Ralston and Baker had not acknowledged each other when
they had boarded the plane at Los Angeles International, and
had not been seated together on the aircraft. Even though
Baker had bought both tickets, he flew first class, and
Ralston flew coach. Brad arrived at McCarren International
about thirty minutes before the flight's scheduled arrival
and waited an additional eight minutes beyond that for the
plane to reach the gate.
Baker saw Brad waiting and immediately assumed command
of the situation. "Is everything going as planned?"
"Better than planned."
"How do you mean?" asked Baker.
"Just joking," stated Brad. "Everything's okay.
Where's Ralston?"
"He'll be out in a minute, hold this."
Brad took the thin briefcase that Baker handed him.
"What's this?"
"Fifteen thousand dollars in cash."
"fifteen thou-- Wha-- What for?"
"Asher's second five, the pilot's eight, and an
additional two because I figured you owe Asher some expense
money by now."
"How did you get it through airport security?"
"Are you kidding, a man taking a little gambling money
to Las Vegas! What's suspicious about that?" asked Baker
with a grin. "Besides, they're looking for guns and bombs,
not money."
When Ralston finally made it off the plane, Baker led
the others toward the a set of luggage lockers. He opened
the briefcase, placed five bundles of twenties in a paper
sack, then placed the sack in the locker. He repeated the
process with five bundles for the pilot. Brad explained the
deal he'd made with Wilson, and Baker removed a bundle.
"Okay, Dartmouth, here are the keys. One for Asher, one for
the pilot. If you lose them, they will kill you. Do you
understand?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Brad put the keys in his pocket
and started toward the exit.
"So what's all this money about?" asked Ralston.
"What's this about a pilot?"
"I told you this was a rescue mission," explained Brad.
"No you didn't. You asked if I wanted to be a part of
your plan. I figured that if Baker trusted you, I could
trust you. What rescue?"
Brad opened the doors of the car, and Baker crawled
into the back seat. It surprised Brad that Baker would let
Ralston sit in the front, even though Ralston would have
been very uncomfortable in the back. What Brad didn't
realize, was that Baker was use to sitting in the back when
being chauffeured. "Nice car," mentioned Baker, "You rent
it?"
"No, it's Melanie's."
"Who's Melanie," asked Ralston.
For a moment Brad wasn't sure what to say. Who was
Melanie? Was she a business associate, his girlfriend, or
just a women who was helping him. "She's a girlfriend of
mine who's going to help us."
"Wait a minute," insisted Ralston. "I don't understand
what's going on here? What's the money for?"
"Asher is going to brief us on his plan when we get to
Melanie's office."
"Dartmouth, who the hell is Asher!"
"Asher is the mercenary who is going to rescue the
aliens," explained Brad.
"Oh... I see, the money is to pay the mercenary,"
stated Ralston. "So, why do we need a mercenary to start
with?"
"You'll understand it all when Asher briefs us.
There's just one thing, Ralston: when Asher mentions Roger,
don't mention that Roger is an alien."
"Dartmouth! I thought you said you were going to tell
him!" yelled Baker.
"I will tell him!"
"When?"
"When we find Roger."
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Ralston. "Let me see if I
understand all this correctly. You hired a mercenary to
help you find Roger, you convinced Baker to pay his salary,
but you haven't told the man that Roger is an alien?"
"Yes."
"Dartmouth, didn't this guy tell you about the
relationship between a mercenary and his employer?" inquired
Ralston.
"I told him," said Baker, "But he wouldn't listen to
me."
"You two are a couple of wimps!" yelled Brad, causing
Baker and Ralston to exchange a sideways glance. "All this
man cares about is his money. As long as he gets his ten
thousand dollars, it shouldn't matter whether Roger is
human, canine, or alien."
"Hey, it's your ass, Man. But what I still don't
understand is what we're going to do?"
"Asher will fill you in when we get there." It was
quite apparent to Brad that Ralston was having a problem
with the situation. He only hoped that he could still count
on the man to participate.
When they arrived at the office, Brad parked the car
next to Asher's and noticed the rented cargo van at the back
of the building. He lead Ralston and Baker to the door and
entered the waiting room. Asher and Wilson were seated,
looking at a map on the coffee table.
"Great, everybody's here. Now we can start the party,"
said Asher, following it with a round of introductions,
mostly for Wilson and Ralstons' sakes. He asked everyone to
sit, and moved to the opposite side of the table. "We're
missing one," said Asher loudly.
Melanie stepped around the corner and apologized.
Baker and Ralston looked at each other wide-eyed. She moved
past Wilson and reclined on the padded arm of the coach--
next to Brad. "Okay, let's start," announced Asher.
"The situation is the enemy is holding a friendly
captive at a compound in the Nellis Air Force Base Range,
here. The terrain is open desert with occasional small
mountains. We can't cross this in the daylight, so we'll
have to do it at night."
"Our mission is to rescue any friendlies within the
compound. To execute our mission, we will march a detail
across the desert from a point outside the perimeter. Here.
The distance is about fifteen miles. Baker, Ralston, can
you handle fifteen miles?" The two nodded. "Good. We're
going to have two major advantages over the enemy. First,
surprise-- the best advantage you can have in a rescue. The
second is confusion-- we'll be dressed in Air Force
uniforms. If there's any trouble, try to mix in until
Wilson gets there. There shouldn't be any trouble, as long
as everybody stays cool, and doesn't panic. Just act like
you're suppose to be there. We'll be in two teams.
