nklin was a jerk. He led people up there on She decided to go back on the attack. White Sides Mountain to look down at the Groom Lake "I checked with Lori Turner, who interviewed you last complex. They would catch him and tell him not to come year for cable TV. She says most of your background back but he kept coming back. What did he expect?" doesn't check out. That makes me doubt your story. That "You don't seem very interested in how he died," Kelly means either you're a liar or a plant to feed false informa- said. "You just seem to assume it was the government that tion. In either case it tells me your story about Area 51 is killed him." bullshit." "Maybe he had a heart attack." Jarvis shrugged. "I don't Jarvis stood. "Time's up. Been a pleasure." He turned really give a shit." and walked out of the bar. "Aren't you worried about the government coming after "Great," Kelly muttered to herself. She needed a way you? You seem to be more of a threat than Franklin was." into Area 51 and Jarvis obviously was not the way. She'd "That's why I'm talking to you," Jarvis replied. "That's just pissed away five hundred dollars and gotten nowhere. why I went on that talk show last year. That's why I keep Her hope had been that Johnny had contacted Jarvis. myself in the public eye." She looked down at the notes she had made during the "I thought it was the five hundred dollars," Kelly replied interview. What would her dad do in this situation? He'd dryly. always said the best way to overcome an obstacle was to "Yeah, the money helps. But I really do it to keep the approach it in a manner that was least expected. He'd also spooks off my ass. The government won't kill me because it said that in the case of getting into a place that was would raise too many questions and actually make my story 100 ROBERT DOHERTY guarded, approach it not at the weakest place, but at the 8 strongest because that was the least-expected avenue. What was the strongest thing about Area 51, from what Jarvis and the research said? "Security," Kelly muttered to herself, still looking at her notes. They had to have people employed to do their security. Driving out to the Groom Lake area would certainly bring her into contact with the security people, but Johnny had done that and he was gone. She circled 757 on her pad. That was it. Tomorrow morn- ing she would go out to the airfield and see if anyone got DEVIL'S NEST, NEBRASKA off the plane. If they did, she'd follow them and see what T-119 HOURS she could turn up. And if tomorrow morning didn't work, then there was always tomorrow evening. "We're green," Prague announced to the men gathered around him in the dark. "Our eye in the sky says the objec- tive is clear. I want all three birds airborne in two mikes. Move out." Prague headed toward one of the small AH-6 helicopters and gestured at Turcotte. "You're with me, meat. Backseat." Turcotte grimaced. The meat comment was getting real old, but now was not the time to face it down. He followed Prague and joined him in the helicopter. Prague took the seat up front next to the pilot, while Turcotte had the entire backseat to himself. The doors were off and the cold night air swirled inside, making Turcotte regret he had not put on long underwear. He wished he had been better briefed on what was going to happen. He zipped his black Gore- Tex jacket up tight over his coveralls and took the headset that was hanging on the roof and placed it on, over the small plug already in his ear for the FM radio on the team frequency. Because he was on the same bird as Prague--the mission commander--Turcotte was immediately plugged into the mission's secure satellite communications traffic as they 102 ROBERT DOHERTY 103 AREA 51 winged their way to the southwest over the fields of Ne- ground positioning receiver (GPR). Prague gave a hold sig- braska. nal to the pilot. "Nightscape Six, this is Cube Six. Status. Over." The "Cube Six, this is Nightscape Six. At Oscar Papa Romeo. voice on the other end sounded familiar to Turcotte, but he Request final clearance. Over." couldn't quite place who Cube Six was. "This is Cube Six. Eye in the sky still shows you are clear Prague replied from the front seat. "This is Nightscape for a twelve-kilometer radius. No traffic within eighteen Six. En route to Oscar Romeo Papa. Will hold there. klicks. Proceed. I say again, proceed. Out." Over." "Roger. Out." Prague pointed out the windshield and Turcotte followed the military terminology easily--ORP they were swooping across the dark sky again. "Phase one stood for "objective rally point," the last place friendly initiated. Start the watch." forces held before hitting an objective. Except in this case, Turcotte still didn't have a clue what the objective was, nor was he impressed with how friendly the forces around him THE CUBE, AREA 51 were, if Prague was to serve as the example. T - 1 1 8 HOURS, 3O MINUTES The other, deep voice continued. "Roger, this is Cube "Sir, we've got a shadow on Bouncer Three." Six. Break. Bouncer Three, status? Over." "A what?" Gullick spun around in his command chair. A