Abductors Conspiracy Read online

  Janet nodded. "I already had Mary call his office and push the meeting back a half hour. The old fisherman can just stew if he wants."

  Claudia glanced, half-startled, at Janet as they pushed into the building's employee lunchroom, saying hello to various people as they went. Luckily for them, it was mid-afternoon and the place was almost empty.

  They both got their coffees and found a booth, with Janet sitting with her back to the room.

  "You're driving me nuts, you know," Claudia said after they had both sipped their drinks. "What in the world is going on?"

  Janet laughed. "Sorry, but this isn't really office business. In fact, it's more like a personal favor."

  Claudia looked into Janet's eyes. She could see that Janet felt uncomfortable with the entire situation, so Claudia said, "Now you got me even more worried. What can I do?"

  "Are you still seeing McCallum?"

  Of all the questions from Janet that Claudia might have expected, that wasn't the one. "When our schedules match," Claudia said. "But we're not engaged or anything like that." Actually, she and McCallum had an extremely comfortable arrangement. They both had their own places, their own lives, and their own jobs. Yet each knew the other was there. Claudia usually spent one night a week at McCallum's apartment and he spent one night a week at hers. Never on any schedule. For the last few years it had just worked out that way.

  Janet nodded and tapped the manila envelope she'd handed Claudia. "This is all the information I can get about a man named Albert Hancer, formerly of North Hills Rest Home."

  "Okay," Claudia said. She had no idea where Janet was heading, but she had known Janet long enough to give her time to get there.

  Janet took another long sip from her coffee, then took a deep breath and faced Claudia. "Albert Hancer is my mother's step-brother. Her only brother. He would have turned seventy-eight in three days. But he's turned up missing."

  "From the nursing home?" Claudia asked.

  Janet nodded. "Five days ago. I was wondering if McCallum could look into it for me. I'll pay his normal rates and expenses."

  Claudia stared at Janet. This wasn't like Janet at all. Normally, if she wanted something done, Claudia and the rest of the staff would have to hold her back from doing it herself. She could have picked up the phone herself and called McCallum. She didn't need to go through Claudia. Unless…

  "There's more, isn't there?" Claudia asked.

  Janet nodded and, for the first time in their relationship Claudia saw her friend look embarrassed. "We've got to keep my name out of this. No one knows Albert was a relative of mine. Hell, I only met the man twice."

  Claudia nodded, not really understanding, but letting Janet finish.

  "And," Janet said, "there's some unexplained stuff with the disappearance."

  "Kidnapped?" Claudia asked. "Murdered?"

  Janet gave a half laugh. "No. But four witnesses, two of them nurses, swear he was taken up into a spaceship."

  Janet's gaze bored into Claudia until finally Claudia could take it no longer. She started to laugh. After a moment, between laughs she said, "You've got to be kidding?"

  Janet, who had also started to laugh slightly, shook her head no. "Very serious."

  Claudia managed to stop laughing and think. Janet was absolutely correct. Her name had to stay away from Albert Hancer's disappearance. The press would have a field day if the mayor's family ever got linked with a UFO close encounter.

  Claudia took the envelope and tucked it into her briefcase. "I'll get McCallum to look into it."

  "He's famous for not liking city hall," Janet said. "Can he keep his mouth shut on this?"

  Claudia laughed. "Of that, you have no worry. He'll keep quiet. He's a full professional at his job." She took a drink of her coffee and then smiled at Janet. "Especially if he ever wants to get laid again."

  Janet looked at Claudia for a moment with a look of shock before breaking out into howling laughter. Heads turned to stare around the lunchroom as the two women laughed together.

  Thirty minutes later Claudia called McCallum and set up a dinner date. On her.

  Actually, it would be on the mayor, but Claudia figured McCallum didn't need to know that until later.

  Chapter Six

  First you dream, then you die.

  ——CORNELL WOOLRICH

  FROM HIS NOTEBOOKS

  7:48 P.M. JUNE 22.

