World Order Read online

  Sarah stared at him. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “That could make us look pretty bad, I guess. Noah, do you really think this could be some kind of alien stuff going on?”

  “I don’t know enough to form an opinion,” he replied. “At this time, all I can do is keep my mind open and hope to come up with an answer.”

  Neil, who was sitting behind him, leaned forward. “I’ve been looking at some of the dark web chatter,” he said. “There are number of conspiracy theories that could be connected. Some of them are about UFO activity in South America, but some of them are based on a rumor that two or three nations are working together to create a false alien invasion scenario. The idea is to make the world so scared that we are willing to forget about national borders and form some sort of global government.”

  Noah nodded. “I’ve heard of such theories before. Henry Kissinger even suggested the idea once, years ago when he was Secretary of State. Give people an enemy to worry about, and they stop being concerned about their own personal freedoms and securities.”

  Allison stirred in her sleep, and they dropped the conversation. Each of the team found a movie to watch on one of the seatback video screens, and eventually they all drifted off to sleep.

  Sleep can only carry you so far on a long flight. They were all wide awake more than two hours before the plane touched down at El Palomar Airport, which was situated just west of Buenos Aires.

  El Palomar is both a commercial and military airfield, home to the 1st Air Brigade of the Argentinian Air Force. For the past year, it has also been home to a number of U.S. military personnel who were in the country to establish a new base of their own. The new U.S. base, designated Donovan Range, would be just a few miles from El Palomar, which made it the perfect site to base the construction crews and security forces that accompanied them.

  A large van drove out to meet the plane as it parked some distance from the terminal. Two men climbed out, and Allison led the way as they walked down the stairs. One of the men, a U.S. Army Major, smiled and reached out to shake her hand.

  “Director Peterson,” he said. “I’d like to present El Coronel Geraldo Noah, of the Army of Argentina.”

  Allison turned to Noah and extended a hand. “Coronel,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, and what a great help you have been to our people here.”

  Noah smiled, then bent and kissed the back of her hand. When he raised his eyes to hers again, he said, “I do what I can, madame. Your American military have also been of great assistance to us in combating some of the illegal activities within our country.”

  Allison turned and motioned for Noah at the team to come closer. “Noah, this is El Coronel Noah and Major Tim Wilson. Tim and I go way back, to when he and my father served together. There was a time when I called him Uncle Tim, can you believe that?”

  “Major,” Noah said. “It’s a pleasure.” Neither he nor Allison introduced the rest of the team, but Major Wilson invited them all to climb inside the van. He took the shotgun seat, while Allison sat in the seat just behind him, so he had to turn in the seat to speak to her.

  “Director, only the Major and I are aware of your real identity. As far as anyone here is concerned, you are FBI Special Agent in Charge Janet Rice. Mr. Wolf and your team are all part of your investigative unit, looking into what’s been happening to our personnel.”

  “Good, that’s how I want it,” Allison said. “Have there been any new developments?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Wilson said. “Three more men have disappeared in the last fifteen hours. I have all the files ready for you to review as soon as we get you situated in your operations center. I’m afraid it’s just a Quonset hut, that’s all I can commandeer on such short notice. I had some walls slapped up overnight, so you’ve got a situation room, couple of offices, latrines with showers, a lab and morgue, and four private rooms to bunk in.” He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m afraid they’re pretty small.”

  “That’ll be fine, Tim. We don’t need comfort, we need someplace to work. What about the unknown compound? Have you gained any information on it?”

  Wilson shook his head, scowling. “I sent an entire platoon down there to see what they can learn. We were in constant radio communication with them until they got within a mile of the place, and then it just cut off. Each of them was carrying a specialized GPS tracker, and they vanished off the screen at the same time the communications came to a halt. Allie, I don’t have a clue what we’re dealing with down there. I had body cameras on some of those men, and the footage was beaming back in real time. I could describe to you what we saw, but I don’t think you’d believe me. As soon as we get to your OC, I’ll let you watch it for yourselves.”

  Behind Allison, Noah and the team all looked at one another. Doctor Emerson cleared his throat.

  “Major Wilson,” he said, “I wonder if you could tell me whether you have recovered any of the bodies of the missing personnel?”

  “Only three,” Wilson said. He scowled again, and looked Emerson in the eye. “From the look of them, they were running scared from something. All three of them were from a single attempt to get close to that base, but the other seven men with them vanished without a trace. Maybe you can make something of what happened to them, because we sure can’t.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Quonset hut and everyone piled out. Wilson led the way inside while Coronel Noah drove away in the van. The Quonset hut was divided into several rooms, but the front section was set up as a working office. There were four desks and two other tables, with computer workstations already in place.

  Wilson invited Allison to have a seat at one of the desks and then tapped the keys of the computer in front of her. A large wall-mounted screen suddenly lit up with a view of lush jungles, and he directed their attention to it.

  “What you are about to see is classified as secret as it can possibly be. This is the actual body cam footage from Lieutenant Larry Jorgensen, who was in command of the platoon.” He tapped another key and the video footage began to play.

