Ancient Birthright (47 page)

“Terrie, this is Saigg, and I know you remember Colonel Striker.”

“Hello Saigg, I’m Terrie, Beldon’s younger sister. It’s nice to see you again, Colonel Striker.”

“I’m happy to make your acquaintance, Terrie,” responded Saigg in his most formal English.

Terrie shifted sideways, and two more people filled the screen.

“Mom. Dad. God, it’s good to see you,” Beldon exclaimed.

“Beldon.” Linda reached out and touched the computer screen. Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s great to see you, son,” Duane choked out. “When the news channels reported that the
Endeavour
had been lost, we would have been devastated, if we hadn’t gotten that last email from you,.”

“We had to do it that way. Hooker and his team tried to sabotage the
Endeavour
with explosives. We needed to make him believe he had succeeded.”

“Are you saying an agent of the federal government sabotaged the shuttle orbiter and attempted to kill the crew?” a voice asked from off screen.

Terrie looked over her shoulder then turned back to the camera. “This is Colonel Bitman. He took over the running of NRAO after Colonel Striker left. He’s become a good friend of our family and has gone out of his way to keep us away from Hooker.”

“Let me answer Colonel Bitman’s question,” Striker said as he stepped into view of the camera. “When we docked with the extra fuel tank in orbit and loaded it on the
Endeavour
, we discovered multiple explosive devices rigged to go off at predetermined points in our mission. Hooker and his team were the only outside agents who had access to the fuel tank, and to the
Endeavour
before we launched. They were the only ones who had a motive to want Beldon and Cindy dead. Without them as witnesses, the entire case against him and his men would be dropped and forgotten.”

Beldon slid his chair sideways to give Striker better access to the computer.

“After we removed the explosives, we bundled them together and tossed them into space where they exploded minutes later. That was when we knew we had to let Hooker think he’d succeeded with the sabotage.”

Striker grasped Beldon’s shoulder. “Before launch, Hooker took me aside and gave me explicit orders that came from the President. My orders were to take over the
Endeavour
and eliminate Beldon and Cindy if Hooker contacted the
Endeavour
and activated the backup plan. Hooker added Major Rishly to the kill list at the last second when he refused to follow Hooker’s demands to cut communications with mission control.”

Bitman shook his head. “I know strange things are happening. Unexplained orders issued and immediately rescinded, unauthorized intrusions by Hooker and his team, but illegal orders from the President.”

“Colonel Bitman, I’m telling you that agents of the federal government acting directly on the orders of the President of the United States attempted to cause the deaths of U.S. civilians and the destruction of government personnel and property to cover up unlawful activities.”

Bitman stared at the screen without responding.

“Is everyone there that you think might be coming?” Beldon asked.

“This is everyone who was close by,” Terrie answered.

For the next hour, the two groups passed news and plans back and forth until they were interrupted by a call from the Sergeant of the Guard at NRAO’s main gate.

“Colonel Bitman, I’ve just received word from our team in Socorro that a large convoy of government SUV’s has left the city and are headed our way. Agent Hooker was seen in the lead vehicle. They will be here in about an hour.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. Delay them at the gate as long as you can. Check and double-check every piece of paper they present and try to get their weapons away from them. If it looks like it is escalating into a shooting situation, let them through,” Colonel Bitman ordered. “Okay, Hooker is on the way with a good sized force. Grab what you think is essential, and we’ll get you out through the back gate. Unfortunately there is only one highway near here, so once they discover you are no longer on base, they’ll know where to look for you.”

Beldon interrupted, “Colonel Bitman, do you think you can make it about fifty miles west on Highway 60? If you can we’ll meet you there in an hour.”

“I thought you were calling from the Moon?” said a surprised Colonel Bitman.

“We are, but we have transportation that can get us to Earth in about an hour. It’s going to take us a few minutes to the get to the hangar and get the ships through the airlock, but we’ll get there as fast as we can. Can you give me a count on the number of people we’ll need to accommodate?” asked Beldon.

“Between eleven and fifteen, depending on whether the boyfriends of the Merrimen girls want to go with them,” Bitman answered.

