The Dig: A Taskforce Story (6 page)

Sweetwater said, “I’m telling you, that was a piece of an alien spacecraft! That’s what we found out there. That’s what Chris wanted. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret, but I didn’t know he was trying to take it from the federal government.”

I glanced at Jennifer to see what she thought. She stopped tapping on our laptop and glared at him, saying, “They weren’t federal agents, you jackass. I can’t believe you sucked me into a fake dig.”

We’d made it out of the compound without getting shot, thankfully finding out the front gate was operated by a pressure plate on the inside instead of being controlled by a human. We’d driven straight back to our little dump of a motel, listening to Sweetwater spill his guts.

Apparently, the guy named Chris had approached him about stopping the dam construction under the auspices of finding ET’s station wagon, and had paid him a ton of money to use his preservation society to do so. When that had failed, Sweetwater had gone into the archives and grabbed a bunch of old artifacts. He’d spread them out on the riverbank near the construction site, then had brought us in.

Jennifer was as angry as I’d ever seen her, and I was pretty sure it was because her little “real-world” job had turned out to be a chimera, making her look like a fool.

The Blackhorse Tactical guys had kept up the “federal agent” angle, saying that Chris and his minions were actually foreign spies, and that Jennifer and Sweetwater had either stumbled upon a top-secret project as patsies or were in league with the foreign evildoers.

Sweetwater said, “I don’t want to go to jail. We should turn ourselves in. Running makes us look like we’re guilty of something.”

I said, “One of us
is
guilty. I ought to pound the shit out of you.”

He shrank into the stained motel chair, not saying a word. I continued, “It wasn’t a UFO. It’s something else. Something that’s definitely tied to the federal government, but Jennifer’s right: Those men weren’t agents. They were local security for Aegis Solutions. That hangar has something inside it that they want to keep secret—and not just from civilians. They want to keep it secret from everyone, including the government.”

Jennifer turned the computer toward me and said, “Take a look at this.”

I leaned in saying, “What is it?”

She said, “Last month there was a freak rainstorm. A bunch of ranchers out near the Pecos River said they saw something crash during the storm. The area was immediately cordoned off by government types.”

I scanned the news article and saw it was more about bullshit UFO conspiracy theories than anything that could help us. I said, “You think this is connected?”

“Maybe. That little creek where they’re building the dam would have been a flash-flood river. Maybe whatever crashed broke apart, and pieces of it were washed downstream.”

I thought about what I’d seen inside the hangar and the conversation between the two lab rats. Then about how this was
absolutely
not my problem.

She leaned back and put her hands behind her head. I could see the gears turning. “What?”

“Nothing. Just had a thought.”

“Well, spill it.”

She sat up and said, “Okay. We know something crashed and they cordoned off the wreck. Suppose they tried to gather up the pieces, but they couldn’t find them all. The creek’s a raging river, so they have to wait until the storm passes and it subsides. When that happens, they scour the terrain but come up empty. Now, another team is out there, maybe a foreign government. Aegis is more concerned about keeping
them
from finding it than an actual recovery, so that’s what they focus on.”

I saw where she was going. “By burying it under the water of a man-made lake . . . I’ll be damned, no pun intended. You’re pretty fucking smart.”

She scowled theatrically at my cursing and I quickly said, “Pretty friggin’ smart . . .”

She broke into a real smile and I returned it, feeling the connection. Like a bad wingman in a bar, Sweetwater shattered the mood, saying, “I still think we need to go to the police. There was a shootout today. People died.”

I
really
wanted to punch him.

I said, “You do what you want to do, shithead, right after you write us a check.”

“What? A check? You didn’t do what I hired you for.”

I leaned into him, saying over my shoulder, “Jennifer, what did he hire us for?”

“To confirm or deny a site of archaeological significance in advance of a dam’s construction, thereby preventing its loss.”

With my eyes locked on his, I said, “And did we accomplish that objective, Jennifer?”

“Yes. We determined that the area in question, while it contained artifacts from several different epochs, was not in and of itself of any archaeological significance. Mainly because the artifacts had been scattered about by the jackass that hired us.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. I said, “Now, if you like, we can put that in a report, of which a copy will go to the preservation society. I’m sure they’d like to know how their hard-gained artifacts were being used by their president. Either way, get out your damn checkbook or I’ll take it out of your hide.”

I expected Jennifer to stop me, but she didn’t. She just sat there with a scowl on her face, her arms crossed, glaring.

He raised his hands and said, “Okay, okay. I’ll pay what we agreed to. No need for a report.”

He stood, saying, “What now?”

“Well, we’re getting the hell out of here, so you can mail us the check. You understand, of course, what will happen if you don’t, right?”

