “No, they’re still searching for them.”
“Wait, why were they there?”
“To take the Gillibrands into custody.”
Norah’s mouth fell open. That made no sense. “Was there a warrant out for them?”
Penny shook her head. “The order came through D.E.A.D.”
Oh no. “Find everything you can on Sandra and Luke’s last movements.”
She didn’t wait for reply as she strode out of the shed. She needed to help them. She needed to find them. But first she needed to get off this damn base.
Chapter Nineteen
Norah marched down the path toward the main administration building. She needed to get off the island. If Sandra and Luke were being hunted, they needed help. She didn’t think Tilda would find that to be a priority. Maeve and Chris would help, but they had no authority here.
So who does that leave me with?
“Ig.”
Despite her worries, Norah smiled at the sight as Iggy propelled himself toward her. When he was four feet away, he crouched low and leapt. Norah caught him, and he quickly scrambled up to her shoulders. She patted his legs. “Hey, buddy.”
“Ig, ig, ig, ig, ig,” he chattered away on top of her seemingly perfectly happy.
“Iggy, where are you—” Greg appeared, a harassed looked on his face. His shoulders drooped as he caught sight of Norah. “Of course. I should have known.”
He made his way over to them, shaking his head. “Iggy, my friend, I would appreciate it if you didn’t just run off. You’re making me look like the world’s most irresponsible babysitter.”
Iggy reached out a claw and patted Greg on the head. “Ig,” he said solemnly.
Greg laughed. “I think he just said I am the world’s worst babysitter.”
“Seems like,” Norah agreed.
Greg frowned, his gaze focused on her face. “What’s going on?”
“What? Nothing.”
“Yeah … seriously, I know that look. It’s the ‘something is seriously wrong, and I am about to do something crazy’ look.”
Norah glared at him. “That is not what my face is saying.”
Greg put up both hands. “Hey, don’t yell at me. Your face is the one doing all the talking. So what’s going on?”
Norah studied the scientist. When she’d first met him, she’d put him firmly in the “not good in a fight” category. But Chris had told her that Greg would surprise her, and he had. In New Mexico, he’d been tough and smart. And not at all the nerdy scientist she had pegged him for when she’d first met him.
Well, actually, he was completely a nerdy scientist, but he also could be pretty useful in a fight. And right now, she could use someone pretty useful. “I’m worried about someone.”
She quickly explained about Luke and Sandra. Greg stayed silent as she explained, his look growing more and more thoughtful. “I wonder …”
“Wonder what?”
“Maeve told you about the winged creature that basically saved them when they were leaving their first hideout and then when they were leaving Dulce, right?”
Norah nodded.
“I wonder if it’s the same guy. Or at least, one of the same species.”
“So you think he might be one of the good ones?”
“I’m not quite ready to go there yet. We don’t know his motivations. But he definitely doesn’t seem like the ‘kill, kill, kill’ ones I know and hate. Do you have any idea where Sandra might have gone?”
Norah shook her head. “No, but I figure with Tilda’s resources, they’ve got to be able to track them down. But I need to figure out a way off this island. And I don’t think commandeering a plane will be too easy.”
Greg grinned. “Well, I’ve got an idea about that.”
“About commandeering a plane?”
Greg linked arms with her, pulling her toward the main camp area. “Nope. About getting us an ally.”
Norah let Greg pull her toward the main camp. They didn’t pass anyone along the way. And once again, she wondered how this was an all-powerful military base. It looked like it wasn’t much better equipped than some of the forward bases in Afghanistan. Nothing about it screamed unlimited resources. In fact, it seemed like a place where they rationed the toilet paper.
“There’s our guy.” Greg’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see Adam step out of the administration building, speaking quietly to Jasper and Mike Bileris, the former Secret Service agent who was also on Tilda’s payroll. The woman certainly had resources.
Norah waited until Jasper and Mike walked away before moving to intercept Adam.