new voice came on the air. "This is Bouncer Three. "What do you mean a shadow?" Airborne and en route. Over." Major Quinn pointed at the screen. "There's a bogey "Roger. Wait for my command. Cube Six out." right behind Three. We didn't pick it up before because it's The pilot of the AH-6 swept even lower over the so small, but something's following Bouncer Three. I've cornfields, the UH-60 Blackhawk following just to the rear checked the tapes and it's been there ever since Three left and above. The other AH-6 flew trail. The corn gave way the hangar. Must have been somewhere in the vicinity briefly to pasture with cattle breaking in all directions as when Three took off." the helicopters came over, then the terrain turned back to "What is it?" Gullick demanded. corn. Turcotte had never seen this many fields, even in "I don't know, sir. We were only able to catch it by track- Germany. It seemed like all of Nebraska was one big ing satellite and infrared signature." checkerboard of cultivation and ranching. Through his The Cube was hooked in to the U.S. Space Command's night vision goggles he could see an occasional patch of Missile Warning Center, located inside Cheyenne Moun- trees off in the distance, sometimes with lights peeking tain outside Colorado Springs. The Space Command was through the trees, indicating that was where the farmers responsible for the Defense Support Program (DSP) satel- and ranchers lived. What are we going after out here? lite system. DSP satellites blanketed the entire surface of Turcotte wondered. the earth from an altitude of over twenty thousand miles The pilot pulled back on the cyclic and reduced throttle. up in geosynchronous orbits. The system had originally Turcotte could see Prague checking their location on a been developed to detect ICBM launches during the Cold 104 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 105 War. During the Gulf War it had picked up every SCUD Gullick spoke into the boom mike just in front of his lips, launch and proved so effective that the military had further keying the send button strapped to his belt. "Bouncer refined the entire system to be effective enough to give Three, this is Cube Six. Do you have a visual on the bogey? real-time warnings to local commanders at the tactical Over." level--a valuable system that those in the Cube could tap "This is Three. Negative. We see nothing. Whatever it is, into. Through the other members of Majic-12 Gullick had it's too far back. Over." access to systems like DSP and many others. "This is Six. Give me some evasive maneuvers. Over." Every three seconds the DSP system downloaded an in- The pilot of Three answered. "Wilco. Wait one. Over." frared map of the earth's surface and surrounding airspace. On the screen the dot representing Bouncer Three sud- Most of the data was simply stored on tape in the Warning denly darted to the right just north of Salt Lake City. The Center, unless, of course, the computer detected a missile smaller dot just as quickly followed. A quick series of launch, or, as in this case, an authorized agency requested zigzags didn't faze the bogey. a direct line and keyed in a specific target area to be for- "Should I order an abort, sir?" Quinn asked. warded on a real-time basis. "No," Gullick said. "Let's ride this out. Get Aurora on "Is it a Fast Walker?" Gullick asked, referring to the alert. I want to be on top of this bogey." He keyed the code name for unidentified valid IR sources that the sys- radio. "Three, this is Six. Forget about it. Just continue the tem occasionally picked up and could not be explained. mission. I'll take care of the situation from this end. Out." "It's definitely a bogey, sir. It doesn't match anything on Quinn's worry showed through and it irritated Gullick. record. It's too small to be even a jet aircraft." "Should I inform Nightscape Six?" The unspoken question was, what was that small yet fast "Negative, Major. Let these people do their job and let enough to stay on the tail of Bouncer Three, which was me worry about the bogey. You let me do the thinking and moving at over thirty-five hundred miles an hour toward informing around here. You got that?" Gullick glared at Nebraska? the junior officer. "Put it on up front," Gullick ordered, turning his seat "Yes, sir!" back to the main screen. He briefly touched the right side of his skull, then looked at the hand as he pulled it away. It was shaking slightly. Gullick gripped the edge of his chair VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA to stop that. T - 1 1 8 HOURS, 15 MINUTES Quinn transferred the information to the large screen in the front of the room. There was a small glowing dot just "We have multiple heat signatures to the left," the pilot of behind the larger dot indicating Bouncer Three. the AH-6 announced, immediately swooping in that direc- "How far behind Three is it?" tion. "Hard to tell, sir. Probably about ten miles or so." "Go get 'em, cowboy," Prague yelled into the intercom "Have you told Three?" as he flipped up his goggles. He reached into the backseat, "Yes, sir." across