“Take off kids. Tell your ship friends what’s happening and get them ready to go. We’ll get to the hangar as soon as we’re finished here,” Beldon told the three-luzzon children.

The three youngsters jumped from Beldon and floated to the floor. As they headed for the door, Beldon heard Dantee say, “It’s my turn to drive.” Reedn called, “Shotgun.”

“Bring along any computers that have Internet capabilities. All we have is the one from the
Endeavour
. If you can’t think of anything else we need to know about, we’ll meet you in a little over an hour,” Beldon told the group on Earth.

He watched as the people displayed on screen scattered, and the connection was broken.

“Let’s get to the ships and get to Earth before Hooker finds them,” Beldon said as he hopped toward the door. He’d learned early on to limit the thrust of his legs in the upward direction. The ceiling was made of stone and was very unforgiving to human and luzzon skulls.

Beldon, Striker, and Saigg hopped on an electric car and headed for the hangar. They stopped the car near the hangar wall and pushed off for the three ships. Without thinking about it, they entered the same ship they had been on the previous day.

Beldon climbed the steps to the center ship with Dantee and took the lead. “Are we ready for a flight to Earth?”

“Everything checks out, and
Janna
reports she is more than ready to see something besides the insides of this hangar,” Dantee reported.

“Do we need to tow her out of the hangar, or does she have the ability to move on her own?” Beldon asked.

“I’ll let
Janna
answer for herself,” Dantee said.

“I have low-level hover capabilities and have already opened the inner airlock doors. All three of us can fit into the lock at the same time for a faster departure,”
Janna
said.

“That’s good. We need to get to Earth as soon as possible to rescue a group of humans.”

“Dantee has explained the situation and given me a rough idea of the area we need to find. I have the atlas and maps that you sent to the
Universe Explorer
in my database.”

“Good, we need to land on Highway 60 approximately fifty miles west of the NRAO installation. How much runway do you need to land?”

“I don’t recognize the term ‘runway,’ but I have the ability to make a vertical landing. So as long as I have a reasonably level area at least the length and width of my hull, I can land.”

“Thank you, for helping us,
Janna
,” Beldon said.

“Thank you, for bringing the fuel that enabled me to leave the hangar. I was beginning to think we would be trapped in here until the roof collapsed.”

“We may encounter aircraft or ground troops hostile to us. They may attempt to stop us from our mission so please let me know if you detect pulsed electromagnetic waves that could be used to track your hull,” Beldon said.

“How are they used to track objects?”

“A pulsed wave is directed at an object and the reflected signal is timed and analyzed to determine distance and size.”

“I’ll just absorb any signals that are of that nature,”
Janna
told him.

They cycled through the airlock and moved out into the flat area beyond. The video displays showed the panorama of the doors to the installation behind them and the distant crater walls in front and to the sides. The view began to flow down the screens as the ships rose several hundred feet into space and rotated to point at Earth. Without the faintest hint of motion, the image of Earth began to get larger on the forward screen.

“Why aren’t we feeling the acceleration?” Beldon asked.

“I have compensated for the lack of gravity and have my molecular attraction field generators set to provide normal Earth gravity toward the bottom of the crew cabin. Would you prefer that I turn off the field?”

“No. Space travel with constant gravity is wonderful.”

Chapter-59

Colonel Bitman ordered a fleet of ten Humvee’s to the admin building to transport the Dumas and Merrimen families out the back gate. A scout Humvee took off to ensure the way was clear, and that Hooker had not slipped in a roadblock.

Duane and Linda climbed into the front of the first Humvee, and Terrie and Jimmy took the back seat. When everyone was loaded, Colonel Bitman Climbed over Terrie and took the gunners position standing in the turret. He donned a helmet with head set and boom microphone, “Let’s go. I don’t want Hooker to catch sight of us leaving.”

Duane floored the accelerator and led the convoy through the gate. Two Apache Helicopter gunships paced them, one to either side.

Colonel Bitman glanced into the Humvee and saw Duane holding Linda’s hand across the center console.

