Equinox (Beyond Moondust Trilogy Book 2)

by J. E. Nicassio

  “Illuminati,” Cassiel said in a low voice.

  “How do you know all this?” I whispered.

  Dusty flashed me a glare. “Uh, did you forget?”

  “Ooh, how could I forget? It’s what I had on my mind right now…. But, of course, you already knew that.” I held on tightly to Cassiel.

  “What do you think, Gabe?” Cassiel’s voice sounded anxious. But while they were discussing our next move, the men’s conversation ended, and the four got in the car and left.

  57 Black Sedan

  The runway lights flashed on again and the plane delivering the two men taxied out and took off, disappearing into the night. Before long, we could no longer hear the drone of its engine. The airport was enveloped in darkness once again.

  “I say we go for it!”

  Not knowing if the black sedan and its occupants were still in the area, we pushed the plane to the end of the runway. Just when we were going to board, a spark from gunfire lit up the sky. In a start, we crouched low to the ground. There was nowhere to hide as three of the four men came barreling toward us, firing their guns. When Cassiel lifted his hand to fight back, nothing happened. The same was true for Gabe.

  Unsure of what the problem was, they began to use their next defense, and that was to use their own bodies as weapons. With a fist raised, Cassiel used a roundhouse kick to knock the gun out of the huge man’s hand. Cassiel scrambled to the ground and picked up the gun. The taller, leaner of the bunch went charging toward Gabe. Gabe, in turn, attacked using the same cunning mixture of street fighting and martial arts as Cassiel.

  The black sedan sped toward me. With Dusty at my heels, we ran down the runway. Right behind us were two Air Force men in uniforms and another tall, dark man. I heard one of them say, “Don’t harm the girl; I want her alive.”

  For some reason, I stopped in my tracks and turned, looking at the men behind me. Dusty continued pulling on my arm. While I stood staring back at them, their footsteps quieted as one man about a few yards away pointed his weapon directly at me, another man behind him. Nothing stood out about them except for their camouflage special security uniforms.

  “Samantha Hunter, you’re a hard young lady to track down.”

  “How do you know me?” I said with confidence.

  “I know all about you and your friends, especially the one called Lucien. There’re a lot of interesting people looking for you.” The man began to walk closer. “I think it’s best you come along with me and my men; I don’t want to have to hurt a hair on that lovely head of yours.”

  The two in the camo started to advance when something inside me began to surface. I thought about what I had learned in kickboxing back at Oakridge, and I felt Lucien’s presence, as if he were with me right now in this spot. It was like my hands and my feet didn’t belong to me anymore, and some unseen force was commanding me to obey.

  “Don’t come any closer!” I shouted.

  With all my might, I kicked the gun out of his hand. The man staggered back when my foot made contact. The other man went after Dusty. I could see Dusty’s young face begin to glow with rage. His muscles twitched with an explosion of fire. All at once, the black sedan was engulfed in flames.

  The distraction only lasted a moment, then two men were on me. I fought on, clawing with my hands I kicked and lashed out in a fury, screaming curses.

  “Hold her down.”

  “I’m trying, sir.”

  “Stop!” Cassel’s voice was brash.

  Dusty grabbed the gun that I had knocked out of one man’s hand and pointed it. The man in the suit turned around, looking at Cassiel, who was holding a pistol with one hand, and had a uniformed man’s hand behind his back with the other. Gabe came up and pushed the man he had in a headlock, and Cassiel followed his brother’s lead and did the same. They took them to the old hangar and tied them up with electrical cords they found.

  “You can’t run forever; we’ll find you just like we did this time,” the man said as he crumpled to the ground. Gabe tied his hands and legs with the cord.

  “I don’t understand why you want me.”

  “You know why. Just like your friends here, we can keep you safe from them. You do know why they want you; it’s because of who you have become, Samantha Hunter.”

  “Don’t listen to him; he wants to lock you up,” Cassiel barked. I looked at him, then at Gabe who nodded in his brother’s defense.