Turcotte's lap, and grabbed a rifle that had been 106 ROBERT DOHERTY 107 AREA 51 strapped down there. Hooking his arm into the sling, turbing. No one can explain it so no one really looks into it Prague leaned out of the helicopter, his safety harness too hard, but it serves its purpose." keeping him from falling out to the ground below. Turcotte Which is what? Turcotte wondered. He had heard about leaned forward and watched the same scene that Prague cattle mutilations. It was in the paper every so often. Why was following--cattle scattering in all directions from the was such a sophisticated operation being run just to do sound of the helicopters. this? Was this why Duncan had sent him out here? To find Prague put the rifle to his shoulder and looked through out that the government people at Area 51 were behind the night scope mounted on top. He fired twice and two of cattle mutilations? the cows collapsed immediately. "Nerve agent," he said, The Blackhawk had moved away while the men worked. glancing over his shoulder at Turcotte. "Knocks 'em down, Now it came back in, letting down two harnesses on but leaves no trace. We recover the dart." winches--one on either side. The first two men were up The AH-6 pulled up and assumed a stationary position a with their gory load in thirty seconds. Then the next two. hundred meters away from the two animals. The UH-60 "Initiate phase two," Prague ordered and they were Blackhawk came to a hover directly over the two bodies heading farther to the southwest. and Turcotte watched as ropes were thrown out of the Blackhawk and four men with rucksacks fast-roped down. "You hear that?" Billy Peters asked. The four men gathered around the bodies and there was "Huh?" Susie replied, her mind on other matters--in an occasional flash of light as they worked on the cows. this case Billy's arm around her shoulders and her head on "Time hack?" Prague asked. his broad chest. She could hear his heart beating, that was "Six minutes, thirty seconds until Bouncer Three is on for sure. station." "Sounds like helicopters or something," Billy muttered. "Okay," Prague said. "We're all right." He reached out with his free hand and wiped some of the "What are they doing?" Turcotte finally asked. fog off the front windshield of his '77 Ford pickup and tried Prague turned to the rear, looking like a mechanical de- to look out. They'd been parked here for a long time-- mon with a wide grin beneath the protruding bulk of his since just before it had gotten dark, but there'd been a lot night vision goggles. "They're getting some prime filet to say. Susie was leaving her folks and Billy was on the down there. You like heart? Or maybe eyeballs? How spot, not quite sure whether to go for it and invite her to about cow ovaries? We come back with all sorts of good live in his trailer down in Columbus or punt and go along stuff. with her plan to move to her sister's in Omaha. "They have top-of-the-line surgical lasers to make clean He'd picked this spot because he was sure there'd be no one to interrupt them, but now he was almost glad there cuts. They also have suction to clean the blood up. What might be an interruption because he sure couldn't make his the locals are left with is a couple of dead cows with spe- mind up tonight, not with her pushing up against him like cific body parts surgically removed, yet no sign of vehicle she was: how was a man supposed to think clearly under traffic in the area. Also no blood, which is kind of dis- those circumstances? 108 1O9 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 "Something's coming this way," Billy said, looking out up into the air and accelerated w h i l e climbing at a seventy- the window into the night sky. degree angle, swiftly turning toward the northeast and dis- appearing from the screen. THE CUBE, AREA 51 T-118 HOURS, 4 MINUTES VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA Gullick was watching the large map. The bogey was still Turcotte's AH-6 was holding at two hundred feet while the behind Three. Both dots were currently near the conjunc- Blackhawk passed them by and came to its own hover over tion of the Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska borders. a cornfield in front of Turcotte and to his left. The other "Aurora's status?" Gullick asked. AH-6 slid over and took up security four hundred meters "On the runway, ready to take off." in the opposite direction. The Blackhawk slowly lowered "Give her the go." until it was about eighty feet above the ground, just above "Yes, sir." the point where the rotor wash would permanently disturb "TOT for phase two?" the stalks of corn. "Eighty-six seconds," Quinn answered. A bright light flashed out of the cargo bay of the Gullick flicked a switch on the console in front of him Blackhawk, the beam angling to a terminus in the field and watched the video feed from the control tower on the below, cutting through the corn and burning into the surface. A curiously shaped plane began rolling forward. ground. Shaped like a rounded manta ray, the most significant fea- "The laser's