Waiting at the bottom of the lift were two men in black suits, stood in front of a small group of elderly men and finally a face that the driver recognized.
Senior Master Sergeant Warren ‘Rabbit’ Hall was a man of medium build, with a shiny, bald head. He was always immaculately presented, he was clean shaven and his grey eyes noticed every detail. Warren had exceptionally high standards and expected his men to fulfill them. All the men in Warren’s command had the utmost respect for the Denver born officer.
The fourth man in the group wore the decorated uniform of a high ranking Commander. Edgar Hudson waited for the signal to drive off of the lift then edged the vehicle forward until instructed to stop.
This was the first time the young Airman first class knew something special was going on. The group had been briefed in the early hours of the morning that an important package was being delivered in total secrecy. The team was to take safe delivery of the package and then they were to guard the hanger against all unauthorized visitors
A crane met the flatbed truck near the middle of the hanger. Edgar and his passenger Airman First class Chester ‘Toff’ Marshall jumped out. The two took several minutes to undo the bindings keeping the tarp in place, finally they gave a forceful yank and the tarpaulin fell to the floor. The two young air force men looked in awe at the strange, golden acorn that sat in the middle of the truck.
The two men did not speak but they gave each other a sly glance that only Senior Master Sergeant Hall picked up. He let it slide, he himself was curious to lay eyes on the object that fell from space the night before; it was strangely mesmerizing.
Under the watchful eyes of the Commander, the crane carefully deposited the car-sized acorn onto a small round platform in the very center of the large hanger. The two men in black suits approached the First class airman.
“Good work, please remove the flatbed and then resume guard duties above ground.”
The men were not sure how to react to this, they had no idea who these men were, they wore no identification but they were acting with authority.
Warren spoke up, “You heard the man, get to it!”
“Sir, Yes, Sir.”
The men jogged back to the flatbed truck, they quickly swung it around and returned to the lift. Slowly they returned to the surface.
“Thank you Master Sergeant.” The Man in the black suit said. “Please go and brief your men on their mission now. They are not to know what is going on down here. They are just to restrict access to the hanger.”
“And under no circumstance are they to allow any unauthorized access to the lift.” The second man in black said in the same deadpan tone. “Is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir,” Warren said as he stiffened his stance.
“Good, dismissed.”
Warren went to return to the surface. He had a glance behind him as he walked away. The men in black suits were talking to the Commander, but the high ranking air force man was clearly not in a position of authority here.
Warren shook his head. “I hate black book projects.” He muttered to himself.
Staff Sergeant Billy ‘The kid’ Jonson stood rifle in hand in the hot midday sun. He watched the shimmer of heat rising off of the tarmacked runway. Sweat trickled down his forehead and pooled in the corner of his eyes, stuck with nowhere to go behind his mirrored aviator sunglasses.
Billy stood on guard outside Hanger 6, tucked away in an inconspicuous part of the base that did not garner any attention. Billy and his fellow guard Master Sergeant Jim ‘Big J’ Miller knew they were not being told the whole story. They just did as they were ordered like usual. No unauthorized access inside the hanger, this had been the same for the last six weeks.
A mired of scientists and other professionals had visited the hanger in this time, some of them had left, some of them had not; the guards just stood and did their jobs, in the military it was best to be quiet and follow orders.
As they stood there in the boiling temperatures they tried not to let boredom overcome them.
Out of nowhere, a dark black Sedan meandered into view. It did not seem to have a military escort with it, which was most unusual.
“I’m calling it in!” Billy said.
He went to call it in through his radio but he only got static.
Miller raised his rifle, while Johnson signaled where he wanted the vehicle to halt.
The Sedan continued to approach, Jonson peered through the windshield but the tint was too strong and he could not make anything out. As the vehicle came to a stop Miller moved to the driver’s side window.
The window slowly came down to reveal a bold man in black sunglasses with a black hat on. He looked about fifty but had near perfect skin.
“Hand me your keys now, then show me some Identification,” Miller said assertively.
The man smiled, he turned the engine off and then handed the keys over.
“Good work Master Sergeant, I will commend you on your good work to Senior Master Sergeant Hall.”
Miller was speechless, a strange feeling of dread had washed over him, and he suddenly felt like he had a nasty head cold.
The two front doors of the Sedan opened and the two men in black suits got out, the passenger went to open the rear passenger side door.
Johnson raised his rifle and moved it seamlessly between the two men.
“Stop right there, slowly place your hands on the hood of the vehicle, do it slowly and do it now.”
The first man in black turned to and smiled at him, the second continued to escort an elderly gentleman out of the back seat.
“Staff Sergeant, lower your weapon please. We are going to enter Hanger 27; we need to our consultant to check out the device.”
Johnson and Miller did not know what to say, they felt a dark fog shroud their minds. They subconsciously lowered his weapon.
“Thank you.”
The two men in black escorted an elderly, well-dressed gentleman into the hanger. They typed an access code into the door, which then clicked unlocked, they disappeared inside.
The two guards just stood there unable to think clearly, it was like they were in a dream, a dream that they were about to be rudely awoken from.
Senior Master Sergeant Warren ‘Rabbit’ Hall ran towards the two men, he shouted at them as he got closer but they were unable to respond.
“Bollocks!” Hall said as he stood in front of the two dazed men. ‘I did not get to them in time.’ He thought.
Hall relieved the two men of their weapons then slowly sat them down on the boiling tarmac. Two men jogged towards Hall.
“You two escort these men to their quarters and make sure they stay there until they have recovered. Get their replacements here ASAP.” Hall barked.
“Yes, Sir.” They shouted and slowly got the two incapacitated guards to their feet. It took a good ten minutes to get them to walk all the way to their sleeping quarters.
Warren Hall stood guard until the replacements turned up; he then warned them about the two men in black.
“Those two men are allowed access to whatever they want; if they ask you for something you will comply with it. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Sir.” They barked in unison.
But Airman 1st Class Tom ‘Looney’ Cox was a curious son of a bitch and just could not help himself.
“Sir.”
“What a surprise, Looney what is it?”
“Who are they? I have seen them once before, and they seem to be in command?”
“You ask too many questions boy… All I know is the Commander is scared of them, they must have connections in powerful places as they appear to be civilians but they are clearly in charge. Just do as they ask.”
Cox saluted, “Sir?”
Hall raised his eyebrow, “What is it?”