Lieutenant Bennington radioed the aircraft carrier group, “Blackjack, Blackjack, this is LZ 3031 do you read?

“This is Blackjack, LZ 3031, we read you, over.”

“Request emergency extraction! Request emergency extraction! Over,” Bennington shot back.

“What’s your disposition, LZ 3031?”

“Our exit aircraft destroyed by hostile action. Our captain is dead! We need chopper assistance! Repeat, we need chopper assistance!” Bennington sounded panicked.

“Roger that LZ 3031. Do you need fighter bomber support?”

“Not yet! We need to get air lifted out of here! We need to get air lifted out of here! Do you copy? Bennington pleaded.

“LZ 3031 we read you loud and clear! It’s going to take 22 hours for chopper assistance! Can you hold out until then? Over.”

“Do we have a choice?” Bennington blurted out!

“LZ 3031! We hear you! Hang in there! If you need fighter air support I have F-18’s ready on the flight deck! Do you read? Over.”

“Blackjack, we are not currently under attack we suspect a bomb was planted in our aircraft! Contact San Antonio, AFB and inform them that an act of sabotage may have caused our fatality! Over.”

“Roger that, LZ 3031. Will get word to San Antonio AFB. You hang in there. We’ll get you out! Over”

“Acknowledged! Just get those choppers here Blackjack! We’ll hang on!” Bennington hung his head in frustration.

“Who the hell planned this damn mission?” Sergeant Duffy grumbled.

“You can file a complaint, Sergeant, if we get out of this alive, after we get back, but I don’t think anyone will give a damn!” Bennington snapped!

Just then Professor Cadwell stepped in, “Gentlemen, I suggest we continue with the mission or Captain Carlson’s life will have been in vain. We have plenty of time to retrieve the hard drive from the spacecraft.”

“You surprise me, Professor, I didn’t know if you were cut out for this job, but apparently you are,” Bennington smiled tiredly. “I’m game! “ Bennington looked over at the sergeant. “Duffy, you’ll hold down the fort while we go for the hard drive! You can track us with the drone and guide us to the crash site.”

“Alright!” Duffy groaned. “There’s a stream just north of us. Stay alongside of it for 2 miles. It’s fairly clear of dense vegetation but I’d take a machete anyway. You’ll be headed north. You’ll come to a clearing to your left then you’ll have to cross the stream to get to it. It’s there you’ll find the debris site. I’ll keep in touch by radio to make sure you don’t get off track.”

“Roy, Professor, do you know how to use a handgun?” Bennington glanced at each man.

“I’m checked out on a Glock 45 or a Colt M-1911,” Roy replied nervously.

I can just about fire anything,” relied Professor Cadwell. “The CIA assisted my training.”

Bennington walked over the arsenal closet and chose two firearms with holsters. He examined the pistols to make sure they were clean and functional, and handed each man their handgun. “Better to have one when you need it rather than wish you had it when you don’t.”

Roy raised his Colt and checked out the barrel and gunsight, squinting one eye.

“Keep both eyes opened when you aim,” Duffy advised him.

Chapter 3

The three men took off. By now the charred wreckage of the DC-3 was no longer smoking though it was still hot. Bennington walked over to the burned out fuselage holding his hands ahead of his face to shield from the heat given off. There was Carlson’s body, about where the nose of the plane would have been. It was a barely recognizable corpse blackened and sizzling. The lieutenant nearly wretched! He took a few deep breaths and waved off Roy and Cadwell pointing for them to head for the trail. “Carlson’s remains confirmed,” he radioed Duffy.

“Understood,” the sergeant replied. “I was going to check it myself.”

Bennington reflected, the Captain must have been killed instantly when the bomb went off. From the looks of it, the bomb was probably back in the cargo section when it went off, and Carlson was knocked out by the concussion of the blast. Bennington caught up with Roy to walk alongside him. “I found Carlson. He’s back there in the wreckage. You can put that in your report.”

