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  Although not in the security rules of protocol, Kirk wanted to let his boss know what he was up to and the reason he needed supplies from the armory. After he told Santo about his meeting with the professor, Santo said,

  “So you think an investigation might be warranted?”

  “Yes. I trust the Professor. He would not have gone to all this trouble unless he was sure there was something over there of great interest to our new mandate of investigating alien activity on Earth.”

  After gulping down the rest of his orange juice, Santo asked,

  “So, what are your plans?”

  “Well, to go and have a look. The Professor was not able to tell me what he found but advised me to bring ropes and lanterns. To me it implied he had discovered a cave or tunnel. Maria was interested because that area of Turkey was at one time the territory of the Anunnaki tribe, an alien species she is very interested in.”

  Kirk missed the enthusiasm in Santo’s tone.

  “So, you are going on a little search and discovery mission?”

  “Yes, but because the area indicated on the GPS coordinates is a military sensitive area, it will have to be done at night.”

  This time Kirk noticed Santo’s excitement and understood that his boss had been stuck behind a desk for this past year of redeployment. In the past year, a man of adventure and action had been chained to a desk launching security procedures and applying most of his time to what was a boring desk job for a field operative. Kirk saw a man itching to get back out into the field. Recognizing the interest Kirk said,

  “You know, it’s a two man job, I’m going to have to recruit one of my men to come with me.”

  He then asked a question that sent a small spark of excitement through Santo.

  “Why don’t you come with me?”

  It was clear that Santo wanted to consider the offer but something was holding him back from jumping at the opportunity. There was regret in his tone.

  “Yes, I will admit that it would be nice to strap on the old boots and get them dirty again. I do miss it. However, that woman who for some unknown reason lets you into her bedroom has been on my case to look into a security breach in the computer rooms. Something about Zak’s programs being hacked. I have a meeting with her early in the morning.”

  Recognizing his enthusiasm, Kirk eagerly said,

  “We are in the same time zone as Turkey. When it’s dark here, it’s dark there. We can zip over there, explore, and be back before morning.”

  It only took a second for Santo to consider the options. Then, with the same expressive delight as a boy in a candy store, Santo said, “Let’s do it.”

  On their way out of the cafeteria, walking side by side, Kirk said,

  “By the way, it’s a family curse called seductive charm.”

  Confused by a statement presumably pulled out of midair, Santo asked,

  “What is?”

  “It’s the reason a beautiful woman like Jessika is attracted to me.”

  Thinking that it was comedic bravado, Santo laughed.

  In days of old, the House of the Nazarene’s armory was filled to overflowing with equipment and armaments necessary for any assignment. However, that was in the days before the destruction. Today, the ordnance warehouse was a small building behind the main airport hangar. As it turned out, for this reconnaissance everything they needed was here, lamps, ropes, and night vision goggles. While trying on the night vision goggles for size Kirk said,

  “Do these old things still work?”

  Santo said,

  “Yes but now they are antiquated technology.”

  Pointing to an unopened crate off to the side, he said,

  “Open that up and have a look inside.”

  It was a small crate secured by army style quick release snaps. As Kirk cleared away the packing material, Santo said,

  “The contents were developed by our lab in Brazil.”

  Holding what appeared to be a full face motorcycle helmet, solid and black all the way around, Kirk asked,

  “Why do we even have a factory in Brazil developing motorcycle helmets without visors?”

  Santo chuckled and explained,

  “It’s an idea Waldorf came up with shortly after moving here. He reasoned that we should not have all of our research labs in one place anymore as we did on Ile de Celeste. Using finances we appropriated from the Duchess’ bank accounts and holdings, we now operate seven small independent labs throughout various countries. I assigned Waldorf to that task.”

  Santo then smirked and added,

  “He was getting old and needed something easy to do anyway.”

  Still confused at what he was holding, he looked to Santo for an explanation. As Santo put his helmet on, he said to Kirk,

  “Put yours on too and I’ll show you.”

  Once each had donned their helmet they looked like a robot with no facial features, just black heads.

  Clear as day, Kirk saw Santo walk over to the light switch by the door. He reasoned that the helmet was made of some sort of one-way glass, nobody could see his face, but he saw everything as if he was not wearing a helmet at all. When Santo flicked the light switch off and it was now dark in the room, all Kirk heard was a ‘click’. No matter what direction he looked, although the helmet was all black on the outside, his vision was as clear as if the lights were on. He heard Santo’s voice through the speakers on each side of his head.

  “The face plate is a modified high density night-vision technology. Even in total darkness, without the help of stars, you can see as clearly as if it were a sunny day but without the shadows. The earpieces are part of the overall synthetic polymer compound giving access to sound in all directions. Communication to others wearing the same headpiece is transmitted to personnel in a command center. As you can see, even standing here in darkness, we are seeing each other as clearly as if the lights were on.”