  LOCATION UNKNOWN

  Tina Harris forced herself to keep her eyes closed and think about the peacefulness of the river and their camp under the stars. She could feel a rough surface under her back. Rough and gritty. What would cause that? She must have rolled off her sleeping pad during the night. That's what had happened. She'd had a nightmare and rolled off her sleeping pad. Jerry would laugh at her, sleeping on the ground when she could have been sleeping on an air-filled pad.

  Around her it was hot. Almost stiflingly hot. The morning sun must be hitting the tent, making it too warm. That happened once in a while, but usually the warmth of the sun felt good after a cold night in the mountains.

  But it was too hot. The ground under her too rough. She knew she wasn't in their tent above the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. She knew Jerry wasn't beside her, snoring lightly as he always did. But she desperately wanted to believe he was.

  She wanted to believe that she'd had a nightmare and nothing more.

  She rolled over slightly. She could feel only rough dirt, warm under her shoulder and arm. No familiar feel of sleeping bag or tent bottom. No familiar rustle of nylon tent fabric. The hope of a nightmare vanished and a few flickering memories returned.

  She could remember being frozen beside Jerry by a white light coming down through the trees. She could remember fighting not to pass out and losing.

  She could remember waking up on a hospital-like table, with a white light over her, a light so bright it blinded her. Then there was pain so intense everything went black.

  She also had a faint, dream-like memory of waking up inside a black cavern, filled with coughing and crying people. And she could remember a smell, as though an outhouse had been tipped over and she was lying in the middle of the mess. A choking, awful smell made worse by the heat. It had gotten so bad that the smell finally forced her back into unconsciousness.

  Now she was awake again. The smell was still smothering her, but somehow it seemed less, as if she had gotten used to it in her sleep.

  And it didn't seem quite so hot.

  Carefully she forced her eyes open.

  For a moment she thought she was blind. Nothing but blackness greeted her. Then shapes formed in the blackness.

  Shapes lying close to her on the ground. A few human shapes sitting nearby.

  A long thin streak of brightness overhead was the only light.

  Her head spinning slightly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, blinking to get her eyes to focus. It was the feel of dirt against her legs and bottom that made her realize she was naked. Totally naked.

  And from the crusty feeling along her legs and butt, she had wet herself while she slept.

  A sudden massive embarrassment overwhelmed her and she covered herself as best she could with her hands. Then, as her eyes adjusted even more to the faint light, she saw that those around her were also naked. And no one was looking at her. Most of those around her were beyond caring if they were naked or not.

  Some of them weren't moving.

  Some weren't breathing.

  She forced herself to take a deep breath, take her gaze off those nearest her, and look around the full room. From what she could tell, she was in a cave. The floor was dirt and rock and the walls appeared to be lava rock. The light source was a crack a few feet long in the high ceiling. She guessed at least fifty, maybe closer to a hundred, naked people were scattered around the room and she could hear a few of them talking softly. A few others moaned or cried quietly to themselves.

  At the moment she felt like crying also, but somehow managed to choke it d
own inside. She made herself focus on the face of a man lying nearby. He wasn't Jerry.

  Quickly, she checked the others around her, hoping against all hope that Jerry would be close. But he wasn't.

  Only unconscious humans scattered like so much wood around the cave.

  Two women and a man were sitting on rocks against one wall of the room. They seemed to be in better shape than anyone else. Tina pushed herself to her feet and started in their direction, stepping over and around humans in the near dark. She didn't allow herself to look at the people beyond checking to see if each body was Jerry. But it was clear many of them were either dead or near death. A number of times her foot found something wet on the floor and she forced herself not to think about what it might be.

  As she neared the three people sitting on the rocks, they stopped talking and turned to face her. Both women seemed to be about ten years older than she was, from what she could tell in the near dark. The man looked to be at least sixty, but in pretty good shape. As with everyone else, all three were totally naked.