  We were about to head to the hangar when the man in the suit said, “We have your father.”

  “He’s lying. Your father is with Nathan Moore on a dig. They left shortly after the dinner at the ranch,” Cassiel said.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Samantha, it’s true,” Dusty interrupted.

  “You haven’t dreamed,” I reminded him.

  “No, but Daniel’s mind connected with mine. It’s true; your father’s safe.”

  “Samantha, are you going to believe a bunch of aliens before you believe the government who is here to protect you?” the man said.

  “The government who tried to destroy us sixty-seven years ago. The same government who tried to kill Lucien back at Area 51.” Cassiel stomped on the man’s chest.

  “No, you can’t, Cassiel.” I tugged at his arm. Gabe came alongside me, trying to stop Cassiel from crushing the man’s ribs.

  “Come on, Samantha. We have to go.” Dusty took my hand. I agreed there was no use getting into anything. Daylight would be here soon.

  When we were back in our plane, Gabe and Cassiel went through the entire start procedure. Our speed built quickly as Gabe pulled back gently on the yoke. I sighed as he eased us into the air. At the same time, Cassiel turned off the landing lights, and we were climbing away into the inkwell again.

  Feeling certain Gabe and Cassiel had gotten all of the water and most of the rust out of the fuel tank, it was time to trust their aerial steed one more time for the remaining distance to Greenbrier. We had traveled one thousand two hundred miles, and still had about two hundred and fifty miles to go.

  The long flight, combined with the excitement of the near accident and the run-in with the military, had everyone feeling bone-tired. Cassiel decided it was his turn to fly. Gabe didn’t bother arguing. They agreed Dusty would stay awake with him so Gabe could get some shuteye until we neared our destination. I had hoped Dusty would sleep. With some luck, he might dream of Lucien’s return.

  ***

  The engine was running smoothly again, thankfully.

  “I’m confident we fixed the contaminated fuel problem. I think we filtered enough of it through an old chamois,” Cassiel said. “The plane’s system could now probably fly without becoming overloaded and stall.”

  “Stall? Can’t you just keep your thoughts to yourself,” I said.

  “What fun is that?” Cassiel turned around and gave me a smirk.

  It was obvious he was tired by the dark circles and raspy voice. I guess he had to keep up a patter with Dusty to keep from dozing off.

  The constant hum of the engine and the perfectly smooth night air was a most perfect sedative. I could hardly keep my eyes open.

  A first glimmer of light on a now discernible horizon. The sun itself was starting to gleam through the cockpit.

  “Gabe, wake up. Time to start planning our arrival. We’ll be there in about thirty minutes,” Cassiel said.

  If it had not been for our current predicament and the need to sleep he was fighting off, it would have been a sight to enjoy.

  58 Here We Go Again

  Gabe landed the Piper on a small grassy strip called Hinton-Alderson airfield, which was situated within the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, about twenty miles from Greenbrier. It was adjacent to the Greenbrier River near Pence Springs. Dusty pointed out it was a half-mile from a women’s prison. That was a strange tidbit; but,
after all, he was still part male alien.

  Waiting for us was Agent Harmon. He was standing in front of a parked van. He met us with welcoming arms, happy to see we had safely made it. Nevertheless, he was agitated about our news concerning the men in the black sedan.

  That’s when my thoughts rushed back to my father’s safety. Agent Harmon explained in the gentlest way that my father was safe. Knowing that made me feel a little better, but I still had an uneasy feeling creeping through my bones. As we entered the driveway, we could see the beautiful spring flowers that draped the sculpted property. The hotel was a cross between the White House and Buckingham Palace. The interior was just as exquisite.

  “Greenbrier was built to secretly house the military and executive branches of our government in the event of an atomic or nuclear attack,” Agent Harmon said.

