Western "Then we got word that some IRA fellows were in town, currency. trying to buy surplus East German armament that some "The only difference between now and back in the eight- former members of the army had stashed away for a rainy ies is that we learned our lessons from those old days and day when the wall came down. The word was these Irish now we preempt terrorism. And that's why you don't hear guys were trying to get some SAM-7 shoulder-fired antiair- about it so much anymore--not because the assholes have craft missiles. gone away. People are so naive." "We don't know what they were going to do with them, "Preempt?" Kelly asked. although the best guess was they'd sit outside Heathrow Turcotte gave a short, nasty laugh. "Yeah. When we were and take out a Concorde just after takeoff. That would AREA 51 2O3 202 ROBERT DOHERTY make the news, which is all those scumbags want. I know the way they would have to leave. We had a good spot on a they signed a peace accord and ceasefire and all that happy curve in the road. shit, but that don't stop the guys who pull the trigger. They "When the car didn't show after an hour, my CO--let's have to be on the edge. A lot of those people do what they call him Rolf--got spooked. Surveillance told us they'd do because they like it. They couldn't give a shit about the stopped in town. But maybe they'd left by another way. so-called goals they shout at the cameras. It's just an excuse Rolf asked me what I thought. How the fuck was I to to be a sociopath." know? He paused when the waitress came by to take their or- "So Rolf and I went into the village and spotted the car der. Kelly ordered a bagel, Turcotte a glass of orange juice. outside a bar. We'd been told there were three of them. So "Anyway, everything about the mission was rushed be- old Rolf he decides, hey, fuck it, let's take them out right cause the intel was late. The IRA had already purchased now and right here. You and me. He was still worried that the missiles and had them loaded in a car and were head- they might have spotted the surveillance team that had ing for France when we were alerted. We were airlifted been following them and that they might take a different ahead of them and picked up some cars. The terrorists route out of town to lose the tail and bypass the ambush were taking back roads--staying away from the auto- our team had set up. Or that they might even be doing a bahn--which played right into our hands." dead drop with the missiles in the town and we might lose The angry undercurrent in Turcotte's voice grew. "We track of the ordnance. should have just stopped them and taken them into cus- "So I said, hey, yeah, sounds good to me. We had MP-5 tody. But we couldn't do that, you see. Because that would silenced subs slung inside our long coats and pistols in our have caused too much controversy--the trial and all. And shoulder holsters. Rolf ordered surveillance to close up it just compounds the problem to put them in jail, 'cause tight around the bar to make sure no one escaped and to that gives every blood relative they have a reason to grab pick us up when we were done." some hostages and demand their release. And the whole The waitress brought the bagel and orange juice. cycle starts again. So instead we were supposed to kill Turcotte took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled as she them. Make it look like we were terrorists ourselves, and walked away. that way no one looks bad except the local cops. "We walked right in the front fucking door. The place is "So." Turcotte took a deep breath to steady his voice. packed, people eating dinner and drinking. Must have "We were all set to hit them outside a small town in central been twenty, twenty-five people in there. But we spot our Germany. They were heading up to Kiel to load the weap- suspects right away and guess what? There's only two of ons on a freighter for transshipment to England. But the these bozos seated in a booth, drinking. So Rolf looked at IRA guys--they were Irish after all--they had to stop in a me like, hey where's number three? So again, like how the Gasthaus for a few brews and lunch before making it to fuck do I know? Probably taking a piss. I started to the bar their rendezvous at the port. to order a brew, scanning the room as I went, but Rolf "I was the team XO--executive officer. The commander hesitated. was a German. We set up on the north side of the town-- "I can't blame him too much. Shit, we had silenced sub- 204 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 2O5 machine guns under our coats and we were there to kill." "The only good thing was he just had fifteen rounds in Turcotte gave Kelly a twisted