  The only thing she could think to say to them was, "Where are we?"

  One of the women, her hair cut short, shook her head slowly. "We wish we knew." Her voice sounded strong, as if she was used to answering questions.

  Tina faced them, her hands clasped in front of her. The room felt as if it were still spinning. The woman with short hair must have noticed. She pointed to a rock. "Sit down before you fall down. It's going to get dark in here soon enough. No point in wasting too much of your energy while it's still so warm."

  Tina gladly sat, ignoring the pain of the rough stone. The room seemed to stop spinning a little, enough for her to look at the three facing her.

  The other woman, who had long hair and a very thin body, asked, "Where are you from?"

  Tina sniffled, then managed to hold back from bursting into tears. "Portland."

  "Oregon?" the short-haired woman asked.

  "Yes," Tina said.

  "Where were you taken?" the older man asked.

  "Taken?"

  The guy laughed softly, but it wasn't mocking. More of an I understand laugh. "Where were you when the white light knocked you out?"

  "Central Idaho Primitive Area. I was camping with my boyfriend, Jerry. I need to find him." Tina glanced around at the rock cave full of humans.

  The woman with short hair reached out and patted Tina's knee. "Give yourself a few minutes to rest. Then after it cools down in here a little more I'll help you look. But I don't expect he's here. They usually don't allow people who are taken together to stick together."

  The other two nodded in agreement.

  "They?" Tina asked.

  "The aliens," the woman said. "Haven't you seen them?"

  The word aliens echoed in Tina's head as the memory of the white operating room came back. And the faces behind the white light.

  Snake-like, evil faces.

  Alien faces.

  Chapter Seven

  Every woman from daily help to the Queen of England can gauge a man quicker than a flea can hop.

  —-NIGEL MORLAND

  FROM A ROPE FOR THE HANGING

  9:16 P.M. JUNE 22.

  PORTLAND, OREGON

  Richard McCallum stared at Claudia. She was dressed in a striking black pantsuit, her black hair long and full around her head and down over her bare shoulders. She had a pearl necklace around her neck and matching pearl earrings. Dressed to kill and very much out of place in the ice cream parlor they now sat in. Even the pimple-faced kid behind the counter had stared at her between making their sundaes.

  Two hours ago she'd taken him to his favorite Hunan restaurant and even bought drinks. There was no doubt she wanted something from him. They'd been going together, "dating" as they both liked to call it, for over three years and he knew her well enough to know when she wanted something.

  And she knew how to get it from him. She was doing that tonight. As Dashiell Hammett had Sam Spade say in The Maltese Falcon, for this "I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble."

  After dinner McCallum and Claudia had walked hand-in-hand down near the river to their favorite little shop for ice cream, enjoying the beautiful summer evening. Now they were just finishing dessert and she still hadn't sprung her question. It was starting to bother him.

  She pushed her empty sundae dish to the center of the table and sighed. "That was wonderful."

  He'd finished his dish a full minute before. "That it was," he agreed.

  There was a long moment of silence as they both stared out into the summer night and over the peaceful river. It was one of those perfect summer nights in Portland. Couples walked along the bank and a group of teenagers sprawled on a park lawn near the shore. There were three other couples in the parlor with them at the moment, but they were all far enough away that they couldn't hear them talking.

  Finally Claudia said, "Aren't you wondering what I want?"

  He looked at the slight grin on her face and laughed. "If you really want to know, I've been wondering since you called, and it's been killing me for the last hour. I would have bet you'd have gotten to it over coffee at the restaurant."

  She laughed. "See, you don't know me as well as you thought you did." She squeezed his hand, then reached down into her purse and brought out a manila envelope. She tossed it over the ice cream dishes in front of him and then glanced around as if she'd done something wrong and hoped she hadn't been caught.

  "Is this hot?" McCallum asked, pointing at the envelope without touching it.

