Spiders from the Shadows

SIX


Offutt Air Force Base, Headquarters, U.S. Strategic Command, Eight Miles South of Omaha, Nebraska


Sara Brighton stood outside the metal door, waiting for her meeting with Brucius.

The cinder-block corridor stretched for a hundred feet behind her, suspended fluorescent lights illuminating the white walls and gray cement floor. Over her head, a bundle of electrical cables and air vents hummed softly. The nearest security camera—there were at least a dozen stretching the length of the underground hallway the metal doorllShe really didn’t know.—watched her every move. A red CLASSIFIED BRIEFING IN PROGRESS light was illuminated above the metal door outside the conference room and a small speaker in the ceiling spouted white noise, making it impossible to hear through the heavy door and thick walls—something that seemed remarkably unlikely even without the electronic background noise. Sara Brighton didn’t move, her head down, her eyes on the floor, her mind racing, her heart pounding in her ears.

She shook her head occasionally, as if trying to clear it. But she wasn’t trying to think more clearly. She wasn’t trying to think at all. Too much to think about already. Too much crammed inside her head. Her eyes ached and her neck was stiff. Sometimes it seemed even her brain hurt.

She thought back on everything they had told her: the pictures of the men they said were traitors, where they came from, how they got there, what they now intended to do. The truth was, she didn’t believe it. Not yet. At least, not everything, and maybe she never would. It wasn’t that she thought they were crazy. She just thought they were wrong. There was no way it could be that bad, no way the government could have slipped so far. A few traitors? Yes, maybe she could accept that, she remembered what her husband had told her, but this was very different. This wasn’t a tremor, this was an earthquake, and she almost felt the earth moving beneath her trembling knees.

Time passed. She was tired. They had left her waiting so long she was tempted to lie down on the floor.

She glanced up and down the corridor, wide enough for two forklifts to pass each other, which they often did, metal doors that led to offices, small signs with acronyms she didn’t know. She noted the metal signs over the doors, then looked to the far end of the hallway. A single elevator was waiting, its door held back, the interior empty. She turned and looked the other way to see nothing but forty feet of cinder block that ended in a cement wall.

Minutes passed as she continued to wait. Finally the metal door pushed back and a man she’d never seen before was standing there. “Mrs. Brighton,” he said.

Sara walked toward him.

He moved through the heavy door and let it close behind him. “There’s been a delay, ma’am. I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me.” He motioned toward the elevator at the end of the hall and started walking.

Sara didn’t move. “I was waiting for Secretary Marino.”

“I know you were, ma’am.”

“He said—”

“The Secretary’s been delayed.”

Sara watched the stranger. Thin. Wire glasses. Much too young. She wanted to ask what was happening, but she knew he wouldn’t tell her. She hesitated a moment, then followed him down the hall.

“The Secretary thought he’d have some time to see you,” the man explained in a sincere tone. “He sends his apologies. But frankly, right now there isn’t much that he can tell you anyway. The endeavor into Raven Rock has been stalled, leaving us without access to critical information that we need before we can finalize our plan.”

“Do you think—”

He cut her off abruptly. “There really isn’t any more that I can say. We’re still in the information-gathering process. As soon as the Secretary has anything at all to go on, I know he’ll bring you into the loop. He has far too much respect for both you and your husband to of the United States?”ening the leave you hanging. Moreover, he realizes what an important role he has asked you to play. In no way, Mrs. Brighton, does he mean any disrespect by leaving you waiting. It’s just that he’s a little busy. And regarding our efforts into Raven Rock,lass="ind" aid