Coalition of the Damned - 03 (28 page)

She sat back in her chair. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Major, as I’ve already stated, I have much bigger fish to fry and the last thing I want to do is have to push papers around trying to run a military facility like this. McAfee pulled this deal out of his ass for some unknown reason…maybe he thought he was doing me a favor, maybe he thought he was doing Anderson a favor. Whatever his reasoning, I don’t want the job. You do. I’ll do whatever I can do to make it official,” Mitchell said. “That’s the best I can offer.”

She studied him for a moment before she stood and exten
ded her hand. “Deal.”

“You don’t want to talk to my people first?” Matt asked.

“Nope. Anybody who offers that already knows what they’re going to say. Besides, if you welch on the deal, I can screw this up for you far worse than you could ever screw things up for me.” She shot him a sardonic smile.

Matt thought about what she said then shrugged. “You’re definitely right about that.”

“Okay, Colonel, what can I do now to help you get settled in?” she asked.

“We don’t have time to get settled,” he told her. “We have to move fast and hard. We have a lot of shit to do and little time to do it.” She shot him a questioning look and he nodded. “Right. You and yours have no idea why we’re even here…I need to fill you in.” He sighed heavily and motioned her to take her seat again. “I’m going to fill you in first, but then we need to call a base-wide conference of key personnel and do this once. Since you are basically my right hand man—”

“Woman,” she corrected.

Matt looked at her a moment and informed her, “I don’t stand on PC crap, Major. If you have a problem with that…”

She smiled at him and shook her head. “No, sir, not if you don’t.”

“Good,” he said. “I’m very relieved to hear that.” He thought a moment and smiled. “I guess I’ve been lucky. My XO is a woman, but she’s just one of the guys for the most part. Thank God she doesn’t stand on PC crap either.”

“Sounds like my kind of girl.”

“I think you’ll like her,” Matt said. He paused a moment then glanced around. He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Okay, I gotta ask, because I know my boys are gonna ask.”

“What’s that, sir?”

“Is there any
alien
stuff out here?” he asked quietly.

Flemings actually snorted as she shook her head. “No, sir, there isn’t any alien stuff out here.”

Matt actually looked a little disappointed. “Damn, I was actually hoping there was.”

The Major glanced to the sides and lowered her voice. “Rumor has it though…that about thirty years ago? There
was
alien stuff out here. It all got shipped out to Wright-Patterson, though. Hasn’t been any seen since.”

Matt stared at her. “Are you serious?”

She nodded. “I ran across a very old file cabinet in one of the underground bunkers that had some of the old files in it,” she said. “Pretty interesting stuff in there.”

Matt sat back and stared at her. “I don’t suppose you still
have
those files, do you?”

She gave him a stoic look. “That would go against protocol, Colonel.”

Matt smiled at her. “Can I have a copy?”

She never flinched. Matt kept smiling. “Come on…I’m the new CO after all.”

Finally the ends of her mouth slowly curled into a smile. “I’m sure a copy might find its way into your IN basket.”

“Good man, Major,” he said. “Er…woman. You know what I meant.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. “Now, you were going to fill me in on exactly
why
you’re here?”

Matt leaned back in his chair. “Yeah…about that,” he said. “Do you like scotch?”

16

Tufo escorted the security forces out the front doors of the hangar with the rest of First Squad on either side and behind them. They watched as more and more planes continued to land and taxi to the sides of the runways. Crews offloaded gear and trucks carried stuff to empty hangars in a flurry of beelike activ
ity. A forklift drove by with a tech on it who stopped and backed up to double check to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. “Chief?”

Jack looked up and saw one of the techs that he had left at Tinker operating the lift. “What’s up?”

“How did you get here, Chief? I thought you were in Canada?” he asked.

“We took a shortcut,” Jack smiled.

“Oh.” The man was unsure how exactly to take his answer. “Colonel’s in his new office. Concrete building on the other side of the tarmac there with the flags in front. You may want to check in.”

“Thanks Walters,” Jack said. He turned to the security for
ces. “Looks like the change of command has taken place. Jacobs, return their weapons and give them the keys to their Jeeps.”

“Aye, Chief.” Jacobs hurried to retrieve their weapons and keys and Jack turned to the security forces again.

“Remember what I told you fellas. Time is coming where we are going to have to work together. If I can’t count on you, you’re no use to me.” He shot them a look that put fear into most of them.

“So you’re just letting us go?” the smart-mouthed one asked.

Tufo stepped up. “Yup, despite my better judgment. But I am curious how you boys knew we were even out there. There’s no cameras back there.”

“Ground sensors detected movement…” one of them started to say when the smart-mouthed security officer punched him in the chest.

