Of course, Nick and Shelley never talked business in an open environment and, as they had dined together, Shelley had dominated the conversation with a discussion about her grown son and daughter and their various life problems. This had caused Nick to reflect on his own son and daughter, and these concerns spun him into a brooding sort of mood.
Nick wished he had more contact with his two children, but realized that they led full lives. The conclusion of his project and the end of his career would leave a big gap in his own life, which he would need to fill. With his upcoming retirement, he was going to have a lot more free time and he was going to have to find purposeful occupations to keep him busy, without expecting that his family would somehow bring meaning and purpose to the final part of his life.
Michelle, Nick’s daughter, was a career woman, an attorney living a hectic life in California with long hours and little free time. After a workweek in Las Vegas, he had flown to Los Angeles for several visits with her. But he always felt like he was intruding on her valuable time, and sitting in her apartment by himself or visiting tourist sites alone made him feel rather sad, so he had discontinued the visits.
Nick saw more of his son, Tom, and daughter-in-law, Laura, as they lived closer to him in South Carolina. But they had long work hours, as well, although Laura always insisted that they spend time together during the holiday season. The couple was struggling with their marriage, as they had desperately wished to have children but were recently told that Laura would never be able to conceive.
As Shelley and Nick entered the casino area of MGM, there was a large glass enclosure that attracted much attention, because it housed live lions. Nick had never bothered to pause and look. Nick disliked crowds and there were frequently too many tourists gawking, noses pressed against the glass. Besides, he felt rather sad for the encaged lions. But Shelley wanted to stop and see the lions and, as they stood there staring at the impressive creatures, Nick couldn’t help thinking about the extra-terrestrials at Area 51. Strangely, their situations seemed similar. Exotic creatures, well fed, housed in a clean environment with amenities for amusement, but trapped nonetheless; imprisoned and watched constantly. The metaphor troubled Nick and he urged Shelley away from the lion cage.
The next morning, Nick stood at the head of the large conference table and delivered the bad news to his X-56 project team. Nick announced further test flights would be suspended, and the team should focus on updating all documentation before dismantling the X-56 and preparing the fuselage for the bone yard.
The team was obviously disappointed yet most agreed that, for various reasons, the concept had probably failed to meet the Pentagon criteria. However, when their questions continued, it was obvious that many deemed the criteria absurd to begin with and subject to frequent and unreasonable design changes from Pentagon staff. The team groused that the “brass”, had no understanding of the technological obstacles and had paid little heed to the cost overruns accompanying their frequent specification modifications to the project.
When the two-hour briefing session wound down, Nick saw dismayed faces staring at him all around the table, and he tried to boost his team’s morale for the uninspiring tasks that lay ahead. He recalled for them the wild-eyed enthusiasm each had felt after the first successful test flight, even though it did not reach the Mach speeds requested by the DoD. Nick tried to downplay the obvious, that the only thing remaining would be reams of paper work and clean up. Creativity would be replaced by the dull task of completing the documentation and removing vital systems from the X-56. Nick could almost see tears forming in the eyes of a few staff members. Yet, as he looked around the room, the only impassive team member sat beside him. While Nick relayed his bad news to the group, Amie had not uttered a word and her thought pattern had remained blank. Nick almost wondered if somehow, before he began talking, she had already known what he was about to say.
Nick planned to remain the entire week working at Area 51, as there was much prep work necessary to accomplish the rapidly approaching closure date. Beyond his work related issues, a compelling question pounded relentlessly in his mind. What was he going to do about Amie’s situation? In response, a solution slowly began to evolve, but it was far from perfect.
Nick decided he would talk to Amie at lunch and lay out the plan he had been developing. If he seriously wanted to help her, she would need to get prepared, as would he. The solution he had devised was a bold one, involving an identity switch. There was no other way she would be able to leave the hangar and board the Janet Airlines worker shuttle to Las Vegas. Once at the Las Vegas Airport, she would need somewhere to go. Here is where he would put himself in jeopardy, as he would have to find a means to drive her to Sedona. But then what? Surely the FBI and other government agencies would be called in to locate Amie, and he could become a possible suspect in aiding her escape. That would mean probable visits to his condo in Maryland and his home in Palm City. It would mean annoying questions and an intrusive probing into his life. Agents might be assigned to watch whom he talked with and where he went for some time. Obviously, Amie would be on her own after the day he was able to deliver her to the spiritual portal she had told him about in Sedona. The sooner he distanced himself from her, the better for him.
The evening following his staff meeting, Nick took a long walk roaming the various casinos that dotted the Las Vegas landscape and continued to think about Amie’s plight and the boldness of his plan. While watching the fountains at the Bellagio, from the pleasant outdoor Eiffel Tower cafe restaurant across the street, Nick began to put more details of his plan into place. Regardless of how many small details he thought about that could go wrong, and how many solutions he derived, if Amie failed to get onto the Janet Airlines flight to Las Vegas, none of his other preparations would matter.
