Undisclosed (24 page)

He heard a low vibration emanating from his jacket pocket. It stopped and then started again a few minutes later.

She took a breath. “You going to answer that?”

Travis smiled, not taking his eyes off her for even a second, and reached into his pocket. On the screen of his phone was a text message from his mother:
Where are you? You were meant to be home half an hour ago.

The time, 1:20 a.m., flashed on his screen.

“Oh shoot, I’m running late … I’m sorry, I have to go.”

They quickly left, leaving behind a trail of thick tire tracks in the mesa soaked dirt. After dropping off Jayde, Travis sped back home, knowing full well he would get an earful, but after tonight, it would be worth it. As he drove back, Jayde consumed his thoughts and in many ways it was comforting to only have her on his mind, as who knew what tomorrow would have in store.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Listen up, everybody. I want you to know this is an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to tour Los Alamos National Laboratory. Please don’t forget you are representing the high school, so I don’t have to remind you that you are to be on your best behavior. Anyone not abiding by the rules will be dealt with immediately. Do I make myself clear?”

Groans and mumbling spread throughout the crowd of teens waiting anxiously to get on the two yellow school buses parked outside the school.

“Yes,” the teens groaned.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Mr. Harper.”

“Very good, okay, in an orderly fashion, make your way onto the bus.”

Kids started shoving and pushing their way in front of others.

“I’m taking the back seat, dufus!”

“I said in an orderly fashion. That means you, Wilson.”

Waiting to board the bus, Travis shuffled in line behind an unruly bunch of kids. His palms were sweaty and he was already starting to question whether or not his plan really was a good idea.

“Don’t mind if I sit next to you, do you?”

Travis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He spun around and right behind him stood Jayde.

He leaned in to her and whispered, “You’ve got to be kidding me. What are you doing here?”

“Seems your buddy, Ryan, knows his way around a school computer. He got me into the system last night.”

“Damn it, where is he?”

Scanning the area, he couldn’t spot where Ryan was. Either he had already boarded or hadn’t shown up. Either way, he was going to get an earful when Travis saw him next. However, he had noticed that Ryan wasn’t the only one that hadn’t shown up. Deagan, Billy and Seth weren’t to be found either. If they had blended into the school so well, how many others could be doing the same?—Watchers, moonlighting as ordinary teens, infiltrating and feeding back information that would lead to more abductions. How many might know about Travis, but even more importantly, did any of them know what Jayde was?

“Listen, you’re going to need a hand in there, I don’t want you screwing it up.”

“No one is screwing anything up.”

“We’ll see.”

“Look, it’s not too late to back out. I can handle this. Anyway, who’s going to cover the east access point now?”

“Jack. In fact, it was his idea.”

Travis sighed.

The line moved ahead and the rest of them boarded the bus. From front to back the bus was a mass of heads bobbing up and down: people throwing paper airplanes, the jocks at the back smacking kids in front of them on the head while others text messaged each other.

“All right, all right, calm down,” Mr. Harper said.

It was a short ride from the school to the Lab. First stop in the fieldtrip took them into TA-3, otherwise known as technical area 3, which housed around half the Lab’s employees. It was the main entry point, a place that dealt with administrative duties and was filled with high-security buildings. As the bus pulled in, Travis could see fences, guards and electronic surveillance everywhere. From the little they had seen driving into the area, it was clearly massive—a town unto itself. Buildings littered the network of streets that led in and out of the facility. Mason was right, there was no way they could have ever attempted to find his father here; it truly would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Exiting the bus, they were all formally welcomed by a large burly man in a dark suit, and several serious-looking protective officers, before they were whisked away into the Otowi building that housed the main cafeteria and badging office. A safety and security spiel was given to them on the do’s and don’ts before each of them received a visitor’s badge and was told that it had to be worn above the waist and visible at all times. They were told that if any emergency occurred security personnel would escort them off the premises immediately and in the event that anyone wanted to wander off the mapped-out path, they would be harshly dealt with and handed over to the local police.

Travis shot Jayde a look as if he knew what she was thinking. It was obvious that if they made one mistake they would be seeing the world from behind bars, and with his father gone, there would be no one to lessen the punishment.

Led out of there in a single file they boarded the buses again to be taken over to the National Security Sciences building; a modern, high-tech eight-story glass building that stood out like a sore thumb among the countless short pasty buildings.

Inside they were hurried into a large oval-shaped auditorium that easily could have seated their entire school several times over. After a few minutes, they were greeted by several administrative staff, most of whom seemed overly enthusiastic to be entertaining a bunch of rowdy teenagers.

“Welcome to Los Alamos National Laboratories. I speak for all the staff and over eleven thousand employees when I say it’s our pleasure to have you here today. For those of you who don’t know, LANL has over two thousand buildings located throughout thirty-six square miles of property. Anyone care to take a guess as to how much square footage that covers?”

Someone shouted out, “A lot.” Several kids broke into laughter.

The lady smiled. “Yes, a lot, but to be specific, that’s over eight million square feet under roof, catering to the latest in science, technology, engineering, global security and the environment. Areas that I’m sure many of you will eventually work in.”

It will be a cold day in hell before I work here,
Travis thought.

“I hope you all brought your walking shoes as, while you won’t get to see all of the forty-seven technical areas here at LANL, you will be taken through those leading the way with the most cutting-edge technology that is changing the future.”

