Area 51: The Mission-3 by Robert Doherty Page A
Authors: Robert Doherty
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Espionage, Political, High Tech, Unidentified flying objects, Space ships, Area 51 (Nev.), Plague, Extraterrestrial beings
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half lifting the much smaller woman off the flight deck. They stayed that way for a few seconds, then Duncan was the first to let go, conscious of the eyes watching them.
"Come on." Turcotte gestured toward a hatch in the island on the right side of the flight deck. The John C. Stennis was a sister ship to the carrier Duncan had left; a Nimitz-class carrier, the top of the line of the U.S. Navy. The class of carrier was not only the largest warship afloat, it was considered the most powerful weapon on the face of the planet, carrying over seventy war-planes capable of launching weapons up to and including nuclear warheads.
The Stennis's flight deck was 1,092 feet long and 252 feet wide. The plane Duncan had flown in on was already disconnected from the landing cable and being towed to the large elevator that would bring it to the deck below for service.
F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets crowded the deck, jammed in tight.
Turcotte led the way to a conference room just off the communications shack that the captain had reserved for his use. Turcotte had arrived on the Stennis a half hour before from his Antarctic expedition, only to learn 91
that Duncan was en route and that the Easter Island Task Force was in a communications blackout owing to the NSA shutting down the FLTSATCOM satellite.
As Turcotte poured them both a cup of coffee, Lisa Duncan took off her leather jacket and put her briefcase on top of the conference table.
"Nothing from Easter Island?" Turcotte asked.
"The Sea Eye torpedo went through the shield. But that's the last we've heard from it. The Springfield cut the wire."
"And the Springfield?"
"Sitting on the bottom, just outside the shield. Three foo fighters are around it."
"Where did they come from?"
"I'd say from Easter Island. Maybe the guardian made some."
"Made some," Turcotte repeated. "That's not good. How long can the sub just sit there?"
"Months if necessary," Duncan said.
"I wonder what the hell is going on with Kelly," Turcotte said. "I'm sure she was in contact with the guardian."
Duncan accepted the coffee and took a drink. She wrapped her fingers around the mug, feeling the warmth. "She could be dead."
"She could be, but I don't think so. I think the guardian would find her too useful."
Duncan didn't like dwelling on that, so she changed the subject. "I got your report on Scorpion Base."
"I'm having the computer hard drives forwarded to Major Quinn at Area 51.
Maybe his people can pull something out of them. We'll have to wait on the bodies until they can thaw those tanks out and remove them."
Lisa Duncan held up a sheaf of faxes she'd received in flight. "This is only a partial listing of what the guard-
92
ian got into on the Interlink and Internet before it got cut off."
"Anything significant?"
Duncan snorted. "Yeah, everything's significant. Classified-weapons programs.
Research information. It accessed the skunkworks and got performance data on all the classified-aircraft programs. It completely went through NASA's database and got everything on the space program. Department of Defense records."
"A recon," Turcotte summed it up.
"Exactly."
"But for what purpose?" Turcotte mused. "Simply to gather information, or does it have something planned?"
"Probably both," Duncan said. "The guardian also went into the Internet."
"And?"
"NSA is still trying to track everything it did. But the disturbing thing is that it appears the guardian sent some e-mail messages."
"To who?"
"NSA hasn't tracked that down yet, and they're not sure they're going to be able to as the addresses no longer exist."
"What were the messages?"
"They were encoded. NSA is still trying to break the code." Duncan shoved the papers aside. "There's more."
Turcotte rubbed his eyes. "What?"
"I got a strange call." Duncan told him of the brief conversation with Harrison.
"Anything on this Harrison guy?"
"I've had Major Quinn check. Nothing."
"And his claim that Temiltepec was not the site the
"Come on." Turcotte gestured toward a hatch in the island on the right side of the flight deck. The John C. Stennis was a sister ship to the carrier Duncan had left; a Nimitz-class carrier, the top of the line of the U.S. Navy. The class of carrier was not only the largest warship afloat, it was considered the most powerful weapon on the face of the planet, carrying over seventy war-planes capable of launching weapons up to and including nuclear warheads.
The Stennis's flight deck was 1,092 feet long and 252 feet wide. The plane Duncan had flown in on was already disconnected from the landing cable and being towed to the large elevator that would bring it to the deck below for service.
F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets crowded the deck, jammed in tight.
Turcotte led the way to a conference room just off the communications shack that the captain had reserved for his use. Turcotte had arrived on the Stennis a half hour before from his Antarctic expedition, only to learn 91
that Duncan was en route and that the Easter Island Task Force was in a communications blackout owing to the NSA shutting down the FLTSATCOM satellite.
As Turcotte poured them both a cup of coffee, Lisa Duncan took off her leather jacket and put her briefcase on top of the conference table.
"Nothing from Easter Island?" Turcotte asked.
"The Sea Eye torpedo went through the shield. But that's the last we've heard from it. The Springfield cut the wire."
"And the Springfield?"
"Sitting on the bottom, just outside the shield. Three foo fighters are around it."
"Where did they come from?"
"I'd say from Easter Island. Maybe the guardian made some."
"Made some," Turcotte repeated. "That's not good. How long can the sub just sit there?"
"Months if necessary," Duncan said.
"I wonder what the hell is going on with Kelly," Turcotte said. "I'm sure she was in contact with the guardian."
Duncan accepted the coffee and took a drink. She wrapped her fingers around the mug, feeling the warmth. "She could be dead."
"She could be, but I don't think so. I think the guardian would find her too useful."
Duncan didn't like dwelling on that, so she changed the subject. "I got your report on Scorpion Base."
"I'm having the computer hard drives forwarded to Major Quinn at Area 51.
Maybe his people can pull something out of them. We'll have to wait on the bodies until they can thaw those tanks out and remove them."
Lisa Duncan held up a sheaf of faxes she'd received in flight. "This is only a partial listing of what the guard-
92
ian got into on the Interlink and Internet before it got cut off."
"Anything significant?"
Duncan snorted. "Yeah, everything's significant. Classified-weapons programs.
Research information. It accessed the skunkworks and got performance data on all the classified-aircraft programs. It completely went through NASA's database and got everything on the space program. Department of Defense records."
"A recon," Turcotte summed it up.
"Exactly."
"But for what purpose?" Turcotte mused. "Simply to gather information, or does it have something planned?"
"Probably both," Duncan said. "The guardian also went into the Internet."
"And?"
"NSA is still trying to track everything it did. But the disturbing thing is that it appears the guardian sent some e-mail messages."
"To who?"
"NSA hasn't tracked that down yet, and they're not sure they're going to be able to as the addresses no longer exist."
"What were the messages?"
"They were encoded. NSA is still trying to break the code." Duncan shoved the papers aside. "There's more."
Turcotte rubbed his eyes. "What?"
"I got a strange call." Duncan told him of the brief conversation with Harrison.
"Anything on this Harrison guy?"
"I've had Major Quinn check. Nothing."
"And his claim that Temiltepec was not the site the
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