  Lieutenant Jorgensen was apparently moving through the brush, and they caught flashes of machete as he chopped some of it out of the way. His progress was slow, and they watched for a couple of minutes as he hacked his way through the dense undergrowth.

  Suddenly, his voice was heard. “What the hell?” he asked. “Matheny, you see that?”

  Another man’s voice came through faintly. “I saw something, LT,” he said. “Some kind of ape, maybe? A lot bigger than any monkey I’ve seen.”

  “I don’t think there are any big apes around here,” Jorgensen said. “Maybe it’s...”

  In a flash reminiscent of some of the prank scare videos that pop up on YouTube, something suddenly appeared on the screen. It was moving too fast for the camera to get a clear image, but it seemed to be humanoid and with pale, almost iridescent skin. What looked like a blurry face appeared for a second, and then a long arm flashed out. The camera turned and caught a glimpse of more brush, and then went dark.

  “Holy shit,” Neil said softly.

  “Exactly,” Wilson said. “We tried every way we could to analyze that footage, but whatever that was moved so fast that we can’t even isolate it frame by frame to get an image. All you see is a blur, and no real detail at all. The only thing we can tell you is that, whatever it is, it bears a pretty strong resemblance to those sketches of pointy-chinned aliens that turn up from time to time. You know the ones I mean, the stuff that people who claim to have been abducted by spacecraft are always drawing. A long, oval-shaped face, chin coming down to a point and big, almond shaped eyes.” He nodded toward the monitor. “Whatever that was, it does not appear to be a human being. No human can move so fast that those cameras can’t keep up.”

  Marco grunted. “When they said aliens in the jungle in Argentina,” he said, “I was thinking something like the one Arnie fought in Predator. This looks more like some
thing out of Close Encounters.”

  “Except those aliens were friendly, remember? I don’t know what happened to my men, but that didn’t look very friendly to me.”

  “It certainly didn’t,” Allison said. “Tim, what about the other personnel who have gone missing or been murdered? NSA says you think there’s a connection. Care to explain?”

  Wilson sighed. “We’ve got some strange reports coming in, reports that indicate some of these men have been seen, but that they are somehow different than they were when they disappeared. Three of them are now dead, but our own medical specialists are just flabbergasted. They don’t know what to think of what they’re seeing in the bodies.” He nodded toward Emerson. “I’m hoping your guy can make some sense of it.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Emerson said. “To be of whatever assistance I can.”

  “Then I’ll take you down to the morgue we have set up. Allison, the only real lead I have for you is the man who disappeared yesterday. He was Specialist Daniel McRae, and the only witness was his uncle. His mother said she saw him leave to report for duty yesterday morning, and then the uncle says somebody grabbed him and dragged him into a car. It sped away, and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.” He looked at Allison. “Since I knew you were already planning to come, I locked down the investigation. I didn’t want any of the locals messing things up before you got a chance to take a look at the situation. The mother was advised that an FBI team was coming to take over.”

  “Smart thinking,” Allison said. “Noah?”

  Noah looked at the Major. “I take it he never reported for duty after all?”

  “No, sir,” Wilson said. “There hasn’t been any trace of him at all.”

  Noah nodded. “Major, what does Specialist McRae do in the Army?”

  Wilson glanced at Allison, then turned back to Noah. “He is an advanced systems analyst. McCrae spent a couple of years with DARPA, working on highly classified computerized weapons and intelligence gathering systems. His work is still classified, and his cover here is that he is a computer systems repairman.”

  “So he’s a very valuable man to have around,” Noah said, “if you have something extremely high tech you’re trying to deal with.”

  “Absolutely,” Wilson said. He picked up a file folder and handed it to her. “This is the report on the abduction, everything we’ve got so far.”

  Allison passed the folder to Noah. “Well, we’re here,” she said. “Read through that, and then I guess you need to go and talk to McRae’s mother. Take Neil, Marco and Jenny with you, while Renée and Sarah stay with me and Doctor Emerson.” She turned to Wilson. “I’m supposed to have another man meet us here. Any idea where he is?”

  Wilson nodded. “Yes, he flew in late last night, from some place in Mexico. I’ll have someone get him over here to you ASAP.”

  “That’ll be fine,” Allison said. “I’ll brief him when he arrives.”

  TWO

  A young female MP was waiting outside for them, and introduced herself as Private Karen Lee. “I’ve been assigned to assist you today,” she said. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

  “Get in the car,” Noah said. “We need to go and speak with the kidnap victim’s mother.”

  When they arrived at the McRae house, one of the new prefab houses set up for American military personnel and their families, they were greeted by an older man with gray hair and dark eyes who was sitting on a bench on the front porch, smoking a cigarette. An ashtray full of butts was on the bench beside him.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  Noah held up the ID he had been given. “Special Agent Noah Wolf, FBI. We’ve been sent down here to investigate Specialist McRae’s disappearance.”

  “It’s not a disappearance,” the old man said, “it’s an abduction! I’m Thomas McRae, Danny’s uncle. I’ve been living with Danny and his mother since his father died six years ago.”

  “That’s fine,” Noah said. “Is Mrs. McRae here now?”

