Strike Zone. Dale Brown
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our clearance permanently.’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Danny.
Cortend said nothing. Jennifer thought she saw the faintest outline of a grin at the sides of the colonel’s lips.
Where was Dog in all this?
No wonder he hadn’t run with her this morning. Danny wouldn’t have gone ahead with all this unless he’d cleared it with the colonel first.
What, did he think she was a traitor too?
How could he?
She clamped her mouth shut, stifling a string of curses. But her anger had to come out somehow – she batted her coffee cup to the floor, sending the hot liquid streaming onto the industrial carpeting.
‘Jen, where are you going?’ asked Danny as she brushed past.
‘I’m going to go get some breakfast. Then I’ll take your fucking lie detector test. What a bunch of bullshit.’
Taj 0800
Stoner could feel his eyes drooping as he stepped off the elevator and headed for the commander’s suite. He’d pulled an all-nighter, working out a plan with Zen to provoke whoever was flying the ghost clone into appearing again. The Air Force officer clearly didn’t like him, but Stoner admired him even so. Zen had lost the use of his legs in a flying accident; rather than dropping out he’d fought his way back into the Air Force and actually onto the front lines.
Stoner would have liked to think that he’d have done the same thing – but he was smart enough to realize he would more likely have succumbed to the inherent bitterness of the situation. While Zen did seem to approach the world with a chip on his shoulder, he didn’t let the chip keep him from getting things done.
That alone made him worth watching.
Chief Master Sergeant Terrence ‘Ax’ Gibbs popped up from a desk near the side of the room as Stoner entered.
‘Stoner, right?’ asked the chief.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Jackie, go get Mr Stoner some coffee. He likes it on the weak side. Grab some sticky buns too. The cinnamon ones.’ The chief master sergeant turned to him and grinned. ‘It’s okay, Mr Stoner, one or two buns isn’t going to hurt your girlish figure.’
Stoner had never met him, much less told him what he liked to eat or drink, but somehow the chief had nailed it.
‘Thanks, Chief Gibbs,’ he said.
‘We take care of people here. Zen’s inside already, along with the colonel. You call me Ax,’ added the chief. ‘You need something around here, you get ahold of me. You got that?’
Ax reached back to his desk and hit an intercom buzzer, then stepped up to the door.
‘We all know what you did to save Captain Stockard,’ said Ax. ‘We appreciate it.’
‘She saved me as much as I saved her,’ said Stoner.
The chief smiled and pointed at him, then opened the door.
Dog nodded as the CIA officer entered his office, listening to Zen as he continued laying out the game plan – two Megafortresses, one to act as agent provocateur and the other hanging back to gather information. When the clone showed itself, Flighthawks from the second EB-52 would come forward. Operating at the far end of their range, they would gather information on the clone without its being able to detect them.
‘We could even turn them loose,’ said Zen. ‘We could program them to home in on their own, gather whatever information they can get, then return.’
‘No – too risky,’ said Dog. ‘I don’t want to chance losing one. But otherwise, this makes sense.’
‘We need a remote base,’ said Stoner. ‘I’d recommend the FOA in the Philippines we used last month.’
‘It’s a good distance from the area you two have mapped out,’ said Dog.
‘We’re not quite sure where exactly the clone is flying from,’ said Stoner. ‘If it’s China, this is far. But if it’s Thailand, say, or even off a ship –’
‘The Philippines also limits our exposure,’ said Zen. ‘We’ve been there already. And in terms of the operating radius, it’s the same.’
‘Still a stretch,’ said Dog.
‘Better than locating in a country that has the clone,’ said Stoner.
‘As unlikely as that may be,’ said Zen.
‘Start working on a detailed deployment plan,’ said Dog, ignoring the bite in Zen’s voice. ‘I’ll talk to Jed and get the wheels in motion. It may take a while to get approval.’
‘This may not work,’ said Stoner.
‘Don’t be a pessimist,’ said Zen. He wheeled himself backward and spun toward the door at the right side of Dog’s office, which had been widened so his wheelchair could easily fit through.
‘I’m just being realistic,’ said Stoner, standing.
He went to open the door for Zen, but the major had already gotten it himself.
‘Play nice, boys,’ said Dog as they disappeared.
Dreamland Visiting VIP Office Two 1350
‘Name.’
‘Minnie Mouse.’
The technician handling the lie detector suppressed a grin.
‘Name,’ repeated Colonel Cortend.
‘Jennifer Gleason.’
‘Age?’
‘What’s yours?’
‘Age?’
‘Twenty-five.’
‘Um –’ said the technician, raising his finger.
‘I’ll be twenty-five next month.’
‘The needle was okay, but I saw the, I mean I knew the answer was wrong,’ said the technician.
Cortend folded her arms. ‘Continue.’
‘This needn’t be an adversary procedure,’ said Danny, standing near Cortend.
‘Thank you for your advice, Captain. Miss Gleason –’
‘Ms. Gleason.’
‘Miss Gleason, how long have you been at Dreamland?’
‘You could at least call her by her proper name,’ hissed Rubeo. ‘She’s a doctor. Her Ph.D. was a brilliant piece of work. Classified need-to-know, I might add.’
Rubeo had passed his own lie detector test earlier, which obviously had put Cortend in a bad mood. The colonel ignored him.
‘Miss Gleason,’ insisted Cortend, ‘how long have you been at Dreamland?’
Jennifer realized that Cortend was trying to rattle her. She also knew the best thing to do was simply answer the questions and get on with her life. But something inside wouldn’t let her do that. She was just so put out, so angry with it all, that she had to fight back somehow.
‘I’ve been here too long, obviously,’ she said. Then she answered the question, remembering the day in 1993 when as a freshly minted computer Ph.D. – she would go on to get another degree in applied micro circuitry, her weaker discipline – she had come off the Dolphin transport. General Brad Elliott had taken time from his schedule to show her around some of the base, and it was his tour that had cinched her decision to come here.
Poor