grin. "Contrary to popular the mag. He got the IRA guy, but he also hit some civilians. fiction and what they show on the movies, we weren't stone I didn't know how many at the time. There was just this cold killers. We were good at our job, but we were also pile of bodies; at the very least the three that had been scared. Most people are in that situation. If you aren't, around the IRA man, plus some others who'd been in the you're crazy--and I have met some of those crazies. Any- line of fire. Rolf was even flipping his taped-together maga- way, one of the IRA guys in the booth he looks at Rolf zines, putting a fresh one in when I grabbed the gun out of standing there with his thumb up his ass and you could just his hand." Turcotte pulled out his right hand and put it in tell that the Irish guy knew who we were. Rolf wasn't ex- front of Kelly's face. The skin on his palm was knotted with actly the greatest actor in the world, and I'm sure I wasn't scar tissue. "You can still see where the suppressor on the giving off the best vibes either. barrel of Rolfs sub burned my hand. At the time I didn't "So the guy reached under his coat, and Rolf and I feel a thing, I was so freaked. hosed the two of them down lickety-split. We each fired "So I took his weapon and grabbed him by the collar and half a magazine--fifteen rounds each--and there was made for the door. One thing for sure--people really got nothing left' in that booth but chewed-up meat. And the the hell out of our way now. Surveillance had a car waiting most amazing thing was that after the first shot there for us and I threw Rolf in and we split." wasn't a single sound other than the sound of our brass Turcotte took a drink of coffee. "I found out later that falling to the floor. Everyone in the place just fucking froze night that Rolf had killed four civilians, including a preg- and looked at us, wondering who was next. Then someone nant eighteen-year-old girl, and wounded three. The news had to scream, and everything went to hell." was playing it up like an internal IRA hit and the whole Turcotte's eyes had taken on a distant look as he went country was in an uproar to catch the killers. But they back into that room. "The smart ones just hit the deck. couldn't catch the killers, could they? Because the country That's what Rolf and I yelled at them in German to do was the killers. after the scream. But about half the people rushed for the "For a while I even thought they might give Rolf and me doors, and that's when we spotted the third guy. He was in up as sacrificial lambs, but then common sense kicked in. I the middle of a group of four people, running for it. He was stupid for even thinking that. If they gave us up, the might have been taking a leak. He might have been around whole counterterrorist operation would be out in the open the corner at the bar. I don't know. But there he was." and those in power certainly didn't want that. Might lose a Turcotte shook his head. "And Rolf--fucking Rolf--he few votes at the polling booth. So you know what they just fired them all up. I don't know what short-circuited in did?" Turcotte looked at Kelly with red-rimmed eyes. his head. Hell, the third guy couldn't have gone anywhere. Kelly slowly shook her head. Surveillance had to have been sitting on top of his car out- "They held an inquest, of course. That's proper form in side by now and could have taken him out once they got an the military. As a matter of fact the head man I met down open shot outside the Gasthaus. But Rolf just lost it." in the Cube, General Gullick, he was one of those ap- Turcotte's voice briefly broke. pointed to look into the whole thing. For security reasons 206 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 2O7 we never saw those who questioned us, nor did we know Von Seeckt and I don't give a shit whether you believe me their names. They talked to us and then talked to each or not. Because it's between me and all these high-speed other, and guess what they decided? They gave us fucking assholes who pull strings and cause people to die. Fuck me medals. Yeah, Rolf and me. Ain't that great? A medal for once, shame on me--fuck me twice, I fuck back." killing a pregnant woman." "You didn't kill her," Kelly quietly remarked. "Does it matter? I was part of it. I could have told Rolf to wait. I could have done a lot of things." "He was the commander. It was his responsibility," Kelly argued, remembering what her father had told her about the army and covert operations. "Yeah. I know. I was just following orders, right?" Kelly had no answer for that. "So that's how my career in the regular army and Special Forces ended. I went to my American commander and told him