Camp Alien (43 page)

“Gotcha. Well, I'm hoping we find our missing people. Our team on the ground is hidden?”

“Waiting in the trees just down the street,” Hughes said. “Civilians dropped them off as requested. The limo was out of gas, so it's a good thing they found help.”

“It's always nice to have friends in all the places, high, low, and otherwise. Right now, I think we have friends in that black site. So, equipped as we are now, I'm going to ask again—how do we approach?”

Jerry looked up at me and grinned. “Well, Commander, we do know this beast lands well onto a roof.”

W
HILE THE FLYBOYS
were maneuvering the helicarrier into place—with Joe and Randy choosing the wiser course and, helmets or no helmets, talking Keith and Lizzie through what they needed to do—I took a couple of moments to pet the Poofs and Peregrines. It was a fast pat for each, but I could tell the animals appreciated it.

Wanted to tell the animals to stay in the helicarrier and also ask them for help. Decided it was time to let them exercise their free will and let them do what they felt was best.

The rest of the team had arrived with Joe and Randy, and everyone was definitely dressed to raid and armed for bear. They'd also found goggles and brought some for me and White as well. These weren't like the goggles that allowed you to see invisible people—these were goggles that let you see in the dark.

“Commander,” Hughes said as we moved above the roof of the largest building, which was shaped like a big, thick letter L, “can verify visually that there are only a handful of vehicles left at the site, and they appear to be parked in the back portion of the lot.”

“Ninety-five percent certainty they're in the lot reserved for security personnel,” Jerry said. “Meaning work's done for the day.”

“Long hours, really. It's around seven in the evening, isn't it?”

“Normal hours if you're running twelve-hour shifts,” Walker said.

“So they're not a twenty-four-seven operation? That seems . . . odd.”

Randy shrugged—interesting that I could see it through the body armor. “It keeps your cover better in some ways if you look like everyone else. I think that they leave when the school personnel leave, so that it's obvious to anyone going to or from the school that it's just a regular kind of workplace.”

“The other facility we were blocked from at Forest Haven is an adult retraining compound,” Keith shared. “Totally legit, not a detention center, just a place for adults out of a job to go to learn new skills. And they're letting out now, too.”

“So that means that if there's another shift at the black site, they won't be here for a few hours.”

Got the room's attention, go me. “What do you mean?” Mahin asked.

Heaved a sigh and saw Camilla clearly trying not to laugh. “They're faking out the normal people nearby. But I'm still betting they have a nighttime crew. Those people just arrive probably around nine in the evening and most likely leave somewhere between four and six in the morning.”

Camilla nodded. “I'd assume so. That gives us what we hope is a two-hour window to do this raid and rescue. I'd suggest we do it faster than that, because there's no guarantee that the next crew will be here at nine. They could be here at seven-thirty.”

“Ah, Commander?” Keith sounded concerned. “Devon reports that someone's joined their team.”

“Who?”

“Christopher White.”

“Ah, no worries, we're not mad at him. Does he want to join us?”

“He wants to lead that team. He brought weapons for them with him.”

“How?”

“In a big bag, apparently.”

“How Santa Claus in the Summer of him. But yes, tell them that they should absolutely follow Christopher's lead. He's done this kind of stuff a lot more than they have, and I'm saying that with the assumption that everyone down there has been in this kind of work all of their lives.”

“Roger that, Commander.”

Looked at White. “I guess he didn't want to wonder how you were doing anymore.”

White chuckled. “I appreciate his concern over my welfare.”

“Yeah, it's nice to know that someone cares.” Of course, I'd told Jeff and the others to stay put, so it wasn't fair to compare them to Christopher, who I'd asked to have meet us.

“While we'll be landing, you can leave the ship earlier,” Walker said. “And I'd recommend it. There are cables at the hatch I'm sending you to—they'll help you get down safely.”

