“So we’re on our own?” Turcotte asked.
“I can get us some help if we need it.” Lisa turned to face him and took his hands in hers. “I also wanted you to know that I’m going to need you for whatever comes up.”
“Who else?” Turcotte felt the sea breeze on his skin. He drew in a deep breath through his nose, his nostrils flaring as the scent of salt water filled them. “There.” He pointed down to their left. “See them?”
Duncan looked.
There was a flash of something white against the phosphorescent glow. “Dolphins,” Turcotte said. “They’re playing.”
But Duncan’s attention was elsewhere. Turcotte followed her gaze toward the horizon. A silver bouncer was coming in fast and high, dropping altitude as it closed on the carrier.
“Time to go,” Duncan said.
Turcotte was trying to assimilate all the new information that Duncan had just given him. “Give me a few minutes alone, Lisa.”
“Mike—”
He placed a finger on her lips. “Give me a few minutes alone to think, then I’ll join you in the conference room and we can try to figure out what’s going on. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Turcotte stood perfectly still, feeling the wind in his face, the smell of salt water. He remembered as a child going to the rocky coast of Maine with his family on their rare vacations. After entering the military he’d been shocked the first time he’d gone to a real beach, where the shoreline wasn’t rock and the water wasn’t freezing. But despite the discomforts, there was something about that coastline that called to him, like the mountains meeting the sea.
Turcotte pulled himself out of his musings and headed into the interior of the Stennis. He wove through numerous passageways until he arrived at the conference room that had been set aside for Duncan’s use.
There were three men in the room along with Duncan. Two of them Turcotte knew — Major Quinn and Larry Kincaid. The third was a rather impressive stranger, almost seven feet tall and wide as the door Turcotte had just come through. A thick black beard, streaked with gray, adorned a red face. The man looked tired, his eyes red with large dark bags under them. His face was weather-beaten.
“Mr. Yakov,” Duncan began, “this is Captain Mike Turcotte.”
“Just Yakov will do.” His voice was a rolling deep bass with a heavy accent. Turcotte’s hand was lost inside the other man’s massive paw. “Do you have anything to drink?”
Duncan reached for the water carafe on the desk.
“Something real to drink,” Yakov corrected her.
“I’m sorry,” Turcotte said, “but our Navy is dry.”
“Ahh!” Yakov snorted with disgust. “No place, especially a ship, should be dry.”
“Yakov is from Section Four,” Duncan explained as they all took their seats around the small conference table. Turcotte knew that Section IV was Russia’s secret UFO investigative group.
“Are we secure?” Yakov cut off Duncan before she even got started. “Yes,” Duncan said.
“I don’t mean the room,” Yakov said, “I mean the people.” Yakov leaned forward. “Section Four was just destroyed, so you must excuse me if I am not overly trusting.”
“Why do you think it was destroyed?” Turcotte asked.
“I cannot communicate with it. I checked with Moscow. The base has missed its last two scheduled contacts. I had to call the KGB to check that. Then my SATPhone indicated I was being traced — backtracked through the satellite links. That made me — how do you say — nervous. I cut the connection.”
“They missed their contacts, but how can you be sure it was destroyed?” Turcotte asked.
Major Quinn spoke up. “After Yakov told me where it was, I had one of our satellites take a picture. The base is destroyed.”
“Who did it?” Turcotte asked.
Yakov shrugged. “That is a good question. I do not know.”
“I doubt that,” Turcotte said, which earned him a quick glance from Yakov but no elaboration.
“Why did you go to Area 51?” Duncan asked.
“We never trusted anyone — particularly the KGB — at Section Four. With it gone my list of those I could trust has shrunken dramatically.” Yakov shrugged. “I talked to you before, Dr. Duncan. And you, Captain Turcotte, I understand you knew Colonel Kostanov?”
“Yes.”
Yakov’s dark eyes bored into Turcotte’s. “I understand he died bravely in China.”
“Colonel Kostanov was very brave.”
“I suppose I must believe that you can judge that. You are the slayer of the Airlia in space. That was a brave act. And you are a — what do you Americans call it — a Green Hat?”
“Green Beret,” Turcotte corrected, although he was sure that Yakov had to know the proper term.
“Yes, that is it. I saw the movie. John Wayne. Very impressive. Except when he jumped out of the airplane without hooking up his parachute. Hollywood stuff. And when do colonels go into combat? Every colonel I know hides behind a desk or far behind the front lines.”
“Colonel Kostanov did not hide,” Turcotte said.
Yakov’s cheerful face sobered. “No, he didn’t. I will take your word, Captain Turcotte, on the fate of my friend.”
“Back to Section Four,” Duncan said. “Your base?”
“Ah, Stantsiya Chyort,” Yakov said. “That is what we call our Area 51. The Demon’s Station. The official name was something I’ve forgotten — something a bureaucrat made up. But Demon’s Station will do, will it not? Much more imaginative than Area 51, would you not agree?”
“I suppose,” Duncan said.
“You suppose?” Yakov laughed. “Of course it is better. And much better situated. You think Area 51 was remote, you should have seen Stantsiya! It was the asshole of the world. Nothing within hundreds of miles except nuclear test ranges. And you don’t want to spend much time wandering through those, eh? But now it is gone,” he said simply.
“I think you know who attacked it,” Turcotte said.
Yakov shrugged. “That brings me back to my question of whether all of you can be trusted.”
“You’re going to take our word?” Turcotte asked.
“I will take your word and Dr. Duncan’s word based on what you have done. But even then, I warn you, you can trust no one.” “Including you,” Turcotte said.
“Ah, yes, including me. I see bad everywhere. I am paranoid. All Russians are paranoid. And remember, just because you are paranoid it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”
“If we don’t trust each other,” Duncan said, “then we might as well end this conversation right now.”
The silence played out for several seconds before Yakov broke it. “I think Stantsiya Chyort was destroyed because of that electronic mail message I sent to Mr. Kincaid. I think Section Four had been infiltrated long ago, and I warned my superior. He did not believe, or he was one of them. I do not know. That is why I had to contact your Area 51, because this is more important than my country or your country. And events proved me right.”
“Let’s slow down,” Turcotte said. “Start from the beginning.” Turcotte turned to the scientist from JPL. “What was Yakov’s e-mail?”
Kincaid spoke for the first time. “It only said to check out the DPS system for a certain time period.”
“DPS?” Turcotte asked.
Kincaid quickly brought them up to speed on what the Space Command system looked for and what he saw that night.
“Yakov.” Duncan turned to the Russian. “Why did you have Mr. Kincaid check the DSP?”
Yakov spread his hands. “What did he see?”
“A satellite went down in South America,” Duncan said. “Why is that important?”
“A satellite from a company called Earth Unlimited, correct?” Yakov said.
Major Quinn nodded. “Yes. And Earth Unlimited is the parent company of Terra-Lei.”