“Yes, yes, I get it. Geez. I meant what about me?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. You’ve gotten yourself tangled up with some serious men. From what Jennifer said, Chris is more than likely dead. On the other hand, the guys from Blackhorse Tactical are definitely alive, and probably pissed. You’re a witness to what happened out in the desert. If I were you, I’d think long and hard about a vacation at least two states away. Maybe a permanent vacation.”

His face drained of color. He said, “I can’t do that. I can’t just up and leave. I have a job. I have family. . . .”

“Should’ve thought about that before you started taking money for a fraud.”

Jennifer said, “Pike. We can’t just leave him here. They were going to kill the both of us today before you showed up. You heard what happened at the river. They slaughtered those guys, and I’m sure they buried the bodies out in the desert. He’d last ten minutes in this town.”

“And how is that my problem? We came out here to conduct an archaeological survey based on his lies. Might I remind you that it was
you
who said I was creating conspiracies? That it was all about the dig? Well, that’s done. He’s made his own bed, and now he’ll lie in it.”

Sweetwater said, “I’ll pay you. I’ll pay whatever you want.”

I clenched my fist, willing it not to fly into his face. I said, “I’m not a fucking gun for hire, asshole.”

Jennifer said, “No, you’re not. But you occasionally do the right thing. Just because it’s right. Like you did in Guatemala.”

I exhaled, exasperated. I said, “Who shot first at the river?”

“What? Why does that matter?”

“Are you sure the Blackhorse guys pulled the trigger? I mean, they came out raising badges, like they were just trying to get everyone disarmed. Who fired the initial rounds?”

“I . . . I don’t know. It could have been either side. It might have been Chris.”

“Maybe that whole thing in the desert was nothing but self-defense. Yeah, they were faking the federal agent thing, but that was just to get their missing top-secret wreckage back. Maybe they were
forced
to kill everyone.”

She said, “Pike, they were going to murder us. I’m sure of it. I could see it by how the security force acted. They took orders from the one with the badge—the one you beat up—but they were afraid to look us in the eye. Afraid to engage us in conversation. Because we were dead already.”

“Jennifer, that’s just your gut feeling in the fear of the moment. You can’t prove that.”

“If all they wanted was the wreckage back, then why did they chase us down with a helicopter? They already had the lost piece.”

I had no answer to that. She said, “Because they didn’t want any witnesses, that’s why. There’s enough money involved here that Aegis is willing to murder to protect it. They’re covering up something, and it’ll probably end up getting a soldier killed some day. Is that what you want? Some contractor to make a fortune selling faulty equipment, getting rich off the blood of your brethren?”

That is dirty pool
. I raised my voice, “What do you want me to do? What the hell is the right thing here? You want me to go back to the hangar and murder all of them?”

“No. Let’s figure out what the big secret is. Then jam it up their ass.”

I snapped back at her words, actually impressed with her cursing. I said, “So that’s what you want? To risk your life for a bunch of contract cheats? That shit goes on all the time in the Defense universe.”

Her eyes settled on me, and I saw something new. An awareness of the world she was entering. An understanding of her place, but also an understanding of her power to change it.

She said, “Contract cheats are nothing. Those guys were going to kill me. I’d like to show them how big a mistake that was.”

Sitting outside the wire, I watched an aircraft come into final approach for Roswell International, wondering yet again what magical ability Jennifer had to get me to do stupid things. She said, “How long are we going to wait?”

Until this moment of insanity passes from my brain
. “Until I’m ready, damn it.”

She turned away with a scowl, saying, “It’s only three hours until daylight. You said it would take at least an hour to get through the fence. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for exploring.”

It had been a full two days since our discussion in the motel room, and the Blackhorse boys had been running all over town trying to find us. Which had made it hard to conduct a proper surveillance of their facility.

I’d called Kurt, relaying what we had and asking for some help. He’d gotten a little agitated, to put it mildly.

“Are you telling me you went to Roswell, New Mexico for an archaeological dig, and instead you’ve killed a bunch of people in the desert? And you want me to do something about it? Are you out of your mind?”

“Sir, I didn’t kill anyone. It’s Aegis and their Blackhorse Tactical security. I’m telling you they’re covering for something. I need to know what they’re up to in that hangar. You can find that out.”

“Jesus, Pike. I don’t know what to do with you. I’m trying to convince the Oversight Council to use your damn company, and they’re already skittish as hell about you. This isn’t going to help.”

“Sir, I didn’t
do
anything. They’re the ones that are killing. They kidnapped Jennifer, for Christ’s sake. If you don’t believe me, believe her.”

“She’s involved in this too?”