computer aimed," Prague explained tures of the two-man reconnaissance plane were its huge through the intercom, proud of his men and their toys. intakes under the front cockpit and large exhausts behind "Makes a perfect circle. Confuses the shit out of those the engines. Capable of Mach 7, over five thousand miles eggheads who come and scratch their heads over it in day- an hour, or almost a mile and a half a second at maximum light. Dumb fucks. They figure it's related to the dead cows speed, it could get to a target in a hurry. in the next field, which it is," he said with a laugh, "but they The successor to the famous SR-71 Blackbird, Aurora don't know how and they'll never figure it out." had made its maiden flight in 1986. At a billion dollars a And? Turcotte thought. Why did Prague want to confuse plane there were only five in the inventory, and they were people? used only when all other systems were exhausted. To the "Nightscape Six, this is Bouncer Three. ETA forty-five public that had financed it, the plane didn't exist. It was seconds. Over." one of the most closely guarded secrets in the Air Force "Roger. Out." Prague turned to Turcotte. "You're going and Gullick had one at his disposal around the clock, an to love the last act of this play. Watch to the south." indication of the importance of this project to the Air Turcotte checked the Calico one more time. This was all Force. so strange, but the thing that disturbed him the most was W i t h sufficient thrust built up, Aurora suddenly bounded the way Prague was showing him everything now, but 110 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 111 hadn't explained it before. What did Prague know about on, it was clear to Turcotte that it wasn't going according to him? Turcotte wondered. Prague's plan. "Jesus, Susie, you see that!" Billy furiously wiped the wind- shield as the beam of light played down a quarter mile to their left into the field. THE CUBE, AREA 51 "What is it?" Susie asked, her living problems forgotten "Pass complete. Three's coming home," Quinn announced. for the moment. All eyes were on the screen. The bogey was still behind "I don't know, but I'm getting the hell out of here." He Three. It continued that way for about a minute, then sud- turned the key and the Ford's engine started up. denly the second dot broke away, heading back to the northeast, where it had just come from. "I've got a heat source in the trees to the southwest!" the "Get Aurora on that bogey!" Gullick ordered. pilot of the other AH-6 announced. "It's a car engine!" "Shit!" Prague exclaimed. A bright glow came flying in from the south, low on the VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA horizon, moving faster than anything Turcotte had ever seen. It swept by silently, followed closely by another, "We've got to get these people," Prague ordered as the smaller glowing dot. helicopter banked toward the rapidly fleeing pickup truck. "What was behind Bouncer Three?" Prague asked out "They're civilians," Turcotte protested, leaning through loud, his composure cracking for the first time since the door and checking out the truck. Turcotte had met him. Turcotte was surprised by both craft "They saw too much. We can't have them talking about that sped by. This whole scenario was getting weirder by seeing helicopters here. Fire across the front of the truck," the second. Prague ordered the pilot, who expertly sideslipped his heli- Turcotte watched as the large disk that Prague had called copter so that they were now flying sideways, with the nose Bouncer Three made an abrupt jump move to the right, of the aircraft--and the chain gun hung off the skid- changed directions just short of 180 degrees in a split sec- pointed toward the pickup. A stream of tracers arced out, ond, and did a pass over the small town of Bloomfield on right across the headlights of the pickup, and the brake- the horizon before heading back toward the southwest. lights flared. "Get me to that heat source!" Prague ordered. The pilot "Goddamn!" Turcotte yelled. "Are you crazy?" of the AH-6 complied, pointing the nose toward the stand "Put us down on the road in front of them," Prague of trees. "You other guys, head for the MSS," he added. ordered, ignoring Turcotte. The Blackhawk banked right and headed back to the northj, to the secure area of Devil's Nest, the other AH-6 "Who are these people, Billy?" Susie screamed. "Why are flying escort. Turcotte flipped off the safety on the Calico they shooting at us?" as they headed toward the treeline. Whatever was going Billy didn't waste time trying to explain. He slammed the 112 ROBERT DOHERTY 113 AREA 51 truck into reverse as the helicopter settled down in front of We'll get this sorted once we get back to base. There's been him in the glow of the headlights, blowing dirt and debris an accident," he added lamely. "I'm Mike," he said, tap- up into the air, blinding him. ping the man on the shoulder and pointing at the helicop- The pickup's rear tires slipped into the drainage ditch on ter, the sudden human gesture momentarily disorienting the