The next day he invited Amie to lunch in the break room and Nick thought-spoke first when they were seated. “We may not have a lot of time today to talk, so I’m going to get right to the point, Amie.”
“I understand,” she verbally replied. Her voice sounded flat and cold. Although not showing it physically, she had obviously not reacted well to the impending shut down information he had relayed at the staff meeting.
Once again Nick caught himself wondering if Amie almost knew what he was about to tell her. Could she have even, somehow, planted some of the seeds in his mind for the outrageous escape plan he was about to reveal to her.
“How well do you know Shelley Carson?” Nick asked in thought-speak.
“Certainly not as well as I know you. But, as she is your assistant, we have collaborated on a few things over the years.”
“I brought her along with me this week because I want you to be able to study her in great detail, the way she combs her hair, her makeup preferences, her clothes, every detail you can possibly think of. Because Shelley will be your only hope of getting out of here.”
“I can do that, Nick. But how can she help me? Does she know I want to escape?”
“No, and she never will. Shelley has only one part to play in our plan and that is for you to become her. My point is that, in order to leave this hangar, you are going to try and become her double. Not that this will be easy. If you look somewhat like her, perhaps with the same hairstyle, you may get by security. She has worn that same pageboy, mid-length blond hairstyle since I have known her. You will need to order a similar wig. The bangs over the forehead and the long hair could make a good cover for your face, when you walk out and pass the guard at the badge ID turnstile, with your head tilted downward. But here is the tricky part; somehow, you must get hold of Shelley’s ID badge. As long as you are carrying her identification badge, the plan just might work.”
“Yes, Shelley is a ‘creature of habit’,” Amie stated, and Nick now noticed how her energy level had increased and was animating her thought-speak. “For example, I have noticed that in the fall she always wears a bulky, hip length leather jacket to come to work. When she first arrives here, she r
emoves it and puts it in her locker before pulling on the blue overalls over her pants suit. She always wears a pants suit when she comes here too, either a blue one or gray one.”
“I have noticed that, yes. But the ID badge? How could you get her identification badge? That is the problem I have been wrestling with. We all have to wear those things the entire time we are on the hangar floor.”
“When are you planning for my escape? Surely not this week?”
“No, not until my last day here. There is going to be a big farewell party as we close down the shop. Lots of food and farewells, and all fueled by the booze I will be putting in a special request to include for the final festivities.”
“Alcohol will make a good cover. No human is as sharp in their senses if they have been drinking spirits. I have observed that about your race. Also, their emotions will be clouded by their sorrow over their imminent departure from the work project.”
“Well, it may take more than counting on a few drinks to wrestle Shelley’s badge from her. I was hoping you had a few mental tricks you could use. Something like what you have used on me in the past,” and here Nick paused and smiled, as he looked knowingly at Amie. “Is there something you could do that I don’t know about? Something that might immobilize her brain for a few seconds while you remove her badge?”
“You mean like this,” and Amie touched Nick in a new way, gripping his wrist with her hand. His eyes looked blank for a few seconds, and then she retracted her hand.
“Do you remember what just happened to you?” she asked.
“No, my whole mind seemed to stop working right after you touched me.”
“Where is your sandwich, Nick?”
“Hey?” and he looked around the table quizzically.
“Right here, Nick,” and Amie brought his plate and lunch remnants up from under the table, where she had hidden them. She handed the sandwich back to Nick with what passed for an alien smirk on her face.
“That will do the job just fine, if you are able to do it at the right time.”
“And when will that be? At the end of the party?”
“No, you and I will both leave the gathering early. After I do the farewell speeches I can, hopefully, blend into the crowd and eventually disappear without too many people noticing I am gone.”
“Am I to follow after you?”
“Yes, but not directly after me. We cannot walk out of this hangar together. It would look very suspicious on my part later on, when they review the camera shots. You have to stay behind me, but close enough so you can watch what I do.”
“So I will have to confiscate Shelley’s badge right before you plan to leave the party?”
“Yes. Timing means a lot, if this plan is to succeed. After you see me finish talking, you will notice me slowly glad-handing my way toward the door of the conference room, where we will be holding the farewell party. You must then approach Shelley, after which you will need to go immediately to the women’s locker room and dress quickly to change yourself into Shelley’s double.”
“So that is why you asked me to study her. I should order the right type of wig, makeup, even pants suit and shoes.”
“Yes. You’ll need to find the right moment to get Shelley’s identification badge, probably you should go up to her right after I finish my presentation to the group. You will pocket it in your jumpsuit. Then, you’ll need to slip out of the conference room, get changed in the locker room where there are no cameras, put on the right wig, apply some makeup to alter your skin tone, and put on your largest pair of sunglasses to cover your eyes.”
“And then I take her leather jacket from her locker and put that on, and then leave the hangar and look for you. Where will you be?”
