I sat in the chair next to him, not sure what to expect.
“Nadine mentioned that you think that you may have been abducted. I’m glad that you contacted me, Ben. If you were abducted, it would be good for us to talk.”
“I didn’t know where else to turn. No one can give me any answers.”
He put his reading glasses on the table and looked at me. “Who else have you told about this?”
“Just my fiancée—ex fiancée. Her family knows about it too. My parents know about it. My friend Brett knows. I also told Jack Clark from MUFON. I went to him after I told Jennifer.”
“I know about Jack. I get reports from the National UFO Reporting Database. Why don’t you tell me about everything? I’m all ears.”
I told him about my interview with Congressman Young and up to the point of when I saw the greys.
“Hold on, Ben. You said that they were greys with small eyes, and a ridge down to the nose. Are you sure?”
“Yes. I can’t get the image of their faces out of my mind. They had small, dark eyes. No whites. They were like the typical greys.”
“Can you draw what they looked like for me?”
“I guess so,” I said, assuming that he wanted to be sure of the species that had abducted me. Byrne handed me his notebook and a pen and I took a minute to draw what I could remember. I handed the notebook back to him.
He held it in his lap to look at it for a moment. “Yep, that looks like one of the government fakes all right. See here?” He pointed to the nose ridgeline. “This is characteristic of government imposter EBEs. They have a distinctive raised arch above the eyes.”
I looked up from the drawing. “So you think this was a fake abduction? How can you be sure?”
“I’m certain of it. But why don’t you tell me what happened next? Tell me everything.”
I told him about being strapped to a table and seeing the star map.
“Keep going,” he said, looking at me attentively. “Did they probe you?”
“Yes. I think so. I remember feeling a pain in my man part. It hurt like hell.”
“A urethra probe. I bet it did. Tell me more.”
“Then I heard a voice.”
“A voice? What did it say?”
“It said that I was of use to them and that they would be back for me.”
“They want to scare you, the government. Tell me what happened next.”
I told him about how I had ended up naked on the side of the road, three days later.
“Your experience is a lot like Travis Walton’s. I’m sure you’ve seen the movie Fire in the Sky, although what was depicted in the movie is very different from what Travis says actually happened. His experience wasn’t as sinister as what they showed in the film. You could say artistic license, but really it was government license. They wanted to scare the shit out of people, and that they did.”
“How did they do it? Were the lights that I saw helicopters, then? The black helicopters? Where did they take me?”
“You are going to want to read my book. I cover all of this. They likely picked you up in a TR-3B, took you on board, did their thing, and then dumped you out two days later. Sometimes, they use short people dressed in body suits to look like EBEs, no different than Hollywood costumes, or it could also have been robotic simulations. They spray a psychoactive agent and memory-wiper chemical to confuse the victim and create amnesia. What about high strangeness? Experiencing anything weird?”
I told him about the orbs floating around in my room, the strange humming in my ears. I also told him about my bowel blowout on the Fourth of July. “If it was a fake abduction, then why would I have these hallucinations? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Actually, it does make sense, Ben. It sounds like you are experiencing psychotic symptoms induced by specialized chemical agents. You most definitely received an implant that controls release of the agent. This approach has been used by the CIA since the 1960s. Ever heard of MKUltra?”
“Yes, a top-secret program, conducted by the CIA to test the effects of LSD and other mind control agents while programming spies who wouldn’t remember anything. But how did they implant me?”
“Injected through the skin or swallowed.”
I was staring off, thinking about what Daniel was saying. It made sense. “You think I may still have something implanted in me?”
“Have you been experiencing any of the high strangeness since the Fourth of July?”
I thought about it. “No, not at all. I assumed it was the drugs they were giving me at the hospital.”
“I think you either threw up the implants or crapped them out. They can also control when they are to leave your body too. It’s impossible to trace the implant once that happens.”
“So what about that guy at the conference in McMinnville, the abductee? You still think that his abduction was real and not a government fake like mine?”
“You mean Trevor? Yeah, his was real. His experience was nothing like yours.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Do you have a mark on your chest, Ben?”
“Yes, a hexagon, just like Trevor’s.”
“Let’s have a look,” Byrne said, scooting himself forward in his chair and turning towards me.
I pulled up my shirt. The hexagon had almost completely disappeared.
Byrne looked at my bare skin. “Do you mind if I touch it?” he asked.
“Why?”
“I want to see if it’s raised.”
The request sounded a little off to me, but I wanted an answer. “Go ahead.”
He put the tips of the fingers of his right hand onto my sternum and rubbed lightly over the area where the hexagon was. He pulled his hand back and I put my shirt down.
“Yep, it was a fake. The government just can’t seem to recreate the real thing. If you stick around, you’ll have a chance to ask Trevor about his mark. You’ll see what I mean.”
I reflected on why the military or CIA would want to abduct me. “Do you think I was abducted because I did the article on you?”