“I-I figured as much,” Roy stammered

They made good time. The vegetation around the stream was thinner so walking though it wasn’t so difficult. The morning dew quickly burned off once the first rays of Central American sunlight broke through the canopy of trees and the smell of the jungle filled their noses. The scent of decaying leaves and fresh running water in the stream helped sharpen their senses. Roy had thrown some flour tortillas over the stove and melted Monterey Jack cheese over them for a quick breakfast even though he thought he couldn’t eat, but he managed.

Bennington kept a quick pace ahead of them, stopping occasionally to chop a sapling or bush down that was in the way. At times, he’d raise his right hand, a gesture that told them to stop and crouch as he inspected the situation ahead. There was no use in getting picked off by a sniper! So far, So good. They all stopped to splash some fresh water in their faces as the humidity of the jungle air had them wet with perspiration. Their path was literally steaming as the overhead sun heated the jungle.

When they got to the clearing, Bennington radioed Duffy to confirm they were at the right coordinates. The stream had picked up speed and volume, but it was manageable. There was the wreckage! The conical shaped metal was charred from the heat of re-entry, but in fairly good shape. It looked as though no one had tampered with it. Even the receiver dish was still in place. The professor moved in quickly to access the hard drive. Carrying a small bag of tools, he found a panel and began work on it. Roy watched intently as the professor unbolted the outer hatch and then began unwiring the hard drive.

Bennington, rifle ready and using a pair of binoculars to scan the area, was on the ready in case they ran into unwelcome guests. The midday sun now beat down upon them. They were all drenched with sweat by the time Cadwell had extracted the hard drive and rewired it so that it could be fired up once they got back to the airstrip and bunker. For the first time, the Lieutenant felt positive as though they just might pull this off! “You got it?” Bennington whispered.

Professor Cadwell nodded, “We are now in possession of answers to what happened.”

“Then let’s get the hell out’ve here!” Bennington urged impatiently. They were perfect targets out here in a clearing surrounded by tall grasses and fruit bearing trees. He thought the poor bastards in the Vietnam War who were surrounded by constant death hiding behind every tree, bush, or hill. He grabbed the professor by the arm to push him along as he did Roy to get them back under the cover of the jungle canopy.

It seemed like the trip back to the airstrip went quicker than the journey to the crash site being that they were somewhat familiar with the terrain now. One the airstrip was in sight, Bennington held up his hand to halt their movement before radioing Duffy, “All clear?”

“All clear!” Duffy replied.

They stumbled back down the stairs to the comfortable atmosphere of the bunker that was air conditioned and flowing as they collapsed into chairs and dropped their gear, but professor Cadwell headed for the observation room to hook up the hard drive to the computer.

“When can we expect the E.T.A. of the choppers?” Bennington asked.

“About 0400 Zulu time. How did everything go?”

“Just peachy,” Bennington replied sarcastically and let out a sigh of relief.

Roy watched as the professor hurriedly hooked up the hard to the computer. “I didn’t come this far and risk our lives not to see what happened to this satellite,” Cadwell said as he busily mated all the proper cables to one another.

Roy spoke with concern, “Isn’t there a seal on that hard drive, Professor?”

“Doesn’t make a difference! I have security clearance!” Cadwell answered irritably. “I didn’t come this far not to see what those satellite cameras picked up!”

Roy sighed uncomfortably as he sat alongside Cadwell and watched as the flat screen came alive with a combination of instrument readings and data files. The professor filtered through all the readings and chose the approximate time of the known encounter with a UAP according to NORAD’s timetable.

“What we will be looking at will be what the onboard camera’s saw at the moment our orbital intruder made contact with the spacecraft!” Professor Cadwell said excitedly.

Sergeant Duffy and Lieutenant Bennington strolled into the room eyes fixed on the flat screen as the professor described what they were seeing. “Okay, gentlemen, what you are seeing is an elliptical object in the upper corner which is our celestial interloper. You can see that it is about to enter the same orbit as our spy satellite. Now it’s parallel with the “Accipiter” Spy Satellite! That is definitely not one of ours! Now it makes direct physical contact with a jolt! This is amazing! There was a data link! This visitor from another world was transferring data to the Accipiter! If only I had more time to analyze this! Oh! Look! It just jettisoned our spacecraft! And it’s losing altitude rapidly! This was no normal orbital decay! It literally flung our spacecraft out of space and back into the atmosphere!” Professor Cadwell with a glowing smile on his face, nodded to everyone like a child who’d proved he could build a model airplane!

