“Whatever you did to arrange this,” Ridley said, “I am grateful.”
“Me too, Bill,” Holcomb said. “You really aren’t as dull and useless as everyone says.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
As they reached the helicopter, Harrison held onto Ridley as Holcomb piled in and scrambled to a seat next to Maggie, saying, “Happy New Year, everybody!”
Ridley eased himself inside. Taylor and Janice, who were closest to the door, helped him into an empty seat and strapped on his seatbelt. Harrison jumped in next and took a seat beside Janice.
The paratrooper sergeant slid the door closed and signaled for the pilot to take off. Wedging himself closer to Maggie, Holcomb started to say something, but she interrupted him.
“You, my friend, need a shower.” She rubbed dust and grime from his balding scalp, and then kissed the top of his head.
“I’m glad you made it, Art. I knew you would,” Harrison said, nodding at his friend.
Holcomb smiled, saying, “Well, buddy, we had some help. You’re not going to believe what I have to tell you.” He winked at Taylor, who nodded his understanding.
Harrison glanced out the window at North Range. “At this point, Art, nothing would surprise me.”
The chopper ascended, and Harrison wrapped his arm around Janice, pulling her close. She leaned against him, and felt, at last, her fear and loneliness slip away.
The End
Author Biography
Daniel P. Douglas is a novelist specializing in conspiracy thrillers and science fiction. His first novel, Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project, centers on a decades-old government cover-up of contact with extraterrestrial life. Other upcoming novels include The Outworlds series, which is comprised of science fiction adventure stories set in the early twenty-fourth century at the fringe of human civilization, and Green Bird, a modern-day thriller about an FBI agent racing to stop a cyber terrorist before it’s too late.
Douglas is a US Army veteran and long-term civil servant who worked in the federal government and the museum profession. Born and raised in Southern California, he has lived most of his life in the southwestern United States. He now lives in New Mexico with his spouse, children, siblings, parents, pets, and livestock. His travels take him throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project Page 43