side of the road. Dirt flew as Billy threw the gear into the couple. first, but they didn't move. The man looked at Turcotte. "Billy. This here's Susie." Turcotte nudged them toward the helicopter. "Well, Billy The skids touched ground and Prague was out the door, and Susie, looks like the man wants you to go for a ride." leaving the dart rifle behind in favor of his Calico. Turcotte "Shut up, meat," Prague snarled, gesturing with the followed, right on his heels. Turcotte's mind was trying to weapon. sort out all that had happened and was happening. They got into the helicopter and the pilot lifted. "Hands up and out of the truck!" Prague yelled. The doors opened and a man stepped out, a woman following, hiding herself behind the man's bulk. "Who are you people?" the man asked. THE CUBE, AREA 51 "Cuff them!" Prague ordered Turcotte. A third dot was now on the screen, popping on the screen "They're civilians." He stood still. over eastern Nevada and heading almost directly toward Prague shifted the muzzle of his Calico in Turcotte's di- Bouncer Three, which was returning to base. Gullick knew rection. "Cuff them." that was Aurora on its way to intercept the bogey. Turcotte looked at the weapon, looked at Prague, then "The bogey is dropping off the chase, sir," Quinn re- pulled out two plastic cinches from his vest and secured the ported. The bogey was circling, heading back in toward the couple's hands behind their backs. Nightscape objective. "Let me see your ID," the man demanded. "You can't "Redirect Aurora toward Nebraska," Gullick ordered. be doing this. We didn't do nothing wrong. You ain't cops." Quinn complied. "Get in the helicopter," Prague ordered. He herded the "Aurora ETA at the objective?" Gullick immediately de- procession toward the AH-6. manded. "Where are you taking us?" the man asked, standing "Ten minutes," Quinn announced. stubbornly in the middle of the road just short of the heli- Not bad time to cover almost twelve hundred miles. But copter, the girl still cowering at his side. in this case it might be about nine minutes too late, Gullick Turcotte looked at Prague and saw the way the man's reflected as he watched the symbol that represented the body was set, saw his finger shifting from outside the trig- bogey close on the target site. He briefly considered order- ger guard to inside, a sure sign he was about to fire. ing Bouncer Three to turn around, but that was beyond the Turcotte had been trained just like Prague: the only safety present scope of his authority. Gullick smashed his fist was the finger off the trigger. down onto the desk in front of him, startling those in the Turcotte quickly stepped in between. "Just do as he says. Cube. AREA 5 1 115 114 ROBERT DOHERTY in evasive reaction, but the glow dipped right down with VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA them and crashed into the front of the helicopter. There The AH-6 cleared the trees at the edge of a field and was a shattering of Plexiglas and Turcotte ducked his head. turned to the north. Turcotte had strapped the man and "Prepare for crash!" the pilot yelled into the intercom. woman into the backseat and squeezed in next to them. "We're going--" The rest of his sentence was cut off as the Prague was twisted around in the right front seat, the bar- nose of the chopper impacted with the ground. The blades rel of his Calico pointed rearward, his finger caressing the cartwheeled into the soft dirt and exploded off, miracu- outside of the trigger guard. lously pinwheeling away and not slashing through the body Turcotte looked at the muzzle, then at Prague. "I'd ap- of the aircraft. preciate it if you didn't point that thing at me," he said into Turcotte felt a sharp rip in his right side, then everything the boom mike. Turcotte was scared. Not so much because became still. He lifted his head. The only sound was a high- of the gun pointed at him, although that was a problem, pitched scream. He turned to his left. Susie's mouth was a but more because the man holding the gun was acting so wide-open and the sound was emanating from it. Billy's irrationally. What did Prague think he was going to do with eyes were open and he was blinking, trying to see in the these two civilians? dark. "I don't give a fuck what you'd appreciate," Prague an- Turcotte reached down and unbuckled Billy's seat belt, swered over the intercom. "You questioned me in the mid- then whipped out his commando knife and cut the couple's dle of a mission. That's a no-go, meat. I'm going to have hands free. "Get out," he said, nudging them toward the your ass." left door, before turning his attention to the front seat. The pilot was hanging limp in his harness, his right arm "These people are civilians," Turcotte said. The couple twisted at an unnatural angle. Prague was beginning to stir. were ignorant of the conversation because they weren't His Calico was gone, thrown from the aircraft on impact. wearing headsets. The smell of JP-4 aviation fuel was strong in the air. As "They're fucking dead meat now, as far as I'm con- soon as it hit a hot metal