“What? Not even I can see it?” the Secretary of Defense said.
“Sorry sir, those are my orders.”
“Who gave you those orders?”
“The President of the United States,” Devin answered.
“Hold on. I didn’t issue such orders,” the President interjected.
“Your predecessors did, sir. Please just read the first page and you will understand.”
“This is the nuttiest thing I have ever heard of,” he said, taking the book from the general. He opened it to the first page:
MAJESTIC-12 GROUP SOP
STOP — ULTRA TOP SECRET
FOR THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF and
COMMANDER OF NELLIS GUNNERY RANGE
EYES ONLY
He looked up at the general after reading the cover and turned to the first page:
The commander of the Nellis Gunnery Range shall be in charge of all operations within the facility. All projects carried out at this facility shall be considered ULTRA TOP SECRET. No one is to divulge the projects taking place at any time. Divulgence of such projects shall be considered an act of treason against the United States of America.
The commander of the base will report directly to the current President of the United States and no other unless specifically directed to do so both verbally and in writing by the Commander-in-Chief.
The SOP manual is classified as ULTRA TOP SECRET and for the eyes only of the President of the United States and the Commanding Officer of Nellis Gunnery Range. All other persons are strictly forbidden to review the material in this manual.
By order of: Harry S. Truman
President of the United States
November 12, 1948
The President looked up after reading the page and said, “Harry Truman?”
“Yes sir, the original MJ-12 Group was initiated by President Truman and is still in effect today. Every Commander-in-Chief since has been aware of MJ-12. It should have been part of your briefing when you took the office of President and CNC,” Devin said.
“Well it wasn’t. Why am I just now finding out about this? Don’t you think you have a duty to inform me of this MJ … whatever?”
“Actually I do not,” if you will read on, you will find that it is the duty of the outgoing Commander-in-Chief to brief the incoming CNC. It states in the manual, on page four, paragraph two, that it is the duty of the CNC to review the quarterly reports and to notify the commanding officer of Nellis if further clarification is necessary. I sent a detailed report to the White House the day you took office Mr. President.”
“Mr. President, what is going on here exactly? What is he talking about? What is MJ–12 anyway?” Hollister asked.
“You know as much as I do Craig. It seems the general knows a lot more than either of us. Why don’t you start from the beginning and explain it to us?” the President said.
“I would be more than happy to go over the details with you Mr. President but I’m afraid that the Secretary will have to leave the room.”
“What? I have to leave?” Hollister said, getting to his feet, “That is outrageous General Devin. The Secretary of Defense certainly out ranks a general by miles.”
“I understand your feelings and I wish it were different but those are my orders given by President Truman and every CNC since the original inception of this department,” Devin said.
“Sir. He can’t be serious,” Craig said, turning to the President who was reading the next page.
“Just a minute Craig,” the President said reading on in the manual.
Hollister was seething while waiting for the President to put an end to this farce.
The President looked up and said, “Craig, I’m afraid the general is right. The materials in this document and all subsequent reports are for my eyes only unless specifically appointed to another person. Until I know more about this I think it best to keep it for my eyes only. Once I have waded through this I may expand the need to know circle.”
“Sir. As Secretary of Defense, I need to know everything that we are doing as a nation. I should be privy to all information that concerns our status as a world power. How can I operate without total knowledge?”
“Well, for now you are just going to have to wait. I didn’t say you won’t be given access to this material, but in the same light, I need to understand what this is all about before I make a rash decision,” he said.
“But sir…”
“Sorry Craig, that’s the way it is going to be for now. Now if you will excuse yourself, the general needs to bring me up to speed and explain just what is going on.”
Hollister stiffened at being told to leave while the general stayed. He was going to get this little pipsqueak. No general was going to waltz in to the White House and have him thrown out of a meeting with the President.
“Yes sir,” he managed to get out before leaving.
When he had gone, the President said, “Now general, I want to know just what this is all about. I want it all and don’t leave anything out. I don’t want to find out about something we are doing from any other source. I don’t want to hear of an oversight later on. Do you understand general?”
“I do indeed, Mr. President. Let’s start with the background and then I will bring you up to date,” Devin said.
“I’m all ears,” the President replied, placing his elbows on his desk and clasping his fingers.
It would be three hours and four cancelled meetings later before the President was given all the information the general wanted to divulge.
When Devin left the president sat for some time, going over what he had just learned. Flying saucers, aliens, advanced civilizations, another planet with life, this was the stuff that fictional movies were made of and now he finds out that it is going on right here in America. This can’t be true. He was going to have to see this for himself.
TWENTY-ONE
George Snapp was convinced that he was being told the truth or at least most of it was true. He had spent the last month checking and double checking the information he had been given by Drs. Barnett and Lake. He decided he needed to either follow through or drop the whole thing. Dropping it didn’t seem like much of an option.
He dialed the number that Lake had given him. On the third ring he answered.
“Lake.”
“Hi. This is George Snapp, we met before.”
“Yes George. I assume you checked out my story and are calling to find out more about what goes on at Dreamland,” Lake responded.
“Yeah. It appears that there is a lot of truth in what you are telling me,” George replied.
“A lot? It is all true. That and much more,” he said.
“When can we meet?”
“Well, undoubtedly they have your phone tapped and are trying to trace this call. I will let you know when and where,” Lake said and hung up the phone.
“Lake? Lake?” he said and looked at the phone like it could tell him where to find him.
All he could do now was wait to be contacted but how? How did he know if his phone was tapped or not? Considering the threat from his two visitors, he decided to be on the safe side.
That night when he opened the door to get into his car he saw a note on the seat. Snapp picked it up and looked around, how had it gotten inside his car? He always locked it, and yet there was the note.
When you leave the parking lot, you will be followed. They have been keeping an eye on you ever since your meeting with Dr. Dan. You must get rid of the tail and when you feel it is safe, drive to 1201 Beacon Street.