that opened to daylight.
“Right,” Chandler said, remembering the mission and getting back to business. “He were are, kids. It’s time to see what the Rock is all about.”
This is it! I thought. I’m going to learn some of my country’s biggest secrets!
I was almost trembling. I was about to see what the government was hiding from everyone. Maybe America was running a secret space program out of here with top secret spy satellites or orbiting lasers or something. Or Kaz could be right. Maybe we were going to see an alien spacecraft or a time machine or some sci-fi thing like that. At this moment, anything was possible.
We stepped out into the courtyard surrounded by the wall. I heard gasps. Somebody said, “What the fuck?”
Expecting to see something big and bizarre, I wasn’t disappointed. My imagination had been conjuring up images of every possibility and it still couldn’t come up with what I saw before me. Let me tell you what it was.
12
“It’s a house,” Kaz said, sounding a little disappointed but mostly uncertain. I was with him. I wasn’t sure of what I was looking at either. A flat, barren strip of “no man’s land” about 50 meters wide spread before us. Stretched between us and the clearing was a high chain link fence topped with razor wire. Inside of this pen lay another 50 meters of wasteland. At the center of this stood a house. It was a big, two-story Victorian relic. It looked old – ancient, even. Its skin of paint had long ago flaked away, revealing the bleached, bone-like boards beneath. Wood covering the windows also looked weathered. What this thing was doing in the center of a volcanic vent was beyond me.
The weirdness didn’t end there. There were SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) positioned inside of the fence. They weren’t pointed skyward. They were aimed at the house.
“Welcome to the Spook House,” Chandler said, staring at the monstrous dwelling in front of us.
He turned around and smiled at us. The weird gleam in his eyes was back, along with a wicked glint in his smile. I swear, the look on his face was almost as freaky as the sight in front of us. He didn’t even try to hide his delight. He scanned our faces, savoring the looks of awe and fear he found on each one of them.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” he said, deadly serious.
“Sir. What is it, Sir?” Boudreaux said quietly, as if afraid he might wake a sleeping giant monster in front of us.
“This,” said the handler, “is a test. Consider it your final exam. Your mission is to clear the house. You do that, and you pass.”
“You want us to go in there?” Dubois said incredulously. He didn’t verbalize his next line, which I think we all silently heard: “No fucking way.”
The handler’s smile dropped. He was obviously irked at the break in protocol. Still, he sensed a rebellion brewing, and he acted quickly.
“Up until now, you’ve been doing house-to-house searches in the mock Iraqi village. As a unit, you’ve have shown promise. But this is something completely different. This environment is big and it’s dark. You clear this, and you graduate.
The use of the word “graduate” sounded deliberate and thought-out well in advance. What would happen if we didn’t pass and “graduate”?Why, we would fail. We would be “drop-outs,” and nobody wanted to be that.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Dubois said.
You got to admit, he had balls. He was only saying what we were all thinking, but he said it out loud. He was afraid. We all were, but that fact he could admit it and say it showed that he was braver than most. Either that, or he didn’t give a damn anymore.
Chandler inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled out of his mouth. He was breathing faster, trying to control his anger. He regained his composure and said, “You WILL go in there. All of you. It’s just a house. There may or may not be pop-ups in there. Your job is to sweep the whole house. If you leave before
“Right,” Chandler said, remembering the mission and getting back to business. “He were are, kids. It’s time to see what the Rock is all about.”
This is it! I thought. I’m going to learn some of my country’s biggest secrets!
I was almost trembling. I was about to see what the government was hiding from everyone. Maybe America was running a secret space program out of here with top secret spy satellites or orbiting lasers or something. Or Kaz could be right. Maybe we were going to see an alien spacecraft or a time machine or some sci-fi thing like that. At this moment, anything was possible.
We stepped out into the courtyard surrounded by the wall. I heard gasps. Somebody said, “What the fuck?”
Expecting to see something big and bizarre, I wasn’t disappointed. My imagination had been conjuring up images of every possibility and it still couldn’t come up with what I saw before me. Let me tell you what it was.
12
“It’s a house,” Kaz said, sounding a little disappointed but mostly uncertain. I was with him. I wasn’t sure of what I was looking at either. A flat, barren strip of “no man’s land” about 50 meters wide spread before us. Stretched between us and the clearing was a high chain link fence topped with razor wire. Inside of this pen lay another 50 meters of wasteland. At the center of this stood a house. It was a big, two-story Victorian relic. It looked old – ancient, even. Its skin of paint had long ago flaked away, revealing the bleached, bone-like boards beneath. Wood covering the windows also looked weathered. What this thing was doing in the center of a volcanic vent was beyond me.
The weirdness didn’t end there. There were SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) positioned inside of the fence. They weren’t pointed skyward. They were aimed at the house.
“Welcome to the Spook House,” Chandler said, staring at the monstrous dwelling in front of us.
He turned around and smiled at us. The weird gleam in his eyes was back, along with a wicked glint in his smile. I swear, the look on his face was almost as freaky as the sight in front of us. He didn’t even try to hide his delight. He scanned our faces, savoring the looks of awe and fear he found on each one of them.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” he said, deadly serious.
“Sir. What is it, Sir?” Boudreaux said quietly, as if afraid he might wake a sleeping giant monster in front of us.
“This,” said the handler, “is a test. Consider it your final exam. Your mission is to clear the house. You do that, and you pass.”
“You want us to go in there?” Dubois said incredulously. He didn’t verbalize his next line, which I think we all silently heard: “No fucking way.”
The handler’s smile dropped. He was obviously irked at the break in protocol. Still, he sensed a rebellion brewing, and he acted quickly.
“Up until now, you’ve been doing house-to-house searches in the mock Iraqi village. As a unit, you’ve have shown promise. But this is something completely different. This environment is big and it’s dark. You clear this, and you graduate.
The use of the word “graduate” sounded deliberate and thought-out well in advance. What would happen if we didn’t pass and “graduate”?Why, we would fail. We would be “drop-outs,” and nobody wanted to be that.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Dubois said.
You got to admit, he had balls. He was only saying what we were all thinking, but he said it out loud. He was afraid. We all were, but that fact he could admit it and say it showed that he was braver than most. Either that, or he didn’t give a damn anymore.
Chandler inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled out of his mouth. He was breathing faster, trying to control his anger. He regained his composure and said, “You WILL go in there. All of you. It’s just a house. There may or may not be pop-ups in there. Your job is to sweep the whole house. If you leave before
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