Chapter 8

Corporal Holly Lewis opened the main door to the bunker and yelled, “Lucy, I’m home!” in her best Dezi Arnez impression which frankly, sucked.

As the low man on a high totem pole in an elite section of the army that dealt with all things supernatural, her job was to simply make sure all the government bunkers that had been built in the 50s remained safe and out of sight from the general public. When the good people of the United States found out about the government secrets, they got curious and wanted to see things for themselves. That’s what had happened with Area 51. The base appeared to continue its clandestine operations with the guards, the manufactured stories of those who had been detained there, those who had been chased off the land, the UFOs and alien bodies inside … all of it had been held up as a front when it had been discovered by the general public.

In a nutshell, that was to cover the building where the real stuff went down—Area 2.

She’d been in there many times, and had served as security at that place for a while. A couple of years ago, she would have been involved in a shootout that took place in the building if she hadn’t had to take care of her brother that day. Shaking her head, she recalled the stories from those that worked there—men posing as scientists breaking in to rescue aliens, one of them giving himself up to save the others, and then the big finale of him being freed from the back of a cargo truck. It sounded like something out of a science fiction book.

But it had all happened, and frankly, she had been glad when the program that studied the aliens had been shut down. Some of the things she had witnessed had been cringe-worthy.

“So how are things going today?” she called as she checked the cabinets, making sure all were secure. Glancing up at the camera, she smiled and waved, wondering if anyone ever checked the footage at home base. For good measure, she gave it one finger salute, as well.

“My day’s been good, thanks for asking. Although, I do have to admit, I’m not looking forward to driving around in this desert once the heat hits. But today’s nice. I saw a coyote and a javelina this morning. Not together of course, but at separate times. That would be funny to see them hanging out together. The coyote would probably make some bad joke about craving bacon.”

Everything looked good, the exact same way it had looked last week and the weeks and months before that.

She liked to pretend that friendly people inhabited these bunkers because the thought of going into an empty one kind of gave her the creeps. These things had never been inhabited, and the long years of sitting empty and silent made her very uncomfortable.

Turning, she looked at the chain link fence and walked over to pull on the lock. Gasping, she stopped in her tracks. The lock hung open.

Pulling her gun from her belt, she pointed it toward the dark hallway and backed up, fear coursing through her. “Whoever is in there, you need to come out right now.”

Her voice came out strong, but her breath caught in her throat as she listened, trying to hear something through the silence.

After a moment, she heard footsteps, and the lights went on. Two large men filed toward her—a white man with dark, wavy hair followed by a bald, black man. Both smiled at her.

“Hi, Holly,” the white man said with a friendly grin. “My name’s Noah. I’m a consultant with the Army, and I want to congratulate you on a job well done. Please, put down the gun and stand at ease.”

What?

“This is Lieutenant Justice, and we were tasked to see if you were actually performing your duties, or if you were skipping out on them.”

She lowered her gun a little bit, confusion rolling through her. If these two were military, they certainly weren’t dressed correctly. Both wore jeans and t-shirts, and Noah’s hair violated military regulations. But he had said he was a consultant, so the rules wouldn’t apply to him. Would they?

But how did they know this was her job? How did they know her name?

“Yes, you’ve done well, Holly,” the lieutenant said. “We’re very happy to have you among our ranks.”

She glanced over their shoulders as they entered into the room, both of them towering over her. Standing at five-foot-five, she imagined these two hovered in the six-foot-five range. Both had broad shoulders, trim waists, and long legs. As Lieutenant Justice crossed his arms over his chest, she noted the bulging biceps and realized they could overpower her within seconds, even with the gun.

Backing up toward the door, she grinned. “Thank you, Lieutenant Justice, sir. This has been quite … quite a surprise. I never expected to actually meet anyone on my bunker patrols.”

He smiled, his dark eyes twinkling, as if he knew a secret she didn’t. Or could that be a look of amusement? Like something she had said he found funny?

She thought of her entrance and her bad Dezi impersonation. Knowing that someone had actually heard her antics made her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

“You can take off now, Holly,” Noah said. “We’ll lock up the gate and make sure we report back to your superiors that you’ve done a great job here.”

As she stood with her back against the door, she holstered her gun, ready to get the hell out of there.

“Sounds good,” she said. “I’ll radio headquarters and let them know we met.”

“No,” Noah said. “This was supposed to be a surprise operation, and your commanders aren’t aware of it yet. The orders for this inspection came from way up the ladder.”

She stared at him a moment, and more unease washed through her. “Who did you say your commanding officer was?”

Both continued to smile at her, but the silence morphed. She didn’t know whether to run or to shoot them both down.

“Smith,” Noah said. “Out of the Vegas branch.”

She made a mental note to check the name. “Okay, I’ll be going, then.”

“Remember, silence is the key, Holly,” Lieutenant Justice said.

“Yes. We can’t let your superiors know about our operation until everyone has been tested. We’ll definitely be able to put in a good word for you, though.”

She nodded and left, the door shutting firmly behind her.

She slipped on her sunglasses and started the jeep. As she drove away, she thought about her encounter. If she reported what she saw, then she could be in big trouble by outing their field inspection. However, something about it didn’t sit quite right.

Neither man wore a military uniform. That could easily be explained by them wanting to be comfortable as they conducted their research.

They knew her, but she found it odd they didn’t address her by her military title of Corporal. Instead, they’d called her Holly.

So, she had a decision to make.

Did she say anything to anyone, or did she let things play out and see what happened?

She could very well be overreacting. Hell, she most likely was as she tended to have an overactive imagination anyway. Her mom had always told her so. She remembered when she’d rush in to wake up her mother, convinced that Dracula stood outside her window, a ghost would rush out at her if she opened her closet door, and a man-eating wolf lay under her bed, waiting for her feet to hit the floor.

The farther away she drove, her heartbeat slowed, her fear ebbed, and she relaxed. She also became more certain that she most likely had been overacting.

It wasn’t like someone could just move into that place, right?