It was a puzzler.When the storm hit them, it had come from the north, so they should be further south, but it hadn’t been an ordinary storm.
He’d have been comforted knowing kind of where they were, except for the armed greeting.Had they inadvertently flown into the Area 51 no-fly zone?
Con didn’t know as much about Area 51 as maybe he should have but he’d been warned to stay away from it.And Ty had said there wasn’t a lot of information anyway.Just rumors, speculations, and conspiracy theories.
“Come down out of the plane,” someone on the ground ordered.
He unstrapped and rose, keeping his hands in view as much as was possible.He turned to help Rita, half tensing for a reaction to that, but apparently it was okay to be a gentleman.
As he leaned forward as if the help her with her straps, he whispered, “Area 51.”
Surely she knew more about it than he did.It couldn’t still be a secret in the future, could it?
He jumped off the wing first, then helped her down.They faced the phalanx of weapons and raised their hands to about shoulder height.
Rita’s face, as she’d jumped to the tarmac, had appeared almost relieved.Why—of course.She thought the agency had caught up with them.She must not know this could be worse.
A Jeep without a machine gun pulled up and the same voice—Con hadn’t figured out who was speaking because they all looked stone-faced—told them to climb in.
At least they hadn’t separated them…yet.And they hadn’t handcuffed them.That seemed a bit odd.On the other hand, they were hardly a danger while so well covered.
Con eased his hand in Rita’s direction and felt her cold one steal in for him to clasp.Since it was seriously hot, he took this to mean she was afraid, even while possibly relieved.
The Jeep reversed, turned and headed toward one of the ominous buildings.Beyond it, an ominous dark cloud rose up, the shape of it almost reminded him of a giant hand prepping for a smack-down.
Rita had seen it, too, but if their driver had noticed, he was unconcerned.
Maybe he was used to weird, random clouds looming up out of the desert?
The cloud rolled over the building and Con could have sworn it changed the dimensions of it, but he didn’t have a lot of time to think about it.
The “hand” was descending toward them.Still the Jeep drove on, pulling in at an angle in front of the building.The driver turned the engine off just as the storm hit.
Con wrapped his arms around Rita, pushing her head into his shoulder, but the storm didn’t carry debris, at least not the usual kind of debris.
Memories?Of glimpses of real places?He wasn’t sure, just that he saw places he’d been.Was that theRay?He couldn’t be sure as it swept away.
A face loomed out of a dark section of the storm, and seemed to grow and grow.It was menacing, an instability in the eyes.And then the vortex swirled him away, too, and the storm subsided as if it had never happened.
Only something had happened.Not just the building had changed.The Jeeps had been replaced with higher tech armored vehicles.The uniforms were different, too.All those around them had head gear that obscured their faces.
Their ride had altered, too.It was an open top version of the armored vehicle.
One of the men gestured with a gun that looked vaguely ray—and Con climbed out, then turned to help Rita.Again, no one stopped him or produced handcuffs.This helped, though he wasn’t sure why.It wasn’t as if they could escape this, since both were unarmed.But it just felt better to have his hands free.
A door slid back and Con let Rita go first, though he kept ahold of her hand, as he followed her inside.
There was a reception area, but no one sat there.Another door slid open and they were directed down a long, gray hall.About three doors down, there was an opening and they were told to go in there.
It was bare to the point of ominous.A table with two chairs on either side.
For such a high tech looking place, the chairs were just sad.They could have been leftovers from his time.
The window on one wall was probably two-way, though why they needed it with cameras in each corner and probably recording equipment, too, Con couldn’t say.
They sat in the chairs indicated and were left alone—well, as alone as anyone could be under surveillance.
He didn’t need Rita’s quick, warning glance to warn him not to speak.The silence was not comfortable, so much so he almost smiled.How far could they seriously mean to stretch their nerves?There was a point where it became a bit comic.
