by Lesley Davis
There were other remains that caused her to pause. “Dink, there are people here too.”
“Anyone alive?”
Cautiously, Emory looked closer. “No. They never stood a chance.” The crater wall was littered with tiny body parts; no one had survived whatever had hit them.
“If you can get inside, do it. I’ve got a live stream from over Las Vegas. Emory, they’re laying waste to it.”
Emory stopped in her tracks. “My family?”
“Who knows? The bright lights and the Strip are in tatters. I can’t see if they’re aiming for the residential areas yet.”
Emory considered rushing back to her van and driving out to see if her brother and his family were safe. Torn with indecision, she kept climbing but fished her cell phone out of her pocket and tried his number again. It still rang out.
“There’s nothing you can do. It’s miles out from here. Maybe they’ll be lucky.”
Emory could tell by his tone even he didn’t believe his own words. “How bad does it look, Dink?”
“Bad enough.”
Emory put her phone away and picked up her pace. She had to put everything out of her mind to get the job done she was here to do. She scrambled over everything that littered her way to get to where the light shone out like a beacon. Twisted metal and concrete were visible, and Emory could see they were no match for whatever power the saucers had. She picked her way through it gingerly, slipping on the loose dirt and rubble. She finally crested the top of the crater and looked down into it.
“Oh my God,” Dink breathed, clearly seeing what Emory was seeing. There was an underground labyrinth uncovered in the blast. The force of the explosion had blown some of the building to pieces, but there were structures still intact below.
“I’m seeing a stairwell under that pile of debris. It’s got to lead somewhere.”
“Are you ready to go down the rabbit hole, Alice?”
“Flying saucers above my head and a staircase that might lead me to answers I could only dream of. Or it could fall to pieces with my weight on it and drop me to certain doom or bury me under tons of debris. Choices, choices.” She took a step over the lip of the crater. “Alice, out.” She slid and slipped her way down the huge crater’s side. She scrambled to slow her decent, but the rubble under her feet was loose. She cut her hands on the rocks and concrete as she tried not to fall headfirst into the gaping crevice. She could see now where the light was coming from. The crater had cut a perfect hollow into the ground and exposed a concrete wall and stairs that ran along it and down into whatever lay beneath. “Damn good thing I’m not claustrophobic,” she muttered, a little unnerved by how exposed the stairwell appeared to be and how much damage it had sustained.
“I doubt if the elevators will still be running in there after the show the saucers put on. So it’s either the stairs or you get the hell out of there.”
“Whose stupid idea was this again?” Emory reached the exposed wall and stared down into the stairwell. It seemed never ending.
“That would be yours, my friend.”
“Damn it. Be sure to remind me, if I get out of here alive, what an asshole I am.”
“Duly noted. Can you see if there are any levels marked as you go down? It might be interesting to see if the rumors were right.”
“Forty levels?” Emory slowly put a foot on a metal stair and pressed to make sure it would hold her weight. “I’m screwed if I have to climb down forty fucking levels to find something. I’ll be here all night.” Once the steps felt sturdier under her feet, Emory began to climb down a little faster. She was hindered by chunks of debris blocking the way, and she either managed to push them aside or had to climb over them. Dust clung to the air and made breathing difficult. Coughing at the cloying air, Emory was aware that the angle she was traveling down was changing. Finally, below her, she could see a doorway that had been buckled by the blast.
“Let’s see what’s behind door number one, shall we?” Dink said as Emory pressed her shoulder against the ruined metal. The metal screeched as it was forced open.
Emory blew out a breath. “Saves me worrying I was going to need my swipe card to get in here. The security has to be tougher the lower I go, right?”
“I’d imagine so.”
“Time to see what secrets Area 51 has been hiding from us.”
Chapter Three
The hallway Emory stepped into was still half lit. Most of the ceiling had come down on one side, effectively cutting off the rooms that were on the right. Emory managed to pick her way across the floor toward a door on the left and stepped inside. She found a room decked out with computers and desks. “What is this? Area 51’s call center?” Emory snorted. “Hi, this is Dreamland Surveys and we’d like a moment of your time to ask you if you’re buying the cover-ups we keep perpetrating in the name of national security.”
She heard Dink chuckle in her ear as she skirted around the rows of desks. She didn’t see anything of any interest in the nondescript office. She did, however, spot another door so she headed toward it. She was relieved when it opened with just a little force. “Ooh, pay dirt.” She had found another office, but this one was still up and running. The computer screens had been left on, and the servers were flashing. “Wow, blasted from above but the electricity is still working down here. Curiouser and curiouser…”
“Emory…”
“Before you dare to ask, I am not lugging a computer out with me.”
“Think you can find a hard drive or two then?”
“I’m not exactly carrying the tools of the trade to dismantle a government computer for you.”
“I need to build up your spy gear. I’ll get you a tool belt.”
Emory huffed. “You’re already in my ear and using my eyes. Outfitting me with a utility belt like Batman is going to make me stand out even more.” She wandered through the room and came to idle by a large desk. She warred with herself, but the need to know won out. “How much trouble do you think my brother would have to bail me out of if I appropriated a laptop left behind in the mass evacuation?” She picked it up, turning it over to check it out. “According to the desk plate it belongs to someone with a rank.”