  Santo turned the lights back on and although Kirk heard the click, there was no noticeable difference to his vision. Putting the helmets back into the crate, Santo said,

  “Let’s meet back here when it’s time to go.”

  This time when the lights were turned off, the shed returned to pitch dark.

  Chapter 10

  It was just after six PM when Kirk walked into his bungalow. Just a few steps inside, he was suddenly attacked by an invasion of pleasant food odors. It was like walking into the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant and right away he knew something was wrong. Perhaps he had entered the wrong bungalow. After all, they all looked alike. However, a quick glance confirmed familiar items, the furniture, and the TV mounted into the wall as well as Jessika’s sweater thrown onto the lounger that had been there for two days. Then there was the final conformation, Jessika’s voice from the kitchen.

  “Come and sit. Supper is ready.”

  Suspicious and guarded, wondering what important date he had missed, he took hesitant steps forward and peeked into the kitchen. The aroma came from a crowded table of food only seen in his dreams. Slowly looking to his right he saw Jessika smiling and wearing something that caused him great confliction. He was not sure what he wanted to do first, dive into the feta papillote and baked manicotti or run at Jessika and tear that tight red dress off her body. Regardless of his difficult choices, very quickly his military training kicked in. Something was seriously wrong. Jessika struck a seductive pose and sweetly said,

  “So, what do you want to do first?”

  He had trouble uttering,

  “You cooked all this?”

  As she took sauntering steps toward him, she grinned and said,

  “Duh, you know I can’t even cook water.”

  As he sat and tore off a piece of the chocolate Babka loaf, he asked,

  “Where did all this come from?”

  “I had it delivered from that restaurant in the village you like.”

  And there came the suspicions. His favorite food and a seductive beautiful woman sitting across the table
all at the same time could only add up to something being very wrong. He asked, “Why?”

  She dropped her eyes to the table, pouted and confessed,

  “I’m sorry. I know tonight is our fun and games night but I have an important meeting with Zak Zander later on tonight. It has to be tonight because Santo has a meeting with me in the morning concerning corrupted computers. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Suddenly Kirk remembered his mission to Turkey was on for tonight. He had forgotten about their favorite night. How lucky could he get? With a pretended look of disappointment he muttered through a mouthful of chicken tikka,

  “That’s okay honey. I understand. Maybe you can make it up to me tomorrow night.”

  With a sense of triumph that her appeasement had worked, and he was not upset, she spent the rest of the meal telling him how many ways she would make it up to him tomorrow. Kirk thought he had died and gone to heaven.

  Santo was not as lucky. By the time he had finished a meeting with his security crew it was after nine and the kitchen table was empty. Maria and Belle had long finished their dinner and he knew Belle was in bed and Maria was down in her lab doing whatever she was doing down there. He never fully understood what she was trying to do with the DNA she had accumulated from different alien species. Radka, the young housekeeper was at the sink just finishing with the dishes. She saw him at the door and asked,

  “Mister Captain. You hungry? Maybe I make something really fast.”

  A few minutes later he was sitting alone chewing on a piece of cold chicken and droopy salad.

  With only an hour to go before meeting Kirk and flying to Turkey, he entered Belle’s bedroom. Tiptoeing through the dark toward the bed, he bent over and kissed her on the forehead. It was a soft whisper,

  “Goodnight honey, love you lots.”

  After pulling her covers up tight, he snuck away. Just as he reached the door, he heard,

  “I love you lots too daddy.”

  Sometimes confirmation of a child’s love is all a parent needs to lift ones spirits. Before closing the door, he whispered back,

  “See you tomorrow okay?”

  As young as Belle was, she understood that it was not always a promise kept. She whispered back,

  “Okay daddy.”

  Maria’s lab was in the rear of the manor, in the renovated solarium of what used to be called ‘Witch of the Manor’. Even though Maria had successfully lobbied for the name to be changed to ‘Lady of the House’, the creepy old name never left the back of her mind. Many times, and usually past midnight, she swore she heard strange noises and saw fleeting shadows zip by. As much as Santo tried to convince her that it was just an old house with creaking boards and staircases, a normal thing to hear, it never worked on her.

  As he approached the laboratory, he noticed a new sign on the door. ‘Please knock before entering.’ Being polite, he did so. With a degree of hesitation, he slowly opened the door and peeked in. Maria was across the room standing by one of the many computers and threatening to kick one of them if better results were not forth coming. Thankfully she heard the knock, turned and saw Santo standing at the door suspiciously looking around. He said,

  “Why did I have to knock? Are you hiding a man in here?”

