Alex was not looking forward to what she was about to do. But if Seth and Sara were going to get their ship back, there was only one person she knew who might be able to help. Unfortunately, Dr. Harlan was not someone she usually got along with.
“How well do you know this guy?” Jack asked as they hurried out of the hotel and through the parking lot. They had managed to get Harlan’s assistants to bring them to where he was holed up.
“We’ve done a few panels and debates together on opposite sides,” she explained as she walked.“But no one knows the shadow world of UFO government conspiracies better than Harlan.”
At the edge of the parking lot, they reached a Winnebago. This was Dr. Donald Harlan’s home, office, and transportation. Alex knocked.
“Go away,” Harlan barked from inside. “Book signing’s not until 4:30.”
“Harlan,” Alex called, “it’s Alex Friedman.”
From inside, they heard grumbling. The door swung open to reveal a disheveled older man.
“Dr. Alex Friedman,” he announced victoriously. “Quelle surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure of the world’s greatest unemployed astrophysicist visiting my humble castle on wheels?”
“Please, Harlan. We need to talk to you. It’s incredibly important.”
Harlan let them in, and they told him just enough so that he could help. They were careful not to reveal that Seth and Sara were aliens.
“So you’re saying the three of you ‘witnessed’ this reported UFO crash?” Harlan asked.
“That’s right,” Jack said.
Alex leaned forward. “We were wondering if there was any intel out there among your sources.”
“I don’t like liars,” Harlan told them.
Jack,Alex, Seth, and Sara all grew tense. Had they been discovered?
“Thankfully,” Harlan continued, “your story matches up with reports out of SETI, NORAD, and NASA.”
Harlan took a seat at one of his computers.
“You’re lucky kids, that you never came face-to-face with the aliens in the craft,” Harlan told Seth and Sara over his shoulder. “They’ll eat your flesh.”
Sara looked as if she were about to laugh.“I guess we are indeed lucky kids not to have our flesh eaten.” She paused.“. . . By the aliens.”
Harlan continued to type, unaware of the sarcasm. “You got that right.” He punched something on the keyboard, and a satellite picture of the crash scene opened on his computer screen.
“A source e-mailed me this sat-grab,” he explained. “The spot’s already a blur on Google Earth. How soon after you called it in did the suits come after you?”
“Immediately,” Jack answered for them. “His name was Henry.”
“Burke,” Harlan said with a nod. “Interesting.”
Harlan typed in a quick search command, and another picture opened up on the screen. It was a grainy photo of Burke.
“Burke was a rising star in military intelligence, chief investigator in a UFO sighting near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana,” Harlan informed them. “Two weeks after he declared the sighting ‘unsubstantiated’ he retired to civilian life.”
“Where would they take the spaceship?” Alex asked. “51? Nellis? Vandenberg?”
Harlan shook his head.“Given the size and scope of the crash and Henry Burke’s involvement, there’s really only one possibility.” He glanced at his two assistants who had been silent until now.
In unison they said, “Witch Mountain.”
Jack gave Alex a confused look and she just shrugged. She’d never heard of it.
Harlan flipped through a stack of black-and-white photos and pulled out a fuzzy aerial picture.
“California, fifty miles across the Nevada border,” Harlan told them as he handed the picture to Alex. She held it up for Jack and the others to see. “It’s one of our most top secret facilities.”
Harlan got up and started rifling through a messy pile of paperwork. If there was any organization to it, the others couldn’t tell.
“I got a schematic around here somewhere,” he continued. “But if you’re thinking about visiting, don’t. When I say it’s fortified up the yin-yang, it’s an understatement.”
Amazingly, Harlan was able to find exactly what he was looking for in the pile. He handed Alex a set of old blueprints stamped TOP SECRET.
“Thank you, Harlan,” she said, meaning it. “For everything.”
“Whatever trouble you’re in,” Harlan warned them, “trust no one.”
Jack nodded and they started out the door.
“Freeze!” Harlan said, causing them all to stop in midstride.
They turned, unsure of what to expect. Harlan smiled and tossed Seth and Sara each a small pin with an alien face on it that read, DR. HARLAN FAN CLUB.
“Stay in school and keep your eyes on the sky,” he told them. “Remember aliens, they’ll—”
“Eat your flesh,” Seth finished. “How could we forget?”
As the four left to find Witch Mountain, Jack and Alex tried not to laugh.
“We’ll spread the word,” Seth promised him.