where he could shove his medal, and they had me on the next thing smoking back to the States. But I had to stop in D.C. first. To meet someone." He proceeded to tell her about meeting Dr. Duncan, her orders to him, and the phone line out of commission. "Why were you chosen?" "Right person, right time," Turcotte said with a shrug. "There aren't that many high-speed dudes like me who have top-level clearances and can fire a gun." Kelly shook her head. "You were chosen because you told them to shove the medal. It showed somebody, some- place, that you had integrity. That's even rarer than a top- level security clearance." Kelly reached across the table and squeezed his hand, feeling the rough flesh in the palm. "You got screwed, Turcotte." "No." Turcotte shook his head. "I screwed myself the minute I started playing God with a gun. I thought I was in control, but I was just a pawn, and they used me up like one. And now you know why I turned on my commander out there in Nebraska and killed him and why I rescued 209 1 8 The hangar doors slowly slid open. Inside Bouncer Three, Major Paul Terrent checked the control panel, which was a mixture of the original fixtures and added-on human tech- nology, including a satellite communications link with Gen- eral Gullick in the Cube. "All set," he announced. "I don't like being the bait," his copilot, Captain Kevin Scheuler, remarked. They were both reclined in depres- sions in the floor of the disk. The cockpit was an oval, twelve feet in diameter. They could see out in all direc- tions, the inner walls displaying what was outside of them THE CUBE, AREA 51 as if the walls themselves were not there--another piece of T-96 HOURS technology they could use but still didn't understand. "Give me a status," Gullick ordered. The effect, while useful, was extremely disorienting, and "Bouncer Three is ready for flight," Quinn reported. perhaps the second greatest hurdle Bouncer test pilots had "Bouncer Eight is also prepped and ready. Aurora is on to overcome. Most particularly, the view straight down standby status. Our link to Cheyenne Mountain is live and when the craft was at altitude, as if the pilot were floating secure. Anything moves, we'll be able to track it, sir." in the air, was quite a shock to the system until one got "General Brown?" Gullick asked. used to it. For this night's mission both men were wearing The Air Force deputy chief of staff frowned. His conver- night vision goggles on their flight helmets and the interior sation with his boss in Washington had been anything but of the hangar was lit in red lights, meaning there was little difference in illumination for them between there and the fun. "I talked to the chief of staff and he okayed the alerts, outside night sky. but he was not happy about it." However, the greatest hurdle to flying the machine was "I don't care if he was happy or not," Gullick said. "I the physical limitations of the pilots. The Bouncer was ca- just care that the mission is a go." pable of maneuvers that the pilot's physiology could not Brown looked down at his own computer screen. "We've handle. In the early days of the program there had been got every base alerted and planes on standby for pursuit. blackouts, broken bones, and various other injuries, includ- The primary and alternate kill zones are a go." ing one fatal crash--the disk staying intact, the uncon- "Admiral Coakley?" scious pilots inside being turned into crushed protoplasm "The carrier Abraham Lincoln is steaming toward the on impact with the earth. The disk had been recovered, sight where the foo fighter went down. It's got planes on cleaned out, and was still capable of flight. The two pilots alert." had been buried with honors; their widows told they had "We're all set, then," Gullick said. "Let's roll." died flying an experimental aircraft and given their posthu- mous medals at the funeral. 210 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 211 There was machinery surrounding the depressions that The airstrip outside was dark. Terrent pulled up on a the scientists had yet to figure out. The project's scientists lever to his side with his left hand and the disk lifted. The believed that there was a built-in way for the pilot depres- control system was simplicity itself. Pull up on the lever sions/seats to be shielded from the effect of G-forces, but and the disk went up. Let go of it and the lever returned to they had yet to discover it. It was as if a child who was center and the disk stayed at that altitude. Push down on it capable of riding a tricycle were allowed into a car. He and the disk descended. might understand what the steering wheel did, but he Terrent pushed the yoke forward