  Although he was just teasing, apparently her very stern look clearly indicated that she did not see it that way. She looked mad. She pointed a stern finger at him and then stabbed it hard down at the floor right in front of her. Santo, being a brave man of action and many dangerous successful conflicts was only afraid of one thing, a mad Maria. While obeying, slowly coming closer, he produced a silly grin. He desperately tried to think of what he might have done to anger her.

  Now standing in front of her, the soldier was prepared to take whatever was coming at him. She suddenly lunged at him, wrapped both arms around his neck and planted a kiss on startled lips. Still holding tight to a surprised man, she whispered very seductive and inappropriate suggestions in his ear, at least inappropriate for this lab. He recovered well enough to agree, saying,

  “Yes, last night was magical for me too.”

  What she whispered next made him laugh and reply,

  “No, not right here and right now. I’ll try to come to bed tonight before you have to get up for Belle.”

  The seductive gripe was reluctantly released.

  Chapter 11

  Two hours later Santo was loading the necessary equipment for the recognizance of a mysterious field with an artificial plant into the D-wing. Kirk arrived just in time to see Santo strapping in the last of it. Understanding the fortuitous great timing Kirk smiled and said,

  “Are we ready to go then?”

  With a sneer Santo replied,

  “Perhaps you can help by signing out the D-wing.”

  After signing out the D-wing and lifting high into the atmosphere it was dark enough to fly over the Black Sea. Santo entered the coordinates provided by the Professor into the navigation computer. He then took advantage of an opportunity to catch a nap for a few minutes. Kirk took advantage of the time to read up on the history of the village and applicable folklore. He remembered how the Professor had told him the reason he searched that area was the Black Spirit legends. He understood there was usually some smidgen of truth to legends. Kirk wanted to include Santo in what he was reading but when discovering he was fast asleep, decided not to wake the dragon.

  Reading the scrolling material, Kirk learned that ever since time immemorial the area they were going to had stories and tales of tall dark spirits roaming the valley. They occasionally killed and ate sheep, goats, and the occasional shepherd. Kirk was surprised to discover that the time those stories started was about the same time as the Great Earth War Zak had told him about. He was amazed how a story of horrifying tall dark spirits could have lasted for all those centuries. At least to him, it was a strong indication that there was some validity to the stories. As that was where they were going, he hoped not.

  By the time they had reached the village of Alakati it was just past 11 PM. Drifting clouds occasionally allowed a quarter moon and numerous stars to appear. Right on cue, Santo opened his eyes and asked,

  “Are we there yet?”

  Kirk pointed to the GPS computer and said,

  “Yes. According to the GPS readout we should be over the spot right now.”

  Just as Santo was about to turn on the bio-heat sensor and search for heat signatures looking for human presence in the area, they did not need a high tech computer to see danger just ahead. Both spotted a light glow in the distance about a hundred meters from the GPS location. Santo said,

  “We better go check that out first.”

  With the D-wing still in camouflage mode they hovered about three hundred feet above the glow and looked down on it. It was a small campfire illuminating three uniformed men gathered around it. Santo said,

  “They are Turkish Nationalists, probably out on patrol duty. Judging by those three tents, they intend to spend the night.”

  He then looked at Kirk and asked,

  “Do you still want to go through with this?”

  Kirk took a second to evaluate their options. The three soldiers were behind a small knoll and out of sight of the shrub. He looked skyward and said,

  “In a few minutes the clouds will fill the sky. It will be so dark they will not be able to see past the glow of the fire.”

  With added enthusiasm he said,

  “Let’s do it.”

  Santo directed the D-wing over to the coordinates and set it down a few feet away from the mysterious shrub. When the canopy slid back, Kirk’s assessment of the dark night rang true, it was a black night. Standing outside the D-wing, Santo handed Kirk the night vision helmet. The second he put it on it was as if the sun had magically sprung forth and everything, including color was clear. He flipped the visor up and again everything was as dark as closed eyes. When he flipped it back down, he saw Santo donning what looked like black coveralls. Santo looked at him an
d said,

  “Slip into yours. They have light absorbing technology in it. It will help conceal us.”

  While struggling into it, Kirk playfully asked,

  “New technology from the Brazilian laboratory, right?”

  Santo’s reply was quick and deadpan.

  “No, these were developed at our laboratory in Spain.”

  With donned black coveralls and helmet, both merged into the black night.

  With perfect enhanced vision, Santo checked the GPS and looked around the valley. Seeing nothing of the remotest interest, he finally said,

  “There is nothing here.”

  Kirk leaned over and checked the GPS reading in Santo’s hand and said,

  “Yes. It’s all good. It’s this shrub right here. The Professor said that the mystery was hidden under it.”

  With both on their knees and clearing debris aside it did not take long to realize there was nothing under the shrub.

  Standing up, Santo was willing to scrub the mission but Kirk was determined. After a reflection of the conversation he had with the professor, he pointed to the bush and blurted out,