Daniel put his fingers up to his lips and thought for a moment. “I suspect there is another reason connected to your experience with the Phoenix Lights. Your father Michael Davenport was there with you, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. He was our Cub Scout Master. How do you know about him?”
“It’s in our archives. Now tell me, did he witness the lights with you?”
“I’m not sure if he saw the lights, but I presume so. After Jonathan and I saw them fly over, we ran back to the campsite to tell him. He listened to us and then told us to keep quiet about it. He said people would think we were nuts. We never talked about it after that, at least from what I recall.”
Daniel nodded. “Your father was a Navy 0-6 Captain and physiologist. He died by suicide. That wasn’t a coincidence.”
His reference to my father’s suicide shook me to the core. “What do you mean, it wasn’t a coincidence?”
“What I’m about to say may be difficult for you: Your father was assigned to work with Northrop, one of the contractors for the Aurora Project. He was the lead on a secret synthetic biology program, a compartmentalized sub-program under the Aurora Project. They were engineering EBEs out of a facility in northern Arizona, they were testing the synthetic aliens during the late 1990s by running abduction experiments with TR-3Bs.” He sighed. “Your father could have protected you, but instead you were used in their experiments. He gave you up, Ben. He allowed you to be abducted and molested by this secret government program. There’s no doubt about it.”
Fury erupted in me.
“That’s crazy! Just because my father worked with Northrop doesn’t mean there’s any connection to what happened to me. I can’t believe that what you are saying is true.”
“I’m sorry, Ben, it’s true. Here, let me show you something from our archives.” He pulled up some files and handed the laptop to me. One file was a scan of a phone directory showing my father’s a
ssignment at the facility. Another was a patent for synthetic exo-tissue; my father was listed on it. A third file was a heavily redacted document showing that my father was one of several project managers in a program code-named Operation Green Snatch. All of the documents appeared to be legit.
“I had been tracking his work for years. I even confronted him and other officers at various events in the late 1990s through the early 2000s.” Daniel pulled up a photo of my father on stage and Daniel yelling into a microphone. “This was taken at a conference in Nevada in 1996. They weren’t expecting me to be in the audience, but I let them have it. They denied everything, of course.”
I couldn’t believe it. Daniel had an encounter with my father! I was sick to my stomach. I didn’t even want to think about what my father “giving me up” meant. “So you think he killed himself because he felt guilty about these experiments?”
Daniel closed his laptop. “He may have had second thoughts, sure, or the government forced him to kill himself. Either way, we’ll never fully know the story, I’m sorry to say.”
“Why didn’t you mention this to me before I wrote my story on you? When did you discover this?”
“Nadine and I dug into your background after you wrote the story. We are, after all, lawyers, Ben. Nadine and I had seriously considered suing you for defamation, but once we discovered that you were a victim like so many others, we decided to just let it go. This is the truth, and now you know.”
I sat back to take it all in. Was my deceased father responsible for my abduction experience? Did my mother know about this, and if she did, what did that mean? My entire worldview was, once again, turning upside down.
“But why abduct me now?”
“Think about it, Ben. Not only are you being tracked by the government because of whatever was done to you in the past, but you are a journalist possibly programmed to make it public that aliens aren’t real. Your interest in me was part of it, with even a little bit of good old-fashioned revenge for tangling with Congressman Young thrown in for good measure.”
My hands were trembling. “What are the odds that they’ll come back and abduct me again?”
“There’s always the risk that once you are targeted, you’ll continue to be used in some way. But would they be so brazen now? It’s a good thing that you came to me.”
“Why not expose all of this now and put an end to it?”
“They would deny it like they always do and we would be the ‘nuts’.”
“But wouldn’t they think I’d figure all this out? I’m here with you talking about it, aren’t I? Wouldn’t they think that I’d write about it? I could blow the whistle on the whole thing as my father’s son. Could I see more of the files in your archives, especially the ones about my father?”
Byrne smiled. “Slow down a bit, Ben, there’s a lot of information to digest and you need to pace yourself. First, we should make sure we have a detailed account of what you experienced. As far as writing a story about this government scam, I’m almost done with my book. Maybe I could add a description of your experience, or maybe you could copy edit my draft for me? How would you like to be my assistant on this?”
I wasn’t really interested in being his copy editor. If I was going to do anything with this, I would write it.
“Let me think about it,” I said, wondering what else Daniel had in his document vaults. “But what about the files? I’d really like to learn more about what you have, especially about my father.”
“In due time. You’re still in trauma. It’s best that we focus on your recovery for now.” He sat back in his chair. “You’ve entered a whole new world of both lies and truths. Unfortunately, so much of this whole UFO thing is cloaked in disinformation. Most stories about UFOs and EBEs are fake and strategically designed to discredit the real experiencers and witnesses and scare people at a deep psychological level—like Hollywood, with a few exceptions. The mainstream press is just another wing of the shadow government, and they know what they are doing. If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. You know who said that?”
“Goebbels, wasn’t it?”