“If it’s not one of ours, Professor, then whose is it?” Bennington murmured in amazement.

“Yeah, what is this thing anyway? Some kind of flying saucer?” Duffy grunted.

“Gentlemen, I’m afraid so. I think we just witnessed what many people have purported to have seen so many times over the years, and yet, been scoffed at,” Cadwell thoughtfully replied.

“Wait a minute,” Duffy said warily. “Remember somebody tried to blow all our asses up! They definitely don’t want us to bring this thing back!”

“Sergeant, what do you suggest we do now? The helicopters will be here shortly,” Professor Cadwell replied.

“I don’t want to put rats in anybody’s skull here, but they’ve already tried to blow us up. Are those choppers on the way here to finish the job once they get the hard drive from us?”

“Sergeant! You’ve gone too far! You’ve been a source of negativity throughout this mission!” Bennington growled.

“Wait! Wait!” Professor Cadwell snapped. “He has a point! Why was the carrier group so far out of position? It’s as though this whole mission was intentionally botched! Someone did not want to see us succeed!”

Roy shook his head, “I’m supposed to have witnessed and documented this mission. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“I think I see what the professor is saying,” Bennington was catching on. “That hard drive is our bargaining chip in order to stay alive!”

“What made you get so paranoid all of the sudden Professor?” Duffy knowingly asked.

“Somebody went to the trouble to try and kill us, right? Do you think they’re just going to allow us to return with the satellite hard drive? “

“Shit!” Roy exclaimed. “Now you got me believing in this conspiracy theory!”

The choppers will be here in less than 3 hours! We’ve got time to make a plan and construct an alibis!” Professor Cadwell calmly replied. “This could be the find of the century! Are we just going to allow these corrupt bastards to suppress this evidence for years to come?”

“Not only that but erase our asses too?” Duffy warned.

“I have an idea,” Bennington replied. “I think I can confirm whether we’re up shit creek or not! Listen up everybody. I’m radioing the carrier group right now just shut up and listen!”

Bennington looked at everyone and put his index finger to his lips, as he picked up the radio microphone, “Blackjack this is LZ 3031 can you read me, over?”

“This is Blackjack, LZ 3032, we read you loud and clear, over.”

“Can you tell me who was on duty at 0500 earlier today?”

“That would have been Executive Officer Claymore, Sir.”

“Is he available now?”

“Negative, Sir, he is off duty, and off ship, over.”

“Who am I speaking with?”

“And you are?”

“Lieutenant Bennington, Special Ops, part of the LZ 3031 mission!”

“This is Chief Petty Officer Morrow, Sir.”

“Officer, Morrow, do you have the day’s communications records available to you?”

“Yes, sir, what do you need to know?”

“Have there been any cables, back channels, or radio communications with San Antonio AFB since 0500 earlier today?”

“I have the communications log in front of me and I see no such contact, Sir.”

“You see no recorded communication or attempt to contact San Antonio AFB?”

“Absolutely not, Sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Do you show a scheduled sortie for the Yucatan peninsula?”

“Let me check. No, sir. I see no flight scheduled!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Unless there was some mistake or accidental loss of ATC radiotelephony, but that’s highly unlikely, Sir.”

“Thank you, Petty Officer Morrow! Over and out.”

Duffy spoke first, “Then who the hell is on their way here?”

“I smell a set up! This mission was never intended to be completed!  We were expendable!” Bennington angrily sputtered!

“Then we better make a plan fast!” Roy blurted out in a quivering voice!

“First, we must preserve the evidence or everything we’ve done has been for nothing!” Professor declared pointing his finger nervously upward as he spoke with one hand folded behind his back.

“Are those choppers on their way or not? Or, are they on a secret mission? “Roy wondered aloud!

“Yeah, a secret mission to eradicate the evidence?” Duffy grumbled.

“I’ll need to download everything off the satellite hard drive and send it over the web to another location, another electronic source,” Cadwell added thoughtfully.

