“No, sir. Of course not. I don’t have that clearance.”
McCreary made a subtle nod. Believing him. “Dismissed.” He said in a pleasant tone.
Hal returned to his desk, quietly exhaling a deep lungful of air. His heart still kicking a base drum in his chest. Hal took a deep breath, calmed himself, plugged in his imagery drive and went to work.
“Sheridan’s on the move,” Baldo anxiously said into a phone as he sat alone in the box.
“You don’t have to tell me every time he gets in his truck,” McCreary’s agitated voice sounded on the other line. “Just when he drives somewhere unusual.”
“Is Henry Bank’s house unusual, sir?” There was silence on the other end, making Baldo feel even more alone in the box. The hangar lights were off and his face was creepily lit from the glare of monitors before him. The glow from the half-dozen flat screens in the box created an aura around the box. Dust particles floated in the haze, which cast the entire hangar in a dull and eerie pall.
McCreary’s voice finally broke the silence over Baldo’s phone… “Henry Bank’s house qualifies as unusual. Keep an eye on it. Follow Sheridan’s truck if he leaves. We’re blind inside the house.”
“Why?” Baldo asked. Knowing they’ve been aware of Banks for a while. Plenty of time for Cloudcroft spooks to set up surveillance. McCreary hung up on the other end.
Henry watched Hal’s truck pull into his garage through a crack in the door leading into his home. Henry pressed the garage door button, closing it as Hal killed the engine. The door lowered to a rest and Henry turned the garage light on. Entering at the same time Hal stepped down from his truck.
“Han—” Hal said but stopped himself, seeing Henry motioning quiet with a finger to his lips. Henry held an odd instrument, scanning Hal’s truck with it as he walked around. It beeped frantically as Henry waved the Bug Sweeper over the bumper. Henry pointed to the bumper and mouthed, “A BUG.” Henry let it be.
Hal eased the back door of his cab open, lifting a thick tarp off the seat. Under it was a space blanket, and under that — Jenny. He motioned for her to be quiet, then helped her down from the cab.
Henry held the door open to his home. It was a steel door, unusually thick and solid. Hal and Jenny entered and Henry closed it behind them. It made a whoosh sound like a vacuum seal. The trio stood in the mudroom of Henry’s ranch-style house. The room fit the part as mud-caked cowboy boots were in the corner next to a boot jack. The mudroom also served as Henry’s laundry with a modern washer and dryer next to an old refrigerator. Hal knew Henry only kept two things in that fridge: cold beer and thick steaks.
“How was the drive back there?” Henry asked Jenny. “Little warm?” She nodded, hesitating in answering as he just told them not to talk. “It’s okay, this door’ll block anything that bug can hear.”
“It was toasty,” Jenny said. “Hal cranked the AC, but I was still sweating.”
“I like a gal who admits she sweats!” Henry retorted. “If you said you were perspiring, I wouldn’t’a given you one of these.” Henry handed Jenny and Hal a couple cold beers he set on the washer when they first arrived.
Henry opened the mudroom door to a sprawling sunken living room in 60s ranch décor. The coffee tables featured bronze sculptures of cowboys and bucking broncos. Lamps on end tables were dark metal and wood with lampshades made of covered wagon canvas.
“Wow,” Jenny said. “Your home is beautiful! I love it!”
“Thank you. I call it modern rustic. I have to give my late wife the credit. Not a thing has changed since she fixed it up this way over thirty years ago.”
“High-tech, too,” Hal said, nodding to a blinking, military-grade motion detector in the corner of the ceiling.
“Thanks for reminding me, pal. Go on down and have a seat.” Henry went back to the mudroom and opened a panel on the wall to his security system. Activating the motion sensors in the garage and outside the house.
Hal and Jenny wandered down the steps to the sunken living room featuring a fireplace on one side and a large flat screen on the other. Couches, chairs and a three-legged cowboy stool separated them. The architecture was a combination of rustic hardwood and stone. A combination of a log cabin and ranch house. One would expect the view out the living room windows to be the western plains at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Hal sat on one couch and Jenny took a chair across from him. He raised his beer to her. “Sorry about the hot ride.”
“It wasn’t too bad. Reminded me of riding in the back of my dad’s truck as a kid.”
“I’m gonna’ pretend that’s a comment about my truck,” he said. She chuckled. “That tarp and the space blanket should be enough to hide your heat signature from drones or satellites.”
“Riiiight,” She said skeptically. “I think you were torturing me! Cheers!” She held up her beer and took a drink.
Henry joined them, bounding down the steps to the sunken living. He sat in a ranch-style Lazy Boy next to Jenny. It was custom-made with a Captain Kirk-like hidden panel in the arm rest. He lifted it up and removed a remote control, turning on the large flat screen TV. The green light on a thumb drive flickered to life, plugged into the side of the smart TV.
Henry played the video footage that showed an aerial view of desert in infrared. “This is IR footage from a stealth RPA over Yemen.” Hal rose, went to the screen and read the graphic text on both sides of the image.
“In English, please?” Jenny asked.
“Right. Sorry about that. This is classified footage from a stealth drone flying over Yemen. The image looks like it’s negative, but it’s a thermal image, so the warmer areas glow and the cooler areas appear gray or black. You see the glowing forms on the roof tops? If you look closely, you can see they’re armed. Snipers. Most likely Al Qaeda in Yemen. AQAP we call them — Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Watch this— this is the interesting part…
Henry sped up the footage to a lone man with a submachine gun approaching the alley way leading to the main street with the snipers. The man instantly disappears.
“What?” Hal said. “Play that again, please.”
Henry did, enlarging the figure in silhouette. “This is maximum zoom.” From this angle the man’s helmet, shoulders, arms and machine gun were visible. His face didn’t seem to have any features, just a flat surface, faintly glowing. It all vanished. “If you look closely, it still has a faint silhouette. It’s hard to see, but it’s there.”
“I see it,” Hal said. Henry and Jenny both got up from their seats for a closer look. Watching beside Hal. “It’s some kind of suit.”
“A stealth suit,” Henry replied. “Self-cooled so it doesn’t radiate heat. Nearly invisible to IR. Keep watching the silhouette.” He fast-forwarded and the form rapidly made the length of the street in stutter steps, crossing to a large building. “Here.” Henry played normal speed. The faint shadow entered the building. Guards glowed in IR just behind the wall. “They’re un-phased,” Henry said. “The shadow walked right past them.”
“Like he wasn’t even there.” Jenny said.
“Now, watch this.” Henry fast-forwarded again. “This is where all Hell breaks loose.” The video showed the shadow leaving in fast motion, striding across the street. Henry zoomed the image out and a massive blast whited out the video completely.
This triggered a white flash in Hal’s eyes. Images of the chaotic firefight in the street appeared. Hal was overcome with dizziness, easing down on the couch behind him.