“What details?”
“It’s not as simple as hiking to a vehicle and driving away. I’ll let you know more when I think it’s important.”
Accepting his predicament, Blake decided to take advantage of his travel companion’s apparent knowledge and the opportunity to see Papoose Dry Lake. Visiting Papoose was extraordinary; in recent decades more people had set foot on Mount Everest’s peak. Whether Papoose’s sequestered location protected national secrets or merely encouraged the rampant spread of unverifiable rumors, Blake would partake in a dream hike for many ufologists, aviation buffs and conspiracy theorists.
“So we’re going to Papoose,” Blake said. “That’s why you didn’t care about the test last night. You want the secrets they keep at the second base. What’ve you seen?”
“I’ve seen the place where they keep the aliens,” Val said in a deadpan response.
“Really?”
“No. I was just testing your beliefs.” He offered his first chuckle and said, “It’s best if you don’t know much about me.”
“I’m beginning to understand quite a bit about you. If you were interested in the large hangar at Groom Lake, but not the test craft, you must have been looking for the tunnel entrance.”
His mentioning of the tunnel surprised Val. “How do you know about the tunnel?”
“Same way I learned how to sneak on the base.”
“Which is?” Val asked.
“This is where our conversations seem to reach a stalemate. Neither of us wants to trust the other.”
“You’re already trusting me — with your life!”
“My actions may be illegal,” Blake admitted, “but I consider my intentions morally correct. I don’t agree with the way the government conducts business out here. I’m not looking to subvert the government. I just don’t want the government subverting me.”
“Are you saying you would talk to me if you thought it was for a good cause?”
“Something like that,” Blake said.
“I’m going to have to divulge certain information to you about my situation. You’ll see things that a resourceful person — as I believe you to be — could piece together and use to figure me out.” Val was thinking ahead, what he would have to tell Blake about his cover at the Nevada Test Site. He figured the best option to force Blake’s continued obedience was pulling his trump card, flexing muscle with his identity. Grasping hold of the mask still covering his face, Val pulled it off, revealing his matted sandy-blond hair and a narrow, unshaven face that tightened a little more each day as his body burned more calories than it consumed. “My name is Val Vaden. I’m FBI.”
“FBI!” Blake took a moment to consider the ramifications of the FBI sneaking around Area 51. “So are you spying or conducting surveillance?”
“I guess that depends on who you ask?”
“I’d love to see those congressional hearings,” Blake said, imagining various branches of the intelligence community squaring off before Congress. Then the thought of Val being an FBI agent caused a more personal realization. “So, am I going to be arrested when we get out of here?”
“Arresting you would raise some interesting questions about jurisdiction, and even more questions about my presence here.”
“You’re spying on the spooks — the checks versus the balances.”
“Once we get out of here I’ll expect more cooperation.”
Making a friend at the FBI appealed to Blake, and would lend credence to his actions. “You’re the contact I need,” Blake told him. “Maybe fate brought us together.”
“I tend to believe in positive visualization.”
“It gets better,” Blake said, his enthusiasm evident in his voice. Pointing toward the base, “People are down there looking for someone like you.”
“How did you find them?”
“They found me.”
“Why you?”
Blake considered the professor’s FOIA documents. “It started with some information that fell into my hands, then triggered a bizarre chain of events. You doubt my background as a student, but that’s all I am. I start work on a PhD this fall.”
“And what do you study?”
“Antigravity propulsion.”
Val had a feeling, an intuition, a lingering sensation that befuddled his thoughts and made him sick to his stomach. He thought about Professor Eldred and the background investigative work he had conducted on him, and his assistant. He looked into the eyes of the young man sitting with him and stated his name: “Blake Hunter.”
Blake started to speak, but didn’t know what to say. He paused a moment, then stuttered, “I … I know I didn’t tell you my name.”
“You study under Professor Eldred?”
Now Blake was beginning to feel queasy. “Something like that. Why?”
Val shook and dropped his head again. Blake posed an immediate threat to the entire operation. He didn’t understand how or why he was out there, but it presented many challenges, including the future secrecy and safety of his investigations. The motivation that had sustained him in these harsh conditions was instantly diminished and he now wanted to be anyplace other than the middle of the desert.
“Why does the FBI know who I am?” Blake asked, almost panicked, suddenly realizing there was much more to the research with the professor than he had understood.
“The professor is helping a congressional task force that’s investigating black budget funding. I helped with the background check that cleared you to work for him.”
“Eldred never told me about the FBI.”
“He wasn’t allowed to. He also wasn’t allowed to include you in anything beyond assisting with his research. I’d say venturing out here is more than research.”
“Eldred forbid me from coming out here, but he didn’t know the opportunity I had. And I didn’t know the total scope of his work. This is good though. We’re fighting for the same cause, and I’ve made contacts for you on the inside.”
“I don’t know if it’s good. How did you end up out here?”
“It was an accident. I dug a little too deep with my research. But wait a minute. Eldred told me last week that his sponsors pulled out. Something has him all shaken up. He’s become even more of a recluse.”
“I don’t know what might have happened,” Val said. “I’ve been out here.”
“The people that led me out here, they suspected Eldred was working for somebody important, someone in government who would do good with the information they offer.”
“How did they know that?”
“Beats me. I was skeptical until now. But so far, everything they’ve told me has been correct. They’re promising a lot more if I can prove it’s going to the right cause.”
“If you get caught out here,” Val said, “it’ll kill this operation. Assuming that hasn’t already happened.”
“How could my capture jeopardize the operation?”
“It’s not like you accidentally strolled a few yards over the perimeter. They’ll interrogate you, double-check every answer with lie detector tests and piece the facts together. Now you know about me — the FBI. That’ll come out too. I definitely have to get you out of here.”
CHAPTER 43
Damien Owens clapped his mobile phone shut with a slight hint of frustration.
“Problems?” Kayla asked, as she approached with a cup of coffee she ordered for him.
“Circumstances — never problems,” he replied, although not too convincingly. “Turns out the congressman from San Diego is probing a little deeper than we thought. He acquired two experimental life-support suits from DARPA. The suits can keep a man alive in extreme desert conditions over a period of days, maybe even a week. The congressman arranged for the suits to be tested by the DEA for surveillance along the Mexican border, but the DEA is only testing one suit.”