“Then we better get to it quick,” Bennington replied. “We don’t have much time!”

60 days later

“Madame Chair, I am proud to present the honorable Senator Raymond Fontaine of Texas who is presiding over this closed door inquiry on behalf of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Foreign Intelligence Committee concerning an incident that the following witnesses will give testimony to.”

“You are Roy Campbell? Fontaine inquired.

“Yes, Sir”

“And your position?”

“I’m a journalist working for the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon.”

“And, what was your assigned duty in this LZ 3031 controversy?” The Senator continued.

“I was the archivist in this mission.”

“Please explain to these members of Congress just what exactly you witnessed that made you feel that possibly compromising important spy satellite Intel was necessary.”

Roy took a deep breath and proceeded,” Well, after we almost got blown up by a bomb that was hidden in the DC-3 we were deployed in after we had landed resulting in the death of our Captain, you might say we started to wonder.”

“Can you explain that further, Sir?” Fontaine leaned further toward his desk microphone.

“Yes, Senator. Shortly after we landed prior to making it to the crash site to remove the hard drive from the downed satellite, our aircraft exploded killing our captain who was inspecting the plane in anticipation of us safely exiting the area once we had completed the mission.”

“What made you suspicious that a bomb had been planted in the DC-3 in question?”

“Lieutenant Bennington’s opinion was that the plane exploded from within which would be consistent with a time bomb that had been hidden inside unbeknownst to the rest of the team.”

“Do you consider his opinion as that of an expert?”

“Well, Sir, he is an experienced military officer with front line battle experience and that was what he said. Then there was Professor Cadwell’s opinion too which corroborated the conclusion. They’re the experts! I merely noted that in my report.”

“Mister Campbell, I’m Jim Johnson, Speaker of the House. These extraordinary claims, quite frankly have a number of us perplexed. You are insinuating that your mission was sabotaged for some diabolical reason and that someone or some group of conspirators were dead set against your successful mission. Why would you make such allegations?”

Roy took a sip of ice water from his glass and cleared his throat, “When you watch two military helicopters that were supposed to emergency evacuate you and your people out of a dangerous situation and instead raid the safe haven bunker you had been assigned to operate from, and then get airborne again and blow the bunker to smithereens with their ground attack missiles, that is quite persuasive as to how I acquired that theory. And, if we had waited for extraction by the proper category of choppers, I can say with great confidence we would either be dead right now or be imprisoned in some military stockade while they figured out what to do with us.”

“Where were you that you observed the destruction of a designated Air Force One emergency hideaway facility?” Fontaine asked in a doubtful tone of voice.

“Being that we were suspicious that there was a set up going on that we didn’t know anything about, we fled the site, found a vantage point, and dug in and camouflaged ourselves! I took cell phone footage of the assault and intended liquidation of myself and my team that failed!” Roy replied bitterly.

“Yes, you’ve submitted some very controversial evidence,” Fontaine admitted as he reviewed Roy’s report.

“I’ve submitted an FOIA request concerning what the JAG investigation of what the San Antonio AFB yielded. This is where we are sure that the bomb was planted in our DC-3 aircraft. I would think that the Joint Chiefs, the Pentagon, and Congress would be quite concerned over internal sabotage and the needless death of an officer of Captain Carson’s stature! Yet, I’ve been stonewalled.”

Jim Johnson responded,” So, Mister Campbell, it would seem that members of the team you were on were nearly bombed, after being tasked with retrieving crucial data pertaining to a seeming non-terrestrial intervention into the US Space Command and a possible threat to national security. Then, as you claim, you and your team were subject to an attempted assassination at the hands of rogue operators within the US military all the way up the chain of command. Is this correct?”

Roy leaned toward his desk mic, “Yes, Sir!”

“I find this outrageous and unacceptable!” Jim Johnson shouted nodding his head.

Senator Fontaine followed up, “Do you know the whereabouts of Professor Cadwell and the two officers who accompanied the two of you on your mission?”

“No, Sir.”

“Tell us what happened after you and your team witnessed the destruction of the bunker of the Safe Harbor you had been assigned to use,” Jim Johnson asked.