  “She is, but, let me give you a word of advice, young man,” McRae said. He leaned close and spoke softly. “She bristles when you call her ‘Mrs.’, because she’s a widow. I’d go with ‘Ms.’ if I were you.”

  Noah looked at him for a moment, then nodded. McRae held the door open and allowed Noah and Jenny to step inside, while Neil and Marco waited near the car they had arrived in.

  “Nancy,”” McRae said, leading them in to the living room. “This is FBI Agent Wolf. He’s here to talk to you about Danny.”

  A tall woman in her late forties rose from the chair and extended a hand. Noah shook hands with her, and then she sat down again.

  "Ms. McRae, I read the report on Danny’s abduction, and I understand you were upstairs when it happened?" Noah asked, keeping his eyes locked on the lawyer.

  "Yes," the woman replied. She was keeping her tone steady, but it was obvious she barely held it together—she was wringing her hands in a nervous manner. "I went to my room to get my purse and I saw Thomas standing in the street, shouting at the car as it drove away. I came down to find out what was happening, and he told me that two men had dragged Danny into a car and driven off."

  "Did you happen to get a look at the kidnapper?"

  "No. I’m afraid it all happened too fast," she said, but then her eyes widened slightly. "What I can tell you is that the car belonged to a Mark Crawford, but it couldn't have been Mark driving; he and Danny have been best friends since they were kids, Mark would never do anything to hurt him. I tried calling Mark to ask if he knew anything, but he hasn’t answered.”

  Noah cocked his head to the side and looked at the woman. “Did you mention Mr. Crawford to the MPs who spoke to you yesterday?”

  She shook her head. “It didn’t dawn on me until later. I mean, I barely even saw the car as Thomas was shouting at it, and I was paying attention to what he was doing, not to the car driving away. It never occurred to me to mention Mark.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “Please, you’ve got to find him. You’ve got to find my Danny."

  "We are doing everything we can," Jenny said in a placating manner. She was doing a good job of posing as one of the FBI agents, assisting Noah.

  Noah, however, preferred to talk business. "Have the kidnappers tried to contact you yet?"

  Nancy McRae shook her head.

  "We will need to set up our equipment," Noah said, standing up. “If they contact you, we’ll want to monitor the call.”

  "All right," she said softly. "Is there anything I can do?"

  "Just leave it to us," Jenny said. “This is what we get paid for.”

  Noah glanced at the two women for a moment, then walked back to the door and looked out at Marco and Neil. Neil was taking pictures of the area of the unpaved street that was marked off by police as the scene of the abduction, while Marco was scouring the road for any type of evidence that might have been left behind.

  "Neil! Bring in the phone monitoring equipment!"

  "Yes, sir," Neil replied, already turning on his heel. He started gathering up the equipment, glancing at Marco to see if he was going to help.

  Marco didn't bother looking up from where he was kneeling in the street. He simply waved a hand, preferring to focus on picking up the cigarette butt that he had just spotted. He picked it up with a pair of tweezers and looked at it closely, then slipped it into a plastic bag that went into his pocket.

  “I could lend a hand, if you like,” Private Lee said.

  Neil looked at her for a moment, but he certainly wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Sure. Grab that and come along."

  She smiled politely, picked up the case he indicated and followed him into the house. Marco glanced around the street once more, then made his own way inside.

  Once they had carried everything into the living room, they set to work. Neil wondered for a moment whether he'd have to guide Lee through everything, but fortunately the young woman seemed to know her way around the equipment. In
less than ten minutes, everything was set up properly.

  "Shall we test it?" she asked as she finally stood up.

  "Yup," Neil said, sitting down with his laptop on his knees. Even as he tapped on the keyboard, though, he couldn't help but notice her massaging her neck with a slight wince. It didn't take Neil’s ridiculously high IQ to figure out that the muscles had been strained as the MP had bent over cable after cable for the past twenty minutes. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll stop hurting in a few minutes or so."

  "I hope so," she said in a mildly wry tone.

  Noah was suddenly standing over the two of them, looking at the equipment connected to the phones. "Have you got it working, Neil?" he asked, his feigned impatience clearly noticeable in his voice.

  Neil turned back to his computer and looked at the readings on the screen. "Yes, boss."

  Noah nodded, then went back to talking to Ms. McRae and her brother-in-law.

  Marco stepped up beside Neil and Lee. "Not bad, for an army cop," Marco said.

  "I'm familiar with this kind of equipment," Lee replied, shrugging slightly.

  Marco thought about his reply for a moment, then grinned at her.

  "Well, the job I have for you will be bit more challenging, but I think you have what it takes," Marco said, acting innocent.

  "Certainly, what do you need me to do, sir?" Lee asked, getting to her feet.

  "Got paper and pen?"

  "Yes, sir," she replied, taking a small notebook and a pen out of her pocket.

  "Right. Coffee shop is just down the street. Black, one sugar and make sure it's not any of that instant stuff," Marco said, keeping his face straight. "Got it?"

  Lee’s face went blank for a moment, but then the expression was replaced with a wry look that said she probably shouldn’t have been surprised at the obvious hazing. She nodded and wrote everything down. "I’ve certainly got it, sir."