Chapter twenty five
Johnny jumped out of the car and grasped the padlock so it lay in the palm of his hand staring up at him. “Right, let’s go back to town. This isn’t going to stop me,” he said as he let it drop.
They headed back to Needles and bought a heavy-duty pair of wire cutters from a hardware store. Johnny ignored speed limits as he drove back to the track where he put the thick chain into the jaws of the cutters. He brought the handles together with a grunt and the chain with the padlock fell to the dusty ground. He pushed the gate open and jumped back into the car. Clouds of dust flew into the air behind them as they drove up the track which wound its way up the mountainside.
“You sure about this?” Veronica asked.
“You've changed your tune. What happened to the earlier bravado?"
“Listen, we’ve come this far we’ve got to see it through now.”
“Don’t you think it’s just too easy?”
“Yeah well, maybe this is the way they want it: just to look like any other bit of desert hillside.”
After a while he stopped the car and opened the driver’s door. “Come on, let's go.”
Veronica followed him as they stumbled over a rough, boulder-strewn ground until he said: “Look.”
Veronica peered around a rocky spur into a flat inner area. The side of the mountain which faced away from the highway had been quarried out and there were several openings in the sides. Men in white lab coats were entering and leaving blue cabins, which surrounded a helicopter pad with a small, blue bell helicopter on it.
“Jesus!” said Johnny, “okay Veronica let’s go.”
“Maybe we should wait here for a while and just watch.”
“No, I think you should have a closer look Miss Cahill,” said a voice with a German accent.
Johnny looked back and saw Menzel with two of his thugs, Schroeder and another, standing behind Veronica with Heckler and Koch sub-machine guns. He shook his head and exhaled loudly.
“I'm disappointed you took so long to get here Mr Duncan.”
“You’ve been waiting on us?”
“Of course, did you think you could just walk into a secret site such as this? I told the government people I would deal with you. Now if you would be so kind as to head for that first portal.”
Johnny and Veronica climbed down the inner side of the spur and walked around the edge of the helipad with Menzel and his men behind them. They entered the opening and faced closed grey elevator doors. Schroeder tapped in a code on a keypad at the side and the doors slid open. “Get in!” He commanded.
Once all five were in the lift Menzel hit the 0 button on the inner pad and the doors closed. Johnny felt a little nauseous as they sank into the ground at great speed. The elevator stopped, and the doors opened on to a chaotic scene where men in lab coats rushed around checking pieces of equipment then writing on clip-boards. To his left Johnny could see people sitting in front of computer screens behind a large window in what he assumed was the control room.
Then, through the melee there it was: the Bell, sitting on a plinth, the black surface reflecting no light. A team of men in blue overalls were milling around it as if the craft had recently flown in for a pit-stop.
“Yes Mr Duncan, the alien craft that Hitler, because of his stupid pride, turned his back on. Just imagine how different the world would have been if he hadn’t. The Nazi’s would have won the atomic bomb race!”
“I don’t understand. Why is the US government now interested in this?”
Menzel laughed. “These people are not exactly model citizens; they belong to the CIA ja, but a secretive branch. They are interested because of the power they could have over any enemy if they could travel through dimensions–they could just appear anywhere. Star Trek for real-ja!” Menzel said with a grin. “The Bell, stored here in this old mine since the Second World War and, all but forgotten until it was accidentally found recently. But, don’t take my word for it; ask Miss Cahill she will have no doubt read a file on it at Langley.”
Johnny stared at Menzel with knitted eyebrows. “What? Don’t bring Veronica into this.” He then turned and looked at Veronica, “Langley, but that’s the CIA headquarters in Washington!”
Menzel’s walkie-talkie crackled into life. He walked away from the group as he answered it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Menzel.” Veronica said when he rejoined them.
“Oh don’t you Miss Rodgers! It is Rodgers isn’t it? And you won’t know this boy I suppose?”
The lift doors opened and another two of Menzel’s thugs dragged Michael Catone out into the cavern.
“He told my men when they picked him up beside your car he was a tourist who had lost his way.”
“I’ve never seen him before!” Veronica shouted.
“Well you won’t mind if I blow his brains out then. Trespassers will be shot!” said Menzel as he raised his pistol and aimed at Michael. He released the safety catch. Seconds passed which seemed like hours before Veronica growled: “Wait!”