with his right hand and wouldn't understand what the small opening on the steer- they moved forward. The yoke worked in the same manner ing wheel column was for, especially if the child had not as the altitude lever. Letting go brought the disk to a halt. been given the keys. Constant pressure equaled constant speed in whichever di- The best that they had been able to come up with was rection the yoke was pushed. allowing the test pilots enough flight time so that they un- Scheuler was looking at the navigation display--a human derstood their own limitations and did not push the ma- device tied in to a satellite positioning system. A computer chine past what they could handle. Beyond that, the display with a black rectangular outline to separate it from shoulder and waist harnesses bolted around the depres- the surrounding view showed their present position as a sions would have to do. small red glowing dot with state borders shown in light "There's nothing that can catch us," Major Terrent said. green lines. It was the easiest way to orient the pilots as to "Nothing human," Scheuler noted. "But if this foo their location. fighter thing was made by the same people who made this, "Let's roll," Terrent said. He pressed forward and they or people like the people who made this, then-- were out of the hangar. "Then nothing," Terrent cut in. "This ship is at least ten Behind them, still in the hangar, Bouncer Eight rose to a thousand years old. The eggheads know that, at least. Who- hover and waited. On the airstrip Aurora stood at the end, ever left it behind has been long gone. And they probably engines on, prepared for flight. On airstrips across the weren't people." United States and down into Panama, and on board the "Then why are we flying this mission, trying to bait this Abraham Lincoln at sea, pilots sat in their cockpits and foo fighter? Who made it?" Scheuler asked. waited--for what, they had not been told. But they knew "Because General Gullick ordered it," Terrent said. He whatever it was, this was no game. The planes' wings had looked at Scheuler. "You have any further questions, I sug- live missiles slung underneath and the Galling guns were gest you talk to him." loaded with bullets. Scheuler shook his head. "No, thanks." Terrent pressed a small red button added on top of the All clear," Quinn said, a rather unnecessary statement Y-shaped yoke in front of him, keying the SATCOM radio. since everyone in the room could see the small red dot "Cube Six, this is Bouncer Three. All systems ready. Over." indicating Bouncer Three moving northwest out of the Gullick's deep voice answered. "This is Cube Six. Go. state. The computer had already screened out all commer- Out." cial aircraft flights. 212 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 213 "Contact!" Quinn announced. A small green dot had "That's the lake," Terrent said. He pressed the yoke to the suddenly appeared on the screen, well behind Bouncer right a bit more. Three. "Same reading as the first one!" "On course," Scheuler said, checking their projected di- "Three, this is Six," Gullick spoke into his headset. rection. "Head for Checkpoint Alpha. Over." "Is the bogey turning yet?" "Yes," Scheuler said. "It's taken the bait. Right on our On board Bouncer Three, Major Terrent slowly pressed trail, about one hundred and fifty miles behind." the yoke to the right and the disk began a long curve over Terrent keyed his mike. "Six, this is Three. Kill Zone southern Idaho, turning toward the Great Salt Lake. What Alpha in one minute, forty-seven seconds. Over." was different about the turn from one made by an ordinary aircraft was the fact that there was no banking. The disk "Roger," Gullick answered. There were several more dots simply changed directions, staying flat and level. The bod- on the screen now. The red one indicated Bouncer Three ies of the two men inside strained against their restraining heading directly toward a small orange rectangle--Kill harnesses during the turn, then settled back in the depres- Zone Alpha--a point directly over the center of the Hill sions. Air Force Base Range. On the ground out there a helicop- "Give me a reading," Terrent said. ter and recovery crew from Nightscape waited. The green dot was the bogey, following Bouncer Three. Two red "The bogey's about three hundred miles behind us," plane silhouettes showed the F-16's on an intercept course. Captain Scheuler responded. He was watching the same A red triangle represented Aurora, en route directly from information on his small screen that the people in the Area 51. Cube had displayed on their large one. "Intercept in forty-five seconds," Quinn announced. "Is it turning with us?" Terrent