THE GROUNDS AROUND the pagoda at the top of Jade Spring Hill were mostly overgrown with deciduous trees and shrubs. Since the area was not open to the public, landscaping was kept to a minimum, and numerous fallen pine branches and leaves lined the stone steps leading up to the main courtyard.

  Signaling his bodyguard to remain behind at the base of the hill, General Hua mounted the steps by himself until he got past the central gate and stared up at the tiered tower looming in front of him. The morning air was crisp, and he enjoyed the calm serenity of the deserted grounds. For a few moments, all the stress and worries temporarily left his mind as he used tai chi breathing exercises to calm himself.

  Hearing the approach of someone coming down from the upper stone steps above him brought Hua's mind back to the present. He gave a friendly smile as he waited for the other man to come closer.

  Deng Wu wore an impeccable blue suit tailored to fit his robust frame. He had been appointed minister of state security for the MSS, the country's all-powerful intelligence and security agency, and his influence was merely a step below that of the president.

  Hua took several steps forward, meeting the other man halfway as they clasped each other's outstretched hands. "Long time no see, Wu. I hope you are well today."

  "I am very well indeed, Hua, and I hope you are too. I received the invitation to your first grandson's birthday party and I must apologize for not being able to attend."

  Hua chuckled as he used his left hand to pat Wu's forearm. "Don't worry about that. I am sure you must be very busy these days."

  "I've been quite busy, but I shall always have the time to meet with a close friend whose daughter always stays at my house. So tell me, General, what is on your mind these days?"

  Hua drew in a deep breath. Although he was a master orator when it came to addressing his troops during briefings, he knew Wu wasn't his subordinate, but rather his superior when it came to matters of state. "I am... most concerned about our dear president. It seems his behavior has been... somewhat odd ever since he attended the National Congress in Ordos."

  Wu's face was unreadable. "Would you care to explain a little bit more?"

  Hua knew he was treading on dangerous ground, and he had to be careful with his choice of words. "As you know, I have sworn an oath as a soldier to willingly give up my life for the defense of our great country."

  "I am well aware of that. Your patriotism was never in doubt."

  "And I follow the chain of command, to the letter. And this brings me to a great dilemma."

  "What dilemma is this, Hua?"

  There's no turning back now, he thought. "I am gravely concerned that our dear President Qiao is... shall I say, receiving bad advice."

  Wu crossed his arms. "You'll need to elaborate on that."

  "The questionable promotions and the personnel transfers. My colleagues and I fear that these new appointments have degraded our military's combat capabilities," Hua said softly. "The mere fact that our dear president has not returned to the capital and instead issues directives from an autonomous region is another worry."

  "You mentioned colleagues. Please name the others who share this same concern."

  "That I cannot do," Hua said tersely.

  Wu's facial expression quickly turned into a scowl. "I think you know better than to keep things from me, Hua. We may be old friends, but I also swore an oath—to defend the country against enemies both foreign and local, and what you are implying is tantamount to treason."

  "All I can tell you is that a few others agree with me. The president is not himself, and something must be done about it before it's too late."

  "What are you planning, Hua? A military coup d'état? I promise you that will not happen, not under my watch. My agents can swoop in and arrest all conspirators within a day."

  "But something must be done! President Qiao is being unduly influenced by an unknown power, surely you must know this!"

  Wu turned and began walking away. "I will not hear any more of what you are saying, Hua. Do not attempt to meet with me again. Since our daughters are close friends, I will let you go this one time, but if you and your group persists in this line of thinking then you will all be arrested, tried, and then executed."

  Hua dashed forward, stepping in front of the other man. "Wu, please! You must listen to me. As head of our intelligence service, surely you must know what is going on."

  Wu stopped and held his head high, trying his best to stay calm. "While I share your concerns about our dear president's behavior, I will not act against his wishes unless there is clear proof of some kind."

  "You are the spymaster, Wu. Send some of your agents to Ordos, so that we can unravel this mystery together."

  "I will not! President Qiao is our highest ranking official, and we are all subordinate to him. I shall not investigate him based on hearsay alone."

  "We must do something," Hua pleaded. "Our country's future is at stake here. If these so-called aliens attack us while our president is not himself, then it shall be a great obstacle that even our vaunted military may be unable to overcome."

  Wu shook his head disapprovingly. "You are listening to too much Western propaganda. China is secure. We have not been attacked by these so-called aliens, not even once."

  "How do you know they aren't already here? What are your intelligence reports saying about the developments at Inner Mongolia?"

  Wu's voice lowered to a whisper. "They... aren't saying anything. MSS responsibilities for that city have been transferred to the Ministry of Public Security."

  Hua was shocked. "What? But didn't our dear president appoint Mayor Lao as the head of the state police forces too?"

  "He did."

  "Then you cannot know what is going on in Ordos either! We must work together in this, Wu. I can transfer assets from the PLA's Second Department to that city and work with your agents."

  Wu grimaced. "No! Committing treason may seem like second nature to you, but I shall not be a part of this! What if you're wrong? Do you not understand the full consequences of what you are proposing?"

