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“Mather, Wisconsin,” Donald interrupted. “The Osprey crash in Mather. Twelve men dead.”

Murray nodded.

“Who knows about this?” John asked. “The whole story, who knows?”

“The Joint Chiefs,” Murray said. “They had to implement President Hutchins’s decision to sequester the soldiers involved and rea.s.sign them to a new unit. The soldiers themselves know they fought something unusual, but very few people know the whole story: Phillips, Montoya, Braun, Agent Clarence Otto—who’s Montoya’s CIA liaison—the CIA director, Hutchins and a few members of his staff.”

“What about the FBI?” Vanessa asked. “The CIA has no domestic police authority. You shouldn’t be doing any of this.”

“The FBI does not have detailed knowledge,” Murray said. “Once again, we were acting on the direct orders of President Hutchins.”

Vanessa stared at Murray and shook her head. John knew she had her sights firmly set on the man: she was going dinosaur hunting. It would be up to Murray to fend off her attacks and to prove his worth.

But how much more did the man need to prove? A behavior-altering human parasite, at least two military operations on U. S. soil that resulted in casualties, what might very well be alien machines . . . and no one knew. The media didn’t even have an inkling. John now understood why his predecessor raved about Murray Longworth.

“We still don’t really know what we’re up against,” Murray said. “We haven’t been able to capture one of those hatchlings alive. The ones we kill disintegrate very quickly, within a few hours. Even the gate material breaks down almost immediately, so that hasn’t given us any information.”

“How do we know that these things are truly hostile?” Donald said. Vanessa and Tom “They attacked our troops, I understand, but could that be a defensive action, to protect this construct long enough for them to . . . I can’t believe I’m even saying this out loud . . . long enough for them to make contact?”

“A race that technologically advanced could initiate at least a rudimentary communication,” Murray said. “The only logical reason they haven’t is that they don’t want to. They build only in remote areas. Why not build whatever it is out in the open? Because if they did that, our military could surround them and prepare for whatever came through. That’s not a problem unless you’re bringing in your own military units. This seclusion indicates they want to insert a.s.sets, a.s.sets that could be vulnerable during the insertion process.”

“A beachhead,” Donald said. “They want to control a landing zone.”

Murray nodded. “That’s our a.s.sessment, Mister Secretary. And finally, look at the behavior of the infected victims. These parasites represent a level of bioengineering we can’t even fathom. Could something capable of utilizing a human host like that accidentally create behavior that makes the host avoid contact with health-care professionals? Or kill people very close to them, people who might see the welts and call for help?”

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