“Grab it and bag it. If nothing else you can plead you took it so no one else could find it. Before you do that, get me hooked up so I can get inside.”
Emory took a USB stick off her keyring and quickly inserted it into the laptop. With directions being issued in her ear, Emory had Dink walking her through the installation of a remote access bot so that he could take over the laptop and plunder it from afar.
Once he was in, Emory hunted around the desk and spied its bag. “We’re taking it for safekeeping, right? National security and all that shit?” She shoved the laptop in the bag and slung it over her shoulders.
“You’re stopping it from falling into enemy hands.”
“Which, according to you, are small and gray and probably only sporting three fingers.” Emory hunted in the desk to see if she could find anything else. “And what are we exactly? Do we count as enemy in the government’s and military’s eyes? I’m in here masquerading as a CIA agent when in reality I’m just a concerned citizen who thinks nothing of exposing national security secrets on the Internet for the world to see.”
“Yes, but you’re revealing the truth behind the secrets they are trying so hard to hide from the general public.”
“I’m also a conspiracy theorist who sees signs and symbols in everything. With a major leaning more toward the truth in spy tech than the out of this world explanations you believe in.”
“And if what you’ve already seen outside proves you wrong?”
“Then I owe you a beer.” Emory rolled her eyes at his muffled cough to press her for more. “And three large Butterfinger candy bars.”
“I’m eagerly awaiting you paying up. I haven’t had chocolate for a month.”
Emory opened up another drawer and riffled through it. “Damn it, Dink. You have to get
out more.”
“You know as well as I do that I’m perfectly happy in my bunker monitoring the planet out of the way of prying eyes and cyber spies.”
“Then get someone to deliver your groceries. Man cannot live on ramen alone.”
“Ooh, you can bring me some of that too when you have to eat your words.” Dink sounded smug.
“Unless you are seeing more on those streams than you’re telling me, you have no proof of what or who is piloting those ships. They could be remote controlled for all we know.”
“Even now you’re still going to argue with me?” His laughter sounded in her ear.
“I don’t deny there are UFOs, but we haven’t seen who is piloting them. You know and I know that remote drones have been in use for years now. Maybe this is the next step up.”
“Well, let’s hope for your sake if it is aliens that they look like the traditional grays everyone says they’ve seen. If they resemble spiders you’ll be completely useless to me.”
Emory slammed a desk drawer. “Shut the fuck up,” she grumbled. She hated being goaded about her greatest fear. She could hear Dink snickering and ground her teeth in annoyance.
“You’re so…hey, wait. Go back there.” Dink directed Emory to a cubicle. “There. Look through those files.”
“Do I really have time to read someone’s team building notes while all hell is breaking loose outside?” She flipped through the files quickly, ready to discard the mundane.
“You don’t need to know what is going on outside while you are in Aladdin’s cave. Just stuff them in your bag. I’ll read them later.”
Emory did as she was told and continued working her way around the room looking for anything she could take. She stuffed more files into the laptop case. I’ve already stolen a laptop, what’s a few assorted files and folders to add to the list? She was headed toward the door at the far end. “I want to check out the next room then see if I can venture any farther down to see what lies beneath.” She had the key card in her hand ready to swipe the machine and was reaching for the door handle when she heard the door unlocking from the other side. She jumped back as the handle began turning before she touched it. She barely stifled the “Shit!” that escaped her lips and quickly looked around for somewhere to hide.
“Go! Go!” Dink hissed in her ear, and Emory scrambled to quickly press herself between two servers and ducked out of sight. She could feel herself shaking as the door opened slowly. It stopped halfway. Emory tried to make herself as small as possible. She held her breath and strained her ears trying to hear if the person at the door was going to come in or leave. She fervently hoped it was the latter.
Please don’t be an alien. Do not let me be killed by something I’ve never believed in. That would so suck as my final epitaph.
*
Captain Sofia Martinez kept her gun drawn as she cautiously took a step inside the office. She couldn’t see anything but the endless rows of cubicles all left empty after the evacuation. She silently took another step forward, ready to face the intruder she’d seen.
She’d been passing by the surveillance office on her security sweep to make sure every floor had been evacuated when she had spotted something on one of the screens. She’d watched as a woman walked around the desks, looking like she was hunting for something. Sofia had studied her. Whoever it was she didn’t hold herself like a soldier. She was all in black, but there was something off with her bearing. Sofia switched cameras so she could look more closely. The woman looked to be around Sofia’s own height of five foot five. This Sofia could tell from judging her height against the partitions she was skirting around. She had blond hair, parted to frame her face. Sofia guessed her hair was usually shoulder length, but at the moment it was messily escaping a makeshift ponytail. She was attractive, Sofia noted distractedly, taking in the woman’s slightly rounded face and the prominent dimples in her cheeks. She had a slender build with a distinctly tomboyish air, one of Sofia’s personal weaknesses. But this woman, as intriguing as she seemed, was wandering around in a restricted area.
