Her social life was pretty much nonexistent. As soon as a man found out she was not only working for the government, but the Department of Homeland Security, they quickly disappeared from her life. She was the youngest of the four station heads and the one who needed the least direction from Eller.
Because of her abilities, he afforded her more autonomy than the other section heads. She did her usual competent job during the briefing but didn’t say anything about this latest report. Eller was glad she hadn’t brought it up. The last thing he wanted was to open a can of worms about UFOs.
When the meeting was over she looked up Willis and directed him to contact Dr. Lake. She wanted to be able to compare the two reports and then she could sit down and cross reference them with George Snapp’s account.
She wasn’t convinced that what she had in front of her was the real truth but it intrigued her. She had always suspected that the government wasn’t upfront on a great many things. She understood the need to have national security secrets. What bothered her about this particular case was the fact that a lone general could be operating without the knowledge or sanction of the government. It was obviously a BlackOps situation but even those were accounted for to someone.
She was tempted to ask Ellis to ask the President but realized that even if it was the fastest way to get answers her boss would not take kindly to that approach.
She decided that the best thing she could do for now was to keep digging. She intended to find out how someone could just lose all records of their existence. Who had that kind of power and to what end was it being used? She was going to include herself in the interrogation of Dr. Lake. Back at her office she sent for Willis Gardner, her best investigator.
“Yeah, boss,” he said as he entered.
“When is your meeting with Dr. Lake?”
“In about forty-five minutes. It is going to be a little crazy. He thinks the government is trying to make him disappear for good. He says they have been following him.”
“Any truth to that?”
“I don’t know. He sure seems spooked.”
“What is the procedure for contacting him?” she asked.
“He wants me to go to this address,” he said, handing her a piece of paper with the street and number on it, “I am to go in and then leave by the back door and go down the alley. He will pick me up.”
“Wow. He really is paranoid,” she said.
“Or scared,” Willis added.
“Yes, there is that. Look, I want to go along with you. I want to see the guy for myself,”
“He may just blow it off if he sees more than one person,” Willis told her.
“I understand that it’s a risk, but it's one I’m willing to take. I want to go with you,” she said.
“You’re the boss, but…”
“I know. If it is blown, you told me so,” she replied.
“I would never do that. I would just smirk the next time I saw you,” he said laughing.
“How kind of you,” she kidded back.
Forty minutes later they were standing at the mouth of the alley. Sarah was hanging back to make herself less conspicuous. A car came around the corner and pulled to a stop.
“You’re Gardner?” the man in the car said.
“Yes sir, Agent Gardner and my boss.”
“Damn it. I didn’t say anything about someone else coming along. Shit. Get in, I don’t want to sit here any longer,” Lake said, gunning the engine.
They were barely in the door when he took off down the street and turned sharply, knocking Sarah over, causing her head to hit the window.
“Take it easy,” she said.
Lake didn’t bother to acknowledge her. He took the next corner just as fast but she was ready for it this time. If he was putting on an act, it was a darn good one she decided. After they were a few blocks away he slowed down to a reasonable speed and started driving more carefully.
“Sorry about that. I never can be sure if I've totally lost them. It’s dangerous for me to stay still very long,” he said, looking into the rear view mirror.
“No damage done. Thank you for allowing me to come along,” Sarah replied.
“I didn’t see that I had much choice,” he said.
They rode in silence for some time and then he pulled into the huge driveway of a large colonial mansion. It was the same one that he had brought Snapp to.
“Would you like anything to drink?” he asked when they were inside.
“Nothing for me but I could stand to use the ladies' room,” Sarah said.
“Certainly. Straight down the hall, third door on the left,” Lake said, pointing, “Anything for you?” he asked Agent Gardner.
“I’m fine. Sorry, about my boss. I couldn’t do much about it.”
“Forget it. It’s over. I just get shook when things don’t go as planned. I like everything to be lined up. It just rattled me for a few minutes,” Lake said.