“Correct. These techniques are long-standing and designed to control the minds of the masses. This is why we put so much emphasis on writing all of our own press releases. We want to put out the truth.”
I exhaled. I wanted to know everything about my father’s involvement with my abduction and Operation Green Snatch.
Daniel, seeing my frustration, opened his laptop again to the photo of my father. “Take a photo of this with your phone. I’d email it to you, but it would be tracked by the government. Let them speculate about how much you know—no need to make it obvious.”
I took the photo as Nadine came to the door of the porch. “Why don’t you two take a break and come join me for dinner?”
“We would be delighted,” said Daniel.
I had so many more questions, but my stomach was growling.
Green curry tofu and a bottle of Riesling, again. Daniel poured.
“A toast?” Nadine said, holding up her glass.
“Before we toast, I just have to say I’m sorry about the article,” I said. “I didn’t believe that the government was behind this.”
Daniel smiled. “We’ve had people attacking us for years and have thick skin.”
Nadine smiled, too. “We forgive you, Ben. You are young and need to slow down and listen to those who have life experience that can teach you.”
We toasted and dug into Nadine’s dinner. A feeling of resolve and comfort washed over me. She was right. I needed to slow down and assume less. I needed to listen more. Learn.
Nadine turned to me. “How are things at home, Ben? Your girlfriend?”
“Well, that’s over. We broke up and she kicked me out. Just as well, really. She didn’t want anything to do with the UFO stuff.”
Byrne looked at Nadine and then back to me. “Well, we can understand that. It takes a special partner, someone on the same wavelength, to make things work.”
Nadine looked at me. “We have an opening for a Social Media Manager at the Foundation. Maybe you’d be interested in helping us—writing some copy and assisting with marketing our work? We can’t pay you much—we are a not-for-profit, after all.”
“I’ll need to think about it,” I said. “Thanks for the offer.”
Daniel smiled. “We’ve already been talking about Ben copy editing my book.”
“Good idea,” Nadine said. “So you said you were staying at the Motel 6. I can’t imagine that you are enjoying it.”
“It’s the least expensive place near here, and temporary until I figure out what to do next.”
“If you need a place to stay, we could offer you one. One of our minihouses on the property just opened up. You are welcome to stay there.”
“Wow, thanks Nadine, let me think about it.”
“Also, I was thinking, you might be interested in meeting Dr. Petulli. I could make that happen for you now.”
“That would be great. When?”
“I’ll give him a call this week. I’ll let you know.”
After dinner, Daniel suggested we return to the back porch and talk a while longer. We discussed methods of fake abductions. Nadine brought a tray of hot tea and a couple slices of apple pie. She handed a blue legal-sized folder to Daniel.
Daniel smiled. “Thank you, my dear.” He placed the folder on his lap.
We talked for a bit longer, finishing off our tea. The sun had already set, and I could feel the anxiety coming on. Daniel must have sensed it.
“Don’t worry, Ben. Everything is going to be okay. Understandably, you have the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You are with good people here, and I assure you, at a cosmic level, that the only thing to be afraid of is the government.” He grabbed the blue folder and opened it. “Before you leave us tonight, we’ve got an NDA for you to sign, Ben.” He handed me the folder with several pages of smal
l print documents and an arrow sticker that said “Sign Here.”
I looked through the pages. “A non-disclosure agreement? For the documents?”
“It’s routine. I’ve got to do this before we brief you in on more of what we are working on at the foundation, including the files about your father.”
Eight pages of small print. I glanced over it, signed, and handed the folder back to him.
We walked through the house. Nadine was in the living room and called out, “Dr. Petulli said that he’d be delighted to meet you, Ben, when he gets back to town in a few weeks.”
“Great. I look forward to it,” I said, though I was unsure where I’d be then.
Daniel shook my hand. “I’m glad that came back to visit with us.”
I looked him in the eyes. “Thank you, and again, I’m really sorry about the article.”
He smiled. “Aristotle said the search for truth is in one way difficult and in another way easy, because no one can master it fully or miss it completely. But each adds a little to our knowledge of nature, and with all the facts put together there arises a certain grandeur. I look forward to more discussion with you, Ben.”
“I’ll walk Ben to his car,” Nadine said, taking me by the arm.
We walked out to my Jetta. It was dark now, and the sky was filled with stars in radiant splendor.
She glanced up at them. “Will you look at that, Ben. It’s so beautiful, isn’t it? To know that we are not alone and a part of a much larger universe. Sometimes when I look up, tears come to my eyes and my knees shake.”
I nervously looked up, scanning for anything flying.
She took my hand in hers. “I really hope you will consider coming to work with us. I think it would be good for you to be with us here. You’d be a part of something that will forever change the world.”
“I need to think about it, Nadine. I’m planning to visit my mother in Spokane for a few days.”
“Of course, Ben, you need to do what you need to do. Just know that you are welcome here if you choose to return.”
We hugged, and I returned to the Motel 6. In the morning I’d head to Spokane. I had questions for my mother.
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