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Riley felt a hot flash of panic. “We’re going down!” she said. “Do something. Make a mind cloud. Make us go up.”
“I haven’t yet mastered up,” Emerson said.
Their descent was long and jerky and very fast. They were rocked back on their feet as the car came to an abrupt stop.
“I suspect you’re not going to be able to shoot your way out of this,” Emerson said to Riley. “You might want to drop the gun just in case we’re met by a platoon of nervous guards.”
Riley dropped the gun, the gate opened, and a half dozen Cammo Dudes moved forward with their XM29 rifles trained on Emerson and Riley. Riley looked beyond the guards and saw that Günter was trussed up on a hand truck like a trophy waiting to be stuffed. Riley couldn’t tell if he was unconscious or dead.
Riley and Emerson were pulled out of the elevator and the elevator was sent back up. A couple minutes later the elevator returned and Rollo stepped out. He had a hole in his suit jacket and looked like he was in pain.
“I’m going to have a nasty bruise, thanks to you,” he said to Riley. “You’re an excellent shot, but you need to aim higher if you want to kill someone wearing a Kevlar vest.”
—
Emerson and Riley were escorted down a dimly lit hallway. Günter was rolled along behind them. Rollo limped behind Günter. No one spoke. The procession stopped in front of a door. A Cammo Dude unlocked it and motioned Emerson and Riley inside. The door was closed and locked behind them, and Riley heard the hand truck continue on down the hall.
They were in a storage room that was lined with crates with stenciled labels reading GROOM LAKE and NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE. Xandy was sitting hunched in a corner with her arms wrapped around her knees.
“Sorry we dragged you into this,” Riley said to Xandy.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Xandy said. “Damn aliens.”
“I assume the Cammo Dudes brought you here?”
“They didn’t let me go, like they always have before. They brought me here and questioned me about Mr. Mysterioso.”
“I hope you told them what you know,” Emerson said.
“Well, I spent the first couple of hours pretending I didn’t speak English. Then that creepy Rollo guy came in and showed me his knife. After that, I told him everything. I even made up some stuff. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I hope what you told him was interesting.”
“He seemed to think so.” She leaned forward and whispered, “You know what I think? I think that Rollo dude is an alien, that’s what I think. Those big bug eyes. That weird smile. And he’s all beat-up like he crash-landed.”
In a manner of speaking, Riley thought. Rollo face-planted on the highway.
“Did they probe you yet?” Xandy asked Riley. “They always get around to probing you. That’s what the other abductees tell me, anyway.”
“I wasn’t abducted.”
“Denial is the first stage,” Xandy said. “How did you get here if you weren’t abducted? Did you walk through the front door?”
“You’re right,” Riley said. “I was abducted.”
Emerson sat down against the wall and leaned back on a crate labeled NEVADA TEST AND TRAINING RANGE, closing his eyes.
“Are you actually going to sleep?” Riley asked.
“What else is there to do?” Emerson said. “Might as well be rested and refreshed for what’s coming up.”
“For torture? I’d rather be a little blurry-eyed for torture.”
Xandy leaned forward and nodded toward Emerson. “He’s an alien too, right?” she whispered.
“Definitely,” Riley said.
The door opened and Rollo stepped in. “They want to talk to you,” he said to Emerson. “Come with me.”