  John Landson Shaw, head of security, met us at the lobby’s entrance. He was a stocky man with dark thick glasses. The ex-Army officer had top security clearance. He’d been at Greenbrier ever since Nixon visited before Watergate. Five decades later, he was still here. Inside the hotel, I felt like I had stepped back in history. White beams, checkered floors, arched windows, and crystal chandeliers graced our eyes.

  59 The Bunker

  We gathered in a small office. Dusty was the center of discussion. I couldn’t help but notice that a collection of books on Project Blue, MJ 12, and Project Red Light were among the autobiographies on Reagan and Bush.

  “Why did you bring us to a hotel that was used as a secret bunker?” Cassiel asked.

  “Few people know that the exhibit hall was actually designed to be the workplace for the Congressional Senate and House of Representatives in case of nuclear war,” Landson Shaw replied.

  “That doesn’t answer my question,” Cassiel said. “I’d like to know why we had to get Katz here?”

  “Let him speak,” Gabe said, giving his brother a hard look.

  “I’ll get to that in a minute, Mr. Foster.”

  “Only the exhibition gallery is on display, not the entire bunker. The exhibition gallery provides the background on four aspects of the bunker’s overall mission to serve as an emergency relocation facility for the U.S. Congress.” Landson’s eyes found Dusty. “The part of the bunker that tourists get to see is the communication center and the security area. What they don’t see are our dormitories, housing two thousand hybrid aliens. The government secretly conducted experiments on hybrids. Some escaped or found their way under-ground—with help from our group of ex-government officials, the ones who formed Project Blue Book and the FBI files labeling them—hence the X-Files.”

  “The X-Files? Seriously?” For a moment, I wanted to burst out in laughter. Cassiel kicked my foot, sensing my lapse in judgment. I cleared my throat and stifled it.

  “So this is why we’re here?” Cassiel said.

  Dusty just sat there, listening to the men talk about him as if he weren’t present. Landson stood, gesturing for us to follow him to the underground bunker of the hotel.

  “There are two ways to enter the bunker,” he said. “One, through the fake wall on the west wing, and another, outside. We’re going outside.”

  Gabe and Dusty exited the room right behind Landson. I elbowed Cassiel to slow his pace behind the others.

  “Are you sure he’s legit?” I whispered. “Are we just going to leave Dusty at this man’s word?”

  “No, but even if he isn’t legit, what’re we supposed to do about it now?” Cassiel said, raking his hand through his hair like Lucien used to do.

  He quickened his pace while I tried to catch up. We followed Landson through a crowded lobby. Alongside the property was a green fence, which was about two hundred yards from the hotel. I followed the men down a slanted cement path, then we came to a large room full of machinery. A sign which read, “Danger: high voltage” stood between us and the alien hybrids.

  “I don’t know if I like this,” Gabe said to Cassiel.

  “Too late now,” Cassiel said, narrowing his eyes at the heavy vegetation that lined the road not far from the hotel.

  I stood firmly alongside Dusty, feeling protective, and took his hand within mine. I could hear a powerful fan drawing air into the bunker.

  60 Hybrids

  As Landson began to open the steel doors, a loud sound exploded throughout the tunnel. Dusty startled and almost fell, then laughed. He was excited. I, on the other hand, was scared shitless.

  Once inside the dimmed tunnel, overhead lights lit the center of the ceiling, highlighting a path to follow. We walked down the dark concrete tunnel.

  “This is the decontamination center,” Landson said.

  I looked up, almost expecting to see bats.

  “Under the worst of circumstances during the Cold War, people would have been asked to remove their clothes; but we won’t need to do that now.”

  “Hmmm, I don’t mind if you want to, Samantha,” Cassiel said, looking at me with a hint of a smile.

  “Wouldn’t you like that, pig?”

  We kept walking down the eerie tunnel. Scattered about were boxes and wooden crates filled with an odd mixture of freeze-dried foods, scrambled eggs, and honey-lime chicken. I even saw Dole bananas in crates.