“Well, of course. She’s the one who came up with the theory—and it’s a pretty good one. I just want to prove it.”

I heard nothing on the phone for a minute, then a sigh. He said, “Okay, look, I did a scrub after our last conversation. Aegis has a contract with Big Safari. They’re working on a new stealth UAV. An armed drone that carries a bigger payload than just hellfire missiles.”

I took that in.
So much for aliens.

Big Safari was a classified program run by the US Air Force that focused on rapid procurement of all sorts of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms. Everything it touched was top secret.

I said, “So that’s what crashed out there? A prototype of an invisible armed drone?”

“Yeah. The SECDEF is a little agitated because of the cost. It was a no-bid contract, so others are saying it’s a money pit.”

Which was the same old DoD story. In the past, Big Safari had generated some bad press because of its tendency for no-bid contracts, instead relying on the good ol’ boy network to get things done. A lot of defense types on both the industry and the government side had complained that the system didn’t allow for competition.

“Well, I agree with him. I think it
is
a money pit. One thing’s for sure: The UAV’s not invisible. I heard two of the scientists talking. It doesn’t work, and they’re faking tests to keep the funding. That’s why they were so adamant about getting that little piece back. It would provide proof of their fake tests. This must be worth billions to Aegis. A long-term funding stream of maintenance and support, all backed up by their classified testing.”

“You got any proof of that?”

“No. But I’m going to get it. Will you help? All I need is someone to exploit their computers. I’ll gain the access.”

“Pike, I can’t authorize this. I can pass along your suspicions to the SECDEF at the next Council meeting, have him talk to the Armed Services Oversight Committees and check out Big Safari, but there’s no way I can conduct an operation on US soil against a US corporation.”

“Sir, there’s too much money floating around here. Congress will do nothing. It’ll just be cost overruns and delays, giving Aegis time to hide their flaws and present some bullshit report. All that will accomplish is the loss of more tax dollars. I’m not asking for a Taskforce team. Just some computer help. I’ll do it myself.”

“Pike, the answer is no. Not a chance in hell. Besides that, Creed’s on leave.”

Bartholomew Creedwater was a Taskforce hacker. A geek like all the others in the hacking cell, he was an expert at penetrating computer networks. Unlike the others, he’d actually done a ton of illegal hacking operations before seeing the light with the Taskforce. Given that, Kurt’s statement made little sense.

Why do I give a shit if he’s on leave?
It wasn’t like Taskforce computer operations shut down because of one man.
Especially one who had no qualms about breaking the law.

Hesitatingly, I said, “Yeah? Is he still in the building?”

“How the hell would I know? Pike, get back home. You get caught doing stupid shit out there, and you’re on your own. No way will the Oversight Council let you back in.”

Wow. Real subtle.
I decided to poke him a little bit. “Understood, sir. But if the evidence falls in my lap, Jennifer gets a shot at Selection, right?”

I heard a click, waited a bit, then said, “Hello? You still there?”

Two nights later and I was sitting outside the Aegis compound with a pocket full of thumb drives, a computer geek on standby, and Jennifer lying in the ditch next to me. About to execute what I considered a marginal plan, at best.

While waiting on the FedEx of hacking tools from Creed, Jennifer and I had done about as much reconnaissance as we could manage, dodging the big hulking four-by-fours the Blackhorse Tactical guys were using all over the city.

When we were done, I was going to give them a little lesson on camouflage and blending in, but in the meantime, I’d found no weaknesses in their fence line. The only way in was through the front gate. It was impossible to remain undetected trying to cut through or climb the fence itself.

Getting the gate open posed its own challenges. Around six
P.M.—
the latest seven—all the scientists went home. After that, the compound was left to the Blackhorse boys.

We’d brainstormed quite a few different options, with Sweetwater actually suggesting we pole-vault over the fence. I wasn’t sure if he was succumbing to cabin fever or if he was just that stupid.

Jennifer suggested a diversion, and that would work, up to a point. I could trigger a reaction by messing with the sensors on the fence, but I couldn’t get them to actually open the gate to leave the compound. They’d just inspect from the inside. I’d have to involve a third party to interest them enough to go outside the fence line, and the only one I had was Sweetwater. No way was I going to trust him to get away after a diversion. Not with some tactical guys frothing at the mouth to get him.

It wasn’t that I had that much concern for his welfare. It was ours I was worried about, because once they caught him, he’d spill his guts that we were on the inside.

In the end, I decided to cut my way through, which would require triggering the fence enough that they thought they had a sensor fault, then cutting a hole in between the inevitable increase in vehicle patrols—all while hiding said hole from discovery.

It would take a lot of time. Which was why Jennifer had questioned my delay in execution.