Groom Lake by Bryan O Read Free Book Online

remember when we’re through.”
    The statement concerned and silenced her.
    “We know that after the Iron Curtain fell, self-serving KGB agents sold their information about this facility to China. And you are proof that it was acted upon. Do you think we have UFOs out here, Janice?”
    “I thought you were going to tell me,” she mumbled.
    “I wish it were that easy, but we like the fact that people don’t know the truth. On any given night, lunatics are sneaking around the outskirts of this base looking for little gray men in the sky. Ufologists are what they call themselves. Most are fools looking for attention, so they conjure up stories, give themselves a title, and act important amongst their peers. Sometimes their UFO stories serve as a buffer for our operations.” Pausing for a sip of coffee, Owens asked, “Care for more?”
    His antics were upsetting enough to make her upper lip quiver slightly.
    “Can you fathom the implications of the information you seek?” Owens asked. Quickly throwing in the disclaimer, “Assuming for a minute the knowledge you’re after exists.”
    Janice only listened, and that was getting harder to do as her skin felt like it was blistering from the hot coffee. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but it was crusted and stuffed, forcing her to breath mostly through her mouth.
    “You obviously don’t understand the global social-economic issues at stake,” Owens continued. “If the information you sought is here … and it got out … we might have to modify the Bible—at least Genesis.”
    “Your mother obviously didn’t raise you to be a man of God,” Janice said, hoping to insult him.
    “My mother didn’t raise me,” he answered proudly. “So tell me, as long as we’ve segued to antiquity, has China started researching the origin of the Sumerians in their UFO studies?”
    She again refused to answer or acknowledge him.
    “Well, it’ll intrigue your superiors eventually. Now, back to our situation here; we’ve already managed to piece together some information on you during the past few days. Using your name and credit card from the rental car you were driving, we’ve found hotel stays as well as some corresponding phone records that linked you to a man in Los Angeles—Desmond Wyatt. He happens to be one of the ufologists I mentioned. I suspect he gave you tips about the external security at the base, but given your ability to penetrate so deep across the perimeter, I have to wonder if there is something more to Desmond Wyatt, or if there’s someone else involved. Did Desmond know anything about your background? It’s one thing when these people subvert national security in an attempt to satisfy their own twisted curiosity about little gray men, but to help a foreign nation … that’s deeply disturbing.”
    Janice continued her selective silence. Owens’ actions and tone were so deliberate, and absent of uncontrolled emotions, that she sensed this was a game to him, an enjoyable duty.
    “I take it you don’t want to answer that one? Tell me what you hoped to accomplish by talking to Ben Skyles. Did someone lead you to him, or was it merely fate that of all the workers at the airport, Skyles stopped to help you? He was a real treasure chest of information. That’s why we monitor his type. And that’s why we caught you.”
    Janice stared forward, concentrating on the gray cement wall in front of her, wondering if they regularly used the room for interrogations since there seemed to be no other apparent use.
    Realizing he wasn’t going to make sufficient progress through this style of questioning, Owens stood behind her and spun and scraped the metal chair on the concrete floor so Janice was facing the opposite direction.
    Janice stared at a metal table stacked with a bank of electrical equipment, all exotic to her. She considered that this was indeed some type of interrogation room, but capturing spies was not the norm for this facility; she wondered who else