Several of the staff began handing out itineraries of the day’s events among the kids. Travis’s eyes quickly scanned for the one thing he needed to know—when would they be at the Bioscience division? Marked out in bold and listed beside TA-53, building 622, it read eleven a.m., after the first break. He heard Ty’s clear voice through the skin-colored micro device secured inside his ear:
Got it!

* * * * *

Back at The Black Hole, Ty sat looking up at the screens; one showed everything Travis could see through the contact lens he’d been given. Everything was in color and in real time. The camera lenses were only one of the gadgets Ty had given Travis. Another was a two-way audible communicator that stuck like a layer of skin inside his ear. This allowed Ty to hear anything Travis said and it gave him a way to direct him. All of the gadgets were undetectable to visual inspection, body scans and RF detectors. Likewise, Mason and Ty had their own items for monitoring; they were visible in separate screens waiting for go time. The only one that wasn’t showing up was Jack.

“Jack, I’m having issues picking you up.” Ty paused. “Jack?”

The monitor fussed for a moment before Jack appeared.

Ty breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, stand by.”

Travis knew it was a waiting game. He wanted to get it over with; there was nothing worse than having time to think about all the things that could go wrong.

“… we can’t promise that you won’t be tired at the end of your field trip, but we can promise that it will be an unforgettable experience and we hope that it will inspire, motivate and encourage you to work hard. We do hope you enjoy yourselves and if you have any questions, don’t be shy,” the woman said. “Now if you want to begin making your way out to the foyer, we’ll begin the tour.” She motioned towards the door as everyone shuffled out.

The following hours seemed to fly by, mostly taken up by traveling down airport-length roads that seemed to go on forever and through the sprawling property cut into the Pajarito Plateau. They moved from one technical area to another, each one resembling a mini village full of buildings, many of which were restricted and off limits, even to them. They were filled with a variety of national security programs and research dedicated to strategic defense, nuclear emergency, storage of dangerous explosives, and underground detonation, the tour guide said. One teen asked why they couldn’t go in and they were told it was for their safety. Yet, while certainly that may have been true for some areas, Travis didn’t buy it for all of the restricted areas. He knew full well that some held secrets that not even the highest in government positions knew about, black-op programs funded by unaccountable funds. Which one held his father? Which one was full of abductees?

Finally the time had come. Once inside the TA-53 area, security seemed to be more extensive, with more camouflage-clothed protective officers securing the perimeter, armored vehicles and further checkpoints. It truly was the perfect cover for the Watchers. Like a chain gang of prisoners led by officers they were ushered into a spacious facility, each of them moving through a full body scan. Travis braced himself inwardly, hoping Ty was right about the gear being undetectable. Irradiated light shone around him while suspicious-looking security guards viewed a monitor and then let him move ahead. Travis breathed a sigh of relief, turning to see Jayde having made it through without issue. Despite having questioned her being there, deep down he felt glad to know she was there.

Workers spread out in all directions throughout this state-of-the-art complex. Many stared at them all with curious eyes, as if they had been cooped up in there for months with little human interaction beyond their usual colleagues and routine.

“Please stay together, and come this way,” the guide said, attempting to maintain order.

They were led into a dome-shaped room. The entire room was dark except for tiny lights on the floor and steel handrails to guide them around the wall to wall screens. Before entering Travis noted the words etched into a plaque above the door. It read:
Immersive Visualization Cave.

Inside, the screens lit up, its light reflecting off everyone’s faces as they saw what looked like 3D images hovering directly in front of them. Teens gasped as they reached out to try and touch them, but their hands just went through the colorful DNA strands, cells, human body parts and projections of plant life. Over the top a presenter welcomed them and gave a short blurb on the history of the Bioscience division and its current advancements in Genome Science, Biosecurity and Environmental Science.

A few minutes later they were out and being guided down winding corridors, stopping only occasionally beside labs filled with workers in white coats that covered their entire bodies from head to toe. After making their way up to the next floor via elevators, they eventually arrived at the glass doors Travis had seen in the video, and clearly marked on the front were the words “Genome Science.”

“As many of you know, our work with the human genome project has not only led to its successful completion in 2003 but has opened up new avenues for advancements in medicine, genetic engineering and evolution. Today we are continuing to push those boundaries. Come with me.”

Jayde glanced at Travis as the doors slid apart and they followed the others into the busy environment of lab technicians and doctors who were hard at work studying and performing tests; spirals of smoke wafted into the air, holographic interfaces streamed data, vials spun in centrifuge machines and bottles of unknown substances lined the worktops. Travis scanned the place, making note of the security cameras, the number of people and then finally the cold storage room he had seen his father enter.

Travis muttered under his breath, “Now,” barely audible to those around him, but loud and clear to the others.

It was time to move.

* * * * *

Mason approached the west access point in a beat-up Chevy truck. Lincoln pulled up in one of the four lanes at the Pajarito Road security point. Ty monitored everything they saw.

Mason’s window slid down. “Yeah, I wanted to see if there’s a shortcut I can take through to White Rock if I follow this road?”

“Sir, this is open only to employees. I’m going to need you to turn around and head back.”

“Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure which way I should be going.” Mason pulled out a large map, ignoring the officer, and proceeded to get out.