Adam watched them go before heading toward the dormitory, his sunglasses firmly in place. He always wore them, even when there was no sun, even when he was inside. Maeve had explained how Adam had taken on two of the Hank creatures. Norah struggled to figure out how that was possible. She, Greg, and Iggy, along with a few of Tilda’s men, had been required to take down one of them. So how did Adam do it on his own? He was like a one-man SWAT team.
Which is exactly what I need.
“Thanks. Can you watch Iggy for a few minutes?”
“I can try.” He held out his arms, and Iggy leapt into them. “Come on, dude, let’s go get a snack.”
“Ig, Ig.”
Norah started to jog. “Adam.”
He paused, his shoulders tensing before he turned. Once again, he did not say a word. He and Penny were actually a lot alike.
“I need some help.” Norah quickly ran down the situation with Sandra and Luke. She added in the father’s involvement in Project Antaeus, and it was the first time she saw a reaction from Adam. If she hadn’t been studying him so closely, she wouldn’t have noticed it, but his jaw ticked. And then it was gone, and he was back to his impassive self.
“Penny is trying to find out where they are now. But Sandra is former military. She’ll have ditched her phone and any way of tracking her. She won’t go to anyone that we would think of. But she needs help.”
Adam didn’t say anything. He turned his head and looked at the administration building, but Norah had the distinct feeling he wasn’t really seeing it, that his mind was running through possibilities. Finally, he turned back to her. “Be ready to go in fifteen minutes.”
Chapter Twenty
Hogansfield, Montana
It had been two days since Sandra had pulled into Hogansfield. She’d gotten the job at the diner, although so far she’d only worked two shifts. The tips were pretty lousy, but at least it was something. She and Luke had had to sleep in the car for the last two nights. She’d taken the car to a mechanic who was also a former Marine. He told her the transmission was shot. It was still running, but the gears were slipping. Soon it would stop switching gears altogether, which she’d figured. But replacing it would cost a minimum of 2,000 dollars, and she simply didn’t have it right now.
She was beginning to feel a little desperate. How had it come to this? She’d done well in school. She had gone on to serve her country. She’d been an officer. Her husband had been one as well. And yet here she was, living in her car with her autistic son, surviving on scraps from the diner.
If this is the American dream, it leaves a great deal to be desired.
Light sprayed through the front windshield. Sandra’s heart raced as she waited. She wasn’t sure who she was more worried about—the men who’d come to her home or the loc
al cops. Either way, she’d be in trouble. She was parked on the edge of a field she’d found that was full of old abandoned cars. Sadly, her car fit right in.
She held her breath as the car slowly rolled past. She peeked her head out. Police. Please just keep going, she prayed.
The lights were off in the interior of her car, so it should look just like all the others. She didn’t know what she would do if they got arrested. If Luke was taken from her … She shook her head. She couldn’t even think about how he would react. Or where they would put him.
Tears pressed against the back of her eyes. She bit her lip, trying to hold them back. I can’t keep doing this. Staying in this little town was not a solution. It was a postponement. She needed to make a choice. She needed to ask for help. She just needed to decide exactly whom she was going to ask for it from.
Family was out. Estranged was a nice word for her and her parents’ relationship status. The local cops were out. They wouldn’t be prepared for any of this and would simply hand her and Luke over to those feds.
Which left only one option. She pulled the business card from her pocket. It was fragile now, closer to tissue paper than cardstock at this point because she’d pulled it out and looked at it so many times.
She sat watching the police car’s taillights disappear down the road. She counted to thirty and then stepped silently from the car, easing the door closed behind her. Luke didn’t even move. He was sprawled out on the back seat.
With trembling hands, she pulled out her cell phone. She took a deep breath and dialed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Seattle, Washington
The image of Joseph Watson filled the screen of Martin’s monitor. Strong cheekbones, eyes hidden by dark sunglasses, blond hair that even in the black-and-white photo looked startlingly white. He wore a white T-shirt and green camo pants. An American flag was in the background. The site was Huntsville, Alabama, in 1961.