Free The Watchers by Ruth Ann Nordin

Chapter One

    Five Months after “The
Vanishing”

    Screams echoed through the corridor as
the elevator door opened. Vanessa Hayden glanced at Devon Patrick.
“What’s going on down here?” she whispered.
    He didn’t bother looking at her.
Instead, he simply said, “The less you know, the better.” and
walked forward. He expected his co-worker to follow him and she
did. Stopping in front of the security guard who stood before a set
of double doors, he held up his badge.
    Despite the trepidation on Vanessa’s
face, she followed suit.
    The guard nodded and opened one of the
doors, keeping his gun in his other hand. Devon refused to make eye
contact with him. The guards were well trained, and if one wasn’t
careful, secrets could come to light. And that’s the last thing
Devon wanted.
    The hallway was dimly lit,
making him all too aware that he was a good mile underground—in the
bowels of the Earth. Closed doors ran the length of the corridor,
except for one, and that’s the one he was instructed to take her
to. He steeled himself against what he was about to do. There was
no room for weakness. They were watching. His gaze darted to the camera in
the corner of the hall. The thing was small, but since he’d been
there before, he knew where to find it. He stopped in front of the
open door and motioned to it.
    Vanessa peered into the room lit by a
blue light and stepped back.
    That was when he looked at
her.
    There was no denying the fear in her
eyes or the slight trembling of her body.
    “ If you don’t do it,
they’ll kill you,” he whispered, knowing full well they could hear
everything he said.
    “ But I didn’t sign up for
this,” she softly replied, her voice wavering.
    “ There are many things you
didn’t sign up for, but it’s your job.”
    A man screamed from behind one of the
closed doors and she jerked.
    Closing the gap between them, he spoke
at a volume he knew they wouldn’t hear. “You won’t remember a
thing.”
    Her eyes grew wide and she shook her
head.
    “ We’re ready, Ms.
Hayden.”
    He gently took her by the arm and led
her to the alien who looked just like a human woman. The only
reason he knew her true identity was because she revealed it to
him...except he wasn’t supposed to remember that. As long as
Vanessa complied, she would live through it.
    “ You’ll be out before you
know it,” the beautiful blond said with a smile. “This is an
ordinary procedure.”
    As soon as Vanessa made eye contact
with the alien, Devon saw her relax. There. Her resistance had been
willed aside. Now she would do whatever she was told.
    “ You may come back for her
in two hours, after your procedure,” the alien instructed
him.
    “ Yes.”
    He said it because he was expected to.
He always said...and did...whatever he was expected to. It was part
of the game. He waited until Vanessa went into the room and the
alien closed the door before he turned around to walk back to the
double doors. By the time the guard on the other side opened the
door for him, he heard Vanessa scream. Bracing himself, he forced
his expression to remain neutral as he passed the guard and
returned to the elevator.
    He pressed the button that would take
him further down. No matter how many times he’d been here, the
screams shook him to the core. He could never get used to this. But
he knew the consequences if he didn’t play along, and he wasn’t
willing to die for anything or anyone.
    The doors to the elevator opened and
he stepped out, ready for what awaited him.

    ***

    Alex Cameron twisted in his sheets. He
could feel them hovering over him, inspecting him. Flashes of the
incident when he went to Area 51 came in his nightmares—night after
night. His mind was slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle
together. He didn’t remember what happened when he woke up in that
cold room in a hospital bed. Everything had been blank. All he
remembered was running up a deep hole in the ground and being
chased by security