  "No," Claudia said, and then laughed again. But this time the laugh was forced and they both knew it. So she went on. "It's a favor for the mayor. A missing persons' case. I told her I'd see if you'd look into it. She'll pay your full rates and all expenses."

  "And she doesn't want anyone to know her involvement, right?"

  Claudia nodded. "You'll understand why when you read what's in there."

  He still hadn't touched the envelope and wasn't certain yet if he was going to. "Want to give me some basics?"

  Claudia nodded. "The mayor's stepuncle disappeared from a nursing home on the north side. She really doesn't know the man and there's no connection to her at all." Claudia pointed to the envelope. "That's everything Janet had about him, as well as the police report on his disappearance."

  "So why have me look into it when she's got an entire police force at her beck and call?"

  Claudia glanced around again. One of the couples was standing to leave and Claudia actually waited until they were outside before she leaned across the table and whispered, "Supposedly he was abducted by aliens."

  McCallum couldn't help the burst of laughter. He tried to hold it, but it was one of those laughs that just couldn't be held back. And after it was out, he couldn't stop it.

  But Claudia only smiled at him. And her smile was not a happy one.

  After taking a deep breath McCallum leaned forward. "You're serious, aren't you?"

  "The mayor is," Claudia said, the smile dropping from her face. "It might be her job, and mine, on the line here. Especially if the press got hold of this."

  McCallum shook his head, still laughing to himself. The mayor's stepuncle abducted by aliens out of a nursing home. This was too much for even the craziest scam artists. But it sure was funny.

  Again he broke into light laughter and managed to contain it back to chuckles after a few seconds.

  Claudia on the other hand was not amused.

  Finally he shrugged at her and opened up the envelope. He glanced at the details for the lost stepuncle, then flipped to the police report. Four different witnesses said they saw basically the same thing: The guy was covered in a white light and lifted into the sky, into a dark shape hovering there. One of the witnesses was the night charge nurse, an RN who most likely put her job on the line with such a story.

  McCallum slid the papers back into the envelope and closed it. Then he looked up into Claudia's stern face. "So what exactly does her highness wan
t me to do?"

  "Just make some discreet inquiries, see what you can find, and keep your mouth shut. She's doing it for her mother."

  "Full rates," McCallum said. "Okay, tell your boss she has hired an investigator."

  Now Claudia smiled, a very large and very real smile. "Thanks."

  "No, thank you," McCallum said, smiling. "I can always use the business."

  Claudia reached across the table and placed her hand on his. "Too bad you're leaving so early in the morning." Her smile would have melted a glacier.

  "Oh," he said. "It's not that early."

  She laughed, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to his feet. "Good. Plan on sleeping on the plane."

  And the next morning that's exactly what he did. All the way to central Idaho.

  Chapter Eight

  No one wants to be part of a fiction, and even less so if that fiction is real.

  —-PAUL AUSTER

  FROM THE LOCKED ROOM

  7:30 A.M. JUNE 23.

  BELLINGHAM. WASHINGTON

  Neda Foster held the door open and motioned for the vice president to step through.

  "John," Vice President Alan Wallace said to the Secret Service man walking slightly to one side of him. "Wait here."

  "But sir, we—"

  "I'm only going in this lab," Wallace said. "I want you to wait right here. I won't be that long."

  John glanced at the open door which led into an airlock-like small room, then nodded.

  Neda was impressed. From her experience and understanding, presidents and vice presidents had a very tough time controlling the Secret Service men around them. Alan did it without hesitation and they did what he said.

  She nodded to the vice president as he went past her. The presentation she and her father had made to him had broken his initial shell of doubts. He'd changed his schedule and stayed overnight in Seattle, for the sole purpose of viewing their lab this morning. She knew that he wasn't totally convinced that what she and father had said was true. No totally sane person could be, no matter how much the evidence pointed in one direction. But she knew without a doubt that, after this morning, he would be completely on their side.