asked. Bouncer Three went through the orange rectangle. "Not yet." "What the fuck was that?" the pilot of the lead F-16 called "Get Aurora in the air," Gullick ordered. "Alert Kill Zone out as Bouncer Three flashed by. Alpha reaction forces and get them up too. Have you fed "Wolfhound One, this is Six. Stay on target!" General coordinates of the bogey to Teal Amber?" Gullick's voice in the pilot's helmet was a cold slap in the Quinn was working quickly. "Yes, sir." face. "Have you got a lock on the target?" The pilot checked his instruments. "Roger, Six." At Hill Air Force Base, just outside Salt Lake City, two "Arm your missiles." F-16 Fighting Falcons roared down the runway and up into The pilot armed the air-to-air missiles under his wings. the night sky. As soon as they had reached sufficient alti- Still shaken by the image of Bouncer Three, he also armed tude, they turned west, over the flat surface of the lake, his 20mm multibarrel cannon. His wingman did the same. heading for the desolate land on the far side. "This son of a bitch is moving fast," the wingman said over the secure link between the two planes. 214 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 215 "Not fast enough," the pilot said. General Gullick was concerned about the same thing in Gullick reacted first. "Get Aurora after it. Launch Bouncer the Cube. "What's the speed of the bogey?" Eight." He keyed his radio. "Bouncer Three, this is Six. "Computer estimates twelve hundred miles an hour," Head for Kill Zone Bravo. Over." Quinn replied. "It's pacing Bouncer Three." Which was "This is Three. Roger." the reason the disk was flying so slowly, trying to draw the Gullick switched frequencies. "Wolfhound One, this is bogey in to the kill zone at a slow enough speed to be hit Six. Return to base for debriefing. Out." by the conventional jets. Gullick was intimately familiar with the weapon systems on board the F-16's--he was As the two F-16's turned back toward Salt Lake City and checked out on the aircraft. They could handle that speed. Hill Air Force Base, the pilot of the lead aircraft looked across the night sky to his wingman. "Six, this is Wolfhound One. Target will be in range in ten "We're in for a long night," he said on their secure chan- seconds. Request final authorization. Over." nel. "I don't know what it was we just saw--or didn't see-- "This is Six. Fire as soon as target is in range. Over." but one thing for sure, the security dinks are going to be all The pilot took a deep breath. over us on the ground." "Is this guy for real?" his wingman asked. "No time for questions," the pilot snapped. The heads- Major Terrent lined up Bouncer Three on an azimuth that up display indicated the target was in range. "Fire!" he would take them directly over the four corners--where yelled. Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico met--the only A Sidewinder missile leapt out from underneath the place in the United States contiguous to four states. wings of both planes. Kill Zone Bravo was several hundred miles beyond that in the same direction. White Sands Missile Range. Even though they conceptually knew what the bouncers "Where's the bogey?" Terrent asked. were capable of--and therefore could conceptualize what "Holding, about fifty miles behind us," Scheuler re- the foo fighters might be able to do--there was complete ported. shock as the bogey simply left the orange square behind "Let's hope they're better prepared at Bravo," Terrent and was over fifty miles away by the time the Sidewinders said. had crossed the two miles from where the F-16's were to where the bogey had been. General Gullick was directing the situation to insure just that. He had Aurora and Bouncer Eight heading directly "What the fuck was that?" the F-16 pilot said for the sec- toward the kill zone. They would beat Three there by four ond time in less than two minutes. His heads-up display minutes. was clear. The Sidewinder he'd fired was an arc disappear- Four F-15's from the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hol- ing over the base range, running out of fuel and descend- loman Air Force Base were already in the air. He didn't ing. Whatever he'd fired at was gone. expect them to have any more luck than the two F-16's 216 ROBERT DOHERTY 217 AREA 51 had--except now he had the ace card of having Bouncer From Bouncer Three, Captain Scheuler could see the wait- Eight in the air. Gullick planned on using both it and ing F-15's on his display. "ETA thirty seconds," he said. Bouncer Three to corral the bogey into a position where "Slowing." Major Terrent let up on the yoke. the F-15's could get a good shot at it. Aurora was to be on standby to chase, just in case