“We laid low until the Cobra Attack copters that, I assume, were from the USS Harry S. Truman, and waited until they withdrew from the area. From there we made it to the Gulf Coast and walked along the beaches making it way up to Playa Del Carmen where we found a US Consulate, and took diplomatic refuge there while Professor Cadwell used his connections to have us picked up by a neutral third party that wasn’t trying to kill us! Let me tell you we were exhausted and famished by the time we got there too! ”

“You have certainly been dragged through a knot hole, Mister Campbell, “Conceded Senator Fontaine.

Reminded of his ordeal, Roy Leaned toward his mic staring straight at Congressional members, “Why, when we were simply answering the call to duty at the last minute and responded to a mission assignment were we nearly murdered?” Roy Campbell asked.

“It is appalling, Sir, and we do plan to get to the bottom of this! “ House Speaker Johnson replied.

Roy stood up angrily, “It’s been 60 damn days! Where are the results of the investigation into San Antonio Air Base that would tell us who in the hell planted that bomb?”

Jim Johnson smacked his gavel several times as the crowd there murmured aloud, “Order we must have order! “

Let me remind you, Roy Campbell, you are a protected Whistle Blower, with all the rights of a protected Congressional informant. We are here to determine the facts!

Roy nodded disbelievingly, “Whatever you say Mister Speaker of the House.”

Chapter 4

Roy Gripped the edge of the podium until his knuckles turned white as he faced the audience and TV cameras of the event. The personal appearance he was making to the UFO Conference in Las Vegas was intimidating. He didn’t care for being a celebrity or drawing attention to himself. All he wanted was 2 things. 1) Stay in the public eye so he could stay alive 2) get the truth!

“Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for showing up and I also recognized the local news stations who have shown up this afternoon to film this event. Let me thank all of you for attending.”

A Las Vegas TV Journalist stood and got Roy’s attention. “Is it really true about your claims that you were on a team who was responsible for retrieving data from a new spy satellite that had been knocked out of orbit by an alien space craft?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Roy replied. “I need to tell the whole story so that we have a proper perspective, and I will tell you that those people you think can be trusted, cannot be, and everything we have been told for decades has been a lie.”

The crowd buzzed with interest as Roy took a deep sigh regretting every moment he’d been alive since he first left San Antonio Air Force Base and landed on some obscure air strip in the Yucatan peninsula. Now he was forced to appear in front of the general public as though he were a pitch man selling a product and promoting himself like a talk show host. It sickened him.

Brett Fischer was a veteran investigative journalist. He was there to put Roy’s feet to the fire so to speak if need be, but there was something about Roy Campbell that seemed genuine. He awaited his moment as throw out a baited question to test this so-called whistle blower.

“To tell you people quite truthfully, I don’t get an ego boost being out here in front of a crowd. I don’t have an interest in drawing attention to myself. I am simply here to expose the truth! And, to stay alive!” Roy explained.

Brett Fischer stood with a mic in his hand and waited for Roy to acknowledge him. Roy pointed to him and he began his questioning. “Mister Campbell, don’t you think it’s a bit dramatic making claims of sabotage and the alien contact that you claim?”

“No I don’t,” Roy replied staring directly into Brett’s gaze. “I don’t have time for games. I’m not interested in public attention, but I am here for the truth. Is that a problem for you?”

Brett nodded almost embarrassed, “No, not at all, Sir, it seems you went through quite an ordeal.”

“Yeah, I did!”

“Let me ask you a question, Sir if I may. You mentioned remaining in the public eye in order to stay alive thinking that this will allow you to be more likely to remain unharmed. Weren’t Andrew Breitbart, and Shinzo Abe of Japan both prominent figures in the public’s eye, and look what happened to them.” Fischer anxiously awaited Roy’s response so he could gage whether or not this guy was for real.

“You know, I do not claim to be of the kind of prominence or of importance to the public as those two well respected men were. I am simply here to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, and so help me God!”

Brett nodded to himself. This guy was for real. He smiled an acknowledging smile and sat back down.

Roy would now begin to tell his tale of public service and of betrayal to a waiting crowd who most likely were just interested in whether UFO’s existed or not, but there was more to the story than that

.

The End