surface such as the engine ex- cerned," Prague said. "They saw too much. They'll have to haust, the helicopter would be an inferno. go to the facility at Dulce and get clipped." Prague appeared to be fumbling with his seat belt. "I don't know what the hell you're doing, or what you're Turcotte leaned over between the two front seats, ignoring talking about," Turcotte said, "but they're--" He halted as the explosion of pain that movement ignited on his right the helicopter suddenly jerked hard right, then dropped side. Prague's right hand was flipping open the cover to his altitude. holster. "Don't let them get away," he rasped at Turcotte. "What are you doing?" Prague yelled at the pilot, keep- He had the gun out and pointed it back toward Billy, who ing his attention on the backseat. was helping Susie out of the door. "We got company!" the pilot screamed in return. A Turcotte reacted, slamming the inside edge of his left brightly glowing orb--about three feet in diameter--ap- hand across Prague's throat, feeling cartilage give way, peared directly in front of the windshield. The pilot while with his right hand he hammered down on Prague's slammed the collective down and pushed the cyclic forward 116 ROBERT DOHERTY gun hand, hearing the forearm bone crack against the edge 9 of the seat. Prague's eyes bulged, and he gasped through his mangled throat. Turcotte followed Billy and Susie out the left rear door. "Keep moving," he ordered, pushing them away. A flame flickered somewhere in the rear of the helicopter. Staying with the aircraft, Turcotte reached in the front seat and unbuckled the pilot. Prague's left hand suddenly moved, slashing across his body at Turcotte with his knife. The blade cut through the Gore-Tex jacket and inflicted a gash on Turcotte's right forearm. THE CUBE, AREA 51 Pinning Prague's left hand with his right, Turcotte leaned T - 1 1 7 HOURS, 45 MINUTES over the pilot and hit Prague again in the throat with his left, this time not holding back as he had the first time. The "Nightscape Six is down, sir," Quinn announced. "I have a cartilage completely gave way and Prague's airway was transponder location. No communication by radio." blocked. "Launch a conventional crash recovery to the transpon- Turcotte threw the pilot over his shoulder. He jogged der location," General Gullick ordered. He continued to away from the helicopter as it burst into flames. watch the dot representing the bogey. It was slowly moving about in the vicinity of Nightscape Six's transponder signal. Aurora was now approaching the Nebraska-Colorado bor- der. VICINITY BLOOMFIELD, NEBRASKA T-117 HOURS, 42 MINUTES "Get out of here," Turcotte said to Susie and Billy, who were staring at the burning helicopter. Turcotte had the pilot's flight suit ripped open and was going over the man's vital signs, doing a primary survey--for breathing first, then bleeding, then checking for broken bones. The pilot was good to go on the first two other than some scrapes and cuts. There was an obvious broken arm. Turcotte couldn't tell for sure, but based on the large dent on the man's helmet and his unconscious condition, 119 AREA 51 118 ROBERT DOHERTY soon. And then? That was the burning question. He'd he felt the pilot had some sort of head injury, and he was killed Prague on reflex. He didn't regret it, given what he'd not trained or equipped to deal with that. All he could do seen Prague do this evening, but the situation was very was leave the helmet on and hope that it contained the confusing and Turcotte wasn't sure what his next move injury until he could get the man some professional medi- should be. cal help. The pilot was unconscious, and from his condition Had Prague known he was a plant? That would explain it did not appear that he would be gaining consciousness some of his actions, but not all of them. And if Prague anytime soon, which was fine with Turcotte. He immobi- hadn't known he was a plant, then the man had been bor- lized the broken arm as well as he could. derline nuts; unless, Turcotte reminded himself, there was "But--" Billy said, confused. "What--" another layer to everything that he had just witnessed. He "No buts; no questions; no memory," Turcotte snapped, knew the actions, he just didn't know the motivation. looking up from the pilot's body. "Forget everything that None of that was going to do him any good, Turcotte happened tonight. Don't ever tell anyone, because if you knew, unless he could get back to Duncan with what he do they won't believe you and then people who don't want had just seen, and to do that he was going to have to get you talking will come looking for you. Leave it here and away from these Nightscape people. The pilot's uncon- go-" scious condition would buy him some time once they were Billy didn't need any further urging. He took Susie by picked up. It would simply be Turcotte's story, and he be- the arm and quickly walked away in the darkness toward gan working on what he would tell them. the nearest road. He looked down at himself. Blood was seeping out the right side of his Gore-Tex jacket and his