“Commander,” Hughes said as Walker gave Daniel some quiet instructions, presumably about how to find the right exit hatch. “We are in position over the roof. As soon as we lower, I expect anyone there to be aware of us, so suggest away team preps for departure.”

“Gotcha. Until I'm back, Matt's in charge. Matt, ensure that you don't move onto the side of the men I'm angry with.”

“Roger that and no fear, Commander. I know who my ultimate commanding officer is. And it's you, in case you weren't sure.”

“That's the spirit. Lizzie, that means you obey Matt's orders. Within reason. Same for Abby and Mahin.”

“Got it. If they totes try to leave you guys here or something I'll handle it.”

Abigail grinned and Mahin nodded.

“Excellent. Daniel, lead us to our exit point.”

The raiding party followed Daniel to a hatch that looked just like the one we'd entered through. The surrounding area was different, though. It resembled the interior of a plane that was being used by paratroopers. As promised, we found the cables—and lots of them. The paratrooper comparison got a lot stronger. Happily, there were gloves here, too. Nice to see that Drax thought of everything.

We all put on gloves and grabbed a cable. Joe showed us all how to hold onto the cables to go down like we'd want to in order to avoid going splat.

“Who's lead now?” Adriana asked. “Kitty, you're here, so it should be you.”

“There's enough room that we can go two at a time,” Randy said.

“Good, but this isn't my area of expertise, at least not until we're down. Joe and Randy, you lead, then me and Richard. Camilla and Adriana, you bring up the rear. Everyone else, no shoving, play nicely, go in teams like you're already used to—Field, princesses, Field.”

Joe grinned. “Sounds good. And before you ask, yes, we'll catch you, Commander.”

“Thanks, I'm certain that'll be an issue.”

“Everyone should put on their goggles then hold onto the straps,” Randy indicated straps all around this area. “Make sure your weapons are strapped, too. Check each other to be sure. Even though we're low, when the hatch opens, there's going to be some backdraft.”

Did the weapons check with Randy, who was in front of me, and Daniel, who was behind. We were all secure. Checked my purse which, body armor or no body armor, I still had over my neck. My skirt and pumps were gone as if they'd never been with me, but I had something in their place—Harlie and Poofikins. Poofs on Board made me feel a tad better.

As I thought this a third Poof arrived—Murphy, who was Jeff's special Poof. Harlie was supposedly his, but had bonded with me. But Murphy was definitely Jeff's Poof now. Interesting. Patted the Poofs. “Kitty's never mad at any of
you
.” They all purred at me, which made me feel better and a little less upset with Jeff and the others.

We all got our goggles in place and hooked on just in time, because backdraft there was. Though it wasn't all that bad, it probably would have knocked me or Adriana down and possibly out. And it wouldn't have been fun on the eyes, either.

We were much more than a few feet over the roof, however. But my Six Million Dollar Men didn't hesitate. “Go!” Joe said, and he and Randy jumped. They whizzed down their cables just as they'd shown us how to do. But they were easily ten feet above the roof when the cables ran out.

Both guys flipped into somersaults in the air and landed on their feet in lovely cat-like crouches.

They stood up, turned around, and waved.

“We're up, Missus Martini,” White shouted.

Nodded and we jumped onto our cables.

Couldn't pay attention to White because I was too focused on myself. I was whizzing down the cable a lot faster than I'd been prepared for—the end came a lot sooner, too. Tried to flip in the air like Joe and Randy had done, but didn't manage it. Sort of flailed around like I was trying to do the backstroke in the air, which probably looked hilarious.

Managed to tuck my head so when I landed I might not knock myself out. But I didn't hit hard—I hit White, landing right in his arms.

“Wow, you're impressing all the girls again, Mister White.”

“It's what I do. I landed close to where it looked like you were going to hit. I must say, when you make Jeffrey suffer later, do tell him about this. But please make sure I'm far away.”

Laughed as he put me down. “Yeah, this is normally Jeff's job. Wish I didn't feel like today he wouldn't have done it, though.”