  Hua could tell that the other man would never willingly betray the Chinese president without cause. He had to try another way. "I am convinced that something is not right up in Ordos City, and I'll stake my life on it."

  "Your family will suffer too. Are you truly ready to sacrifice them all?"

  Hua bit his lip. "If you are unwilling to take a risk at this time, then I understand. Would you mind if I ask for a favor from you instead?"

  "I'll need to hear the offer first."

  "All I ask is that your people will look the other way until I can get someone in Ordos to confirm my suspicions. With this sort of plan, if anything goes wrong then you shall not be held responsible."

  "I could still get accused of failing to prevent such a thing, Hua."

  The general held his arms forward, in a gesture of being taken prisoner. "If anything goes wrong, you can arrest me yourself, Wu. I promise you I will not resist and you will take the credit for catching me."

  Wu stayed silent for a few moments before answering him. "If you can arrange it so that someone from the outside of both our organizations does the dirty work, then I might be inclined to give you some leeway. But if any of my departments gets a whiff of what's going on, then I shall come after you without any mercy."

  "Agreed. Thank you, my old friend."

  "Don't thank me yet. This decision you've made could very well be the end of you."

  17 Oregon

  ELSNER FELT A BUZZING inside his ear as he followed his son up a dirt path. The last time he had such a feeling was during the raid at the Wigham Healthcare facility in Wyoming, and his hand instinctively slid towards the holstered pistol on his hip.

  He would still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, remembering just how close he’d been to dying that night. The look on Jenna Bates' anguished face before he left her to die continued to smolder at him, and the only way he could alleviate it was by thinking about how much his family still needed him.

  Austin stood atop the hilly summit more than a dozen paces ahead, beckoning him to move faster. "Come on, Dad!"

  "I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying," Elsner said as he tried to pick up the pace. Months spent working in the greenhouse back at the enclave had weakened his leg muscles somewhat, and now his son seemed more in shape than he was.

  The afternoon sun's rays glittered past the branches and trunks of the pine trees while his son began hopping up and down with impatience. "You're so slow! Hurry up!"

  He's just gonna show me some weird rock or something, Elsner thought as he scrambled up the slight incline. Austin had been asking him to come along for a hike in the woods the past two days, and he finally managed to convince Levi that the compost heap and the greenhouse crops were doing okay, and he could take most of the day off.

  The moment Elsner made it to the top of the hill Austin quickly turned and began to zigzag along the rocks at the other side. "Okay, let's keep going!"

  Catching his breath, he couldn't help but smile as he started down after the boy. Getting back together with his family was hard at first, but at long last it seemed they had finally bonded. Even Sally had stopped fighting with him. Now they made decisions as a couple, and he was somewhat happy for the first time in years.

  Using his hands to keep himself balanced, Elsner slowly made his way down towards the cluster of black rock. I'll still have to face the music if I ever get caught. But how do I convince the authorities that I'm innocent? A trial will still keep me separated from my family until I get exonerated.

  Austin was waiting for him while standing alongside a flattened boulder. The boy was smiling and placed his hands on his thighs in a gesture of pride. "Just wait till you see this, Daddy."

  Elsner was nearly out of breath, and he was thankful that whatever surprise his son had was now close by. "What am I going to look at, Oz? A dead alien or something?"

  The boy chuckled as something huge and hairy stood up behind him. "Even better—a real live one!"

  Elsner yelled out a series of obscenities when the Sasquatch suddenly appeared directly behind his son. The sudden encounter so unnerved him that Elsner's tired legs buckled, and he fell backwards onto the ground, the weight of the backpack pushing his buttocks into the rocky soil. All he could think about now was saving his son as he rolled sideways and tried to draw his pistol.

  Austin ran closer to him and held his arms out. "No, no! He's a friend!"

  Elsner's mind was too numb to understand what his son was trying to tell him. After pulling out the Walther PPS sub-compact pistol from the holster, he tried to focus on the large hairy creature in front of him, but his son kept getting in the way. "Move, move!"

  The boy's shouts quickly turned to panic as he kept himself in between his father's gun and Bruce. "No! Please, Daddy—put that thing away before it gets mad!"

  Elsner almost had a clear shot, until the creature bared its teeth and made a deafening howl. His mind clicked; if that monster had wanted to hurt his son it could have already done so. Even though his own inclination was to start shooting, the realization that a compact 9mm pistol wouldn’t be very effective against a man ape nearly twice his size made him think twice.

  Austin was close to tears. The boy's hands were up in the air, begging for the confrontation to end. "Please... don't."

  Elsner lowered the gun before placing it gently on the ground. His mind was in a jumble and he wasn't sure of what to do next.

  An enraged Bruce was about to make a grab for Elsner, but Austin knelt down beside his father and hugged him defensively. The Sasquatch loomed over them, reaching for the gun and taking it in its hairy paws before tossing it away.

  The boy locked eyes with his dad before turning and glancing up at Bruce. "Could we start over, please?"

  Elsner blinked, hoping it was all a dream. "Who? What? Is that?"

  Austin got up first while staying close to his dad. "His name is Bruce, or actually that's what I named him because his real name is hard to pronounce."

  "Is... is he okay with that?"

  The boy nodded energetically. "Oh yeah, he's fine with it."