The convoy turned west on Highway 60 and reached a top speed of about fifty-five mph. Several minutes later Bitman received a report from the front gate that Hooker was there with a search warrant. He’d brought along nearly fifty backup operatives, all heavily armed, all with nervous trigger fingers. The Sergeant of the Guard left his radio microphone open so that Bitman could hear the exchange.

#

MP Sergeant Jacoby was going through the search warrant as slowly and methodically as possible. He questioned every sentence and demanded phone confirmation for every signature listed on the document. He then sent his detail to check the ID of every person authorized by the warrant to enter the facility.

Finally, when Hooker was about to explode, he told him he could enter but that all weapons would need to be surrendered.

That was the last straw. Hooker drew his sidearm and pointed it between the eyes of the Sergeant and cocked the hammer. Most of the agents standing beside their vehicles looked stunned, but Hooker’s team brought their rifles to bear on the guard detail.

The idling Abrams tank engines whined to full speed as they lurched from their parked positions beside the road. They headed straight for the DHS agents with raised weapons. Their turrets revolved to bring the main guns and machine guns to point at Hooker and his squad.

The Sergeant said, “Either pull the trigger or drop your weapon. Either way you have two seconds to make up your mind. The machine gun nests, sandbagged and dug into the desert beside the main gate chambered fifty caliber rounds when you pulled your weapon. Those weapons are trained on the vehicles and men behind you. My snipers have orders to make sure you don’t walk away. You are their primary target.”

A gray sedan bumped along the shoulder of the road and pulled to a stop beside one of the idling Abrams tanks. Two men stepped out and walked up behind Hooker. “Looks like you got the drop on the Sergeant, but I wouldn’t bet two cents you’d fare any better if you pulled the trigger,” the man in the lead said as he flipped open his FBI credentials. “May I ask what the Sergeant said that forced you to pull you weapon?”

“The Sergeant said we were cleared to execute our search warrant, but insisted we surrender our weapons before we enter,” Hooker said.

“And why is that a problem? That sign posted no more than six feet away says no weapons allowed,” FBI Special Agent Denco said.

“The last time we were here they took our weapons and didn’t return them.”

“Was your last visit also to serve a search warrant?”

“No. That was a surprise visit trying to capture a group of wanted fugitives,” answered Hooker.

“Did you bring the warrants for the fugitives with you? I’d like to see them. We’ve been investigating the disappearance of a man and his family that works at this facility, a Mr. Wilkins, his wife, son, and their housekeeper. Their neighbors reported men in black SUVs with government plates took them away, but the FBI can’t find a record of anyone by that name ever being processed by a government agency. Would you know anything about that Agent Hooker?”

“Not a thing.” Hooker sneered. “Why don’t you take your fancy badge wallet and your dark glasses and go sit in your office. We have work to do.”

“Well, as I see it, your pulling a weapon on a member of the armed forces during the execution of his assigned duties, constitutes assault. If you pull the trigger, its murder. Either way, I’m placing you under arrest and taking you in for booking and questioning about Mr. Wilkins disappearance. You’re a hard man to track down, Agent Hooker. The FBI has been looking for you for months. Your name keeps coming up in our investigations. To be fair, we’ll wait around and accompany your men while they conduct their search, just to make sure no one’s civil rights are violated,” Special Agent Denco said as he studied the red laser pointers of at least four snipers jittering on Hookers forehead. You might want to be careful when you lower that weapon, I’d hate to have to explain to my wife why I have human brains splattered all over my suit.”

Hooker lowered his weapon and released the hammer before he surrendered it to Agent Denco. He turned to his team. “Keep your weapons and take a couple of the SUVs back to the highway. Check to make sure no one has escaped cross country or out another gate, and contact Air One and have them back you up.”

The remainder of the DHS agents came forward and turned in their weapons before driving through the gate and beginning their search.

#

Bitman squatted down in the Humvee and told the occupants what had happened at the gate. He explained about Hooker sending his team to look for anyone leaving the area. “I don’t think we have too much to worry about, we have at least a ten-minute head start. The only way they would know we’re ahead of them is if someone called them and told them. How far are we from NRAO, Duane?”