The Portal (A Delphi Group Thriller Book 2) by John Sneeden Read Free Book Online

considering his answer. “Any sounds, but particularly those they believe might be sent by intelligent beings.”
    “ET.”
    The Oracle nodded. “Yes, ET.”
    Zane’s mind flashed back to Delphi’s last operation. A group led by Russian billionaire Alexander Mironov and former Roman Catholic priest Vincenzio Marrese had taken over the CERN command center in Prevessin, France. The takeover gave them unfettered control of the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world. Their plan had been to use the collider to open a doorway to the heavens, through which they thought would come an alien visitation. Mironov and Marrese believed these same aliens had visited earth in ancient times, bringing with them the technology that had been used to construct a number of megalithic structures around the globe, including those in Egypt and South America.
    A Delphi team led by Zane had thwarted those plans, but at great cost. The collider had been pressed beyond its working limit, triggering explosions that caused extensive damage to several buildings and the collider itself. In addition, Dutch physicist Markus VanGelder was killed by one of the blasts.
    But something else had happened that night, a series of events that continued to haunt Zane to this very day. As a battle raged for control of the center, he followed former priest Marrese to the underground tunnels that housed the collider itself. He soon discovered that Marrese was holding captive Philippe Bachand, a pastor from Geneva who had assisted Delphi.
    During the subsequent chase, Zane discovered that a mysterious column of light had appeared while the collider was in use. He had also seen at least three giant creatures, all of whom seemed to have come out of the column of light. In the intervening time since the mission, Zane had noticed that the memory of their appearance had faded. In fact, it had faded so much that he now wondered exactly what he had seen, if anything. Were the giants some sort of alien beings? Or were they figments of his imagination, brought on by smoke inhalation and the effects of anesthetic agents he’d been given earlier that night?
    After the event was over, French police and emergency personnel combed the facility, but no reports of anything out of the ordinary ever surfaced. If something had been found, Zane felt sure word would’ve gotten back to Washington.
    The Oracle cleared his throat and continued. “As I mentioned, the events at CERN didn’t mark the end of the story. On the night of the operation, the DRA picked up an odd sound coming from the area around Geneva and Prevessin.” He used a laser pointer to indicate the area between the innermost circle and the next one out. “It came from the troposphere, the first layer of the atmosphere.” He looked at Zane. “Apparently that sound was recorded around the same time that Mironov’s team operated the collider.”
    Zane returned Ross’s gaze. “Does NASA believe there is a connection?”
    The Oracle nodded. “Officially, they’re reluctant to talk, but when you get them alone, there are a few who say a wormhole was beginning to open. Others believe it was some sort of celestial link between our dimension and another one.”
    “Back to the noise.” Zane paused then asked, “Do the NASA scientists believe it was made by the collider itself?”
    “No. Again, this sound had a unique signature. CERN has been around for a while, so any noise emanating from the collider would be something they’d have on record.” The Oracle nodded at Brett, who pressed a key on his laptop. The next slide appeared, depicting a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a goatee. “The DRA subgroup that monitors these sounds is led by a man named Dr. Stetson Clark. Dr. Clark knew from news reports that the US had been involved in an operation near Geneva, and called his contact in Washington to let him know what they had found. And that’s where I’ll let Brooks