  Bruce backed away and made a slight bowing gesture with his head.

  Austin's smile had returned as he stood in between them. "Bruce, this is my daddy, and his name is Elsner."

  Bruce made a low sounding growl while looking towards the boy.

  After dusting off his pants, Elsner removed his backpack and placed it on the ground beside him. "Do you understand what it's saying?"

  "Yup," Austin said before realizing he needed to explain a bit further. "What I mean is I don't understand his voice, but Bruce communicates mostly by thought. He understands English though."

  "Okay, so it's like telepathy or something?"

  "Yeah, I think that's what the word is."

  "Uh... how come it isn't using its telepathy on me?"

  The boy turned and looked back towards Bruce. "He's says that it's easier to communicate with kids like me than it is with adult humans, so I guess this means I'll be doing the talking for him."

  Elsner rubbed the back of his neck. "So... um. What's it doing out here?"

  "He was part of like a scout party, but he got hurt and separated from his friends when the Grays attacked them."

  "Really? They're... not friends with those types of aliens?"

  "Bruce says the Grays treated them like slaves, and all the Bigfoots sort of like rebelled and tried to live out on their own, but the Grays are hunting them."

  "Okay, so where are they from? Like Mars or something?"

  The boy shook his head. "Bruce says they're from another planet, but he's not sure where it is relative to Earth. Their world is sort of like, slowly dying out, and he says the Grays and the other ones are planning to move over here."

  "Wait, slow down... so there are other types of aliens other than these apemen and the Grays?"

  "Yeah, he says the vampires are also part of it, you know the ones we heard about on the news."

  "Yeah, anything else?"

  "He says there's also infiltrators who look very close to humans, but they're really not so they have to wear coats and hats and stuff. Then there's also these floating energy balls, but they're pretty rare, and you've got the hybrids, the humans with the really big heads—they're probably the best with the mind thing."

  Elsner could only blink in astonishment. "Whoa, so only the Bigfoots are rebelling, and all these other alien races are against them?"

  "A few of the hybrids have joined up with Bruce's people too."

  "If they're rebelling then why don't they ask the American Government for help?"

  Austin sighed. "It's a problem for them because they're afraid the world will probably take them prisoner or something like that, so they would rather stay hidden for now. And Bruce is also telling me that the bad ones have spies all over the world still helping them."

  Elsner felt a slight sense of shame. They're right about humans misunderstanding them. I just encountered one and I nearly shot it before I knew what the real story was. "I guess this makes sense. How long have these aliens been around?"

  "Bruce says they've been visiting Earth for a long time, since we were still living in caves."

  "Then why did this war start just now?"

  "He says it's because some of our scientists were close to learning the secret of how to travel to their world, so the Grays felt threatened and convinced all the other races to start attacking us, but Bruce and his people decided it was time to rebel."

  Elsner looked down. "Wow. I guess this is starting to make some sense now. So what does Bruce want?"

  "He'd like to get back to his people, but he's going to need our help."

  "Okay," Elsner said. "We could try and help, but wouldn't it be better if we could find a way to have his group contact our government so we could all fight the Grays together?"

  The boy had a disappointed look on his face. "Bruce says that humans have to get rid of the spies who are infesting their world first, and we're also not yet ready."

  "What do we need to do to get ready?"

  Austin looked at Bruce, and the apelike creature simply turned away, unwilling to lock eyes with the boy anymore.

  18 Utah

  STOPPING IN FRONT OF the door, Qyss knocked twice and waited.

  The entryway to the general's office opened up, and Colonel Jan Wegener beckoned him to come inside. "Please enter, Master Sergeant."

  Qyss gave him a nod of respect while stepping into the room. General Heino Jokinen sat behind his desk, and there was a woman he didn't recognize sitting in one of the other chairs. Granite Peak Base was heavily secured, and he wondered what kind of government clearance she had.

  Wegener pointed towards one of the empty chairs as he closed the door. "Have a seat, Qyss. I would like to introduce you to Zoe, she's with the Central Intelligence Agency."

  Qyss made a slight bow to her before sitting down. "Miss Zoe."

  "Good afternoon, Master Sergeant."

  Jokinen leaned forward, clasping both hands together on his desk in a prayer-like fashion. "We've got an assignment for you, Master Sergeant. I understand you've been deployed into Europe before, yes?"

  Qyss nodded. "Along with a few other continents, General. What about the rest of my team?"

  The general glanced up at Wegener before returning his attention to the Delta Force operative. "This is going to be a sort of... delicate mission. The reason why I called you alone is that I want you to understand there may be some... political repercussions involved, so this means it's strictly voluntary."

  "As long as I don't end up in a gulag or taken prisoner by extremist Muslims then I'm open to anything, General."

  Wegener gestured with his head towards Zoe. "You might want to take it from here, ma'am."

  The dark haired woman looked somewhere between her late thirties and early forties, but Qyss couldn't pin down her exact age. Her voice was light, yet carried a tone of authority. "I'm sure you've heard rumors about a fifth column that's been working with the aliens to undermine Task Force Zero. What I need for you to do is assemble a team for a snatch and grab operation."

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33