“I’ll hang around by the door, giving you about ten minutes to change. When I notice you emerging from the locker room I will walk out the hangar door. But you cannot catch up to me or speak to me. Just stay behind and watch what I do and try to do the same, as if you have been walking out of here a thousand times before. There is only one badge swipe gizmo attached to the door. Slide the badge in the slot and pull it out again. There is a bus stop near our hangar, where you wait for the base commuter bus that delivers us to the terminal. Just show your badge to the driver as you climb onboard. Then there will be a bank of turnstiles as you enter the terminal, but again the badge is just slid in and out, which records your time of exit. The other problem will be when you go to board the commuter plane. They will check your name on the manifest and may ask you to present your license as ID.”
“So I will need to take Shelley’s purse as well?”
“Yes, unfortunately. I wish there was some way you could only grab the license and leave her wallet and purse behind, but it would probably be easier to just grab the whole thing and you might also need her money.”
“Shelley always leaves her purse in her locker. I have a locker too and I have watched her place it there, so she does not need to carry it around all day. Since she knows everyone has a high-level clearance, she never locks her locker. She is very trusting.”
“There is a Janet flight to Las Vegas airport every hour. I’m going to leave early and take the 1600 hours one and you will need to be on that one also. I’ll look for you on the flight, but don’t sit by me. If all goes well, take the jitney bus to the main terminal at the Las Vegas airport, walk out to the street and take a taxi to the Excalibur Casino and Hotel. Once you arrive there, get out and wait there. Don’t talk to anyone and don’t go into the casino. I’ll pick you up in a car out front in the driveway. I haven’t got the car yet, so I can’t tell you what it will look like. That will have to wait until next month, when I talk to you again. I’ll park and honk so you will notice me. I can’t come up to you, as there may be cameras by the entrance to the hotel. I know I have told you a lot, do you understand everything?”
“Yes, I have memorized everything you have said as you have been speaking. We have the ability to do this. And I understand what is expected. Do not worry. I can do all this,” Amie assured Nick.
“Okay. Well, I hope everything will go all right for you. But if it should not, if something goes wrong and you don’t get out, you must promise that you will not implicate me. Will you assure me of that?”
“I promise. It is up to me to fail or succeed. I understand.”
“Right. It is up to you. I will not be returning to Area 51 ever again after that party, so this is my one chance to help you.”
“But what about Shelley? Won’t she want to leave with you?”
“No, Shelley enjoys parties. She usually stays at these kinds of things until they break up. And, as my assistant, I will ask her to stay on anyway to sort of look after things and clean up afterwards.”
“What happens once I am safely in your car?”
“I’m not going to tell you any more details beyond that. If you get caught trying to leave here, they won’t be able to get anything from you implicating me. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“I do trust you, Nick, and thank you for helping me.” Amie reached out her hand and touched Nick in that way which she knew he secretly enjoyed, sending an orgasmic rush to his body.
Nick left Area 51 on Saturday and took a flight to West Palm Beach, Florida, rather than returning to his Maryland condo. He rented a car and drove to Port Saint Lucie to stay with his friends, Doug and Terri, for the night. He intended to ask for Terri’s help in the decorating of his new house.
After a leisurely breakfast on the patio, Doug had asked Nick if he wanted to drive over and take a look at a property he had just acquired over in the White City area of Fort Pierce. “It needs a lot of fix-up and it is a bit secluded, but I got a great deal on the place,” Doug said enthusiastically. They drove over to look at the small stucco ranch house, a few blocks off of Citrus Road. Just as Doug had mentioned, Nick could see that it was very secluded. One of two lonely homes at the end of a small road, with a dirt and grass driveway leading to a separate one-car
garage, the house looked like it had been abandoned for some time.
“What do you think?” Doug finally asked, after they had walked around the property and inspected the inside.
“Well, I see it’s on the river,” Nick stated, with little enthusiasm in his voice, although he wanted to say something positive about the place. “Got a boat dock out back, although most of the boards need replacing. But water property is always worth something.”
“Yeah, I always buy the foreclosures. I see the potential where others just see a lot of work,” Doug chuckled, well pleased with himself.
In the afternoon, Nick asked Terri if she would help him pick out furniture for his new home at a local furniture store in Port St. Lucie. Terri also agreed to be available to take delivery for him, when the delivery truck arrived the following week. Nick knew she liked interior decorating, and would do the same to spruce up the furnished rental in Ft. Pierce, after Doug had finished the rehab on it.
Nick had decided to sell whatever furniture he had at his Maryland condo and develop a décor for his new home that was more in keeping with the Florida lifestyle. By Monday afternoon, Nick had spent well over $4,000 at three separate stores. But he had a complete bedroom, kitchen, and family room set, plus some accessories Terri thought would bring the rooms together. Nick spent that night with the couple and then departed early in the morning for a quick check of his home in Palm City.
He called Dom ahead and told him he was coming over to take a look at his house, before leaving for a late afternoon flight out of the West Palm airport. As he hoped, Dom invited him for another lunch. Nick readily accepted, suspecting that it would probably be as good as the last one.
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