it did get away again and "That's the first one," Eagle Flight Leader called out as moved outside the continental United States. It was a rule Bouncer Three buzzed through, slowing as it went. His that even General Gullick could not break on his own ini- men were disciplined. No one questioned what it was. That tiative--the bouncers could not fly over the ocean or for- would have to wait until the ready room after the mission. eign territory on the remote chance they might go down. Even then, they all knew they could never speak openly of The wall display was crowded now. Bouncer Three tonight's mission. straight shot from Salt Lake to White Sands, the bogey just "Lock on," Eagle Leader confirmed. behind. Bouncer Eight and Aurora on line from Nevada. "Locked," Eagle Two echoed, as did the other two pi- Four small airplane silhouettes lying in wait over White lots. Sands. "Fire!" "Amber Teal has the bogey," Quinn announced. "We're getting some imagery." On the display at the front of the Cube the foo fighter Gullick wasn't impressed or interested. They already had appeared to suddenly become motionless as a thin red line photos of the foo fighters. He wanted the real thing. He extended from each fighter toward the green dot. keyed his SATCOM link to the F-15 commander. "Eagle Leader, this is Cube Six. Target ETA in five minutes, "Jesus Christ!" Eagle Flight Leader swore. The bogey had twenty seconds. You're only going to get one shot at this. disappeared--straight up! Then reality set in hard. "Eva- Make it good. Over." sive maneuvers!" he screamed as the Sidewinder missile "This is Eagle Leader. Roger. Over." Eagle Flight Leader from the F-15 opposite him locked onto his plane. glanced out of his cockpit at the other three planes. "Eagle For four seconds there was absolute confusion as pilots Flight, take up positions. Get a fix on the first craft as it and planes scrambled to escape friendly fire. goes through. It will come to a halt on the far side of the kill zone. A second craft similar to the first is also en route General Gullick didn't even watch the self-induced melee. from the west and will also hold on the western side of the "Bouncer Three, go! Direct angle of intercept. Break. kill zone. Launch on the bogey as soon as it crosses Phase Eight, loop to the south and catch it if it goes the way the Line Happy. Over." other did! Aurora, get some altitude. Move, people! Move! The four planes broke into a cloverleaf pattern, the kill Over." zone a large pocket of empty sky, crisscrossed with elec- "Seventy thousand feet and climbing," Quinn reported. tronic energy as the planes turned on their targeting radar. "Seventy-five thousand." AREA 51 219 218 ROBERT DOHERTY "Please, Lord," Eagle Flight Leader whispered as he "Southwest," Scheuler said. "Heading, two-one-zero de- pulled out of the steep dive he'd gone into. A Sidewinder grees." roared past to his left. He keyed his radio. "Eagle Flight report. Over." "What's it doing?" Gullick asked. "One. Roger. Over." "Bogey heading two-one-zero degrees," Quinn said. "Two. Roger. Over." "Descending on a glide path, going down through one hun- "Three. Took a licking, but I'm still kicking. Over." dred and ten thousand. Three is in close pursuit. Eight Eagle Flight Leader looked up. Not to where the bogey is--" Quinn paused. "The bogey's turning!" had gone but farther. "Thank you, Lord." "Uh-oh," Captain Scheuler said as things changed on his "Ninety thousand and still climbing," Scheuler informed display. Major Terrent. His fingers hit the keyboard in front of him, "What?" The controls were getting firmer in Major Ter- his arms struggling against the G-forces pushing him down rent's hands. They were just about down to one hundred into his cutout seat. thousand feet. Scheuler snapped into action. "Collision alert!" "One hundred ten thousand and still climbing," Major "Give me a direction!" Terrent yelled. Quinn said. "The F-15's are all secure and returning to Holloman," he added. "One hundred and twenty thou- "Break right," Scheuler guessed. sand." Well over twenty miles up and still going vertical. On the large screen the red and green dots both curved in "One hundred and twenty-five thousand. It's peaking the same direction and merged. Gullick stood, his teeth over," Scheuler said. biting through the forgotten cigar. Major Terrent let out his breath. The controls had started to get slightly sluggish. The record for altitude in a Scheuler watched the foo fighter tear by directly overhead, bouncer was one hundred and sixty-five thousand feet, and less than ten feet away. A beam of white light was flashing that had been a wild ride four years ago. For some reason, out of the small glowing