Read Online Alien Hunter: Underworld by Whitley Strieber - Free Book Online

past not a hundred feet overhead, he opened the bag, cracked the can of beer, started the car, and headed out.
    He had no idea how long it had been since he ate, but the sandwich did not last until the Beltway. He got an hour of sleep on the flight, so he felt fairly rested. It had been uneasy sleep, though. Things were spinning out of control, and he knew it.
    He took the exit off the GW Parkway and stopped in the guard station at CIA headquarters. He drove around the back of the main building and then into the underground facility, over to where cars that couldn’t be exposed to passing satellites were parked. He sat in his car with the windows down, just listening to the space. He got out. Nobody else here, the parking spots mostly empty. Even as he was walking through the facility’s relative safety, his extreme sense of caution did not change. They might have failed on this day, and they might all be dead, but he still worried about ambush anywhere, anytime.
    In the long, clean corridors of the CIA, people gave him the usual glances. In his patrolman days, his uniforms had always been sharp. As a detective, he’d worn a suit with a string tie and a Stetson, an outfit intended to make him disappear into the north Texas woodwork. No more. Now he was too fixated on his job to worry about appearances. As long as his clothes were street legal, that was all that mattered to him.
    As he was approaching their section, another text came in. This time, it was the number 676, once again from a blocked line.
    He stopped in his tracks, staring down at the screen.
    He was looking at what had been Dan Miller’s full employee number at Deer Island.
    No way this could be a coincidence, and somebody certainly wanted him to know that.
    He got to the numbered door that concealed headquarters. He paused. This time, it could be seriously argued that he’d screwed up on every possible level. He set his jaw, paused for a moment, then went in.
    The same kids were at the same consoles, working at the same intractable problems of translation and communication. As he passed silently among them, he could feel their uneasy disapproval like a sour smoke.
    â€œAnybody wants a head for their den, let me know.”
    It was his standard joke, but this time there was no ripple of laughter.
    He pushed through into Diana’s sleek lair. She was not sitting at her desk, not exactly. She was poised there.
    â€œDon’t hit me,” he said, cringing back and raising his hands.
    â€œFlynn, why ?”
    â€œHe got in the line of fire.”
    â€œYou killed four people!”
    Had there been anybody else in there? No. “Wrong body count, and I didn’t kill anybody. A kid got killed. Big difference, Diana.”
    â€œIf you’d done your job right, nobody would be dead.”
    â€œI ordered the facility evacuated. Maybe he was deaf, I don’t know. An airman died, and I’m sad about it. But it was one. Not four.”
    â€œWe consider the aliens you killed people.”
    â€œNot legally, they aren’t.”
    â€œFlynn, that’s the last time you throw that in my face, okay? You’ve gotten yourself into huge trouble, and us along with you. Hell, the whole planet, Flynn! What if they could just push a button and we’re history?”
    â€œI’ve gained a lot of intelligence on this mission.”
    She raised her eyebrows.
    â€œThe exsanguinations are explained. What I saw was one of those monsters—”
    â€œPlease.”
    â€œWhat am I supposed to call them? What’s the politically correct term? Tell me, because I want to know.”
    â€œTry calling them people.”
    He let it lie. “It used the airman’s blood to coat itself in a human form.”
    She gave him a long, searching look.
    â€œDo you understand what I’m saying? Because it’s kind of important.”
    â€œWe’re going out to Area Fifty-One, you and I.” The exobiology