Dartmouth and Baker will be the search team. You can
identify your man by sight, right?"
Brad nodded, without a word.
"Good. Baker, you'll back him up. Ralston you and I
will be the support team." Ralston looked at Baker, then at
Brad, as Asher withdrew a sketch of the compound from under
the map. "The compound has two targets we'll need to hit if
things get hairy. One is the communications trailer to
north, we'll have to knock it out to prevent the enemy from
calling reinforcements. The second is the helicopter that
was stationed to the south. If necessary, I think the best
way to deal with these is with a satchel charge. Which one
do you want Ralston?"
Ralston sat silently, and examined the map. He met
Asher's gaze. "Let me get this straight: you're a
mercenary, the enemy is the Air Force, and you expect me to
help you shoot your way into a military command post on a
wild goose chase?"
Asher looked at Brad, "Dartmouth..."
"Baker, I can't believe you've let yourself get
involved in this! This is crazy."
"Ralston, I thought you were behind us on this,"
protested Brad.
"I didn't know you were planning a terrorist attack on
the Air Force."
"This is a rescue operation," retorted Brad.
"I am a veteran of the United States military, and I
will not kill American servicemen, regardless of how noble
you think the cause."
"Dartmouth, I thought you said we could trust this
man," said Asher.
"Hold on just a second. Let me talk to you, Ralston,"
Ralston rose and followed Brad to the kitchen. "Ralston,
think about what the Air Force did to you, when they
covered-up your UFO. Think about all the other people
they've done it to. This is the only way we can prove that
UFO's and aliens exist. You said you'd do anything to find
out the truth."
"I would... Anything short of murder."
"I'm not asking you to kill any one: just help us out."
"I will not be an accomplice to murder."
"Damn it, Ralston, you've got to! Look, if all goes
according to plans, no one will get hurt. We'll sneak in,
find the alien, and sneak out before they know we're there."
Ralston stared at the floor for a moment. "No
shooting, if possible?"
"No shooting, unless they shoot first."
"And if I refuse," inquired Ralston.
"I'm not going to lie to you. You're twice my size,
you've probably been trained in self defense, but if you
jeopardize my story, you won't make it out of here alive."
"And how do you propose to stop me?" asked Ralston,
inflating his chest and taking a step closer to Brad.
"By asking Asher to take care of you," offered Brad.
"You're insane." Ralston returned to the waiting room.
Brad was not sure weather he had convinced Ralston or not,
but when he turned the corner, his mind was distracted by
what he saw. Baker had slid across the couch to where Brad
had been sitting and was talking to Melanie. Before he
could react Asher interrupted his train of thought.
"What about it, sport? Are you going to party with us,
or are we going to rumble?"
"I'll go, but I'm not taking a weapon. I'll blow the
chopper, if I think the rescue is in danger of failing, but
I am not going to kill."
"Fair enough," stated Asher. "Okay, sit down
Dartmouth. Hello... Earth to Dartmouth! Sit Boy."
Dartmouth threw Asher a disgusted look, than sat where Baker
had been. "Okay, if all goes well, there won't be a shot
fired and we can escape through the same hole we went in
through, and get our man to an LZ on the other side of this
hill to the east. If there's trouble, Wilson brings the
chopper down on the north side of the wire. I'll carry the
radio and make the call."
"There is something you need to keep in mind: If the
captive has been held as long as is suspected, he may have
been brainwashed. Even if he hasn't been, a rescue is
always very confusing to the hostages. Because of these
factors, he may struggle against us, try to escape or call
to his guards, or otherwise jeopardize the mission. Subdue
him if necessary. Once we get him out, we'll take him to a
safehouse for deprogramming."
"Once in the helicopter, Wilson will fly us to Hill
6490, where Melanie will be waiting in the truck. Wilson
and I have worked out a decoy plan to get the Air Force off
our backs for a while. Have you got much to do?" asked
Asher.
"No, I'll be ready when the shit hits the fan,"
answered the pilot.
"Great. Any questions?" asked Asher.
"Yeah," called Ralston, "Why not take the prisoner
straight to one of the local television station instead of a
safehouse?"
"A few years back, I made a good living snatching kids
from Reverend Moon's cults for their parents. What we
found, was that if the kids escaped before deprogramming
they would tell the police that we were the kidnapers. The
authorities would then turn them over to the cult. We need
to give the hostage a day of transition before exposing them
to a group of badgering reporters to avoid any surprises."
"Speaking of badgering reporters," continued Asher, "I
think Dartmouth's going to want first shot at his man before
the media gets a hold of him. The last factor bearing on
this decision is the fact that we're all going to be dog
tired after this mission. We'll need some time to rest and
regroup. As far as the safety aspect, I'd rather take a
chance on the Air Force finding us, then blowing the
operation because someone is to tired too think straight."
"With Wilson's plan, there's little to no chance of us
being followed. As long as everyone does as they are
suppose to, we can pull this off. One last thing: Melanie
is going to have to drive Wilson back to town to get his
chopper at the airport. I need someone to go with them to
get my car."
"I'll do it," volunteered Brad. Asher looked at him
for several seconds in an attempt to analyze his motivation.
He decided it was to 'protect' the girl from the others. He
was wrong.
"Okay, Dartmouth, you got the job. We'll change into
our uniforms immediately. Ralston, since you're not going
to carry a weapon, I want you to familiarize Dartmouth with
use of the M-16. Melanie will drive us to our point of
demarcation in one hour. If there are no more questions,
we'll get started."
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