“Shut your pie hole, dumbass,” he fired off. “Just because they’re letting us go doesn’t mean we have to feed them any intel.”

Tufo sighed. “Yeah, just because you fucking
work for us now
doesn’t mean you should actually play nice, now does it, ass-hat?”

“Stand down, Gunny,” Jack said. “Contract personnel are easily replaceable.”

Tufo turned and stared at the smart-mouthed one who had paled a bit with that comment. “Yeah. Replaceable. I like that idea.”

Jacobs came trotting up and handed the security forces back their weapons. Most checked them and placed them back in their holsters, but the smart-mouthed one held his a moment longer than Jacobs liked. He could tell that the man was seriously thin
king of doing something stupid and Ing knew that even if he didn’t do it now, odds were that he would do something stupid later. The man hesitated a moment longer, then placed his weapon back into his holster without checking it and snatched the keys from Ing’s hand. “With me.” Was all he said as he turned toward the back of the hangar and stomped back toward the Jeeps.

Ing approached Jack and said quietly, “That one is going to be a problem, boss.”

“I know. But we can’t do anything about it right now.”

Tufo came up on the other side. “I understand wanting as many people as we can get our hands on that can carry a wea
pon, but some people are just plain liabilities, Jack. That asshole is a liability.”

Jack nodded. “I know.” He turned and watched the man throw the rear door open and heard it slam against the metal wall. He watched him stomp out the back and heard the Jeep roar to life throwing gravel as he spun away. “We’ll deal with him when the time comes.”

“Bait?” Mark asked.

“Or something,” Jack responded.

*****

Laura exited the hangar quickly, looking for the C-130 that she knew Evan had flown in on. She watched as it landed and crews headed that direction unaware that the cargo was light sensitive. She grabbed the nearest transport, commandeering it and headed in the direction of the taxiing plane. She pulled the two-way radio and tried to raise the CDO but nobody was a
nswering. She cursed under her breath and reattached the radio to her belt. She urged the driver forward, hoping that Evan had found a shadowed area to hide in as the rear cargo deck lowered in front of her and crews began offloading cargo with lift trucks.

Just as she ran up the rear loading ramp of the plane, her r
adio squawked to life. “Mitchell to Youngblood, come in.” The voice sounded of static in the interior of the plane, but she pulled the radio and responded.

“What’s your twenty?”

“I’m on the tarmac greeting Dr. Peters’ plane.” She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice and hoped she did as she searched through the numerous crates and packages still strapped to the deck of the plane’s cargo hold.

“Very well. I’m forwarding you a layout of available buil
dings and hangars with a suggested key for logistics. When you find Dr. Peters’ crate, have him and his equipment taken to his…’location’ and set up as quickly as possible. Copy?”

Laura paused a moment to ensure she heard correctly. “Matt, did you say ‘when I find his
crate
’? Over.”

“That is correct. He crated himself. Said he could sleep on the trip,” the static-filled voice returned.

Laura heaved a sigh of relief and braced herself against a large box to her side. She placed her forehead against the box and allowed herself to laugh with the flood of emotions that flowed through her body. A crewman approached her from the rear. “Ma’am? We need to get the plane offloaded and clear the area.”

She turned and glanced at him, realizing her eyes had w
atered. She wiped her eyes, her face still smiling. “Sure. I’m just happy everything made it okay,” she said. Her PDA chimed and she pulled it. Glancing at it she pulled up the logistics key and saw the building where Matt wanted to put Evan’s lab. It was an underground bunker with no windows and she smiled. “Crewman? Can we get everything labeled with prefix 7-16 taken here?”

He looked at the PDA and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. That’s right across the tarmac. Southwest of here a little bit, shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

She smiled at him and patted his shoulder. “Let’s make it as quick as we can. A lot of this is scientific equipment that needs to be powered back up as soon as possible.”

“We’ll double time it, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” She turned and left the plane to allow the crew to do their jobs without her looking over their shoulders. Laura looked around the tarmac and saw three more planes offloading gear, crews scrambling to move the crates and equipment in order to get the planes stowed and out of the way. She closed her eyes and sighed to herself, allowing one long moment to gather her thoughts.

She opened her eyes and marched off to the next plane to orchestrate setting up their operation. She had truly hoped that Matt would do his best to keep everything under one roof, but since their operation was six levels deep under an oversized hangar, it would be nearly impossible to find any one building large enough to do so. Not until he assumed command and moved everything over from Tinker would he be able to conso
lidate the Monster Squad and make Groom Lake their home.

She approached the first scene just as they finished offloa
ding the equipment and she scanned the numbers painted on the crates. She ran her finger along the manifest and saw that this all went to the armory. She went back to her PDA and found the armory was now in a steel reinforced concrete building at the end of the complex, next to what would become the new training facility. She directed the crews there and headed to the next area. The heat was starting to build on the tarmac and she wished she had a tall drink of water just as she saw Tufo and Jack approaching along with the rest of First Squad, smiles spreading across their faces.