“What are you looking for?” Sofia had spoken out loud, her suspicion rising the more she watched. She unholstered her weapon. “Let’s go see why you didn’t leave when everyone else did.”
Sofia had been ordered to remain behind by the base’s superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Jones. On hearing the blaring of sirens going off and feeling the floors shudder beneath her feet, Sofia hadn’t been happy to be left behind with only a vague idea what they were being evacuated for. Instead she had to coordinate the escape of the senior staff through to the tunnels where they boarded underground trains. These would take them to undisclosed areas miles away from Area 51. Other staff were sent out on another train heading to the basement of a high-rise office complex in the nearest city. She had no idea what had happened to those who had been caught in the explosions she’d been told had smashed through the higher floors. She’d learned in the course of her career not to ask many questions. Too much knowledge was a dangerous thing. She did her job and left others to do theirs. No knowledge meant no culpability and nothing to hide when asked. It was safer that way.
Now she edged farther into the room, purposely stepping away from the door. It wouldn’t pay her to get hit by it if the other woman was behind it and used it to disarm Sofia. She was met by silence. She took the safety off her gun and spoke out.
“I know you’re in here. I’ve been watching you on a monitor so step out where I can see you and keep your hands raised.” She waited, her eyes running over the office for signs of movement. “You have a choice. Surrender to me and tell me what you’re doing here or I leave you in here and whatever is above us can come down and find you.” Sofia let that sink in a little. “I can promise you, I’m the lesser of the two evils today.”
She heard a noise a few desks up and turned her gun toward it.
“I’m unarmed.”
Sofia watched as the woman finally struggled out into view. Keeping her gun trained on her, Sofia scrutinized her. The woman’s blue eyes were fixed on her and on the gun in her hands. Sofia sensed no fear though. She was surprised when a smile broke out across the woman’s face. It gave her a rakish air.
“Hi. I was here for a meeting when it was seemingly gate-crashed by the flying saucers above.”
Sofia felt herself go cold. The saucers have been seen?
The woman was still grinning disarmingly at Sofia. “Best excuse I’ve ever had for canceling a meeting. Sadly, no one thought to brief me on where I should go in the event of an evacuation so I got left behind in the panic. I had no idea who to follow, got turned around, and was left wandering the halls.” She shrugged but kept her hands raised.
“Show me your credentials.”
Slowly, the woman lowered her arm and reached for her wallet. She tossed it onto the desk by where Sofia stood.
“Agent Ellen Mays?” Sofia couldn’t see anything fraudulent about the CIA ID and motioned for Emory to lower her arms and take her wallet back.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s Captain,” Sofia corrected her. She’d worked hard for her rank; she expected the recognition of it.
“You look too young to be a captain,” Emory said with a flirty air. Sofia stared stonily at her.
“So I’ve heard from countless old men of higher rank who’ve never moved out from behind a desk.”
“I meant no disrespect.”
“Who were you here to see?” Sofia caught the hesitation flash ever so briefly across Emory’s face.
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“You don’t remember?” Sofia’s suspicions were on alert.
“No, it’s just that I wasn’t told. I was given orders to be here and told someone would see me. It was all very cloak-and-dagger. More than usual, to be honest.”
Sofia thumbed the safety back on her gun and holstered it. “You’ll find everything is shrouded in mystery here. It’s standard procedure.” She looked Emory up and
down. “You’re not exactly dressed like a CIA agent.”
Emory tugged at her hoodie with an embarrassed air. “I was told it was Dress Down Friday.”
Sofia stared at her. She wasn’t quite sure if she was being blatantly lied to or just being teased. She didn’t do either very well. Sighing, she gestured for Emory to follow her. “Let me escort you back outside. I’m sure someone will reschedule for you.”
Emory laughed. “Seriously? With all that going on out there? I think a meeting is going to be the last thing on anyone’s agenda.”
“Then let me get you to safety at least.” Sofia gestured for Emory to leave the room and waited to follow her. Once outside the door, Sofia ran into the back of Emory who had stopped dead in the middle of the corridor for some reason. Sofia was so close she could feel Emory’s hair brush against her cheek. Close up, the pale hair was a rich honey color and held in place by a leather tie.
“Why have you stopped?” Sofia asked, annoyed with Emory and herself for being so distracted.
“We need to get out of here right now.” Emory took hold of Sofia’s hand and pulled her behind her as she ran back through the room they had just left.
“That’s what we were doing.” Sofia tried to get her hand free to no avail.
“More saucers are on their way and they’re bringing the bigger ships with them. This place is probably going to be targeted again, and I don’t intend to be caught in here while they blow Area 51 through to the other side of the planet.” Emory tugged harder on Sofia’s hand and nearly pulled her over. “So shift your ass, Captain, and let’s get out of here.”
Surprised by Emory’s change from formal to more urgent, Sofia let herself be led back through the offices.
“How do you know they’re coming back?” she asked as they burst through the door and the cooler night air hit Sofia, shocking her. Sofia got her first chance to see what had happened so many floors above where she had been. “Oh my God.” She stuttered to a halt, but Emory tugged at her roughly.