Ana

CH 17

Once back in her car, she checked her messages and saw one from her new girlfriend. It was only a simple hug and kiss. How sweat. She replied with her own hug message then let out a sigh. She tried not to get involved in serious relationships because she traveled all the time and the secrecy of her job. So this was more of a fling than anything else. At least that was what she kept telling herself. Unfortunately, being undercover at NASA meant she couldn't lead a completely normal life as far as relationships went.

With that out of the way, it was time to interview the man who had reported the UFO sighting so she rummaged through her bag to find the note pad with his number and called him.

A gruff voice answered, "Yes?"

"Hello, is this Sam Perkins?" Heidi asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"This is agent Vanderbilt. We spoke last night about the flying object you saw in the mountains."

"Well, it's about time. I found the alien landing pad now too, so you all best get here quick before they come back."

"And it wouldn't be a bad idea if you were to call the National Guard and get them out here with you... never know what to expect from these aliens. I already called Sheriff Blanchard but he just hung up on me, the bastard, after I voted for him too. I know a friend of his brother and I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when the invasion starts. You can bet on that."

This guy had rattled on and on like this the last time she spoke with him so she wasn't looking forward to spending a lot of time with him, but a girl must do what a girl must do. "I'm heading that way now. How long should it take me to get to you from San Jose?"

"About twenty minutes if you drive like I do," he chuckled before taking a more serious tone. "Listen, I have a Browning Stalker I can bring and Joe down the road has an AR 15 fixed so it can fire full auto so don't you worry. If they show up while we're there, Joe and I will introduce them to the American right to bear arms."

Heidi cringed. This was just what she didn't need, another trigger happy civilian.

"Ok, that's nice but I think it'll be better for me to go and scout it out first," Heidi said, trying to gain control over the conversation. "So there's no need for you or any of your friends to get out your guns."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, clearly disappointed.

She sighed. Managing the local citizens was often the toughest part of her job. They normally meant well, but they got too involved and they had a tendency to try and turn her investigations into witch hunts. One time in Nebraska, she showed up at a site to find over twenty concerned and heavily armed local residents ready to help her repel what they thought was an impending invasion by hostile aliens.

The strategy she used to control that mob should work now also. Using her most official tone she said, "I need to go in undercover so we don't alert the aliens that they've been discovered. I'm sure you understand that they won't come out of hiding if their sensors show a group of men carrying high powered weapons in the area."

She could almost hear the wheels spinning in his head. "Oh, I see. Well I guess you're the expert. Ok, then, it's not near any road, so without me, you'll never find it. I'll get on my camo and be all ready for some stealthy work when you and your men get here."

This guy sure was stubborn, and the idea of spending the day in the woods with him gave her flashbacks of the movie Deliverance. An old classic movie she had watched with her dad when she was in high school that depicted very vividly the dangers of being out of one's element. The movie is about how a hunting trip by a few city dwellers turns deadly as a result of getting into a conflict with a few poor, uneducated people in a very isolated part of Georgia. Well, she wasn't a soft city professional like some of the men in that movie. Her dad had taught her how to shoot at age ten and had taken her on safari in South Africa at fifteen.