“Let's get through this raid, then we'll find out what really happened on their end of things. I'd imagine we'll understand once we know.”

“Hope so. Or I'll go on a rampage, so, you know, fun times either way.”

All the rest of the teams had absolutely no issue landing and were all on the roof by the time White had put me down and we'd finished bantering. Actively chose not to be bitter.

Joe indicated it was my show now. Made the “after you” sign. “You and Randy take point. You've had more experience. But I'll be right behind you.”

“Please remember to keep a wary eye open for traps and such,” White said to them and me as we all pulled our big guns off of our backs and I shifted into place behind Randy, White right behind me, clearly ready to yank me back if necessary.

Nodded, then Joe made the “moving out” and “be quiet” signals, and we started off at a trot. There was a doorway ahead of us, and Joe had us go to the right and left so we wouldn't be in the line of fire. Randy pulled the door open. “Clear!”

They headed in and downstairs and the rest of us followed, going quietly. Not for the first time, I was glad that I'd asked for and received jeans and Converse—there was no way I could have been quiet in pumps.

We reached the top floor, and Joe motioned to Daniel and Joshua. Those two took off at hyperspeed and were back quickly. “Clear,” Daniel said. “Two sets of stairs heading down, both clear when we checked.”

“Looks like a combination school and scientific think tank,” Joshua added.

Joe nodded, and we headed for the nearest stairs down. Heard what I was pretty sure was the helicarrier landing as we did so.

Reached the ground floor and Daniel and Joseph zipped off again. This time they weren't as fast to come back.

“Found some security,” Daniel said when they returned. “Subdued and contained. Left them near the main entrance, so we may want to move them.”

“We found these on them.” Joshua handed me some keycards and four walkie-talkies. Dumped them into my purse, doing my best not to disturb the Poofs in there.

“Any guess for who's running this place yet?” The keycards and walkies hadn't had any logos on them.

“Not yet,” Daniel said. “We caught them unawares and they're knocked out, tied up, and gagged. We didn't do interrogations, but we can later if necessary.”

“Okay, you guys and Luke and Marc—do fast searches of all the buildings you can access.” Handed them the keycards back. “Only subdue if it's safe for you to do it. Otherwise, come back and we'll full-on raid. We'll be moving the prisoners.”

The two Field teams took off. Joe led us to the front door, which was accessed through a long entry hallway. Took a look at our unconscious prisoners. No one looked familiar to any of us, and they just looked like normal guys doing security. They were dressed that way, too. If this was the NSA black site we all thought it was, these guys were definitely providing the Normal Person Camouflage.

The princesses dragged the bodies into a nearby office that Camilla indicated. “We need to give the fallback team a heads up if we're able to,” Joe said. “They can't help us if they don't know what we're doing.”

White nodded. “That will fall to me. Be right back. Start firing weapons if you need me sooner.” He took off.

Looked around. Nothing exciting to see, though the goggles had adjusted to the fact that we had light. They did some interesting stuff, but nothing that mattered for what we were doing right now, unless I cared about how thick the walls here were, and currently I did not.

The Field teams were back shortly after White had left. “Nothing and no one,” Marcus said. “Anywhere on the above-ground levels. We found a stairway leading to lower levels but figured you'd want the full team before we headed down.”

“It's a think tank, I believe,” Lucas said. “Classrooms, offices, rooms devoted to science and engineering.”

“And so far it looks innocuous,” Joshua added. “So let's hope you're right, Commander, because if not, we've attacked without provocation.”

“I'd be a lot more worried about this if anyone could have found this place listed. That they couldn't means that I'm not wrong, but that they're really smart about hiding their real work here.” I sincerely hoped.

“We checked what we could of the grounds as well,” Daniel said. “Nothing of interest. There are three smaller buildings that were only accessible by going outside. Look like dormitories, but there's nothing in them to indicate that anyone's sleeping here right now.”