“Where the heck did you come from?” she asked.

“Canada,” Jack said.

“Via a rock,” Tufo added, a smart-assed smile crossing his features. “Helluva mass transit those Elves have.”

She shot him a curious look as if he were drunk, but ignored his comment. She watched Jack give him a slight elbow and Tufo turned a bit more serious. “Well…it’s good to see you again.” She was still not sure how to take their just showing up. “You should probably check in with Mitchell and then we could definitely use a hand getting set up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Thompson replied. “That’s where we were about to go when we saw you.”

She pulled out her PDA again and slowly turned, her finger outstretched until it settled on a larger concrete building with a single American flag out front. “I think that’s the Headquarters Building,” she said. “Looks like his office is probably the ground floor…first office on the right.”

“Thanks, boss.” Jack turned to go. He stopped and turned back. “By the way.”

“Yeah?” She looked up from her manifests.

“There’s about three or four hundred Elf warriors in that hangar over there,” Jack said, hooking his thumb over his shou
lder. “Pretty nice guys, but…”

“But what?” Her eyes grew large at the thought.

“I wouldn’t let anybody mess with them. They’re a little more on the serious side.”

*****

Jack entered the Headquarters Building and made his way toward Mitchell’s office. He was pretty sure he was headed in the right direction because he could hear Mitchell chewing somebody up one side and down the other before he even got near the door. He slowed his pace and debated hanging low in the lobby until Matt was through with whatever problem had arisen but the door flew open and two men came storming out, their mood reflected by their faces, and their faces showed that they were
not
happy. As the two came around the corner and the first man passed him, Jack began to realize why when he recognized the second man as the smart-mouthed security forces member that they had subdued upon arriving.

Well, he didn’t waste any time tattling, did he?
Jack thought as he hiked an eyebrow at the fellow who stormed past him. Jacobs and Lamb held the doors open for them as they stormed out of the building and Tufo smiled and tipped his cap to the men as they marched away.

Donovan shot Jack an interesting look. “I think somebody told on you.”

“
Us
,” Jack corrected. “Remember, we’re a team.”

“Oh, yeah,
now
we’re a team once you land us in hot water,” Donovan teased. “I see how you are.”

Jack shook his head and prepared for an ass chewing. He approached Mitchell’s door and knocked. “What now?” Matt barked then looked up to see Thompson waiting just outside the door.

“Should I run and hide, or is it safe to enter?” he asked.

Matt picked a stack of files off of a chair across from his new desk. “Come on in, Phoenix.” He sighed. “Sweet Jesus…we haven’t been here thirty minutes and already they’re treating me like I own the fucking place.”

“What are you talking about? I thought you made it clear that this was all temporary and…”

Matt shot him an exasperated look. “You didn’t get the memo?” he asked sardonically. “Once we win this whole va
mpire World War Three,
I
become the new base CO,” he stated with exasperation.

Jack’s jaw dropped. He was nearly speechless.

Matt pulled a hand down across his face and wanted to scream. Jack leaned forward and asked, “Are you for real here?”

Matt’s eyes lifted and he stared at Jack a long moment. “As a heart attack.”

“So…the move here isn’t temporary?” he asked. “Or is the squad losing you?”

“Hell no!” Matt barked. “Where I go, the squads go.” He leaned back in his chair and looked around for his other bottle of scotch. When he couldn’t find it, he got frustrated and threw a stapler at the trash can. “Damn it. I can’t find anything around here.”

Jack stood up and poked around a few boxes until he found what he knew the colonel was looking for and held it up. He heard the man give an audible sigh and he poured two glasses. “So what then, Skipper? You going to run this place
and
the squads at the same time?”

Matt tossed back his drink and enjoyed the burn before he addressed the question. “Honestly, Chief, I had hoped that Laura would pick up the reins, but…” he lowered his eyes, “she’s been looking for a way out for quite a while now.”

Jack was shocked. He honestly thought that Laura loved working with the teams. “Okay, so what other options do you have?”

“Well, there’s this major here that claims she’s been running the show for the ass-hat that abandoned it rather than do an act
ual turnover to us…but…”

“But what?”

“But my gut is giving me fits. And I’ve learned to trust my gut,” he said. “I’m sure she probably could run the show on this end and leave the squads to me and all would probably be just fine.”

“Well, there ya go, Skip.”

“Think about it, Jack. When is our busiest times of the month, and when can I absolutely NOT be there?”

Thompson nodded with understanding. “I got ya. But you do realize that we have more than enough qualified duty officers to pick up that slack, right?”