Free Burnout: the mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 by Stephanie Osborn Page A

just…"
    "I know, Crash. But we have all seven bodies now, and the Houston medical examiner gave us positive IDs on all seven. You're in denial, Crash. Let him go, sweetheart," Gayle whispered, laying a tender hand on his forearm and squeezing. "Come on. Let's go tell Jet goodbye together."
    * * * *
    The Inyokern airport was little more than a long patch of asphalt with a building at the end of it that the locals and the airlines called a terminal, and a few hangars around the periphery. Planes sat strewn around the tarmac. Beyond the perimeter fence lay nothing but sagebrush, scrub, and burnt sienna desert; the El Paso and Sierra Nevada mountains rose in the near distance, stark and bleak and monotonous.
    Lovely , Blake thought sarcastically, as he stood at the top of the aircraft ladder. Just bloody damn lovely. I'm so happy to be back in this godforsaken desert.
    He schooled his face into indifference, an expression he'd learned to master in the last couple of years since signing up with Hotdog and his group, and descended the steps to the tarmac. A ground attendant brought the luggage from the hold, placing it on the asphalt beside the plane, and Blake spotted his case. Extending the handle and attaching his carry-on bag to the larger case's strap, he trundled and bumped across the cracked pavement and into the terminal building, dodging RJ, the airport cat, in the process. There has to be a way…
    "Dr. Blake?" a voice pierced his thoughts as he neared the front of the terminal.
    "Yes?" Blake instinctively swung toward the sound.
    "Lieutenant Washburn, sir," the young soldier snapped off a salute. "I'm here to take you to… China Lake Naval Station."
    "Oh, er, right," Blake responded, turning and following the young man out a side entrance. Washburn casually threw Blake's luggage into the back of a waiting Humvee, then moved to the driver's side as Blake got into the front passenger seat.
    Moments later, they were headed out of the airport, toward the naval air weapons station.
    "Folks around here must be bloody brilliant," Blake remarked into the silence.
    "How you figure?" the lieutenant asked, offhand, glad to make small talk.
    "A naval station in the middle of a damn bleedin' desert? And they've never figured out…? Real smart blokes you fellows have livin' around here."
    Washburn shot him a confused glance, and kept driving in silence, deciding that maybe small talk wasn't such a good idea after all.
    Once through the base gate, Washburn continued for some little distance, then hung a right. Pavement gave way to gravel after a few miles, and soon they were making their way through bleak, parched brown desert, punctuated by the occasional striated butte.
    Washburn swerved off road, navigating sand and desert scree, dodging sagebrush and tumbleweeds to traverse the area between two tall, tawny sandstone buttes. As they rounded a promontory, a dark hole yawned in the side of the butte, a hole visible from only one direction--the direction in which the Humvee came. Blake sighed, tested his seat belt, and took a firm grip on the "shit handle" installed over the passenger door.
    Washburn scanned the area, then glanced at his watch, pausing for a few moments as the digital minute and second display ticked down to the correct time. "Right," he said then. "Hang on," as he floored the accelerator, aiming straight for the blackness of the cave.
    Moments later, the Humvee was gone--and so was the cave.
    * * * *
    At the Harris County morgue, Gayle introduced Crash to the coroner. "Bob, this is Crash Murphy, Commander Jackson's old friend. Crash, Dr. Robert Harrison, the Harris County medical examiner."
    The two men shook hands and murmured greetings.
    "I understand you've got my pal here," Crash said quietly.
    "Yes. I'm sorry, Mr. Murphy," the coroner answered in sympathy. "Would you… like to see the remains?"
    Numb, Crash followed Dr. Harrison over to a drawer. The medical examiner pulled it open, exposing a black body bag