ball and raking over and through due to the magnetic propulsion system, which had not yet their disk. been figured out, at over a hundred thousand feet the disk "Engine failure. Loss of all control," Terrent reported. started losing power. They both felt their weight lighten, then they were peaking The crew of the disk that had made the record flight had over and heading down. had the unnerving experience of peaking out while still Scheuler looked at his display. "Ninety thousand and in trying to climb and gone into an uncontrolled descent be- free fall." fore the disk had regained power. The lever and yoke moved freely in Terrent's hands. "Heading?" Terrent asked, concentrating on keeping control. "Nothing. No power." He looked over at Scheuler. Both 220 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 221 men were maintaining their external discipline but their the bogey and Bouncer Eight was increasing rather than voices displayed their fear. decreasing, despite the crew of the disk pushing it to the "Eighty-five thousand," Scheuler said. limits of human endurance. Gullick spit out the mangled remains of his cigar. "Bouncer Three is in uncontrolled descent," Quinn re- "Bouncer Eight, this is Cube Six. Break off. I say again, ported. "No power. Bouncer Eight and Aurora are still in break off and return home. Aurora, continue pursuit. pursuit." Over." The green dot representing the foo fighter was moving "This is Bouncer Eight. Roger. Over." swiftly to the southwest. "This is Aurora. Roger. Over." On the screen Bouncer Eight rapidly decelerated and "Sixty thousand," Scheuler reported. curved back into airspace above the United States. Aurora Terrent let go of the useless controls. continued following the bogey. "Fifty-five thousand." "Alert the Abraham Lincoln to launch pursuit," Gullick ordered Admiral Coakley. The general finally shifted his "The bogey will hit the Mexican border in two minutes," gaze to the upper part of the screen. The green dot repre- Quinn reported. senting Bouncer Three was still motionless. "Altitude?" he "Bouncer Eight, this is Cube Six," Gullick said into his asked. boom mike. "Get that son of a bitch!" Quinn knew what he was referring to. "Thirty thousand. Still no power. Uncontrolled descent." With no power other than the Earth's gravity, Bouncer "Nightscape recovery status?" Gullick asked. Three was going down at terminal velocity. They had "In the air toward projected impact area," Quinn said. tipped over and the edge to both men's right was leading the way down. "I'm going to initiate at twenty thousand," Terrent said. They were actually descending more slowly than they His right hand rested on a red lever. "Clear." had gone up, Scheuler reflected, watching the digital dis- Scheuler pushed aside the keyboard and display from his play count down in front of him. He felt strangely de- lap as Terrent did the same. "Clear." tached, his years of pilot training keeping the fear at bay. "Cable up," Terrent ordered. At least they weren't tumbling. Scheuler hit a button on the side of his seat. Anchored Scheuler glanced over questioningly at Terrent. "Forty- to the ceiling above and behind the two of them, a cable five thousand." tightened, its near anchor point sliding along a track bolted Terrent tried the controls again. "Still nothing," he re- onto the floor until it stopped right between the two de- ported. pressions the men were seated in. "Hook up," Terrent instructed. "Thirty seconds to the border," Quinn said. He confirmed Scheuler reached into the waist pocket of his flight suit the bad news the screen was displaying. The gap between and pulled out a locking carabiner and slipped it onto the 222 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 223 steel cable, just above where Terrent put his. He made sure "Ten thousand feet," Quinn said. He looked at his com- it was on and screwed tight the lock. He then traced the puter screen and hit a few keys. "We're getting a slight nylon webbing back from it to the harness strapped around change in downward velocity on Bouncer Three." his torso, making sure it was clear and not wrapped around "I thought you said the readout said the hatch was blown anything. and they had initiated escape." Gullick said. "Hooked up," he confirmed. He glanced over at his dis- "Yes, sir, the hatch is gone, but"--Quinn checked the play. "Twenty-two thousand five hundred." data being sent in from the satellites and Bouncer Three Terrent grabbed the controls one last time and tried itself--"but it's slowing, sir!" them. They moved freely. No response. He looked at Gullick nodded, but turned his attention back toward Scheuler. "Ready, Kevin?" the screen and the green dot of the b