  “This is where we store the hybrids’ food. Most kinds can eat what we do. A few only eat raw meat. Excuse me,”—he looked in the brothers’ direction, “I meant to say, what humans eat. You look so much like us, I sometimes forget. Apologies if I offended you.”

  “Apology accepted. The other aliens, the ones you don’t want to meet, don’t look any-thing like us,” Gabe said.

  “May I ask…. Are you a hybrid? Or are you authentic?”

  “We were in the spacecraft that crashed at Roswell,” Gabe said. “My uncle said my siblings and I were fetuses already formed.”

  “So you don’t really know?” Landson said.

  “We only know what my uncle has told us,” Gabe said.

  We came to another steel door, and Landson turned the metal wheel. Shadows were cast by heavy bolts holding the doors in place, almost looking like clocks or dial indicators.

  The deeper we got into the bunker, more people emerged one by one. They looked just like us. Men, women, and children doing one thing or another. Children were riding big wheels and little bikes down the tunnel, playing.

  “The mutants that are less human are still at Dulce, or living underground. There was no way to contain them,” Landson said.

  The ones here seemed happy. Men were busy working on the water filtration system. It was a fully functional safe house. Some were monitoring computers in a private secure portion of the bunker. Women were either cooking in the kitchen, or were working in the hospital. There was a fully stocked kitchen, and classrooms. We walked past a security monitoring center. The panels on the upper walls were intruder detectors; the consoles below controlled the various security cameras throughout the bunker.

  Leaving Dusty at Greenbrier was harder than I imagined it would be. He seemed almost joyful. I wondered if he knew what he was getting into? Agent Harmon was right. This was where he needed to be now—with his own kind, but for how long?

  61 Mother and Son Reunion

  We gathered in a room that resembled a pressroom. There was a podium, and a picture the size of a movie screen of the state capitol. Deep red curtains draped a sidewall, and turquoise-colored auditorium chairs filled the area.

  “This is where we are going to leave Dusty?” I asked.

  Landson nodded. While he discussed the function of the bunker, a beautiful woman with long auburn hair and green eyes came in. She rushed to us and stood in front of Dusty; her arms opened as if she wanted him to embrace her.

  “Dustin, I can’t believe my eyes,” the woman said with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  I turned, looking at Gabe, then at Cassiel. T
hey both shrugged their shoulders. Could she be Dusty’s mother?

  “Yes,” said the woman in a soft English accent, “I’m Dustin’s mother.”

  Dusty ran into her arms. Of course. She was a telepath also. Watching the mother and son’s reunion was worth everything we’d been through to get there. The time Dusty had left was going to be spent with his mother.

  But why is Dusty’s mother still alive here on Earth? I thought there was something wrong with their DNA.

  “You are right. My DNA is the same. The defect only affects the males.” Her expression seemed a mix of joy and sadness.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to….” I couldn’t think of the right words to express how I felt.

  Dusty’s mother turned with her arm around him and walked out of the room. But before she did, she looked back at me and smiled. She understood my sadness.

  I ran my hand through my tangled hair; I felt like hell. My eyes burned with tears that wouldn’t fall. Cassiel and Gabe talked among themselves about plans to get back to Albuquerque. While I pondered, Agent Harmon came in the side door with two airplane tickets for Greenbrier airport.

  “These will get you as far as Houston. We don’t want you to be an easy target for the feds, so we arranged for a chopper to take you back to Albuquerque. Gabe will give you a ride back home to your father.”

  “Isn’t Gabe coming with us?”

  “No, as soon as we’re done here, I’m going to shift and fly from here,” Gabe said.

  I almost forgot Gabe’s favorite shift was an eagle. I gave him a quick smile. My thoughts went back to Dusty. I really wanted to say good-bye, not believing this was it. What now? What about Lucien?

  “What day is it, Cassiel?”

  Agent Harmon was the first to answer, “It’s the twenty-third.”

  I totally missed my birthday and the equinox. Lucien said he would return on the equinox, but which equinox? I could feel my eyes start to well again with tears.